Maxwell House Moments

Baby Ellie

2012-01-18T22:48:00.000-08:00

I thought this was going to be a Wordless Wednesday, but Baby Ellie deserves some words. When Jon and Jess stayed with us last spring, they brought along their real, live Baby Ellie (who, at 10 months was bigger than Josh at 18, by the way). Well, Ellie's baby doll got left behind, Josh took a liking to her, and named her...Ellie!

Side note: At least we know where Josh's baby name came from.

Owen also has a baby doll, that he inexplicably (and without a doubt) has named "Kay-lay."

Scott and I have debated the spelling... Kaylay? Kahlay? Caelay?,

but we are both clueless as to where he came up with that name.

Any ideas on that one are welcome.

Josh and Ellie were best buddies for a period. Now, she doesn't get a lot of attention on a day to day basis, but she has become an essential traveling companion. Ellie and the bandana that serves as her swaddling blanket. A bandana that I have swaddled and re-swaddled more times than I ever swaddled either of my real babies! Josh and Ellie share some tender moments, well, as tender as a 2-year-old can be. Many nights before Josh heads up for bed, he grabs Ellie, hold her close, whispers "nigh, nigh, E-ee," and then flings open the game cabinet, tosses her inside, slams the door shut, and sprints out of the room.

A boy and his girl.

One More Mustache

2012-01-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

We had a few temporary tattoos left over from Christmas, so the next morning, while I was in the shower, Scott found person who had missed out on the fun the night before. He thought I would be mad, but how can you do anything but laugh at this site:

Yes, he spent the whole day that way, including trips to the outlet mall and grocery store. Thankfully, Josh had no idea why everyone was grinning from ear to ear and whispering as we walked past. So hard to get upset at a toddler with a tatoo!

Wordless-ish Wednesday: Visiting the Man in Red

2012-01-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

Anticipation...

Our turn...

Wait, someone is missing here...

No...

Family Photo!

Disguised...

2012-01-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

During one of my recent (many) passes through Seatac Airport, I found a pack of mustache tatoos at Fireworks and tossed them in the Christmas bag. You never know when you need a handy disguise...

Christmas 2

2012-01-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas is one of those days that lasts forever... in the best way! After filling our "sleigh" with freshly opened gifts, we joined what seemed to be an unusually large number of holiday travelers heading north out of Seattle. We arrived at the lake to happy, smiling faces... happy to see us, and happy that the power had clicked on minutes earlier, making Christmas Dinner a much more likely occurrence!

Before we could unload the car, Owen was lost to Grandma's play room. We experienced a "Christmas Miracle!" with him and Calla playing nicely together without adult supervision.

Presents for the kids before dinner... more Pirates!

Calla opened an assortment of imaginative play items - cleaning supplies, tool box, and this shopping cart that probably made 100 laps around the house. She was in great spirits and it was fun to spend some auntie time playing our own version of Uno Moo.

Josh came down with a nasty Christmas Cough and spent the day mostly in my lap with mouth clamped shut.

We convinced Conrad that those that give gifts with small parts are responsible for helping put them together. =) Thankfully, he was happy to help. These two spent at least an hour diligently working. Probably my favorite Christmas moment to observe the generations working together...

...and see that they were still all smiles at the end!

After getting the (exhausted!) kids down for the night, we shared our adult gift exchange. Everyone seemed thrilled with their gifts, with good laughs, and stories all around.

The kids snuck in some gingerbread house decorating before Ryan & Sara headed home and we got to relax at the lake for a day of decompression. The kids got some quality Aunt Kate time before she heads back to Alaska and Scott and I were introduced us to Settlers of Catan, which may prove fatal to any chance of remaining evening productivity...

We capped off our Christmas travels with at 12 hour trip home. This time, not due to weather, but our many stops - rest areas, Portland houses, kids new child care, outlet malls, "um, I guess I do need to pee" stops on the side of the road, slow pizza dinner, and then driving rain over the pass. Four weary travelers happy to be home in our own beds and marveling that it may have been the last time we make that long drive for the holidays. A 4 hour jaunt up from Portland next year is sounding pretty easy!

Christmas 1

2012-01-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the mild "winter" we've been having in the northwest, our Christmas trip to Seattle was without many of the usual stresses and adventures. Plus, our kids seem to have matured into easy travelers, and this trip was the first in 4 1/2 years that did not require any baby gear or special sippy cups. Our boys are content in sleeping bags on the floor and Josh even watched 15-20 minutes of movies during our long drives.

My parents treated us to an evening of the Christmas sights in Bellevue - Lights at the Botanical Garden, dinner downtown, and then fighting the crowds to see the Snowflake Lane. Josh was enamored with the drummers and it was a great way to enjoy the big city Christmas spirit that we can't get in Bend.

Christmas Eve started with our Montessori Party - FOUR young kids in the mix this year really shifted he focus from our generation to the next. It was great fun to meet Tyler and Kristen's son, William and Kristen and I were able to share the antics of busy, busy toddler boys. Colin and Erin also arrived with Claire after this picture - first time meeting her as well, as she was just days old at Christmas last year. We missed Ryan and Ashley who were both in Cali with their in-laws, but Deanna brought Oma instead and she entertained us with stories that are only earned by being in amazing health and mind at 86!

For our Elves' Party, the Elves left us a new game - Zingo! Nana and Papa also broke out new light sabers...

Leaving treats for Santa...

After tucking the kids in, we embarked on some classic games - Taboo, Pictionary, and Anomia, with Todd being the clear winner in all three.

The next morning: Checking to see if he came...

Santa left Owen these Hot Wheels tracks and Josh a Mr. Potato Head family, though the play patterns over the last week indicate that the Hot Wheels track would have been more than enough gift for both of them to share.

We also began what Owen eventually dubbed, "A very Pirate-y Christmas!" Swords for both boys, a massive playmobile ship and a pirate book for Owen, smaller ships, more swords, and a sticker book later in the day at the Lake.

Since we packed all our gifts up to Seattle this year, we were all overly showered with gifts. Scott opened a new rain jacket, bike accessories galore, clothing and UW swag. I was lucky with two boxes of tall brown boots, clothing, new crock pot, cook books, and my favorite chocolate. The boys found stockings full of art supplies, remote control robots, and other great toys. Love those PJ hugs on Christmas Morning!

...If Not Efficient

2011-12-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

In college, my girlfriends teased me that the best word to describe me was "efficient." Even my car (white Ford Escort, 2 door, front wheel drive, stick shift, tape deck, automatic nothing) fit the bill. So this year, I set myself on the route for quality, efficient holiday cards.
- Purchase the Groupon for our local photography studio - just a 20 minute session with access to the electronic files.
- Quick stop for new shirts for the boys that will double as their holiday finest.
- Early order through Snapfish - my favorite cards to date - in time for their discount code and free shipping.

Then, in my last bid to be efficient, I set the box of cards aside to wait for us to get a lease signed in Portland. How great (and efficient!) would it to be to tuck a little "we moved!" note inside each holiday greeting? So the cards sat, and sat, and sat. We realized that we weren't going to find a place before the holidays and postponed our family move to February. We dove into the holiday season and buried the box of cards under shopping bags and Christmas cheer. Fast forward to 3 days before Christmas, and, well, the cards went in the mail box this morning. Happy New Year!

I did want to post a few pictures from our photo session. If these pictures were truly reflective of our year, you would probably see:
- Bald spot on the back of Josh's head where we had to super glue to close a wound;
- Perpetual spot of drool/food goober on my left shoulder
- Long, shaggy hair covering ears and eyes of the kids
- Wrist braces and finger splints holding Scott's hands together
- Owens' short pants from an early fall growth spurt (oh wait, you can see those!)

- Two boys wrestling through half the photo shoot and (literally) running circles around the photographer
- Busted knees on all my pants (which I call a sign of good mothering - lots of time down on the floor with my kids!)
- Bags under eyes and weary hearts, processing all the change that is to come

As it turns out, a clean change of clothes, quick trim over the ears the night before, and a talented photographer can make our real life look pretty spiffy. Thankfully, the joy and smiles are 100% real... in no part coerced through the promise of M&Ms sitting on the front counter.

Merry Christmas!

...Until We Don't

2011-11-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

Over the summer and early fall, I took on this wonderful mantra:
"We Live Here!"
It was a way to celebrate both the place we live - the mountains, lakes, beautiful weather, places to explore - and the community in this place - friends that get us, welcoming attitude, the love of outdoors, willingness to explore, access to nature, and all the events planned with families in mind.

Each Friday in September, as we gathered with friends to hike around one of our high dessert beauties, I would turn to Michelle and marvel, "We Live Here!" Watching our kids splash in Sparks Lake with the Three Sisters rising in the background... "We Live Here!" Sitting on the shore of Todd Lake while our kids hunt for frogs and tadpoles... "We Live Here!" Sitting outside Jackson's Corner with dear friends, pints of beer in hand, watching the boys play with their friends in their play area... "We Live Here!" Checking in at the public pool, the one with twisty slides, water play structures, and zero-entry wading pool, waving at the friends who were already gathered and layering on the sunscreen... "We Live Here!" Enjoying our end of summer party/graduation at the boys' school, with all the kids showing off the river they had built in the backyard, adults drinking home-brew beer, all eyes beaming at the two kids who have grown from toddlers to kindergarteners in this magical place..."We Live Here!"

Needless to say, we have come to LOVE Bend, Oregon.

The problem is, Bend, Oregon is suffering (along with the rest of the country). We know so many people, including numerous friends and co-workers, who have lost jobs and are still struggling to find a comperable position in town. While August and September were filled with marvel at this amazing place we live, October brought the news that Scott's position is ending in Bend and my office would soon be closing. Ironically (amazingly, shockingly, coincidentally??) we received these two pieces of news within one 24-hour period.

We suddenly found ourselves in a very common position... and in a very uncommon position at the same time. You see, Scott's job is ending in Bend, but he's been offered a transfer into a fantastic position in the Portland office. My office is closing, but I was given the option of working from home, or transferring to one of our other offices... two of which are located in suburbs of Portland. So, after much gnashing of teeth, tears, and discernment (okay, how much discernment was really needed, given the situation??), we faced the music and are trying to get ourselves moved to Portland in January.

We are terribly sad to be leaving Bend. The place, the people, the community.

We know Portland is an amazing City, and we recognize the amazing luck to both have jobs in the same place; a place that is not Cincinnati or Fresno, or Nebraska; a place that we would have been #1 on our list of places to move if we found ourselves jobless and out of options in Bend; a place that fits our lifestyle and values; a place that puts us 3 hours closer to family in Seattle and only 3 hours away from spending weekends in Bend. Really, there are only two downsides to moving to Portland:
#1. We have to move
#2. Portland is not Bend.

This is the chaos that has been consuming our lives for the last 6 weeks. How to move our family, choose a neighborhood , figure out a place to live (infinitely harder than we anticipated), find a childcare that comes remotely close Bloom, rent our house here... all the while dealing with my standard end of the year crazy at work and Scott's temp schedule of being in Portland a few days/week. Oh, and it's the holiday season. Awesome. Stress Level = High. Faith Level = Tested. Hope Level = Wavering. Knowledge that everything will turn out for the best in the end = Solid. Best Quote I heard this month: "Everything will work out for good in the end. If it's not good, it's not the end."

We Live Here!... Until We Don't.

If It's Not Broken

2011-11-25T12:56:00.001-08:00

We are not super creative or crafty around these parts. When Josh's birthday rolled around, I was quite tempted to roll his celebration in with the group party we do for all of our playgroup friends that have fall birthdays... all 8 of 'em! In the end, I really wanted Josh to have a party that was for HIS friends. Granted, his friends are all the younger siblings of our playgroup, but it was fun to plan a party that would be just for

Now, I've done one 2-year old party before, and it was a great success, so rather that break out a new set of tricks, we did a full repeat of this party from July 2009. The kids decorated their own t-shirts, played with every toy in our house, and then stuffed cupcakes with sprinkles. To customize the party for Josh, we did dog-themed plates and cupcakes, but it was a wonderfully simple party.

The most amazing party of the party was how QUIET it felt. Two years ago, nine 2-year olds felt like total chaos around my house. This year, eight 2-year olds weren't quite sure what to do without their older siblings creating chaos. They decorated, played, shared, and snacked without any incident and barely any noise. Without the older siblings running the show, it was serene, almost zen-like... until we broke out the sugar. =)

Josh's Friends: Gavin, Zoe, Pilar, Calvin, Jet, Miles, Ian
Love those cupcake faces!

On a separate note: Why does my 4 year old refuse to take a normal picture? I know this is a standard phase, but it sure would be nice to have a smiling face on record one of these days.

Summer Camping

2011-11-20T14:28:00.001-08:00

As the snow is starting to fall and winter is making itself known, I have enjoyed looking back at some of our late summer activities. Our summer was way too short this year, and by Labor Day, we were really kicking ourselves for not getting out there, exploring, and getting the kids under the trees more in July and August. Thankfully, our September adventures included some great Friday hikes with our play group to soak in the trees and mountains.

As a family, we rallied for two different camping adventures. Thanks to great friends that found campsites and allowed us to tag along. Over Labor Day, Andrew and Sarah introduced us to dispersed camping. We definitely need our own table to do it ourselves, but they had all the supplies and the perfect campsite at Davis Lake. Will taught Owen all about building fairy houses out of found bark and Josh loved hanging out with his buddy Zoe. Even Hudson and Sophie managed to co-exist (a miracle for either of those dogs), and Scott and I always enjoy our time with Sarah and Andrew. For that adventure, Josh didn't even have his own sleeping bag, but he cozied up in a HUGE pile of blankets. While the cold didn't bother him, he was pretty scared of the corner of the tent in the dark, but a 2AM reshuffling of positions allowed us all to sleep in past 7AM. Success!

Camping adventure #2 was with the Staleys and the Donnelly's out on the McKenzie. We were the only ones tenting it, and the kids LOVED exploring the camper van and Mini Winnie. We had the campground almost all to ourselves, which allowed the kids some serious bike time. Josh also got his own sleeping bag, and I found invested in a much plusher sleeping mat, which made for happier campers all around come morning.

All the adults got in some time on the bike too (though admittedly, I spent more time frustrated on the side of the trail than actually pedaling the bike). We finished that trip off with a stop at Belknap Hot Springs, which would have been more fun if Josh was out of diapers, so we ALL could have gone in the pool. But a fall drive home over McKenzie Pass was also a great way to say good-bye to summer in true Central Oregon style.

I had to steal pictures from Michelle's Blog. What a fun group of kiddos!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween from our Royal King and Red Devil!

The new blogger interface is driving me crazy, so you'll just have to take my word for it that I wrote a lovely, witty post with captioned pictures do document our Halloween Fun. It's there, in cyberspace somewhere... but just not here on our blog!

