Tubbies!

One of Owen and Richie's father/son activities is watching Teletubbies on PBS on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I had no idea this was going on until the other day. Richie logged onto PBS.org and found all kinds of interactive games designed for little kids. Owen had so much fun playing all the games, and now he asks us to play Tubbies on the computer. Here he is playing a hide and seek game. He insists on operating the mouse all by himself. The screen is a little hard to make out, but basically you click the mouse on a red brick wall and different Teletubbies pop out, followed by a vacuum cleaner looking creature name Noisy Nunu or Naughty Nunu...we can't really decipher what they're saying. At any rate, Owen shouts "Doodoo!" every time it comes on the screen and bursts out laughing...

A busy month!

It's hard to believe May is almost over! The moving process has taken up all of my free time typically set aside for blogging (ha!) but I figured I could at least do a quick update of our month so far...

Dylan came over to play a couple of weeks ago and got taken out by Owen's weedeater skills. Seriously.

Owen is really into costumes, as you will see in the next two pictures as well. He loves for Richie and me to join in. This particular day, he wouldn't take his cowboy hat off for anything.

He came across my Pink Lady glasses and thought they were so fun! For anyone who witnessed the umbilical hernia days, check out that nice innie!

Mommy's tennis shoes...he didn't make it too far in these. I'm just glad he picked tennis shoes and not high heels!

We've got a hectic week ahead of us. We'll be packing and loading all week and hopefully can spend Saturday morning cleaning before we lock the door behind us forever! We are so excited to get moved into our new place. We'll have a couple of weeks of in between time where we'll be staying in Brentwood until we close on the new house. Our computer will be packed away, so it's unlikely that I'll be able to update Owen's blog much. We're also really excited that Gran and Pop will be coming up next weekend! Hopefully we'll have nice weather so we can go to the zoo.

A couple of quick notes:
Owen's new favorite song: B-i-n-g-o
Favorite food: suckers
Favorite book: Easy Street
New sayings: "Aw, man." "Hi there!"

New House Resolutions

After a loooooong time of looking, two failed offers, and a last minute bidding war, Richie and I have finally secured a contract on a house! The last two times we have bought a home, the process was painless, simple, quick. This time...well, let's just say that hasn't been the case. Thanks to our sweet and savvy Realtor and good friend, Linnet, our offer was accepted on the PERFECT house for us! Now that we have started the packing process, I am faced with the reality of how desperately I need to change some of my domestic habits. I pride myself on being extremely organized and efficient at work. My office is always immaculate and every piece of paper that crosses my desk is meticulously scrutinized and filed in the most appropriate place. Once I get home, all that organization and attention to detail just flies out the window...or gets buried under a hairball. NO MORE! With this move, I want to turn over a new leaf. So with that in mind, here are my New House Resolutions...

1. Learn how to wash clothes with bleach. I know my mother is burying her head in her hands on this one. What can I say...I've always been too intimidated to use bleach. I am going to google it if I have to. Clorox is about to be my new best friend.
2. Don't keep things I don't really need. You know, like the electric bill stubs I still have from 9 years ago, owner's manuals to cell phones from the Zach Morris era, you get the picture.
3. Create a place for every thing. I have gone to our neighborhood Family Dollar and purchased an assortment of plastic totes and my favorite gizmo ever, a label maker! I now have perfectly labeled bins for Owen's art supplies, our office supplies, stationery, photos (that's an organization project I'm not quite ready to tackle), and my sewing gear. Our new house has the most pimped out closets I have ever seen in my life. I intend to utilitze every shelf, rack and drawer to its fullest potential!
4. Start fixing the house up from Day 1. Our last 2 homes, we waited until we were ready to sell to make some last minute improvements. We asked ourselves each time why we waited so long to try these quick and inexpensive projects. Going into this house, I want to make changes that we will appreciate early on rather than right at the bitter end.
5. Decorate in a way that really reflects our taste. We have sold several items on Craigslist and set aside that money for our New Furniture fund. Our decor needs a facelift, and we have decided that by selling what we don't like we will be forced to replace it.
6. Invite our friends and family to come enjoy our new home! The last couple of years, we have felt so uncomfortable having people come over. The ultra narrow kitchen and compartmentalized layout of our rental home make it a weird flow for entertaining. Plus, with all the excess junk we've been toting around, the room we intended to be the guest bedroom wound up being the pet/empty box/clothes that don't fit catch-all room. We are excited to entertain and actually host people in our new house without forcing them to sleep on a futon mattress on the floor.
7. Meet our neighbors. This one sounds really dumb...and that's because it is. We have only had a couple of conversations in passing with the neighbor to our left and we've only even laid eyes on the neighbor on the right about 3 times. With our house in Jackson and our Greenwood Ave house, we were lucky to have really sweet neighbors...the kind that aren't always in your business but are always around if you need a hand. The Carroll's actually left us some homemade moonshine for a welcome present! I doubt we'll ever have neighbors that cool again, but we won't find out unless we go knocking on some doors.

