Heisey Family

SUTTON

2009-03-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Sutton still surprises me everyday with something different that he does! He is the happiest, silliest toddler I have ever seen. I was telling ever body that I thought he was probably about 25 pounds. Well, when I took him to the doctor last month (the first of many in the month for the never-ending ear/sinus infections he had) he was 33 pounds and 33 inches tall! I couldn't believe he was even bigger than I thought. He is starting to talk a lot. Not very many words yet, but they are coming quickly.

Sutton already is the one that lightens all of our moods whenever we need a little pick-me-up. He makes sure that none of us wake up on the wrong side of the bed by being so cheery in the morning. He calms Owen down when he is in the middle of some first class fits by tackling him with giant hugs every time he's in timeout. He gives the best goodnight cuddles and kisses to all of us at the end of a long day. He greets us with a smiley "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" or "Dada, Dada, Dada" everytime we get home feeling stressed from work and worried that we missed our kids entire day. And hopefully this picture makes every body's day a little happier:

Him and Owen both got toy workbenches for Christmas and they love them. These are the goggles that came with the Bob the Builder tool set. He is hilarious when he plays, usually holding a drill in one hand and a hammer in the other going to town on the poor plastic screws.

He has been folding his hands together a lot lately. So cute.

Here he is talking to my parents on the web cam. He loves to see them on it, but I have to very strategically place the computer where he can't attack it.

Awe, my little monkey.

OWEN

2009-03-02T21:53:00.001-08:00

My sweet little baby now seems like a giant to me! When we went to the doctor last week he was 44 lbs and 44 inches tall. As Owen said, "Hey, just like I'm 4, those numbers all have 4's." His favorite thing to do is anything involved with arts and crafts. I know that most kids feel this way, but he REALLY loves it. He will work on a project for hours at a time and get a kick out of picking who he will give it to. We need to get better about actually sending it to whoever he chooses! It's usually for one of his second cousins that he barely remembers even meeting, or his cousin Kierstyn. He also loves the outdoors. The first picture is a lookout point about half the way up to Mt. Lemmon. We stopped there after sledding with Ryan and Brandon (Colin's cousin and his son).

Bri gave Owen glow-in-the-dark skeleton pjs last fall. And she is a genius for doing this! I think he liked them more than any present he's ever received. He immediately asked to wear them for Halloween. Yes! This is a pic of him at his school party.

Here he is in his snow gear at Mt. Lemmon. I will try to post a video of them sledding later. It was awesome! I couldn't believe how much fun Owen had. He did not whine or complain about anything all day... with all the walking, climbing, falling, getting wet, being cold, etc. I definitely was expecting him to. He was a happy trooper all day and couldn't believe how exciting it was to play in the snow. I wish we could have done it more this winter. Darn the whole no snow in the desert thing! I think it's 90 degrees out today!

Owen is 4, going on 14! Sometimes he reminds me so much of a teenager it's scary. Actually, now that I really think about it, just one particular teenager... my brother Rory when he was younger. (Absolutely no offense, Rory, I mean this in the nicest way possible!) Most of the time he is a huge sweetheart, especially towards his brother. He is learning so much in preschool that it is amazing! He really likes to learn when he feels like he is getting it, and will work on something for hours at a time if he is doing well. However, if he feels like he doesn't get something, he gets instantly embarrassed and does not want to finish. He has a "no" attitude and his favorite phrase right now is "I can't do it." I thought 4 year olds were supposed to want to gain independence. If Owen had his way (and he way too often does) I would dress, feed, and help him go to the bathroom all the time! I'm trying to help him gain the self-confidence to want to try to do things for himself, but it has definitely been a struggle lately! Going to school and having a lot of friends there is helping. It's so sad to see him get hurt, because he feels the pain of embarrassment way more than the physical pain. The first thing he says when he falls down is "I didn't fall".

He wants to take Karate lessons so badly! We've told him he can start when he's 5. He is fine with this and talks about how he's waiting until he's 5. But, he's taking the waiting so well and is so darn cute when he's practicing, we might cave before then.

Here he is on the Heisey's quad. He loves it! But don't worry, he only rides with Colin and they go about 5mph on the dirt lot next to our house.

Here is Owen at the lake last summer. Another of his favorite days ever!

Colin's dad gave Owen a shovel for his first Christmas (He was 2 months old). Owen has been waiting to use it ever since (But not as much as Greg and Colin have been waiting for him to use it). This summer he definitely got his use out of it. He had a lot of fun with it around the house.

Owen and his baby cousin Ellie:
She is adorable!

A Quick Review Session

2009-02-27T13:54:00.001-08:00

Way too much has happened over the past few months to record all of my favorite things, but I want to atleast have the big milestones recorded. And I know my mom has many, many pictures she's waiting to see. So here are a few events...

Sutton started walking at about 11 months. It seems like so long ago that he was a tiny baby, and yet it seems like yesterday. I know that every parent in the world says this same thing, but it really is still a surprisingly unbelievable feeling.

Sutton turned 1 on Sept. 20th. We had a small party for him and our friend Kelly (who is his godmother and shares the same b-day). He really enjoyed the cake. But my horrible photography skills definitely did not capture the joy.

Owen turned 4 on November 4th. It was a Spiderman extravaganza that would be hard to top! We had the party at a nearby park and rented a jumping castle that was a big hit. Unfortunately, we were having too much fun and things were way to chaotic to take very many pictures. And by very many, I actually me NONE. Sorry, Bud. Hopefully we can get some from the Grandmas.

Colin has been working at his dad's CPA business. Things are going well, but very busy until April 15th. I have had a very hectic schedule for the last couple of months that is hopefully slowing down for a while.

This is depressing... but this picture is the one and only picture of all four of us. I've really got to start taking more pictures. And really need to start including adults in at least some of them! This one is from last 4th of July.

FINALLY!!!!

2009-02-04T20:19:00.001-08:00

OK... I'm just going to take the plunge back into the world of blogging... I can't believe that it has been almost a year since I have updated this thing. At first, I told myself I was just too busy to even think about making a post. Then, I kept thinking there was too much to catch up on. Then, after many times of lying to myself (and my mother-in-law) that I was going to start posting again, I basically gave up altogether and forgot about it. Well, now with all the guilt of not recording the past 9 months of my children's lives (and trust me, that's a lot of guilt when you also factor in all the working-mom guilt too), I am diving back in! I really want to keep track of as many things that our family is going through as possible. The boys are changing way too fast, and even today as I look back at my blog I'm so happy that I have all of it to remind me and re-melt my heart at the thought of the wonderful memories. So, to start off... here are a few pictures of the boys:

Oh, how I've missed you!

2008-05-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

Ah, my blog.... you are like an old friend that I miss so much but avoid because it's going to be so long and awkward to catch up with you! But I'm going to have that long, boring conversation with you soon. I can't wait.

CHANGES!!!

2008-04-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

So much has happened over the last couple of weeks that it is crazy! I will summarize:
I have a job.
We are moving to Tucson.
I am in training in Chicago this week and will be back in Chicago next week too.
This means that the first time that I spent more than 2 hours away from Sutton I am also spending 4 days away from him! It's HARD!!!
Owen started going to preschool full-time. He's been having lots of fun, but this is also hard for me.

I'll update when I have more time. But my job is with a company called BrainLAB that makes incredible software and instruments for image guided surgery. You can check out www.brainlab.com if you are interested. They make some pretty amazing things. I will be working as a clinical specialist and will be working at a Tucson hospital that is opening a CT BrainSUITE (if interested, you can also check this out on the website). This is a really new and exciting thing (there are only like 4 in the country) and I am really excited for the opportunity to be a part of it. I will actually be there in the OR as it used.

So, there are a lot of huge adjustments for our family coming at us really quickly.

Sutton is Six Months Old (+1 Week)

2008-03-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

For my happy, beautiful baby.... here is a recap of your 6 month journey to today:

After an easy, low maintenance pregnancy I guess you felt the need to add some drama. You were born with the cord wrapped around your neck, which caused a high respiratory rate and low oxygen saturation level. You had to go to neonatal intensive care immediately after you were born and they wouldn't let me come see you for a couple of hours. With how worried I was, I guess it was probably a good thing I didn't see you like this. But I was very upset about not being able to see you at the time. You did not even have a name yet. After a couple of hours they took this contraption off you, but you still stayed in NICU for about 36 hours.

Then we all stayed together in the hospital for another night. We went home in a daze that I think we are still in. I am constantly amazed at how blessed I am to have our little family.

Each Grandma stayed with us for a different week during your first month. This was necessary for our survival and is so appreciated.

For your first couple of months you slept a lot, but always wanted to be held. Because you slept so much it was kind of hard for us to figure out a schedule for you. You woke up every time we put you down for a nap but would be so tired. So we both quickly got addicted to this:

Which we transitioned into an addiction to this:

We just stopped using this swaddler about 3 days ago. (as well as your wedge pillow that I lovingly refer to as little wedgie.) I thought you would wake yourself up a lot, but you have actually been doing great without them.