In short, our Halloween Festivities included:
-Two trips to the pumpkin patch - one with preschool and one with our friend group. With our friends, both my boys managed to get lost at different times. Thankfully, we had enough people with us to track them down. While 6-8 of us were looking for Josh in the playground and hay maze (where I had just sent him down a slide), Elaine and Elizabeth noticed him wandering through the picnic area and snagged him before he wandered into the parking lot. Geez! No fear in that kid.

- The kids got their costumes from the costume swap and Owen helped me bedazzle all aspects of his king costume with jewels. Lots of purple and gold to honor our Huskies!

We spent an afternoon tasting beer and carving pumpkins with the Mowreys at the Wiaters. So fun to have friends with matching age kids... and we have lots of 'em! These families make a unique match because all three dads are brewing their own beer. We're certainly not going to be short of excuses to spend weekends in Bend next year!

The Donnelly's hosted us all for Halloween again this year. Food, Friends, Kids, Costumes, and Candy make for an evening of chaos, but it's all worth it to spend time with these dear families. This year, Scott kept pace with the 4 year old bunch running from house to house. I hung back with Josh, who was wary of being out in the dark amid the costumes. He warmed up to trick-or-treating (literally), once we stopped back a the house for a hat and leggings... and one he unwrapped and devoured that first piece of candy. Definietly added a new word: CANDY! to the vocabulary. After our warm-up, we caught up with Michelle and Calvin and Jett, who were moving at Josh's pace and much more enthusiastic about knocking on doors. Pretty much nothing cuter than a trio of two foot tall trick-or-treaters!

Our whole group before they were off to the races:

Owen the King and Lily the Princess:

Terrible or Terrific

2011-10-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

Josh turned two this week. Celebrations included:
- A visit from Grandma and Grandpa
- The customary crown from school,
- Cupcakes, presents, and a family picture at home
- Over the weekend, we'll get to celebrate with Nana and Papa and have a "littles only" party for some of Josh's friends.

Josh's two favorite things: Dogs and Airplanes. He points them out with gusto. Other favorites are books about dogs, books about airplanes, his new doggy sticker book, airplane toys, etc. Okay, he also loves music, dancing, mimicking faces, from silly to surprised, snuggling with mom (and dad when mom's not nearby), watching and playing sports, and helping - anything to make him feel like a big kid.

We have had a pretty substantial explosion of words over the last couple months. We still need the secret decoder ring to figure out most of what he's saying, but Josh is starting to embrace words over point and grunt. When you repeat what he was trying to say, he'll give you this huge, proud nod of the head. He's stringing words together in short phrases, though generally all we can hear are the vowel sounds. Last night, Owen had him saying I Love You to each person in our family: "I OH OO A-DEE" "I OH OO Ma-A" "I OH OO Ow-ee." We love his cute "S" that sounds more like a jumbled "sch," and he generally talks like his mouth is full of marbles. We'll continue to keep an eye on the speech, but for now, we're happy that he's trying to talk and practicing a variety of sounds.

Josh is clearly on the lighter side of eating. A bite here, a bite there, and he's happy to be done. The winner foods are pretty limited - pasta, meatballs, salmon, fruit, and SWEETS. Other than ice cream and frosting, Josh's favorite food, by far, is sliced cheddar cheese. As soon as he gets one slice of it, all other foods are off the table, and we spend the rest of the meal responding to, "Mo Cheesche Peasche!"

Josh is incredibly physical. It's pretty clear that he thinks he's 4 years old. He loves to run, jump, wrestle, and spin. He assumes he can do everything that Owen can do and has been hanging out on the "preschool side" of school for about 3 months. He is trying very hard to ride the strider bike he inherited when Owen got his pedal bike in July. When we've been at the gymnastics center for open gym lately, Josh jumps in the pit, swings on the ropes, hangs from the bars, and jumps on the trampoline with all the older kids.He loves to climb, wrestle, jump, and spin. He is always on the move and working those big muscles. He's also started to challenge us by winding up for a fully body smack when he's frustrated, so we're starting to employ more time-outs and consequences. I can tell that one of our long term parenting jobs will be to make sure Josh is getting enough of the wiggles out, so he can focus in school or wherever. For his birthday, we got him a balance board and pair of kid stilts. Both a little beyond his age, but not his desire, or, in the case of the balance board, ability!

Josh's sleep has improved GREATLY from that rough first year. He's generally agreeable going to bed. Most nights, he sleeps from 7:30/8 until 6:30ish, but he goes through spells (like these past few weeks) where we end up in his room rubbing his back once or twice a night. We keep blaming it on his teeth, as his canines have been trying to break through for about 4 months.

While Josh is full of the energy and enthusiasm and physical skill of a 4-year-old, he is still lagging well behind in the growth department. At 24 months, he is hovering around 21 pounds and fits quite nicely in 12 month pants and 18 month shirts. His face is growing out of the baby look, so we aren't getting so many questions about "how old is your baby," but I am conscious that as we move over the mountains, he's going to be the smallest kiddo in his new school.

Josh is working hard to exert his independence. He wants to climb in and out of the car, do his own car seat buckles, brush his own teeth, choose his own clothes, cut his own food, etc, etc, etc. "I Do It!" is the new favorite phrase, along with "Mine!" and "No!" There's no doubt he is TWO YEARS OLD.

Josh is a strong emotion kid. High highs and low lows. When he gets frustrated, he is inconsolable and we are learning to just let him work it out because there's usually not a way to reason him back to happy. But when he's happy, he is quick to smile and share his contagious laughter. I has been a fast two years (and at times two long years), but two years that are unimaginable without our sweet Joshua Todd!

In the Weeds

2011-10-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

As I looked ahead at the events on the calendar in September, I put my eye on the Costume Swap as the "just make it to... " marker. Unfortunately, the work crazy of September only got worse in October and it turns out that the Costume Swap was the least of our insanity. On top of my standard workload, my work team picked up two new assignments that need to be done by the end of the year, I found myself on the schedule for THREE professional conferences this month (thankfully 2 in Bend), and I need to squeeze in a 2 day training in Portland. It's all great opportunities, but sometimes even a pile of good can be overwhelming.

Scott's work is no more busy than usual - the standard 50 hour work week, but he's been trying to ramp up his bike training the Big Fat Tour this weekend. His training got temporarily sidelined by a busted elbow that thankfully has healed in time for him to embark on 150 miles of trail over the next 3 days. Throw in one 3am wake up for a fishing trip (no bites) and a few day trips to Portland for work, and we have a few weeks where it looks like we will just be ships passing in the night.

In the midst of all that, we started the month suddenly wrestling with some challenging decisions regarding both our work situations that have major implications for our whole family. While the situations are not totally unexpected, the magnitude seems larger than we had anticipated and it's certainly an unwelcome TIME to be figuring this all out.

We are in the weeds.

I have had more than my standard share of weepy moments these last few weeks. But even in the weeds, life keeps marching. And that means that the rhythms of our weeks bring us back to playgroup, book club, dinners with friends, and laughter over beer. In each of those encounters, I'm reminded how blessed we are to have the people around us providing wise council, encouragement, and simply a listening ear.

My new "just make it to..." date is Halloween. We should have more certainty by then, but for now we wrestle and wonder and hope and pray and try to trust.... and get up tomorrow to do it all over again.

The Results and Fall Festival

2011-10-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Costume Swap was a great success. Especially for a first year even that got planned by two people who did NOT have the time to pull it together. Between Shannon being in the first trimester of a pregnancy and my insane work schedule these days, the swap really snuck up on us. But, we pulled it together, found some great sponsors, and managed enough media contacts to pull in a decent turn out.
In my mind, the biggest success was that everybody that donated a costume to the swap was able to find a new costume for their kids. One mother brought 5 beautiful costumes to donate on Friday night and found adorable, matching fairy princess dresses, complete with hairbands and flower wands for her two daughters the next day. We watched our own green dragon costume be chosen by a little boy, who proceeded to wear it around Fall Festival for the next TWO HOURS. My own boys walked away with a red devil (so appropriate for a nearly 2 year old Josh!) and a purple king robe that put the biggest smile on Owen's face.

In the end, we will be able to donate about $200 to FAN, and that's a bonus in my book!

Our booth happened to be right between the bouncy houses and the pony rides. Owen was sooooo excited to ride the ponies, and after patiently waiting for everything to get set up, he was rewarded with one of the first rides of the day.

Next year, the biggest change would be to find more volunteers to hang out at the booth. Shannon ended up being there most of the day Saturday and by 3:00 she.was.done. With more volunteers, we could have kept the booth opened longer and probably sold 10-20 more costumes on Saturday evening. Maybe even had the booth open for Sunday as well. But, we were able to sell the remaining costumes to a local consignment shop and add the money to our donation to FAN.

Success!

Costume Swap is Coming!

2011-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Amid all the life happening, I've been working with my friend Shannon to organize the Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap. We are thrilled to have some great sponsors and excited to see how everything comes together.

Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap
October 1, 2011 at Fall Festival

How it works:

All costumes $10 (all proceeds to the Family Access Network.)

Donate a costume and receive $5 credit toward your selection; Donate 2 and select one free!

Costume drop off will be Friday, September 30 from 6-8 p.m. at the Bend-La Pine Admin Building.

Who knows how much traffic we will generate, but this is only our first year as an official event. The real goal is to give parents a venue to recycle past Halloween costumes and pick something new. Hopefully we'll raise a little bit of money for the Family Access Network along the way.

For more information, check out the Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap on Facebook or Shannon's blog.

Also, our event is affiliated with the National Costume Swap Day that is promoted by Green Halloween. If you're not in Bend, you can check out the national website to locate a similar swap in your area.

Fearless

2011-07-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

Josh is fearless. Witness my soaking wet shorts from having to jump into the pool after him today. He ran FULL SPEED into the pool without even hesitating. Everyone watching commented that he didn't even turn around, flinch, slow down, or pause as he approached the edge. In he went, under he went, and in I got to go, too. (At least it was during rec swim, so I just looked like anyone else jumping in the pool, but I really would have liked to get the shorts off first.)

Witness also the current state of his forehead:

In addition to that that massive goose egg (which I THINK he obtained jumping off a chair into the leg of the kitchen table), he's sporting 3 scabbed scratches from tumbling down a rock wall last weekend, one solid bruise from trying to carry a vacuum down our stairs, and a whole host of other bruises from daily (hourly?) crashes. We decided that we might need to start calling him Harry Potter because he's sure to have some awesome scars if he survives this childhood.

Now, I know bumps and tumbles are just a part of growing up, but these are the injuries sustained by a child that our daycare provider describes as having, "... a really solid sense of balance." Stephanie has noticed that Josh works to retain balance and stays on his feet in situations where most toddlers would fall down. In other words, Josh seems to have decided that the normal range of toddler activities are just too boring and has decided he needs to push the limits even further. Oh, and all the injuries described are just the ones on his head! The arms and legs are equally bruised, scabbed, and colorful.

And, I guess we are somewhat to blame for not stepping in faster, but this kid is QUICK - I was running after him and he he still hit the water before I could catch him!

Is there anyway to instill a healthy dose of fear in this kid?

The Little Brother

2011-07-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

There are so many ways that Josh is clearly "the little brother," but none more so to me than in the time he already spends tagging along and waiting on the sidelines. I'm constantly thankful that Josh gets quality, age appropriate activities in his 3 days at Bloom School because his days home are decidedly geared toward the 4-year-old set.

For example, when Owen was 18 months old, he was regularly doing parent-tot swim lessons. This winter, we signed Josh up for the same class, but he first had to spend an hour waiting by the side of the pool for Owen's lessons. By the time it was Josh's turn for class, he was tired, cranky, and SO DONE with the pool that we never made it through a whole lesson. Fail.

From the moment I could get out of the house, Josh has been tagging along to our weekly playgroup. When Owen was little, Shannon set up a weekly play time with purposeful, exploration activities for the under-2-year-olds. Now, Josh just tags along on our field trips, hikes, and environmental ed lessons that are clearly structured for bigger kids. We do our best to let Josh participate in the activities (and he gets a kick out of running around as if he's playing the same games as the big kids), but I'm acutely aware that nothing we do is really FOR HIM.

This winter, he waited through weekly gymnastics (Josh climbed up and down stairs and ate copious amounts of Annie's Bunnies to pass the time), and he is spending the summer on the sidelines of swim lessons and soccer. Of course, Josh doesn't know any different, but I just can't help but observe how he is so obviously the little brother. Before Owen's soccer class, there's a class for younger kids (and parents). It's a whole class for kids Josh's age, and I never once even THOUGHT of looking into classes for him. Instead, we bring our own mini soccer ball for Josh to putter around with during Owen's class. Or, on the weeks we forget, he finds a way to entertain himself... like playing throw and fetch for a half hour with an empty Pepsi bottle. Poor second child!

I'm pretty sure watching the big kids will actually pay off in the end. Josh gets exposure to so much more than Owen did at that age. And I'm guessing he'll be more than ready to tear it up when he turns 3 and can start taking some of the big kid classes on his own. Right?

Birthday Reflections

2011-07-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Owen had a somewhat never-ending birthday. We started celebrating with grandma and grandpa down in Sunriver, continued with Owen's "official" party - a BBQ in the park with friends, enjoyed opening presents with Nana and Papa, and ended with a July 5th Fireworks display on the day Owen actually turned 4. Few! After all that celebrating, the presents we had purchased (other than the bike) still hadn't arrived (Mom was a little late on that Amazon.com order). In the end, those gifts ended up stored for Christmas instead... look, I'm early!

With Grandma and Grandpa, I managed to make the ugliest plate of cupcakes possible... from a box mix. I guess there's a reason they call for vegetable oil - butter will not substitute.

Thankfully, Owen didn't seem to mind.
Neither did Josh.
And the presents that arrived from the extended Maxwell family were a hit!

The BBQ party was a wonderful celebration of friends, summer, and the joy of being outdoors. We invited 12 of Owen's friends from school and playgroup. I figured most would be out of town for the long 4th of July weekend. (Note to self: for the 3rd year in a row, that has NOT been the case!) Instead, between friends, parents, and siblings, we ended up with nearly 40 people RSVP'd to the party! Good thing we love our friends AND planned for a BBQ in the park. It was a great evening to be out playing in the grass.
Need a sense of how these kids have grown up? check out the pic from Owen's second birthday party here. Lily is on the right in both pics.
Clearly some sort of important negotiation going on between Owen and Hazel.
Oh, and my cupcakes turned out much better this time. Made from scratch. Chocolate chip cupcakes with strawberry or mini-chip toppings.
As always, we requested no gifts. Instead, many of Owen's friends spent time making this assortment of cards. So sweet!

The final gift - the sandbox from Nana and Papa has been a daily hit in our house!
The final celebration. After all that party, we were sort of at a loss of what to do for Owen's actual birthday day. It was a work/school day, so we needed a quick evening activity. We were thinking of a family trip out for ice cream, but then Scott was able to pick-up some last minute, day after, boy are those cheap, fireworks. Winner! I think that's a new tradition - 'cause we clearly need another way to celebrate this summer birthday!

