All Boys Here!

Published
by
chloe
on October 29, 2008
in Ayden Thomas, Chloe and Owen Patrick
. 2 Comments

With Owen’s 18-month mark just around the bend (November 17th to be precise), he is growing and developing at an astonishing rate now!  Every time we turn around he’s doing or saying something new… we literally can’t keep up anymore.  In fact, at dinner a couple of nights ago, as I fed Owen his last bite of dinner, he very clearly announced “ALL FULL!”… as Patrick’s head snapped up in astonishment and asked, “Did he just say ALL FULL???”.  I had to shamefully admit that Owen’s actually been saying that for about a week, though I had neglected to mention the accomplishment to his Daddy… there are just so many little achievements like that these days that my head is just spinning as I try to keep up!  A few of the more noteworthy items Owen has added to his vocab of late include: tractor, truck, book, Emery (said “Emreeeeee”), happy (said “ha-peeeee”), Halloween (said “hah-weeeeeen”), blanky (said “bah-keee”), welcome (said “weh-coh”, though with the proper tone and inflection - and he often follows his own “thank you” with a prompt “weh-coh”).

There is no trace of baby left in Owen… he’s all boy now (except that he still loves to suck his two fingers when he’s sleepy and he has to have his special white blanky at bedtime!).  And having big brother around is both good and bad… Owen loves to imitate Ayden - whether it’s yelling “NO NO NO!” in a very obnoxious, bratty 3-year-old tone of voice, climbing a tower of couch cushions that have been stacked into a pile 5 feet tall, or hiding from Mama under Grandma Gail’s bed when I’m searching the house looking for them.   I’m fully aware that this mimicry is just the tip of the iceberg and will continue for many many years.  Oy vey!

Owen has also become rather obsessed with cows - I think largely due to a YouTube video that both he and Ayden can’t seem to get enough of.   Dancing Cow!  Whenever the laptop is open, Owen points to it and emphatically says “MOOOOOO! MOOOOOO!”, which translates into “please play the Dancing Cow video from YouTube!”  Both of the boys get HUGE grins on their faces and start to dance as soon as they hear the first note of the song.  Owen even knows the video/song so well, that about 5 seconds before the end, he’s already doing the hand-sign for “more” and asking us to replay it!!!  I kid you not!!! :-)

Ayden is feeling like quite the big boy these days, since he’s taking 3 classes through the local Parks and Rec program.  He’s enrolled in a swimming class (the second in the series), a “Kids Sports” class (which is basically a variety sports class where they do a different sport each week), and a “Play, Learn & Explore” class (designed to be a pre-school style one-hour class).  None of these classes allow for parent participation, so he’s been forced to be Mr. Independent.  This didn’t go so well for the first week or so (lot’s of crying and separation anxiety), but I stuck to my guns, and though heart-strings were tugged almost to the breaking point, I left him to fend for himself and stand on his own two feet.  I’m glad I did, because he’s absolutely thriving in all three classes and looks forward to going each week with uncontrollable enthusiasm! :-)

Since we’re already nearing the holiday season and it seems like the toy commercials are already ramping up, Ayden has seen his fair share.  The other day he came to me and said, “Mommy, if I had a Candy Castle I would be SOOOOOOOO happy!”.  First of all, I have no idea what a Candy Castle is, and secondly, how does he?!?!  Well it didn’t take long for me to see my first Candy Castle commercial and to learn where Ayden got the idea.  Since then, we’ve received literally dozens of toy catalogs in the mail, which Ayden goes through and tells me each item that would make him “SO HAPPY” if he had for Christmas.  Seriously, where does a three-year-old get that idea???

September Aydenism

Published
by
chloe
on September 15, 2008
in Ayden Thomas
. 2 Comments

Patrick walks through the front door as he arrives home from work.

Patrick (to Ayden): Yo Dude! How are you?

Ayden: Crackin’ like a villain!

Patrick: What?…. Oh! You mean, “Chillin’ like a villain?”

