Christmas, 6 months old, & The Latest "Buzz"

Hi All!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a (long) while but we've been busy and sick and now we're well (but still busy). Christmas was great - Owen and Anna Claire received such wonderful gifts (and now we're going to have to move so that the stuff can have the house - ha ha!

We received some wonderful news at Thanksgiving that O & A will have a new cousin! Aunt Dee and Pan Pan will make wonderful parents and we can't wait to meet Baby S in July.

Anna Claire and Owen are both growing and learning lots of new stuff. They are both sniffle free at the moment but I'm sure that will change soon. I got sick after Christmas and it was determined that my gallbladder was on the fritz and needed to be removed so that was done two weeks ago. The surgery went well and I'm feeling back to normal so luckily it was uneventful and is over.

At Anna Claire's six month doctor's visit, she weighed 19 lbs, 3 oz and measured 27". She's a big talker and loves to chat with us and laugh. She recently began reaching for us and will grab my face and snuggle in! She still has only two teeth - at the bottom in front - and she's eating more variety of foods. She really loves oatmeal cereal with milk and I add new flavors to it every few days.

She enjoys playing with new toys; she seems to be bored with her rattles and stuff so I've been giving her blocks and little people and she just loves these. She's also really interested in books (although I think she really likes the chewing more than the looking). She pulls herself to sit up in the highchair and will sit with slight support on the floor. She pushes up with her hands and pivots around to get to new toys and last night she rolled over and over and was trying to move around the floor to chase Owen.

Owen's latest obsession is Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear. He LOVES Buzz! He is constantly telling me "I'm Buzz Lightyear, you're Woody. Press my button." He has learned lots of new things and many of them include how to get to lots of stuff that should be out of his reach! He is a monkey and will climb onto anything (or anyone) to get to something he wants. He also has learned to take the key out of one door, put it in the other, unlock the door and... So now the key is always OUT of the door and OUT of his reach (hopefully). We will be getting a latch for the door to avoid any unnecessary running away.

Owen is very much into "I do it myself!" and this works both for and against us when we're trying to get him to cooperate - it's really a luck of the draw. He still loves to color and paint and read and has begun "reading" by himself which I think is so cute. He has been mimicking me with Anna Claire by changing a baby doll, rocking & singing Rock a Bye Baby, and strolling it but he also loves to shoot the alligators (thank you Swamp People) with his double barrel shotgun!

He can put his shirt on by himself if you hand it to him the "right" way and he'll pull the front of his pants up. He matches shapes, colors, and at least three different sizes of a shape with no help. He still loves to count and knows how to say and sing the alphabet. He is really into singing songs and along with Curious George & Toy Story, he likes Caillou (I think I prefer George). Owen is really good at imaginative and pretend play and will make up a bit of a storyline and tell me to participate. It's so neat to see him doing these things "all by himself"...

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

all four grandkids on Christmas eve

(boy is it hard to get 4 little kids to look at the camera at the same time!)

Ok, what's all this stuff and is it for ME?

(Christmas morning)

Oh, I get it, it's toys for ME!
A happy boy getting into his new tent.
Owen & Ben painting (and eating) Christmas cookies

A cute little elfette

a happy girl

smiley girl - look how cute those two teeth are!

beautiful girl sitting on her Poppa

5 months!

Little Miss Anna Claire is 5 months old! She's growing and eating and having a blast! I don't know how much she weighs but I'm pretty sure she's close to (if not over) 18 pounds and I swear she is growing right before our eyes! She seems to be working on more teeth although I haven't spotted them - she's just gnawing on everything she can. She is laughing at us and talks ALL OF THE TIME! She likes to growl at us and have us growl back and she is a total social butterfly - it makes her day for someone to talk to her and give her attention.

She has tried rice cereal, applesauce, and for the first time today, bananas. She LOVES to eat!!! She gets excited when I show her the food and she'll giggle and open her mouth, ready for the first bite. She even takes her thumb out and turns toward the spoon.

For the past couple of weeks she hasn't been sleeping well at night - she's waking about every three hours to eat. I don't know if it's because it's been colder in the house or she's not feeling well (she's had a stuffy nose for most of this time) or because she's hungry - I think this may be the reason.

She is rolling very efficiently from her back to her tummy and still needs help to flip her over "sunny-side-up" after a few minutes but now she puts weight on her hands and pushes up with her chest off of the floor. She loves grabbing my face and tries to bite my chin or my fingers when she can (and those two tiny teeth are pretty sharp). She grabs toys and will hold on to them enough to carry them while I hold her. She enjoys looking at books and will sometimes giggle while we read them.

Well, that's all I can think of about her development right now. On to other family news...

