Blake 2.8 version

My little bundle of energy boy!  He has been such a fun addition to our family. I think he spends all his time and energy on moving and playing that he has nothing left to turn into words. At a couple months shy of 3 he only has a few words (momma, ball, and Owwo for Owen). He gets everything else accomplished with sign and pointing and grunting or just taking you where he needs you. He does not seem frustraed by the lack of communication. In fact, I think I am more frustrated by it than him. He will start speech therapy this next fall when school starts. As well as starting at ABC preschool. 

He shows little to no interest in potty training, again that would mean slowing down and that just ain't his thing. He is happiest with a hockey stick in his hand or a soccer ball at his feet or both. He has such natural athletic ability. I have random strangers come up and comment on his ability to dribble the ball down the field with no effort. Fun to watch. He starts every hockey game with his rendition of the national anthem. Such spirit. 

He successfully gave up his Yiyi this spring with little backlash. Nice to not have to worry about where a pacifier is and not care if one is available. He spends 2 days a week with grandma Mary and they have been enjoying the pool and swimming together. He has one day with Aapa and they have their work routine and visit the ladies at the bank for a lollipop. 

He is an amazing big brother and is so gentle with Trevor. I have no worry about leaving him laying on the floor. If anything I will find Blake laying next to him when I come back I the room. There has been little to none jealously. A couple times he will hear baby cry and know that I will go to pick him up and he will race and try to claim my lap first. But he willingly shares it in the next breath. 

I look forward to the day when his stories contain words to round out all the animated gestures to what he is trying to tell. There is amazingness trapped in there just waiting to bust out. 

My family grew while I have been away

Gwendolyn 10.0 version

My one and only favorite daughter is officially in her double digits. She is a ball of energy and uses that through her natural athletic ability. She has been a member of the a Stingray swim team for two years now and excels at the freestyle. She has made some good friends on the team and has finally gotten to know the neighbor girls and they frequently walk between our house and theirs. 

She has always played summer league soccer but was asked last fall to try out for the Eclipse comp team, which she made. She gravitates to keeper position by her desire and participated in additional training for that this last winter, but I see her ability better used as a striker and she typically plays half of each game in each position. I look forward to these great girls playing and growing together for the next 8 years. 

School is going well. She just finished up 4th grade with Mr Decker. She has a great grasp of math and is making strides with her reading and spelling, which has always been a challenge. 

The biggest news of her last year was helping with the birth of her littlest brother, Trevor. She was there for the whole delivery and helped catch as he was born and cut his umbilical cord. I truly think medicine is her future, she has such curiosity and desire. 

Owen 8.5 version

The start of my boy brigade is such a joy to be around. Owen had a fun year choosing to play hockey again after a year off. He played with the Mites and learned a lot. He tried out goalie quite a few times. Had fun with it but was bummed that the goalie doesn't rotate out to the bench like the rest of the team, as the bench seems to be his favorite position. 

He joined the Stingray swim team on the copper level, which is essentially pre-team. Really enjoys the water and is excited to move up and swim more. 

He just finished 2nd grade with Mrs Arnason. He is making progress with reading and writing (I think he will be an avid reader when he gets the hang of it) but has a natural aptitude towards math. 

I think he will have a future career with the making and creating of commercial. He remembers and quotes any commercial he has seen or heard. He thinks he will be a gamer and play video games for the rest of his life. His current favorite if Skylanders. 

Owen takes great pride in being a big brother and loves showing off his little brothers. 

New and improved us

With new technology and this app at my fingertips I hope to rejuvenate my blogging intentions. My family has doubled in children size to the new completed version of BUNCHS. We added Blake Benjamin to the crew August 5, 2011 and finally Trevor Fielding December 12, 2012. We are a family FULL of love and energy. I feel complete and look forward to what each day will bring. I love seeing all the new and exciting things they discover daily. 

