Amy Scott's Thoughts

This last Sunday, we had my sister and brother-in-law over for a game night and dinner. It had been a while since we’d hung out just the 4 of us – make that 5 of us, since Owen was there. And 6, if you count Toby Dog, who has enough personality to be a person. So anyway, it was a small gathering, as you can tell. Since Jeremy was supposed to be the most brain dead of us all (big work weekend), we figured he should pick the game that was on this current level of thinking. He chose Risk! Seriously, Risk? You’re dead tired and you chose Risk? I didn’t even know we owned Risk, but the Scott boys love it so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Maybe Jeremy picked it because he was the only one that knew how to play. He is also the only one of the group good at strategy games. All of this was in his favor. The game itself turned out to be quite humorous. My sister who loves corgis had Great Brittan which meant she mentioned the corgis often. She also had Japan and Madagascar. April was all about the islands. My brother-in-law, Andrew, and I got into an heated battle for Canada. I love Canada for many reasons and Andrew loves Alaska and the rugged wilderness of the north. We both had an vested interest in the same territories. When we finally called the game over – it wasn’t really over, we just quit at a certain point – Andrew and I still had joint custody of Canada. The battle was never officially won.  In the end, Jeremy was the one who won the game. He was a force to be reckoned with and swept the board with us all.

The evening included homemade chili and cornbread, yummy apple cider, watching some Food Network and a game of golf. For Christmas last year we got the card game golf. It’s nice because all the cards are labeled so it’s easier than using a deck of playing cards. Plus, there are cute illustrations of a golf ball on the cards and there are French subtitles on everything, so it’s educational too! I know that 9 is neuf in French. I wouldn’t know that without this game. My last few golf games have gone well and this round was just as good. I ended up winning the game. However, at this point, Jeremy and I both picked games and then won them. Nothing like inviting family over to beat them at games. What a fun night! I think the next time we play April and Andrew need to pick the games since Jeremy and I can’t be trusted.

Life can be so crazy busy.  It was nice to make time for some game playing and just hanging out. My biggest hope is that Owen will grow up being close to his aunts, uncles and cousins (both present and future). April and Andrew were even brave enough to babysit Owen last night while Jeremy and I went to a Christmas party at the church. Originally, I thought we would take Owen to the party with us, but April offered to watch him. I was impressed. She even said they would do it again after the evening was over! The logic is that if she watches my kid, I’ll watch hers in the future. Of course I will! This is one of the bonuses of having family close! Built in babysitters! Not only do we have both sets of grandparents nearby, but we also have aunts and uncles. Family is important and I’m glad to have ours close and involved in our lives.

Gobble Gobble! Our Little Turkey!

Jeremy and I were very excited for Thanksgiving this year. It was Owen’s first official holiday. Yes, there was Halloween, but I view holidays as a day where things are closed and people spend time with family and friends. Plus, we missed the opportunity for dressing him up for Halloween so this was the first holiday were he had a “special” outfit to wear. Yup, we’re that family! Jeremy had picked out a cute turkey onesie at Old Navy and I was excited to celebrate the day with our little turkey.

I’m not sure it will be like this every year, but we figured that Owen is still pretty portable these days and can sleep about anywhere. We have no routine or set schedule. We figured that it would be possible to do both families for Thanksgiving and we would just work our schedule around Owen if need be. Things worked out better than I expected. There were fussy moments at each family gathering, but for the most part Owen did great. I was very pleased. Since these were the first extended family gatherings for Owen to visit, I was prepared for him to be passed around from family member to family member. He did well with all the hand offs and he had many admirers.

One of the things I was looking forward to the most this year was the new babies on both sides of our family. At my family Thanksgiving, I got to meet Forrest. He is my cousin’s newest addition and he is 10 days younger than Owen. It was great to have both October babies together. It’s so fun that Owen will have a little friend his age to run around with the future. At Jeremy’s family gathering, I got to snuggle more with my newest nephew, Nolan. Both Owen and Nolan were hot potatoes being passed from person to person. It was great to see Jeremy’s parents with both their little grandsons. They did a wonderful job sharing their love and attention.

