Travels with Owen

Well, it seems like my main catalyst for an update is Owen's birthday party. And I promise I'll get to that because they're always so fun to talk about, but first, I neeeeed to write about our travel adventures. Not like the vacation part, but the actual travelling to get there. Because maybe something that I've learned will come in handy for the .3 people who read this!


The packing struggles are real...

Plus I've been meaning to do this for over a year now... good thing I have some drafts saved and took some pictures so I can remember how it was at the various ages!



The only people who look at these... first time fliers and babies.

We've taken five cross-country plane trips with Owen, who just turned 2 exactly a week ago! I think I'll go into detail about the different phases of plane travel with a newborn/baby/mobile baby/toddler because they are all VERY different. Our trips so far have been:

• October 2012 - 2 months old to Ohio
• July 2013 - 11 months old to Mississippi/The South
• August 2013 - a year old to Ohio
• November 2013 - 14 months old to Ohio
• April 2014 - 20 months old to Washington DC
• July 2014 - 23 months old to Ohio

At the "airplane house" looking at the airplanes and waiting for food.

And we've done an actual road trip along the California coast when he was 9 months old in May 2013. That in itself deserves its own because travelling in a car is a ton different than packing for a plane, as I learned.

Catching some ZZZs

I plan on posting about the newborn travel stage tomorrow, so hold me to it! And if you have any questions about anything, let me know so I can include them in with my entry! :)

Holidays in Review: Pre Christmas

December is filled with the traditional things that really didn't become traditions until a few years ago. I'm sure things will change over the years when Owen can vocalize what he likes to do and with what will be compatible with our schedules. But for now I absolutely love our traditions that are spent with our most favorite people!

 

Owen and I got to go to Disneyland with my little, Julie, that first week in December! It was a quick, afternoon trip but such are the perks when you have a pass! We got to see some of the characters, ride some tamer rides, and eat churros! It's always a blast to spend time with Julie since she's so busy with school and work! I can't wait for her to come back home. :)

Big, Little, Littlest in front of the tree!

 

Sorcerer Mickey!

 

Goofy outside of his house was new to us!

 

The first weekend is also reserved for Balboa Park's December Nights. For the past few years we've always gone/met up with our dear friend, Annie. We would go with Scot, but he's always busy! This year Owen was only happy when he was in Granddaddy's arms. We tried to take pictures with him in front of the Dr, Seuss tree, but he was a squirmy worm. He even gave Annie the "all done" sign when she was holding him. Still feel bad about that, but she knows he loves her. :)

Family!

 

Friends!

 

 We visited the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, since all the museums are free during those nights. It's essentially a kid's museum, so I figured that there would be things in there to entertain Owen as well as everyone else in the group! And of course there was right when we walked in. He loved the beach ball being blown around and one lady even said it was more fun watching the baby than playing with the actual contraption! We found the baby area, which was actually really cool. They had a super market with shopping carts and fake food, a musical area with a huge magnetic board with alphabet letters, wooden cars to climb on, and a super neat ball contraption that sucked up the plastic balls, shot them through clear piping, and dumped them against the wall so they would fall down Plinko style. It was really cool!

 

Enjoying the beach ball contraption with Granddaddy

  

In front of some cool toys at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

 

The church we attend, Pomerado Christian Church, hosts a Christmas breakfast for the little kids called Angel Breakfast. Since at least 2011, maybe 2010, I’ve been asked to play the angel and Andrew's been asked to be the photographer. I get to interact with kids while they eat breakfast, read the Christmas story to the kids, and take pictures with them! Since I’ve been doing it for at least 3 years, I’ve gotten the chance to see the kids grow up. A few even have baby siblings now! I’m not sure how much longer I’ll get the privilege of being the angel, so I cherish it every year. This year since Owen is a bit older, my parents brought him by for the end of the program where the sing Christmas carols. It was fun to have him there and I can’t wait for when he’s old enough to visit the angel!  

