Baby Blessings

James had his baby blessing on Sunday, May 4.  For those who are not familiar with this practice of the LDS church, you can read about it here.  Listening to James' blessing reminded me of the day Owen was blessed, so I came home and read through my notes from Owen's blessing.

Some key words from Owen's included: faith, strength, courage, love, kindness, happiness.
From James': power, patience, wisdom, peace, faith, understanding.

Each time one of our babies is blessed I am struck by the incredible potential and capacity contained in such a small person, a person that Heavenly Father has entrusted to me.  I feel so excited to get to know my children and see the good they can accomplish in this world. I'm grateful that I am blessed to have such an active role in the lives of such special people, and that I am able to glimpse just a small bit of what they are capable when I hear them being blessed.

James' blessing day photoshoot:

 He's started sticking his tongue out lately.  Cutest thing ever.

Of interest:  We call this blanket the "Bethlehem blanket".  Casey's Grandma Lucy bought a number of these blankets while visiting Jerusalem.  From what I understand (Pickett/Hickman family members correct me if I'm wrong), she has given one to each of her grandchildren when they have had children.  Owen was blessed in it, and now James used it on his blessing day.  A beautiful tradition, I think.

Exuberance

Today, when I went upstairs and told Owen he could be finished with quiet time, he ran out of his room yelling, with boundless enthusiasm and joy, "Hooray!  I'm the ting (king)!!", and then beamed that smile that lights up his whole face.

James, who was in the next room, had just fallen back asleep after waking too early from his nap (even by his standards).  My first inclination was to shush Owen, "Owen! James just got back to sleep!  Shhhh!!!", and that's usually what I would do.  Today, though, I smiled, bent down, hugged him, and told him that I love him.  Then James woke back up for good.

I tell you this story, not to make myself out as some sort of saintly mother with copious amounts of patience, but because I feel this reflects something that has been on my mind often, as of late.

As I think on the kind of mother I want to be for my children, and evaluate where I am in relation to that ideal, I am woefully far from my goal.  I do things on an almost daily basis that hurt Owen's feelings, that extinguish the exuberance with which he views the world at this point in his life.  I (figuratively) kick myself when I see this happen, and try to remind myself that he won't always be this way, and that I just need to love and encourage and build-up and enjoy him during this beautiful period of childhood.  Unfortunately, I am often unsuccessful in remembering these things when it really counts, but, sometimes, sometimes there are moments like today's, where I am able to be the kind of mother that Owen needs.  Moments that are beautiful and that just feel right.  My hope is that there are enough of these moments to balance out the other ones.  I want my children to think back on our home and remember feeling loved and happy and peaceful in it.  I'm convinced that I will never look back and think, "I'm so bugged that Owen woke James up that day" or "I wish Owen had left me alone so that I could have cleaned the kitchen", but I will wish I could go back and be a little kinder, show more compassion, share in my children's happiness more sincerely, and race a few more toy cars.

So here's to exuberance.

And please pardon the wordy and introspective post on this blog that is usually short stories, pictures of my children, and DIY projects.  I was waxing philosophic last night.  I can't promise it won't happen again. :)

      

A spoon full of sugar

We recently rented Mary Poppins from the library.  It was both Owen's and my first time seeing it.  We both loved it, and since watching it (more than once), Owen has been singing the songs (or at least the parts he knows) throughout the day. (Don't feel obligated to watch the whole video, I know not everyone thinks my children are as cute as I do). :)

Also, some Easter pictures:

If...Then

As a parent, I make a lot of "if, then" statements to Owen.  Examples:

• If you choose to be disobedient, you will take a time out.
• If you watch too much TV, it's not good for your body or your mind.
• If you scream, you will take a time out.
• If you don't get enough sleep, you will have a hard time feeling happy and will not have enough energy to play.
• If I don't get quiet time, I have a hard time being a nice happy mommy.

And so on, and so forth. (The actual "then" is implied).

Lately Owen has been coming up with some "if, then" statements of his own.  Some of my recent favorites:

• If you don't give me crayons in quiet time, I will just have to draw on the walls! (This after I banned crayons during quiet time because he colored on the walls...)
• If I don't have one of those (his dinner plate that I took to the counter to cut up the chicken on it), I will just have to eat the tableclof!
• (At bedtime) If I don't get to finish my volleyball game tonight, I will never get to play volleyball adain!! (He can be a little dramatic...)

Sometimes I have to turn around so that he can't see me laughing; I know this is pretty serious stuff to him!

In other news, James had his 2 month appointment a couple weeks ago (how is he already almost 3 months??)  He weighed 12 lbs 2.5 oz, and was 22 3/4 in. long.

