Two sickie babies. We've been pretty home bound this week, nonstop nose-wiping, lots of snuggles, Vicks Vapor Rub, teaspoons of honey with cinnamon, Curious George, and picture books. My poor cutiepies. At least I've only had it mildly- we're praying that will be the same for Blake; with two weeks of the semester left it's a pretty inconvenient time to get sick...
Hopefully this is the last bout we'll have this year! And I can't say I mind the baby snuggles :)
We discovered that a good way to have really creepy and disturbing dreams is to watch a documentary on the Vatican right before bed. Just in case you're interested.
Our little guy is due to arrive five weeks from this Friday! Oh my, how the time is flying! There are so many things I want to accomplish before then; many of them we won't get around to, I'm sure. It's comforting to think that whether my freezers are defrosted or not, life will go on and we'll eventually get used to our new normal!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Winding Down
There are just three weeks left in the semester! We're sure looking forward to its completion. There's still a lot Blake needs to get done but it's hard to be too stressed about school when we're facing job changes, car changes, and who knows what else. God's been so faithful to us through this whole journey and we know that he has the perfect solution for even our littlest of concerns.
Rory: Can be quite dramatic and emotional these days; it's quite fascinating to watch her learn to express herself and deal with her emotions. When she's mad she tends to stomp her feet, sort of spit, and hit herself while yelling, "pow pow!" Teaching her appropriate ways of handling her emotions is complicated; I hope some of it comes with greater maturity when she reaches three in a couple months. A couple amusing things she's said lately include:
Me: "Rory, do you want to go poop?"
Rory (enigmatically): "When the time comes, Mama."
And, when I was upset about about something: "It's okay, Brittany Joy." Blake calls me Brittany Joy; although she's referred to him as Blake before she's never called me by my name. Hopefully she understood that she's not permitted that liberty- we were definitely laughing through our correction!
After messing around with potty training for MONTHS, I finally decided that enough was enough. She knows how to use to the potty; it was just my lack of diligence that was keeping us from truly tackling it. I wasn't sure how it would go since she suffers from poop anxiety and was still quite a heavy nighttime wetter. We bought more undies and some awful plastic pants and told her that her diaper days were done. Although I said that, I wasn't convinced it would be the case, especially at night. However, we decided to try the plastic over her undies during naps and bedtime and see what happened for a few days. Shockingly she's only woken up wet a few times in the last couple weeks! It took a couple days but I'm encouraged. The plastic pants have kept her from leaking onto her jammies or bed; we'll continue using them for a while. We're working through her poop issues too and while we still have a ways to go we're definitely getting there!
Bashy: He's starting to talk more and has added "fish," "shoe," "moon," and "truck" to his vocabulary. He uses silverware well (Rory never even tried at his age) and is such a good eater, not picky at all! His size certainly does not reflect the quantity of food he eats; usually he eats more than Rory and I put together! For the last six months or so he's had spells of waking up furious at night. We thought it was just related to teething (he's a horrid teether) but after consulting some friends and doing a little research we realize he gets night terrors. These can be brought on by teething (which explains why he was up almost every night last week) or being sick or overtired. The good news is now we know what the problem is. The bad news is there's nothing we can do for him; the more you try to console a toddler during a night terror, the worse it gets. We're praying this stage passes soon and are grateful that he's his normal silly, happy self during the day.
Rory: Can be quite dramatic and emotional these days; it's quite fascinating to watch her learn to express herself and deal with her emotions. When she's mad she tends to stomp her feet, sort of spit, and hit herself while yelling, "pow pow!" Teaching her appropriate ways of handling her emotions is complicated; I hope some of it comes with greater maturity when she reaches three in a couple months. A couple amusing things she's said lately include:
Me: "Rory, do you want to go poop?"
Rory (enigmatically): "When the time comes, Mama."
And, when I was upset about about something: "It's okay, Brittany Joy." Blake calls me Brittany Joy; although she's referred to him as Blake before she's never called me by my name. Hopefully she understood that she's not permitted that liberty- we were definitely laughing through our correction!
