Toby is just getting back to work today after having spent the first twelve days of August on vacation and I'm once again feeling like I need a vacation from our vacation. We started August off strong with a Darth Vader Star Wars themed birthday for Owen and sixteen of his nearest and dearest friends at a Toy Lending Library. I didn't realize there was no A/C at the place until the day of the party, but fortunately it rained that day so with all the windows open and the fans on full blast no one was sweating profusely, aside from a couple kids playing really hard. I had a steady supply of juice boxes to keep the kids from falling into heat exhaustion territory. Talk about exhausting! At times I felt like I needed a whistle to break up the roughhousing with the boys. Almost everyone was good but there was one troublemaker, who shall remain nameless, that was basically trying to beat the crap out of everyone but would cry saying the other person started it whenever he got caught. Not coming to any future parties. Suffice it to say we're thinking of sticking to family parties for the next few birthday parties Owen has or maybe Owen will only have as many kids as his age (so 6 for next year) that would be a lot more manageable and still enjoyable I think.
We went to Toby's parents last week and Owen got another birthday party (Yoda theme since he'd already done Darth Vader) and even more presents. Now to find space for all the new things he got, ugh all the Walmart cheap plastic crap that falls apart as soon as it's put together and is probably made by children Owen's age making a quarter a week in earnings. Whenever anyone asked what to get him I said clothes, he's outgrown all his 4T stuff and uniforms (he needs to wear navy chinos and a white shirt for school) but then everyone is like 'but I want to get him something he'll like'. I'd rather people buy him an experience then a week at zoo camp, membership to a museum or adopt a polar bear at the zoo, he doesn't need any more stuff. His room already needs a major culling of old, unplayed with toys but the kid has an uncanny memory so this might be hard to do without him deciding what to get rid of and he's a bit of an emotional pack rat so I doubt he'll want to part with anything.
Oona got sick on Owen's birthday, the day of the yoda party at his Grammy & Paw Paw's. Grammy and I went to pick up the cake and last minute things for the party and when we came back Toby told me she had thrown up and felt really warm. I had to wait an hour and a half to take her temperature because the only thermometer Grammy had was an old school mercury one that I couldn't figure out if it was working and they live twenty minutes from town, so you can't just run into town. One Aunt bought a digital ear thermometer (which got returned because those aren't reliable and Oona's pediatrician won't consider temp's from those) and some tylenol for Oona. Another aunt (a nurse) brought a digital rectal thermometer along with plastic covers. I just have to remember to bring all her medical supplies along with me when we go to visit in the future even if she's fine. She ran a high fever for four days but it didn't seem to slow her down a bit although you could tell by her hang dog eyes that she was sick. She acted like her normal, busy self aside from being a bit fussy and sleeping in longer than usual. And there was no need for me to bring clothes for her since she spent the vacation in these pj bottoms. How she could be so unaffected with a temp hovering at 103 is beyond me. I was more affected, worrying that her temp would climb higher with us three hours away from Pittsburgh and it's top ten ranked children's hospital. A day before we left she kept saying 'mommy home'. God knows it's awful being sick away from home.
During all this party/Oona fever madness Toby and I went out for a few hours to go look at antiques. We wound up getting a table for the kitchen, Jenny Lind type head & footboard for Oona and a sled for Christmas decor. I think I went momentarily insane getting all this stuff. The table is great for the kitchen, although I have to seal the legs which are beautifully, authentically crackled but with lead paint. The headboard and footboard will be nice but right now they're painted black so I have to strip and refinish them in my abundant spare time. And the sled is really neat, it will look nice at Christmastime, but I'm sort of decoratively challenged just putting a tree together, I never feel like I decorate for the seasons all that well. And in our neighborhood I don't know that I could place it outside with some pine boughs and holly, it would probably be stolen. We had to drive back the next day to pick the stuff up in Toby's Dad's truck and coming back up a mountain Toby stopped to rearrange everything in the back. It's a good thing he stopped when he did as the truck started smoking from the hood and the clutch went, so we spent close to two hours on the side of the road during a major storm (because you know how lovely, hot and humid with storms that didn't quench the heat last week was) waiting for his Aunt to come pick us up. Oh, and we came home to find out we have no phone service due to the storms in Pittsburgh, it won't be fixed until Saturday! But we had fun all in all. The part of Pennsylvania Toby grew up in is so rural and beautiful. I don't like having to drive so far to get to town but the plus is that there's not a lot of strip mall sprawl that you find in so many other urban/suburban areas. It's truly, peaceful and quiet and beautiful out there. And Oona's better now, although still acting up a bit due to the special treatment she got being sick, now she wants her ass kissed constantly and is acting tyrannical if she doesn't get her way. But she gives great hugs and has the sweetest laugh and girlie voice so it's all worth it. And Owen started dinosaur camp at the Carnegie Museum today so he's enjoying his mornings making trilobite magnets and dimetrodon's with googly eyes.
