15 months

Dear Owen.  YOU ARE FIFTEEN MONTHS OLD TODAY!!  My goodness.  This month and last month have been HUGE months as far as your development goes!  You have said so many words, gotten to where you move very, very quickly from place to place (in other words…running!!), and you have somehow turned from a baby into a little boy.  It seems like it happened overnight, but it didn’t.  I don’t know how or when it happened, but it did!  What do they say?  In the blink of an eye!!  You have such a cute personality.  It’s a little “troublemaker-ish” at times, but we know you are just testing us to see what you can get away with. 

You go see Dr. Dalton on Tuesday so we should have growth statistics at that time. 

Height: 32.5 inches (95th percentile)

Weight: 27.4 pounds (85th-90th percentile)

Head circumference: 50 centimeters (97th+ percentile)

You are still wearing a size 4 diaper and an overnight at night.  We are just about ready to put you in a size 5 overnight because you have been quite wet some mornings after 12 hours of sleep.  As far as “pee” and “poo” talk?  We are trying to get you to understand the words more than we are giving you time on the potty chair.  Some days it seems like you can associate (at least the “poo” part), but then other days, we aren’t so sure.  We are just taking things a day at a time!    

You are wearing all of your 18-month clothing one more time.  We’ve been stocking up on 24-month spring clothes for you a little at a time!  You seem to be set with shirts, onesies, shorts, pants, sweats, and pajamas!  We hope so, anyway! 

Your tooth count remains at 11, but part of your bottom gum on the left side seems to be harder and bumpier than normal, so maybe #12 is coming soon!  You have been able to chew more things in the last couple months since you have a pair of top/bottom molars that make chewing much easier. 

You talk ALL THE TIME!!  Sometimes you just make noises while you play, but most of the time you are labeling everything you can, pointing at things, and telling the world what toys you are playing with.  It’s pretty adorable!  I am copying the list of words you already mastered a month and a half ago:  go, baby, bye, ball, car, teeth, book, shoes, cheese, ock (for sock), ca (for duck???), blue, juice, and the occasional mama and dada.  Changes and additions to that list include: ‘guck’ (for duck), ‘bilk’ (for milk), ‘baf’ (for bath), sock is still ‘ock’, bye has now become ‘bye-bye’ with a hand wave, ‘baaa’ (for banana), ‘barker’ (for marker), night-night, apple, star, toast, church, cracker, trash, bubble, dirt, goof, Amen, eyes, ears, head, hands, nose, knee, puppy, door, cow, horse, and tv is ‘teee’.  A few additional notes: When you see the toaster on the counter, you start pointing and saying ‘toast’.  You found a dryer sheet on the floor a couple weeks ago, picked it up and said ‘trash’ while walking toward the kitchen trash can.  If we don’t blow bubbles with you immediately after you spot your bubbles, we are pretty sure you think your world is about to end.  We hide the bubbles most of the time to prevent such meltdowns.  You call every pen, pencil, and marker a ‘barker’ so we know you associate writing tools with markers.  'Amen' came about a few days ago while you continuously pressed the hand of a toy that says a prayer.  At the end of it, Mommy would say ‘Amen!’ and you caught on!  Every time the prayer is over and the bear has said Amen, you look at Mommy or Daddy and say ‘Amen’ yourself.  We have started saying 'Now I lay me down to sleep…' with you at night and your favorite part is saying 'Amen.'  We hope you love God with your whole heart!  You can identify and touch your own body parts as well as identify them on someone else (usually).  We always say “Where is your ___?” and 90% of the time, you touch that exact part and repeat it.  Your favorite things to say are ‘teeth’ and ‘nose’.  You don’t like to just SAY ‘nose’ either.  You like to SHOW people that your index finger fits perfectly into your nostril!!  Lord, help us!  It is amazing to watch you make sense of your world!  AMAZING!!  What an awesome time to be home with you as your vocabulary grows and grows and grows!  Mommy has no idea how she’s going to keep track of new words from now on!!  The post-it note on the side of the fridge helped, but at the rate you’re adding words to your vocabulary, it may be impossible!   

