Amy Scott's Thoughts

Still Waiting… November 13, 2016

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 7:27 pm

We didn’t close on our house last week. I’m not surprised, but I was hopeful. Now we will see if anything happens on Monday or Tuesday. If we don’t sign by then it will be another extension which just might break my brain. I stopped by our empty Moonlit house today after dropping a student off after church. The house felt weird. I hadn’t been there in weeks and the separation of time made it feel less like home. Our stuff isn’t there. Our little people weren’t there. It just didn’t feel like home anymore. I’m ready for it to be sold. Here’s hoping we can close soon and move on to the next chapter in our housing adventure!

Staff retreat with Graham went well. The kid was so exhausted that he passed out and slept hard everyday. It was great! His last hotel stay was rough, so his sleep was a pleasant surprise. We got a huge hotel room that after the first night, we had all to ourselves. It was such a blessing. Graham needed an afternoon nap each day, so while the staff kept diligently meeting, I got to slip away for some quiet time which was just what my introverted personality needed. It was fun to be with the staff and reconnect with them after a season of being away. We ate lots of good food and enjoyed unusually warm weather at the beach. It was a good week.

Now I am home and battling a sore throat. The days have been busy, but full of good things. Friday I said good-bye to my long time forever friend, Maggie. As you know, we meet every other month for lunch dates. We’ve been close since high school and her friendship is truly irreplaceable in my life. Her family is moving to California to start a new adventure. I am so excited for her, but so sad at the same time. I will miss her so much. However, I know that we will stay close through phone calls and emails and visits that might happen yearly instead of monthly.

Yesterday was my nephew’s birthday party at a fun bouncy house building. Owen has a love/hate relationship with bouncy houses – mostly hate. He was able to get over he fear and bounced away a good deal of the time. At the end of our bouncy time, he was even able to conquer his fear of the slide. It was a super fun outing and we had a blast celebrating with Nolan!

As always, there is lots to do this week. Places to go, things to do… I am grateful that with staff retreat behind us, we have no overnight travels for a few months. I am ready to take a deep breath and settle down. I am getting excited for the holiday season. I keep dreaming of turkey dinners, red cups, Christmas cookies and matching winter jammies for the boys. I love this time of year!

There were so many bunnies around our hotel at staff retreat!

This is one way to get a nap at staff retreat

Passing on the Mo’s love

Graham was laughing at the ocean! He loved it!

Out for a windy walk

The large spacious living room at our hotel! We didn’t want leave!

Brothers reunited!

My hubby brought me my first red cup on Thursday. It was perfect for my sore throat!

Saying “see you later” to my forever friend, Maggie. Over a decade of friendship and going strong.

Having a bouncy good time at Nolan’s birthday party

These two are such good friends!

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Settling In at Papa & Nana’s House November 5, 2016

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 11:10 am

It has been so nice to not commute up to Kirkland this weekend. We’ve been able to settle in and makes ourselves at home in our new surroundings. The boys were all sick over the weekend and that carried into the beginning of the week. Graham and Jeremy didn’t make it to Fall Fest because Graham had a fever and Jeremy had no voice. Owen and I went down to the church Monday morning to help set up. Owen HAD to go in his costume and I was okay with getting some extra use of out it! Owen played with the games as we set up and requested to sample the candy. Monday night, I helped serve nachos and hot dogs at the Fall Fest Cafe as a fundraiser for our MOPS group. Owen attended Fall Fest with Grandpa and then settled in to help Nana & Papa hand out balloons.

Tuesday was a MOPS morning and then the boys and I drove down to Longview to get have lunch with Auntie April. The purpose of the outing was to get a “red cup” with Auntie at Starbucks. My mind was blown to learn that the cups were green this year. Then I learned that holiday cups aren’t arriving until the 10th. I guess we’ll have to schedule another Starbucks date with April to get an official red holiday cup.

Wednesday and Thursday were NORMAL DAYS!!! Praise Jesus! Amen! Hallelujah!!! Everyone took off for work in the morning and I got to stay home with my boys and follow our normal daytime routine. It was exactly what I needed! When Graham took his morning nap, Owen and I read a Bible story together then we did a coloring sheet about the Bible story. On Thursday before our Bible story, I let Owen use his Usborne wipe clean books for the first time. The purpose is to practice tracing letters. Owen wanted to color more than trace, but it’s a baby step towards having intentional learning time during the day. Plus, it was nice to have one on one time with my big boy. Especially after having two weeks of being away from him so much.