I have a KID!

2011-07-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Owen turned 4 this week. F-O-U-R! I'm realizing that I have a KID. When other people see Owen running around, they don't see a toddler, or even a little boy... they see a kid. And rightfully so. He's a little person with wonderful thoughts and ideas. A silly, imaginative, exploring, energetic, passionate boy.
He can accomplish pretty much anything he puts his mind to. It's wonderful that he can now get himself dressed, make choices about his snacks, help in the kitchen, buckle himself into his car seat, gather his gear when we need to leave the house, etc. On the other hand, all those skills can sometimes be deceiving, and I often need to remind myself: "He's only 3 (now 4)" and give him some slack when he's taking forever to get a job done.

Owen is a thinker. He is always considering how things work and asking endless questions about this world of ours. As most kids this age, he is all about the exploration and figuring out how things works.
Owen is still not a big kid. He's continuing to gain (some) height, but probably just 32 pounds. It's not uncommon for his friends to outweigh him by 10 pounds. But Owen makes up for his size and takes advantage of a solid muscle/weight ratio to accomplish big things with that small body. Climbing fences, scaling boulders, leaping from platforms taller than his head, and of course, riding that bike.

Owen still has those funny kid words, like "Bref-kist" for the first meal of the day. And he uses the phrase, "Do I" or "Am I" instead of the negative. As in, "I'm a good jumper, am I?" and "I have Blue eyes, do I?" He recently lost the lisp out of "wif."

Other funnies from 4-year old Owen:

Scott: Owen, you're the strongest kid I know.
Owen: I know! That's because I get it from you. I squeeze the strong out of you and and it goes in me.

We had a long conversation the other day about the difference between "Blond" and "Bald." We were brainstorming everyone we know that is blond: Owen, Piper, Josh (but he used to be bald), Calla, Mom (but a little bit not), etc. "Do we know anybody that's bald?" Owen replies in earnest, "Yes. Kevin."

For all the running and activity, Owen is a media kid. He would watch TV or play with the iPad all day long if we didn't have screen time limits. He's not very picky about the content - the other day, he was intently watching a Rick Steves documentary about hidden restaurants in Europe.
Owen's totally potty trained and recently started staying dry overnight. Owen no longer naps at home (sigh), but still takes a short nap at school.

Owen can recognize and write all his letters and loves to write his name. He's left handed, and until recently, I thought he was always writing his name upside down. Turns out, he's just writing it from right to left, so he can see the letters as he goes. N E W O

Owen retains his sensitive nature (and a 4-year old tendency to swing between happy and frustrated tantrum at the drop of a hat). We need to be pretty careful about what he's watching on TV or the books we read, as he doesn't like to see characters in distress. I hope he keeps that empathy... and starts applying it to real people, like Josh!

Loves at Age 4:
The Color Orange
Tank Tops
Crocs (orange ones)
Television/media
Cars
Pirates
Knights
Sports - particularly baseball and anything Huskies
Imaginative Play
Board Games
Biking
Family and Friends!

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

The Rest of Spring

2011-07-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

Now that it's the middle of summer and we are basking in glorious 80+ degree days, I thought I better go back and make a few notes of some of our Spring adventures. March, April, and May generally felt like we were just WAITING. Waiting for the weather improve, waiting for the chance to plant, waiting for the snow to stop, waiting for summer. We heard that spring skiing conditions up on the mountain were fantastic, but we never made it up on the slopes because by April, you are soooo mentally done with the cold weather. When it's 34 degrees and snowing in January, I'm motivated to bundle the kids up and head outside. When it's 40 degrees in April, the last thing I want to do is break out the winter coats and mittens ONE MORE TIME.

On the other hand, when I look back through my pictures, it seems like we did have a pretty eventful spring. Rather than try and back post, I just want to get these photos uploaded, so they make it in our memory books someday!

Scott and I ran a 5K for Healthy Beginnings.
My friend Jen continued to host monthly "Environmental Ed" sessions for our kiddos. She does an amazing job putting together age appropriate lessons on each topic - reptiles, amphibians, birds, etc. - with stories, crafts, games, and outdoor explorations. This was the session the kids learned about fish.

My friend Shannon and her parents hosted an amazing Easter Egg hunt and brunch, complete with hundreds of eggs, crafts and sugar cookies galore, and the most amazing view as the backdrop for the hunt.
The boys started playing together - here they're playing "knights" riding their horses through the house. They also cranked the wrestling and terrorizing each other up a notch! Another reason warm weather and outside play could not come soon enough!

We made a short trip to Seattle to surprise Scott's parents with a joint 60th birthday celebration. An amazing dinner at Canlis with the whole family (well, minus the kids!).

While in Seattle, Aunt Kate taught Owen how to ride a scooter. And Scott, of course, had to take Josh for a ride as well!

Our friends, Jon and Jess were down for a visit from Bellingham to participate in the Pole, Pedal, Paddle. We all got to meet baby Ellie, who turns 1 in July and could easily win an "easiest baby" contest hands down.
During the race (note: miserably rainy!), we toted all three kids around the race course and laughed at how different it was than the first couple years we lived in Bend and were PARTICIPANTS in the PPP.

The boys rode their bikes in the Commute Options kids parade.

Wordless Wednesday: Pirate Mama

2011-07-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

We can do Hard Things

2011-07-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

We spent the last weekend of June on a mini-vacation with Scott's parents. They rented a house in Sunriver during the Pacific Crest Sports Festival weekend. Only 25 minutes from home, but well worth it to spend a weekend with family and NOT have to worry about the to do list.

Pacific Crest has 10 different sports events. Running events from 5K through Marathon, Sprint and Endurance Dualathons, and Olympic and Half-Ironman Triathlons. They have two running events for bigger kids and the whole weekend kicks-off with the Kids' Splash-Pedal-Dash. The house we rented was RIGHT ON the trail where all the longer distance runs past, so after our events on Saturday, we got to watch all the crazies go by at mile 5 of their 13.1 mile run (note, that's AFTER a 1 mile swim and 58 mile bike ride!). Owen took very seriously his job to "give encouragement" and offered high fives to dozens of runners. And the longer into the day we got, the more appreciative those folks were see his smiling face alongside the trail.

Hard Thing #1: Owen - Splash-Pedal-Dash
The triathlon for kids 12 and under had 500 participants! They treat the kids just like the big time triathletes - number bibs, timing chips on their ankles, even numbers marked down the side of their leg. Owen was thrilled! We lined up his strider bike, found his buddy Evan, and then waited a FULL HOUR for our turn to start. They start twos from oldest to youngest, which makes sense so the big kids don't run over the littles, but we waited so long that half the kids around us were asleep by the time we reached the starting line. No worries, Owen and Evan were still pumped and jumping up and down for their turn. They climbed through the bouncy house, splashed through two wading pools, ran to transition, rode 1/4 mile bike loop, back to transition, and then a 1/4 mile run. About halfway through the run, Owen was breathing heavy and said, "Mom, this is a pretty far run!" but he ran every step of the way. His favorite parts:
- wearing his shoes and socks in the water.
- slapping high fives to other kids cheering along the run route, and
- getting a medal at the end!

Hard Thing #2: Jeff and Ethel - Half Marathon #3
J&E walked their 3rd (or 4th???) half marathon. This time, they SMASHED their big goal of finishing under 4 hours. The course did a full loop around Sunriver - mostly shaded and FLAT with great scenery. Scott had the kids in the bike trailer, so they tooled around most of the morning to make sure everyone was keeping pace. (Conrad and Glenna and their friends John and Elaine also walked the half).

Hard Thing #3: Alissa - Half Marathon
This time, I felt like I got the right amount of training in for my second half marathon. I did almost all the runs on my schedule (3 times/week) and even some cross training on the bike. My goal was to get under 2 hours, and I felt really good running most of the race, but when I got through mile 10, I hit a major mental wall. I realized that to get under 2 hours, I would have to run the last 3 miles in 24 minutes and there's NO WAY that was going to happen. After dragging through mile 11, I rallied and was able to cross the finish line in 2:06. I do think getting under 2 hours is attainable, but I realized that I need to get STRONGER in order to get faster. My lungs felt great (even at 4200 feet), but I just couldn't get my legs to move.

Hard Think #4: Owen - Ride a Bike
We didn't really know this was going to be part of the weekend. Since Owen turned 2, he's had a Strider Balance Bike. We've always told him that he would get a pedal bike when he's 5, but he's gotten so good on the balance bike, that we decided to surprise him with a pedal bike for his 4th birthday. We decided to give it to him in Sunriver, along with his birthday celebration with Grandma and Grandpa.
At the last minute, Scott decided to pull the training wheels off the bike... The whole point of a balance bike is that kids are supposed to be able to transition to a real bike without trainers, but we were skeptical that a 32 pound Owen would be able to lift and steady a 25 pound bike and get it started. Owen took about 22 seconds to prove us wrong and start pedaling the bike on his own. 15 minutes later, he was riding up and down the street. 30 minutes later, Scott got on his own bike, so they two of them could go for a legitimate ride, and the next morning ALL of us rode bikes to a nearby park.

Owen still needs some practice learning how to use the brake (and consequently is a little afraid of going downhill), but we're in pretty major shock that he learned to ride a bike before turning 4. I guess I better get stronger and faster - next year he's doing to be twice as fast during the Splash-Pedal-Dash!

The Crush Continues

2011-07-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

The other day, we were driving home from school and Owen spontaneously says from the back seat:
“Mom, when I get to be and adult, I’m going to have a nice lady that I love. And I’m going to love her very much that I marry her.”
“That sounds nice honey. I think you should find someone you love to marry.”
“Yes. And it’s going to be Lily!”
“Oh really? Well, we’ll have to see what happens when you are an adult.”
“Yea. But it’s going to be Lily because I love Lily the best!”

The Day it was Spring

2011-07-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

We've had a rough few months here in Central Oregon. We always say that we go straight from Winter to Summer, but this year was especially brutal. Our "Sprin-ter" kept the temperatures near 50 degrees well through May, and then summer arrived in full force. But, on May 20, we had one, glorious, Spring Day.

We were lucky enough to be spending that Friday with our play group out in the Metolious Preserve. My friend Sarah works for the Land Trust and was able to arrange an amazing morning for us to get out in the trees, along the creek, engrossed in nature, and simply absorbing the warmth of sunshine we'd been missing after a zillion months of winter. We caravanned out through Sisters (with a crucial stop for yummy scones and coffee), pulled into the preserve, and stepped into the quiet of towering trees. I took a huge breath and knew this day was going to be a success.

We started with a little hike. Big kids running and climbing over stumps, littles in backpacks, a couple dogs thrown in the mix. At one point, I had to laugh - here I am, walking through the forest with a baby on my back, holding a dog leash in one hand, small fingers in another... the kicker being that neither the child or the dog are mine! And that seems like a pretty perfect summary of what it means to be raising children in community, don't you think? What a blessing to have these sweet friends to just LIVE LIFE with.

The kids had bug nets and magnifying boxes to explore the creepers and crawlers. The littles had a footbridge that kept Josh and his buddies (Calvin and Jett) occupied while the older kids waded in the creek. We had a picnic lunch in the clearing. And then the clothes started coming off and we had 8-10 kids splashing through the snow-melt creek in only their underwear.

A short while later, after dragging my kids back to the car, I pulled onto the highway, grinning from ear to ear, buoyed by the shrieks of joy, inquisitive eyes, and skipping feet that had filled our morning. And then I heard another beautiful sound… two sighing snores from the backseat that continued all the way home. Bliss.

Art Practice

2011-06-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

I have said before how amazing our childcare/preschool is. Stephanie follows the Bev Bos philosophy that learning is about exploring and experimenting. Part of the leaning experience is using non-traditioonal materials and medium for art exploration. For example: the other day Owen came home with paintings he had created using pussy willow branches... as paint brushes. They've also strapped sponges to the bottom of their feet, painted the backyard fence (not the Tom Saywer version), covered the classroom in toilet paper, and often have paints or play dough out with all sorts of every day objects (cars, marbles, kitchen utensils, combs, etc) to use as the kids choose. There is also never an example, goal, or target project for them to replicate. The kids take the materials and create what they want. Stephanie has come great examples on the school website.

In addition to all the amazing learning that takes place at Bloom, I also find there is a side advantage for me: If the kids spend 3 days a week in wonderfully messy play at school, I feel like I can avoid some of the mess in my own home. Not that my house is clean, I just don't feel so compelled to set out crazy messy projects, like finger painting or glitter, because I know the kids are getting plenty of exposure to that stuff at school. On the other hand, the great disadvantage is that my kids are becoming pretty good at finding unconventional uses for everyday objects. Case and Point:

Mothers' Day Photo Shoot

2011-06-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day, we tried to take a family photo. Here's a great idea, we thought. Let's use the nifty feature on our new camera that lets you take a whole series of shots in a row. That way, we're sure to get one with all of us looking decent. Judge for yourself:

Make a gif
So instead, we retreated inside and for dinner, enjoyed delish enchillas cooked by Scott and appropriately named, "Supernatural Brownies" made by my favorite bakers.

These are the boys that make me a mother. What a gift they are!

For those who have been asking...

2011-05-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, we are still here!

Ever get so far behind on something that you just can't bring yourself to even start tackling the task? Well, that's where my blog is right now. I keep telling people that I've been writing witty, entertaining blog posts all along... it's just that I "write" them in by brain while driving and they never actually make it to the screen.

I might say that we're busy ENJOYING life to spend time DOCUMENTING life. On the other hand, I might also say that after spending all day staring at my computer at the office, and 2 hours trying cram together making dinner, eating dinner, absorbing quality time with the kids, and working through the bedtime hour (or 2), we barely muster the energy to clean the kitchen and collapse on the couch for a mindless hour of television before sleep comes calling. Powering up the computer is very low on the list...

One other funny thought about this blogging delay: now that we're checking email and facebook from mobile devices, the idea of booting up the computer, downloading pictures, crafting posts, uploading photos, and publishing to the web... seems somewhat convoluted. How quickly our brains adjust to the NEXT BIG THING!

All that to say, new posts are coming. I'm actually adding them below this one, so scroll down to see what you've been missing. Thanks for hanging in there.

A Mover and a Climber

2011-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Our little Josh-a-roo turned the big 1-8 months in April. A year and a half. A full-fledged toddler. A little boy with strong observations and opinions. It's a milestone that I was somewhat dreading because 18 months brought lots of tantrums for Owen, but so far Josh has been aging into this milestone without any major crashes in behavior. Perhaps he's reveling in simply being healthy. What a joy he is! (Edited to note: the tantrums have come in force at 19.5 months. Lovely.)

