What I've been doing during my Twilight

I'm pretty sure I turned into a vampire as I read the three Twilight books. I suddenly thought I didn't need to sleep anymore, because I stayed up until 3 a.m. a couple nights to read. Plus, I don't think I was hungry while reading them because I didn't cook any meals either. These books definitely cast a spell on me and made my husband 'concerned' that I was more into 'nerdy' things like vampires than giving him attention.

I didn't like the fact that I was so addicted to the books, and I couldn't do anything else. But I truly loved them. I loved the way the author Stephenie Meyer developed the characters so that I felt a strong connection. I enjoyed seeing how she developed as an author in each book, with more subplots, twists and turns by the third book. I read all three of them for the first time in less than 2 weeks.

For those of you who haven't read all three books stop reading this blog entry now because I don't want to spoil anything for you!

At times Bella would totally drive me insane, but I have to say I also kept feeling like I could relate to her. Not me now necessarily but me at a handful of different times in my life. I think she loves Edward the best that she knows how, but I don't think she is capable yet of loving him in the unconditional way that he loves her. I also think she needed to have her relationship with Jacob to be able to understand love better and to know that Edward was what she really wanted. And I can relate how awesome it feels to have someone love you in a way that's totally unconditional.

I loved that these novels could be clean and give the message that even though hormones might tell you one thing, it's important to control yourself and wait until after marriage. An awesome message -- even though it is coming from a vampire. Some of the dialog is heartwarming and fun.

And I'm feeling thirsty for more! I forgot how fun it is to read fiction.

The Scarecrow's gift

My brain had mushed. I think it had not been flexed in so long it matched the jello-like state of my post-preg belly. I didn't realize my brain would need to be put back into shape just as my body. But, I think it was longer than 9 months of pregnancy that my cranium had not been exercised, so there's a larger margin to catch up on here. I think for years of speaking to small children all day and being overwhelmed by the daily duties of diapers and dishes, my brain hasn't needed to work. I could feel it shutting down on me (Baby Brain).

Well, I'm feeling somewhat revived. Here are a couple reasons for this:

1. Blogging. It was less than a year ago that my husband proudly stated he reserved the blog name owenfamily and started messing around with it. I confess I didn't even know what a blog was and truly didn't care too much. Suddenly, I felt frustrated that he had set me up for one more thing to be added to my "to do" list. Another thing that was never done. But, in recent weeks I've started to truly enjoy making my brain work by writing this blog and remembering that I actually do know how to write. Oh yeah, this is basically what I studied in school!

2. Reading. I've put down the stale parenting books and have been reading fiction. According to my husband, this is "chewing gum for the brain", but I have to disagree. It makes my brain analyze the fiction as I were back in a college lit class. In fact, I keep envisioning myself in a lecture where the professor is discussing symbols, tragic flaws, etc. I have even been writing analyses papers in my head. (This is part of the reason why you will soon be getting my book report on the Twilight Series.) OK, so I'm turning a bit nerdy here, but it's helping the brain wake up.

3. Listening. I borrowed my friend's 'Wicked' soundtrack. My kids actually allow me to listen to it in the car (a rarity because usually it's ONLY 'Old McDonald,' etc.). By having uplifting music running through my head rather than children's rhymes, I feel a sense of fulfillment. I've actually never seen the play 'Wicked' so it's been fun trying to make up plotlines in my head.


Now that I'm writing this, I realize how embarrassing it is to confess that these simple brain exercises have brought me so much joy and satisfaction. How have you stay-at-home moms exercised your craniums and kept them in shape?

Quotable Ellie

All in a day, Ellie had some cute ones:

Ellie: "Mommy, mommy. I heard a loud noise in my room!"
Mom: "That's OK, honey. It's just the wind blowing the house."
Ellie: With the most frightened look ever, she said, "Down?"
Mom: "No, it's not blowing the house down!"

-----------

Ellie came upstairs crying and shortly after Aubrie followed with great excitement.

Aubrie: "Mom! Guess what I prayed for Ellie because we were outside and the wind scared her. Does that mean I was good like Enos?"

Mom: "That's great Aubrie, but why were you guys outside without telling me?" ... Long discussion about stranger danger and the need to tell me when they go outside so I can check on them (we don't have a fence).

Aubrie: "But, does that mean I get a prize for praying for my sister?"

Ellie: "Do I get a prize because strangers didn't get me?"

-----------

Ellie asked me if I would turn the pony website on for her. How is the word website part of my 2-year-old's vocabulary?

A Big Day!

All three of my kids had a growing big day today! Teyah rolled over! It actually happened while trying to take these pictures.

Can you believe how big and cute she is? She turns three months in a couple days!

