One more...

I love this photo. Emma looking out the window...and yes, that's the top of Shadow's head right beside her. He is the shadow of all of our lives. The constant witness to life inside the walls of the Trubey home. I will bet all the money in my bank (a safe bet given we just went to China, bought a van, and I'm taking off the next 9 weeks to be home with Owen) that he's behind the chair I'm sitting in right now, semi-passed out...but would roll over if I hinted at a tummy rub. Let's see...yep, he's there. I love her sweet profile in this photo, and the shape of his head. They're both looking out the window that looks out to the little bridge and the road going by the side of the house...where Shadow can see the schoolbus bring Sophie home, and then the rest of us following shortly after on a normal school day. Where he keeps us safe by barking at the Weed Man and Garbage Men, and kids who skateboard and hang out by the bridge. He has a purpose in life, not the least of which is hanging out with lovely Emma. :) She just may have a snack, after all.

Laaa-la-la-la-life goes on...

Got this chair for Sophie's room. She doesn't like it. The queen of comfort finds it's not comfortable enough--something about the neck area not being just right (yeah, yeah, yeah...), so it's in my scrapbook room (aw, shucks!) She DOES like to plop in it and talk to me there in the scrapbook room. Emma likes it too. She is growing up almost painfully fast...so lovely, so mature for just five. Wow.


Our little race car driver. Who cares if he can only go in reverse so far? This is his first time outside, because he's just a little wobbly still on it. He was pushing with his feet...and had the saddest face because Mama was getting farther away with each push. :(


Gentlemen, start your engines!


The melting of my heart...Owen can't use a spoon yet to feed himself, but he hangs on to my hand when I feed him. Sighhh...no rush on the spoon thing so far, not on my part. :) Looks like he may be a lefty; grabs all his finger food with his left hand.


Sophie warming up Owen at the Cherry Grove pool...he loves the water!


Our lovely Sophie, now in 7th grade...so happy to be back in school.

Daddy...my hero. How I love when you walk in the door!

Aww, you love me, you really love me.

Those Tiny Hands

When all I had to look at were two pictures of Owen, sometimes I would be amazed at his tiny little hands, especially in the picture where he was sitting up. I remember doing this with Emma's referral picture, too. Memorizing every detail. Recently I'd had a rotten day and was just feeling overwhelmed before bed. Couldn't settle down peacefully. So I went and looked at Owen sleeping. He had managed to do what I could not. And those hands...so perfect and beautiful. And still so tiny, compared to the rest of him, even. I've commented that he has his daddy's hands, because Jeff's hands are small...really about the same size as mine. Talented, artistic hands--hands that can type a mile a minute, play multiple instruments sensitively, and are carefully coordinated with his eyes--will Owen's be the same way? And so I started taking pictures. And I found peace and joy.

aaAAAaaaaAAAaaaAAAHHHhh!!! (Translation...Here I Come!)

Here's our little guy at a birthday party for Emma's sweet friend Elizabeth at the Sweet Dreams Cookie Company today. He really enjoyed all the action! He's been crawling really well for a while now...absolutely darling to watch and hear the pitter-patter of little hands and knees and his little sounds he makes. Listen to the little Tarzan sound he makes as he rounds the corner--we have a little private joke between us...not sure what it is, but when I make that sound back to Owen, he breaks into a big grin.

Hello, Babes in Bend (Kinda...)

For the last two summers, I've gotten to enjoy the sheer creative bliss of spending a few blessed days out in Bend, Oregon sitting alongside my sista...(well, technically she's Jeff's sister Lisa) but she calls me sis' which is so special to me, because I don't have a sister...anyway, ending the sentence--scrapbooking. Yes, just waking up, grabbing breakfast, and hanging with a bunch of like-minded ladies who've become sweet friends over the past two summers, bound together with a common passion for creatively preserving memories. We head into Bend to a store called Scrap-a-Doodle, owned by Debi, a wonderful lady who trusted us all and let us take over her scrap area and stay as long as our creative juices flowed, keep a running tab of anything we purchased, and just have a blast. These girls have been doing this for over ten years but I just got in on the last 2 years...would have been there this week except Owen needs Mommy more right now, and honestly the thought of living out of a suitcase one more week this summer might put me over the edge. But for this, I'd be scrapping away. Sadly, Scrap-a-Doodle went the way of so many great stores over the last couple of years and closed, but the scrapping continues this week out in Auburn, Washington, so Babes in Pseudo-Bend, I just had to post this, one of my favorite layouts. It's Emma's referral picture...I did it a while ago. Thinking about doing a boyish one for Owen...maybe, "You had me at Ni Hao." :) Have a blast and I'll be eating lots of m & m's here and try to do a little scrapbooking here to at least feel a part of things!

Love,

Ann

Somebody pass me a spoon...

...because I'm about to gobble this little guy up! I absolutely LOVE HIM! I dressed him up to run some errands and plopped this hat on his head...he kept looking up to try to see it and all he could see was the brim. It's the only hat he will leave on his head for longer than 2 seconds. He has the sweetest little grins that just steal my heart, the gentlest but most insistent cries when he's just really fed up, and most content little sighs when he gets what he wants. He's absolutely put me in the most vulnerable place, I told Jeff the other night. But then Jeff reminded me, that's the only way to really live.

One month later...

...Owen has learned to crawl on his hands and knees (belly completely up off of the floor), feed himself finger foods and take bites of things like graham crackers and Nilla wafers, be a little more picky about bedtime because he's realized he can protest and be heard, say "Uh oh" when he drops something, imitate little sounds (like Emma doing an opera sort of singing voice...they played it back and forth for a while one night...), give Daddy "five", hang out with Emma in his Exersaucer or play with toys on the floor in the bonus room with Sophie long enough for me to grab a shower, and just generally has woven his way into the general fabric of our daily lives. The girls adore him. Now and then they resent the amount of time he demands of me, I know, and will even say as much...but more often than not they just love him. One night after his bath they were literally arguing about who got to put lotion on him. I told them they each got a leg and an arm. Sophie hollered, "I call the torso!" I settled that by splitting it up front and back. I also think all little girls could benefit by having a little baby brother or family member to see, um, in his natural state. The mystery's over. So that's all it is??? We let Owen have a little naked time and he was enjoying crawling around on our bed. Emma was pretty well flabbergasted. She finally asked, "Did I have one of those when I was a baby?" Definitely good fodder for healthy, open discussions!

Speaking of Emma, she's been such a wonderful caretaker for Owen. Everytime the van stops, there she is to unbuckle him. She loves the little umbrella stroller because it's a nice size for her to push him. I love these photos of her with him...I didn't get great shots of his face because the sun was pretty intense, but I love how she's hovering over him, shielding his eyes, looking at him adoringly, just caring for him. She didn't want me to put him down for a nap today because she wanted to keep playing with him. Such a sweet relationship.