The ultimate omelet. Turkey, Gouda, mushrooms, and avocado on top. Thanks to a friend I am back on my healthy (eggs in the morning) wagon. That expression "on the wagon" is a funny one. According to a reliable source back in the day of the pioneers (and wagon travel) when prisoners were being transported, if they were well liked by their guards they would be let "off the wagon" at night for a drink around the fire. If the guards disliked them... well they stayed "on the wagon". So I am not sure what this says about me. ( comments welcome) But thanks Haley for the yummy suggestion of putting turkey in the omelet. I enjoyed every last healthy bite.
The best doughnuts in town From Easy orchards They have this great little produce market and gift/kitchen shop. As well as a wonderful pumpkin patch that we visit each year. They always give the kiddos one of their fresh handmade doughnuts and a cup of hand pressed apple cider after the hay ride and the tour of the apple orchards. Owen loves a good doughnut... well he has only ever had these doughnuts but theyare good and he knows it.
Monday, November 9, 2009
This is the way I get to take pictures of Owen now. From behind while chasing him. I am his own personal paparazzi. I say things like "Owen this way" and "smile at your Mommy" but nothing seems to matter he runs and says "no take the pictures Mommy come on".
This Autumn has turned out to be intensely yet joyfully busy. Owen and I have started a new weekly bible study/preschool program, we also started our job working as child care providers for a drug court program 3 time per month and, our family is part of a new missoinal community starting up through our Church, and Michael has been taking two college courses after working ours.With all of this new activity and our regular activities we have basically been full to the brim with life.
Some days I feel like I am barely keeping my head above the water when I realize that I am living a truly fruitful life. I am grateful to be a mother who stays home with her crazy awesome little boy. I am thankful beyond belief for a husband who has a tenacious love for me and a special gift of patience. I am blessed to see that God works in trials, and that I am firmly in His grasp.
Lately Owen has been really going through a rough patch. He is almost three now and just entering the “ I found out I have free will ” phase. Plus he rarely takes naps anymore which exasperates the situation because a tired Owen is a sight to marvel at in and of its self and adding the toughies to the tired is well… (Sigh). So I have been really just moving from one lesson about natural consequences to another with little time to spare for anything else.
I really wish that I could take times from my past and cut and paste them into times now… I feel like I really need those three and a half months in Italy now. I needed it then too (for totally different reasons) of course. But I sure would enjoy it now as well. Even a really nice weeklong road/ camping trip would be fun.
But apparently every parent goes through this stage (save those w/nanny’s). Every one seems to be alive and even normal after this process as well, which I am still boggled by. I am still getting over the whole newborn trauma. But in truth I know I have had it pretty easy thus far. Now I am experiencing life the way it honestly should be with a healthy and normally developing child. And those are all things to be grateful for. So I am grateful and tired at the same time.
I lost our camera charger. I realized I lost It about 5 minutes before we left on our vacation to Priest Lake. Hence no pictures of our beautiful vacation. (unless you check facebook we uploaded some with M.G's phone during the trip).
Owen is a big fan of "swimming" which includes people holding him in the water but not in the water for more than a few seconds, throwing golf balls and "peedohs" (torpedoes) into the water for others to fetch. At one point I actually knew what it was like to be a dog and like it... the smile on his face when I would bring back one of the balls was so rewarding. And riding on buoys (floating air mattresses and the like).
Apparently there has been a monster (a chocolate one no less) living in his hair and that is why he doesn't want me to trim it. I'm not sure if they are friends or if he just fears retribution. He did not elaborate.
Diet coke is my cocaine I can NOT have just one it NEVER ends there. ( I am having withdrawals right now and am staring at water bottle with disgust)
Listening to music in the car on a 9 hour road trip becomes less relaxing when your husband decides to start a new "rating system" and you only end up hearing 30 seconds of each song and then quibbling over where it belongs in said "system". We only made it to letter m before the i-phone ran out of battery. Not sure we would of lasted much longer anyway.
