Acronyms & Unrelated Pictures

O(wen) - One

O(wen), D(rew) - Over Dose or Oh Dear

(Now that Owen's pink-eye is gone he loves to hold Sally, get her out of her carseat, carry her around the house, etc.)

(Trying to make her smile by tickling)

O(wen), D(rew), S(ally) - Okie Dokie Smokie, Operation Desert Storm, or Online Dating Service

We Love Mema

Mema & Baby Owen

Mema & Drew at Bear Lake in Utah last summer.

Justin's grandma passed away early Sunday morning. We will miss her so much. It won't be the same next time we're in AZ and she's not there.

Not just anyone has a grandma that lip synchs to Britney Spears (at almost 80 at the time... using Erica's new karaoke machine she got for Christmas).

And I love how she would get pretend mad if anyone hugged and kissed newborn Owen (or any baby) for too long, saying they were stealing his sugar and they better save some for her!

We love our Mema!

Running Out of Material

I just wanted to see if Angelina would comment again like she did last year.
She'll probably show up on my blog again next April Fool's, too.
And I'm not even an Angelina fan.

Good night!

New Neighbors

Look who we saw at the beach today!

I guess if you want to go unnoticed... this is the place to be. Not a papparazzo in sight. Just me. They're used to it, right?

Postponed

Due to Sally's brother Owen having a case of pink eye (in both eyes) her blessing has been postponed until further notice.

A Name and a Blessing

We're blessing Sally tomorrow

A. I'm a Kelly McCaleb fan. I found her while doing a little blog-stalking one day. She's the one that took our family pictures in Utah last summer. And she also has the cutest Etsy shop where I found these hand-knit newborn blessing slippers. Here's her blog and here's her Etsy shop (where I stole the above picture).

B. I'm anal about names. Here are my baby naming rules that only apply to me so don't be offended. And also I'm allowed to break my own rules:

1. All family members names should start and end with a different letter. I think this came from my family where none of my 4 brothers and 3 sisters share the same first letter. (BROKEN: Shauna and Sally both start with S; Justin and Owen both end with N)

2. No 3 syllable names (the last name is a mouthful).

3. 3 syllables total allowed between 1st and middle names (the last name is a mouthful). (BROKEN: Justin's 1st 2 names = 5 syllables and mine = 4 (my maiden name was also a mouthful). But we didn't name ourselves so it's okay)

4. Names should be obviously masculine or feminine so that if somebody has never met one of my kids but they see or hear their name they would know if it's a boy or a girl. No unisex names. (SEMI-BROKEN: Drew Barrymore is a girl named Drew. That name is 75% male so there are a few girl Drews out there. But Drew Alan is obviously a boy name. I hope. And Michelle Branch is busted for naming her DAUGHTER Owen)

5. The middle name should have some family meaning. (BROKEN: Sally's middle name Belle. I'm sure one of us has a Belle somewhere but we don't know about it. Our friend Elizabeth threw out the name and the more we thought about it the more we liked it. Think Southern Belle (we ARE in the South), not Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We did find out after the fact that one of Justin's great-grandpas nicknamed his wife Sally which is cool)

6. The names need to sound different enough so that when they're yelled they don't get confused. Not that I would ever yell! But my brother Derek and sister Karen's names sound the same when yelled. Not that my mom ever yelled! But we did have a basement that got hollered down to a lot.

7. And lastly, a kid's first name not only needs to sound good with his own middle and last name but ALSO his siblings names. Drew's name was the toughest ever to come up with. We knew his middle name would be Alan before we had chosen a first name so his first name had to be one syllable and sound good with: Alan, Hollobaugh, and Owen.

It's a miracle any of our kids have names at all with all my rules.

What's Missing From This Picture?

Training Wheels!

And also, shoes.
Which would've come in handy when he crashed a minute later.

But Gooooo OOOOOweeeeen!

He Can Cook Too

This whole time I thought he just knew how to dump a can of cream of chicken soup on top of rice. But last night he totally whipped up some chicken parmesan and Olive Garden salad like he was Emeril. And it was so good!

He found the salad recipe here and the dressing recipe here from Copykat Recipes and they seriously tasted just like the real deal.

