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| Birthday Boy and Owen |
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| Cookies and Cream Cake |
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Arcadia Farms
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| Me, Bri, Owen & Kellan |
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| Taking my family there. . . out of Scones, boo! |
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| Taking Eric's parents there |
What the peanut is up to . . .
I checked and it has been a little while since I updated on what the family is up to.
Most importantly, Owen is army crawling and sitting independently. He is getting super fast at the crawling thing and he looks really close to coming up on all fours. Every time I try to help with his physical therapy moves he squiggles right out, he has no patience to try and get his legs up underneath him when he is so fast at his army crawl. When I watch him from behind he looks like a crocodile or a lizard:-) It is super cute and super exciting.
Eric and I have been trying to "baby proof" the house and also have started teaching Owen what not to touch. He now knows that door stops, dog toys, dog tails, dog bowls, doors, and his diaper champ are off limits. But to him that just means try to get there faster so that he can enjoy his forbidden fruit before it is taken away:-) The dogs are no help because they bring their gross stuffed animals very close to Owen's blanket as soon as you get down on the floor with him:-)
I also try to read at least 3 books a day to him which is difficult because he wants to turn the pages as fast as possible and rip them out. So he has two cardboard books that we read OVER and OVER and OVER:-) "Happy Baby Animals" is his all time favorite and we received that one for free from Dr. Lersch!
Owen is also very proficient at telling me when he is pissed off! For instance when I will not let him rip my favorite books to shreds, or play and eat plants. . . .and he is also super duper snuggly. When he is done playing he trys to get to you to snuggle up so you will pick him up. I just love it.
His eating is also going very well still. We are up to 3 solid meals a day consistently with about 24-26 ounces of formula. We are still only eating very pureed foods as of now, waiting for him to catch up a little more developmentally before introducing more texture. Our OT says that once he develops his 2 finger pincer grip that will go hand in hand with starting finger foods. . . . . once again the human body and its development continue to astonish me with its complexity and harmony.
Most importantly, Owen is army crawling and sitting independently. He is getting super fast at the crawling thing and he looks really close to coming up on all fours. Every time I try to help with his physical therapy moves he squiggles right out, he has no patience to try and get his legs up underneath him when he is so fast at his army crawl. When I watch him from behind he looks like a crocodile or a lizard:-) It is super cute and super exciting.
Eric and I have been trying to "baby proof" the house and also have started teaching Owen what not to touch. He now knows that door stops, dog toys, dog tails, dog bowls, doors, and his diaper champ are off limits. But to him that just means try to get there faster so that he can enjoy his forbidden fruit before it is taken away:-) The dogs are no help because they bring their gross stuffed animals very close to Owen's blanket as soon as you get down on the floor with him:-)
I also try to read at least 3 books a day to him which is difficult because he wants to turn the pages as fast as possible and rip them out. So he has two cardboard books that we read OVER and OVER and OVER:-) "Happy Baby Animals" is his all time favorite and we received that one for free from Dr. Lersch!
Owen is also very proficient at telling me when he is pissed off! For instance when I will not let him rip my favorite books to shreds, or play and eat plants. . . .and he is also super duper snuggly. When he is done playing he trys to get to you to snuggle up so you will pick him up. I just love it.
His eating is also going very well still. We are up to 3 solid meals a day consistently with about 24-26 ounces of formula. We are still only eating very pureed foods as of now, waiting for him to catch up a little more developmentally before introducing more texture. Our OT says that once he develops his 2 finger pincer grip that will go hand in hand with starting finger foods. . . . . once again the human body and its development continue to astonish me with its complexity and harmony.
Over Labor Day Eric's parents came out to visit and it was nice to get to be able to see them. Owen especially enjoyed learning to play catch with Grandma! Shortly after that, my parents drove out to visit for a week. It was great to see Owen get to interact with his extended family. With my Mom out, I purchased my very own sewing machine and enlisted my sister as slave labor to start the preparations for Owen's 1st birthday which is coming up just around the corner. Stay tuned for pictures after the party. And check out the photo website in the September folder for the 300+ pictures my Mom took while she was out here. . . . VERY nice camera by the way:-)
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| Pleas notice Linus in the background:-) |
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| Caught trying to fold laundry! |
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| Forbidden fruit, and a very kind dog. |
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| Reading his favorite book. |
Friday, September 17, 2010
Happy Birthday Eric
Today my husband turns 31! How sweet it is to get to share my life with my very BFF! I remember when we first met, I remember when we had our first date, our first kiss, the first time I said I love you, our first REAL fight. . . . I'll save those stories for another day, today I celebrate the life of a very special man.
