check-up

owen had his 3-year check yesterday.  he's doing great!  he's 40.5" and 35.5 lbs.  as the doctor (dr. kreg, according to owen) put it, he's the size of your average four-year-old.  (95+% for height, 75% for weight.  i remember when he was under 50% for weight.)  he got two shots, which he hated.  he watched our nurse (who we both adore) poke him for the first one and screamed bloody murder.  she got the second (and last one) done quickly and were were ok.  i'm glad we only have to do this once a year - and that with an october birthday, he can get the flu shot (which was one of his two shots) at his check-up.    he has a very snotty nose right now and his ears look great!  yay!  i think we've outgrown the need for tubes.  that makes me a happy mommy.

swimming lessons continue to go very well.  last night he not only jumped off of the side of the pool, he launched himself off at me, swam the 4 feet to get me, then preceded to swim across the pool with help from mommy only to come up for air.  he's got the propulsion thing down.  he's floating on his back with me supporting his head with only one hand.  he wasn't doing that a week ago.  he's also was doing the arm part of the elementary backstroke (chicken-airplane-soldier) yesterday for the first time.  he spent nearly all of the free time jumping off of the edge, swimming to me, then swimming back to the edge to do it all over again.  he is amazing.  he was also the most vigerous splasher in his class.  he's gone from being one of the least-accomplished kids in his class to one of the leaders.  he loves swimming.  maybe he's the next michael phelps!  

Progressing

three years ago right now, i was in labor at work, but didn't realize i was in labor yet...

owen had a big day yesterday.  first, we had our 18 month check with the ent for his tubes.  he looked in owen's ears and told me that both tubes are out of the ear drums, but still in the ear canal, and both ear drums have closed up nicely (there may still be a small hole in the left side, but it's inconsequential at this point.) so that means that the fact that i forgot owen's ear plugs for swimming lessons on thursday isn't a big deal.  the dr. told us that we can be done with the ear plugs (thank goodness!  i was getting tired of using them, but knew we needed to.)  the only problem with our appointment yesterday was that owen did not cooperate with the guy giving him the hearing test.  o wanted the doggie that was in the room as a visual/auditory reward and to bring the young kids back to looking straight ahead during the tests.  he was pitching a fit because of it.  we go back in 3 months to recheck his hearing.  hopefully he'll cooperate better then.  i'll make sure he has eaten a full breakfast that morning.  i think that had something to do with it yesterday.

the other big step owen took yesterday was starting to pee standing up.  just like daddy!  i think our little experience at 5 mile drive did it for that.  he's great at aiming, and just needs to learn to put both the seat and the lid up, not just the lid.  actually, that's how i figured out that he was going standing up...the seat was covered, front and back.  what a big boy!  

my mom and her fiance ("dude" to owen) are here for owen's birthday tomorrow (3!?)  last night my friend faye came over to babysit while the four adults (me, jeff, mom and jim/dude) went to dinner at the space needle.  i'd never eaten there before.  we had a gift certificate from an auction last year for dinner for four that had to be used by the end of this month.  we toasted to time together, jeff's new job(!!!!), to battle (mom's cancer), and to owen, the reason we are together right now.  it was fabulous.  i tasted a little bit from jeff's plate and a little bit from jim's and at nearly everything from mine.  it was so yummy!  the restaurant revolves so you get a 360-degree view of the city.  we were looking out over elliot bay and the sound at sunset.  it was gorgeous!  we made it around 2-1/2 times (a full revolution takes about 45 minutes).  the company was wonderful, the food was fabulous, and the service was excellent.  i loved being treated like a lady by our waiter.  we spent some time reminiscing back to three years ago.  mom was a god-send at night - she spent three nights with owen on her chest so jeff and i could get some sleep.

as i mentioned in the last bit, jeff found out yesterday that he got a job.  it's swing shift (3:30-midnight) m-f.  he starts on monday.  yay!!!!!  it's been a stressful six months since he lost his last job. 

