Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Can you say OCD?

Okay - we joke all the time about Matt's OCD tendencies and Owen definitely inherited some of that (and is taught a bit too). But sometimes I can't help but laugh (and sometimes get irritated) at the extent of Owen's! For instance, lately he has this new thing where if I put a bowl of food in front of him, I have to give the spoon or fork to him clean. If I stick it in the food, he will take it out, shake off all the food and start eating once it's clear of any food. It's craziness. :) At least I've finally figured out why in the world he keeps slinging food across the room when I sit it in front of him. I wish he could just tell me "Mommy, please dont put my fork in the food. I prefer to start with a clean utensil." :)

Friday, January 26, 2007

Mirror Time

Apparently Ella really likes to look at herself in the mirror. I had her strapped onto me with the "Baby Wrap" a little while ago, standing in front of the mirror and she was hilarious. She would stare at herself for a few minutes and then smile and talk a little and then stare some more and then giggle, etc. It was so funny. I now know how to cheer her up when she's fussy! :)

Owen slept (really slept!) ALL night in his room last night! The poor little guy usually wakes up a few times in the night and wants someone to lay down with him or wants to go to our bed, but the first I heard from him was at 7:30 this morning. I hope he's finally starting to get some better sleep. I hate the thought of him not being well rested in the mornings. Hopefully we can keep it up!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Cradle cap & talking

I dont remember if Owen had it very bad or not, but Ella's got some serious cradle cap going on. The top of her head is pretty bald, so it shows a lot. She's still got quite a bit of hair in the back of her head. I wonder if she'll lose it? She's kinda got a halo. I'll have to post a picture cuz it's kinda funny. :) I've also got some other funny new pictures to post. I'll try to get those up soon.

Ella's really starting to talk a lot. When she's on her changing table she's just as smiley and talkative as she can be. It's so cute. Maybe I can catch it on video to share. She's also still sleeping a lot. She's been doing pretty good at night sleeping about 4-5 hours at a time, but during the day she still sleeps a lot too. Maybe she's just a sleeper like me (very unlike her brother.)

Owen has been talking more this week. He's finally starting to try to say more words and is starting to string words together. At church on Sunday, I told him to say bye-bye to his teacher and he said "bye bye eee-choo" and he's into saying "an too" (thank you). Yesterday, instead of saying goodbye to his teachers at school, he told them thank you. :) Usually, he says it many times like "an too an too an too an too an too". He's also said a few other new words. Last night he was trying to say monkey. It was hilarious. The first time he said it perfectly, but after that he started saying "kunkey". All of his grandpas have slightly different names, but he called them all "Pa pa" until this weekend when he decided to start saying "Pop-eeeeeeee" (Poppy). He also tried to say "Cookie Monster" the other day. He got the "cookie" part pretty good, but he still needs to work a little on monster. :) That's all I can think of for now, but I'll add some new ones as they come.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Ella's 2 month stats

The results are in and Ella is healthy and growing! She weighs 12 lbs 3 oz, is 23 inches long and her head is 15.5 cm. For the record books, she's wearing size 3-6 mo clothing for the most part, although for 2-piece sets, she can still squeeze into some 0-3 mo outfits. I haven't put real shoes on her, so I'm not sure what size she wears, but I assume 6-12 mos are about right. I thought she was a big girl, but I looked back and Owen's 2 month stats and he was a chunk! At this same age, he weighed 14 lbs, 10 oz, was 24 inches long, and his head was 16.25 cm. Wow! I forget how big he was (and still is). :)

She had a little bit of a local reaction to one of her vaccines, but a little Tylenol and a cold rag seemed to fix her right up. We're trying a bottle again today... wish us luck! :)