Since the first day you learned how to smile, the expression has hardly left your face. I like to think that we have something to do with your wonderful disposition, but I'm pretty sure we probably were just lucky enough to hit the baby jackpot. It really is amazing how happy you are. You've always loved to watch Owen play. And for some reason don't even mind when he talks to you from 2 inches away from your face. He loves to kiss you; always on either the cheek or the hand.

By 4 months old, you always wanted a toy in your hands that you could shove comfortably into your mouth. You also started eating solid foods and cannot get enough. Pears, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes are your favorites. You started sitting up a couple of weeks ago and now you've gotten pretty good at rolling and kicking yourself around to wherever you want to go. Yesterday I left you inside to play on the floor for a few minutes while I went outside to throw a baseball for Owen. I heard you squirming around, and when I looked over I saw you right by the window watching us, about 5 feet from where I left you!

You have the most amazing Daddy I could ever imagine. Your face lights up every time he comes home from work. He's so gentle during your late night fussing, and he knows that no boy is ever too young to wrestle. You do a really good job of completely freaking him out any time you spit up within 5 feet of him. This is pretty humorous for your mom. If you look at the picture below, you'll see he even loves you enough to hold you when you're wearing your Sun Devil outfit. Trust me... that means a lot.

You've always enjoyed being outside, but now you even get excited to go to the park. You watch Owen and all the big kids and I feel like you even already have the desire to want to join them. You start kicking your legs every time.

I'm really trying to remember everything you do... but I know my tired little mind has already forgotten many precious things that it wanted to hold on to. The little baby at the bottom of my blog page is getting scarily close to the 1 year mark. You definitely already have a unique independence, so I'm sure you'll be walking away from me before I know what's happened.

So happy half-birthday my sweet boy! Thanks for all the wet baby kisses tonight, even if you were just trying to eat my face. I'll never forget your giant, red, always wet cheeks that I got to kiss back.

Excuses, Excuses

2008-03-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to do a post last week for Sutton's big 6 month birthday. But things have been crazy! We were gone all day on Thursday doing different things (dr. appointment, shopping, dinner at Carrie's) and we left early Friday to go to Tucson for the holiday weekend. We were so happy that Colin got Good Friday off so that we could go early and hang out with everybody in Tucson. Unfortunately, Owen and Colin both started to get really sick on Friday with really bad fevers, chest congestion and coughs. So, the weekend turned out a bit differently than we planned. Owen still stayed in high spirits and loved doing all the Easter festivities. He was sad that since he was sick the neighbor boys couldnt join in the egg hunt, but really excited because that meant that he got 3 times as many eggs! Kathy was really smart and filled most of them with pieces of dried fruit instead of candy (although, he still got plenty of candy). And he fell asleep right in my arms during the Easter church service. Anyway, I'm getting way ahead of myself. I really just wanted to write a little post to say that I'm not going to beable to write a post quite yet. Pretty silly, I guess. Sutton and I ended up getting sick when we came home (found out this morning both boys have ear infections) and I had to go to Chicago and back yesterday for a job interview. But more on that adventure later! So, I'm sorry Sutton, your half-birthday post will come later. Once you sleep more than 15 minutes without waking yourself up with a coughing fit and once I can get all this junk drained out of my head so that I can think about how truly wonderful you are.

Oops!

2008-03-17T12:54:00.001-07:00

One Oops! for me: Lack of sleep has caused me to be super scatter-brained... today when I pulled Owen's sheets out of the washing machine I also found a raisin, half of a plastic Easter egg, and a pull-up (luckily unused). I've learned my lesson... no more laundry!

And one for my hubby: Colin cooked a great dinner last night of tri-tip. As we were eating Owen left the table to play in the living room. It's a good thing, because when I went in to tell him he had to come finish his meal I noticed our grill was on fire! Huge flames a foot from our house. Colin didn't believe me. He said that he must have just left the grill on and I should just turn it off. He finally came out to see the lid on fire and melting. We were lucky we saw it when we did and only needed a pitcher of water to put it out. I think he wins the Oops! award for the week.

Best Friends

2008-03-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite picture!

Owen gives lots of big brother kisses.

Are you noticing the trend? Owen loves to hold Sutton, and Sutton loves to be held by Owen! It's so nice to see. It melts my heart every time. And yesterday in the car I hear Owen whisper "Sshhh.... be quiet Mommy, Sutton is sleeping. Can I still hold his hand even though he's asleep?" Awe... tear.

This is Owen's pillow and blanket mountain. I thought it was pretty cute that he included Sutton's boppy pillow and asked me to let Sutton play with him.

Hello Again

2008-03-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have not posted in a very long time. It's actually only been a couple of weeks; but at the rate I was going the last couple of months, I guess that is a long time between posts. We've just been doing so much lately that I fell behind and then the thought of catching up on everything that has been going on seemed so overwhelming. So, I started avoiding my blog. But I'm back now... only I decided rather than write about everything we've been doing, I'd rather write more about nothing. I'd prefer just to say that everything has been going great!

I think that we are over a huge hump with Owen. The "terrible twos" for Owen were more like the terrible 2.6-3.25. But we have really been working on modifying some of his not so desirable behaviors and it has helped a lot! And I really recommend the book Childwise. Its principles are based on teaching the morality behind behaving so that the child has the tools to think out why they should behave certain ways. Some of the suggestions I thought would be really hard to implement were actually really easy. I would sit down and explain to Owen what was going to change, for instance that I was going to start choosing what he ate for breakfast and if he had a choice about it I would ask him. And it worked! Breakfast is no longer a battle! This one was really easy. Some changes took a little longer, but almost every difficulty has improved. He now actually listens to what I ask of him (most of the time) and is getting better at communicating what he wants and how he feels (i.e. less tantrums). Another tip that has really helped was getting him to say "Yes, Mommy" when I call his name or tell him he needs to do something. At first I thought this sounded pretty Mommy Dearest and maybe a little creepy, but it has really helped to get him to listen and to acknowledge that he heard. We started it out as a game, and he loved it. He asks to "practice saying yes" all the time! When we introduced this "game" we also told him that whenever he said one of our names that we would also answer with a "Yes, Owen" to show the same respect to him. It has helped him to be able to tell us more of what he wants and how he feels. He also is getting used to then not always getting what he wants. This has been a harder lesson, but is definitely getting better. Even Colin's Mom, who of course thought Owen was perfect even in the middle of a world-class tantrum, commented that Owen must have been abducted by aliens because she didn't recognize him the last time she was here. This remark was also brought on by the fact that Owen now eats vegetables!!! It's crazy; it's like every thing fell into place all at once. So it's kind of a case of the chicken and the egg... who really knows which came first. But his improved behavior, better diet, and becoming "regular" (the bathroom kind) all have definitely been reinforcing the rest of these key changes and we are much happier for it!!! One thing we are still working on is being nice to the kids that he is around the most. He is the sweetest boy in the world to kids in his class and strangers at the park. I can't tell you how many times I've seen him spontaneously hand over a train to a child at the bookstore with a smiley "Here you go. You can play with this one." Yet, he is sometimes so mean to cousin Kierstyn and 2nd cousin Brandon. So, these are the next battles we are going to conquer.

Anyway, we've been keeping busy with trips to the park, visits to the Easter Bunny, and visiting friends. I also fit a job interview in there, but haven't heard anything back. :( Last night we got to go meet Ryan and Jill's new baby girl Erin Ashley Clark who was born on the 11th. She is adorable! So happy we got to go see. Jill looks like she is doing great and Brandon is really excited for his baby sister. Although, Jill says that he did already ask if she could go back in mommy's tummy. I guess that probably sums up how every big brother or sister feels at first. But, he will get used to the new wonderful person in their family.

So, I haven't talked at all about Sutton. I figured I would wait until his 6 month half-birthday next week and do an all Sutton post. But, I will leave you with a few pictures of the adorable little guy (who is unofficially sitting up)!!!

Can you see Owen hiding behind him? He's getting ready for a "peek a boo".

"Give me some food crazy woman!!"

The end.

I figured some of you have not seen the back of this crazy head. He has a permanent mini mohawk and this picture does not even do justice to the perfectly defined white, hairless stripe on the back of his head and the red tail right below it!

SHE is a grandma?

2008-03-01T19:57:00.001-08:00

I think my mom is way too energetic (not to mention skinny) for the Grandma title. But she takes it on with pride.

The greatest park EVER

2008-03-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

We went to Enchanted Island today, which is an amusement park for young kids by downtown Phoenix. It was so much fun! Mom and Dad- after all the money you've shelled out to take these kids to Disneyland, I almost hate to let you know that as we were leaving (after spending $30 for the six of us) Owen said "That was just like Disneyland." But for them, it really was. I think the pictures tell it all...

This was our favorite!

I LOVE this picture of Kierstyn!

Owen and Batman riding the train

This is how Sutton spent most the day.

This huge smile is how Sutton looks most of the time. This one was inspired by the train ride.

