Owen {3 Years!}

Holy cow, Owen is 3! It's absolutely INSANE.

I've always thought that child development is so incredibly interesting and with my children it's no exception. Owen has made some pretty big leaps this past year. Heck, the past six months! As I reflect back, it becomes so clear that he's growing up and getting more and more independent. I wasn't prepared for that to happen so soon so every time he's able to do something that was more difficult for him before or something that freaked him out before, I almost can't believe what I see. Let's talk about some of those moments, shall we?

Moment #1  |  Doctor Visits
Owen used to despise going to the doctor. As you might recall from his 2-year update, Owen would see where we were headed and cry the very moment we stepped out of the car. Cry while we got registered. Cry and resist walking to the waiting room. There, he might calm down a bit but the moment the nurse called his name, more tears. We'd fight to get his height and weight and then drag him into the patient room. Owen despised the nurses and cried hysterically when receiving shots. The one thing that was always fine was visiting with the doctor. That part was always relatively easy and made me think that it was possible to survive doctor visits. But then we went to get a flu shot and there were no tears. Legit, no tears. It probably helped that we went as a family and he got to see his daddy get one first. But then we went in for his 3-year appointment and again, NO TEARS. WOW.

Moment #2  |  Hair Cuts
Both boys have gotten a lot of hair cuts in their short lives. Our last experience was um....in a word, intense. We decided that the boys needed a hair cut before Leta and Zach's wedding in July but we couldn't get them in to their normal hairdresser. We aren't good at planning too far in advance (hence my need for a bullet journal!) and she's a busy lady! So we decided to go to the SmartStyle Hair Salon while one of us went shopping at Walmart. I've worked hard to block this from my memory so I don't recall who went first but oh my goodness, both boys screamed and cried hysterically during their 10 minute hair cuts. I sat with them on my lap so I had a front row seat to the very loud and embarrassing show. Mind you, I wasn't personally embarrassed. I don't freak out when kids are wild and crazy. I sympathize because I get it! But I know that there are people out there that don't. I was embarrassed for them. And believe me, I'm sure just about everyone in Walmart that night heard our children. And thank you to the other sympathizer out there that paid for the boys' haircuts. That was a sweet gesture from someone who was getting their haircut at the same time. Once the boys' hair got to long again this fall, I was stunned marched right up and sat down on the chair. All. By. Himself. Now that was a holy $#!% moment (and then we took an embarrassing amount of photos. The hairdresser MUST think we're such weirdos)

Moment #3  |  Little Mermaid
My sister called me up on night and asked if Owen and I would like to go see Little Mermaid, the HS musical for West Delaware. I agreed without much thought but I will admit that I was a little nervous. We had to drive 90+ minutes to get there and then needed to sit still during the entire 2.5 hour show. I wasn't so sure that would happen. But the real wonder, he was quiet the entire time. THE. ENTIRE. TIME. Owen is not a quiet kid. Not in the least bit quiet so when he practically didn't say a word in the car on the way down (because he was playing nicely) and then sat through the show without a peep, I was amazed. It was an awesome show and it definitely helped that he had Zach's lap to sit on for most of the show. Owen even had the guts to ask Ariel for an autograph afterwards and can't stop saying "Ariel" at home. He wants to go see Ariel so it looks like that's what he'll be getting for Christmas :)

Owen has made such big leaps in development and as you can see, it's been so fascinating. He's now potty trained during the day, he is going to an independent art class, and is skipping his naps sometimes. My goodness, my little boy is growing up! I can't wait to see what he's like a year from now!

We do have one big struggle. Life with Owen is often a major power struggle. He's got quite the attitude and has to have what he wants right this very second. That's definitely something we're working on and slowly but surely we will get there. For everyone's sake, we have to! If you have insight to this, please let us know how you overcame it. Our parental survival depends on it! We can't let Owen take us down!

Now for the fun part of the updates - height and weight measurements. I have small kiddos but it sure is cool to see how much they've grown over time.

3-Year Appointment (11/17/2016)
Weight: 29.5 lb
Height: 36 in

2-Year Appointment (11/10/2015)
Weight: 25 lb
Height: 33.25 in

18-Month Appointment (5/15/2015)
Weight: 23 lb
Height: 30.5 in

 

My (very early) Bullet Journal Experience

I haven't blogged very much this year. I always want to do more and have tons of ideas rolling around but man! Time gets away from me!

