Introducing Anna Claire

Well, it's been quite a while since I put anything new on the blog but I hope to be posting more regularly again from now on. I got really busy and really tired the last couple of months and sitting at the computer was not something I could squeeze in (although why I think I would have more time to do so now is beyond me).

Moving along, we'd like to present Owen's baby sister, Anna Claire!!! She weighed in at 7 lbs, 4 oz and is 20.5 inches long. She is a big fan of eating and hates to be cold. Owen just adores her and wants to hold her and kiss her all of the time. Here are some pictures of our newest addition.

new pictures

Here are a few new pictures from the past couple of weeks. Owen's been playing outside a lot and his favorite things are playing in the water table, digging in the dirt, and playing on the swing set.

SUPER STAR!

"What? It's not like I'm not eating a lot of the dirt..."

happy guy

loves his swing

Easter

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. We had a great time visiting with family this past week and from the pictures, you'll see Owen really enjoyed himself too. He really loved "baby Max" (as he calls him) and he hugged (and squeezed) and kissed him almost each time we saw him. Max is quite a cutey and has big beautiful blue eyes. Owen's affection for him made Keith and I feel good about his response to a little baby so hopefully things will go well when sister arrives.

Owen is officially 19 months old and between skinned knees (I thought that was worth waiting to take pictures - wrong!), a cold that lasted almost two weeks, and now a busted lip, we've still not taken his 18 month pictures... Hopefully the latest boo-boo will heal quickly and we'll be off to take them this week.

His latest accomplishments include:

• using two- and three-word sentences for almost all communication ("go see monkey" or "want more wa-wa")
• lots of pretend play with kitchen play stuff (I'm trying to figure out where we can put a little kitchen in this getting-smaller-by-the-minute-house)
• walking up steps with one hand held
• stepping off bottom step without holding on to anything or anyone
• memorizing the order of animals, objects, or events in familiar books and "reading" along as we turn the pages
• counting from 1-9 with some help but does begin counting at 6 and goes to 9 or ten on his own; he'll also count from 1-5 on his own without prompting but less often as he likes to start with six
• his car seat is now forward-facing (as he was creeping close to the rear-facing weight limit) and he has a seat in his daddy's truck which seems to really thrill him to ride in
• blows bubbles with a wand

As usual, I'm sure I'm missing a few new tricks but that's all I can come up with for now so I'll leave you with a few cute pictures. Also, Owen flew a kite for the first time - all by himself! As for baby girl, she is growing and growing and feels bigger by the day. I'm 27 weeks and have just 3 months to go so time is flying by quickly now. Okay, on to the pictures...

Owen and baby Max

Owen flying a kite - you can see the kite far away in the background and he's really holding on to the handle and would walk forward to keep flying it - it was so cute to watch!
more kite flying

Easter outfit

showing more love to baby Max (of course, Max may be thinking, "somebody help me please!")

Quilts

I've been quilting recently and I've finished two quilts that have been in the works for quite some time. I started the red and white quilt about 5 years or so ago and I am so glad that it's complete. Most of you know my affection for red and white so this one is just for me (the first one I've ever kept for me). The other quilt is one I wanted to try based on some ideas I had seen on quilting/crafting blogs and I'll probably put it in the closet for a baby gift. Anyway, I'm kinda proud of them so I wanted to share.

Playing with water & Painting Cookies

Owen received a water table for Christmas but we didn't take it out until this past week when it warmed up. He loves it! He quickly figured out how to scoop and pour the water to make the wheel turn. He "cooks" with his big spoon and usually makes "gumbo." He's had a great time splashing in the wa-wa every day.

Today we went to Aunt Steph's and painted cookies and dyed eggs for Easter. Earlier this week Owen painted with water for the first time so he was ready to paint today. He liked painting with yellow - of course, it's his favorite color - but he painted with the other colors as well. He enjoyed it until he realized that his hands had quite a bit of icing, much of it purple, and at that point he was all done! Just wanted to share a few pictures with all of you. We hope to have lots of pictures to share from Easter.

What? You said to take the one I wanted...

Paint brushes are sooooo overrated - just dip it!

Hoppy Spring!

