It's official. Owen is smiling! So fun!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Another reason to hate Barney the purple dinosaur...
I've been feeling surprisingly confident with this whole mother of three boys thing, until last Thursday. I was trying to get Luke down for a nap and Owen needed to nurse. I get out some meaningful "work" for Collin to do during quiet time. I feed Owen and lay down with Luke to wait until he falls asleep.
Being the exhausted new mother that I am, I accidentally put myself to sleep in the process of getting Luke down. I wake up about fifteen minutes later to find Collin crying at Luke's bedroom door with the phone in his hand...and a police officer yelling from my living room, "Hello! Is anyone home?!"
The officer begins to explain to me that multiple 911 phone calls were just sent from this address. He asks to check on each of the children and looks around my house. I try to assure the officer that everything is fine, and that I'm really not neglecting my children. (How humiliating!)
Collin is crying in the bathroom because he's afraid he's in trouble. I try to comfort him because I'm very curious how in the world he even knew how to dial 911. I apologize to the officer and promise to talk to my child about the definition of "emergency" and the purpose of the phone number 911.
As soon as the officer leaves, Collin confesses that he had turned on the TV and was watching Barney when a little girl explained how to dial "116". He said he was curious what would happen so he tried it. He said he called two or three times because he thought it would "be funny". But when the police officer pulled up in front of the house he began to worry he was in trouble. So he wouldn't answer the door. He started to cry. And that's when he came to get me in Luke's bedroom.
I've never cared much for Barney. His voice is dorky and his songs always get stuck in my head. And now I have one more reason to hate that infamous purple dinosaur. Ironically, the next day we were walking in our neighborhood and happened upon a garage sale. Collin found a stuffed Barney and had the audacity to ask me to buy if for him. Of course, the answer was a big N-O.
On a lighter note, Luke learned how to ride a bike! He is so excited about it. His favorite book has long been Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. Now, he can finally ride his own little tricycle around the block...all by himself!
Today in church Luke also did something really cute. We were waiting for our turn to take the sacrament bread and water. I always whisper in my kids' ears as they eat and drink, "This is special bread/water to help you remember...Jesus loves you." Well, today Luke grabbed my face with his two little hands and whispered in my ear, "Mom, Jesus bread. Jesus loves you." He did it to his dad, too. I think that is what I've heard some people refer to as...pay day. Thanks Luke. I needed that.
Monday, March 23, 2009
We Bless You
Merritt gave a name and a priesthood blessing to our son last Sunday at church. It was a very special blessing. Merritt's mother, sister, uncle, cousin and friends were there with us. We are very grateful for the love and support of family. We missed those who were not there. Here are some sweet photos of Owen all dressed in white.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Surprise Visitors
My mom and sister have been staying with me. But on Friday night around 11:00 PM we had an unexpected knock on our door. Jill's husband, Chris, and my other sister Amy and her husband, Mitch, had driven out to Oregon to spend the weekend with us. We were all so excited to see them. They got to meet little Owen. And we were able to go out to dinner together on Saturday night while grandma babysat the grandkids. Saturday also happened to be Amy's birthday. So we came home and enjoyed my now famous apricot cake with cooked caramel frosting. Thanks so much you guys for coming out! It meant a lot to me!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
All You Need Is Love
My mom and sister are in town to help me. They've been wonderful about doing the cooking and the laundry and taking care of Collin and Luke. All I've had to do is eat and nurse and lay on the couch with my sleeping infant on my chest. So I have really bonded with little Owen.
I love the stillness I feel when he looks at me. It's like he's telling me that he knows I am his mother. There truly is something special about holding a newborn child. You feel heaven near.
The name Owen means "born of nobility". We chose this name because we want him to always remember he is a child of God, having a divine nature and destiny. I feel so grateful and happy to have the family that I do. I love all my boys so much, and my husband will always be God's greatest gift to me.
