Shorts...

Because someday in Minnesota, it's going to be spring (and stay spring), I bought Owen new shorts. Or what I thought were shorts.

Exactly how long do these clothing manufacturers think toddler legs are?? Because to me, these are babypris. You know, like capri pants FOR A BABY! I guess it's okay though, because this look is "in" for youth. Underwear (or diaper WITH Elmo) showing and not much leg. It's what the kid walking down the street was wearing the other day. He was older though, so I call those manpris. Which I really don't get. Oh, and he was holding them up with his hand. Which I also don't get.

Owen is hoping for this spring weather to return also. He shows this by periodically stripping down to his diaper. He'd take the diaper off too (he has before) if we didn't watch him. Or distract him with something great like playdough.

My mom says it's hard to be a spring baby. Or in her case a summer baby. I guess they don't like to wear clothes. Or so she says. And if you look carefully in the lower right corner you can see just a bit of his navy blue socks! It's his "old man" look. Diaper and dark socks. Sometimes just one sock. Because these he can remove himself. The rest of his clothes he just tugs at and starts to throw a fit until someone figures out what he wants and then removes his clothes. He reminds me of my cousin who used to strip down to just his underwear whenever and wherever he wanted. Mostly at an inconvenient time. Like in the car on the way to a store. My mom used to call him "shortsman".

Here's another shot of my little man and my big man and our Saturday night dinner. Homemade pizza. Which at the bar & grill place over by the mall is called Homade pizza. You know, made by hoes. (And I don't mean garden implements). Morgan made up another whole story about this but I won't share it with you because it went bad fast. Suffice it to say any story Morgan makes up about hoes is bad.

Which brings me to another great feature of the iMac. The Dashboard. An iMac has a mouse with a little rollerball. And when you press this rollerball a screen appears over the desktop with a bunch of different features called Widgets or mini programs. You can do it using a function key too, or any hot key you set. I know, you PC people's heads are probably spinning right now! It will be okay. Click HERE to read more about it. Anyway, if you look at the picture above there is a dictionary widget. And you type in what you are looking for and the definition pops up. I use it all the time to check spelling or meaning while I'm blogging. The only down fall is that it doesn't recognize approximations of spelling so if I don't spell it right or get close enough for words to start popping up I have to google it instead. But 8 out of 10 times it works great. It doesn't do grammar though. I try to make sure all my words are spelled correctly but as for grammar, I just do my best. I'm sure my commas are all over the map here! I'd have the grammar police (Morgan) check my entries by then I'd never get anything posted. The grammar police are slow responders.

Anyway...

Maureen's challenge for today is to finish this statement: I remember when...

I had to use a BOOK to look up words!

Quote of the day...

"Leave her alone! That is my sister and she is dead!"

- from a little girl at the daycare behind us.

Actually from Monday, but it's so funny I had to share. Miranda and I were outside, Owen was in the sandbox, and we were chatting. The kids at the daycare behind our house were playing. Apparently two were sisters and the older one yelled this to another kid who was going to see what the other girl was doing. (Lying on the ground. Pretending to be dead!) Miranda and I looked at each other and had a little chuckle.

Square pegs, round holes...

As some of you know I'm a little quirky. I'm smart AND funny. I can SEW and BUILD stuff. Hey, what can I say, I was raised by a mostly single mom and she had to do it on her own. I watched and learned. I'm also a nerdy little geek when it comes to technology. And one of my loves is of course Apple. Or MAC. So I thought I'd share this little video I found while blog surfing. Not only does Apple make great tech stuff, they also make great commercials and ads!



If you aren't one of "us" you really should be. The iLife is better over here!

Random thoughts for Tuesday...

Sometimes I'm a little irritated by people. Particularly the ones who don't obey the rules or laws. For instance...

1. If the light is red, it means STOP. This applies to EVERYONE. Even those people who think they are in a hurry.

2. Turn signals come in every vehicle. EVERY SINGLE ONE! So if you are talking on your phone and doing your make up and writing a list with you left toes YOU STILL NEED TO USE IT!

