Blog hiatus

We're about to embark on an awesome trip to Chicago for Doug & Christine's wedding, hooray! That means there will be a blog hiatus until we're back with some photos and/or video in hand. Stay tuned! xoxo

Incredible-sounding hair stuff

Just came across this giveaway at safemama.com - if I was rich, I'd buy all this stuff. Doesn't it sound incredible? I've been struggling to find organic hair products that don't leave my hair feeling limp and slightly oily...we'll see!

Flashback to summer

I just realized Bill has been hoarding some great photos from last summer on his computer - Freddy squeezed into a life jacket (safety first!), hanging out with Papa in the yard, and the boys on the boat in Virginia. The life jacket didn't really work out in the end. We'll have to find one that fits him a little better next summer for summer camp with Grammy, Grandpa Scott, Pap, and Grandma Julie.

Getting ready for our trip to Chicago on Wednesday. Freddy has a bad cold, so cross your fingers that he's better by then. A runny nose on the airplane would not be ideal. It is amazing, though, that he hasn't been more sick going to day care (knock on wood). Now poor Narda has a cold, too. Since they got colds at the same time, hopefully it isn't Freddy's fault. At least we'll be taking him off her hands for 3 days this week!

Who's afraid of big bad balloons?

I thought balloons would inspire lifelong terror...but luckily, Freddy will live to pop another....

Go Giants!

Freddy shows some team spirit for Bill's favorite (and today, winning!) team....

The ride home....

Freddy had an awesome time at playgroup yesterday afternoon. On the way home, it was 1/2 hour past dinnertime but it didn't matter, because he had a....ziploc bag! Oh, what fun ziploc bags are! I'm sure there are "don't leave your child unattended with a plastic bag" warnings running through your heads, but just know that one cracker in an open ziploc = lots of laugh-out-loud moments in the car, apparently. :)

Happy Thursday

Here are a few more photos from last weekend that I thought you guys would enjoy. Freddy woke up early this morning, so we're having a nice, non-rushed morning for the first time in a LONG time. No memory of yesterday's shots this morning, either, which is great (so far). Looking forward to the weekend, although I also can't believe it's Thursday already!

Shots :(

We had Freddy's 1 year appt with Dr. Lindgren this morning. Freddy did great! He was showing off his new walking skills, babbling away, and throwing the ball (sort of) with the doctor. Here are his new stats:
height 30" (52nd percentile)
weight 21 lbs 15 oz (35th percentile)
head circumference 48 cm (88th percentile; why this is in cm and his height is in inches, I don't know)
Does this mean he has a big brain? :)

The doc thought Freddy was doing great on all counts, and said not to worry about his weight slowing down.

The shots were a big bummer, but he got over them reasonably quickly. We'll see how tonight goes! Oh, and he might break out in a rash 10 days from now (i.e., for Doug and Christine's wedding) - nice.

Whew!

Freddy slept for almost 13 hours and seems to be back on track today - hooray! Starting to think about the big wedding coming up a week from Saturday! The tiny tux for Freddy came in (oh brother, I know), and he even has some little patent loafers to wear with it. :) Beautiful, cool weather here this week. Looking forward to a weekend with no commitments!!

Birthday photos!

The day went from fun! to tired! to overwhelmed! briefly back to fun! and then overtired and cranky! :) Oh well, there will always be more birthdays.... Check out the slideshow, here!

The birthday disaster

I'll upload photos Monday night, but suffice it to say that Freddy didn't really enjoy his first b-day bash yesterday. First, he skipped his afternoon nap. Then, he fell on a balloon and one of his sharp little teeth popped it right in his face. He spent the next 4 hours TERRIFIED of balloons and freaked out about loud noises, including the noisemakers I thought would be so fun. Of course, the other kids thought the noisemakers were great, thereby sustaining the torture for Freddy to the end of the party. He was already wiped out when the party started, after not sleeping, so the people, noise, and ubiquitous balloons were completely overwhelming. We have a great photo of him with his piece of cake in TOTAL meltdown mode. Nice.

He rallied late-night (you know, around 6:30 pm) to play with Charlie, but then WOULD NOT go to sleep, even at 7:30. I'm guessing he was over-tired, but it took about two hours and three people to finally soothe him to a fitful sleep. We'll see what today brings!

In other news, though, he is WALKING! as of last Thursday, and is getting his molars in (which I didn't realize until one was already there - some mom I am!).

Had a fantastic visit with mom, Scott, Bill's dad (Bill), and Jan. There was so much more I wanted them to see, but they loved the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Sunday morning), and I think appreciated the time they got to hang out with Freddy (he was normal and happy most of the weekend!).