Toby is just getting back to work today after having spent the first twelve days of August on vacation and I'm once again feeling like I need a vacation from our vacation. We started August off strong with a Darth Vader Star Wars themed birthday for Owen and sixteen of his nearest and dearest friends at a Toy Lending Library. I didn't realize there was no A/C at the place until the day of the party, but fortunately it rained that day so with all the windows open and the fans on full blast no one was sweating profusely, aside from a couple kids playing really hard. I had a steady supply of juice boxes to keep the kids from falling into heat exhaustion territory. Talk about exhausting! At times I felt like I needed a whistle to break up the roughhousing with the boys. Almost everyone was good but there was one troublemaker, who shall remain nameless, that was basically trying to beat the crap out of everyone but would cry saying the other person started it whenever he got caught. Not coming to any future parties. Suffice it to say we're thinking of sticking to family parties for the next few birthday parties Owen has or maybe Owen will only have as many kids as his age (so 6 for next year) that would be a lot more manageable and still enjoyable I think. 
We went to Toby's parents last week and Owen got another birthday party (Yoda theme since he'd already done Darth Vader) and even more presents. Now to find space for all the new things he got, ugh all the Walmart cheap plastic crap that falls apart as soon as it's put together and is probably made by children Owen's age making a quarter a week in earnings. Whenever anyone asked what to get him I said clothes, he's outgrown all his 4T stuff and uniforms (he needs to wear navy chinos and a white shirt for school) but then everyone is like 'but I want to get him something he'll like'. I'd rather people buy him an experience then a week at zoo camp, membership to a museum or adopt a polar bear at the zoo, he doesn't need any more stuff. His room already needs a major culling of old, unplayed with toys but the kid has an uncanny memory so this might be hard to do without him deciding what to get rid of and he's a bit of an emotional pack rat so I doubt he'll want to part with anything. 
Oona got sick on Owen's birthday, the day of the yoda party at his Grammy & Paw Paw's. Grammy and I went to pick up the cake and last minute things for the party and when we came back Toby told me she had thrown up and felt really warm. I had to wait an hour and a half to take her temperature because the only thermometer Grammy had was an old school mercury one that I couldn't figure out if it was working and they live twenty minutes from town, so you can't just run into town. One Aunt bought a digital ear thermometer (which got returned because those aren't reliable and Oona's pediatrician won't consider temp's from those) and some tylenol for Oona. Another aunt (a nurse) brought a digital rectal thermometer along with plastic covers. I just have to remember to bring all her medical supplies along with me when we go to visit in the future even if she's fine. She ran a high fever for four days but it didn't seem to slow her down a bit although you could tell by her hang dog eyes that she was sick. She acted like her normal, busy self aside from being a bit fussy and sleeping in longer than usual. And there was no need for me to bring clothes for her since she spent the vacation in these pj bottoms. How she could be so unaffected with a temp hovering at 103 is beyond me. I was more affected, worrying that her temp would climb higher with us three hours away from Pittsburgh and it's top ten ranked children's hospital. A day before we left she kept saying 'mommy home'. God knows it's awful being sick away from home. 
During all this party/Oona fever madness Toby and I went out for a few hours to go look at antiques. We wound up getting a table for the kitchen, Jenny Lind type head & footboard for Oona and a sled for Christmas decor. I think I went momentarily insane getting all this stuff. The table is great for the kitchen, although I have to seal the legs which are beautifully, authentically crackled but with lead paint. The headboard and footboard will be nice but right now they're painted black so I have to strip and refinish them in my abundant spare time. And the sled is really neat, it will look nice at Christmastime, but I'm sort of decoratively challenged just putting a tree together, I never feel like I decorate for the seasons all that well. And in our neighborhood I don't know that I could place it outside with some pine boughs and holly, it would probably be stolen. We had to drive back the next day to pick the stuff up in Toby's Dad's truck and coming back up a mountain Toby stopped to rearrange everything in the back. It's a good thing he stopped when he did as the truck started smoking from the hood and the clutch went, so we spent close to two hours on the side of the road during a major storm (because you know how lovely, hot and humid with storms that didn't quench the heat last week was) waiting for his Aunt to come pick us up. Oh, and we came home to find out we have no phone service due to the storms in Pittsburgh, it won't be fixed until Saturday! But we had fun all in all. The part of Pennsylvania Toby grew up in is so rural and beautiful. I don't like having to drive so far to get to town but the plus is that there's not a lot of strip mall sprawl that you find in so many other urban/suburban areas. It's truly, peaceful and quiet and beautiful out there. And Oona's better now, although still acting up a bit due to the special treatment she got being sick, now she wants her ass kissed constantly and is acting tyrannical if she doesn't get her way. But she gives great hugs and has the sweetest laugh and girlie voice so it's all worth it. And Owen started dinosaur camp at the Carnegie Museum today so he's enjoying his mornings making trilobite magnets and dimetrodon's with googly eyes.
2 comments:
Wow! It seems there's never a dull moment for you. Happy Birthday Owen- you are a very creative and imaginative child. Kim- maybe you could get him started on a novel starring all his 'friends'
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY OWEN!!! From all us Millers. Glad Oona's feeling better. Those daughter hugs are insanely intoxicating...love to everyone!
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