After messing around with potty training for MONTHS, I finally decided that enough was enough. She knows how to use to the potty; it was just my lack of diligence that was keeping us from truly tackling it. I wasn't sure how it would go since she suffers from poop anxiety and was still quite a heavy nighttime wetter. We bought more undies and some awful plastic pants and told her that her diaper days were done. Although I said that, I wasn't convinced it would be the case, especially at night. However, we decided to try the plastic over her undies during naps and bedtime and see what happened for a few days. Shockingly she's only woken up wet a few times in the last couple weeks! It took a couple days but I'm encouraged. The plastic pants have kept her from leaking onto her jammies or bed; we'll continue using them for a while. We're working through her poop issues too and while we still have a ways to go we're definitely getting there!
Bashy: He's starting to talk more and has added "fish," "shoe," "moon," and "truck" to his vocabulary. He uses silverware well (Rory never even tried at his age) and is such a good eater, not picky at all! His size certainly does not reflect the quantity of food he eats; usually he eats more than Rory and I put together! For the last six months or so he's had spells of waking up furious at night. We thought it was just related to teething (he's a horrid teether) but after consulting some friends and doing a little research we realize he gets night terrors. These can be brought on by teething (which explains why he was up almost every night last week) or being sick or overtired. The good news is now we know what the problem is. The bad news is there's nothing we can do for him; the more you try to console a toddler during a night terror, the worse it gets. We're praying this stage passes soon and are grateful that he's his normal silly, happy self during the day.
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| Blake wisely determined we needed a family outing so we excursioned to the Deer Farm, where the kiddos saw fun animals and fed some deer. |
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| Also fun was playing on the tractors out front! |
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| A couple weeks ago we got to go on a fun adventure: The Verde Valley Railway! |
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| We got to ride all expenses paid in first class, which meant comfy leather couches, free food and drinks, and enjoying the scenery through large windows or the outdoor viewing car. The best part was we were with grandparents who entertained the kiddos so Blake and I could really relax! |
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| The scenery was lovely but not so breathtakingly beautiful that you felt compelled to watch every second less you miss something. This made it more enjoyable, in my opinion. |
Monday, April 1, 2013
Easter in Pictures
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| Mini Blake |
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| Helping Mama make bread |
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| Being brave and petting the pony |
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| Easter egg hunt at a local nursery; it was a madhouse and the over-aggressive parents were stressing me out |
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| Unimpressed by arts and crafts |
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| She made a necklace and silly bunny thing |
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| Albertsons provided more Easter fun and the ever-exciting fire truck cart! |
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| Bash is obsessed with this trike- he makes motorcycle sounds and pushes himself around with one foot since his feet don't reach the ground otherwise. |
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| He was VERY into egg-dyeing; throwing the eggs into the dye, splashing them around enthusiastically, hooting and grunting- it was stressful for Mama! |
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| Rorykins was much more meticulous |
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| After church, all ready for Easter brunch with family |
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| My stinkin' cute babies! |
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| Dapper little man |
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| Lovely little lady |
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| Best buddies |
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| Rory and her cousin Liv being silly after brunch |
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| Me and my darling! |
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| Oooh, lots of fun here! |
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| Rory and Olivia- an astonishing amount of shrieking and giggling was occurring |
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| This baby boy will snuggle anything! |
Friday, March 29, 2013
I thought I wanted winter to end
I thought I wanted winter to end. But then spiders started appearing everywhere in my house. There are two on the ceiling over me right now. And I just discovered an horrifically fat ugly one wedged into a corner on my counter. I can't attempt to kill it because missing is probable, in which case it will either disappear over the edge and become vengeful or fling itself at me in a violent attack. I very nicely asked Blake to come home from work and kill it. Regretfully he is unable. I love that his suggestion to me was to take the kids outside and light the counter on fire; I'm sure to get it that way.
Said
Blake: "How old are you, Rory?"
Rory: "Six. Or maybe seven...or three. But Bash's six. And Mama and Papa are three."
Rory: "Mama, you goin' go put on makeup?"
Britt: "I'm already wearing makeup."
Rory: "Maybe you go put on some more."
Britt: "What did the people shout to Jesus as they waved their branches when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday?"
Rory: "Go to church!"
Rory: "Six. Or maybe seven...or three. But Bash's six. And Mama and Papa are three."
Rory: "Mama, you goin' go put on makeup?"
Britt: "I'm already wearing makeup."