Foods.  Hmmm.  What can Mommy say about food that hasn’t already been said?  Everyone tells me you eat well, but I won’t feel the same until you start eating more vegetables!  We still sneak them into other foods every now and then, but we can count on every green bean, every green pea, every kernel of corn, and every carrot slice to end up on the floor or your lap.  We keep trying and trying and trying, but it’s often a losing battle.  Mommy discovered that if you have a bit of ranch dip and a few raw carrot matchsticks that you will ingest 10-12 of those!  Maybe a bit of dip with each meal is the answer!  Who knows.  We still find ourselves having to mash and hide food (which we don’t really like too much since it’s basically tricking you).  We’ve started you on a chewable multi-vitamin, so at least you are getting some of what you need!  Fruit is another story.  You eat any and all fruits!!  Apples, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, oranges, pears, apple pears (Mommy’s favorite!!), and peaches.  You are a fruit-aholic, but so is Mommy!  You are eating a lot more of what we eat, although we do have to sometimes make you a separate meal depending on when you napped, what we are having, how cooperative you are, etc.  You are a big fan of pasta.  We buy only whole wheat pastas, so you are getting some good nutrition there!  All the other foods you have eaten and loved, you continue to eat and love them.  Your drinks of choice in no particular order are milk, juice, and water.

  

You still LOVE books.  LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  You look at the pictures and can point at pictures of various animals and objects when asked.  You get several books read to you every day!     

As for your trouble-maker personality, here’s an example of what we are up against these days.  Your favorite thing to do is hike your food-filled hand up over your head or out to the side of you as if you are going to throw/drop the food.  You make eye contact, keep a straight face, listen to us tell you ‘no’ and then you throw/drop the food anyway.  You keep eye contact the whole time…as if you are saying “It’s my food, from my tray, in my hand, so I will do as I please.”  If you would just look away and make your mess, that would be one thing.  But you pierce us with your cute little blue eyes and captivate us with your precious face.  Just so you know, we will win this food battle one day.  This throwing/dropping food thing is just a phase.  Just you wait, Sweet Boy! 

We sure do love you.  We love how much you’ve learned.  We love how much you smile.  We love how you come over to us and lay your head on our lap when you want to cuddle for 3.7 seconds.  We love how you are developing a wonderful intelligence.  We even love you when you stare at us before launching food across the room.  You are the best thing to ever happen to us and our hearts are filled with joy. 

Love you always Little Man,

Mommy and Daddy

Typical breakfast: toast, fruit, and milk

Can't you see, I'm trying to eat? 

So serious with MegaBlocks...

This was your first time to play in snow, but not your first time to see it.  You were not a big fan and we were back inside within just a few minutes.  It took me longer to get you bundled up than it took you to decide walking on snow made you uneasy!  You sure were cute with 3 layers of clothing on!   

Finally!  A good haircut! 

Cute slippers from Grammy!  One of them makes barking noises when you press the button on the ankle band. 

After 15 months, you don't mind cuddling.  Just a little.  When you feel like it.  There are rules we must follow!  :) 

Can't get enough of those bright blue eyes!  

Relaxing on Mommy's lap before bed. 

Helping throw things away. 

Wanna see my banana?

Plaid pants and matching onesie hand-me-downs.  Ready for church. 

