On the Road Again

Yes, that's right the Nomads (I'm thinking about change our last name to this...what do you think?) are on the move again. I swear my child is going to grow up thinking he lives in our van! I keep telling myself that although I'm dragging my child all over this green earth, he is getting to spend lots of quality time with all his grandparents and the rest of his family that loves him so much. But I have to say, honestly, I will be glad when there's a lull in the traveling and I don't have to pack and unpack bag after bag after bag. Unfortunately, I don't think that lull will come until November!!! But we are loving every minute we get to spend with our family.

This week we are headed to Murphysboro. It will just be Owen and me this trip as we are going while Daddy is working. We leave tomorrow and come back next Wednesday. We have Grandpa Steve to thank for the extended stay. He is going on a trip himself and won't be back until Monday so we agreed to stay a few days extra so he could spend some time with Owen. Really, I think it was some sort of scheme on Grandma's part to not only get Owen all to herself but to get him to stay longer as well! Either way, we are excited to be there for almost a week. We're also hopeful that Cody might be able to finish painting our new front door, paint the shutters to actually match the new door (right now door is blue and shutters are green!), and stain the woodwork around the door. These are all tasks that are difficult to do with Owen around the house. Wish him luck!

We are actually going for my cousin Beth's baby shower that I am helping host. I am so excited for the day to finally be here! I feel like we have been planning this thing for a year! So much anticipation and it is finally here. Cody and his friends at work make fun of me for all the planning that I put into stuff like this. But I enjoy it and I hope she enjoys it Sunday as much I did planning it! We decided to do a night shower since everyone has the day off on Monday so that should be fun. Owen will be spending the evening with Uncle Ryan (Beth's husband) and Uncle Matt (Beth's brother). Ryan has also volunteered to watch another 1 year old at the same time so this should be very interesting. Ah, to be a fly on that wall. My only hope is that my child is breathing when I get home. I feel this is about the only expectation I can have!

Well, I have been trying to include pictures of Owen with this post for 2 days now and for some reason it's not working. So I guess for now you'll just have to settle for my writing. :) Have a happy Labor Day weekend!

M-I-C-K-E-Y...

Cody went to Downtown Disney the night he was in California and brought back presents for Owen and myself. I got a Disneyland ornament--I love to get ornaments from places we've been so Cody usually brings me one when he goes on a trip without me. I also got a book about Disney gardens which is really cool--something I can't wait to share with both my mom and Cody's mom. And here's what Owen got:

I can hear the Mickey Mouse Club calling now....

Not so savvy after all...

So my cousin told me that she's having trouble with the site and it started when I changed the look. She says that after a few minutes on the site it's telling her there's an error of some sort and then closes her out of Internet Explorer alltogether. Anyone else having such problems? Guess I'm not as talented as I once thought and I might have to change the layout again. Let me know if and what kind of problems you may be having. Thanks!

Fun-filled weekend with Travis and Jasmine!

Travis and Jasmine are our friends who Cody met through work. They have 2 little girls and we all love getting together from time to time. However, on Friday night the girls were at Grandma's for the night so Travis and Jas came over for a night of dinner and poker! I made a great Weight Watchers dish which everyone enjoyed and then we proceeded to drink and eat Twizzlers and pretzels while we played poker. Pretty much defeats the purpose of the WW dinner, eh? But we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless! Jasmine and I took the guys out and then we duked it out. She offered to quit and split the pot but I got greedy and said I wanted it all. I was eating my words in the end when she took me out! LOL Here's a pic of the proud winner:

On Saturday Jasmine and I woke up bright and early to head over to Iowa City for a spa and shopping day. The boys bought us gift certificates for Valentine's Day and we're just now cashing them in! We have all been so busy that this was the first chance we had. The spa was WONDERFUL! We each got a full body massage and a facial. Our only complaints were that my room was a little chilly and Jasmine felt the woman beat her up a bit. Other than that, we had a great time! I had never had a facial before so that was a neat experience. I swear she put about 10 different things on my face. But it was great!

After the spa we had lunch and then did a little shopping. I didn't get home until 6:45pm! I can't remember the last time I got to leave the house and miss feeding Owen ALL 3 meals! Of course, wouldn't you know the one day I leave he decides he's going to start signing "eat." I guess it only matters that he did and not that I missed it! He was also wearing socks when I walked in the door. His own socks even! This is the child who would never keep his socks on so I was quite surprised to see him walking around the house in them.

