1st trip to the Aquarium

Owen and his new best friend - Mr. Scuba Man


We are two weeks out from my due date and Operation Stay Distracted is in full swing. Thanks to groupon and some planning ahead, we saved Owen's 1st trip to the aquarium for this week to have something to look forward to. Accompanied by my lovely mother and fabulous Aunt Susan the four of us piled into the car and headed off to explore the deep blue sea.

It took Owen about 15 minutes to get warmed up to the idea of the aquarium. The first exhibit to meet you when you walk in is a 20 ft glass wall looking in on fish found in the Puget Sound. If I was only 2 1/2 feet tall I would be intimidated too by this monstrous wall of water and movement. As our luck might have it, there was also a scuba diver in the tank! Owen was quite the skeptic at first, hesistant to go anywhere near the glass or wave back at the diver. However, when we returned a 2nd time to the same tank Owen could not get enough of the fish or the diver. I think we sat there for a full 20 minutes simply watching the water world move in front of us.

One thing in particular I was excited for was showing Owen the tide pools where you can touch things like star fish and sea anemones. I lifted Owen up, showed him he could put his hands in the water to touch the animals and asked if he wanted to do it. He looked back at me and responded "Mama, rock?" repeating this several times. I explained that there weren't any rocks to throw but he could put his hands in the water instead. He looked at the tide pools and then looked at me like I was crazy and then asked to get down. What's the point of water if you can't throw rocks in it?

Once we had thoroughly explored the tide pools we were mesmerized by the tanks of tropical and exotic fish. Little did Aunt Susan know she was going to get a work out in by holding Owen up to the window for 15 minutes as we soaked up the brilliant colors before us. After we had our fill of the tropical dance, we moved on to the sea otters and seals which quickly became another favorite for Owen. Playing peek-a-boo with the seal was apparently hilarious to him as every time those large eyes and shiny wet skin resurfaced Owen chuckled with delight.

Later that day after the excursion had ended and Owen had napped I discussed the mornings events with him. He proceeded to respond: "And yellow...and big big fish...and arh-arh (meaning seal) and fish...and man." He probably repeated this 15 times obviously thrilled with his 1st time at the aquarium.

22 months

 

Likes: Rocks, rocks, rocks and more rocks. The only redeeming quality to the lake that forms in our parking area with all the rain is the fact that Owen gets to throw rocks.
*Other favorite activities are coloring, playing with the letter magnets and sidewalk chalk.
*Swimming is another new favorite activity - strap on his water wing belt and give him a noodle and he'll paddle around the pool by himself. Although not fully coordinated enough there is great effort made to jump in the pool from the wall with all the swimming gear filling his arms. It is fun to watch how brave he is.
*Jude continues to be his all time favorite person in life. One of the sweetest things is to watch them walk around holding hands - Owen in awe that he gets to be with his amazing cousin and Jude obviously proud of his favored status.

Dislikes: He is very sensitive to noises he can't locate or that are unfamiliar to him, much reassurance is needed and he has to say at least 5 times his version of "scary."
*Juice - He recently had a fever and I thought it might be a good idea to get him some other kind of liquid to help encourage drinking a ton of fluids. He took one sip, looked at me like I was crazy, and said "Yuck!" then promptly refused to drink anymore. I personally am not bothered in the least that he prefers water or milk to all other beverages I just find it humorous.

Daddy's Helper

Spring is on it's way, or at least we hope it is, and with it comes garden and yard projects which both Josh and I enjoy. Josh decided to take advantage of this semi-dry weekend to begin one of the many landscaping projects we hope to accomplish in the coming months. The project ended up involving a tarp, the hose and a bunch of rocks needing to be cleaned of mud and moss all of which resulted in the creation of Owen's paradise - his very own pond!

There have been two other occasions this winter where Josh and Owen have "worked" outside together and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to observe. Owen follows Josh around, mimicking his actions or simply shadowing his every move with a stick or ball in hand. He seems to enjoy just being with Josh and I love watching them together. So, knowing how much fun Owen has when Josh is working outside I bundled him up and sent him to "help" Daddy with the rocks. He definitely was of no help to Josh, and in fact he probably made it more difficult, seeing that he stole rocks away from Josh's project to throw in to the tarp pond but he was in heaven.
I don't think there could be anything better than throwing rocks in the water all while being outside with his Dad.

No more crib - 21 months

(Horrible picture I know but he was sound asleep and I couldn't bear to wake him up by using my flash)

There comes a time in every child's life where a crib is no longer needed. At this same point in time in a parents life there is an emotional battle that rages - a strange combination of pride and sadness at your child's growth all mixed with fear at the thought of that same child's new found freedom while sleeping. We decided to embark on this life transition before Baby #2 makes his grand appearance thinking that it would be wise to give Owen and ourselves time to adjust to his new room and bed.

So I painted, and sewed, and dreamed up Owen's new big boy room knowing that once we got back from Colorado we wanted to make the transition from crib to bed. The big day came - Owen could not have been more thrilled and I could not have been more simultaneously excited and terrified all at the same time. What would this do to my coveted & uninterrupted nap-time break and our full night of sleep? How were we going to deal with these possible disruptions? Fortunately, none of my fears came true. Owen slept like a champ for nap-time and night-time from the first try! For the first week, every time I got him out of bed his little face was lit up beaming with pride at his new big boy bed.

Morning sleepy head!

Colorado 2012

Two years ago something horrible happened, my bosom buddy moved to Colorado. It was wretched, countless tears were shed and promises made that nothing would change were made. Two years later, the Schween family's move to Colorado has resulted in some pretty awesome memories being created between our two growing families.

