Of Halloweens Past

I have always loved Halloween. Ever since I was little girl I would obsess and get excited about all things spooky starting in September. By Oct. 1st, I had changed my mind about my costume at least 5 times...and was badgering my mom to go and buy me a pumpkin from the grocery store already! (I'm a city kid, obviously)

I would help her stuff newspaper into big pumpkin faced garbage bags for the lawn...and we would hang that crazy cottony spider web stuff in the bushes (the same kind of web that covers my front porch as you read this).

I can't really say for sure why I fell so in love with this time of year, but I'm fairly certain it was because it served as a fabulous distraction from the fact that I was usually terribly ill by October.

In case you are newer here, I'll catch you up. As a child I had very serious Asthma. A rare type, which at the time, doctors knew very little about. I spent more days in Texas Children's Hospital in elementary school than I did in my classrooms. At one point, I was even in need of a lung transplant...though that time never came thanks to a blessing from the church missionaries.

Fall and Winter were especially hard seasons to handle with my disease because my Asthma was very irritated by mold and cold air....2 things which are ever present during Fall in Texas.

I remember one Halloween in particular I had a high fever, chills, and was wheezing so loudly you could hear it from across the room. My mom told me there was no way we would go trick-or-treating...we needed to leave for the hospital right then.

I fell in the floor sobbing - she had made me the most beautiful pink tulle and satin "Ms. America" dress...complete with a sash...and now I was heartbroken I wouldn't get to wear it.

But, my mom....being the amazing person that she is, wasn't going to have me be upset.

She carried me, yes... carried my little 7 year old self, to 4 houses on our block so I could get candy before we left for the hospital. (I love you so much Mom!)

So you can imagine my deja vu, when some 16 years later I was sitting in Texas Children's Hospital on Halloween with my own child.

Jackson had nearly aspirated 4 days prior to that and they had him in the NICU there to perform tests to determine why.

We would soon learn that he had reflux. We got to go home late in the evening on Halloween...and I shot just a few photos to remember the day.

This is one of them.

I think he looks pretty good considering he'd spent that previous 4 days being poked and prodded by doctors.

Jackson's second Halloween was a little better, but he still wasn't feeling too hot since he'd had his 1 year old shots that day. You can tell that from the expression on his face.

We went trick-or-treating at the church for 30 minutes...and then went home so he could have a warm bath and some baby ibuprofen.

Later that same evening, I had a terrible asthma attack and spent the night in the ER.

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So, needless to say after all of that, my hopes for this Halloween are very high!

We are all feeling pretty good...and I'm hoping for some awesome spooky fun!

And even if J does get sick, I still want to try and make it as fun as possible for him.

I know my Mom always did, and I'll never forget it. :-)