Josh is a mover and a climber! At 18 months, he's figured out how to scale just about anything. Scott turned around the other day to see him standing on one of our bar stools - that are taller than him and only have one step bar. Owen was a major climber compared to most of his friends, and Josh has literally reached new heights. Even Stephanie (our amazing daycare/preschool provider who knows the full range of "normal" for this age group) recently gave me a knowing look and said, "Oh yea, you have climbers." Goody? Consequently, tumbles, crashes, spills and gashes seem to be the rule of the game these days. We are continually thankful for Scott's genetic toughness, seemingly unbreakable bones, and clean healing scars. Each day that passes without a trip to urgent care is a blessing indeed.

Josh is still hovering at 19 pounds. Well, 19 pounds, 14 ounces at his well child visit. He's lagging about 6 months behind the average and "wasn't any lower below the growth curve" at this visit. Success!? Consequently, the most common comment we receive when we're out in public is, "Whoa! look at that baby running! How old is he?"

With all the moving, Josh has surprisingly taken a greater interest in snuggling and "giving hugs" at this age milestone. It's a treat we will never take for granted. Those sweet toddler hugs and that soft breathing against your neck. Parenting bliss.

We finally got Josh down to 1 nap (around 17 months). He made the transition pretty easily since he was pretty old to be taking two naps. We're all thrilled by the way it has opened up our mornings.

JOSH LOVES SHOES. Our shoe baskets are one of his favorite toys. He's recently taken a greater interest in pushing cars and can throw and kick pretty well also.

We've concluded that Josh also has a sneaky, mischievous streak that is likely going to cause us some real heartburn. He's started to develop his own methods to instigate battles with Owen (which is pretty funny, since Owen has been mercilessly tackling him for the last 12 months), and seems to innately know what the most dangerous our destructive activity is in any given room. He seems fairly impervious to any sort of scolding we may try and merely gives us "the look" or a joyful giggle when we gently or forcefully try to redirect his attention.

I think when it comes down to it, Josh just doesn't know he's little. He's always around Owen and Owen's friends, so I think he just assumes he should be doing what the three year olds are doing. He gets mad that he can't ride Owen's balance bike (which he will inherit on Owen's birthday...), and tries to copy most "active" play that Owen is doing.

Josh is a boy of few words. He's all about the "oh" sound - no, ow (owen), oh-oh, go, ell-o (hello). Occasionally we get a "at" (cat) and an "ah-da" (all done). By 19 months, Josh has also picked up "yea" and "I-da" (hi dad) and is now consistently signing "all done" when he wants down from the table.

At his 18 month check, Josh's speech was far enough behind to warrant some concern, but not enough concern to head for a separate evaluation. We have no doubt that he understands 100% of what we are saying. We're pretty sure he's just stubborn and do busy DOING to slow down and talk about it. He seems to manage other communication and isn't frustrated, so the speech is just a "wait and see" at this point.

A small part of me is concerned that he may have some muscle tone issues - never liked the bottle, couldn't drink from a sippy cup with the valves in, never a voracious eater, slow weight gain, and now the lack of words - so we'll keep tracking him and know that a full eval may happen once he turns 2.

On the other hand, Josh can whistle! Certainly a skill he's picked up from Scott, and he loves making the sound back to Scott. Last week, we were hiking and I kept hearing his whistling in my ear from the back pack. So cute!

Josh has the best faces, it's one of his better communication tools - mocking, questioning, shy, sad, puzzled, contemplative. We'll never be able to do capture it on camera, but his faces crack us up.

We are looking forward to a full and adventurous summer with this active, busy boy!

(...and if anyone knows where I can get another set of eyes for the back of my head... I'm really going to need them)

Vegas Baby!

2011-05-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

In April, I got the wonderful treat of taking a Gals Weekend with 3 of my amazing mama friends (Julie, Michelle, and Jen). We spent 3 nights in Vegas, touring the strip, seeing a Cirque show, shopping, eating some wonderful food and doing a wee bit of talking, and talking, and talking. We had a fabulous time, though it was pretty clear at the end of each day that we are no longer in our 20's and clearly not accustom to a late night schedule! On the other hand, we all slept like ROCKS, knowing that no little faces would be appearing at the side of the bed at 6 AM.

Julie kept her eyes out for a Groupon deal that snagged us half price spa treatments, and you can bet we took advantage of every amenity in that place - sauna, steam room, jacuzzi pool, lotions and potions, and simple taking our own sweet time getting ready for the day.

As luck would have it, in the middle of Bend's never ending winter, we managed to hit an 80 degree day in Vegas. We walked down to the pool at 9 AM, and attached ourselves to lounge chairs until they kicked us out at 5 PM. Yes, that's a full 8 hours lounging and reading by the pool. Yes please!

So here are the photos...

Oh, I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Wordless Wednesday: Dance Party

2011-04-06T01:59:00.000-07:00

Bye Bye Old Man Hair

2011-04-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Josh had some serious "old man hair" going on. It was trending toward mullet - still pretty bald on the top and then long, wispy locks forming in the back. I kept oscillating between cutting it and letting it grow because those baby curls in back are hard to let go of. In the end, we bit the bullet and decided the hair growing over the ears just had to go.

Before:

During:
Scott gave Josh his first trim. He still only needed one snip of the scissors on the top, but the back was pretty out of control.

After:
It's pretty hard to tell the difference on such a blond head, but the back looks soooo different. On Monday when I dropped the boys off at school, Miss Lauren noticed right away and said, "no more old man hair!!"

After Owen's fist haircut, he looked so much older to me, but Josh really looks the same - just less disheveled. If anything, the haircut makes him look more awake and alert. Always a plus side.

Am I a bad mom that I didn't keep a lock of his baby hair? I have one from Owen, and I have no idea what will become of it. These boys don't have baby books. In fact, the locks of Josh's hair were identical to the one I saved of Owens. Maybe I should just change the card to reach "First Haircut, Owen AND Josh" - ha! Honestly, the hair kind of grosses me out. I'm sure it will be the same when the boys are old enough to lose teeth.

Sip Sip

2011-04-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

For Christmas, Scott got me a great coffee mug from World Market. It's the kind with the silicone lid, that makes it look like you just got a Starbucks Latte. I swear, my coffee tastes "fancier" in that thing. Not to mention, the lid is just AWESOME for keeping my coffee close by while playing with the kids. It's not spill proof, but at least it gives me half a chance to prevent a major mess when it does get knocked over.

Scott was so sold, he bought himself one and a third one for me to have at the office - which my office mate, Chris, is very grateful for, as he has helped me clean up a massive coffee spill at LEAST 3-4 times in the last couple months. (You would think I would learn not to put my coffee mug between my arm and the ringing phone, but apparently I'm still learning that lesson.)

Anyway, happiness reigns in the small things, and right now, these commuter mugs are bringing a little bit more joy to my daily routine.

And then, it struck me. I don't think I have any position to try and break the kids of their habit of requesting "warm milk in a sippy cup" first thing every morning. Notice a similarity?

Be Still my Type A Heart

2011-04-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Over at SimpleMom, Tsh is leading Project: Simplify to encourage us all to clean the clutter from our lives. I haven't been playing along so far, but this week, her area happened to coincide with a project I tackled over the weekend. Hooray!

For a long time, I've been wanting to reorganize our pantry. Really, I wanted fancy, matching containers and an excuse to use my label maker - You think I'm Type A?? Plus, Owens near constant climbing on dangerous objects to "see what's for snack" told me that we needed a new system to get all the "kid stuff" onto lower shelves before someone knocked their teeth out.

The final push came from Scott's mom, who made a trip with me to BB&B and then gave me the much coveted organizing canisters for my birthday. No more excuses.

We started with this:

Which turned into this (seriously? who is eating all this food?):
Owen was a great helper with washing out the containers and printing labels. He and Josh also complied with my requests for "one more trip to BB&B" (three total). Granted, the last time required a blatant bribe of ice cream, but we all make sacrifices. In the end, I am grinning every time I open my pantry because now I see this:

Everything kid friendly is on the bottom two shelves and all my bulk foods are out of the plastic grocery bags. And this when I open the baking cabinet: Scott kept rolling his eyes at me as I launched into such a monumental project, but in the end, he rallied and sorted through our dish cabinet. Turns out we probably don't need those commemorative pint glasses from COLLEGE to be right at our finger tips. Instead, the little used dishes found new homes (or the goodwill box), and our dish cabinet - that has been driving Scott NUTS since we started stocking kid dishes - looks wonderful:

I also didn't take a picture of the little cabinet full of coffee mugs and sippy cups - that thing threatened to pour dishware down on anyone that dared open the door. Now, it holds an appropriate number of mugs and sippies, and... get this... the tea and coffee supplies, too! Love.

Grown Up Moments

2011-03-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Ever have those moments where it hits you smack in the face that you are a grown up? Maybe turning a year older makes you take stock of where you sit, but somehow the changing of the years isn’t what gets me. When I look back, these are the “grown up” moments that really stand out:

- Signing papers on our first home purchase.

- Buying a vacuum.

- Getting on an airplane for my first business trip.

- Asking for and being totally excited about receiving a blender for Christmas.

- Leaving the hospital with a 2-day old Owen.

- Presenting at a professional conference.

- Going to my first Board Meeting for a local charity.

It’s funny how so many of the “grown up” things aren’t the monumental events in your life. Sure, buying a house is an obvious one, but getting married doesn’t make the list (good thing because we were SO YOUNG!). Giving birth isn’t on there either. Grown up moments are those seemingly insignificant events that smack you in the face at how NORMAL it is for you to be doing things that adults do. Yikes!

Today I had another grown up moment. First, I got ready for work by pulling on a new skirt and birthday present boots. I felt like a real adult, going to a real career job (one I’ve had for 10 years, mind you), knowing that I looked the part. I was wearing clothes I love, not just “work clothes” because I had to. In fact, right now, my work environment consists of me and one co-worker, so it’s not like I even HAVE to wear professional clothes. Chris wouldn’t care (or even notice) if I showed up in torn jeans and slippers, and my clients on the phone don’t know if I showered or not. No, I got dressed this morning because I WANTED to. Toss on a wool-ish trench coat, and professional Alissa walked out the door… with two kids, 3 lunches, a purse, my computer bag, a bag of coffee for the office, bills to mail, and a giant cardboard box to donate to the preschool. No matter, the clothes and attitude said professional… said grown up.

But the kicker, the moment that it struck me so solidly that I AM A GROWN UP, was crouching in the bathroom – same skirt, same boots – caring for my sick 3-year old just picked up early from preschool. I’m the adult in this situation. I’m the one making the decisions and cleaning up the messes. Even in my rockin’ boots, nobody can care for my son the way I can. I am the grown up.

Wordless Wednesday: Downhill

2011-03-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, a couple words: Thanks Papa for helping Scott take Owen up to the slopes for his first day on REAL skis. Here's to spring skiing!

Early March Review

2011-03-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

The month of March isn't over, but it's already been a FULL month of unusual events and happenings. Busy enough that I haven't sat down to

First, the normal. Swim lessons for both boys. Owen finally made some strides with his swimming, started putting his head under and with floating and kicking, and "graduated" out of Level 1. Josh, on the other hand, was not such a fan. Recovering from illness + low body fat = too cold and cranky for 45 minutest in the pool. Owen gets to continue this spring and summer; Josh will wait for fall.

Then, the unusual:
My mom decided to spend three weeks in Bend, enjoying our crazy March weather. We love having her here, and this extended visit proved extremely timely because...

Josh spent the month teething on SIX teeth at the same time and kicked off the month with a five day fever that kept him out of school for a whole week. A week that he spent with Nana. A week that I spent frantically preparing for...

A four-day work trip through Eastern Washington conducting training for municipal maintenance workers. That's my longest work trip since the boys were born. And I followed it up by getting in the car 3 days later for another overnight work trip to Portland. I am SOOO glad my job doesn't involve regular travel. It was a crazy-busy week, but everything went smoothly at home because...

Scott's mom made her annual March visit to help with the boys while I was out of town. She also stuck around through the weekend and caught a couple pictures of Scott and I running a 5K. It was the first either of us had really run in months (or maybe years in Scott's case!), but we still finished faster than I ran last June. Next up comes training for my next half marathon at the end of June.

My mom helped out with the boys again as well. Then my dad flew into town and we all donned our green to celebrate... My Birthday!

All these grandparent visits also allowed Scott and I several nights "on the town," including celebrating my birthday at the Deschutes Brewery's "Chocolate and Beer" dinner. Divine!

And, it wouldn't be March without a little Madness. Our Huskies managed two games with enough drama to keep us watching, but not enough points to make the Sweet Sixteen.

Wordless Wednesday: Josh Makes Dinner

2011-03-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

16 Month Resume

2011-02-27T21:55:00.000-08:00

I have so many thoughts about how fast time is going and how fast Josh is growing from baby to toddler. 16 months and brings us fully out of the baby stage. I know it's time to start treating him more like a little boy and expecting him to follow the rules a bit better. Oh, I am not looking forward to the tantrums that are coming in these next few months, but at least Josh is the cutest little tantrum thrower you have ever seen. =)

Here's Josh's resume at 16 months:

Nicknames: Josh, JT, Josha-bee,

Skills: Climbing, going up and down stairs, trying to run, throwing, "beading," stacking, destructing, rocking horse, bouncing, high fives

Attitudes: joyful, daredevil, embraces new situations, independent, calculating, testing boundaries, experimenting with tantrums, trying to be a big kid

Activities: school, swim lessons, tagging along with big brother

Favorite Toys: balls, hoops, "in and out" activities, bag of frogs, bath-ketball, the M&D barbecue set, off limits areas!

Teeth: 4 fully in, 4 more FINALLY working hard to reach the surface

Words: still hiding, none of the standard mama, dada, dog, or ball have shown up, though he seemed to mimic "hello" and "all done" today

Reading: only when tired, simple books with flaps or textures are best, some rhyming books are starting to take hold

Health: constant bump or scrape on the noggin, building immunity this winter (aka, constantly fighting a bug)

Sleep: Ready to switch from one nap to two; in bed by 7:30, up by 6:30; night visits from mom and dad are rare - yes!!

Foods: voraciously picky. We think (hope, hope, hope) he must be growing because Josh has suddenly decided he wants to be snacking ALL THE TIME, but only crackers and specific fruits (mandarin oranges) will do. He will literally nibble dinner, toss it on the floor, indicate "all done," and then get down and head for the pantry.

Loves: people!

And people love Josh. What a joyful blessing he is in our family!

A Little Different

2011-02-25T14:39:00.000-08:00

We've never been much for the "traditional" Valentines' Day activities. This year, Owen was pretty into it - making valentines for everyone at preschool and requesting that we eat dinner in the dinning room because it has a red table cloth. After a weekend fraught with illness and injury (stomach flu, snotty baby, sinus headache, bitten through lip), we pulled together a classy dinner of leftover waffles and egg strata - both cut in heart shapes... we go all out.

