Struggling

Man. Seems like I am struggling here. Struggling to update the blog. Struggling to find time to focus on the family. Struggling to get all my work for school completed. Just struggling....

It is so hard to be a working mama at times...with your attention divided between the kiddos, husband, house and job. Plus,throw in the mix being a pair of teachers. Yeah...so you can pretty much ensure our evenings are lost to papers and lessons and emails.  It is hard to find a balance.

Today I went with a few neighbors to a wake. Yeah. Sounds uplifting, right?  Well, it was. I love our neighbors. They are such a great group of people. Whenever something happens, these neighbors are on it. With Owen's surgery they were the most supportive people around.  When a baby is born sick, the neighbors rally around the family. When a neighbor's mother dies, they rally.  We are so blessed to have picked this neighborhood 5 years ago.  It is almost more like the neighborhood picked us--as this was the first house we looked at but it was a few thousand out of our price range. Then, a month later, we came back for our third viewing and the realtor announced it went down in price...to our limit!  How perfect.   The good thing about these folks is that we can support someone who is going through a hard time...and in the end it turned out be pretty therapeutic for all of us.  After the wake we took a long way home with a stop at Traders Joes (my first time ever...probably not my last!) and with an last-minute trip to the Cheesecake Factory! Yum!  And now I feel refreshed. These next 8 school days (I mean...who is counting) don't look so daunting now that I've had actual "Jo Ann Time". 

I gotta remember to take time out for myself between papers, dance practice, doctor appointments,  meetings and baking cakes.   Oh. Yeah. Baking Cakes...I forgot to show you how Owen's cake turned out. I have to admit. It rocked. Poor lil' booger loved it. Even though he had to wait until after dance practice to eat it!

The Dog.

Blowing out the candle.

Eating the Frog...after not realizing for a good 2 minutes that it was indeed edible.

He absolutely loved that Word World Cake.  Especially that Frog, "Ribbit" as he says. It was a great lil' day for him.   He is such a sweet lil' guy!  And even though I felt guilty leaving them this evening...I now feel like I have way more energy to keep up with their ever-lasting supply!

Birthday Eve!

Today is marks the Eve of Owen's Birthday.  While he is starting to understand the excitement of his birthday...Bethany and I are super excited to celebrate his date with him.  (Cory is excited, of course...but we totally out do him!)

We are super proud of our lil' man.  He is putting more and more words together. Sometimes it is hard to get what he is saying, but if you can use the context of the situation, usually it makes sense.

He impresses me often.  The other day he grabs some lil' crafty shapes and starts sorting the lil' suckers. Who would've thought of that. What a smart booger he is!

See...all the little squares go in a nice little row.

Owen also has transitioned into his big boy toddler bed.  Big boy toddler bed. Could that be an oxymoron. Perhaps...but I am not the one that teaches Comm Arts...so I don't care so much.   He did great switching.  When Cory was putting together the bed Owen kept going, "WOOOAH! Night-Night! WOOOAH!"  He was even trying to assist in the construction a tad bit.

It is hard to believe two years has come since we have introduced our second lil' baby in our family.  He is such a blessing. Before he was born, I didn't understand how we could possibly love the second child as much as that first one.  But man...this lil' guy has a strong place in our hearts.  We are so immensely blessed to have Owen in our lives.  He is such a great lil' guy...Target tantrums and all!

23 months...

In exactly one month, this pizza-faced,

Ottoman hiding, 

mitten/sandal wearing, 

sister-mimicking,

lil' bity boy will be 2 years old!



Improvising

I guess there are times in a child's life where they are totally done playing with their toys.  In instances such as those, a child is forced to improvise.

When I saw Owen sneaking into the pantry, I knew it only meant one thing--trouble.

 But then he goes waddling out w/ the large box of Pringles and starts stacking them.

He is a bit over excited about his new found playthings and as long as I didn't have to clean up a 1000 meshed up crumbs...it didn't bother me one bit! :O)

A fit in elastic shoes

 Don't you hate it when you are trying to have a Class A tantrum...

a grand ole shoe-flinging fit but...

 

you can't...

manage to kick off your new shoe w/ the elastic backing.

Yeah...that just ticks him off 10 x's more than usual!