Ayden: Yeah! I’m chillin’ like a villain.

Patrick: Yes, but you’re supposed to say that when I ask, “What’s crackin’?”

Ayden had morphed two Patrickisms (Chilin’ like a villain & What’s crackin’?) into his own Aydenism, “Crackin’ like a villain!”  Patrick and I were hysterical!!! :-)

Happy Birthday Hubby!!!

Published
by
chloe
on August 31, 2008
in Chloe
. 1 Comment

Ha!  Now you’re THIRTY too!  Welcome to the third decade!  We love you SO much!  Here’s what you were doing on this day THIRTY YEARS AGO at Willamette Falls Community Hospital in Oregon City!  Happy birthday my Sweet!!! XOXO

Summer Keeps Whizzing By!

Published
by
chloe
on August 27, 2008
in Ayden Thomas, Chloe and Owen Patrick
. 1 Comment

I just can’t seem to catch my breath this summer!  Every time I stop to look, another month has screamed by and I’m frantic to scribble down some notes before I forget the details!  Sorry folks, it’s been a jam-packed summer this 2008!  On to business…

A very happy 30th birthday to our dear Uncle Chad! Yipee!  You’re officially old like me!

Uncle Chad turns 30 years old!

Uncle Chad turns 30 years old!

We said “Goodbye!” to Patrick’s beloved $4.90/gal diesel guzzling truck via private sale on Craigslist.

Daddy's monster truck goes bye-bye!

Daddys monster truck goes bye-bye!

We made our second annual trip to Antique Powerland:

 

Ayden has completed his first-ever series of Level A swimming lessons at the Conestoga Aquatic Center!

Ayden exits the pool after his first-ever swimming class!

Ayden exits the pool after his first-ever swimming class!

A fun family trip to Seaside to visit the family and the beach - it’s been awhile!

Chloe and the boys on the Seaside beach.

Chloe and the boys on the Seaside beach.

We helped Emery celebrate his THIRD birthday!  What a BIG BOY! :-)

Emery devours the traditional BR Clown Cone.

Emery devours the traditional BR Clown Cone.

Our annual family trip to the Clackamas County Fair to let the kids ride the rides, see the animals, walk through the exhibits and generally experience good old-fashioned fair atmosphere!

Lindsay, Emery and Ayden trying to have fun in the 95 degree heat!

Lindsay, Emery and Ayden trying to have fun in the 95 degree heat!

Whew!  I wasn’t kidding when I said we’ve been busy!  This pictorial jaunt takes you through our past four weeks and pretty much brings you up to date.  I’ll try to post the associated galleries that have the many, many other pictures that go along with each of these adventures - but this is what you get for tonight!  I’m going to bed!  Enjoy! :-)

Updating the Rest…

Published
by
chloe
on July 26, 2008
in Chloe
. 0 Comments

So I’ve just finished a marathon of photo uploading from the past month, the highlight of which was certainly the nice long visit from Nanna! The photo above was taken at the end of Nanna’s visit, the last time all the cousin’s were together for a photo op. There are more pictures in the gallery, which also includes some photos from the 4th of July holiday. The next gallery has a selection of photos from a fun trip to Oaks Park Amusement Park’s preschool morning (held twice weekly during the summer) that we took with the Boisvert’s and our friend’s Bridget and Everett. The kids get the chance to ride on a train, go on amusement park rides, and the morning concludes with story time complete with milk and cookies. The last gallery includes a fun family trip to the Oregon Zoo we took a couple weekends ago to show Daddy the dinosaur exhibit finally, the fun and festivities at the biennial family reunion “farm party” (Patrick’s mom’s side of the family), and some silly pictures from hanging around in the family room here at home.  Enjoy!

