New Pictures!

Well, Anna Claire is officially 1 month old and Owen is 23 months old! We are planning Owen's birthday and can't believe it will be his second - time flies, doesn't it? Anna Claire is doing well; she nurses every two hours or so and sometimes will go three at night. She is sometimes a night owl and is bright-eyed until midnight or one (those are very longgggg nights...) but sometimes she goes to sleep at 10 or 11 and does her every two hour thing. I think she's trying to sort out night/day/naps/sleeping stuff. She's had her first outing to the library and to the hair salon (no cut for her though) and she tolerated both well. She HATES her car seat and we are hoping that improves (or we won't be going anywhere more than 20 minutes away unless it is a very big necessity). Owen's newest "thing" is to ask for help and then scream, "no, I do it!" so we're having some interesting days with that. I've taken a few pictures and wanted to share them with you and we'll have "real" pictures taken of both of our cuties on Saturday so we'll be able to share those with everyone too (I'll try to get them in the mail soon but I'm sure there are a couple of you still waiting for Owen's 18 month pictures so we'll see). I'll be back soon with more pictures.

Oh, also, the picture at the top was the best one we took with the two of them together. The others featured mostly a crying baby girl with a smiling boy and then an annoyed boy with a crying girl. Oh well, you take what you can get, you know?

our two cuties dressed up for a birthday party

bright-eyed girl

our "Art" session on Tuesday - we LOVE crayola washable paints and a really big old t-shirt!!!

Aunt Laurie's crafty idea (I think I will be cutting the monogram out of the shirt and making a little pillow or something with it after she grows out of it because it's too cute not to)

Anna Claire had a doctor's appointment today - she's 3.5 weeks old! She weighs 9 lbs, 13 oz, is 21.5 inches long and her head circumference is about 14 inches. She's bright eyed and alert for 1-2 hours a few times a day and loves to eat and snuggle. She's had a little problem with belly aches and so I'm laying off dairy for a few days to see if it improves as per Doc's suggestion. She got an A+ from the doctor today and we'll see her again at two months unless needed sooner.

Owen is doing great as well - he is Mr. Independent these days and really enjoys making a mess, I mean, doing things for himself, especially feeding himself and climbing on chairs and stools to reach things. He really loves his baby sister and wants to hold her (and pick her up - yikes!) and touch her head and kiss her. He's actually been sleeping on his new "bed" (his crib mattress on the floor with a bed rail on one side) since a couple of weeks before Anna Claire was born and he is sleeping through the night - I never thought I'd see those words about my kid before 10 years old... I'm so glad I don't have both of them waking throughout the night - that would really send me over the edge.

Well, Anna Claire is sleeping and I just put Owen down for his nap so I'm going to try to get a few minutes of sleep myself. The first picture is from today and then the others are from the last week. Enjoy!

3.5 weeks old - on our way to see the pediatrician

2 weeks old

sleeping on her daddy
the three amigos - with one not so happy member of the group

a girl in and on handknits

put 'em up!

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!