3. Snacking on produce while shopping is STEALING. They can't weigh you when you enter the store and then when you leave and charge you for the difference.

4. A leash law means the DOG is ON the LEASH. Not that you bring it with you just in case!

5. Being in a turn lane doesn't mean you can turn which ever way you want and everyone will stop. EVEN if you use the turn signal. There are lanes on the LEFT and RIGHT because that's the way you are supposed to turn.

6. 10 items or less MEANS 10 ITEMS OR LESS. Not 11 or 12 or a whole damn cart full!

7. If there are emergency vehicles on the side of the road MOVE OVER! Again, this applies to everyone!

8. I know this isn't a LAW in every state but seriously, someone came up with this for a good reason. WEAR A SEAT BELT! And these GUIDELINES really mean something when it comes to children. Put them in an appropriate car seat for their age/weight. If it's too big, it's not safe. REALLY. A seat belt on a little 4 year old isn't going to do it in a head on crash.

9. It's not okay to beat your wife. EVER!

10. Kids should not be beaten either. EVER!

So that's just some stuff I've been thinking about lately. As you can see other people on the road cause me a great deal of irritation. To be honest I don't really mind people who talk on their phone and drive. As long as they can pay attention and use all the car's features when they are necessary. One day I saw a lady talking on her phone and smoking a cigarette. NO HANDS ON THE WHEEL! I think she was too busy to be driving.

Just so you know...

I'm not good at not doing anything. And what I mean to say is, when I drive 12 miles to get to work after working (at home) all day I want to have something to do! And by something I mean more than address 4 birthday cards for clients. Perhaps I should tell my boss. But you'd think she'd know. Since she pays me and all. Whatever...

This weekend was very busy! Saturday was the crop. I had 5 people. Seems like a small number but it's actually quite nice. I worked on a collage for a bit. Chatted a lot. Bound some books for Pam who is doing a cool little "Project Runway" challenge with her friend. I'm hoping she takes pictures of what she makes so I can see. (hint, hint Pam!)

Saturday night we went to my mom's for dinner. Morgan hoped he would get to see the hockey game but it wasn't on until 9pm. Far too late for us to be out with Owen. As it was he was up an hour past his bedtime.

Sunday, which turned out to be a beautiful day, we went to church, had lunch at church (it was an open house sort of day), stopped by Lowes to pick up lumber and sand for O's sandbox. Did I mention the old one fell apart when we were cleaning it up? So we decided to build a new one. Not a bad idea. Not a hard project. But we didn't really think ahead when we left the house and took my car. A sedan. Rather than Morgan's car. A WAGON! I didn't realize this until he pulled up to load the stuff into the car. So here we are with 8 six foot 2x8's and 12 bags of sand (600 pounds!). Hmmm. So I put down my little backseat/truck hole door and we actually were able to slide all the boards through there! Then Morgan stacked the sand bags evenly in the truck. We were riding low but nothing was making noise.

Then Morgan dropped me at Michael's to get a new cartridge for my cricut. They were 50% off and the previous day I had used my friend Lisa's paper dolls cartridge. It has a ton of features that are not shown on the box or the website and it is so cute! So I had to have it. Then I walked down to Archiver's to use my 30% off coupon. I got a rub-on roller thing. I read a review on someone else's blog (can't remember who now!) and she said it was great. So I thought I'd try it out. The cashier said she loved her's too. I'll let ya know what I think. Then I started walking to the sports shop where Morgan and Owen were looking at in-line skates for Morgan. Which he purchased along with two roller hockey sticks a balls. I guess we are going to play roller hockey! Morgan may need some pads! I'm not sure how we are going to convince my sister to do this too! I let her know the plan though. She and her BF have skates also. I caught up with Morgan as he was pulling out of the lot and we headed home.

