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Category Archives: Helping

Annual Accidental Freezer Defrosting

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I swear this is becoming an annual thing. Ugh.

I went to put some bagels in the freezer this afternoon and discovered that the door was ajar and EVERY SINGLE THING was thawed. Still cold, thankfully, but completely thawed. Even the super thick pork loins. Ugh.

You’d think I’d be used to this by now but your mind still races with the HOLYSHITWHATDOIDONOW thoughts.

Of course, my first thought was “Oh crap! The babysitter probably got in the freezer this weekend and I hadn’t showed her or even told her about the baby lock so that probably got in the way and caused this.” So I texted her and asked when she had been in there (just to know how long it had been open) and she said she didn’t go in there. Hmmm. Then I noticed that the baby lock had busted off. (We’ve had it on ever since we had the door pop open before.) Tom says that the door seal doesn’t work well at all so if it got hot enough maybe the lock popped off (it’s just on with glue after the sticky tape popped off). Well, I didn’t think the entire seal was bad…but maybe it just isn’t as strong as it used to be (it IS 10 years old). So anyway, we’re sure that was the reason but man…WHY did it have to happen the 48 hours we were gone when we’re NEVER gone? Ugh.

So anyway, I rushed to the shed to pull out the huge cooler (which, of course, was under a bunch of crap). I had piles of TOSS, EAT, and REFREEZE. We have no space heaters anymore so I had to get hair dryers (I wanted to defrost the ice as quickly as possible)…except I blew a circuit when I tried to run two at the same time. Owen was intrigued by what I was doing and helped for about three seconds.

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It seemed like it took forever, but I had the entire thing emptied, defrosted, and refilled in about an hour. (I guess experience does pay off, eh?)

Thankfully quite a bit of the stuff could be immediately refrozen (hot dogs, professionally packaged stuff, spaghetti sauce). Some stuff will be cooked and refrozen (brats, ground beef, hamburgers, pork). But we still have about 15# of meat to eat this week.

And we obviously also need to look into other door locks and/or alarm systems. I remember it was a bit challenging to find an acceptable door latch in the first place and the reviews for alarms on Amazon don’t look too promising.

Hoo boy.

Prepping for the new deck

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Step 1: Remove overgrown bushes.

I anticipated that being hard, but apparently they have very shallow roots and Tom pretty much just pulled them out without much digging.

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Step 2: Get bushes ready to burn in the fire pit.

Yes, I agree—we need a bigger fire pit. 🙂

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Step 3: Remove and move bricks.

Owen helping daddy: “Keep ’em coming!”

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The old bricks will be used to “embiggen and fancify” the fire pit. 🙂

That’s all for today.

Road trip shopping!

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We went to Wilmington today. Owen helped us load some material in the car…

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Then enjoyed sitting next to his sister at Costco!

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Then ate an ice cream sandwich in the car after lunch and Trader Joes… You can’t see it very well but his face was covered in chocolate.

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Then immediately fell asleep.

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(Katie was sleeping, too, but I can’t get a good photo even from the passenger seat.)

Owen always surprises me.

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This morning he wanted to go outside and I told him he had to get shoes on. Usually he puts his Crocs on since they’re easier (although we’ve been trying to teach him his Velcro sandals)…but he came back with the sandals! And on correctly! (He usually gets the Velcro on way too loose—like foot falling out loose.) I was impressed.

You can now tell him to go to his room and get an outfit and he’ll bring one down. Most times he can get dressed, too!!

I made a frozen pizza for dinner. I was sure he wouldn’t like it so I had one of his ready for backup. He takes one look at mine and says “Where’s MY pizza?” I tell him we only have pepperoni (knowing he doesn’t like pepperoni) and he says “YES! Pepperoni! I like pepperoni!” Hmm. Okay. So he somehow THINKS he likes pepperoni? So he gets it and lets it cool and…big surprise…he doesn’t like it. We pick off all the pepperoni and…nope. (Of course, Katie ate both.)

Then, I was giving Katie some freeze-dried corn (same stuff that Owen LOVED at that age but hasn’t eaten since) and he just up and asked to try some. And liked it. And asked for more. WHAT?!?! Okay, cool. Then he asked for dried bananas (which he has eaten lately—but I’m still amazed he asked).

He’s growing up…

Sniff.

Helping, Camping, Playing

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Owen was a big help getting Katie inside for my doctor’s appointment today.

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It was an OB appointment so I didn’t really want Owen there (the kid certainly doesn’t need to be traumatized like that!), but he’s been a little sick so I couldn’t take him to daycare. Luckily there was a curtain which I turned into a tent and camping experience—which he loved. Phew! Now he’d hopefully be occupied and not see me in the stirrups. 🙂 And he liked peeking out at me.

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And of course afterwards he had to play around…

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Threenager alert!

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Life has become interesting lately. Our sweet little Owen is turning into a threenager. Holy cow does he test my patience…what little of it I have left.

