New Years Resolutions!?

Well – I haven’t really made any official resolutions for the New Year (who has the time?!) – so thankfully one of them wasn’t keeping my blog up to date because I’d have failed miserably already!! ha!  Really the only resolution I have is to stress less and just enjoy life!  All too often I feel like there is just too much to do and I tend to focus less on the things that really matter most in life (like family and friends!)….I recently read this amazing post and it just put things into perspective for me so much! Time really does fly and I know some day I am gonna miss this crazy time in my life – so why not enjoy it now! 

So speaking of time flying – it has been almost TWO whole months since my last post – really….wherever does the time go?!?  And the ‘Most Wonderful Time of the Year' has come and gone! so what have we been up to?!

Well over the Holidays – we managed to stay pretty busy…we usually have  four ‘events’ to attend – since Scott’s family is all within a few mile radius of each other – we have a party with both his mom and dad’s side of the fam and then of course we have our immediate family ‘Christmas Celebration’ with both Scott’s fam and my fam…

This year – the 'Kole' Extended Family Christmas the weekend before Christmas and we celebrated it at the clubhouse where Scott’s grandparents live – we had lots of food and fun!  Here are some pics to commemorate those moments…

watching great grandma and grandpas train…. 

playing some dominoes

The next event of the season was just spending some time Christmas morn together with w/ scott and owen…Owen had a lot of fun opening seeing what Santa had brought him…(I think he may have liked his Mickey wrapping paper more than the gifts!)

First we opened up our stockings….

 

 

then we headed downstairs by the tree…

Owen was in awe of this big package wrapped up in Mickey (Icky) paper! 

He got a new big boy bike – and loves to sit on it (hasn’t quite figured out the pedaling thing yet)

One of my favorite gifts was from Owen (with the help of my wonderful husband , of course) – it was one of our coolers with a bow on the outside (very intriguing to me when I spotted it the night before and I was SO tempted to just take a quick peek!)

Inside the cooler was this note and then some of our tupperware inside, each with a gift card for one of my favorite restaurants/places (panera, Logans, Starbucks, Fat Burrito)…Also inside was a new Camel Bak water bottle and a bag of jelly bellies (my pregnancy craving!) What a sweet, thoughtful gift!

After opening gifts, my mom, trav, and katy came over for breakfast.  Nathan and Teresa joined us a little later, because they got stuck waiting for snow to get cleared before they could make it safely! 

Here are uncle tick and owen hanging out in owen’s tent reading a quick book before we ate…

Here is the spread downstairs – wow we must have been good this year! ….

Papa and Owen…

 

Gran got Owen some Mickey Jammies for Christmas, he was just so in love with them – and most days when I get him ready for school and he has them on, he either won’t let me take them off or if he does, then he has to take them with him…crazy boy!

Gran, Tick, and Katy

This year, we didn’t even get a fam pic, what were we thinking?

In fact we didn’t get many pics at all!  (since I’m usually the designated picture taker, you can always tell when I am either overwhelmed – or in this case, not feeling so hot…oh well!)

After gifts and fun – it was time for a nap for Mr Owen – afterwards, we  headed to mom and dad Kole’s for our Christmas celebration.

Owen had such a good time with his cousins. and he loves the choo choo train that grandma has - he no joke - must have pushed that thing around and around the circle that goes around the house about 50+ times - even when it was an hour past his bed time, he was still going strong!

 

Grandma is always very good at making sure we get some good ‘family’ pics in….

 

And Owen of course is making a break for it in this one!

Baby Girl (who now has a name – but its a secret, you won’t find out until she’s born) must have been good this year too – cuz she made out like a bandit!

Owen took a liking to climbing up on his gifts…

(here’s what was inside – another big boy bike, but this one has a handle on the back that we can push him with, he loves it – thinks its a choo choo, asks to ‘choo choo’ all the time – it has a little bell on the handle, and he says ‘ding’ every time he rings it!)

Gettin cousin D! 

Kenz and her new doll Kenz and Owen helping Grandpa open up a gift!  

What a fun day! 

The day after Christmas we had the 'VI' Christmas celebration (Scott’s mom’s side of the fam)

Here is Owen getting ready to go…

 

Opening up some gifts… 

Chillin out with mom, cuz he was getting tired… 

Reading a Santa book with Grandma

The rest of the week - Scott and I were both were off of work (we had off from Christmas Eve through the New year) so that was nice to spend some time together just the three of us and also get some stuff done around the house….

I will say, we’re definitely getting old though, we only managed to stay up until only about 1130 on NYE! 