The past four or five months have been a really difficult time for me personally. I struggled to find peace and to make good choices in a lot of areas of my life. I was a lazy parent, eating too much, drinking too much, and staying up too late. It didn't click that something needed to change until I knew without a doubt I was experiencing grief and depression. I cut back on extra work, stopped drinking so much and have been better about eating healthy and exercising. Though I still need to work through some bad habits, I do feel that I am finally beginning to get back at it again. I'm excited about what's ahead!

One area that still needs work is my personal planning and organization. I LOVED using my planner in high school and college. It tracked my whole life! There was so much going on and homework assignments to jot down! But life changes after college and it became pretty clear that what works for me on the job doesn't work for me at home. I'm always on the go and life just seems so busy. I don't have time to have a planner!

That being said, my life seems to work a lot better with a planner. My brain definitely feels less cluttered when I use one and I tend to think more clearly. I also don't tend to lose my $#!& quite so easily. Get the drift? Less mental clutter, less stress, less losing of $#!&. All good things.

All I had to do was figure out how to make a planner work in my life. Challenge Accepted.

That's when I stumbled upon bullet journaling. I had seen this before and to be honest, never really thought much about it. I was still fixated on using really pretty yearly planners from various companies - Luther's academic year planner, Erin Condren's LifePlanner, Emily Ley's Simplified  Planner, etc. However, when I did some research, it seemed pretty obvious that I needed to give this a try. Off to Wal-Mart I went and I came home with this beauty.

And this is when I tell you that it's going well!

What I really like about bullet journaling is that you can make it be whatever you want or need it to be. Mine is super duper simple. Remember, I really don't have time to use a planner so there's no way I'm going to fancy mine up with doodles, coloring or tape. Just not happening. (Disclaimer: I do think those are really cute! Maybe one day I'll get into it.)

I also really like making lists and it seems my bullet journal is one big ol' pile of lists. It makes me so happy!

Clearly, I'm a little behind :) I'll work on that!

One thing I have recently added to the book is a to-do list. I've been trying to figure out how best to keep track of everything in my brain and I will be the first to admit that this might not be the best use of this particular book. However, after adding it to this book I got to thinking that I should just get another book for that! Easy peasy.

So for anyone out there that needs an organizational outlet, why not give bullet journaling a try?!

Roof Update {3} - Finished!

I love our new roof!!! It has been finished for over a week now and I keep looking at it on my walks home. I love how new it looks. I love the different shades of color. I love that it's a tiny bit darker than our previous shingle and also our neighbors. It's just so pretty!

Here's a lovely before and after sequence for you. Isn't it great?

Here's a couple of shots at different locations:

Now we're just waiting on the bill. Once that comes, I cannot wait to attack it. I've got another aggressive goal :)


See the BEFORE here! See the DURING here!

Who Has The Golden Ticket?

In this case, I really should say, "Who has the golden key?" but that doesn't really go with the tune. Oh well. A few weeks ago, I got a call from my sister. She was checking to see if we could watch the kiddos while she and my brother-in-law went to see if Bridget won a car.

Photo courtesy of http://kdecradio.com/win-this-car/

Um, yeah! It was fun to have four kids running around and not at all as tiring as I expected.

We had a little dance party, went for a walk, let them run around for a bit, ordered take out from Old Armory and capped off the night with Ratatouille.

Ever since, Owen says on a daily basis that he wants to play with Liza and Erin. Can't wait until our annual Pinter's date!

Oh, and Bridget didn't end up winning the car. But she was standing right next to the guy (above) who did win!

Photo courtesy of http://kdecradio.com/win-this-car/

Roof Update {2} - During!

The During Phase of our roof update was a fun time for the whole family. The boys loved looking at all the equipment and materials, Gspice didn't have to mow, and I got to freak out when I'd hear loud noises when I was in the shower every morning. You know, the usual.

It was actually a pretty easy project to live through. It's not quite living with an interior remodel - Not one bit. We got to go about our daily lives without an issue during the whole thing which was a really nice during such a tough week. The only part I was concerned about was all of the rain but it turned out that we didn't get as much as anticipated.

We have three main areas of roof. There's the roof over the kitchen, the roof over the front porch, and then the roof over the rest of the house. TG Construction tackled it in those three sections and in that order as well. They had to work with a lot of reports of rain but they managed to get it done over four work days.

Below are more fun photos! Again, please ignore the landscaping. My goodness, it's bad. We've got that gorgeous weed garden in the back that's trying to take over our life! needs tackling!

And we can't end the post without one sneaky preview of the finished product! Here's the front roof completed! The machine was left in that spot all weekend because they just had that side left to do on Monday. I tell you, the TG boys work fast!

See the BEFORE here!