I Just Can't Pick a Favorite

2008-03-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

I owe these

2008-03-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

Some pictures that have fallen into the "I will post later" category from the last few weeks

My Birthday party pics:

Cake Decorating

Sutton with Colin's Grandma

Owen at the park

A Day in the Life

2008-02-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

Woke up, got out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup, And looking up I noticed I was late....

Sorry, when I wrote the title of this post I of course thought of this song. And, of course, this is not how my day started because I have not yet combed my hair and when you have no life you're never late for anything!

But I have already made a trip to Africa (Acticra if you want to talk like Owen) to go on a safari and eat bubble gum ice cream. So, it has been a pretty exciting day after all. It went a little something like this...

6am- Both kids woke up early after an agonizing night of continuously waking up with Sutton (combination of new teeth, a cold and sore throat, and forgetting his baby pillow in Tucson)

6:02-7:00- I have to admit that I was a grumpy bear this morning and spent most of the first hour nagging at Colin. Mostly for "always" leaving the syrup out and "never" doing the dishes (two words I know I shouldn't use)... to which he replied that he only uses syrup once a month. I muttered something about how he must then just get it out to torment me. (don't I sound pleasant). Owen and Colin took a shower and ate breakfast while I fed and played with Sutton. Colin left for work at 7.

7:00- Made coffee. Poured coffee. Had to reheat coffee numerous times before I had the time to actually drink it while it was still hot. Also played with the boys, did dishes, and sang songs with Owen for Sutton. Owen ate a grapefruit, which he for some reason kept accidently calling a lemon, which made us both laugh.

8:00- Owen decided he wanted to go for a trip. So, we packed our bags (which ended up being filled with only play food) and left on an airplane/laundry basket for Africa. While in Africa we ate all the food we brought along, went on a jeep ride and saw lots of animals, and ran into baby Sutton. Owen said his favorite part of the trip was eating bubble gum ice cream (how has he ever heard of such a thing???). We then "flew" home and put all the food back in Owen's kitchen. Lately, in order to get Owen to help clean up we play riddly, riddly, ree and he has to pick up whatever it is that I see after he guesses it. This takes way longer than if he would just clean up, but at least we have fun, kind of learn, and get his room sort of picked up. :)
(Don't worry... Sutton wasn't just being ignored during this whole time)

8:45- Sutton went down for his morning nap. He was VERY tired from waking up too early, but I didn't want to get him too far off schedule, so I kep him up until as close to the normal 9:00 as possible. I then caved into Owen's plea to watch one of his shows. I think it was Clifford. Then we "had" to watch Curious George. OK, Owen. By this time I was already exhausted and used this time to peacefully check emails. The person who I interviewed with wants to know if I am available to relocate to Florida. Am I? I don't even know.

10:00- Owen and I take turns "sneaking up" on eachother to do dinosaur tickles. This is his favorite thing to do right now. This then turns into a game of hide-and-seek.

10:45- Yeah! Sutton took a really long morning nap and wakes up happy! I feed him while Owen colors on his doodle pro.

11:15- We go to McDonalds (Hey you, stop judging me!!!) and bring chicken nuggets and a cheeseburger to the park to have a picnic. Thanks to the new $1 4 pack, you can now get 8 nuggets for less than 6. This puzzles me. While we were at the park Owen plays with a 4 year old and a 5 year old boy (Owen was by far the biggest). They play hide and seek. Side note: this 5 year old was hilarious! He was so bossy, but Owen totally didn't mind. He told me that he just turned "the big 5", that his sister is 20 and "she's getting really old", and that his mom is "oh wait, let me go ask her...... she says she's 46. That's REALLY old." After playing hide-and-seek, they pretend to be firemen. Pretty cute stuff. Sutton seemed to really enjoy the fresh air and watching the kids play. He also enjoyed spitting up all over himself, my pants, and my camera.

12:45- We came home, read a story, and now.... wait for it.... I think I actually have two sleeping children! I'm not sure, Owen's pretty good at faking it, but I haven't heard a peep and it's now 1:30!

So, I know that I haven't posted pictures for a while. But I've been feeling pretty lazy. Not that it's hard to just plug the camera into the computer. We'll see if I'm up for it later. Maybe I'll edit them into this post. And, i guess "A Day in the Life" isn't really accurate since I only described a morning. But it seems like it's been at least a week since I woke up this morning. My mom is coming tonight and she's a pretty big sucker for her grandkids, so maybe I'll get some sleep tonight. Here's hoping!

Thank You Prunes!!!!

2008-02-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

Warning: this post falls under the category of "Way too much information"
Some of you may already know (only because I complain to anyone who will listen) that Owen has had a HUGE problem with pooping for a really long time. We're talking once a week! How he held it this long... I don't know. Basically it started to hurt him to go, which caused him to hold it in as long as possible, which of course then continued the cycle. And when he would finally go the sheer size and density of his poop would clog the toilet. EVERY TIME! I expressed concern to his doctor many times; he would just tell me that it was normal and that I should have him sit on the toilet more often. Aagghhhhh! Didn't he know that I already had to physically force him onto the toilet and hold him there and it wasn't helping?
So, I printed out some more of our old potty charts, this time with specific ones for #1 and #2. Five #1 stickers and he gets to paint, 5 #2 stickers and he gets to go to Blockbuster. And I started bribing him onto the toilet with lollipops (all this bribery can't be good parenting, but I didn't know what else to do!). Well, a week and 7 lollipops later, the #2 chart was still empty. We've been giving him prune juice for months, which hasn't helped at all. Finally I bought actual prunes.... and SUCCESS!!! He loves them and eats 4-5 a day. It worked immediately. This was almost 12 days ago and he's gone 5 times. Which for him is a miracle. Yesterday we went and rented Land Before Time.
If you haven't noticed the tone of my recent posts... let me tell you that this has elevated the mood of our entire household! Before this miracle, days 3-6 of Owen not pooping would be unbearable and Owen would spend half of them crying (this might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is how I remember it) and now sitting on the toilet is no big deal and we are all so much happier for it!
I have no idea why I felt the need to share all this, but I think some day maybe I'll want to remember that dealing with poop consumed at least a third of my daily life for a little while.

An absolutely wonderful, positively perfect, especially terrific day

2008-02-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

When I made my Valentine's post I didn't have time to go into detail about how absolutely wonderful, positively perfect, especially terrific our day was (fyi: that description is from one of our favorite bedtime stories, Owen). So, I feel the need to describe it now. We all woke up in great moods and I made breakfast for me and Owen (Colin leaves for work too early and the poor guy never gets a hot breakfast). I had volunteered to stay at Owen's preschool to help with the Valentines Day party; so Sutton and I were there for the whole class from 9-11:30. I got to watch Owen interact with all the other kids, see him be more independent than he ever is at home, and help out with various art activities. Playing outside with the kids was my favorite. Their teacher is great at getting the kids to listen and participate in learning activities, but is anything but playful; so, I think all the kids were really surprised and excited to have a few moms there that actually played with them on the playground and encouraged them to run around like a bunch of crazy kids. Owen's favorite part, of course, was getting Valentines and candy from all the other kids. They had made huge pink and red envelopes to put all their valentines in, and Owen was really proud of his.
Some friends were supposed to come over after school to make cupcakes with us, but we got the bad news on the way home that they were sick. We were sad they couldn't make it, but mostly just felt bad for Jami who was home with 3 sick kids. I can't even imagine. Owen was bummed to not get to see his friends. But, as you saw in the pictures, was still pretty excited to make cupcakes. We baked them and then let them cool while we had quiet time. For the record, since I changed nap time's title to "quiet time" and started telling Owen he just has to rest, he has taken way more naps than during the last two months. Anyway, we decorated them with pink frosting and heart sprinkles. I ruined the cake we baked by taking it out of the pan too early. So I decided to act like I did it on purpose and I cut the cake into various sized hearts and wrote a message for Colin. I thought this was very creative of me. We sent some cupcakes to the sick Richardsons and saved some for Owen to decorate with his friend Alana. Now that the weather is nicer, Owen and I usually play outside during Sutton's late afternoon nap. Lately I get ditched to play with the neighbor girls. This is so cute!!! There are a couple of girls who are about 5 years old and when they play together, it's basically just Owen copying everything they do. We made meatball subs for dinner and Kylie, Zack, Alana, and Grayson came over. It's always fun to get together with them and share/vent about the miracle/headache that comes with parenthood.
Thursday and Friday were both really fun because Owen, Sutton, and I just really enjoyed being together. Not that I don't always enjoy being with them; but I think Owen particularly appreciated having me around on these days. Which felt nice.
Colin took off early on Friday so that we could go to Tucson and celebrate my birthday. His parents watched the kids (thank you, thank you, thank you) and we got to go out for sushi. We both really like sushi and rarely get to eat it. It was such a delicious treat. We went out for a drink afterward and on our late night out were home by 9:30. We were just too exhausted, but we gave it the old college try. Saturday the Heiseys had a little birthday party for me (another thank you), which was a lot of fun and full of more yummy food. Owen got to help decorate the cake that Colin's grandma made. I would post pictures, but I think I left my camera in Tucson. I would know for sure, but I've been too lazy to unpack.

