Saturday, December 30, 2006
Happy Birthday, Becca!
In about an hour, it will be my sister's birthday (aka New Year's Eve). Happy 26th, Becca! Man, I feel old!
Friday, December 29, 2006
Photos 12_18_06
I changed the time that I posted all of these photos so the Friday Poll question wouldn't get lost and would still be at the top of the page.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Pre-Friday Poll 12_28_06 Christmas 2 (and yes, I realize it isn't Friday)
Since Christmas is over and I have a poll question I want to post for Friday that has to do with the new year, I am going to give two poll questions this week. Today's question is a follow-up to last week's question. What did you get for Christmas?
Post Christmas post (pre-Christmas photos)
Okay, I don't know if that title makes any sense whatsoever. Christmas was wonderful. We had such a great time. Austin and his parents got me a beautiful locket with an adorable picture of Owen in it. I got a beautiful necklace from my mom and dad, almost the entire "Rockaby Baby!" collection (Pink Floyd, Metallica, Nirvana, Coldplay, Tool, and Led Zeppelin - I already had Radiohead) from Austin and Becca and Jake, and plenty of other useful stuff from my wishlist. Owen got a lot of adorable new toys. Of course he still enjoys playing with a tube of Desitin more than anything else. Anyway, it was great to see so many family members. I'll post pictures soon.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
You know how great it feels to find a $20 bill in a pocket of a jacket you haven't worn in a year...
Well, Austin and I have recently experienced a similar feeling when he cleaned out a spare closet full of junk downstairs in our basement. It had been full of boxes, lighting fixtures and a ceiling fan from some work we had done when we first moved into our house. He cleaned it out really well and vacuumed. Then he and his dad installed three shelves. It is now like a 20 foot long closet of spare storage. After they finished, I went down and looked at it. I swear that it almost seemed to glow and music started playing when I saw the storage possibilities. Yay!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Quick Update
Owen is much better, but it took a while. Just in the past day or so, he seems to have returned to his old self. Of course, he started crawling last Wednesday when he was in the midst of being sick. He is all over the place now. I can hardly keep Holly's toys from him; he goes after them like he's obsessed. Holly doesn't help matters either. She knows that if she puts a toy near Owen, I will run over and throw it away, so it is a way to make me play fetch with her. I guess I should start taking the toy and hiding it after she puts it near Owen.
Luckily, when Owen was acting lethargic last week, I took advantage and got almost all of my present wrapping taken care of. I still have some last minute gift things to finish up and some cooking to take care of before Christmas, but I think I have a pretty manageable schedule to follow to get things done.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the day we took Owen to see Santa before he got sick (these were taken on the 9th):
Luckily, when Owen was acting lethargic last week, I took advantage and got almost all of my present wrapping taken care of. I still have some last minute gift things to finish up and some cooking to take care of before Christmas, but I think I have a pretty manageable schedule to follow to get things done.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the day we took Owen to see Santa before he got sick (these were taken on the 9th):
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Sorry, I've been taking care of my boys...
I planned on posting earlier in the week, but Owen got sick Tuesday night and had to go to the hospital for IV fluids and now Austin is also sick. It is just a stomach virus according to the doctors (although, it doesn't appear to be a 24 to 36 hour bug like the doctor said). Hopefully they will be over it soon, and hopefully, I won't get sick too. But, I did want to offer the explanation.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
To Owen... (9 months old)
Well, the days of very limited mobility are behind us, I'm afraid. You aren't crawling that well yet, but you have found that you can scoot around quite easily. It isn't exactly controlled, but you know you're moving. The other day you went backwards from the coffee table, to the chair in the living room and then to your pack n play. I think you would've slid right under it if I hadn't rescued you. And then soon after that I was in the bedroom and you were playing on the bathroom floor. You slid backwards into the room with the toilet and started crying because you couldn't go any further. It is very funny to watch you try to get around.