Owen likes to sing Jesus loves me "hi no" for "biyal" tells "ya ya ya ya" ( which is how he sings La la la).
Owen no longer only asks why about everything he sees. Now he asks what it is, what it does, and why does it do that? Super fun ( most of the time).
He doesn't call his blankies his "dits" anymore they are just his blankies now. ( sometimes I still call them his dits)
If anyone yawns Owen asks if they are "real tiyed".
If I cry he asks if I am having a hard time.... then says you all right mommy? and puts his face right in mine and blinks his bright blues eyes and inspects me until I smile. which I always do quite quickly because he is so sweet and wonderful. ( and stinken cute!!)
Life is back to the slow and steady grind. Michael working and Owen and me getting ourselves back into some sort of a routine. I am really excited for Fall. I think the season change will do me good.
Sorry for the lack of posting in the past month or so. I have been going through the ringer personally and it seems like even though we haven't been anywhere or done anything ( save one overnight camping trip in which we forgot the camera) I have been overwhelmingly busy.
Overwhelmed pretty much sums it all up really. I was recently diagnosed with bipolar 2 illness ( which I will wright about in detail at a later more stable time), I have always had migraine headaches but this summer they have been more frequent and intense than ever, my thyroid disease ( hashimoto's auto immune) is out of control despite my constant efforts to rein it in with nutrition and natural supplementation, and to top it all off for the last week and a half I have had the heat rash to end all heat rashes all over my body ( though mostly concentrated on my arms). I was told it's probably a "photosynthesis thing" by my care provider meaning that "long times spent out in the sun may effect me this way" aka your summer is over lady unless you like steroid creams shots of cortizon in the bum and constant antihistamine use.
SIGH...... So that has pretty much been our summer. Michael has been amazing he has been pulling his weight around the house and mine. Doing even the most remedial household tasks has seemed like climbing a mountain some days. Owen must scene that I am in a fragile state because he has been more gentle and compliant than I would expect a 2.5 year old trapped in a house in the summer would be. I must take time to thank my in laws especially, as they have really gone above and beyond the call of duty by taking Owen over night several times to give me much appreciated breaks. Owen loves spending time with his grandparents, aunt and uncles and it is great to be able to take him there and know he will get tons of love and adoration from all.
I am really trying to see the good in these trials. I know there is some because there always is. But right now I feel defeated, frustrated, lost inside myself and alone in a healing process few can understand. Your prayers for our family are more than appreciated. I will be posting more often as I find the time and motivation to do so. And in due time will write more about my experience with bi-polar2 illness. Thank You for your thoughts and prayers Dana
I have a serious situation here, I have been looking and looking for a new or used pair of cars clogs for Owen. I bought these at goodwill around Christmas time and then saw them at Target for a while after that and thought I wouldn't have a problem finding them ( WRONG). He is still wearing this size 6 pair which is a size and a half to small. I can't tear them off him and I can't find them any where. I have tried amazon, eBay, Target, Target.com, and craigslist. I am in a terrible bind. Owen loves these shoes soooo much and I would really love to find any size 7-9 ( or all sizes in between really) somewhere.... anywhere...
If any of you know where I can find them please leave a comment. Or should any of you have any you are willing to sell or know anyone who is willing to sell please also leave a comment. Any information is valuble to me I am at a loss. Thank you Dana
Owen Ebenezer Gay is my stone of help. In everyday tasks such as sweeping, watering plants, vaccuming, and cleaning up toys and books. But he is far more helpfull than he knows.
