It's the Little Things

We have just put Owen down for potentially his last night in his crib. We plan to take his crib down tomorrow, taking away his "option" each night between his big boy bed and his crib. We have just realized that we have basically given him too much control and that his resistence to the big boy bed isn't going to change as long as the familiar comfort of his "baby bed" is starring at him each night. It is a bittersweet moment. I know I will be proud of him as he proves what a big boy he is and begins to find a new comfort in his new bed. But, at the same time, it is one more reminder that my baby is growing up way too fast. As I sit here with mixed emotions about what will come tomorrow evening, I reflect back on a special moment that happened just minutes prior to taking him upstairs for bedtime tonight. The three of us were sitting on the couch, Mommy in the middle with Owen on my left and Randy on my right, watching The Polar Express for about the millionth time. Owen laid his head on the armrest of the couch and placed his feet near my legs. I rested my left arm on Owen's knee and rubbed his leg. When I moved my arm away, he grabbed my hand and placed it back on his leg, then rested his hand on my arm with just a slight grip. A little later, I moved my arm again and he grabbed it once more, placing it right back on his leg and placing his hand right back on my arm. No words were spoken, yet none were needed. I knew it meant he just needed his Mommy's touch and at that moment, the warm touch of his little hand melted my heart! He is still my baby and he always will be. It's the little things in life that bring the most joy ♥

Like Father, Like Son

If you ever see Randy watching TV in the evenings, he is always reclined on the couch, with one blanket wrapped around his neck and another over his body. I always joke with him and say we should get him one of those neck wrap things with the beans in it and a snuggie! Well, last night, he wasn't feeling too good after dinner and wanted to sit down and relax. Guess who had to follow suit? That's right, his little "mini-me", Owen!! Not only did he want to be reclined and covered up, but he insisted on having a blanket around his neck too. He sat and watched the Olympics with his Daddy, eating popcorn that I had made the night before and was absolutely happy as a clam :)

Tick Off Tuesday

My friend, Carrie, started "Tick Off Tuesday" on her blog a while back and I am joining in the ranting this week.

These last few weeks, what has been ticking me off the most is the snowplows. Don't get me wrong, I definitely think they are necessary and that they are doing a great job with all of this snow. You might hear lots of complaining from people around here about PennDOT not doing their job and not getting all of the snow removed. But, I can honestly say that I understand why the plows are having trouble getting all the roads because, let's face it, there has been a TON of snow to plow. And I think they have been on the ball because, really, who is prepared for this much snow anyway? It isn't like this happens every year. I believe they need to be cut some slack. But...back to what ticks me off...it is so unbelievably frustrating to shovel your driveway and have it all clear, only to have the plow come through and push a huge pile at the end of the driveway that you have go back out and shovel all over again. And, the snow that gets plowed in front of the driveway is so ridiculously heavy from having melted a little when people drive over it!! Wet snow seems to weigh so much more than the nice, light, powdery snow. Not only do they push it into the front of driveway, but it gets pushed in front of the mailbox that we just shoveled as well. You see, the mail trucks are not required to deliver the mail if they can't get to the mailbox. So, we shovel out the mailbox so that the truck can get to it. Well, wouldn't you know, the plow comes through and pushes the snow right back in front of the mailbox too. So frustrating!! On top of that, the plow seems to only push the snow to our side of the road EVERYTIME! What about turning that plow the opposite direction sometimes, huh? I guess, really, I am just over the snow in general at this point. We have truly run out of places to put the snow when we shovel and the process has only gotten harder due to having to lift the shovel so high. Ugh! Please, oh please, snow plows, share the love and push the snow to the other side of the road sometimes, too!!

So, what ticks you off? Tick off Tuesday is a great way to get out your frustrations :)

Not me Monday

Nope, it was definitely not me that took my child to McDonald's for chicken nuggets twice last week. It didn't seem necessary for me to do so in Walmart because he was having a fit over the Penguins that came in the happy meal and I knew it would be a not-so-peaceful grocery shopping experience otherwise. And, then, I certainly did not stop there on our way home from Oakmont in order to 1) make sure he had lunch and would be ready for a nap as soon as we got home and 2) make sure he stayed awake on the way home so that he WOULD still nap once we arrived. Nope, not me!

And, it is not me who still has Christmas lights up outside, on this 22nd day of February! I mean, really, who doesn't want to go out in the freezing cold and over 2 feet of snow to do so, especially when said lights are buried under the snow at this point? I mean, it is only one set of floodlights, along with strand lights on 3 small trees. It isn't that hard, right? I most definitely didn't have the opportunity back in early January when the sun was shining and it was relatively warm for ONE day and let it pass by. Not me! The thought "well, the lights aren't hanging off of our house, so it isn't like anyone can see them anyway" definitely has not crossed my mind either!