owen turns three tomorrow. yesterday marks 4 years since we lost jacob.  every time i think of that, i also remember that if we hadn't lost jacob, we wouldn't have our wonderful owen.  we went to the children's museum in olympia yesterday and owen had a great time.  he loved the produce area and the water table.  he pitched a huge fit when we left.  guess he wasn't done.  we had lunch at a pizza place on the way back.  owen once again shined at lunch.  he is such a good kid when we're in public.  makes me proud.    

we're having two parties this year.  today is the friends party.  brendan, peter, carlie, josh, mariah, and michael are all coming.  that makes three boys owen's age, plus their siblings.  peyton might come too (bren's sister, she's 15 months old).  tomorrow will be family.  that's 21 people, including the three of us, plus mom and jim.  the kids are making their own pizzas tonight (using biscuits) and tomorrow night is burgers and dogs.  i'll try to get pictures and post them later.  

Spring Break

it's almost over, but it's been great. last weekend my mom was here. we had a good time. i tried on bridesmaid dresses for my sister's wedding in september. when i told jeff that i am going to be my sister's matron of honor, he said, "aren't you a little young to be a matron?" i had to explain that matron vs. maid had nothing to do with age and everything to do with marital status. so cute!

monday was spent getting my Box ready to go out the door for national boards. (check out my other blog here to read about that process.) tuesday was spent relaxing, wednesday held two appointments for me, thursday was another appointment and the zoo with friends. it was a gorgeous day. perfect zoo-going weather. on our way out of the zoo, my friend rob called to tell me that his wife, one of my best friends, had their baby that afternoon. carlie was five days late, but she is beautiful. see pictures at this link. peter, carlie's big brother, is good buddies with owen. he'll probably be coming over on wednesday mornings for a couple of hours this summer while mommy and baby sister go to mommy group at the hospital. owen and i went to see carlie and katie yesterday after his one-year check-up for his ear tubes - left one is no longer functioning, right one still is, but is well on its way out. both are still in, though the left one is really tipped, which is completely normal. we go back in in october for one more follow-up. things are looking good in that arena at this point. owen made his mommy so proud yesterday. one of the receptionists gave him a sticker as i was filling out a card to remind me to call in 6 months. immediately, and without prompting, he said, "thanks!" as he took the sticker from her. yay!!!!! i have a polite little boy! he was so good about using his manners yesterday.

once we got back from the hospital and seeing katie, rob, peter and carlie, our family went to seattle for the day. owen did beautifully, as usual. he fell asleep in the car on the way home, so we took the lo-o-o-ong way home. turned a 25 minute drive into close to 90 minutes. he got a good nap so it was worth it.

today we are having breakfast with a friend of mine from college. i haven't seen her since i was first pregnant with jacob. that makes it close to four years ago. wow. we'll get out the door in a little over an hour. o's still sleeping, which is fine. he had noodles with pasta sauce last night for dinner. first time for plain noodles with sauce at home. :-) slowly but surely we are getting past those food issues. at least we have a standard fare we can get him at restaurants.

yesterday, owen sang through the entire "monkey dance" song - and he did it perfectly! he is also very good at singing his abc's. i tried to get the monkey dance on video, but he was done and distracted by the time i got the video camera plugged in. oh, and his new favorite word is "ok". yesterday afternoon it was, "monkey? ok!" and he'd sing. ("monkey dance" is from the wiggles. gotta love those guys!)

Red Letter Day

in so many different ways!

first, the ways pertaining to our little boy. we are officially done with teething for several years with owen. he cut his 20th tooth today. :-) i'm so glad! i never thought he'd get all of those chompers. isn't this an amazing picture? how did i get so blessed to have this kid as my son?

he is also turning somersaults on his own. quite the fun thing to watch. i'll try to get it on video and post that one of these days. he bends himself in half, puts the top of his head on the floor and pushes himself over with his feet. all of this and he's just two!

as for some sorta-old news, we finished up the antibiotics for an ear infection this a.m. this is the first infection he's had since getting his tubes in in april. i knew there was trouble last monday when i got him up and there was dark-colored discharge on his pillow and in his ear. luckily we had an appointment that afternoon to get his flu shot and his chicken pox shot (how often does it work out like that, huh?) so i had the doctor look at his ear while we were in. great timing, if i do say so myself. he got really good at letting us do his eardrops. in fact, he even would remind us (tried to do that tonight but i told him that we're done!)

now for the other thing. we have some icky neighbors. as of tomorrow, they won't be our neighbors anymore. :-) yahoo!

