FIVE DAYS UNTIL SURGERY

Owen will have his cleft palate repair surgery on Friday, February 1st. I am so not looking forward to this and getting myself very stressed and upset everyday that we get closer to the big day.

We had his pre-surgery appointment with his pediatrician on Thursday and she gave him the all clear to have the surgery, when his surgeons office called me on Friday to tell me that they received all the necessary paper work from our pediatrician and Owen was all set I told her that's great, but mommy is not all set. She laughed but I wasn't joking. I don't know how I am going to let him go and be wheeled into surgery. Part of me just wants Friday to get here so that this can be done and the other part is wishing Friday would never come.

Owen and I went to church today (Daddy had to work) and after mass we waited to speak with the priest and asked him to please give Owen and extra blessing. Owen hasn't been baptized yet, we will be doing it March 22nd so our priest blessed Owen with holy water and said that he would include him in the Friday morning Mass. As the priest blessed Owen I started to cry, Father Guilano was very comforting and gave me a hug and a blessing to be strong for my little guy. I know I have to be strong for him, but once he is in the operating room I am going to lose it until Dr. Ward comes out and says Owen is fine.

I ask all my blogger buddies to please keep Owen in your thoughts on Friday.

This is my Aunt Helen, she is my grandma's sister and very special to me. Aunt Helen now lives in a nursing home and wanted so badly to meet Owen. We had a wonderful visit with her.

Aunt Helen came to my baby shower even though she wasn't really up to going out, she said that Owen was a very special boy and that she would not have missed the occassion to celebrate his arrival.

She is one very special women, I love you Aunt Helen!

OWEN WITH HIS FAMILY

Here is Owen with his Aunt Jackie, Aunt Doris, cousin Kelly and a very close friend of the family Peggy. Aunt Jackie and Aunt Doris are my dad's sisters, Kelly is Aunt Jackie's daughter.

Owen had a great time being spoiled by his aunts and cousin.

AUNT RARA LOVES ME.......

Owen and his Aunt RaRa at nana's house last week. Aunt RaRa is my sister Rhonda.

I LOVE MY AUNT TERI AND UNCLE JOHN

Owen got to meet his Aunt Teri and Uncle John for the first time since being home. John is my first cousin and will be godfather to Owen. We had a great visit with them.

ANYONE FOR A GAME OF AIR HOCKEY????

OUR LITTLE MUSICAN IN THE MAKING.....

A DECISION HAS BEEN MADE

I've decided to stay with my company on a part-time basis. I will be taking the next month or so off to prepare Owen for his surgery and to be home with him the weeks following. Once I go back I will work Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since Bob is off on Monday's Owen will only need to be in daycare 2 days a week. My boss made me a very nice offer and felt that I needed to at least give it a chance, we agreed that if in 3 months this isn't working for me and I still want to be home full-time I can leave and there will be no bad feelings.

Friday is my last day and then me and my little guy will have much needed bonding, although I must admit he has adjusted very well to daycare and now I actually think he enjoys going. It is still hard for me and I hate leaving him but it would appear he is having a lot of fun there and everyone really loves him and takes extra care of him.

THANK YOU!

A VERY BIG THANK YOU to two wonderful blogger friends, Kerri at Bugs and Bows and Jonni at Journey to Sophia, they both nominated me for the blogging with a purpose award!!! It really means alot to me that my fellow blogger friends think of me in this way!!!

I really don't know what I would have done all these months without having this blog and all of you to "talk" to on a daily basis, knowing that you were all just a click away for encouragement, cyber hugs or just a note saying you are thinking about me has really counted!!!

You all mean so much to me! Thanks for being there!

Hugs and Kisses

Tracy

What a difference a day makes, yesterday my boss was not in the office she said she was taking the day off because "she is overwhelmed and needs a day to recharge" I didn't think my giving notice was going to make her have a mini melt down but apparently it did. Today she came back to the office and we had "a very important meeting" as she called it. She purposed that I work part-time, 3 days a week with limited hours. She doesn't want to see me leave, that I am vital to the office and knows that even with only working 3 days I would be as productive if not more then a new full-time hire.

This would mean that Owen would need to be in daycare 2 days a week, since one of my days would be Monday which is Bob's day off. My first reaction was NO I want to be home, but honestly I am having some issues leaving. I am going to miss my friends I've made along the way, I am even going to miss my job, I've been doing it for so long that I am not sure what to do with myself once I am not here anymore. Bob says absolutely not, he wants me home with Owen and the other part of me agrees with that. I really want to be home with my son, I want to do all the things that we don't get to do now.

