28 Days

So I've heard that a habit can be formed in 28 days...I used to write daily in my journal between the ages of either 12 or 14 up until the night before I got married. So it was either a span of 5 or 7 years. I've been married for 6.5 years and have not started journaling again and every time I think about it, I get kind of sad. I've had so many wonderful times and we've started a family with little Lowe and have another one on the way. I really feel like I need to start writing in a journal daily again to try and retain the memories of the every day things that happen that will bring a smile to my face when read at a later time. So I've decided to start a private blog for my daily journal writing. This is an idea I stole from a friend but I think it'll be better than the way I used to do it: actually writing in a spiral notebook!!! This way, I can write in it at home and at work since I'm there at the end of the normal person day a few times a week. Also, since the computer is so easy to get to multiple times a day, this means that I can write in my journal more than once a day if the occasion arises. For example, when Lowe does something hilarious that I want to remember, I can zip over to my computer and blog it down instead of trying to remember it until the end of the day (which we all know is hard enough to do when you don't have a pregnant memory...)

I know there are things out there you can buy too to help you write in a journal so it's not just your daily musings...anyone out there have any good "Journaling Questions"?

So here goes to my 28 day challenge...starting today and going through June 3rd (I hope) I will be attempting to write in my journal daily! If anyone else wants to join me, let me know and we can try to keep each other encouraged!!!

PS: here's a quick little preview of the big boy quilt I'm working on for Lowe. I wanted to get it done before we found out what we're having but I don't think that's going to happen...we find out on the 19th and there's still a few borders to sew on and the layering and quilting left to do!!!

In The Blink of an Eye

April has been so full of fun that it seems like it should be over already but it's not!

I just had to post this picture because Lowe loves to mess with Tyler's guitar...he runs around asking to play "daddy's tard". We try to correct him and tell him it's a gui-tar with no 'D' but he just looks at us like 'right' and than repeats 'tard' back to us, so obviously we're the wrong ones!

Lowe turned 2 on the 14th. Hard to imagine he's been here with us that long! Or, as any parent of an overly active, strong-willed, independent 2 year old knows...it's hard to imagine he's only been with us that long! Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Dave and Cousin Sophie outdid them selves with his present (which Lindsey found at a garage sale for 10 bucks...I've never found anything at a garage sale before). Lowe jumped right on it and rode it around like he'd been driving his whole life.

We spent a week back in Virginia visiting with Tyler's brother, wife and neice. It was sooo much fun. We ran around almost every day seeing everything we could despite the weather being cold, windy and wet 5 of the 7 days. Lowe loved being able to run around and look at everything. Here's my favorite picture from the batch:

We told him to try to push over the Washington Monument but this picture makes it look like he's doing something else...and I laugh like crazy each time I see it...ahahahaha.

Lowe really liked the WWII Memorial too. He sat there for a while watching the fountains (and trying to get the ducks to come closer to him...he loves those ducks)

We went to Mt Vernon also. Here's Lowe next to some huge tree whose roots looked totally fake!

We had a blast in Virginia and the plane trips weren't too bad with both of us being there to try to contain the force of the universe who's name is Lowe. He did sleep on most of 2 of the 4 planes. We made sure we traveled back on the day before he turned two so we wouldn't have to pay for a seat for him! We'll probably be driving everywhere now (Minnesota and Virginia being the exceptions...) just because it costs sooo much less!

And hopefully we find out in about 4-5 weeks whether there'll be another little boy or girl Goodrich joining us in October...can't wait!!!

12 Weeks and 5 Days

That's right...we're expecting our second baby in October!!! Every time we ask Lowe if he wants a baby brother or a baby sister he says no to both...oh boy!!!!

3 Funny Lowe Stories

1. Lowe has been riding in his car seat on the side seat instead of the middle seat. We were stopped at a light the other day and he wanted me to roll the window down. So I started to roll it down only to notice he was lifting up his stuffed bear to the opening window while saying "Teddy Grahm go outside." Needless to say I rolled it back up very quickly!

2. I was not feeling too well the other day and ended up being sick to my stomach, as I was still sitting on the bathroom floor, Lowe came in and asked "What are you doing mommy?" I told him I was being sick, he gave me this little concerned look, patted me on the back, flushed the toilet for me and walked back out of the bathroom.

3. Lowe loves to read and watch movies and just randomly sometimes he'll just say things. We were driving home and Tyler said "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" to which Lowe responded "Will be enough room?" Tyler and I were both really surprised! Silly little Lowe sure knows his books! He than proceeded to say random letters and numbers while pointing out the window.