He can count and a social commentary

well, just a little bit. he counts to two, but he starts with one! not too long ago, he thought counting started at two, not one. tonight, he very clearly was counting, "one, two! one, two!" i'm constantly amazed with how smart he is and how much he learns every day. it would be interesting to go back and count how many times i've said that in this blog. anyone up for the challenge?

another amazing thing to me is that owen turns two in a week. when did that happen? can it really be that two years have passed since he was born? we have a huge party planned for saturday of next week. by "huge", i mean in attendance. jeffy's entire family (all 18 of us, my mom, owen's godparents and their two kids (four more), plus my friend faye and her family (five more). that makes 28 people in our home. our house will be busting at the seams, but it will be fine and fun. two of the attendees are just a few months old, one is just over a year, owen and another are two, then there's a 3 year old and a 4 year old before we get to the older kids (ages 7-11) and the adults.

owen got a hair cut the other night. it looks very nice if i do say so myself. i'm really getting the hang of it. three different attachments were used, all on purpose. i did it after his bath and it looks so much neater that it was. he was getting pretty shaggy by my standards for him. i don't like seeing his hair flopping over his ears. he looks much better with the shorter hair. after his haircut, he got a few m&ms. if you look closely in the pictures, you can see the left-overs of the m's on his face.

now for the social commentary. while i am disappointed that marion jones has used steroids, i am very impressed and find it quite refreshing that she is owning up to it and that she appears to be willing to take whatever consequences come her way. in today's socitetal norm of "i didn't do it and i'll never 'fess up." it's very important that our kids see that it is better to take responsibility and face the music than to continue lying and get away with illegal things. this is a quality i am trying to instill in owen and also in my kids at school. i always acknowledge when a student owns up to something, even if it means getting in trouble.

the weekend is here. i have a workshop tomorrow in fway then jeffy and i have tickets to a concert here in town. the highlight for me will be beethoven's 4th symphony. owen is spending time with grandma and papa and then is coming home for bedtime with grandma. sunday will be our usual family day.

conference week is upon us at school. i will be masquerading as a middle school teacher this week on monday, tuesday, and wednesday as the middle school teachers are in cincinnati for a training of their own and it's a cheap way to have classes covered. specialists don't usually teach on half-days anyway so i suppose we have the time available. i could, however, make good use of the time if i didn't have to teach middle school. oh, well. i'll hopefully have a good part of each afternoon (m-w) and tuesday night until about 6 or 6:30. the way things work here in my district is if we work a late night in october and another late night during conferences in december, we don't have to go in the friday of the december conference week. (that usually falls on the friday of the first full week of december.) of course, the year i had owen, that friday ended up being a snow day.

wednesday we will have our 6-month check on the ear tubes and then on friday of next week, we have our two-year check with the pediatrician. i'm sorta nervous about this winter if the ear tubes come out (on their own). we could be facing more ear infections. i'mnot looking forward to that if it happens. we are missing meeting the new pediatrician by two work days. she starts on the 16. owen's appt is on the 12th. we'll meet her later in the year, i'm sure.

potty training has sorta slowed down and that's just fine. he is, after all, just two. we have plenty of time for it. oh, and the baby gates are down in the house now. he tried climbing over the one at the kitchen door this weekend. he's done well with having free access to the kitchen.

School's Out for Summer!

And it's about danged time, too! Today was the final day teachers had to be there. My room is completely clean, shelves covered up with butcher paper to help minimize the amount of dust that will undoubtedly settle over the summer. Many of my colleagues asked me if my room was moving for next year. I told them, not to my knowledge. They couldn't believe how clean and orderly it was. Made me feel really good! I'm not the tidiest person around....

