Its a girl!

Yes, we have confirmation that we are having a girl!! Everything on the ultrasound looks great and we've got an approximate due date of May 20th!

Christmas Traditions

Now that we've made it through another Christmas, thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect on some of the traditions we're trying to maintain or establish in our young (and growing) family.  Some of these are things we've done for years, others are new and some are more aspirational - meaning that we've done them once or twice before and aim to do them more routinely, if we ever get our act together.  Anyway, figure by writing things down while they are fresh in my mind, I'll have a ready-made checklist for next year.  So here goes:

• Christmas Breakfast Burritos:  While I've always been a fan, it took our most recent trip to Albuquerque to convert Leslie.  After numerous visits to my former haunts, most notably, the Frontier Restaurant, Leslie finally understood the appeal and became an addict, going so far as to make me drive around Albuquerque Christmas morning because, "there has to be a burrito place open this morning."  Sadly, there wasn't, so ever since, Leslie's managed to stock up with green chili, potatoes, eggs, cheese and tortillas long before the shops close down for the holidays.

• Balboa Island Walk and Boat Parade:  We live right next to Newport Beach and one of the more interesting parts of town is Balboa Island which, while technically an island, is located in Newport Harbor and only requires walking or driving over a small bridge to access.  Once on the island, there are hundreds of tightly packed cottages, tourist shops and restaurants that go all-out for Christmas with intricate lighting displays.  The biggest event is the boat parade where hundreds of decorated boats cruise around the island.  This goes on for multiple nights and, apparently, a million or so people show up to watch.  Consequently, we've not yet taken in the parade with the boys and have settled for checking things out during off hours.  Once everyone can walk more than 50 yards on their own, we'll give this a try.

• Mom and Dad's Day Out:  This was a new one this year but proved to be a lifesaver.  Since we stayed in town this year, Leslie and I decided to take a day for ourselves and sent the boys off to day care while we wrapped up the final Christmas preparations, got each other gifts (see my new suit pictures) and spent way to much money on lunch overlooking the Pacific.  Felt a little guilty about ditching the boys but my first uninterrupted latte in over a year and a grotesquely large deep-fried lobster seems to have absolved me.

• Corny T-Shirt Swap:  Okay, while this hasn't yet taken on a truly "traditional" Christmas status, Jon and I have been swapping tacky, comical, ironic T-Shirts for various celebratory occasions.  Whether it's "Kenya Dig It" or "Keeping it Rural", a $10 T-Shirt seems to capture the spirit of brotherly love nicely - and at Wal-Mart prices.  Thought about sending this one over to Waco but opted to hold on to it for myself.  In the meantime, keep an eye out for this one, or maybe this one.  No wait, this one.  Aaahhh, tradition... TRADITION!

• Fruit Loop Stocking Stuffers:  Leslie alluded to this already via Twitter.  You can't imagine the joy that $2 bucks worth of Fruit Loops created.  Only thing I've seen Andrew eat all week.

• Mariner's Christmas Tree Lighting:  We've really been enjoying our church lately.  Andrew and Owen have gotten connected to a bunch of friends through Sunday School and, at the same time, plugged Leslie and me into a small group with a number of their friend's parents.  Given there are a few thousand people at our church, this has been a nice way to overcome the size and make church a bit easier to navigate.  That said, there are some benefits to attending a large church - which is that for everything they do, they do up big.  We attended this year's tree lighting with friends and were amazed by the thousands of people, huge band, big screen TV's, chili stands, funnel cake and extensive strands of electrical cables the boys found to be really fun to jump over, crawl through and run on.  Thank goodness for rubber-soled shoes.

• Christmas Cabernet:  We're not huge wine drinkers, especially with a pregnant wife, but do manage to "splurge" (i.e. spend more than $10) on a bottle of wine for special occasions.  This year's choice was a 2005 Franciscan Cabernet from Napa.  Pricey by our standards at $19.95 but think I saved a few bucks by using my rewards club card.  Pretty decent cabernet with a bit of smokey, full flavor that went well with beef tenderloin, creamy mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.

• 12 Days of Bond:  I've seen them all a hundred times each but for some reason, I watch them any time they're on.  Thank goodness for TBS, TNT and SPIKE.  Now if they could only eliminate the pro-wrestling and ultimate fighting from their schedules, I'd never need to change the channel.

• Posole and Tamales:  Another New Mexico tradition we've brought to California - although the million or so Hispanics who got here before us might not think we're so innovative.  Nonetheless, we cooked up a huge pot of Posole last weekend and have been living off that and Trader Joe's tamales for the last few days.  I know we should have made the tamales from scratch but maybe next year.

• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation:  "That there is a RV."  Enough said.

So that's the list for now.  What are some of the traditions you're especially fond of?  Perhaps there's something you're doing we might want to "borrow" next year.  I see that the Capron's in Wichita Falls went with the Tacky Sweater party this year.  Hmmm, I think there may be fuzzy elf sweaters in Andrew and Owen's future.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas card outtake - almost made it.

Christmas card outtake - almost made it., originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Just had to post this. They really can be this loving toward each other - about 5% of the time : )

17+ Weeks

IMG_0318, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Wow, almost half way through and this is my first belly pic! I'm feeling much better and much more like myself these days. The worst of the morning sickness is over - phew! All of my appointments have been as normal as can be and we're looking forward to our next ultrasound next Tuesday. Hopefully we'll be able to put the boy/girl question to bed! You bet I'll blog that day and share the news.

We're slowly getting our Christmas act together this year. We've got the tree up, stockings hung and our cards were just mailed late Saturday. Hopefully you'll get yours before the 25th!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty amazing this year.  Andrew and Owen had the time of their lives and Eric and I enjoyed a very relaxing five days.  

We split the drive to Sacramento and stopped for the night at the Paso Robles Inn.  The drive was slow and we arrived around 6 pm in the dark with a light rain.  We went straight up to the room and Eric ordered food from the restaurant.  (On the this drive we confirmed that Owen does indeed get car sick and we again stopped at a random exit on the way to get him cleaned up.  He threw up again just after we arrived at the hotel. Lesson learned - no car movies for Owen.)