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The battle against sleep

Does anyone understand exactly why kids - even tiny infants - fight sleep so hard? Here I am in the middle of the night feeding Ella "one more time" so she'll hopefully finally give in and go to sleep... so far, so good... but the real test comes when I put her in her bed. Meanwhile, until about 5 minutes ago, I was sitting on the floor rubbing Owen's back hoping he'll finally stay asleep this time. My kids are crazy! I hear stories about kids who go to bed at 7 or 8 and wake up the next morning... that's never been the case for us. Owen is just a late nighter and Ella just isn't on any schedule yet. It's tough since I love sleep so much and am ready to hit the hay around 10:30 every night. :) Guess we'll just have to keep working on it. Owen has been tired since about 9, but has been fighting sleep like the plague. He's also got a bit of a cold, so he's particularly fussy about it all. Hopefully now he's finally out for the night after a breathing treatment, Tylenol, a back rub and a lot of wishing from mom. :) Question now is... should I move him to his bed or leave him on his little couch in the middle of the living room? Hmm... I'll have to think on that one a bit more. :) Nighty night.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

A Blueberry Smile




As you can see, Aunt Tammie's homemade blueberry jam was a hit. :) And how cute is that smile? He just started smiling for the camera a couple of weeks ago and it's hilarious as you can see.

Oh what a night

Funny how it always seems to work out like this. Last night Ella decided to sleep great! She slept from 11:30-4:30 and then 5-7:30! It was wonderful! Of course, at the same time, Owen wasnt able to sleep a wink. I dont know if he just didnt feel good or what, but the boy was tossing, turning, sitting up, talking, whining, crying ALL night long. At about midnight (I think) we gave him a half-dose of Tylenol because he was so fussy and acting like something hurt. He finally feel asleep for about an hour, but then woke up and finally at about 4 or so, we gave him so more Tylenol and he did finally sleep the rest of the night until now and this morning he's happy and seems to be feeling good. No fever, so I dont think he has an ear infection, but who knows what's going on. Needless to say, Momma and Dadda are a bit tired this morning... of course, Dadda is still sleeping, but I'll get my nap later. :)

Saturday, January 13, 2007

The pink eye feud

Well, we survived 2 weeks at school before having any illnesses, so I can't complain too much, but Owen woke up this morning with a bright red eye... again... This is probably the 10th time he's had pink eye or something like it since September. I have no idea why it's such a problem for him and it's almost always his right eye. Good news is we've already got eye drops, so it's just back to the medication routine. So far he doesnt seem to have a cold or anything, so I can handle pink eye. :) Just gotta disinfect my house again.. guess it's good motivation to sanitize this place. He's also cutting a tooth we think, but that's been going on for a good 2-3 weeks now, so I'm not sure if that's what it is or not. At least he's eating toast this morning, so it can't be hurting him too badly. Last night, dinner was difficult, but I guess he got enough.

Ella is still well... so far. I woke up with a bit of a sore throat today, but hopefully it's nothing. Last time around, I just had a minor cold for 2 days and it was gone...

Grammi and Papa Kenbob are coming to play today before the really stinky weather hits. Right now it's just rainy and cold, but it's supposed to freeze and give us a nice layer of ice later today or tomorrow, so they are getting their visit in while they can.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

All smiles :)






2 months and wearing thin...

Can you believe it?! Ella was 2 months old yesterday! Boy is time flying. I start back to work today, though I'll be working at home until I can get the little stinker to take a bottle. So far, she'll have absolutely nothing to do with it, despite the fact that I've tried 3 different bottles with different nipples. Oh well. She'll take it when she's ready. One of the wonderful things about working at HP is that they let me telecommute, so I can get back to work and just keep Ella here at home with me. Once she's taking bottles, I'll go to the office once a week like I did before and telecommute the other 4 days. Although I would love to be able to stay home with my kids, I could not have a better company to work for and am so thankful to HP and Christine (my boss) for being so accomodating to our family. :)

Ella has been such a smiley girl this week. She does most of her smiling while she's laying on her changing table. The other day I got some good pictures. I'll have Matt post one here. Matt even got her to giggle a little a couple of times. It's so much fun to see her interacting with people more and starting to be a lot more alert when she's awake. She just needs to slow down a little on the growing up thing. I need more time to enjoy her as a baby! :)