Ellie had her first ever dance class. She has been extremely excited -- which is funny because she doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve like Aubrie. But then, she got to class and was a little shell shocked through it all. I don't think she spoke a word or changed emotions from her big eyes and expressionless face. And she stayed almost frozen in one place the whole time. It was hilarious. This picture below pretty much sums it up. It's so interesting how your children come with such different personalities.

Aubrie had her first day of official preschool today (we've been doing Joy School). She had a great time, but basically her only comment was: "Mom, why am I going to that preschool?" I told her to prepare her for Kindergarten. Then, a bit later while saying the lunch prayer she said, "Please bless that I can be ready for Kindergarten." While considering the book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, that prayer plea has a lot of significance!

On another totally random note...The Barbie she's holding in the picture made me think of it. The other day she told me she wished she didn't have freckles because they aren't pretty. I told her they were very pretty, and she disagreed, saying her Barbies are beautiful, and they don't have freckles. Yikes! What do I do now? She's only 4! I don't know where this is coming from.

Chicago - unedited

OK, I usually leave the blogging to Jeni, and I just focus on making the money, but I have to step in to elaborate on the Chicago trip....as I was very proud of the fact that we totally gamed the Chicago Go Card system ($50 for a 1 day pass to basically every attraction in Chicago). For those of you who have traveled with me on vacations, I am usually a drill sergeant when it comes to packing in the fun into every second of the day. Chicago was no different, and my little "troops" were obeying marching orders pretty well. I apologize for giving a travel log, but here's a travel log. It went something like this.

9:58 - Battled through the sea of Iowa football fans to get to our 1st destination point - Shedd Aquarium (right next to the Iowa football game at Soldier Field)

10:21 - Dropped off the "troops at the aquarium, while I raced back through the sea of Iowa fans back to Navy Pier.

11:06 - After parking the car and sprinting around to get Circus, Children's Museum, Boat tour, and Carnival tickets I took a boat taxi back to the aquarium to meet the troops

1:08 - Concluded our tour of the Aquarium. The girls loved the glass floor aquarium with sting rays swimming below....and also the pizza we shoved down our throats at lunch

2:56 - Rapped things up at the Field Museum. The place was massive, and we saw almost every square inch of the place.....the kids were ready to call it a day at this point, but we proceeded onward!

3:38 - Chased down a Trolley tour bus who luckily gave us a ride to the Navy Pier

4:08 - Ran for the Carnival rides. Rode the Carousel which was "way too fast" which caused Aubrie to scream for her life.

5:05 - Squeezed in an hour long Children's Museum visit while mom got us some fast food to take on the boat

6:25 - All aboard the Skyscraper Boat tour!

7:58 - 2 minutes to spare until the SICKEST Circus of All time!

The Chinese Circus (Cirque Shanghao) was insane....it wasn't a circus where you clap and say, "oooo and "awe". Half the time all I could do was laugh out loud and say, "dude that was sick!" There was the Quadruple Jointed Contortionist ladies, the 10 people who road a single bike at once, the Unicycle tightrope dude, the crazy chair stacking lady, and a bunch of other crazy stuff.

For those of you scoring at home: In less than 10 hrs, we hit 7 major attractions, with 3 kids 4 and under, one of which who was potty training....Nice work troops!

Chicago!

My sister Lauren flew in for the long weekend, and we played hard in Chicago. Talk about seeing the city in a day! My favorite part was going to Cirque Shanghai. It was amazing. There are no pictures that could describe the amazing acrobatic tricks they do and how exciting and fun it is to watch. My jaw dropped through it all, and it must be the best $25 I've ever spent. The kids loved it too. Aubrie often talks about how she wants to be a tightrope walker when she's bigger, and she got to see it in real life for the first time.

We LOVED having Lauren with us and she was the biggest help. I will be surprised if she still wants to ever have children after this weekend. In fact, I'll be surprised if I ever want to have another child after this weekend! More on the drama later. This post is to talk about how fun we had, because we really did. My only disappointment was we didn't make it to the broadway musical 'Wicked' because they were sold out. I'm glad we went because I appreciate Chicago as a really cool city now. Last time we went (in December) I swore I never wanted to go back ever again, and I swore to Dave that I would NEVER move there. It was the coldest I had ever been in my whole life. But in the summer it was beautiful, and Saturday was one of the most perfect days I've had in a long time.

August 28, 2007

Dear Mother Nature,

I'm writing to you from one mother to another. As you know, when you have a newborn, your sleep is disrupted throughout the night. Your hands are busy during the day with your older children, so those few minutes at night when your baby is actually sleeping, the pillow is heaven. Almost every night for the past couple weeks, you have been sending horrific storms to my house. That is just not nice. Because with the house shaking from 70 mph winds, the electricity out (which means no a/c), and thunder cracks that jolt my 2-year-old to a tremble and panic, this mama has been gettin' no sleep. I've been sick for going on three weeks, and I can't overcome it with a 2-year-old's nails clutched into my neck all night or having to move the entire family to the basement at 3 a.m. due to tornado warnings. Please, oh please, mother nature, could for just once, the weather in Minnesota be just a little more average.

