Transition baby to crib, check

Okay, so finally I've transitioned little O to his crib (and I've transitioned to the guest bed in his room). The first night we were up every hour, but the second night was great - 3 hour sleep cycles - yeah!

More "Ava"isms

It's so much fun having a 4 year old, they just say whatever is on their mind and Ava just has a way of saying things.

Ava to Owen: "Owen! Hey buddy, you're in this world!"

Ava to her Dad: "Dad, I didn't know I had a truffle bed." (meaning trundle)

Ava to her Mom: "Mom, taste this (spicy chocolate bar)"
Mom to Ava: "No, I'm scared"
Ava to Mom: (laughing)"Mom, don't be scared, it's just chocoloate"

Christmas

Well, it was a wonderful Christmas this year, Owen's first, and the kids had a great time. We celebrated with Mark's family on Christmas Eve and my family on Christmas Day. Canyon was with us on Christmas Eve and then went on a hunting trip with his grandfather. He came home late Sunday and will be with us for the week. We decided with Ava to start our own traditions and had her open her presents Christmas morning. We layed out sugar cookies and milk the night before and I took some great photo's of her discovering her presents.

It's so nice to be off work, but I wish it were longer. Mark is at home all this week with the kids and we are in the process of repainting Canyon and Ava's rooms (they switched) so it's been a little hectic. I have more and more respect for my own mother who raised three of us on her own, I don't know how she did it. I keep reminding myself that I need to slow down and enjoy these moments, when the kids are little. My sister has been visiting a lot lately, entertaining one or all kids so I can get everything put back in its' place. I am very blessed to have family that I can depend on.

Happy New Year!

Owen/Sleep Update

So, I said I would update on how Owen is sleeping now that he's 4 months old. Pretty much the exact same as when he was 3 months, no changes. We have his 4 month check-up on Wednesday so I'm ready to hear about all the things I need to be doing now that he's 4 months and I'm hoping that will be my motivation to get him sleeping on his own in his own room. Stay tuned...

Elf on the Shelf

Well, I can't believe how fast time is flying. Owen is already 4 months and every time I look at Ava I am amazed at how tall she is getting. Canyon was very excited to tell us that he made the A team in basketball - he LOVES basketball and we are so very happy for him. I'm hoping to actually make some games (I couldn't really with football b/c Owen was too little).

This year we started a new tradition, The Elf on the Shelf. For those of you who have never heard of the Elf on the Shelf, he's sent by Santa to keep an eye on your little ones and report back whether they are being naughty or nice. A very nice negotiating tool (especially this a.m. when he was stationed in our bathroom and I could finally comb Ava's hair without protest). Anyway, the one drawback is that every night the elf must move locations. Sounds easy, but we've already forgotten a few times. Thus begins the game of explaining why the elf did not move from the shelf. I think there should be a book called, "What to tell your kids when the elf on the shelf does not move". So far, at our house, there has been a blizzard at the north pole, he's found such a comfy, good spot he doesn't want to move and of course maybe the elf does not feel well. I'm waiting for the morning when I'm moving the elf on the shelf and get caught in the act - let's hope that doesn't happen.

Another tradition at our house is the "making of the gingerbread house", although it should probably be called the "ava eating candy/mom trying not to crush the gingerbread house". This year I had to really take stock not of what we were doing, but why we were doing it. The picture explains.

YaYa

How blessed am I to have my mom take care of Owen. She is a wonderful grandmother and I couldn't do it without her. She also took care of Ava for 4 years - talk about a giving spirit - thank you Mom for all that you do.

Can you pick out the differences in these two photos?

Ava is a quick study. Here we see how quickly she has picked up the art of swaddling.

Not Amused

Here is a picture of Owen during bath time, I think I was more amused than he was...

Happy Thanksgiving

To be honest, I hadn't felt very "festive" leading up to Thanksgiving. Historically we've always celebrated in McAllen with extended family, but for the last few years we've stayed here in Austin. This year we hosted at our house and we had a great time. My grandmother was able to join us and later my cousin and his family came over to watch the UT game. Most importantly, my kids had a good time and I'm glad we are creating memories for them. I remember as a kid loving when our house was full of people (and hating that empty house feeling when they left) and I know my kids are the same way.

I also created this list of thank-ism's that made me realize just how much God has blessed me and my family.

What I'm Thankful For

- My family's health

- My mom whose love glues us all together

- Ava's zest for life and all things in nature

- The beautiful weather on Thanksgiving

- Canyon's love for family

- All of our jobs

- Mark for being so present in the kid's lives

- God's love and patience with me

- Ava's garden and catching butterflies

- Having a family

- Owen's look of love

- Chris's reminder of what Thanksgiving is all about

- Mark for not taking me seriously and reminding me not to take me seriously

Owen's Giggle

Owen started laughing a few weeks ago, but I haven't been able to capture his giggle until now. Please excuse my annoying voice gooing in the background, but it is what made him laugh:)

Owen's Poem by Papa

Just a Little More
Bob Hoevel, 11/16/2009

I just need a little more
Not much just a little
I’m sooooo small
I can hardly reach for it all
But I know my Mom
My Dad too
Ava of course
And Yaya, who could forget
Then Canyon and all the rest
You’ll know when I know you
I’ll give you my stare
The one that says yah
I know you too!
I’m only 3, 3 months that is
But for me it’s really easy
When it comes to knowing you
You’ll see it in my smile
My eyes
My excitement
And of course that famous stare
I think I see you now
I just need a little more………. of you

Out of the mouth of babes

Ava is at that really fun age where she says the funniest things and the most truthful things. Here are a few and I'll keep adding:

We had to run to the bank this morning so I heard her tell Owen, "Just wait, Owen, one day you'll be lucky enough to get a lollipop from the bank".

