happy november! it's officially baby girl's birth month. hoooooly cow haha. i'm so ready to not be pregnant, but i'm not sure i'm ready to be awake all night with a newborn. i know that once she's here and we come home, it'll be like she was here all along. but i'm having a very serious internal battle over how prepared i really am haha. well, no more than 17 days til we're a family of 4, whether we're ready or not!

okay, let's talk halloween. mat takes it very seriously, and i mean VERY seriously. since we've been together, i haven't gotten him to do a couples costume with me because he always finds the best solo costumes and can't resist haha. but since having benson, we've been able to find family costume ideas that are good enough! bens' first halloween we did frosted flakes - benson was dressed as tony the tiger, mat wore him in a baby carrier and had a giant frosted flakes box around him, and i just painted myself a milk mustache and wore a sign that said "got milk?" it was perfect. last year we did addams family, which was actually a lot of fun! i was wednesday, benson was pubert, and mat was cousin it. 

this year was tricky because of my current pregnant state, but we ultimately decided on benson being han solo, mat being chewy, and i would dress the bump as bb8. a few days before halloween, mat was sent on a work trip and ended up missing his second favorite holiday! the worst. i returned my bb8 costume thinking that i could just wear mat's chewy costume and save us some dinero. baaaaad decision. apparently, mat's costume was meant for average to tall folks. i am neither haha. so the costume just looked dumb on me. on top of that, i woke up that morning with either food poisoning or a terrible bug that kept me down most of the day. seriously, i took 4 naps that day haha. so as trick or treating time got closer, i kept trying to tell myself to get up and get ready, but nothing was happening. i eventually sucked it up and got dressed in some stretchy pants. we ended up in kacey's neighborhood because its seriously amazing for trick or treating. benson was all dressed in his han solo get up, and was dang cute! he got tired so quickly, but refused to give up! i offered to carry his pumpkin bucket, or "punk" as he called it, a few times and if he agreed, he would grab it back seconds later, probably in fear that i would never give it back haha. after every house, he'd look up at me and say, "more?!" towards the end, benson got lucky and grandpa pushed him in his stroller to every door. as he'd come back to the sidewalk, he'd find me and yell, "mom! hiiiiii mom. candy?!" as he showed me his bucket haha. he had the best time and i'm so glad that i got myself out of the house instead of staying in.

in other news, benson has learned how to lock and unlock our doors. today, i went out front to toss a poopy diaper, and when i came back, our bottom lock was locked, and i could hear benson on the other side saying, "moooooooom. mooooooooom!" so i kept knocking and telling him to unlock the door, but he wouldn't haha. at one point, he pushed the curtains back super quick, rested his elbow on the window sill, and with a big smile yelled, "mom!" as he showed me the bag of pepperonis he had found and was now chowing down on hahaha. after a bit he disappeared, and i kept knocking and ringing the door bell (mat was passed out on the couch, go figure), and he came back to show me his greasy hands and to ask me to wipe his fingers. eventually mat woke up and unlocked the door (i was probably standing there for like 3 minutes tops) but i thought it was so funny that bens didn't understand me asking him to unlock the door, but was fully aware of where i was and kept coming to show me things or ask for help. little stink!