Bows or Bowties?

If you popped on over to the O'Baby O'Brien blog, you might have seen we had a gender reveal party this weekend for O'Baby 2.0! It was a wonderful evening filled with silliness, friends, family, food, and an answered surprise!

...and it almost didn't happen!

I got a called on Monday from my doctor's office asking me to return their call to reschedule the sonogram because their sonographer would be out. WHAT? WHAAATTTT??? I have plans! I have people coming in! I have plans! Joe and I want to find out!!

So, I did what any other person in my position would do -- I called my sister panicked! After I vented and we talked about it, I 'calmly' called my doctor's office to reschedule thankfully Thursday before our party on Friday. Joe and I also decided we would make the event a surprise for us too, so, we sealed up the detailed photos and a note from the sonographer, and I shoved it in the glove box as soon as I got to the car!

Man! That was hard for the first few minutes, but then I was ok! I couldn't wait to find out with Joe and Owen and our family and friends the next day. On Friday, I delivered the mystery envelope to my pal Emily, who was privileged to know before us all and prepare the news in the form of silly string.

Guests were asked to vote Bows or Bowties/Mustaches on whether O'Baby 2.0 would be a boy or girl when they arrived. They could also suggest a name, because...we are awful at names! After a bit of eating and visiting, we all moseyed out to the backyard with our cans, said a count down and were all momentarily confused!

What color was the string??

Seems the chemical reaction in the silly string takes just a moment to mix when sprayed!!! It looked white, light pink, blue???? BLUE!!! IT WAS BLUE!!!

We're having a boy!! O's going to have a little brother!!

Oh, HAPPY DAY!! Joe and I are blessed with two boys.

For the record, I voted boy, Joe voted girl, and O voted boy (on that day)!

And with this news, I ask for your prayers. Two boys?? Oh, Lordy!

In the Trenches

There was a man named Joe. And Joe had a dream.

Joe dreamed of a lush, green yard.

Joe had a hard, spotty green and brown yard.

So, Joe decided to get to work.

First, he killed! He killed it all. The green, the bad, the good, the ugly...all dead. Dead.

Next, he tilled. He tried to soften our hard back yard and loosened it up for the next round.

What's next you ask? A sprinkler system...we want green, remember!?

Trenches and dirt everywhere. Dirt in the yard. Dirt in the driveway. Dirt in the living room. :(

It works! Joy! Triumph!

Now, to add the green. To be delivered and deposited this weekend we hope.

Joe had a dream. Joe makes dreams come true! Way to go, Joe.

(now, next project...to sit back, relax and enjoy the green!

An Evening with the Croods

It all started with a groupon to Studio Movie Grill.

They run a great deal so often for a $5 ticket that includes a soda. SOLD!

Joe and I enjoy the occasional date night there, because we can enjoy a movie and dinner without running ourselves ragged trying to make a movie in time or not stay out too long for those watching the O'Bear.

I realized our tickets were about to expire, and we were either booked or didn't quite have childcare lined up. No date night for us. So, I started asking friends and family. Seems EVERYONE is busy being responsible....NO TAKERS.

That's when Joe had the great idea, let's take Owen. If we're going to have to let them go, might as well make an experiment out of it. They were playing the movie The Croods at 6:30 last night -- PERFECT. And as it happens, Tuesday is Ladies Night for $5. Woohoo.

We ordered a burger and chicken to split, broke out the fruit snacks while we waited and settled in.

IT WAS AWESOME!

O did a great job of staying in his seat, staying relatively quiet, and eating his dinner.

The movie was hysterical...I loved all the imaginative primitive creatures and funny jokes they added in. And amazingly it wasn't much of a mind-stretch to consider Nick Cage as a caveman! ;)

I am so excited we have a new family entertainment option. I loved spending the evening with my two favorite movie-goers.

What Happened to March?

Well, it appears March happened.

How did a whole month roll past that quickly. March was a great month though. You ask, "How great??"

I got a whole new title...AUNT. I'd say that's pretty great.

My beautiful niece Madelyn arrived on March 19th after her mother and father served her an eviction notice. She had stayed over her 40 weeks with mommy and we were all so ready to meet her and love her. It was a long day for the Colvin family, but I'd say they are pretty happy with the outcome. My beautiful niece!

We also had some pretty fab birthdays to celebrate. Two of my favorite people. My wonderful hubby Joe was celebrated with BBQ and friends and a weekend of baseball fun and family.

And my bestie Lydia was sent a care-package of fun and well wishes. I love birthdays! I love celebrating the ones we love and giving them a special day (week, month, whatever). (We can just start leaving off the years!)

We had a happy fun Easter with our O'Brien family. We did a fun Easter event on Saturday with Owen up at the church, complete with egg hunt (in plain sight), carnival games, bounce houses, clowns and learning about Jesus. There are some things I wish our church did differently, but the way we love our community makes me so proud all the time!! We also enjoyed a wonderful, joyful, worshipful Easter service at church. Our takeaway -- Don't look for it where it ain't! It's not going to be there. (Check out great sermons here!)