And I think the days of being able to get things done while you are in your activity center are also long gone. You are very strong and lately you have been dragging the whole activity center around so you can get where you want to go. It is supposed to be a stationary thing, but you think of it more like a walker. Just recently, you have been dragging it over to the side table that we moved next to the TV so you can try to get things off of it. You have also been trying to knock over the stand for one of Daddy's surround sound speakers.
You finally have a second tooth that is working its way to the surface. The first tooth is still not all the way through your gums yet. Slowly, but surely, right? I could tell this time that there was definately a tooth about to come through a few days before. You seemed extra fussy and you kept chewing on anything that got near your mouth. Many times, you would put your whole mouth around the bottom of my chin and bite down. That doesn't hurt too bad yet, but I'm sure it will once you have more teeth. You also did that with my nose once too.
I guess because of the lack of teeth you still like your foods very smooth. You do eat those fruit and veggie puff things that melt in baby's mouths and you can usually handle cheerios, but you still choke on even those on occasion. And, so far, you like almost all of the baby foods, I've offered. Although you weren't a huge fan of the meats I've tried or the jarred macaroni and cheese. I think you'll prefer those when I cook them for you.
You have really been exploring a lot lately. You grab anything that gets near you - hangers, clothes pins, diapers, wipes, diaper cream, plants, etc, etc. When we took Holly to the vet to be groomed a week or so ago, you reached out and grabbed the top of a fish bowl that they had sitting on the counter. I reacted quickly and pryed it from your hand before you turned the whole thing over. I need to be more careful about how close I let you get to things. I had you in a grocery cart the other day and walked to the other side of the aisle to get something. I had my back turned for one second and you had pulled a plastic snowflake price advertisement off one of the shelves and had shoved it into your mouth.
You certainly have some separation anxiety when I walk away from you, but you are still very cute about socializing with people. We were at Bath and Body Works the day after Thanksgiving and this man started making faces at you. You started laughing and bouncing around in your sling and smiling. People think you are so funny!
And you are finally starting to loosen up a little bit in Gymboree. For a while, it was like your entire silly little personality would just disappear when we walked into that place, but the last couple of times we've been to class, you have really had a ball. You especially love it when I lay on my back and put your front on my legs and we "baby surf." You just look down at my face and laugh and laugh. And you are really enjoying the bubbles. You watch them and reach for them with amazement. Gymbo the clown is the puppet that comes out at the end of each class. You have now started to get really excited whenever he comes out. And the other day in class we did this thing where I bounced you on my legs while we sang. You enjoyed it so much that even after the song was over you kept bouncing. Very cute!
I guess you are getting used to having your picture taken. The photographer at your nine month (more like 8 1/2 month) photos was amazed at how easy it was for her to make you smile. She said she'd never seen a baby hold a smile for the camera like you did. (of course she probably says that to all the babies!)
I think you are starting to develop a few different fears. You have this toy called a wave drum. Your Daddy was shaking it a few weeks ago and all of a sudden, you started screaming in terror. It was this very high pitched scream. You are also afraid of the hair dryer and the vacuum cleaner. Of course it doesn't help that Holly barks and goes crazy with her own fear whenever the vacuum cleaner starts going.
It is so funny when you get tickled to the point that you laugh almost like an adult. The other day at your Granny and Papa's house, you became completely enthralled at some multipacks of breathsavers. You would drop them on the floor or just bang them on the table and start cracking up like it was the funniest thing you've ever seen.
You adore your Daddy. You just stare at him until he looks at you and when he does you just smile and laugh. Y'all are very cute together and it makes me happy to watch the two of you playing and laughing.
I can't believe how much my life has changed since I've had you, and I can't believe how much happier I am now. I am also more nervous, protective, forgetful and tired. But I smile more, I care more, and I fall more and more in love with you every day.
Well, the days of very limited mobility are behind us, I'm afraid. You aren't crawling that well yet, but you have found that you can scoot around quite easily. It isn't exactly controlled, but you know you're moving. The other day you went backwards from the coffee table, to the chair in the living room and then to your pack n play. I think you would've slid right under it if I hadn't rescued you. And then soon after that I was in the bedroom and you were playing on the bathroom floor. You slid backwards into the room with the toilet and started crying because you couldn't go any further. It is very funny to watch you try to get around.
