Our family had a pretty good October. There were some ups and downs, but overall, we're doing well. Stephen spent a few days at the beginning of the month in California for a work trip. It was hard to be a single parent without him, but Paige and I survived. Stephen had a great time during his trip, and even took an opportunity to do some karaoke. He brought home a lot of swag from other companies, but the best gift he gave was taking a day off of work to help me clean the house and overall recover from his absence.
This month, Stephen and I got haircuts. Stephen needs his hair cut every four to six weeks to keep it looking good, but I can get away with much longer before I need a cut. In fact, it had been over two years since I had a professional haircut (I occasionally trim it myself to get rid of split ends). It was so refreshing to feel like my hair had a style again. I don't know at what point Paige will need a haircut. So far, it's growing really nicely and staying out of her eyes for the most part. I can put her hair in a ponytail and pigtails, and there might be enough for a small braid, but she won't sit still long enough for me to get in a good try.
Stephen and I both got callings in our new ward. I am a visiting teaching supervisor, and Stephen is a gospel doctrine teacher. As stressful as his calling may be, he does a great job teaching, and has even had to fill in for another teacher and give a lesson on the fly when no one showed up to teach. Stephen has also been filling in for other callings. Word got out that he can play the organ, and now he substitutes when the official organist is out of town. Everyone was impressed at how talented he was, especially considering his age. He has also covered for the primary pianist. My husband is very musically inclined, whereas my instrument of choice is the radio. It's good that he can bless others with his talents.
As anyone over the age of 18 in America is painfully aware, voting season is upon us. I wanted to be an informed and involved voter, so I spent time watching debates between candidates. While there is obviously much to say about the presidential candidates, I focused a lot on local races. One night, we went to a "meet the candidates" night at a local school. Both Stephen and I found that to be very helpful. It was great to talk one-on-one with someone about issues, and then cross the room at talk with their opponents about the same issues. I ignored party lines and tried to get to the real stances people had. While I know I don't know every issue or every candidate well, I had a lot more confidence voting this year than I have in the past (at least in some of the races).
I can't cover October without covering Halloween. Last year, we dressed Paige as the tooth fairy while Stephen and I were dentists. This year, we continued the family costume theme, but this time, we went with Pokemon. I got a pikachu costume for Paige from China that turned out to be really cute and super easy. I decided that Stephen and I should be Ash and Misty, and I went a little more diy on our costumes. I did some thrift shopping and rummaged in our closet. I sewed Stephen's jacket, which turned out to be a fun project with low stress (it's only a costume, anyway). I'm really proud how everything came together.
Our family had fun carving pumpkins. We had gone to a local farm a few weeks ago, and there, Paige became excited about pumpkins, though we waited until closer to the holiday to actually buy some. I was hoping Paige would like playing with the pumpkin innards, but she wanted nothing to do with them. She became really disinterested when we told her she couldn't eat the raw pumpkin seeds. However, she was a good sport and let mommy and daddy carve an outline of her hand into her little pumpkin. Stephen carved a spider and I went with a classic jack-o-lantern face. We watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" as per tradition, and listened to the only two Halloween songs in existence (Monster Mash and Thriller).
We had a great time trick-or-treating. Paige caught on really quick and was happy to grab candy and put it in her pumpkin bag. She totted to each house insisting that she carry her candy, even when it got quite heavy. If people held out the bowl of candy long enough, Paige would grab a second or even third handful. She seemed to have a knack to grab candy she wouldn't like, like red hots, so we had to help her trade sometimes (especially when there were good stuff she would want to share with her parents). She was really cute and had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed watching her participate now that she's old enough to understand somewhat what is happening.
With all the fun happenings this month, we've also struggled a bit. I don't want to go into too many details, but I've been having some health challenges lately. I was suffering for a while before I finally got the medical attention I needed, and after 2.5 liters of fluids pumped into my body with an IV, I felt much better. I started some new medication, and while that definitely helps, one of the side effects is drowsiness, and boy, am I tired! I basically have to nap every day when Paige does. I'm feeling much better overall, and while I'm not healed, there is hope. We are excited for the holiday season. Spending time with family and watching Paige enjoy the celebrations will be worth all the effort.
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