I remember with absolute clarity how we spent his 30th birthday. We went in for a routine ultrasound, and had our world flipped upside down. Just a year before Eric had taken me to Vegas for my 30th and we had such a fabulous time with our friends living it up like rockstars if only for the weekend. I was so sad that Eric had to have his milestone while rocked with such tragic news, and some very hard decisions. And that day, and everyday since then he maintains that he received the best present of his life, the chance to save his sons.
Eric, I thought about how I could tell you, really tell you how much you mean to me and the truth is, I don't know. The magnitude of my love, and the thankfulness that I feel for being a part of your life and for all the big and especially all of the little things you continually do I don't think could ever fully be expressed. All I can say is I love you, and thank you.
A Few of the Big and Little things that make you, you:-)
1. (Big)You work hard, really hard. Hard enough that I don't have to, and I can stay at home with our son.
This is probably your best and most generous gift to me.
2. (Little) You make a MEAN blueberry pancake, even without one of those crazy new electric griddles, you know the kind you can make a thousand pancakes at once and the temperature is always the same. . . . we should get one:-)
3. (Big) You are the patient half to my instant gratification half. You are the reasonable side to my irrational side. The planner to my spontenaity. And we balance each other.
4. (Little) You can have entire conversations with movie quotes. Some lines are just always super funny, and I love how we can crack each other up, and annoy each other all at the same time. "awwwww, what's in the box, what's in the box?"
5. (Little) Your laugh. Especially when you find something really funny that takes you by suprise. It is rare to get that high pitched laugh and it is my favorite. I try all the time to illicit that sound.
6. (Big) Balancing the family budget. This is a nearly impossible task because of my above mentioned instant gratification problem, and the fact that you really can't say no to me. I have looked at this color coded, extremely complex excel spreadsheet and it makes my eyes glaze over. If it were up to me we would live in a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere.
7. (Big) All the things you did for me when I was on bedrest. Helping me up the step ladder into bed and then surrounding me with pillows so I wouldn't move on my own. Shaving my legs so I wouldn't have to go into labor looking crazy. Cooking, cleaning, worrying, working, foot rubs, back rubs, taking my braids out . . . . this list could go on forever. . . sleeping on a 5 foot cot at the foot of my hospital stretcher in a room that had to be kept at 50 degrees because the anti contraction drugs made me burn from the inside out.
8. (Big) Your faith. It seems that most people, once they reach the age that Sunday school is over feel like they have completed their education. You have continued to grow more faithful and express a great interest in learning even more about your faith. I never want to stop learning, and I am grateful to get to share that with you. When Owen and I were housebound you went to mass every Sunday for the whole house. . . . . even if you hadn't shaved the whole weekend:-)
9. (Little) You are a guy's guy. I love that you have real guy friends, and that you rough house and tease, and drink beer, and eat garbage, and watch football, and play fantasy football. (This doesn't mean I think FF is cool by the way, it is still LAME)
10. (Big) All of our memories together. I am so glad to have had our college experience together and to have so many friends in common. Remember our Ensanada cruise, the bus ride through Italy, my nephew puking on himself, greenbeans for dinner everynight and then throwing my spoon over the balcony in protest? Remember the cross party, and the bonfire party, club 302 and basketball parties? Remember Ty and Old English, me and Steel Reserve, Collin's, Malohney's, The Museum Club, Porky's, Granny's Closet? Remember Nick singing at Preston's wedding, the urinal at Chris's wedding, the shopping cart at our wedding, the cigars at Nick's wedding, you and Kevin dancing at Mark and Tara's wedding? Remember throwing my crutch down the hill, fighting on St. Patrick's Day, running in the desert? Remember driving to Mexico, or Tucson, or Phoenix. Remember our first apartment, our Hillcrest apartment, going to Vegas with Bobby and the walkie talkies? Remember any Salt River trip, but especially our first, and hopefully not so much of our last?
