Springtime Fun

I've let too much time pass since the last post but the weather has been so nice that we've spent all our time outdoors and away from the computer these last few weeks. We got Owen some sunglasses a few weeks ago and he actually wore them for a long time outside one day. He lost that pair when we went for a walk but we got him a new pair yesterday in Texarkana. Doesn't he look cool!?!


We've enjoyed the beautiful sunsets from our gliding bench in the yard. We have the best view from that bench in the evenings.
We had to get Owen a new bathtub because he had long outgrown the other one. We ordered this one online thinking he wouldn't be able to stand up in it but it didn't take long for him to prove us wrong. All the child wants to do is stand up these days. I think he won't be content until he can walk! He does like sitting in the "big tub" and splashing around in all the water but we're constantly saying "Owen sit down!". He stands up and steps out of the seat and just stands there smiling in all his naked gloriousness like he's so proud of his accomplishment. So, we're still trying to figure out what to do about this new problem and we're open to suggestions people!
After weeks of searching and many arguments between Chris and I, we finally settled on this outfit for Owen's official "Easter outfit". The hat was Chris' idea. It's still too big but Chris puts it on him every chance he gets. Needless to say, Owen was the coolest dude in Sunday School this morning!
We're still shopping for an appropriate gate that will fit the area between our living room and kitchen (and that doesn't cost 90 dollars) so in the mean time Connie (the nanny) devised this setup. Here's Owen setting up for his latest trick....throwing anything and everything over the chairs and into the kitchen! I actually caught him going to the trouble of picking up Emma's bone, crawling over to the chair barricade, standing up, and launching it to the other side just to make her go fetch it. For those of you who were wondering, Emma crawls "mission impossible" style through the chairs to get to the other side...or when she's in a big hurry she just jumps over them. Owen stands at the chairs for a long time (when no one's even in the kitchen) talking to his imaginary friend who apparently spends a long time in the kitchen! So far, his "friend" hasn't taken over preparing our meals, but we're still hoping for the best! Notice the pillow protection in front of the fireplace. Our living room has become an obstacle course of pillows and chairs to keep Owen out of trouble!

We attempted to transition to Stage 3 foods over the weekend. Unfortunately, this did not go too well........
Owen has been having a snack in the morning and the afternoon of "crunchy foods" like crackers and all the Gerber graduates products (wagon wheels, Crunch 'Ems, etc.) and he loves his crunchy snacks. We've also been giving him bites of table food like mashed potatoes, chicken and dressin', macaroni and cheese, etc. He's done so well with all the new things he's tried but somehow when we tried the Stage 3 foods it all went horribly wrong. The foods have chunks of meat, veggies, noodles, etc. in them and he seems to have a hard time with this mix of puree and solid together. So, after several days of fighting him over it we called a truce. So, now we're giving him Stage 3 foods that we know he'll like (squash, green beans, etc.), table food, and Stage 2 food to fill in the gaps. So far, that's been a success!

This morning when we woke up we discovered that the Easter bunny had made a stop at our house and left a little basket of treats for the little guy. He got so excited and promptly dumped the basket onto the floor to check out his goodies. The Easter bunny brought him new Gerber Dippers that he can use to learn to self-feed and eggs filled with all his favorite snacks that make a fun noise when he shakes them. He loves shaking the eggs so much that I have a feeling those eggs will be all over the house for months!

After lots of fun with the Easter basket, we all got dressed and headed off to Sunday School and church. Chris and I look weird in this picture but Owen looks cute so here it is:

The weather was so nice on Friday that we got out of the house and headed to the park. Owen had his first fun day on the playground and seemed to love all the attractions. Here he is hanging out in the swing:

He loved being pushed in the swing and especially loved watching his shadow on the dirt.
Next, he "drove" the firetruck and bounced around in it. Then, we checkd otu the playhouse and peeked through the windows and door.
We capped off a perfect day at the park with his two favorite activities: playing with pine cones........................
and examining the contents of the diaper bag!
We've had lots of fun on Spring Break and Easter weekend and we're sad that it's come to an end! The weather is supposed to be nice this week and next weekend we're heading down to Louisiana for the annual crawfish boil so stay tuned for more adventures!

A normal week in Arkansas

So, here's how a typical week goes in Arkansas this time of year:

Here is Owen on Wednesday..........

and here is the weather today.

It was 72 degrees on Wednesday and today it's a balmy 34. It snowed most of the day but it has stopped now. Tomorrow's forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 50 degrees. Gotta love the south!

