Google maps has been overhead recently
I was checking Google maps today to see how many in-ground pools were in our subdivision (for no real reason other than it’s a question that popped into my head while driving to Costco) when I realized that our satellite view has been (somewhat) recently updated.
I love how much I can determine from what we can see:
Previously, our view was fenceless. Now? The shed is there (so, after April 2012) but there’s a dead spot in the backyard grass where the pool was (so, after October 2012) but wait!—that’s not Tom’s car OR my car in the driveway!—whose is it? Aha! Dad and Linda’s minivan! And they were there in February 2013. And from the amount of stuff on the curb, it looks like garbage pickup day so it’s a Monday morning. And Tom’s at work (hence his car not being there) and since my car isn’t there I’m guessing I was running errands.
Looking back at my calendar, Katie had a 9:00 appointment for her flu booster on Monday, February 18…so that’s when Google got us.
Creepy or cool?
The urge to throttle a child.
Ugh.
We had a birthday party at a gymnastics club today for one of the kids in the mom’s group. It was scheduled for 1–2:30—perfect timing since Owen no longer naps. I was excited because Tom was going to stay home with Katie so it would just be me and Owen.
So what happens?
Owen falls asleep at 11:30. I gently start waking him up at 12:30 and it’s not happening. I get ready…keep checking on him…and finally he’s up, but he’s a HOT MESS. Whining, pouting, being grumpy and obstinate. After many rounds of “Do you want to go play with kids [his FAVORITE thing] or go to your room to take a nap [well, finish it]” he wouldn’t stop crying so I just sent him to his room.
Yes, technically it’s my fault since I woke him up but still. He RARELY naps. What the hell?!?
So I was pissed because I was REALLY looking forward to getting out without Katie AND seeing how Owen liked the gymnastics stuff to determine if we should get him in a class. And of course Katie was waking up from her nap and screaming during the middle of all this. And Tom was outside working…and didn’t really seem to care that she was up and I should have been leaving.
Tom tried to talk to Owen to get him to come downstairs but that didn’t happen, either. So there I sat. Pissed. And dealing with the screaming baby that I had hoped to get away from for two hours. Isn’t parenting fun?!
Fast forward an hour…
Owen wakes up and wants to put his shoes on to go to the party.
“Sorry, buddy, the party’s over. You missed it because you were whining and wouldn’t put your shoes on.” (Technically it wasn’t over yet, but by the time we would have gotten in the car and driven there, there would have been about 15 minutes left.)
More whining. More asking to put his shoes on. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Fast forward again…
Owen: I missed the party because I wouldn’t put my shoes on.
Me: That’s right.
Owen: Why?
So we had a discussion about how parties are scheduled for certain times so you have to be there AT that time—you can’t just decide when you want to go and think the party will still be there.
Owen: I’m sad.
Me: Why?
Owen: I missed the party.
Me: Yes, I’m sad we missed the party, too.
Owen: I’ll put my shoes on the next time.
We’ll see if he remembers.
Owen advances in the pool!
So Owen and I went in the pool when Katie went down for her morning nap. I worked with him on sticking his nose under to blow bubbles…which he eventually did. I really tried to get him to stick his whole face under—even tried getting him to plug his nose to do so—but he was having NONE of it. Okay, fine, I was content with what we had achieved.
Fast forward to Katie going to bed for the night and all three of us get in the pool. I had gotten a new waterproof camera so I wanted to test it out.
I told him to stick his face under—and you can see he barely got his chin and the very tip of his nose.
So then I told him to show daddy what he learned with me today—and imagine my surprise when we witnessed this:
WHAT?! He went under JUST like that! Like he’d been doing it all summer or something. The stinker!
Testing the stop-action setting with splashing!
And Photoshopped to adjust the colors (though it washes out the rest of the picture—I’m sure it could be done better, but I’m NOT a Photoshop wiz):
Photoshop version:
Katie takes a surprise tumble.
I was just snapping test shots of her on her downstairs basket…
When this happened.
Katie and her basket
(These are all photos from the new camera.)
She loves—LOVES—playing in these wicker baskets upstairs in the living room. In and out. Around. Over. Back in.
She’s also getting really good at standing!
And she loves cuddling in the big frog!
Macro Nap
Using the new camera’s macro setting…not quite what the macro setting is for but I liked the shot. 🙂
July 4th Party
We were invited to a BBQ today…and Owen had a blast since they had not one but TWO waterslides there! He spent the first part of the day on the little slide and was just having a ball running around with the other kids and playing on this slide.
We asked, but he didn’t want anything to do with the big slide…but then when I came back outside after saying goodbye to Tom and Katie (he took her home for a nap) I couldn’t find Owen anywhere. Turns out he was on the big slide!
