A Rough Day

Well it is New Year’s Eve and today was a very rough day. Owen woke early therefore he was very grumpy in the morning. I had planned to go to playgroup but skipped out as  I knew Owen would not handle well and would probably fall asleep in the car. But I felt so bad because every day he asks to see his friends, and then will name some of them. He climbed up the stairs a little after noon and declared it was nap time (he usually goes up at 1:00). He did nap well and slept for 2 hours, but it did mean he was up at 2:30. We were supposed to go to our friends house for a NYE dinner with kids, but her son spiked a fever and I was just not brave enough to go. Owen has just started to feel better and not 100% yet, so did not want to risk it. But another mom bailed too (same reason), so I invited them over to play and have pizza for dinner. When I told Owen that James was coming over, he was beyond excited. He ran to the window and looked and asking “Where’s James?” But the exhaustion started to set in around 6:00 and he was melting which meant he was being bratty. I finally gave in and allowed him to have a suckie while playing, a rule a barely ever break. But I was exhausted and needed a happy child with guests. We enjoyed our pizza dinner with friends, until Owen almost choked and threw up. Ew!!! This has never happened. What was up with him, just because we had people over he was being so difficult. And of course it stressed me out. But we made it through and everyone else toasted champagne at 7:00. Happy New Year! The boys did have some cute moments. They played farm together, roared their dinosaurs at each other and when James was put in a time out Owen climbed a couple stairs behind him and sat with him. So if you can imagine, Owen went right to bed and after watching Wall-E, I passed out as well. Don’t think I made it to 10:00. Then we were of course woken at midnight by the screaming kids running down our street and the fireworks. We acted like such old fogies, grunting and complaining. So yes NYE was a rough day and I am glad it has passed, New Years Day was a lot better. Owen is still not himself but we are getting better every day.

Note: This is my 500th post! Wow, I can’t believe I have posted that much. Omer thought it was very funny that my special 500th post is titled A Rough Day. They can’t all be perfect.

On the Mend

The past two days Owen has felt much better, still a little cough and occasional runny nose, but doing ten times better. So hopefully we will be able to see some friends tomorrow, he is talking about all his buds for the past three days now. More and more. Poor guy! As I have also been cooped up since Christmas Eve, I decided we were healthy enough to venture over to the library. Owen and I had a great time as usual. He is so good at the library. I decided to pick out some random books nstead of bringing a list as I feel I get stuck going to teh same ones every time. We walked away with some very good ones and a couple I might not check out again. I will update our book list to the right soon.

It is in the 50s and sunny here today so after lunch we headed outside. Owen enjoyed himself, and I decided to snag some pictures. (Daddy is missing Owen so hopefully this will get him through the day.) I know he probably didn’t need the hat but being we are finally feeling better, I am not taking any chances.

Just like in the summer, driving cars on the patio.

Complete Concentration

Took a break to throw the ball a couple times.

Then he spotted his masterpiece again and had to drive some more.

Fire truck on the way.

Of course we had to swing some, Owen LOVES to swing. But not the calm kind, he likes to be pushed really high so that his swing bounces. He will ask “big one, big one” and then we he gets it laughs hard.

Yes, some more driving cars but in the playground.

“I’m going in my fort,” he tells me.

He wanted to play the game him and Daddy did over the weekend. Daddy would hide and then pop up to a window and Owen would sprinkle him with pine needles. They had so much fun with so many laughs. When he started it he said “Where’s Daddy?” I had to tell him he was still at work but I could play, he was fine with that.

Sprinkling Pine Needles

Just Too Much Fun

Baby Brother

So I had to make note of this because it makes me smile and hopefully it is a good sign. First let me say I don’t think Owen truly understands what is actually going to happen when baby brother arrives, but he does talk about it more now and has shown interest.

Sample Conversation:
Me: What is in Mommy’s belly?
Owen: Baby brother
Me: Do you know his name?
Owen: Sometimes he will say his name and sometimes just baby. (You didn’t really think I was going to write it, did you?)
Me: You are going to be a big brother.
Owen: Big Brother Owen

The other day though I asked Owen where his baby brother was and he responded “the doctors”. HaHa So he really relates the doctors visits to this.