Homemade gifts

I meant to blog about this A LONG time ago!  I forgot about it completely (no surprise there!!) and then as I was sorting through a small pile of things in my office (no surprise there, either!!), I found a post it note with a list.  Need I say NO SURPRISE THERE a third time???  If I had a dollar for every post-it-note list that is currently within the walls of our home, I could go out and buy a new washing machine!  They seem to be everywhere, but it isn't until I start uncovering them in my I'll-get-around-to-getting-all-this-sorted-and-organized-later stacks that I realize there's a slight possibility that I may have a serious problem.  A post it note addiction?  A to-do list disease?  I could do an entire post just about my disorganization and how it drives me absolutely positively insane.  Instead, I will refer back to the list I found that triggered the memory of this post.  Of course nothing on the list was scratched off...including "blog about homemade gifts"...so here I am.  It's been just about 2 months since Christmas, but better late than never, I suppose!

Despite being the mom of a toddler, keeping the house in semi-decent-but-not-always-clean order, tutoring and homeschooling a handful of students, and making a bazillion to-do lists for myself to lose in stacks of junk (haha), I somehow managed to whip up a few homemade gifts this Christmas!  I wouldn't have been able to pull it off if it hadn't been for being able to stay up late!  For several weeks in November and December, my first student every other day didn't arrive until nearly 10:30, so with Owen choosing to sleep until about 9:00 most mornings, I took advantage and allowed myself craft-time until about 2:00 in the morning.  Yes, crazy...but fun all the while.  It's ALL ABOUT ME from 10:00pm-2:00am!!!

I spent many-a-night working on these gifts for 2 very special ladies...my mom and my mother-in-law! 

The first project to get completed was this fabulous quilt top!  The day after I took this picture, I took it to my quilting friend, Mr. Holmes, and he quilted it with his long arm quilting machine.  The backing and edges of the finished product ended up being a teal color!  I was very excited to give this to my mother-in-law, Billie Lu, for Christmas!  She loved it!!

 
The second project (2 parts) was lots of fun too.  The grandmas needed something extra special from their little fellow, Owen!  My sweet friend Kimberly owns a paint-your-own-pottery studio so she got me all set up with the platters, paints, and brushes so I could paint at my convenience from home since getting to the studio for long amounts of time may not be possible with a very active little one running around!  Owen was not at all cooperative the first night we tried the paint-on-foot portion of the project.  The result: Washing the plates completely with the intention of trying again another night.  I think it was 2 or 3 days later when we finally got him to be semi-cooperative.  There's something about cold, wet, gooey, brown paint covering the bottom of your foot that screams "no fun!!"...  Doesn't sound like very much fun to me either.  In any case, we made it work.  I had to touch up the toe area on each plate with my pinkie, but other than that, it is a genuine Owen footprint. 

These are the before pictures:

Grammy is my mom and Gramommy is Austin's mom! 

Here are the after pictures:

The colors are much brighter and better in person, but this is the best I could get on camera! 

Thanks for stopping by!
:)  Carianne



539

That is the number of tires my brother and sister-in-law have filled with dirt.  That is the same number of tires that will never see a landfill!!   

67
That is the number of TONS of dirt that they have shoveled into buckets and wheelbarrows and hauled to tires.  SIXTY-SEVEN TONS.  I don't know about you, but I think that is a whole lot of dirt! 

250
That is the approximate number of pounds of dirt that fit snuggly into an average car or truck tire resting on its side. 

What's with all the weird stats, you ask??  Well, it's helping to explain the beginning stages of building an eco-friendly house out of tires.  Well, not really the whole house...just the walls.  Here, let me show you! 

This is a close up of what six of the eight rows of tires look like.

 This shows almost half of the north wall and the entire east wall. 

This is looking down the entire north wall toward the scaffolding where the last 13 tires were put in place and filled this past Saturday, February 12!! 

This is a view from the southwest corner of the house "looking in" at what will someday be the interior of their home!  Somewhere within these walls is a set of 4 tires from our Tucson and another set of 4 from our Dodge Ram that has since been sold to my brother.   

 This is just a close up of the packed dirt within a few of the tires.  If you look closely, you can see lines left in the moist dirt from the wooden mallet used in the last step of the filling process.

 

Around 6:00 Saturday, February 12, as the sun began to set, Joe and Cindy finished the last tire of their tire wall.  I am so proud OF them and so proud FOR them!  What an accomplishment!! 