Happy Valentines

2008-02-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone's Valentines Day was full of lots of love. Or, at the very least, lots of chocolate. I was one of the lucky ones who got to enjoy both.

Blogger's Note

2008-02-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Note: Although the list in my last post was enumerated, the entries in the list were in no particular order. Colin sent Owen out to me the other night to tell me that "Daddy was sad because he didn't make the top 5 on the happy list." I of course know that Colin is the #1 reason for my happiness! And I make this note so that he won't be such a baby about it! :)

My 100 Things

2008-02-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

My friend Jami made a list of 100 things that made her happy and challenged everybody else to do the same. I feel like I’ve been complaining in a lot of my posts lately (you know, “blah, blah, blah, I’m so tired”), so it will probably do me some good to sit back and think about all the wonderful things in my life that make me happy. So, here we go…

1. Family cuddles
2. Owen Tackles
3. Hearing my kids laugh
4. Watching my babies sleep
5. My 3 o’clock cup of coffee
6. The 100 calorie Oreo pack I eat with my 3 o’clock coffee (nothing like the real Oreos, but oh so good any way)
7. Owen running like a bear
8. The smell of Christmas trees and the fact that my dad used to cut a piece of the trunk for each of us to keep in our rooms
9. Shopping by myself
10. The fact that Colin thinks that we have to celebrate for an entire birthday week (and that next week is all mine!)
11. Taking pictures
12. Actually printing the million pictures I take (rare)
13. A scolding hot shower
14. Deep tissue massages
15. A really good kiss
16. A date with Colin
17. Owen saying crococicle instead of crocodile
18. Freshly washed sheets
19. When my house is clean
20. Somebody else doing my dishes for me
21. Putting Owen to bed and realizing that we made it through the whole day with no tantrums
22. Listening to Owen pray
23. Hearing the garage door opening and knowing that Colin is finally home
24. Welcome home kisses
25. Getting to wake up on my own terms (rare but glorious)
26. Talking to Colin in bed after the kids go to sleep
27. The relief after a job interview is done (this is a new found happiness that I hope I will feel again soon)
28. Feeding my baby
29. The happy sigh/squeak of relief Sutton makes immediately before he begins nursing
30. Sutton’s excitement after Owen wakes up in the morning and Owen’s excitement when he hears Sutton wake up from a nap
31. Rainy days
32. Learning something new
33. Holding the remote and getting to watch what Colin calls “crap TV”
34. Tickling my kids
35. Wide, open-mouthed baby smiles
36. Going to the movies
37. Giving presents
38. Sour Patch Kids, Redvines, and Laffy Taffy
39. Nonfat Latte with one shot of peppermint
40. The feeling of a job well done
41. Owen telling me my hair is not pretty yet and “fixing” it for me
42. Dr. Pepper
43. Colin’s cooking
44. Witnessing Owen learning something new
45. When Owen trusts me enough to take a bite of something I’m feeding him without inspecting it (almost never happens…he insists I feed him grapefruit and checks every bite for seeds)
46. Hearing a bit of gossip before Colin (he usually knows everything before me, even stuff on my side of the family)
47. When Owen says “I love you this much”
48. Doing calculus (weird, huh?)
49. Baking
50. Other people’s baked goods
51. When a visiting Grandma wakes up with my kids
52. Checking other people’s blogs
53. When someone leaves a comment on my blog
54. New baby clothes
55. Organizing my kids rooms
56. Colin asking me to marry him (still happens at least once a week)
57. Watching one of my favorite movies: It’s A Wonderful Life, Simon Birch, or Life is Beautiful (although, the last one makes me sad before it makes me happy)
58. Cookies and Cream ice cream
59. Vacations
60. Manicures and Pedicures
61. Telling my mom thank you
62. Playing board games (I’m borderline obsessed)
63. Playing Pepper with the Heiseys
64. Hanging out with my sister when neither of us is feeling stressed
65. Getting to buy new clothes
66. Using a word I know Owen hasn’t heard before
67. Feeling appreciated
68. Helping others feel appreciated
69. Getting my haircut
70. Laughing so hard that I cry and seeing the satisfaction it gives Colin to know that he caused it
71. Holding hands
72. When the whole family’s laundry is done
73. Genuinely laughing with my kids
74. Owen saying “Oh I have an idea”
75. Slowing down to enjoy bath time
76. Actually having time to put on some makeup
77. Having time to do my makeup, but choosing to relax with Colin instead
78. The sound of the Xbox being turned off
79. Owen telling other kids to be gentle with Sutton
80. Hearing Owen talk about when he gets bigger
81. Going out to eat and getting to pick the restaurant
82. Posting on my blog
83. Having lots of family together
84. 70 degree days
85. Seeing or hearing about an old friend
86. Going to weddings
87. Getting one of Owen’s very few kisses
88. Playing at the park
89. Weekends with nothing to get done
90. Weekends that we actually get everything done
91. When Sutton fake cries for attention and then laughs hysterically when I look at him
92. Dancing with my kids in the living room
93. Dancing with Colin anywhere
94. Book stores
95. When Sutton’s clothes stay dry for more than an hour
96. When Owen plays a trick on me or hides something (when he realizes that he can hide stuff other places than just under my pillow, this will no longer be funny)
97. A song that gets me
98. When Colin comes to bed after I’m asleep and kisses and cuddles me even though he knows I’m sleeping
99. Making people so happy they smile with their whole face
100. Reading over this list and smiling with my whole face at each one!

Wow... that was easy! And I do feel great and very blessed. These things may sound simple, but that's really all it takes!

February Updates

2008-02-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

Sutton is now 4 and 1/2 months old! At 4 months he weighed 15lbs 11oz. (75th percentile) and was 26.5 inches tall (95%). This is the exact same height that Owen was and a pound and a half lighter. Last Thursday (Jan. 31st) he rolled over for the first time, both front to back and back to front. He loves putting everything in his mouth and isn't very happy when he drops whatever toy he's chewing on. He likes bouncing in the jumperoo (pictured below), watching Owen run around like the crazy person that he is, and sitting in his Bumbo-like chair that Kathy got for him. He recently started splashing around in the bath a lot so we finally had to move the baby bath into the regular bathtub to avoid a huge mess. Tonight Owen and Sutton took a bath together for the first time. It was pretty cute.

I just love the jeans and tennis shoes on this little guy!

Bath time fun!

Owen is 41 inches tall and 39 pounds. I don't know the exact percentages, but I can tell you it's huge! Obviously, not as many changes over the past month as the ever-changing Sutton, but he's still been very active. Below he is doing his new dinosaur puzzle with Colin. He LOVES this puzzle. Did it at least 15 times within the first two days we had it, and it takes him a long time to do. It's the size of our coffee table and according to Owen you better watch out, because the dinosaurs bite! He's been learning about dinosaurs at school and is also getting better at recognizing letters that he learns at school. He just doesn't like to learn from me... the reinforcement from a second souce definitely helps a lot. His favorite thing right now is playing on the computer. He has an I Spy game that my aunt gave him last year and is perfect for his age and computer ability right now. He also loves to use the Paint program. He's learning fast and getting suprisingly good at using the mouse and knowing what to do. He unfortunately has stopped taking naps, but we now have quiet time every day. My favorite recent owen anecdote: last week when it was raining I was struggling to carry Sutton under the umbrella and Owen told me that I needed to insteaed use the umbrella to keep his piece of candy dry. This really is his priorities!

Baby Kisses and Feet

2008-01-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hell Must Have Frozen Over

2008-01-28T13:58:00.000-08:00

...because I have been domesticated!

During the past week I have made multiple home-cooked meals, cleaned my entire house (all right, I admit that I still have 1/2 bathroom to go), baked a cheesecake, did 50 loads of laundry (you probably think I'm exagerating, but the actual number is way closer to this than you might think), and did my best at raising and entertaining two boys (ok, three). I have to admit, there was a time when I would have never thought that I would do any of these things! Let alone that I would enjoy every one of them! I also was able to make omelets while our company was here on Sunday, which is a huge feat considering that usually it's a struggle just to get a couple frozen waffles in the toaster while balancing my kids. Speaking of which, this was the breakfast of choice this morning and I had to take Owen's away to punish him for continuously screaming at me that I didn't give him enough syrup. We're working on the screaming and making some good progress! Owen went to school this morning and his teacher says that he's by far the best at cutting and pasting. He made perfect little triangles to glue on to the back of his dinosaur. And I know I'm not supposed to compare my kids to others, but his teacher set me up for a "nana-nana-nana, my kids a genious" moment.... so I had to take it!

Anyway....

Some other stuff that's been going on: We went bowling on Sunday night and had a lot of fun. I used the bumpers just as often as Owen!

Sutton's whole way of life is changing on a daily basis. He's getting better and better at sleeping and we finally have him on a pretty regular sleep schedule. Yesterday he had his first taste of solid food. Pretty messy! His stomach seemed to be upset by it and he didn't sleep well though (urgh, maybe his parents should have waited until he was used to his new sleeping schedule). I'm not sure if we should try again today or wait a little while to continue. We also got out the Jumperoo. If anybody has a baby or has one on the way, I definitely recommend! The Jumperoo is my favorite baby invention. Owen loved bouncing away on it and it seems that Sutton will too. I've taken pictures of him in it and him eating, but I'll have to post those later.

