Precious Moments

I asked Owen if he wanted to help me make cookies Sunday night. He, of course, was excited to help. I bribed him and said, "If you come give me a hug, then we'll go make cookies." He walked right over to me and gave me a huge hug. Then he says to me, "I love you Mom." I'll admit it, I got really teary eyed and a few tears even rolled down my cheeks. I told him to go tell Adam and he said to him, "I love you, Daddy."

Usually when I say "I love you", he'll reply back by yelling, or saying, "You!" With all of his speech issues and insecurities he has regarding the pronunciation of words and sounds, I have been waiting for this day. Granted, he hasn't said it since and I'll have to wait a whole lot longer, I'm sure, to hear it again. So, I'll settle for hearing the "you" when he's running off to bed, or I'm closing the door for him to go to sleep. I know, Adam knows and, most importantly, Owen knows what he's saying.

A Flasher In Our Midst

Caroline has a really cute, purple, velour, one-piece suit that she loves and is, I'm sure, extremely comfortable. It snaps all the way around the legs and up the middle. You know the kind, right? Anywho. I let her outside so she could go play with Owen. When I went to check on them, this is what I found:



She didn't like the fact that I told her we needed to button up her clothes. She got very unhappy about that and cried and cried and cried some more. Needless to say, when I went to check on the 2 of them again, Her suit was unsnapped again. After about the third or fourth time of me snapping, and resnapping the suit, I gave up and just let her roam around outside with it like it was in the picture. Owen thought it was funny and decided he wanted to have his picture taken with his "funny sister."

I particularly like the picture of the two of them squatting together. It's as if Owen is telling Caroline that we need to keep our clothes on outside and she is actually listening to him. These two are just funny, funny, funny kids. I love them to pieces, regardless of how much they can drive me CRAZY!

Facebooking

My s-i-l and my good friend, Kelly, have been trying to get me to join Facebook for a while now. I wasn't crazy about the idea of joining but, like a cat, curiosity got the best of me. I joined this afternoon and I honestly can't believe how many people are out there on Facebook. People that I haven't seen in literally 20 years and, viola! There they are. It's crazy what a small world we live in, especially with today's technology. I'm going to be really anxious to see who else is on there and who I can find. So, if my blogging doesn't get done for a little while, just know that I am out there facebooking!

3 Year Check-Up

I took Owen to the doctor last Friday for his 3 year check-up. There's nothing major going on at this visit, just making sure he's growing (I think even Stevie Wonder could see that he is growing!). Owen stepped on the scale and weighed in at 38 lbs. Next, he stepped up to the measuring device and measured 42" tall! His weight put him in the 95th percentile (which is where it has been his whole life). His height on the other hand, well that put him off the charts for his age. I must admit, even I was shocked to see just how tall he was measuring. I knew he had grown, but I honestly didn't think he would measure 42". Owen has cousins that are 1 and 2 years older than him that he has now passed up in the height department, and is weighing as much or more than them too. I should've figured something was up when his 3T pants were too short for him and I had to buy him 4T pants, which fit him just right. Now that's one tall little boy!

My Boy is 3!!!!

You'll have to excuse the hair, it's serious bed head now that his hair is longer - but I'm not cutting it either especially after all of the comments from so many people about how they love Owen's hair long. Me too!!!

I certainly cannot believe Owen is 3 today. Where in the world has time gone? Owen is such a sweet kid and for the most part is a genuinely good kid too. There are some mischievous streaks to him and some disobedient streaks too. He's not always the most well-behaved kid either. But, overall, he's a good kid.

While gathered at the park last week with some friends, it was mentioned by one or two of them that they had decorated their child's room for their birthday. I decided to steal that idea and did the same for Owen. We went to Party City on Tuesday and got some banners, balloons, and crepe paper streamers. After he went to bed, Adam and I blew up a few (10) balloons, hung the streamers from the ceiling fan and then Adam took the orange streamer and went around the entire room with it, while wrapping it around the airplanes that are hung from the ceiling. (I knew there was a good reason for wanting those airplanes hung up from the ceiling!) When Owen woke up this morning, he ran out to see Adam and said "Dad, come look at my room! There's 'boons (balloons) in it!" He was so excited and absolutely loved waking up to his decorations. That made the whole 20 minute process worth it. I snapped a few pictures and this is what it looked like (the last one you can see Owen snuggled up and sleeping in his bed, if you look carefully - without the bed rail now, I might add):

We went to the park for a picnic lunch and met some friends there. Owen had a great time, although he nor Caroline ate a whole lot for lunch. He gets his choice of where he wants to go for dinner. After dinner, we're going to take him to Baskin Robbins for his free scope of ice cream. He's had an exceptionally great day. Happy Birthday Owen. We love you, Mom, Dad, & Biggi.