We tell Owen to NOT do something or STOP doing something…and he turns right around and does it.

He has zero attention span when we ask him to pick up toys. It’s a constant repetition of “Owen, please put all your toys away. Owen, please put your cars away. Owen, please put your cars in this box. Owen, put your cars away now. OWEN! Mama asked you to put your cars away. If you don’t, I’m taking them away.”

And every time you ask him to put something away—whether he’s actively playing with it or not—he says “No, I’m just playing!” And then wants to play with whatever you wanted him to put away.

He’ll whine that he “doesn’t want a snack/drink/toy/etc. anymore” and then two minutes later he wants it.

He is starting to get more destructive—he was “helping” by winding Katie’s pack-and-play mobile…and actually doing okay so I left him alone, only to come back five minutes later and it was completely broken off and he was playing with it on the floor. 😐

He’s broken a bunch of toys just rough housing with them or not being careful. I make him throw them in the garbage.

The day care lady had to talk to him today—a first. 😐 He was throwing toys at or with another kid. She said they talked about it, he apologized, and things were okay, but she just wanted to let me know. Oh, and he also snuck into the bathroom and was playing at the sink…his shirt was completely drenched when I picked him up after only an hour. I commented that he has just turned into a threenager during the past week or so and she said it appears to be going around.

And potty training. Oh man, don’t get me started on potty training. He had the peeing down completely after really just a week (with just a few accidents after his nap or in the morning, which was to be expected) and poop has been a challenge since day one. So we get home from vacation, and suddenly he’s peeing in his underwear and ON THE FLOOR. And poop is still a huge issue—he knows poop goes in the potty and he’s excited and happy when he does go, yet I typically spend all day cleaning up poopy underwear and his poopy butt because he either doesn’t realize he’s pooping, he does realize and just doesn’t care, or he’s just being super obstinate. I know he’s still learning, but it’s super frustrating.

One time he called me over to tell me he had poop on his foot. Yes, poop. On his foot. And it was completely dried. So I have no idea when or where he stepped in poop (I haven’t smelled it or found it). And then he threw a holy terror tantrum when I made him stick his foot in the bath to clean it. And this was after I had to strip his bed again because he peed in his bed (and on the floor) during his nap. Yes, potty training might just kill me.

Anyone want our threenager? Just temporarily, mind you?

My little helper

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Owen is SUCH a great helper.

I have him do little things for me off and on—partially because it really helps me out and partially to teach him how to follow multi-part directions.

For example, today I asked:

“Owen, can you please go upstairs into your bathroom and bring me the Baby B that’s in the sink?”

And he got it.

I also asked:

“Owen, can you please go upstairs in Katie’s room and get the two bottles that are on her crib?”

And he did that, too.

Both of these are impressive since he often has a hard time with (what we think are) simple/easy-to-understand requests. (For example, he asked me where something was, and I told him (while pointing) “It’s under that chair in the pink cat bed.” And he didn’t get it, even after I repeated it three times.) I’m not sure what the difference is between what he does and doesn’t understand.

But he’s learning and getting better and he’s awesome to have as a helper!

Owen holds Katie! Owen feeds Katie!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGojz3OUFZo

He finally agreed to hold her today! Thank heavens for iPhones so I could capture it—I asked him like I always do but I really wasn’t expecting him to say yes so I didn’t have my real camera handy.

He was practically giddy with excitement and was all smiles—it was SO cute!

Checking himself out in the mirror!

And then he was done…and off doing Owen stuff again.

ARRRRRR!!!

Making cupcakes!

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Owen had found our formula mixer (which is out since Tom uses it to mix his coffee) and then grabbed one of Tom’s coffee pods from the drawer and was putting the two together saying “Making cupcakes!” I’m not exactly sure where he got the idea of cupcakes, though somewhat recently I know he was watching something on Food Network with Tom about snacks… So I got the idea to actually make cupcakes.

I got it all set up and the hardest part was getting Owen to kneel on the chair at the counter—he wanted to sit (too low) or stand (too high and wobbly on our bar-height chairs) but we eventually got it worked out. First he helped me dump the measuring cup of water, oil, and eggs into the bowl (though I had to keep a hand on it so it didn’t all end up on the floor). The whole time (from now until the end) he just kept saying “Making cupcakes. Making cupcakes! Making cupcakes!”

Then he used the mixer, which he actually did pretty well with:

Then it was off to fill the cups. He helped me put all the liners in the pan, and then after I did the first tray of 12, he got to do this tray:

Still working on it:

The mess wasn’t too bad (none got on him, the chair, or the floor) so that was a bonus! And he had a blast!

Owen helping mama read a story!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IxlpZZLKsM

Owen loves the book Ten Little Ladybugs and has taken to helping me read it—he says SCREECHES the numbers as I turn the pages. The screeching is normally VERY enthusiastic—and completely adorable—so I finally decided to have Tom record it. Of course, that was the night his performance was totally understated. I’ll still keep trying to get the other version. 🙂