Christmas Time

I can't believe it is time for Christmas. Each year it seems to come faster and faster. We are just about ready. Owen is excited - at least for what he can understand. I tried to explain Christmas to him. He asked me for a present the other day and I told him that in a few days we would go to sleep and while we were sleeping Santa would come and put presents under the tree and then we would wake up and there would be lots of presents for Noni, Owen, Uncee Ben, Mommy, Daddy, etc. He was standing on the floor while I was explaining and looking up at me with such inquisitive eyes and listening so intently trying to understand what I was saying. I finished what I thought was a brilliant explanation of Christmas morning to a two year old and he looked at me so innocently and said "what mommy". I screamed with laughter. I realized how ridiculous it must sound and he wanted with his whole heart to make sense of what I said. I just hugged him and told him that he would get some presents from Santa soon.

This past week was much like any other week. Owen and I went to our last Kindermusik class before the Christmas break. He still loves it so much. He participates in all the songs and follows the teacher around doing exactly what she does. She gave all of the kids a toy microphone for Christmas and a picture of the kids with their moms. Owen carries around the picture of us all day. The class has been good for him in so many ways. This class is about to end, but we signed up for the next semester. Hooray!

Angie and I taught our last class of the 6 week yoga class last week and then we had a drop in class this last Thursday and had 6 people show up. They clapped at the end of class and one of our students even gave us a Christmas present and told us thank you for the wonderful class and said she looks forward to coming all week. We were so excited! It feels so great to be making a difference for people. It is fun to get people moving and see the changes in the poses and the strength they are getting. We have another drop in class on Thursday and then we have a 5 week course, 6 week course and another 6 week course. Hooray for yoga!

Everyone went to the karate party last night with my dad and Kristi and the kids. Ben was Santa. He did a great job! Owen was so excited to see him and actually sat on his lap. He had no idea it was Ben and told him he wanted a choo choo track. Despite being a little nervous and looking a little skinny for Santa, Ben did a great job and all the kids loved him. There was tons of food including a pig! Yes, the whole pig (I have no idea if there is some preparation to cook and eat a whole pig, but as far as I am concerned, there was a whole pig on the table). It was hideous. We sat far away from the poor guy and Angie and I ate some pizza. Ben munched on the pork but said the skin (which was supposed to be "delicious") tasted like eating glass. See, that is hideous! Owen and Santa Ben

Owen got a blanket in the white elephant exchange and carried it around all night looking so proud of his gift. Once we got home I told him to carry in his owl and I would take in the blanket so it didn't get wet. He just stood by the car crying saying O carry it. I gave it to him and he marched proudly in.

After a long day it was time for bed. I told Owen to say goodnight, he wouldn't. He asked Ben to play with him in his "eeky room" (little room). Ben told him he had to go to bed. Owen said "daddy pay o eeky room, maaybe". I told him it was time for bed and brought him back to our room and closed the door. He started crying saying that he had to tell daddy one more thing. He says that all the time, when we leave someone so he can come back, when he is on the phone so he doesn't have to hang up, at bed time to avoid going to sleep. The thing about it though is that he never has anything else to say, he just smiles and you can see his brain thinking of what to say. He finally gave in and went to sleep, even without his "one more thing"

BEN: I had a request from my Grandma for a section on my blog for Ben since he is the only one of us without a blog. I figured I could do that, so this is Ben's update. Ben took two classes at Everett Community College this winter and ended up with a 3.8 GPA. He received a letter from the school yesterday congratulating him on "achieving a significant academic milestone". He is working at the office with everyone and doing a great job. He gets yelled at by Angie periodically but mostly because his desk is a mess. He just laughs at her and sings "Cinderelly, Cinderelly". The hardest part of Ben's day is deciding what he wants for lunch. When I am in the office he starts asking me around 10:30, "what's for lunch". The most alarming part of the story is that he gets to work at 10:00. Ben is living in the barn at my dad's house, (it is all fixed up as a really nice apartment, don't think that he is sleeping on hay) and he is freezing. We are working on getting a heater out there but it hasn't happened yet. He told me the other day he turned on his space heater and it said 39. Ha ha ha ha. Poor Ben. Ben is cold but happy and doing well.