Good Weather = Outside Kids!

It has been absolutely gorgeous here for the last week or so. It's chilly in the mornings, 45, but then warms up nicely to 72, plus or minus a degree or two. Once the chill has worn off, I send the kids out back to play. Okay, okay, they're asking - practically begging - to go outside by then, so out they go. Yesterday, they climbed up into one of the patio chairs and ate their snack together. It was so cute and such a precious moment that I had to snap a quick pic of the two of them together. Although they have been playing really well together lately, (or did I just jinx myself) this doesn't always happen:

Of course, Owen had to smile in the biggest, cheesiest smile ever, and with a mouth full of granola bar with chocolate drizzle showing on his teeth, but hey it's still a dang cute picture of the two of them. I'm so glad it's such great weather. I keep hoping the inevitable summer heat will just stay away. I know it won't, but can't I hope anyway?!

So Not a Girlie Girl

Last night Caroline was sitting on the couch with all of her fairies and My Little Ponies. She was playing contently with them. Adam walked over to her, knelt down and asked her what she was doing. She replied that she was playing with her fairies and ponies. Adam then proceeded to ask her what the fairies were doing. To which Caroline replied, "fwying" (flying). After Adam was done talking to her and his attention was needed elsewhere, Caroline continued to play for just a few more minutes with her fairies and ponies. When she was done playing, instead of putting them back into her bin on the shelf, she loaded all of her fairies and ponies into Owen's tool box, locked it, and walked off! I loved it!!!!!

I love that she is the fist one to put on the yellow construction hat of Owen's to wear around the house. I love that she wears Owen's baseball hat backwards with her Hello Kitty sunglasses. I love that she is right there doing whatever he big brother is doing and having just as much fun as him. I love that she is a girl but is so willing to play with all the other boys (and girls) in the neighborhood and doesn't mind playing with "boy toys." I love that my little girl is sooooo not a girlie girl! Just a chip of the 'ole block! Way to go Biggi!

20 Down 20 To Go

I am 20 weeks pregnant today. Half way there --- whew! It's gone by relatively quickly, I think because I am chasing 2 others around the house. We'll see just how quickly the next 20 go. I do have an ultrasound scheduled, but NO we are not going to find out the sex of the baby. We decided that since we have 1 of each and everything that the baby would require, there's really no need. It will be an exceptionally wonderful surprise when the baby is born in May. We'll all find out together.

So, if you here me refer to the baby as "he" or "she", don't get excited we won't know the sex. For me, the baby becomes "real" after the ultrasound when I see "it" moving. I'm feeling the baby more and more, but it still doesn't see real until I see it. Even then it can be hard for me to accept and really only becomes really real when I am strapped to the table with a curtain in front of me and the doctor is slicing me open.

Really all that matters anyway is the baby is happy, healthy, has all the parts in all the rights places.

Road Trip

Adam and I decided to go see my parents for New Year's. The maiden voyage in our new car to my parents' house went like a dream. There is definitely a difference in driving a car with kids in it for 6 hours and driving this car. They (which means me) were so much more comfortable. I also got to listen to XM radio for free thanks to the new car. That made a huge difference too!

We left early in the morning on New Year's Eve. We had originally planned on leaving the 30th, but my cousin was sealed to her husband and new baby girl that afternoon. That was so beautiful and so touching to witness. Even the sealer got choked up when sealing their baby to them. It was amazing!

Anywho. The kids had a great time and slept pretty darn well while on vacation, naps and all. Owen did get croup, where that came from I'll never know. (I guess once you get it, you're always susceptible to it.) Luckily, we were at the right place for a child to get sick. My dad called in a prescription for Owen and now he's almost done with it -- gotta love Z-Max!

We took the kids to the park, inflated the bounce house my parents have, went shopping, saw a movie, and enjoyed being with my family. The weather was fabulous, regardless of the day and a half that was cloudy, damp, foggy weather, but we still managed to have a fabulous time, like we always do when we go out there.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

On the way back, Adam and I stopped in Blythe. Adam went across the street to a great Mexican restaurant, La Casitas Dos, and I tried taking the kids to Carl's Jr. The line for Carl's was to the door. I decided to then take the kids next door to Jack In the ("Crack") Box. When I walked into the "Crack" I couldn't believe who was standing right in front of me. My cousin!!!!! She was on her way back to CA from here after being here for the new year and obviously we were on our way back from CA. What a small, small, small world to run into my cousin in Blythe at the "Crack." We did end up going to La Casitas and eating there. It was, like always, fan-freakin'-tastic!

Zip It!