Poor O fell asleep on the way because it was an hour past his naptime. While he was sleeping I worked on the sandbox and Morgan tried out his skates. I also worked on Owen's birthday part invite. (I'll post later). Then Owen woke up and Morgan took a nap (this never seems to happen at the same time!) so O and I went outside to play and finish working on the sandbox. The drill had run out of juice while I was working on it the first time!

After Morgan woke up we tore out the old sandbox and put down the new one. Even with 12 more bags of sand it's not even close to being full! Good thing Owen doesn't care! Maybe sand will be on his birthday wishlist!

We were all able to go for a skate after dinner. We just put Owen in the chairot. He's too small for skates yet! We had the pleasure of seeing the neighborhood pits bulls too! The people down and around the corner have 3. Which I'm not sure is legal. And one of them didn't have his leash and collar on! We moved to the other side of the street and kept going. We have 5 or 6 living in our neighborhood. I'm not happy about this. We had some rather traumatic experiences with this breed of dog when I was a child. And I've been attacked by a rotweiler before. The woman who lives behind us has a daycare and she won't take the children to the park anymore because the other house with pit bulls lives right on the park. Their yard is fenced but she's not taking any chances. Our city has a leash/fence law and all dogs are to be leashed, fenced or under the owners control. I don't trust "under the owners control". I prefer leashed or fenced. And even then I'm still leary. Of any dog. They are all animals. Even my docile greyhound.

Anyway, I'm glad to be back to Monday. I was able to get the house put back in order today with some help from my little man. He's a good little cleaner! Now let's see if I can keep it clean all week!

The color of the day is...

Green
1. Green apple, 2. Forest Green, 3. Let's Get Green! Please take a moment to read..., 4. green revolution, 5. ♫ YO Yo yo, there's no place like a green penthouse... so i told the genie i wanted to be well hung. ^o^ ♫ nah... wildlife from singapore♫, 6. green sea of chairs, 7. A Green Life, 8. Green Mean Squeezin' Machine, Photo by Timothy K. Hamilton 9. Green, 10. Green / Verde, 11. Green Goblin, 12. Green Tsunami!

Boobs and tator tots...

I had been feeling a bit bad for not having anything interesting to write about lately. I'm one of those people whose brain is always working and there are always lot of thoughts. Many of them just random, silly thoughts. So for me to not have something to write about is a little weird. I think it's just that I can't get it into words all the time. So to remedy the situation I've come up with some "thoughts" to share.

First, my left boob. Or breast. Boob is sort of a dumb word. But anyway, I've had some pain over there for a few days. Sort of a soreness. I've checked it out, you know with the self-exam, and haven't found anything out of the ordinary. At least I don't think so. I'm not really and expert in the self-exams. I think they should have a tester one (not a REAL boob, but a model boob) at the doctor's office so everyone can practice and get the hang of it. I have to admit too, that I didn't do self-exams up until not too long ago and then when I did I got freaked out. I felt lumps. Lots of lumps! So I had to consult with my girlfriends (Mag, Lori, and Nik) about the lumps. They told me they are normal. Sort of a cottage cheese feeling. So nothing out of the ordinary, same ol' lumpy boob. It's been feeling better the last day or two anyway. Maybe it's just that they are getting older and dropping down father (oh great!).

Second, tator tots. I made them for Owen for lunch yesterday. He loves them. So do I. But I'm trying to stay away from them. We get the mini ones and before I know it I've eaten far more than a serving size. So I made the tots just for O and some Dino Bites chicken things that Morgan got. He ate the tots like no bodies business, took a couple bits of the Dinos, had a few bites of applesauce (another fave) and then started chanting "more" "more" "more" and doing the sign all in a "RIGHT NOW MOM" tone. He'd been rather difficult for an hour before lunch too so this was going from bad to worse. Worse because there were no more tots! That is a very bad thing. So I explained to him, as clearly as possible to a two-year old, that I would make more. Lots of gestures and repeating. I think he got the idea. He at least stopped chanting "more". In the mean time he ate a few more bites of the Dinos and half my grapefruit (which I didn't want to share) and a couple more spoonfuls of applesauce. So the tots are baking, not fast enough mind you, but the oven was still hot from the first batch so that helped. Then, he pushes himself away from the table and says, "done" "down" "all done". WHAT!? You are done!? I'm making more tots for you! Nope. Done. I asked twice just to make sure. And he was clearly finished. Sheesh! So he runs off to watch whatever PBS was offering (I was not going to fight him) and what do you know, the tots are done! Perfect. And what is a tot loving mom to do but eat some herself! I did manage to show some restraint and didn't eat them all. He had them later for a snack after he woke from a 3 hour nap. Morgan also reminded me that tots can be microwaved when you're desperate. Yuck! Tots should never be microwaved!