So there we have it...a short list of things I will be thrilled if to accomplish even half of. Once we get moved in and settled, I will have to post a picture of all my beautifully labeled totes. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of our new place! We close on June 18th...you're welcome for a visit any ole time!

Front of the house

Isn't this front porch just begging for a WELL SECURED swing?!

Mother's Day through the years

2006--My beautiful mother!

2007--someone was NOT feeling cooperative!

2008--He insisted on wearing our hoods together.

What a special day! I spent the morning really savoring some one-on-one time with Owen. We went to the grocery store for milk and diapers, and he was such a good helper! He pushed the buggy back to the lobby and then carried a bag to the car. We met Gwyn and Tom for lunch, which was a little bit of a fiasco. Owen doesn't like sitting in high chairs anymore...he wants to sit in the booth with everyone else. Of course, this led to repeated trips back forth underneath the table. Poor Tom got the worst of it. He would be in the middle of a bite and all of a sudden Owen's head would pop up and he would crawl into Tom's lap or grab him around the shoulders for a prolonged hug. We had a family dinner, thanks to Richie. And now we're listening to Richie and Jeremy play live on Lightning 100.

I generally think holidays can get a little goofy, but I must admit that I do love Mother's Day. I have an amazing mother, and it is a day to really reflect on how lucky I am to have such a wonderful mama. Richie's mother is so wonderful too--we just spent a week with her here in Nashville, and Owen just had a ball. She did such a great job with all 3 of her boys, and I will be over the moon if my sons turn out as loving and compassionate as her sons. And I am also so thankful to have so many friends who are mamas--Maggie, Callie, Holly...just so many beautiful, smart, generous and talented women in my life who inspire me to be a better mama and a better me. They are an amazing support to me, and I'm glad to be on this journey with such loving ladies. My little son has opened up a whole huge, wide world to me. He is the most incredible little being in the universe. I am so proud to be his mother! I'm truly fortunate in every way, and I recognize that especially on Mother's Day. Lots of love to all the mamas in my life!

Use your words

It is amazing how much Owen's verbal skills have just exploded over the last several months. He used to shake his head or just say "no" if you offered him food or a toy that he didn't want. Now, he gives us an explanation of why he doesn't want it..."No, I don't like rice." "No, I don't want to eat with a fork." "No, I don't like it...it's too spicy." On the flip side, he is also learning to articulate affirmatives..."Yes, I like Word World." "Yes, mommy, I want juice." "Yes, I like going to Dylan's house." He is also starting to pay compliments. The other night at dinner he said, "Mmm, this is good fish. Thank you, mommy." I said "You're welcome" and happily took all the credit, even though Richie made the meal. After all, I've heard that when your child is engaged in imagination play, you should never correct them. Who am I to argue with that?!

Addendums

On the 3 Wheelin' post...just wanted to point out that Owen found and claimed my black Swatch watch from 3rd grade as his own. I finally pried it off his arm and hid it...we'll see how long that lasts.

On the Chef Boy-are-you-cute post...reading back over this post, I'm sure people have wondered how Owen got mustard on his face by digging through my purse. The mustard was from a corndog (veggie!). I may be a snack-a-holic, but I haven't yet resorted to stashing condiments in my pockets or anything.

Happy May!