Today a group of us, the three specialists (music, library, PE), plus teachers from each age level at my school, got a good start on the master schedule for next year. It is looking like I'll have middle school kids twice a week from 8-8:45. I'm really excited about this! (Something I NEVER would have dreamed of five years ago.) I think I'm finally to the point in my career that I'll be more than just an effective middle school teacher. This year I've gotten to spend some time with the middle schoolers and get to know them, not only on a personal level, but I'm also getting to know the beast. I've learned that their senses of humor are pretty well formed, and they can be loads of fun. The other thing that will help is that I've basically raised these kids from babies. Next year's 6th graders were in 1st grade when I started at my current school. That means the 8th graders were in 3rd when I started there. I've known quite a few of them for the entire time I've been at my school. It's been fun to watch them grow and turn into young adults.

Since music will be an elective, the kids I get will want to be there and hopefully that will help stem some of the potential for behavior issues. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do next year, with major points I want to touch on. I think I should talk with the middle school teachers over the summer and see what the appropriate form and level for questions and assignments should be. I want to know that I'm not setting the bar too high for them.

I want to do a reverse music history/music appreciation class with the middlers. We will start in present day and talk about the music that is out there currently. Then we will go back and see what led into popular music being what it is. Eventually we'll get to the Beatles, then musical theater, vaudville, and jazz before heading into the classical music periods and study composers like Brahms, Wagner, Beethoven, Bach, and Vivaldi. We'll look at why their work was significant and also how their works are indicitive of the style of their time period. This year will definately be one with lots of tweaking and possibly changing canoes mid-stream if things aren't working

We leave for our vacation tomorrow. Two glorious weeks in Denver and Omaha. It will be Owen's first plane trip. Thank goodness for the tubes - they'll help with the pressurization of the cabin bit not affecting his ears and being painful. He and I are pretty well packed and ready to go. Jeff still needs to pack, but he's finishing up some stuff outside while there is still daylight. I put a small load in the washer tonight so everything will be ready to go for tomorrow. We head to Denver tomorrow, then to Omaha on Sunday to spend that week with my sister. We've never been to Omaha so it will be quite the adventure for all of us. We drive back to Denver on the 30th and then are back home on the 6th. We have plans to see friends of mine from high school, several teachers, some from h.s., some from m.s., plus other people in Denver. After the school year I've had, the break is definately needed. When we get back, Jeffy will start as a full-time real (instead of temp) employee at the job he's been at since July of last year.

good helper

owen is down for the night. he got a bath tonight (it's been in the 80s-low 90s here the last couple of days...he's been a hot and sweaty boy from playing outside at school, etc.) and as i was getting his ear plugs ready, he presented me with one of his ears so i could get the plug in that ear, then he turned his head and presented me with the other ear so i could get the plug in that ear. it wasn't too long ago that it was a fight just to get them in. now, he actually helps me with the task! way cool, owen!

a funny thing tonight was on our way to bed, i picked him up (he would have rather stayed up playing) and as we were walking toward his room, he kept saying "no no no no no!" i told him, "yes. it's past time for bed."

time for mommy to see if she's smarter than a fifth grader (mine were very trying today. told my mom i needed a drink this afternoon. their teacher was gone as was their para. just a sub in the classroom. several owe me time on the wall tomorrow at recess.

They Work!!!

so i'm just getting a class started today when my cell phone rings. my kids hear it and inform me, i hear it and ignore it and tell them i'll let it go to voicemail. once i get them going on their lesson (color by number activity while listening to "Carnival of the Animals"), i go look at my phone to see who called. it was daycare. i call them back and find out that his ear is oozing and they're afraid that he's ruptured an ear drum. i calmly inform them (maybe slightly excitedly, actually) that he has tubes and they're doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. i told them i'd call the doctor to make sure we didn't need to take him in and then i'd call them back. as long as they aren't getting clogged and he doesn't get a fever or seem to be in pain with his ear, we don't need to go in. i'm so glad we went for the tubes. i couldn't have dealt with yet another thing with him.

i, on the other hand,think i have a sinus infection. it's incredibly painful. i've barely eaten all day today. just at breakfast. that was really tough, unless i took really small bites. wonder what i'll do for dinner tonight as far as eating.

owen is consistently going through the night, and when he wakes up, he may fuss, but he gets himself back to sleep with relative ease. how nice to be back to that! yay!

