Mom's birthday

Today would have been my Mom's 63rd birthday. I wish it would have been a happy birthday... love you and miss you so much, Mom. x

Weekend - move & sad news from an old friend.

First - some happy news. We moved into our house this weekend, which was just amazing. It's so nice to have a whole big house all to ourselves! Owen is adjusting well and actually slept pretty good both nights so far. I am loving unpacking and organizing all my clothes - finally in one place after many, many years scattered - in my giant walk-in closet. Jason has his own walk-in closet, smaller than mine but still way bigger than the amount of clothes he has!

Unfortunately, I got some sad news that an old dear friend from high school's dad passed away on Sunday from a short and terrible battle with cancer. He was only diagnosed in August. Here's her blog: http://theclous.blogspot.com/. She was very close to her father and he was a wonderful, generous person who took care of himself really well throughout his life. He was 61.

In case anyone hadn't realized this - cancer is one of the worst ways to go.

The past year has changed me so much... I feel like I was living in a happy little bubble and the possibility of losing my parents was just so far in the future... I just kind of assumed I'd have them until they were old and crickety. Losing my mom not only shattered that bubble, but made me realize how many people go through this and how awful it really is. I've told so many people to have them say that they lost a parent at a young age, or their spouse has. It's so sad. I'm still mad... I look at little old ladies and just don't understand why that can't be my mom. It's just not fair. And even so, I know how lucky I am that my Mom got to see me get married, and got to meet Owen, especially since the few weeks she spent with me in December and January were her last healthy, care-free weeks.

Anyway - send all your happy positive thoughts to NJ for my friend Ericka please. And if you have spare ones pass them along to my family too. x

New house!!

It's Friday, and for that I am very grateful! Poor little Owen has been sick all week with high fevers... 104.3 makes for a very hot little potato.

Not the best week for him to be sick, as Jason had to keep him out of daycare and deal with all the house stuff at the same time. We move in tomorrow!!! Sooooo excited. We've gone from London - where we had a tiny little 2 bedroom flat - to staying with parents, and now to a big beautiful 5 bedroom house. I can't believe it! I'll post a photo or two this weekend after we get moved in!

While I am looking forward to next weekend having 4 days in a row off to unpack and organize our house, I am dreading dealing with Thanksgiving without my Mom. I know there's plenty in my life to be thankful for - my wonderful son, husband, father, sister, inlaws, etc - but I am overwhelmed by how terrible the past months have been since Mom got sick and we lost her. How can I be thankful for anything yet? And a few days after Thanksgiving - on Tuesday, November 30 - it is Mom's birthday. I miss her so much. The time leading up to her passing and the days after were horrific, but trying to accept each day without her is deeply sad and incredibly hard. The reality of it just f'ing sucks.

Anyway... I am looking forward to 2011 and hope that it will be a new beginning and a fresh start and a better year. Hopefully our new house will be a big step forwards. x

How did we pick such a popular name?

We thought we were being so creative.... it was on our last big holiday in Mallorca, Spain, before baby arrived that we got down to a short list of girls and boys names for our little bubba. We both had separate lists, created after combing carefully through a baby names book... Jason suggested "Owen" and it made it through each rounds of cuts and became the winner. Noah was our #2 name. Payton was our girls name.

Now.... I have heard of SO MANY Owens, Noahs, and Paytons. How did that happen? What's funny is Owen is a really rare name in the UK, where we were when he was born, so it truly was unique. Then we get back here and every time I'm out I hear moms yelling at their Owens and hear stories about other baby Owens all around. And Noahs. A boatload (or an ark-load...ha... this why Noah didn't win, by the way). And Paytons. My roommate from college, as a matter of fact, had a Payton in August.

Turns out, Owen was the #36 most popular boys name in 2009. Well, Noah was #6, so I guess between the 2 we chose right. http://www.babycenter.com/top-baby-names-2009

I still love the name Owen, but have come to accept that his kindergarten class will be full of other little Owens. There's no way they'll be as cute and wonderful as my Owen, but still. They will exist.

The cutest little pumpkin pie....

I often call Owen my pumpkin pie, and what better time to do so than in October? I challenge you to not oooohhh and aaaahhh at his cuteness.

In very exciting news, we close on our house 1 week from today! Owen can't wait to test out his new bed and room! We are hoping it's magical and gets him to sleep through the night. Any day now, baby. It's true dad mostly has to deal with brutal night duty these days (I only get 2 days a week at the moment), for the sake of all of us we are hoping a sleep cure arrives soon.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Chris x