We have a lizard that comes and visits us on our window almost everyday around 12. I think it's so interesting that he always comes back; I think he likes to sunbathe and eat there. Owen calls him his lizard friend and thinks he comes to watch Owen eat. It's nice because it helps Owen to eat all of his food so that the lizard can watch. Yesterday there was a bird on the bush during breakfast and Owen said the lizard told him to come and meet Owen and watch him eat. Here is a picture of Owen with his friend:

Owen got a golf set for Christmas from my parents and below are some shots of him playing in the backyard (please ignore our lovely landscaping).

The Approach:

The Follow-thru:

The cries that followed when he broke off the head of the golf club (he's screaming "no pictures", what a mean mommy with that camera!):

The Victory Stride after some tape fixed the golfclub and all was right with the world once again:

And, oh yeah, I almost forgot: just when you thought I had been completely housebroken, I have a job interview next week!

Baby Overload

2008-01-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a bunch of baby blue eyes that I'm posting just for fun:

Happy Birthday Kierstyn!

2008-01-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Kierstyn's 3rd birthday and I just want to say: Happy Birthday Kiki!

Kierstyn is the best at making everyone around her smile and is the greatest cousin my kids could every have (although her first competition is on his or her way)! We went to Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate on Friday and are looking forward to her birthday party next weekend!

Colin's mom, grandma, and Aunt Sharon came into town this weekend. We had a lot of fun, ate some really yummy food, and played cards. We took a few pictures, unfortunately we didnt get any of Sharon but here's some of the rest of us.

Sutton playing with his Daddy

Sutton with Grandma

Sutton with Super Grandma Billerbeck

One of these days I might figure out how to put on makeup before pictures are being taken. But, this is one of few pictures of me with my baby, so I had to post it.

Another of me and Sutton

Our two babies.

Sutton had a UofA outfit on for all of 30 minutes before he peed all over it. So, I think it's safe to say he made his own choice. I'm just so proud he made the right one! Go Sundevils!!

Our Shopping Spree

2008-01-24T12:31:00.001-08:00

I try to avoid taking my kids to the grocery store with me because it's impossible to fit everything in the cart with Sutton in it with his car seat (and you better believe I'm not using the germ-filled grocery store baby seats!) and it's just plain impossible when I have Owen (I think this needs no explanation why). But, this morning I took Sutton to the grocery store while Owen was at preschool. I snapped this picture with my phone... you should have seen how funny we looked. The bottom of the cart was fully loaded and spilling out and Sutton's shade was caving in from the weight of the paper towels I had to put on top of him after I took this pic. Poor little guy wasn't too happy about it either. Anyway, I've been cooking A LOT at home lately. And actually edible meals, too! I can tell that Colin thinks I make a little bit too much chicken, so I decided to branch out of my recipe comfort zone. As I'm writing this, I have meatball and vegetable stew cooking in the crock pot! And who knew how easy it was to use a crockpot? It's my new favorite thing. I've also bought ingredients to make minestrone soup in it. My fridge is overflowing with vegetables....mmm. I can't wait. But you know I couldn't go totally healthy... I also got ingredients to make a cheesecake this weekend.

By the way... sorry about the overly wordy posts of late! Now that both of my kids are napping at the same time, I don't have anybody to talk to!

My Two Little Angels

2008-01-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

What a difference two days can make! I think that Tuesday's venting session was good for me because after ranting on about my seamingly possessed children, we've all done much better the last couple of days. I'm back to thinking that my babies are perfect little angels. I think my mood is totally dependent on whether Owen takes a nap; and I also think he totally knows that he has this superpower!

Some things that have changed my perspective and made my heart swell:

I keep remembering this conversation that I had with Owen on Sunday: Owen- "Mommy, why are we going to church?" Me- To worhsip God. Owen- "But how did he get dirty and what are we going to use to wash him?"

Every time Sutton's crying (usually in the car) I hear Owen say to him, "Oh, it's OK Sutton, Mommy and Owen are here." Awe, tear.

And last, but definitely not least: EVERY time I look at Sutton he gets the biggest, happiest grin on his face! How could I not smile back!

I've really tried to enjoy my time with the kids lately, especially since I know that at some point here I'm actually going to get a job and have to leave them. So, Owen and I have done a lot of fun things around the house lately. Including lots of painting, bike riding, and cooking. One of our favorites is to set up all his trains on the coffee table and then have Sutton "walk" and knock them all off. I wonder what our neighbors think when they hear us screaming: "Look out... here comes the giant baby monster!" Sutton is so smiley and easy-going during the day that it's really tempting to just put him down and try to get stuff done around the house. But, I'm trying to instead get down on the floor with him and enjoy his world with him. I know he's getting big way too fast and I don't want to miss anything. Those of you who know me know how hard it is for me to ignore stuff like cleaning my house and doing my hair and makeup. HAHA! Ok, so maybe that part is easy.

Anyway... here's an update on our sleeping situation: Tuesday night I told Owen no more food until the sun comes up! He didn't cry for as long as I thought (thanks to Colin for dealing with him), and then last night he slept through the night!! He woke up a little early (6am) because he had to go potty... but that's more than fine with me.
I read in a baby book that 90% of babies sleep through the night by 3 months. 90%! This made me so sick I almost threw up!! I mostly feel disgusted by it because neither of my kids were even close to this... so it must be my fault!! Aagghh! Help, I broke my kids! So, I decided that it was time. Sorry Sutton. I read that if you want your kids to sleep through the night, they have to beable to self-soothe. And if you want them to beable to self-soothe, they have to beable to fall asleep on their own. Wow, sounds so simple... and yet I hadn't done anything to get Sutton to beable to do any of these things! So, last night instead of letting Sutton be the high-maintenance sleeper that he is, we decided to put him down awake and let him cry it out. This was a little complicated by the fact that while trying to keep him awake later so that he would be tired, he totally just conked out in my arms. So, I had to wake him up and feed him so that he would be able to fall asleep on his own. We did the whole thing where you comfort him after 1 minute, then 5, then 10, etc. And comfort him cannot mean picking him up. It took about an hour of this, but then he went to sleep!!! By himself!! I think it was a mini miracle. Anyway, I still did his two feedings in the night because I figure we better just work on one step at a time. But, we did the same thing whenever he woke up and it wasn't time to eat... and he fell asleep without us picking him up everytime!!

So... I think we're on our way to some actual sleep!

Warning: Do Not Read If You Don't Have Kids

2008-01-22T12:05:00.001-08:00

...or you might never take the plunge into parenthood! Some of you find amusement in my misery, so I thought I'd take a moment to describe just a few of the things my kids have done already this week:

Owen threw a bowl of raisins at my head while screaming that he wanted his snack in a cup.

Sutton has pooped on me... twice.

Sutton has spit up on me, my clothes, my carpet, my furniture, and my car... 327 times.

Owen dirtied about 10 pairs of underwear and diapers in a 2 hour period because he refused to sit on the toilet to poop and insisted that he be changed everytime he went a little bit. Oh yeah, this was all about an hour into bedtime. Needless to say we were all a little cranky.

Owen (along with his tag-teaming cousin) screamed at my sister incessently for five minutes that he "wanted gatorade right now". We eventually had to go home to stop the madness.

Owen clogged the toilet.

Owen threw his toy car into the clogged toilet. (NOT a fun combination!)

Owen, a.k.a. "Keeper of the Pacifier", is normally really good at keeping Sutton calm in the car (riding in the car is Sutton's least favorite activity, to put it mildly); however, during our worst excursion to date, Sutton was screaming at the top of his lungs and Owen took his pacifier and threw it all the way to the back... we were still 10 minutes from home.

Sutton still wakes up every 3 hours to eat. On a good night. You don't want to know what happens on a bad night. Now, added to this, Owen gets up at least once to use the bathroom. I'm really excited that he's not wetting the bed, but part of me preferred the extra laundry over what's now happening. Usually after he goes to the bathroom, he insists that he's hungry. Now, this is just like when he was 8 months old and waking up still to eat... it was just easier to feed him than to not. So, we keep giving him some food, even though we know it would be better for all of us if we stopped this pattern now. Not exactly mother-of-the-year material, but it's the rut we're now in.

I'm not even going to go into all of the typical tantrums that have also occured

The really scary part is that Colin and I were just saying last night how good Owen has been the last couple weeks. I'm glad I didn't stop to think about it during a bad week!

So, every night it's pretty much every man for himself around here. Any time one of the kids wakes up, Colin and I both pause in hopes that the other one's gonna get up. And, when one of us does finally get up, I don't think it would be good for our marriage if the other one could hear what we mutter under our breath. Sutton usually ends up in our bed around 4am. And, for the first time ever, we were desperate enough to do the same thing with Owen last night after one of his potty breaks. If you've never slept in a bed with 4 people, I don't recommend it. Especially if one of them likes to kick and squirm. Good thing we upgraded to the king size last year! If anyone has some recommendations on getting either of my kids to sleep better... I'd definitely like to hear!