After a super special dessert of leftover brownies, the boys got "loud" gifts - a train whistle and play microphone from the dollar store, Scott and I exchanged modest gifts, and then, my three valentines put on a lovely display. Nothing says I LOVE YOU like caveman grunts and muscle moves. =)

On Health

2011-02-25T14:07:00.000-08:00

We have returned to health. Mostly. I'm sure we have a few more rounds of ickies awaiting us these next few months of winter, but I am praying we are through the worst of it. I'm grateful most of our bouts have been relatively minor thus far, but I was just tired of being tired. What worked?

For Josh, we had a "restoring health" weekend. The dumping of snow pretty quickly eliminated our weekend plans anyway, so we decided to just keep Josh home and encourage as much sleep as possible. I also pulled out my "Natural Baby" book to evaluate homeopathic remedies. (No cold medicines for kids anymore and I'm not so keen on the chemical stuff anyway.) After reading about all sorts of roots and extracts and feeling overwhelmed - where might one buy any of this stuff and how do you know how much to use?? - I flipped to the resources section and logged on to the suggested website. Sure enough, you can figure it out on your own, or you can hit your local Hyland's retailer... which for us, now means Safeway! Of course, the makers of our favorite teething tables also have a cold remedy, and we had Josh popping "C-Plus Cold Tablets" all weekend long.

On Tuesday, he finally traded yellow snot and nasty goopy eyes for teething drool. Hooray for health... and a few more teeth are certainly welcome, too!

What worked for Owen? Eating dirt? Somehow Owen is the only one to remain relatively healthy this month. He did manage a rather scary playground accident - biting completely through his lip. But it healed quickly on it's own without a trip to urgent care. (Nice to be good friends with an orthodontist who could reassure me that I was okay heading home for "observation" despite the initial fountain of blood.) I am continually amazed (knock on wood) that we have made it to 3 1/2 without an injury visit to urgent care or the ER.

What worked for me was Yoga. I haven't been since early December (yes, way back in 2010!), and I had been avoiding signing up again until I was feeling healthy, but last week, the kids were on the childcare schedule (you have to book 2 weeks in advance), so WE WERE GOING. The minute I stepped into the class, I was regretting my decision. You know, "inhale through the nose... exhale through your nose..." In the moments that I CAN get any air flow through my nose, it's not something that anyone would want to listen to in close proximity. But 10 minutes into the class, my airways cleared up and I WAS BREATHING. All those forward folds did what the last 3 weeks of Kleenex and Sudafed could not accomplish. It was awesome. More please.

On a somewhat related note: Scott took his first yoga class over the weekend and I think he's going to be hooked. He's occasionally done this hokey yoga DVD that we had, and I keep telling him that it's nothing like the real thing. Kevin dragged him to a great class at Groove Yoga - rockin' music, hard work, no new age mumbo jumbo. "I expected to be sore, but not in so many places!"

Looks like Scott is still fighting the latest round of lingering germs, but the early morning (5:30 AM on Wednesday) and last evening work hours probably aren't helping. We are grateful to have a job in this economy... we are grateful to have a job... we are grateful...

Did you think there would be pictures at the end of this one? Not on your life.

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Day

2011-02-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Hammered

2011-02-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

This was my Facebook Status on Sunday, and I thought it was worth repeating here. No wonder I am feeling a little exhausted and feeling quite behind at work...

"February for our Family of 4: double ear infection, fever, allergic reaction to antibiotics, hypersensitivity from allergy that looks like the plague, 3 new teeth, stomach bug, runny noses on overdrive, lip bitten through (no stitches!), head lice at daycare, and itchy eyes that had better not be pink eye! How many more days in this month?"

Though apparently we are in good company. The church we've been attending offers "Soup Night" every Wednesday. It's a free meal for families in the church (we can all use a night off from cooking!) and an outreach to the community. The ladies that cook do an amazing job and are really creative in putting together a different menu every week of the school year. Anyway, I just got an email that tomorrow's Soup Night menu is "Everyone is Sick Chicken Soup" and they're including a "Drive Through" option, so families fighting the winter crud. You better believe we're getting drive through soup tomorrow!

Early Valentine

2011-02-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Owen pulled out the construction paper and scissors and went to town while I was doing dishes earlier this week. He was on a mission. The cutouts went in the envelope and he dictated a letter (no prompting or editing from me). I guess he was getting a jump on Valentine's Day...

I posted this on FB and our friend Luke pointed out that many men could probably take some romance tips from our 3 year old: Start with a compliment, provide something for the home, share your feelings. Nice work son.

Month In Review - Jan 2011

2011-02-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

In looking at our pictures from January, a solid theme is emerging. No longer do I have pictures of Owen's activities and cute pictures of Josh doing his own thing on the floor. No, we have shifted into full interaction mode. Nothing can be done without both boys fully engaged.

Making cookies (slightly treacherous with only one stool, Josh!)

Light saber fights with 3:

Saturday morning doughnut trip with Dad:Owen's imagination continues to amaze me. Amid the explosion of Christmas debris, he built himself a fort and then pretended to take nap... though he gave himself away by asking to "see pictures of me sleeping."

Family weekend visit to the High Dessert Museum to see the butterfly exhibit. They were so brave this time - the butterflies and the boys!

My favorite look of the month:

Hello-ha!

2011-02-08T21:13:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed another wonderful week in Ko Olina (on Oahu) with my parents and my brother. The plane rides over and back were pretty rough with a toddler that won't read books, watch a video, color, or sit still for ANYTHING, but Owen was a dream traveler and Scott and I just took hour-long shifts wrestling with Josh. The work was well worth it to enjoy the picturesque setting and 80 degree sunshine for 7 straight days. Lovely!

It was the first "full" family vacation we've all taken together since Scott and I got married. Owen enjoyed learning about cribbage from Uncle Todd and giving him the "stink eye." Plus, once you have kids, vacationing with extra adults around is always a welcome treat - a date night for us, extra entertainment for the boys, and lots of laughs playing games and watching my parents learn about Angry Birds after the kids crashed for the night.

Other highlights:
A visit to the North Shore to see the big waves and amazing surfers
Watching larger than life athletes stroll past our resort (Pro Bowl Week in Ko Olina)
Owen picked up two new words: Mahalo (thank you) and Hello-ha!
A phenomenal date night dinner
A golf day for the big guys
Walking to get ice cream with the little boys
The four of us successfully sharing a room all week
Owen was an amazing trooper walking all over the resort and up and down the beach
Reading. By the pool. By myself.
Pool - beach - pool - beach - pool!

Bring on the pictures...

Good News - Bad News

2011-02-06T21:14:00.001-08:00

Good: Amoxicillin is a wonder drug.
Bad: The fever was persistent.
Good: Josh's ear infection cleared up in 4 days.
Bad: Josh only made it to two mornings of his 3-day school week.
Good: He and Owen missed a good chunk of exposure to head lice at school.
Bad: I still did 6 loads of linen laundry on Thursday just to be safe. (Does you head itch now??)

Good: Our pediatricians are fantastic and willing to wait for us at 4:45 on Friday.
Bad: We had to make our second visit in 4 days.
Good: "Hive-like rash 4 days after starting amoxacillin" is an easy diagnosis.
Bad: Josh has a penicillin allergy.
Good: One dose of Benedryl and a big note on his chart, and he's good to go.
Bad: The story didn't end there.

Good: We were smart enough to grab the camera.
Bad: These pictures don't do it justice, but Josh has looked like this (or worse) all weekend:

Good: Safeway's open at 6:45 AM, so Scott and Owen can pick up breakfast pastries along with a big bottle of Benedryl.
Bad: Josh's skin got worse, not better.
Good: The pediatrician was able to diagnose over the phone - no trip to urgent care!

Bad: The allergy triggered a "hyper-sensitivity" in Josh's body, so he basically has a migrating rash from head to toe - including face and scalp. Heat seems to be the major trigger. When he woke up from a nap on Saturday, probably 70% of his body was red and bumpy. After a particularly hard crying spell today, his whole face was red and puffy. Thankfully, once his skin temp cools down, the swelling and color starts to fade.

Good: Josh doesn't itch and he's not contagious!

Good: The rash should go away in a couple days. In fact, we're already seeing quite a bit of improvement in just 48 hours.

Good: We could still host a baby shower at our house on Saturday evening.

Good: Josh's smiles and daredevil antics seemed to help everyone see past the plague-like state of his body.

We are praying for a truly uneventful week this week. Between the sickies in our house and a couple social events, we figured we made 8 separate trips to the grocery store this week! Add in a major closet purge that has filled my car with bags for the thrift store, 9 quarts of homemade soup stocked in the freezer, 3 more loads of laundry, and the party clean-up... we're thinking going back to work tomorrow is sounding downright relaxing!

What Does it Mean?

2011-02-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

Quickly fading tan lines.
300+ pictures to wade through.
68 emails waiting at the office.
One child up early and cranky; the other sleeping late, fighting jet lag.
Freezer meals being defrosted at a wild pace.
Late night wake-up calls.
A kink in my neck from dozing in a rocker.
Lines of snot and drool down every shoulder.
An afternoon spent visiting the doctor instead of working at the office.
2 laptops and piles of office work upon our kitchen table.
Verbal roshambo to negotiate who has the more pressing deadline and who gets the next shift at home.
All manner of nose drops, ear drops, and pain medicine lined along the changing table.
The magic pink liquid sitting in the fridge.

Ah yes... we are back from vacation.

and

oh no... Josh is sick.

Ear infection compounded by an emerging tooth and "crunchy" lungs. Glad my mommy instinct got us into the doctor on Monday afternoon, so the magic of amoxacillin could begin in earnest. I was laughing this morning about how quickly my attitude can shift when we are fighting a cold. In most cases, we strive to seek natural products and avoid chemical exposure, but when the screaming starts... bring out the big guns! In this case they take the form of antibiotics, ear drops, tylanol, ibprofen, probiotics, and pediasure. We're attacking this thing from all angles and Josh should be fine to go back to school tomorrow. Good thing 'cause that pile of unread work email is starting to catch up to me...

On a separate, but somewhat related note: Our quick decision trip to the doctor allowed us to do a 15 month weight check for Josh. I wasn't going to take him in because he has been eating so. much. better! He also seems to be growing out of his clothes, so I figured he was pushing 20 pounds and didn't need the interim check (our next "well child" is at 18 months). Imagine my surprise and dismay to see the scale read 18.2 pounds. Um, that's less than a pound gain in the last 3 months.

This time, the doctor wasn't so concerned. Since we've already done all the tests to rule out scary things, it's just a matter of making sure Josh gets enough calories to match his non-stop activity.

Have I mentioned my parents

nicknamed Josh "The Shark"

because he never stops moving?

Our short term solution is to add Pediasure or Carnation Instant Breakfast to his diet. Where Owen LOVES milk and would easily drink 24 ounces every morning if we let him, Josh struggles to down 8 ounces in a whole day. So, we're trying to make those few liquid calories count. We'll see in April if it makes a difference. Good news: Josh loved Pediasure last night - who wouldn't? It tastes like a milkshake! - and consumed the full 8 oz bottle with (okay, in place of) dinner.

Vacation pictures coming soon.

New strategy

2011-01-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel so far behind on this blog that it squashed my motivation to even get started. So this year, I'm making a commitment to myself to at least create a "month in review" post at the end of each month to capture the images that are important to us. Don't worry, my other blog related goals are to post at least weekly and try to use this space for more reflection instead of just observation, so I'm certainly not dropping out of the blog-osphere. I actually think the month in review idea will help free up my other posts, so I can write more freely and not worry about having the "right" pictures to go with my thoughts.

Actually, I'm going back and posting "months in review" from 2010, but I'm back dating them, so my loyal readers (Hi Grandparents!) don't have to wade through them all at once.

Someday, I'll finish my blog books and have all those pictures saved in one place - Hey, I did 2007, so now I'm only 3 years behind!!

December in Review

2011-01-21T13:36:00.000-08:00

Some of the little moments from December 2010...

This little guy is loving the switch to whole milk:

The snowshoes were a hit in our yard, but not so much when we took them up on the mountain.
Loving that the boys are playing together more now - hiding in Nana's closet.

Road trippin...
Enjoying various Christmas presents...

Impromptu

2011-01-20T21:17:00.000-08:00

Let's be honest. When you have small children New Years Eve is exciting for about the first 30 seconds that you think about going out. Then you realize you're never going to find a sitter, you're never going to be able to stay awake until midnight, and you'd have nobody to celebrate with because all your friends are stuck in the same situation.

This year, instead of sitting on the couch and feeling lame until we succumbed to sleep, we invited some other families over for an impromptu "New York New Years." Dinner, drinks, and good company... pjs and a movie for the kids... the big celebration at 9 PM! Perfect.

Cousin Time

2011-01-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

Now that Ryan and Sara are in a bigger house, we got to stay with them for part of our Seattle visit. It was great cousin time for Owen, Josh, and Calla and several late nights for us adults to talk, talk, talk. It is a great joy that our children are growing up together and that we get to share our parenting journey with Ryan and Sara. It was a cinch to pick Elliot Bay Brewery for dinner - great beer, good food, KIDS MENU! it made perfect sense to all of us to take a "field trip" to the pet store after that dinner, and bundling the kids up just to get.out.of.the.house was well worth the effort...

It's always exciting for us to spend time with Calla and see in person all the progress she it making. Ryan and Sara talked about how they measure her development in tiny increments - setting small goals with her therapy team and marking progress one word, one step, one action at a time. It can be exhausting for R&S to stay focused on these small goals, but since we only see Calla every 4-6 months, we get to see the HUGE cumulative impact all those small incremental advancements make. Since they visited this summer, Calla's vocabulary has exploded and she is moving ALL OVER THE PLACE. Sure, she has her own way of saying most words - Owen is "Ow-Nee" - but that's no different than any other 2 year old. Plus, it's a joy to see how excited she gets now that her words bring results. I loved the big grin every time she announced, "Josh!!" And when I say she is moving all over the place... holy moly! upstairs, downstairs, this room, that room... I guess she's just making up for lost time, but I think we only managed to snag one picture of Calla because she is never in one place for more than a few seconds. (as it is, any picture of Calla in this post was stolen of Facebook!)

I am continually impressed with Ryan and Sara and the work they do with and for Calla. Being a parent is incredibly challenging. Navigating that journey with a child that has multiple developmental delays is a whole new ballgame. Especially because Calla doesn't have a concrete diagnosis for what has caused her challenges. We now understand she has a "Motor Planning Disorder" that explains why her body responds differently to physical stimuli. But Motor Planning Disorder is still a symptom, a result, not a cause. That leaves Ryan and Sara without a a specific prognosis - no timeline to work with, no expectations of what Calla will be capable of in 6 months, 2 years, or further down the road. What we do know is...

Calla is energetic, smart, determined, and S-O-C-I-A-L! She's probably not going to play point guard on the basketball team, but she is going to charm her way through many of life's trials and she's always going to have lots of people rooting for her every step of the way.