The other day our family drove out to the ocean in a rain storm just to get out of the house. We sat in the car and watched the waves and just talked about how amazing it is to be parents. We love how our kids have brought us closer together and brought so much joy to us. All you need is love...love is all you need.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Miracle Number Three
Owen Mark was born early Sunday morning at 3:18 AM. He weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. and measured 21 inches long. We are all very much in love with him already. We brought him home late Monday night. Mother and baby are doing well.
Monday, February 23, 2009
A Week in the Life
This week has been filled with fun and doing. With a new baby coming, my life will probably have to slow down dramatically. So I wanted to remember what may be my last week as a mother of two...
Monday:
Merritt doesn't usually get the luxury of taking days off work. When you're self-employed a day off work is a day without pay. But Merritt actually took Monday off (which was President's Day) and took the boys to play in the snow. Because we live on the coast, we have to drive about two hours to get to snow. But it was well worth the trip. Collin was on his sled up and down the hill non-stop the entire day.
Two other families came along too, the Wherity and the Larsen families. So it made it even more fun that Collin had friends to sled with. When he got home Collin said, "This was the best day ever!" Luke enjoyed it too, but he was not quite big enough to climb hills in the snow. And he seemed a little more bothered by the cold. Yet he still enjoyed putting freezing cold snow in his mouth. I guess it just looked tasty.
Tuesday:
Tuesday we had a fun day at Mom's School learning about Presidents. We read the book Duck for President and told stories about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Then we pointed out how these presidents are pictured on the coins we use. We sorted and counted coins. Then we traced the profile of the boys' faces onto black paper and glued the silhouette to a large circle. They colored the circle brown to look like a penny with their own face on it.
For science, we investigated how hot sauce from Taco Bell cleans pennies. We observed how clean our pennies became in the taco sauce. Then we tried to figure out which ingredient(s) in the sauce were actually doing the cleaning. We tried tomato paste, vinegar and salt in different combinations. We discovered that it's actually a combination of the salt and vinegar that cleans the pennies.
Finally, we read Caps for Sale and suggested the boys set up a toy store in their room and assign a price to each item they'd like to sale. Angie and I came in when they were ready and got to "shop" for toys. We paid them with real money, as long as they promised to give it back when we were done pretending. They loved it. For homework, we asked them to draw three pictures to help them retell the story Caps for Sale. We're trying to teach them that stories are a sequence of events and have a beginning, middle and an end.
After school, Collin and I were discussing what he'd like to save his money for. The thing he wants most is to go to Disneyland. We looked up on the Internet how much a ticket to Disneyland costs these days. Collin set a goal to save $59.00 (the price of a child's ticket to Disneyland). We started a chore chart and he is now earning $.20 for every chore that he does. He sorts silverware, cleans toilets, washes windows, vacuums and picks up toys (even when he didn't make the mess). He's a great helper.
This photo of my door shows off some of Collin and Luke's latest art work from Mom's School. Check out the penny with Collin's silhouette on it. So cute.
Wednesday:
Wednesday we had family night, since Monday night the boys were home too late from playing in the snow. We read a story from the Friend about a mother who needed help with her children during an airplane flight. We talked about the new baby coming and how the boys could help. The boys helped their dad assemble the crib. Mom showed them where the baby's clothes and diapers and blankets would be kept.
We talked about the needs of a baby and explained that the baby will require a lot of our attention. But we promised them that we love all our boys. Each is special and adds something unique and wonderful to our family. We expressed that our family was really blessed to have three beautiful boys that can grow up to be best friends. We ended the night playing a game of baby bottle bowling and enjoying Merritt's famous no-bake cookies. Yum!
Luke and I also saw a beautiful rainbow while we were out playing in the rain this afternoon. Check out Luke's cool Lightning McQueen umbrella he got from grandma.
Thursday:
Thursday evening I hosted a family night discussion group. This is a discussion group that I started last fall to promote the concept of family night. My friends in the church, of course, already know about family nights but there are also four other women attending who come from various religious backgrounds. When we all come together I'm amazed by the strength that I feel from these women, who are all my dear friends.