Easter

While the boys were at church, Sally & I had church at home... kind of nice in my pj's. I wanted to go, but not on 4 hours of sleep. So I read a couple Ensign articles, played some Easter songs on the piano. No singing though. I don't sing unless with a very large group.

Then to the Peterson's for dinner and egg hunting...

This is the size basket Drew needed w/all the eggs out there... way too many for the 3 kids that hunted.

Chocolate face.

The mother lode of eggs.

Sorry for decapitating you Aaron.

Easter Eve was egg-dying night.

Owen was way into it and wanted to sleep w/his colored eggs.

Drew was into it, too... he drank a gulp of the colored water, vinegar and all.

Hope all my PEEPS had a good Easter!

At least I didn't say, "Hoppy Easter!"

Guess What Movie We Just Watched

Nacho Libre
(we're a little slow on our movies)

Green Food Does Weird Things To People

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Umbilical Cord Clamps

You know when you buy new clothes then get home and find the security tag hasn't been removed?

At the Hospital

Socks for mittens

Drew's birthday, hospital style.

In Case You Are Wondering.....

Sally Belle Hollobaugh

Born at 7:48 PM March 12

7 lbs

19 1/2 in.

Both Shauna and Sally are in good health with no complications and they should be permitted to come home today.

Blessings

#1... One week after our house went on the market it is under contract! For full listing price even. I know that's a huge blessing with the crazy real estate market right now (which is a little better here because of all the military move-ins and move-outs).

It's also a huge blessing to have that taken care of before Sally comes. It's been crazy this last week having a realtor call and giving us 30 minutes to get the house presentable and get out. I can't imagine doing that with a newborn and without my mom here to help. Which brings me to

#2... Sally should be coming tomorrow! I'll be 41 weeks and they will finally induce me (assuming the hospital isn't full).

#3... My mom was able to get her flight home switched to Friday, which is awesome in itself. The bonus was that there were no fees (we thought it would cost $100). And Saturday she gets to leave for Mexico to meet Brent & Errin's new baby Jones.

Dear Sally

Are you so comfortable in my belly that you don't want to come out?

We're a nice enough family, you don't need to be scared.

Drew may go to the bathroom on your head once or twice.
Owen did it to him so it's only fair.
But we'll be on our best behavior, I promise.
And Grandma really wants to see you before she has to go home on Wednesday.

In the meantime you're missing out on a train museum, riding a trolley...
You missed Drew's early birthday celebration.

We really don't want you to miss out on anything else.

I tried castor oil. Twice. Milk of magnesia. Once. And lots of prayers.
So I'm working on patience now.

It's just that we're so excited to meet you.

So please come.

PLEASE!

Still Nothing

Our house has been on the market since Mon or Tues and we got kicked out twice today so realtors could bring people through.

1st Time... (notice what the sign says)

2nd time...

The kid needs his own sunglasses.

So. close. to. trying. castor oil.

I'm Due Today

But... no baby yet.

So we got a consolation prize, a minivan.

And in a few hours I'm about to go get me a mama.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and things are progressing so I have hope this baby will come someday.

Just the "Friend"

We tried the suggestion below today in church... BIG improvement. Still not perfect but it's a start. Owen & Drew can make any "quiet" activity loud. I also brought a blank notebook, crayons, and a folder my mom made with pictures of Jesus. The crayons still got a little crazy (Owen would color as hard as he could trying to make the tip "melt"). So ya maybe just a pen would do the trick.

Just the Friend

Jenny H, Alabama “Just the Friend ,” Ensign, Feb. 2008, 74

My children love going to church, but they struggle to sit still in sacrament meeting. Quiet books, coloring books, snacks, and toys never held their attention for long, and they often quarreled over them. I even tried practicing a “reverence time” with them during the week. Nothing seemed to work. Finally, I stopped bringing extra activities in my church bag. Instead, I gathered a collection of past Friend magazines for them to look at after the sacrament. They can each have a pen to write in the magazines. They can also look through the hymnbook or sit quietly. Those are their options. For us, this change simplifies our sacrament meeting experience each week and helps us to focus more on the Savior.

Homepage for the Friend