The Brothers Sahnow

Sahnow Christmas Card

2009-12-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

Sahnow Christmas Card

2009-12-20T21:10:00.001-08:00

6 Month Hiatus

2009-09-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yikes. It's the end of the summer, and I have fallen far short of my goal of catching up the spring and keeping up-to-date with the summer on here. Actually, falling fall short implies that I started and then didn't achieve the goal. I never even started. So, in order to not feel like a completely terrible mom, I'm going to back up and dedicate a post to Quincy's 2nd birthday, and then I'm going to do a catch-all, or highlight film, of our summer. And then I'll just try to keep up from here on out...

4 Quick Years and One Amazing Little Man

2009-03-19T22:53:00.001-07:00

Owen's 1st Birthday

Owen's 2nd Birthday

Owen's 3rd Birthday

Owen's 4th Birthday

I guess when you're caught up in the whirlwind of life, 4 years can just fly by like it was nothing. It certainly seems unreal to me that we celebrated Owen's 4th birthday last weekend. I'm sure I'm going to say this every year on his birthday. It's just amazing how quickly it goes by. On the other hand, the idea that there was life before Owen is totally surreal (and ludicrous?).

Owen is just an incredible little boy in so many ways. He is loving and sensitive, funny and silly and inquisitive, determined (stubborn?) and ambitious and independent, athletic and creative and dramatic and musical. He is so curious. I am particularly loving his "I wonder" questions these days. A couple of weeks ago he said, "I wonder how the Earth holds itself up? Maybe it has something to do with the moon." Today, after his 4-year-old check-up (which included two shots through which he very bravely sat stiff upper-lipped, determined not to cry) he wanted to know where blood comes from and what it does. Try explaining blood vessels and oxygen transport to a 4-year-old. He very thoughtfully soaks in all kinds of information.

Owen is such a great big brother. That is not to say that he doesn't ever do inconsiderate things to Quincy, but the sweet and loving things that he does far outweigh and outnumber the not-so-loving things. I love the way he takes Quincy by the hand and proudly announces to anyone he encounters, "This is my baby brother, Quincy!" And there's no sweeter sound than the two boys cracking each other up until both of them can barely breathe.

Owen has many interests, and is so active. He is in basketball, swimming lessons, and soccer, and he takes such pride in any new accomplishment. I love to see the twinkle in his eye when he reports on these accomplishments, like his new personal best number of dribbles at basketball (43), or how many seconds he swam with his face in the water and his legs "mostly straight."

Owen has his moments of driving me crazy. I tell him this, and it doesn't seem to bother him, which is fine. However, if he does something that elicits a sharper tongued response, he often cries and says, "I'm crying because I'm sad at myself for doing that." He is so good at verbalizing his emotions.

Owen loves his friends, and he is super loyal. He thinks about and talks about his friends all the time. He spends Wednesdays with my mom and his buddy, Joaquin. Owen and Joaquin have such a great time together, and my mom takes them on wonderful adventures to places like the sea lion caves, the zoo in Portland, the children's museum in Salem, basketball class, our own backyard, etc. Now, when we're driving in the car listening to kids music, Owen often tells me, "Skip this song, Mom, because Joaquin loves this song, and we can't listen to it without him. We need to save it."

This post really could be endless, so I'm going to wrap it up. I just want to have a record in the future of what Owen was like when he turned 4. I guess I should add some growth stats. We went to the doctor today, and Owen weighs 40.6 pounds and is 41 3/4 inches tall. That makes him 80th percentile for height and 79th for weight, which means he is perfectly proportionate.

I'll do a separate post about Owen's birthday celebrations.

I love you, Owen! (More than you will EVER possibly know)

Fast Forward

2009-02-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've been avoiding my blog for weeks and weeks now because I didn't want to deal with catching up on everything from Christmas until now. I finally decided that instead of catching up, I will just fast forward. So...my last blog posting was about Owen being a sheep in the Christmas pageant, and here I am 2 months later about to blog about sheep again.

That's right, it's lambing season. February means those oh-so-adorable little lambies bounding around the fields. It also means free entertainment for the kids in Corvallis. OSU's sheep research barn is open to the public daily during lambing season. It's a pretty drive out to the lambing barns, which are on the edge of town. There are many pens containing sheep in all stages. Some are full of super pregnant ewes sitting around panting and waiting to give birth (does that hit a little too close to home, Britt?) And others are full of ewes and lambs. There is one random alpaca in one of the pens.

Anyway, the lambs are darling, and the kids love to go. Quincy keeps saying, "Go back sheep. Go back sheepies!" Luckily, tomorrow is his day at home with Abuela, and she will take him for his 3rd trip.

Here are some pictures from last Sunday's jaunt to see the lambs.

Christmas Pageant

2009-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

Our church decided to resurrect an old tradition of having a Christmas pageant this year. I think they did a great job of incorporating all ages of kids and youth. It was narrated by high schoolers, middle school youth were the principles, elementary school kids were the wise people, townspeople, and shepherds. And preschool-kinder kids were the sheep. This is the category into which Owen fell, and he had so much fun! I'll see if I can get some video posted at some point because it was classic as Owen belted out "Behold That Star" just a little louder and a little ahead of everyone else. Liz, the senior minister, told me afterward, "Owen stole the show." And at church the following Sunday she said with a chuckle, "People are still talking about your son." And to think that I thought there was a possibility that he would decide not to go on stage at all. Anyway, the pageant was great! All of the kids did such a great job!

Owen, Rachel, and Grace in the costume room

Owen getting his makeup on

During the pageant

After the pageant, we came home and lit the advent candles and put out treats for Santa.

Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma's

2009-01-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

As always, Christmas this year was VERY busy and VERY fun! We were nervous that all the snow in Portland would keep Britt, Pat, Rory, and Madi home. However, they endured a 5 1/2 hour car ride (yes, you read that correctly) from Portland to Corvallis on the 23rd, and we were so happy to have them in town for our traditional Christmas Eve celebration at Grandpa Stan and Grandma Linda's.

Quincy and Aunt Madi

Madi got the boys this great toy--it's kind of like a giant soft frisbee. Quincy especially loves it!

Owen and Quincy opening their trampoline from Grandpa and Grandma!

Owen didn't believe that the box contained a trampoline.

I love this picture of Rory chillin' on the chair at (almost) the end of presents.

Wait! There's one more present...

Grandpa Stan totally refurbished Britt's old dollhouse for Rory. He spent countless hours on it, and it's BEAUTIFUL!

All of the kids were excited about Rory's new dollhouse!

It was a really fun afternoon. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Snow Days

2009-01-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Northwest was hit with some very uncharacteristic weather in the middle of December. Lots and LOTS of snow! Here in Corvallis during the week before Christmas vacation we had school canceled on Monday and Tuesday, had a late start Wednesday, a regular day Thursday, and then school canceled again on Friday. It was such a weird way to head into winter break. After our snow from that Friday disappeared, we just got a lot of rain. Salem, Portland, and points north all got dumped on for several more days. Here are some pics of the boys in the snow.

Weekend in Newport

2008-12-09T18:28:00.001-08:00

This past weekend Brady's parents treated the family to our second annual weekend trip to Newport for the Sea of Lights event at the aquarium. They rented a house across the street from the beach with a gorgeous view. The weather was crystal clear, which made the view that much better.

Quincy and Rory looking like twinsies in their monkey jammies...

Grandma Linda brought stuff to make dough ornaments, and I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or the grown-ups...

Later we went for a walk and look who we found wandering the streets! Owen told Santa that he is hoping for a telescope for Christmas. He also put in a good word for Quincy who was napping back at the house.

Even though it was cool and crisp, the sun made for a beautiful day at the beach. I love this action picture of Owen running on the beach.
Rory on the beach...
Owen and Mommy...

The cousins spent a lot of time in the back bedroom reading, playing, and making mischief. Here are Quincy and Rory playing and maybe wrestling a little...And here is the end result...Quincy commandeered Rory's pacifier from her. You can see the look of utter pride in his accomplishment on his face.

