Family Resemblance

I have always thought that Owen bears a striking resemblance to my oldest brother Alan. I guess it make sense logically though. Growing up everybody said I looked like Alan, and now everybody says that Owen looks like me. So if X=Y and Y=Z, X must = Z too! Make sense to me. So when we got home from church today and I looked in the back seat I immediately thought of this picture I took of Alan 13 years ago. I rushed inside to grab my camera! I wouldn't be too sad if Owen turned out like Alan though. Even though he use to torment me as a child he's grown into a pretty decent man. Hopefully he doesn't care that I've posted this picture for everybody to see! If he does, oh well. It's pay back for all those times he tormented me growing up!

Family Day 2008

Every place that Scott has ever worked at since we got married has had a Family Day event every year. We've always gone, and we've always left early. It seems like Family Day events are always geared toward the kids...which is great, but we never had a kid to enjoy it, so we've always left early. Last year we did take Owen, but we was just 9 months old then, so there wasn't much for him to enjoy yet. This year was a different story!

Family Day was suppose to be back on the last Saturday in August, but since that was also Labor Day weekend a lot of people complained about being out of town. So they changed it to yesterday, September 27th. Of course the weather was beautiful on the Saturday it was originally planned for, and the weather was rainy and cold yesterday! But we still had a fun time. We got there about 10 minutes after it started and stayed until 45 minutes after it was suppose to have ended! I got a few pictures though, so here goes!

They always have one of those blow up bouncy houses for the kids, and this year Owen got to have some fun in it! He loved jumping around, especially when older kids were in there bouncing him all over the place. It was hard to get a good picture of him in there because he was constantly on the move and my camera takes so darn long to snap the pictures! But the one above was pretty good.

This is what most of the pictures looked like though...Owen falling on his face! He was a good sport though, he just laughed the whole time he was in there. They had a guy come and put on a bubble show, and Owen threw the biggest fit when we tried to get him out of the bounce house. Once he saw the bubbles he was hooked though. The guy made HUGE bubbles, and Owen just kept on saying "Ooooohhhh, Bubbles!" Then he would try to wiggle off my lap so he could go and pop them. It was pretty fun!

After that was lunch time. We had some yummy sandwiches and chips. Owen just had cheese on his roll since he is a self-made vegetarian. Then he made a big mess with his chips. It's what he does best!

They also had cotton candy, so I told Scott to get him a little cotton candy...so of course Scott came back with a huge ton of cotton candy! I tried to eat most of it so he wouldn't be hyped up on cotton candy...which just meant that Holly was hyped up on cotton candy. I guess I just can't win! Owen enjoyed his first taste of cotton candy though. Boy is that stuff sticky!

After lunch they put all the kids to work moving wood...OK, not really. Scott was just showing him around the warehouse, and Owen found a big pile of wood that he couldn't resist. So he found a piece small enough for himself and started dragging it around everywhere. He's quite the good little worker.

Of course, the best part of this whole deal is that Owen fell asleep by the time we were out of the parking lot, and he took a nice long 3 hour nap!

Full Term

I've made it! I'm 37 weeks pregnant today, which means I'm officially "Full Term!" So I can have Holly any day now and she won't be considered a preemie...YIPPY! Of course, I was hoping that I would have her today or tomorrow, but I don't think that will be happening. Yesterday started the era of weekly visits with my doctor. He checked me out and said I wasn't dilated at all...not one little bit...BOO!!!! At least I was 1 centimeter dilated with Owen by this point. Of course my mom was about 2 weeks late with me, her only daughter, so maybe that's what I'm in for too. I guess I better just sit back and try to breathe, it seems like I might be in for the long haul here.

Another note...Kelly put up the pictures of the baby shower, you can check out her amazing work HERE. Thanks Kelly!

Baby Shower

Last night a wonderful friend from church threw me the cutest baby shower I have ever had! I wish you all could have been there to enjoy the decorations and refreshments. It was a lot of fun! Kelly put so much time and energy into the shower and I just can't thank her enough for all that she did. I wish I had gotten some pictures, but somebody else was taking pictures. So when I get access to them I will try to post them, because everybody should see what a great job she did. I think she will probably post some pictures on her blog too...