Sorry for the delay...

In Denver for WESTAF meetings Wed-Thurs, so no new photos for a few days. Great meetings today - what a fantastic group this is - got a semi-tour of the new-ish Denver Contemporary Art Museum (no, that's not the official name), and a nice dinner at Baur's (no 'e', so no idea how it's pronounced). Full day of meetings tomorrow, my first as treasurer, so am a bit nervous as to how that will go. As always, super inspired about what this organization/board is able to accomplish. Looking forward to a visit by mom and Scott, Big Bill and Jan on Friday!

Cool stuff...

Neat necklaces at this website I found through IndieFixx...:

http://www.karaleedesigns.com/

And really COOL wall vinyl graphics here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5561900

At the park, 10/10/08

Bill picked Freddy up at daycare on Friday (Oct 10) and we met at the park (I rode my bike)...it was chilly, but FTG was up for a little mulch-crawling, wrong-way crawling up the slide, and swingin'. He was not, however, ready for a hat and gloves. Better get ready, Freddy, winter's coming!

Look what we woke up to...

Happy fall in Utah! (supposed to be 70 later this week)

Fun with paper bags...

Why do we buy toys?

The garden, before the snow?

Hmm - I'll have to update later as to whether it actually does snow and make everything turn brown. Freddy figured out how fun the back of the back yard is, including a little rusted dog that the former owners left (accidentally or intentionally) for us. He managed to not eat any dirt or mulch, although I'm sure that won't last.

Bill joins a hockey league....

Billy has one-upped my Wed. night climbing outings by joining an official ice hockey league! They play on Sunday evenings (sadly, probably mostly after FTG is in bed) and practice on Wednesdays. If you don't show up, you have to bring a 12-pack to the next game. Nice. I'm so happy for him, as this sounds like fun and will be a throwback to high school days for him. Freddy seems to like the plan, too....

The weather forecast

Here comes winter!
(from ksl.com)

Outlook

The first stage of the much talked about storm is starting to take shape. The air pressure over the state is starting to drop, indicating stormy weather is not far away. Expect a slightly cooler day today, as the winds pick up this afternoon. A colder day tomorrow, with a chance of rain or snow. The snow looks more likely on Saturday as even colder air pushes in. It looks like this storm could wind up being a significant storm for parts of the state. More snow possible on Sunday, then a break next week. -Morning Meteorologist Grant Weyman, Live 5 Weather HD 10/9/08
new addition: some photos from the park on Oct 10...

Halloween Costume Ideas

This is awesome! I don't know whether we'll do a Halloween costume for Freddy since we'll be in Chicago and, technically, he'll be with a babysitter on Halloween itself. But if I had the time and a sewing machine....these websites have great ideas!
Martha Stewart - baby costume ideas
Martha Stewart - no-sew costumes
Real Simple's easy-to-make costumes

I guess we should probably do something for the photos, if nothing else! Here's a photo of Jack, me, and Mary with our very own homemade costumes, circa 1980? Mom?

Cold weather coming...

It might snow this weekend! A long shot, probably, so we'll see. Of course we will definitely get our first frost, which will likely make our beautiful garden turn brown just in time for my mom and stepfather to come visit for the first time. LoL. I'll just have to have some photos around of what it looked like in its prime!

Our red twig dogwood is losing its leaves - does that mean something's wrong with it? It does still show through green if you scrape the bark a little. Anyone? It hasn't exactly thrived since we planted it two months ago. Another question for mom....

My brain is full!

Well, between the debate tonight, busy work, Freddy's birthday, company coming, moderating two focus groups on the same day next week, and a 2-day trip to Denver next week, my brain is filling up! Anyone have any good tips for focusing? I think it's something like 'tackle one task at a time'. LOL. I'm working on it. Freddy was so cute last night - before dinner, I let him roam around the back yard. He had a blast climbing the shallow steps (up and down, up and down), checking out the flowers, and petting the rusted metal dog sculpture that the previous owners left in the garden. He especially likes crawling on the mossy thyme carpet. Photos to come later!

Playgroup fun

For those of you who don't live in Utah, Freddy and mommy (that's me) go to playgroup every Thursday with a bunch of our friends: Parker, Ali, Charlie, Samantha, Jasper, Magnus, Henry, 2 Lucys, Ada, Rio, Sydney, Maddox, Hayden, Tripp, Olivia...and more, depending on the day! Good times are usually had by all, depending on how tired/sick/played out the kids are. Plus, this October, it seems like every week is somebody's birthday, hooray!

Freddy misses Iris...