I know there's nothing odd or weird about it, but boy am I finding it difficult to handle 2 kids. Owen was such an easy baby that even though he was our first, it was a relatively easy adjustment to having him around. Adding Ella to the mix has been such a challenge for me. She's also a very good baby, but she's very demanding (much like her big brother) and requires a lot of attention when she's awake. So far she still sleeps alot, so I'm not sure how I'm gonna handle it when she's awake more of the time. I feel so guilty for being relieved to have Owen back at school. It helps a little to know that he really likes it there and enjoys playing with the other kids, but I want to be able to have them both at home without wanting to pull my hair out after an hour. Even with Owen at school all day long, I get stressed out in the evenings and get very grumpy. At about 9:30-10:30, my body just shuts off and says it's time to go to bed. The problem is that no one else in my house is ready so I have to try to find the energy and patience to play with Owen, feed and hold Ella, feed Dadda if he hasn't eaten yet, clean the kitchen up so nothing is there to rot over night, etc. Owen gets so grumpy in the evenings after school too, so it just tests me severely and I easily loose my patience with him whining and pulling on me. I think he just gets really worn out at school and is tired when he gets home, but even at 10:30, when I know he has to be exhausted, he refuses to go to sleep. I try to lay down with him to help he go to bed, but it never fails that Ella wants to eat or fuss right about the same time. She doesnt calm down very well with Dadda, so I almost always have to get up to tend to her which makes Owen want to get up and it's just a cycle that's driving me crazy! I know all moms struggle with getting things situated when new babies are added to the mix, but I feel like I'm just not wired to handle it well. That depresses me a lot because I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom with lots of kids. Now I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm still working because that's what's best for me and I'm just not made to be a stay at home mom. For that matter, I'm not sure I could handle any more kids... of course it would be a few years before we'd be ready for another, but I just dont know! I know I dont need to worry about keeping a clean house, but I feel like I'm just keeping my head above water and only getting enough done to get by. I dont have a clean house - in fact, it's a gross pig sty. I can only keep up with laundry enough to have at least 1 pair of clean underwear and the sink is ALWAYS full of dishes with various kinds of food all over them. We only see the living room floor for about 5 minutes at a time because toys are always spread all over and I'm about to kill myself tripping on blocks and toys in the kitchen and hallway. I dont want live like a neat freak, but it would be so nice to keep the sink clean (to avoid any gross smells that might develop) and to keep at least some clothes clean and put away. I could use a lot of prayer in area this right now. I need patience in dealing with my kids and lots of love to show them every day. And I need help finding a way to juggle life. Now that I'm starting back to work, I'm really worried about how I'm going to be able to do everything. Any advice is very welcome, so please share. I know I'm not alone, but I dont see the others who are like me! All my friends seem to have their acts together and at least have tidy homes and some sanity. :)

Well, I needed to get that off my chest as I've been near a breakdown many nights this week. Please pray for me and our family. :) God can do all kinds of neat things if we remember to rely on him.... if only I could remember that more often!

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

The first week of school

For those thinking I'm slacking off and not doing this as often as I should, I'd like to set the record straight. I tried to post Wednesday and Thursday of last week and the stupid website wasnt working correctly so it wouldnt let me post anything. Then I got aggravated and haven't tried again until now. Hopefully it'll work this time.

Owen has survived his first almost-full week at school (4 days) without any major injuries or illness, so we are very thankful about that. He's done quite well and fell right back into his old schedule. It's been quite nice to get him to bed at closer to normal times again. :) He still fights it every night, but it's getting better. Hopefully after this week, he'll be fully back into the swing of things and we'll be going smoothly when I return to working (from home) this Thursday. Yesterday, Miss Sandi and Colby came over to play so Owen got to stay home from school. We had so much fun. It's nice to them over since we dont get to see them much since moving out here. They also brought us dinner which was yummy - Thank you Sandi! :) Today Owen decided he needed to take his dog that Uncle Jordan got for him to school. I dont usually let him take toys into the school for fear of losing them or other kids messing them up, but he wasnt gonna have it any other way. Wish us the best in getting him back complete and relatively clean. :) I think it's cute how much he loves that dog. He's never really had any attachment to anything before, but he takes the dog with him most places and always has to have him when he goes to bed each night. It's very cute. :)

