Thank you Mom, I Love You!

I've said it before, many times but not sure my mom knows how much I appreciate her. As my late grandmothers birthday has come and gone this year, it has made me realize (again) how much my mother and I talk every day. If it's not a "good morning" text, it's FaceTime at some point in the day, even if it's right before bed.
I am so lucky to have a mom like mine. She drives me crazy and there are moments that I just need to walk away, but I really don't know what I would do without her. She is my sounding board to everything, she really is my best friend, she is a fantastic grandmother to her (for now) only grandchild. She is understanding of life's obstacles and what my family has to do to survive. I never really appreciated her like I do now before we had Owen. I under estimated the amount of love a child can have for a parent until I became a parent myself. You will do anything to see your child succeed, be happy and grow.
My mom is making the 3 hour drive to Moses Lake to spend her birthday with us and I feel like it's Christmas. I am giddy with excitement, texting her and asking her if she is packed and ready to go in the morning. We have our few days planned and they are going to fly by! We have projects to complete, a birthday to celebrate and a trip to Quincy for some wine tasting (happy birthday mom).

I really couldn't ask for a better mom. She is one in a million and I don't tell her enough how much I appreciate her. I am very fortunate to have the relationship I do with my mom. Many of my friends don't share this same bond and it breaks my heart. This is a big reason as to why I hope baby #2(no, we are NOT pregnant) is a girl, so I can have the same friendship and relationship I have with my mom, with my own daughter. The excitement of headbands and sparkly shoes, girly sleepovers, dance classes, homecoming and prom dress shopping and then wedding dress shopping!

Thank you mom for being amazing!! If I am half the mom you are, then I know I'm doing something right.

Happy Birthday.

update on the last 6 months!

It’s been close to 6 months since I’ve written a blog post. Sorry guys! That just means this will be a super long blog to get everyone up to speed. First and foremost, Brad, Owen, Dakota and I have relocated to Moses Lake Washington and Brad is going back to school to pursue aviation. There is a community college here called Big Bend that has a program that Brad can complete in about 2 years( 1 ½ if he feels he can accelerate his flying).
With that said, we successfully put our Laurel house on the market and within 10 days, we had an offer, we accepted and we closed on our house on September 15th. That was a 45 day closing! We also managed to make a pretty penny off of the house, so that has helped us out a little bit. (More on this later)


At the end of April, we joined the rest of the Ireland clan in California for a 4 day cruise from Long Beach to Vancover BC. It was great to spend quality time with everyone, have nice meals and play in the pool. What was really great is that we didn’t have any cell service, so we weren’t distracted. Just quality family time.

Once we were back in Billings, Brad and I started our new jobs(on Brads birthday, May 5th). He was working for a place called Passages (sort of like a government run halfway house, but locked down). I found a job at a local retirement community working in the memory care unit. We had put Owen in daycare and shortly after we found a very nice young lady who came to our house to watch Owen while Brad and I worked. We had a nice work flow and schedule going on.
Owen and I made Brad something pretty cool for Fathers day. I actually found this little project on pinterest and I was pretty impressed with how it turned out. Brad was pretty surprised and Owen was proud to give it to him. ☺

The 4th of July came and went with nothing to report. Life was pretty status quo. Brad was having some thoughts about going into aviation and how we were going to pursue this. We had some conversations and at the end of July we decided to put our house on the market and get ready to move back to Washington. I welcomed this move because I was lonely where we were. Yes, I had friends out there, but I think I was really homesick. I have such a good relationship with my parents and there is nothing like the friends you grew up with. Owen’s Godparents live about 20 minutes away from Brads parents, and that’s only 4 hours from door to door.
We loved living in Montana, but there wasn’t anything for us there that would help us survive and grow. The lifestyle is wonderful, slow going and friendly. The weather was ideal, the cool weather and guarantee of snow during winter. What we really miss is no sales tax. That’s something that I don’t think we will ever get used to. Silly Washington! My parents are a 3 hour drive away which is wonderful. It happens to be a Smith Christmas this year, so we are hoping to drive over the mountains and spend the holidays with my side of the family. This means that my mom and I can carry on our tradition of going to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Nutcracker. I am 3 hours away from being in my big city, the waterfront and my hometown. My dad said that he will be out at our house more often because there are good fishing opportunities here in Moses Lake and the surrounding areas. So if that means that Owen gets to spend more time with his Grandpa Smith, I am all for it!
So we packed up our belongings, put our house on the market and waited for the perfect buyer to walk through. This happened about 10 days AFTER putting it on the market!! Talk about good luck for us! We went back and fourth a few times with negations and what not, but we made it happen. To get the house up to selling standard however, we had to complete quite a few projects around the house. It was my job to paint the windows and the trim around the entire house. I also primed 80% of the house with 2-3 layers. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but it probably took me a solid week to do all of that painting. While I finished that, Brad finished the wall in the 3rd bedroom, stained the back deck, and did other chores (like the tedious task of picking up paint chips.). Before we sold it, we had to put a new roof on the house and the garage. I was sad to see it being sold after putting all of this time and effort and money into this house. It looked 150% better than when we bought it. When we bought the house, the siding was not only two different colors, but the majority of the front was horizontal siding that was white and from the front door to the left was a light yellow going vertical. The roof wasn’t in its best shape and the front yard was in dire need of some attention. Brad and his dad spent some time laying SOD in the front yard and it helped tremendously. They also built a new front patio with some nice stairs. They built an entirely new wall in the 3rd bedroom with a better window in it, so it kept the heat INSIDE the house. We stained our back deck, which we should have done when we bought the house because it looked so much better. It was a good first home for us.