I love this picture! Quincy is feeling his new baby cousin move in Aunt Britt's belly.
When it got dark it was time to head to the aquarium for Sea of Lights. They put thousands of Christmas lights around the outside parts of the aquarium. All of the indoor part of the aquarium are open. They have carolers and face painting. It was so pretty.

Last year Owen chose a reindeer with a scarf. This year he chose a harbor seal with a Santa hat.

I was amazed at how still Quincy sat to get his face painted. Here is the end result...a sparkly snowflake. In this picture he is pointing out a huge halibut to Grandpa.

Here are Owen and Quincy touching the anemones and sea stars.
It was such a fun weekend! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Sleep Laugher

2008-11-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

So, we've all heard of sleep walkers and sleep talkers. Tonight I witnessed something that I've never even heard of before...sleep laughing! Here's what happened...
Owen had been asleep for about 45 minutes when I took Quincy up to the boys' bedroom to put him to bed. He had finished nursing, and I was just leaning over to put his groggy little self in bed when suddenly all of the smoke alarms in our house started going off.
Noni Jo was downstairs preparing Milanese for tomorrow's feast, and the smoke alarms started going off. All of them. Seriously. Every single one...including all three upstairs, which are located in the boys' room, in the bonus room, and in the guest room. All three of the upstairs smoke alarms are located within 20 feet of Owen's bed. Why am I telling you this? Because throughout the cacophony that was ensuing in Owen's bedroom, he did not budge. Not an inch. My point? Only that he was deeply sound asleep.
About 15 minutes later, things were all calm again, and I was again in the boys' room attempting, for the second time now, to put Quincy to bed. I was swaying with Quincy in my arms and softly singing "Lady Moon" to him when I thought I heard a little giggle. Then it was silent. Then I definitely heard another little giggle very clearly coming from Owen's bed. Pretty soon he was chortling and then full on laughing. It was so funny that it was all I could do not to laugh out loud myself. I nuzzled my face into Quincy's blanket and tried to stifle my own giggles as I thought about children's laughter and how it is one of the things that I am so thankful for.

Halloween

2008-11-19T19:35:00.001-08:00

I'm so behind with my blog (as usual). I figured I should at least get our Halloween pictures on here before Thanksgiving gets here.

We went downtown and trick-or-treated the businesses. It's always a lot of fun. We paused for dinner at our favorite taqueria before coming back to our neighborhood and trick-or-treating a few houses. Then it was home to hand out some candy, and the kids were in bed by 7:00. The perfect Halloween!

Farmer Quincy and his ridiculously awesome barn that Grandpa Stan made for him

Sir Owen of Midvale and his buddy Batman (that's our friend Caden)

Farmer Q riding in his barn

QB1Our friends, Alex and Mia

This particular Snow White is Owen's friend, Livvy D. Never have I met a little girl with more character than Livvy D. I'd love to write a children's book about her.
Trick-or-treating at our friends, Tana and Jeff's, house

Quincy thought it was really fun to rifle through the candy we were handing out at home.

Pre-Halloween Festivities

2008-11-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

First the pumpkin patch...Then the jack-o-lantern...
And, finally, the Monster March Halloween parade in Britt, Pat, and Rory's neighborhood...

Election Day conversation

2008-11-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

I still can't put into words my thoughts and emotions on what transpired in our country yesterday, so I'm not even going to try right now. However, I do want to capture in writing a little conversation that Owen and I had on Monday night.
Mommy: Tomorrow is Election Day!
Owen: I know what that means!
Mommy: You do?
Owen: Yeah, that means they're going to count all the votes and either McCain or Obama will be our next president.
Mommy: That's right, Owen! And what do you think...?
Owen: (with a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face) Obama!

Sweat Pea

2008-10-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

Owen took a nap at preschool yesterday, which means he was up very late last night. At 10:00 I knew he was much more awake than I, so I decided to just have him go to bed with me in our bed. That way if I fell asleep before him, it wouldn't matter. Owen and I snuggled into bed (Brady was still out in the living room watching basketball), and he said to me, "I had so much fun with you today, Mommy. I love you. Thanks, sweat pea." It was so funny. I have called him sweat pea on and off since he was born. It was so funny to have him call me that.

Bedtime Books

2008-10-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

Owen and I were lying in his bed last night, and I was reading books to him. We had two left, and I asked him which one he wanted next. He told me, "You can read both of them at the same time, Mommy."
"No I can't," I said.
"Yes you can because you have two eyes."
Kids are so logical!

Canvassing for Obama

2008-10-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

Owen has been pretty interested in politics this year (see postings dating back to January). It's old hat around here, but someone commented on how amazed they were when Owen pointed out McCain as he flashed on the TV screen during a commercial break of a football game. It all started back in January when he totally cued into Brady and me as we watched the State of the Union address. A few months later he got to be in the front row as we listened to Bill Clinton campaign from a truck bed on the playground of my school. Finally, after months of talking about getting a new president, it's almost time to vote. So yesterday we headed out for a few hours of canvassing.

Brady was freshly back from a whirlwind trip to NY, so he stayed home, but my mom and I headed out with the boys. Owen and Quincy donned their oh-so-adorable Obama shirts, and off we went. We spent a few hours going door-to-door with a targeted list of democrats and independents. Owen, who is really into rhyming words these days, made up all sorts of little rhymes about Obama. My favorite was Obama Llama! GOTV canvassing is pretty fun because you're working with a targeted list which means you're pretty sure not to get angry people going on tirades about your candidate.

Of all the people we talked to, only one person was undecided. She was a very young, working class mom who had wanted to vote for Hillary and "just doesn't like how negative everything has gotten." She was holding her 8-month-old baby and was interested in my kids and the fact that I'm a teacher. We had a pretty lengthy conversation, and hopefully she'll decide to vote for Obama.

All in all, it was fun, and the kids were perfect! We'll be going out again next weekend. In addition to needing to uphold our county's record of highest voter turn-out, there are some really crazy ballot measures (as always around here) that people need to be voting on.

Shortly after we got home from canvassing, the mail arrived and in it were our ballots! Yea!!! I've always held on to my ballot until the last minute because I liked to vote on election day. I have been converted. I will fill out and turn in my ballot right away so that the local campaigns don't have to waste their resources (and I don't have to be bothered) by calling and knocking on our door. I would do it tonight except that Owen is already in bed, and I have been promising him for months that he could help me fill out my ballot!I don't think you can read Owen's shirt, but it says, "Obama-bama-bobama, banana-fana-fofama, me-my-momama, Obama!"

Mamas are meant to have padding.

2008-10-02T20:50:00.001-07:00

My mom explained to my during both of my pregnancies that part of putting on weight during pregnancy is building up nursing reserves in case of a famine. I have discovered another purpose for that extra padding. 4 years and 4 months later, I am back to my pre-Owen-pregnancy weight. This has created a kind of cool albeit expensive problem with my wardrobe and a completely different kind of problem with Owen.

A few weeks ago I was carrying Owen on my hip. He kept shifting his weight around and finally said, "Ow, you're hurting me." It took me a few seconds before I realized that he was talking about my hip bone poking him. I didn't think too much of it, but then about a week ago Owen was sitting on my lap in the rocking chair for bedtime stories. He was trying to lay his head back and rest it, but he kept wriggling around and said again, "Ow, I can't get comfortable," and I realized his head was banging into my collar bone. Poor kid.

I don't want to imply that I don't have any padding left, because I certainly do. I just need to get creative and find a way for Owen to rest his head on my butt or my upper legs when I read to him.

Labor Day Camping Trip

2008-09-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Labor Day weekend by going camping at Pacific City. It was so much fun!! Brady and I both had to work all day Friday, but Owen got to ride over to the coast in Grandpa Jimmy's big truck. They met Grandma Dawni there and had all kinds of fun all afternoon. Brady, Quincy, and I got there just in time for dinner.

Saturday treated us to a beautiful day at the coast. Grandma Dawni made us a delicious breakfast of hazelnut pancakes and sausages cooked on the camp stove as well as fresh fruit. Quincy was particularly fond of the fruit! Then Owen and Grandma Dawni settled in for a serious game of Candy Land. I think Owen bested Grandma 2 out of 3.