Rory: "Maybe you go put on some more."
Britt: "What did the people shout to Jesus as they waved their branches when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday?"
Rory: "Go to church!"
Monday, March 25, 2013
Spring "Break" and Other Stuff
I should have learned by now that spring break means very little to a stay at home mom of younger than school-aged kiddos. But I suppose I thought that since Blake is a student spring break would be an amazing vacation from routine, filled with awesomeness and adventures. I sort of forgot that Blake still works full time. And interns. And his classes are mostly online anyway which means he didn't even really get a break from school. So basically all that was different was that my normal weekly outings (Bible study and MOPS) were canceled. Which meant we were, well, home. Thankfully my mother in law was on spring break, so we did get a few fun outings in: Walmart, Bookmans, Warner's Nursery (a fish pond and playground!) and Joann Fabric (a store where the babies can actually touch things!). It certainly wasn't a terrible week, it's just that my expectations were grander than reality. The weather was pleasant enough to allow for some more outside play, and we did some crafting and accomplished a couple organizational tasks.
Over the weekend we enjoyed an Easter egg hunt put on by some friends. It was quite breezy and Rory kept grumbling about how cold her hands were. She warmed up as the weather did though and found her niche sitting in the sun drinking cocoa and eating muffins. Bash didn't quite grasp the whole purpose, but he loved wandering through the grass and playing in the dirt. Aurora was so proud when we ate the eggs they found (I love that they use real boiled eggs!); you'd think she laid them herself!
Speaking of Easter, we're really trying to impress on the kiddos the significance of Easter. I don't want to just show up at church when they're high on sugar and try to explain it all then. We bought a few board books a month or so ago and have been reading them with the kiddos, and we've done a couple activities to talk about the cross and Jesus having to die for us. I've found that it's difficult to explain the resurrection to my two year old; she doesn't really understand death, so rising from the dead doesn't mean a whole lot yet. This week we have some special things planned too: Another little Easter egg hunt at home, putting white carnations in red food coloring to represent Jesus taking on our sings (I think this will mean something to Rory), having a picnic lunch out of plastic Easter eggs, making an Easter garden on Friday (which will be dead and brown on Saturday) then making it bloom with flowers Easter morning, a "Son Rise/sunrise" Easter breakfast with a fun new tent and Easter baskets...it should be a great week! We'll keep reading our books and I found a couple animated videos on youtube that tell the Easter story to show them too.
I think it's going to be hunker-down time the rest of the semester. Blake will be pretty slammed with homework all through April. We can't wait for May 2014! We have lots to look forward to though; we had an ultrasound today and little guy is measuring really well (there was some concern that he was too small at his 20 week scan). We're thirty weeks along and have a tentative arrival date of May 31st. I'm not too phased at the thought of having another newborn; things are crazy anyway, so we may as well add to it! I'm not looking forward to nursing a new one right now though; I'll do it though! I'm excited to not be pregnant and to start my diet back up once these crazy hormones calm down enough to allow me to be rational and resist the siren's song of chocolate and pastries... Summer can't come soon enough! I envision sitting on the patio or in the back yard with the new little man while Rory and Bash run and play and get exhausted and make whatever kind of happy memories 3 and 1.5 year olds can make. But I envision lots of things in my mind that turn out a little different in reality (ie Easter egg hunts).
Mondays are my new favorite day of the week- Blake's off (except for a couple hours of class)! We do most of our errands on Mondays and try to accomplish anything crucial for the week. Today MOPS was doing a fundraiser at a frozen yogurt place so we went with my mother in law. Rory had a ball picking out flavors and toppings! Marisa took us to Chick Fila (I know I'm spelling that wrong) for dinner- I love that place! We actually went inside for the first time and the babies got to play on the little playground. It was so clean and everyone was so nice! Unfortunately, both kiddos climbed to the top of the play set (quite brave of our cautious Rorykins) but weren't keen on coming down, Rory because she was scared of the slide and Bashy because he was having too much fun playing in an airplane thing. We had to send Marisa partway up after Bashy. Rory ended up going down the slide and was very proud of herself. They had such a good time! Hooray for not being a germ-a-phobe mom!