This is a special post dedicated to Freddy's first nanny/babysitter, Iris Stewart. We had a teary goodbye to Iris at the end of July (2008), and I wish Freddy could still see her regularly! She took such good care of Freddy and his buddy Hudson for 7 months in Baltimore, and we think about her every day. I know Freddy misses her, especially sitting on the front porch watching the world go by! Here are a few photos of Iris and the boys....

Indie Fixx

I don't usually like to identify myself as some kind of 'indie' consumer. I mean, come ON...but then I found this website that has really, really cool and not very expensive 'indie' stuff that I really love. Oh well. Check out the paper goods in particular, and the jewelry.... And no, Bill, I haven't bought anything. But it might be a source for holiday gifts, I'll admit.

Raising a kid in the U.S.

I am a bit speechless about the Vice Presidential debate last night. Actually, more speechless about the pundits' reaction that Palin 'won' because she didn't make as big a fool of herself as she was expected to. This is THE POTENTIAL PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Why are our expectations so low?? Oh, and why do people think John McCain knows how to win a war just because he (sort of) fought in one, losing war? Argh.

Ok, that's all I'll rant about for now. But I can't promise there won't be more to come over the next month.

Here's a little photo of Freddy from last weekend, just hanging out in his jammies (disney ones daddy brought back from CA). Check out all his teeth! We had a good time at playgroup at the Westminster park last night - he came home about as grubby as I've ever seen him, between wood chips, orange cupcake icing (he didn't get one but swiped a few other kids'), mashed up overcooked gardenburger, and Charlie's shake. We got home and even though it was 15 min. from bedtime, he was still starving! He discovered rotisserie chicken (probably not very good for him), which was a big hit.

He's getting so big. SO close to walking, but just can't get there! I think it's frustrating him. He's alternately really fun and laughing at everything or really tired and frustrated and cranky. Good times. The chair for his room finally arrived yesterday - now if we could just get his end table (ordered 1 1/2 months ago) and a rug and hang some stuff on the walls, he should be in good shape.

Really missing family these days - can't wait for a visit from Mom and Scott in a few short weeks!

Alternative to pumpkins...

I think this is pretty darn adorable. Now...will we even carve a pumpkin, much less a squash?

We miss Kylie

We sure do miss our Kylie girl...I know she has a good, happy new home in Baltimore but every time we take a hike here, I think about how much fun she would be having. Bless Jim for giving her a new home without children, cats, or other dogs :) - he is a good soul and has some great karma coming his way!

More awesome stationary...

And another good stationer: Petite Papier. I could go on and on but should probably get to work now...

Did I mention how much I love Etsy?

Seriously - this website has something for everyone, and I think it's so cool that you can find stuff that is one-of-a-kind. Especially valuable here in SLC where most of the stores are national chains.... Just came across this woman who makes awesome stationary: Jumping Jack Designs

Today, I'm working on Freddy's birthday invitation. We've decided to go small and low-budget. After all, hopefully all he'll need to remember will be captured in glorious icing-covered photos, right? So I'm designing my own invitations, and we're only inviting a few friends. Grandpa and Jan are coming, and Grammy and Scott, so it'll be a little family reunion of sorts. Yippee! Here's a photo from Freddy at our old neighbor Liam's first birthday in July.

I went in to get Freddy out of bed this morning and he was so cute - just lying there on his back, snuggled into 2 blankets and some other toys, just looking up at me as if to say "hey mom - it's pretty cozy in here!". Then he cracked a huge grin. I suspect I'll miss these days....

The Vice Presidential debate is on tonight - should be interesting! Too bad it isn't followed immediately by a Saturday Night Live edition. We'll have to tune in on Saturday!

Inaugural Posting to the Gowski Fam Blog

Well, here we go. I was just thinking about the various e-mails, kodak gallery e-mails, texts, etc. that we use to keep our friends and family up to date, and thought 'heck, I really just need to start a blog.' Plus, I suck at journals, and maybe this will help me keep my thoughts in one place, at least until the Internet crashes with the stock market and everything goes to hell.

So, for some news! Freddy realized yesterday that blueberries roll. I'm sure you can extrapolate on your own how breakfast went after that little revelation. He's finally getting into problem-solving - fitting things together and putting stuff in and out of other stuff, and he is also learning how to throw. He had a hilarious time last night throwing small empty tupperwares around in the empty bathtub and then chasing them from one end to the other.

My hands and sharp corners (elbows, knees) are finally scabbing over after a phenomenal weekend of canyoneering (photos to come soon). What an awesome trip. Bill and Freddy spent the weekend together and lived to tell the tale(s).