As a final note - congratulations to Angie for getting her ring!! She and Steve are finally getting married. I am so happy for her and I am so glad that she has Steve. He humors her and her antics and you can see that he really loves her. I am glad he will be part of the family and I am glad to see her so happy!! Congratulations Ang - I love you!

Manners

I told Owen last weekend that if he wants to talk to me when I am talking to someone else, rather than screaming "Mommy!" he should say nicely, "Excuse me mommy" and then I can hear him better. He says it all the time, "cuse me mommy, cuse me mommy". He says it with a soft sweet voice and then he knocks his hands together or knocks on my shoulder - whatever that is about.

He is doing a good job asking nicely. Last night I put him in his car seat, he started to freak out and kick and hit my hands off of him and started screaming "Noni do it". I told him he was not acting very nice. He stopped going crazy, tilted his head to the side and said very softly, "pease mommy go away, noni do it, pease go away" and proceeded to push me away, very nicely of course.

What to do

I struggle so much to put Owen to bed at night. It is a minimum of an hour long drama and most of the time takes longer than that. He didn't nap today and he fell asleep on the way home at 7:30. Fully prepared to have him wake up and take a minimum of two hours to fall back asleep, I brought him in and laid him on the bed. I thought about leaving him, but I looked at him lying there in his jacket, dirty shirt and pants, with stinky socks (he wears rain boots all the time and be glad you are not near them), and I couldn't stand it. There is something so sad about sleeping in your clothes and at the same time something so wonderful about sleeping in clean pajamas. At the risk of being up all night, I changed him. He started to fuss and cry and then started asking for night orange juice. I figured I was doomed. I laid him on the bed all comfy and clean and laid down next to him. He put his arms around my neck and started playing with my hair (he has a thing for hair) and told me that he ate his nanis (chicken nuggets of course) all gone and then by some Christmas miracle he fell sound asleep!! I felt a little lost and confused. Owen asleep at 8:00!! I feel like I have all the time in the world. I figured I better document this day as I don't have high hopes it will happen again.

(Owen watching tv with his trains. We take trains everywhere in his choo choo bag, you have to see it to appreciate it, I will take a picture)

We both had a busy week, the Christmas season is moving so quickly. This year I vowed that I would not be running around on Christmas Eve with the majority of gifts still to be bought. I must say that I am not doing so bad! There is more to do than I would like, but things are coming along. We have been shopping a few times this past week. Owen told me yesterday that he wanted to go shopping with Noni (Angie). I told him we could go. He said he wanted to go to the Old Navy Mall. He loves Old Navy. He has a new coat from Old Navy and runs around with it on telling everyone he got it at Old Navy. We also waited in line for 45 minutes to see the world's scruffiest Santa. Waiting in line reminded me of a time when I looked at the line with hundreds of parents and children waiting to see Santa and thought, wow, I am so glad I get to shop and don't have to wait in that line. But as I waited in line for Scruffiness to come back from what I am sure was a smoke break, I realized I loved waiting in that line for Owen. I waited all that time and I wasn't even buying a picture and it was still worth the wait to see him hug Santa(even if I was afraid of him getting so close to that scruffy man). He still wouldn't sit on his lap, but stood in front of him and told him what he wanted for Christmas, he gave him a hug and we were on our wait. After we walked away he said WAIT Mommy! Nanta..and puckered his lips. Um, lets see if we can find a different Santa to give a kiss to.

We celebrated Ben's birthday this weekend and that means we went out to dinner one time too many. Not wanting Ben to have nothing to do on his birthday, we went to Friday's on Friday. I must have seemed really mean that night. We were waiting and waiting and waiting for a table. I asked one of the girls how long it would be and she said they were still waiting for a table to open up. I sighed and the manager heard me and said she would go look for a place right then. She came back and said the table was just paying and it would be just a little longer. I said thanks and we waited and waited and waited. She finally came over and said we have your table and I will be right there to talk to you. Everyone was asking me what she said and trying to figure out what was going on. I was as well. She came up and apologized a million times for the confusion and delay and wanted to start us out with a few appetizers. She suggested the two most expensive ones and we said ok. She left and although I was never that upset, just anxious to sit down, we all said Hooray!! So we ate like pigs. Saturday we were out shopping all day so we ended up at Red Robin and we ate like pigs. Then tonight was the real birthday dinner, we went to Ben's favorite steak place called The Keg. This time we ate like large pigs.
(I have no idea what this tucked in upper lip smile is about, this seems to be the new smile)

