monday, august 25 entry we're back from our trip to st. louis to visit the yus! we had the best time. we arrived late thursday night, just after midnight. they have the cutest little place, and betsy has decorated it really well. she has a good eye for that kind of thing! friday alex cooked us breakfast while betsy worked a half day. we toured his school, saw some cadavers, and had lunch. then betsy, myself and owen spent the heat of the afternoon indoors while the boys went computer shopping. we did dinner friday night, and owen was great entertainment at the restaurant. he was in quite a mood, and ate more food than i ever knew a baby could pack away. saturday was spent downtown in the city, and at our hotel. keith used his employee discount to book us a double room at the renaissance grand in downtown st. louis. it was a beautiful hotel, and we took advantage of the swimming pool and hot tub. we ordered in pizza saturday night, then sunday (after owen slept 12 straight hours and then took a 2-hour nap!) we took in more of the downtown sights. we visited the coolest museum ever, the city museum. it is made entirely of recycled pieces, and it has caves and slides and everything a child's heart could desire. or an adult's, for that matter - betsy and i both took two turns sliding down the 3-story high slide that led to the exit. it was so fun. we left late sunday night, and now here we are. home again, home again. we took several pictures; i have posted them here.
i went in to work a couple of hours late this morning because of our 1AM arrival last night. i needed some sleep. keith got up with owen this morning and let me sleep. have i mentioned how wonderful he is lately? he has started school again - he is taking five classes this time. he is so busy. i'm excited about him finishing this degree. what guy doesn't need three degrees, right? betsy and i like to joke that if she and i would have just gotten married instead of marrying alex and keith, we'd be rich! we both work to support our degree-seeking men (of course, keith is working right now). i think both of us have several years left to be primary breadwinner before our guys finish school, but once they do, look out! it's life of luxury for us. pedicures and pf chang's every day.
tonight i let owen feed himself spaghetti. please see results below.
also, along with the guitar and harmonica, owen has decided to take up the keyboard. keith showed him how to "play" the keys, and it's his new favorite thing ever. he is always crawling into the music room to play it. several times he has accidentally hit a key that turns on a little rhythm, and he just has to dance. here he is in action: my car broke down today. luckily my sitter's husband was home and fixed it so we could get to our house alive. that car is surely on its last legs. if only it would take a permanent vacation so i could have a new one!
nothing else going on this week until friday, when owen and i hope a plane to longview to visit the folks. i'm excited about seeing their new place, and resting a little from constant owen-ing. also, kyle will be there, so it's instant fun. until then, work work work! 8.25.02 yesterday keith woke up with the idea in his head of the shoney's breakfast bar. i have been to shoney's only a few times in my life, and was never much impressed, but he has been wanting to go since we moved here only minutes from the town's shoney's. so we got around and went. it wasn't that bad. but i saw keith eat more food than i have ever seen in my life. five plates of food. FIVE. tuesday, august 19 entry i had some friends from work over this weekend. i had a great time just hanging out, eating, watching television. then we took one of our friends, cami, to get her first tattoo. she is interning with us this summer. she has one year of college left in grand rapids, michigan. she wanted to get a reminder of her summer in tennessee, so she got an iris tattoo, which is our state flower. it is quite pretty. after the tattoo, we went back to my house and the girls finally left around 1AM. keith went into work that day around 2PM, so i figured he’d be home by 1AM-ish. but he wasn’t home until 9AM the next morning. i couldn’t believe it. this is why we hate his job. he did get a raise yesterday though, so we'll take that for now.
sunday was pretty boring for poor owen. i got into bed around 1AM, and owen had me back up around 6AM, and of course keith didn’t sleep all night, so we were suffering. i just laid on the couch or in the floor and let owen crawl all over me. he thought it was some sort of game, and i didn’t have to move much. so tired! that’s the thing about being new parents – most new parents have a way to take a break, give the baby to friends or family for the day and sleep, or just have time to themselves, or doing something, anything that allows them to think about something other than their child for at least a few minutes (sounds like bad mommy speaking). that is what we are lacking. there really is no one here to take owen and give us a break. owen is a fabulous baby, happy most of the time, and great at entertaining himself. but every parent needs a break every now and then, right? right?
on saturday when keith was mowing the lawn for company later, he ran over a bird with the lawnmower. it was so gross. i knew there was a dead bird in the yard because i saw dante’ eyeing it one day. i forgot about it until he told me about the guts flying everywhere. i’m glad i don’t have man-chores like mowing and bird-gut cleanup.