Clean Bill

We had both of our check-ups since my last post. The surgeon said that everything looks great with his ear drums and they are healing up nicely. the pediatrician said his eardrum look better than she can ever remember seeing them. sounds like we made the right decision.

owen has a favorite word: "hi!" he says it probably 50+ times a day (or maybe that is just in the morning...) hi to the kitty, to mommy, to daddy, to people at day care, to... two cute things with this in the past week are in the mornings when we are getting out the door, he'll go onto the porch and wait for me while i lock up. he'll open the screen door, poke his head in and say "hi" several times. on thursday, jeffy was sitting at the desk and owen comes over carrying his toy phone by the receiver, but holding the receiver out, and was saying "hi. hi. hi. hi." all the way to daddy. it's so much fun to listen to him grow and change.

a bonus since our 18 month check on monday, he's been getting himself back to sleep in the middle of the night. yay! oh, and his stats from monday: 25 lbs, 8 oz, and 34" tall. two more inches and we're a full-on three feet tall! that's tall enough to climb out of the crib, in theory. i'm not sure he knows that's a possibility just yet. let's see what we can do about keeping it that way, shall we?

it's a beautiful day here, but we're stuck as my car is getting work done (mainly an oil change, but also a follow-up on the tranny...) no stroller, can't find my key to the shed to get the wagon out, no car seat so even if someone came to pick us up, we couldn't go anywhere. oh, and jeffy's out doing yard work at the tree lot and at his parent's house. loads of fun here. the good news is that i have a baby shower to go to tomorrow for one of my sisters-in-law. she's due in june! yay! more babies!

Even MORE words!

Since last evening, Owen has said a new word and a new phrase. The new word is "hi" and the new phrase is "big boy". Both were imitated, but he's never done that before! He said, "hi" twice last night and "big boy" was this morning when I woke him up and asked if he was a big boy. He replied, "big boy!" Yay for tubes! I'm so glad we did this!

Today we're going to the zoo. Wonder what new sounds he'll hear and respond to. Last evening, when we got dinner at our favorite Vietnamese place at Freighthouse Square near the Tacoma Dome, Owen heard a UPS truck start up and he stopped walking, turned, and listened and watched. What a neat thing for him!

Good as new!

Owen came through the surgery this a.m. with flying colors! He is back to normal, and happy as a clam! You really can't tell by looking at him or watching him that he had surgery this morning. He saw me as they were rolling him out, after he came out of the anesthesia, and he wanted nothing to do with the gurney and only wanted Mama. That was fine with me! We went and got breakfast at my old university and Owen ate a ton, as usual. Looks like the zoo is a for-sure thing tomorrow!

Last night we had dinner with some family friends who used to live in Denver. We got home kind of late for Mr. O, so I was only going to read him one story. He didn't want any story last night. He just wanted to go to bed. Took the book from my hand and motioned toward the bookshelf with it (that's where it goes when we're done reading it). I put him in his crib and all was good. He's started doing this a couple of nights ago, except that first time we got up around 2:30, had some peaches, then I took him back to bed with me because that had helped him get to sleep quicker than trying to rock him or just putting him in his crib did. Well, he squirmed his way out of our bed, onto the floor, and walked right over to his bedroom door and waited for me. I put him in his crib, he cried for maybe a minute and then was quiet. After a little bit, I heard him talking to himself, but they were happy and content sounds so I didn't worry about it. I think we might be crossing that hump for the sleep thing. Keep your fingers crossed!

Checking in

We do that tomorrow morning at 7:00. No food after midnight, clear liquids only after midnight (so juice, water, etc.) and NOTHING after 5:00 a.m. Not even a sip of water. Hopefully we will be out by 8:00 or 8:30.