After Angel Breakfast

 

 Andrew's work party was the same night as Angel Breakfast. Luckily for me we have some awesome babysitters that can watch him overnight if we need them to! (Thanks Mom & Dad!) So we had breakfast over at my parents', said goodbye to Owen, and headed back home to get ready for the evening. It was certainly an eventful evening, but over all it was a lot of fun and I got to meet an awesome couple from his work!

  

Us in front of the Christmas tree

 

At the beginning of the month (technically way before), I was given the awesome opportunity to work with Urban Style Wedding Network and Classically Lovely Events on their Urban Lofty Holiday networking party! There will be another post about that, so stay tuned. Since the first few weeks of the month was filled with doing things for the event, I was on a bit of a crafting hangover and really didn't do anything for presents until I realized it was Christmas Eve in two days. So, friends, I'm sorry, your gifts will be coming soon ;)

 

Sneak peek!

  

The next weekend we tried to squeeze in our Santa pictures with the Kuglers. Last year we went up to Orange County for Santa pictures, fondue, and presents! This year, since things were a bit tight with their schedule and ours, so by the time they were down it was time for dinner and bed for the little boys. We still enjoyed our fondue (I always forget how long it takes!) and James and Owen opened their presents the next morning.

Tearing into the presents!

 

Enjoying Owen's new book set!

 

The week before Christmas, my brother graduated from college! I was sad we couldn't be there, but glad that he understood and told us not to make the drive over. My parents drove over to Tempe and my Grammy flew out from Mississippi to see him walk. He graduated from ASU with 2 degrees and honors in 4.5 years... don't tell him, but that's pretty cool to me, even though it's from ASU. :P

Proud parents!

 

The graduate

 

On the Saturday before Christmas, the 21st, we were invited over to Annie's for a family Christmas morning. It was so much fun, even though it was early! Annie and Scot were going to be gone for Christmas and New Years, so they had family and friends over to celebrate, eat breakfast, and exchange presents with them. I loved it, and I'm totally okay if they want to do it again next year! The Christmas morning part... Not the cruise over the holidays part.

 

Owen and Scot... The only picture on my phone from that morning

 

That night was spent with some of my favorite ladies! We did a Secret Santa with our group of girls, so that Saturday we all got together for dinner, presents, photo booth, conversation, and Elf! It was so great to see everyone and I'm still waiting for those pictures, Michelle! :)

 

It turned into a footie PJ party! Michelle & Ryan

 

Playing with James' zoo

 

Bouncing on the airmattress with help from Ryan!

 

And somehow during this part of the month we managed to cram in books, playing, being goofy, a Purdue basketball game, shopping, decorating for Christmas, piano playing, snuggling with the kitties, and a celebratory graduation dinner at Melting Pot!

 

Playing piano with some help from a chocolate moose!

Climbing into his toy box was one of his favorite things.

The newest Purdue baby model

 

Family!

Love these guys!

Dessert fondue was the favorite for this tired baby!

 

 

 

Christmas and New Year's recap is next! :)

 

 

Day Seven

Alright, folks. This whole daylights savings time ending has really put a kink in the "routine" and I have been beat all week. I know that technically we got an hour back, but try explaining that to a 15 month old when he wakes up at 6 o'clock. (Of course he does go to bed a little earlier because of that, too). To top it off, Owen had his 15 month check up yesterday which came with some pretty painful immunizations and a bonus even more painful "procedure". So yesterday was a bit rough.

At least there are pictures from our adventure at the Safari Park today! A trip in memory of the Western Black Rhino and in honor of the Northern White Rhino. The Safari Park has 2 Northern White Rhinos, Nola and her mate, that you should go see as soon as possible! There are only 5 others left in the world. I'm not sure why I'm so devastated by this. Probably because there was a lot that could have been done to stop their poaching. I can't believe that people kill them for their horns. And that people want them. They're made up of keratin, which is the same thing found in skin, hair, and fingernails. People should probably just start using those things in their magic disease-curing potions. Wow, clearly I'm upset by this. There is just so many technological advances and resources that could have been used to save this species, I'm sure. Anyways.

