Fun at the park

We had a fun day today, but boy am I exhausted tonight. We got up this morning and I had promised the kids they could play with play-doh after breakfast so I stuck to my word and got it out for them. They haven't played it in along time so they really had fun and thankfully Owen didn't eat any or throw it. We got cleaned up and dressed and headed to the park at 10:30 to meet up with Shannon and her girls. The kids had alot of fun playing and the weather was perfect outside as it wasn't too hot or sunny. So I didn't have any complaints from Maggie about being too hot! Owen was all over the playground so I ran the whole time trying to keep up with him and not let him fall off and break something.












Maggie also learned a new trick today as she tried out the monkey bars for the first time and did a pretty good job.









She was really proud of herself. I tried to get some good shots of the kids and Maggie was all over that, but Owen as you can see was not so much in the picture taking mood.















After the park we headed over for free lunch as it is over this week for the summer. School starts next week (aug. 6) which seems so early to me. We got home in time for nap and Owen must have been worn out as well because he slept 4 and a half hours. I should have woken him up earlier becuase here it is 9 30 and I can hear him in his bed talking and singing. Every now and then he will say, "mommy, do you hear me?" Yes, I hear him, no I am not going to join his night time party. :)
Maggie and I cleaned up the toy room and her room while he slept today and played candy land about 10 times.

I let Maggie pick what we had for dinner which meant we would have 1 of 3 things. Potato Soup, Spaghetti, or homemade pizza. Her choice tonight was the pizza which I wasn't thrilled about since we had just had that a few days ago. But it tasted pretty good once it was made. So, a funny story. Maggie got in trouble the other day adn I made her stand in the corner and told her to keep her nose in the corner. A bit later, Owen got in trouble and when I got onto him he ran over to the wall and stood just like this.






How funny is that.







A maggieism of the week... we were in line at Krogers and the lady in front of us was buying organic milk whcih had a big cow on the front of the container. Maggie doesn't drink milk at all so she isn't up on the milk containers I suppose. She is checking out the ladies grocries and says to her, "so, is that the food you feed your cow?" I thought it was so funny, not sure why but it totally cracked me up.

Getting Big

So I wake up this morning and look over at the clock and see it is 8:45 and thankfully everyone is still sleeping soundly. Usually I would enjoy this time and roll over until someone called out "mommmmmaaaa." But I suddenly remembered that Owen had his 2 year well child check at 920. And keep in mind we live about 20 minutes from the doctors office. I jumped up and threw on some clothes and pulled my hair back. I then went to the kitchen and threw together some snacks the kids could eat on the way there, which means their breakfast consisted of grapes, raisens, and peanuts. I got Maggie up first since she is pretty much able to get herself ready and after she was up and getting dressed I got Owen ready and we headed to the doctor. We got there about 5 minutes late and probably looked more WT than we ever have before in public......but we were there. We got called back and Owen was at 30 pounds which puts him in the 70% for weight. He is just about 6-7 pounds behind Maggie now. He is still in the 95% for height so he is following Maggie in being tall. He did great and he and Maggie talked the entire time to the doctor and nurse and they seemed quite impressed with Owen's ability to carry on conversation. Maggie seemed a little envious of the attention Owen was getting with his check up until it came time for his finger stick. She seemed pretty happy then that it wasn't her turn. Owen didn't seem very phased by it all, he looked at me and said, "it hurts." and I said, no, it's okay and he goes..."okay mommy." After that we just headed to Kroger and ran into Neila and Carson who were shopping as well. They invited us over for lunch of veggie pizze and fruit pizza which sounded great so we spent the afternoon over there until we headed home for naptime. I had planned on getting things done during naptime but instead spent the majority of the time listening to a guy from ADT tell me about his security system he was giving for free if we would advertise with a sign in the front yard. We only had to pay the monthly fee. Well, he had no idea who he was talking to and that I would have signed up without the big spill in a heartbeat. But when Joe got home he veto'd that one and the poor guy who was pretty sure he'd just made a sale was sent packing to the next house. We had a pretty boring evening and now am just getting ready to go to bed. We have no big plans tommorow, i am hoping it is pretty so we can get to the pool, but it isn't supposed to be. Well, hopefully I will get some pictures up soon, I know I have been slacking.

What a week!