The Scott Family

There were two miracles that happened on Thanksgiving and flowed into the next day. Right now Owen is on a good sleep schedule. We’ve had many nights of 5-6 hour stretches of sleep. With all the simulation on Thursday, I thought for sure that Owen would have a good night’s sleep. I didn’t realize just how good he was going to sleep. Owen slept 8 hours for the first time! He got up for 20 minutes and then went back to sleep for another 3 hours! It was amazing. Truly a miracle in my book! The other miracle is the fact that his Thanksgiving onesie made it through the whole day without spit up or poop getting all over it. We had only one holiday outfit and two families to see. It wouldn’t have to been the end of the world to have him change in the middle of the day, but I wanted each group to see his little turkey outfit. It survived the whole day and he was still wearing it when we got home.

Things with Owen are going well. I’m starting to find my rhythm and things are starting to feel more natural. Motherhood is like learning a foreign language. It’s awkward at first and you know you’re not pronouncing the words quite right, but you know enough to get the job done. With time and experience, the words flow more freely and you find that you’re not thinking so much about if you’re doing it right. You’re just doing it. Because we’ve taken longer trips with Owen, I wasn’t too worried about this event being too long. My biggest concern was how Owen would respond to all the simulation and for the most part he did amazing. I’m glad that our families got to snuggle with him and have those moments. It was a great first thanksgiving as a family of three. I’m so blessed by our little family and I’m truly excited to see everyone again in less than a month for Christmas!

On a somewhat random note, everyone wanted to know how much Owen weighed at both gatherings. Because the babies are so close in age there was a lot of comparing the weights. I hadn’t weighed Owen in two weeks so yesterday I stepped onto the scale to see where our little guys was at. He is now 11 pounds even. Maybe it was because I didn’t hold him a lot on Thanksgiving, but yesterday he seemed bigger to me. It was like all of the sudden he grew up even more. I was laying him on the changing table in our room and noticed how long he is now. He almost fills it length wise now! Comparing my nephew’s face to Owen’s makes me realize that he really has lost that newborn look. He looks older. It’s a little mind blowing because the changes are so gradual to me and then all of the sudden I see the difference! Such a big boy these days.  One last side note, Owen slept another 8 hours last night! Two days in a row! Pray with me that this is the new trend! I could get used to this!

Happy Baby!

8 hours of sleep!

Yay!

It’s that time of year!

Once my countdown to Owen was over I knew I needed new countdowns in my phone to look forward to. Right now we are at 34 days till Christmas and I will admit that it is starting to feel like winter here in the Scott household. In true tradition, I have had way too many peppermint hot chocolates in lovely red cups. This last weekend Starbucks had a BOGO offer for holiday drinks, so we got free drinks three days in a row. Bliss! Another tradition is listening to Christmas music on the way to our children’s leadership conference. I love Christmas music and it was so much fun to sing along to my favorites on the drive up north. On Sunday, I pulled out my penguin dishes. Now these are more wintery than Christmasy so I use them from November through February. I love my skating penguins! They make me so happy! With daylight savings, the days are getting shorter and darker. The weather has turned cold. We’ve started having fires in our woodstove. I know it’s still fall for another month, but winter is creeping in and I’m happy to welcome it. Soon we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving with family and then it’s decorating the house for Christmas. Jeremy is even planning on putting up our Christmas lights this weekend since the weather will be nice. These are good days! I love the holidays! Now all I need to do is start my Christmas shopping. Those who know me well know that I am usually done with my Christmas shopping by this time, but it’s a different year for the Scott household.