 

Here they are after a long day of hard work! 

I hesitate to write too much about this awesome process (in fear of getting it wrong) but the gist of it is this:

The ground was prepared with some initial plumbing and pipes.  The land was cleared of mesquite bushes and then there was lots of digging to get ready for the tire wall foundation.

The tire wall foundation was poured and set.

Tires began to line the concrete path...one by one.  Each one got filled and packed with dirt, dirt, and more dirt.

The empty neighboring tire was then screwed to the full tire and the process of filling with dirt was repeated.  I watched my brother do this several times during some of the time I was able to go over to their property and help.  He would pour some dirt in and spread it around with his hands.  Then, more dirt would get mounded up and then pulled into the tire walls by a motion that pulled the edge of the tire opening upward while also getting dirt into the curves of the tire.  After that was done, more dirt was added and packed into place with a sledge hammer.  This was followed by a mound of more dirt that was packed/flattened across the top of the filled tire with a wooden mallet.

The next step of this long home-building process is more digging.  Digging for plumbing and digging for footings.  They aren't too far from being ready for the actual house foundation.  From there, there will be framing...and then the house will start to take shape.  It is an exciting and amazing process.  I am happy to be a part of it.      

On a different note, I can't possibly mention all of this about my brother and sister-in-law's house and not bring up a very special little boy who I love and miss terribly.  Deuce loved going over to the property while his mom and dad worked.  He played in the dirt, found sticks, messed with bugs, and ran around having fun like all little boys do.  He also had a little collection going over there on his parent's property...      

Deuce's golf balls...collected on the property, given to him by the neighbor, put there by his own little 5-year-old hands and there they sit...untouched. God rest his sweet little soul. This was either between rows 3 and 4 or between rows 4 and 5. As far as I know, these golf balls will remain there...preserved...in the walls of the home. Never before have golf balls made me cry.  I can't help it.  My heart hurts everyday.  

Signing off for now,

Carianne 



If You’re Happy & You Know It…Installment One

I took an idea from my best pal, Riley, and am excited about adding this type of post to the blog each month!  The idea?  To blog about simple, everyday things that make me happy.  Riley had a 2010 Things to be Happy About tear-off calendar that she would tear off each day.  On each day’s list of 10 things, she would keep track of the things that made her the most happy and blog about them at the end of the month.  I told her I was going to steal the idea because of how much I loved her posts…and I have!  I got the 2011 version of the calendar for Christmas and I have made note of my favorite “happies” throughout January!  Within the bulleted list, I grouped together some separate “happies” because some things just naturally go together!  Here are the things that made me happy in January! 

·         A Fresh Fruit Cup – I LOVE fruit!  Fruit cups as a side dish, fruit trays at a gathering of many people, fresh fruit thrown into a smoothie, a handful of freshly washed fruit on a paper plate for snacking…you name it (fruit-related) and I most likely love it! 

·         A Clean Slate – There’s just something about a fresh clean slate that says refreshed and ready to go!

·         The Freshest Milk – I love fresh, ice cold milk with so many things…a bowl of my favorite cereal, a pile of cookies, a peanut butter and banana sandwich, smores, a warm brownie or slice of cake.  Mmm.   

·         Preparing a Meal/A Sharpened Chef’s Knife – I enjoy being in the kitchen cooking!  I love trying new recipes as well as preparing some of our favorites!  A sharp knife just makes the preparation stage that much more enjoyable!  

·         Believing – Is any elaboration necessary?   

·         Perpetuating Kindness – I feel that kindness fuels kindness and I always strive to think about that in my day to day interactions.  It doesn’t matter if it’s with the people I love and see each day, the person carrying out my groceries, the teller at the bank, the person parked next to me, the person on the other end of a phone call, etc.  Everyone deserves straight-from-the-heart kindness!  There are days I fall short, but I always have the next day to try again!  Thank you, God, for that!!      