Oh, and Calla loves animals - especially Ocean animals, so we made a wonderful trip to the aquarium with Nana and Grandma... even though he missed his nap, Josh LOVED watching the fish. I'm sure if we lived in Seattle, Sara and I would be having frequent play dates amid the tanks.

Maxwell Christmas

2011-01-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

After the Christmas morning present explosion, we had to say our goodbyes to my family and pack up for the trip up to the Lake. We left the boys in their new PJs to give Grandma and Grandpa a taste of the Christmas Morning snuggles. The lake was a FULL HOUSE, with 16 for dinner and 14 of us staying for the night, but it never feels crowded - just warm and cozy.

We tackled stockings after lunch and everyone enjoyed all the thoughtful gifts that "Santa" managed to remember from various conversations throughout the year. I am totally stocked up on all manger of reusable bags and lunch supplies!! The boys will have cozy toes in their smartwool socks and OH MY! do we love these Sounders Jerseys?! So cute.

The kids opened their gifts before dinner and the adults had a relaxing gift exchange after dinner. Scott received the most puzzling of gifts - why the heck is he so excited about a 5 gallon water jug, a bucked, and some plastic tubing??? Okay, add a few more accessories and a gift certificate to the brew shop and he now has a full set up to start brewing his own beer! Awesome!

And, what would Christmas be without a gift that requires assembly? Scott and Owen got his cars garage up and running in record time and I can tell this is going to be a favorite for both boys for quite some time.

My only regret is that I don't have a good picture of the three kids all together, but Josh and Calla are both SO BUSY! It was an amazing group effort that not a single kid choked or tumbled down the stairs, but Josh did manage to plaster his hand to the wood stove while Scott, Kate, and I were ALL within watching distance. I kept telling myself, "Next year will be easier." as these kids become more independent and better at self preservation! Heck, a year ago, this little guy was small enough to fit IN his stocking and now he's carrying up and down stairs. They do grow!

Christmas Morning

2011-01-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

Shall the Christmas posts continue? There's just so many fun pictures I want to remember! The boys managed to sleep past 7, so we were able to bring them both upstairs together and see the gifts from Santa. Owen received a wooden castle and Josh got a super cute rocking horse.

As a side note, Owen was near tears
when we returned back to Bend and
he realized that Santa would not be
making a visit to specifically fill
the stockings in OUR house.
He cried, "But he didn't bring me
a Bow and Arrow!!" Oops?

I love watching how excited the kids get about the simple things. Josh was more than thrilled by his own toothbrush and Owen squealed with glee and gave thank you hugs for everything he opened. Of course, he got double the fun of opening almost all of Josh's gifts!

I love how Owen looks so sad in these pictures. He just didn't want to take a break to take pictures. Merry Christmas!

Elves Party

2011-01-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve with my parents always includes our "Elves Party" - a tradition that has held since I was young. We bailed on plans to go tour the lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden due to the rain, but that just gave us more time for music, dancing, eating, endless games of beanbag toss, games, and eating.

The boys opened their new Christmas PJs, and a few of their presents from my parents. Owen got a really cool set of MagnaTiles and Josh received a spaceship, complete with an alien in a crater that kept both boys occupied the rest of the evening.

Lacking a carrot for rudolph, Scott and Owen improvised with a... sweet potato. Hilarious.

If you're looking for a great family game for adults, the elves left us unassuming game of Anomia, which left us all laughing to the point of tears. The concept is so simple, but it's amazingly hard to think of the name of A VEGETABLE (ANY vegetable) before someone else shouts out A PIECE of FURNITURE. There may also have been an incident surrounding some missing hot buttered rum, but there's a rumor the ransom will be paid and no rum will be harmed in the process...

Montessori Party - Owen's Eyes

2011-01-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

Don't let the title fool you. We haven't moved Owen to a new preschool. This Montessori Party is for MY Montessori friends. The ones we carpooled with 25+ years ago and continue to gather with each Christmas. We call this group our "Christmas Family" as we have really come to feel more like cousins than just friends over the years. The gifts have changed (we now collect games or puzzles to donate), the food and beverage have matured, the circle has widened to welcome spouses and growing families, but the friends remain.

This year, Owen was kind enough to be our photographer:

We were missing a few faces this year. Colin and Erin were home enjoying their 10 day old baby girl, Clare! Tyler, Kristen, and super cute baby William had postponed their holiday visit until January... so they would be sure to meet their new niece... who decided to show up as a quite early (but thankfully healthy) Christmas present. How does Susan look after welcoming TWO grandchildren this year:
It was a treat to welcome Jenna into our group (she and Ryan just got engaged!), hear Tim's stories from a life on the road, and encourage Ashley on her continuing adventures through dental school.
When the presents started flowing, Owen got out from behind the camera. He was especially excited to see Deanna again, as she has visited my parents down in Bend and endured quite a few tea parties over the last couple years.

Though we were short four "kids" but the kids table was still pretty crowded. Next year, we'll need a separate grandkids table to hold Owen, Josh, Clare, and William. This group is Todd, Tim, Ashley, Ryan, Jenna, Scott, Owen, and Myself.See, us Montessori kids know the importance of instilling the love of reading early!
See you next year Christmas Family!

Family Christmas

2011-01-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

You would think after living here for 5 years and always traveling for Christmas, we would get our act together and remember that we need to set aside some time for our "family Christmas" well before we hit the road. This year was actually the worst planning, as Scott and I realized on a Saturday that our only chance for a family Christmas morning would be Sunday... the next day... With nothing wrapped... with a major shipment from Amazon.com scheduled on our door 3 days later. But never fear, we rallied, raced Owen to the store to pick out a gift for Josh, wrapped during naps and into the night, did a little gift plan shuffling, and made it happen.

I love that Christmas morning feeling to gather in your pjs, sip warm beverages, and just bask in the joy.

Boys got an easel...

This picture is great. Scott reading the book he picked out for Josh, while Owen holds one of his new cars and Josh holds the BBQ basting brush he "chose" for Scott (Not exactly "you break it you buy it" but if your kid chews and drools all over the brush while your shopping for the real gift - a cast iron skillet - I think the same idea applies.)
Scott and I decided on a low key Christmas for ourselves, though we recently made up for that with the purchase of a new DSLR camera. I do hope you start noticing better images here shortly, but the old camera was in use (when it wasn't dead) through half our holiday in Seattle.

After our family PJ morning, we had french toast for breakfast and rallied to church for Owen to sing with all the kids. And then, the snow. kept.coming. It was certainly a White Christmas for us! Tons piled up the night before and a solid dumping all through the day.

1000 Words

2010-12-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a great holiday deal at Whipper Snappers Photography, we finally got our act together and snagged some family photos. Since only one could make the Christmas card, here are a few of the others:

Climber

2010-12-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

Now that Josh is past the 1 year mark, I don't feel so compelled to post monthly updates, but man! This kid has changed a lot since his birthday. Josh took his first tentative steps just 6 weeks ago, spent a month doing the "Frankenstein" (arms straight out) walk, but he's just... walking... everywhere... quickly. Josh is also climbing EVERYTHING - stairs, stools, boxes, you name it. The stools we have around the house to help Owen reach things are a favorite - Josh gets up with lightening speed, but the bruises on his head are a good indication that getting down still needs some work. Ouch.

At nearly 14 months, we suddenly realized Josh has reached the point where he understands WAY more than we give him credit for. Up until now, it's allowed him to be sneaky and innocent, but lately, he's been slipping up and revealing how much he understands:

- When we say, "time for bed" and he heads for the stairs on his own...

- Yesterday, he was walking around with a "torch" style flashlight from Owen's tool kit. He was holding it up by his face and basically yelling "ahhh, ahhh, ahhh!" as he walked around the house. I thought it was kind of strange until I realized that he was imitating the siren sounds that our toy megaphone makes!

- He's been using boxes and toy bins as stools. He may only be 26 inches all, but I found him on the couch this afternoon. I think Owen was at least 18 months old before he could climb on our couch. This one is much more crafty!

- Last night, he grabbed one of our "real" forks and successfully fed himself rice. This morning, he used a kid fork to feed eggs and potatoes (even dipping potatoes in ketchup).

- He climbs Owen's bathroom stool, grabs a toothbrush, and knows it goes in his mouth.

The gig's over Josh - we're on to you! No more innocent baby - you really are a toddler now.

Josh is still a total tornado. His attention span is about 40 seconds, and we can't get him to sit still to read a book for anything. Just shows how kids are different. Owen always LOVED reading books - it was our "go to" activity when the activity level just got to crazy, but Josh spends our pre-nap reading time tearing apart the room. He's just not a snuggler. I still nurse him before bed, but when he's done, he's reaching for the crib.

And, the best news for last: Josh is sleeping through the night. Something just clicked the night of December 6, and he slept all night for the first time... and has slept 11+ hours a night every night since. Crazy. Yes, about every 4 or 5 nights, he needs help finding his binky around 5 am, but that is a welcome change from having to nurse him twice a night! (and as a funny side note, I'm now waking up with sore shoulders from sleeping soooo soundly for so many hours at a time. Good problem!)

Preschool Advent

2010-12-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to blog about the daily advent activity we've been doing for the month of December. In looking for advent activities that would be appropriate for the preschool age, I was actually kind of frustrated by what I found online - most of it was songs, games, coloring pages or elaborate craft ideas that would need a lot of prep (not gonna happen around here!) and aren't really focused on Jesus or the Christmas Story.

Thankfully, my friend Phyllis always has wonderful advent activities planned for her three kids and she always puts them on her blog. I remember reading about this idea on her blog several years ago and was so excited to start the tradition with my own kids. I don't know if we'll do this every year (but Phyllis has other ideas too!), but I'm really enjoying having a daily count down that reminds us of the reason for the season. At first, I was worried that having a daily activity for the whole month of December would be overwhelming, but it only takes about 5-10 minutes each day and has really just become "what we do" after dinner.

Soo...
The Concept: I made this easy advent calendar with the 1-25 numbers. On the back of each card is the name of a small gift and then a bible reading that corresponds to the gift. For example: The second day the gift is "grape candy" and the card says, "Grape Candy--Grapes make jelly and juice, raisins and wine. But Jesus didn't need grapes to perform His first miracle. Read: John 2:1-10" Of course, the reading is about Jesus turning the water into wine. Most of the "gifts" are things you can find around the house - a quarter, soap, goldfish crackers, etc.

The set-up: this year, we just did cards hung on ribbon with a gift bag underneath, but I found all sorts of other creative crafty ways to make your own advent calendar using painted toilet paper tubes, Christmas socks, snowflakes cut out - yea google on that one! (Note: Phyllis uses the same "gifts" and readings, but each night she hides a gift bag for the kids to find.)

The Content: The specifics came from this post on Teachingmom.com (you have to scroll down to the section that starts with the words "A quarter" to see all 25 gifts and the corresponding verses we are reading.)

The Routine: In our house, we grab the card of the ribbon and the gift out of the little bag. then, we all sit under the Christmas tree and read the card and verse while munching on Christmas cookies. You can do whatever routine works for you - light candles, say a prayer, sing a hymn, or go our route and follow the reading with some guitar carols and a dance party.

12 more days until Jesus' Birthday... Happy Advent!

The reading of the list

2010-12-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

We helped Owen write a letter to Santa this year (he circled things in the Fred Meyer catalog and then told us what to write) and made our annual visit down to the Old Mill shops. It was kind of a madhouse, but the "elves" helping Santa were doing a great job. They even set up a waiting list with... get this... phone numbers! So we left and browsed through REI for 20 minutes before getting called back for our turn.

I was kind of worried because Owen looked really nervous as we waited the last 5 minutes in line, but when it was our turn, Santa looked up and said, "Owen!" and our little nail biter did a full on sprint and dove into Santa's lap. So cute... though not worth the extra $10 for another photo. Santa patiently read through Owen's list, including the note that we will be at Nana's for Christmas night. Josh, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. But hey, this guy's a professional (not some local celebrity voluteering for chairty... oh wait), so he jingled the bells long enough for us to get a photo.

Now, if we can just convince Owen that giving Santa a list does not mean he is getting everything he wrote... 12 days to Christmas!

Leftovers

2010-11-28T21:50:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we are spent! And thankful! We celebrated with both of our parents and my brother. Jeff cooked a wonderful classic feast, my mom brought squash lasagna, and we finished with a medley of pies. We are thankful that our families get along and are willing to share holidays together.

The rest of our weekend included quite a few special outings: our first turns on the mountain - beautiful snow for this early in the season. Owen's first movie in the theater - MegaMind ended up being a private showing for Mom, Dad, and Owen. A "field trip" to Grandma/Grandpa's hotel (and pool). An afternoon of play at Nana's. A date night for Scott and I with dinner and HARRY POTTER!

We are thankful for grandparents that generously traveled through the snow to join us for the long weekend and then volunteered to watch the boys, so we could get out and about.

The other adventure of our weekend was finding ways to repurpose the holiday feast. Of course, we ate lunches of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, but that was just the start. The turkey carcass turned into 2 GALLONS of stock. Jeff&Ethel took home frozen gravy. Scott made sweet&spicy mac&cheese with chipotle turkey. Today, I made turkey-lentil-barley soup to share with friends, and then a turkey-thyme casserole for our freezer. We are thankful for the endless feast!

After everyone hit the road today, we had a family swim at the pool and then spent the evening at Luke&Tara's, so the little boys could play and the big boys could continue their beer brewing adventures. Can't wait for the next batch to be finished - the midway taste today was delicious! We are thankful for dear friends and the beautiful town we live in!

And it looks like Scott and I will be asking Santa for a new camera this year, as ours is good for about 2 photos before it crashes. Hence, no pictures of the feast or aftermath. But we did get the snow day pictures in the post below.

Now, for the turkey induced coma.

Snow Day

2010-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

Winter is in full force around here. I love the snow - in theory, but the practical application of getting two kids out the door in snow gear leaves something to be desired.

Thankfully, the winter wonderland seems to make the work worth it...

And, what good is a morning in the snow if you don't get to relax with a cup of hot cider or hot chocolate by the fire after...

Naturally...

2010-11-23T09:21:00.000-08:00

My kids love pancakes. It's one of the few foods that both of them (even Josh!) will happily eat and usually ask for seconds. That MAY have something to do with the addition of syrup, but "calories in" is what counts around here folks.

Natrually... we got through a lot of pancake mix.

We've been reliant on Krusteaz whole wheat pancake mix for some time because I can't justify buying one of the fancier mixes - though they really do make much better pancakes. However, even the Krusteaz seems pretty expensive for what amounts to a bag of fancy flour, and...

Naturally... Costco does not sell the whole wheat mix, only the buttermilk.

We're trying to eat less processed foods and cook from scratch when we can. It's healthier and more cost effective.

Naturally... I've been thinking about making my own pancake mix.