The Western Black Rhinoceros

I still have a lot of people to write about, but remember what I was saying about how difficult blogging is? Yea, I left out the part where I actually don't really like to write anything, so it's a lot harder for me. So with the above and this in mind, combined with the fact that I can't fall asleep until 1am, I'm giving myself an easy thing to be thankful for tonight. It's a bit broad... Maybe I'll be more specific in the days to follow, but we shall see.

Watching the meerkats play with an enrichment item. Always the first animal stop!

Today I'm thankful to live in the 21st Century.

Discovered a children's play place today! There was a lot of roaring going on!

Yep, super broad. And I'm not talking about everyone being addicted to technology and everything, because actually I really hate that and I feel that technology has just made people more stressed with the pressure of needing everything to be instantaneous. I digress.

All aboard the choo choo tram! Funniest and most informative tour in awhile!

While I understand I shouldn't be of this world, but rather of His Kingdom, I am thankful that He has given people the brains to come up with electricity, and cars, and immunizations. I am so grateful to have a dishwasher that works. A car to take us to Gramsie's house, and adventure days, and to visit friends. A stand mixer to easily mix together any type of dough or ice cream without breaking my arm. Shots to keep Owen and babies and adults safe and protected. Light so I can see where I'm going and what I'm doing on the road and at home. And cell phones so I can call someone any time from anywhere without needing to worry about where the next rest stop is on the road or if I have change for a pay phone (because I never have change!)

Night, night, Safari Park!

While it's hard living in a society that is so focused on moving forward and being the best, brightest, and newest, I am thankful that most of the innovations that I experience today make my life a little bit easier and give me time to do the things I love. Like putting the dishes away. I'm just kidding!

Waited so long to take a lemur tail picture of him!

So, thank you for my first (they'll probably be more) super general thankfulness post. Have a good night, everyone!

Lemur love.

Day Two: Owen

Owen. My first born. The light of my life.

My hardest, yet most rewarding days come from the ones that I spend with him.

 

 

It's so hard to believe that we are now on the "second" when it comes to holidays. Whenever I see the teeny newborn clothes hanging up at the store it's hard to think that those used to be too big for him and now he's up running around and being very much his own person. And while I'm very, very grateful to be passed the newborn stage of his life (it was probably one of the most stressful times of my life), I am a bit sad that the cute and quiet times are gone too.

 

 

I loved sitting on the couch with him and having him fall asleep on me. It was a good excuse not to get any sort of cleaning done or errands run and such a great time for both of us. Of course he'd wake up a few hours later because I inevitably had to move because our cuddle sessions got very hot from all the body heat! The first time he rolled over, the first time he started smiling, his first time in the bunny swing, the first time he slept in his crib, first football season... All memories now.

 

 

Of course I am super excited to be in this toddler phase of life! It's a lot more tiring, but oh so rewarding. It is crazy with the amount of things he has learned just in the past month alone. We picked him up from Children's Church one Sunday and he had added "more" to his sign language vocabulary! (Thank you, "Grandma" Roberta!) That week we traveled to Cleveland and in the span of 20 minutes we taught him "please" with goldfish. Of course now he just short-cuts the "more please" to "please", but still.

 

 

The past few weeks he's taken to walking more than crawling. He doesn't want to sit or be held any more if he can just walk around himself (with handholding). He gets fussy more, but that's probably because he's finally getting more than 4 teeth. He can be a little sassy, especially when he's tired, but that's just because he now knows what he wants and what he doesn't like. We used to be able to feed him ANYTHING, but now he has his preferences of fruit, dairy, carbs, and sweets... Kinda like his mom...

 

 

I love that I can already see the things that have been constant throughout his life. I hope that he will always be the cute kid in the check out line at Joann's that flirts with the other ladies in line. I hope that he will always be entertained with people watching and that the characters and crowds at Disneyland will never scare him. I also hope that he continues being an easy sleeper. He slept through the night starting around 6 weeks old, and except for a week or two span during his 4 month growth spurt, that hasn't changed. I hope that he'll be a good eater. He used to be stellar, but I know around this time they stop eating as much as they used to. I just hope that he's more like Andrew and less like me as he gets bigger.