The next morning we were up bright and early.  Since the weather was drab, we decided not to linger any longer than necessary. We had a yummy breakfast at the coffee shop, went across the street to the town center park to let the boys run around a little bit, then loaded back up into the car around 8 am.  Day two of driving was very slow. The Interstate 5 was closed at Harris Ranch and we detoured around. We finally arrived in Rocklin around 2 pm.

Christmas came early for the boys.  A few minutes after we arrived, they were opening presents from G-pa and GeGe- a perfect assortment of trains, tracks and books for Andrew and balls, a farm toy set and books for Owen.  They were mightily entertained the entire trip.  The boys went on night time flashlight walks in the park, learned how to use a leaf blower, fed the birds and got to walk the dog.

Thanksgiving Day was relaxing with family, bikes rides, walks, and very good food.   Friday was another epic day for the boys.  Tim had the fantastic idea of heading to downtown Sacramento to the Railway Museum.  The museum had a special program this week and was hosting train rides (real live big on-real-train tracks rides lasting 45 minutes) with Christmas songs and a visit from Santa.  I thought Andrew was going to explode with excitement.  The museum has huge trains inside that you can walk through, many model train displays and a special area devoted just to Thomas.   Andrew loved it all.  (And the boys we're fine when Santa came up to talk to them.)

The entire trip was filled with good food: ham, sweet potatoes, tomatoes with kale and macadamia nut torte on Wednesday, Smoked Turkey with all the fixings on Thursday, lunch out at Fats City Bar and Cafe  in Old Town Sacramento. Friday night Eric and I had a date at Paul Martin's American Bistro.  We're still recovering from all the good food.  (This week we'll be having soup and salad in a effort to balance it all out.) 

Sunday we cleaned up and headed back home around 9am.  We pulled into the garage around 7pm.  A fine drive home, just very slow with all of the holiday traffic, nobody threw up!

Andrew

Andrew in his element, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Andrew is doing lots of new things these days. Andrew is becoming very comfortable navigating his way around computer games. We've found www.nickjr.com which has online games featuring his favorite characters, Deigo and Dora, etc. He's learned to play several games (his favorite being Deigo's train animal rescue), and click his way around the web site. At first we would launch the game for him and help him, but now we can just bring up the site and Andrew can click, and drag and find new games to play on his own. Often Eric and I will set him up and come back and check on him to find that he's figured out new features that we didn't even know the site had. Yesterday he launched the little radio application and was listening to Diego tunes. I love how independent he is and how he's trying new games and is figuring things out on his own. It also reinforces my desire to have the computer in a common area so I can keep an eye on his web surfing!

The online Diego train game features a railroad track that's all messed up and the player fixes the track by clicking on the misaligned pieces. Andrew now will take his Thomas train tracks and mess up the pieces and proceed to fix them, just like on the Diego game (see picture). He is so happy when pulls the track pieces apart then puts them back altogether correctly.

Andrew's become a little sneaky too. Since Halloween, Andrew's been allowed a piece of candy after dinner. Now, Andrew will ask for candy throughout the day, but I always remind him that "trick or treating" is for after dinner. I minimize temptation, I put his Halloween candy away in a closet. The other day Andrew said "i need to go potty", so he went to the bathroom and shut the door. Several minutes later, Eric asked "where's Andrew?", he'd been in there a while so we went to check on him and we caught him red-handed. He'd found his candy and was chewing away on some Starbursts. Eric and I couldn't help but start laughing and I couldn't believe he'd been so sneaky! The candy's on a much higher shelf now.

Andrew is talking a lot and this week has really started to enjoy singing. He likes to sing through his repertoire on the ride home from Kindercare: Old MacDonald, the theme from Thomas, and he makes up his own songs too.

Andrew is now sleeping regularly in his own bed these days. Eric's been home during the week and three's definitely a crowd.

He still doesn't eat robustly and unless dinner is plain pasta and watermelon, he doesn't eat.

Brotherly bonds are strengthening - last night Andrew said "come on Owen let's go to the bathroom", this is typical since Andrew prefers an audience when he goes potty. Then Andrew ran out of the bathroom and grabbed a book and ran back to Owen and shut the door. What were these boys up to? I knocked and the door opened and Andrew said "mama, you need to go, we're reading" and shut the door. So cute.

There are lots going on around here and every day Andrew surprises me and amazes me with all the things he can do.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Eric gifted me with a new camera for our sixth anniversary. More photo taking options for me! I think this little camera will be much easier to take along on quick outings, it fits really easily in my pocket.

Baby number 3

Baby number 3, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Please don't blame me for the lack of posting, blame her! We're so happy to say that we're expecting baby number three in May!

This little person has been wrecking havoc on her mommy however. I've been so sick this time around that I've had zero energy for much more than just getting through the day. Oh, and I decided to back to work full time - I'm officially crazy.

We had an ultrasound this week and everything looks great. The ultrasound tech asked if we'd like to know the sex and she did say that its only about 80% accurate at this point, but she thinks its a girl. We're not buying anything pink just yet, and we'll be excited with whomever pops out.

I'm starting week thirteen. I'm really hoping that since the second trimester is fast approaching that I'll start to feel better very soon.

I'll start posting the belly pics too, there's definitely a belly!

Guess What Kind of Plane This Is

Hi Andrew - Thought you'd appreciate this. Do you know what kind of plane this is?

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Andrew 3 1/2 plus*

'nastics, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

(*losing track of the months and too lazy to count!)

Recently Andrew has been glowing rainbows and light and is just full of funny sayings, cooperation and all around pre-schooler awesomeness. We're coming off a great weekend where he was awarded Edward (from Thomas and Friends), for going a whole week without jumping on the couch. This is serious restraint people.

Andrew has been enjoying his school and other activities. This weekend we did a family art class with his friend Maverick and had fun making Christmas ornaments. We go back in two weeks for glazing and firing. Above you see him in action at gymnastics. A month in he's gotten over his anxiety and is really enjoying the class.

Andrew's still a bit fearful in situations that are unexpected. Saturday we went to the Irvine Global Festival (this is our third year going). This is an event at a big park that is filled with booths from local restaurants, organizations and businesses. There are several stages set up for bands and dance performances. There is an entire section just for kids that was full of about 10 boucehouses of varing complexity. Andrew saw the bounce houses and got a bit nervous and teary and did not want to go in any of them. In this case having Owen in the bounce house didn't help. He wanted nothing to do with it. He eventually recovered and started to have fun once we spent some time at the playground. Given that he loves bounce-houses in general, this is totally perplexing.

