Some big boy updates!
Owen is the family comedian and chimes in often with his quick wit! He has a fierce temper but is the first to apologize and offer affection. He is growing up! We often find ourselves laughing at his funny sayings. Here are a few from the past couple of weeks. try correcting this one on the “right word”…he’s already written his own dictionary on these.
chicken pox=chicken nuggets
glitter=litter
diary of a wumpy kid=wimpy kid
a couple of weeks ago I choked during lunch. I don’t know that this has ever happened to me but it was very scary! Seth was teleworking that day. I panicked and ran into the kitchen to “catch my breath” and not panic Owen but realized quickly that it wasn’t improving and I needed help. I motioned for Seth to do the Heimlich. By the time he ran around the table I was able to gasp and slowly recover. VERY SCARY! As I recovered and caught my breath Owen said “WHOA! I did not see that coming!” Comic relief, that boy!
tatoo-this comes out with more of a British accent “tawtoo”
privacies=private parts
pork=we learned recently that Owen thought we were serving porcupine every time we had pork.
The sound track to Jackson’s life plays continuously! I can remember when he was 3 1/2 walking up our hill in Switzerland asking him what he was singing. He hadn’t even been aware that he was. That’s how is is these days too!
We are venturing into the world of the school online library and it is interesting to see his brain absorb all of these new things! He continues to love studying history and science. I am humbled by how much I forget of what I learned in school. The other day he asked me a tough math question. I told him he should save that one for dad and he said “mom, did you go to school too or just dad?” Ouch.
Jackson has been on a mission this year to dis-spell the bullying that goes on at school and is passionate about helping others. He was delighted to go to a food packaging activity at our church recently with Seth. They packed thousands of meal boxes for people in the Philippines. On their way into church Jackson whispered that he was a little concerned because it sounded like they were going to pack food for the Philistines! He is working on his philanthropic heart at home…that arena is harder!
Jackson and Owen continue to build there brotherly bond through great big, loud fights, and simple invitations to make up and play again. They play hard and fight hard if that makes sense. They are working on their friendship and as ailing as the referring is it is nice to see those moments of sweet friendship. Discipline one and the other is the first to come to the rescue! The picture below sums it up pretty well. The big scratch on Jackson’s face was from his warrior brother Owen in a fight. And yet, they are inseparable!
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Posted by Kristen on Feb 24, 2014 in baby girl, Family | 2 comments
I have lots to write and I am clearly way behind but before I get down to business (which still might take weeks) I just can’t resist sharing a little sweetness on this Monday morning!
Who is this one that swooped in and has stolen each of our hearts? Each day it’s more clear that MaryAnne, like both of her brothers is cut from the same cloth. She is one of us and we all cherish her so much. This morning MaryAnne slept through breakfast and woke up during cartoon time. As I changed her diaper the boys busted into her room to tell her good morning! I have been telling the boys that if I had all the boys in the world lined up and had to choose I would choose them! Yesterday after being away for a couple of hours Owen said to Seth, “if we lined up all the babies in the whole world and had to pick one, we would pick MaryAnne!”
Excuse the grainy phone pics.
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Today a princess was born! Not with royal blood but equally celebrated 
MaryAnne was born via c-section at 12:04 pm at Fair Oaks Hospital, November 13th. She weighed in at 9 lbs 11 oz and 22 3/4 inches long! She is long and lean like her brother Jackson but looks a whole lot like her brother Owen at birth! She has light brown hair and fair skin. We are so smitten. She was so worth the wait.
I will attempt to get on soon to tell more about leading up to her birth and more about her but for now here are some photos.
Many more pictures to come….
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Hi! Hope you are all doing well! Our project time the past few weeks (ummm, more like early Oct but I am way behind!) have been spent prepping the baby’s room. Pardon the coloring on the pictures. I can’t seem to get myself in to take pictures when the lighting is right. And the camera is being held hostage in the car lest we forget it when rushing to the hospital.