11. (Little) The little post-it notes you leave me every morning.
12. (Little) The way you always kiss me goodbye and goodnight. Sometimes when I am being bratty I try to withhold this from you, but you never let me, and I love that.
13. (Little) Your taste in music. . . . maybe because it is nearly the same as mine . . . . except for O.A.R. I just don't get it! I'm sorry Nate., maybe if I saw the saxaphone player in person, ha.
14. (Little) You can always get a burp out of Owen when I can't.
15. (Big) You always let me hold the boys if only one got to be held, because you said you wouldn't even get to hold them if I had stayed pregnant so I should get to hold them the most since I missed out on my third trimester. You always went to see them on your lunch break when I had to work.
16. (Little) You let me decorate with pink. Whenever we go to some of our friends houses and it is super masculine I always feel so grateful that you really don't care about the decor. I want pink sheets and towels. . . . fine by you. Thank you:-) It's a 1 to you, but a 10 to me.
I'm trying, but it is still so hard to articulate how special I think you are. I love you now and always. Happy Birthday.
I remember with absolute clarity how we spent his 30th birthday. We went in for a routine ultrasound, and had our world flipped upside down. Just a year before Eric had taken me to Vegas for my 30th and we had such a fabulous time with our friends living it up like rockstars if only for the weekend. I was so sad that Eric had to have his milestone while rocked with such tragic news, and some very hard decisions. And that day, and everyday since then he maintains that he received the best present of his life, the chance to save his sons.
Eric, I thought about how I could tell you, really tell you how much you mean to me and the truth is, I don't know. The magnitude of my love, and the thankfulness that I feel for being a part of your life and for all the big and especially all of the little things you continually do I don't think could ever fully be expressed. All I can say is I love you, and thank you.
A Few of the Big and Little things that make you, you:-)
1. (Big)You work hard, really hard. Hard enough that I don't have to, and I can stay at home with our son.
This is probably your best and most generous gift to me.
2. (Little) You make a MEAN blueberry pancake, even without one of those crazy new electric griddles, you know the kind you can make a thousand pancakes at once and the temperature is always the same. . . . we should get one:-)
3. (Big) You are the patient half to my instant gratification half. You are the reasonable side to my irrational side. The planner to my spontenaity. And we balance each other.
4. (Little) You can have entire conversations with movie quotes. Some lines are just always super funny, and I love how we can crack each other up, and annoy each other all at the same time. "awwwww, what's in the box, what's in the box?"
5. (Little) Your laugh. Especially when you find something really funny that takes you by suprise. It is rare to get that high pitched laugh and it is my favorite. I try all the time to illicit that sound.
6. (Big) Balancing the family budget. This is a nearly impossible task because of my above mentioned instant gratification problem, and the fact that you really can't say no to me. I have looked at this color coded, extremely complex excel spreadsheet and it makes my eyes glaze over. If it were up to me we would live in a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere.
7. (Big) All the things you did for me when I was on bedrest. Helping me up the step ladder into bed and then surrounding me with pillows so I wouldn't move on my own. Shaving my legs so I wouldn't have to go into labor looking crazy. Cooking, cleaning, worrying, working, foot rubs, back rubs, taking my braids out . . . . this list could go on forever. . . sleeping on a 5 foot cot at the foot of my hospital stretcher in a room that had to be kept at 50 degrees because the anti contraction drugs made me burn from the inside out.