Andrew is talking a lot. And he's getting into "trouble" at preschool for talking and not paying attention. Eric and I find this more funny than anything else because it seems totally out of character for our reserved little guy. I think his behavior is completely age appropriate, but we do talk to him about having to pay attention and listen to his teachers.

He still needs a good nap everyday, but on the weekends its getting harder to get him to go to sleep. Our compromise is that he needs to stay upstairs and have an hour of quiet time.

His imagination continues to grow. He's making up stories when he's playing with his trains and you can here him narrate the action: "oh, no, the Thoman fell off the track!". He's also having fun making up non-sense words.

We're enjoying Andrew a lot right now and are banking all this greatness to weather whatever 3 3/4 may brings us.

I love my baba

Still love my baba, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Owen 18 months!!

Stats:

Weight 27 pounds - 70%
Height 34 3/4 inches - 100%
Head circumference 19 1/4 inches - 80%
Head bangs, bumps and bruises - too many to count.

I got an email from Kindercare yesterday: "Owen hit his head on a bookshelf, he's fine we applied ice and kisses." This was the first email I've gotten like this. Gwen, the center director, wanted to warn us not to be too alarmed when we picked him up. I'm glad she did. He had a nice big bump on his eye brow. The bump complemented the scar from his stitches, and nicely balanced the abrasion he got this week when he scraped his head on the side of the house while he tried to walk through a doorway and lost his footing. This boy looks like he's been in a few fights. He is one accident prone baby.

Owen hates to get into his car seat. Every morning is a battle and I have to forcibly stuff him into his seat and clip him in before he escapes. Not fun.

He's still skittish on merry-go-rounds. Last weekend we tried again, and he did not want to get strapped to a horse, so Owen and I sat on one of the stationary benches. He seemed o.k. with that.

He's still a pretty good eater, but he's starting to show some of Andrew's pickiness.

He's started to get VERY interested in books. His favorite right now is Limu, the Blue Sea Turtle. A nice story about its what's on the inside that counts. He loves to point to all of the sea animals in the story.

Owen's got quite a few words at his command now: book, baba, mama, dada, done, no, cracker, hi, bye and ball.

He is starting to get very interested in Thomas trains and cars - things that Andrew is very interested in.   Andrew's been great about sharing the toys.

He's a very affectionate and out-going boy. Every morning Owen says hi to everyone he sees and always has to stop and give a big hug to Ms. Ido, the school chef. (He's no dummy : ). He's super lovey and snuggley at home too.

What I Do for a Living

I spend a lot of time on the road, working with my clients to improve their businesses but not sure many people, family included, have any idea what I actually do. Fortunately the smart folks at my firm have put together a short video outlining what my job entails. If you're interested, check out the following link and let me know what you think.

If that gets you fired up about consulting and you want to see more examples of the kinds of things I do, feel free to read through the publication I co-authored last month. Should be a very exciting read for those of you who are either accountants, CFOs, proud parents or people with waaay to much time on their hands.

Bucking the Trend

So we just made our final payment on our Honda, making us perhaps some of the only people in Orange County who've elected to forgo car payments for the more finer things in life (e.g. childcare, diapers, food, water, etc.). Given how things are looking on the economic front (two of my former mortgage banking clients simply no longer exist), we figured the right thing to do now would be to save up a little. Besides, after November we'll probably need to shell out a bit more in taxes to either 1) fund Obama's planned increases in social spending and welfare programs or 2)  kick in a bit more to help McCain extend the Iraq war's reach to Afghanistan and reignite the cold war with Russia on Sarah Palin's doorstep.

That said,  as we look around, we're starting to see signs that perhaps we're not the only ones in Orange County being a little more cautious these days. Therefore, thought we'd share a few data points we've collected recently that indicate that tougher times may be upon us. So without further ado, let's take a look and see how your locale compares:

1. We just about hit parity on the number of daily Lamborgini to Mercedes Smart Car sightings (seeing about 10 of each daily). Used to be no self-respecting Newport Coaster would be caught dead in car shorter than they were tall but  guess even the wealthiest among us are looking for better MPG.
   
   
2. Home builders are seriously slashing prices and throwing in huge, six-figure incentives for things like landscaping and designer options at The Tides in Crystal Cove. Better hurry and get your name on the list. Deals won't last long at these prices.

3. We tried to save a bit on pizza the other night by picking one up at Costco instead of getting a more expensive one from Gina's but, to our surprise, were informed that we should have "reserved" a pizza in advance and that all their pizzas were spoken for.

4. People are driving less and traffic's not too bad. Only took me 2 hours to drive from Irvine to Santa Monica the other day.  Pretty good for the 50 mile trek.

5. Saw my first "sign-twirler" on the corner promoting a Sushi Bar. Must be a lot of people that are now just opting to stay home with a can of "Chicken of the Sea" instead.

6. Church is packed.  To get Andrew into his normal, although over-subscribed, Sunday School class last weekend, Leslie had to escalate things to a higher power (the Sunday School Director...not the higher power).

7. Valet parking prices at John Wayne Airport just increased 10%. Can you believe I'll have to walk all the way from the parking garage to my gate now?

8. Local high-end restaurants are filing for bankruptcy due to increased costs and lower patronage. We went to these places all the time before we had kids. If everyone else who bought a house in Irvine 4-5 years ago had kids like us shortly thereafter, then I think I know why these places are struggling. Mental note - pay attention to demographics when launching a business.

9. Monthly costs for Kindercare have risen to about the same price as our fixed-rate mortgage. Wish we could have gotten fixed-price childcare.

10. Finding that the most fun our family has these days is when we take a few juice boxes and a shovel down to the beach, dig a hole and fill it up with water, then throw in a bunch of rocks.  Total cost?  Free.

Well that about sums it up for now. We'll keep you posted on how things are progressing but we're curious to hear about what you're seeing in your town(s) and what you're doing (if anything) to prepare. In the meantime, we've got some of those "finer things" to attend to - Owen needs another diaper change.