We meet once a month to discuss different topics and share ideas. We are challenged to prepare a family night lesson on a particular topic, then come together to share our experiences. For example, last month our topic was Love at Home: How to Strengthen Family Relationships. This month out topic was Anchoring Children in the Scriptures. We were each challenged to use a scripture story from the Bible to teach a family night lesson. We shared our family night experiences then had a general discussion about how to raise up children that love and understand the scriptures. I always enjoy our meetings and conversations. I have been blessed with many friends here who inspire me.
Friday:
Friday night we had a surprise birthday party for Merritt, who is turning 30 this year! A friend and I set up a drive-in movie theater. (I used to love going to those when I was a kid.) We had a movie projected onto the wall, and had large boxes decorated like cars for the families to watch the movie in. (Actually, the box car thing didn't work out but I'll just pretend that it did so I'm not disappointed. It was a good thought.)
We had popcorn and cake for singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles. I brought pictures of Merritt when he was a little boy and prepared a little quiz about 1979. It was fun to hear how much things cost, the politics of the day, who won a grammy for album of the year, the average household income, the price of minimum wage, etc. It's amazing how much things change in thirty years. Happy 30th birthday, Merritt!
Saturday:
Saturday we took the kids bowling for the first time. They loved it of course. Since we had just taught them the game at family night earlier in the week, they were excited to see the real thing. We went with the Sneed family and set up one lane for adults and another lane for kids (having guard rails over the gutters). It was so cute to see both Collin and Luke carrying a heavy bowling ball and getting so excited when they knocked over the pins. I'm sure it was entertaining to watch me bowl as well, seeing that I've got a bowling ball in my stomach!
Sunday:
The last Sunday of every month we have the missionaries over for dinner. The missionaries here now are my favorite so far. They are such neat young men. They always share a message with us and their presence invites the Spirit into our home. It makes Sunday feel even more like the Sabbath. Having the missionaries in my home often is hopefully great for my boys too. They see such good examples in them. This Sunday I was having contractions every ten minutes. I cooked dinner anyway. And I took a picture of me in my church dress (see photo above) because I realized I didn't have any pictures of my belly and the baby might be coming! Unfortunately, the contractions stopped when I fell asleep that night. But it can't be long now! Hopefully the next time I blog, I'll have newborn baby pictures to post!
Monday:
Merritt doesn't usually get the luxury of taking days off work. When you're self-employed a day off work is a day without pay. But Merritt actually took Monday off (which was President's Day) and took the boys to play in the snow. Because we live on the coast, we have to drive about two hours to get to snow. But it was well worth the trip. Collin was on his sled up and down the hill non-stop the entire day.
Two other families came along too, the Wherity and the Larsen families. So it made it even more fun that Collin had friends to sled with. When he got home Collin said, "This was the best day ever!" Luke enjoyed it too, but he was not quite big enough to climb hills in the snow. And he seemed a little more bothered by the cold. Yet he still enjoyed putting freezing cold snow in his mouth. I guess it just looked tasty.
Tuesday:
Tuesday we had a fun day at Mom's School learning about Presidents. We read the book Duck for President and told stories about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Then we pointed out how these presidents are pictured on the coins we use. We sorted and counted coins. Then we traced the profile of the boys' faces onto black paper and glued the silhouette to a large circle. They colored the circle brown to look like a penny with their own face on it.
For science, we investigated how hot sauce from Taco Bell cleans pennies. We observed how clean our pennies became in the taco sauce. Then we tried to figure out which ingredient(s) in the sauce were actually doing the cleaning. We tried tomato paste, vinegar and salt in different combinations. We discovered that it's actually a combination of the salt and vinegar that cleans the pennies.
Finally, we read Caps for Sale and suggested the boys set up a toy store in their room and assign a price to each item they'd like to sale. Angie and I came in when they were ready and got to "shop" for toys. We paid them with real money, as long as they promised to give it back when we were done pretending. They loved it. For homework, we asked them to draw three pictures to help them retell the story Caps for Sale. We're trying to teach them that stories are a sequence of events and have a beginning, middle and an end.