8. (Big) Your faith. It seems that most people, once they reach the age that Sunday school is over feel like they have completed their education. You have continued to grow more faithful and express a great interest in learning even more about your faith. I never want to stop learning, and I am grateful to get to share that with you. When Owen and I were housebound you went to mass every Sunday for the whole house. . . . . even if you hadn't shaved the whole weekend:-)
9. (Little) You are a guy's guy. I love that you have real guy friends, and that you rough house and tease, and drink beer, and eat garbage, and watch football, and play fantasy football. (This doesn't mean I think FF is cool by the way, it is still LAME)
10. (Big) All of our memories together. I am so glad to have had our college experience together and to have so many friends in common. Remember our Ensanada cruise, the bus ride through Italy, my nephew puking on himself, greenbeans for dinner everynight and then throwing my spoon over the balcony in protest? Remember the cross party, and the bonfire party, club 302 and basketball parties? Remember Ty and Old English, me and Steel Reserve, Collin's, Malohney's, The Museum Club, Porky's, Granny's Closet? Remember Nick singing at Preston's wedding, the urinal at Chris's wedding, the shopping cart at our wedding, the cigars at Nick's wedding, you and Kevin dancing at Mark and Tara's wedding? Remember throwing my crutch down the hill, fighting on St. Patrick's Day, running in the desert? Remember driving to Mexico, or Tucson, or Phoenix. Remember our first apartment, our Hillcrest apartment, going to Vegas with Bobby and the walkie talkies? Remember any Salt River trip, but especially our first, and hopefully not so much of our last?
11. (Little) The little post-it notes you leave me every morning.
12. (Little) The way you always kiss me goodbye and goodnight. Sometimes when I am being bratty I try to withhold this from you, but you never let me, and I love that.
13. (Little) Your taste in music. . . . maybe because it is nearly the same as mine . . . . except for O.A.R. I just don't get it! I'm sorry Nate., maybe if I saw the saxaphone player in person, ha.
14. (Little) You can always get a burp out of Owen when I can't.
15. (Big) You always let me hold the boys if only one got to be held, because you said you wouldn't even get to hold them if I had stayed pregnant so I should get to hold them the most since I missed out on my third trimester. You always went to see them on your lunch break when I had to work.
16. (Little) You let me decorate with pink. Whenever we go to some of our friends houses and it is super masculine I always feel so grateful that you really don't care about the decor. I want pink sheets and towels. . . . fine by you. Thank you:-) It's a 1 to you, but a 10 to me.
I'm trying, but it is still so hard to articulate how special I think you are. I love you now and always. Happy Birthday.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Friends
This past weekend at a baby shower for a good friend of mine, I was able to see a lot of girlfriends that I hadn't seen since or before Liam passed, and it reminded me of the meaning of friendship. I have not always been the friend I've wanted to be because I'm hot headed, I'm outspoken, I think I'm right nearly all of the time, I hate the phone, and I am admittedly a bit of a recluse (hee hee), but sitting there with the girls, trading birth stories, and reminiscing about bachelorette parties, I realized how incredibly lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life, and it doesn't stop with just the girls in that room. I have the most amazing friends a girl could ever want! So here's to you, girls. From California to Wisconsin and EVERYwhere in between, I love you, I'm thankful for you and I cherish you.
Here's to friends. The ones who are there for you no matter what. Who understand if you do something rotten, and forgive you even if they don't understand. Here's to friends who you can disagree with and fight with, but in the end make up because what would you do without each other anyway. Here's to the ones that turned out to be better friends than you even knew until you needed them most. To the friend that will drive 40 miles to Cracker Barrel because you're on your period and NEED to eat some hash brown casserole, but don't want to go alone:-) Here's to the friends who will tell you if you don't look good to save you from yourself, and the ones who will say you look amazing if you need a confidence boost. The ones who will stick up for you when you can't do it yourself. The ones you can count on NOT to break the rules in Vegas. Here's to the ones you just met, the ones you are just getting to know better, and the ones you've known FOREVER. The ones that don't compete with you, and that you don't compare yourself to, and the ones that make you want to be better, aim higher, and love more. The ones that inspire you and challenge you. Even the one who you swear every time you call her she is in a fast food drive through, but she looks amazing and what the F is her secret!!
Here's to work friends, college friends, high school friends, horseback riding friends, track friends, cross country friends, aesthetician friends, plastic surgery friends, wives of my husband's friends friends, and sister friends. The ones who take care of you when you've had too much to drink and keep the toilet seat from hitting you in the head and make you go home with them, and the ones whom you push in a wheelchair through the basement of a casino. The ones who treat you to a ridiculously lavish massage because they think you deserve it. Here's to the friends who call your now husband before you were even dating and leave a dozen messages about how stupid he is if he doesn't call you . . . . all without your knowledge or consent, it was out of love right?