We are trying to prepare this baby’s room, but just so busy. But yesterday I finished up all I can do before I paint, and Owen wanted to come join. So I told him it is [name's] room and he said he wanted to get in his bed. So Owen played in the crib. It was very cute he would lay down and say he was taking a nap. And then tell Daddy to go to his bed and good nap and then see you later. Then he would sit and say “wake up”. Owen thought this was a lot of fun! He now calls this [name's] room and this evening before bath he said he wanted to go to [name's] room. He proceeded to discuss that it was his baby brother. Glad to see some interest.  I do think Owen will be a great big brother but I am hands down for sure there is going to be a huge adjustment period. I totally foresee a lot of jealousy issues and being territorial, but hopefully it won’t last long and he’ll be the sweet boy he usually is.

Christmas Cold

So as I hinted Owen got sick over Christmas. Started as just a cough and then Christmas night became a full blown cold with runny nose and cough. Let me say it was not the holiday vacation we were expecting. Omer and I were looking forward to some quiet family fun time and had planned on going to the Air and Space museum and dinner one day, but none of that happened. We spent the rest of our “vacation” getting no sleep and just plugging through the day. This is not to say we did not have fun moments, but the majority I was exhausted, Owen was sick and exhausted and Omer was trying his best to help us both.

When Owen is sick he will play and hang out with Daddy during the day but any night duty is left up to me. Ugh!! If Daddy tries to help at night Owen will scream bloody murder until I come in, so we just forego that first part and I take it all. This meant pretty much for three days I was up every 30-90 minutes helping with his runny nose and getting him back to sleep. This usually entailed me wiping his nose, making him get some water and then laying at the bottom of the bed until he fell back to sleep, about 10-15 minutes. Then I would escape and go back to sleep in the guest room and wait for the next calling. Before the cold, I have also had some pregnancy insomnia and probably only got close to 5 broken hours of sleep for three days. So to say the least I was already exhausted.

Poor little guy though, I hate to see him like this. He has gotten better about blowing his nose, but still wakes up to cough and relieve his nose. Naps were pretty horrible too, so he usually was pretty tired in the afternoon. Slowly though are “vacation” got better. On Saturday night Owen slept a little better so he wasn’t as grumpy. We actually had a very nice morning and even got to get outside and enjoy the 60 degree weather.

And last night I finally got to sleep in my bed the whole night. Owen startled twice but needed no assistance. Always happier when we get sleep. He also took a decent 2 hour nap with no interruptions. Today was a much better day, even though we both missed Daddy. Owen asked about him a couple times and would sadly say “Daddy’s at work”.

However, even with Owen getting a little better, it has been a while and the poor boy complains about his nose and cheeks hurting. He will be completely fine and then for about 20 minutes just be miserable and say how he hurts. So I was a little concerned he might have a sinus infection, so off to the doctor we went. Well luckily she said it doesn’t look like a sinus infection but she was a little concerned so she tested for strep. Thank goodness that was negative. She did decide to give a prescription to help relieve the cough and runny nose, so we will get that tomorrow if needed. So we are hoping before our next “vacation” on Wednesday afternoon Owen will be fully recovered and we can have that fun filled, relaxing family break. Here’s hoping!!!!

Just so we don’t sound like we had an absolute horrible time, here a couple pictures. He did have a lot of fun playing with all his new stuff and having Daddy around. But it makes me very sad that he has asked to see  his friends for the past two days. I told him he can’t see his friends until he is better, but he doesn’t really understand that. He told me this morning “Let’s go to James’ house.” Awe, crush my heart. So sad!

Owen really enjoyed playing with his new kitchen, he loves to dump the food out and talk about it all, sometimes cook it and definitely put it in his shopping cart and take a spin.

We of course spent a lot of time snuggling and reading.

He had a wonderful time playing with his Chinese yo-yo. He wanted to climb up on the stool and have me help whip the yo-yo, we were hitting Daddy. There were lots of giggles. But we did find out that he does it better by himself.

One evening we headed out to see some Christmas lights as we just did not get to it before Christmas. There is a street that goes all out with some tacky displays close by, so we headed over there. Owen enjoyed it, but we did expect more. He likes to call out “liiiiiiights” and then talk about what we see. Here are some of our favorites.

Today Owen and I enjoyed some chill playtime. I would drive some cars to him, he’d wait and then take over and drive them to his side. He then decided to go hog wild and crash them all. It was nice to have some happy time together today.