Last weekend, we went to Baton Rouge to meet Curious George at the Farmer's Market and Owen and I took a picture with him! Owen was excited about meeting him until it was our turn to take a picture at which point he promptly buried his face in my legs and said, "George might be scarey." We got a picture though - with no tears but no smile either. Although, as most of you saw in your Christmas card, no tears is good enough!

After the farmer's market, we went to the zoo and had a wonderful day. The weather was perfect and there were hardly any other people there - I think most people were shopping for Christmas. Owen had a blast and Anna Claire seemed to enjoy being outside for the most part. We had a neat time with the giraffe - he came right to the fence and stayed there for the longest time. Keith got to touch his head and I think the giraffe would've licked Owen if I would have let him.

Owen is learning to ride his "Kooter" (scooter) and he loves playing his musical instruments and singing into his microphone. He really loves to look through his "binoculars" (two halves of a paper towel roll wrapped in tape) to see what he can see. Curious George is still his go-to guy but he's added Caillou to his list of TV shows (although that makes a list of 2). He now likes to watch a movie now and then and currently loves Aristocats. He seems to really like the movies with lots of music and animals - if the animals are singing it's even better.

Well, I'm going to leave you with pictures to enjoy. I'll be back again soon.

that granola bar is really good! (I love the hand in the pocket)

my little snow baby

this post brought to you by the color YELLOW!

Well, it's been quite a while since I've put anything here so there's lots to update about. I think we're finally rid of a few bugs that have been keeping us all sick around here for the past month to six weeks. We've all shared sniffles, sneezes, coughs, and fevers and I'm really tired of it so I hope it's gone for a while. Aside from the colds and yuckies, Owen and Anna Claire are growing and learning new stuff every day. We had a great time for Halloween, a very filling Thanksgiving and we're looking forward to a wonderful Christmas.

Owen was his favorite color for Halloween - YELLOW! He loved the crayon pointed hat the most and wore it proudly to go trick-or-treating. He was a little intimidated for the first few houses so he didn't say much but finally did say "trick-or-treat" a few times towards the end. We had a huge turn out for our gumbo/party that night and we all had a great time. Anna Claire was just a cute pumpkin with a pink hat (so everyone would know she's a girl) and she was happy just being carried by Nanny the whole time.

Owen has developed a few new skills in the past couple of months and he is perfecting his language skills. He is asking full questions instead of just stating what he wants and he often uses phrases and expressions that we use (we've got to really watch it now!). He really "gets" what is going on with stuff and is able to explain "what happened" in a picture, on TV, or in real life. He still loves Curious George and has developed a recent fascination with Caillou. He uses scissors to snip (and yes, he snipped his hair... now we only use scissors with adult supervision). We've started to play with play-doh and he really likes that - mostly to flatten and then cut with the play-doh scissors. He can draw lines (he says, "down, down, down" while he draws) and circular scribbles - and he knows it's a circle! Today, he drew a bunch of scribbles and said he drew mommy, daddy, and Owen! I asked him who was missing and he thought about it for a while and then finally said, "Anna Claire!"

Anna Claire is growing and weighed in at 16 pounds at her 4 month visit. She rolls from her back to her tummy and will put weight on her hands and push up. While she's done it once or twice, she hasn't mastered rolling back to her back from her tummy so she fusses after a few minutes and wants to be rolled over. She reaches for and carefully grabs a toy and then jams it to her mouth. She seems to be bringing anything and everything she can to her mouth as she's teething! And her two bottom teeth are proof! They popped out within two days of one another just after her doctor's visit in mid-November. I'm going to be introducing rice cereal soon since she looks at our food and drools (it's really pitiful - if she wasn't in the 95th percentile for both height and weight, I'd feel bad...) She is a really happy baby and except for when she was not feeling well, she's been sleeping all night!

We feel so lucky when we look at the two of them and still can't quite believe they are ours. Here are a few pictures from Halloween and November. I'll be back with more very soon.

If you look really close, you can see the two teeth at the bottom!

What a happy, smiley girl

boy, those toys sure look like fun!

3 months!

Be forewarned, this post is heavy with pictures! We had a great weekend, beginning on Friday with a trip to the park for Bach Lunch with BeBe, Lynn, Poppa, Nanny Dee, and Pan Pan Alex. Then Saturday we went to Festival Acadien and ended the weekend with a birthday party on Sunday!

Anna Claire is three months old and growing fast. She's a happy baby with lots of smiles and quite the conversationalist! She loves to chat and will even let out a little giggle at times. She turns her body to roll from her back to her side and will pivot while on her back so that she ends up in a different direction than she started! She holds her head up when she's on her tummy and sort of props herself up on her forearms. She is very interested in her hands this week and it's quite funny to watch her staring at one hand while she opens and closes it. She tries to locate sounds and voices and she'll follow someone moving across the room or in front of her. She loves her thumb and I think that is why she is such a good sleeper at night - she can put herself back to sleep if she wakes up. Her eyes are still blue and so I think they may stay but we'll see. She is a big fan of Owen - when he's near her she can't keep her eyes off of him (who can blame her, he's a pretty cool kid!).

beautiful girl!

happy girl!