And since I'm on the topic of "mom" things, I'm reading a book called The Imperfect Mom. Interesting book. I'm still in the introduction but it's a collection of essays about the things moms have done that fall short of their own or societies expectations of what a mom should be. And it's not the thought of not being a "good" mom. It's the idea of not being perfect.

I must admit there are lots of things I've changed my tune about. TV. Fast food. Frozen food. Tots. Fruit snacks. My cell phone. We all start with the best intentions but when you're in the trench with the toddler it's a whole 'nother story! And you do what you have to do to get by. Some days are good and some not so good.

Now for something less weird. I was listening to NPR last night and heard this story about a man, or a bunch of people called the Kite Gang, who have gone to different refugee camps and made kites with the people in the camps. He said he done some other work in refugee camps and seen what it was like and the one thing that is the worst for the people is boredom. You can check out the The Story and pick April 17th. Here's the link to the Kite Gang website too. I love stories about people who find new and unique ways to help others. I know my girlfriends think I'm kind of nerd because of all the public radio I listen to but it's so much better than the TV news and we have way more radios than TVs!

Tomorrow I'm scrapbooking at my monthly crop. It's a small group this month so I'm going to try and work on something! The weather should be nice this weekend too!

Thursday...

Not much to say today. It's overcast and rain is in the forecast. And since I don't have anything of significance to write about I decided to make a mosaic of beautiful spring photos I found on flickr.

1. flowering plum, 2. sugar white, 3. Red.Petals, 4. fruit salad, 5. Running ahead of oneself, 6. Firework Blue, 7. osteospermum, 8. Sakura, 9. Bring On the Storm......., 10. Tulip Town Tulips, 11. Orange/White Show Flower, 12. Tulips Carousel @ Descanso Gardens, 13. Dolphins, 14. Now they're almost gone..., 15. sparklin' drops of spring, 16. Desert Dandelion

We've had our walk for the day and are now watching Bee Movie for the second time. I'm pretty sure the only movie I've seen as much as Owen has seen Bee is The Wizard of Oz. And for a long time that was only once a year!

A dozen reasons why I LOVE spring...

1. It was already 51˚ at 7am.
2. We walked in the morning because it was already warm out!
3. I can open the windows and let the fresh air in and the stale winter air out.
4. I can turn off the furnace.
5. There aren't too many bugs yet.
6. The dog will lay outside for hours and not bug me.
8. pink crocs without lining!
9. Cropped pants.
10. No socks!
11. No coat.
12. It just makes me happy!

Oh, and Owen can play outside for hours and hours. Yesterday he got sand all down inside his onesie. And because of gravity it ended up in his diaper. So his "little mister" was covered in sand! Morgan brought him in and washed him up. But he wasn't going to put on more clothes! He loves to run around in just his diaper. I'm sure he'd be happy going commando but I'm not going to be running around after him making sure he's not peeing in a corner. Or worse! And speaking of worse, he had a bath yesterday morning because I had taken one and he saw the water. So I let him have a bath too. Well I should know better than to put him in the tub between breakfast and his morning constitutional. All the sudden I here "uh oh" "uh oh" coming from the bathroom. Fortunately, he's not one of those kids who will play with his own poo. He was just standing there waiting for me to get him out. This is not the first time this has happened and you'd think I'd learn. But it could be worse.