In other random news, here are more Owen milestones. On Friday into Saturday night, Owen slept for 6 hours! This was a first and it’s yet to happen again, but 6 hours of sleep is amazing!!! On Sunday, I spent a good part of my afternoon in Owen’s room sorting through newborn clothes and putting them in a box. Most of his newborn clothes are too short on him because he is such a long baby. I pulled out this three month clothes and got them ready for him to wear. Some of the three month stuff is still too big, but he is slowly growing into it. He is no longer wearing newborn diapers and newborn clothes… It made me realize that he is no longer a newborn! It’s hard to believe that he is 6 weeks old already. The days are really flying by. Another first would be the fact that I got two hours to myself on Sunday! Jeremy suggested I pump a bottle so he could take Owen over his parent’s house. Jeremy and his dad were both watching the Seahawks game so Jeremy figured they could do that together. What did I do with my free time? Well, in true Amy fashion, I cleaned the house. I also wrote thank you cards, pulled out the penguin dishes and loaded them in the dishwasher, baked pumpkin bread, ordered address labels, showered, and did Jeremy’s laundry. It’s amazing what I can get done in two hours when I’m not constantly checking in on a baby. This was my first time baking since Owen was born and it felt great to get back into the kitchen. Owen has been doing great taking a bottle from Jeremy once a day and the freedom that I means for me is very exciting!

Here are few pictures from around the house. Just a glimpse into our world right now.

Jeremy only changes one sock when it gets dirty! Not the whole pair!

My reading buddy!

Starting to like looking at toys – just not at that exact moment!

Camo baby! Ready for a walk!

Jeremy working from home! Surrounded by his boys!

Last week I told Jeremy that I was no longer interesting. All I do is feed the baby, change dirty diapers, clean the house and read books. When I’m home for days on end, this is what my life looks like. It has a certain flow to it, but it’s not too interesting to talk about when the hubby comes home from work and we have the “how was your day” conversation. However, not all days look exactly the same. I’m coming off of three very busy, active days. I’m learning that while it can be more complicated being out and about with Owen, I would rather try to do stuff with Jeremy than be home alone. This means that Owen and I attended an annual children’s leadership conference this weekend. Originally, I had said I would pass on going this year. It seemed like too much with a 5 week old baby… but then the days of being home alone kicked in and I decided to take on the adventure because I would be doing it alongside Jeremy and being together is much more fun – even if that means I’m feeding Owen in the Red Robin parking lot! I’m getting better about feeding Owen in the car. At first it seemed awkward and now it’s just a fact of life.

As life finds it’s new flow and it’s new normal, there are still a small amount firsts going on. This week was the first time I used the baby carrier around the house. Owen was fussy so I decided to try to a new tactic and went for the carrier. It was great because Owen eventually fell asleep in it. I was able to do an hour of house cleaning and calm Owen at the time. A definite win! On Thursday before our conference started, Jeremy on a whim decided to try California Pizza Kitchen for the first time. Of course, Owen was going on 2 hours since his last meal, so I felt like we had a ticking time bomb, but regardless, we went in and sat down. This would qualify as our first time at sit down restaurant since Owen was born. Maybe it’s because we’re so tired, but Jeremy was almost giddy in the restaurant. It was a big milestone moment. On Friday morning, I pumped and got some bottles ready for Owen. I figured we had a full day in public and it might be nice to not have to do all the feedings in a private location. Jeremy as able to feed Owen a bottle and I felt the call of freedom! We’d been waiting to make sure that breastfeeding was well established before giving Owen a bottle and he seemed to like it well enough. The joke is now I can go see Catching Fire in the theaters and leave Owen at home! Today was another a milestone day as we met the newest member of the Scott family. That’s right – Owen is no longer the youngest grandkiddo in Scott household. He now has a younger cousin, Nolan. Our little family went down to meet the latest addition. Nolan is adorable and I am one excited auntie! Being an aunt is even more fun now that I’m a mom. I loved seeing Jeremy and his brother both holding their sons. I’m looking forward to all the family memories that will be made as these little cousins grow up together.

Even though there are a lot of days that look the same, it’s all still one great adventure. I’m slowly getting more comfortable with being out and about. It’s a lot easier with Jeremy at my side. I really love parenting with him. These days as a little family are a treasure to me. Owen is doing great. He is growing! He last weighed in at 10lbs 7oz. He is also a lot more expressive now and we are loving all the faces he makes at us. For the most part he is a happy boy. I’m learning that I don’t have to be afraid of public outings or longer days, he handles them well. Things are finally starting to feel more normal and I am grateful!

Multi-tasking wtih the kiddo!

More firsts!

Smiles!