Owen is going to be 18 months old in two short days. Talk about time flying by! He has a few solid words, but is all about the babbling. He can complete different tasks such as “go get your shoes” or “Please put that back!” lol. He LOVES his oda (short for Dakota . . . which was his first word). We are starting to make the trasition to a twin size bed, which is proving to be more difficult that I probably imagined it would be. We don’t want to put the crib together because he has outgrown his mini crib. So until he sleeps in his “big boy bed”, he is sleeping in his pack and play! Owen loves to read books and play with his dulpos. He can throw a ball for Dakota and loves to drive his cars up and down her while she is sleeping.

I am pleasantly surprised how well he did with this big transition we just made. First, we cleared our Laurel house of most of our things ( to show the house ), then started packing. Grandma Ireland was nice enough to fly out to get Owen so Brad and I could finish some projects around the house without him. That lasted about 7 days before I missed my little boy so much that I had to be done helping and go to Washington to be with him again. Brad drove out a few days later and we were all reunited at Brads parents house in Yelm, wa. While we were there, Brad and I made a few trips over to Moses Lake to find a place to live. It was proving to be very difficult. After a solid two weeks of looking, we found a 3 bedroom house that would fit us quite nicely. It’s actually a little bit bigger than our laurel house and it’s in a nicer neighborhood. Brad is enjoying learning to fly and I am enjoying being closer to family. So far, both sets of parents have been out to visit a few times. My mom plans to spend her birthday out here with us, and then we will drive over the mountains to spend Halloween with Brads side of the family.

There you have it. The last 6 months of our lives in a few paragraphs.

Happy 1st Birthday my sweet boy!

Lately, I have been watching Owen in disbelief that he will be a whole year old in just a few short days! Where has time gone? I feel like it was just a few months ago we brought him home and was itty bitty. We were waking up at the wee hours of the night for feedings and dirty diapers. He was sleeping right next to me in his bassinet, making the sweetest baby noises. These days, he sleeps through the night, from 9pm-7am. He occasionally wakes up in the wee hours of the morning with a very wet diaper, but that is made better and he quickly goes right back to sleep. He sleeps in his own room, right next to ours and I get to listen to him toss and turn through the monitor that is right above my head. He is walking everywhere and has lots to say! He explores but likes to be an observer! Owen is always on the move. It’s hard to get a good close up picture, or any picture for that matter when he isn’t moving.
Just about a year ago, my mother and I were laying on my living room floor admiring how Owen was trying to roll over and how advance we thought he was! He has hit a few milestones early, like walking, but for the most part he is just your average little boy!!
The weather has been nicer (no more snow!) so we’ve been able to play outside more, especially since Brad has been doing some renovating to the front of our house. Owen has been able to practice walking on un-even surfaces and explore the grass, dirt and concrete!!
He and Dakota are two peas in a pod! Dakota loves her little human and he looks around for her after he gets up from naps and at meal times. When she is curled up on the couch, he comes over and harasses her, like a true sibling!
Owen loves to push things. For his birthday, Grandma and Grandpa Smith got him a tunnel and tent from Ikea. He LOVES the tent, but isn’t sure what to do with the tunnel, so he just pushes it across the living room. It rolls real well. Grandma and Grandpa Ireland wanted to buy Owen a push toy for his birthday, so we went to Toys R Us and picked out a radio flyer tricycle. He hasn’t figured out how to sit on it and let it move, so instead he likes to push it around the yard and on our deck! They also got him his very own outside camp chair!

We spent his first birthday going to the park and hanging out at home. Brad made some French toast for breakfast, where we introduced Owen’s first big sugar – syrup and powdered sugar on his French toast! After dinner tonight, we were able to FaceTime with Owen’s Godparents (Ashley and Raul Diaz) and they sang with us to Owen and witnessed his first taste of ice cream! All in all we had a great first birthday!!

30 days till the big single digit!!

I am in disbelief that Owen will be turning 1 in just 4 weeks! We have been busy these past few weeks, so there is a lot to write about.


First and foremost, the Ireland family had to say "See you soon" to Granda Ireland. :-( Brad and Owen and I will be traveling down to Arizona this weekend to say our last farewells and visit with the entire Ireland Clan! It's always nice to see extended family, but you always wish it was under better circumstances. Yesterday, St.Patricks day would have been Grandma Ireland's 92nd birthday!! Happy Birthday Grandma Ireland! We miss you terribly!!