Owen has also been a little clingy lately. Very mommy oriented. Yesterday he had a hard time with separation at tot class. It was sort of a ripple effect with the kids. I don't think it helped that the teacher announced that we were leaving either. She is usually a little more low key and announces what the kids will be doing but she didn't and it just went south. He also cried when I left for pilates but I found out later it was just a ruse. Morgan said he stopped the moment I was out the door! Today he's been wanting me to hold him all the time. Well, not all the time. Just when I'm trying to do something. Like vacuum. So I put him in the hiking backpack carrier and vacuumed with him. He loved it. Luckily he got interested in his kitchen afterwards so I didn't have to spend the day with him attached to my back. I know, I need to enjoy it now, because in a few years I won't be as interesting or as needed!

SUNSHINE!

Okay, I know this is a rather uninteresting photo BUT it illustrates the SUN coming in the window of our study!Today is blue sky, sun, and 50˚, maybe even warmer! Owen and I went for a walk this morning and the furnace is off and the windows (not all) are open! I think spring is FINALLY here!

Last Friday we saw this cardinal out the study window. I'd like to get a picture of him without the window and screen but I doubt that will happen. They always fly away by the time I get outside!

This weekend we cleaned out Owen's sandbox and put in new sand. We need a lot more sand though and will probably need to have it delivered. It's just a square box made with boards (that are rotting and falling apart!) but it will be good enough for this spring/summer. Owen didn't seem to care that it wasn't all filled up either! He was in there with his whole body playing! The neighbors have a little sandbox and he loves to go over and play in it but we can't go when the daycare kids are out so he will appreciate having his own.

Hope it's sunny and beautiful where you are too!

Fabulous Friday!

Guess what!? We have snow again! As you can imagine this is making me crazy. And not the happy, delirious crazy either. The weather was nice on Wednesday. We spent a lot of the day outside. Since then we've been in the house. Or Target. One would assume with all the toys Owen has he wouldn't be bored. And he isn't really. But not because of the toys. Because of this.
Owen LOVES the Bee Movie. After breakfast he wanders around saying "bee" "bee" "bee". Yesterday I told him they weren't on. But today I decided to let him watch it again. And he it watching right now as I type. My mom gave us a portable DVD player and I sit it in the desk next to me and O sits on the futon and watches.

This is him a couple of days ago. The best part of the portable DVD player is the portableness. (duh!?) I put it on the floor so I could change his diaper. And when I asked him if he wanted me to put it back on the desk he said "no". I am adding this to the growing list of things I let Owen do that I said, "my children won't do," before Owen was born! Some days animated movies and PBS save us!

I wanted to show how long my hair has gotten. I'm not big on haircuts especially since I need to find a new stylist. I have to say, it is very difficult to take a picture of the back of your own head in a mirror. I suppose I would have had more luck with my P & S camera or a wider angle lens on my SLR. But here are the best of them.

The color isn't that great. In the pictures I mean. My hair color is fine. Although I've thought about having it colored a bit to be more red. I think it would a little odd with my very light eyebrows though.

This winter we got Owen a sled. Morgan wanted to get him used to winter sports. Owen did not find the sledding adventures that fascinating. However, he did love the sled. Last week when it was nice out he wanted to sled. So I pulled him around in the sled in the yard. There wasn't any snow. He loved it. On Sunday he wanted to sled again. He was out in the breezeway getting the sled down. It was raining outside and there wasn't snow and he wasn't dressed either. But he wanted to sled. So Morgan pulled him around the living room in the sled.

It didn't last long. The sled is a bit big to pull around the table in the living room! But Owen enjoyed the short ride. Morgan is going to have to put the sleds up in the rafters of the garage so we don't have to sled all spring and summer!