More name thoughts

Apparently Matt wants to keep the "W" theme going, not that I knew we truly had one LOL. Both kids names do have a W, but I thought the whole Gwen/Owen thing was more catchy. I have actually been hesitant to say anything or act excited to Matt for fear of jinxing it. He was the one who brought it up and asked if I had been thinking about names last weekend when we were driving to the lake. I mentioned the Nicolette name and he didn't like it at all. I threw out the boy names and he was interested in Harley but then mentioned that he expected there would be a W in the name. Back to the boy drawing board.
I brought up Whitney last night and he really liked that for a girl. Does that mean it would be girl for us? I have heard that the first name you settle on is the gender. That was true for Gwendolyn, we had that from the day after we knew we were pregnant. It took us till I was 7 months pregnant with Owen and knew he was a boy before we had that name.
I still have no intention of finding out what the prospective baby would be, so the mystery will be a long one....

Matt has agreed!!

He has finally agreed to another child. 2 would be my preference, but I am so excited at even 1 more. It is in our future, but likely a year or so out. It warms my heart that we are going to add to our family. Gwendolyn often tells me that she prays from another baby. She even prayed the other day for twins, one boy and one girl, so they could each have one. I asked then what I was going to get, who was my baby then. She laughed and said, you already have Me and Owen. Well duh, LOL. She is so nurturing to babies and toddlers. I think she will be a much better big big sister than she is as just a big sister.

Random thought of future children names
As for boys, still love Blake and Harley and Sheldon is a new favorite
Girls, Eden is still high, but I like it better as Grace Eden but we already have a Grace in the family. Nicolette Love is another favorite.

He is a square

Owen that is, he is 37 inches tall and 37 pounds, hehe
We had to go back to the Dr this week since he is still not feeling up to par. He had 2 doses of an antibiotic, along with sudafed and claritin for his sinuses. They seemed a little better, no coughing till vomiting during that time. It was determined that he has extreme allergies to the spring tree blooming, thanks to me. Already, doubling up his zyrtec and using the sinus spray has made a huge difference. Blowing his poor nose once a day versus once every half hour is much better.

He has also made the choice to give up his yiyi. I say he made the choice because with everything the boy has done or experienced has been his choice, on his time line. But YAY for no more pacifier!!

As for something cute, he has a little rubber bouncy ball that he calls his gooey ball. I think it is adorable. His sister brought him home a GOODY bag from a birthday party and his little ears heard GOOEY. So now the ball that gets bounced all around my kitchen and dining room (and knocks crap off my wall) is fondly called the gooey ball, repeatedly, as he chases it around.

Overall update

I have been busy with the super nice May weather we have been having. Word is that we are getting snow tonight, so my bubble may be burst. We have been outside, throwing old flower seeds into the wind to plant where they please and make the world pretty for all. The kids and I all have great color to our cheeks and I love they way it makes them look after a long cold winter.

Now that Kindergarten is all figured out for the fall, since she was drawn for the school we really wanted, we are left with driving by the building site once a week. We are taking pictures of the progress and I plan on making an album for the school. Owen will go to Gwendolyns pre-school come fall time, but not till after domineering older sister is out of there. He also has to get the hang of wiping his own ass, plus pulling down his pants and underwear, then get them back up. He is slightly lazy with that. He has been fully potty trained since Mid February, once he decided it was time. Now he just needs to fine tune the overall potty experience.

I got Gwendolyns school assessment from her pre-school teacher to give to her K teacher today. It is SO spot on it is not even funny. "Gwen is doing very well regarding her cognitive growth. She is a bright, articulate child. Gwen is very social and is extremely eager to please. She is working on how to cooperate with her peers. She wants to be in charge and finds it difficult to compromise at times. Good luck Gwen, we will miss you." She always wants everyone to do it HER way, hence why Owen is waiting till she is done.

