He's a Party Animal, Folks!

So I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of Owen's birthday party. He had a great time! He ran all over and played with all the kids and just had a ball! He was so busy he didn't even open all of his presents and I believe he only ate about 2 bites of the Elmo cake that Mommy slaved over for 3 hours. Oh well, I still enjoyed making it and he still enjoyed looking at it. Here's a few shots from the night:

Logan, Jack, and Owen playing the piano. They had so much fun together!

The Elmo vacuum--if only it really worked! But he likes it!

The Elmo doctor kit. Do you see a theme to this party, here? ;)

His Laughtop which is a little old for him, but he still loves pressing the buttons on it.

The Elmo Cake

His first time seeing the cake. He tried to pick the whole thing up! Shortly after this we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and he was just mesmerized. His face lit up like a Christmas tree and he just loved that everyone was singing for him. It was the cutest thing!

The happy Muhs family

And this is my friend, Dusty letting Logan put a crown on his head. I'm really just putting this up because he told me not to. hee hee. Notice the beer in the hand as he plays with his child...stellar parenting. :) Love you, Dusty!

Ah, the princess of the ball. Look how happy Logan is to see his daddy dressed up like a little girl. ;)

Well, I have tons more pictures of recent happenings in the Muhs household to get up here. We've all been fighting colds that just won't go away for the last week so I have just been too worn out to get up here and put anything on the computer. But I'm hoping to get something new up every other day or so since I have so much to talk about. So check back often! Hope everyone is enjoying the Spring weather. I know we are glad to see the snow GONE!

They Say it's His Birthday...

...and Uncle Jay's birthday, too!! A big happy birthday to my baby boy, who turns 2 today! And also to my Uncle Jay--but I won't tell what he's turning! ;) I will never forget 2 years ago when Uncle Jay kept telling me he was holding out for Owen to be born on his birthday. Since his due date was March 24th, I just laughed at him and said, "Yeah, keep hoping!" I couldn't believe it on March 14th when my water broke and the doctor told me I would have him that day. I called Auntie Gaye and told her to tell Uncle Jay his wish came true. Now they will forever be "Birthday Buddies!" We are celebrating Uncle Jay's birthday night, but waiting to celebrate Owie's until his daddy is here on Saturday. Stay tuned for pictures from the parties! Happy Birthday, Boys!

We're still alive!!!

I realize it's been a while since I've posted anything! I've just been too lazy to get on here at the end of the day and type. We are doing well here in Murphysboro, aside from the fact that Owen has caught a cold. He seems to be taking it in stride and is not letting it slow him down. I am healing slowly but surely. I still have a little pain every now and again but only seem to notice it when I really try to overdo it. I'll be so glad when I can finally pick my baby boy up again!

Last Saturday we went to by brother's near St. Louis to celebrate Maddy's 5th birthday. They had a great party at a park, which Owen loved. He ran ALL OVER that park! Grandma had to do most of the chasing though because I just couldn't keep up with him! Here are some pictures I took.

Maddy and her "Happy Feet" cake.

The cousins go down the slide together.

Owen loved Maddy taking care of him and she loved to do it.

He loved playing with Danielle's soccer ball. He kicked and threw it all over that park!

Trying out Maddy's hula hoop that someone gave her. Or as she called it, her "hulie hoop."

Owen walked by the picnic table with the cake on it, saw it, and said, "Caaaake!!" Then he proceeded to climb up to get it.

Owen and "Un Josh," as he calls him, digging in the sand. He was so excited that Uncle Josh showed him how to dig.

This is what Uncle Josh and crew got Owen for his birthday. It's a little Cadillac Escalade ride-along toy. I'm sure he'll have hours of fun on it with Daddy pushing him around!

Grandma (or Bonah, as Owen has started calling her. we're not sure where that came from.) and all her grandkids.

GiGi and the kids

It's been one of those days...

...all week long. This has just been one of those weeks where things happen and you say to yourself, "I really don't think it can get worse than this!" It all started off with my surgery. Everything went well but I was TOTALLY wrong with the whole "relative amount of pain" thing. I woke up in recovery, gripping the sides of my bed, moaning, and thinking to myself, "What in the hell have I done?!?!" It just hurt so bad! I left the hospital at around 4:30pm that afternoon and came home and went straight to bed. It was so hard for me to move at all because I had lost complete use of my abdominal muscles. It really was as bad, if not worse, as a c-section and I just wasn't prepared for that. Thankfully, I am getting stronger everyday. Today was the first day I had enough energy to climb the stairs, thus the lack of posts through the week.