Fun With Friends

Lowe is getting to be quite a handful...he's been flirting with The Terrible Twos since he was about a year old and is now in the full blown stage! He is trying and testing us at every turn...but apparently it's only me and Tyler since he's a little angel for Grandma...darn children!!!

I made some Valentine's Day sugar cookies yesterday, I know, I know, it's wasn't even February yet!!! but I don't care...Lowe and his daddy helped to clean up. Lowe liked the frosting.

Lowe and I went with our friends Jillanne and Claire to the Phoenix Zoo today. It was such nice weather outside and there were hardly any other people there! Yeah to being able to go to places in the middle of the week!!! They had lots of fun looking at all the animals that were out. They even got to play with some (fake) farm animals! Lowe liked riding the horse.

Last week, Lowe had Claire and his cousin Sophie over for a playgroup. They had lots of fun until Lowe accidentally caught Sophie's hand in the back door! A few kisses and sorry's later and everything was back to fun times. Here's Lowe stealing, um wait, I mean sharing Claire's fruitsnacks...

Lowe likes to run around and flush our toilets and always says pee pee in the potty and poopy pants and stuff like that so I got him a little toilet seat from the store the other day. He really likes to sit on it but hasn't actually done the deed in the toilet yet...he just likes to kick his legs, play with the toilet paper, etc...just not actually go!!! At least he's willing to climb on and off I guess.

So that's what we've been up to for the last week or so...nothing too exciting but still fun.

January In A Nutshell

Gees 2011 is flying by!!!

Tyler and I are going to try to have a date night once a month...new years resolution of mine...so here's a picture from our first one! We went out to dinner at Chilis and than walked up and down Mill Ave here in Tempe. We walked a little bit by Tempe Town Lake and had a good time. It was a bit chilly for me but the walking, Tyler and my coat kept me warm. I did end up with a nasty blister from my heals but it was worth it!

I'm trying to go out with Lowe at least once a week to somewhere fun (and for the time being new since the Valley is a whole new area for us). This last week we went to this indoor amusement park called Jambo. I thought it would be overrunning with children seeing as how it's really inexpensive but surprisingly there were only 3 other kids there when we got there. Lowe liked all the carnival rides they had, I on the other hand did not like them much. We did both enjoy the huge jumping castle they had. Lowe loves to jump so he was in heaven!

And being the little boy he is, Lowe discovered DIRT! He loves to go outside and just sit in this patch of dirt and dig at it with his hands and feet. He was so filthy the other day he almost became a mud monster when we took him to the bathtub to get clean.

Our neighbors brought us a bunch of oranges and we decided to dust off our juicer and make some juice. We were all recovering from being sick, Lowe with a double ear infection and Tyler and I from colds. It was the best juice I'd ever tasted! Lowe had fun helping Tyler juice the oranges.

Here is my little man hamming it up. That teddy bear he has a death grip on is from the urgent care trip we made when he was febrile at 103 for longer than I was comfortable with. While in the UC waiting room, I asked him what he was going to name his bear and he told me Teddy Grahm...so, that's the bear's name. It's really cute because he absolutely loves that stuffed animal!

It was laundry day and this is how Lowe helped me out...stole the laundry hamper, put it on his head and ran around the house playing Red Light Green Light. It's his favorite game of late and he could play it all day long if we didn't get tired of playing it with him.

I couldn't find Lowe the other day and when I finally wandered back into our office, this is what I found. He really likes to do anything that we do and messing with the computers is his copy cat thing of the month. I can hardly use the laptop around him because he'll climb up into my lap and press all the keys on the keyboard and mess it up!

At church yesterday, Lowe was being pretty good and playing with two of his toy cars when I heard him making kissing sounds. I looked over at him and he was making his cars kiss! It was sooo funny! Tyler just rolled his eyes but I had a hard time keeping my laughter to myself. Lowe is growing up too fast...too bad Neverland doesn't exist or I'd wisk him away right this second!

Selfish...

So Tyler and I have been married for over 6 years now. So many other people we know have been married between then and now and each time I see their wedding pictures...I get a little more jealous each time. So I convinced Tyler to rent himself a tux, squeezed myself back into my dress, dug out my veil and necklace and talked my awesome friend Beka (www.lowephotos.info) into taking re-wedding pictures for us!

Here are a few of my favorites!

Those are not the shoes I wore on our wedding day...wish they were but they weren't. They were my only heals short enough to go with my wedding dress!!!

I can't wait to pick out a few of the pictures and frame them! Yeah to still fitting in the dress 6 years and a baby later!

And I just wanted to tell Tyler how much I love him and how incredibly handsome he is!!! Sexy!!! Love you lots silly!!!