Grosser than gross

We spent all day Sunday cleaning out our garage and washing it out with a bleach solution because house flies had invaded.  I'm still traumatized - I don't want to talk about it.

Slippery Slope

Two wheelin', originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Andrew is in gymnastics class, phonics class, music class and Sunday school. Too much for a three year old?

Great moments in parenting!

5 minutes before the trip to the emergency room, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Last Thursday after a successful evening of gymnastics and baths I was messing around with my camera and snapping away at the boys trying to see if f/1.4 is wide enough to take flash-less pictures of the kids at night. (It's a very typical scene around here: the boys doing what they do and me trying to document as much as possible because I don't want to miss a minute of it and I don't want to forget a second of it.)

I was taking pictures of the boys on the couch, capturing the athletic activities they do every night on the couch because I thought it would be a cute blog post. I am about 5 feet away from the boys while they are wrestling around on the couch with Go! Diego Go! breaks every few minutes.  During a Diego lull in the action, I go into the kitchen for something and about a second later I hear Owen let loose with a LOUD scream. My heart skips a beat.

- See that window in the picture? Just out of the frame are sill-less window ledges. There's no rounded edges of a sill, just the sharp edges.

Owen had hit his head on that edge and made an inch and a half gash in his forehead. 

I took one look at his head and knew it was more than a bandaid could handle. In about 30 seconds I made the decision we had to go to the emergency room. I was by myself, so I was in super "i can handle this" mode. I grabbed some shorts for Andrew, and got both kids in the car. Andrew is a observant child and picked up right away that he just needed to do what I asked - no questions. And he did. I was so proud of him.

We got in the car and drove to the hospital. Owen was very calm and even fell asleep on the way - AND I promptly woke him up. No unconscious babies with a head wound! 

We got to the hospital and I left the car with the valet (got to love Orange County hospitals). Went right up and got triaged. Owen was alert and I was calming down.  The bleeding had practically stopped and he was just interested in what was going on around him. A few minutes later Eric arrived from the airport.

We were seen by a doctor about 30 minutes after arriving. Stitches. Owen had to be strapped down in a toddler straight jacket- that was awful.  The lidocaine shots right into the cut was awful.  The actual stitching wasn't too bad, but by this point Owen was just MAD and screamed the entire time.   In 15 minutes he was all stitched up and free.  Owen was back to himself as soon as it was all done.   

I have a feeling this is just the beginning of such things with Owen.  He's the kind to jump right in and not really worry about what's going to happen next.

This isn't the post I imaged I'd write when I was ignoring their bed time and just letting them rough-house around.  

Hello!

Sandy toes, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

It's been crazy here at the Socal Caprons - Murder trials, emergency room visits, brand new two-wheelers, lots of time at the beach, new words, new camera lens, babies sleeping in their own beds..! Whew!

The blogging lag has been record-breaking. I'll be making up for that.

Party at the beach

Today we went to a friend's 2nd birthday party at Will Rogers State Beach. Here are a few pictures. Both boys had a great time. They spent lots of time in the sand and digging. They had awesome naps today - the power of the beach!

Andrew 42 months

Pumping Gas, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

I picked up Andrew and Owen as usual from Kindercare yesterday afternoon. When we were all buckled into the car, I announced that we needed to go to the gas station before we went home. I've learned that with Andrew is it best not to spring unexpected events on him and ensure he knows why we won't be making our usual left turn out of the parking lot. Its times like these, when I remember that Andrew is three and needs time to process things that I feel like I'm making progress as a mom.

And about a nano second after I tell Andrew that we're going to the gas station I hear:

"I DON"T WANT TO GO TO THE GAS STATION!" WAIL! CRY! TEARS!

and this makes NO SENSE TO ME AT ALL!

Why is going to the gas station so bad? Didn't I give you enough notice?!?! Have you been traumatized some how by a recent visit to a gas station? What!?

Its times like these that I realize Andrew will always keep me on my toes and a little off balance. It keeps things interesting around here.

After I spent a few moments explaining to Andrew that the gas station is mandatory and the car will not go unless we have gas, Andrew chokes back a sob and asks "can I help?" and I say "of course you can help!"  His tantrum ended just unexpectedly as it started.   Andrew helped pump gas yesterday for the first time.    After he was very proud and a happy camper.  Lesson learned here: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  Start enlisting Andrew's help.  

Andrew has been full of tantrums lately.  Eric and I feel that all we did on the weekend was yell and send Andrew to a time out.  The most frustrating thing is that the tantrums are more frequent and are more difficult to predict.    I trust that this is just another phase though and we will emerge to back to equilibrium in a couple of weeks or so.  If we survived last December we can get through this.  

With the bad there is lots of good.  He continues to show much interest in reading and spelling.  He has moments of great big brother behavior.  Lots of sharing (with lots of "don't touch that Owen!".  Lots of invitations to play: "Owen come over here".  This morning in the shower he was very concerned about Owen's whereabouts (he was still asleep in his crib).  

Andrew started gymnastics the week before last.  He was terrified when we arrived and did not want to participate at all.  We were on our way out to try again next week when his good friend Maverick arrived.  Maverick's mom took Andrew's hand and led him to class and Andrew was just fine.  By the end of the class Maverick and Andrew needed to be separated because they were having a little too much fun together.    Lesson learned here: Andrew needed peer support to trust that gymnastics was safe and fun.  We may use this approach to get him back into swimming lessons.

You've read about the boys activity level in my last post on Owen.  Andrew needs to run around a lot these days.  I'm happy to oblige, there are a lot worse places to be on a weekday afternoon than at the park with your two favorite kids.

Owen's First Haircut and Update

I'm really not sure about this..., originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

We finally took Owen to get his first haircut on Saturday. He was a super-trooper. A little unsure, but not one tear shed (from Owen). He sat on dad's lap the whole time and when it was done he got a big yellow balloon.