Our week started out pretty much uneventful other than Maggie was a mess Monday morning. She stayed up a little late Sunday night with her MiMi (1130 to be exact) and my kids are both SLEEPERS, and need their sleep desperatley. So sleepng in until 9 didn't do alot for her the next day. Like I said in my last post, she took a nap from 10 30 until about 2 or so and seemed alot better after that. I was supposed to work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week but they called Monday and said they didn't need me Tuesday so that gave mom and I another day to hang out and get out of the house. We headed into Louisivlle Tuesday morning and shopped a little and grabbed some lunch at Panera Bread. I dont think either of us got anything but we had fun and lunch was great. We came back and Owen went down for a nap and Mom and Maggie ran a few errands. With mom here you would think I would have gotten alot done around the house but I have been exausted latley so I didn't get anything accomplished other than resting up. I don't remember being this tired with my other pregnancies but maybe I have just forgotten? Anyhow, I worked Wednesday and Thursday and had 2 busy days. It seemed all the problem people showed up those day which kept us going all day, which I don't mind. We had one family there that I have seen a few times working over the last month. This has been a case I can't seem to shake out of my head and after this week it has only gotten worse. This mom I saw the first time about a month ago when she came in for a weight check for her twins. She also has a 1 and 2 year old. The twins were 4 months old and when I saw them I was in shock...they weighed 5 lbs. 14 oz. Only 2 oz. more than when they were born.........FOUR MONTHS AGO. Well, without going into major detail, mom claimed they vomited everything they ate and that is why they wouldn't gain weight. She left that day with a new formula for them to try.......and told me she had no clue where she was going to get the food for them tonight since the WIC office was already closed. Keep in mind, these babies are skeletons.....in every sense of the word. They have depleted all their fat stores and are in real terms...starving to death. They looked just like babies you would see on a "save the children" commercial. I worked out getting her formula for the night since these kids are to eat every 3 hours around the clock. Well....move on to this week...the babies came in last week and hadn't gained but maybe an ounce or two so they came in again this week and had LOST. They were down several ounces and for some reason the doctor didn't see this as a big enough problem to admit them to the hospital. Several of us in the office who had talked with the mom some and sensed something wasn't quite right decided to take it into our own hands and call child protective servies to check out the situation. Turns out we had the right hunch...mom is a registed sex offender, has had numerous calls about her older 2 kids to CPS, and her name is an alias since she moved from Florida. Well, they went to the apartment and found the kids in day old diapers, hungry, cockroaches in the house and filth every where. To move on.....turns out they are just not feeding the babies....they were admited to the hospital and guzzled down 3 bottles in less than 4 hours without so much as a wet burp! After 24 hours the doctors at the hospital decide since the babies have no insurance and are costing the hospital money.....they can find no "physical" evidence of them needing to stay in the hospital and tell the social worker they can't keep kids becaues of social issues. I am not sure when malnutrtion and failure to thrive quit being reasons to hospitalize but somehow this doctor felt okay sending home these babies to a home filled with filth and a mom who is a sex offender. So I have seen first hand the way our system SUCKS and, despite what they say, do not take the kids interest first. It seems you have to kill your kids before anyone will take them away from you, and in that case it's only to take them to the morge. I am unsure about the status of the case right now but can't seem to let this one rest, so I am trying to find out what I am allowed to do without getting myself in trouble (HIPAA). So if anyone has any ideas, aside from kidnapping them, :) feel free to let me know. This is a huge problem here in this country and I really am sick of these kids being brushed under the rug as "someone else's problem". I am not sure who came up with the idea that the biological parents are always the best place for kids to be.......but they were DEAD WRONG! Okay, so that is my take on all that.

Mom left out Thursday evening when I got home for Ohio to go help Amanda, Dad, and David move her into her new place. The kids had fun with MiMi and had soup every single day she was here, along with banana bread on Thursday so Maggie was happy with her food selections. They took alot of walks and both had a bucket of flowers and rocks at the end of each day they had collected. I am not sure how mom got Maggie outside in the heat so much but she's better than me! Friday morning I had a doctors appointment and thought I was going to have to take both kiddos with me since everyone I leave my kids with had plans already. I wasn't thrilled about this, but knew it would be fine with a few snacks and cars. Maggie went with me to numerous doc appts. when I was pregnant with Owen...but I am guessing she would have many more questions about everything now........so I was pretty happy when Neila called me to say her plans had changed and she would be home so I could drop the kids off. They were happy about that since they love going to Neilas house. She alwasy has a fun plan of the day for them to do and didn't let them down that day either.....even with short notice. Anyhow, my appointment went fine I suppose....but I am once again in search of a new OB. I have tried to give this practice the benefit of the doubt but she lost my chance friday when she was in the room less than a whole 2 minutes. She got the babys heartbeat for all of 15 seconds and didn't even ask how I was. So when she walked out and said she'd see me in 4 weeks I smiled and thought, "no actually you won't." So this will be my 3rd try for a doctor that meets my criteria around here.