Car Driving (and yes he had rhinoceros there to watch)

Driving with Mommy

Little Sick Face

The Wreckage

I also have to include two very cute moments from the day.
1) While we were at the doctor’s we heard a baby crying in the other room. As it was several hours ago, I can’t remember verbatim the conversation but this is about what I remember.
O: There’s a baby crying.
M: Yes, he sounds sad.
O: He needs to go to bed.
M: I’m sure his mommy is taking care of him.
O: Maybe he needs a suckie and some cars.
M: [laugh] That is sweet, would that help?
O: Baby still crying.
M: I am sure he’s okay.
O: Get him some cars.

2) When we were heading home at 6:00, late appointment, I told Owen Daddy would be home. He was very excited for this and when we got home he asked where he was. I told him Daddy was in the potty. He looked in there and said “Daddy’s not in here”. As I was trying to quickly get dinner ready, I all of a sudden hear feet pattering upstairs, Owen banging on the door and yelling “DADDY!!!”. Yes he climbed upstairs, went to the potty door and banged on the door for Daddy. So very cute!

Merry Christmas

We had a pretty good Christmas even though as the day progressed Owen’s cough became an actual cold. The morning started off as normal and then when we mentioned Santa came last night the boy could not get downstairs fast enough. He ran right to his stocking and gift and started to dig them out. He was very cute and took his time to look at everything, snuggle his animals and even read a book. Then off to the tree, where he quickly dug in. Luckily it was his gift he started to open. After his second gift, the shopping cart, he left to go drive around and collect toys. He was good about taking turns but did enjoy helping me unwrap my gifts. By far his favorite gifts were the shopping cart and his animals. Yes, of course Santa got him the beloved black turkey, but he also got a beaver and a stuffed flamingo, hedgehog and rhinoceros. We had a very nice Christmas morning.

He took a decent nap, even though he woke up coughing a couple times. Then the family started to dribble in. Jenni was the first to arrive, and Owen was beyond excited. He ran around showing her all his new stuff. Then came Josh, Natalie, Michelle and Nicholas. He loves his cousin. He really looks up to him and copies what he does. They play pretty well together, of course new gifts can always cause a little trouble. We decided to separate the gift opening and start with my brother’s family and Jenni before my mom got here. It worked out well, because the tree was very full and probably would have taken my whole room up with both sets of presents in there. Owen was very good while opening gifts, he just sat on my lap and watched what was going on and waited for his turn. He also enjoyed helping me open my gifts. Then it was round 3 when my mom, Larry, Hilary, Josh and baby Nina came. Owen was getting pretty tired at this point so after he opened a couple trucks, he laid on the floor and drove around while the chaos was around him. I was also very proud of him, he told everyone thank you after each gift he opened. He also will tell you who got him what, glad he remembers.

We had a lovely dinner, well I hope everyone enjoyed it, and of course great catching up with my family and celebrating the season. The cutest part of dinner was Owen and Nicholas on opposite ends of the table singing Jingle Bells to each other. When Nicholas would stop Owen would request “Nicholas sing”. It was very cute! It was a little chaotic, but isn’t that what Christmas usually is. Owen was very ready to go to bed and told everyone Merry Christmas and goodnight.

So that was our Christmas in a nutshell. Owen was a lot of fun and love this season with a kid, makes everything much more fun and exciting. Wish we would have gotten more pictures of the playing but there was a lot going on and just didn’t happen. Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for helping us celebrate.

Click on the Picture to View the Album

Stockings and Tree

After a very long Christmas Eve,  I was busy from 2:00 until 10:00, we still had to do the fun parent stuff of setting out all the gifts and stockings. With Christmas music on, lights glowing, and Owen sleeping, we set up. We set it up so that all the stuff with his stocking was from Santa and under the tree from us.

All Three Kids Stockings Stuffed, on Owen’s new Road Rug

Owen also got a special present from Santa, the black turkey, which was  in a bag.

We laughed once we put the presents “under” the tree. We got Owen three things and two pretty large and hard to wrap, we had to take a picture of the tree. There are actually other gifts under the tree.