Sincerely,

A sleep-deprived mother

P.S. I've included a couple pictures of your handiwork last night. Our beautiful sunflowers were downed, our glass picnic table and umbrella were thrown and twisted. Our Adirondack chairs that were stacked against the house, were blown across the yard. Thank you for not causing any major damage or harm to my children.

A night on the town

We ventured to downtown Minneapolis with some good friends this week to listen and dance to some Salsa music.

The concert was held in the courtyard of the Mill City Museum. The courtyard was preserved so that you can see what the old Mill looked like.

The girls danced and danced and had a great time!

Right outside of the museum is this view of the Bridge Collapse. (You'll be able to see better if you click on the pic to make it bigger). In the center of the pic, you can see some green twisted metal, and that's what's left of the bridge, the rest is in the water or has since been removed. You can see the large flood lights that the workers have been using so they can work around the clock still trying to find victims.

And, on a happier note, I thought I'd throw this cute pic in of a worn-out baby. Daddy was putting his basketball shoes away when he realized they are about the same size as Teyah!

The big 2-month-old

Teyah had her two-month check-up today, and she was 11 lbs 1 oz and 23 inches! That means in two months she's gained 3 lbs and almost 3 inches!! How do you grow 3 inches in two months! That's crazy! She was also quite proportionate being in the 50-75 percentile for weight, 75th for length, and 50-75th for head. Surprisingly, this is our first child without a 95 percentile head! Teyah is the sweetest, easiest baby. She already likes to stand (as you can see from the pic). How are we so lucky to have a beautiful, healthy, happy baby!?

Thanks for your helpful words

While walking out of Target today, I was pushing the cart with the baby in her carseat and trying to hold Ellie's hand so she wouldn't get hit by the cars. Aubrie was trying to hold Ellie's hand but she was refusing and causing a scene. We made it across the street and the lady who was stopped at the stopsign rolled down her window and yelled "You are SO busy!" I turned around with a fake half smile and somehow made it to my car without further issues.

I've been thinking about this statement all day. What exactly did she mean by that? Was she patronizing me because I had spent an hour at Target doing nothing more than shopping the red sticker sales? Was she trying to be sympathetic? I've received a billion and a quarter "you have your hands full!" Was it her way of saying the same? Perhaps she was meaning I've been busy in the bedroom?

Whatever she was trying to say, her comment truly was icing on the cake for a moment when I was feeling overwhelmed with my children. Why would she make the effort to shout out her window something that really didn't make me feel better?

Have any of you received 'helpful' comments in your adventures with your kids?

Last week on our flight home, Dave was helping our niece get on her flight so I had to go through security and board our three kids on the plane by myself. Now that was an adventure! I was juggling 3 kids (one, who of course can't walk), 2 carseats, 2 bags and a stroller! Then, to make matters worse, the gate agent handed me four tickets that were totally scattered across the plane and said "the flight's completely booked, I guess you'll have to figure it out when you board."

I decided to just sit down in a seat on the plane and ask people to take one of my random seats that I had been assigned. One of them was a first class ticket. The first lady to come saw me sitting in her seat and said "what seat are you supposed to be in?" I explained and offered her the first class ticket. (Audible sigh), "Now I have to walk all the way back to the front of the plane."

I wish I could have replied, "that's OK, I'll walk up there and sit, and you stay in this middle seat and take care of my three kids!"

2 blessings, 1 wedding, and the beach

Boy, do we know how to pack it in! We traveled (by plane, thank goodness) to Utah for my brother Spencer's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and perfect. We love our new sister Julia! Check out their wedding video here. (Also, if you click on the "Event" tab you can see excerpts of Lauren's Junior Miss Pageant). Ellie attached herself to Julia while we were there. The day of the wedding, she didn't want to leave her side. She cried when she couldn't be in every picture with Julia. She wanted to hold her train on her dress everywhere she went. Later, to keep her occupied during the reception, she was coloring and after every picture she'd run over to Julia and show her. Thanks for being a good sport Julia!

While in Utah, we blessed Teyah. My sister's baby Spencer, who's just 9 days older than Teyah, was blessed too. How cool to have so many special events all at once! Teyah's blessing was beautiful.

Then we flew to California, rented a minivan and camped at Carpinteria beach for Dave's family reunion. Well, we didn't really camp. I opted for Motel 6. I figured I earned the right since we have a nursing baby. The girls had a week of heaven in the dirt and sand. Now, I'm so grateful to be home with clean kids!