Joe left Friday for Alabama for a golf tournament and the kids and I packed up to head to WV to visit MiMi and Jaja for a few days. My 10 year high school reunion was Saturday night so I was going to go to that as well and see some friends. We headed out about 1 in the afternoon and I was alrady exhausted. We hit Lexington and decided to get some lunch before going on so I took the kids to Chick fil A and let them play there for over an hour. I figured since I was already in Lexington I may as well hit up some of my favorite places and about that time mom called and said they were still in Ohio and going to stay and help amanda a little more. So since I was already beat and didn't want to go in to a empty house we just spent the evening in Lexington and headed back home for the night. Now, as many of you know I HATE staying home alone at night. So as soon as we got home I got the kids in bed and barred up all the doors. (this means putting chairs in front of everydoor and my door alarms in place. I laid down and that is about all I did. I slept on and off every hour and was totally exhausted when I heard Owen about 8:30. We deided to get some sunshine and headed to the pool for the day with our neighbors. It was beautiful outside, but the pool was totally empty all day.......once again the water wasn't even on the charts for temperature. It was freezing. So we spent the majority of the time in the indoor pool which the kids love. They both are great swimmers, Owen actaully has the whole blowing bubbles, kick your feet and move your hands thing down. Maggie does great, but being Maggie is a little more cautious. My friend's husband had Owen in the pool and couldn't figure out why Owen was holding his hands and throwing his legs up in the air. He said, "I think he's trying to drowned himself." I laughed and said, "no, he wants you to let him go to the bottom adn pull him up." So thankfully they have no water fear which makes days at the pool pretty easy and enjoyable, at least inside. If only the would heat up that outdoor pool my days would be a cinch. We came home for naptime and the kids both slept about 3 hours. I tried to get a little sleep while they were but the phone kept ringing so I finally just got up and got ready to head out when they woke up. We headed into Louisivlle for the evening and went to the mall that has the big playground for kids. They had a blast, but it was packed so I was constantly trying to keep up with where they both were. I must say I have a bit of a pet peeve with parents of kids who are #1 too old to play on this kind of playground, and #2 let them run wild and terrorize everyone trying to play normally. There were about 4 school aged kids who were all over this thing running wildly and jumping around. There were lots of toddlers on there as well (as it is geared toward toddlers and preschoolers) and I counted them knocking down 3 toddlers in about 2 minutes. Well, it annoyed me watching this, but when one of them plowed into MY toddler it was a different story. I walked over to where Owen had gotten knocked down and told them they needed to quit running and watch the little kids or get off. One of the kids' moms was sitting there watching the whole thing and shot me quite a look. Anyhow, the kids had fun depsite the out of control kids who finally left and let the rest of them have fun. We then went to California pizza which was great, at least Owen and I thought so. Maggie thought it looked funny so she just ate a box of raisins and a piece of bread. They were great through the meal so we ended the night with cookies and shopped a little at Old Navy. I got them both a pair of water shoes that were clearanced for when we go to the beach in August so they don't have to worry about stepping on anything in the ocean. Last night I went right to sleep about 10 and slept great until about 1 am. I kept hearing a bang in the basment and just knew it was someone coming in a window. So I got both kids and put them in my bed and locked my door and laid there until about 6 when I fell asleep. We got up about 9 or so and just hung around the house since I was not up to getting us all ready and to church. Joe got home this evening after nap and the kids were really excited to see him so they have all been playing. Tommorow Owen has his 2 year doctor appointment and we have no other plans for the day.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY OWEN!

I can't beleive Owen is 2 years old today! I love watching my kids grow up and learn new things but I hate how quickly the time goes. Owen has been a total joy to us and is so much fun. He has a ton of energy and is as "boy" as they come, but he fits just perfect in our family. We had his birthday party this weekend and he enjoyed it totally. He was perfect all day and you could tell he loved everything about his party. He woke up from his nap right at 4 when his party started and came down and was in awe of all the CARS decorations.










Amanda didn't let me down in the decorating department and with the help of David, they made Owen's seat a race car












and decorated the rest of the kitchen in the CARS theme.





















He loved his CARS cake, and it turned out pretty cute, although I wasn't much in the decorating mood that day.

















I had planned to do a bit more to it, but by the time I got this far along I had done about as much as I felt like for the day.
We had alot of fun with everyone here, but I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I would have liked to of everyone. Maggie did really well with him getting all the attention for the day and gifts, although she made out quite well in the gift department as well. Owen did better this year opening his gifts, but had to have some prompting to move on to the next present.



