The other part of only working part-time would mean that I would not get paid for holidays or days off, so would that be worth coming into the city three days a week?? I know that eventually if I look for a part-time job near home I will not be paid what I would make staying here, it's part-time but almost full-time pay. My other thought was if I continue to work part-time then Bob could quit the part time job that he has that makes him work every other weekend for 12 hours each day, 24 hours a weekend. He is gone the entire weekend from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Owen misses him, I miss him. If I continue to work then he would be able to drop down to a pier-diem spot and pick up a few extra shifts a month. I need help?? I don't know what the right thing to do is.

I thought once I gave my notice that would be it, no more conversations about it. Boy was I wrong!

THE DEED HAS BEEN DONE!

I just gave my notice, and as I thought my boss was less then thrilled and annoyed that I am leaving. When I told her I was leaving she said and I quote "I knew you were looking for another job" Is she kidding me?? Where has she been the last four months of my life??? Did she notice that I am a mother now?? My life has completely changed? My priorities have changed? When I told her that I wasn't leaving for a new job, I was leaving because I want to be a full-time mother, my son needs me. She said "really, aren't you going to be bored" At that point I just gave up and decided to take it where it was coming from, so what that she doesn't care that I am leaving after 10 years with the company and I've done many extra things for her that were not my job description.

So, with all that said I am THRILLED that I did it and now that it's done I am relieved and can't wait to start my new job.......MOMMY!

HANGING WITH THE BOYS

My party animal son on New Years Eve hanging with two of his favorite buds, Ken and Allan!

THE BOYS TAKING A NAP

This is pretty much the end of the holiday weekend, Bob and Owen had too much fun and food and needed a nap! Actually Bob needed the nap and some how managed to get Owen to take it with him!

OWENS FIRST CHRISTMAS WITH HIS FOREVER FAMILY

Our first Christmas picture with Owen and his family. In the picture is my mom, dad, sister and nephew and of course Bob (aka Daddy)

Did anyone notice the Chinese food??? It is Christmas Eve and my mom thought we should have chinse food in honor of Owen, the only problem with that is Owen doesn't really like chinese food! We all enjoyed it but I must admit I missed the traditional christmas eve feast that my mom always did!!!

MAYBE VISITNG SANTA ON CHRISTMAS EVE NOT SUCH A GOOD IDEA

We thought it would be a good idea to take Owen and Matthew to see Santa, everyone thought it was a good idea except Owen. He was such a good boy the first time we took him to see Santa but he wasn't much into it on this visit. Thankfully Santa didn't hold it against him.

MY TWO FAVORITE BOYS AND KATY!

Owen is having a great time playing with his cousin Matthew, you will notice the big white dog in the background, that's my parents doggie Katy, Owen finally got up enough nerve to pet her on the last day we were there!

THANKS NANA AND PAPA

Here is Owen with one of many of his gifts, Santa was very good to our little boy!

Since this picture was taken Owen no longer get's on his quad, he had an incident with the wall and hasn't yet gotten over it!!! LOL We are hoping that he will give it another chance sometime soon!

DOES SOMEBODY HAVE FOOD????

So our little guy LOVES food and don't try to eat something without sharing it with him! Papa had no choice but to share his yogurt with his grandson, actually I think Owen ate the entire thing and Papa didn't have any! But hey, isn't that what papa's are suppose to do! LOL

THE BEST MOMENT

When Bob was taking this picture Owen was facing the camera just as Bob snapped the camera Owen grabbed my neck and reached in to give me a kiss......It doesn't get any better then this!

MOMMY AND OWEN BEING SILLY

I'm not sure who had more fun me or Owen!!

HELPING MOMMY MAKE BROWNIES

I think he had more brownie mix on his face then in the bowl, but we had a great time making them together, and hey a little baby drool never hurt anyone! LOL

OWENS FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY

Here is Owen posing for his picture with the birthday boy! Seeing him in this picture really makes him look like a big boy!!

OUR LITTLE GUY BEING SILLY

Owen loves to put his hat on and run around the house and make silly faces!!!

I think this is one of my favorites of him, it really shows his personality.

SURGERY HAS BEEN SCHEDULED

Owen had his cleft surgeon appointment yesterday, he is scheduled for his surgery on Friday, February 1, 2008! I am VERY nervous about it, but have complete faith in the surgery team who will be performing his surgery. If all goes well Owen will be in the hospital only one night, if he is having any challenges or in alot of pain then two nights. I will be able to stay with him in his room which really makes me feel better, I don't want to leave him there alone.

I am giving my notice on Monday, January 7th and my last day will be Friday, January 18th! I am already having anxiety about telling my boss, I've been with Omni Hotels for 10 years!! It is going to be very weird not working here, but I know that I am making the right decision and that Owen will be better off because of it.

We've also planned Owens Baptism, it will be Saturday, March 22nd during the Easter Vigil Mass. We are planning a small dinner party with just our immediate family and then in the summer we will have a Welcome Owen BBQ!

I guess that it's for now, so much has been going on I haven't had the chance to download our pictures, but will do that over the weekend!