We had our friends and their kids over for dinner, and after dinner the two younger kids (Owen and Caroline) were off playing in the other room. Caroline came in to show me the picture she took of Owen—and it was REALLY cute! He was obviously happy to be in his Thor costume! The good thing I noticed was that it took about five other shots to get this one good one!
That tongue was always out—as you will see when you see all the pictures (below) from the photo shoot.
Oops! Someone rolled over! After I caught her and made sure she wasn’t going to fall off, I snapped a pic!
Someone had to get in on the action!
Some more…
I have no idea why I didn’t think about doing this before… We desperately need more cupboard space, and we have an empty wall over a storage rack. So…we put in a 36″ upper cabinet this morning!
We still need knobs and it looks a little strange with empty space on both sides, but I don’t care. Eventually, before we sell/move again, we’ll install a matching base cabinet with a short piece of counter top, and it will hopefully look like it’s always been there.
I only remembered to give him his camera once while on vacation—and we were at Gramma Jean’s… I only found/remembered them now because I’m finishing the last of the unpacking (yes, you read that right—I hate unpacking).
I swear Owen was older than this when he finally fit in it—I’ll have to go back and find when it was. I do remember having to put a phone book under his feet for awhile, though… Meanwhile, Katie has been in it about a week or so already (and her feet DO touch the floor, even if it doesn’t quite look like it in this picture).
** I finally went back and looked at Owen’s pictures, and the first one I have of him in the jumper is May 17. 2006—so he was 3½ months old! And there’s the box we needed to use! The other picture is him a day later, but looking cuter!
If you sign(ed) up for email notifications (I can’t tell), I just wanted to let you know that if you opted for immediate notification (instead of once a day or whatever) you might not be seeing the entire post. I often make changes right away (I blame mommy brain, often forgetting all that I wanted to say) but the notification has already been sent out. So I recommend either clicking the link and reading it on the website or opting for the once a day notifications.
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?
Look what happened when I left him alone for 10 minutes today…
SERIOUSLY?! UGH.
I told him I wasn’t happy because he made a mess—and that he shouldn’t take Katie’s clothes out of her drawers, but reasoning with a toddler is pointless at best. I also told him he had to help me pick it all up, so he handed me a few pieces and then he was done. 😐 I didn’t even have the energy to finish dealing with it right then…but he’ll definitely be helping me pick it all up later.
Of course, he followed it up with something super cute…but I was still fuming a bit over the mess.
And THEN he does something super sweet…Katie was crying so he grabbed the bottle and started to feed her.
Ahhh, life with a toddler. From utter frustration to melting heart in five minutes…
She’s been doing this ALL morning.
And I just realized the pants (light turquoise) don’t match the onesie (orange/yellow/green) at all—but this morning I swore they did (and I had them folded together as a set, so I obviously thought they matched).
I was going through some flash cards with Owen. He’d tell me what the picture was, then flip the card over and read the letters to spell it. Most of the words were short, like apple, sun, barn, and lamp. Then we got to skateboard—and he turned it over and said “Wow! That’s a lot of letters!”
He was sitting on the toilet in an attempt to poop (what he has to do when we see him grunting or find poop in his butt). He talks about anything but pooping, which is hilarious. Tonight was:
He doesn’t shut up the entire time. He’s full of stories and imagination and things like this…
He was being the cutest copycat so I started recording…and of course he stopped. But he’s still cute.
Someone is getting more talkative!
Like brother, like sister. (Owen has taken to putting his fingers in his mouth like this…but he started before she was born so she’s not the bad influence!)
So this morning, as usual, I found Owen in his bathroom drinking water and spitting—so I put away his cup. I also put away his toothpaste and his animal flossing strips (because he thinks they’re toys and I really don’t want him losing them around the house—which would happen in about 14 seconds). I told him that we only got out the toothpaste, cup, and flossers when it was time to brush his teeth.
Fast forward 20 minutes or so when I hear the bathroom sink on full blast AGAIN. I go in there and he is…BRUSHING HIS TEETH! That little shit. I couldn’t yell at him because he was doing something good—on his own and something I had just mentioned—but it was still frustrating because I had told him not to play in there.
So, what was the first thing I did? Tell him not to move (because I had to run and get the camera, of course!). 😆
Then I noticed all the toothpaste. In the sink and on his toothbrush and on his face and—WAIT. Where did he get toothpaste—I had put it away!? Did he climb up and get it out of the medicine cabinet??? No…I checked and that one was still there. So he obviously found another one somewhere (from our recent trip to the dentist, I’m guessing—but I don’t even know where it was!) AND managed to twist off the screw top (which, ironically, he can NEVER do when we ASK him to do it), and fill the sink with strips of toothpaste (which you can’t see in the picture). I also wondered what the bowl was doing there…and I didn’t have to wait long to find out: he was using it to drink from since I had taken his cup away.
I flossed his teeth, sent him on his way, and cleaned up the sink. AND PUT EVERYTHING AWAY AGAIN. Yes, it was a bit of a mess…but yes, I know it could have been A LOT worse.
So the pain is starting. He’s turning into a mischievous little boy with a mind of his own. Part of me loves it because it means he’s growing up, getting smarter, and thinking about things. But on the other hand, it’s a shit ton more work keeping an eye on him because you never know what he’s going to get into.
It’s actually been about a week or so now but I hadn’t gotten a decent video yet.
We taught Owen to spit so he can use regular (toddler) toothpaste…so of course all he wants to do now is stand at the sink, drink water, and spit. If we can’t find him or haven’t seen him in awhile, chances are he’s in one of the bathrooms…with the door shut so we don’t see him (he’s smart, too).