Later in the day, Brady, Owen and I played pickle ball (kind of like tennis but with paddles and a heavy whiffle ball) while Grandpa Jimmy watched with the dogs and Quincy ran amok on the court. It was all fun and games until he had a mishap with the rope from the net and fell on his forehead--pobrecito!

We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather at the coast, so we headed to the beach. The boys loved playing in the sand! We ate dinner on the patio at the Pelican Brewpub, which was great because the boys got to continue playing in the sand. Quincy was fascinated by the seagulls that were walking around on the roof and kept pointing to them saying, "ook!". It was pretty cute.

When we got back to the campsite after dinner Brady and Grandpa Jimmy built a fire while Grandma Dawni and I bathed the boys. Then we were ready for s'mores! We didn't have any regular chocolate, so Ghirardelli Square chocolate mint squares filled in just fine:)

Grandma Dawni headed for home after s'mores, and the boys headed to bed. The boys were so sweet slumbering away together in the coziness of the tent. It rained pretty hard that night, but thankfully we stayed dry.

Sunday was a great day too. There were a few lingering rain showers, but there were patches of beautiful sunshine throughout the day. After a yummy breakfast at the campground lodge, Grandpa Jimmy and I took the boys for a hike in the sand hills above the campground. Owen has such an adventuresome spirit that going on hikes with him is always a treat. And peaking of treats...we were treated to a cool find on our hike...bear tracks...and bunny tracks too! The previous night's rain made the sand just the right consistency to preserve the tracks.

Later I got to relax and read my book while Quincy took his nap and Brady and Grandpa Jimmy took Owen swimming. Then we all hiked down to the beach and had a wonderful time running on the beach and daring the waves to catch us, which in fact they did.

After a delicious dinner, we packed up and headed for home in order to be here when Annanne would return the next day.

Thanks for the great camping weekend, Grandpa Jimmy and Grandma Dawni! We can't wait to do it again!!

10 Highlights of summer 2008

2008-08-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I obviously didn't do a great job of keeping my blog up-to-date with our goings on this summer. Today is my last day of summer vacation, so as a tribute to summer 2008, here are 10 highlights from our wonderful summer (in no particular order).
1) New Mexico Trip. I actually did post about this, so I don't need to add any details here. It was so fun, and the boys are such great travelers!
2) Sunriver. We had two Sunriver trips this summer. I love going there! It's so relaxing, yet there is so much to do that you can't help but be super active. The boys and I had a great 5 days in Sunriver in July with Brittany, Rory, and Grandma Dawni. Our days consisted of walking to the village, riding a pony (Owen), playing at the pool, playing at the park, going into Bend, going to the High Desert Museum, watching for wildlife, oh, and Goody's (the old fashioned ice cream shop). This past weekend we went back to Sunriver, and this time Daddy went too! We met Brittany, Pat, Rory, Evan, Renee, Brian, and BrieAnne for a great 3 days. I was sick with a cold, so I wasn't as energetic, but we still had fun!
3) Otter Beach. For those of you that don't live in Corvallis, Otter Beach is the outdoor pool at our city pool. However, it's so much more than just a pool. There are baby slides, a big winding slide, a river current, and lots of other fun water play structures. During the weeks that we were actually in Corvallis this summer, we probably averaged 3 to 4 Otter Beach trips per week. It is SO much fun! I never managed to take my camera there. These pictures are from the Corvallis Parks & Rec website.
4) Ladies and Lads. Also known as Ladies and Babies. Ladies and Lads was a get-away weekend in Tahoe consisting of 4 ladies and 4 lads. The 4 ladies were my friends Caitlin, Lisa, and Trisha, and the 4 lads were Owen, Quincy, Finn (Caitlin's son--one month older than Quincy), and Clayton (Trisha's son--4 months older than Quincy). We stayed at Caitlin's uncle's beautiful "cabin" (and by "cabin" I mean palatial, top-of-the-line living) at Sugar Bowl where we made wonderful meals, played outside in the mountain air, swam a little in some lakes, and even got to go to the Tour de Fat festival (as in Fat Tire beer--my fave). It was so great to get to spend time with these ladies and the lads. I also discovered that, except for the whole polygamy thing, polygamists have got a great thing going. The communal living with so many moms was awesome! We had super delish meals made from scratch and a clean kitchen and house all the while with very happy babies who were being played with non-stop. It was like a well oiled machine. Can't wait for Ladies and Lads 2009!
5) Santa Rosa. We spent about two weeks in the SF Bay Area based out of Abuela and Noni Jo's house in Santa Rosa. I should really make a whole separate list of highlights just from Santa Rosa. We have so much fun when we go there!
*Howarth Park: this is the best park! Besides an incredible play area complete with spurting fountains, volcanoes with water for lava that the kids can control, a faux old-time town front, and livestock statues, there are pony rides, a petting zoo, a carousel, a mini train, and a lake where you can rent paddle boats and canoes. This is a favorite spot in Santa Rosa!
*Safari West: we went to Safari West for the second time. It's a gorgeous wildlife preserve in the hills between Santa Rosa and Calistoga. There are many, many, many different species of animals and birds. I think the highlight this time was a 7-week-old giraffe.
6) Great America and San Francisco. Brady flew down and met us for 5 days of our California trip. Brady loves amusement parks, so his special request was to go to Great America. We had a long and fun day there! Brad and Natalia met us for most of the day as well. Owen rode so many rides, and he discovered that he loves roller coasters. He's not tall enough for most of the big rides, but they have a large collection of kids rides there. Great America has also added a water park, so we got to cool off in the middle of the day.
The next day we headed back to Santa Rosa via San Francisco, and I got to catch up with some long-time friends. A super highlight of my summer was getting to meet up with my friend Bea and her 3 kids in Golden Gate park. We all rode the carousel, and then the kids all played very hard in the wonderfully redone kids' playground. The coolest part was this cement slide that you go down on pieces of cardboard. So fun! From there we rode the cable cars and then picked up Steph and had dinner with her at a very cool (and kid friendly) restaurant called Q. We got Quincy an adorable shirt from there.

7) The Olympics. Watching the Olympics was so exciting! And thank goodness for Tivo so we didn't have to stay up until 2am all the time. Also so Owen could see some of the Olympics. He got really into it. He loved watching the USA/China basketball game, but had a really hard time deciding who he was routing for since he likes Yao Ming but also the USA, especially Lebron. He also got very interested in swimming and, of course, is now a big Michael Phelps fan. In fact, he told me that he wants to learn to swim like Michael Phelps. He even pointed him out on a magazine cover.
8) Fairs. As in the Sonoma County Fair and the Oregon State Fair. We got to go to the Sonoma County Fair twice while we were in Santa Rosa, and we went to the Oregon State Fair with Grandma, Grandpa, Brittany, and Rory yesterday. Owen and Quincy both love seeing the animals. Quincy is fearless and wants to walk right into the barns, stables, and pens with the animals. Owen was such a big boy and rode many rides in the kids midway all by himself. We all had more than our fair share of fried food. A really fun thing about the Sonoma Country Fair is that they have horse racing, so we got to go to the races. Brady and Abuela especially had fun taking Owen to the paddock to look at the horses in the upcoming races. Owen and Abuela were good at picking the winners!
9) Our Back Yard. Thanks (and I mean many, many, MANY thanks) to Annanne, Abuela, and Noni Jo, we had some major work done in our back yard this summer. We extended our patio to the fence with cobblestone pavers, and put in a cobblestone path around the perimeter of our NEW lawn! It's our little haven out there. Quincy is enamored with the little red car, so he goes out there, climbs into the car, and then will wait for a very long time for someone to come and motor him around the track. Owen loves to run laps and always asks people to race him and commands his dad to "make the call" during the race. I am happy to see all the plants and flowers around the edge of the yard thriving.
10) Just being together. This year will be a big change for everyone in our household because I am going back to work full-time. Because of that, I have really and truly savored this summer of having so much time to be with Owen and Quincy doing wonderful and fun things. I am so grateful to Brady for making it work for me to be home half-time last year. I know we all benefited from it in various ways. I also know the kids are happy, healthy, safe, and secure enough for me to go back to work full-time. While the mom part of me is grieving the end of summer, the teacher part of me is excited for what I know will be a great school year.