Family Housekeeping

Published
by
chloe
on July 26, 2008
in Chloe and Owen Patrick
. 1 Comment

Time to play catch-up once again!  Sorry folks, consistency is not my forte these days!  Owen turned 14 months old (geez… a week and a half ago already! What kind of mother am I???).  He’s still not walking, though really should be.  He has the strength and balance to do so, but he just hasn’t taken it upon himself to become that independent… still likes to hang on Mama’s leg and whine to be picked up ;-)  Thus far, it’s working - the whining, not the walking.  He has pushed through both his eye teeth, though none of his molars, which the pediatricians says is a bit unusual and out of order - as usual, Owen does things his own way and by his own schedule.  Always has, always will.   His funny little personality is getting bigger everyday.  He has mastered the “fake” laugh (HA HA HA) which he uses when he hears other people laughing… which makes us laugh even more! :-)  He believes fully that every furry animals makes the sound “Meow!”.  He uses the hand sign for ‘all done’ properly after meals and when he’s finished all the snacks on his tray.  He loves taking showers with Daddy and big brother and doesn’t mind all the water running down his face while he sits on the shower floor playing toys.  He can climb up onto Ayden’s bed and Mommy and Daddy’s bed via step-stool without help, much to our chagrin.  Owen’s a much more adventurous and fearless little climber monkey than Ayden ever was, which makes it that much more difficult to keep the bumps and bruises at bay.  He’s very much a music man and will enthusiastically rock back and forth or clap and smile when he hears peppy, upbeat music playing.  It’s adorable to watch him choose a car, truck or train toy and orient it properly on the floor, then crawl along, pushing it as he goes, making his own “engine” sound as drool pours from his mouth!  He’s also learned the sound of the garage door opening when Daddy arrives home in the evening and he’ll squeal “DADA!!” and make a beeline for the garage door to greet him.  He is a total riot and he makes us laugh every single day.  What a beautiful little spirit!  He just gets more and more fun as the days goes by!

As for the statistically significant medical update, here’s how that played out:

Height:  32.5″ (95th percentile)

Weight:  24lb 6oz (60th percentile)

Head:  49.5 cm (100th percentile)

In summary, tall and skinny.  His next official doctor visit is at 18 months.

On Faucets…

Published
by
chloe
on July 5, 2008
in Ayden Thomas, Chloe and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Ayden was busying himself with a colorful pile of large Legos in the middle of the rug in the family room. He had used the square lid to the Lego storage tub as a foundation for his current work of art. He had carefully stacked Legos all around the perimeter of the lid and about three or four blocks high. On one “wall” he had placed three blocks perpendicular to the rest. This was the point at which I looked over to see what he was up to and asked as much:

Me: Hey Bud, whatcha building over there?

Ayden: Um, it’s a bathtub.

Me: Oh, a bathtub. That’s very clever! And what are those three blocks on that side?

Ayden: These are the faucets.

Me: How come there are three?

Ayden: [pointing to them one at a time] This is the “Hot”, this is the “Cold”, and this is the “Very Refreshing.”

Come on… you just can’t make this stuff up! :-) Kids really do say the darnedest things! It doesn’t get much cuter than that!

My Big Boy

Published
by
chloe
on July 5, 2008
in Ayden Thomas and Chloe
. 1 Comment

Ayden & Everett turn three years old!

My Ayden Thomas is now THREE YEARS OLD! So hard to believe that three years have flown by already! It is utterly impossible to remember life without our little boys any longer! Ayden’s third year has been full of growth, change, fun, excitement, challenge, learning, discovery, wonder, laughter, love and all of the other things his little world should be full of! He can no longer remember life without his little brother, and it’s so fun watching them interact more and more as Owen becomes a little boy too! Nothing better than having a built-in playmate!