·         Praise – Who doesn’t love a good pat on the back or an uplifting compliment!?!? 

·         An Afternoon of Quiet – I don’t get these very often – at all – but I do enjoy them when they come along.  Normally, my mind goes in fifty directions if it gets too quiet, so maybe it’s best for my brain that I don’t get these days regularly! 

·         A Favorite Outfit for Lounging/Fuzzy Slippers – I love pajama pants with t-shirts and/or sweatshirts and often wear fuzzy slippers to complete the ensemble! 

·         A Bright-Red Room – My most favorite bright-red room belongs to Riley!  Her kitchen is painted red and has all sorts of brown and black coffee-related accents and accessories that make it inviting and cozy!  I love being in her kitchen…which means I am in Dallas visiting her!!

·         A Good Example – I love seeing people being good examples to others.  Whether it’s a life lesson like learning right from wrong, or a math concept being learned, I believe that good examples are an important stepping stone in the learning process. 

·         Tired Kid(s) in Bed – Don’t get me wrong.  I love my little Owen to PIECES, but when he’s down for the night, I very much look forward to having quiet time to myself.  (I should say here that Austin often goes to bed not long after Owen!!)  My quiet time may just be rinsing off the day’s dishes or folding a load of laundry that’s been in the dryer for 4 days…but still!!  I do love my “me” time.

·         Free Delivery – What a splendid way to receive something you’ve paid for!!  

·         The Smell of Snow Coming – I was able to smell this awesome smell just this evening since Lubbock is currently in the middle of a winter storm.  The smell of snow is so crisp and refreshing.  It screams cozy blanket and hot chocolate!   

·         A Handwritten Letter – Wow!  I cannot remember the last time I received a handwritten letter in the mail.  I love them…so simple and personal…a step back from technology.  I used to write handwritten letters to friends and relatives as often as possible, but I just haven’t made it a priority in a long time.  Maybe it’s time to get back into it!  

   

·         The Ability to Memorize – I love coming up with little sentences and phrases to help me memorize things (mostly math-related formulas and concepts).  As a child, I always enjoyed studying for spelling tests and memorizing multiplication facts.   

·         An E-mail From a Friend – Sometimes in the midst of that busy, hectic thing called “life,” an e-mail is the best, quickest way to stay connected to a friend or loved one.  With just a push of a few buttons, you can send someone an update, a birthday wish, a prayer request, a link to an inspiring story, etc.       

·         Holding a Baby – There is no other feeling like the sweet cuddle of a baby.  Their smell becomes your smell and your smell becomes their smell.  Their hair, their clothes, their sweet breath, their skin.  It is one blended, fragrant smell of the best kind of gift.  A gift from God.   

·         A Love-Filled Home – I grew up in a home bursting at the seams with love.  I am so grateful for the parents and brothers I have, the things I always had provided for me, the opportunities I was always encouraged to go for, and all the other things along the way that made me the well-rounded person I am today.  I have my own home now so I know exactly what kind of home I want Owen to grow up in! 

·         Hand Lotion that Really Works – This fall and winter have been harder on my skin than any other time in my life.  Let’s just say that lotion is crucial in my day to day life!  FYI I am a huge fan of Avon Moisture Therapy and Bath & Body Works Shea Cashmere!! 

·         Warm Water on Cold Hands – This is most likely the reason I have such dry, cracked skin.  I am a little obsessive about hand-washing.  Not OCD, I don’t think, but maybe borderline! 

·         No Distractions – A day with no distractions would be the most productive day EVER.  And probably the most boring and most lonely too!  I choose a busy hit-and-miss day any day! 

I suppose my goal for February will be to choose less “happies” to blog about.  I apologize to those of you who are still reading.  To those of you who have drifted off to sleep, I certainly don’t blame you! 

Happy rest-of-the-week to each of you! 

Carianne