There are so many, many more highlights that I should have included. We went to the zoo with Grandma Dawni, had a ton of fun on July 4th, did so many things in California that I didn't even mention, and had some great visitors to Oregon. Basically, we were too busy having fun for me to document it all.

CHEERS TO SUMMER 2008!

A Little Change to the Boys' Room

2008-08-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

The elementary school teacher (and now literacy coach) in me has always been bothered by the way we stored/displayed the kids' books on a regular book shelf. I had a clear vision of what I wanted, so I called Grandpa Stan and asked him to help me with a project. He met us at Home Depot an hour later. After several hours of careful labor by Grandpa Stan, the boys now have book rails in their room. Yea! The book shelf moved into the closet where it is now being used as storage for books while we rotate books through the book rails.
Thanks, Grandpa! It looks and functions exactly the way I wanted it to. The boys love it too. Owen thanks you for his new bookshelf, and Quincy thanks you for his new climbing apparatus (hopefully those mollies will hold 26 pounds).

How do they figure out "maybe" so early?

2008-08-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have so much blogging to catch up on, and one of these days I'll get started, but for now here's just a little tidbit.

A month ago, or maybe two, Owen was requesting something as we were driving somewhere. I can't even remember if this particular request was to do something special or eat some special treat or what, but I remember the ensuing dialogue:
Mommy (answering Owen's request): Maybe.
Owen (excitedly): Yippee! "Maybe" means yes!

I laughed a little out loud and a little to myself because I remember being a kid and thinking exactly the same thing about the "maybe" response.

4th of July

2008-07-19T22:03:00.001-07:00

I thought I would be so much better about blogging during the summer because I would have so much more time. As it turns out, I am way too busy having fun with the kids (which is actually a lot of work even though it is very fun), so I don't have any extra blogging time. My point is that I'm way behind, but here's a short recap of 4th of July along with some pictures.

Grandma Dawni came from Portland to spend the day and night with us. Grandpa Stan worked hard and made a wonderful float for Corvallis' annual Fabulous Fantastic All American Anyone-Can-Join 4th of July Parade. He made the wagon into Jean Lafitte's patriotic pirate ship (can't remember who Jean Lafitte is? Consult your 5th grade social studies book and look up the Battle of New Orleans). Owen's friend Maggie joined him in the ship, so First Mate Quincy made his way through the parade via his Aunt Madi's arms.
Later, we hosted a BBQ for some of Brady's coworkers. It was fun. The kids especially loved all of the attention from all of the Brass people. We played table tennis, ate yummy food, had our own little fireworks display, and then gathered in the back yard to watch the Corvallis fireworks show. It has always been a pretty impressive show lasting 30 minutes. We were pretty disappointed when it was all over after 10 this year. Luckily we hadn't made the trek to watch them downtown.

What's more American than football?

and Spiderman riding a tricycle?

New Mexico Trip Part 2 (Albuquerque)

2008-07-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

After my conference ended in Santa Fe, we headed to Albuquerque and spent the weekend with my dear friend Jane and her husband Todd. It was great to be back in one of my old home towns. I got to eat at some favorite restaurants and take the kids to some of my favorite places.

Jane and I took the kids to the zoo and aquarium on Saturday and spent 7 hours there. Owen would have happily stayed longer, but the zoo was closing. The Rio Grande zoo is really great. I have wonderful memories of it as a kid, and they've made some great updates to it over the years. Owen is really into animals--and especially the food chain. He loves big cats, and the zoo in Albuquerque has a huge collection of big wild cats.

Quincy looking at Red Kangaroos

Owen climbed all up and through this wonderful play structure. It has multiple levels and obstacles. Owen got himself up into a tower where he could watch the giraffes. To get out, you go down a big slide. So fun!
Meanwhile, Quincy toddled around eating lunch and playing on this Komodo Dragon sculpture.

One of the many highlights of the zoo trip was this baby chimp. It was so fun to watch, and it was interesting to see that the mama chimp interacted with her baby much like we humans do. Here is Owen watching the mama chimp tickle her baby under its chin.We spent most of Sunday with my mom before she headed to Alamogordo to do a locum tenens job for the rest of the summer. We went up the tram and had so much fun! The tram that goes from the base of the mountain up to Sandia Crest is the longest tram in the world, and rises from 6,900 feet at the base to a little over 10,000 feet at the top. Owen was in awe.

Owen looking down at Albuquerque
Quincy on the deck outside the High Finance restaurant, where we had lunch.Hiking part of the Crest Trail

Owen found a nice natural chair to rest on.

Hiking at 10,000 feet is such hard work!
Looking down the mountainOwen in the tram car on the way down the mountain
Approaching the base of the mountain

We were sad to say good-bye to Annanne for the rest of the summer. We had so much fun in New Mexico, but we were ready to get home to daddy after being gone for a week. Once again, the boys were the world's best travelers!

New Mexico Trip Part 1 (Santa Fe)

2008-06-26T12:34:00.001-07:00

My friend/coworker, Lural, and I had the opportunity to attend a really excellent Training of Trainers conference in Santa Fe for dual language educators. It was one of those things that we would have traveled anywhere for but were just lucky that it was in lovely Santa Fe at the Hilton, just 2 blocks off of the plaza.

My endlessly patient and accommodating mom agreed to go with us to take care of Owen and Quincy as well as Lural's 10-month-old, Santiago. My mom and the boys spent the bulk of the days out and about in the plaza area of Santa Fe. My mom was constantly being stopped by passersby who commented on the babies and then got lured into conversation with Owen. By Thursday, Owen had made many friends. My mom told me the following story:
They were walking down the street, and there was a man putting money in a meter. Owen said, "Hey, I've seen you before!" To which the man replied, "Yes, you're Owen. And (pointing at the stroller) you're Santiago, and you're..." It turned out that this was Rick, the owner of the book store. Later that evening Owen said to me, "Mom, do you want to go for a little walk and meet the owner of the book shop?"

Here are Quincy and Santiago during one of the very few synchronized naps that they took.

As you may or may not know, Santa Fe is known for its art. One art form that is abundant is sculpture, and Owen fell in love with many sculptures in Santa Fe. In fact, he made daily rounds to several of them--especially to feed the eagles and to play on the bears.

Owen may have only had a one-sided conversation with this new friend.
I love this picture. It shows the developmental stages of these three boys on a beautiful sculpture.Owen was a little sad on Wednesday evening because I had told him that I would take him swimming. However, when we got to the hotel room we found that a large private party was being held on the pool deck. Owen insisted that they wouldn't care if we went swimming anyway and couldn't understand why I didn't feel comfortable parading out there in my swimming suit in front of all of those people. So, his little disappointed self stood at the sliding glass door that faces the pool deck and watched the party. Oh, did I mention that he was naked?

My mom's long time friend and colleague, Kay, met us in Santa Fe on Thursday to hang out with (and help) my mom and the boys. While the two of them went out to dinner without any kids, Lural and I put the boys to bed. When they got back, they stayed with the sleeping babes while Lural and I got to enjoy a meal in a restaurant without kids. It was so relaxing! I set Owen up to listen to a book on the iPod while I put Quincy to bed, and this is how I found him:And, finally, just two of my favorite shots of my boys while we were in Santa Fe...

Quincy's 1st Birthday Party

2008-06-24T13:27:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Quincy's 1st birthday with a party at the park. The seemingly omnipresent clouds disappeared, and we were treated to beautiful sunshine. The only drawback was some wind, but once that died down it was perfect. Actually, the wind made for perfect kite flying conditions, and it turns out that Uncle Pat is quite the kite pilot. Thanks, Uncle Pat! Here are some pictures from the party...

