Random Friday (on Thursday)

    Because we're having a busy day tomorrow with several errands, I am posting this early. Owen has his 12-month-old doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and then we are going to go to Lexington to a special hair salon just for kids so that Owen can have his first haircut. Tear. I am actually pretty excited about it because his hair has gotten really long over his ears and in the back. He still doesn't have that much hair so it seems silly, but I want his hair to look good for his professional pictures next week. Here's the rundown of some of the other stuff going on this week.  
1. We are FAM-I-LY! I am super excited because my parents are coming to town tomorrow to hang out with us for Easter and to have a peek at the house that we're buying. (More on that later). I have made plans for the entire weekend and I am so happy that they will be here to make Easter a little more special and also to help give us a break from the kiddo. We love Owen, but we're going crazy in this hotel room so it will be nice to get to relax a little.

2. A tisket, a tasket, what's in your Easter basket? Tim and I have bought a few things for Owen's Easter basket this year. We're not going crazy or anything because he will be getting lots of presents next week, but we did get him a couple books. I might also throw in some Annie's Bunny Graham cookies or crackers to round out the basket since he doesn't eat candy. 

3. Easter plans. Since we're new to the area and I have no kitchen to make Easter dinner in, I had to scour the Internet to make sure we had plans for Easter weekend. On Saturday, we will be going to Irvine McDowell Park (which is near the Eastern Kentucky University campus) for an Easter egg hunt and other activities. They have a special hunt just for kids under 3 years old. We can hopefully get Owen's picture taken with the Easter bunny as well. We're planning to attend church on Sunday morning and then we will be having an Easter brunch buffet at 1 p.m. at the restaurant at Acres of Land Winery. It includes salads, soup, carved ham and fried chicken, vegetable sides, and dessert. I really wanted us to go somewhere special for Easter dinner, and not just to a regular restaurant. 

4. Birthday boy. Because I couldn't find anything cute to give Owen for his birthday at any of the stores around here, I instead ordered him some presents online to give to him at his birthday party in Georgia. We got him two toys and two books. The toys that we got him were the Plan Toys Sit n Walk Puppy and some Haba Zoo building blocks. They are both really unique and fun-looking wooden toys and while both are a little advanced for him at the moment, they will be fun sometime in the next few months. We also got him two books which I remember reading to my friend's kids once when Tim and I were babysitting them. They have really fun, interactive pages with things to pull on and flaps to open. Owen loves books like that. 

5. Birthday suits. Owen's birthday party is swiftly approaching (a little more than a week away!) and I am trying to get all the finishing touches put together. At least the things that I have to get ordered in time for the party. I will be making some decorations next week as well. But the most recent things that I ordered for Owen's party were shirts for Tim and I to wear. They say "Thing Mom" and "Thing Dad." And now I don't have to worry about picking out the perfect outfit for his party. 

6. I love giving presents. Prior to last year, I didn't have any family members with birthdays in April. Then I had a baby and my brother-in-law got married, and now there are two. My sister-in-law turns 25 this month and I have already bought her present. Leah is really easy to shop for because she has really cute taste and generally if I find something that I think is cute, I'm fairly certain that she will like it too. I love her present and kind-of want one of my own. I can't tell you what it is though, because she reads this blog, but hopefully I will remember to put it on here later. I can't wait to give it to her though. And I found out today that she and my brother-in-law will be buying a house and my gift fits with that.
7. The Parent Adventure. I've been reading this book about parenting that I bought at the Lifeway store near our hotel the other day. I'm really enjoying it. It has five main principles for parenting: learning to let go by allowing your child independence at every stage of life, creating a home where yes is the more frequent answer, learning to talk openly with your children about everything, teaching your children that pain is real and that God will be with us through pain, and building a home that looks for regular ways to celebrate God's blessings as an act of worship. I know Owen is still a little baby and a lot of this is not exactly applicable right now, but I think it's good to figure out what lessons are important to me to teach to Owen and what kind-of legacy I want to have as his parent. 

8. House update. Things are moving along in our process to buy a house. We had our home inspection and wood burrowing insect inspection earlier this week. There were only a few things that the inspector saw as a problem and the sellers have agreed to fix them before we buy the house. We are filling out our loan contract with the bank and according to our loan officer, we should close on the house in early May. Yay!

Photo from blog.accesshorizon.com. (Not a picture of our house)

9. That's enough Owen! Now go to your bathroom. Since getting Owen to sleep in the hotel room while we're still awake is a major challenge, we have come up with a new bedtime system. Earlier this week, we spent hours for several nights in a row trying to get Owen to go to bed. He ended up going to sleep at almost midnight those nights. It was exhausting and terrible. So to make it so we can actually relax and talk and possibly watch a little TV in the evenings, we've now started putting Owen's portable crib in the bathroom at night. Then we rock him a little and put him to bed in the bathroom until he falls all the way asleep before moving him back out into the room. It has worked like a charm the past two nights and we are so happy. It was getting to be so exhausting having him fight sleep every night. And he is a much happier, well-rested baby too. Now, if only we could get these teeth to come on out already.
10. New Girl. In case you live under a rock, New Girl is a new comedy this season about a girl who lives with three guys. Basically it's Friends, if you got rid of Monica and Rachel and left weirdo-Phoebe. And while the show may be named for Jess, the best part of the show is her crazy roommates. My favorite character is Nick, a grumpy curmudgeonly guy who is pessimistic and frowny most of the time. He is really funny though, especially in the last couple of episodes. The whole show is very witty and I laugh out loud at it on a weekly basis, as in, laugh so loud Tim has to shush me so I don't wake our sleeping baby laugh. It is one of the only shows that we consistently watch every week and make sure not to miss. It is also hilariously quotable so Tim and I pretty much make a new girl reference about once a day. "Dude, are you sheep-dogging her?" You should check it out.