And he played. And played. And played. And played. We got there at 3 and he went straight to the slide…and he was pretty much going non-stop until we left at 7. (He did take about a 10-minute break to have a snack of graham crackers and milk and then maybe a 5-minute-total break to have a few bites of chocolate cake but that was IT. He didn’t even take a potty break, even though I asked every half hour or so.)
A closer up look at that happy face!
He did take a brief break from the big slide to hit the small pool—which he enjoyed flopping over the edge to make a big splash!
And then it was back to the big slide…with a gun!
And then a few more trips down the little slide before it got put away.
On the ride home, Owen admitted he was tired. We got home and I was exhausted. From simply sitting around at an outdoor party. SITTING. (Well, there was some walking around and eating, but it was mostly sitting.) And it was warm but actually okay in the shade and there was a breeze.
Even though Owen is actually old enough that we could let him run around without actually having to keep an eye on him 100% of the time, I didn’t get to visit with everyone as much as I’d hoped. But it was wonderful being able to just sit and watch him play and have soooo much fun WITHOUT having to worry about watching Katie at the same time.
All in all, a very good day!
STAY TUNED FOR VIDEO UPLOADS.
Katie’s first real drink from a cup
When we were on vacation, she constantly glommed onto whoever was drinking something from a cup and wanted to drink herself. So when we got home, we let her try on her own. And damn if she didn’t do too badly! Sure, she spilled some and dribbled a bit—but she actually got most of it in her mouth!
The Deployment Talk
So I had been DREADING this talk. We all know how much Owen loves his daddy and misses him when he’s just at work for the day…
We ordered the Sesame Street Deployment video (Elmo’s daddy goes away to help people, Elmo’s mommy stays home) and watched it ahead of time—and I couldn’t make it through without crying (but then, the last month is the most emotional for me).
So at breakfast, we finally told Owen about Tom leaving and Owen’s immediate response was “But I don’t want you to go. I will miss you.” Tom assured him that he would miss him, too. We told him it was like when daddy had to go to school before and was gone for a lot of days, but this time he was going farther away and wouldn’t be able to come home on the weekends. Owen told Tom that he would go to school, too. 🙂
Then we showed him the Sesame Street video…and he seems okay so far. It just seemed like any other Sesame Street episode to him. But now out of nowhere he’ll say “Elmo’s mommy stays home.” And I reassure him yes, Elmo’s mommy stays home—just like I will be here with him and Katie. I also repeat “Grown ups come back” (which is from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood when Daniel Tiger doesn’t want his parents to go out for the night—the babysitter tells him that grown ups always come back).
I’m sure there will be worse times…but for now—when I’M still fragile—I’ll take his nonchalance.
The baby monitor is going back up today.
As I walk into the living room this morning:
Tom: Look who just got up!
Me: Katie?
Tom: Yes, she slept in!
Me: Oh, you mean after crying for 20 minutes at 6:30?
Tom: I didn’t hear her over the fan.
Me: I did. I’ve been up since 6:30. FAIL.
The baby monitor goes back up today (it was down from vacation). I only have four more weekends of not having to get up with the early-rising kids…and I need every last one of them to be successful.
Daddy gave in.
So, you all know by now that Katie often SCREAMS BLOODY MURDER when we set her down/leave the room because she wants the attention and/or she wants to be carried. Well, when we’re trying to get dinner ready, we can’t really do that. Enter…the baby carrier. I told Tom not to even start it because he’s leaving soon and I won’t be using it (well, at least not while making dinner). But OH MAN did she love it. She was PERFECTLY content.
Left to their own devices…
This is what happens.
Owen is 4 years 5 months today!
Backwards Shirt Boy
Owen has gotten REALLY good at getting himself dressed…but sometimes, it does go wrong. Hilariously wrong in this case, as the way he was standing just cracked us up. You can see a little of it in this picture. 🙂
Cutie in black and white
My sad, overgrown garden.
With all the rain we had while we were gone (we’ve heard 9″), our garden went batshit crazy. The tomatoes overgrew everything and cut off the basil (you can’t even see it). Tom had to cut it back with the weed eater…and it still needs to be thinned out by hand.
The rabbits had a field day with things that hung outside the container (who knew they liked basil?). And the leaf lettuce got so big it’s now completely useless—and I don’t think I’m going to be planting any more.
I’m sad.
June pics are online!
This month there were more pictures than normal since we took a two-week trip to Michigan and did lots of fun things.
Owen really spoiled me.
Most of the time when Owen woke up in the morning or after a nap, he’d just play happily in his crib. For a long time if you let him. And when you finally went in to get him, he was all smiles and giggles.
So of course I expected Katie to do the same.
Ha.
HA HA.
She starts screaming within two minutes of waking up.