Unfortunately, my surgery is not the only excitement in the Muhs household this week. On Saturday at 11am, we lost power due to a horrible ice storm. We got it back briefly in the middle of the night that night, just long enough to warm up the house. We went all day on Sunday without it. Power lines went down all over and every county in Iowa has been declared a disaster area. After hearing that, we thought it might days before we had power so we checked into a hotel that did have power on Sunday afternoon. Our power was restored that night but we still decided to stay at the hotel just in case it went out again. We came back home on Monday morning, only to have it go out again at 3:45pm. While all this was happening, Owen was napping and my mom was at Wal-Mart having trouble getting my car to start!!!! I kept thinking, "Really? One more thing?" Luckily, she got it started and the power was restored by 10pm that same night.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful and then today we started getting more bad weather. We are just on the edge of a blizzard that is expected so we are hoping to not see much snow or ice. They have closed interstates, colleges, malls, churches, everything all over the state. The wind is blowing so strongly outside right now that it feels like our house is going to blow away! We lost power for only about 10 minutes this evening and are praying that it doesn't go out in the middle of the night. After hearing many other stories, it sounds like we were really some of the lucky ones. We lost some trees but that is about it.

Owen had a great time in the outages, although he now thinks it's normal to wear to layers of clothing! Here are a few pictures we took:

This is in his Pack 'N Play in the hotel. We hooked his DVD player up to it and he watched movies in there all night! It was so cute to see him "lounge."

He loved to say, "Hi!" to himself in the hotel mirror.

He carried a box of Cheez-Its around with him during the second outage. We were so exhausted that we couldn't even fight him on it!

Owen and I are heading to Murphysboro on Saturday for 2 weeks as I'm not supposed to be lifting him. Auntie Gaye will be coming over everyday to help me and then G'ma and G'pa will be helping at night. We are so thankful to have Grandma Debbie here helping us now and so thankful to be able to go home with her and get help there! And the best part...we hear it's 60 degrees there! Woo hoo!!!!

Please Support My Friend

Every year, Pella Corporation is a corporate sponsor for JDRF--which is the Juvenile Research Diabetes Foundation. They are among a host of people that try to raise funds to find a cure for Juvenile Diabetes. They do a walk across the country every March. Cody and I have walked in years past but my friend, Jasmine, continues to not only walk, but also take part in some of the other fund-raisers that Pella puts on. She works her butt off every year putting together an auction to raise money and is successful every year. This year she has set a personal goal for herself to raise $250. PLEASE go to her website and make a donation if you can and help Jasmine help millions of kids with this disease. Click on the link below to make a donation.

JDRF--Help Jasmine and the Kids!

Surgery again?

Yes, that's right, folks. I am sorry to say that I am having another surgery tomorrow morning. After I had my D&C I was having some pain in my lower right abdominal area. It turns out that it was a hernia, which was completely unrelated to the D&C. So, tomorrow I'm headed to out-patient surgery to have it repaired. I'm trying to stay positive that the powers that be don't have it out for me in some way or another, this being my 2nd surgery of the year. Wow, 2007 has really started off with a bang thus far! This is so not how I pictured things going in my life if you had asked me about this 6 months ago. But, as I said, I'm trying to remain positive. The good news is that this is such a routine surgery these days and it shouldn't hurt too terribly bad. It can't hurt worse than a C-Section, right?

The biggest problem is that the doctor said he doesn't want me lifting anything for a MONTH afterward! Those of you with small children know that that is not even possible! So, I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do to avoid such situations, which is where the decision on whether to go back to Murphysboro comes in. If I go there, Auntie Gaye can help me out during the day so that I don't have to lift Owen. My mom is on her way here today and will stay here for a week. Thank God for Moms!!!! I will see the doctor next Wednesday and see if he still feels I should wait a month to lift Owen, assess how I feel, and then decide from there. So, it's possible Owen and I may be back on the road again soon. At least this time I won't have to drive! I'm sure I'll be on this weekend and let everyone know how the surgery goes. And for those of you still on the edge of your seats, still no decision made on the vacuum.

Decisions, Decisions

I seem to let decisions weigh on me constantly. Right now, it is the decision of what vacuum to buy, when to go back to Murphysboro and for how long (more on this later), and which cute video of Owen to post. You see, I went into his room yesterday morning and got the cutest video of him saying the cutest things. But, like an idiot, I forgot to turn the light on in the room and thus, the video is horrible. But the audio is great, which is really the best part anyway. I tried to recreate it this morning and also got some cute footage, but I still liked the first one better. So, being that I am the most indecisive person on the planet and should really not stress over something so minute, I decided to put them both up! Hey, I know at least the Grandparents will enjoy it! So, here they are, folks. And as I know you are all the edge of your seats, I'll be sure to let you know what vacuum I choose as well.

Wake-Up Call #1

Wake-Up Call #2

The Naked Boy

Owen has discovered that he just LOVES the feeling of being naked. First he starts with his shirt, and soon after he'll remove the pants. Then he tugs at the diaper! Luckily I am able to keep that on him...most of the time. He loves to run around without it when I'm in the middle of changing it. He runs away from me just laughing, laughing. Then he runs around the house yelling, "Oody Nudy!! Oody Nudy!!" (Something my dad has always said, not sure where it came from.) It's pretty funny. Here are some pictures of him on Sunday when he decided to make a fashion statment. Hope you enjoy!

