Still Alive

I made it, the week is over and somehow I am still alive. I am still alive after teaching the yoga class by myself. I am still alive after the day I had with Owen. I am still alive after my first board meeting for Owen's preschool. I am still alive after worrying about Owen's lost boots. I am still alive after highlighting my hair. I made it and the week is over.

Each week I try harder and harder to practice what I preach and be present in my life, attempting to live each day with a profound awareness of my thoughts and action. I do my best, yet each week I find the all too common question falling off my tongue, "how did it get to be Friday!". Where was I as the sun came up and passed effortlessly through the sky. Then I realize, I was here...... cleaning up after Owen.
The story that the pictures fail to tell is that this mess occurred after he dumped out thousands of paper clips in my office and showered himself and the floor with them, that this mess occurred after he took a key and threw it in the computer server and destroyed the fan causing the fan to make a horrible sound and leaving me no choice but to tell my dad what happened, that this mess occurred with an extremely stinky diaper, that this mess and all of the previously listed events occurred in about 7 minutes.

The pictures also fail to tell the story of Ben and Owen's altercation. Owen runs in my office which is still covered in paper clips, and says "excuse me mommy, excuse me mommy" (I am on the phone and so he uses his softest loud voice he knows how to use), "ben be reawy mean to owen". And then he runs away (back to ben of course). Then I hear Ben yelling, "Owen, what are you doing, stop that right now, why would you do that. Owen!!!". I cannot contain myself, the shear chaos has me laughing so hard - clearly not helping anyone. Ben is doing what he can to sweep up the mess before we vacuum, as he sweeps the little shred pieces into a pile, Owen picks up the pile and showers himself with shredded paper. Ben was not be beat. He is now pushing Owen away with the broom. Owen is wildly picking up the pieces and throwing them with all his might. Owen picks up handfuls of the pieces and starts to run around the office making little piles. Ben is yelling for him to get back in the office with the paper and to stop that right now. I am laughing. Owen sits on the floor and Ben pins him to the floor with the broom. Owen's face is on the floor and he is being held down by the broom. I am still laughing so hard. I finally stop laughing and distract Owen enough to allow the room to be cleaned. Then in his most stern voice he has, Ben comes out and closes the door and instructs Owen to stay out of the room. Oh how I love Ben and Owen.

Perhaps we will wait awhile before we go back to the office.

Yoga Alone

Angie and I have been teaching our yoga class together since we started in September, tonight I am all alone. She has wedding activities planned (don't worry, not for her, for her friend) and she is leaving me to my own devices. I must admit that I am a bit nervous. I feel the anxiety rising as the time creeps closer. Of course, I create worry and anxiety all the time so this is nothing new. Today I was stressed out because it was my snack day at preschool. Would the kids like the snack I chose? Would the moms? Would it be healthy enough? Would the kids eat it? Yes, I was worried about snack day at a preschool for 18 month to 3 year olds. Can you imagine how worried I am about tonight?

No Secrets Around Here

I taught yoga tonight and on Thursdays Greg and Owen always play at the park outside my yoga class. After I got home I asked Owen if he had fun at the park with daddy. He told me that he had really fun with daddy at the park and went down the slide, then he said, "Owen can't tell mommy that Owen paint with daddy". Greg looked a little nervous. I was a little confused and asked him what he painted. He said, "Owen can't tell mommy that Owen paint eeky (little) tiny snake for mommy, nope can't tell mommy uh uh, nope." Ha ha ha. Greg, you have nothing to worry about, this did not ruin my mother's day surprise, it only made it better. Owen looked so confident and sure of himself that he was not going to tell mommy the things he is not allowed to tell me. I love honest small children.

Owen and Greg singing "take me out to the ballgame"

The other day after leaving music class Owen said he wanted to go to the mall to look at some toys. I told him that we needed to go home and get some things done. He started pleading with me asking me if we could please go to the mall. He used his favorite saying... "Pease mommy, Owen really want to go to mall, pease mommy, just think about it, that is all, like this.. uhhh, ok, I don't care, yes". He says this to me all the time. Just think about it, that is all. I finally caved in and explained that we would not be buying any toys. He said he wouldn't, he would just eat a cookie, play on the toys and have a drink. He has a thing about the mall, yesterday he said, "Owen really want to go to mall so bad, I can't stand it". Greg and I screamed with laughter.

He amuses me.

The other day at the office Owen lined up his toys on Angie's desk, we looked down and everyone had a pile of bunnies to eat. The two on the end are mine.

He didn't leave out Noni

Here is a little tree frog Ben found for Owen outside this weekend. Owen loved it!

Sunday Stroll

Owen went out to the barn in the backyard with Ben and Felix and Robee today. I was downstairs looking at my room wondering when I was going to clean it. At one point the thought crossed my mind...wow, Owen has stayed in the barn a long time today. That was the first clue. I came upstairs to see what was going on and I found Felix and Robee sitting at the table together enjoying some cheese sticks. I said to them without much concern, "Where is Owen". Response: "We don't know". That was the second clue. I proceed with my questioning, "What do you mean you don't know". Response: "He left the barn a long time ago". Um, this is not good. I look down at my phone and I have a text from Kelsey 35 minutes ago...Did Owen make it back inside yet?