And I think the days of being able to get things done while you are in your activity center are also long gone. You are very strong and lately you have been dragging the whole activity center around so you can get where you want to go. It is supposed to be a stationary thing, but you think of it more like a walker. Just recently, you have been dragging it over to the side table that we moved next to the TV so you can try to get things off of it. You have also been trying to knock over the stand for one of Daddy's surround sound speakers.
You finally have a second tooth that is working its way to the surface. The first tooth is still not all the way through your gums yet. Slowly, but surely, right? I could tell this time that there was definately a tooth about to come through a few days before. You seemed extra fussy and you kept chewing on anything that got near your mouth. Many times, you would put your whole mouth around the bottom of my chin and bite down. That doesn't hurt too bad yet, but I'm sure it will once you have more teeth. You also did that with my nose once too.
I guess because of the lack of teeth you still like your foods very smooth. You do eat those fruit and veggie puff things that melt in baby's mouths and you can usually handle cheerios, but you still choke on even those on occasion. And, so far, you like almost all of the baby foods, I've offered. Although you weren't a huge fan of the meats I've tried or the jarred macaroni and cheese. I think you'll prefer those when I cook them for you.
You have really been exploring a lot lately. You grab anything that gets near you - hangers, clothes pins, diapers, wipes, diaper cream, plants, etc, etc. When we took Holly to the vet to be groomed a week or so ago, you reached out and grabbed the top of a fish bowl that they had sitting on the counter. I reacted quickly and pryed it from your hand before you turned the whole thing over. I need to be more careful about how close I let you get to things. I had you in a grocery cart the other day and walked to the other side of the aisle to get something. I had my back turned for one second and you had pulled a plastic snowflake price advertisement off one of the shelves and had shoved it into your mouth.
You certainly have some separation anxiety when I walk away from you, but you are still very cute about socializing with people. We were at Bath and Body Works the day after Thanksgiving and this man started making faces at you. You started laughing and bouncing around in your sling and smiling. People think you are so funny!
And you are finally starting to loosen up a little bit in Gymboree. For a while, it was like your entire silly little personality would just disappear when we walked into that place, but the last couple of times we've been to class, you have really had a ball. You especially love it when I lay on my back and put your front on my legs and we "baby surf." You just look down at my face and laugh and laugh. And you are really enjoying the bubbles. You watch them and reach for them with amazement. Gymbo the clown is the puppet that comes out at the end of each class. You have now started to get really excited whenever he comes out. And the other day in class we did this thing where I bounced you on my legs while we sang. You enjoyed it so much that even after the song was over you kept bouncing. Very cute!
I guess you are getting used to having your picture taken. The photographer at your nine month (more like 8 1/2 month) photos was amazed at how easy it was for her to make you smile. She said she'd never seen a baby hold a smile for the camera like you did. (of course she probably says that to all the babies!)
I think you are starting to develop a few different fears. You have this toy called a wave drum. Your Daddy was shaking it a few weeks ago and all of a sudden, you started screaming in terror. It was this very high pitched scream. You are also afraid of the hair dryer and the vacuum cleaner. Of course it doesn't help that Holly barks and goes crazy with her own fear whenever the vacuum cleaner starts going.
It is so funny when you get tickled to the point that you laugh almost like an adult. The other day at your Granny and Papa's house, you became completely enthralled at some multipacks of breathsavers. You would drop them on the floor or just bang them on the table and start cracking up like it was the funniest thing you've ever seen.
You adore your Daddy. You just stare at him until he looks at you and when he does you just smile and laugh. Y'all are very cute together and it makes me happy to watch the two of you playing and laughing.
I can't believe how much my life has changed since I've had you, and I can't believe how much happier I am now. I am also more nervous, protective, forgetful and tired. But I smile more, I care more, and I fall more and more in love with you every day.
Labels: monthly letter, owen
Friday, December 08, 2006
Friday, December 01, 2006