During the rest of the week, Scott and I worked in the nursery, as it was our goal to get it complete over break.  And we succeeded!  Scott took everything out (the room was an office and Murphy’s bedroom prior to being baby' girl’s nursery) which included taking down desk shelving , puttying the walls, painting walls and trim, putting up new blinds, cleaning floors, installing new switches, ceiling fan, vent covers, and outlets. WOW!  The furniture was delivered this past week and now we just need to get it put together and get her 'stuff' washed and in the room and then decorate! 

Can't believe she’ll be here so soon!! Just had an appt the first week of Jan, measured right on track.  plus, I only gained three lbs since the last month's appt, and that included holiday indulgences! I also made a decision to schedule a C-section for her birth and she will officially be here on March 11! 

Well enough of my babbling, I’ll try not to go so long in between posts anymore!! Stay tuned for an 18 month post on Mr. Owen coming VERY SOON!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

I actually attempted to post this on Sunday night, but had some issues with Live Writer (the program I use to write my blogs) So after messing with it a couple of days and giving up, I just copied and pasted into blogger and had to upload all the pics individually, anyway, just had to give that little update - since otherwise some of this post won't make sense when I refer to the days, etc that we did things...Plus, I didn't want you all to think I was a slacker or anything and didn't post for so long! :)

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Owen was very excited when we told him we were taking him downtown to ‘See Santa’ – for the Santa Parade last weekend. He was so in awe of everything, he loved the lights and the crazy Santa hats everyone wore – he was just entranced and I think this picture says it all…



He was a little freaked out by the hot air balloon flame – he yelled out ‘hot’ and buried his face in papas shoulder – and didn’t care too much for the loud semi horns either. But all in all it was a great time – he saw horses, ate some tootsie rolls, and even saw Santa at the end of the parade!
We also took Owen downtown this weekend to see Santa – he was excited once again, until he actually laid eyes on him, then he grabbed his papa and freaked out. But he did let papa sit down with him next to Santa – that was about as close as he was going to let himself get. But by the end of the visit with Santa, Owen had kind of warmed up – even gave Santa ‘five’. This picture taken before that point, the look on his face says, uh, no thanks, not so much!



In other news, I was away at a conference last week Wed-Fri and when I got home, I discovered Scott had been VERY busy! He moved all the furniture downstairs, including setting up the computer, tv, etc, and had set up the storage shelves in the play room that we bought at our trip to IKEA earlier in the year – what a surprise to come home to! And since we had the first snowfall of the year – he also had the garage all cleared for me to be able to park my car inside (we have a one stall garage, and my husband, what with being a man an all, had quite the extensive collection of ‘stuff’ preventing me from parking there before) What an awesome hubby! I feel like we are definitely getting closer to making room for baby girl!
It was nice to be gone for awhile, but good to be home!! When I picked up Owen from daycare – he was obsessed with the “no” (snow) and told me all about it the whole way home. So, I took him out ‘sledding’ (if you want to call it that) today – he got all bundled up in snowpants, his little boots, hat, mittens, and coat – and I pulled him around the front yard for about a half hour in his little sled! He had such a good time!

Lately, we have also been trying to get a good family picture of the three of us for Christmas cards, here are a few attempts …

way too into this cool snowman to look at the camera…



This was at Tim and Emily’s house (cuz we haven’t even gotten to the ‘tree going up’ point yet) – and as you can see, someone was not interested…



What a little goober boy we have….Here are a few more of his antics…

sly face…(notice the cheerio on his chin)



he makes this ‘ducka ducka’ sound and pulls goofy faces all the time – here he is doing that tonight when he was getting ready for bed… (also sporting a fine mohawk)

ISO

We have been 'In Search Of' a back-up 'Froggy Buddy' for Owen for awhile now to no avail (we've searched EVERYWHERE - we've googled it, checked ebay, specialty stores, even put a posting on a lost toys website) so we were wondering if anyone out there in blog land might be able to help!

Owen can not and will not fall asleep either at night or for naps without Mr Froggy Buddy and the poor little green guy is getting pretty worn out!

Froggy (or Grrrah as Owen lovingly calls him) is made of a chenille sort-of-ish-kinda fleece fabric. He is shaped like a frog but he is flat (not the kind with the blanket attached to a frog, the entire blanket is a frog) - has a tan belly, tan hands and feet and a tan mouth. See his mug shot below.

We originally received this as a baby shower gift before Owen was born (was purchased at Peeble's) but of course I cut off the tag long before I knew it would become his 'can not live without blankie' so I don't even know the brand name.

I also wanted to note that this little frog is not to be confused with a recently stocked item at Target which is also a dog toy...I was shopping at Target not too long ago and saw it and freaked out - but then found out it had crinkly in the belly along with a squeaky - it is also a bit smaller and not the same fabric.