Owen was treated to a special delivery from the Easter Bunny, an egg hunt for him and his great-aunt Jill, and a fun time with family.

March...you went by like a blur, but you were a blast. April, what cha got?

Nana Friday!

A lovely tradition we have been able to do with Joe's mom, Holly, or Nana as O prefers to call her is Nana Friday.

Fairly often Holly is able to break away from the riveting, fast-paced world of hydraulics and hydrology of O'Brien Engineering and slow down with Owen and I.

Ha. Slow down. Owen. Oh, I make myself laugh. Often we go to a restaurant for breakfast or lunch and then O gets to go back to Nana's for some secret grandma/grandson fun, while mom cleans the house or something just as electrifying.

This past Friday, we went with Nana to drop off her taxes. O got to push the elevator button of a high rise, and from then on he wanted to go to all the big buildings we saw.

We stopped and ate a great (or so we thought) pizza lunch and even snagged and ice cream treat and a book store visit before returning home for naps. Too bad on the way home, O barfed all that pizza goodness back up.

And Nana helped clean him up. Because she loves us. She cleaned the car seat too. Because she loves me.

Owen and I both greatly enjoy our Nana Fridays, and I am so glad he has such loving grandparents that invest in his life.

Nakee Baby

Some weeks are just weird.

We finished off 2012 with a fun evening of family and food at Joe's parents' house. And to celebrate the new year, we did what most of you did --- an out and out Marshmallow Shooter War!!! (this is where we also found out that marshmallows can hurt! how sad is that!)

Fun was had by all. The dogs loved it. The kiddo loved it. But mostly the crazy, competitive adults loved it.

Sadly, that night we got a call that Joe's parents' dog, Ursa was not doing well and didn't make it till the next morning. She sadly passed away from bloat. An illness that affects big-chested animals and it was quite sudden and shocking. We are very sad to have lost our gruff, sweet girl.

Now...to the nakee baby. Well, you see, Owen has been asserting more of his Terrible Two-ness ever since Christmas (ugh, that was a trial) and he loves to especially do this where clothes are concerned. No, I don't need to get dressed. No, I don't need to change my yucky dirty clothes. No, I don't need a new diaper. You get the idea...

Well, O got to spend the night at Nana's a few days later and I went to pick him up the next day for a fun brunch with Aunt Jenni, Uncle Jamie and our friends the Harkins. This is where it gets dicey friends. I arrive a little late to pick up the kiddo, because of course the car was empty, and who do I see walking down the stairs in saggy wet diaper. AAAHHH!!!

Nana states he has politely refused all clothing all morning long.

This is not going to work.

I try to persuade with "We get to see your friends." Nope. "We get to get food." Nope. "We need to change your diapy to be healthy" NOOOOOOOPPPPEEE! So I did was any self respecting mom would do and wrestled her child down into a clean diaper.

And that's where we stopped. He wouldn't put a stitch on. So, with a bit of sadness and curiosity, I left Owen and Nana to duke it out. Nana said she would wait till he changed his mind.

And waited. And waited. And waited.

He wouldn't dress for her. He wouldn't dress for food. He wouldn't dress for PopPop. He wouldn't dress for Jesus (you gotta try it all). So...call in the cavalry. Dad.

Joe was asked to come over and put an end to the 4-hour clothes standoff. And with a bit of a talking-to, when I arrived back after breakfast and errands, I was met by a happy, smiling Owen and a weary set of grown-ups.

So what have we learned from this? I have no clue.

Or perhaps, don't think you can break the will of a certain 2.5 year old. The only thing that will break is your sanity.

In a Funk.

As you can tell from the enormous amount of posts between this and the last...I've just had a ton to say. Sadly, I think I have. I just haven't wanted to share it. Or didn't know how. Or lost the time.

This season has been rough. long. done with.

I don't want to be here anymore. I'm trying to climb out, but some days are harder than others.

Also, have I mentioned that in 6 days I'll have an official 2.5 year old? I think 2.5yo's are here to confuse and  drive you mad. It is a constant battery of questions, melt-downs, tantrums, hurtful words, and slugs to the body (most in fun) coupled with the most wonderful sounds of singing, laughter, and I love you mom moments that leaves me quite at my wit's end. How can one soul bring so much stress and jubilation? What God must put up with us all.

We recently took a trip to the mountains. It was brown for the most part, then on our last night, it snowed. Wonderful blanketing snow. I was in love.

I woke up the next morning, snapped a few pictures, started a fire, got my book....then EVERYONE woke up, and the same-day-day started all over again.

I want more moments. I want more peace. I want to enjoy the things around me. So that's what I'll continue on. That's what I pray for.

In the meantime I've got my windows rolled down, blasting Christmas music in search of those moments.

Happy Christmas.