Mostly Owen: The Countdown

Sarah's Thoughts: Christmas is looming and I know there's lots to do in order to be ready, but the trick is knowing how much I have to get done each day so that at the end, I'm not pulling an all-nighter... This year, we're taking off to Georgia to spend Christmas with Luke's family. One good thing about going out of town for Christmas is that I'm forced to get all the stressful scrambling out of the way before we leave, so maybe on Christmas, we actually will be more relaxed. It'll be great to get out of town and see family, but if you think of us on Dec 18 and 19, please say a prayer for a peaceful flight. Every time I think about traveling at Christmas with a very busy 18 month old, who can't sit still for more then 10 seconds, I just honestly don't know how we're going to survive the 5 hour flight from Seattle to Atlanta. We tried giving him some benadryl tonight to see how he'd react. It didn't seem to have much effect until bath time. Suddenly, he was very insistent that his cuddle sleeve (his blanket) join him in the tub. Of course I didn't let him, and had to wrench the blanket out of his death grip before putting him in the water. On normal evenings, all traces of sadness melt away as soon as he gets in the tub but tonight, he sat in the water, bawling big, fat tears. Very sad! Bad benadryl!

High- Knowing that I only have 3 days of work this week!

Low- Knowing we have 8 hours of flying ahead of us...

Luke Update: Its been so windy and cold lately that Luke hasn't been able to get out hunting so he's been spending more time on projects. Luke has temporarily traded in his cast led bullets for his table saw. He's been working on a super secret project most of the week in the garage. (I think I'm getting something homemade for Christmas! I'll let you know!) We also have been catching up on last year's season of "Lost," thanks to Netflix. We don't really have T.V. so we do our best to avoid all mention of what's currently happening on our favorite T.V. shows and then when the previous year's season comes out on DVD, we watch the whole thing in a week. What is with those people on the freighter and why doesn't everyone get off the island???? (Don't tell!) I think Luke and his dad are going to be doing some hunting and bow-building while we're in Georgia so there may be more of that to report in the next few weeks.

Owen Update: Owen has really been quite sweet this week. As pictured below, he's been giving kisses, which just melts your heart. We also found out last night that Owen loves cats. We went to our neighbor's house for supper. Owen was happily exploring their house, checking out the dog toys and trying to open all the doors. All of a sudden, he let out this startled cry, like he was hurt. I raced over to find him pointing at their cat, Rhett. At first I thought the cat had scratched him or something, but after close inspection Owen seemed to be fine. Our neighbor, Bob, held Rhett so that Owen could pet him. Owen was trembling, he so badly wanted to touch the animal but at the same time was so cautious that he couldn't bring himself to move. He just stood there, shaking and crying. It was pretty crazy, I've never seen him like that. Now that I think about it, I don't think Owen has ever been in close proximity of a cat. I finally forced Owen to pet Rhett a little bit, and then for the rest of the night, he was chasing the poor animal all over the house.