Owen finally grew into his Luc Leafwalker ride on that his Grammy and Papa got him way before he was born. He's had a great time riding it all week and trying to eat his antennae.

We've instituted an evening snack time to introduce him to more crunchy foods and to allow me a free moment to clean up the kitchen and living room while Chris plays his stinkin' XBOX (can you tell I'm about to throw the thing out the window!?!). Owen loves snack time and as of yesterday...so does Emma! I caught Owen reaching down and sharing his snack with Emma last night. I've been giving him the Biter Biscuits which apparently dry into concrete on his face, hands, the high chair tray, his clothes....you get the picture. I have to sit him in the sink to hose him off after he's finished which he finds amusing.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend! Stay tuned for a new post at the beginning of next week!

ready for spring!

The weather was so nice over the weekend so we took Owen outside to experience grass, dirt, leaves....all the "boy" things he's been missing out on since it's been cold. When I first sat him down in the grass he gave me a dirty look but once he realized he could pull the grass out of the ground that was it....he fell in love!

venturing out across the yard

Lots of people were out walking the farm road and people did a double take when they passed out yard and saw Owen just crawling like there was no tomorrow across the grass.

Rocking my new hat that we got on Saturday in Shreveport

You can barely make out the bruise he has under his left eye in this picture. Since he thinks he's able to do more than he actually can, he's taken a few falls and he hit his face on the coffee table. We have since removed the coffee table from the living room because this is the second bruise in the same spot from that table.

Drinking from my new cup

Nonnie and Papaw bought Owen this rather large green frog for Easter. They decided to give it to him early since he likes to lounge on the floor so much. It's perfect for taking a break and having a drink!

Owen discovered the air conditioning vent in the hallway and that's his new obsession. Whenever the mood strikes him, he stops what he's doing and crawls down the hall to play the "accordion" on the vent.
Daddy put him in his "cage" a.k.a. the play pen to keep him occupied and he was playing his great escape using the two teeth that he has now

Demonstrating his pulling up powers before his mean mommy and dady took the coffee table a.k.a. "the iron table of death" out of the living room
rocking his new sunhat during a very brief break from destroying things
Our poor child has had thousands of pictures taken of him in his short 8 months so every time he hears the camera beep on he smiles and crawls toward it resulting in lots of pictures with this pose!
Driving his "boat"
This kept him occupied for quite some time. Notice his mouth is open in lots of the pictures.....he's quite the motormouth and has taken to squealing at things and people. He rocked back and forth in this basket for a long time until he eventually turned it over. He didn't even cry. He just laughed and kept going...I think he's gonna be a tough guy.

So, to sum it up. Owen is quite the ham these days. Chris and I are running ourselves ragged trying to keep him out of things and I'm starting to worry that his first word is going to be "Owen no!" because that's all we seem to be saying! It's so fun to watch his little personality come out. Stay tuned for more great adventures!

On the Move!

Waiting to go outside

"helping" with the laundry

a mishap from playing with the laundry basket (he was mostly irritated with me because I was laughing so hard and I made him wait while I took a picture before I rescued him!)

my solution to keeping him occupied while I cook

He went from sitting down to this position in less than 30 seconds and stood there for over a minute trying to work his way around the table

On the move!

So, we now find ourselves saying "why did we want him to crawl so badly!?!" It seems that he only spent one day content to crawl and now all he wants to do is pull up. I'm amazed at what he finds to pull up on. He's bumped his head several times already and I find that I'm exhausted at the end of the day from trying to keep him away from the stone on the fireplace and the iron on the coffee table. What were we thinking when we bought furniture with so much iron?

Owen is 8 months old today! It's hard to believe the time has gone by so fast. He's so independent these days and his little personality is coming out. We are having so much fun. Just in the past month it seems that we've gotten to the really fun stage where he can play with toys and laugh and be silly. Every day is more fun than the one before. It makes all of those sleepless nights in the beginning so worth it to be at this point. Although I do miss my sweet little newborn at times!

