Thursday, March 26, 2009

New and recent things.

Owen's new Converse.


Six dollars at a consignment store. Now we're looking for some cool sandals for summer and any suggestions for a two year old would be greatly appreciated.

Owen on his recent vacation to L.A. and Manhattan Beach.




The last shot is of Owen in his Phil & Teds Metro backpack. It is totally cool and the best part - he TOTALLY loves it. It is so comfortable to wear him in this as the pack is designed to be lightweight and fully adjustable. It will be brillant for the trails this summer.

The L.A. trip... Owen and Elliot did remarkably well, although the trip was not without its challenges as one might expect traveling with ANY 21 month old and 5 week old (we drove as will probably be the case with most of the trips we take this year). That said, it was smooth enough to give me the confidence to now be able to pack both of them up, by myself, and take them out on adventures. And as a family, we are already planning several trips with them soon - one to see Grandpa Marshall and Nai Nai and stay at the cabin in late June/early July, a bike trip in Southern B.C. and one in Oregon. We realized on the trip down to LA that we've not been stimulating Owen enough the last few months. Sure, he may experience overload sometimes and may get fussy when he's had too much, but watching the big trucks go by the window, with their colorful cabs, listening to Daddy's music all day in the car, meeting new family members, attending parties and dinners and sharing a room with the rest of his family, made him overall more attentive and, most noticibly, helped him sleep so much better at night. So now that it is getting warmer and I am no longer pregnant, our plan is to get both boys out so much more and for Janet (Grandma Chalupa) and I to plan all day outings each Wednesday.

We were gone for two weeks in L.A. and had a wonderful time at Kelsey's Grandma Tutu's 90th birthday celebration (a 3 day weekend full of events) and a lovely, sunny, five day vacation at a beach house on Manhattan Beach. It is good to be back home and although I DO miss the sunshine, I just noticed today that many things I planted in the garden have come up and soon, it will be warm here as well.

Owen's new brother.



He's growing and eating like a champ and now weighs 10 pounds, 10 ounces. He's easy. He sleeps well - most of the time - is cheerful and has started to smile and laugh.

Owen's new ceiling? We are considering a mural or stenciling Owen's ceiling. Since we are not artists per say, but ARE resourceful and can muster up creativity on occasion, we're soliciting any do-it-yourself suggestions. Send us a message with your thoughts. We need to incorporate big images and bold colors so he can easily see the design from his bed.

No new seizure activity. No drama. No surgeries. No new emergency interventions.

Good.

7 comments:

Gberger said...

What great news, and lovely photos. It's so good to hear and see! God bless you all.
Deco ideas: stenciling is pretty easy, for painting simple shapes...or you might consider some fabulous fabric, stretched over a frame or styrofoam, for decorating Owen's ceiling. Fabric could easily be changed, and no paint fumes!

Shannon said...

So good to hear from you and that your trip was a success! Gives me courage to try one with my crew, someday, maybe.

Both of your young gentlemen are getting so big and gorgeous and handsome!! They will totally love all of your exciting adventures this Spring and Summer. We'll have to plan a day trip on our boat at some point if you are game.

For the ceiling...I was thinking of either an ocean theme with big rolling waves and brightly colored large fish or maybe a tree top/rainforest canopy theme with lots of bright birds and green leaves. Maybe they are cheesy, I don't know.

Anyways, glad all is good.

Katy said...

Eliot looks beautiful! Owen is certainly growing up fast and I'm glad you're going to be taking him out more. We've been doing a few little things with Charlie and he loves it so much!

I like the idea of stencils on the ceiling--they would probably be simple enough for him to see. I'd go with high contast or really bright colors like red.

Charlie's sandals are squeaky shoes and I think they're hilarious.

sarah90046 said...

One trick is to project an image onto the ceiling and then trace or paint it. There are also some great lanps that can project colors and images onto walls and ceiling -- maybe easier and less permanent?

Glad the trip went well. Both boys look terrific!

MizzMarr said...

Hey guys! Fantastic entry, it´s good to see you´re all doing so well! I was hoping for an update, but imagine that your lives get awfully busy these days with two little ones to take care of :)

So many fun ideas for decorating Owen´s ceiling. I guess it depends on what route you want to take with is, but one suggestion is to put a patch of fake grass (astro turf or the longer plastic stuff) and then make flowers, bugs, butterflies, etc., to mount in the grass or suspend (upsidedown sky scape?) or opposite maybe paint the ceiling blue and suspend cotton clouds, toy birds, etc., from the ceiling. That way you won´t have to worry too much about your artistic handiwork but it can be an engaging eye-full all the same!

love you guys, post pics when you get the ceiling done! I´ll be curious to see what route you take with it :)

Shannon said...

Oh and one more thought....you can find an awesome array of vinyl decals on Etsy. I bet you could find something colorful and big that would suit your fancy and you could easily change out every couple of years or whenever you wish without permanently altering your walls/ceiling.

Ellen Seidman said...

Hi there. It's nice to hear from you and see the photos. I am so glad Owen's doing OK. Eliot is getting big!

I love the decorating ideas you've gotten here!