To celebrate Ayden’s third year we threw a shared birthday celebration with our friends (met through the MOMS club) the Clough’s - Everett is pictured above with Ayden. The boys are only a week apart in age and are as close to “best friends” as you can get when you’re three years old! The Clough’s generously offered up their home to host the party, which was very well attended by many mutual friends from the MOMS club, in addition to a few family members and other friends. We managed to pick a day with record high heat (I think we ended up hitting the 97 degree mark that day), so we went with a water theme out of necessity. We had several pools set up in the backyard, as well as a Slip And Slide. We also gave each child a large squirt bottle as part of their ‘goodie bag’ which proved to be a hit! Bridget (Everett’s mom), in her eternal craftiness, homemade an adorable Thomas the Train cake, complete with three cargo cars made out of ice cream sandwiches. The entire cake was delicious and entirely devoured! There are many photos of all the festivities in the new gallery, in addition to some random photos from around the house during Nanna’s visit over the past few weeks.

After the party, we headed back to our house (with the cousins in tow) to open presents. For the first time in his three years, he has actually switched from being entirely truck/tractor focused to a very recent and extreme dinosaur fascination. I think this was triggered by the exhibits at both OMSI and the Oregon Zoo. For about a month now, he has not been able to get enough dinosaurs! This made birthday presents both fun and easy - and he was totally thrilled! As a side note, this is again something I’m having to come to grips with as a mother of boys. There are just some things you never expect to really know in great detail, including, but not limited to: parts/pieces/models/types/styles of tractors/trucks/heavy equipment/chainsaws/tools, scientific names of dinosaurs including the pertinent information about habitat/diet/behavior. I’m sure we’ve only scratched the surface. ;-)

Ayden’s 3-year doctor appointment is scheduled for the 17th, so I’ll have all the customary and statistical (though otherwise useless) information to report then. ;-)

Owen turns 13 months!

Published
by
chloe
on June 20, 2008
in Owen Patrick
. 1 Comment

So I missed the mark by a few days… what can I say? We’ve been a busy lot around here! Nanna arrived last Friday to visit and help out with watching the boys while Patrick and I frantically try to gut and update the interior of our rental property out in Troutdale (nearly an hour drive each way from our house!).  Each of the past four weekends, in thier entirety, have been consumed by this… so Nanna’s help is very much appreciated, and the boys are LOVING Nanna time! 

So back to Owen… in his 13th month he really managed to perfect his “riding” abilities.  If we put him on any of the little tricycle-type bikes we have, he can really rip along (both forward and backward), and if he can pull up along side something to grab onto, he can successfully dismount and crawl off to some other trouble!  He still can’t turn or steer at all, so if he ends up running into something, he just complains until someone comes to rescue him or he gets off and heads for greener pastures.

He also added a few baby words to his vocabulary… besides “da-da”, he can now say, “Nana”, “caca”, and very enthusiastically “Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” while doing the rapid open-close hand wave with both hands.  You can really tell that he’s becoming very aware of his world and surroundings.  In the past few days he has starting copying our cat when he meow’s.  He actually almost sounds like a real “meow” - it’s very cute!  He can also oink like a piggy, and sniff to smell things when he hears other people make a sniffing sound.  He’s also become quite animated with the faces he makes during meal time, especially once he’s full or if he doesn’t like the flavor of something!  As of today, four days past the official 13 month mark, he is pushing through BOTH eye teeth simultaneously.  Joy.  He’s a misery guts and not sleeping well because of it… and neither are we.  On to the fourteenth month and Owen’s second Indepence Day, though first one where he’ll actually be aware of all the fireworks and commotion… should be fun!

Owen’s Birthday Party

Published
by
chloe
on May 22, 2008
in Owen Patrick
. 2 Comments

As promised, I have finally posted a bunch of photos from Owen’s birthday party this past Sunday.  It was an absolutely beautiful day and we had a great turnout with family and friends.  As is tradition in our family, Owen had his first taste of ice cream in the form of a Baskin Robbins Clown Cone.  My mom started this yummy tradition with me and my siblings almost 30 years ago - and still going strong.  The highlight of the party were the large household spray bottles that Auntie Korrisa brought for the kids to use as squirt guns (on steroids!).  There are tons of photos for your viewing pleasure!  Happy Birthday Owen!!!  :-)