Every.
Single.
Time.
😐
And sometimes doesn’t even stop after you pick her up. Or stops, but starts again when you lay her down to change her diaper.
It gets old…fast. It’s a good thing she’s cute.
Who knew chewing was a problem.
So, any tips to make sure kids chew their food? And to impress upon them the importance of chewing so they don’t choke and vomit all over the place?
😐
Yes, Tom is cleaning the current multi-spew fest (through the dining room and kitchen—at least nothing on carpet so he got off easy) thanks to Owen apparently trying to swallow a whole cashew.
😐
I told him if he can’t chew his food he’ll get milk and baby food…but seriously, we may implement a new rule about the number of times you need to chew food before swallowing. Because this is ridiculous.
It doesn’t happen all the time, but it should be a rarity. But I guess I’d rather have him vomit than actually choke, right?
They make each other happy.
They were both cranky before she climbed over to him.
Moments after this picture, Owen says “Katie, I love you.”
Awwww.
Busy busy.
Katie is back to her old self.
Katie seems to be over her teething and eating issues she had a Gramma Jean’s. Last night she ate half an avocado, 1/4 PB&J sandwich, yogurt drops, 1/2 baby yogurt, and puffs. (TMI: Plus had a real poop!)
Content kids
He was content to be watching ninjas and Charlie was just happy people were around.
She’s a damn cat.
Put something new in the room and she’s on it immediately.
The last 300 miles.
The only good thing about driving too far the first day is that the second day is a lot shorter. BUT…the day started too early with Katie screaming good morning about 6:15. 😐 But it meant we were on the road at 7:30 again.
As usual, we stopped at our favorite park near Raleigh and Owen had a blast.
He’s getting SO much older. Now, he just takes off across the park without telling us…so we had a few chats about that. 🙂
And here’s how packed in things are—including Maggie! And it’s missing the last outside row that we had to take out at the park (the stroller, backpack, Maggie’s bag, etc.).
Look at that pathetic face. But don’t let her fool you…she’s perfectly happy. We had to literally DRAG her out when we stopped at the park.
Also, does Katie want her bottle at the park, when it’s convenient to do so? Of course not. She wants it 10 minutes later as soon as we’re back on the highway. Babies are annoying. But at least it put her to sleep so both kids thankfully napped almost the last two hours home…
The long road home…
Owen summed up the day nicely about 10 hours in: I am not happy. No more road trips.
Best case scenario it’s a long day but it was made even longer since we decided to push the mileage to get to our favorite hotel…and then it was full so we had to go an hour farther. 🙁
And I tried to make Katie a bottle of formula…with apple juice. Because I just wasn’t thinking and thought I had filled one of Owen’s cups with water. WRONG! So Katie was REALLY not happy the last hour, though I tried to keep the snacks coming her way.
Then I tried to check in to the wrong hotel. I just saw the Q and assumed it was La Quinta. Nope, Quality Inn. It’s a good thing Tom didn’t get anything unloaded…
Then we had horrible take-out Chinese food (Mongolian Beef and General Tso’s Chicken are hard to screw up, but they did) which just added to the day.
Owen perked up once he got to play in the pool.
But since we arrived late, dinner was late and Owen getting to and back from the pool was late…which meant a super tired Katie—who should have gone to bed early at 8—couldn’t go to bed until they were back in the room and ready for bed…about 9:15. At least she only screamed for 10 minutes before falling asleep!
I got no idea.
This is Owen’s new response to just about everything…even when he sometimes knows the answer.
Me: Owen, do you know how to unzip Maggie’s crate?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: Who gave you those Legos?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: Owen, where’s your B?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: What did I just tell you?
Owen: I got no idea.
Owen: It says pbskids.com.
Grandma Jean: Do you know what that is?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: Owen, if you’re a good boy tonight and don’t cry when Katie cries and you’re quiet and stay in bed, we’ll give you a Lego tomorrow. Okay?
Owen: Shakes head in agreement.
Me: What did I say?
Owen: I got no idea.
Owen: [Playing on the iPad.] I spelled cake!
Me: How do you spell it?
Owen: I got no idea.
Owen: What do you want for a treat tonight?
Owen: I got no idea.
Like mother, like son…almost.
Of course, after two weeks of bad (to us) movies (Hangover 3 and Fast & Furious 6) at our local theater, now that we’re headed home they are playing two shows we’d want to see (Epic and The Internship). GRRR! It would have been really cool to take Owen to his first real movie at the same theater where I saw my first movie (AND where Tom and I saw our first movie together)!
Cousins saying goodbye
Doug and Marie added a day to their vacation to be able to stop by before we had to leave. It was great seeing them—and the kids loved each other!—but the visit wasn’t nearly long enough. 🙁
