Yesterday morning, Owen was sitting on the couch flipping through my “Parent’s” magazine, when suddenly he started shouting, “Oh wow!  Oh wow!  Oh wow!”.  I came over and sat next to him, curious about the page that had captivated his enthusiasm.  It was an article on sleep.  A little confused, I asked, “Oh wow, what?”.

“A cute girl in cute pajamas!!!”, he replied, wide-eyed.  There was a little bit of drool at the corner of his mouth too.  And a smile the size of Texas!

Of course!  A girl!  What else could inspire so much excitement!?  From the time he was 8 weeks old, he smiled every time Taylor Swift came on the radio.  It’s sad to see that he’s already moved on to a model.  Boys are so fickle!

Speaking of crushes, I saw New Moon last friday.  I can’t wait for Taylor Lautner to turn 18 so I don’t feel dirty staring at his abs and complaining about the few scenes of the movie where he is wearing a shirt!  Despite an overabundance of scenes with his shirt on (there’s at least 2), it really is an excellent movie!  The books are still way better, but books always are!  Let the countdown to Eclipse begin!

I love hooded sweatshirts.  Not the kind with the zipper.  The kind you pull on over your head and melt into their fuzzy warmth.  If I could, I would wear one every day.  Really.  Jeans and a sweatshirt in the winter.  Jeans and a tank top in the summer.  That’s how I roll.  I’ve tried other, more stylish clothing, but it just doesn’t “suit” me.  I am a woman of simple tastes who lives a simple life, and I’m proud of it!

This afternoon, after taking a nap with Owen and trying to recover from this cold bug, I had one of Jason’s big, comfy sweatshirts on.  Actually, Jason and I had matching sweatshirts on.  Not just matching sweatshirts, matching safety yellow sweatshirts for work!  I do have a flare for color, but generally not quite to this neon extreme! 

Jason was laying on the couch in a super sleep deprived state, trying to find enough motivation to drag his zombie body into motion.  His hood attempted in vain to hide his matted hair and three-day grow out beard.  Owen, still in pajamas, observed him closely, then started trying to pull his pajamas over his head like a hood.  After struggling for a bit, he told us that his pajamas were “broken”. 

I didn’t want him to feel left out, so I got him a hooded sweatshirt to wear too.  He was so proud when he discovered that he could now wear a hood just like his daddy, and begged me to put mine on as well.  After we were all sufficiently hooded, Owen instructed us to put our hands in our sweatshirt pocket.  Then, we were told to “stomp”.

We looked pretty intimidating stomping around the living room with our hoods up and our hands in our pockets.  Or we would have if we had worn any other color besides safety yellow.  Owen laughed hysterically.  I joked that we were the “sweatshirt mafia”. 

All day long, Owen has been asking me to “play mafia” with him.  Oh dear, what am I teaching this poor child!?!?  Some role model I turned out to be!

Hey kids, let’s all play mafia!!!

This week has been full of sickness.  Me and my house are in a disheveled but sanitary state.  Owen was up until 4am last night.  My nose is raw and cracking from blowing it so much, so I have a sexy Vaseline moustache.  Good times.  But, in the midst of our misery, a wonderful little incident lifted my spirits.

Owen was busy crashing Lightning McQueen and Sally (from the movie “Cars”) together and yelling, “Hey Stickers!” and “Kachow!”, so I ran to the bathroom for a little bit, hoping to get my face washed and my nose medicated.  Half way through my face washing, Owen started knocking on the bathroom door.  I quickly patted my face dry, and opened the door for him, towel still in hand.  As soon as he could see me, he shouted, “Mama!” in that surprised, delighted, innocent way that only a child can.  I kneeled down in front of him, and said , “Owen!” in my congested, hoarse rendition of his joyous tone.  He stuck out his hands, cupped them around my cheeks, and in a soft, sweet voice whispered, “Mama, did you miss me?”.

“Yes, I missed you so, so much!!!” 

I always do.  Even if I’m only gone for thirty seconds!

 

I hate dishes.  I hate them with a passion.  I will take any other house chore, inside or out, over dishes!  Today, Owen was playing in his room while I was begrudgingly catching up on the dishes.  After a couple minutes, he usually comes to check on me.  When he didn’t, I went to check on him, and this is what I found:

It definitely made my heart skip a beat!  This whole climbing things is brand new.  Before this weekend, he’s never really tried to climb up anything before, and all of a sudden I’m finding him in the top of his closet and standing on the arm of the rocking chair!  Don’t worry, this is a habit I plan on breaking quickly!  At least he got me out of doing the dishes for a little while longer!