Oh So Cute

2008-01-22T09:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the boys in their matching outfits that my mom got. They played on Owen's bed together for awhile and I took about a million pictures. I know this is way too many pictures of the same thing, but I think they're all adorable and I couldn't choose. If I'm posting this many, just imagine how many I have that I'm not!

Owen has kind of an evil grin in this pic, but I think it's cute.

And even more pictures!

2008-01-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

My friend Stacia had a baby boy, Jonas, the same day as I had Sutton. This is Sutton sitting in Jonas' Bumbo chair. He really loved it.

This is the boys on the way to Oskar's birthday party (Stacia's other son). With the exception of a few times that they've had to be seperated to punish Owen for being naughty (aka throwing Sutton's pacifier to the back of the car), the boys usually sit next to eachother in the car. What's funny, is I think the reason I like this picture is because neither of them are smiling. We actually don't have many of those.

This is Sutton watching football with Colin. He's really trying to pull himself all the way up to sit.

Happy boys.

We went over to Ryan and Jill's to visit with Colin's grandmother and Aunt Sharon that came into town from Iowa. Brandon has a baby sister coming in March (or maybe February?!?) and he's so cute with Sutton.

Owen hanging out in his room.

Sutton at Makutu's

2008-01-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

Carrie and Sutton were buddies for most of the time we were there, which Sutton was very excited about.

Looking a little worried; but we know he loves his cousin.

Makutu's Island

2008-01-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

There's a great place in Chandler called Makutu's Island full of 30 ft. slides, rope ladders, tunnels, and all sorts of adventure. Carrie and I took Owen and Kierstyn there last week (and Sutton was along for the ride, too). Owen was a little bit of a scaredy-cat as usual, but got over it after watching Kierstyn go full speed ahead towards everything in sight. Most of the stuff there is intended for 5-10 year olds so I had to climb along with them and help with the more difficult parts. The kids had a blast, but next time we choose an activity I'm definitely choosing one that is less labor-intensive for myself. I have multiple bruises as proof of all my efforts. It was hard to take good pictures in the middle of all the action, but here are a few.

At first Owen spent most of his time in this toddler area that is full of giant soft blocks and small slides. He really enjoyed it because he made a few new friends.

The kids looking into one of the tunnels. Owen's really into pretending there's monsters everywhere.

Looking out of one of the caves.

Kierstyn taking a rare break.

You can barely see them, but this is Carrie and Kierstyn in a tunnel ladder.

Kierstyn makes this face a lot trying to be silly, I think it's hilarious.

Kierstyn climbing.

Owen was so excited when he found this smaller (about 10ft) slide that he could climb too by himself; so they did this repeatedly for quite awhile. Owen's face says it all-- you should definitely look at this pictures full size!

Kids really do say the darndest things!

2008-01-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking that I need to start periodically posting what my kids are saying and doing. I know some of you don't get to see them very often and might be wondering what's going on. Plus, I figure this might get me off the hook for having horribly incomplete baby books. So here goes...

Owen:

What's being said:

The other day I heard him tell his stuffed animals, "I can't talk to you until after you calm down!" (which is what we tell him when he's throwing a tantrum)

His favorite thing to ask is "but why?" Curiousity would be really cute if he accepted any answer I gave him as final! But, every answer is followed up with another "but why?". I've even resorted to the "because I said so"; still didn't work. Eventually I have to distract him with something else, or sometimes it works to ask him "why do you think".

After it rained the other night he asked Colin why it was all wet outside and Colin said that it was because of the rain. Owen's reply: "Maybe it's not the rain. Maybe Sutton spit up all over."

Normally I only update my blog when both of my kids are sleeping, but occasionally I'll do it while Owen's distracted with an activity. But, being used to having attention all the time, he never stays distracted for long and usually comes in and orders me off the computer. Then, one day I told him he wasn't allowed to do something that he wanted to do (I think it involved throwing his toys all over the living room); he then proceeded to tell me "Hey, I know, you should go do pictures on the computer."

He's always talking about what he's going to do when he gets bigger and when Sutton gets bigger, and occasionally gets a little mixed up and talks about what he gets to do when he gets little again. Some of my favorites: when sutton gets bigger they're giong to play baseball together and when Owen gets bigger he's giong to ride the school bus with his backpack. He also talks a lot about how the vegetables are making him big and strong.

What's being done:

His favorite activities are: anything that has to do with art, especially painting, cutting, and play doh; riding on his scooter or tricycle; and reading. When he's in the mood he also likes to sing and dance. But if he's not in the mood, he's completely anti and wants nothing to do with them.

Last month he started going to preschool two mornings a week. It's been so great for him!!! He hopefully will regain some of his independence that he lost after being home with me for so long.

Recent things that he has learned: He can tell you how to spell his name and recognize the letters. He's recognized shapes for a while, but has just recently been able to draw circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles (roughly). He also has been learning a lot about Jesus.

Sutton:

What's being said:

A lot of squeaks and giggles!

What's being done:

He's starting to gain a lot of control of his hands and puts all of his toys in his mouth. He really likes this aquarium play mat that the Heisey's gave him for Christmas, especially the mirror. These pictures are a lot cuter right side up, but it wouldn't let me post them that way. :(

He loves bath time (probably should happen more frequently!).

He loves watching Owen. And somehow doesn't mind when Owen rips the pacifier from his mouth or forces it back in.

This is another after-flash picture. You'd think this sad face would make his mom stop... but nope! I think it's hilarious. He makes grumpy squeeks at me too!

It's been perfect park wheather lately! Here are some pictures from our most recent visit:

Oh... the child wonder that was caused by the crunch of some fallen leaves (a real rarity around here)

Owen usually makes it about half way on his scooter and then decides he wants to walk. Here's a shot of Sutton in his usual spot during any excursion and Owen's scooter getting a ride in his seat.

He got this scooter from my parents for his birthday and has been on it almost every day since! Scooters must have been a big present this year. Almost every kid in our neighborhood has one and Owen thinks this makes them all his friends. It's really cute... any time he sees one of his "friends" riding by the window he wants to go out and ride "with" them. They usually pass him going twice as fast and then he'll turn around to go find another kid and in the time that it takes him to turn around, they too will have passed him by.

Pinetop

2008-01-04T14:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went with Ryan, Jill, and Brandon up to Pinetop and stayed at a friend's cabin. The boys had a blast playing in the snow together. It just snowed there over Christmas and there was plenty on the ground. It was so exciting to get to observe Owen seeing snow for the first time and figuring out how much fun it was. His favorite part was just throwing snow up in the sky. He also enjoyed making snow angels and sledding (if you can call it sledding when you're actually using a boogie board). Owen had so much fun that he never said he was cold or asked to go inside. I was really amazed at how long he lasted. We went to a sledding hill that was fun, but maybe a little too fast for the boys. Sutton was a trooper the whole time and hung out mostly in the house. I think he liked the fire. It was also fun for us to beable to hang out with Ryan and Jill. It was Colin's birthday on Friday and this was a kind of celebration for us. Happy birthday my love... I hope you had a great weekend (I did)! It was so nice that he had Christmas Eve and New Years Eve off.

Owen playing with Brandon's airplane. Sometimes Owen can be a bit of a bully towards Brandon, but they played pretty nicely together this time and I think they had a lot of fun. Owen keeps saying "remember when we went to the cabin in the snow.... that was fun."

Ryan pulling Brandon and Owen on the "sled"

Owen and Brandon

Snow Buddies: Owen and Colin

For New Year's Eve we had Carrie, Jason, Kierstyn, and Rory over for a really exciting night of playing with the kids and playing Scattegories after they went to sleep (I know you're all jealous that you couldn't have such an exciting night). But it was a lot of fun for us. We had an eight o'clock countdown with the kids, who loved the confetti and party horns. Our family is obsessed with scattegories. I've conveniently forgotten who won. Somewhere in the madness of the last couple of weeks we also went to McCormick Railroad park with Carrie and Kiki, which was a lot of fun. Oh yeah, and to zoo lights with the whole Beymer clan (minus Rory the punk). Fun Fun. And we just went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks with my friend Stacia and her kids (one of which was born the same day as Sutton). So, fun all around. I just need to sleep for a couple of weeks now and I'll be good as new :).

2008-01-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

This is how the kids looked when we first sat them down next to the tree (and more importantly to them, the presents)

This is how they looked about a thousand pictures later.

Now the excitement comes back!

More Christmas

2008-01-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

Owen's loot (I don't have a picture of him playing with his kitchen yet)

Owen and Kierstyn playing in her yard with her new scooter.