Snow in the House

So here is my first attempt at putting a video on the blog. I think I got it ok, although I guess it's not the greatest camera work in history. Just give me a little time...:) This was this morning when Murphy brought snow in the house when he came inside. Owen is not wearing any pants as he protested after changing his diaper a few minutes earlier. I'm lucky I got the diaper! Let me know if it does/doesn't work for you! Enjoy!

Snow Day!

Last night and this morning we got at least another 6" of snow added on to the 2-3" that was already on the ground. We have been wanting to take Owen out but the temp has just been way too cold here. Since it was a little warmer this time around, we decided to take Owen for a spin on a sled. Cody had the afternoon off so it all worked out pretty well. First, Mommy had to get some boots and then Daddy went out to get the sled. After that we got our gear on.

Here's Owen after I just tried the new boots on him. It was so funny seeing him walk in them for the first time! He had his legs kind of stretched out, like he had just gotten off a horse or something. It was hilarious!

After we got all suited up we headed over to a school a couple of blocks from our house. They have some pretty good hills that we thought he would enjoy.

Here he is in his new sled for the first time.

And here is his first time down the hill!

As you can see, he seemed to enjoy it! However, we were out there for about 10 minutes and decided that the wind was just too strong and that we better head home. It was much colder than we really thought it was! So, we headed to the car but not without a couple of passes around the parking lot first!

I think we spent more time getting dressed than we did in the snow, but we all still had a great time. Maybe it will warm up this weekend and we can head out again!

A Birthday Message From Owen

Grandma Debbie, in honor of your birthday I really wanted to take a great picture to post here on the blog for you. Unfortunately, lots of distractions got in my way. I found myself...

Playing in the laundry basket

Walking around in Mommy's slippers

Carrying Elmo around the house

And trying on Mommy's slipper socks

Fortunately, Mommy was able to at least catch me looking and smiling at the camera while I was playing with the diapers.

Just remember that even though I was so distracted while taking a picture for your birthday, and I am also too stubborn to actually say your name, I still know you are the best Grandma in the world and I hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday! Happy Birthday!!! I love you!

The Evolution of the Banana

Owen has loved bananas ever since he was eating them from a baby food jar. Now he goes into the kitchen and sees them and points, "Nana! Nana!" Sometimes I have to hide them from him! (I don't like him to eat too many because they stop him up!) Here are some pictures of his first time eating a real banana and then some I took of him eating one just a few days ago.





I just can't believe that my baby who once ate bananas pureed from a jar can now hold the whole banana all by himself and eat it! It's the little things like these that smack me in the face and show me just how much he's changing and growing every day. Before I know it, he'll be going off to college! For now though, he still can't peel the banana, so he still needs his mama for something!

Super Bowl with the Eisenbarths

Well, I gotta say it took me a couple days to get this post up as I was hoping it would be a victory post. My guy was pretty upset on Sunday night but he seemed to be doing better yesterday. When we left the Eisenbarths' he got into the bag and got out the Fritos I had brought. He said, "I need to console myself with food." I told him he could get the dip out too but he said it was too much work. Then a few minutes later he was getting out the dip saying, "I think this hurt requires dip." LOL I also learned last night that the rest of the way home he pretended to sleep because he was too upset to make small talk. I would have been mad if it weren't so cute! ;) But as I said, he is doing better and he's still a die-hard Bears fan as he will be to the end! I didn't get any pictures of the Muhses in all our Bears gear but I did get some cute ones of the kids running around. Owen, as always, had a great time with the girls. He just loves playing with them and Grace always tells us how much she likes it when we come over.

Eating dinner and saying, "Cheese!"

I believe this is his first Jello Jiggler and he seemed to like it pretty well.

The gang--Grace, Owen, and Lizzie.

Owen and his favorite gal, Grace. He just loves her. He walked around the whole night calling her name, "Gray! Gray!" Then she asked him if he was going to be her boyfriend. Too cute!

Owen chillin' on the pink Princess couch with a Dora book, ignoring the football game. His daddy was so proud.

Here's to hoping the Bears make it there again next year!

Lazy Boy

Last night Owen was watching Elmo on TV, as he often does lately since he is seriously obsessed with that little red monster these days. Usually when he watches TV he stands in front of the coffee table. Not sure why, maybe to be as close to Elmo as possible or maybe for a quick getaway to the other room. Who knows? Anyway, I left the room to get something out of the kitchen and came back to find Owen just chilling in the recliner watching TV. It was the funniest thing since he never does that. He sort of glanced at me with his eyes as I took a picture of him as if to say, "Please, don't bother me while I'm watching Elmo.":

Then with my wonderful distraction tactics I got him to smile for a couple:

Maybe he's just gearing up for watching the big game this weekend?