Swim is done for the summer as they are renovating the pool that we use. Prior to the end though, Gwendolyn was jumping off the high dive and swimming like a champ. She is eligible and old enough for the swim team next year, but I think I will try to keep her out one more year and let her gain more technique from this amazing teacher. He created a special class for G and a few other kids who were too young to move up, but need more challenge than the advance pre-school could offer. I appreciated that he saw that in them. Owen is still doing pre-school swimming and in the last month has really found his head under the water comfort level. He has always liked the pool, but something changed and he is loving it now. He needs to work on his reach and pull stokes as his kicks are nice and strong. We will try to get out to the North Pole pool at least every other week.

Gwendolyn has her gymnastics recital this weekend and her pre-school graduation next weekend. She wants to do dance next year, but I don't know if it is a passing fancy as she has enjoyed gymnastics and is always trying to do more stuff with it. Practically every night she is showing me her handstand and wants help perfecting her cartwheel.

Gwendolyn ditched the training wheels the first day she was back on a bike this Spring, a few weeks back. She is unstoppable and wants everyone to know and to ride with her. Owen is slowly getting the hang of peddling, not just pushing himself along. We are signing up for lots of the charity walks this summer. We have one tomorrow and again on Friday, walking, not running ;)

We thought about signing her up for T-ball or soccer this summer, but we are being selfish. We bought a river boat last fall and never got to play with it. We want the ability to get in the boat and go camping and not worry about what commitments we are bailing on. I think the camping will be more fun and the family memories are precious.

We went to Anchorage in the motor home weekend before last and had fun. Went swimming, went to Chuck E Cheese, and the Imaginarium (hands on kids museum). Plus lots of shopping for me ;)
I am loving working 3 days a week and think it is going to be a great summer.

Charter School

There is a new Charter School in my town. I had been warned last week that there were lots of applications (88 for 22 spots) and that siblings were given priority. Fine, understandable. I showed up at the lottery on Wednesday night and he started with pulling all the K parents aside and telling us that if we didn't have a older child that we weren't even in the running. I was so bummed and felt defeated, as I wanted this SO bad for school. I left and went to the other School (2nd choice) and listened to that lottery. She had a slim chance for that, she was called 19 out of a class of 16, but they give sibling priority too and that puts others ahead of her. I figured most everyone was doing what I was doing and applying everywhere and they might accept somewhere else and she would have a slim chance.
I spent all of yesterday researching how to apply out of district so that she could attend across the street from Grandma, who watches her when I work. It would be a logistical nightmare and we would have to reapply every year and you don't know that she would be accepted until the very start of school and I didn't want to move her from school to school. Just a huge downer of a day and I felt my hands were tied. Not to sound snobby, but we specifically built in one of the best areas of town and would like the option of one of the best schools, not the one surrounded by low income housing. I can't word that anyway that does not make me sound like a bitch, so flame me now.
Anyhow......
I got the form e-mail yesterday morning that they would let everyone know by 9pm last night if they were in at Watershed or not. Thanks, I already know that we are not an option, yada yada yada.
I check e-mail last night and they sent a CONGRATULATIONS e-mail that she was accepted into the lottery. I am STOKED and wake up my snoring husband on the couch and he deflates my excitement by telling me that just means they are considering her into the lottery and not that she got in. I didn't believe him, they are telling us where and when to register. I e-mail the guy back asking if this means she is in, since we were told no way and he came right back with a confirmation that she is only one who is a non sibling drawn.
I know there are many different beliefs on here, but that was totally the power of prayer! Matt thinks it is because he graduated with a couple of the spearheaders of the school. But how does knowing people get your name drawn out of a hat with 88 other names? Life doesn't work that way, well maybe on TV where things are rigged.
I am just so excited for this school!! http://www.thewatershedschool.com/

I took him to the wrong place....

