October 27-November 3

All my faithful readers should thank the internet for being helpful.  Blogger had a glitch when I sat down to write this post.  For some reason, I could not access my own blog.  Justine could access her blog, Justine could access my blog, and I could access the (never used) blog attached to another email address.  But I could not get to the page that let me regale my Olivia and Gretchen's fans with the latest Barhorst exploits.  Fortunately, after about 7 Google searches, I found a group of people having the same problem (well, a similar problem, but without the fabulousness of Olivia and Gretchen), and someone figured out a way to get all of us into our respective blogs.  So here I sit, composing yet another weekly episode in The Lives and Times of Olivia and Gretchen.  :)

We had Halloween here last Saturday, so we got the girls all dressed up and I took Olivia to about 6 houses while Gretchen helped Bryan hand out candy.  Gretchen was a lion (the costume should look familiar), and Olivia picked out a witch costume at the store.  Pictures below.

Sickness swept crawled through our house beginning the end of last week, and I emerged victorious as the only one who didn't get it.  Of course, that left me taking care of a cranky baby, an "I don't know how to be sick, so I'm going to pretend I'm not" toddler, and a sleeping Bryan.  We all survived, though, and have (mostly) ditched the germs.

Gretchen's 6-month appointment was Wednesday, and she's definitely smaller than Olivia was.  15 pounds, 7 ounces, and 27 inches long.  No mention of starting her on any kind of food, which is funny because Gretchen loves food.  The nurse seemed mildly disappointed that Gretchen doesn't sit very well yet, but she doesn't get a lot of practice.  I want to know why they always ask the wrong questions at appointments.  For Olivia they asked about rolling over (which she couldn't do), but not about sitting (which she could).  For Gretchen they haven't asked about rolling over at all, but sitting is suddenly a big deal.  If you had hardwood floors and an overly affectionate toddler, would you let YOUR 6-month-old spend a lot of time sitting?

And speaking of overly affectionate toddlers, that's the reason Gretchen doesn't spend much time in the Johnny-jump-up.  Sure, we say it's because she doesn't like to jump as much as Olivia, or because it's inconvenient to move the table to the middle of the room all the time now that Olivia plays in the middle of the room...  But the main reason I don't get it out is because I'm afraid that Olivia will use Gretchen as a tether ball.

Pictures:
Halloween.  If I'd thought about it sooner, I would have been a wardrobe: