Chicken Noodle (9 months)

I LOVE THIS BOY!

Owen at 8 months

Time flys when you are having fun! Seriously can Owen really be 9 months old already?!? Olivia grew up fast, but not even close to how fast Owen has seemed to grow up. There are days I miss my little infant, but I love watching him grow his little personality, play and love on his big sister and have his set of "firsts." First Christmas was fun, now he had his first Valentines day, first time playing in the snow, first word ("da da" of course) and first fever. Oh and he had a third the other day.. finally his third tooth broke through! :)

My first fever :(

Owen is my little lap baby. Everyone told me boys are more cuddly than girls. Owen can be cuddly but mostly he just loves to sit on my lap and face out. He likes to play from there, read from there, relax from there, etc. He really doesn't like to be left alone, so especially if Olivia is napping or something you can find Owen in my lap or hanging on my leg. I enjoy Olivia's nap time with Owen. I was so concerned about before he was born about not having any one on one time with him. Since he naps in the morning he goes down for a nap later than Olivia (usually about 10 minutes before she wakes up), so I usually have a good two hours of just Owen/Mommy time. It is nice to just play with him and read him books or even let him play by himself while I work nearby (if he will) for a while. Don't get me wrong, there are days when I would pay a pretty penny for them to nap at exactly the same time so I could have a lengthy break, but most of the time I just enjoy to one on one moments that don't come the rest of the day. The good thing is he really, really loves Olivia (despite her efforts to use him for her personal pony.) Olivia can even tell this. When she comes up to him to play or when Owen and I get her up in the morning she always grabs his hand as he smiles really big at her and says "I THINK HE LIKES ME!" They love to play together and with the exception of monitoring some safety and Olivia taking everything from him they play independently. It is so cute to watch them when they don't know that I am watching. Makes my heart melt. He also is so protective of her already. When she gets put in time out all he wants to do is crawl over to her and sit by her when she is in trouble. Even if she is in time out for being mean to him.

I am happiest when... I'm playing with my sissy.

Some other things about Owen... he is finally starting to babble some constants. He said "dada" and "mama" and "nah nah" and I swear he said "more" the other day. He is also doing some signs (mostly more and up and maybe all done) and holding his own sippy cup. These are all big milestones to "mama".

All about Owen:

Favorites:

food: MEAT! (steak, chicken, turkey), graham crackers, oatmeal with fruit, bananas, and mashed potatoes

books: doesn't seem to have strong preferences like Olivia did, but he likes the book with kitten pictures, peek a boo baby and whatever I'm reading to Olivia.

things to do: play with Olivia, dance with mommy, crawl (really fast!), play chase or follow, play in the kids kitchen, suck on his paci, sit on someone's lap, Bath time

toys: shoes (he loves to look at them and try to chew on them), barnyard magnet toy, fisher price kitchen and usually just whatever olivia is playing with.

Dislikes:

getting diaper changed or changing clothes, getting nose wiped, being left alone in a room, being put in my exersaucer unless I'm in a REAL good mood, things that move fast in front of my face (dogs, balloons), loud noises (vaccum, hair drying, blender), most vegetables

Some of my favorite Owen moments: Dance dance parties we have in the kitchen with Olivia and Daddy. He smiles so big and laughs as I hold him and we dance to music.

Another bittersweet moment was when he was sick he was the snuggliest little snuggle bear in the world and I soaked up every moment of it.

Watching him dance while sitting on the ground bouncing his butt up and down... so funny

Watching him play and laugh with Olivia.

when he picks up things, puts them in his mouth and then crawls to where he wants to be.. example a sock or a toy he wants to move somewhere else.

Owen's nicknames right now: chicken noodle, Owen chicken noodle, handsome man, snuggle bear (olivia is snuggle bug), Owie, mister mister and Bubby.

