Wednesday, July 28, 2010

We're having a great time with Peter and Jill here!!! Yesterday we visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the beach... a special treat for these Idahoans.





(This was not on purpose... we were in the shark tunnel and I was just trying to get a few decent shots.)



Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Makin' Do

It's been a big 2 days for Asher. As the previous post mentions, we have started potty-training. He has bad diaper rash so on Saturday I decided to leave him naked for a while, and figured I might as well pull out the potty chair while I was at it. So this was rather impromptu, although I had intended to do it this summer anyway.

I get a certain satisfaction out of having my kids make some sacrifices. I mean, they want for nothing, but I've made some decisions that others might find interesting. For example, although we have a three bedroom house, I've chosen to have the boys share. Then, I took it a step further, and moved them into the tiniest room which just barely fits a bed, a mini crib and a dresser, with a 2 1/2 foot walkway down the middle as the only floor space. I figured they didn't need any room other than getting to these essentials since we already have toy room(s). (Since Asher did and does take naps it didn't make sense to keep the toys in the room where Brennan wouldn't have access.) Anyway, I've now taken it a step further...

We received a bunkbed from my parents, but it's missing the all-important ladder. Without it, Brennan can't move to the top bunk, and Asher *couldn't* move out of his crib. So, after like 2 months, I decided that I don't want to wait for Brian to find time to make a ladder before I move Asher out of his crib. Since he's spent the last 2 months trying to sleep on Brennan's bed anyway, I moved him in WITH Brennan last night. I put their heads at opposite ends, and after the usual (or less) distractions, the boys went to sleep without a hitch. It was so cute to peak on them last night. Even sharing, they each still had a ton of space and never touched the other person. Asher even gained room compared to his mini crib.

I don't know, it's just kind of fun to figure out how to make do, and teach the kids at the same time. I find it satisfying and exciting.
Ah potty-chair ol' friend... so we meet again.


Don't you love parenthood? Actually, we're off to a GREAT start (knock on wood.) So far, only one floor accident and several successes in the chair. Woo hoo!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Weather Report

Corvallis temperatures today: 97*F

Newport coast temperatures today: 62*F.

What a difference 50 miles makes!

The boys and I headed over the mountains today to escape the heat. It was fun, though not exactly what I expected. It was incredibly foggy at the coast today, so much so that we didn’t see the ocean itself until we were just about standing in it. Pretty chilly too. That didn’t stop Asher from lovin’ the ankle-deep stream running parallel to the beach though ;-)


Monday, July 5, 2010

Brennanisms

Geography Lessons

While visiting Mesa Falls in Idaho, Brennan and I were standing at the overlook at the top of the falls, and watching the river below running swiftly away and around a bend. I commented to Brennan, "Look at all that water! Where do you think all that water is going?"

Brennan thought for a second, then sighed matter-of-factly, "China."

(I'm quite sure he has no idea what or where China is, but how did he even know the word?)

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A Good lookin'Group

A bunch of us grown-ups were sitting around the family room of my inlaws when the conversation came to a lull and we all silently watched Brennan, also sitting in the circle. Suddenly and sweetly, he broke the silence with, "You guys are all so cute."

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Miscommunication

This morning I saw a small spider on a door in our house. I grabbed a kleenex then walked into the living room where the boys were and asked, "Who wants to get a bug for Mom?" Brennan looked at me curiously, then walked over to me and gave me a big hug. He pulled away and asked, "Why did you want someone to give you a hug?"

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Catch My Breath

It's been an... interesting... 24 hours. Last night after a 16 hour drive home from Idaho, we rolled into our driveway at 10:30pm. I'm glad we made it safely, and with relatively little problems from the boys during the long driving stretches. Oh my gosh, that reminds me... after I'd been driving for a stretch I pulled off in a little town in rural Oregon and followed signs to a State Park along the Columbia River. I was super impressed with the park that offered an easily accessed swimming spot and everything. And then, as we walked through it, we noticed dog (and/or other animals') poop everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE, getting progressively closer together. By the time we'd walked across the park to some swings, there was poop about every 2 inches. We can't even wrap our mind around how on earth it could be that way, particularly in an obviously regularly mowed, nice-looking park. We've decided to name it "poop park" and we'll not soon forget it!

Anyway, it felt good to be home after the long trip. This morning, we got ready for church. It involved a personal fiasco for Brian because our printer was apparently out of ink and after several other means had been exhausted, he apparently had had to go to Staples to print the bulletin. Church itself was good, but later in the evening as Brian got ready for a work shift at the restaurant, Asher hit his head. I immediately grabbed him and set him on my lap for a snuggle when I felt a large wet spot on my face. I looked at Asher and his entire face was covered with blood, gushing out of his forehead and running down his face and body. I screamed and ran him into the kitchen to the sink where Brian joined us with his own mouth hanging wide open.

I'm so glad Brian was still home because I started getting nauseous and almost fainted as Brian took care of the cleaning and assessing. The wound, as far as we could tell below all the dried blood and hair, was really just a slash on a huge goose-egg bump. After we'd cleaned it a little I snuggled on the couch with Asher who immediately fell asleep and Brian left for work. After he woke up, Asher started playing and made the wound start bleeding again. At that point I called my parents, who came over later that evening. I had put a large bandaid on Asher's forehead, so we had to cut some hair to get it off. My Dad ended up shaving Asher's head around the wound and we applied some bandaids. Then, Asher did something that got his head gushing blood down his face (and onto the carpet) yet again. We decided the bandaids just wouldn't cut it, so Mom stayed home with Brennan while Dad and I tried Urgent Care with Asher. Unfortunately, they had closed an hour and a half earlier. We eventually got a hold of the on-call Dr who saw us at the office where she applied a tissue glue to avoid the "agony of stitches" as she put it. Poor Asher was crying "It hurt" as it was applied, but otherwise did wonderfully. Hopefully he's fixed up enough to let the wound heal. Of my goodness though, that's the most blood I've ever seen in person, and it was rushing down my BABY'S face. In actuality, the cut does not seem to justify the amount of blood. That's a head-wound for ya, I guess.

Here's something to be thankful for though... thank goodness he's got that super-blond hair. I think it may have actually rendered the monk-shaved-front-of-head hairdo rather unnoticeable. Of course, without the band-aid in that spot, it may be a lot more noticeable. Cross our fingers...