Friday, May 28, 2010

Before and After: The Owen Edition

I know I mention Owen's teeth a lot (A LOT!), but upon their arrival into his mouth, they truly make him miserable. For the past four weeks, if not longer, Owen has been getting four new teeth (the sharp, pointy ones) and it is affecting his eating and sleeping. Oh, how they make him crabby, and I mean seriously.crabby. I just breaks my heart to see him in pain and hurting and sad and not eating and miserable. We are on the homestretch though as I think he has 2 out of the 4 left to pop through. 

Gosh I hope so, because this is how it has been almost everyday for a whole week.

Before nap:

After nap:

Before nap:


After nap:



And because I think it is so dang cute and make me want to eat my O right up.... a picture of Owen's "curlier every day" hair. The humidity that the summer brings makes his hair crazy curly and I love it!




Thursday, May 27, 2010

Here goes...

I just recently mentioned about my need and my want to be IN more pictures with my kids! I then saw the embrace the camera challenge a couple days later! Is the universe giving me a little shove to get going with this? Yes Ma'am, I think it is! One day, a long time from now, my Owen will cherish this picture. He won't care about the messy counter, or his momma's dirty hair, or her chicken wing of an arm sticking out...nope, he won't. Owen will see the L-O-V-E and a captured memory of his momma, something I wish I had more of with my own mother.


Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Ten (Eleven) on Tuesday

1. I love when Jackers sits at the kitchen counter while I work. He eats his snack, puts together one of his puzzles or just simply talks to me. He is currently my little "Mr. Why". Why this and why that and  why this again and why that again?!?! It makes me laugh, it makes me frustrated, it makes me stumble, but overall it makes me happy that he is so inquisitive about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!




2. I am currently reading this book:


And it's superb! I have started probably 5 or 6 books in the last year, none of which grabbed my attention and kept me wanting more! None. That is not the case for this book though, so far it's great!

3. South Haven 2010: First Visit of the Season


The boys could NOT get enough of this!
Owen would take Pat's hand and walk him out into the water just so Pat would throw him up in the air like this. O giggled and giggled and giggled!



Jack was absolutely thrilled to be at the beach!
Sand, water, shells, birds, boats and fish make him beyond happy!
His constant discovery is so pure and refreshing to watch.
At the moment, most pictures of Jack are action shots. However, if he sees me taking a picture of his brother than he becomes more than willing to cooperate for a more posed shot!

Owen loved the beach too. He kept putting his whole face in the sand. I'm not sure why he kept doing this, maybe it felt cool against his skin. It was 110% more fun for me too now that Owen is walking, talking babling and feeding himself.

4. Owen recently picked up on the "CHEEEEEEESE"!


5.  I want to make one of THESE. I don't have an old crib, but I recently bought an old, white twin headboard that I think will work perfect....kinda like THIS. And my list gets longer!

6. Do you spend money on something for yourself (and only yourself) every week as a treat to YOU? I do, it's flowers (and magazines, too...I might be slightly addicted to magazines, but we won't get into that right now)! It's never anything too fancy, I just buy them at the grocery store or farmer's market put them in a mason jar with some rocks and maybe a ribbon and voila...instant happiness!!



Try it sometime :)


7. Speaking of farmer's markets, oh how I love them! This past Saturday, Pat and I had the entire day to ourselves without our boys. Our babysitter, Casey, is going away for the summer to work at a camp in the Pocono Mountains and she offered up an overnight with the boys before she leaves. Well, that happened to be this past weekend and we spent our day in Grand Rapids, starting off the morning with breakfast and then the Fulton Street Farmer's Market. I brought my camera to capture the amazingness (not a word?!) that a farmer's market brings, but it was so busy that this is all I got!

We picked up a bunch of good stuff!

8. Another part of our day was spent becoming official members of Costco, which we are super pumped about! The happiness over this, however, kinda made me feel old!

9. When we got home and brought in all of our things, I had a bag from Ann Taylor LOFT (I HEART this store). Well, Casey informed me that she loves this store too, but that her sorority sisters make fun of her for shopping there because they say it is a "Mom Store" and it sells "Mom Clothes". *SIGH*  Which then reaffirmed that I am old....ugh! I totally disagree it is most definitely NOT a "Mom Store", NO way!

10.LOST
About four summers ago we were living in Bethlehem, PA. I was newly pregnant with Jack, I had just finished nursing school, I was studying for my R.N. Boards and I was starting my first R.N. job in the emergency department of a hospital. Needless to say, we I was busy and I felt sickly gross that entire time. 