Snow

We are here in the snow. Not as much as Utah, but we have our fair share. The funny thing about Washington snow is that everything shuts down. Coming from the snowy state of Utah, we just sit and laugh. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the events in Marysville will go on as planned. We are headed off to an electrical parade, photos with Santa, hot chocolate, crafts and entertainment.

We took Owen to the mall yesterday and he saw Santa. He wouldn't sit on his lap, he stood in front of him, made sure I was close and shook Santa's hand and told him he wanted a choo choo. Santa gave him a little puzzle. Big elephant was kicked out of the little stroller that we have to bring for Owen to push and the puzzle took over. He pushed the puzzle all over. He keeps forgetting Santa's name and comes over to me and says "mommy, name again". I remind him and he says Nanta.

Good news about my yoga class, we end the class in 2 weeks and then our Thursday class doesn't start up again until February 2, 2008. The class was sad and asked if we could keep going straight through. I was able to add another 5 classes to our schedule next year and two drop in classes around Christmas. Someone in our class said she is so much stronger and feels so much better going up and down stairs and bending down to pick things up. Hooray for making a difference in people's lives. Angie and I are still getting used to the idea that we are yoga teachers. We are having an even more difficult time getting used to the idea that we may be good yoga teachers :).

Owen is loving the Christmas season this year. He doesn't have a clue what is coming, but the lights on the trees seem to be enough so far. He started out by telling me that Christmas was yucky but seems to be warming up to the idea. He told me that it isn't yucky anymore. He is always such a sweet baby, at the mall yesterday he found a Thomas the Train backpack. He was thrilled. He took it off the rack and packed it with an elmo backpack and we put it on his back. Looking concerned, he got another backpack, packed it with another elmo backpack and said mommy. He motioned that I should put it on. We walked around the store with our backpacks on as he said Mommy buy. O need. Luckily he was tired enough to put them back when I told him we could go home and get his orange juice for bed.

We give him a sippy cup with orange juice in it before bed - I am sure his teeth are not thanking me for that practice. He only calls it night orange juice. In fact, whenever he asks for orange juice now, he says night orange juice.

He is still following his routine of kiss, head kiss, big hug for everyone when saying goodbye. He has now added an additional element of whistling. He can't whistle so he says "woooit" in a high pitched voice. We call Greg all day at work and he says bye daddy, woooit, kisses the phone, puts the phone on his head and gives it a big hug.

Greg has him trained well... Greg has the Iowa fightsong as a ringtone on his phone. As I have been writing this I think I have heard the fight song play at least 10 times.

Finally!

After so many troubles I finally got a video from my camera to my site. I can't believe it. This is Owen doing his favorite dance with the Teletubbies.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thanksgiving

Why is it that kids get sick at the worst time. Owen has been fine but suddenly exhibited signs of a fever this afternoon. Why does that happen. Poor little thing. As much as I avoid medicine for us, there is something positive to be said about motrin - if for nothing else than to make poor little sick kids feel not so sick. An hour ago he didn't even want to get off my lap and now he is driving his trains around as though nothing is wrong. Hopefully he will start feeling better for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

We are having Thanksgiving dinner here at my dad's. Greg's dad is in town and will be coming over with Kati. We will also have Kristi's sister and nephew here. We are planning on eating millions of rolls. mmm mmmm.

I love Thanksgiving, there is just something so perfect about a day spent cooking, hanging out and spending time with family.

Angie and I are contemplating the Friday shopping. We haven't wanted to go in the past, but suddenly the ads on tv are calling to us. Not sure why, it sounds insane, but we think it may be kind of fun. Now if we can wake up that early, that is another story. I am not sure how fun it will sound then. We shall see.

I am looking forward to tomorrow and right in this moment, I am thankful for little babies that take their favorite toys with them to bed.