She had a whole theme for the baby shower, "Apple of my Eye". The invitations had an apple theme with a caramel apple lollipop! Then when you went in the house where the baby shower was held there was a wonderful smell of apple pie! There was lots of apples in all the refreshments; apple pie, apple crisp, apple cider, cupcakes that looked like apples, and much more...it was all very yummy! My favorite was the caramel fondue with sliced apples and graham crackers, I ate a lot of that!

I got lots of great gifts for little Holly! She will definitely have some cute clothes to wear when she finally gets here. I got a cute little diaper cake from Jocelyn that you can check out HERE on Jocelyn's blog. It was a great shower...and I'm very grateful for all the friends who came out to help support me and baby Holly! We really appreciate everything that was done for us!!!

Envy...

Don't you just love the thoughts that go through your head at 1:30 in the morning....when you are waddling down the hall to the bathroom...for the 4th time since you went to bed at 9:30! I don't know if I should admit what I was thinking, but it was 1:30 in the morning so I have a little bit of an excuse. I was thinking that I was very envious of Owen. Why? Because he never has to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, he gets to wear a diaper! LOL! Not that I am planning on investing in Depends or anything though. I just love the strange thoughts that go through my head when I'm sleep deprived!

Speaking of diapers, my mother-in-law told Owen that he would get to wear big boy underwear soon. I looked at her and asked her what she meant, and she said that I would be potty training him soon. I had no idea that potty training was in my near future, I was thinking more like next summer when Owen is 2 1/2. My mother-in-law then informed me that when Scott was a baby if you didn't have your child potty trained by the time they were a YEAR OLD you were considered a failure!!! Scott was a wonder baby though...and she was the best mother ever, so there you go. What a joy it is to have my mother-in-law live just a mile away.

Chocolate Mess!

Last night we decided to have some chocolate fondue for dessert! I melted some chocolate, cut up some bananas and strawberries and we went to town. It was so yummy. As you can tell Owen really liked it too!!! His hair was covered in chocolate, and I told Scott that he would have to give him a bath because I wasn't feeling too great last night. Scott said to me, all serious too, "Do you think he really needs a bath tonight?" Ummm...YES!

Crowded Bath

Does anybody else have a bathtub that look like this? I guess I could take all the toys out after Owen takes a bath, but then I would just have to take them all out again after the next one. It's not too easy to get that low these days! So for now I just have to kick them out of the way when I have to take a shower. I don't think I ever had that many toys in the bathtub. Owen is spoiled.

Joyful Life

I finally have a few minutes to update my blog! But only a few because I know Owen is going to be waking up any minute now. I just wanted to write about my "Joyful" weekend before I forget everything.

Deseret Book puts on a program called "Time Out for Women" that travels around the country and has different presenters at each location. I went a few years ago when I was pregnant with Owen to the one in Albany, NY. It was a great event, so when I found out they were going to be in Springfield, MA I knew I wanted to go! Especially since Friday night Michael McLean was going to be there. He was also at the Time Out for Women in Albany. What a talent man he is. So for my birthday Scott bought me the ticket to go...Woo Hoo!

Friday night was amazing. It was the third time I have been able to see Michael McLean perform and I must say I enjoyed every minute of it. He just has a way of connecting with his audiences. His songs are so beautiful, he is for sure my favorite LDS singer/songwriter. Actually, I don't really know too many others besides Kenneth Cope, who is good, but I don't connect with his songs as much as Michael McLean's. Kenneth Cope was also there, he sang a few songs on Friday night, but he mainly did his thing on Saturday. Kim Nelson spoke on Friday night, what a great speaker he is...he was very funny and entertaining. I went home Friday night excited for the next day!

