Indiana Adventures

When we decided to spend two weeks in Indiana we thought for sure Matt would get to plant something in the ground.  Unfortunately, it has rained and rained and rained some more.  I am enjoying a beautiful sunny day here on one of our last days, but unfortunately, my kids are now so tired and sick they've been in bed most of the day.  So I guess I'll just enjoy the sunshine from the window and pray for healing rest on the little ones. 

We began our stay with a surprise from Grandma Peggy, a new McQueen bed!  Owen was super pumped... but not pumped enough to actually sleep in it.  Matt and I snuck him into it a couple of nights after he had fallen asleep, but he just prefers to nestle between us.  Who could blame him?

We had to move Chloie out to the hallway though because she too thought it looked like a bunch of fun to sleep with the family.  Luckily, she has slept better not being able to see us, but I do feel a bit guilty sending her out of the room while the rest of us snuggle up together.

Chloie's first birthday experience was one of trauma for our poor baby girl.  She was so excited about the candle, she needed a closer look.  After putting the candle out with her finger, her night was only temporarily dampened.  She came back to finally enjoy her cupcake and presents with the cousins.

Owen enjoyed coloring Easter eggs with his Aunt Emily, and Chloie was super sweet in her new Easter outfit.

It has taken Chloie almost the entire two weeks to warm up to her extended family, but she finally will play on the floor without being held by Mom or Dad.  The first ten days have been rather exhausting as we had to take turns holding and walking Miss Chloie because no one else could come near her without a major freak out.  Hopefully she will remember all of them and not take so long to warm up next visit.

Owen has enjoyed his time with his grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.  It's been a lot of fun watching him get so excited about normal Indiana things likes tractors and hills and ponds and rain and mud.  Every day was a new adventure just riding in the car up some big hill.  Maybe next time he'll actually get to drive a tractor through the field with his dad.

Sweet Snuggles

My heart melted today when Chloie woke up from her nap to find Owen watching Cars and she reached to sit with him. Since Owen typically just crushes or pushes or pulls or in any other way causes bodily harm to his sister, I usually don't put them in the chair together. But since Chloie was reaching desparately for her big brother, I let her sit there... and what a special time we all had. They sat together and giggled and snuggled while I just took in the simple, sweet joys of being a mother.

 

Memories

Just a few quick memories to jot down that I don't want to soon forget.

I took Owen and Chloie swimming for the first time last Friday. We went to a city pool since ours is still too chilly. On the way there Owen, who never ceases talking on a car trip, asks me, "You got two swimsuits on your udders?" Uh... yes, Owen, I have the udders covered... time to wrap up the nursing I'd say!

Owen and I usually have a snack in the morning while Chloie is napping. Last week we popped some popcorn. Owen went to the back door, opened it up and told me, "Let's go outside and enjoy this." I'm pretty sure I must have said that last time we ate popcorn, but it makes me laugh every time I remember his very serious expression.

Owen has also starting making nicknames up by himself. He has a friend, Dallen. We often call him Dally because his family does, but all of a sudden last week Owen just started calling him Dal. "Hey, Dal, wanna play? Can I play with your trains, Dal?" Just in a completely buddy-nickname kind of way. Then one night he said, "Want me to throw my shirt in the hamp?" He knows it's a hamper, but he was just being silly... Wish I could portray the look and tone in this blog, but it was a look and tone of "I'm too cool to say hamper, so I'll just call it the hamp."

Chloie grows up more and more each day. She's talking more and walking around (with the help of two hands), sliding down slides, climbing up stairs and trying just about anything Owen tries. Tonight she kept clapping her hands and saying, "Pat, pat" for pat-a-cake. I'm pretty sure it was the cutest part of my day.

Chloie is my animal lover. Dog was definitely her first word after Mommy and Dada, and she gets so thrilled anytime she spots one. She also fell in love with the cows and goats at the Yuma County Fair last weekend. She would stand by the baby goats' fence and let them come right up and lick her fingers. She would just giggle and put her hands out for them. She might even make me love the animals a little bit too.