Here are all the babies (left to right: Rory (15 months), Alex (14 months), Quincy (12 months), Cole (8 months)--Owen and Mia are off playing somewhere):
Owen and Mia climbing the mountain:

Quincy and Cousin Rory getting ready to slide:

Uncle Pat piloting the shark kite:
Mia playing with a turtle balloon:

You know what they say...the family that plays together...

I made a turtle cake out of banana cupcakes:

The Birthday Prince (The Klinkhammers got him this adorable birthday crown!):

Quincy wasted no time getting into the frosting:
Thanks to everyone who came to Quincy's party to help us celebrate his first year! Quincy (and we) are so very blessed with the absolute best family and friends, and for that we are eternally grateful. It certainly takes a village to raise a kid, and we thank you all for being part of our village.

The Q is One!

2008-06-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

Quincy Donovan Sahnow on June 11, 2007 Quincy Donovan Sahnow on June 11, 2008The Birthday Boy in His Birthday Suit

I don't know how a whole year has possibly lapsed since this precious baby was born, but I realize that somehow it has. Last year on June 11th, I went to school and taught in the morning. By 3:10 that afternoon Quincy had made his grand entry into his daddy's waiting hands and our family's hearts.

Quincy has been an absolutely wonderful baby since day 1. He was the most laid-back happy-go-lucky baby that I think I've ever met in my life. He is a little more opinionated in his toddlerhood. He demands to be picked up and then immediately squirms to be put down. For all the time that he happily let his big brother steamroll or tackle him, Quincy now squeals at Owen if he (Owen) takes away whatever toy he is playing with, knocks him down, etc. He loves life and laughs his way through it.

He is very adventurous. I often hear him calling me with a very specific "eh" from the general area of our stairway. I usually find him on our landing (4 steps up from the ground floor) poised to take on the final 10 steps as soon as I get there to see him do it. He does this with a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous grin that I imagine says, "I know I'm not supposed to be doing this, Mommy, but watch me anyway!"

He is a bit of a daredevil. He loves to climb onto things and then put his arms up in victory and laugh. For example: a few weeks ago I was trying to unload the dishwasher when Quincy discovered me--or rather, he discovered the open dishwasher. I turned around to put a stack of dishes in the cabinet, and when I turned back around he was standing up on the dishwasher door!

Two days ago he was playing on the kids' patio furniture that is outside on their mini patio. He first climbed up onto the bench by himself. Pretty soon he was standing on it, and shortly after that he was bouncing and making it rock since it's not on a completely even surface. About a minute later he was bending over on said bench and did a handless somersault onto the concrete pavement. He cried for about 4 seconds and then was climbing back up again.

He continues to look like a little cherub with rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes. He has a grin that could melt anyone's heart, and is a very snuggly little boy. I am just the luckiest to be his mom.

First Kiss

2008-06-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

Brady and I were kissing, and I had Quincy in my arms. Quincy pushed Brady away, and as Brady was saying, "I know you like to get in between us, but we're kissing," Quincy leaned in and gave me an open-mouthed kiss. Now when you ask for a kiss, Quincy plants a big wet one on you. Pretty sweet. Is 11.5 months too young for an Oedipus complex?

Sunriver

2008-05-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

We just got back from 6 days in Sunriver, and it was such a treat! I drove over last Wednesday with the boys and my mom. Lourdes and Jo flew into Redmond and met us in Sunriver that night. Brady joined us Friday afternoon. Even though we only had one sunny central Oregon day before several days of clouds and rain showers, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I won't recap each day, but here are some highlights:

Making bird/squirrel feeders out of pine cones that Owen collected and then watching the animals enjoy them
Bend Children's Museum--I could make a whole separate list of highlights just under this category. Owen loves this place and could spend a whole day there!
Walking through the village
Visiting open houses and thinking about our own possible Sunriver house
Goody's ice cream shop (3 visits, to be exact)
Bike rides--including Quincy's first ride in the bike trailer and Owen's first rides on the tag-along as well as a 2-wheeler with training wheels.
An afternoon at the beautiful High Desert Museum--Owen has been playing "High Desert Museum" ever since we got back to Corvallis and sleeps with his new river otter puppet
Having 3 grandmas on hand which meant that I shipped the kids downstairs and TWICE slept in until 9:00!!!
Dinner at Merenda in downtown Bend
A pony ride followed by lassoing an iron calf (or trying to)
Playing at Fort Rock Park--Owen and Quincy both went down the slides more times than I can count. Unfortunately, we never had a camera there with us.

Most of the pictures were taken on Lourdes and Jo's camera, but here are a few that I took.

Here is Owen riding Houdini
Owen, Brady and Lourdes roping the calfOwen and I riding bikes (or should I say bike?)
Quincy and Brady watching the bike riders
Here's Owen trying a 2-wheeler

In this picture Lourdes is demonstrating to Owen how Eagles use their talons to catch their prey. Owen is really into birds of prey these days.
I love this picture of Owen's excitement about Thomas the river otterOwen reading a sign. This is what he was saying: "Be very quiet so you don't scare the birds, and stay on the path."Here's a picture of Owen and me inside the tipi
Quincy outside the High Desert Museum

Bill's Visit

2008-05-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

Bill Clinton that is. So the former president made a campaign stop at good ol' Lincoln School on Monday (this is the school where I teach). All school staff members were allowed to bring guests and be in the VIP section. We debated for a while about whether or not to take the boys and finally decided that they should get involved in politics as early as possible. (See earlier posts regarding Owen's interest in the campaign).
My mom picked Owen up from Seedings (his play school) and reported the following conversation to me when she got home:
Annanne: Owen, we're going to go home and play for a while before going to Mommy's school to see former President Bill Clinton.
Owen: Who?
Annanne: Bill Clinton. He used to be our president.
Owen: Like Bush?
Annanne: Yes.
Owen: My mom doesn't like President Bush. (pause) How many other presidents have I not met?

Brady, Stan, my mom, Owen, Quincy, and I all arrived at Lincoln at 4:45 for Bill's scheduled 6:00 speech. We were let into the gym at 5:15. An hour and 45 minutes later, Clinton still wasn't there, and the temperature in the gym had escalated greatly. Suddenly the campaign organizers started ushering everyone out saying that they made a last minute change because so many people had shown up that there were more people waiting outside than there were in the gym, which was already past capacity. I was pretty upset, not only for ourselves, but for a number of our Lincoln students who had been standing in their front row spots waiting for an hour and forty five minutes only to be escorted out to somewhere in the midst of the crowd. Anyway, as luck would have it, we got ushered out and ended up right in the front row just a few feet from the bed of the pick-up that BC spoke from.
And how was the speech? Actually, it was really great. He spoke for over an hour, and it was so refreshing to listen to such an intelligent man and be reminded that I haven't always been smarter than our president (a feeling that I'm not at all comfortable with--feeling like our president is truly dumb, that is). I have to say that I have been loosely backing Obama from my perch on the fence for several months now, but I'm really seriously considering changing my vote now. I told Brady that it's sort of like tuning into a sports game and not caring who wins and therefore cheering for the underdog. I guess that's why they bother making these campaign stops, isn't it? Quincy got tired, and Owen got a little bored, but they were really great. BC made the rounds at the end of his speech. He shook both Owen's and my hands and then cupped Owen's cheek in his palm. Owen picked out a big pink button that says "Hillary Rocks!" afterward. We arrived home at 8:30!

Here's a conversation that took place in the car the next morning.
Owen: Mom, who did we meet this morning?
Mommy: Do you mean last night?
Owen: Yeah, who did we meet last night?
Mommy: Bill Clinton.
Owen: Yeah, Bill Clinton. That was a long day!

Here are some pictures that my mom got from her vantage point, which was behind the truck.