Before I became pregnant with Owen I was swimming in a sea of confusion and self indulgence. I did what I wanted whenever I pleased. I was trapped in debt and living like tomorrow would certainly never dawn. Full of despair and emptiness I needed some serious help. When I found out I was Pregnant I re-dedicated my life to God remembering His unwavering love for me. I was broken and humbled, ashamed and amazed. How could I pull myself together? Why was I being given a child? God used it all to help me up. My life has been far from perfect since but its good. I have a Good strong marriage to a great man. A home, Food to eat, a car to drive, and all of this on my husbands income so I can stay home with Owen. Whenever I struggle with selfishness or anxiety about whether I can do this "parenting" thing I look at Owens face. There I see help (not necessarily from him) but working through him and definitely in his heart .
These two have their own ideas about fun. On this particular occasion "fun" equaled putting ALL of the toys in Owens room into his bed and jumping up and down. It was hard to get a good shot with all of the "bouncy bouncy" going on . You gotta love em. Huge mess but I was still smiling.
Owen has always been a great independent player. I have been told that that is often not the case when you only have one child, but it is definitely the case with Owen and I feel very blessed.
The other day he constructed a highway on our window sill. I can still remember when he couldn't even see out of that window without a stool.
It is a joy watching him play with imagination. Pretending brings lots of his old and often forgotten toys back to life. Now in some form or another many of the castaways in his closet have regained favor.
I have always hated freeways. Driving on them makes me nervous and sometimes even panicky. Knowing now that he observes and re-creates what he see's while we drive along (the busy scary death track) makes me mind them so much less.
Who knows he may end up being a great civil engineer someday.
Owen has really grown in the last few months. He says so many words now I have stopped counting, although he did call our cat Sunday annoying the other day which was new (wounder where he got that? ;)). He expresses his opinions freely saying things like "i don't want to go there tday Mommy" and "my buckle my own seat belt myself" and the favorite " my hold Mommy's Hanny in the street and no cars eat you" he is in fact referring to himself when he says "no cars eat you" (hasn't quite got the concept of "you" and "me" yet). It's easy for me to start thinking of him as a little man.
The other day I needed to wake him from his nap ( which is very rare). I walked into his room and stood and watched as he lay peacefully dreaming. Seeing him so quiet and tranquil reminded me that he is still very small and innocent. Despite his leaps in cognition his constant movement and desire to be doing and going. He is far from wise and has only a fraction of the knowledge he will gain as a man. These days are so precious he is so vibrant and in love with life. I must remind myself to enjoy this moment while it lasts. He is still a baby, if not for long, for now. And forever to me.
This weekend Owen vomited for the very first time in his entire 2.5 years of living. It was HORRIBLE!!!! Ok it could have probably been worse and we had a good run, but as someone who hates vomit so much that doing it myself makes me vomit more, it was pretty bad.
We were all on our way to Michael's Dads 6oth birthday party when we got lost and ended up going the "long way". This "long way" included a mountain with switch back turns and my son vomiting all over himself and his car seat.
If Michael hadn't been with us I don't know what I would have done( yes I do,I would have just left the car seat on the side of the road and let Owen sit in the front seat the whole way home). I almost threw up myself just listening to it. M cleaned everything and I tried to comfort Owen (after M took his spew clothes off). No one will ever know how much I adore and respect him and even more now than ever. Thanks sweets!
Thankfully it seems that Owen just had a combo of heat and motion sickness and not flu as the vomiting has not re-occurred and no fever was ever detected.
God definitely is good and watched over us all in our time of calamity and dis function.
No pictures of this event. I am planning on getting some up during the week tho :)
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
So when I started this blog I told myself I would do at least one post per week. I have not. So I guess I will explain myself. Move on from self inflicted guilt and start getting back on the horse.
the explanation in two parts Part 1) Is that we have a somewhat finicky router in our home and even if we do have access to said Internets we cannot always get on them. Although I realize I can write the post out and save it on word for later I just haven't done that.
Part 2) I have had about seven waves of plague these winter and spring seasons which leave me feeling depressed, unmotivated, weepy, and basically wanting to just burrow into my spot on the sofa that now has an exact imprint of me on it.