I don't totally panic because he loves playing outside on his bike and playing with the dogs. I glance out the back window and I see two dogs and a little boy down by the POND! He is throwing fish food into the pond and feeding the fish. AHHHHHH I scream to Felix and Robee, he is feeding the fish!! I get my shoes and go out to get him. I see the entire fish food bucket dumped out on the ground and Owen throwing cups of food in. I explained he cannot be by the pond without a big person. He said he was just feeding the fish, that is all. Then he motions over to the OTHER side of the pond and says, "Mommy, can in water". I look and see a big bucket in the water. I say to him "How did that get in the pond". He says to me "Owen kicked it in". This was so much worse than I initially thought.

I cleaned up as much fish food as I could, checked around to see if any fish were floating yet from having eaten too much and informed him we were going inside. We came in and had a talk about going out to the pond. I told him he could fall in the pond and if I wasn't out there with him, something terrible could happen. He said he wanted to give mommy a big hug. On one hand that made me feel better and a little less angry, but on the other hand, that made me all the more scared of what could have happened. He said "I not do that anymore". I am sure he meant he will not do that until the next time he does it.

The older he gets the more confident and all knowing he seems to become.

Ouch

Last week I was upstairs working while Owen was downstairs taking a nap. We live in the very basement of my dad's house, there are three stairs to get to the main basement and then the stairs leading up to the main floor. I was waiting for Owen to come up like he always does and suddenly I heard him crying. I thought maybe he woke up grumpy or had a bad dream . I went downstairs to get him and he was on his way up the main stairs crying. I picked him up and his mouth was full of blood. He said between his sobs that he fell down the little stairs in mommy's room. We went into the bathroom to get him cleaned up and I asked him where he was hurt. He said his lips. We started to wipe up his mouth and I couldn't figure out where the blood was coming from. I asked him to open his mouth and I didn't expect his tongue to be open with a wide gash in it. With my amazing deductive reasoning skills, using the rug burn looking scrape on his chin and the hole in his tongue, I realized he must have fallen down on his chin and bit through his tongue. He was almost over crying until I looked at his tongue and the horror stricken look on my face did not help matters.

We got ready to go to yoga and to meet Greg. He kept crying and he was so scared, I am sure from my face and not anything else. We met up with Kristi on the way to yoga so that she could tell me he was ok and to assure me that his tongue was not going to fall off. She was prepared and didn't frighten the poor little guy out of his skin as did his loving mother.

We got to yoga and I asked Angie to come look at the partially severed tongue. She smiled at Owen and if the look I gave Owen was anything like she gave me, I will eternally be sorry for putting him into shock. Greg and I knew he would feel better if he could play at the park outside my yoga class so they headed over to the swings. Meanwhile, inside, Angie asks if anyone is a nurse, she is horrified. They all say no but the consensus was take him to the doctor as a precaution to prevent infection. I had never thought of that. I ran outside to tell Greg to take him to the clinic. I explained ever so nicely to Owen that I wanted him to go to the doctor. He was swinging and this was not what he wanted to hear. He asked me where yoga was. I told him inside. He pushed my arm and told me to go inside, that it was cold outside. Thoughtful right? Okay, thanks for the concern little O, wink wink nod nod to Greg and he assures me they will go.

Greg calls after class to tell me they are on their way back. The doctor said infection was likely and gave us an antibiotic, told us not to have solid food for two days and to watch it for change in color. Owen did not understand the liquid diet. He wanted everything but anything he tried resulted in his tongue being bit down on again. We kept telling him that he couldn't eat certain foods because it would hurt his tongue.

The next morning it had closed itself up - it is true what they say about the tongue healing fast, one minute I am worrying that the tongue could fall off and the next minute you would think I was nuts for considering the doctor. Owen told me the other the day he would eat some mashed potatoes for dinner. He took one bite and said "Owen can't eat potatoes, make Owen tongue hurt". Smart little cookie.

We are still here

Owen loves bringing things in the car with us, this ark from Emilee is the newest one.

After coming back from Utah I had so many pictures to post that I became overwhelmed and therefore did nothing. I have decided that is far too common a theme in my life and I am over that. Long post, tons of pictures, I am back.