Maggie had fun with Kylie there to play with, and Owen got a birthday kiss from his favorite girl, Bella, beore she left.











So his birthday turned out great, I told him happy birthday this morning since it's his real birthday today, but it seemed to confuse he and Maggie somewhat. Mom is staying this week to keep the kids so I can work a few days at the pediatrician office. We were going to take them to the pool today but Maggie stayed up way too late last night and had quite a meltdown this morning so she was back in bed at 10:30 and slept for 3 hours. Mom and Owen played outside and took several walks since it was such a nice day. Maggie seems to be in better spirits since she woke up so I am hoping this evening goes better than this morning. Well, here is a little view of Owen's last 2 years.....I can't beleive how big he's gotten.., and how much better his hair has gotten. :)

Fourth of July and More Fun

So the kids and I had a fun time in WV visiting. It was great that Amanda was there, Maggie and Owen think she is a blast and had fun playing LOTS with her. We didn't do alot, just hung out at the house alot. It was so hot that we didn't get out much until the evenings. Maggie and Owen had fun getting pushed around the yard in Jaja's wheel barrow. Mom tried to take a few turns pushing, but they seemed to get a little further on dad's rides. :)










We all enjoyed Mom's new kitchen, especially Maggie who was lucky enough (or spoiled) to have Mimi soup every single day! Amanda was quite the chef as well and let Maggie help her make her mexican chocolate cake one night, which Maggie loved. She loves to bake, as her favorite part is taste testing the batter along the way!












We had a really fun Fourth of July. We all headed up to my aunt and uncle's camp for the day and met up with some of my family for the day. The kids had a blast, and Maggie was thrilled that Gwen, Gracie, and TJ were there.














We didn't see the 3 of them much that day as they spent the whole time playing. Owen loved it there and had fun exploring and picking up rocks. It was nice to have so much extra help there to take turns following him around. We all missed Joe a ton. I wish he could have been there becasue he would have loved it. Everyone spent a good deal of the day out on the four wheelers which Joe would have thought was a blast, although I would have been a nervous wreck I am sure since Joe's fear factor is about a zero! Luckily there were enough helmets to go around!















Owen loved watching them pull up and leave on the four wheelers and would have loved a ride I am sure, but I thought I would wait until he's a tad bit bigger. He did get to sit on one which he thought was fun.
















It was so great being there with everybody, if the rest of the family could have been there it would have even been better. We got some really cute pictures of all the 3rd cousins so we can update our picture from last year at the camp. I can't believe how much Owen has changed in one year.










The kids and I got to go to my friend's brooke adn Larry's little girl's first birthday party Thursday night. I was glad we got to go and the kids had fun. When we were leaving Maggie said, "Mom, that was a great party. They had all the things we love....balloons, candy, cake." How funny! And when they sang happy birthday to Savannah, Owen sang "happy birthday to carson." That is the only party he's been to so when he hears that song he thinks it is for carson. We made it back home friday night after spending some time with JR, Lori, and TJ on our way out of town. He has a thomas the train table with all the bells and whistles and the kids were in love with it. We got home about the time Joe did so the kids were thrilled to see him. Owen asked about him several times through the week so he was really happy to get to see his daddy and not just hear him on the phone. We are having a lazy weekend, Joe adn Maggie went to that new pixar mouse movie today. Here are some more pictures from the fourth of july.

In WV

The kids and I made it safely to Mom and Dad's yesterday. Joe had an early flight out yesterday morning to Alabama so we got up and packed and headed to WV. The kids are great travelers, of course who wouldn't be if you could watch a movie the whole way! The only problem is our dvd player has a short in the wire so if it isn't sitting just right it turns off. Several times on the way home the player would shift and off would go the movie. That gets a little frusterating, so we will for sure have to get a new one before our beach trip! Mom and amanda had lunch ready when we got here and a big pot of soup for maggie. We spent the afternoon playing outside and Maggie's friend McKayla came over for awhile. We got to see emma too, Maggie loved her and thought she was so cute....which she is!








We tried to get a picture of all 3 kids, but Owen was not in a cooperative mood.... so maybe later this week. Maggie wanted to wear her dress that Amanda got her in greece so I let her and fixed her hair up. She looked gorgeous, and she knew it! I got a really cute picture of her outside while she was posing.












Mom's kitchen looks great and is so nice. We enjoyed all the cooking she did in it yesterday. Well, we are off to get our day started.

Also, Congratulations to my friend Mary who had her baby boy on Friday!