Where The Heck Did I Go?

I think I may have temporarily fallen off the face of the earth. My creativity has been down the toilet. Stress of life has filled every pore of my body. Ugh. I wont bore you with the details. But really, sometimes life is just 'so.' We are so lucky and blessed by our family and friends who support us, and help us out. Really I know we couldn't make it without them. All that to say, while I have been 'missing' our little man has grown a ton! He is now 18 1/2 months old, WHAT. No way... :) He is running at lightning speed, climbing on anything he can lock his little toes on, and talking up a storm. Now when I say talking, I mean rambling in his own little language. He has his chunk of real words that he says but he just loves to jibber jabber a whole conversation with you. He went through a no battle sleep zone where naps, and bedtime were a dream. No fuss no muss, just take him in turn on his teddy songs sway a bit lay him down, cover him up and blow a kiss at the door and he would go out on his own. But like all good things, it sorta came to an end. Bedtime is still easy, he doesn't fight that one, puts himself to sleep with his music playing. And although he still puts himself to sleep at nap time it doesn't come without a little fight. But really I'd think he was kinda weird if he didn't fight sleep sometimes :) He is still super strong willed, and stubborn. Qualities I think will be wonderful when he is older, but is challenging as a toddler. Being a toddler doesn't come without its bumps and bruises. We had our first black eye thanks to our Toy Story shelve. It won as you can guess. Taking him in public was a little different. Some people... I mean am I really going to beat my child and then take him in public? C'mon! He is such a joy, he's learned the art of the cheesy fake laugh which is hilarious! His personality just keeps growing and I love it! Shannon and I are doing well, same ole same ole. I started my 2nd photography class, and he is riding his bike whenever he gets a chance. I wish I had more interesting things to talk and if you made it to the end, props to you :) Hope you're all well, and to end it here are some photos... I'm ba-ack! :)

Family park day:

Wearing my Uggs
Riding in the golf cart with Grandpa at their place!
And you know, playing in the dirt. What else!?

Simple Beauty...

I find simple beauty in so many things. A good family breakfast, a sunset, raindrops. You name it :) Paper Mama' s challenge for the week: Simple Beauty. I love this shot of my little man, the simplicity, and complexity, I wish I knew what was going through his head :)

A Little Humor For The Day...

This is a story, proving how fascinating the mind of a six year old is.

They think so logically.
A teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs to her class.

She came to the part of the story where first pig was trying to gather
the building materials for his home.

She read 'And so the pig went up to the man with the wheelbarrow
full of straw and said: 'Pardon me sir, but may I have some of that
straw to build my house?'

The teacher paused then asked the class: 'And what do you think
the man said?'

One little boy raised his hand and said very matter-of-factly...

'I think the man would have said - 'I'll be a son of a bitch!! A talking pig!'

The teacher had to leave the room.

Oh Kids....

Oh Elmo...

How do you get your kid to mello out for nap time?? Well here in the Cowan house we turn on a little Chuck the Truck and then this happens... :) I know I know adorable right??

I Heart Faces

I Heart Faces is having a challenge of 'anything but faces.' Who doesn't love them some adorable sandy baby feet?? I do!

There's This Kid...

Who chooses 15 minutes before bath/bed time to empty out all his toys from the cabinet.

Who has more expression in his little face than my husband and I combined. Who, although I thought couldn't get any funnier or cheesier has far surpassed anything he did before.

Who is 17 months old now, and got himself his 3rd, and maybe he's cutest, haircut.

Who would love to play outside 24/7 but because of his one week (and still snotty after 10 days) cootie bug, and now this horrible weather, is forced to play inside all the time! AAAHHH. A toddler in this house, ALL DAY. What is a boy to do?

Well we take off our shoes and socks of course. If we aren't going to play outside why bother? (We had just gotten home from his hair cut, don't worry I don't make him wear his shoes inside). Funny thing is he really only takes off his left shoe and sock, and his right shoe, so he wanders the house with one sock on. Strange? I know.

We play with our new Chuck the Truck race track! By playing I mean rearranging it all over the living room, hucking it across the room, and racing the Chuck and Handy toys across the floor :) What a boy! By the way when this toy entered the house not too long ago I honestly don't know who was more excited, dad, or Quinten :) Adorable? YES

We climb on the chase lounge, over the pillow to get as close to the DVD tower and blinds as we can. Doesn't he have an adorable tush?

We talk to mom for a minute about this amazing discovery we have just made. We then wait to see what mom is going to do. Will she make me get down? Sit and talk about the dvds with me? Or just stand there and keep on clicking pictures?? What do you think?

We get so proud and excited when we actually get ahold of one of these forbidden treasures. I can only imagine what would happen if he had full access to that thing.

So you see, there is this kid. Who eats his fruits and veggies before his proteins and carbs. Loves Chuck the Truck and Fraggle Rock. Who has discovered that nap time means that much less play time and has learned to fight it with all his mite. Who, with the quickest mention of bath time is knocking on the bathroom door within seconds. Who is a total mamas boy but absolutely adores his daddy. Who loves to read, and discover. Who loves giving AND getting raspberries. Who gives the best kisses, and snuggles (second to his daddy I guess ;)) Who has stolen our hearts 100% and just when you think you couldn't love him more, you do! And the best part is he is allll ours :)

Valentines Love

Valentines day... really a silly little holiday. It sucks if you are alone, and it puts pressure on those who have someone to impress :) But for me its super fun! Well it was a little hectic this year since my husband and I pretty much agreed on not buying gifts this year to save money, and then the day prior I went to use his truck (because I have to leave my car with the carseat) and he says "no wait you can't use it!" WHAT you-you-you. So I woke up V-day to a sweet gift from the hubs :)

A killer little tank and the blingin flip flops I've been wanting!

Then he bailed to work and I myself, got to work! Cleaned up the house as usual and took off to do a Costco run, alone. That was part of his gift :) the only shopping he usually has to do because we come home with such a massive and heavy amount. But I did it alone. Then went to the bike shop and got him a cool little tool, and some chocolate from Trader Joes. Came home, had lunch with my little Valentine. Put him down for a nap and finished the house, and made Shannon his card :) Who needs to sit and rest on a day like that? Anyways when Shannon got home he had these...

I poured a glass of wine and him a drink made some dinner (salmon OH yeah). We had a

romantic dinner with our son :)

Finished the night playing with the kid. The best part of the day though was all the little texts and such I got from Shannon. It reminded me of when we were first dating. All the giddiness and googliness, love and smothering! It was great. Nice to remind ourselves how much we love each other, its so easy to get caught up in the day to day, and all the craziness that comes with being parents. But once upon a time we were just us, so crazy in love. Aww what a day :)