I have been incredibly homesick these past few months so Brad and I made the choice for me to travel back to Seattle for a little visit. We arrived on Tuesday evening and spent that night with Owen's Godparents, Ashley and Raul Diaz. It was so great seeing them. They were finally able to meet their Godson!!!!! Ashley and I spent a lazy Wednesday morning together and then I got the call about Grandma Ireland. This is when Brad and I got into fight or flight mode and made the choice to fly down to Arizona the next day to see Grandma! Brad flew into Seattle Thursday morning and we met him at the airport and flew down to Arizona as a family to see Grandma!! It was hard to see Grandma Ireland in that state, but she was still cognitive and acknowledged that everyone was there. Owen was able to hold her hand and babble to her. It was a quick visit down to Phoenix, as we left Saturday morning on our way back to Seattle. Saturday evening we had dinner with Ashley, Raul, their daughter Julianna and Brad's good friend Mitch at our very favorite restaurant - Buffalo Wild Wings!!! It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with our friends. This is what I've been craving and really missing. Close friends getting together for a meal.
Brad flew home that night and Owen and I stayed behind for the following week for a real visit. It was quick but nice to spend time with my parents and brother, visit my neighbor Judy and spend quality time with Ashley and Raul. Owen and I left Friday afternoon and arrived home early evening in Billings. It was a great visit, but nice to be home as well. A trip back to Seattle was exactly what I needed.
In the time that we were there, Owen had a few big moments!!
*He took a bath with Julianna and he went from cruising around on furniture to being brave and taking a few independent steps. It's hard on adults to be in different environments for a longer period of time, Owen did such a great job at adjusting to different homes, dogs and sleeping conditions.

Owen is now eating more table food than baby food, which is really wonderful. He likes to self-feed, eat noodles and pancakes and has lots of babbling words!! He has also mastered WALKING!!! He walks around now more than he crawls which led Brad and I to finally getting around to baby proofing the living room. This involved totally rearranging our living room, purchasing an area rug for softer landings and an ottoman instead of a hard coffee table. We have set up two baby gates so that he is confined to one area of the house and it's worked out perfectly! :-) We have a park that's a block down the street from our house and we took a walk down there the other afternoon. It was on the chilly side, but Owen seemed to enjoy the fresh air and new surroundings! He cracked a smile on the swing and crawled through a little tunnel. We couldn't stay much longer because it was too windy, but he walked all the way home, holding our hands.
Our little boy is growing up too fast!!

Guess who is 10 months old!?

We had a busy month this month, full of growing, making new memories and experiencing all sorts of new things.
My parents were able to come out and visit for a few days and it was great to have them out here when it wasn’t uncomfortably warm outside. They stayed in a hotel while they were out here because our 3rd ‘bedroom’ isn’t properly insulated so it gets incredibly chilly down there. That bedroom was converted before we bought the house, from a one car garage to a fantastic wood paneled, very chilly 3rd bedroom.
While my parents were out here, Owen was spoiled by grandma and grandpa. We went Target and they bought him a new car seat, some new shoes, a few new toys and some swim shorts!! Owen was able to test out those swim shorts on the last night they were out here because their hotel had a swimming pool. Unfortunately, the pool was a little chilly so we didn’t stay in there for too long, but you better believe we got some cute pictures.
Owen had had some other big things happen this month. Are you ready for this?? Owen took his first steps!! The last few nights, Brad and I have been working with him and having him practice taking a few steps from me to brad and vice versa! It’s so cool to watch him learn and to see how excited he gets! When he gets real excited about whatever he is doing, he makes a panting noise that is accompanied with a large smile and giggles! He has also mastered the word “DaDa” which warms Brad’s heart.
We have been cooped up in the house for what seems like forever because of the nasty winter weather we have experienced. At one point a few weeks ago, we had 8 inches of snow in one day, on top of snow from a few days ago. On top of the snow, it was bitterly cold outside.
Brad and I were able to go on a valentines day date on Friday because my good friend Debbie offered to watch Owen. We ofcourse went to Buffalo Wild Wings to play trivia, have some hot wings and enjoy a beer! I am proud to report that I won most of the trivia games!!
Some other big things that have happened in this last month:
*Owen is now down to taking 2 naps in a day along with 3 bottles!
*If you build a tower of blocks for him, he gladly knocks it down for you.
*He eats more table food with us now and seems to really enjoy dinner time.
*He has made the transition from his infant car seat to his “big boy” car seat! (I know I mentioned it earlier)
* He acknowledges his name but has mastered the art of selective hearing awfully early!
*Owen Bradley is no longer out little boy, he is our little toddler!!
*He has sprouted two more teeth, which makes a grand total of 4 teeth!






While my parents were out here, Owen had his first haircut!!




Swimming Pool!!