This is what Owen accused me of while tears were streaming down his face from a traumatic hair cutting experience. He has had his hair cut professionally 2 other times and sat so still and was a gem. This time, not so much. He never stopped screaming with tear rolling down. I took him to a regular ole place in the mall that had an opening on a Saturday afternoon when we needed to kill an hour. He had fallen asleep in the car for 20 minutes and was clingy when he woke and never got over it. I tried wandering around with him and came back, still a freak scene. She was trying to use buzzers versus scissors and that got his hair half way done before another hairdresser, not sure that she was the manager, came up and claimed that it was not their practice to cut hair with the kid that upset. Gee thanks, you think I an enjoying this??? She had the girl stop. She there I stand with a kid with half a hair cut, looking very obviously like it is not finished. I pay what they are asking and leave to never grace their door step again, ever!!! I go to my parents and stand him on the counter and finish the job that apparently I should have done in the first place. Back to cuteness and off to the ice skating birthday party. I just thought it was so comical that his answer for what the heck is the freak out for, that I took him to the wrong place. Thanks kid, tell me that before we start cutting and are committed.

Visiting from the land of Facebook

Wow, I have sure been neglecting my Blog with my new passion of catching up with friends on Facebook.
Much has changed and yet life is the same. Gwendolyn is still piss and vinegar and spitfire all rolled into one. She keeps me on my toes and gives me gray hair. She is still at Bright Beginnings pre-school and taking gymnastics there. We have switched our swim lessens over to Hamme, for a hopeful new swim challenge, as she was bored with the classes at the other pool. She gave us quite a scare last month with a weekend in the hospital. Wow, what long freaking weekend that was. Gwendolyn had been sick since sunday with stomach pain. I chalked it up to attention while Owen was having surgery, but it continued and seemed bad. I took her to the dr on Tuesday and was told to have her on a brat diet. Did that to no avail, she still woke screaming every 20 minutes to an hour all night. She was a bit better during the day. Checked in with the dr on Wednesday and was told tylenol for pain. Still horrible on Thursday and back at the Dr and was prescribed belladonna to shut down her stomach but was only allowed to take that for 24 hours. At 5:45 on friday evening I am at my WITS END with the screaming and writhing around in pain!!!!!!!!!!! Call back to the dr since I can't give her that med and we are heading into evening and weekend. I finally get her actual pediatrician on the phone and she listens and sends us to the ER. Off we go again. I was so THANKFUL, she met us there and I didn't expect that. So for the next 2 days we wait and treat the pain with more morphine, not the solution I was looking for. Our frustration was apparent the morning, but the on-call pediatrician we had been dealing with all weekend had already called the gastric specialist in Seattle. They said no more morphine and they wanted an upper GI to see if anything was twisted in the intestines. That was neat to watch. But first they gave my baby a enema to get rid of the rest of the contrast in her belly. I took a shower and let Daddy deal with that torture. That came back pretty decent. There was concern with the end of the small intestine, and again her lymph nodes.
But we were given our walking papers with a prescription for adivan. It is an anti-depressant, but would relax her muscles. Unfortunately there is no liquid form of that in this dang town. They finally gave us tylenol with codine and told us it will help if she is fighting sleep as she was doing in the hospital, don't tease me with that idea ;)
There has been no reappearance of stomach issue and for that I am thankful.
She participated in the Church pageant more this year than last, as an angel and did a nice job. There was a little more dancing than I would expect to see out of an Angel who came to worship the birth of baby Jesus. Her and Matia could not help themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7GQJiT0vhw
She had a great Christmas and got what she had asked Santa for, for the most part. There was no way Santa could give her a tree to climb, hard as Santa tried. She did get her own little boom box and a collection of kid music and kid stories. It was a very enjoyable day, with her wanting to open more and more.

