Can't buy me love!

Who say's money can't buy you peace? It bought me this fancy little boy stand that'll keep Owen from pressing his nose up my hiney every time I get ready to cook dinner.

Manic Mommy

I titled the post Manic Mommy because I'm both manic...and obsessed with this new podcast I found. (Like I kinda want to stalk them, okay, I AM stalking them.) Anywho, on a more personal note, my child is again making me feel manic with his no-sleep policy. What is the deal? To clarify, he'll sleep in bed with us but the moment his sweet little head hits his own crib mattress he just freaks out. And on top of this, I have a cold (thanks for asking).

I know he's got to be tired. The boy runs me ragged with his need for speed. (You can click on the picture to see more photos from our morning at the splash-pad with Omi.) And let me just say, if we add one more element to our going-to-bed routine, it's no longer a routine, it is an entire day.

But enough of the complaining, Owen is changing by leaps and bounds and it is so fun to watch! I'm so amazed in fact that I had a brilliant idea to buy a POTTY! I am not expecting anything to happen, but what's the harm in sitting on the potty a few minutes before bath time (yes, it's part of the routine!) One day I just know he'll stand up and I'll find a mommy's secret wish...pee-pee in the potty.

We're baa-aack!

You may have started to believe we'd dropped off the earth, never to blog again. Not so! The last month has been a whirlwind of changes and, well, more changes. We are in the new house, sorta settled. I have been to Wal-Mart now twice. I vow to never go again. That place is the devil, it's only positive attribute being one-stop-shopping; I bought avacados and a door stopper at the same store!

I'd like to say Owen is adjusting well, but he's up at least once every night, usually just as I am drifting off to sleep. I think he is having nightmares! So I bought him a book about a little boy who has a dream that he is baked into a cake but realizes it was just a dream when he wakes up cakeless and dry. I am hoping this helps Owen understand that his dreams are not real and he doesn't need me to come comfort him.

Am I expecting too much? Well, have I mentioned that Owen is already starting his own blog? That's right, just as soon as he can see over the edge of the desk he is ready to launch!

Here's a few pictures of the new house taken last weekend. The stone fireplace and the backsplash are two of my favorite parts of the house...

We tend to take a lot of swim breaks, plus Owen doesn't really so much get the "keep yourself entertained" concept yet (except when working on his blog) so progress is slow. Oh and did I mention that he had 104 fever on moving day? Great timing, poor little guy. We set him up with a little nest in the middle of the room while we scurried about trying to get loaded up. He's got his favorite things around him--balls and telephones. He is pretty much only about balls and phones these days. And markers, but I hide those for only special occasions. Although, he did take my phone out of commission for several hours today by slobbering to death. But I digress....

A pause in the schedule

I said we were taking a summer hiatus from the blog posts, but I forgot about our trip to the Hill Country to stay in a caboose with the rest of the Holoubek gang (or at least the rest of this generation and younger). And no one wants to miss hearing about our caboose party!

One thing is clear--at this stage in our life, we pretty much have to vacation with other families with babies or go at it alone. No one was put out when we had to retire back to the caboose for the noon nap time, and no one thought the other was a lame-o for going to bed at 8 pm. That's right--8 pm. We were tired after a full day of picking strawberries...

and petting goats...

and splashing in the water!

If you want to see more of this fun-filled weekend, you can check us out here! Now, we are really going to start packing. We've got 7 boxes done already. At this rate, we'll be ready to move in July, 2012. Owen is off and running now so I'm sure he'll be a great help...

Movin' on up

The Holoubeks are taking a quick summer hiatus while we pack up all our wordly possessions and move into our new, but currently under renovations (see wood panelling at left!) We'll be back in touch soon!

The crying game

Owen is learning about the power of the tear. He's figured out that if he crinkles up his face and lets out a pathetic wail, or even worse, no wail and just silent trauma, he can get what he wants. The tough thing for J-Dad and me is that we can't distuguish between the "I'm pissed" wail and the "I just hit my head so hard I might be brain damaged" siren. I guess he's outsmarting us. And it's no wonder--look at this brilliant baby readying the paper!


And if you look at this picture really closely, you'll see a nice shiner on Owen's forehead. As Tata says, Owen has a prominent forehead, making it easy to bump on his way down from a fall. And we're doing plenty of falling these days as we are getting used to our new walking skills. Here again is an area where Mommy and Daddy are lagging behind Baby--I left Owen playing happily in the den with some books to go get some water from the fridge and was surprised to see his little feet slap, slap, slaping along the time as he walked through two rooms to get to me. He's a stationary blob no more. We'd better get with the program!


Owen did have reason to cry last week when we had to say good-bye to SuperNanny. She was Owen's first best-friend and I can tell already he misses her.

His nursery school teacher said he had a great first day at daycare, but so far--it's been his only day. The bacteria timed it well when they decided to give Owen pink-eye on day two of nursery school. Good thing I already had a doctor's appointment that day and we caught it early. Sadly for Owen, if he keeps up with this, he's not going to be popular with the moms in his classroom!

And he's off!

Really, there's not a lot more I can say about this. He's off!