Back to Writing

I have been wanting to post something lately but I had writer's block. Greg helped get me going again..we were on our way to Angie's house yesterday, she and I were having a spa party, (not our fault) and Greg was going to the batting cages with Steve. We were driving and I said "I forgot the camera". Greg said, "Oh, I was going to bring the video camera". The words and thoughts I have been holding inside suddenly came flooding to the front ready to be shared. Greg wanted to bring the video camera to the batting cages to film himself. It is after all the offseason, time to prepare!


This spa party that we had turned out ok. I was invited to one a few weeks ago by one of the mom's in Owen's music class. Angie and I went together. It is similar to Pampered Chef or a candle party except we had pedicures and learned about products for pampering (body scrubs, lotions, etc.). The part we were afraid of came, the end. It was time to order. We browsed the catalog as though we were going to buy something. We conversed about the products as though we were interested. We ended up with a $4.00 product. We felt a little guilty, but at least we were leaving with our money. Then came the worst part, the girl in charge asked us about hosting a party. We suddenly had a date of 11/17. The guilty feelings subsided - now the host got a half price item! We could host a party.

So, we invited 3 of our closest and only friends and our step-mom who luckily found a friend to bring and we had our own party yesterday. We ate food, had pedicures, talked a little - basically participated in a real social event. Hooray. We ended up with a free item each and one half-priced item each. We fell for the half priced item and spent some more money, but we had fun.

Owen had his first birthday party today. His friend, Aspen, from music class was turning two. He and I bought a walking dinosaur and headed over. There were only three little kids there (Aspen, Owen and Eli) and the rest were family. I am so impressed with myself - two social events completely out of my comfort zone in two days. Hooray me. Owen put stickers on a balloon, licked a cupcake and played with his two friends. We had a good time.

During the party someone asked Sabrina (Aspen's mom) about the Kindermusik class. She scrunched up her face and the person said as though they knew the answer "kind of dumb?". She said she didn't like it and that is isn't enough activity for her son. I thought how interesting that two people could do the same thing and yet have completely different thoughts and experiences from it. Owen and I love it. I think putting him in the class was one of the best things I have done for him. He participates fully throughout the class, he listens to the teacher, he does exactly what she tells him too, he wants to sing the songs after class and he can't wait to go back. He wanted me to sing a song from the last class, I couldn't remember it so I emailed his teacher. She wrote me back the words and the notes. I was able to play it on the piano and sing it to Owen. He has been so sad since the last class and he tells everyone that he didn't get to give his teacher a big hug and kiss. We said bye to her about three times last Wednesday and walked out, he yelled Wait! and told me he didn't say bye. We went back in and said bye again. We walked out and he yelled Wait! and stuck out his lips to kiss the teacher. I am not sure she is ready for that yet and I told him we would see her next time. He yelled Wait! and said big hug. She was busy so I told him next time - big mistake. He tells everyone that he is sad. I know things like this aren't for everyone, I just find it interesting how the same thing can give people such different outcomes.

I was driving the other day and told Emilee that I couldn't talk cause I had a frog in my throat. Owen got a strange look on his face and said "mommy, dabada (frog) in trote". I love kids, everything is so simple. He actually thought I had a frog in my throat, which of course he would.

My favorite show ends tomorrow, The Bachelor, my vote is still for Jenny. Off to watch The Amazing Race.....