 

 

He has always been my sidekick. When people ask me what it's like to be a mom, that's always in my answer. I have an instant best friend, a person who is (almost) always down to go to the zoo or aquarium or Target with me. It's cliché, but being a mom is by far the most rewarding and tiring job in the world. What other job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for a lifetime?!

 

 

It's a little daunting to think of all the things he still has to learn and the people that he'll have to learn to deal with in his life. But I know that Andrew and I always want to be open and honest with him and I am just hoping that this will benefit all of us when he's a decade or two older.

 

 

I can't wait for the upcoming holidays to spend with a now toddler (so weird to think of him that still!). It will be so much fun now that he can eat turkey and stuffing, tear into the wrapping paper, and run around the house in his Christmas pajamas.

 

 

Thank you, Owen, for being the most perfect first born a mom could ask for. I am so proud of the little person you have become and I just know that you will be a person that people continue to want to be around as you get older.

 

 

Trick-Or-Treat!

Happy First Day of November, everyone!

 

Seriously, November already? It feels like yesterday I was at someone's lake house in the grueling heat! Well, at least the heat part is still accurate. Seriously, Southern California weather, get the memo already! I know that some people who may read this (crickets, crickets) may be a bit jealous of that fact, but I've always been a girl in love with autumn. And boots and scarves and cardigans.

 

I figured I'd recap our Halloween fun! This is our second Halloween as a family of three and the end of all of our "first" holidays. It's bittersweet, but I'm glad we started off with a few established traditions, if only a year old. :)

 

Last year we had chili, so of course we had to have it again this year! We ate it while passing out candy to the millions of children in the neighborhood. This year my mom made it at her house and we brought that over along with some pumpkin and butterscotch cookie dough to bake in the oven at my house later. Of course this happened to be the day of catastrophies. When my mom was taking the chili out of the backseat, the box it was in gave way about half of what we made (for 8 people) dumped in the garage, on my car, and on my mom. She managed to bruise her toe quite impressively in the process, but I didn't even know that until she got home that night! Such a champ. :)

 

So, there was the chili disaster, but luckily still enough time to make more since we got to my house earlier enough. The next thing was that my oven decided to stop working. We have a double oven, which has proven quite convenient, especially when 12 girls come over expecting to use it. However, this past week it's been on the fritz. It'll beep a few times, turn off, and a few minutes later turn back on. I should probably look up the error code to see what's really wrong with it, but since it was turning back on I wasn't too concerned. Well, as I was preheating the oven for the cookies and for the mac and cheese that Michelle was bringing, it did it. Three times. Luckily we got it going to finish cooking the mac and cheese, but we didn't get to finish baking the cookies, which is always sad, especially since they were so yummy!

 

Oh, and Michelle somehow managed to set her hair on fire. That's my best friend, for ya, ladies and gentlemen!

 

Vampires with our baby bat last year!

 

Last year I made this awesome DIY photobooth from PVC pipe and a white sheet. I cut out bats, ghosts, and pumpkins and just taped them to the sheet for a fun backdrop. Since everything was done already, we busted it out this year! By this time last year we had only been in the house a month. Our front door is to the side of our house, so I thought it would be fun to camp out in the driveway and have the backdrop behind us. And if any trick-or-treaters wanted to take pictures in front of it, cool! (No one did, sad day.)

 

This year was more of the same! We had our favorite couples over: my mom and dad; our favorite family of three, Michelle, Ryan, and bestfriend James; and our favorite practically married couple, Annie and Scot! To kick it up a notch, the boys brought the firepit to the front side yard (I guess there is one perk of the tree being gone) and we camped out and ate the traditional chili (hooray)! We took pictures in front of the photobooth, which I desperately need to expand in all directions if we don't have something to sit on. And we went trick-or-treating!!

 

Waiting for the candy!