I know it doesn’t sound too bad, but he gets soaked in the process—along with the sink and the floor (usually). And he sometimes does it outside the bathroom as well…
BOYS!
Also: SUPERBABY!!
My birthday started out wonderful…I got to sleep in until 9:30 (thanks to Katie getting me up at 5 to eat and “wish me happy birthday!”), Owen said “Happy Birthday Mama!” all on his own (I wonder how much instruction that took!), Tom made waffles for breakfast, and I had a Facebook wall full of birthday wishes from friends and family waiting for me!
After a nice lazy day of hanging around the house with the fam (and publishing my updated blog!), my day was topped off with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday from my niece and nephew (Gabrielle and Robert), reading my entire wall of Facebook birthday wishes, and CLEAN SHEET NIGHT! I’m a lucky girl! 🙂
Well, it’s been a long and tedious road, but the day is finally here: my blogs have been migrated, completely revamped with new themes and widgets, and now live at the main website—www.hudson2001.com—instead of a specific blog address (so change your bookmarks!). All of the content is the same, though the Blather and Owen/Katie blogs have been merged! And I’ve even added a lot from the pages that were on the website before (like Tom’s writings and photos from Iraq and our “new” house stories). However, one slight change with content is that the Recipes blog is currently locked. Long story…but they may be going away now that technology will let me compile and access them in a better fashion.
I have to give mad props to my friend, Tori, who basically did all the heavy lifting on this project—and I can honestly say it would NEVER have gotten done if it weren’t for her. Migration sounds easy, but is a total pain in the ass. That said, this blogging platform (WordPress) is a lot more involved and easier to use (behind the scenes—not for you!) so my life just got a lot easier.
Since the blogs were out of commission for about three weeks, I had A LOT of posting to do in the past two days…but I think I got completely caught up. Thanks to Tom for keeping an eye on the kids all day for almost two days so I could knock it out. There is still some tweaking going on behind the scenes, but nothing you should really notice. Let me know if you run across anything really weird or glitchy.
If you want to get emails when new posts are made, you will need to enter your address over there to the right—your old subscriptions from the old blog are no longer valid.
Enjoy!
😀
Okay, it’s really fall, but one of the best parts of fall is Honeycrisp apples. Mmmmm. And is it just me, or does your mouth also anticipate a caramel apple with every bite?
It started slowly. First just a handful of K-cups. Then a few more trips. Setting them up all nice.
“Mama! Look at all the cupcakes!”
Then I walked into the kitchen and saw he had completely emptied the drawer. 🙂
She’s making up for some of the screaming she did on the road trip.
Never schedule a doctors appointment for the day after you get back from a vacation.
I was still so apparently out of it that I forgot to pack extra underwear for Owen at daycare (though he did have pull-ups) and I forgot an extra bottle for Katie (though I did grab the bottle with the leftover 2oz from her last feeding). Then I wasn’t really paying attention to the time and I left about 15 minutes too early (not the end of the world, but why sit in a doctor’s office with a baby any longer than necessary?).
It all worked out okay in the end (Owen didn’t need the extra undies and Katie was happy with the 2oz) but it could have just as easily gone south.
Whoops! I didn’t want her to fall asleep there…but damn if it isn’t adorable.
Dear Amazon,
Please quit messing with your Subscribe & Save program…it’s just getting worse and worse. At the beginning, it was 20% off and you got the first order right away (two-day Prime for those of us who are members). Then it was 20% off but you didn’t get Prime shipping on the orders. Then a bunch of my items suddenly became “unavailable” so the S&S orders were cancelled. Now this week I see it’s down to a 5% “savings” on most things and you don’t get your initial order until your “S&S date” (which for me is three weeks out!). Frankly, I’d rather just pay the extra few bucks and get my stuff in two days via Prime. I mean, if I’m on the site ordering it today, I must WANT it soon, right? What on earth makes you think I want to wait three weeks for it? Just to save 88¢?
Sincerely,
A Huge Amazon Fan Who Is NOT Enamored With These Changes
Both kids in bed by 9, clean sheet night, my own shower, freshly shaved legs, and my own king-sized bed. Ahhh…
Oh, the things you talk and write about when you’re a parent. 😯
You should see the size of Owen’s poops, which are about every 3-4 days (which is why they’re so big). 😯
They are ALWAYS too big to flush—we joke that it’s the size of a sweet potato but it’s not quite that big—but it always needs to be broken up into pieces. /gag/ I have no idea how he can, um, contain that much OR get rid of it without pain (he’s usually whining when he poops, but it’s not a pain cry and he never says it hurts).
So anyway, not only will Owen NOT poop on the potty until it’s dire….now he apparently has the poop dribbles. Like diarrhea consistency but not quantity. Lovely. So I Google and…he’s just, um, FULL. So the liquid parts are coming out around the solids.
I had asked friends for advice and, unfortunately, most of their suggestions were for different foods—which, if you know Owen, is NOT going to happen. However, they did remind me that we’ve been traveling (not really conducive to drinking a lot OR being on a regular schedule OR being able to run around all day to get things moving). And of course he’s JUST potty training so it’s still new and probably scary (even though when he DOES poop he seems very excited and promises to do it again). So we have been promoting as much liquid of whatever kind he wants…
We were on our way to getting really worried and were about a half day away from taking matters into our own hands (with a bit of Miralax in the morning) when he finally did poop tonight. Phew! BUT! We are now going to be watching his diet more closely—adding more of things he already likes (like nuts and Fiber One granola bars) and adding more stuff he doesn’t even realize he’s eating (like flax seed in his peanut butter).
Isn’t this fun?! 😐