Bedtime

Oh the bedtime routine is out of control. I know that I should just put him in the bed like the Super Nanny teaches. Everyone says it only takes two or three times, but I just can't do it. It is clearly the better option.... so I bathed Owen at 7:30. We came down and got on the pajamas. He decided he wanted to watch Teletubbies with me so we sat down in our chair. Owen started laughing and told me that he forgot his owl and little monkey and blanket (wowl, eeky monkey, mimi). Back up to get his stuff. He went over to the bed and brought them all back. We watched Teletubbies until 8:30. He decided he was tired and wanted to read books. We went to the bed and read 4 books. I told him it was time to sleep. He started crying for his dad. Just then Greg walked in and Owen told him it wsa time for "night orange juice". He came back down and laid with me in the bed. Greg was on the computer working and Owen kept crying saying "O hi Daddy". I told him a million times that he has already said hi to his dad. He started crying telling me that he didn't give him a kiss. Greg came over and kissed Owen, gave him a big hug and kissed his head, he kissed Owl's head, eeky monkey's head, butt, tail, back, stomach, legs, arms, hands and butt again. I told Owen that daddy was done and was LEAVING. Greg went back to the computer. (We live in one big huge room in the basement, Owen sleeps in my bed - he doesn't want to go to his bed). Owen and I are laying in the bed and he starts creeping away, I literally mean creeping for he knows not to get up or the light goes off. He starts creeping away towards the end of the bed whispering "O hi daddy". I bring him back, he starts to cry. I make Greg leave. While we are lying in the bed we go from lying next to mommy to lying on mommy's tummy. I nursed Owen until about 2 months ago (I never thought that would happen) and I think that might have something to do with the tummy thing - who knows. Back and forth back and forth until my tummy was prohibited. It is now 9:30 and Owen is in the bed crying yelling MOMMY, MOMMY. I was at my wit's end. I gave him one last warning, told him that if he tried to place my hair on his face one more time I would leave and he could sleep by himself. He is not doing so well with that. He just stopped crying long enough to get out a sad, weak "please mommy, no computer, bed Owie".

I must be crazy, a few nights crying by himself cannot be worse than this!

Grumpy Expensive World

I realized today that there is a big group of people out in the world that are just grumpy people. I am not placing any judgment on their lives, I know that things happen and lives are shaped from these circumstances but how different would things be if people would slow down and stop being so angry. I was at Walmart tonight and I was waiting behind someone who was waiting for a parking spot. I pulled up behind them and I was just sitting and waiting. I didn't mind waiting, it was a good parking spot for them and they were lucky to have it. I was with Felix, Robee and Owen and we were singing songs from our Kindermusik class. The car in the spot pulled out slowly and began to drive away. The car waiting for the spot didn't move. I just sat there waiting, then all of a sudden, out of the blue the driver turns around and flips me off. Not only did this woman flip me off, but continued to do so with such intensity, she was really mad at me. I have no idea what I did. I doubt her night was better after screaming at me with her hand. We shopped among the millions of people shopping at Walmart and I just kept thinking of this odd experience and felt sad for this angry woman.

While I shopped among the millions of people in Walmart I also thought how grateful I was for such a wonderful store as Walmart. I know people have issues with these big stores, but when you are on a budget, Walmart is the place to go. Cheese for example: Safeway 8.99 (that alone is absurd), Walmart 7.49; 3 Cheese Tortellini Noodles: Safeway 6.99, Walmart 4.99. Those differences add up. I will fight the crowds and join the masses to save!!

Brainless TV

I love watching The Bachelor. I not only watch it, but I love it. There is something about it that is terribly captivating and despite the fact that they never last, even after professing their love for one another on national tv, I will continue to watch it. I just finished, (seriously love the DVR) it is down to 2 girls. Next week we get the Girls Tell All Special and THEN, the finale. My vote is for Jenni.

Owen learned his full name, Owen Stanley Leigh - he says Owen Naney A.
Greg asked him tonight what daddy's name was, Owen said Daddy Naney A.

Of course that would be his daddy's name.


Here are some pictures of him in his new clothes.

Finishing the update

I am not sure why my previous post keeps showing broken links to the pictures. I hope it is some problem that I am seeing and you can see all the pictures. Hopefully they will all show up with this post. I wanted to post a few pictures of the karate party we went to with my dad and Kristi and the kids. We had a really fun time. My Dad dressed up as some crazy creepy guy, the mask was especially odd because it sort of had a smiling face. He said that when he put the mask on he felt like Jim Carrey in The Mask, he couldn't control himself and started dancing wildly. My dad never dances. Angie and I were laughing so hard. I would go into more detail but I will NEVER be able to do that dance justice.

Owen ran around and played. I think his music class has been really good for him, he is much more willing to run around without me. He played with the kids and danced and he helped himself to the food.