Owen has officially started to say words!  "Uh-oh" is a word...right?  Owen started saying Uh-oh this weekend and continued to say it about 100 times.  He does say it appropriately - when something drops, spills, if he bonks his head...(things that happen constantly around here).  If I remember correctly, Uh-Oh was one of Andrew's first words and signaled a ramp-up in his verbal skills.  I think we'll start seeing a lot more words in the next couple of months.  Owen says Hi and will say Hi and give a wave to just about anybody.  It sounds more like "eye" - but his meaning is unmistakable.   And the ever popular "No".  He says no, and gives a vigorous head shake to emphasize his point - sometimes he he'll hit and say no.  Which brings me to timeouts!  Owen has had his first time out this weekend!  For hitting his mama (while saying no).  Not allowed.

Owen had a rough time on our road trip to Half moon bay.  He threw up twice on the way up and once on the way down.  We were fortunate that we were close to rest stops when he blew.    The van is just about recovered.  I'm convince that it was a stomach bug on the way up north, but plain old fashioned car-sickness on the way home.  (My mom always said that our family road trips were always a mile too long for me  - so sorry Owen, you get that from me.)

Continuing the list of things Owen doesn't like (and is a bit scared of) is Merry-go-rounds.   We've tried a couple of times to put him on a Merry go round and he doesn't not like it one bit!  He is the only child who is screaming on his horse.  

Since vacation Owen has become a daddy's boy.  He's got some serious separation anxiety if dad leaves.  Eric dropped Owen off at Kindercare on Friday (I stayed home with Andrew because Andrew caught Owen's stomach bug), and he had an awful time and did the whole crying and clinging routine.    When Eric left for the airport this morning he had another major meltdown (which was much harder on Eric).  

Owen has become a Diego fan and loves it just about as much as his brother.  We've had to say that Diego was "broken" and we couldn't watch just to give us a break from Go! Diego Go!

The boys have gotten to a point in their crazy activity level that play time at the park is mandatory before we come home.  If these boys don't get a chance to burn off energy they are constantly wrestling, running into each other (on purpose), and jumping on and off the couch.   Yelling at them or trying to separate them has not been successful.  I've got to get to the root cause and manage this by tiring them out.  If it's come to this at 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 - I'm a little nervous at what I've got coming. 

Facespace? Mybook?

I'm on Facebook! Hurray - poke me! Whatever that means! Should I feel bad that I haven't been hit with a snowball yet? Am I supposed to throw first? Am I now on the Interwebs 2.0?

I found a really hilarious post about what it can feel like (uh, for someone like me) to join this site.

Owen 17 months?

Must do what Andrew is doing, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Ok, remember when I referred to Owen as fearless? We've learned a few new things about Owen in the last few months:

1) Owen is scared of cookie monster. When cookie monster goes crazy and actually eats the cookie with the intensity of a lioness bringing down a gazelle Owen gets a little freaked out and starts to cry.

2) Owen does NOT like big turbulence on an airplane. When we were on our approach into Kona, our plane did an exciting "drop" that Owen did not like one bit. I can't really blame him for that though because when it happened the lady next to me grabbed my arm and yelped a little bit. (Who knew that I would be the "strong" one in that situation?)

Owen still puts EVERYTHING in his mouth - sand, dirt, rocks, chalk...he does know better now though. When I catch him doing it, he immediately spits out what's in there and sticks out his tongue to prove it.

Bed time is tricky right now. He doesn't go down quietly, but I now let him cry for up to 15 minutes and he usually falls asleep in that amount of time.

He still loves to eat and will eat most things we put in front of him.

He's as active as his brother and can hold his own just fine in the Capron Smackdowns.

His drop offs at Kindercare are just fine and we've gotten to the point where I can open the door to his classroom and he'll just walk right in and start playing. I really really hope this lasts - leaving a distraught child at school is awful.

He's still mostly babbling, but does say mama and baba (bottle).  

Owen is super snuggly and a smiley little person to have around.

Andrew 41 Months (or thereabouts)

Which rock shall I pick?, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

"Those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it..." I'm not sure who said that but if Eric and I don't learn soon about how nap time is non-negotiable with Andrew, we will never go on vacation again.

Exaggerating slightly there - Andrew was great on the trip (was a model child on the airplane for both flights), but the re-entry has been a bit rough. Today our drop off at Kindercare was full of tears and inconsolable wailing. His routine has been disrupted and he lets us all know that he's not happy about it. I think after a week on his normal schedule, he'll be back to his usual programming. Also, note to self Andrew prefers baths at night!

Andrew's newest interest is dinosaurs. Go Diego Go has a new dinosaur episode that we will be keeping on the TIVO indefinitely.

Andrew has become quite the conversationalist and will happily tell you all about going on a airplane, going to Hawaii, and finding sea turtles (aka hanu's). My mom visited a couple of weeks ago and he was the chattiest I'd ever heard him. I think he saves his best material for the grandparents.

His Kindercare experience is evolving from daycare to preschool. He's displaying a lot of pre-reading skills. He actively spells out words he sees and is very interested in words and books.

Andrew continues to be ACTIVE (I think I will be writing that sentence for as long as I blog). Our poor couch won't be able to take much of his rough treatment. He jumps on it constantly. He and Owen wrestle a lot. (Owen's classmates are not happy about this. I think Owen warms up on them before he faces Andrew every night). Although I'm glad they do "play" together, I can't leave them unsupervised for more than a moment. If I do, I inevitably hear shrieks of laughter disintegrate into tears.

Andrew seemed to enjoy Hawaii - his favorite time was in the sand bottomed kiddie pool at our hotel.  By the end of the week he was turning into quite a fish and fully submerging his head under the water (big break through).  We may take advantage of this development to get him back into swimming lessons before the summer is over.  One of his best friends is in gymnastics and I'll be signing Andrew up for the same class.  I think he'll really like all of the running, jumping and general "activeness" of it.  I'll enjoy the general "wearing out of the kid" of it.  

He's still a picky eater, but I've learned to sacrifice a quiet car ride home and withhold snacks to allow for more food-food to get into his system at dinner.  Telling him that if he wants to grow big he needs to eat is working too.  

A really fun things he does lately is to pretend he's different animals. Sometimes he's a dinosaur, or a tiger or a shark.  Whatever animal mode he's in that's how he likes to be addressed: "I'm the hanu, not Andrew!"

He's keeping us on our toes around here but he's so much fun.