He’s been stripping off his clothes every chance he gets too.  That’s new as of last weekend as well.  Just when I thought I was really starting to get a good handle on things……

To my wonderful, engine rebuilding, grease monkey hubby – THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Living without access to a vehicle most of the time has definitely been a challenge.  Especially for an always-on-the-go-can’t-stay-in-one-place-for-twenty-minutes person like myself.  It’s taken a lot of patience and a lot of adjustment.  No sacrifice is too great to be able to stay home and raise my son, but of all the sacrifices I could have made, giving up my vehicle and the freedom and independence that come with it was probably the most difficult for me. 

Luckily we are within bike riding distance of both Lyons and Mill City, and on warm summer days Owen and I had a wonderful time feeling the air rush past us.  Owen liked to imitate my heavy breathing when I got tired (it’s 12 miles round trip to town and back).  A motorcycle would be more suited to my personality, but I can get going pretty fast on my bike coming down the hill from our house!   This is also when Owen learned to say, “Wee!”.

There are many good memories even though it was a challenging time.  Yes, I said WAS!  That’s right, that old beater of a Toyota pickup is running again!!!  We still need to get it registered and get the insurance started, which will take us a little bit longer to save up for, but it runs!  I still can’t quite believe I’m typing that!  I’m not sure it’s really quite sunk in yet.  I heard it start, I saw it start, and I rode in it, but it all still feels like a dream! 

In a few more weeks I’ll get to drive it myself, and I’ll write a super awesome blog about it!

In the mean time, you’ll have to settle for a picture of Owen’s adorable Converse!  Someday I will own a pair myself!!!

I'm pretty sure my dad had a pair of these in high school too! He's finally back in style!!!

I discovered my new favorite thing today!  I was able to spend a couple hours away from Owen for the first time in several months.  My mother-in-law was kind enough to watch him, so I could spend 3 hours playing basketball on an asphalt court in the rain with Kayli.  It was exactly what I needed! 

There’s  not much in this world more relaxing than the sound of a swish, which I had the pleasure of hearing quite a few times after tweaking Kayli’s shooting form a bit.  Then there was the lesson on blocking out, which got pretty competitive and even hilarious at times, because the court was so slick!  We were drenched to the bone by the end, laughing at all of our puddle bloopers, and our hands were so red and swollen that I had a hard time unlocking the car door!  Kayli definitely left a better basketball player then when we started.  Actually, it really made me wish that I could coach!

But, although I had a wonderful time, what happened when we got to my in-laws was not only my favorite part of the day, but my new favorite thing.  Owen heard me come in, ran across the house shouting, “Mama,” jumped into my arms, gave me a huge hug, and said, “I love you, Mama!”.  It just really can’t get better than that!

Throw as many fits as you want, Owen, unroll all the rolls of toilet paper, flush all kinds of interesting objects down the toilet, and generally raise hell, as long as you greet me like that!!!  I could not ask for a more perfect, more strong-willed, more exciting, more loving, more creative little boy!  I love you to infinity and beyond (even if you like to point out all my pimples)!

Tonight was my little sister-in-law, Kayli’s, first home basketball game, and Owen and I got the chance to go cheer her on.  They totally kicked East Linn’s butt!  It was awesome!  Kayli and her friends (Harli, Alisha, and Kelsey) all played great!  So proud of them!

Owen was definitely showing his team spirit.  He clapped lots!  And he wore this:

After the game...and a chocolate donut!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the game, because keeping a 2-year-old in one spot on the bleachers for an hour isn’t as easy as it sounds!  Way to go Kaylirooni!

The eyes in the back of my head appear to have malfunctioned tonight.  They still have a few glitches, but I’m sure, with more practice, I’ll get them ironed out!

Could this cute boy have possibly just unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper!?

GUILTY!!!

As you can probably guess, we were able to get a new internet card sooner than I thought we’d be able to!  Yay!  Thank you Verizon (and God) …that should probably be in the other order!

Narrator:  “Last season, on Nelmark Remark, Kim was struggling with the looming rainy season, a strong-willed temper toting toddler, a husband who works so much he is rarely home, and a broken down truck.  One day, while wondering if her life could be turned into a hit country song, she came to a realization.  A realization that changed her life. (Oooooo – cliffhanger!)”

Kim:  “Everyone leaves a legacy.  Some parents leave a legacy of love – for God, for animals, for hiking, for the ocean, for art.  Others leave a legacy of bad decisions – of drugs, of abuse, of prostitution, of violence.  Most parents, even the great ones, leave a legacy swirled with both the wonderful and the not-so-wonderful. 

Each child has a choice to carry on their parent’s legacy or to start a new legacy of their own.  Most carry on, at least in large part, with their parents legacy, whether it’s good or bad.  Few even realize that they’re carrying it on.  Fewer still have the wisdom and courage to change it.