The plane ride to Utah was a nightmare, which makes me realize we did the right thing by flying instead of driving. Dave got a severe headache and threw up three times. It was a late flight and the girls didn't sleep. It was very turbulent. Ellie cried and cried because her leg hurt. They both cried because their ears hurt. (Ellie actually held her ears and said she couldn't hear out of her ears. I thought that was impressive articulation for being just 2 and 4 months). I was struggling to keep everyone functioning. Oh, the joys! We survived though.

The 3 Amigas Slide Show

The Day the Wall Came Down

Here's our new headache. We had torrential rain on Wednesday, and it made our retaining wall collapse! Grrr! Luckily, our next door neighbor owns a yard-maintanance business and is donating his machinery this weekend to help. However, the reason it collapsed is because the previous owners didn't do it right, so we basically have to completely redo the wall and add the right dirt, etc. Just the materials are a ridiculous amount of money. Dave wants to tackle it himself this weekend before we leave on our vacation. So much for the fun weekend we had planned. Wow. I'm dreading it, and I'm not the one who's going to be breaking my back. Don't you just love life sometimes? And does anyone want to buy our Honda CRV? We really need to sell it to pay for this wall! That's the other headache. We need to get down to two cars. Thanks for letting me vent!

=====================================

Family Flashback

Believe it or not, the "wall incident" comes a distant second when it comes to natural calamitites and our house. Back in Idaho a 50-ft Poplar tree fell on our house. That was a fun one to clean up too...

Babies, babies, babies...

Has anyone seen my Baby???

Baby Brain

People talk about how in pregnancy you lose your brain and don't think clearly...I've heard it nicknamed
'placenta brain.' Well, I've never really felt that when I was pregnant (although I admit I've used it as an excuse before). But, I have to say that I have definitely been experiencing a brain turnoff in the past few weeks. Let me explain...

On Friday, I called two different companies to come fix our broken garage door (another story in and of itself). I left a message with one and talked to the other. They said they would come on Monday. So, last night they called and said they'd come between 9-11. I agreed. Then this morning, the phone rang (and actually woke me up out of my best sleep in several nights). They asked if they could come fix the garage door between 9-11. I agreed and thought it was a little strange they called twice. Well, the guy came and fixed it, I paid him his $75, and he left. Then, about five minutes later, there was a knock on my door. I answered it and a different dude said, "Hi, you're having problems with your garage door?" I was so confused. I looked at him and then at his truck and finally realized it was a different company than had already fixed my door. I told him it had already been fixed, and he said, in a very irritated tone, "By a different company?" I said, "Uh, yeah. I guess so." After he left and my brain finally processed what had happened, I felt so stupid! I think rather than 'placenta brain,' it must be baby brain.

Then, later today, we met Dave at Sam's Club on his lunch break. We decided to get a big pizza, rather than a slice, so we could have it for dinner. I got home and put the kids down for a nap. It occurred to me that we left the pizza on the table at Sam's Club! I was so mad! More than anything, because now I have to cook dinner tonight! I think we'll go for cold cereal...

Have any of you other mothers experienced a brain turnoff with the total sleep deprivation that you experience with a new baby? How about tears at the thought of just about anything? Someone told me the other day that husbands just really don't understand what it feels like to be a zombie like this for weeks. Moms can relate that a four-hour stretch of sleep is something to celebrate!

The Past 3 Weeks

Wow! The past three weeks has flown by. I suppose you want some updated pics!? Well, here they are. The cute baby in the bag is the most recent of Teyah. It's amazing how much she has changed in just 3 1/2 weeks! Poor girl has reflux, like her sisters did, and the past week she's been in great pain. We started her on Zantac yesterday and have already seen some improvement.

We opted out of traveling to Wyoming for my high school reunion. We chose a closer getaway destination of Duluth, MN. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Lake Superior. Dave kept trying to convince himself it's the ocean. We decided it looks like it, but it doesn't sound or smell like it. We went to a parade on the North Shore and there was more candy at this parade than the girls knew what to do with. If you look closer in the pics, you can see it was littering the streets! Below, you can see the girls partaking in their first-ever cotton candy!

Introducing Teyah Mei (恵愛)

Teyah Mei (恵愛- "Blessing of Love"),
born June 14, 2007 at 10:02pm.
Weight - 7 pounds 15 ounces
Height - 20 1/4 inches tall

Momma battled through another VBAC pregnancy without an epidural and is doing great! The 2 big sisters are loving their new baby sister.

Happy 30th Dave!

Even though Dave was quite worried the baby would be born on his birthday, we made it through with no baby. The girls cooked and decorated a heart cake for him -- poor Dave and all the feminine things he endures. The two of us also had an awesome date the night before while my sweet sister babysat. I love having Lauren here! I don't want to ever let her leave. Anyway, no baby yet. What a week it's been. More on that later. Happy Day David!