Yesterday, we took the boys to Lattin’s Cider Mill & Farm to look at the animals and buy apple fritters. We ran some errands and bought meals to deliver to two of my MOPS friends. One is recovering from surgery and one just had a baby. Our evening concluded with playtime, pumpkin pie and Zootopia. Today I am working on laundry and packing for myself and the boys. Tomorrow, Owen goes back to Grandpa & Grandma’s for a few days and Graham will be joining Jeremy & I at staff retreat. I am seriously hoping that is the last overnight trip I have to take with Graham for a while. From October 18th-November 9th, my days at home have been few and far between. I’m looking forward to getting back from staff retreat and further settling into our groove at Papa & Nana’s house. The boys are doing well with the change and for that I am grateful.

That is the update for now. Hopefully, I’ll have delightful tales from staff retreat to share in my next blog. I’m also hoping to share that our house has officially closed… We are thinking that might happen on the 10th or 11th. If anything, praying the 15th is the latest this process will be drawn out. I won’t be happy if we have to sign yet another extension. I’m trusting God with all the details. I know it will work it out. In the meantime, I am working on growing the gift of patience.

The cutest train engineer ever!

Tigger had a fever so he had to stay home from the Fall Fest fun. At least he had a smile!

Green cups with April

Coloring with Mommy while Graham naps.

Practicing his letters

This is what the house looks like 20 minutes after everyone goes to work. It’s a comforting sight after a busy season away from home.

My good apples!

How tall this fall? In Graham’s case, it should say how short! Tiny toddler!

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A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That October 29, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 1:49 pm

This post will be all over the place. Lots of facets of our life to share.

The last two weeks have been spent partially up in Kirkland for pastoral care with Ministry Resources International (MRI). The first week we were there we spent the night in a local hotel. Since Graham didn’t sleep well in the hotel and the homework wasn’t too overwhelming, we decided to commute back and forth the second week. This allowed us to spend time with Owen in the evenings and we could do our homework once the boys were asleep. It was a tiring pace. I’m glad it’s completed. Our time at MRI was good. They encouraged us and gave us healthy life skills to work on. This experience is one that I would recommend to anyone. Growth is key to all of us being healthy people. We have now moved into a mentorship relationship with that will take place mostly through email. We will also probably head back in February for two weeks to check in and see what has/hasn’t been working for us. We are appreciative of the support we have received from our church, especially our lead pastor, as they have spurred us on toward health. This time away has been a fantastic investment in our leadership skills and my prayer is that when Jeremy returns to work this next week, real transformation will be evident in his life. (I would also like to give my mom a shout out for watching Owen while we were away. Owen loved all his adventures with Grandma. Being away from him was hard but I know that he was well taken care of! Thanks, Mom!)

On top of our time away for MRI, we moved on the weekend in between. It’s been a transitional week as we adapt to life in a new home. The boys are loving living with Nana and Papa. Owen has adapted probably the best of all of us. He loves the attention and he enjoys his new room. I’m looking forward to finding our new normal over the next few weeks.Bill & Debbie have provided most of our meals so far since we’ve been traveling daily. My hope is to set up a meal schedule soon so we can know who is cooking what days. We want to contribute and be a blessing while we reside in their home.

We have all felt the need to rest and recover. Graham appeared to have a tummy bug toward the end of the week and now Owen has spent the morning throwing up numerous times. Jeremy has a cold and all three of my boys have low grade fevers. I need a hazmat suit! I didn’t really have any productive plans in mind for the weekend and it’s looks like bugs have confirmed the need to be still and rest.

Yesterday was supposed to be our closing date. Oh yes, supposed to be! Let’s remember that our original closing date was September 30th. Then it got extended to October 28th. Now it looks like we will be signing another extension to November 15th. Apparently the financing plan our buyer is using has many loop holes that make processing it more complicated. God must want to grow patience in us. Please continue to pray for us as we try to wrap things up with our Moonlit house.

