Lessons from the Day...

1. Always carry your cell phone
2. Always carry a diaper bag
3. AAA is the worth it
4. Have a baby with you

Let me explain...

B and I took Ella to the vet this morning for her yearly visit. The plan was to drop her off around 7:30am and then come home, eat breakfast (both B and I), go for a walk, do laundry, clean the house, take a shower, get Owen dressed etc.

This is what happened...

B and I dropped Ella off and walked back to the car. I put B in his car seat, put the stroller in the trunk, and then got myself into the car, buckled up, put the key in the ignition...and NOTHING! The car wouldn't even turn over...so I reach over to get my cell phone to call Chad and....NO CELL PHONE! I had forgotten it as Ella, B and I rushed out of the house this morning, I had the diaper bag...but not the phone. So I unbuckled, got B out, walked back up to the vet's office, knocked on the door, waited for someone to open the door and asked if I could use their phone...lesson #1.

I tried calling Chad, but couldn't get a hold of him so I called AAA...lesson #3. I explained my dilemma to a kind woman at the other end of the line and she dispatched a tow truck to come meet me in the parking lot...in an hour. She told me that they would call when they were close, I had to give her the vet's number and admit to not having my phone. At that point I realized that Owen had not eaten, he was still in his pajamas (because I thought it was going to be about a 20 minute trip to the vet) and I hadn't eaten or had my morning coffee. There is a Target not too far from the vet so Owen and I walked to the Target to get some coffee, water and breakfast all while trying to be quick because the tow truck driver couldn't call me and I didn't want to miss him. We rushed back to the vet and....waited...and waited...and waited. The kind people at the vet offered to let us sit inside but I was concerned that we would miss the tow truck, so we sat outside on the sidewalk. I realized that I had unintentionally left a bottle with powder formula in Owen's diaper bag...I was able to add water to it and then feed him, hoping that it would hold him over until we were able to get home....lesson #2.

The tow truck arrived about an hour later. The driver looked under the hood of my car, tested the battery and said "Ma'am, it's your battery...it's dead. " So I asked, "Can you charge it?" and he said, "I will try." He goes on to try and we both realize that the battery is so dead it won't hold a charge, he then went on to tell me that he could sell me one. He went back to his truck to get a new battery and realized he didn't have one, so I asked "Can you tow us?" He replies, "No, you'll have to call AAA back and get another tow truck to come out." At this point, I try to be as polite as possible and thank him for his time and walk back into the vet to use the phone. Long story short, we have to wait another hour and a half at the vet on the sidewalk waiting for another tow truck. When the tow truck arrived, the driver helped me get Owen (in his car seat) up into the cab of his truck (Owen's first big truck ride)...and then preceded to put the car onto the truck's bed with a massive hydraulic system. The driver asked where I wanted to go...I tell him where the previous driver had told me and he responds "That place will sell you a battery, but they won't put it in...you know that right?" Of course, I didn't know that. He preceded to tell me that he could take me there and that he would put the battery in for me, even though he isn't supposed to to things like that and that I can just tip him really well...I smile, say thank you for the offer and suggest going to another place...he shook his head and said "Okay, you'll pay more there!".

We finally arrived at the auto store to learn yet again...that my battery was completely dead! The polite man told me that it would be about two and a half hours to have the battery put in, that they didn't have a battery and would have to go and get one at another store, I panicked a little...thinking that Owen hadn't eaten in about three hours, not to mention he was still in his pajamas. The man must have seen the panic in my eyes, when he saw Owen he said "Just one minute." He left for a minute, came back and told me "We found a battery and we will try to get it in stalled in a few minutes"...lesson #4. I felt bad, there were about four customers in front of us...but they didn't have hungry babies!

15 minutes later, I was given the bill for an entirely too expensive battery...but I had a car that was able to turn over and drive us home.

All in all it has been quite a morning...I will never forget my cell phone at home again, I will always carry the diaper bag with me, I will gladly renew our AAA membership next year and I will continue to be so grateful for our little guy!