For all of you nay-sayers who didn't think the Utes could beat the Crimson Tide of Alabama will you all please just zip it! Better luck next year Cougars and Cougar fans. In fact, why don't you just thank the Utes and their fans for the nice chunk of change your school will now be receiving thanks to the Utes. That's what I thought!!!!!!!!

Detour to the ER

Adam was taking the lights off the roof today while I had both kids with me at Costco. I had forgotten one of the 3 things I was to going to Costco for until I saw it sitting in the cart of someone else. Got my receipt checked off and then I whipped back through the entrance when I got the phone call.

Adam: "Hey, where are you?"
Me: "I'm at Costco, why?"
Adam: "I either broke or dislocated my finger."
Me: "Okay, I'm on my way home."

As I pulled into the driveway, he was still puttering around trying to do as much as possible without that hand. When I actually saw his finger, I knew we were going to have to go to the ER because no urgent care was going to touch it and an x-ray was going to need to be done. I told him to go get a reusable ice pack on it so it wouldn't swell any more. Regrettably, we didn't get any pictures of his finger. Fortunately, it wasn't broken, but was dislocated at the middle joint of his left pinkie finger -- 45 degrees up and 45 degrees out! He said it didn't hurt and, frankly, he didn't even realized he had dislocated it until he went to grab something and realized his finger wasn't working properly. Before the doctor reduced (reset) the finger, he gave Adam the option of numbing medicine or not. Adam did opt for the numbing medicine but said he still felt and heard the pop of the finger going back to where it should be. When the numbing medicine wore off is when the finger started to throb. Nothing a little Advil doesn't take care of luckily.

One hour later and $150 co-pay he was back to taking the lights off the roof, getting ready for my cousin's sealing, and puttering around the house before we leave on our trip.

Joining the Rest of the Population

Sometime between Saturday late afternoon and today we did it. We knew that we would need to get a bigger car with this baby on the way. We weren't planning on doing anything about a new car until around end of April. We wanted to see what the economy was going to do (or not do) and save some more money. We also knew that we wanted to buy a used car and save on the depreciation and have a smaller payment (something neither one of us have ever had before - big or small). On the other hand, "Now's the time to do it!" was what I heard from just about everyone.

Saturday afternoon, Adam said "Honda is having 0% financing." My meager reply to him was let's just go take a look and see about the Odyssey. After dinner, we lugged the kids with us to the Honda dealer, looked at the Odyssey, got the information catalog, business card, etc., etc., etc., Next stop, the GM dealer. We wanted to compare the Odyssey to a Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Yukon XL and see what was going to best fit our family. Both manufacturers had incentives to give, although GM's were HUGE -- $10,000 HUGE!!!!

We talked all night Saturday night. I woke up around 1:30 Sunday morning and was lying awake thinking about our options for the next 2 hours, finally falling back to sleep. I made some calls to a couple of dealerships in CA for them to check their inventory, knowing that we were going out for a short visit to my parents' house for New Year's. Adam called another dealer here, too to find out their inventory and their financing options. After looking at banks for a used car loan and seeing the difference in price in used vs. new, it was clear that a new car was going to be the way to go.

We decided to go back to the Honda dealer and drive the Odyssey. It drove like a dream. Automatic everything, or so it seemed. We didn't need to drive a Yukon because we had both driven those in the past. Hasn't changed that much I'm sure. We liked both of the vehicles, but one was definitely going to suit our family better.

After haggling and haggling for 3 hours (this time with just 1 child with us) at the dealership, we were $1,600 apart, which was the cost of the built-in DVD player. (We can buy 16 portables for for the price of a built-in, but thought it would be nice to have the built-in.) We weren't budging and neither was the dealer. We decided to walk out and go to a different one. By the the time we got home from picking Owen up from my brother's house (thanks Scott & Karina!), there was a message on the answering machine and the salesman (who was great) was calling on the phone. He was calling to tell us that they "found a car in the back" without the DVD player, in the color we wanted, leather, and they would honor the deal they wrote up on a different color car that we liked, but weren't crazy about. We fed the kids and then back to the dealership Adam went.

When Adam got home, he pulled into the driveway driving this:


I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new car! I never ever thought I would drive a mini-van. I've always liked the Suburban-type vehicles better. But, after looking at all of the options this sucker had to offer, there was no question that this car was the best match for our family. So, it seems that I have joined the rest of the population in driving a mini-van. I am glad to be driving something other than our car. Not that I didn't love driving that, because I did. It's just that with the kids growing and myself growing, I knew we weren't going to fit into it for much longer. While driving I sit up higher, although it doesn't really look like it. It has so much room and so comfy.

Now I feel like a teenager who just got her license to drive because I have a great new car to drive around town!