So last week, I pulled out the trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook - the one with the red and white checkered cover - my go to classic. Imagine my embarrassment to see how rediculously simple it is to make pancakes from scratch. It's like 8 ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, egg, milk, oil - one bowl, and 90 seconds.

Let me tell you, those were the best pancakes! I used whole wheat flour and tossed in a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. They fluffed perfectly on the stove, crispy outside, airy inside, beautiful color, even shape. Beautiful and delicious! I even thought about taking a picture, but I was too focused on scarfing down the finished product. I was totally stoked putting the plates on the table and doling out the syrup.

Naturally... my kids did not eat them.

Sigh.

(But don't worry. We're persistent and I made the pancakes again on Sunday to show Scott. This time, the kids ate a more reasonable amount. I'm never buying bag mix again!)

Summer Lovin - County Fair

2010-11-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

This year, we made the a family trip to the County Fair. I love that our fair has all the classic fair events that you would find at the Puyallup Fair, without the 2 hour traffic and parking nightmare. We just pulled up, parked 100 feet from the entrance, ran into some friends as we walked in the gates, and collected our fill of barnyard animals, fried food, hokey vendors, and cheesy rides.

In a strange way, I kind of enjoy wandering through the barns with all the 4H animals. It's amazing how many kids commit the time to raise those rabbits, chickens, goats, sheep, or pigs. I'm hoping our kids are happy to go visit the animals each year... and not actually go through the work to raise them!

This was the first year that Owen was old enough to try out the rides, and (lucky us), he LOVED them. Not an ounce of fear in that boy.

Teeny Tiny

2010-11-14T23:16:00.000-08:00

Fact 1: We have small children.
Fact 2: Our pediatricians are awesome.

We had Josh's one year check-up a few weeks ago, where we confirmed that, no surprise, he is teeny tiny. Yes, kids come in all shapes and sizes, but our guys seem to be experts at avoiding those pesky lines on the growth charts. Josh got extra scrutiny from the doctor this time around because his low weight (17 lb, 5 oz - about the size of your average 6-8 month old) was coupled with 10 days of constant diarrhea. That weight puts him in the "failure to thrive range" (which is a horrible term, so our doctor said we can just refer to him as a "little peanut" instead), and the tummy issues had us concerned that perhaps something medical was going on.

So, off we went for blood work and stool samples (yuck, yuck, yuck) to rule out common allergies, celiac, major tummy infection, thyroid problems, and problems absorbing fats. So far, all tests negative. Josh is somewhat anemic (but not the iron-deficiency kind - did you know there are multiple kinds of anemia??), but that's just another symptom, not a cause. At our follow-up with the doctor, she covered a whole host of other tests we could consider, but in the end, we decided to run one more test to rule out cystic fibrosis (low weight gain and malabsorption are two major symptoms) and then return to a wait and see approach for the next 3 months.

I honestly tried not to stress about the CF test. I never looked it up on the internet, and I kept reminding myself that the newborn blood screens had already tested Josh for CF (among other genetic diseases) twice. Of course, I still found myself thinking about it in the wee hours of the morning, so it was a HUGE RELIEF to get that negative test result. FEW!

So, where does that leave us? Well, with a 17 pound tiny mite, who is hitting all his developmental milestones, except in the weight category. With a joyful, bald, walking one year old, who's first word is officially "no." And, with 3 months to figure out a way to get this child eating some more calories - especially since that walking is soon going to be running, and then we're really going to be fighting battle to keep "calories in" exceeding "calories out!"

Summer Lovin - Gearhart

2010-11-14T21:25:00.001-08:00

Since we're halfway through November, it seems only fitting to post about some of those summer events that kept us too busy to hunker down behind the computer... Not to mention, I can really use this review of the sunshine months before we dive into winter.

These are pictures from our August vacation to Gearhart (long weekend). We were able to crash on Jeff & Ethel's annual vacation, and even snagged the condo unit right next to theirs. It ended up being an ideal situation - our own place for the kids to sleep, but we could still stay up late doing puzzles and socializing. Unfortunately, Josh was a pretty HORRIBLE sleeper throughout the weekend, so we had some tough mornings. Thankfully, Owen popped awake each morning and just raced down the hall to hang out with Aunt Kate, J&E, and Merv and Diane.

This year, in stark contrast to our last trip to Gearhart two years ago, the weather cooperated for some wonderful days in the sand. Here are the pictures!

Brain Dump

2010-11-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

A little rapid-fire posting while the kids are both napping. I have a whole list of back posts to get on the screen (you know, so I can pull them all into our family scrapbook someday!) Catch up on our latest happenings below.

That's My Boy

2010-11-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

You may notice a plethora of Josh posts and pictures recently. Owen has been in a "don't take my picture" mode these days. And oddly, there seems to be so much going on with Josh, that some of Owen's antics get lost in the shuffle. Either that, or we're so exhausted after dealing with the antics all day long, that they lose their luster when it's time to document our lives. I will just say that Owen is continually astounding us with his unending energy. He is probably a better behaving 3 year old than we give him credit for. He loves to be a part of everything - helping in the kitchen, snuggling close to read stories, playing (way to closely) with Josh, and interjecting himself into every conversation. In typical 3 year old fashion, he knows how to push buttons, ask why until we cry "uncle," and test every limit to the extreme. He is also incredibly inquisitive, a creative story teller, passionate about everything, and hilarious on a daily basis.

These are a bunch of random, but telling, pics of what Owen's been up to lately:

This is how Owen does yoga - get mom's mat out, join me for about 3 "animal themed" poses - downward dog, cat/cow, tree pose, and then decide the mat makes a better long jump track to run and LEAP across the room.
Owen protests his nap on a daily basis. We have a deal that I will check on him after 20 minutes and if he hasn't fallen asleep, he can get up and have 30 minutes of "quiet play time" instead. 4 out of 5 times, he falls asleep for over an hour. That's a good thing, because "no nap" days lead to one cranky kiddo and any late afternoon car ride is likely to result in this:
A random October snow day lead to an impromptu "snow gear testing" party after dinner.

Scott has been teaching him the famous frowny face from birth. Seems to be working.

The Many Birthdays of Baby J

2010-11-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

Josh ended up with three separate birthday celebrations this year. Lucky kid.

The first was early in the month, when we participated in the "shared birthdays" celebration for our playgroup. Seven of the big kids turned 3, so Josh got to tag along. Just like last year, this group celebrated at the pool. Last year, my big pregnancy goal was to be able to attend the party, and Josh complied... he was born about 6 hours AFTER we left the party.

Owen at the table with the big kids.
Josh hanging out with his friend Zoe (and the back of Calvin's head). These kiddos (along with Jett, Miles, and Olivia) are the "second generation" for our playgroup - it won't be long before they are giving the big kids a run for their money! Seven 3-year olds and one 1-year old!

Celebration #2 was on Josh's actual day of birth. A little family celebration after dinner. Owen liked helping make the cupcakes, wrap presents, and create a crown for Josh. Josh, on the other hand, was not so thrilled about the crown... until we set the cupcake down in front of him. This child may not eat much, but he sure knows what to do with cake and frosting!

Josh got a set of cars/trucks from Owen and we got him some magnets and a magnet board to hang on the wall, plus a couple fuzzy toys that Scott snagged from Ikea during his recent trip through Portland.

Celebration #3 followed the next weekend with family in town. We were able to have a joint birthday party for Josh and Kate - who celebrated her Golden Birthday this year - 25 on the 25th! Grandma & Grandpa and Conrad & Glenna were all in town for the weekend (we were all planning on participating in a half marathon that weekend, but the local event got canceled, so we were forced to spend a bit more time celebrating with Guinness-Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake, appetizers galore, and a late braised pork dinner. We all could have used a 13 mile walk after that one!)

Happy 1st Birthday (times 3) baby J!

My Own Two Feet

2010-11-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

As Scott posted on Facebook yesterday: In one week, Josh has gone from not standing on his own to walking across the room. Wowzers! Those first few days of walking are such an exciting time. I love how thrilled Josh is to be doing teeny tiny pitter patters across the floor. He still prefers to crawl, but if we prop him up on his feet and give him the right target, he will inch, inch, inch his little feet to get where he wants to go. My friend Shawndi pointed out that, just like with Owen, it causes a double-take to see Josh up on his feet because he just looks too darn tiny to be walking.

I love seeing the brother connection between these two boys. Owen is just as excited as Scott and I when Josh learns a new skill. When Josh was learning to crawl, Owen would get down on his hands and knees next to Josh and say, "Come on Josh. Chase me. Ready, set, go!" When Josh took his first steps, Owen snuggled up next to him, and in the cutest baby voice said, "Good job Josh. You did WALKING. You want try it again?" I hope that my boys will encourage each other and share in the joy when the other succeeds.

(And yes, my kids are filthy from a day at school.)

Tiny Torpedo

2010-11-07T14:09:00.001-08:00

We have a tiny torpedo in our house and his name is Joshua! This kid is joyfully tearing apart everything - as well he should at 1 year old. Lucky for him, he's cute in his antics, so it's pretty hard to get upset when we're putting the house back together for the nine zillionth time.
That's my cell phone - headed for the toilet.

What's most amazing is the pure silence he can muster when dismantling a shelf or pantry. I barely realize he's out of site before I come around a corner to find this.
Antics not pictured: cat litter box, shoe baskets, art table, laundry hamper, pots and pans cabinet, and spice drawer. Fun times!

Halloween in Pictures

2010-10-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

Here are the Halloween pics! This was the first year Owen understood the concept well enough to get excited. He's been trying on his costume since we got back from Mexico. For Josh, we were lucky enough to borrow our favorite fish costume again.

With Halloween on a Sunday, we had a whole weekend to celebrate. Scott's family was in town for a birthday/Halloween combo weekend. Saturday, we celebrated Josh and Kate's birthdays and then hit up the "Trunk or Treat" carnival at Church. On Sunday, we joined our playgroup friends for a potluck followed by got to join our playgroup friends for the massive preschooler party followed by trick-or-treating IN MASS (as in 12 preschoolers + siblings!) through the NWX neighborhood. We came home, and Owen toured the cul-de-sac and then helped hand out candy to the big kids. I think his favorite part was trying to scare the kids that came to our door.

The Mexican Wrestler - "Nacho Libre" - or maybe "El Gringo Flaco" (The skinny gringo) would be a better title.

Fish JoshSwimming upstream?

Owen's favorite part of being a Mexican Wrestler was getting to shed his shirt. Thankfully, we convinced him that wrestlers wear sweats when they go outside!
Josh only hit the door of a few houses - can't wait until next year when the boys can go to the doors together!
Happy Halloween!

365 Days of Baby J

2010-10-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

365 days ago, we were snuggling an unnamed baby in the hospital and on Monday, that little baby turned ONE!

True to form, Josh celebrated his birthday with a sick day. That's 4 months in a row that he's been sick enough to call the doctor on the 24th or 25th of the month - strange! Our chats with the doctor deserve their own post, but for now, we'd like to celebrate 365 days with this tiny bundle of happiness.

Josh is a joyous little guy. He's such a blessing to our family. Josh is quick to laugh and is starting to exhibit his own little forms of humor. He thinks it's hilarious to give you a coy smile and then take off crawling in the other direction. He has a "happy dance" involving vigorous shakes of the head and hands and an inhaling squeal/honk that sends us all into giggles.

Josh is cruising furniture and starting to climb into boxes, up the stairs, over obstacles. He also likes to roll and chase balls down the hallway. But his true love continues to be stick shaped objects - spatulas, spoons, maracas, drumsticks.

Eating is still a challenge - I'm hard pressed to select some favorite foods, but Josh will eat repeated bites of crackers, canned peaches, and yogurt. He is still nursing pretty regularly, including once or twice at night and early morning, but if he has a full belly, he'll sleep in until 7AM, which seems like a treat (you know you're a parent when...)

Josh has fully entered "destructor mode" - tearing apart anything he can get his hands on... and there's not much he can't get his hands on these days. The pantry, the toilet paper, Owen's toys, folded clothes, our shoe/jacket bins, bookshelves, the dog food, and the cat litter box (ew, ew, ew) have all been targets of his joyful wrath in the last two weeks.

It has not been an easy year, but one in which every challenge and milestone has been 100% worth it to get us to this point. It is sooooo true that when parenting, the days are long, but the years are short. I can't really remember what our family FELT like without Josh - how did we fill those spaces that are so obviously intended for him? How will his personality evolve, enrich, challenge, and entertain our family? Only time will tell. Our old pastor in Seattle used to remind parents that our children are not ours to posses - God is just loaning them to us and entrusting us to raise them. It's an awesome responsibility, and we are privileged to have been selected to shepherd Josh and have a front row seat in watching the person he is growing into.

Here's the past year in monthly photos. Happy FIRST Birthday Joshua Todd!

Always Learning

2010-10-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

I am constantly amazed at how kids are just sponges for learning. Not only do they soak up information, but they are constantly learning new skills and navigating new sights and situations. It's understandable that Josh was wide-eyed in observation during a recent trip to Costco, but even Owen tried new foods, asked questions about uncommon products, and learned about the awesomeness of the "sample ladies." It's not surprising kids need so much sleep - all that new is exhausting.

So what have we been learning lately?

Owen - We can safely say that Owen has mastered the physical and mental skills required for potty training. Yes! Solving puzzles with this awesome Castle Logix set. Counting down - 3-2-1 Blast off! My friend Jen has started monthly "Environmental Ed" sessions for our Friday morning group. Last week the kids loved learning all about birds - what makes a bird a bird, which birds can fly, bird hunt walk complete with craft binoculars, etc. We're also trying to hit church more regularly, and Owen's a sponge for Miss Michelle's stories.

Josh - my friend Shannon says that child development works in a spiral - rotating between gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, and verbal, all the while advancing upward. Well, Josh is clearly in the gross motor quadrant these days! He's learning how to tear apart the house - unrolling toilet paper, emptying the pantry, pulling books off shelves, throwing my phone in the toilet. He's constantly trying to climb our stairs and can now get all the way up... but not down. Yikes! He's also rolling and chasing balls down the hallway. Tonight, Josh "learned" to eat fish sticks and tater tots (no, not the most healthy, but we were thrilled that he actually ate something besides crackers and yogurt).

Scott - Scott's finishing up three days of work training in Portland. Last weekend, he learned just how tough it is to participate in Bend's Big Fat Tour - nearly 80 miles on a mountain bike, 5,000 feet of climbing, 7,000 descending, over 9 hours on the bike... in one day!

Myself - Still "learning" my way toward a 1/2 marathon at the end of November. I've also been attempting to learn something more about raising boys - good idea, huh!? I was just getting ready to dive into Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys. The, almost simultaneously, Sarah loaned me Boys Adrift, we received an advance copy of Brain Rules for Baby (thanks Peg!), and our daycare asked all parents to read The Power of Play. Yikes! I'm so excited to dive into all of them. Where to start?