Finally, a small update on Jeremy’s heart health. He had a follow up appointment with the cardiologist yesterday. Nothing new came out of the echocardiogram. Now it’s recommended that he has CT scan of his chest to see if something abnormal is causing the pressure and discomfort he feels. The doctor also continued to encourage the implanted monitor idea. Jeremy will have another appointment in November to investigate what is involved with the implanted heart monitor. I know that Jeremy isn’t jazzed about the implanted monitor idea. Again, prayers would be appreciated!

What can I say? Never a dull moment with the Scott family. This next week we look forward to participating in Fall Fest at church. We have MOPS and Red Cup day. Depending on the weather, we might attend a local cider mill and farm. Lots of good, fun things.

Life in the hotel

Tired baby, ready to go home!

Love getting photo updates like this from my mom! The pumpkin patch was one of the many adventures Owen and Grandma had together.

The boys love living with Nana & Papa

Carving the pumpkins that Owen got at the patch

I think Graham would have taken a nap in the Target cart if we’d been there long enough!

After many mornings of being on the road early, I was grateful for a morning to be home and snuggle with my boys while they watch Winnie the Pooh.

Got to spend some quality time with my Californian forever friend, Christa! She has been such a support to me through all of life’s ups and downs!

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We Have Moved! October 24, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 8:12 am

This weekend we officially moved into Nana and Papa’s house. This move has been almost three months in the making. I was more than ready to take the next step in our housing journey.

The saddest part of the move for me was taking apart the boys’ rooms. Jeremy took all the stickers off the walls. No more penguins for Graham, no more woodland creatures for Owen. We spent so much time and care assembling those rooms and dreaming about the babies that would live in them. Such a good season of life took place in those rooms. Thinking about the new rooms the boys will have in our new house has helped me handle taking down their nurseries. There will be new rooms to decorate in the future and that gets me excited. If I felt sad about any part of the moving process, I thought of the house we hope to build and it gave me the excitement I needed to move forward joyfully. This will all be worth it.

We were able to settle in quickly at Bill & Debbie’s. All our stuff fit. This is a testamaent to how much space Bill & Debbie cleared for us. They have generously opened their home to us and given us plenty of room to make it our home too. The boys have loved living with Nana and Papa. So far things seem to be going well. Graham had a rough first night in his new room, but he did better last night. Owen has slept like a champ in his new room. His adaptability amazes me.

Yesterday, Jeremy and I went back to the Moonlit house to clean and grab a few items we left there overnight. Jeremy made a run back to his parent’s house for coolers so we could empty our fridge. While he was away, I mopped the floor and sang old Switchfoot songs in the echoey living room. Once I finished with the floors, I went around taking pictures and selfies around the house. I want to capture the memories.

This house has been such a blessing. It has been a gift from God and our family has loved it dearly. I remember getting the keys and walking through the door the first time it was officially ours. There was so much excitement and anticaption. We have made it a home and it has been our sanctuary and retreat. We started our family there and brought our babies home from the hospital there. I will always view this as the baby house. The place where my babies learned to crawl and walk. Good, sweet memories.

There are so many people I would like to thank right now. Both of our families supported us through this move. From moving our stuff to watching the boys, we have been given so much help through this whole process. We couldn’t have done it alone. Thank you to my friends who have been a listening ear for me through each step of this process. Your encouragement and prayers have kept me going. Thank you to my in-laws for letting your home be invaded by our loud and zany family. And a HUGE thank you to my hubby, Jeremy, for all the hard work he has put into this move and our whole housing situation. His efforts and strategy are the reason this move went so well. He has been a support to me as I’ve processed this change. His love has been so life giving to me. Last but not least, I am so thankful to God for each blessing and even each setback that has come out of this season. Our family has grown and God has shown up time and time again. We are counting our blessings and we are thankful!

Repacking the kitchen

Let’s do this!

Helping Mommy clean up the dust bunnies

Owen in his empty bedroom

7+ years in this house with this amazing man!

Cleaning, taking selfies and saying good-bye

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Happy Birthday, Graham! October 20, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:31 pm

Happy 1st Birthday, Graham!

Yesterday was Graham’s 1st birthday! What a first year! This week we’ve been up in Kirkland at MRI (Ministry Resources International) doing pastoral care/coaching/counseling (whatever you want to call it). Our mornings have been spent in appointments and then our afternoons/evenings have been spent doing homework and reflection. Graham has done a good job being a part of our meetings. I am proud of him. We packed lots of toys and snacks to keep him occupied while we met. He didn’t love spending the night at the hotel and was up quite a bit in the night. This meant our routine developed around getting him to take a nap before our meeting times and then after our meetings. This is how the first part of Graham’s birthday was spent. He got up early, enjoyed a breakfast of eggs & cheese at the hotel and then took a nap before our morning meetings with MRI. After our meetings we drove a little distance to have lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Graham enjoyed the baby plate they gave him of bananas and bread. He also enjoyed Jeremy’s chicken and pasta. We told them at dessert time that it was his birthday. He got a complementary ice cream sundae with a candle in it. The look on his face while they sang to him was priceless!

After lunch we did a little bit of mall walking and shopping. Graham got another nap on the way back to the hotel. At the hotel, we did homework time while Graham stretched his legs and ran around the room. Once Graham started to need our attention and focus again, we took him down to the hotel swimming pool. He had a great time doing laps around the pool with Jeremy. I’m not a huge fan of swimming so I chose to document the fun from a lounge chair. Once the swimmers got a bit chilly, we went back to our room for a warm bath. From there we went to dinner. Graham loved Jeremy’s tomato soup and we split a pumpkin cookie for a special birthday dessert. Then it was back to the hotel for bed time. It wasn’t a flashy birthday, but it was a lot of fun. Jeremy and I doted on him quite a bit through out the day. The ladies at the MRI office played a rapping birthday frog toy for him to help celebrate. Since he was wearing his first birthday shirt all day, he got lots of comments and well wishes from strangers. He is a loved and blessed little boy!

As I was unpacking today, I realized that I had forgotten to give Graham his birthday presents yesterday. Oops! Owen helped him open two new books this evening. One makes garden sounds and both boys love it! We left our MRI meeting today and went straight into Centralia for Graham’s one year well check. I have the official Graham stats to share with you. He is weighing in at 18lbs. 13oz. He didn’t break the 20lb. mark, but if I remember correctly, I don’t think Owen did either. However, Owen was a pound heavier by one year. Graham is 27.5in. tall which puts him below the charts for height. He is less than 1%. We know he is short and it was a conversation we had with the doctor. It’s too soon to tell, but we might have to keep an eye on his height in the future. He could have a growth hormone deficiency, but it’s too early to tell so nothing to be concerned about this moment. Graham’s head was 45.7cm at 39%. He is hitting all his developmental milestones spot on. His appetite in the last two weeks has taken off and he wants to eat everything! Hopefully that will help him grow!

Graham is a sweet kid. I am so glad God gave him to our family. This week has been a strange one, but it was fun to spend some one on one with Graham. He is a great little soul to have in counseling appointments. His smiles and hugs were very welcome. He is such a good walker and impressed so many people this week with how sturdy he is on his feet. He has also mastered the art of being able to stand up when he falls down. Before he would have to crawl over to something to get back up. Now that he can stand up on his own, he has officially master walking. He is now on to running and climbing and general toddler exploration and mischief. Other than his height, he is a big boy! He wants to keep up with the world. Nothing is slowing him down. He is a lovey and I’m so blessed to be his Mama. Happy 1st birthday,Graham! You are loved!

Playing with Daddy

Watching the wait staff sing him Happy Birthday!

Give me that!

Pool time

Stuffing his face with pumpkin cookie

Graham month by month!

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Family Pictures! October 17, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:47 pm

Thank you to Kelly Pea at Wildwood Photography for the wonderful family pictures!

I got the link today to download our family pictures. I love that we took the pictures in October because the fall landscape makes my heart happy. Little kids and leaves are a perfect combination for cute pictures. Below are a few pictures I wanted to share with you.

On a more personal note, tomorrow we start our first week of counseling. I’m nervous. About the actual counseling, about having Graham with us, about Owen being away from us. I know that God is in control and I can just respond the best I can to each moment as it comes. I think part of the reason I’m nervous is my emotions are bit on the heavy side right now. Today was been a full day of packing for both our trip and our house. We will come home Thursday evening and then we will spend the weekend moving. Today was the last day I’ll clean my house with furniture in it. So weird. When you add counseling, moving, health questions, a baby with a birthday in just a few days, you get an emotional Mama. I haven’t broken down yet. I guess I can save that for counselors office. Just a lot to process and a lot to prepare for in one week. As I type, I am taking a deep breath and trusting God to be in all it. Please say a prayer for us. The rest of October will be extremely busy. In fact, I’m not sure when I’ll get to blog again. Hopefully before we move I can post my 12 month Graham update. We’ll see. After that it might be November before you hear from me again. However, I always seem to make time for blogging therapy.

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Another Step Closer October 13, 2016

Filed under: Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 11:17 am

Before I get into our home news, I would like to let you know that there have been some small changes to this blog. You probably wouldn’t even notice unless I mentioned it here. Tragically, my last post used up all my “free” storage. This site has been free for me the last five years. In order to get more storage, I have to pay to keep this site up and running. Because blogging is like therapy for me and an investment into my mental health, Jeremy agreed I could upgrade my account with WordPress. One of the features of this upgrade is there will no longer be ads on my page. Also, I have my own domain name. My blog is now just amyscottsthoughts.com. There is no added wordpress.com associated with the link. I know, I know. I’m super cool now, for sure. I don’t love that I have to pay an annual fee for this blog, but I should get another 10 years out of the storage that I have available to me. Here’s to another decade of blogging! Also, I plan on updating my “About Me” section in the next week. At the moment, the information doesn’t include Graham in our family. I think I updated it about two years ago! We had family pictures this last week and once I get a chance to go through them, I’ll update the information and include a new photo of our family.

The big news of the week is our appraisal came back to us this week. It’s $2,000 less than I had hoped for, but $7,000 more than our last appraisal, so we quickly agreed to the new number. This means we are officially moving toward closing with no foreseeable hiccups. I’m conditioned to be reserved with dates when it comes to our housing situation, but I think we most likely move now on Saturday, October 22nd. We have about a week and half left in our home before moving in with Jeremy’s parents. In August, I was sad to move. I love our house on Moonlit Lane. It’s been a great house for us and a very precious season of life has been lived here. Those feelings haven’t diminished within me, but the sadness has definitely decreased. Mostly because I am itching for my new house to be built! I look at the floor plan for our new home and I get giddy with excitement and possibility! I’m ready for this process to move forward! We have been pre-approved for a construction loan and Jeremy is out with the construction supervisor right now staking out where our home will go. We are right on the cusp on things taking off! I am thrilled and ready! Let’s go!

As I mentioned before, this week we had family pictures taken. I figured it was a good time since October is birthday month. I wanted to capture the boys right at 3 & 1. This is such a fun time with them. I have seen a few sneak peek photos, but I haven’t seen them all yet. I will post a few once I have a chance to sort through them. We haven’t done family pictures in the past, but this year it really meant something to me. I guess after having the difficult season that we’ve been walking through, I wanted photos of this family. I wanted to look at pictures and see smiles and remember my blessings. I don’t think you regret taking family pictures and capturing memories. I want to remember this season.

This last week I’ve done a lot of thinking… I’m prone to loose sight of the good things because I get lost looking at the hard things. This is a tendency I will always have to battle. I was talking with Jeremy and we started to remind ourselves of the good things that have come our way this last year. It was life giving for me. I used to make lists of God’s gifts in my life. The small day to day things. I find myself still making list. They are mental lists, but almost daily I am reciting things that I am thankful for. Big, small. It doesn’t matter. Thankfulness is the thing that is carrying me through. When I get focused on the negative, I redirect my mind to my blessings and they are many. I am praying today for anyone reading this who might be walking through a hard season. It can be overwhelming to look at your situation and not get distracted or discouraged by the weight of it all. But God is good. I know I always wrap up by saying God is good, but it’s so true. He is good. He is for us. He is in every moment. Maybe take a moment to make a mental list of the good blessings you have. Thank God that he is here in the midst of it all!

Reading with Nana

Visiting Papa means stealing his walker!

Graham’s Turn

My sweet boys!

A quick visit to Mt. Rainier to see the fall color!

Loving the crunchy leaves in the park!

Holding my hand and crunching leaves together

Owen likes to sit in front of the heater. Just like Mommy!

A sneak peek from our family pictures!

Enjoying a play date with the cousins while Jeremy was the cardiologist.

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Owen is Three! October 9, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 10:21 pm

I had a long and lovely blog written about my fantastic three year old and then my computer glitched and I lost it all. I almost cried. Nothing like pouring your heart into a piece capturing your growing boy at this moment in time and then having it disappear into nothing. It’s a very defeating feeling. While I am game to try again, this post might be shorter than the first. This might be in your favor since you didn’t want to spend hours of your day reading a novel about Owen.

Owen’s birthday was Saturday. We spent the morning visiting a model train show at the fairgrounds. It was more of a swap meet for train parts than a train show. They had about three tracks with trains running. It didn’t matter to Owen that it was small. He had a blast watching those three trains. A part of the train show was free admission to the Lewis County Historical Museum. The museum is in an old train station and the whole backroom is set up with a model train track that travels through Lewis County. It was a super cool set up and really completed the model train morning. The best part was a freight train went right by while we were there and Owen ran outside out and excitedly watched it. After all the model train fun, we went to lunch at Peking House and Owen had fried rice. It was the perfect Owen outing. Owen came home from our adventures and went down for a nap because even birthday boys need naps. When he got up, Jeremy and Owen went into town to get pizza. The birthday boy promptly asked for a piece of brownie cake when he was finished with his pizza. We sang happy birthday and Owen got to blow out the candle (twice because he loves it so much). This kid loves and appreciates chocolate. The brownie quickly disappeared and we were on to presents. Owen got a set of Christmas storybooks and a railroad crossing for his wooden railway. The rest of the evening was spent taking a very messy bubble bath thanks to Daddy and then playing with trains until bedtime.

Owen loves all things trains. We drive over the train tracks in Napavine on the way to church. Owen calls this “train way.” We go the train way a lot. He loves books about trains and loves to watch videos of trains on YouTube (I die of boredom). He is also into trucks and construction. He loves things that move and go. Right now, he is blissfully happy to have a bunch of new toys to play with. He was blessed with many awesome birthday presents. We have amazing friends and family who have loved on him well (Graham too). When Owen isn’t playing (with trains), he likes to color and play with Play Doh. We love to read together. He is enjoying his Phonics Readers from Usborne and his Bible. His favorite Bible story is the story of the two builders where one man builds a house on the sand and the other builds on the rock. We sing the same song I sang as a kid and do all the motions. He likes singing about how the house on the sand goes splat. Owen loves to sing these days. He joined us for worship this morning at church and attempted to sing along even though he didn’t know the words. He later told me that they were singing to us at church and I got to explain that the singing was called worship and that we were all singing to God to say thank you and honor him. I love moments like this and I am excited for many more as he continues to grow. These God moments are my favorite!

Owen loves his stuffed animal, Lamby. He is Owen’s security blanket and best buddy. Our household is in a big Daniel Tiger phase right now. We love the songs and I’m contemplating having Owen be Daniel Tiger for Halloween, but the jury is still out there. Owen is growing out of the terrible twos and I have high hopes that three will be an improvement in attitude. Owen now says “I love you” throughout the day. It melts my heart. I tell him that I love him often and it’s so special to hear him say it now. He gives kisses on the cheek upon request. He is fairly good at saying please and thank you. He also knows to say excuse me when he burps. I’m praying those manners continue to stick as he grows up. If you ask him what his favorite color is he will most likely say green. His favorite food is rice. He loves chocolate milk. He is goofy and creative and says the best things. I could listen to him talk for hours. He now comments on when things are fun. The other day he told Jeremy, “I love eating food with you, Daddy.” Anything that takes place in the past is yesterday – could have been yesterday, last week or a month ago. I’m loving the fact that he is potty trained. He is even dry through the night. The transition to a big boy bed as been amazingly smooth. He stays in bed and doesn’t get up until Jeremy or I come into the room and tell him it’s okay. I am so grateful for that! He has grown up so much this year!

His well check isn’t until November so I don’t have any official stats on him yet. I can tell you that he has been consistently weighing in at 29lbs for some time. I love that he didn’t break 30lbs by age 3. Little lightweight. He is now wearing 4T shirts and 3T (with the waistband cinched up tight). He would prefer to wear pajamas more than anything else. I have taught him well! I love that he still loves footie pajamas. They are his top choice.

