My face hurts from smiling

This boy lights my life.

He woke up and wanted to see robots

So after breakfast, he saw robots.

And the view of Pittsburgh from inside the Carnegie Science Center is breathtaking

When what I'm doing feels right

Sometimes in the midst of staying at home raising two boys I lose sight of how important my job is. Tuesday just feels like trash day and not "I did something right" day. Sometimes I feel sad that we don't have much money and that we live in a small apartment with no yard for the boys to run free, we drive small paid-off cars and cook most meals at home.  

But then I have days like today, because on this particular Tuesday we met up with friends at the Children's Museum. Pittsburgh's Children's museum has been rated one of the best in the country for several years now. And this place, like the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Science Center, is familiar to Owen. He goes almost weekly and knows his way around instantly. Owen goes to these wonderful museums several times a week -- A WEEK! He takes classes, explores, paints, learns and grows.

They opened a new exibit in a large open space. This large inflatable rainbow tunnel is staffed at the entrance. Children wait in line and are allowed to run through to the other side. When we arrived there was a short line of kids. Keeping toddlers in a line is quite the job and several mothers were helping to teach the kids how to take turns. Owen was fearful at first and waited in line several times only to turn around and stand back beside me. My friend Erin walked to the end of the tunnel so that O could run to her.

And he did.

And then he waited in line to run through again and again. As lunch time approached kids trickled out and soon only Owen and Emmet were left. The attendant told them they could go in and bounce since it was just them.

They bounced and jumped and giggled for a half hour until they were tired.

The attendant told me that on the weekends the line wraps around the room and out the door all to run through this exhibit once. My kid bounced in a national exibit for a half hour because I've chosen to make small sacrfices and live on less to be home with him.

He isn't missing out, he's getting more. More of me and of this. As least for my heart and my children, it all feels right.

My friend, Erin had a baby a month after I did. She was one of the first people I met when I moved here and even though Emmet is almost a year older than Owen, they are great buds. We had a blast being pregnant together and now our boys Gillen and Teddy are going to grow up friends just like their big brothers. Erin sat at the other end of the tunnel cheering the boys through while nursing Teddy, I thought it was a beautiful picture.

Actually, the whole thing was just a beautiful day.

Phipps Botanical Gardens

We're thinking of getting a membership to Phipps Botanical Gardens. They have added a lot of kid-friendly activities, such as a train exhibit and a kids shopping market -- and it's such a beautiful, serene place to walk around. A friend of ours had some passes so I decided to take the boys to check it out.

Apparently 2.5 is not a great age to visit a flower museum. Owen was like a bull in a china shop. Unfortunately he picked flowers, ripped them to shreds and threw them in the walkway much to the horror of the 55 and older crowd. He also tried to climb into a pond, threw rocks and ran away from me. To top it off he crapped his pants and threw a giant tantrum when I tried to change him. --- I'm going to hold on to that membership application until he's done being 2.5

But here are a few pictures from the first fifteen minutes of our trip while he was still behaving himself. Don't let the cuteness fool you... this boy is in the midst of terrible twos at their WORST.

 Trains!

 

You are my sunshine

This morning of cuddles in bed is just one example of why I have the best job in the entire world

A small boy with lots of thoughts

This boy is the light of my life. Every day that I am home with him he does something to amaze me. He is speaking in full sentences now and cracks us up with his requests and constant negotiations.

Owen is very descriptive and most of his descriptions involve being immensely positive about one thing or another. "I really, really like this!"  "It's SO SO good!" and my personal favorite, "It's not good, IT'S DELICIOUS!"

I think he gets this little bit of (exaggeration?) enthusiasm from his Mama ;)

Today a Katy Perry song came on the radio in the car (because let's be real there is only so much kid music one Mama can listen to) and Owen says, "Oh Mama I like this song! Makes me so, so happy!"  While his taste in music is a parenting FAIL on my part, I almost died from the cuteness.

I've been trying to do some extra special things with him, treasuring our time before Baby Brother comes. Today after I took him to the pool for toddler swim he said he was hungry. I knew we could go home for lunch and have sandwiches but I decided to take him to McDonald's instead. He loves to sit next to me in the booth like a big boy and eat his meal. At the counter after I ordered Owen looked at the lady and said, "Owen will have a hot dog."  I laugh just typing this because the cuteness NEVER STOPS.

Whenever we tell him, "No." about something as in "No you cannot have another ice cream sandwich" he looks at us and says, "Well, maybe." In his mind, everything is a maybe ;)

There are a few things that make my heart break a little.

He used to call banana's "mee-mas" and recently he started saying "banana" plain as day.