I LOVE this bonnet - Nanny Dee's grandmother, Mrs. Margory made it just for Anna Claire!

Owen is dancing here - he couldn't stop moving while the music played and he clapped with lots of "yays!" at the end of each song

the Saizon Bach Lunchers

two Southern Belles

Owen learned something new & My new favorite craft...

Well, Owen has learned something new - he can swing himself on the "big" swing! This past week he wanted to swing and I showed him how to pick up his legs so that I could push him and then he just started pumping his legs and pushing with his feet and he was swinging! He is so proud of himself and is looking more and more like a big boy every day.



On another note, I had mentioned something about a new "tool" that I purchased recently - it was an embroidery machine! I have been playing with it when I get a few minutes and so far I'm really excited about it and wish I had lots of time to play! Here are a few things that I've done so far - the first two are on each side of a reversible dress that I am making for Anna Claire (it needs buttons and button holes and then I'll be ready to show off the dress) and the third picture is an applique and monogram on a shirt I did yesterday for a birthday party we're going to tomorrow.

New Pictures

Well, this weekend we had some time off from parties. Last weekend was Anna Claire's baptism and we had a wonderful time at Pan-Pan and Nanny's (Alex & Dee's) - they are great party givers! We had a relaxing weekend yesterday and today and just did stuff around the house. I made a rather large purchase this weekend that will help me expand my Lucky Duck Baby Knits but I'll let you all know more about that when I get a handle on my newest tool.

I had a request for more hats from a customer on Etsy as well as a request for a cocoon & hat from Dee for a shower gift that she needs so I'm into knitting again. As a result, we decided to have a little photo shoot outside this morning. And so now you get to see the cute pictures. I've also included some pictures from the baptism for you to see.

Enjoy!

Nanny Laurie with Owen and Paran James with Anna Claire

Pan-Pan with Owen and Nanny Girl with Anna Claire

Our family with Anna Claire's godparents - Deanna & James

pretty in purple

2 years old / 2 months old

Our babies are 2 & 2 - years and months, that is! Owen had a wonderful birthday party and got lots of great presents. He had a real "big boy" party with a fun jump and lots of friends and at the end of it all he needed a good bath and a long nap. He got his first two-wheel bike (with no pedals - it's a balance bike) and his first scooter so he's a guy with wheels!

Owen's development at 2 years:

• He is talking up a storm (no surprise) and has learned to sing the ABC song all by himself and he has added 11 to his counting
• He will count a small group of objects and can easily identify groups of 1 or 2 objects
• He will identify most shapes most of the time
• He asks what and where questions often (and will often answer himself)
• He eats with a fork and spoon and drinks out of a cup with just occasional spilling
• He is learning to pull his pants/shorts up and we're toying with the idea of potty training as he's used his little potty lots of times and can now sit on it and get off of it independently
• He uses lots of pretend play and loves to imitate grown up activities like caring for baby and cooking while playing - he also loves to roar like a monster and hit lots of things with long sticks!
• He will retell events in several sentences and tends to repeat these little retellings over and over (and over) again for a few days in a row
• He loves to draw and paint and will make circular shapes as well as lines with pencils, pens, markers, and crayons
• He still loves to read books and will sit through the reading of several books in a row - hopefully we'll get to storytime at the library most times this fall
• He identifies the post office, the library, Target, and the book store when we pass them or drive up to them (where do you think we spend most of our time if we're not at home? I'll give you three guesses...)
• He climbs up on small chairs and stools to reach EVERYTHING he shouldn't that is on the counter

Those are the top things Owen has been doing lately and I'm sure there will be more in the months to come. Here's the latest on our sweet girl:

• She was 14 lbs and 24 inches long at her 2 month visit last week and these are almost the same measurements as Owen at 2 months!
• She's smiling and cooing and we are loving it
• She is trying to reach for (and sometimes touches) the toys dangling above her on her playmat
• She holds her head up at 45 degrees while on her tummy (she's VERY strong)
• She rolls from her back to her side and looks like she wants to keep going and roll to her tummy so we'll see what she does in the next few weeks
• And, drumroll please, she sleeps 5-6 hours at night then goes back to sleep for another 2-3!!!!!!!! I have not done anything different than I did with Owen and I still don't know how to make babies sleep but I'm sure glad Anna Claire does!

Well that's the latest on our babies (I guess I should say our big boy and our sweet baby girl) and here a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

a sleeping beautyOwen's first two wheel bike and helmet!Curious George and Owen's favorite color - yellow -

were the themes for this party (can you tell?)a boy enjoying his birthday cake!