Here are Quincy and I listening to the speech:

Here are Brady and Owen listening to the speech:Bill making the rounds:

Mother's Day

2008-05-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

What a great Mother's Day! Brady got up with the boys so that I could sleep in, which I did until 8:20! What a treat! My mom and I went to church with the boys, and then we met up with Brady at the pool. Quincy was too sick (another ear infection and rattly cough), so Brady and I went swimming with Owen while my mom brought Quincy home. With a little help from Stan and Owen, Brady made a Mother's Day feast. For those of you that know that Brady's cooking repertoire normally consists of sandwiches and wiener wraps, try not to fall off your chairs. He made pork chop calzones, which are thick pork chops stuffed with prosciutto, provolone, fresh basil, and fresh sage. To go with them he made grilled marinated asparagus, and Stan made mashed potatoes and strawberry shortcake. It was all so delicious! We missed Linda, who is on a trip to Arizona with her girlfriends. The boys gave me a very sweet giraffe charm for my Pandora bracelet. I love it!

Brady Prepping food:

The inaugural meal on the new BBQ:
Quincy playing while we were waiting for dinner:
The feast:

Owen--just a little update

2008-05-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

This posting is just some journaling about Owen.

Owen is so much fun. Granted, he wants to have a lot of decision making power and is constantly testing out what he has control over and what he doesn't, but he is such a joy, and it is such a pleasure to be his mom. He seems so grown up these days. I can't pinpoint it, but I feel like he's just made one of those developmental leaps. He cracks me up all the time with very hilarious things that in the moment I'm sure I could never forget. But then when I actually sit down to write them down (like right now), I can't remember them. This is a huge frustration for me because I know I'll never be able to recapture them.
He has an amazing imagination, and it is so fun to just stand back a little and watch and listen to where his imagination is taking him at any given moment. He loves to take all of the cushions off the couch. When this happens, Owen is instantly transformed into a baby otter and the pile of cushions to his rocks. He entertains himself for an hour at times.
Another favorite game these days is "Aomatsu." For those of you who don't live in or visit Corvallis often, Aomatsu is a great Japanese restaurant here, and it is Owen's favorite! He loves to sit at the tepanyaki grill where the chef performs all sorts of entertaining tricks while grilling your food right where you sit. Owen is also a big fan of sushi. He downs entire orders of sushi and asks for more. He and Abuela created a great pretend Aomatsu chef game when we visited California last month. Needless to say, Owen was thrilled a few days after we came back to receive an Aomatsu package from Abuela--everything you need to play sushi and tepanyaki grill chef.
Owen also really loves swimming. We have been taking water babies and then water kids classes with him since he was 6 months old. This week we switched to swimming lessons where he is in the class with other kids and a teacher but without a parent. He has only had one lesson so far, but he did great! In fact, he passed level 1 on the first day. It was so great to watch him from the stands. He listened to and cooperated with everything his teacher told him, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself the entire time.
We are lucky in that for our birthdays my mom and Lourdes got Brady and me a family membership to the pool, so we can go whenever we want. Mom and I took the boys swimming for an hour last evening. Afterward, my mom took Owen out to play in the lobby while Quincy finished nursing. When I got out to the lobby my mom said, "Owen was just telling me about when you went camping and a moose pooped on your car!" To my recollection this has never actually happened, but this is just one tiny example of Owen's imagination and sense of humor. By the way, he then said, "Yeah, he pooped on the Subawu."
I wish I had a video camera on him 24/7 so that I could capture all of the great things that he does and says. Yes, 24/7 because he often says some pretty funny things in his sleep too.

Enjoying the Sun in California

2008-04-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

Poor Lourdes has been laid up with a compression fracture in her back ever since she fell on our stairs during a visit in February. Jo called me on a Wednesday to see if I could get down there with the boys for a little pick-me-up for Lourdes. We were there by Friday afternoon, and it was all a surprise! We had SO much fun!!! It was perfectly sunny and 85 degrees there. We spent many hours outside. We were there for three days, and we had three picnic lunches in parks. We played at the pool for two afternoons. Lourdes had to retreat to the house for long afternoon naps, but she was able to play a lot too.

Here is a picture of Owen and Lourdes playing "Aomatsu." (Aomatsu is a Japanese restaurant here in Corvallis, and it's Owen's favorite place to eat). They played sushi and tepanyaki grill chefs for hours at a time.
Here are some pictures from Pioneer Park, which is right by Lourdes and Jo's house. It was Quincy's first time playing in the sand and the grass. He loved it!

Santa Rosa has a wonderful park that has the best play areas, as well as a train to ride, a carousel, pony rides, a small lake with paddle boats and kayaks. We went there twice, and both boys loved it! Yea for Howarth Park! One day there, we ran into Jo's niece and family, so Owen got to play with Julia and Brady.

Here are Owen and Noni Jo taking care of their race horses.

Here's Quincy enjoying his first watermelon. He loved it--even the rind!Here are Owen, Julia, and Brady waiting for the train.

Here's Owen on the carousel.Feeding the geese...
Owen and Lourdes made a delicious smoothie one evening. This was an extension of playing Aomatsu.
Lourdes needed to rest by lying on her back, so here is a picture of Owen helping her do that. They are watching Marry Poppins together.
We had SOOOOO much fun! We can't wait to go back! Thank you Noni Jo and Abuela!!!

Bone Marrow (warning...long story)

2008-04-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

8 years ago, when I was working at Chemonics in Washington D.C., the National Marrow Donor Program had a drive at our office to get people on their registry. It was something very simple, like a cheek swab or a finger prick (I can't quite remember). Anyway, over 7 years passed, and during that time I got married and changed my name, and moved 4 times.

Last summer, when Quincy was about a week old, I received a letter from the NMDP saying that I was a potential match for someone and requesting that I contact them right away. Before I got to make the call, I received a phone call from them. My mom fielded the phone call and explained to the NMDP person that I was 9 days postpartum. They said they would put me on the unavailable list for the time being and keep searching. After a while, I forgot about it.

Last November I got a call from the NMDP telling me that the search had not turned up any other potential donors for this little girl and asking if I would be willing to undergo further tissue testing to see if I was, in fact, a match. Of course I agreed.

After extensive tissue typing, it turned out that I was a match for this little girl. After many, many blood tests, a physical (including chest x-ray and EKG) by the physician who would be the bone marrow surgeon, giving unit of my own blood in case I would need a transfusion after the procedure, it was finally time to have the little surgery on April 2.

I was a little nervous, even though I knew the biggest risk was the anesthesia itself. I was so relieved to wake up and have it over with and to hear how well it went. The Dr. told Delores (the NMDP coordinator) that my cell count was so rich that he only had to take 2/3 the requested volume of marrow.

I spent a pretty comfortable (thanks to morphine) day in the hospital before being discharged to come home that night. The next day Delores called me to check on my recovery and had a message to share with me that had been sent from the NMDP headquarters in Minnesota. It was timed almost exactly 24 hours after the end of my procedure and said that my marrow had arrived safely at its destination and that the cell count was so rich that they were able to save some and freeze it in case she needs more later. What great news!

It turns out that the recipient is a 5 year old girl in Germany. She has Fanconi's Anemia, which leads to Aplastic Anemia, which is fatal when your marrow stops producing blood cells and platelets. The good news is that as long as the transplant takes, she should be completely cured and lead a healthy life. I continue to send prayers her way that it will be a success. I will get to see a report after 1 month, 3 months, and 1 year. At that point, depending on the transplant center's protocol, we may get to have contact with each other.

My family, friends and coworkers have been so supportive, and I really appreciate that! Thank you to the entourage who showed up at the wee hours to help with everything from childcare to just plain waiting in the waiting room!

It's amazing to me that people have seemed so impressed by this. I have been called a "hero" by so many people throughout this process. Whereas I do feel really good about what I was able to do, I guess I just feel like a regular person who made the only reasonable decision that could be made in this situation. If that's what it takes to be a hero, then I'm sure that given the opportunity, every one of you would be a hero too. In light of that, please consider joining the bone marrow registry. You never know when you will be the one in 11,000,000 people who could save someone's life through such a relatively simple procedure. I feel like I'm sounding like an advertisement, but for more information go to the National Marrow Donor Program's website at www.marrow.org.

Rory's 1!

2008-03-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Our niece, Rory Ann, turned 1 on March 21st. Brittany and Pat had a great party for her at their house the next day. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I watched her grand entry into this world. She is such a special baby girl, and I continue to be so happy to have a niece! Being an aunt is so much fun! Here are some pictures and a little video clip from her party.