Christmas Eve

Owen woke this morning with a little cough and raspy voice, but was his normal happy self. We had a nice morning and then Daddy came home at 2:00 which was very nice. I got some help with cleaning and prepping food for tomorrow. And Owen was very excited to have Daddy home when he woke up. When I went in to get him, he wanted to read a couple books and then heard a noise and said “I want to go say hi to Daddy”. The boys had a nice afternoon playing while I got all the rest of the stuff done.

We always go to Omer’s parents friends house for a Christmas Eve party, but to be honest  I had my doubts about going. With Owen’s cough I didn’t want to keep him up and get even more sick for Christmas. But we ended up going anyways. Owen even being tired had a great time. At first he was shy and wanted me to hold him; a lot of strange faces. But then Babaanna came over and they held hands and walked around to see the decorations. He then found his area and people to play and entertain. We only stayed an hour to not push Owen’s bedtime too much and he was very ready to go.

Owen and Babaanna

Owen the Entertainer

Mommy Having Adult Conversation

Mrs. Appler got Owen a huge white tiger. He was very excited and told everyone how soft it was. He also told us that it was “a white tiger, not a zebra”. He had a lot of fun playing with his tiger and of course it went to bed with him. Here he was about to give her a kiss thank you.

Jorge and Frankie are always good playmates. Owen and Frankie were banging on the table making music.

Owen gave me the tiger to hold so he could explore.

The True Meaning

Even though Omer and I are not very religious yet celebrate Christmas, I really want Owen to understand the reason we really celebrate Christmas. Not just Santa and presents.  I personally celebrate Christmas to acknowledge the ones I love and to celebrate in the joy we bring each other. I love this holiday and all it brings.

Well my friend let me borrow a book to explain Christmas and Owen enjoyed reading it. And now at least responds to the history of Christmas; I am sure he doesn’t understand as he has no real compression of who Jesus is. But when you ask him why we celebrate Christmas he will say “Jesus’ birthday.”

Last Game

Well at least at home that is. The Redskins played their last home game today and Owen will be happy to know this (maybe not Omer though), Owen really misses his Dad on Sundays. Today he was especially sad to see him leave. They were having so much fun running around and rough housing. When Omer had to leave Owen gave him his best puppy dog eyes and sad little pouty face. He was fine once he left but did ask several times through the day about Daddy. He would tell me that “Daddy went to football game with Alec”. He really loves his time with his Daddy. With that said Owen and I did have a wonderful day just hanging out at home. He took a wonderful nap (3 hrs) and I got to as well, maybe only 30 minutes. It was a nice lazy Sunday and the Redskins won, even better.

First Christmas of the Season

We got together with my Dad and Stepmom, stepbrother Ande and his fiance, my brother and his family at my sister’s house this afternoon to celebrate Christmas. It was great to see everyone and catch up. And after an hour in his room with no nap and an hour drive ahead of us, we decided to leave early and just have Owen nap in the car. It worked, he got about 45 minutes. He was tired after several hours but did great while we were there. And so happy that he did not fall asleep on the way home which would have messed up bedtime. He always has a good time playing with Nicholas and copying his older cousin’s actions. It’s so cute!

I was also very pleased with his behavior with present opening. Was not sure how he would do with this as he really understands the concept of wrapped items and the surprise of something new. I explained to him beforehand that we couldn’t open any until it was time and that everyone would be opening their own gifts. He did great! Never even attempted to open any of the gifts under the tree and when it was time after a quick reminder as Nicholas was the first to open, he did great with the rest. Even after he got some dinosaurs, of course they were a hit, he shared some of them with Nicholas. I was proud being that they were new. Of course their were some common reminders for both Nicholas and Owen on sharing.

It was a nice celebration and wonderful to see everyone.

Running Around

Part of the Crew

Opening his First Present

Owen and his New Dinosaurs

Natalie helping Owen learn how to use a Chinese yo-yo. (A big hit!)

Giving the Yo-Yo a Try

Tons of Fun

He also had a great time exploring the ornaments with Jenni. He was very good and left all on the tree and would just touch them and say what they are. One of his favorites was a book that had Pooh and Eeyore, or as Owen calls them “hippo and donkey”. Yes, he has no idea who Pooh really is and always tells me he is a hippo. I have corrected him and said he is a bear but he is adamant that he is a hippo.

Another favorite was a Snoopy ornament that sang.