Anyway, any help or any leads (even as to the brand name) are so very very much appreciated!

# 1 and # 2 update

So its been awhile since I've posted 'status' update on Owen - its like each month for the first year is such a landmark occasion! Then once a year comes and goes, time just seems to be flying by too fast! So in an effort to 'Chronicle' as much of Owen's life as I can, here is an update on the just-over-16-month-old boy...

• LOVES to read - could literally spend hours each day looking at books and pointing out objects and animals and trying to say their names - his favorites are the 'Little People' books - he has two animal ones, a 'class trip' one and an 'around the town' one and can NOT get enough...he just amazes me when he 'reads' them - he is able to recognize SO many things


• Wears 18-24 mo clothing


• Wears size 4 diapers


• LOVES beans, bananas, and corn


• Still gets one bottle each day - at night before bed time


• Can not sleep without his frog


• Bedtime is around 7:30 and he sleeps until 7:15 on weekdays and 8 or sometimes even 8:30/9 on weekends!!


• Takes a 2-3 hr nap ea day


• Loves to sing the itsy bitsy spider and roly poly (and rolls his hands/arms in a circle)


• Has a crazy walk - kind of like a sumo walk - where he walks with his legs spread really far apart


• Still using his signs for more, please, drink, eat, all done - but has learned to say most of these words also along with signing


• Vocab gets bigger every day and just amazes me: up, please, no, yeah, frog, hippo, kitty, turtle, mama, papa, dada, ma (grandma), fish, banana, beans, cookie, cracker, hot dog, teeth, shoes, book, flower, apple, blocks, boat, deer, and i'm sure others i can't think of at the moment. (When he learns to say a word, at first he just makes some of the sounds in the word with the same amount of syllables as the word has - sooo cute - alligator is ga-ga-la-la)


• Still doesn't have much hair - but what he does have is a dark blond and is getting really long and kinda curls up when it gets wet or he gets warm


• Loves to dance


• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is his favorite show


• Thinks building with blocks is a great time


• Loves to give hugs and kisses

Every day it seems he learns something new - he seems more and more mature to me each day - its amazing to see him grow and learn

Playing with his animals with Papa...

...yeah, you!!

reading with Aunt Al and Uncle Greg

Huggin on his Murphy...

Just rakin' some leaves...

And since #2 can't be forgotten (and actually I feel like I'm neglecting to 'Chronicle' her existence to date), I've got to throw in a few tidbits about her and my pregnancy with her too!

• Wakes me up at night kicking and punching - something Owen never did - uh oh - hope this doesn't mean we will have a non-sleeper on our hands....


• Seems to go through growth spurts about once a week - where I'll feel a noticeable difference in the amount of movement (she'll be really quiet for a few days) then I can feel a definite difference afterward in the strength of her kicks and punches


• According to baby center she is the size of a one lb bag of coffee beans this week (random, i know)


• Still has her mom feeling a little sick now and then


• Giving Mama swollen ankles already (not too bad yet - and hopefully won't get too much worse!)


• We're working on getting a space for her to live once she arrives - and hope to be done over the holidays with her room.


• Mom and Papa still debating on what to name her - and nothing is really jumping out at us, so we'll see - she might just have to be one of those nameless babies for the first day or so of life... :)

Can't wait to meet this little peanut, she is so loved already!!

# 2, ca-ca, & doozers

No, this post isn’t about poop! It’s about a baby, my brother, and socks….you’ll see….

 

 

First, we had our much anticipated ultrasound on Thursday afternoon and learned #2 is going to be a little GIRL!  And she’s doing great, heartbeat was about 145 and she was moving around like crazy (like always)!  We couldn’t be more excited!  Here is one of the U/S pics (yeah its a pic of a pic, but you get the point) – isn’t she cute?!

and I’m feelin like I’m neglecting #2 a little – haven’t even gotten ONE belly shot yet, well better late than never!  Here she is at 21 weeks….

Jen, Kenz, & Dylan surprised us by stopping by on Fri night to drop off some girly stuff for her – they even made her cards!! So sweet! Thanks guys!! 

So ca-ca you wonder?! ….we’ll my brother was in town and we told Owen that he was going to see his Uncle – he’s totally going through the stage of repeating everything especially new words – so he got all excited when we told him and started saying Uncle – except it came out exactly like “ca-ca” – so Nathan is now proud to be “ca-ca” – Owen  had fun with him – showing off all his toys and playing!

 

Now on to the doozers….Doozers are what Scott and I have called socks with Owen since he was born – kind of an evolution of socks to “socky-doos” to “doozers” – yeah we’re dorks – anyway…Owen loves to wear fun doozers – especially tube socks – so here is a little photo collage just for fun….