The Birthday Girl with her beads

Hmmm...what's this?

Hey, this is pretty good!

Quincy thought the ice from the drink bucket was great.

Owen enjoying a cupcake at his cousin's party

Here's a video clip of Rory. It's the tail end of her birthday song. Notice her signing for "more." She loved everyone singing to her! What a smart little girl!

3 Already!

2008-03-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

I don't know how 3 years have passed already, but Owen turned 3 on March 13th. We celebrated his actual birthday by having dinner at the Mongolian Grill and then having gelato (both Owen's choices).

Here is the pirate costume that Abuela sent to Owen for his birthday party. He was so excited!

A few days later we had his pirate birthday party. We went on a treasure hunt and had so much fun! Grandpa Stan worked hard to convert our wagons into pirate ships.
The kids had to follow treasure maps and find pirate scarves, followed by sashes, and finally swords before we encountered Captain Greybeard at the play structure at the park.
The kids then battled Captain Greybeard and recovered the stolen treasure that was hidden all over the play structure.
Once Greybeard had been defeated and the treasure recovered, the kids swung and swung at a pirate ship pinata until it broke open and showered the kids with chocolate gold coins.

Then we made our way home to where the real birthday treasure was waiting. Everyone had a great time!

I really can't believe he's 3 already. He's a bona fide kid now. He is so amazingly wonderful in so many ways, and I'm the luckiest mom in the world to have him for a kid! He's sweet, empathic, curious, talkative, funny, cuddly, inquisitive, silly, beautiful,...you know...I'm his mom, I think he's the most wonderful 3-year-old in the world, just like every mom thinks that about her own kid.

Pics and a Clip

2008-03-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a short clip of Quincy crawling. He starts with a traditional crawl and then goes to his two arms, one knee, one foot crawl.

Here are a few pictures of morning playtime. Fixing the red eye in these pictures of Quincy makes his eyes look really dark, which makes him look even more like Owen's baby pictures.

Owen Hooper

2008-03-06T21:24:00.003-08:00

So, even though the Hooper part of Owen's name actually comes from the movie Jaws and isn't a reference to basketball, it does seem like a basketball reference would be oh-so-fitting these days. We play so much basketball! He is always asking me to go out in the garage to play basketball on his hoop. Additionally, he plays phantom basketball all over the place. He runs around pantomiming dribbling, passing, and shooting--all the while with a verbal play-by-play of what's going on. It's pretty cute.

Here are some pictures of him playing basketball in the garage. I took these a few weeks ago, so they're recent but not totally current.

And here's Quincy discovering how much fun the play kitchen and food are.

On the Cusp of 3

2008-03-01T19:43:00.001-08:00

The following is an excerpt from our dinner conversation tonight. To set the stage: Brady, Owen, my mom, and I were at the dinner table. Quincy had had enough of his high chair and was on the floor playing at my feet. He was standing up holding on to my mom with one hand and to me with the other.
Mommy: Quincy, you were just my tiny baby. What happened?
Owen: What, Mommy?
Mommy: Oh, quincy is just growing up so quickly.
Annanne (my mom): Owen, you used to be her tiny baby.
Mommy: That's right, Owen, you were just my tiny baby, and now you're about to turn 3! How did that happen?
Owen paused for a second, threw both arms up in the air, and shouted, "LET'S PARTY!"

One more update on Q

2008-02-29T09:38:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that Quincy started waving on Wednesday--it's so darn cute! I'll try to get a picture.

Locomotion

2008-02-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

I keep putting this off thinking that "I'll post tomorrow with pictures," but then I don't get the pictures taken. So...I'll just write for now and try to get some action pictures tomorrow.

After a long time of rolling and scooching here and there, Quincy is officially crawling. In addition to a traditional crawl, he sometimes gets around on two hands, one knee, and one foot--it's pretty funny.

He's also pulling himself up to standing now. He's SOOOO proud of his new skills.

One thing he hasn't been doing too particularly well is sleeping soundly at night. I'm pretty sure this is related to teething because every time a new tooth pops through he sleeps well for a few nights. He got 7 teeth in the first 8 weeks of 2008.

And now it is 8:00, both kids are in bed, and Brady is playing basketball and then headed to U23D. I think I'm going to take advantage of this RARE occasion and get into bed with my book and a cup of tea. Actually, that's pretty fitting because the book I'm reading is called Three Cups of Tea.

Scooby Doo

2008-02-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

"This is Scooby Doo, Mommy. Not the dog, Scooby Doo. (Note from Mommy: I didn't even know that he knew about Scooby Doo the dog) It's a player. You play it and it goes, 'dooby dooby do.' (the "dooby dooby do part is sung) You drum on it too, Mommy."

Meanwhile...Quincy was hard at work with the rest of the Tinker Toys that were still in the bin.

The Future President(s) (follow-up to State of the Union)

2008-01-31T15:33:00.000-08:00

The following conversation took place in the car as I was taking Owen to his play-school yesterday.

Mommy: Who is our president?
Owen: Bush.
M: That's right.
O: You don't like him, Mommy?
M: No, I don't like him.
O: Why?
M: Because I think he makes bad decisions.
O: Why?
M: Because I think he's selfish and greedy. But it's ok because we're going to get a new president next year.
O: I could be your president!
M: You want to be the president?
O: Yeah! I could do it.
M: I know you could. You can run for president someday if you want. Let's see...who do you think will be our next president? It looks like it will either be Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain,
O: John McCain.
M:...or maybe Mitt Romney.
O: John McCain.
M: Are you sure? I thought you liked Obama.
O: Yeah. Obama. He's my best friend!

State of the Union

2008-01-29T16:42:00.000-08:00

We normally don't have the TV on during dinner time, but Quincy needed an early evening cat nap last night, so Brady sat in the glider to rock him and turned on the State of the Union address (I know, enough to make you lose your appetite). I was still sitting at the dinner table with Owen, and we could not see the TV from where we were sitting, but we could hear it. I kept reacting to various comments by making disgusted faces to Brady. Owen, of course, picked up on this, and the following discussion took place:
Owen: Who's that talking?
Mommy: That's George W. Bush
Owen: What?
Daddy: He's our president.
Owen: You don't like him, Momm?
Mommy: No, I don't like him.
Owen: Why?
Mommy: Because I think he is a bad person who makes really bad decisions.
Owen: Why?
Mommy: Because he is selfish and greedy and chooses to do things that will only help himself and other very rich people instead of people who work really hard.
Owen: Like you, Mommy?
Mommy: Yes, Owen, like me. And like Daddy.
Owen: Do you like him, Daddy?
Daddy: I don't agree with him. I think he makes really bad choices.
Mommy: We will pick a new president this year.
Daddy: That's right. We'll choose a new president this year.
Mommy: Who do you want to be our next president, Owen? Do you want Hillary, or Obama, or Edwards?
Owen: Obama? That starts with a "O"?
Mommy: Yes.
Owen: (referring to the voice coming from the TV) What his name, Mommy?
Mommy: Bush.
Owen: You don't like Bush, Mommy?
Mommy: No, I don't. But that's only my opinion. We live in the United States where we are free to have and express our own opinions about our president. You can grow up and vote for anyone you want, Owen. I always want you to vote, even if you choose to vote for someone different than the person I vote for. It's important to always vote.
Owen: Oh. (pause) You don't like Bush, Mommy?
Mommy: No.

This continued on for a while. After dinner Owen took a shower with Brady, and I could hear Owen asking Brady if he liked Bush. I could tell he was very intrigued by the idea of me not liking someone. I'm sure it's the firs time he has heard me say that I don't like someone.

Fast forward to this morning...

Owen had come down to our bed at some point in the night and slept the rest of the night with us. It was still dark in our room, and Brady was already up and leaving for work. I was barely waking up and was nestled between sleeping Quincy and (I thought) sleeping Owen when I heard: "Who's our president, Mommy?"