I took these pictures on a day that we had some great light in Owen's room. I tried to take some of Owen; this was the best I could get.  I feel that it captures his personality quite well. ;)

 

Owen-isms

Owen: Oh no!  They'we going to start the toncert wifout me!  I better hurry! Quick!
Katalyn: You better!
Owen: Will you tome upstairs and listen?
Katalyn: Sure.
All proceed upstairs
Owen: Da show is starting!  Today, we're talking about lions.
Katalyn (from rocking chair while feeding James): Lions?
Owen: Yes.  The lions are toming to eat you, and you need to run away.

What kind of concert/show is this?  Has someone been reading/showing my child the Hunger Games?


Katalyn: Owen are you downstairs?
Owen: Yes, I'm in da basement!
Katalyn: What are you doing?
Owen: I'm making someting to till someone.
Katalyn:...
Katalyn: It's not good to kill people, Owen.
Owen: Nope, but it's dood to till an-uh-moes who are drumpy (grumpy)!


Owen: Umm...maybe baby James needs dlasses....

The power of suggestion

Things are going well here at the Pickett household.  See?

(I'm afraid that this might be what every picture looks like for the next 15 years.  Owen: "Oh yeah, everything is great, Mom!"  James: "How could you let this happen.")

Don't let Owen's innocent face fool you.  He seems to have a little terror streak hidden in that little body of his.  Don't believe me?  Let me illustrate:

Wednesday morning was going to be one of my first mornings to venture out.  We had some library items to return, and I thought the library sounded like a safe outing.  I got us breakfast and was going to take a shower and get us all dressed when James started crying.  I stopped and sat down in the rocking chair in Owen's room to feed him.  Now, we recently flipped the door knob in Owen's room around so that it can be locked from the outside, because he's been getting out of bed a lot as of late.  That is an important factor in this story.  So there I was, feeding James, when I saw Owen start to play with the lock button.  My panic response set in, and I said in a rather severe tone, "Owen, do not press that button and close the door!"  Can you guess what happened next?  You bet.  He pressed the button and slammed the door, locking all of us inside.  After reprimanding him (also rather severely, if I'm being completely honest), I started thinking of ways to get us out.  I finished feeding James, then started combing the room for something, anything, to unlock the door.  By this time Owen started screaming, "I WANT TO GET OUT!!!" over and over.  I finally decided that their was nothing that would allow me to unlock the door, when Owen changed his chant to, "I NEED TO GO POTTY".  Add to this James' screams, which also started during my search, and you can imagine I was feeling pretty desperate.  I then tried to take the pins out of the door hinges and open it that way.  Out came one...two...and the third was stuck. Fast.  I then started thinking of people I could call, although I wasn't sure any of our doors to the outside were unlocked, and the situation was rather embarrassing for me.  I started out calling people on my street.  One after the other, no answer.  Then I moved to the next street.  One phone call, no answer, next phone call, thankfully, Mandy answered the phone.  I asked if she was home, and then explained the situation to her.  She said that she and Heather would be right over, and I hoped beyond hope that our back door was open.  Shortly thereafter they arrived and opened the back door (it was unlocked, hallelujah!) and opened Owen's door for us.  I thanked them profusely, Owen went potty, James fell asleep, and all was well with the world.  Traumatic at the time, hilarious in hindsight.  (Huge thank you, once again, to Heather and Mandy.  You saved us!)

In all seriousness, I love both of my little guys, and I'm grateful for Owen's keeping life exciting and fun!

And just for good measure:

Sweet Baby James

Well, I had all sorts of pictures ready to play catch-up here, but now that our sweet boy has made his arrival, I imagine most people (at least of those who read this blog) would prefer to look at pictures of him rather than...I don't know, something else. :)  James was born a week ago (January 15) at 3:48 pm.  I started having regular contractions around 9 am, so he was pretty quick in coming.  He weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz, although who knows where he was hiding.  One of the labor and delivery nurses said she'd eat her hat if he was 8 lbs...luckily she was off by the time he was born, so no one had to eat a hat.  His full name is James Ernest Pickett, middle named for my grandfather.  Owen is enamored with him, and loves holding his little "brudder".  He kisses James and pats his head, and generally makes sure we're keeping him happy, because if you ask him he is a baby expert!

Here he is:

 Owen meeting James for the first time.

I spy a rhino toe. (For those who don't know, my pinky toes curl over like that, and don't straighten.  Casey calls them rhino toes, and thinks they are pretty funny.) 

Casey is on his pediatric rotation, but got a few days off to stay in the hospital and come home with us.

Nana got to come, and thank Heavens!  I'm not sure what we would have done without her.  Thank you again Nana!  We miss you already.

A little photoshoot.  He got mad pretty quick.  This boy certainly has an idea of what he wants, and is not afraid to let us know!

First bath at home.  Nana is an expert, he hardly cried at all.

So there you have it.  Being a mother of two is certainly going to try me, and cause me to stretch and grow in ways I've never imagined.  As I type this one-handed, while nursing a baby with the other arm, all the while emitting a faint aroma of spit-up and pee, it is not glamorous, but it is my life, and right now it looks pretty beautiful to me.