We wish you a [very late] Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-01-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been very busy and exciting. I'll try to recap the best I can without running on for too long! For Christmas Eve we went to the Heisey's house in Tucson. Owen got to spend some time with his second cousins, Marcella (who he calls "my princess cousin") and Josh Jr. His favorite thing to do at their house is playing in their giant backyard; and he especially enjoys riding his bike on their basketball court. We had a very delicious family dinner and then opened some of our presents. After Owen went to bed, it took us about 4 hours to put together the kitchen that we (ugh... I mean Santa) got him for Christmas. Thanks for the help Bri! And then we got about 5 hours of very interrupted sleep (thanks Sutton) before Owen woke up to find that Santa had come. After checking out all the presents that Santa left and drinking some much needed coffee, we headed back to Phoenix to have Christmas morning Part II at Carrie's house. Owen did not stop smiling for the whole week after Christmas. He loved his presents, but I really think that he loved getting to play with everybody in his family more.

Owen on his Tucson bike.

Owen, Marcella, and Jr. chased eachother in circles.

Kathy, Greg, and Sutton (yes, this is an action shot of Sutton spitting up)

Me and my beautiful baby!

Old Man Sweaters!!!

2007-12-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

Owen had a Christmas performance at church last night. So adorable!! We've spent many hours the last few days practicing the songs and the motions that go with them. I have a video of him rehearsing the songs and talking about how excited he was to sing them at church. Skip to the service... he was the only kid just standing there for the entire performance. No singing and no cute little dance moves. I think he has a little stage fright. But it was so cute!!! Our whole family was laughing the whole time because he was so cute and funny just standing there (exactly front and center of all the kids) and the only one doing absolutely nothing! He did sing the last song though. I'll post some of the video when I have time. These pictures were taken afterwards of the boys in there Christmas sweaters. I love that the hugs and kisses were all spontaneous!

I know I've been a little bit of an obsessive blogger lately. But you Grandmas better enjoy it now. I swear that after the holidays I'm giong to be on a hard-core job hunt. So, I figure I better get a bunch of posts in now.

Heisey Look-alike Meter

2007-12-19T20:52:00.001-08:00

To all of you people that keep telling me how much my kids look like their dad: I now have used facial recognition software to prove that they look like me too (and even more so)!!

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Heisey Look-alike Meter

2007-12-19T20:40:00.001-08:00

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family history

This is elf-tastic!

2007-12-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

In case I forgot any of you on my email list... you've got to check this out:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1294945454

Look alikes?

2007-12-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that everybody's sick of me doing three posts at a time, but I have some good news to share! Plus, I'm pretty sure that nobody else reads this anyway. At least, if nothing else, this blog is a form of therapy and entertainment for myself (not to mention job searching avoidance). Anyway, both of my kids slept at the same time during the daytime with me not holding either of them. This was a first! It only lasted 15 minutes, but it was glorious!

I've never thought my kids look alike at all. But then I discovered that I took the same pictures in the same outfit of the both of them. And I think they look more alike than I recall. Can you tell which is which? Okay, so the mohawk gives it away!

You may think it's funny... but it's snot!

2007-12-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Owen and Kierstyn had there first real sleepover this weekend! We were putting the kids to bed and Owen declared that he wanted to cuddle Kiki before night-night. So, we let them get in bed together. Kierstyn then asked Owen if he wanted to sleep with her. They both adorably pleaded with Colin and me to allow them to sleep together. We told them they could have 5 minutes and if they weren't asleep Owen would have to go to his bed. I was sure that they would never fall asleep... but I never heard a peep from them. It was so cute!! They fell asleep hugging eachother, and this picture is what they looked like a half hour later.

Unfortunately, Owen came into our room at 2am saying he needed a kleenex and has had a horrible head cold ever since! I hope you didn't catch it Kiki... but i'm afraid you probably did. So then, day 2 with the kids together did not go so well. Colin had to work ALL day, and on Sunday! But don't feel sorry for him... I was here with the THREE kids! Owen's nose was pouring like a faucet all day and at one point all three kids were screaming at the same time... the two big ones because they both "needed" the blue cup with dinner. It's the first time that the "naughty spot" was so full we had to invent a second one. At one point I almost was to the point of tears, and then realized that the situation was so ridiculous it was funny, and I instead called my mom to try to share the humor and all the noise. But the whole day was not so horrible... there were some moments when the kids were so sweet to eachother. We had a very manic day... one hour we'd be laughing on the floor together, and then we'd spend the next taking turns in time-out. It's crazy how one moment they can be sharing so nicely, and then the next screaming at eachother over a toy that neither of them wants. And they thought that if I was feeding Sutton, it was a free-for-all to jump on the beds and hit eachother!! I think they both behave a lot better when there is more than one adult around, and definitely when they are not sick. And now, I'm afraid that Sutton and I are getting sick again too. I'm so sorry if this post has turned into a pity party for myself... I'll try to be cheerier next time. I really do love my life... but if you catch me in the right moment I might trade both my kids for a massage and a bowl of ice cream!

Busy Bees

2007-12-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

We've been so busy lately; I just realized we haven't spent a weekend at home since the beginning of November. And now we're exhausted!! We're really excited for the holidays... but I don't know how much we'll be able to relax this weekend either. We had a blast in California visiting my parents last week and we all went to Tucson for Aidan's graduation this past weekend. My brother and his girlfriend were going to California and we tagged along at the last minute. I'm pretty sure that after 4 days and a total of 12 hours in the car with Owen, we won't be invited on any more of Rory's vacations. Owen, the lucky duck, went to Disneyland for the 3rd or 4th time last week (reminder: he's only 3!). I guess that's what happens when you have Grandparents that like to spoil you that only live about 10 minutes from Disneyland. Plus, my Dad gets just as excited about going as any kid I've ever seen! The Christmas fireworks show is amazing.. gotta see 'em! I'll try to post some Disneyland pictures as soon as I get some from my mom.

These are some pictures of Owen at the Christmas party at my Dad's countryclub. He was so excited for his t-rex balloon... I couldn't believe how long he patiently waited in line to get it! He also got to see Santa Claus there; who, of course, drove up on a holiday golf cart! Owen says that is what he drives when there's no snow for his sleigh.

Here are some pictures of Sutton just because he's SO cute! The first one is how he looks before I take the first picture, the second one is the face he always makes after the picture flash (I think it's very Zoolander "blue steel"!).

Is it Christmas yet?

2007-12-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a very full day! First thing this morning I took Owen to a doctor's appointment to check how his broken leg from 18 months ago healed. He just couldn't believe how cool it was that the doctor could "look through his leg to the bones" with the x-ray machine. Then we went over to our friends, the Richardsons' house to build gingerbread houses. Well, sort of build them anyway. Jami and I struggled to kind of put the walls together while the kids decorated the roof pieces that never quite made it on the houses. They thought they were pretty sneaky eating the candy and licking the icing spoons... but their sticky, white faces kind of gave them away! Our construction skills might be lacking, but we had a lot of fun!!!

Kole and Owen decorating gingerbread together.

Linkin, Kole, and Owen with more gingerbread pieces. Brooklin was there too, but she escaped when I broke out the camera. And Sutton was hanging out too! Such a trooper in his carseat most of the day.

After making a huge mess, we all went out to lunch. I'm embarrassed to admit where I fed Owen (suffice it to say that a $.99 menu was involved). Then we were off to our most exciting adventure of the day... a visit to Santa Clause. Owen has been asking everyday whether it's Christmas yet and once he saw Santa was in his house at the mall he declared "It is Christmas time!" He was really excited to see Santa but could only say that he wanted toys and candy. Santa asked him which toys, and all he kept saying was new toys. So, I guess that should be easy enough.

So, after all this, we were way past nap time. Owen then fell asleep on the way home and unfortunately woke up when I tried to carry him to his bed. So it was... no nap and no break for Mommy. As if his day wasn't already the best he could have every imagined, we then did some finger painting and went on what Owen called a walk to "far, far, far, far,..., far away" (with enough "far"s to last about 5 minutes). It was a beautiful day out today. After this fun, but very long day, Colin finally came home and we enjoyed a nice dinner together as a family. At bedtime Owen definitely hit the pillow hard! And now it's my bedtime too!

Just Another Manic Monday

2007-12-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

So, we all woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning (including myself). It's just one of those Mondays, I guess. I have a kink in my neck that makes it pretty painful to hold Sutton. At least he likes to sleep in his crib... oh wait... I almost forgot... he wants to be held ALL THE TIME!! And Owen has been rolling on the floor all morning doing his impression of the cookie monster... you know, where he screams at the top of his lungs that "I don't want breakfast, I want a cookie RIGHT NOW!" But enough venting... after 3 cups of coffee I changed my attitude and decided I better help Owen work on his. So we cheered up and wrote a letter to Santa. This is his list (and I quote)...
"a zebra toy, a new flashlight, candy, lots of candy, a house, a baseball, a bat, batteries for flashlight and my train, more dominoes, bigger toys, snow at uncle Rory's house with the big doggies, a candle"

I think it's so funny (and logical!) that he thought to include batteries. I think that it's because replacing batteries is his favorite part of playing with toys. He then proceeded to declare multiple times that he wanted "lots of candy, lots of toys, and lots of treats". When I told him that maybe it would be better if we just got a few of each he said "OK, Santa can just bring a little bit, cause Mommy will give me lots" He sounded pretty positive... but i'm not so sure...