My good friend Erin from college and her husband who happened to live in Philadelphia kept telling us about this awesome show they had been watching and they loved it so much that they bought the first two seasons on DVD. That show happened to be LOST. To get through that crazy time, we decided to borrow their DVD's and see what this show was all about! We loved it, we were hooked and it became the one show Pat and I enjoyed watching together.

I was sad when it ended on Sunday night because of all that I wrote above. I, however, have been confused about the show the past two seasons, the writers lost me somewhere in between the past, present, 1974, 2004 and the what-if. But, I stayed true and watched the show through it's finale. If I ever had a question (which was a lot), I called my brother, Keefe, a total "Lostie". The finale was okay, but I felt it was a bit of a cop-out and it still left me confused. Then Keefe posted this to his Facebook:

"Alright, the island was real and it was
purgatory for all the bad people in the world...the
flash-sideways/alternate reality was actually purgatory for
the good people on the show until they were all dead and could move on
to heaven together. The FS/AR was a holding area/purgatory that the
...Losties somehow ...created in their collective subconscious
together because they couldn't move on without each other."

Nope, doesn't help..still confused! Oh well, it still was a great show and I am sad that it is dunzo!

11.  A homemade water slide makes my Jackers....

 one ecstatic little boy!

 

 


Friday, May 21, 2010

J-A-C-K

 
He knows how to spell his name........

and with a little practice he now knows how to (almost) write his name!

This post is specially for Jack's grandmas as they were both teachers at one time in their lives. Seeing this might put a little warmth in their hearts on this cold, dreary day! It had that effect on his momma!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Ramblings....

1. These make me SMILE!




2. I have been thinking about and shopping around for a long necklace with my kiddos names on it for over a year. I have looked a lot on etsy and here and here. I finally decided on THIS ONE and I am super excited about it!

3. I just discovered THIS blog through THIS blog. It's awesome...she shows how to put fun, fresh and colorful outfits and accessories together at very-budget friendly prices! Love it!

4. Pat took a staycation the past two days. I am thinking he enjoyed himself!


5. This makes me SMILE too!


Well, of course this too!


6.  Last year:
Silly, Baby Face
This Year:
Serious, "Not So Baby" Face

Last Year:

Owen watched his brother have all the fun.

This Year:

Owen gets to join all the fun!

6. I recently read somewhere about how important it is for a mother to be in more pictures with her children so they have captured memories of her. Although I already knew this, it just reaffirmed for me that I need to make a better effort at it. I need to make the time to take more pictures with my boys and stop being overly critical of the way I look because it's about them and they surely don't care.





That's it...just a few ramblings!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

How come?

How come, darn it? 

How come my Owen, who I carried inside of me for 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days, who I labored/delivered sans drugs, who I nursed for 6 months, who left me practically sleepless for one whole year and who has been 110% all about me since the day he was born only says,

"Daadee...Daadee...Daadee".

How come?

What about, "Mommee...Mommee...Mommee"?


Funny boy...we'll keep working on it!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Yesterday.

Was a very good day.




After four days of 40 degree weather and rain, the sun finally decided to shine! We went to the park, which happens to be on a small lake. We spent a majority of our time playing on the beach, where the boys got soaking wet. They were screaming and laughing at the fun they were having in the water. Jack deemed himself "The Seashell Finder" and Owen put every stick he picked up in his mouth! Oh the fun...it was a good day!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

He's back!

 Jack, my sweet, funny, kind, and spunky child is back!

    Do I look happy about this?
Picture by Jack.

My Jackers has been out of sorts lately. I don't know if it's the weather or three-year old growing pains or "momma boredom". Whatever it is, he sure has been mischievous and feisty (naughty), which has been testing his Momma's patience, big time! Anywho, the last couple of days have been better, much better.

Maybe it was the great nap Jack had.......

under his bed?!?
Oh yes, it's a new place everyday! 

My heart just smiles when I see him snuggled with his "night-nights" fast asleep in this random spot in his bedroom. It reminds me that although he is 3 1/2 years old and a "big-boy" and "big-brother", Jack is still such a little boy. He is learning, growing and yearning to exert his independence in the world. As I am learning and growing as a mother...as his mother. So, we forge on in this growth partaking in our daily activities and simply learning from all of these experiences to make tomorrow a better day!


And a few just because.........
(too bad about the outlet cover, nick in the wall and lamp stand...darn it!)



O-man is pretty happy about his brother's return as well!
I sure do hope it sticks.

I can already see small glimpses of how much he looks up to him!
Oh the places you two will go and hopefully, together!!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Today

......is all because of my boys!

Oh, how I L-O-V-E being their Momma!


Wednesday, May 5, 2010