Happy Halloween!!

I've never been a huge fan of Halloween.  I don't get into dressing up and find it annoying that I have to look silly in order to collect candy.  My costumes growing up were only decent when I was younger and my parents dressed me.  After Sadie was born, I completely changed my mind.  Halloween is amazing for parents!  You dress your kids up and make them look silly.  Then you put them to bed and eat all of their candy while they sleep.

Sadie went trick or treating 3 times today!  We have a HUGE stash of candy and will be completely covered for a while.  In the morning she came to the hospital with my mom for the Halloween party here.  My mom stayed with Hope so I could spend the day with Sadie.  The hospital gets all the kids together and takes them to different stations around the hospital to collect candy.  It's such a treat for all the kids that aren't able to leave and for their siblings.  Sadie had a huge bag of candy, they are more than generous with the kids.

In the afternoon, Ronald McDonald House was having a Halloween party.  Sadie really misses all the kids at the house and loves going back.  All of the families give out candy from their rooms.  It's perfect for little kids as the doors are close together!  Sadie went around with her friends and collected another big bag of candy.

We could have easily put an end to Sadie's candy collection, but Shawn still hadn't gotten to see her dressed up.  After he finished work, Sadie and I met him at a mall near us for some more indoor trick or treating.  We weren't outside at all tonight and I was totally fine with that.  The mall was so much better than we had expected.  They had 5 bouncy castles all through the mall, an awesome petting zoo and all the stores were handing out candy.  Sadie was more interested in the activities and collected a limited amount of candy, which was probably a good thing!

At almost 7 months and only 11 pounds, it seems unfair to call her a piggy!

Too much candy caused Belle to fall into a sugar coma

Hope had a pretty relaxing day in her Nana's arms.  They left her feeds at 14ml an hour today as her tummy had gotten a touch bigger and they didn't want to push her.  She's been very content all day and even put up with a few "accessories" that were added for Halloween.  Around dinner time, Hope was moved from ICE to the ward.  She will now spend the next week on the ward until her surgery.  Hope continues to receive the liquid nutrients through her PICC line and will not be discharged before the surgery.

We want to praise God for how strong and healthy Hope appears to be right now.  We also want to pray for protection from infection or complications before surgery.  I moved back into the hospital tonight and Hope is so happy to have Mommy sleeping in the bed next to her.  She's a real Mommy's girl and likes to see me at all times.  I don't feel like I can complain about sleeping here, it's only for a week and I've done so much worse.  With Hope going in for surgery, I look forward to this week of cuddling with her.  I will miss seeing my family in the evenings, but will still see them every day.

We pray we're able to spend Halloween with Hope next year.  We want her to be free of tubes and wires so we can dress her up in something silly too!