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

Our Theme Songs

Drew: The brave little engine song
He has never sat through a TV show until now, he'll run from anywhere in the house when this Thomas song comes on.

Owen: The Transformers theme song
He's still obsessed and this picture made him really happy.

Justin: the theme song from Home Improvement
For obvious reasons... getting this house ready to sell!

Shauna: The "I want it now" song from Willy Wonka
A drink of water, massage, clothes that fit, a mini-van (don't mess), a baby... you name it.

Getting Back to Normal

This is how we rake our leaves.

The Details

The day after Justin gets home and he's already back at work! Just for a couple hours... they have to do some classes about STD's, drinking responsively, etc. for all those party guys.

Anyway, yesterday morning was soooo long waiting for Justin. We were told to be on base at 8:30 and the guys would be there anywhere between then and noon. Lucky for me Justin had his cell phone and called to say they were stuck on the airplane cause of all the lightning. He called when they were on their way and so we only had to wait 15 minutes on base. It was a way rainy day so they had tents set up with pizza and donuts. Drew loved the pizza, Owen was acting nervous and didn't want to eat. The 1st 2 busses got there at 11:30 and we watched guys come off with no Justin. We didn't realize a 3rd bus had pulled up until we turned around and Justin came out of nowhere. It caught me totally by surprise and I just started crying. Then Justin hugged Owen and he started crying too. It wasn't cause he didn't want Justin to hug him. Not sure if it was cause of me (don't think he saw me crying though) or what. But 6 1/2 months is a long time for a kid to be away from their dad and he was emotional about it. Drew didn't really know what was going on (he knows Daddy but also thinks every guy in cammies is Dad). They were both pretty quiet while we were there waiting for Justin to get his bags... just taking everything in. It was weird (in a good way) for me to be walking and not holding a kid! Justin was walking holding both of their hands :)

Justin loves his Taco Bell so we stopped there on the way home. At home we relaxed and went through his stuff. He brought Owen a carved wooden elephant, Drew a camel, and me a cool oil lamp made from pewter. We went to Target to so Owen could finally get the Transformers movie Justin had promised him. He's been saying, "Thank you that Daddy can come home and bring me Transformers with no ugly words" in his prayers for a month now. We have one of those Clearplay DVD players that edits movies but it was being disfunctional so they're sending us a new one and Owen has to wait 2 weeks till he gets to watch his movie.

If I had a nickel for every time Drew said, "Daddy" yesterday I would be a millionaire. He followed him ALL day and it was lovely. He just woke up from his nap and keeps asking for him, too. Justin said he's a totally different kid talking so much and copying everything Owen does. Owen didn't change as much to him. Owen loves Justin being here but he's still not totally himself. He asks me things to ask Justin instead of asking him directly. Still a little reserved. He didn't like it that Justin had to go into work today.

And I am still getting used to not doing everything myself... it's so nice. No taking out the trash, getting Drew out of his carseat, less diapers, and now that Justin found his license way less driving. Yay!

On a side note, I'm due two weeks from tomorrow. My mom flies in late that day so I'm requesting this baby to be born March 6th please.

:)

Owen Made Me Lunch

February 15, 2008

When I caught this hot dog in the microwave it still had
43 minutes left.

I think 1-2 had passed but I can't be sure.

"Do you want to let it cool down first?"
"Is it too hard for you?"

I was on the phone w/Justin when Owen was making this and he thought I should eat it so I wouldn't hurt his feelings. But even Owen knew it was bad and made me a new one.