Owen is still not sleeping very well but his eating has improved this week. We introduced meats over the weekend and he seems to like them. Today he ate all of his food and drank all of his formula which was a first. We also introduced a sippy cup over the weekend and he really seems to like it. He's taken all of his juice and some of his formula from his cup and he seems to enjoy the new independence. Over the past 3-4 days he has really started talking more and more. He's making lots of /g/ and /b/ sounds these days. He's such a character! Tonight he discovered that he could stand up in the tub so now we've got a new problem on our hands. As I write this he's waving a little mini golf club around and chatting Chris up about something very important. Stay tuned next week for a new and exciting Owen adventure!

first time blogger

Welcome to our blog! We're new to this whole blogging business so bear with me until I get the hang of it. We know so many people who have blogs to document their baby's life, their family life, their business, etc. so we decided to join the crowd. I never really thought we had much of interest to post in a blog until Owen came along. So, this one will be largely devoted to him. Since Chris' internet ventures only include shopping online at Home Depot, Overstock, and sports websites, I'll be the one posting and keeping everyone informed of Owen's activities.
So here it goes:
Owen is officially 7 months, 25 days old....hard to believe that almost 8 months have gone by since he made his big debut! It seems like just yesterday he was just a small fry and we waited and held our breath that he'd wake up and look around for a little while. Oh how things change! Now, we wait and hold our breath that he'll just go to sleep and stay asleep! Here's his current stats:

growth: At his 6 month checkup he weighed almost 19 pounds. The doctor said he was in the 75th percentile for weight and the 90th for height (which is amazing since Chris and I are not what you would consider tall people). Recently, he seems to have put on some more weight because he all of a sudden feels very heavy to lug around.

eating: Owen started out being a very good eater but here lately he has decided that it's not all it's cracked up to be. He loves vegetables and will happily eat the variety that are available to him at this stage. However, fruit is another story. We bought at least one of each kind of fruit that is on the market and couldn't wait for him to try all of the flavors and see which one was his favorite. After much trial and error (involving tears, clamping his mouth shut, turning his head, and one incident involving vomit) we can now say that he tolerates the apple/blueberry mix, peach/granola mix, pears, applesauce, and pumpkin/pear mix period. Everything else is met with fits and bad faces. He's still eating his oatmeal cereal twice a day and he seems to still enjoy it. He's decided formula is not quite as good as the liquid gold he was consuming for the first six months of his life so he has been a little particular about taking a bottle too. He's apparently a night eater (much like his daddy) and takes 2 bottles before bedtime and then anywhere between 3-6 oz with each meal and sometimes in between. We're going to introduce meats next week so stay tuned!
Development: Here's where the little booger has really thrived so now it's time to brag. He's officially crawling! Owen had been inching along like a little worm for a few weeks but after seeing his friend Grant demo the correct way to crawl on Saturday night he can now crawl like a big boy. He decided Sunday afternoon was the time to debut his new trick and we were so thankful that he did it while we were both home. By Sunday evening he was crawling around on his hands and knees like he owned the place. Of course, Monday when Chris tried to capture this on video Owen decided it would be more fun to demo his belly to booty skills. So, now that he's officially mobile we're learning to see the house from his vantage point and apparently there are quite a few attractions when you're 2 feet tall. Owen has now "read" all the magazines that used to be under the end table so he's up on all the celebrity gossip. He's discovered the VCR and the cords for the tv. He has also discovered that banging a block on the bottom of the coffee table can provide hours of fun! Owen and Emma are currently learning that possession is 9/10ths of the law. He thinks her chew bone is an Olympic torch and hiding her ball in his block bucket is such a fun game. He's also learning to pull up and has decided that standing is way more fun than sitting so now the most common phrase that Chris and I utter is "bend!" as we try to sit him down. Chris lets him practice his walking skills every evening and walks him around the house which is Owen's favorite game with daddy.
Language: You all should've known that I couldn't end this blog without mentioning Owen's fabulous language development. The SLP in me couldn't resist! Owen is quite the talker (all the snickering and jokes that he's just like his mama are not funny guys!). He seems to be especially vocal when he's trying not to go to sleep. He jabbers away in the car and in the evening to try and keep himself awake. It's too cute! Lately he says "dadadada" the most which delights Chris. His new favorite sound is this "yayayayaya" noise that he makes as he chews on things. He's giggling all the time now mostly at Emma though. Chris and I make fools of ourselves trying to get him to laugh but Emma can just sneeze and elicit a round of giggles from the little guy.

So, to summarize such a long post, Owen is quite the character these days and we're loving every second of it. I'll add some photos to provide evidence of the statements made in this post when Chris gets home and shows me how to do it. Separately we're not the most computer literate people but together we're quite the powerhouse!

I'll try to update the blog at least once a week so check back soon!