It was kind of weird going with babies who obviously don't eat candy. I just had a little felt bat bag from the Target dollar section, so I wasn't expecting much. We went around to show him off to the neighbors on our street and that was it, so I feel less bad. However in future years I'm sure we'll do something like the Switch Witch that Michelle was telling me about or sending it to troops overseas, since we kinda sorta maybe like military people. :)

 



Daddies with their boys!

Andrew knows the neighbors a lot better than I do because that's just the type of person he is. Plus he golfs with some of the guys about once a month. I finally got to meet a few more, aside from the two that I knew who were always busy with their kids' activities. It was nice to know that in an emergency situation I could at least know who's house to go to! :)

 

Lion tamer, little lion, and the ring leader!

On our trick-or-treat walk I noticed a few of the neighbors sitting outside this year... I was proud that we might have started a trend since we were the only ones to do it last year! It's just a lot more interactive that way, in my opinion. I know my dad loves to be the candy gatekeeper (never the hander-outer) and make the kids get more into the Halloween spirit. Annie and Scot were the candy dispensers, which was a perfect job! Now, let's see if anyone bonfires next year...

 

On to some pictures!

Owen with the clowns! Granddaddy and Gramsie matched our circus theme.

I just really like this picture of the two of them.

Walking around with Uncle Scot

Excited to go to bed




He's really signing "all done" in the above picture, but it looks like he's clapping so whatever! I finished his lion costume yesterday, of course, with enough time to spare for him to wear to visit my dad at his work. Every year the kids come in and they have an office pumpkin carving contest and fun in general. Every year we're like an hour late, as usual. But this time it's because Owen was napping!

 

Roar!

I had planned on building a pattern for the costume off of some pajamas, but I remembered that we had just bought him a jumper/onesie/thingy from Carter's that was fleecey. So I hand stitched the fabric and yarn to the fleece at the seems and around the zipper. It was daunting, which is probably why it took me so long.
 

Families of Three! Superheros and circus folk.

All-in-all Owen was pretty good. He's been a bit crabby lately because of his teeth (I found two more coming in), so he wasn't much for pictures. He looooved walking around door-to-door though, with us holding his hands, and playing with the candy in his bat bag. Luckily he's only attempted eating the candy, wrapper and all, a handful of times, but has been good to take it out when I tell him not to do that. I've been debating letting him try a 3 Musketeers or a Reese's but I really don't think I want to open those doors yet...
 

Quite the candy collection!

One of the best toys!

Bestfriend pre-lunch snack.

Ryan, Michelle, and James spent the night with us (yay)! After the boys went down we tried to find Hocus Pocus on TV since I had never seen it, but for whatever reason it wasn't on anywhere! It was awful. And I didn't really feel like driving to a RedBox to try and find it or pay $3 for it. It came on earlier tonight, so I'll probably watch it on Monday. So instead of that we ended up watching The People Under the Stairs. This is 1993 film at its best, folks. I'm totally kidding. It was one of those "I can't stop watching, but I know I'm wasting 2 hours of my life" movies. Of course Andrew was out before we even settled on a movie. Michelle managed to survive that, but tuned out when we started watching Jeepers Creepers 2. Can't say I blame her for that. Ryan and I called it a night after about an hour of it.

I'm always so happy when we have sleep overs at the house (hint, hint) because we always have the best breakfasts the next morning! We've been really into waffles when this happens, so we had waffles, eggs, and the best bacon ever. Luckily both boys were in bed, so we got to fully enjoy breakfast without needing to tear up waffles or making sure no one throws their plate overboard.

While the boys were napping, Michelle and I took advantage and headed over to Target to try and score some Halloween discounts, which we did! Of course both of them were up when we got home (sorry, Daddies!) so we got ready to head out to lunch before they left for home. It was such a fun way to end the Halloween festivities and bring in November!

And sorry this is super lengthy... I know no one probably cares about all of these details, but I do and it's my blog! I really started this as a way to remember things anyways and I'm a fairly detail-oriented person, so you're just gonna have to deal with it. I'm sure I'll get better about it eventually. :) Until then...