Stretching the Cord

2008-01-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

They say that it is only an illusion when the baby's umbilical cord is cut at birth. It appears to be severed, but in actuality it remains intact, stretching a little further between mother and baby. At first, especially with a nursing baby, the cord maybe only stretches as far as to the next room and only for a few minutes. After a while maybe it stretches across town for a couple of hours. Of course, the distance and duration of stretching the cord differs for every mommy and baby.

For Owen and me, each step of stretching the cord took quite a while. He was 2 and a half before we spent a night away from each other (I came home from the hospital 6 hours after giving birth to Quincy in order to be here to put Owen to bed). Well, last week we stretched our cord all the way from Corvallis to Boulder!

I had the rare opportunity to attend a training on teaching literacy in Spanish hosted by my professional hero Kathy Escamilla at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Since Owen is now a full-fare passenger on the airlines, we decided that he would stay home with Brady while my mom accompanied me (at her expense--thank you mom!!!) to Boulder to be Quincy's caretaker during conference hours.

As I prepared for the trip, it felt strange to only be packing for myself and one kid. I felt sad at the idea of leaving Owen so far behind. The day before I left I told him that the next day would be the day that I would go to Colorado. The following dialog ensued:
Me: Owen, tomorrow is the day that I go to Colorado. You will stay here and do lots of fun things, and I'll see you Friday morning.
Owen: But I want to go with you!
Me: I know, sweetie. I wish I could take you, but we don't have enough money this time.
Owen: (with a very earnest look on his face) But I have money! (He has two different piggy banks that he has been putting coins in for the past two years)

It melted my heart, and I started to get cold feet about leaving. However, I did in fact go on the trip, and Owen did stay home with daddy (and help from Grandpa Stan and Grandma Linda).

What I experienced over the next few days was great. Of course I missed Owen and was so excited to get home to see him. However, I did not pine away for him. In fact, it was very freeing to be away from him, knowing he was in excellent hands having all kinds of fun, while enjoying my conference, some time with colleagues away from work, and some "only child" parenting of Quincy. Getting back was wonderful, and (thanks to 2 snow days canceling school) we have spent 4 wonderful days playing, reading, cooking, and really just hanging out at home.

I can only imagine what it will feel like when Quincy's and my cord is ready to stretch that far. Actually, I'm not ready to even really imagine that one yet.

Burnt Piggies

2008-01-26T21:07:00.001-08:00

If you're familiar with Audrey and Don Wood's children's book, Piggies, you may realize that I'm referring to fingers. Nine days ago we went out to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate a friend's birthday. Quincy was sitting on a friend's lap when the food was delivered. He suddenly screamed a screaming cry that I had never heard before. Within seconds I knew something was definitely hurting him. It didn't take me long to realize that he had reached out and touched the very hot plate of food that had just been delivered. To make a long and agonizing story short, he cried and cried for about half an hour. I left the restaurant shortly, and by the time we got home he had developed the largest blisters I've ever seen. They went all the way across the top of his palm and all the way up his index and pinky fingers. The blisters were as thick as his own little fingers. Amazingly, within a few minutes of being home he was his normal cheery self smiling and playing--even using his right hand normally.
It has now been 9 days, and his poor hand is still healing. The blisters stayed intact for about 4 days, and the healing process has definitely been more challenging since they broke. The good news is that he is healing, and he uses his thumb and index finger pretty effectively while protectively keeping the rest of his fingers closed around the top of his palm.
It was an accident that could have happened to anyone. Yet it felt terrible that to me that I didn't foresee it and wasn't able to prevent it!
And as if that wasn't enough burnt piggies in this house...Owen had a little incident tonight.
We were already having a bit of a weird night. Brady is gone to Newport where he is coaching at a basketball tournament this weekend. I'm here with the boys, and our night was progressing pretty normally. We had dinner and were doing baths in preparation for bed. I had already gotten Quincy out and dressed. Then I got Owen out, and he was lying on the bathroom floor waiting for me to get him dressed in his PJ's when he suddenly threw up without any warning. It was so strange! He was lying on his back, so the puke got in his hair and everywhere else. Obviously it was back into the bath for him.
I finally got Owen dressed in PJ's and downstairs where he was patiently waiting for Quincy to nurse and fall asleep. When Q was finally ready to be put in his bed, Owen lead the way into the bedroom. Earlier I had turned on the lamp on my nightstand and bent the neck as far down as I could to reduce the amount of light it would give off. Well, Owen walked over to it and grabbed it by the light bulb area to move it up! It was awful! It was like watching the whole thing in slow motion...even the couple of seconds it took for him to start to cry after he pulled his hand away.
I knew it was really hurting him when he didn't want to let go of the boo boo buddy ice pack. We put fresh aloe on it (didn't realize the little plant would come in so handy right away, huh mom?) as well as lots of kisses. He told me amidst tears and little sobs, "That was very, very, very hot. That hurt! That was bad listening." The last part refers to us telling him over and over again not to touch lamps. (Sigh) If only we could make them always listen...they wouldn't have to learn anything the hard way.
Well, this is not a very uplifting post, but I'm going to cycle the barf towels through the laundry and head to bed. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to write about our trip to Boulder this past week.

Dividing Undivided Attention

2008-01-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

So I've been feeling pretty guilty about the fact that A) Owen got our undivided attention for 27 months before his sudden and shocking entry into sibling-hood and B) Quincy was born into sibling-hood and therefore experienced zero months of undivided attention. Also, Quincy has been a very good natured spectator at many of Owen's classes and activities over the past almost 7 months. Today, each boy got some one-on-one time with Mommy, and Quincy got to go to his own class.

Annanne came over to stay with Quincy this morning so that Owen and I could have a play date. It was very fun (and so easy!) to take one child to our wonderful local toy store to play for a while. We made a quick stop at a coffee shop where Owen charmed all of the women working and waiting in line. From the Toy Factory Owen got dropped off at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Then I rushed home to pick up Quincy and get to our first session of Live and Learn with your Baby. I took this class twice with Owen when he was an infant. It's a great opportunity to meet other moms and for babies to interact with other babies. The babies range in age from one month to 9 1/2 months. Our dear friends Rebecca and Baby Cole attend as well.

It was a great Mommy day to have some one-on-one time with each of them and then to see both of their faces light up and their arms go around each other when they saw each other at the end of the day.

I'll attempt to add some pictures to this post. If it works, this is a picture of Owen and Quincy on Epiphany and a picture of Owen playing the guitar that he got for Christmas. If you don't see any pictures, just use your imagination :)

Is there anything worse?

2008-01-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

In full daylight (when I tend to do my most rational thinking) I am very aware of the horrors in the world these days. There are a plethora of senseless wars, AIDS is spreading like wildfire through Africa infecting countless people, the polar ice cap is melting so quickly that Owen may be asking Santa for a walrus next year. However, at 3:00AM a mom's perspective (well, THIS mom's perspective at any rate) is that there is nothing worse than her sick baby. Gagging on mucus, chest rattling with every short little breath, pitiful whimpering cries with eyes closed. Seriously...is there anything worse? A visit to the Dr. late the next afternoon diagnosed bronchitis in the sweet little babe. Hopefully the antibiotics will kill the infection and the albuterol will help him breathe a little easier. As soon as he's better, I'll get back to worrying about war, famine, and widespread disease. In the meantime, all my energy is staying right here.

New Years Resolutions and Holidays Withdrawal

2008-01-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

Bare fir trees lie aside garbage cans and recycling bins full of the carcasses of gift packaging. The wonderful daily collection of 1st class mail containing photos and recaps of our loved ones has dwindled to bills, coupons, and of course credit card offers. And the cups at Starbucks are white again. The holidays are officially over, and I am suffering a bit of withdrawal from the hectic but oh-so-fun marathon that spans from Thanksgiving to New Years. Luckily school doesn't start again until the 7th, so I have a few more days of vacation.

I made two new years resolutions. The first is the traditional one of getting (and then staying) fit and healthy. I won't bore you with any more on that. The second is to be better about staying up to date with photos and updates on the kids. That includes creating and maintaining this blog.

So here we are on January 3rd, and I've created the blog. Now for the maintaining part...