Saturday was an almost whole day experience. We got to listen to 5 speakers and Kenneth Cope in between. The topic for this years Time Out for Women was "A Joyful Life". I wish I could remember every word that was spoken...it makes me sad how you can hear such beautiful words, but can't remember all of them! I tried to take notes, but it was so crowed in there and my humongous belly didn't help much either. So I didn't get too many. One thing that really stuck with me though is that we are in charge of whether we have a joyful life or not. It's not up to anybody else, just us. I think way too much we rely others to make us happy, and when they don't live up to our expectations we get can lose that joy in our lives. One speaker also spoke about being a peace-maker. I have been thinking about that a lot during the last few days as I've been out and about in public. I'm trying to be more kind to people I meet, whether it's at work or the grocery store or at home. One speaker also spoke about giving away just 5 split seconds to be kind to somebody each day. So you could compliment your husband, say hi and smile to a stranger walking down the street, give your child a hug and tell them you love them...you get the point. She knows we are all busy, but she says we can spare 5 split seconds, and she's right. We can all probably spare more than that, but I guess we can start with 5 split seconds.

A lot of other wonderful things were mentioned...but I just heard Owen crying upstairs for me to come free him from his room. So I will leave it at that. But if you hear of a "Time Out for Women" event coming near you I could definitely encourage you to go.

Breathless

I think the worst part of being pregnant this time around is the lack of air I seem to be getting! When I was pregnant with Owen I read that it could happen, but I never seemed to notice it. But this time around I can't even put Owen into his car seat without feeling like I've just run for 10 minutes. I had to review Emma last night at book club, and any time I said more than 2 sentences I was running out of breath! I can't sing in the car without feeling like I'm going to pass out. It's really bad. Thankfully this will pass...just about 4 more weeks to go! I guess I should be grateful that I don't have the heartburn that I had with Owen. That would keep me up at nights in total misery. I still get heartburn, but not nearly as bad as with Owen.

Sometimes I wonder if the different sex of the babies is what causes the different symptoms. In the past week I've had two total strangers come up to me and tell me, "You must be having a girl...I can tell by the way you are carrying up high." Which is strange because I always thought they said if you were carrying high you were having a boy...carrying low you were having a girl. I know Owen was always in my ribs, but on my left side. Holly is always in my ribs, but on my right side. They say each pregnancy is different...and I guess they are right. I suppose that only somebody who has had more than one boy and one girl could tell me if the sex of the baby causes different symptoms....or if I've been reading too many old wives' tales.

No Offense

I was listening to a radio show yesterday when one of the people participating in the show said that he was so offended by something somebody had said. I wanted to start screaming! It seems like so many people are so quick to take offense these days...why do they do that to themselves? Political correctness is out of control. I usually just try to ignore it, but it's really been bugging me since I heard the guy on the radio. I think I mainly just feel bad for people who are so quick to take offense. How sad their lives must be that they have to let the actions of others affect them so much.

Elder Bednar gave a talk back in the October 2006 General Conference Broadcast that was so unforgettable that I think about it every time I hear somebody saying that they are offended. He talked about people who have gone inactive because somebody at church did or said something that offended them. He had some great advise for those people which can be found here in the whole talk. But I wanted to quote what he said a little later in his talk;

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

"In the grand division of all of God's creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation."

I can't say it more perfectly that than. I'm not saying I'm perfect and have never been offended. When I first moved out of Utah I couldn't believe what people would say about Utah and Mormons! I was quick to take offense. But pretty soon I learned that most people were joking...and if they weren't, so what? I can't change somebodies opinion of me, so why let it bother me? I know who I am...that's the most important thing. People need to have a little more sense of humor and stop taking everything so personally. What a happier world we would live in!

Thank you for letting me rant, I feel better! I hope I haven't offended any of you, none was meant. I'll get off my soap box now!

Eating Pizza Backwards

My little brother Marc just posted this video that he made of himself eating pizza backwards. It's strange, but I found it entertaining for some reason. Wouldn't it be nice if we could un-eat things sometimes!