Owen is finally growing like a weed and is getting a little belly to match his daddy. This from the boy that was titled failure to thrive and was in the less than 5th percentile.
He was very excited to have a birthday party this year and was found saying "it's my party" all day long, too adorable.
He had a few more ear infections this fall and we decided to go with ear tubes and remove his adenoids at the same time. This surgery went so much smoother than last time. The dr gave him an amnesia causing medicine and he had no memory of it once we had left the hospital, in fact he was jumping off the couch when we got home. It went nice and fast and we were in the same room as last time. He was a very goofy drugged kid LOL. That night is when our ordeal with his sister and her stomach began, so I was happy his had no issues as I was stretched thin as a mother. He has since had one more ear infection that resulted in blood coming out of his ear, as I had been warned and we did the antibiotic drops that they sent us home from the hospital with. Dr Kim has been great and I am so glad we switched to him at EN&T. He is not excited about having to ear fitted ear plugs and a head band in the pool and tub, but he does it and has been leaving them alone. He was griping that he couldn't hear and now he just waits patiently asking if he can take them out once we are done with the shower. It is his reward, he can remove them.
Owen ended up with an impromptu part in the Christmas pageant, he was the little bear who was sent to greet baby Jesus. He got COMPLETELY into the role and stole the show with Holden Masterson. He sat up there and roared and pawed at everyone and wrestled Holden and tried to wrestle the angels. It was hilarious!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wkxP2sdjwY
Owen enjoyed Christmas too, but had to be dragged back from playing with his miniature hockey rink and little plastic players to open more presents. I should have made that his big unwrapped Santa present and he would have been set for the day.
He is still real picky about what food he will eat and we have not convinced him to try anything new in a long time. That stubborn streak is carrying over to his potty training desires. He has NONE. He will go and has gone when presented the opportunity, though not every time.
The kids got a bunk bed set right before Christmas and that is working great. Owen is on the bottom in a full size bed and Gwendolyn is on the top in a twin with a railing. I am attempting to keep Owen off the top for now and Gwendolyn is trying to get him to come up, the battle begins.
We had a hockey birthday party last weekend and they both did great. Owen skated with a bucket and could not be convinced to leave the ice. Gwendolyn held her own and skated around holding the wall or her Daddy or the folding chair. She last the whole time, whereas I was betting on 5 minutes. I watched ;)
That should have us fairly up to date and I promise, yet again, to be better about updating. This is to serve as their memory book of the new generation. I will be back with photos.

Blogging lull

No great reason why, I have been on-line everyday, just lacking creativity.

I have sick kiddos right now and that is consuming of all my non work time. Owen, I am happy to report is now at the 50% for his size, versus the -5% we had to gain from. He is 31 lbs and 34" and has a mop of blond curls. I think I am going to get him a haircut tonight before we go see all the great grandparents in WA in a couple weeks. That generation has issues with long haired hippie boys ;) He looks adorable either way, but very different looks. He has a hearing assessment tomorrow to see if there is any loss or need for tubes. Matt is deaf in one ear from infections as a child and we have been fortunate to only have had one infection with him and none with Gwendolyn. His speech assessment is a year out, damn Alaska and too few specialist. I think his issue is more of a speech one, but want to make sure he isn't having trouble hearing prior to trying to think about how to say it.
He is still infatuated with Spider Man and Super Man, who started as a combined name of sabaman, which morphed into soopman, and can now be called their true names, though not always the correct character. I brought out a geotrax train set that I had picked up at the used store the other night and the kid is in heaven.

Gwendolyn has had a persistent cough for well over a month and her cousin was just diagnosed with walking pneumonia. I am afraid that Gwendolyn has it as well and will get her checked out tomorrow. She is very excited to get to travel on an airplane down to Washington soon. We bought a temporary membership to the athletic club here at a fund raiser and have been using it this past month. It has a pool with 2 water slides and a low diving board. She is amazing for a 4 year old swimmer!! Down the slides like they are nothing and off the board without a thought. The first couple times were with a floaty belt and me waiting for her to not drown in the deep end. She did great and didn't need me or the belt. The rest of the times are without me or the belt. She goes on her back, belly, feet or head first. She even tried a complicated sideways maneuver. We have had a different lifeguard every time and she has had to re-prove herself again and again. Without fail, like a swimming champ, she passes by swimming to the rope and back.

I have lots of new great pictures and a home computer in the shop, so words are all you get for now.

Actually.....

