Preschool Ball

Owen's school had a ball this morning including dancing, a fashion show, drinks, snacks, and "formal wear." Parents were encouraged to attend, so--thanks to my wonderful husband--I ditched the daycare for a couple of hours to be big O's date. Here's a taste of my stud muffin son...hands off ladies.

Going for the super serious, dashing, debonnaire look



A special thanks to Owen's awesome cuz Max for lending him the studly outfit!!!

No Mom of the Year Award for this Mom

What an awful, awful day. I decided to blog about it and get it over with while I'm still emotionally spent. Today I had a house full of kiddos. And at this particular moment in time, I had a hungry house full of kiddos, ready for their morning snack. I sat Owen on the couch to tend to the empty napkins and goldfish crackers. I look up, only to find the back of Owen's head peering at me from over the couch in an entirely different place than where I left it. Freaking out, I sprinted over to the front of the couch....but not fast enough. Owen fell off the couch, head first, onto the carpet. I don't remember much of the fall, only that he hit the back of his head. It all just happened so fast. I held him, trying to calm him down. One thing you need to know about Owen....he doesn't cry. He just doesn't. I don't know why, but he hasn't really cried in, well, months maybe years I would have to say. He cried, whimpered, sobbed, moaned...you name it, he did it. He wouldn't stop either. To top it all off, this happened MOMENTS before Owen's brand spankin' new case manager showed up to meet us. That poor woman probably thinks I'm not only another unfit mother but a crazy one at that. The 15 minutes she was at our house was spent contemplating taking Owen to the hospital, and pretty much just freaking out. I guess we'll have to reschedule that meeting.
I took Owen  to Clara Barton in Hoisington. They took some xrays of his wrists and elbows. Nothing. They thought it was something called....nursemaid elbow maybe? They sent us to Great Bend Regional to the ER to see a bone doctor. After ordering more xrays, he promptly returned to tell us that Owen fractured his humerus (right under his shoulder). He doesn't need surgery,...only a sling, pain meds, and more xrays later to make sure it's healing. After a quick trip to the pharmacy for some codine, Owen was back at home resting.
I don't know about any of you, but that kid is sure an inspiration to me. I see how tough, and yet angelic, he is...all at the same time. He makes me want to be a better person...and he can't even talk yet. So I'm going to wrap up this blog post, go downstairs, and cuddle with my sleeping little boy....and let him know how crappy I feel for letting him break his arm. I will leave you with a visual:

Valentine's Day Ditty

Owen's teacher sends an empty milk jug home with the kids a week or two before Valentine's Day so they can decorate it, take it back to school, and use it to hold their valentines from other kids. I believe, if I can remember correctly, that last year's "Love Monster" milk jug was one of my very first posts on Owen's blog. Wow, how far we've come in a year. What an ugly love monster that turned out to be. We decided to stick with something a little more boyish this year...so what if the purple tissue paper looks pink?

Owen showing off his Wildcat pride

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Basement Beginnings

Upon the unfortunate news that Gavin's bosses were moving him to night shift (against his will WITH a slight paycut I might add), we were forced into renovating a quiet basement bedroom for him to sleep during the day. We were not planning on finishing our basement for at least the next 10 years, if ever...but come to think of it, when has anything gone the way we plan? Sidenote: Gavin will begin his first shift on the night shift this Monday; say a prayer for him because he can't even stay up past 9pm. :)

The bedroom; it's blue in case you can't tell from the picture

The family room; that concrete block thing on the right will be our stone bar

Gavin has lived in that basement for the past month, sheetrocking, mudding, texturing, staining, varnishing, trimming, painting, putting in a ceiling...you name it, he's done it. He is currently finishing up on the trim and doors and will hopefully soon begin laying the (free from a former job I might add) stone on the bar he built. Hats off to my man, the Jack of all trades!

Great Days

Owen received his very first certificate from one of his teachers. Not gonna lie. I cried.

Uneventful is Good...Snow is Bad

Well, as the saying goes, no news is good news...and that's exactly what we got at Owen's 6 month checkup yesterday at Children's Mercy. This was the most uneventful--but pleasant--appointment Owen has EVER had. We discussed how significantly his seizures have decreased, tweaked his meds a little, bragged about how well he's doing...heck, we probably spent more time persuading Dr. Abdelmoity that Owen's chair is a wheelchair and not a stroller. He just couldn't believe how good looking it was. You know that since we had such an awesome appointment that our luck had to change at some point along the trip. Oh boy did it ever. Being a little nervous about the approaching snow storm, we spent the entire morning rushing around trying to get on the road and home before the storm hit. Well, we were a couple of hours too late. To make a really long story short, it took us over 5 hours to get home. Along the way we witnessed probably over 20 vehicles either wrecked or in a ditch. We drove 25-30 mph on I-70 about half the way home. And the best part? A mile or two outside of Salina, Dex puked all over himself. He was wet, stinky, and wanted his mommy to hold him. Horrible, horrible, trip....but we're home, Dex is well, and I guess that's all that matters now.

In other good news, the expensive medicine that Owen relies so heavily on now is--duh, duh-duh, duh!-FDA approved! It's only a matter of weeks before we can  hopefully get insurance to cover it, making it a whole lot cheaper. This will save us (or should I say all of you Owen's Warriors out there who so graciously gave Owen his nestegg) thousands of dollars a year.

Last piece of good news...(everyone knock on wood right now please) Owen has not been sick. Not at all. By this time last year, he had already been hospitalized with pneumonia and on his way back to the hospital about a week from now. What a change we have seen from all fronts! Way to go buddy!

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Unless something blog-worthy happens in the next week or so, see you in 2012....

Here Comes Santa Clause...

This weekend Gavin and I took the boys to see Santa at the Claflin Library. This was Dex's first encounter with the jolly man in red. He was the first kid to spot Santa sneaking in the back door; I have never in his almost-18-month-life seen that kid so stunned. So without further ado, here was the product of our venture....

Ah, Owen, my little sweet angel. Posing with Santa like he's done it for years. I will say, Owen seems to love Santa. Every time I sing "Santa Claus is coming to town" his face fills with smiles and giggles. Heck, every time I mention the word Santa he gets a smile on his face. He seems to get it. And I know what some of you are thinking, and yes, he might be giggling at my horrible singing, laughing at me not with me, but I don't care. I will be the first to make a complete fool out of myself to make my child happy.

And then we have the other one.....

I made sure to have my camera on before I handed the little brat over to the big man, knowing how this would pan out. I think the picture speaks for itself.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!