Big E 2008

Yesterday kicked off our annual Big E experience! For anybody who doesn't live in New England, the Big E is like the state fair for the six New England states. I wonder if people from Maine really drive down to go to it though? I know the only reason I go is because it's a 20 minute drive away. More than that would be too much for me! I actually can only stand to go for one day. Scott LOVES going to the Big E though, so he always buys a pass for all 17 days! Too me it's mainly a big Infomercial where they try to sell me a bunch of junk I don't need...and sometimes I give in. I also eat a bunch of food I shouldn't eat, and I'm usually miserable because it's always hot and humid when we go. But I always look forward to going each year and wonder why I looked forward to it when I get there!

We started off the day eating some unhealthy food. Owen is such a picky eater, so we had to find something he would eat...French Fries! Here he is enjoying his fries dipped in ketchup. We also had donuts, chocolate milk, grilled cheese sandwiches (Owen), chili dogs (me), hamburgers (Scott), cookies, chicken and cheese kabobs, and chocolate covered fruit! What a day of healthy eating it was. But I guess you don't really go to the fair expecting to eat healthy. At least I didn't get heartburn! Actually I've been pretty lucky this pregnancy, I haven't had heart burn as bad as I did with Owen. I think it's because Holly is hanging out on the right side of my body and Owen hung out on the left, pushing my stomach up!

We got to see how much Scott weighed in the cow barn. I know you probably can't read the sign above him very well, but it said that he weighs as much as a Giant Pumpkin! Later we saw the Giant Pumpkins and one of them was 904 lbs! Scott really needs to cut back on the fair food if he's up to 904 lbs now.

The lucky part of being a kid...you get to take naps while your parents push you around the hot and humid fair! Actually, this was one of the nicest parts of the day because Owen wasn't trying to run away from us. So we sat down and cooled off for a while and drank some chocolate milk. We drank a lot of chocolate milk because it was the cheapest thing we could find to drink. They wanted about $2.50 for a bottled water...that's so wrong! I've got to remember to brink my own water next time.

They have a Marti Graw Parade which seemed to take forever this year. We got stuck in the back, so Scott gave Owen a lift on his shoulders so he could see what was going on. Owen really liked the marching bands. He also liked wearing two hats at once, as you can see in the picture above!

We also bought Holly her coin bank so that Owen and her won't have to fight over Owen's when she comes along. Scott picked out the pink dinosaur for her. Owen is already trying to claim it as his own. Too bad he can't read and see that her name is already on it!

Overall our 2008 family trip to the Big E wasn't too bad...we actually came home with cash in our pockets and I only bought one thing from the infomercial people! We were SO tired when we got home though...and I got a horrible rash from the heat. So I'm going to take it easy today and hopefully recover enough so that I can go back to work tomorrow. We were suppose to go to the Bronx Zoo with Scott's sister today, but we decided to put that on hold for now. I didn't really feel like spending the day chasing Owen around the zoo.

Done!

It's always so nice to finish something you started. Today I actually got to take my lunch break for myself. Usually I have to go pick up Owen because Scott gets stuck working overtime. But not today...he actually got out only 1/2 hour late. So I spent my lunch break finishing up "Emma"! It wasn't a bad book...probably not one I will ever pick up and read again either. Thank goodness I now have about 6 days to try and figure out what I am suppose to have learned from the book...because I'm sure that everything Miss Austen was trying to convey isn't in my head yet. Thank goodness for the Internet and Google!