There a million small things that make Owen so amazing. I could go on forever about how wonderful he is. He can be strong-willed and zany, but he is equally sweet and kind. I am so glad that God gave him to Jeremy and I. Owen has changed my world and I now can’t imagine my life without him. He is a miracle. I love watching him grow and become himself more and more each day. He is truly a fantastic kid and I am blessed to be his mom! This season of his childhood is the best. I love it!

PS… I don’t think this retry was any shorter than the first! So sorry. I tried. Sort of. Maybe not. The end.

Baby Owen

1 year old!

2 years old!

Good morning birthday boy! Someone special is officially 3!

At the model train show

The model train room at the Historical Museum

Little Train Lover

A leaf!

A quick spin with the bubble mower

Yummy pizza

Make a wish!

Love that smile!

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Pumpkins, Teddy Bears and the Big Haircut October 7, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 5:42 pm

We had a bit of fun yesterday. We drove down south to go to a pumpkin patch. My sister-in-law invited us to join her moms’ group. Owen and I joined them last year and we had a fantastic time. I was excited to go again. Owen loved spending time with his cousin, Nolan. When I asked Owen what he liked most about the pumpkin patch, his response was seeing Nolan. We got to go on a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch where we picked two pumpkins. Then we went through the hay maze, visited the petting zoo and climbed the straw pyramid. It was a wonderful fall outing. I love pumpkins. Jeremy joked that a pumpkin patch is my ideal garden and I totally agree. The more pumpkins the better in my book! It was fun to have Graham experience the pumpkin patch as well. He did a decent job walking around in shoes (something new to him since he usually roams around bare foot). October is my favorite month of the year and activities like this are the reason why.

After getting some lunch, we took off for the mall. My aunt had given the boys gift cards to Build-A-Bear for their birthdays. While Build-A-Bear isn’t something I would normally spend the money on, I was excited for them to have this experience. Owen really enjoyed it even though he was super tired. Owen picked out a bear for himself and for Graham. He helped the employee fill the bears by stepping on the pedal. He gave his bear a good brush before we got them all dressed up. Owen’s bear got a full Seahawks jersey outfit with helmet included. Graham’s bear got a Sehawks hoodie. A part of the process is naming the bears and printing their birth certificates. Jeremy named Owen’s bear “Blitz” and Graham’s bear “Graham Bear.” Owen walked away proudly carrying the signature Build-A-Bear box. Both boys took long naps with their bears on the ride home from the big day.

Today was a milestone day for Graham. He got his first haircut. I’m lazy and cheap so I hold off on the first haircut until the first birthday. Plus, this is the only time of life where crazy baby hair is cute and makes sense. Owen did really well for his first haircut, so I was hopeful for Graham. However, Graham hated it. It cried and couldn’t be distracted. This could be his first and last salon cut… At least for a while. Part of me thinks we’ll give it another try and see if the results change. If not, then it’s buzz cuts at home like his brother!

My boys are getting bigger and growing up. Tomorrow is Owen’s 3rd birthday!!! I can’t believe it! We have a fun outing to a model train show planned for him. He knows that is his birthday activity and he tells anyone who listen that is going to the model train show. He might never want to leave. My next post will be all about my big 3 year old and his special day. Exciting times!

Fun with the bubble mower

When big brother is away, little brother can play with all the toys!

Apparently this is how Owen visits Papa in the hospital. He just moves on in. Glad that Papa’s knee surgery went well and that he is home recovering now.

Pumpkin Patch

Build-A-Bear

A happy, quiet ride home!

Before

After – He was a total crank. No smiles.

Something for the memory box

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Birthday Party Weekend with a Health & Home Update October 4, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:41 pm

My last post ended with Jeremy’s upcoming appointment with our family doctor. At that appointment, Jeremy asked to get a referral to a new cardiologist. We wanted to get a second opinion since his first cardiologist couldn’t explain the chest pain Jeremy was having and didn’t seem too concerned with figuring it out. To our surprise, we had an appointment with the new cardiologist in just a few days of asking for the referral.

Friday was a busy day. We found out on Thursday that we would be having our appraisal on Friday. I’m glad we had a little more notice this time. Last time they told us on the day of which wasn’t my favorite thing. We already had plans to be gone on Friday morning to go shopping for the boys’ birthday parties so it worked out well for the appraisal to happen at that time. We thought he would be gone by noon and we arrived home at 12:15pm hoping to put the boys’ down for a nap, but the appraiser was still there! We went and dropped food off at Jeremy’s parent’s house and came back home. The appraiser was still there. Then we ran into Napavine to get lunch and arrived back home at 1:15pm. Thankfully, he was gone at that point, but it threw off our nap plans.