Greg, Ben and Angie's boyfriend Steve left early to go to a movie. Angie and I stayed through the end and then left to go hang out at Target. Owen was picking out all kinds of things, saying "O buy" and throwing it in the basket. I tried to show him some scary Halloween creature that moves with crazy eyes, he looked a little scared at first and then said "O buy" and threw it in the basket. At one point I was buying this crazy Halloween guy, 2 plastic pumpkins, a Thomas the Train pillow and a few small toys. We discussed putting everything away and buying a little Thomas the Train to play with. He settled for that and we put the rest back. He uses the word "eeky" for little. He said he wanted an "eeky nomas". Good thing I pay some attention when I go to the store, I would be buying a lot of stuff. Not a lot of attention as I paid for my stuff and walked away, got in the car and started to drive away when I realized that I didn't have my bag, I ran back in as they were closing, there was my stuff at customer service.

The rest of the week nothing too interesting was going on, Owen and T.J. wore their football helmets, it was a typical week. My poor tortured cat. I found myself much more of a cat person before having Owen. Now, I find at the end of my day, I don't have a lot left for the poor cat.

After 10 years, I finally closed him out of my room at night. He was constantly moving and interrupting the few hours of sleep I was getting. I am afraid I am teaching Owen to dislike cats. As soon as T.J. sets foot in my room he screams "T, out mommy's room!!" He chases him away and closes him out. Greg has found himself having to correct himself a time or two when he says, he is going to go kick T.J. out of the room. Owen runs over and kicks the cat. My poor poor cat!

My new yoga session started this week. We lost 5 people from the previous session (9 came back) and we got three new people. It seems like we will have a really fun class. Angie and I are both starting to feel a little more comfortable with the poses and teaching. We are still having so much fun doing it and I love teaching with Angie. We are trying to set up a kid class and a yoga for weight loss class after the new year. We will keep this class as it seems to be going well. We are hoping to keep expanding and teaching more and more. We have a client who is a manager at LA Fitness. He talked to my dad yesterday and my dad put in a pitch for us to start teaching there. He is supposed to talk to someone and let us know. Hooray for teaching yoga!

Owen loves to hang out with Ben. He calls him "Me" or "Uncy Me". Greg called the office yesterday and my dad answered. Greg said "hey it is me, is Ben there". Knowing who it was, my dad said "who is this", Greg said, "it is Greg". My dad told him that he was very confused and next time he needs to call and say "this is Greg is Me there". My dad said as far as he knew Ben was calling for himself. The chaos we live with!

Arlington

We had such a wonderful day on Saturday. We started out the day almost leaving Greg. He was watching the Iowa game while time was ticking away. He finally moved his butt and we headed downtown for trick-or-treating and a pumpkin roll. It was a nice warm day and O was so cute!!He said trick-or-treat and thank you to everyone. mean anything, it was more of a process than anything exciting. We went into one business that was giving away a full size candy bar and we had a choice of a KitKat or a Reese's. I told the lady we would take the KitKat so his daddy wouldn't eat it. She threw Greg out a Reese's anyway which was the only thing Owen ate of all his candy. Ha Ha. I think Owen was a little bored of getting the candy, when you are two quantity doesn't really mean anything. It would be nice to be two.

He liked the pumpkin roll. We bought a great round pumpkin and donated our dollar and we were ready. Everyone lines up at the top of a big hill and rolls their pumpkin down aiming for a big bucket at the end. We were there pretty early so he and Greg played laughed. I talked to some kid about his pumpkin. Our perfect round pumpkin which was sure to win got bumped to the side and then a big pumpkin hit the side rail moving it out of the way giving our pumpkin a perfect opportunity to escape. Owen loved watching the pumpkins roll down the hill. Barely able to keep his eyes open we left to take a nap before the karate party.

Carving Pumpkins

We have had a busy weekend and into this week. We had a really fun Halloween, starting with pumpkin carving on Friday at the school and ending up in Edmonds yesterday with Noni (Angie - I have no idea why he calls her that, I told her that if we have any more kids, I am totally introducing her as Noni).

He started out the pumpkin carving asleep. I wasn't really surprised that despite the loud music and millions of kids he slept soundly. He hadn't napped and was really tired. I finally stirred him awake so we could eat some pizza, once he woke up he started having a great time. We listened to the music, ate pizza and carved away. Owen didn't do much carving.