Sunset

Sunset, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

We're back. Back from lovely, warm, mellow Hawaii. Ten days of flip flops, bathing suits, and the beach. It was a nice get away. I won't say it was relaxing... our boys were up at 6:30 everyday and needed to be out the door and in the pool by 7:00  (every morning I was nervous that the lovely people at the Marriott were going to ask us to move because we were so noisy in the morning! )  There was no sleeping in, or napping, or lounging lazily by the pool, but there was awesome fun at the beach, in the pool and on the go.   

I am looking forward to our next Hawaiian vacation already.  Here are pictures from the trip. I've got a few more to upload - they're on Eric's computer - the hotel internet connection was seriously on Hawaiian time and attempts to post drove me insane. I will get them up this week.

[For those following my vegan cleanse adventure, the cleanse ended with the pepperoni pizza I ate the day before we left and hit its nadir with the loco moco I ate about day 6 of the trip. And I'm back on the caffeine.]

Water and Sticks = Boy Heaven

Water and Sticks = Boy Heaven, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Today we went to check on the duckies.   The boys loved their sticks and making big splashes in the little creek that runs through the park.

Afternoons like this are just about perfect.

My Little Monkey

Untitled from Leslie Capron on Vimeo.

Andrew is really singing a lot these days. This is one of his favorites. Another favorite? Those shoes. We bought Andrew some "crocs" at Target a few weeks ago and he's been wearing them ever since (on his hands, on his feet...)! Yesterday we bought him true Crocs (same color). These will be perfect for him in Hawaii.

Fourth of July

Fourth of July, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Happy Fourth! We celebrated the birth of our nation with some quality time at the park, good naps and hittin' the hay early. This year we weren't awake long enough for fireworks! We had planned on going down to the high school again this year and watch the "stars that go boom", but we decided that this year we didn't want to stake a place several hours early to get a good spot on the hot football field with two rambunctious (and very mobile) kids. Our alternate plan was to show up right before the show started at 9 PM and watch from the bleachers, but by 8:30 Owen was already asleep, and we were enjoying the peace.  Ok that's our excuse for staying in! (You may recognize this as the reason we stayed in on New Years.)

But to be honest, today the Fifth, I have a pang of regret.  Andrew's getting old enough to remember the activities we do now, and now is the time to be earnest in our family traditions. I think fireworks on the Fourth of July is a very basic shared tradition that we need to show up for. Next year we'll participate - then let the kids sleep in.

Favorite New Game

I'm so torn here - they are having fun together, yet my ears are bleeding....

Favorite new game from Leslie Capron on Vimeo.

They like to do this a lot.  It works for Andrew because its loud, it works for Owen because he can do it just like Andrew.

Odds and Ends

Sorry about leaving the pee-pee post up for so long!  

Owen's had a rough week with a cold and another ear infection. He is just starting now to sleep through the night again after waking up several nights in a row. He's on his second day of antibiotics and is now feeling much better. I knew it was serious and I needed to take Owen to see his pediatrician when he wasn't eating his dinner. That boy LOVES to eat.

Owen has an official first word: Mama. He does lots of babbling and vocalizing, but he's just now started to form proper words.

Eric turned 33 on Wednesday!  As usual, he was up in San Jose/San Francisco area this week, so we are celebrating properly tonight.  We're going out to dinner at The Water Grill in L.A. - its fancy and has a Michelin star and everything.  We even hired a babysitter! This will be only the second time that we've gone out and asked someone other than the grandparents to watch the boys. We won't worry at all while we're out because Andrew's teacher from his Two's classroom is coming over.

The high price of gas around here has finally affected us.  I drove around this week in the Prius and Eric left the minivan at the airport. I have to say this was the way to go. Last week I filled the van up for $83 and I filled the Prius up for $28.   That's a big difference, and I'm glad we're saving that because I just spent $5.85 on one gallon of milk.

I've jumped on the Quantum Wellness bandwagon and bought the book this week.  (Another Oprah recommendation).   I'm only about 10 pages in.  You may or may not see posts from me about doing a 21 day "cleanse". That's basically eating a vegan diet for 21 days.  We'll see, I get jumpy when contemplating giving up coffee for any length of time.  

We are really looking forward to our upcoming Hawaiian vacation.  We all need some down time hanging out on the beach.  

It's officially summer and we've got the temperatures to back it up.  It's going to be in the 90's today.  We're to try to stay cool today, I'm predicting lots of backyard hose time.

That's the latest from Irvine.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Fail

Ok, just acknowledging that I haven't posted every day in June so far, and the rest of June isn't shaping up to be any better. But I do have a house cleaning tip for you. If your three year old has the longest nap of his life and is not wearing pull-ups, you need to know this: Hydrogen Peroxide is a miracle-worker for getting pee-pee out the mattress. Buy two bottles.

My First Fort

My First Fort, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Today we hibernated. Owen had a fever last night and nobody got much sleep. But all was not lost today. Andrew and Owen played in their first fort! When I was little I loved to take all the blankets off our beds and throw them over our dining room chairs. This was the best place to watch cartoons on a Saturday morning.

Utensils, horray!

, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Owen's "using" a fork here. He's still working on his technique.

Homework

Homework, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Sometimes my work doesn't fit 7:30 - 2:00 pm hours. 95% of the time it does, but sometimes I go out to lunch with my work buddies and I schedule an hour but by the time everyone meets in the lobby and then decides where to go, and then discusses if we're going to walk or drive, then we wait for a table, then talk about what's good to eat here, then order, eat, chit chat, and figure out the bill, holy-heck is it really 1:30?!  I've got to go!

Anyhoo, yesterday was a little like that.  So last night I worked after the kids went to bed.

Home 7

Dishes, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

I have a love / hate relationship with dishes. When I see the pile on the counter, I run the other way. But at some point in the evening I decide that I'd rather not look at a pile of gross dishes in the morning, so I start to wash. And a funny thing happens. I start to get into it. I get into a grove and I just power right though. And then I see the countertops and start tackling them and if its been a tough day, I'll start cleaning out the fridge. Its like washing the dishes set off a cleaning binge in me. Weird.

(And yes, that's another dying plant on the right.)