Today was the Dads' day and they played 27 holes of golf. I'm told Travis played his best 18 ever so they decided to go for another 9. I really think they just wanted to get back at the girls for being gone so long yesterday! Either way, they had a good time and it was a nice way to cap off a great weekend.

I'll leave you with a funny conversation that ensued when I came in yesterday and asked about Owen wearing socks. Here's how it went:

I said to Cody, "Why's he wearing socks?"

"We went outside to play for a bit."

"Oh, so you put his tennis shoes on him?"

"No, I just put the sandals over his socks because I couldn't find his tennis shoes."

"They're in his closet."

"He has a closet?"

Gotta love those Dads! :)

Take Me Away

So today was one of those days where I totally "get" the Calgon lady. I suppose it wasn't a typically busy day, just one of many annoyances and patience running very, very thin. To start my day, Cody has been in California on business since early yesterday morning. So after an entire day of all-by-myself Owen duty, I awoke to yet another day of the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I love my child but he is really starting to test me lately.

Our biggest problem as of late is his eating habits. Owen has always been a wonderful eater, eating everything from broccoli to carrots to roast beef to peaches. He has always eaten a well-rounded amount of fruits and veggies and never really complained. I guess now he figures he needs to make up for lost time because he is not happy with his menu. Needless to say, I loathe mealtimes around here. I know there is going to be some arguing at some point throughout the meal and I don't look forward to it. I do everything I can to make these old foods look appealing. I started with a new spoon. The excitement of adding a utensil to the meal was enough to keep him eating well for a week or so. Then we moved on to a new fork. This also proved to be exciting for him. He won't take it from my hand or even pick it up himself, but throw it on a fork and let him hold it and he'll eat it. Who knew one could draw so much excitement from utensils? When that started to get old, I had to break out the airplane. So tonight, here I am with the peas and carrots on the new spoon saying, "Here it comes! One, two, three, YUMMY!!!" and I "fly" the airplane into the hangar. Oddly enough, this little trick worked! He ate the peas and carrots from the spoon and even smiled about it. Unfortunately, it only worked a few times and by the end of the meal he was spitting out said peas and carrots, throwing the once-loved spoon and fork on the floor, and tossing the bowl of peas and carrots into the air. I took that as a sign that he was taking no more of my "tricks" and dinner was now over.

After dinner I found myself counting down the minutes to "Wheel." I hate to be a mother who uses TV to pacify her child but after a long day of whining, temper tantrums, bad eating, and a little bit of sucking on his thumb (this is a new development of which I'm not sure how or why it started and I pray it does not continue) I NEEDED THE WHEEL!!! Thankfully that bought me a little half hour of peace as we watched and cheered and then it was off to bath time.

We got through the bath relatively peacefully but my crabby boy soon returned as we tried to brush his teeth and get him ready for bed. He just was NOT having ANY of it! While the clock read 7:23pm, ( I usually wait until AT LEAST 7:30pm to start rocking) I was ready for a little reading and rocking!!! So we read our usual bedtime stories and then the time comes for rocking on Mom's shoulder--arguably my favorite part of the day--and he doesn't want to cuddle with me! My heart is breaking!

So, I ask all you Moms out there, the newbies and the veterans, what has happened to my sweet boy? Are we already gearing up for the infamous Terrible Twos? Is it just a bad week? Do I need to start buying Calgon in bulk?

A New Look!

Well, after MUCH time and effort on my part, Muhs News finally has a new look! It took me a while to find a template that I liked and then even longer to figure out all the html language in order to get it work. I'm happy to say that I am a little more computer savvy than I originally thought and I am quite proud of myself for figuring it all out. Ok, so it took 3 days of working on it to do it, but I still did it! Let me know what you think and if you have a site you'd like me to add to the "Links" section. Thanks!

A Chip Off the Old Block

So my son is just like his daddy in that he is obsessed with "Wheel of Fortune." That's right, folks, he's a Wheel Watcher! Every night at 6:30pm we tune in and Owen stands in front of the TV watching. He can be in the worst of moods at 6:29pm, but then 6:30pm hits and all is right in his world. Last night, he was having a huge fit, crying and whining. I turned on the Wheel, he hears the crowd clapping and the music blaring and immediately he turns around and stops crying like nothing was ever wrong! He'll stand there and start "talking" to the TV, "Ba dee ba dee ba dee!" as if he's "solving" the puzzle. A commercial comes and he will walk away and start playing with his toys but the minute the show is back on, there's Owen in front on the TV again. I think someday he'll be dragging his wife and young child to a mall to try to be a contestant, just like his Daddy did! I can't wait until he's old enough understand that his daddy was on his favorite show. He'll probably make us watch that episode over and over again!

Here's a picture of him watching diligently tonight:

A Productive Weekend...Shopping's productive, right?

Ok, well I did do more than shopping. We got a lot done around the house this weekend. Cody mowed the lawn so we are no longer hillbillies, unless you count our pseudo "garage." But at least we don't have a forest in our backyard anymore. I also got some general cleaning done around the house and the best part of all...we worked on Owen's room! I am happy to say that his room is now 9o% done. Yes, that's right, there's still 10% but it's mostly small things and I vow to get them done very soon. Mostly just putting some pictures in frames and hanging one last thing on the wall. I'm hoping to get those 2 things done this weekend and THEN I'll take some pictures and post them. It's amazing how much a room can change with just a few finishing touches! It looks so cute now and I just love it!

As for my shopping, regardless of what my husband would say, I think it was productive. I got some winter clothes for Owen on sale at Kohl's and a few things for a certain little lady's baby shower that's coming up very soon! It was nice to get out and about by myself without someone screaming at me while trying to shop! Leaving Owen was nice, too. Hahaha. The boys had some good bonding time that I think they really enjoyed. Although when I got home Owen was walking around in his diaper and a t-shirt. Cody said they gave up on shorts a long time ago! Sounds like it was hectic, but still enjoyed! We decided to skip out on the fair because we just didn't want to put up with the traffic, heat, and Owen with no nap. Does that mean we're getting old?

I did get an interesting phone call this weekend. My friend, Eric, whom I've known since I was about 6 called me. I haven't talked to him in a couple of years so it was nice to hear from him. He lives in Omaha, which is only a few hours from us so we are hoping to get out for a visit sometime but who knows when. Eric said he'd been checking out the blog but he hadn't ever posted. So to all you old friends out there who might be stopping by, let us know you're here! We'd love to hear how things are going in your lives!

"I want to be like Daddy!"

Today Owen found a pair of Daddy's socks on the floor and kept trying to put them on himself. When he couldn't get them on, Cody put them on for him. Owen LOVED wearing them and walked around in them for about a half hour. When I took them off he tried to get them back on by himself but couldn't do it. I had to distract him with a bath otherwise he'd still be wearing them! This from the child who won't even wear his own socks. Maybe if I got Cody to put Owen's socks on, Owen would finally want to wear them! Is anyone having any memories of the girl in Flashdance after seeing these?! :)

Think he wants to swim?

I captured my son in this lovely pose this afternoon after he brought this swim diaper to me. He kept putting it in my hand and whining because he wanted it on. I kept telling him no but he insisted. He even tried to get it on himself! So I finally gave in and put it on him and then he just walked around the house in it. Do you think he was trying to tell me something? :)

A Lazy Week So Far...

Why is it that I always seem to need a vacation from my vacation? :) Although it is always a fun time for me, it always wears me out. I can't imagine how my poor mother feels. She took care of my son more than I did, and took care of Maddy as well. Not to mention cooking lunches and meals for 13 people every day! She is a saint, I believe. Some people asked me why I didn't have a single picture of her in all the Glade pictures. It's because she was always working and I never got one of her!!! I don't think you can ever truly appreciate your mother until you become one yourself. Now that I am a mother, I see all the hard work it takes to keep a family going and I am so thankful that I had such a great example in my mother. I always tell her that she is a "burnt toast" kind of person--meaning she will gladly eat the burnt toast so that everyone else can be happy with the good toast. I think that's what makes a mom a good mom-she goes out of her way to make sure we are happy. Either that or she just doesn't want to hear us all bitch about having to eat the burnt toast. :) Either way, she's a great mom. I love you, Mama!

I got a little sidetracked from my point, which was to say that we haven't been up to a whole heck of a lot this week. I've been unpacking and trying to get the house picked up--which for me is a neverending battle. Today Owen and I drove to Pella to have lunch with Cody since he went golfing after work last night and didn't see Owen at all yesterday. We had a good time at the Mexican restuarant. Owen was dancing to the music in his highchair! It was too cute. He ate some chicken fingers and french fries--which he has really started to love.