On my agenda for the day: (not that anyone cares!)
*vacuuming
*a bath
*a workout
*finish Father Joe for book club on Saturday!
*maybe do a little creating

Oh, and Lynda asked me to share the title of the book I told you all about the other day. I presume the one about perfectionism. It's titled, Be Happy without being Perfect: How to break from from the perfection deception. by Alice D. Domar.

The Last Lecture...

Have you seen this? It's a lecture given by Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is dying of pancreatic cancer.



You can find the full 76 minute version HERE.

You can also find his day-to-day updates HERE.

Professor Pausch has a wonderful outlook on life. For someone who is dying and for those of us who are not. Live life and have fun doing it. I promise you won't have a dry eye after the video.

Mish-mash Wednesday...

I haven't uploaded pictures in a few days so I decided to create a quick little collage of some photos I took of Owen last week. I just thought the expression on his face was cute!

I told his toddler class teacher about the CP diagnosis yesterday. It was a bit difficult for me to tell her and she was surprised. I think she was more surprised because she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary about him. I guess that shows how mild the condition is for him. I think it was difficult for me to tell her because every time I say it out loud it makes it more real. My mom made a good point yesterday, Owen's life will be different because of this but that doesn't mean it will be bad. Morgan also made a point with his mom, that Owen is perfect just the way God made him. We all have our issues, disabilities or flaws and we learn to deal with them and live our lives. I just need to make peace with this and move on. I guess I just feel guilty because I'm his mother and maybe I did something wrong to cause this. I can't think of what it was or would be but there's just always that maybe in the back of my mind. Thank you to everyone who left me comments, sent me a message or called us for your support. It means a great deal to me and to Morgan too.

I began a pilates class last night at the local community center. It was great. The instructor seems very good and knowledgeable. I enjoyed it because it reminds me a lot of my favorite parts of my dance classes when I was younger. The stretching! I left feeling refreshed and taller! I also ran on the treadmill later while I was watching the last 20 minutes of Biggest Loser. I ran for 5 consecutive minutes! I know that's not a lot but it's more than I've run at one time since before I was pregnant with Owen. It is my goal to begin running 5K's again and I would like to do the Twin Cities 10 miler.

Did you know that the war in Iraq is costing the US $400 million a day!? First, that's an incomprehensible amount of money to me. Second, where is that money going specifically? And third, where is it coming from??

I am reading a book right now called Surprise Me God by Terry Esau. He's a local author and we were able to hear him speak at our Church during a Lenten service. The premise is that you pray "Surprise Me God" every morning for 30 days and then be open to what the surprise is. I've been trying to make this part of my daily routine. Some days I have a hard time seeing the surprise. Other days I'm not happy about the surprise. We tend to think of surprises as good things, or want to anyway. But that's not always the case. The essential idea is to open your eyes and ears to the world around you and specifically the presence of God in the world.

Spring always brings out my inner neat freak. This week I managed to get rid of 9 bags of clothing that I didn't wear or didn't fit as well as a few of Owen's things. I've tossed out a big pile of old magazines. Scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom floors. Vacuumed the carpet and rugs. Kept the kitchen cleaned up (after the argument about dishes on Monday morning at 5am!) and generally tried to keep things in order around the house. I like order and neatness and routine. I thrive on that. And I love it when I'm in a good groove. When I have energy to get things done and keep up with the chore chart. I like to open drawers and closets and see that things are orderly. I like to be able to find things and not waste time hunting. I also realize that I can be a bit fanatical about this. And it can occupy a lot of space in my brain and affect how I feel about myself. I'm reading another book right now about perfectionism. How women can have great lives and families but still not be happy because of the obsessive need for things to be just right. Very interesting stuff. (Thanks Aimes! She had the book posted on her blog.)

The weather has been dreary this week. Some rain. Not much sun (although it's peeking out now!). And some snow in the forecast. That does not make me happy. I really want it to keep getting nicer so we can continue to play outside! Owen loves to be out and it is so much better for him than his little Bee Movie obsession right now.

The hunt...