(And if you're not into the dishes post, there's video of the boys in the post below)

What you come here for

Here's a typical weekend scene with the Capron boys. And typically Owen bonks his head a few times. (He's fine). It's a little long, but I'm betting the grandparents will be o.k. with that.


the boys at the park from Leslie Capron on Vimeo.

Home 6

Rare moment, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Home - relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. Both boys napped at roughly the same time today. They are on the same schedule on weekdays, but the weekends are a different story. Between errands, play-dates, and random dad-ventures we are really bad at sticking to nap time. Today though after our morning of church, play time, Frys and Target, they were so tired that they fell asleep in the car and we were able to carry them to bed without waking them up - THIS NEVER HAPPENS. We were reveling in the silence. Seeing my opportunity, I grabbed a blanket, my latest selection from the Oprah book club and a nice spot on the couch and relaxed. Good times.

Home 5

Orchid, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Home, where orchids come to die.

Eric knows that if he's in a pickle and needs to get me a present for a birthday, anniversary, or because forgot to put the garbage out, again, that he can't go wrong if he comes home with an orchid. (Aren't I the easiest wife ever!?). Now you may think that will all those occasions for orchids, that my house would be dripping with orchids everywhere. Not. So. I have a special talent for killing orchids. This poor guy here has been living in my kitchen window sill since April.   It came home with a glorious bloom and four unopened buds and the promise of months of beautiful flowers. It has sun, but not too much. It gets a nice burst of humidity every night when I do the dishes and since its right next to the faucet, I rarely forget to water it. Now it looks like it just gave up.  The main flower just shriveled and the buds never got close to opening. 

What am I doing wrong? Help me internet!

Its not easy being green

Ways the Socal Capron household embraces the Green lifestyle:

1. We drive a Prius! We can still fill 'er up for under $30
2. We have no lawn - the water saving is tremendous!
3. We grow our own veggies!
4. We buy organic and local by shopping at our local farmers market
5. We brew our coffee at home - no paper cups from Starbucks!
6. We forget to put our garbage out and are forced to reduce our waste because we have no way to get dispose of it!
7. We recycle!
8. Owen's wardrobe is mostly thanks to Andrew!
9. We use a green dry cleaners that uses no harsh chemicals
10. Only three people live here during the week saving tons on electrics and water usage!

Ways the SoCal Caprons aren't so green

1. Our Prius mostly lives in the airport parking lot while I'm driving our minivan all over town and Eric FLIES to his job.
2. All of Eric's resource consumption is Northern California's problem
3. Not really using canvas bags for our grocery shopping
4. We do about a thousand loads of laundry a week
5. I am hand washing our dishes because I haven't gotten around to fixing our dish washer so I'm using more water than our dishwasher would

So I guess we try. We're not always successful, but that's got to be better than nothing! How is your household green?

Goodnight Eric

Its been a long week without you!

HOME by Michael Buble

I don't feel as lonesome as this song, but I like it.

Home 4

Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other.  It is the place of confidence.  It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts.  It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule.  

~Frederick W. Robertson

My favorite part:  "where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts."  

Home 3

Yum tofu dogs..., originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Home - where you've got to learn your table manners!

Update:  The great thing about a blog is that you get to show what you want to show.  So I showed how I wish dinner was all the time with the boys.  In the interest of full disclosure, dinner around here doesn't always include proper place mats.  Sometimes (o.k a lot of the time), we're all in front of the tube eating our mac 'n cheese.  

Home 2

Owen loves the tub, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Thinking about home invariably takes me back to my childhood. A memory that's stuck with me all this time is of bath time when I was old enough, maybe six or seven, to do it myself. I could fill up the tub, sit in a few inches of water and be trusted not to make an emergency out of it. The memory that sticks with me is that every night, during every bath I would wash my hair and I would get soap in my eyes. And each time it happened I would yell out to my mom: I GOT SOAP IN MY EYES! And each time my mom would come in and take a towel and wipe away the suds. She never seemed annoyed at this, like not again, my girl, please close your eyes when you're rinsing your hair! Now, I think I could have washed my hair and avoided the soap running down into my face, but I wanted her to come in and check on me. I wanted to be a big girl and take a bath by myself, but I also wanted to make sure someone was close by just in case I needed anything. And I think that's a big part of what makes a home. Its a place where you test yourself and there's always someone close by just in case.

Home 1

About three month's ago, when I was just emerging from my year long extreme sleep deprivation post Owen birth, I emailed two good friends to organize a girls-night-out for the premiere of Sex and the City.   I needed to get out of the house!  With my muddled sleepy brain and because of the many, many leaks of movie stills to all of the gossip websites I read during the production of the movie, I thought it opened months ago in March, but no, this weekend was it.  So with my premature email I looked like super proactive super planner when actually I was just confused! Winner!

Anyhoo, we had tickets to the 3:15 matinee and then ate dinner afterward at the Cheesecake Factory.   We had hoped get a table at the excellent Javier's but no food is worth a two hour wait.  

Eric was on his own from 2:00 - 8:30 pm.   Now, too often I find that when moms go out, the men who watch the kids will get extra credit for doing it on their own.  That's just crazy.  Men do not get extra credit for watching their children!  Ok, dismounting soapbox now.

I had no problem taking off for the duration of the day.   We had planned an early play date for Andrew to get good and tired to guarantee long napping while I was gone.  

I had such a great time last night because 1) I really love Sex and the City and the movie met all of my expectations and more, 2) I was with two great girlfriends 3) Mojitos are really tasty, 4) I was able to leave my boys (all three of them) knowing that they were all going to be just fine without me.  

When I got home, the best part of the night was waiting for me.  Andrew ran to the garage and yelled "Hi, Mama!" and Owen was peacefully sleeping upstairs.  Eric was lounging on the couch.  I sat down at the computer and launched a file "Open Me Leslie".  It was a little movie that Eric put together while I was gone.  It was super cute and created from photos that I thought weren't too great (or blog worthy), where the boys weren't smiling.  But he turned these photos into something special and really funny.  He added a Kung-fu movie sound track so the boys looked like they were getting ready for an epic battle of good vs. evil.  Genius!

Home - a place that's thinking about you (and making cute little videos for you) when you're gone!


Untitled from Leslie Capron on Vimeo

I'm posting everyday in June!