This weekend we are hoping to get some work done around the house. Our lawn is starting to look like a forest. All we need is a car in the front yard on blocks and we could officially be hillbillies. We are also hoping to finish up Owen's room. That's right, our child turned 17 months old 2 days ago and his room is not yet finished. It's just some finishing touches--hanging stuff on the walls and stuff, but we just never got around to it. I'll take a picture when it's done and post it.

But for now, I think I'll continue to be as lazy as I can and go watch a little TV before Owen wakes up from his nap. I'll post some more pics of him later in the week. We may hit the State Fair this weekend so I'll take pictures of that if we do. He's changing everyday....yesterday he said, "Up!" and pointed up with his arm. It was too cute! He can sometimes tell you where his nose is but he has to use your hand to point it out. He's such a little ham! Hope you're all having a good day!

Back from the Glade!

Here's the Muhses oustide my parents' vacation home in Fairfield Glade, TN where we spent the week last week with some of my family. We had such a great time with everyone!

Here's Cody and myself with my cousin, Beth, her husband, Ryan, and my cousin, Matt, and his wife, Jessica on the steps of our unit we stayed in. We all stayed at there with my Auntie Gaye and Uncle Jay. We had a 4 bedroom, 4 bath condo. It was WONDERFUL! It had a great kitchen/living room/dining room that was all open with huge vaulted ceilings. My mom, dad, grandma, niece Maddy, and Owen all stayed at my parents' house they have down there. We spent most of our days at the house or shopping while the guys golfed. I was able to work in my pedicure but unfortunately, did not get my massage! I still had a great time though! At night we ate dinner at the condo around the huge table there and then played games. We had a lot of fun together. We did, however, miss my brother, Josh, his wife, Angie, and daughter, Danielle who weren't able to join us this year. My favorite part about my family is that even though we spent the entire week living with each other, they still came to my parents' house in M'boro on Friday night when we got there and then again the following Saturday and Sunday when we stopped there on our way home. We savor every moment we have together and are still sad when we have to leave! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family! Here's some more pics of the entire week...



Owen and GiGi reading on the couch. Owen loved having her read to him.
My dad and Uncle Jay watching TV with their eyes closed.
Owen and Maddy in a "taxi" at the mall. He LOVED riding in it. They had a bunch of these throughout the mall and Maddy felt the need to ride them ALL! She kept asking Grandma for more money!
Owen playing with the pots and pans at the condo. He found this cabinet the second night we were there and loved playing with all the pans inside it! He would just go over, open the doors, and empty everything inside of it!

Grandpa and Owen read a book. It is a bath book I bought him while I was shopping one day. For some reason he got so attached to it and carried it around for days everywhere he went! We accidently left it at Grandma and Grandpa's house in M'boro but luckily Owen didn't seem to notice. Apparently he forgot how attached he was to it!
Jess and Matt help Maddy with her swimming. Jess helped her a lot and she's starting to swim a lot better!
Uncle Ryan and Mr. Cool chillin' in the pool.
Owen chills by the pool with a snack.
Grandpa, Maddy, Owen, and Cody in the pool.
Maddy and Owen in the pool. They had so much fun swimming together! Owen kept wanting Maddy to hold him. He loves her so much and she was such a big help with him all week.
The girls took the guys in Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit. You will see the Clock/Plant in all the game pictures because we made that our trophy. The winner of each game every night had to get their picture taken with it. This is also the game where I inherited the nickname "Monica" from "Friends" because everyone thought I was a little crazy about games and winning. :)
My first poker win! This was the first time I've ever played poker other than video poker at the casinos! The best part about it all is that it came down to Cody and myself at the end and I took him out. I got 25 bucks and great bragging rights!

The guys beat the girls in Cranium. They didn't gloat at all. :)
GiGi was a fierce competitor! She had a great time taking all of our money!

My SECOND big poker win! I'm really starting to enjoy this game! :) This time it came down to Ryan and myself. I got $20 and he got $10. I know it killed him to lose to me!

Maddy and Owen joined Grandpa for a morning walk after we got back from TN on Sunday. They both LOVE to walk with Grandpa and Bo.

Order Up!

Here comes Owen the Fry Cook!

Cody brought this hat home the other day and Owen just loves it! He puts it on and walks around the house in it. He cries when it falls off and makes me put it back on him.

Of course, when I want him to wear a hat to protect him from the sun, he won't have anything to do with it!










"This cookin' stuff is hard work!"