Ella is still doing great. She starting to go a little bit longer between meals now which is nice and she's sleeping for slightly longer periods at a time. She's still asleep a LOT during the day most days, but hopefully she'll start waking up more soon. She started smiling a couple of weeks ago, but in the last week, she's doing it a lot more. She's got a beautiful little smile! :) I just can't wait until she's awake and alert more so we can see it a lot more often. It's amazing how fast she's growing up. It's like I blink and she's an inch longer and 3 weeks older. I'm excited to see her develop and start doing new things, but not so fast! :) I can't wait until she and Owen are able to start playing together a little bit. It's gonna be so much fun to see how they interact with each other. I have a feeling sister might be the bully in that relationship. :) She seems to have a little more attitude than brother, but you never know! We'll find out soon enough. How exciting!

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Here at last!

Sorry I'm so late getting this first post up... if you know me, this is no surprise. :) I cannot believe it is already 2007. This year has blown by so fast. It's hard to believe that our little baby has turned into a little boy and we have a new little baby to enjoy now!

Owen is now 19 months old going on 3. He's a smart little stinker and amazes us every day. He's gotten into puzzles lately and is amazing how well he can do them. You just have to show him a couple of times and then he's off. He'll sit and do the same puzzle 15 times before he gets bored and moves on to something else. We got him a few new harder ones yesterday, so maybe they'll give him a bit more of a challenge. Today is his first day back at school after a 7 week break while I was on maternity leave. (I've still got a week and a half left, but we decided to let him go back so I can get things in order around here before I have to start working again.) He seemed to be pretty happy to be there when we dropped him off, so praise God for that. It's so tough enough to drop him off when he's happy. It's nearly impossible to drop him off when he gets upset, so we're very thankful for the happy mornings. :) We're praying for a fun first day back and healthy week without catching any bugs.

Ella Marie is such a beautiful blessing! She's a bit more feisty than her big brother was at this age, but we appreciate her attitude. :) She doesn't do the cute little whines that tell you she might be getting hungry. With her, it's a little more like she's perfectly happy sleeping or cuddling with someone and then BAM! "I'm starving! Mommy feed me now!" voiced to us in a scream you didnt know a 7-week old could make. :) She's so sweet though. She's definitely a cuddler. She's getting better at sleeping in her bed and being content for a few minutes on the floor or in a bouncy seat, but he favorite place is always in someone's arms. She's starting to smile every now and then and she's awake a little bit more (particularly from about 11pm-2am most nights....) Owen loves to give her little kisses and pats on the head. Overall he's very gentle with her and seems to like having her around. :)

Uncle Jordan and Aunt Tammie are in town from Alaska last week and this week and we've had lots of fun with them. We had not seen Jordan in a year and Tammie in a few months, so it's such a blessing to have them around for a little while. Uncle Jordan brought Owen a little sled dog stuffed animal that he just loves! He doesn't like to go anywhere or sleep without him. His name is "Ruh-Rut" (or something like that... it's hard to spell some of Owen's words still...). Aunt Tammie and Owen get a little wild and crazy playing chase and Owen loves it. We are so thankful that he's has gotten some quality time with them since it will be a while before we see them again after they go home.

One last note for this inaugural post is a special prayer request for our friend Darren who was recently diagnosed with what they believe to be kidney cancer. He's been blessed (and blesses all of us around him) with an amazing positive attitude and we just pray for guidance for the doctors and quick healing and recovery for Darren.

Well, this turned into a bit of a novel, but I'll be able to be more brief as these posts become more frequent. :) Thanks for reading and I hope you all had a blessed 2006 and look forward to a wonderful 2007!