Showing Off Owen's Brains

Our lil' man is certainly growing up.  A couple months ago, Cory and I noticed Owen pointing to letters in his book and identifying them correctly.  At first, we both thought it was just a coincidence. But after a week or two, we realized Owen was really learning his letters at a young 18 months.

Now, Owen is 22 or so months and he knows nearly all of his letters. There are a few that still trips him up (J, A, W, R, P).  However...he will point to W if asked, he just can't say it. For "P" he will just say "pah", the sound it makes. "A", he insists, is N. He's pretty adamant about that. Perhaps he knows something that I don't.

Here is Owen showing off his brains. He started off w/ his animal puzzle--doing great w/ putting the pieces in the proper place and then doing the animal sounds. We won't say the animals names...but he will almost always do the sound. You just gotta know how to interpret what he's saying!

Now, isn't his rendition of Cock-a-doodle-doo just too cute?!?!

Broke on Valentine's Day

 When kids don't have money to buy you a Valentine's Day Present...

They...

like to....

improvise....

then they might try to....

escape from Time Out!



Our lil' Monkey

Our lil' monkey finally has a more fitting habitat.

After contemplating and planning Owen's room for the better part of a year...it finally came into fruition!

I think our energetic lil' monkey will have no problems getting along with his new roommates!

He even gets to sleep next to his very own lion and elephant!

Just in case you aren't quite sure where you are...

Pretty amazing that the lion doesn't even bother to go for the giraffe. Do lions even eat giraffes? Hmm...best get on Google for that one!

And what did our freshly hair-cut Owen think about it? 

Well...he loved it! I am so glad that his room is finally complete! 

Today is...

Six months since Owen's surgery to correct his craniosynostosis (which just so happens to coincide with it has been 6 months since some of the single worst moments of my life). 

But I gotta say that today...

Owen's

looking

mighty

fine!

Owen and Do'h!

Bethany and Owen have a hankering for some Do'h.  They love that crazy, yellow man.  Remember when Bethany was 18 months old and she requested the Do'h Santa to be played nonstop...

Well, it looks like Owen loves that man just as much!

So Sorry...

Mr. Mischief!?!?!

Yup, you read that shirt right.

And, boy isn't that such a fitting title for the kid that has some sort of 6th sense telling him when the gate was left open.

So, since we officially have an Mr. Mischief on our hands, I want to officially apologize to all of you out there.  I want to say sorry to the people in the stores watching his lil' fits when he wants to run wild....but is slowly being broken like a wild horse.

 Sorry to you restaurant patrons as we try to entertain a overly loud and vocal Mr. Mischief while waiting for our food to arrive.

Sorry to you homeowners as you notice Mr. Mischief decided to help you out and decorated your walls w/ only the most modern art styles.

But really...how can you be mad at this lil' mischievous face for too long....

When...

When one bath isn't enough....

sometimes...

 you gotta handle matters...

yourself...

Don't Cha

Don't cha wish a quick snuggle with your blankie would make your troubles go away?  

It always seems to work for him....perhaps we all need to give it a try!

2 Months Sans-craniosynostosis

Craniosynostosis @ two months later. 

Here is Owen right before his surgery:

Here is Owen, exactly two months post-operation.

He is even wearing the same exact shirt. I love that shirt!

Front view before:

Front View @ 2 months w/ an added piece of grass above his lip:

Don't ya see the difference?  He is just so scrumptious, I tell you!

I tried to take a couple of pictures to show his scar. But have you tried to take a picture of a active 16 month old? This kid is busy.  He doesn't have time to be pestered w/ pictures of his scar.  He has way better things to do.  But here is the best shot I was able to get:

One his left side, it seems that the scar is pretty disguised by his hair.

I don't have a picture of his right side....I think that his scar on that side is more noticeable as it is brighter red color and shines through his hair.

His top view is pretty wicked. Look at the zig-zag way the hair is growing back. It is kinda funny.  There are a few spots where hair isn't growing yet so it is still pretty obvious that someone went all Frankenstein on Owen's head.

Owen's hair is finally all one length, as he just had another hair cut this week. That should be his last hair cut for a while.  We are going to let his hair grow out and get all skater-boy on us.  I hear the ladies like shaggy hair.  This will be great because it should hid his scar better than this buzz cut.

So keep coming back as Owen's lil' head goes from all
Arnold Schwarzenegger-like to more Zac Effron-like.