The Not So Terrible Twos

Olivia 2 days old
Olivia 1 year oldOlivia 2 years old


Olivia is TWO!! Can you believe it?!?! I can't. Two years ago today I had just brought my brand new baby girl home from the hospital and life has never been the same. Olivia was born February 8, 2009 weighing 7lbs 12oz and 20inches long. She was the most precious thing I had ever laid eyes on. Seriously! These past two years have challenged me, changed me, helped me grow spiritually and uplifted me more than I probably did the in the previous 10 years.
Olivia today is a beautiful, smart, happy, hilarious and wild little girl. She has the vocabulary of a10 year old and says some pretty funny stuff. (Example today.. "Mommy, I have my green froggy boots on, I go jump in the rain.. (while jumping) ribbit, ribbit") Also she has started singing more and more and every now and then busts out an Olivia rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday or Sunny Days (Sesame Street.) It is a definite favorite Olivia moment when she is singing something. Olivia is a high energy child and is always getting into something. The beginning of the winter was really tough because when the weather is nice(r) we are usually always outside for a part of the day and with winter here we have been inside without the space for running and burning off some energy. She is starting to adjust to this better though. The beginning of the winter I swore I was going to find her hanging off the ceiling fan if I didn't get her outside for a little bit. I have struggled this winter finding appropriate gross motor activities for her to do that are age appropriate. Indoor play lands/playgrounds are too big for her to navigate independently. We have gone over to the church gym just to run around some and that has helped. She likes to push Owen in the stroller. Speaking of Owen... Olivia and Owen are really playing together great these days. This makes me soooo happy. The other day I actually sat on the couch in the playroom and read a magazine while they played in the ballpit and the kitchen together. It was amazing! I think I only had to intervene a couple time to tell Olivia to quit sitting on her brother and "No Owen is not a horsey, please get off his back."
Another milestone Olivia has accomplished (not by her choice) is the paci is gone as of last week. Olivia was chewing large holes in them and trying to eat the plastic so it had to go.. cold turkey. It has been tough, but not as bad as it could have gone I suppose. We have had a couple of really bad evenings and then other evenings she asks for it, crys for a minute and then gets over it. Someone said on my facebook wall today that she thinks bedtime is going to be tough till they go to college and don't sleep anymore and you know what.. I think she is right. I think bedtime is tough for some kids more than others and my kids seem to have a particular aversion to sleep, so bedtime will probably always be tough. The sooner I accept this, it probably won't be so tough anymore because I just know.. it is going to be tough. (Did that make any sense.. it did to me in my head anyways)
Well, Olivia's birthday was Tuesday and we celebrated by putting on her birthday dress and going to Flap Jacks (this is what we did last year too). She ordered pancakes of course, but for a special treat I let her get strawberry pancakes! She loved them, but still wanted "surpert" (syrup) too. Then we (Sam, me, Olivia and Owen) went to Buy Buy Baby and bought her a new bathing suit. She came home and wanted to put it on, but then was very upset we weren't going swimming. That evening we (Me, Olivia and Owen) hung out with her Grand Poo-Bah (Great Grandpa Kindler) because he had fallen in his house and needed some company that night. Then Aunt Jan stopped by before bed and brought a little cake, so we had that for a bedtime snack.
Here are some more Olivia fun facts I want to remember about her at the age of two: Favorite cartoon- Sesame Street, favorite character.. she says Bert, but it is probably actually Elmo. She likes "Super Grover" too. Favorite foods: cheese, yogurt, milk, graham crackers, apples, bananas, oatmeal, pancakes. Favorite toys: kitchen(bringing you food), ball pit, hats, shoes and dressing up, coloring, play-doh and her roll and play game. Favorite comfort item: Up until last week the paci, now her stuffed monkey and stuffed polar bear Favorite books: Grouchy LadyBug, Monster at the End of the Book, Olivia books, When Will Spring Be Here, and Wonder Pets book.

Happy Birthday to my Princess, Peanut, Pumpkin Pie!
More on Owen next time!