yesterday the babysitter called me at work. she said owen was breaking out all over his body in a terrible blotchy rash, even on his face. he was completely covered within the course of an hour. i called his pediatrician, who told me that if the blotches were raised, he needed to take some benedryl and be seen immediately. if they weren’t raised, it was probably a heat rash, and we could make an appointment for later in the day. i called the babysitter again, and she said it was not raised, he did not have a fever, and he was acting perfectly normal. so i made an appointment for 430PM. when i arrived at the sitter’s to pick him up, she said the rash had started to go away. we stripped him down and it was almost completely gone, with just one little remaining splotch. so i cancelled his appointment, and there has been no reoccurrence. i think it was probably a heat rash from being strapped tightly in his carseat on such a hot day. our cars aren’t parked in our garage, so they get really hot during the day, and when keith takes him to the sitter’s, i’m sure they both get hot and sweaty until the air kicks in. i haven’t changed laundry soaps or anything else that’s a part of his routine, so i can’t imagine that it was an allergic reaction. the sitter felt bad for calling me at work, but i was like no way, that’s the kind of thing i want to know about, then leave it to me to make a decision about whether or not i should come get him, or take him to the doctor, whatever. i told her great job for calling. she really is a blessing. owen is crazy about her, and about the other kids.
this is a four-day workweek for me, and then friday we are off to see betsy and alex! i am so very excited to see them, and their home, and their city. i hope owen does well on the drive, because 5 hours of screaming is way more than i can handle. 8.19.02 there were no entries on this day. saturday, august 09 entry what a lazy day so far. keith went to work early this morning, so owen and i have done nothing of value, just lay around and play. he took a nap from 9AM to 11AM, so i did the same. he got up, took a bath, ate lunch, we played a little, and now at 1PM, he is back down for a second nap. he didn't sleep that well last night, so i guess he is making up for it. also he naps better on the weekends when we are home together all day, as opposed to being whisked away to wal-mart or the sitter's. part of his sleep problem last night had to do with his daddy coming home from work at 830PM and getting owen up to play with him! he had been in bed asleep for almost two hours, and keith wanted to see him, so he got up and we played until after 10PM. crazy daddy.
thursday night was great. we met terry olson, his daughter krista, and her three children for dinner. they came through nashville on their way to knoxville for a family wedding, and they stopped off to have dinner with us. it was nice to see them. i love seeing familiar faces from home. krista's kids are hilarious and adorable, and owen enjoyed being around them. we ate at the infamous pf chang's, my restaurant of choice as well as my dad's, and i think they truly enjoyed it. i'm glad we got the chance to see them. the funniest part of their story is when they stopped in conway to eat lunch, and terry picked up two hitchhikers holding a "tennessee" sign and brought them all the way here! he cracks me up.
i am on the warpath for a new job for my husband. i despise his current employer! they run all the AV for the largest hotel in the area, and now they have taken on the fairground and the downtown convention center, with no additional staff. so keith is working every day, tons of overtime, and now we never see him at all. second shift is bad enough, but he doesn't even get any days off. i hate it. i am searching everywhere online and in the local papers for something different, but his degree is so specialized, it is hard to find just anything that he will enjoy. but his job stinks. i get furious just thinking about it! anyone in nashville hiring??
here are the pictures i took of owen last week. two of them are during bathtime, and one is his biscuitface during snacktime. i can't believe what a big boy he is. almost ten months old. last night he took a toy car and ran it along the ground making motor noises. what?! when did he learn that? he also has picked up ma-ma and na-na, but i've only heard mama three or four times. he was looking for me the other day when i was in the kitchen, and he called "mama, mama, mama." so i know he can say it. he's just trying to torture me by not saying it.
8.09.02 "i think the baby had/is having another growth spurt, because his movement has decreased, and my exhaustion has increased – not to mention that my stomach grew over the weekend. when i came to work monday, a few ladies were like, "what happened to you?!" apparently i expanded." wednesday, august 06 entry happy fourth anniversary, keith!
what a difference four years makes! in four years we have moved out of state twice, graduated college, purchased our first house, and added The Boy to the family. we're older, and i like to think a little wiser, and closer to each other than ever. every year is a happier one, and i love you more than ever! many more to come.
monday, august 04
entry
wow, august already? how can that be? where has the year gone? my boy will be ten months old in a week. again, wow.
speaking of the darling angel, he has a new trick. dancing. funniest thing ever. when music plays, he stands up, leans on whatever sturdy object is closest, and bends his knees up and down, up and down. or if he's sitting down when the music starts, he waves his hands around. saturday i put an old george harrison record on, and he leaned on the record player speaker and "danced" for two entire songs. he loves music. he did his dancing routine during church yesterday, too. i never knew the entertainment value of children until i could laugh at my own.
owen's top two middle teeth broke through the skin with a bloody little flourish. each tooth is the size of a quarter, and there's about a six-inch gap between them. i exaggerate, but they aren't coming in pretty. only time will tell, but we have already informed him that he needs to do better at tooth-growing, because we don't want to pay for braces.
we had a pretty slow weekend, just lounging about, did a little grocery shopping and a little bit of housecleaning, but nothing too exciting. our four-year wedding anniversary is this wednesday, but keith has to work every night this week, so we will have to celebrate at a later date. we don't have anything planned yet, but i'm sure it will involve dinner. the question is, to take owen or not to take owen. he's pretty rad to hang out with right now, so we'll probably take him. he's always good for a laugh.
i have a few new pictures to get up, hopefully tonight, of owen's bathtime. i love bathtime because he has such fun in the tub. and those eyelashes look so pretty when they get wet!