Emily

It's hard to believe ten years have passed since my oldest sister called me home from a fun Friday night with friends. She said Father Bramlage thought we should all be at the hospital where Mom and Dad had taken Emily only a few hours earlier. When your priest calls to tell you to go to the hospital instead of your parents, you know things can't be good. And then when the priest drives much over the speed limit all the way there, you're even more sure that you will never forget this day. I've been through so many emotions of this grieving process, but I'm never done feeling that sadness of missing such a wonderful sister. But despite the sadness, I am so full of hope. Thanks to my parents for raising me to have a higher purpose so that I can find comfort in my grief. My beautiful sister has fulfilled her purpose and has fallen asleep, but she will rise again with God, of this I am certain (I Thess. 4:14). So I will not be overcome by my sadness, I will be glad that I knew Emily and loved Emily and could convince her that I was the coolest of all her siblings. Perhaps she thinks differently by now... Her death inspires me to live a better life, to be more giving of myself and my possessions. I will never be finished feeling sad and lonesome for her, but I will rejoice in her everlasting life.

Jumping, Crawling and Uncle Prabal

Owen has discovered the joy of jumping off his toys this week. He started out very timid and unsure of himself, but now he can't keep himself on the ground. "I'm so tall, Mom." "Watch me jump so high, Mom." And over and over he goes.

Chloie cracks me up with her new-found movement. I've decided she waited to crawl until she could do it perfectly. She has such a dainty (I know the word dainty doesn't seem appropriate with those big thighs, but really that's how she looks in motion), perfect crawling form. The only problem is that now she can't keep herself out of Owen's toys... I foresee problems ahead!

They play so well together at times. "Look, Mom, I shared with Chloie!"

"Uncle" Prabal was on business in Phoenix so he stopped in to see us this week. Owen was so excited that Prabal and Lindsey got him another cable car since he broke the one he got while we were in San Fransico at their wedding.

Happy Parts of My Day

My little Chloie has officially started crawling today!!! It only took her over ten months, but now she's on the move. Will I be this excited a week from now... we'll see. Her desire to have whatever Owen is eating pushed her to the limit today. She was going to get his snack if it was the last thing she did today.



She's also started repeating lots of sounds. I said bye and hung up the phone, and Chloie said, "Bye." I said hi to Owen after his nap, and Chloie said, "Hi." We saw a dog at the park, and I told Chloie, "Look at that pretty dog." And she said, "Da."

And to go along with her new emerging skills, she's also been bringing out this wicked temper over the last couple of days. She really wanted my phone yesterday. I was talking on it, so she couldn't have it. Her face literally turned the shade of a tomato and she screamed like she was dying. It was not awesome....


As for little Owen.... After lunch I was trying to clean up the dishes and get Owen interested in playing something by himself.
I said, "Owen why don't you get out your trains."
Owen says, "I don't want to play nothing. I will help Mommy with dishes."
"Ok," I tell him, "You can help."
To which Owen shouts, "Yay! This is a party!"
Seems to me he's got a little of his Grandpa Meyer in him... reminded me of all those rock parties he tried to get us hyped up about.

Chip Off the Old Block

Matt asked me to write this one down tonight. He was just so tickled at his son. Matt went to an AgPhD workshop today hosted by Brian Hefty (for all you avid RFDTV watchers). He was telling us that Brian had a good marketing scheme going with his two young children trying to sell videos and books that he was promoting. Mimicking the kids, Matt said, "Do you want to buy this book? Do you want to buy this movie?" Well, Owen pipes up out of the blue, "No, I think Owen just want to buy a farm." Seriously, Matt couldn't have smiled any bigger at that moment. If you don't know, Matt wakes me up in his sleep talking about farms. I'm pretty sure I'm his second love to farm ground, and I'm ok with that.