What have you not done lately???

The Progression of a Snow Storm

Randy and Shawnee sent me pictures on my cell phone during the snow storm since I wasn't around to witness it first hand as it was coming down. Not only is the total amount that we got incredible, but the rate at which it all fell is unbelievable! Now, keep in mind that this was just the first round of snow, which was the majority of what we got over a 2 week period. In all we had about 31 or 32 inches, but this part of the storm alone dropped 24 inches of that (27 inches for Shawnee).

This was taken about 5 hours after my flight took off. Keep in mind there was no snow when I left. So, this 5 or 6 inches fell in less than 5 hours!!

This was 3 hours later, just before Randy went to bed and after he had shoveled the driveway for the 3rd time. 11 inches so far and still coming down like crazy!

This is looking out into the street from Shawnee's driveway. Keep in mind, I left that very spot only 8 hours prior. There was NO snow on the ground at that time!

The following morning...probably around 20 or 21 inches at our house, and STILL snowing!

Our baby boy standing in the driveway, up to his thighs in a place that had already been shoveled 3 times prior. I believe he would have almost been buried otherwise ;)

Our nicely shoveled driveway...this only lasted until the following Tuesday when we got blasted again and then again and again! It seemed to be never ending there for a while!

Our backyard covered oh-so-beautifully, with the sun shining! It doesn't look like much until you notice the entire tree trunk is buried!

A look down our street...those are some HUGE piles of snow in everyone's driveways, huh?

Shawnee's patio table when the snow stopped falling...the black "hole" is the under side of the table, so from there up is the total snowfall at her house. 27 inches!!!

Arrgghh!!!!

Owen's newest favorite thing lately seems to be Pirates! That is only fitting considering we are graduates of ECU, home of the Pirates! He is constantly proclaiming, "Go Pirates!" anytime he sees ANY sport on TV, including the Winter Olympics that are going on right now. Really, Owen? I didn't realize that the Pirates had teams at the Olympics? He has said for a while, and continues to say, "Arrgghh!" But, it's funny, even as his vocabulary started to grow so rapidly, much to our dismay, "Go Pirates!" was the one thing we couldn't seem to get him to say. I remember at Tim and Jenn's wedding, Randy's cousin told him to say, "Roll Tide" and he did. But, "Go Pirates!" was still a no-go. I was so disappointed to hear him saying the catch phrase for another school before our Pirates. At least it wasn't "Go Pack", right? You could say we are very happy that he is so excited about the Pirates now. His favorite book these days is "The Adventures of PeeDee the Pirate" that was given to us at one of our showers when I was pregnant with him. Each night, he wants his "PeeDee book" to be included in our readings before bed. We have to sing the ECU fight song every night as well, which he is slowly starting to sing along with us :) Tonight, he was pointing to the characters in the book and asked, "Who's that?" when he saw some cheerleaders. Randy answered with, "That's your Mommy!" Owen pointed to a male cheerleader and said, "Daddy?" Randy's response...wait for it, wait for it..."No, that's your Uncle Will!" Hmmmmm? Funny, I seem to remember that Daddy was a cheerleader too and perhaps that may even be how we met, but I can't be sure??? "Siyee, Daddy!" as Owen would say. Anyway, to say the least, we are loving Owen's new favorite thing. I thought it was only fitting since it is Owen's favorite thing right now, to go with Pirates as my 1st blog background...don't you think? We are the Pirates of ECU, Hey!!! "GO PIRATES, Arrgghh!"

A Change of Scenery

So, I have made the big switch. It took my friend, Amy, to get me away from my beloved Shutterfly site. But, here I am :) There are several things that I have been frustrated about with Shutterfly for a while...the layout and style options, viewing older posts, the ability for visitors to comment, among other things...but, the fear of the unknown has been holding me back from switching my venue. I guess I have just been comfortable with Shutterfly and worried about how the change would go. Anyway, it is time for me to make the change! I am not sure if I will keep our Shutterfly site or not. Well, I guess it will continue to exist, but I can’t say at this point if I will keep it updated. I will see how adding pictures, videos, etc. to this site goes and then decide. Honestly, I probably put too many pictures on there anyway. Maybe with this site, I can keep it contained to my very favorites. Perhaps I will upload ALL of them to Facebook so that if people wanted to see more, they can. I don’t know??? So many people now have Blogger sites and it is my turn to follow suit. I guess eventually, I will get into making it fancy and all my own. But, for now, it will be somewhat simple and I will add those special touches as I go. I am happy to be starting something new and looking forward to learning all of the ins/outs!