A few months ago, the National Blog Posting Month group went monthly.  Instead of just posting everyday in  November only, the NaBloPoMo group is providing a monthly theme to explore.  I've hesitated making another blogging commitment like I did in November because of computer problems, busyness, other stuff, but June's theme is really speaking to me.  The theme is home.   So much of my energy is focused on making a home for my family, but I've never really explicitly explored what home really means to me.   I think I'll be posting a lot of pictures, since that's where my interest is taking me these days, but with the photos and accompanying text, I'll be exploring why the images mean home to me.  I want to really focus on why home is so much more than a house!  

Keeping it Real

Keeping it Real, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Just wanted to keep it real here on the blog and show you the state of affairs after a quick trip to the grocery store Wednesday afternoon to pick up a few things I needed to make tortilla chicken soup.  Here are both boys shrieking and crying and covered in the juice from the strawberries that I grabbed from the produce section and fed them to keep them quiet happy while shopping.   

Before I had kids I always looked a little askance at the moms who were feeding their children while grocery shopping with food they had just taken from the shelves before they paid for it. Now I totally get it: its a survival tactic. 

The boys were already shellacked in post daycare food/craft/dirt grunge so I wasn't feeling like mother of the year as I pushed my little urchins around the store. Andrew won't go into the cart anymore, he wants to walk - ugg.   In an effort to keep him within range I let him "steer" the cart. That went as about as well as you'd expect.  Five minutes in Owen was over it all and he just started melting down food or no food.   Doomed from the start, I shouldn't have even tried, another night of spaghetti would have been just fine.   From now on, I'll shop BEFORE I pick up the boys.   

Heard entering the grocery store tonight

Andrew:  They're already magic?

Leslie: Yes, they're automatic doors.

Andrew: Right, already magic.

He thinks those auto-flush toilets are "already magic" too.

(If you say "already magic" really fast it sounds like "automatic".)

The Toddler Habitrail

The toddler Habitrail is awesome, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Regan's mom emailed on Friday night with the classic parental S.O.S, "it's going to rain tomorrow, what are we going to do to with the kids?!" I started to panic - ack, how are we going to get these kids good and tired if we have to stay inside all day? Luckily, the weather held on Saturday and it did not rain so we were able to get the kids outside and to the park - crisis averted.

Here's Regan and Andrew in the tube connecting two parts of the playground; it really only extends about a foot farther than this picture shows, but it reminded me of the habitrail homes I had for my hamsters when I was a kid.  Typing this just reminded me of the time I was in seventh grade my cat ate my pet hamster Henry.  Poor Henry escaped his home and my cat just did what cats do to rodents; circle of life in the suburbs.  

So long highchair

So long highchair, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Owen decided tonight that he was done with the highchair. He just refused to get into it; he did his best impersonation of a two by four - a wailing two by four. So I plopped him in Andrew's booster seat and poof! Instant smiles and cooperation. Is this what they mean by "child led parenting"?

Boys on the move

Boys on the move, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

We went up to Simi Valley yesterday and BBQ'd with the Ziglers. Our Memorial Day weekend weather is not the best and it was cloudy and cool and threatened to rain all day. Andrew and Owen had a great time playing with Matthew and Mason.  (As we were driving away after an afternoon of big fun, Andrew already asked if Matthew and Mason to come visit him!) These boys are extra special; they both have super gentle natures and are good, good boys.   They greeted us with big smiles and freely gave out the hugs when we were leaving. Matthew, who is six, played with peek-a-boo with Owen and really seem to love hanging out with a toddler!  They shared their toys and were gentlemen during lunch.  (I was sooo glad that we've being working on Andrew's table manners and he was able to sit at the table and eat his lunch - unlike the first night we went to Ellen's house for dinner.  That was not pretty and Andrew needed two time outs,  but that's another story.)  It was a big day for Andrew, he tried a two wheeler bicycle for the first time and a scooter; the bike (with training wheels) was more successful, he lasted about 3 seconds on the scooter.  

In the picture Mason's pulling all three of them in a wagon on the way to the park.  Here's short video of the scene.

Recommendation: Oprah's Turkey Burgers - approved by the pickiest three-year old on the planet.

Owen 15 Months

Owen May 2008, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

My second angel baby. My big boy. My curious and fearless child.

Owen's move to the Toddler room has been just as seamless as Andrew's move to the Threes. Owen's experience with his older brother and size are huge advantages for him. He isn't phased at all when another child comes up to him and wants to get his toy or tries push him around. He has the confidence to stay calm and has figured out that these kids are way less troublesome than his own brother!

He has moved to one nap a day so now the boys are on the same schedule. They wake up at the same time, nap at the same time and go to bed about the same time. This routine really helps things run smoothly during the week. Owen goes down at 7:30 pm and Andrew goes to bed at 8:30 and mom goes to bed at 8:31. (Not really, but since I'm up at 5:30 am, I'm not far behind them!)

Owen loves animals and the trips to the park to check on "our" ducks is just as much fun for him as it is for Andrew. If there is a dog visiting the park, Owen is the first to spot it and the first to walk over and say hello. He isn't frightened by animals and displays a gentle and curious attitude toward them.

Owen really loves music. He loves to listen and dance. A couple of weeks ago we walked through Downtown Disney on our way home from Disneyland. There was a crowd gathered around a salsa band. The crowd had formed a big circle several people deep in-front of the band, but nobody was in the circle dancing - until Owen walked right in and started swinging his arms and clapping to the beat!

He loves to play outside and really loves playing with balls. Oh, and prying that boy out of the bathtub is something I do not look forward to every night.

Owen has not outgrown his desire to stick everything in his mouth; mother-panic inducing things. It really is like living with a puppy sometimes. I pull shredded magazines and shoes out of that boy's mouth on a regular basis. I think the shoes and sand gross me out the most. He's getting better, but he's not to be trusted in a sandbox.

Owen had his first driving lesson last weekend and I have 2 minutes of extremely cute video of same, but on the advice of counsel and not wanting to be branded a worse mother than Britney Spears, I am not posting the video here. But the next time you visit I'll show you!

Owen missed his nap today too, and its 7:45 and he's up in his crib protesting loudly about being there. Why is it that when kids are really tired its a lot harder to get them to go to bed? That one I will never understand.