Had lunch with my aunt and uncle today. Owen had melon and fries. He's definately in one of those phases where he doesn't want to eat much. He'll self-regulate so I'm not too worried. It's aggrivating, more than anything - make or order food for him and then he doesn't touch it.)

on the schedule

we went to the surgeon yesterday and after owen's ears being poked and proded (including having a hearing test) we were given two options by the doctor. (1) continue to treat the EIs with antibiotics every time one happens or (2) do tubes. betcha know which option i went for. owen is getting tubes on april 5. they'll call us on the 4th to let us know what time we need to be there. it will likely be around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, which is perfect, since he can't eat anything after midnight that day until the surgery is over.

one more week until spring break. it can't come fast enough! i'm ready for a week of not having to worry about teaching. i love my job, don't get me wrong, but the breaks are nice to have. after that, we're in the home stretch. most of april, all of may (with the memorial day holiday in there) and then about three weeks in june. kids get on on june 19, i'm done on the 20th. wonder what we'll be doing that day. it's a make-up waiver day that we lost due to having so many danged bad weather days to make up this year. at least we're not going until july like some districts!

owen and i are stuck in the house today. my car is getting worked on and jeffy will be out and about applying for a different job than the one he currently has. it's rainy and i don't want to be stuck inside my house! grrr..... at least tomorrow we go to a birthday party for a friend's son who is turning 3.

someone's getting fussy. better go pay attention to him...

No question now

Owen has his fifth ear infection since October. The antibiotics we were on for number 4 since October (#5 over all) didn't work worth a darn. We're now going on a different line of antibiotics. We've been up since 4 a.m. Not fun at all. This pretty much seals the deal on whether or not we're doing ear tubes. Our poor little guy! I'll be glad when this is over with, or at least minimized by tubes.

another step forward

i called the surgeon's office today and we are going in on friday at 8 for our consultation. keep your fingers crossed that we can get in for the procedure during spring break!

i got some mommy time this afternoon. jeffy picked up the little one at daycare so mommy could relax a little. i spent my time by going to my favorite discount store (concentric circles) and dropping a load. jeffy's birthday is coming up, and i got some spring pants, plus one of those racks with the bins on it for owen's toys. most everything was on sale.

A step in the right direction

I talked with the pediatrician this evening about Owen's ears and we made the decision to go for tubes. She put in a referral to a surgeon while we were talking and I'll call his office tomorrow to schedule the surgery. From what I've been told by several mothers of children who have had tubes, it'll be a good decision. I'll update you after we have the surgery date set.

Number 5 - Tubes anyone?

Last Sunday, Owen's eardrum ruptured. This is getting to be old hat for us. That isn't good. I called the doctor (thank goodness for weekend office hours!) and we are now on our fifth (or is it sixth?) round of medication for an ear infection. I'm guessing that when we go in for our follow-up next week, we'll be talking seriously about ear tubes. I hope we can get it done during spring break, which is the first week of April.

Owen is at daycare today. I am home. Two days ago, I noticed the my voice was disappearing. Not good when your job requires you to speak and SING all day long. Also, even worse when you have a program coming up. That was yesterday. I woke up completely hoarse. No voice at all. I showed a video to one of my classes (little ones who can't read what I would put on the board...) and taught by writing on the board with the rest of my classes. That part actually went pretty well. I made the decision early yesterday to take a sick day today, since I didn't know what was going to happen with my voice.

The afternoon program went really well. I had made up two signs that said, "Singing Posture" and "Concert Attitude". The kids read them and followed what they said. :-) After I picked up Little Man from day care, my voice all of a sudden returned. I had it for the evening program, which was good because my principal was also sick yesterday and wasn't able to make the program. The kids were so excited to hear me talking. They were really cute! They sang beautifully. It was an awesome program. One of my best, I think. (and if I do say so myself...) ;-) One more program to go this year, plus recorders at the block party at the beginning of June. That's always a fun thing to do. The kids get a chance to really show off what they've done during the year.