Feeling sick is the worst when you stay at home with your child not only are you really suffering from whatever the ailment but I personally feel wrought with guilt for keeping Owen in and allowing the T.V to parent him while I lay in the coldest and most quiet place i know the bathroom floor. so its more than just feeling horrible its feeling that and feeling sorry for you darling little child who is probably finding new places to try out crayon. ( side note crayolas web site is great they list all the products and how to clean them off of any kind of surface. wd40 is my best friend).
Now I have given the explanation and an account of my life while sick. My D.r just recently prescribed some ambien for my insomnia issues and I can feel the drug starting to wind its self into my brain and take hold. I will redeem myself in weeks to come, I promise or at least I will try very hard Dana
Owen has grown so much in the past few months. He is shooting up just like all the plants in the garden. His vocabulary is getting more and more vast and he is playing independently for longer periods of time.
He comes up with these concepts that really take thought. The other day he was trying on a new pair of shoes, that have a sort of dinosaur face pattern, and he began to roar like a dinosaur then he said "dinshores eat owies huh mama?" It took me a while to understand what he was talking about. Then I realized he has seen plenty of paleo art ( as his grampy aka"pappy" is an accomplished paleo artist). And some of the works depict dinosaurs eating each other. Owen thinks one dinosaur has an owie and the other one is eating it. I would guess in his mind this is a nice thing to do like helping to fix the owie.
I am amazed at how fast these last two years have flown by. Owen is definitely not a baby anymore. He is all little boy with dinosaur theories of his very own.
So I have decided to give blogging another chance. My first attempt was a giant flop. This time I plan to write more, add more pictures, be more creative in general. Thinking of amazingly witty and humorous stories to tell about our family and our extraordinarily normal life.
I am Dana the Wife and Mama. I am unfortunately 30 years old and not very outstanding in any way at all. I have brown bobbed hair, brown eyes, and am a very average5’6 inches tall. I have a little extra chub since becoming a mother, which makes me even less unique.
I have great aspirations of scrap booking family albums, hosting fabulous parties, loosing said extra chub, and keeping an extremely neat and tidy home.
The reality is that I have scrap booked just until we brought our son home from the hospital and he is 2.5 years old. We do host some pretty fun BBQ’s in the summer nothing close to the gourmet meals of my dreams (but everyone loves burgers right?). Much like the scrap booking I have not lost a single pound of chub since right after the boy was born, and our house often looks like, well like a busy toddler is the one who is in charge of the décor.
Michael is the husband and Papa. He is also our provider, protector, and spiritual leader, all jobs that he is very successful at. He works in politics and during campaigns and legislative sessions things can get pretty busy for him but he always devotes quality time to us. Since this blogg is about being a stay at home mother and not about being a terrific working Papa I will leave it at that.
Owen Ebenezer Gay is the only child at present. He is an amazing little guy full of energy, questions, and complete passion for life. Owen is two and a half he lives for trucks, plains, trains, and anything in between. He loves to read book after book. Most of all Owen would be content sitting in the dirt, digging and pushing trucks around all day if he could. My favorite part of the day with him is when I can sit with him on my lap, no matter what we are doing, and press my nose into the top of his perfect blonde head and breathe in the smell of him.
It is a sweet and marvelous gift to be a mother. Motherhood is the beauty of watching my son grow and learn and become who he is meant to be and is worth any trials that come with the job (and lets face it there are many).This is the season I am in, staying home with my tiny child. It can be hard, sometimes it feels un-natural, but over all it is a wondrous season.
The ultimate omelet. Turkey, Gouda, mushrooms, and avocado on top. Thanks to a friend I am back on my healthy (eggs in the morning) wagon. That expression "on the wagon" is a funny one. According to a reliable source back in the day of the pioneers (and wagon travel) when prisoners were being transported, if they were well liked by their guards they would be let "off the wagon" at night for a drink around the fire. If the guards disliked them... well they stayed "on the wagon".
