12 months! addendum

Oops, I forgot to mention the 12 month stats! We went for Owen's 12-month checkup last Friday and he is 30 inches tall and 25 lbs 15 oz (we looked at the nurse at this point and said, "that's it?")! He is over the 100th percentile for height and at the 80th for weight (I actually thought for a second "oh no, he's not at the 90th or 100th?!" but then realized that 80th is still a pretty healthy kid).
Also, earlier today he learned to get from standing to sitting or onto his belly with a lot of control and seems pretty proud of himself.
AND.... drum roll please.... since Friday night (following a stressfull visit to doc with shots) he has been sleeping all night with no nursing although I did have to go in once each night to find/replace the pacifier (if it left the bed) but then last night he didn't wake up once!!!! This is a milestone that I was glad to get to and I hope it stays - I think I forgot about it in the earlier post simply because it doesn't seem normal yet and I'm hoping I don't jinx it talking about it.
Let's hear it for more than 3 hours in a row of sleep! What shall I do with all of that energy? Oh, I know, I'll chase Owen around the house.

12 months!

I just wanted to jot down a few of Owen's latest tricks.

• He is moving so VERY fast now - he uses army crawling, pulling up and cruising along the furniture, or crawling on hands and knees, whichever will get him where he needs to go! He is lightning fast with his little army crawl (or, as I like to refer to it, his "navy seal" look).
• He is trying to imitate lots of new words and he is evidently inventing a brand new language that is somewhere between Chinese and English (wish I knew what he was saying).
• He loves to explore and prefers to be doing so in our arms - much better viewing height and we provide a running narrative!
• He is finger feeding himself everything I put in front of him (and tries to feed himself stuff he just finds that isn't exactly edible).
• He loves the cats and dogs and he and Olive have a special relationship that consists of Owen grabbing hunks of fur from Olive and Olive patiently waiting until she's had enough and then she runs and hides.
• Owen has a great fascination with all things that move - trucks, motorcycles, cars, bicycles, etc. Everytime he hears a loud vehicle go by, he points to the window and says, "oo oo oo" or "wow." He also loves looking at pictures of vehicles and can't get enough of them.
• He still loves his books and right now he's really into looking at, of course, vehicles, and animals - his favorite seems to be the horse although his ultimate favorite is still the tiger "roar!"
• He will sometimes imitate new animal sounds like, "uf uf" (for rrrf) and "mow" (for meow) and this morning he was doing "rrrrrrr" while looking at a motorcycle in his book.
• He is such a funny little guy and he provides lots of entertainment for us. Although I think we provide just as much for him.

I'll have some pictures soon.

Owen is 1!

September 8, 2008

Remember this little guy?

Here he is today!

September 8, 2009

Happy birthday my boy!

Today you are one!

You are loved so very much!

Today was a great day - we took Owen to see the horses at my dad's and he seemed to really like watching them and getting to touch the mommy horse. The baby horse was a little skittish and wouldn't let Owen touch her but we got to pet her and feed her.

After visiting with the horses, we celebrated Owen's birthday and our anniversary with our first (yes, first) family dinner out! Owen loved watching everyone and ate lots of crackers, spaghetti, and yogurt. We hope next year's big day is just as fun.

Here are a couple of pictures from today.

Birthday party!

Owen's momma-made banner

Ready for the party!

Birthday Cakes and Cupcakes made by Aunt Steph

Our sweet boy ready to party

Owen being wheeled around by Livie in his wagon from Be-Be

O loves his Auntie-Am!
Hugs for Poppa! I think this may have been his favorite gift - from none other than Parrain Alex (aka "Nonkey") and Aunt Dee. He points to it and says "bi" (I think) and wants to sit on it and ring the bell every time he sees it!

Christopher had a great time helping Owen open his presents

Owen was really only interested in the first present we opened at gift time

Life's a party!We had a great time and as I've said (too) many times before - it's going way too fast but it's lots of fun. A year ago today I was having my own "Labor Day" and while that one ended on a really high note, I have to say that this Labor Day is much more comfortable! Today we took Owen and Ben to the zoo here in town - thanks Paula and Ronnie! They both had lots of fun and now Owen is napping and mommy is getting a little coffee and computer time!

Tomorrow our boy turns one and I'm just amazed that we have him here with us. Three years ago I never thought we'd have this day - life is something!

Thank you to everyone who helped bake, cook, setup, and celebrate Owen's birthday with us. It would not have been the same without ALL of you.

Birthday Countdown

Well, today is the first day of September so that means only 7 more days until Owen is 1!!! We gave him his first birthday gift - a car! It's one that he sits on and we push around and he really seems to like it. Everytime we push him around the house in it he says, "vvvvvv" and turns the little steering wheel, so cute! We are busy gathering food and things for his party and can't wait for the big day (actually, we can as Keith and I both think this is going much too fast). We will be having his party this Saturday (as most of you know) and I know we'll have pictures to share with everyone after. Until then, I have a video and a few pics to share now. Enjoy!

Dance, dance little tiger!

Virtual Quilting Bee

I recently joined a virtual quilting bee and I'm so excited! There are six of us in the group so every month I make a quilt block for each of the members and then mail them off (and then receive blocks myself!). I finished mine a week or two ago and since Crys, the organizer posted pictures of her blocks, I thought I'd post mine as well. Here they are: (*there are two for Crys and for Christin because I wasn't thrilled with the ones I made first for each of these ladies and so I made a second and now I can't decide which I like better...)

For Jolene:

For Emily:
For Amber:

For Crys:
or

For Christin:or

and for fun, a few pics of O (just after waking from a nap)

11 months

Well, only one more month to go before the big birthday party! We're getting ready for it (although, I have to say - AGAIN - that we can't believe Owen's almost 1). Here are the latest tricks:

• pulled to stand at sofa (yesterday!) all by himself
• army crawls all over the floor (wow, what a way to let you know how clean, er, not clean, your floor really is)
• feeds himself wagon wheels and teething cookies (but prefers to let mommy, and only mommy, feed him EVERYTHING else)
• points to everything and says "what?" (although it sounds like "da?") and would like for you to name and describe all that he sees
• says "roar" when he sees a tiger or when you ask him "what does the tiger say?"
• uses the signs for more and all done pretty regularly
• waves and says hi and bye when greeting or leaving someone
• says ny-ny when he's tired and ready to go to sleep
• says mama and dada
• points to/finds another person's nose, his own diaper, shirt, and belly on request
• points to/finds his truck and his book on request

He is also teething again and I guess it's the ones in the back and boy are they making his pretty cranky at times... Motrin is our friend, sometimes our best friend.

He is outgrowing his clothes (again) and we are moving up to 24 month stuff although some of the 18 month stuff still fits and some of the 24 month stuff is too big so I'd say he's between sizes.

Here are a few pics of our boy.