Saturday we went to my mom's for dinner. We cooked inside but ate outside! It was a great day for it. We were also able to have Owen's Easter egg hunt which we weren't able to have on Easter because of the six or so inches of snow.

The Elmo eggs were by far the best!

Owen quickly got the idea of what his job was.

He was mostly interested in the Elmo eggs though!

A lot of my pictures of him end up like this. Near misses of what I was intending to capture. I just really thought this one was funny. And this is the frown! I was finally able to capture it on camera! He was talking about his nose and then ended up with this little gem of a face!

Here is a little of the neighborhood wildlife on the move. This couple was looking for a place to nest. A few years ago they (and I'm assuming it's the same couple but who can tell!) laid a nest of eggs right in the front garden of our house! Well, because of us, or the dog, or the mailman or something, they got scared away and never came back. Abandoned eggs! Then a year, maybe two after that, they laid some in the backyard! Where the dog runs! Needless to say they got scared and again, abandoned eggs! This year when I saw them cruising I started yelling and banging on the window so they would keep going! I will not have anymore abandoned eggs in the yard!

Last for today is this lovely chocolate covered fortune cookie! We had Chinese food for dinner last week and these came with our dinners. I was telling Noelia about them and she said I had to blog about it. Normally I am not a fan of fortune cookies. The taste/texture is just not my thing. But with a bit of chocolate they are much better! And I needed some chocolate so I had two!

The hardest post ever...

As I mentioned a few days ago Owen had an appointment with the pediatric neurologist on Wednesday. The appointment went well, even the 45 minute wait. I'm thinking of sending them a bill. There really should be a service charge to doctors who make parents and toddlers wait. Everyone knows toddlers don't wait! They had a fish tank in the waiting room though and it entertained Owen quite nicely. So did the toys of another little boy. His mom was very nice to share with us.

On to the hard part. Owen was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Specifically spastic hemiplegia cerebral palsy. Which means it affects one side of his body, the right side, and causes abnormally stiff muscles. The ischemia (similar to a stroke) occurred on the left side of his brain in the motor cortex, an area that controls movements in specific parts of the body. There are a variety of things that can cause cerebral palsy but it is often not determined. We know the ischemia caused the CP however, we don't know the cause of the ischemia.

Thankfully, and I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this, Owen's CP is mild. So mild that most people probably wouldn't be able to tell that he has CP. CP is not a degenerative condition but if not treated can cause difficulty with growth and development. There was no damage to any cognitive areas of his brain and the neurologist told me he seems to be doing well with his language development which at Owen's age is a large indicator of cognitive functioning.

In May we meet with a physiatrist who is a specialist in rehabilitation therapy. This person will assess Owen's current functioning and I presume prescribe what occupational and physical therapies are needed at this time. We are fortunate to live close to Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare centers which has a center for Cerebral Palsy and will be able to treat Owen throughout his childhood and into adulthood.

When we initially took Owen to the doctor it was my fear that it would be CP. My mom asked me why I thought this and I really can't put my finger on it. Perhaps the way his difficulties were isolated to one side of his body, or how he held his arm. I'm not sure. But eventually I put it out of my mind. Especially after the results of the MRI came back and it appeared to be something that had happened but was not causing anymore harm. I'm still in a bit of shock at the diagnosis. I don't feel like Owen has a disability. I don't want him to suffer any ridicule for having this, which he cannot control and isn't his fault. Children can be awful to each other and I don't want him to experience any of that. I have to just keep remembering that he has lots of people who love and care for him and this doesn't change that and we will do everything we can to continue to love and care for him.

On to other more lighthearted things! The other day JP bestowed a little award to me and then Lynn did too. (And maybe I got it before that too but I can't remember for certain!)
The rules for the *you make my day award* are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times yourself, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved.

