More birthday pics

My sister took some great ones, so I had to share.

Owen's Birthday

Owen's birthday party was AWESOME!

Family, food, friends, a guitar, and a hand-made cardboard train--all that was needed for a great time.

Today is his birthday, and the true celebration is how amazing, loving, caring, and precious this child is to Matt & me. He showed his true colors as he cared for his guests (he really loves his two best pals--Abby & Jackson), showed humility with all the attention when we sang to him, and his joy as he played his new guitar for all.

To my added joy, he continues to grow & develop--today he dressed himself (something we've been working on for months). All by himself, no prodding, arguing, or frustration. He just did it. Yeah, Owen!

Okay, enough writing--I know you all really just want the photos.

The cake.

The spread (with cardboard train centerpiece).

The gifts & goody bags.
The birthday boy.

A boy & his guitar.

What Owen Does When I'm Blogging

As I was uploading the video of Eden, I heard the little man singing. I turned to see him standing on a dining room chair (just in front of a mirror)--dancing & singing.

Sorry for the side-ways view. I wasn't sure how to rotate a video. It's a bit shaky--I didn't want to get too close & stop the fun, so I had to zoom. Still hilarious.

Eden's first food

Eden is 5 months old today.

For the past few days she's been waking up a little earlier than normal with a rumbling tummy, so I had to admit it was, *sigh*, probably time for cereal.

Even after a full breast feeding she--literally--dove into the cereal. She kept leaning forward into the spoon despite me trying to recline her back. Of course, more came out than went in, but she seemed to really enjoy it.




Owen's big 3-year-old party is Sunday. I'll probably have a bunch of pictures to share next week.

My first day

Hooray! Spring is here! It's sunny AND warm outside (for a change). Owen has been outside the majority of the day--even got a bit red.
Eden is even more smiley today (if that's possible, and if "smiley" is actually a word).

What a great way to start my "first day" as stay-at-home mom!

I chose to "take it easy" for the first few days, to adjust to my new role. I can't believe though, how much I've gotten done, and how much energy I have. It's time to make dinner, and for a change--it doesn't sound like a daunting, "I just don't have the time/energy/desire" task.

I've cleaned, ran around outside with Owen, even done a bit of freelancing work I took on. I actually still have energy. Just hope it lasts until Matt gets home--maybe we can actually finish a conversation without falling asleep! That would be so awesome!

He's cracking me up though--the last two days he keeps forgetting that I'm home now. He doesn't have to think about cleaning house or cooking dinner (something we shared while I was working). I've got it taken care of--he just needs to work, and enjoy being with his family. I just smile at him when he gets that "Oh, yeah" look on his face. It looks more like relief. I think we're both a lot more relaxed now--which is really exciting.

Sure, we have NO idea where the money is going to come from to compensate for the 3/4 of our income that we just gave up. We don't know how exactly the bills will get paid in the coming months, but for once--neither of us feels panicked or worried. Weird?

More money=more stress
Less money=less stress
Never thought of it that way.

I'm transcribing interviews with pastors for an editor that I know. The current one is talking a lot about sacrifice--giving up the comforts you could have, so that others benefit. Wow--that's speaking volumes to me right now.

Predictable vs. Flexible

Eden's back in her room, and doing fantastic! While Owen was/is predictable when it comes to eating & sleeping--Eden is FLEXIBLE.
The last few days have been very busy, and Eden just took it in stride (for the most part). She napped when she could, and ate on time. You can definitely tell when she's had enough though. She doesn't scream--her lower lip starts to stick out, she says "maa maa" quietly, and BIG fat tears start rolling down her face. Any waiting for her momma past that, and it becomes quite dramatic (more tears, red face, louder sobs).
I'm eating it up though--Owen rarely clung to me, and I'm enjoying being "needed" while it lasts.

Owen, *sigh*, on the other hand--loves...NEEDS his schedule. After 3 late nights in a row, last night we put him to bed about 9:30, but we have no idea when he fell asleep. Around 2 a.m. he was up talking, requesting his dad, wanting to go sit on the couch. When we'd tell him to go to sleep he just looked at us like a zombie. He continued this until probably close to 4 a.m.

He's been great all morning, though we're taking it slow today. A nice peaceful day of rest to re-coop.

Which means, I'm going to the shower now, while I have the chance!

Catching up

I hesitated to post anything recently, because so much was up in the air. Now it seems things are finally quieting down, so I'll try to give an update.

I resigned from my position at Group Publishing. Gasp! Yes, it's true. I love my job, and it's really hard to leave. It's necessary though that I work at least part-time from home to care for the kiddos, and Group was unwilling to accommodate that request.
My last day is April 11th, and I'm actually starting too look forward to it. I've decided to start my own business, and it's amazing how well that's going already.

I'm calling the biz Nurtured Mother, and I'll expand on my doula services by offering resources for motherhood (a.k.a. breastfeeding equipment). Eventually I want to get a lactation consultant degree, and be able to provide those services too. I've started a blog for this endeavor too: http://www.nurturedmother.blogspot.com/. I'm working on getting a website up & going, and getting approved as a reseller for Medela.

Matt's still working at Starbucks & teaching (amongst other side jobs), and he really enjoys it. Now that I'll be home I'm able to also help manage the office/admin stuff for his music academy.

Okay, now for the updates the majority of you want to hear--the kids. :)

Owen is doing great. I think he adds a word or two a day, and can really be a jabber-monkey. It blows my mind every so often when a full sentence comes out of his mouth, like "Daddy, where are you?" Whoa! What happened to my little baby boy?

He LOVES to "help." He even says "Help Momma?" It's great. He has his own chores: clearing his dishes from the table, putting away silverware from the dishwasher, and putting away his clean clothes. Sometimes the "help" isn't so helpful, but for the most part it's amazing to see how tender his heart is for helping people.

When his friends come over the first thing he wants to do is get everyone a glass of water--we never "taught" him this, he just started doing it.

He's a big movie watcher, which has been how we've survived this cold winter. With nursing so much during the day a movie can really come in handy. By the way, if you haven't seen the "Curious George" movie, it really is good. (Thanks for the tip, Hillary!) There's a pic below of Owen & Eden watching a movie together.
Eden is coming into that really cute chubby phase--my favorite! She's beautiful, long eyelashes & sapphire blue eyes (yep, they're still blue). The best part--her smile. It will knock your socks off. AND she smiles ALL THE TIME. It's hard to be mad or sad around here when Eden's in the room. Now she's starting to laugh too. It's amazingly cute.

She looks a lot like Owen did at this stage, except she's definitely shorter (sorry, kiddo, that would be your momma's fault). She's discovering her toes, but it's been a bit difficult b/c she can barely reach them.

Any day now she's going to roll over--she loves to be placed on the floor to just hang out. We'll leave her in the living room & come back to see her "talking" to herself & scooted half-way across the room.

She sleeps through the night, but after moving her to her own room we discovered a new problem. The two kids wake each other up so easily. If one stirs in the evening or starts crying, it's guaranteed the other is going to wake up. Of course, with Matt getting up at 4 a.m. it doesn't help matters. We've tried creating white noise and playing music, but nothing seems to block the other one out. I moved Eden into our bedroom closet just so I could get some sleep (and while my folks are in town). She's still learning to put herself back to sleep, so I'm hoping a week or two in my closet will get her to where she's not so easily stirred.