He has started saying, "I don't like it" at the dinner table, which he has never said before.

He also says, "I don't want to." --- and every time he says it I have to hold back my frown-y face

He also says, "Owen can't do it." which I am trying to reinforce with only positive feedback and encouragement. He gets easily frustrated and it makes me so sad when he says this.

He still calls tomatoes "baby-TUR-TALLS" which I absolutely LOVE.

His growing up only brings more joy, never less. Endless streaming thoughts, nothing withheld. And MORE love and sweetness than one Mama can take on a daily basis.

Toddler Troubles: Naked time

This is how we found Owen when we went in to wake him from his nap (we are waking him now because it is taking him far too long to fall asleep at night). He took off his sleep sack, pajama's and diaper and was SOAKED in urine. His bedding, him, everything was soaked.

He is doing this before falling asleep for nap/night time or upon waking from nap/night. I've cleaned up more than my fair share of poop and pee over the last few weeks and was desperate for a solution.

Read more about it here on Kveller!

Target

It is a little known fact that if you are an EXTREMELY good boy while your Mama is shopping in Target, then the lady at the check out counter will give you a sticker. This special sticker entitles you to one free bag of popcorn at the snack counter. Bonus? You also get to keep the sticker ;)

...and every good little boy with a sticker knows that if you are getting a FREE popcorn at the snack counter, you also need an ICEE to wash it down.

Hence Mr. Owen is always on his best behavior when riding in the red cart because he wants nothing more than

"POP-CORN AND A COLD!"  

(he calls the ICEE "a cold" and it's so cute I can't stand it!)

Public Health NO NO

I should know better, I really should. But who can resist fruit pizza? Apparently, not me. We were invited to two (TWO!) 4th of July BBQ's this past weekend (both invites made through mommy groups, I rock at making friends). For the Sunday affair, I decided to be festive and make a flag-themed fruit pizza (and rushed out the door without taking a picture of it's awesomeness...) We had a great time at the party, Mr. Owen was a sweaty mess but loves to be social and LOVES to watch other kids play. The host insisted we take food home (the same food that sat out in 90 degree heat for 3+ hours), so I loaded up my tray and brought it home and PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE. I. AM. AN IDIOT.

Of course I thought nothing of it when I had another slice (or four) of my delishISH fruit pizza for lunch on Monday.

...Until Tuesday morning at 1am when I was BARFING MY BLOODY BRAINS OUT.

My first thought... Oh shit, I'M PREGNANT!! And you can imagine my relief when a few hours later it started to come out both ends (relief? What?)

(Side note: I definitely want to have another child one day. But not today or any day soon. I need to figure out this child first. And I swear having a baby is the best form of birth control EVER. I've never in my life been more terrified of getting pregnant... and I pretty much have the cutest baby on the planet. Nuff Said.)

Jeremy wakes up to go to work at 4am and finds me rushing to the toilet (for the third time that morning). I walked him out to the kitchen to say goodbye, AND FILLED THE SINK. It was bad, very very bad. Did I mention we don't have a garbage disposal? Right, mega gross. Needless to say this was one of my most challenging days as stay-at-home Mamma yet. Owen is going through a growth spurt right now and trying to master rolling over. As a result, he has been waking every 1-3 hours during the night to eat. During the day he eats about every 1-2 hours. Right. A LOT OF EATING. So with a cranky baby and a dehydrated, pooh-barfing Mamma - I did what any other reasonable woman in my situation would do.

I let my 4 month old son watch TV.

And he loved it.

And I spent the afternoon running back and forth to the bathroom and trying to drink enough fluids to make milk (and not pass out). Finally around 3pm I started to spike fever and I felt like my body was about to collapse... and Jeremy came home early from work with some Gatorade and an anti-nausea prescription. THANK GOD FOR THIS MAN. That prescription was by far the first perk of being a doctor's resident's wife, I only had to VOM for 14 straight hours instead of 24. SCORE.

Owen also gave me a present and slept through the night. The first 7-hr stretch of sleep I've gotten since his birth and went I woke up, I felt awesome - until I realized my chest was about to explode. And I promptly woke my son for a morning milk buffet.

Today I'm barely eating solids and my stomach still feels like I swallowed a mouse trap but at least I made it through. I'm alive, my baby is alive (and could probably tell you the score of Tuesday's FIFA soccer game) and I will NEVER eat bacteria-laden goodies again. EVER.

The end.

(p.s. We had hired a babysitter for Tuesday night to stay with O while we went out for crab for our Anniversary... needless to say... that didn't happen. Ah, life.)