My Thoughts Exactly

Poetic Bumps

Yesterday was one of those days when everything just seems to be going wrong. I was pretty darn grumpy...ask Scott! But I don't want to go into details and bore you with my whining. I was just sitting there wishing that the day would end already so I could go to bed. I think being tired was a big part of the problem. But at 8:00 the phone rang...and who was it but my good friend Claudia from Arizona! She moved away and left me in cold Massachusetts when Owen was just a month old. So it was really great to talk to her. We were on the phone for about 2 1/2 hours, and we could have been on longer if I wasn't so dang tired. It's always good to talk to Claudia though. The first time I met her was when I was going to visit teach her...I ended up staying at her house for HOURS that night just chatting and having fun. Then we spent a lot of time watching "American Idol" together before she had to up and leave Massachusetts! We still keep in touch though...not on the phone so much though. Here is a few pictures for her. The picture of Owen in just a diaper, socks and shoes is from a few days ago. Claudia has two little boys...Ceddie and Jakob. She is always sending me cute clothes from them. The shoes are actually Lighting McQueen shoes (I think that's the cars name from the movie "Cars") that Owen LOVES! They are too big for him, but whenever he sees them he won't leave us alone until we put them on. So the other day I was changing him and all he wanted to put on was his shoes...so I let him. Why not? As for the other picture...I took that this morning for Claudia. She will get what it's all about. I think the camera adds 20 lbs though! Or maybe that's just Holly???

Football Widow

Yesterday was the start of the Football Season...again. Well, unless you count pre-season football, which my husband does. Don't get me wrong, I love to watch a football game just as much as the next guy...but my husband loves to watch a football game 100 times more than the next guy. Actually, I don't know if he actually loves watching the game. He gets so nervous when the game is on...he won't eat anything because his stomach is in knots until the end of the game. Of course our team of choice is the Patriots! Who doesn't love Tom Brady and Bill Belichick? OK...don't answer that. But with all their success it seems like my husbands obsession with football just keeps on getting worse and worse. When the pre-season games were on he knew who every new player was, where they had come from, what their stats were...all this ridiculous information that nobody but the coaches should know. Yesterday, after the Patriots win over the Kansas City Chiefs he knew what Back-Up Quarterback Matt Cassel's quarterback rating was...but he forgot that I told him we had no milk. How hard is it to remember "We have no milk"? It's crazy! Fortunately I get support and understanding from his sister...she's seen him action during the games. His sister likes to have Super Bowl parties at her house, but he hasn't been invited to the last two that the Patriots played in. He thinks that during the game everybody should just close their mouths and pay attention to the game...NO TALKING!!! I love the Patriots...but sometimes I wouldn't mind if they lost a few more games. Maybe then my husband would lose this obsession. He wasn't this obsessed the first few years we were married when they weren't playing so well. Now he can spend whole Saturdays sitting on the computer arguing with people about Spygate. He's even writing an article about Spygate...I couldn't tell you the details even though he tells them to me all the time. It's about 30 pages long though...and he was up until 1:00 last night working on it. I've tried to tell him that it's not that important, but he's on a mission to prove to the whole world that the Patriots did nothing wrong. I think he's taken up the mission statement of The Lorax from Dr. Suess's book, "The Lorax"

"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

So, here's hoping I survive the craziness that is football season in my house. On a cuter note...doesn't Owen look adorable in the new church outfit I got for him at TJ Maxx? It was only $12...what a bargain! Of course he wouldn't stay standing while I was trying to get a picture, so this is the best I got...don't mind the runny nose!!! It was so nice when he just sat still for pictures!

The "N" Word

Ever since Owen was a newborn baby I've been anxious for him to learn new skills. I've discovered it's a bad habit all new parents have. At first I couldn't wait for him to be able to hold his head up. When he finally could that was a good thing! But then I wanted him to start crawling. As soon as he started crawling I wished he would start walking because he would always get his hands dirty crawling around. Then he started walking...YIKES! Suddenly it was almost impossible to keep the pots and pans in the cupboards...or to keep anything where it was suppose to be. I liked it a whole lot better when I could set him down somewhere, leave the room, and know he would be sitting in the same spot when I got back.