After school, Collin and I were discussing what he'd like to save his money for. The thing he wants most is to go to Disneyland. We looked up on the Internet how much a ticket to Disneyland costs these days. Collin set a goal to save $59.00 (the price of a child's ticket to Disneyland). We started a chore chart and he is now earning $.20 for every chore that he does. He sorts silverware, cleans toilets, washes windows, vacuums and picks up toys (even when he didn't make the mess). He's a great helper.
This photo of my door shows off some of Collin and Luke's latest art work from Mom's School. Check out the penny with Collin's silhouette on it. So cute.
Wednesday:
Wednesday we had family night, since Monday night the boys were home too late from playing in the snow. We read a story from the Friend about a mother who needed help with her children during an airplane flight. We talked about the new baby coming and how the boys could help. The boys helped their dad assemble the crib. Mom showed them where the baby's clothes and diapers and blankets would be kept.
We talked about the needs of a baby and explained that the baby will require a lot of our attention. But we promised them that we love all our boys. Each is special and adds something unique and wonderful to our family. We expressed that our family was really blessed to have three beautiful boys that can grow up to be best friends. We ended the night playing a game of baby bottle bowling and enjoying Merritt's famous no-bake cookies. Yum!
Luke and I also saw a beautiful rainbow while we were out playing in the rain this afternoon. Check out Luke's cool Lightning McQueen umbrella he got from grandma.
Thursday:
Thursday evening I hosted a family night discussion group. This is a discussion group that I started last fall to promote the concept of family night. My friends in the church, of course, already know about family nights but there are also four other women attending who come from various religious backgrounds. When we all come together I'm amazed by the strength that I feel from these women, who are all my dear friends.
We meet once a month to discuss different topics and share ideas. We are challenged to prepare a family night lesson on a particular topic, then come together to share our experiences. For example, last month our topic was Love at Home: How to Strengthen Family Relationships. This month out topic was Anchoring Children in the Scriptures. We were each challenged to use a scripture story from the Bible to teach a family night lesson. We shared our family night experiences then had a general discussion about how to raise up children that love and understand the scriptures. I always enjoy our meetings and conversations. I have been blessed with many friends here who inspire me.
Friday:
Friday night we had a surprise birthday party for Merritt, who is turning 30 this year! A friend and I set up a drive-in movie theater. (I used to love going to those when I was a kid.) We had a movie projected onto the wall, and had large boxes decorated like cars for the families to watch the movie in. (Actually, the box car thing didn't work out but I'll just pretend that it did so I'm not disappointed. It was a good thought.)
We had popcorn and cake for singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles. I brought pictures of Merritt when he was a little boy and prepared a little quiz about 1979. It was fun to hear how much things cost, the politics of the day, who won a grammy for album of the year, the average household income, the price of minimum wage, etc. It's amazing how much things change in thirty years. Happy 30th birthday, Merritt!
Saturday:
Saturday we took the kids bowling for the first time. They loved it of course. Since we had just taught them the game at family night earlier in the week, they were excited to see the real thing. We went with the Sneed family and set up one lane for adults and another lane for kids (having guard rails over the gutters). It was so cute to see both Collin and Luke carrying a heavy bowling ball and getting so excited when they knocked over the pins. I'm sure it was entertaining to watch me bowl as well, seeing that I've got a bowling ball in my stomach!
Sunday:
The last Sunday of every month we have the missionaries over for dinner. The missionaries here now are my favorite so far. They are such neat young men. They always share a message with us and their presence invites the Spirit into our home. It makes Sunday feel even more like the Sabbath. Having the missionaries in my home often is hopefully great for my boys too. They see such good examples in them. This Sunday I was having contractions every ten minutes. I cooked dinner anyway. And I took a picture of me in my church dress (see photo above) because I realized I didn't have any pictures of my belly and the baby might be coming! Unfortunately, the contractions stopped when I fell asleep that night. But it can't be long now! Hopefully the next time I blog, I'll have newborn baby pictures to post!
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