Coming up: swim lessons for both boys start on Friday.

What are you learning these days?

More Seattle Pics

2010-10-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

My mom sent us a few pics from the boys' week in Seattle. It was a fun way to get a glimpse of their activities while we were away.
Making cheesecake in preparation for a tea party.
Enjoying the tea party with Nancy and Deanna - the boys were spoiled with two "bonus Nanas" for the afternoon.
Hey look - Uncle Todd is holding a baby!
I guess when you're focusing hard on building legos, you can't be bothered to put on clothes.
Pretty obvious that Josh was starting to do downhill. It's been a lot of years since Nana and Papa have had to deal with a sicky baby...
...but Nana still had some tricks up her sleeve to get a smile on his face!

Unexpected Goodbye

2010-10-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

We lost our first pet last week. Scott got up for work on Friday and heard Pippin whining outside. He was stuck at the bottom of the stairs, paralyzed from the waist down. Scott took him to the Emergency Vet and had to hear the sad news that Pippin had suffered a blood clot (apparently not that uncommon) and there was no alternative than to say goodbye. It's horrible to lose a pet, but it's easier knowing that it was just Pippin's time. We didn't have any decisions to make.

Pippin was 8 1/2 years old. We got him from one of my co-workers when he was just a kitten. He was an energetic, active kitten - climbing all over our basement, chasing toys, exploring the neighborhood, and the like. Sometime after we got Hudson, he decided to exchange his active lifestyle for one of sloth and laziness. There wasn't a soft spot that Pippin wouldn't sleep in and he could endure all levels of pestering without moving from his perch. He was a fixture at the foot of our bed and never missed a meal.

I would imagine that Pippin's heaven includes lots of comfortable pillows, warm laps, and no children. I don't think he ever forgave us for bringing home a baby. He pretty much made himself scarce whenever we had kids around, and he started peeing on our walls after Owen was born. Gross! We won't miss the extra cleaning, but I do miss the soft, floppy heater at the foot of our bed.

We don't have any recent pictures of Pippin (on account of him generally avoiding the kids), but here are a few from when he first joined our family.

Kids on Vacation

2010-10-09T20:22:00.001-07:00

Being away from the boys for a whole week is a long time. Even more, it was a long time for the boys to be without mom and dad. Thankfully, both sets of grandparents know our children intimately well. No worries about their care. Early in our planning, Scott also figured out that the kids would probably do better having their own vacation while we were gone - so they spent the week in Seattle with some of their favorite people and a whole host activities planned to keep them occupied.

During their stay, Ethel started a little journal for Owen to keep track of all the excitement. It gave us a great cheat sheet into their days and a list of things to ask Owen about when we got home. (We also noted that we should have written "Josh was here, too" down the side of the page - that pretty much sums up the life of a second child!) Some of the highlights:

Saturday - Husky Tailgate and then Mom & Dad left for Mexico

Sunday - Mariners' Game with Grandpa (nice work Jeff!) and ate Dippin' Dots

Monday - Visited the beach with Cousin Calla and Auntie Sara; Rode bikes with Aunt Kate

Tuesday - Made a blanket with Grandma, Went up in the Space Needle!

Wednesday - Made scones with Aunt Kate; Transition to Nana/Papa's; played Nana's drums

Thursday - Playing at Nana and Papa's

Friday - Went to the park; Visit from Nancy & Deanna; made mousse with Nana; found Uncle Todd's old legos

Saturday - Met Uncle Todd for lunch, watched soccer, and then lots of lego building (This was also the day that Josh started getting really sick - Nana had a horribly sleepless night fighting his fever. Two calls to the doctor got him on the right medicines, but it was not a great way to end the week.)

Sunday - Lots of playing at Nana's house while Nana and Papa fought Josh's fever - pool, boxing, foosball, gymnastics, and a "swimsuit shower"

Monday - Mom and Dad home from Mexico; Drove back to Bend - nothing like a 7 hour drive fighting a 102 degree fever to bring you back to parenting reality!

Overall, the kids CLEARLY had a much more busy week than we did. What a treat!

Walks out; Hikes in

2010-10-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

After 3 years of weekly walks with kids in packs or strollers, our Friday moms group has reached a significant milestone... the mom walks are over. Oh, don't worry, our group is still meeting, but we've come to the point that the kids won't sit in the strollers any more, so we have a new strategy. Our Friday walks are now "hikes" at a 3-year old pace.
We had our first hike last Friday. Only 3 of us moms made it, but the 3 kiddos Owen's age hiked 2.5 miles with not a complaint to be heard. What we did hear was lots of laughter, joy, and excitement over all the wonderous beauty we found around Todd Lake - sunlight through the trees, mountain views, serene water, thousands of baby frogs, and dozens of little bridges to carry us across the mucky areas.

It was also Josh's first time in the hiking backpack - kind of a tragedy that he got all the way to 11 months and through a whole summer without riding through the woods, but we have lots of autumn left to make up for lost time. Bring on the hikes!

More Baby J

2010-10-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, Peg's comment on my last post reminded me of a few other things that I want to remember about Josh at 11 months.

Josh is GENERALLY a very happy baby. People comment about it all the time. He has ZERO stranger anxiety and will usually rally to be super happy when we're in new settings. When we're out and about, he gets to hang out in his favorite place (on a hip!), observe the world, and charm people with his sweet smile. At home, he's quick to express his displeasure - probably because I'm quick to set him down and turn my attention to something else!

Scott says Josh definitely has a "mommy-preference," but I see the way Josh's eyes light up when he hears dad's voice after work and the way he giggles like crazy when they wrestle or play guitar after dinner.

Josh slept through the night for the first time over the weekend. And he did it twice! Not a pattern, but certainly a hope for the future.

I made a (possibly half hearted) attempt to wean Josh before our vacation, but failed miserably. Josh has never taken kindly to the bottle (they just use a sippy cup at school), but he did fine with formula while we were gone. Now Josh nurses about 4 times a day, and we also give him a sippy cup with formula (extra calories!) at meals. I'm thankful that we perservered through MANY nursing issues last winter and that my pump got me through a week in Mexico, so that Josh can nurse through the first year and then wean when he and I are ready.*

We don't know what Josh weighs... and I don't care. He's somewhere between 16 and 18 pounds. He still wears 6 month sizes. He probably won't be on the growth chart at his 1 year check up. But he's happy and he's meeting other developmental milestones, so we're not concerned. Yes, we still try to feed him high calorie foods, but our strategy wouldn't be any different if we knew he was in the 5th, 3rd, or -5th percentile, so what's the point in watching the scale?

*A news report last week showed that Oregon has the highest breastfeeding rates of any state in the nation. 60% of a babies nursing at 6 months and 40% still breastfeeding at 1 year. Both are higher than the CDC goals of 50% at 6 months and 25% at a year. Whoohoo!

11 Months and counting

2010-10-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

While we we enjoying our week away, Josh passed the 11 month mark. The last month has (AGAIN) been a month of change for Baby J. And for the 3rd month in a row, Josh's month milestone coincided with a nasty illness. (Not a fun way to finish his days with Nana and Papa.) Thankfully, he's healthy and happy now. Here's a quick look at the last month.

In September, Josh went from angry, frustrated army crawler...

...to confident crawler and sneaky wall walker...

This new movement has opened a new world for Josh. He has started finding all sorts of new nooks and crannies in our house. He seems to really be embracing his new independence... unless mom is in the room. If I'm in eyesight, Josh wants to be on my hip or is using my legs to pull himself into the action. I'm now cooking while wiggling my legs away from his gripping hands and if Josh isn't on my hip, this is the view at my feet...

Josh still loves balls, watching the animals, giggling with Owen, testing new sounds with his voice

He's also found a new love this month... mallets! Anything hammer or stick shaped quickly becomes a prized possession. He spent a whole week carrying around a kitchen spatula and loves holding spoons, banging drumsticks, etc. Josh has even mastered the art of crawling while carrying a tubular object, as he's demonstrating with his new Mexican maraca shakers.

It looks like we are still a ways away from some of the other milestones like walking, forming real words, signing, and, of course, a haircut. But Josh does have four teeth and has transitioned fully to table foods.

The 11 month milestone also means we are just weeks away from a first birthday. We can't wait to celebrate our first year with Baby J!

Oh-oh Mexico!

2010-10-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our TENTH anniversary with a kidfree week in Zihuatenejo Mexico. The blog has certainly suffered during the lead-up and aftermath of our trip, but I wanted to get our pictures our pictures posted.

Highlights:
Open air resort.
Ropes course and zip line tour.
Watching the fishing boats each morning.
Swim-up bar.
Ordering lunch from the beach.
Sleeping all.night.long.
Sleeping in every single morning.
Walking around the bay to Playa Las Gatas and enjoying drinks and lunch in an idyllic setting.
Seeing baby sea turtles right prior to their release into the ocean (Scott even held one!).
Walking barefoot down the beach to find breakfast and dinner.
Meeting some new and entertaining friends.
Time to talk, reflect, read, and dream.
Sleeping to the rhythm of the ocean.

Absolutely no schedule, no decisions, and no demands. We got up when we wanted to, had coffee on the patio, walked down the beach for breakfast when the mood struck us, and then made the excruciating decision: sit on the beach or sit by the pool? We also had to decide where to eat dinner each night, but even that got taken care of a few times, as we made friends with some other vacationers and just tagged along with their dinner plans. =)

Lowlights:
Our luggage arriving in Mexico 48 hours after we did.
Offseason vacation in the rainy season = 2 days of downpour!
Dozens and dozens of mosquito bites.
MAJOR construction in the resort next to ours (but we were able to move to a quieter room with an AMAZING view on day 3).
Another highlight is that traveling with just the two of use meant that none of the lowlights put even one smidgen of a damper on our trip. No luggage, loud noise, and mosquitoes just aren't that big of a deal without the kids around.

Overall, it was EXACTLY the vacation we needed. We are so grateful to both sets of grandparents for watching the boys, including dealing with Josh's sleepless nights, reluctance to take a bottle, and a nasty fever. Both grandmas also graciously accepted my barrage of emails with information and last minute instructions in the weeks before we left. We didn't feel sad missing the boys until we touched back down at Seatac, and that's a wonderful gift to be able to confidently get away and find some rejuvenating joy, strength, and rest for what lies ahead in the next ten years!

First room with view of the construction:View from our second room and our morning coffee spot:
The private beach for the resort:
Lunch delivered to our chairs on the beach:

Chillin

The walk into town:
Breakfast on the beach:

Zip line/ropes course tour:

Baby Sea Turtles that hatch at the resort:

UPs and DOWNs

2010-09-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

The theme around our house for the last week has been UP and DOWN.

Teeth – Josh’s two front teeth on the top are coming DOWN and going back UP. It won’t be long now until he has four chompers.

In a related matter, our mealtime dynamic is changing. Josh wants to feed himself – picking UP foods from the tray, dropping them DOWN on the floor (Hudson is LOVING this stage); batting DOWN our hands when we try to spoon in the yogurt or puree. I need a cheat sheet of nutritious, high calorie foods that are soft and can be diced into small pieces. I sense lots of hearty, veggie rich soups over the next few months!

Standing – Josh is UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN. He can now pull himself up to standing with any surface – even the wall – and is starting to pick-up cruising speed. We need to teach him to get back DOWN when he pulls UP in his crib. The bumps and bruises are also coming at a faster pace. The other night when he tried to pull UP in the bath, slipped, and crashed his head DOWN on the side of the tub. He split his eyelid open and, let me tell you, blood around the eye socket is terribly frightening! I’m surprised he doesn’t have a major black eye from that one.

Potty training – What a rousing success! I am so proud of Owen. He has really claimed the process as his own, We spent the weekend watching pants and underwear going DOWN and UP; stickers going UP on the fridge; jelly beans coming DOWN from the cupboard. Owen hasn’t had an accident since Saturday and is even wearing his underwear at school and during naptime!

I know we now have several weeks of vigilance – identifying a bathroom when we go out and about, carrying extra clothes everywhere, etc. We’ll also have to tackle nighttime, but what a change to know we’ll just be using one diaper at night instead of changing them all day long. Whoohoo!

And yes... I need to UPload some more pictures, but this will have to do for tonight.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

2010-09-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

Potty Training. Urgh.

I think I should just leave the post at that. We had that disasterous attmept back in July that resulted in our whole family pretty much defeated and in tears. Remember? We decided to wait and let Owen take the lead. That's what all the books tell you these days - don't push them, wait until they're ready, blah, blah, blah. Well, that strategy is not working at our house. I think we missed our "readiness" window early last fall. Owen was showing all the signs, but we were hesitant to try and train him 2 months before having a new baby - what if he regressed? Seriously? Would that have been so bad? Instead we've been changing diapers for a full extra YEAR.

All the books also say that the "old" method of potty training was too traumatizing for kids, but I'm really wondering? Are there any adults out there suffering PTSD from their potty training experience in the 50s and 60s? Maybe the "parent lead" method was a little regimented, but those kids got out of diapers WAY earlier than ours do. But I digress...

Regardless of the theory, I'm tired of changing diapers for a 3 year old. Especially one that will stop what he's doing, look me in the eye, and announce, "I'm peeing in my diaper." Kiddo, those diaper days are ending! The kids are staying with grandma/nana for a week starting next weekend, and Scott (and I) were feeling really guilty of sending them two kids still in diapers (espeically since one of those kids still isn't weaned and doesn't sleep well). Scott was musing, "maybe we should give the potty training a try again before we go." With nothing on the calendar today, I took a deep breath and decided to take a more forceful approach. No days of preparation, sticker charts, or pep talks. We just told Owen that today was potty day and that he wasn't getting a diaper. Tears, yelling, rolling on the floor, "But I WANT A DIAPER!" "But I Al-READY used the potty!" (2 months ago) and on and on and on. After an hour this morning, I was ready to cave, but I held on. We brought out the little potty for the downstairs bathroom.

After 2 hours, Owen was at least willing to play without pants on. He had one accident on the floor. We started pounding the gatorade. He started running back and forth to the potty every 10 minutes. He had one TINY dribble on the potty - 3 Jelly Beans! When I was upstairs putting Josh down for a nap, I heard a comotion in the bathroom then a toilet flush. Successful poop! 3 Jelly Beans. Now I had a proud, smiling kid. We called dad and grandma. The successes kept coming. The accidents happened too. But our count for the morning was 6 hits and 2 misses.

Owen is thrilled (and pretty hyped up on sugar from those jelly beans). I am thrilled - and feeling really nasty. This is a lot of bodily fluid to be dealing with.

I gave Owen a pull-up at nap time and told him that as soon as he wakes up, he should run to the potty. 45 minutes into his nap, I heard him crying and found him (still asleep) halfway out of bed, as though his body was trying to head for the bathroom. I tucked him back in - the pull-ups are there for a reason. Let's hope this continues this afternoon...