Is the word heard most often in my 4 year old world lately. She manages to use it as practically every other word. Still kinda cute, but I can see it getting old.
She happened to ask me today if I knew what actually meant. I asked what, curious what her answer would be. Turns out she thinks it means "yes" is Spanish. How funny she is!!

Another way.with.words conversation took place this morning. I was late getting us to the starting place for the parade we were walking in. As I try to drive into downtown, I come across a baracade ( should have known better ) and exclaim to the cop who cannot hear me "your killing me!!" I turn around and head another path into downtown and the parade I am afraid will start without us and she asks what I mean by he is killing me? I let her know I was just fustrated and it was an expression meaning he was giving me a hard time. She turns it around to work for her and says "oh, he's giving me a headache". Good answer babe.

Summer fun so far....

We went to a kids craft event at the University Museum and had lots of fun
They are sewing purse/pouches
Matts natioal debut party his BF threw
Can't resist holding a baby
We spent an afternoon at Pioneer Park, outdoor kids place and tourist trap. Riding the train
Running in the sprinklers
Creeping up on the sprinklers
Still getting hosed
Helping brother with the water fountain
Lookin too old and sassily grown-up
Brother has to get in on the action of posing
And finally, we attended an air show this week, Owen loved it


And the view of us from the toddler standpoint, LOL

Hic-up boy

I had a fun conversation with Owen the other day. He had the hic-ups (if that is even how you spell them) and I asked his where he found his hic-ups at. He turned to me and smiled, opened his mouth and pointed inside, and replied that he got them from his mouth. Then he proceed to start giggling and proclaimed, "silly Owen". I love that boy!!

We are ruining him

We tried to force the boy to eat macaroni and cheese (oh the horror) a few months back and he didn't budge, in fact he seemed even more picky the following day. We backed off.
We decided this week that he didn't need an afternoon nap anymore since he lays awake in his bed for 2 hours every night, just waiting to fall asleep. It was bearable for the first few days and as more time progressed it added up on him and he became unbearable in the evening. He is now napping and we will just limit it to no more than 1 hour. We had been doing this already, but I am not convinced that others watch the clock.
Where I think we have ruined him is he has taken to screaming no and not wanting to go to bed, whereas before he would very willinginly go jump in bed and cover up. I NEVER said we knew what we were doing with parenting, but he has very different ideas than us and right now he seems to be in charge.

Happy 7 year 1 day Anniversary

To Matt and I.
We were able to slip away for dinner and Indiana Jones last night and followed up with a nightcap after.
I have come to care a little less if Matt acknowledges our special day with a card, mainly that he doesn't forget it completely. I gave him a card on his pillow before we went out and was pleasantly suprised to find a cute card on my steering wheel this morning, announcing a happy 7 years and 1 day. His effort is cute.
It would piss me off bad if it was my birthday, but acceptable for our anniversary.

Checking in

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, but have so much going on in my life that there is no space for anything I want to do.
I have resigned from Youth Court and will work out at the family business a few days a week and then have a couple more days with the kids. This transision will take place at the end of June.
I have one fund raiser done, the one for my friend who had triplets and have one more MAJOR one to go that will be in the planning for the rest of the summer. It is a fashion show in October, the 49th annual. Benefiting disadvantage women and children and the deaf and hearing impaired. I am nuts and agreed to co-chair the fundraiser.
We had a garage sale this last weekend and may have it again this upcoming weekend. It was nice to sit around in the sun and relax.

Life goes on and I am looking forward to the changes that will come.

Cuddle Bug Boy

Owen was still a little sick this last weekend and ended up sleeping with me off and on all night friday. He had to have everypart of his self touching me, all-night-long!! Cute, but not sleep conducive for me.
He was in their room Saturday night and I went to peek in on him as I went to bed. I came in right as he was trying to climb over his sister and get into her bed to have someone to sleep with. TOO ADORABLE!! Gwendolyn was waking up at the same time and asking "Owwwwen, what are you doing?" I grabbed him off and tucked him back into his bed with a kiss and hug.
Such a sweet cuddle bug.