So I don't know why I have been so anxious for him to learn to talk...I should have learned my lesson by now! There is a little girl in his class at daycare who is about a month older than Owen. She has been speaking in full sentences for months now. It seems like every time I turn around there is some article on how if your child can't use so many words by a certain age it means they must have some kind of learning disability. So that freaks me out! He just started calling me mom a few months ago...all the books I read said he should be calling me mom by the time he is a year old! Owen is slowly learning new words though. The doctor asked me about his speech yesterday...she said as long as he knew 10-20 words she wouldn't be concerned. He knows 10-20 words at least. But there is one word that he has picked up in the last week or so that I wish he hadn't learned. The dreaded word...."No" AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! That is his new favorite word, and I sure hate to hear it. If I try to give him food he shakes his head, "NO!" If I try to put on his shoes, "NO!" If I try to take him out of his high chair, "NO!" It's driving me insane! What happened to my agreeable little boy? Anything I suggest is responded to with a shake of the head and "NO!" I guess I better prepare myself for the terrible two's! Now I wonder why I was so worried about him learning to talk....he'll learn in time! Like my mom kept telling me, everybody learns how to talk eventually. I guess Owen's eventually is now. Oh well, I guess every parent gets to go through these fun times. I think I'll let Holly take her own sweet time learning how to do everything though.

20 Month Stats

Owen went in for his 20 month check up this morning. He was having a lot of fun in the waiting room running around and trying to get into trouble!!! But as soon as we went back to the exam room he wasn't too happy. He must have known what was coming. First he had to get weighed and measured. He weighed in at 26 lbs and 8 oz...dropping him from the 67th percentile to the 50th percentile. The doctor ask me if I fed him...I do, he just doesn't like to eat all the time. I've never met a pickier eater. She said we would have to watch his weight. He is 34 1/2 inches tall...up 2 1/2 inches from the last visit...and up from the 75th percentile to the 87th percentile. His father will be happy to hear that! He was always in the 90th percentile for height until his last appointment, but he's moving back up. Then of course his head...95th percentile still. That boy has a BIG head!

He only had to get one shot, but you would have thought it was the end of the world! I guess you can't really blame him though. I hate getting stuck with needles too, and I usually know it's coming! Thankfully the doctor stuck two stickers back to back on a tounge depressor and that cheered him right up. Since he won't eat meat she also wanted to check his iron levels. So we got to do a finger prick...and that thing wouldn't stop bleeding! Since an ample amount of blood was oozing out of him they decided to check on his lead level too. So at least we won't have to do that again at 2 years old. His iron and lead levels came back fine...so we are all set with the doctor until December!

This picture isn't from today....it was a few weeks ago....but he has such a cute smile in it I just had to share it. Plus he wasn't looking too happy today.

Labor Day Weekend

I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! We had BEAUTIFUL weather here in New England, which was good since we had a few outings planned.

On Saturday we headed down to Connecticut to a cook out at one of Scott's comic book friend's house. Those comic book guys are quite the "interesting" crowd...but nice as they can be! Scott's friend lived in the middle of a forest...or at least it seemed that way after driving 8 miles down long roads with not much but trees on either side of the road. I love all the tree's in New England though! He had a great yard, if you don't count the fish pond! Owen was determined to either throw himself or as many rocks as possible into the fish pond, which was full of humongous goldfish! So I spend most of the time chasing Owen around trying to make sure he didn't take a dive into the fish pond, so I was pretty tired by the end of the night. Running up and down a hill when you are 33 weeks pregnant is not really a good idea.

On Sunday we skipped out of church after sacrament meeting to head up to Scott's aunt and uncle's house in Erving Massachusetts. They also have a great yard for get togethers. We always have a lot of fun up there...and I ate WAY too much. I know...I went to the doctor yesterday and she told me I did!!!

I only took 3 pictures the whole weekend...very sad. They all look like the one below too. Scott and Owen were having fun blowing bubbles. At least Owen was trying to blow bubbles...mainly he was just sticking the wand in his mouth and blowing bubbles between his lips. I guess we will have to work on his technique!


Monday we were just going to be lazy around the house, but the weather was way too nice for that. So we took up trip to our favorite ice-cream joint in Granville to get some ice-cream and smell the cows. The place was packed! After we went to the park and let Owen run around for about an hour and a half, hoping it would wear him out so he would sleep really well at night...it didn't work. But we had a great weekend!