I have to say it is an honor to know that I am making someone else's day better by writing here. Since some of what I write about is pretty boring! Or sometimes yucky since I am the mother to a toddler! It's also hard to give this away to others because I don't want to leave anyone out! But here goes:

My Sister (because she's great and she babysits two days a week and doesn't care if we pay her!)
Noelia (because she is my sista from another motha). Is that how you said it Noelia??
Lynn (she makes me laugh and she's a mom with experience and every new mom needs those kinds of friends!)
JP (She's got cats and I don't so I get my cat fix at her blog! Her random musings on Tuesday are great!)
Aimeslee (another mom with experience. She's also original and real and a great artist. She's also from Texas so I'm afraid not to like her! (I'm teasing Aimes!))
Alli (I find Alli so inspiring. She's an awesome photographer and scrapper!)
Alyssa (She's a great artist too and a fabulous mom! She's so creative in the mom dept!)
Gina (Another great mom and artist!)
Dana (She's makes me laugh!)
Sarah C. (There is always something nice to look at on Sarah's blog! She's got a ton of creativity!)
Wyanne (She is a fabulous artist. Her blog is like a mini art lesson.)
Jill (When I read her blog I need to be prepared to read or see anything! I may just pee my pants!)
Jill C. (She's very creative and I want to be able to run like she does!)
Miss M( She's makes cake, decorates it, and then posts the pictures. Who wouldn't love her!? She's also funny!)
Sabrina (I have to confess I've always been a little jealous of Sabrina. She has a horse. I have always wanted a horse. But she's sweet and funny so I can't be mad at her about the horse!)
Maureen (She keeps the pea thread going and is very creative!)

And I know that's more than 10. But like I said, I didn't want to leave anyone out. And I'm sure I did. There are tons more people who inspire me and whose blogs I read it's just taken me a really long time to do all that writing, and linking and such! And now I'm supposed to let them know I've awarded them the award. But I think it's time for a nap! Or some reading!

The headlines...

Recently my father-in-law made it onto The Tonight Show. Here is a little clip!


Incidentally, it's pronounced "holly" not "hole". Duh!

One last time...

As I was shoveling a path for the mailman yesterday I decided I would NOT take pictures of the snow in April. That I was done! But then I read Alli's comment yesterday about how she thought it was pretty and they never get snow down in Perth. So I decided to take some more just for her. It was beautiful even if it was in April.

Thankfully though it's melting quick nicely. Today it's supposed to get to 45˚ and then after that we go to 50's! I can't wait.

Here's a little view into O's world yesterday.

This morning we are off to the pediatric neurologist for the follow-up appointment to Owen's MRI.

Goodbye March...

The last day of March and it snowed all day. Yes, ALL DAY! Well, maybe not 24 hours. But at least 12. I stopped taking the pictures at 9 pm and I missed 5 and 6 pm because I was at work. But it was still snowing, I could see it out the office window. And it was still snowing at 9 pm when I took the last picture. March is a crappy month. (If you click the picture you can see a larger view). If you read my blog even just occasionally you are aware that March is my least favorite month. I am not sad to see it go. I wish it would take it's crappy weather with it!

While I was taking one of the above pictures I heard a chain saw. Not a common sound during a snowy day in March. For some reason I just decided to look out the back door and here is what I found!

Yes, they were in our yard. No, I was not aware of this. No one knocked on the door to let me know they would be entering my yard to saw off the top of a utility pole. This irks me a bit. Trespassing. Mostly because when they do trespass they don't close the gate and Ludwig could get out and that would be very, very bad. The man on the ground was very nice though and made sure the gate was closed.

Owen's favorite response to any question lately is "no". A cute little "no", but "no" nonetheless. I asked him to smile for me. He said no, but as you can see he smiled anyway. Just not AT the camera.

Everyday I'm amazed at his little personality that is developing. He is learning so much everyday and trying so hard to be independent. And he likes his new independence as long as he can still cling to my leg while he's doing it!

During my "crappy weather boredom" today I was perusing Flickr and came across some fun pictures of toys. So I decided to have a little photo shoot of some of Owen's cars. This is the one that turned out best. I added the vignette in PSE.

Now I need to go cut the brownies I just baked so hubby stops whining!