So we left for Utah and had quite an interesting plane ride. The plane wasn't full and so Angie and Steve sat together with an empty seat, Greg and I sat with Owen, and Ben sat by himself (he was thinking ahead). Owen sat with me for awhile and then decided to go back to see Angie and Steve. We were getting ready to land and Owen said he wanted to stay where he was. She buckled him in along with all of his many friends. He started acting a little weird and then said he thought he was going to throw up. At that time Angie and Owen both looked equally distraught and I couldn't help either of them. They were on their own. He looked a little off and much to Angie's horror, I told her to get the puke bag just in case. She put the bag near his face, he pushed it away and said he was ok. He put on a brave face but started to cry. Uh oh. Things were not looking good. I looked at Angie and warned her to get the bag ready, he was going to throw up. Yep. She put the bag up to his mouth and he starts to throw up, Angie can barely look, she is gagging. Ben looks at Steve who is sitting next to Angie and warns Steve to get the bag ready for Angie. We are all yelling, somehow forgetting the other 150 or so passengers on the plane. We finally land, I am sweating, the puke bag comes full speed through the seats. I am now holding the puke bag, Owen says he is ok. The passengers start to file off, wait a minute, should I say the passengers and Greg start to file off. Um, what is happening, I have to get a bag from up overhead, in addition, I have three bags to carry, a blanket and an owl, Owen, and of course the puke bag. Hmmm, I don't think Greg will let that happen again. Owen, Alysa, Max, and Ryan

Max and Owen climbed out of the car right after the plan landed and started holding hands

We had a really great time while we were back in Utah, we did everything we wanted to do and saw everyone we wanted to see. Greg got to eat at Cafe Rio, I got to eat at Sweet Tomatoes. The wedding and related events were fun, we saw all of our family which was nice. We had a great Easter egg hunt at my mom's despite Emilee's kids and Owen catching a horrible cold (Emilee and I carried around a box of kleenex for most of the trip). Owen spent most of the trip singing Are You Sleeping. He threw up again coming in for the land back to Seattle, we all made sure he was sitting by me.We were glad to get back and get settled. Owen and I invited Greg to Kindermusik. Greg came to the door and Owen jumped up during the song, ran over to the teacher and told her his dad was there and ran over to let him in. He was so proud to show off his songs and the ways of music class to his dad. We were also glad to get back to preschool. I volunteered myself to a board position next year. I will be the Parent Coordinator for the toddler class. (It is a co-op preschool so it is run by only parents). My job will be to take care of the new people interested in signing up. I will talk to people about the school. Hooray for being on the board! Owen with Greg's sister, Jen

Owen giving his cousin Aubrie a hug

Yoga is still making me busier and busier. We are still teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays but have added a mom and toddler class on Friday and an adult class on Saturday mornings. We are struggling with the mom and toddler class some. We started out with very little idea as to what people wanted from the class. We tried making it for the toddlers but most of them just ran away. There was also a very specific group of people there, most were nursing during the class. I nursed Owen a really long time and I have nothing against it, but it still always shocks me to see people just open up and start feeding. Angie and I were a little scared. We have now decided to teach a mom with toddler class. It is 45 minutes long and the first 10 or so will be for the toddlers, then the rest will be for the moms. The kids will be there with toys and can play. Basically, the mom can bring the kids to their yoga class. Hopefully this expands the type of people in the class. I am still a little scared.

Owen took this picture (and about a million more) of Angie

Greg told me the other day that I have been really pleasant lately (if I am pleasant lately then there is something to compare to which would mean perhaps that I was, at one point, unpleasant). I want a wedding band to add to my ring. When I told him I wanted it, I reminded him of how pleasant I am now.

Let's see, updates on Owen.... he is still singing every second. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I heard John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt yesterday. He is always singing something. His new favorite saying is "how funny is that". He says it all the time. We were going to bed tonight and talking about our day today and what was in store for tomorrow. I stopped talking and he told me to talk more about the day. He yelled at me in his sleep last night telling me he wanted a cookie. I tried to tell him not right now and he was yelling "YES". I can only imagine how much sleep I would get if he didn't sleep in the middle. We went to the mall yesterday and for no good reason we went in the Disney Store. He found a Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Zurg that he had to have. He gathered all three boxes up, said he really needed it and barely able to hold on started to walk away. I asked him where he was going and he said to pay. He walked over to the counter and waited in line. Of course we own those toys now.

Alysa reading a book to Owen

Owen ready to go swim, he rode to the pool with the goggles on

The day ended on a positive note. Unsure exactly of what 1 oz of cheese looked like, I pulled out the food scale. It was two slices of cheese. Perfect, that is exactly how many I put on my most favorite sandwich.. Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat bread with just cheese and avocados. (now if only I didn't eat two sandwiches in one sitting). Owen at the zoo with Greg's sister, Kati

He is getting creative

As I have mentioned before, here is a conversation with Owen...MOM: "Owen, why are you hitting like that?" OWEN: "Because grandpa say yes every time". MOM: "Owen, why won't you let me change your diaper?" OWEN: "Because Kiki say yes everytime"

So today, GREG: "Owen, why are you eating your yogurt like that?" (with his finger), OWEN: "Because June say yes everytime". June is a little girl on Little Einsteins. She also just said that he can stomp on his diaper "everytime" and he can kick his dad "everytime". June needs to learn to not say these things.