The Boys

It has been and continues to be such an honor to watch Chad evolve into a dad...
Owen is typically asleep when Chad leaves for work in the morning, so the evening is a special time for the two of them. Chad's face will light up when he sees Owen after walking in the door from work and Owen has started to smile when he hears Chad's voice (It is a pretty recognizable voice)...

In this photo, B had had a pretty grumpy evening...Chad took him out onto the front porch to rock in the rocker and it started to rain...the combination of being with his dad, being outside, rocking and the rain made him fall right to sleep!
Here, Chad is starting B off early...the two are reading from "The Dangerous Book for Boys". My brother, Jamey, gave this book to Chad for Christmas a couple years back. Chad has decided that he and Owen are going to read the book together as they rock before bed in Owen's glider. Chad read it from cover to cover as he brushed up on his knot tying, compass reading, fire starting, bear wrestling, hog tying skills. I can only imagine what Chad and Owen will be up to in our back yard in years to come...I better get the ice packs, band-aids and video camera ready!

Chad knows that J, will be (if he hasn't already started) reading this book to Trip...Chad wants to make sure that Owen will be up to par when he and Trip have their next play date!

Rice Cereal!

B went to the pediatrician last week for his four month check up...time has really flown by! B received a clean bill of health and the pediatrician encouraged us to slowly begin introducing B to solid foods. Of course we will start with the traditional and rather bland looking and smelling rice cereal before we attempt any other "solid" foods... At first he didn't know what to think of the spoon, we placed a little bit of cereal on the spoon and put it up to his mouth and he sort of spit it out...

He got the hang of the whole spoon thing after a couple tries and then got so excited that he started to sort of grunt in between spoonfuls...


We weren't sure if more cereal ended up on B's face or in his stomach? He did enjoy an impromptu bath after he finished his "snack"...

All in all it was a pretty successful first attempt with solid food. It is so amazing to think that we were just learning about our little guy this time last year...and now we look forward to simple daily rituals like feeding him rice cereal, giving him baths, reading him stories, etc.....my how life can change...we continue to be so grateful!

We will work on posting some video of B's first tastes of rice cereal...they were pretty funny, I don't know who was funnier...B or Chad and I laughing at our efforts to get the cereal into his mouth?

One More Quick Video

This is a video that I had wanted to post when I posted the photo of the mountain of laundry a few weeks back...

Here are my two cheerleaders...just picture me behind the camera bending down, taking clothes out of the dryer, folding the clothes and repeating the process...over and over again...most would think it to be a mundane task...but with this kind of encouragement, I couldn't help but keep going!

Video Test Run

With Chad's help...I have been able to upload some short videos that we have taken this summer. This video is from the other night when B was taking a bath...he is really starting to coo and "talk" more and will turn his head in the direction that he hears people talking...it is so much fun to talk to him and with him as you can hear both Chad and I doing in this video...

I wish I could bottle up his little voice as I know it will continue to change as he grows up, there is something about a baby's voice that draws you into their little world...it is truly a simple joy!

Our Water Baby

Okay...I am procrastinating from the laundry pile in our clothes hamper that seems quite perpetual...but my cousin was telling me about how much her daughter is enjoying her bath time with splashing in the water and playing with bath toys...so last night, in an effort to get B ready for bed, we got the bath toys out and let him enjoy some good old fashioned water fun...this photo was before we gave B a water mohawk for the first time... and the water mohawk...

and this just captures his precious eyes that make both Chad's and my heart melt. We continue to be so thankful for this little guy...

Ella

Ella headed to summer camp last week while we enjoyed out time in California...our friends, Kate & Andy we gracious enough to take care of Ella for us....thank you Kate & Andy! Ella enjoyed a fun filled weekend of playing with her buddy Berkley, going for walks, going to the dog park, getting brushed... for an funny and complete recap of her time at camp check out http://www.thefriederichsflock.blogspot.com/