This girl, I tell ya, she is not one bit anxious to see her room despite our best efforts to make it ready for her.
When I was in Texas I found fabrics I loved for a great price and my sister-in-law’s mother agreed to make a bumper for us! While I was in the fabric shop I grabbed a few extra 1/4 yds of fabrics that were coordinating and I just couldn’t resist. If you happen to be in the Dallas/Ft Worth area check out Cabbage Rose Quilting Shop in Ft. Worth. At most fabric shops my problem is not loving any of the offerings but in this place you will find way too many choices!! I leaned towards vintage-looking prints with florals.
My friend lent me her old Pottery Barn crib. We called PBkids and they sent us a special kit to make it a fixed side crib! I highly recommend doing this if you have a crib you want to use but it’s drop-side. Easy, peasy fix and it’s free! Owen gnawed on the sides of his crib…so while it is slightly dangerous to reuse as a crib it converts into a full bed headboard and baseboard. So someday that will be sanded down and used in his room when he’s older.
The letters for her name I got from my friend Jennifer at 163 Design Company. I covered them with fabrics samples that I got to compliment the bedding. She made them exactly how I wanted them, got them to me super quickly and her prices are awesome! Shameless plug! I paid for them so don’t think I am bragging on her because I am doing her a favor. I just really love her stuff! I have a few of her things around the house. Her monograms make great gifts!!
I found this chair on Craigslist. It was the big splurge of the room but a good deal nonetheless. The robin egg blue linen cover was filthy. I did a couple of rounds of Oxy soak and it is much improved but after a couple of weeks of seeing it au natural I think I have decided to keep it this way. The little duck pillow was sent to Jackson when he was at MD Anderson by my friend Annie. She had it made out of the little robe her kids wore when they were little and I took care of them. I can’t wait to send it back to her when she has a grandbaby someday…(someday, those teenage girls better not see this as encouragement to have a baby now!!)
For the paint color we pulled the pale blue green from the bedding. We used a darker shade on the paint chip for the backs of the book shelves. I am having a hard time finding the paint chip or the link on Home Depot but we used Behr Premium Plus and I believe the name of the wall color was Country Mist and the background on the shelves is the next shade darker on the chip.
Curtains. I was hunting through my box of curtains and found these sweet, lace curtains. I had to wrack my brain to figure out where they had come from but I remembered that my friend Annie had given them to me years ago when she no longer needed them for her little girls room and they were neutral enough to try in one of my apartments. I never used them then for some reason but they are perfect in the babies room.
Shelves. I shopped the house for things that I could use in baby girls room. These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago and I can already see that I have fussed with the shelves a bit more and things have moved and more has been simplified.
The walls. I used embroidery hoops from Michael’s to make inexpensive art with the pieces of coordinating fabrics from the bedding. I picked up this picture at HomeGoods almost a year ago. It’s been residing in the laundry room until now. When I saw it it reminded me of what I would hope to instill in a little girl should we ever be blessed with one (and myself). I love the wind blowing through her hair, making it wild and messy. I love her determination and confidence and of course her shoes like the ones I wore when I was a girl.
The changing table ($5 at garage sale) is being used as closet storage and we plan to use a changing pad on the bed since the room is so snug. The headboard for the bed was from our neighbors in Bern…when they packed out for another FS tour they underestimated their weight and started tossing stuff. I spruced it up with Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint. I found a free headboard in Switzerland and also used chalk paint on that as well although I didn’t take pictures of either of these.
For lighting I wanted something sweet and feminine. Everywhere I looked light was over $100 and while it was cute I didn’t think we would use them long term. I had bought this $6 bird cage originally as decor for the room but with the room being so small we didn’t need any more stuff. So, Seth sawed off the top and we used a cheap Home Depot lighting kit to make the bird cage into a light.
So there you have it…or most of it at least. Now come, baby, come! We are so excited to meet you!
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