Over the weekend we enjoyed an Easter egg hunt put on by some friends. It was quite breezy and Rory kept grumbling about how cold her hands were. She warmed up as the weather did though and found her niche sitting in the sun drinking cocoa and eating muffins. Bash didn't quite grasp the whole purpose, but he loved wandering through the grass and playing in the dirt. Aurora was so proud when we ate the eggs they found (I love that they use real boiled eggs!); you'd think she laid them herself!
Speaking of Easter, we're really trying to impress on the kiddos the significance of Easter. I don't want to just show up at church when they're high on sugar and try to explain it all then. We bought a few board books a month or so ago and have been reading them with the kiddos, and we've done a couple activities to talk about the cross and Jesus having to die for us. I've found that it's difficult to explain the resurrection to my two year old; she doesn't really understand death, so rising from the dead doesn't mean a whole lot yet. This week we have some special things planned too: Another little Easter egg hunt at home, putting white carnations in red food coloring to represent Jesus taking on our sings (I think this will mean something to Rory), having a picnic lunch out of plastic Easter eggs, making an Easter garden on Friday (which will be dead and brown on Saturday) then making it bloom with flowers Easter morning, a "Son Rise/sunrise" Easter breakfast with a fun new tent and Easter baskets...it should be a great week! We'll keep reading our books and I found a couple animated videos on youtube that tell the Easter story to show them too.
I think it's going to be hunker-down time the rest of the semester. Blake will be pretty slammed with homework all through April. We can't wait for May 2014! We have lots to look forward to though; we had an ultrasound today and little guy is measuring really well (there was some concern that he was too small at his 20 week scan). We're thirty weeks along and have a tentative arrival date of May 31st. I'm not too phased at the thought of having another newborn; things are crazy anyway, so we may as well add to it! I'm not looking forward to nursing a new one right now though; I'll do it though! I'm excited to not be pregnant and to start my diet back up once these crazy hormones calm down enough to allow me to be rational and resist the siren's song of chocolate and pastries... Summer can't come soon enough! I envision sitting on the patio or in the back yard with the new little man while Rory and Bash run and play and get exhausted and make whatever kind of happy memories 3 and 1.5 year olds can make. But I envision lots of things in my mind that turn out a little different in reality (ie Easter egg hunts).
Mondays are my new favorite day of the week- Blake's off (except for a couple hours of class)! We do most of our errands on Mondays and try to accomplish anything crucial for the week. Today MOPS was doing a fundraiser at a frozen yogurt place so we went with my mother in law. Rory had a ball picking out flavors and toppings! Marisa took us to Chick Fila (I know I'm spelling that wrong) for dinner- I love that place! We actually went inside for the first time and the babies got to play on the little playground. It was so clean and everyone was so nice! Unfortunately, both kiddos climbed to the top of the play set (quite brave of our cautious Rorykins) but weren't keen on coming down, Rory because she was scared of the slide and Bashy because he was having too much fun playing in an airplane thing. We had to send Marisa partway up after Bashy. Rory ended up going down the slide and was very proud of herself. They had such a good time! Hooray for not being a germ-a-phobe mom!
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| Bathtub painting is a favorite activity. |
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| We only do it right before bath time, of course! |
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| Sebastian has been quite attached to Papa lately and cries whenever he leaves for work. |
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| Crafting with contact paper! I covered their creation with more contact paper and cut crosses out of them to hang in the window. They turned out...okay. But hey, the kids had fun! |
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| Barefoot, wearing a crown, singing to her baby doll. |
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| She's quite nurturing and girly; one day last week every part of her outfit was a different shade of pink! She examined herself in the mirror, nodded in a satisfied manner and declared that she looked gorgeous! She did :) |
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| They really are the best of buddies. |
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| It's impossible to get enough of this cheesy boy. |
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| Me: "Look, an Easter egg! Come put it in the basket!" Rory: "No, my hands are cold! You do it!" |
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| He liked to throw the eggs into the basket as hard as he could. They ended up quite cracked. Any potential projectile is a ball in his mind, and he LOVES balls. |
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| Oh, sweet boy! |
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| Bashy loves hanging out in the car with Papa |
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Another Week in the Bowen House
This past week was pretty busy. The kiddos were relatively healthy so we got to resume normal activities like Bible study and MOPS. We celebrated my mother in law's birthday (I made German chocolate cake not quite from scratch but pretty close!) and we (Blake, that is) did lots of homework. We also got to go to the eye doctor for the first time in years. I HATE going to the optometrist; the worst part is when he shoots poofs of air into my eyes. This nice man didn't shoot air, but he did drop-things which wasn't stupendous either. I always feel like I'm contradicting myself when he asks, "Which is better, number one or number two?" And so on. It seems the optometrist always peers at me skeptically and I assume I must be making mistakes and am going to screw up my prescription and won't see properly for the next two years. I'd rather go to just about any other kind of appointment than an eye one. But like I said, this optometrist was pleasant and unassuming and didn't make me feel like I was nuts. And the reward was picking out new glasses- I LOVE shopping for glasses! They're such a fun way to make a subtle but daring statement, especially since I wear contacts most of the time. I adore my new frames and it only took about ten minutes to pick them out (the advantage of a small practice with less inventory than a larger place).