And in the car on the way home, "Mom, aren't you so glad that God gave us this great baby?"

Ava is fascinated with catching bugs and our cat Sammy brought in two moths the other night. So in the morning Ava was really wanting to get the half alive moth into her "bug house" however, she did not want to touch the moth. So she was trying to convince me to do it (knowing I absolutely hate bugs and do not like to touch them). So she says, "Mom, you know if you don't pick up this moth and put it in my bug house then he'll make holes in all your clothes." I just looked at her and she said, "what, that's what dad told me about moths."

What's wrong with this picture?

Okay, so like most first time moms, I admit I made a lot of mistakes with the first baby (Ava). Things like rocking her to sleep, letting her have a bottle until almost 2, a binky until 4, you get the picture. But, I thought, you can't really spoil a baby, right? Wrong. And we learned the hard way. So with baby #2 (Owen), I thought, okay, I'm ready to do it all right. Which brings me to the title for this post, what's wrong with this picture. To the casual observer it appears to be a peacefully sleeping baby, what's more precious? Hm. Well the problem is he's not only sleeping in our bed, but he's sleeping in my spot. I had the best of intentions - he starts out in the bassinet, he wakes up every 3 hours or so, but overall not a bad sleeper. Until about 4 or 5am and then he's ready to make the transition over to our bed and I'm too tired to hold my ground.

What's funny is how adamantly I was against co-sleeping (for me personally, no judgement on others) mainly because of safety. I still feel that way so from 4 or 5am on I generally lie still next to Owen with one eye open until about 6 or 6:30am. I know it's time to transition him to his crib, but that's upstairs and his schedule is generally down at 9pm, up at 12, 2, 4 and then 6:30. I keep saying that once he knocks out 2 of those feedings, up the stairs we go. And I know, the real question is why would he want to go anywhere when he gets room service three times night plus he gets to sleep on a Stearns and Foster deluxe mattress. So my new deadline is 4 months, just 2 weeks away. Stay tuned.

Trick or Treating

This year our friends, the Steakley's, invited us to go trick or treating. Ava was super excited to go trick or treating with one of her best friends, Liv. They collected tons of candy and suprisingly enough most of it is still sitting on top of our fridge. Which reminds me, I need to get that candy out of the house before I eat it all. The weather was actually perfect and Ava had a blast.

Halloween

This year there is just one person in our household who is excited about Halloween and that would be Ava. She is obsessed with the CANDY of course (and I have to admit I've been using it as a reward, bribe, I mean reward for good behavior these last couple of weeks). And she loves any excuse to wear a princess costume. This year she wanted to be Aurora (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) and I lucked out and found the Disney costume version at Marshall's for a steal. In fact, all the girls in her class fell into the Disney princess category and all the boys fell into the superhero category (i.e. SpiderMan, SuperMan). It will be interesting to see how this changes over the upcoming years.

I also tagged along with Ava's class on a field trip this week to a Pumpkin Patch (basically some pumpkins in a parking lot:) and the kids loved it. I guess they really love anything that involves going someplace new with their friends. I could learn a thing or two.

Owen Victor

The newest member of our family is Owen Victor Nordstrom. Let me tell you how blessed we are to have this new beautiful little boy in our lives. He was named after Mark's grandfather, Victor Nordstrom of whom Mark was very fond of. Coming up with his first name, Owen, was a lot more challenging than we thought, in fact, we didn't name him until 3 days after he was born. Now when we think of all the other names we considered, we're glad we chose Owen. He'll be 12 weeks on Monday and he's already taken a very special place in all of our hearts. Thank you Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful family!

Here goes nothing

Okay, so I never thought I would be a blogger, but one of my childhood friends actually suggested that I do this and since I enjoy keeping up with her family via her blog, I thought, sure why not.

So, when when I read most blogs I sometimes wish there was a family tree of sorts attached so I could make sense of who's who therefore here's a layout of my family: my husband Mark (40yrs), my step-son Canyon (13yrs), my daughter Ava (4yrs), my son Owen (11wks) and our cat Sammy (best guess 7yrs). Oh and me (36yrs). Suffice it to say, life is a little crazy right now, although I can't imagine a time in the forseeable future when it will not be crazy. Having a just-turned teenager and a newborn keeps you pretty busy. But, I've come to realize that crazy is good. Like most parents, I can't remember life before kids anymore. Well, that's a little bit of lie. I can remember the long, lazy Sunday afternoons when you had to think really hard about what to do with your day...

Back to the family: Marks' brother Chris and his wife Kara with baby #1 on the way, my sister Jeannette and her son Chris, my mom and step-dad (Ya Ya and PaPa) and Mark's parents (Oma and Opa). We all live in Austin and are therefore pretty close.

Thanks for joining me and hopefully the next post will be soon and not this same time next year!