Well, I guess this is a good opportunity to share some other recent Owen quotes:

After getting his shots at the doctor he quickly said: "Oh I know, let's put my pants back on." It's pretty much the only time he's wanted pants on. And even after getting two shots he said as we got in the car "That was fun, Mommy"

He loves to say "Oh, I have a great idea..." and then tell us whatever he wants to do. He has lots of great ideas, a lot of them involve his baby brother. After we played with a 7 month old baby last night, Owen said this morning, "Oh I have a great idea: let's put Sutton down on the floor so he can roll around like Grayson did."

There are a lot more funny quotes, but seeing that I'm sleep deprived, I can't remember a single one!!! More to follow!

GO SUNDEVILS!!!

2007-12-02T08:12:00.000-08:00

Random Pictures

2007-12-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

OK... so some of these pictures are kind of old; but I just got them from my mom and couldn't resist sharing them.

Owen spontaneously started to stand like my dad and announced that "When I get bigger I'm gonna golf like Papa"

This is Owen on the way to visit his new baby brother at the hospital... I think he looks so cute in his backpack.

This is in the cafeteria at the hospital after Sutton was born. It was just so much easier to keep them in control when they were sitting with me.

There was a complaint that there was not enough pictures of "Mama Blogger".... so here is another.

Owen's Shenanigans

2007-12-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

I think Owen's life and his behaviors have finally found a post-baby normalcy. The combination of his age and the new baby were creating some not so fun "terrible two" fits for a little while there... but we've worked out most of the kinks and we're back to having lots of fun! The top two pictures were taken at lunch after Sutton's baptism. They have a huge field for kids to run around in and Owen and Kierstyn did a lot of that. I just think these pictures are so cute because they remind me of how hard he was laughing as he ran away from the camera (he thinks I've been taking too many pictures lately).

Uncle Rory taught Owen how to set up and knock over dominoes, and now Owen can't get enough! With all the time Owen and I spend together, we've played with every toy and game a thousand times... but I never even thought to set up the dominos. We used to just count the polka dots, but he thinks this new activity is way more fun.

The rest of this video is so cute... but for some reason it will only show 4 seconds! I'm still not so good at this blogging!!

Sutton's Baptism

2007-12-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

Sutton was baptized Nov. 25th with Dave and Kelly Page as his sponsers. We were blessed to have so many people who love Sutton be there to witness and support him on this very special occasion in his life. As for Sutton... he slept through the entire service, including when the water was poured over his head.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

We have so much to be thankful this year and we were blessed to spend the holiday weekend with all of our parents, siblings, Colin's Grandpa, and many friends. We spent Turkey Day at Carrie's house in Phoenix where we had a smoked turkey, a fried turkey (thanks to all the guys for being in charge of the turkeys) and all the trimmings (and I mean all of them!!). Then we headed off to Colin's parents' house in Tucson. Friday night Kathy and Greg had a big bash at their house and the Brunners and Bri played music around the fire.

Don't you dare say that turkey carving is a man's job!! My mom did great!!

Ryan, Paul, and Wayne Brunner and Brianna Heiseiy doing their thing

Shannon (Aidan's girlfriend) and me

Colin and I enjoying the music and the warmth of the fire (it was the first really cold night we had here in AZ)

The many faces of Sutton

2007-11-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

OK... so these pictures were actually taken today, November 16th... which means I'm all caught up on my posts!!! Next time I'm going to try not to wait two months. These pictures were taken while Sutton was actually laughing! I forgot how amazing it is to see your baby smile and laugh. He's starting to be very aware of his surroundings and people. His favorite place is in an over-the-shoulder sling that I wear. It's really amazing how content he is when he's in it and it's even more amazing how many things I can still do when I'm "wearing" him. It helps a lot to still beable to be hands on with Owen. I depend on it so much that I knew that when we left ours in Tucson we couldn't wait to get it back... I bought a new one within an hour of being home!

Sutton with Great Grandpa Heisey

2007-11-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

Sutton stared Grandpa down the entire time he held him.

Owen's birthday

2007-11-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

I of course forgot to bring my camera to Owen's birthday party, which was a bbq at the park. But here is birthday party #2 the next week down in Tucson. There's also a picture of him playing with Play Doh. He loves to make "choo choo tracks" and ice cream cones. Below that he is playing with the cardboard cutouts and stickers from the birthday card my parents gave him.

A day in the life of Sutton Alan

2007-11-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

He wakes up very happy!! This is one of his first smiles... captured by Grandma Kathy.

He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping... if only he'd do some more of that during the night.

One of his favorite activities is watching his Winnie the Pooh mobile that hangs over his crib.

Here he's laughing at Owen, who was laughing at Sutton the "silly baby".

Entertaining Owen

2007-11-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

Since we had Sutton we've been overcompensating with Owen, and I'm pretty sure he gets even more attention than he ever did before. He rides his scooter and we got to the park almost every day; he's become obsessed with painting (his favorite is painting clouds and rainbows); he gets together with his friends and cousins often; and his birthday celebrations lasted about two weeks!

Owen on the train at the Halloween Festival.

Owen and Kierstyn going down the slide at the Greek Festival.

Owen in the bed tent he got for his birthday. He likes to bring a flashlight in there and play "shadow monsters".

Owen with his "girlfriend" Alana spending a leisurely day by the pool.

Halloween

2007-11-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

Owen really got into the Halloween festivities this year and we had a great time. Owen picked out his costume- the Mater truck from the movie Cars. Sutton was a chile pepper. The weekend before Halloween we went to the Gilbert Halloween carnival and on Halloween night we went trick or treating with Kierstyn and Brandon in Carrie and Jason's neighborhood. We let Owen pick out one piece of candy everyday for about a week; please don't tell him that his parents ate way more than that!!

Owen in October

2007-11-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

Owen playing near the Heisey's cabin. He and Colin went on their first boys only trip together last month. Too bad Sutton didn't let Mom get any sleep while they were gone!!

Our adorable niece Kierstyn in her chef outfit

More of owen at the wedding

2007-11-16T20:12:00.001-08:00

Owen definitely played the part of the misbehaving ring bearer at his aunt Carrie's wedding. I was so embarassed and mad at him at the time. But now I just think he was too adorable to stay mad at!!

Carrie's Wedding

2007-11-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

My sister, Carrie, got married to Jason Liakos. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures at the wedding, but got this one of my beautiful sister on the way to the church and the few below are some the Kathy shot of the kids.

Love this picture!!!! This tells the whole story of their day!!!!

Grandma Time

2007-11-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

Sutton with Grandma Beymer

Sutton with Grandma Heisey

Owen and Sutton

2007-11-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

OK... So I've finally decided to update my blog. I've got about two months to catch up on... so here goes. These are a few of my favorite pics of the boys together. Owen loves to hold Sutton (even though it doesn't look like it in this picture) and is always giving him kisses. It's hard to capture the two of them together for a picture because whenever Owen gets really close to him I still feel the need to hover and be Sutton's protector, even though Owen has never hurt him. In the top two pictures they are wearing their adorable "I'm the big brother" and "I'm the little brother" shirts that my parents got for them.

Welcome to Our Family, Sutton!!

2007-09-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

Sept. 23, 2007: Sutton's First Bath

2007-09-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Sept. 22, 20007: Welcome Home Sutton

2007-09-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Our Hospital Stay

2007-09-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sept. 20, 2007: Sutton Alan Heisey was born

2007-09-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

Diamondbacks Game

2007-09-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

Owen and Colin at Owen's firt baseball game.

Owen was very proud that he had his own glove!!

Owen and I in front of the ballpark.

2007-08-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower

2007-08-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone who came to the baby shower!! It was a blast!!

2007-08-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

Owen and I on Mission Beach.

Our other new member of the family- Owen's fish, who still has no name. Hopefully we'll come up with a name for the baby quicker than for this poor little guy!

Owen loves to listen and feel for his baby brother.

The Beymer clan on vacation in San Diego: My brother, Rory; my mom, Marcia; my sister, Carrie; my niece, Kierstyn; my dad, Rick; and, of course, Owen!

2007-08-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

Owen and his cousin Kierstyn!

Wow... what a good looking family!!
Here we are at the 3-D movie at the Arizona Science Center. The movie was about animals in the ocean. Owen loved it and couldn't stop reaching out and "touching" the animals!

This is our newest almost-part-of-the-family member!
Grayson just turned three months old and Owen and I take care of him from 8-5:30 everyday since his mom went back to work last month.

My sister Carrie and her daughter Kierstyn at our trip to LegoLand.

2007-08-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

Owen at arts and crafts day at Michael's.

Owen playing guitar with his aunt Bri.

Colin getting a good workout at the Phoenix Science Center!

Hello

2007-08-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! I decided it would be a good idea to start a blog before the baby comes so that I can post pictures of our family and communicate with all of you. And if you can't tell by recent pictures... the baby is coming soon!!! But bear with me, I have no clue what I'm doing.... hopefully I can figure out how to post things fairly easily. Talk to you soon!!
-Jessie