Owen has experienced some significant firsts in his short little life thanks to our visits to the Schweens. First airplane ride, first trick-or-treating experience, first time in a swing all happened on our 2010 trip. This time his firsts included: first road trip in a car with a DVD player (I swear the kid barely exhaled he was so enthralled with watching Winnie the Pooh), first trip to a museum, first best friend (pretty sure he thought Tyson could walk on water) and first time hitting a ball with a bat.

It was a wonderful week of low-key family fun. Owen and Tyson reveled in each others company keeping each other entertained with trucks, trains, balls and pretending to be puppy dogs thanks to an over-hanging table cloth on the kitchen table. The husbands hit the slopes for a day at Winter Park and engaged in some rousing Wii sporting events. As for Heidi and me, it was lovely just to engage in every day life together. There was nothing fancy about what we did but that's what made it perfect and real. I think both of us enjoyed soaking in how completely blessed we both feel by the families we have been given, amazed at what we've been through since high school. What a joy it was to spend so much time together.

Thank you sweet sunshiny state of Colorado for beckoning us again with your golden winter rays offering a different take on winter's icy, or in Seattle's case gray, hold. You provided a glorious back drop for new memories made between two growing families and furthering a life long friendship between two best girlfriends


Trip to the museum

Mirrors!

Cute boys playing together, kid movie night, singing songs, and driving cars on a track made from masking tape.

SNOW!!

Last day of fun - Round 2 of pregnancy together (30 weeks, 25 weeks.)

20 months

My how fast time flies. Owen is in his 20th month and soon he will be a big brother. I find myself soaking up these moments of uninterrupted time with him, wanting to hold on to what we've had with just the three of us, while looking forward to what awaits with the addition of a brother. Owen was made to have siblings, nothing exhibited that more to me than the week we were snowed in together. I'm excited to give him the gift of a sibling, a brother to navigate through life's troubled waters with. Oh the adventures that await, and the fighting, and the wrestling, and the farting...I look forward to watching their lives unfold together. But it's still a few more months till I have to increase my heart's capacity again, so for now I will take the time to chronicle once again my ever growing and changing son.

*Clothes - 18/24 months and some 2T (cloth diapers tend to skew things)
* Nap - 2 1/2 to 3 hrs
*Food - Generally a good eater of all things including fruits and veggies. Bell peppers are a new favorite.

*Activities: All things sports and balls related...I think we're going to have one athletic kid on our hands. He loves to slam dunk on his hoop, play pass with a soccer ball, and learned how to hit a soft ball off a Tee in Colorado.
*When he is interested in something he will repeat the action for quite some time. Tying shoelaces, clipping buckles, throwing snow balls all activities he would do repeatedly.
*Interests: Coloring, saying the sounds of letters, reading books, playing with trucks, rocks, balls - any and all classic boy things. Curious George (which he calls the ooh-ooh show), Thomas the Train, and Winnie the Pooh are all shows he's started being interested in, guess we've moved on from Baby Einstein. The Letter Factory is still you're all time favorite.
* Language: slam dunk, swoosh, hot dog, "there he is," answering yes or no correctly when asked a question, trying to sing the ABC's, identifying sounds certain letters make especially "O" "H" "C" "B" and "S" on his own.

Winter Escape

This past weekend we decided to go in search of winter. While the temperatures had returned to their frosty lows, the promise of snow actually falling from the sky in Seattle seemed far fetched. Fortunately, our family cabin is nestled in the bosom of winter by this point in the year and the promise of mounds of fluffy white beckoned us.

Lost River

Armed with spontaneity, good food, and the promise of cozy relaxation we embarked on the 4.5 hr drive with our good friends the Pykes. Winter did not disappoint. After digging our way in to the cabin the real adventure began as we "un-winterized" our weekend abode. A fire was quickly made, electric base board heaters turned on, and a prayer thrown up that no pipes had frozen. As the cabin began to thaw it became clear that the pipes were not. Undeterred by the possibility of no running water we began to melt pots of snow on the stove all the while patting ourselves on the back for our resourcefulness (Bear Grylls would have been proud.) We finally turned in for the night hoping that the blazing fire would warm the bones of the cabin and magically allow the water to flow in the morning.

Morning dawned and so did our plans for the day in our winter paradise. Alas, our hopes for hot water were dashed as a pipe to the water heater busted. But, after an evening spent with no water at all (and therefore no toilet - nothing like peeing in a bucket at 7 months pregnant) we gladly accepted the absence for the simple pleasure of running cold water.

After a delicious breakfast we were eager to get our snow clothes on and romp in the freshly fallen mounds of snow. I was particularly excited as it felt like this was Owen's first time in the snow since last year he was so little. Plus, let's be honest, there's nothing cuter than a tiny little person bundled up in so many layers they can barely move their arms.

Marshmallow bear

We were not disappointed, Owen embraced playing in the snow whole-heartedly. I loved watching him ponder the sound of it's crunching and the way it covered his boots as he walked down the road during our afternoon walk. He was so thoughtful, so content to explore the wonders of white surrounding him.

"Helping" shovel

As for sledding, he quickly figured out it is not only an exhilarating activity but also an excellent means of transportation. I could have watched Owen and Josh sled all day, the expressions of joy and excitement permanent upon their faces. While I have loved every month with Owen thus far for different reasons, I think this age is quickly becoming one of my favorites primarily because I get to watch Josh and Owen play together. As we walked the snowy terrain around the cabin, I found myself incredibly excited to introduce another boy in to the mix dreaming of the winters ahead that will be filled with sledding, snow ball fights, and adventuring in this amazing spot.