Spring is finally here! We are so happy to be playing outside every day and enjoying the warm weather and sunshine (most days). We have planted our garden - with Owen's help as you can see from the picture at the top of the page - and we even harvested a few carrots.

Owen loves to dig in the dirt (who doesn't?), splash in the water, and in general, just do stuff OUTSIDE! He's able to climb to the first rung on the ladder of his swing set (yikes!) and he likes to sit on the steps to the shed. He tries to blow bubbles and he can kick a ball.

His 18-month stats were 29.4 lbs and 35.5" tall. He's in the 80th or so percentile for weight and off, off, off the charts for height! The doc was happy with his general development and since he had a fever from a little cold/virus the night before the visit we got to skip shots (yay) but that just means I have to work up the courage to bring him some other day...maybe she'll give me a sucker too for being a good mommy... Here are a few pictures since I didn't have any last post. Enjoy!

18 months & baby #2 update

Hi all!

I'm a few days late with Owen's 18 month update. Can you believe he's 1 1/2 years old? It's amazing to me that he's growing and changing so quickly. It's really too fast for us. Sometimes I look at him and I can still see that little baby in him and then most of the time he is just looking like a little boy. He is keeping me on my toes all the time and is learning and doing and growing every minute of every day. Our daily routine consists of meals - during which he is learning to feed himself and not just with his fingers; "art" - coloring with crayons and markers and trying out some glue; reading - he could sit on my lap and read books for most of the day if it's possible; playing - blocks, cars, puzzles, and animals are favorites; outside - he LOVES to be outside (although after this winter of staying inside, who doesn't?) and we try to be outside for some time each day as long as we can (it's also very tiring for him...which is a good thing).

The weather was very nice so we went to the Baton Rouge zoo this past weekend and had a great time (a very nice zoo). The highlight of the trip was seeing two rhinos - a mommy and her baby! Owen's face lit up and he just couldn't get over seeing real rhinos! We also saw giraffes, zebras, and flamingos and he's been talking about all of these animals since we returned.

New skills he's gained or mastered this past month include:

• stabbing food with a fork (little plastic kid fork)
• drinking from a cup by himself (although he prefers for mommy to hold it if I'm available)
• scribbles with crayons, markers, pens, and pencils
• labels all colors (red, blue, yellow, green, orange, pink, brown, purple) of objects
• labels circle
• completes large shape puzzle (circle, triangle, square, rectangle, oval)
• completes animal puzzle (and names animals and their sounds)
• puts rings on stacker
• puts small circles on pegs
• puts large pegs in pegboard
• makes animals "run"
• plays with his barn and car garage appropriately (putting animals in the barn, opening and closing the doors, putting cars up and down ramps)
• follows two-step related commands (ex: pick up your shoes and put them in your room)
• has a vocabulary of about 80-100 words (I didn't make a list this time)
• puts more two-word phrases together
• knows all body parts and clothing and will either point to them on request or say them spontaneously

That's all I can think of as I sit here now. I just love watching him learn stuff.

On to the Baby #2 update... (some of you are already aware of this news but for the rest of you, here is some exciting stuff)

We went to the doctor last week and we have pictures as well as a gender... drum roll... Owen will be a big brother to a little...............

SISTER!

Yes, we will be bringing something pink to the hospital in July (just four short months away) and we are very excited. It is taking some getting used to saying, "she" and "her" since we're so boy-oriented but we're doing fine. I am working on a blanket for the baby and whenever Owen sees it and he says, "blanket" I ask him, "who is this for?" and he says, "sister." (I think it's so cute.) I've shown the ultrasound DVD to so many people that now Owen looks up at it when it's playing and says, "baby!" Although I am growing and can feel this little baby moving around and I watch Owen change and grow every day, I am still sometimes surprised to know that we will soon have two little guys - it's seems not very long ago that I didn't think we'd have one.

As of last week, baby girl is 1 lb 4 oz and has long legs and long fingers. All of her parts looked great and were accounted for (believe me, I quizzed the ultrasound tech on EVERYTHING I could think of). Well, I've got a few things to do before bed and a short time to do them so I'll be leaving you with a couple of ultrasound pics of the baby girl. One is a regular ultrasound shot and the other is a 4-D shot. It was really neat to see her in 4-D although she moved so much it was hard to get a good look at her for long.