For anyone who doubts the importance and influence of legacy, talk to someone who has been adopted, or whose parent has passed away.  From the time we are born, we learn by watching and by imitating.  It’s our first and truest form of learning.  Nearly everything you have learned to do has been through imitation.  And most of us imitate no one more than our parents.

My parent’s legacy was definitely swirled with the beautiful and the terrible.  I always knew I wanted something different from what they had.  I wanted a husband who made me feel special, appreciated, safe, valuable, smart, and lovely.  I wanted to make my husband feel strong, adventurous, brave, successful, and respected.  And I definitely found someone who completes this picture (most days anyway).

But once I had this, what did I do with it?  To be honest, I was definitely a bit clueless when it came to how a healthy relationship should work.  I didn’t realize it, but in so many ways I imitated and expected things that would have happened in my parents relationship.

The best example of this is probably my house.  Growing up, most things that happened in our house revolved around dad.  Mom tried to clean things perfectly, because she was scared that any little thing out-of-place would upset him.  Mom didn’t decorate the way she wanted to, because dad liked bare walls.  It seems silly, but these things were part of the legacy that was passed down to me.

I was horrible at cleaning the house up until the past couple months.  It really bothered me, but I could never seem to grasp the reason that I struggled so much with it.  Every boss I’ve ever had has commended me for being a self-starter and a hard worker, which I am.  So why, when it came to my own home, could I find no motivation?  2 months ago, it all became clear to me.  Even though I had a healthy relationship with a good and patient man, I was waiting for that good and patient man to tell me what to do, how to do it, and get angry with me when I couldn’t quite do it the way he wanted.  Of course, my good and patient man never did that, so the house didn’t get cleaned.

I don’t understand why it took me so long to get that, but it did.  I chose a relationship that was totally different from my parents, but I was still expecting the same things.  I kept the walls sparsely decorated.  I was afraid to put too much up, because I just knew it would bother him.  I couldn’t have been more wrong about that, either.  It hit me like a 10 ton brick when I realized what I was doing and why!

I didn’t have the greatest upbringing, but it definitely wasn’t the worst either.  I had some demons in my past, but I was sure that I’d dealt with them and moved on.  I never imagined that some of the things I hated so much about my past would still have such a hold on me now.  I’m happy to report that my walls are now utterly covered with my photographs and beautiful picture frames and cute quotes, and there’s candles and flowers and camo and deer antlers everywhere!  It’s wonderful!  It’s also clean.  Not because Jason told me to, but because I took charge of my own home, and took pride in making it a beautiful, clean place that runs smoothly.  I know it seems obvious, but it was a completely foreign concept to me!

There are so many things about my parent’s legacy that I love and cherish.  I feel lucky to have had them as parents, despite their shortcomings.  I also feel lucky to have recognized some of their shortcomings that I was imitating and to begin a new legacy in my home.

It makes me wonder what kind of legacy we will pass on to Owen.  What shortcomings of ours will he claim as his own?  What will he imitate that we wouldn’t want him to?  And what can we do to change that now?

Wow, now there’s some deep food for thought.  Now that you’re caught up on my life, let’s catch up on some pictures!

Seems like the wrong time of year, but these Asters in our yard decided to bloom 2 days ago, and I was overjoyed!

This picture makes me dizzy!

The beauty of a sunny Fall day!

Helping mommy with the yard work...also known as scattering the freshly raked leaves all over the yard again!

Giant red ball - $2.00. Rake - $14.99. Hours of entertainment - priceless!

"Mmmmmm...tastes like pears!" I didn't taste it to see if he was telling the truth, but I was tempted!

Leaf pile destruction at it's finest!

It totally looks like he's power walking! I suppose this is part of my legacy! Poor kid!;)

More Fall beauty, with a hint of barbed wire, because barbed wire is almost as great as duct tape!

Episode 2 coming soon!  Stay tuned!

Dear faithful blog readers (all 2 of you),

I have been a terrible blogger lately, and I have a terrible excuse too! I’m gonna blame it on Owen. He has broken our little USB modem that we use to get online twice now.  Thank goodness I have a husband who is an electrician and has been able to make it useable with mass amounts of electrical tape.  It’s quite the redneck contraption now!  It also does not stay connected to the internet for more than a couple minutes at a time, and sometimes it takes forever to get it to reconnect.  My blog has definitely suffered as a result.  What used to be a fun writing activity has morphed into a frustrating and time consuming process.  Exhibit A – it took me over an hour to do this post!  We can get a new USB modem in the first part of December, so I promise I’ll be back up and typing then!  You’ll just have to wait in suspense in the meantime.  Season 2 will start soon!