Jeremy’s parents spent Friday afternoon with the boys so we could go down to Vancouver for Jeremy’s second opinion appointment. The doctor was saw was young. He is only a year older than me. He listened to Jeremy’s story and symptoms. He agreed to do an echocardiogram. Jeremy had one a few years ago, but those can be subjective, so the doctor wants to look over one with his own eyes. He is also thinking of doing a CT scan on Jeremy’s chest to see something might be causing the feeling Jeremy has. He is also concerned about Jeremy’s heart rhythm and suggested maybe a long term implanted heart monitor instead of the 30 days monitor that Jeremy is currently wearing (he is almost finished with his 30 days and can mail it back this weekend). While Jeremy wasn’t jazzed about the implanted heart monitor idea, we are thankful for another set of eyes looking things over. October will more tests and follow up appointments. His medical appointments will most likely continue into November, but we are hoping that Jeremy can go back to work at that point (after our two weeks in Kirkland for counseling).

More appointments & a new doctor for the health update, we’ve had our appraisal and are awaiting the results for the home update. Now for the fun stuff! This weekend we celebrated the boys’ upcoming birthdays. October is full of birthdays in our family, so we wanted to do a combined party for Owen & Graham. I also wanted to do it early in the month so it wouldn’t conflict with other birthdays. It was fun to celebrate our almost 3 year old and almost 1 year old. Graham wasn’t too interested in opening presents. Owen assumed all the presents were for him which is kind of true. These boys share everything at this point. No toy is off limits to either of them. The boys got tons of new toys. Our days have been spent playing, playing, playing. Graham loved the frosting on his birthday cupcake, but didn’t get too into the cake part. Owen loved his Thomas cake and Thomas themed party. For one of the parties, we played pin the funnel on Thomas and gave out Thomas tattoos. I love themed parties!

This Saturday is Owen’s actual birthday. We will attend a model train show at our local fairgrounds and go to lunch at Owen’s favorite Chinese restaurant for fried rice. I will make brownies with frosting for his birthday cake. Owen loves to blow out birthday candles so he’ll get another chance at that. He’ll also get a few birthday presents from Jeremy and I. It should be a really fun day.

Now we wait to hear back on the results of our appraisal. I’m praying for better numbers than last time. Once we have the appraisal officially behind us, we should be closing in 7-10 business days. Jeremy & his dad cleared out the 3 rooms we will be moving into. My father-in-law, Bill, has knee surgery tomorrow. I feel bad that we will be moving into his house when he is recovering. Hopefully our crazy family doesn’t slow down his recovery process. However, I have been holding a very tentative view of moving. Ideally our new closing date will be around Friday, October 28^th and possibly moving the weekend of the 22^nd. Obviously nothing is set in stone at this moment. I will admit that I’m not quite sure how all the dates will pan out with counseling out of the area, more doctors’ appointments, moving and closing. Things might pile on top of each other bit… I know that God is in control of all these dates and details. I don’t need to know right now. I just need to focus on today and what is immediately ahead of me. The rest will come in time.

Even in this strange season, I have so much to be thankful for. I am blessed by our family and friends who showed up and loved on our boys this weekend. I am thankful for all the time we’ve gotten to spend as a family of four. I’ve loved having Jeremy home and so have the boys. They have no clue what is going on with Jeremy’s health so all they see is the positive of having their dad around all the time. Jeremy and I have always been a great team. We worked together well professionally and now that translates into parenting together. Some women have told me they could never work with their spouse, that they need that time apart during the day. I, however, can spend almost every waking minute with Jeremy and never grow tired of him. I love him so much. I love our life together. That is why figuring out his health is so important to me. I want him to be healthy so our family has decades upon decades with him. He means so much to me and the boys. We couldn’t ask for a better husband and father. While this medical leave and time away from work hasn’t been an easy one for our family, I am grateful for the time we’ve spent together. I will look back on this season and know that we faced it together as a family, full of love, full of hope. There is so much good in the midst of the hard. God is in all of it and we are thankful.