And here's to the kindred spirits, the one whom you met and instantly loved and knew that you were cut from the same cloth, and that no matter what you would be best friends forever because your souls had already been best friends before you were born. You could tell them anything, and they are thinking the same thing, its crazy good! The one that you can really keep a secret for, and that you can trust with your own secret.
We've laughed together, we've cried together. We've fought, conspired, loved, baked, cooked, learned, worked and lived together. We've traded recipes, clothes, make-up, books, and tips. We've carpooled, lunched, thrown dinner parties, studied, road tripped, vacationed, and camped together.
Most of all we've just been together. No one ever said they had too many great friends. I value each and every one of you. If we're not that close yet, I hope we get closer, and if we are close, I hope we always stay that way. If we've drifted apart I hope we close the gap. Never stop reaching out, never stop giving second chances and you won't ever regret anything.
"And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make" The Beatles
Here's to friends. The ones who are there for you no matter what. Who understand if you do something rotten, and forgive you even if they don't understand. Here's to friends who you can disagree with and fight with, but in the end make up because what would you do without each other anyway. Here's to the ones that turned out to be better friends than you even knew until you needed them most. To the friend that will drive 40 miles to Cracker Barrel because you're on your period and NEED to eat some hash brown casserole, but don't want to go alone:-) Here's to the friends who will tell you if you don't look good to save you from yourself, and the ones who will say you look amazing if you need a confidence boost. The ones who will stick up for you when you can't do it yourself. The ones you can count on NOT to break the rules in Vegas. Here's to the ones you just met, the ones you are just getting to know better, and the ones you've known FOREVER. The ones that don't compete with you, and that you don't compare yourself to, and the ones that make you want to be better, aim higher, and love more. The ones that inspire you and challenge you. Even the one who you swear every time you call her she is in a fast food drive through, but she looks amazing and what the F is her secret!!
Here's to work friends, college friends, high school friends, horseback riding friends, track friends, cross country friends, aesthetician friends, plastic surgery friends, wives of my husband's friends friends, and sister friends. The ones who take care of you when you've had too much to drink and keep the toilet seat from hitting you in the head and make you go home with them, and the ones whom you push in a wheelchair through the basement of a casino. The ones who treat you to a ridiculously lavish massage because they think you deserve it. Here's to the friends who call your now husband before you were even dating and leave a dozen messages about how stupid he is if he doesn't call you . . . . all without your knowledge or consent, it was out of love right?
And here's to the kindred spirits, the one whom you met and instantly loved and knew that you were cut from the same cloth, and that no matter what you would be best friends forever because your souls had already been best friends before you were born. You could tell them anything, and they are thinking the same thing, its crazy good! The one that you can really keep a secret for, and that you can trust with your own secret.
We've laughed together, we've cried together. We've fought, conspired, loved, baked, cooked, learned, worked and lived together. We've traded recipes, clothes, make-up, books, and tips. We've carpooled, lunched, thrown dinner parties, studied, road tripped, vacationed, and camped together.
Most of all we've just been together. No one ever said they had too many great friends. I value each and every one of you. If we're not that close yet, I hope we get closer, and if we are close, I hope we always stay that way. If we've drifted apart I hope we close the gap. Never stop reaching out, never stop giving second chances and you won't ever regret anything.
"And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make" The Beatles
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| Camping |
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| I wish I had an "after" picture |
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| Thug Life |
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| Vegas Baby |
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| Before Babies:-) |
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| Just before bedrest |
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| The Girls |
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| Before Babies |
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| More Girls |
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| Posing, NOT smoking |
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| Shower Planning Superstars |
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Things I am CRAZY about
1. Getting Owen up for the first time in the morning. He is always so happy to see me, and has been announcing his readiness to get up by blowing rasberries as loud as he can:-) He is also sleeping on his side which is so adorable.
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3. TrueBlood. I am devastated that the season finale is in two weeks! This is the BEST vampire story EVER. (And I love Twilight)
4. Etsy.com. I don't need to explain if you've been there!
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