We ate lots of delicious food this week, thanks to our Thai add on pack with our Bountiful Basket. One night I made green curry from scratch and we had lemon grass ice tea and Thai pineapple fried rice!
Rory constantly cracks us up with her funny jokes and declarations. She is sooo cautious but always gets ridiculously overjoyed with herself when she succeeds at something 'cary. She dislikes her food touching: "I can't eat the egg- there's toast on it!" and is scornful of snow. She wants to select her own outfits and dress herself.
Bashy is adding words to his vocabulary and we think his talking is going to take off pretty soon; he's experimenting with sounds and mimicking us much more. He is such a goof ball and is so physical: kicking and flailing when he's mad and snuggling and giving spontaneous hugs and nuzzles when he's happy, which is most of the time. He has tons of dragon teeth which he enjoys displaying with cheesy grins. He's full of wonder and curiosity and is so stinkin' cute.
Blake and I took a weekend long class to become members of the Coconino County Community Emergency Response Team (it's affiliated with the emergency management office and the county sheriff). Blake will get trained to teach the courses we took and will help out with it more. I took the class so that it's something we can do together instead of something he has to be apart from the family to participate in. It was nice to have a kiddo-break (even if it did mean sitting in a classroom) and we got to do fun things like use fire extinguishers to put out fires and participate in disaster scenarios.
We ate lots of delicious food this week, thanks to our Thai add on pack with our Bountiful Basket. One night I made green curry from scratch and we had lemon grass ice tea and Thai pineapple fried rice!
Rory constantly cracks us up with her funny jokes and declarations. She is sooo cautious but always gets ridiculously overjoyed with herself when she succeeds at something 'cary. She dislikes her food touching: "I can't eat the egg- there's toast on it!" and is scornful of snow. She wants to select her own outfits and dress herself.
Bashy is adding words to his vocabulary and we think his talking is going to take off pretty soon; he's experimenting with sounds and mimicking us much more. He is such a goof ball and is so physical: kicking and flailing when he's mad and snuggling and giving spontaneous hugs and nuzzles when he's happy, which is most of the time. He has tons of dragon teeth which he enjoys displaying with cheesy grins. He's full of wonder and curiosity and is so stinkin' cute.
Blake and I took a weekend long class to become members of the Coconino County Community Emergency Response Team (it's affiliated with the emergency management office and the county sheriff). Blake will get trained to teach the courses we took and will help out with it more. I took the class so that it's something we can do together instead of something he has to be apart from the family to participate in. It was nice to have a kiddo-break (even if it did mean sitting in a classroom) and we got to do fun things like use fire extinguishers to put out fires and participate in disaster scenarios.
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| These babies love their Papa! |
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| Smile! |
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| Oh, that boy! I just want to smoosh his little cheeks! |
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| Enjoying a warm afternoon |
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| Such a cutie-boy |
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| A disadvantage to being a scrawny kid |
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| Cheeese! |
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| This wall is a lot higher in Rory's mind |
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| But she did it! |
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| Goofy dragon baby |
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| Pretty stripey-dotty girl |
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| Budding percussionist |
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| Giddy up! After she dressed herself in Bash's shorts, an inside our shirt, one sock, 2 sandals (on the wrong feet), and a lopsided crown :) |
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