Owen is 6 Months Old!

Happy Half-Birthday Baby Boy!!!

I cannot believe it has been 6 months since Owen entered our lives.  He has brought so much joy to my and Jimmy's life.  Some people say that your life ends when you have kids, Jimmy and I both feel our life began when Owen was born.  I do not deserve this blessing!  I thank God every day for the wonderful gift of my son!

Sleep:  Owen's sleep habits haven't changed since his 5 month post.  He is still sleeping 10-11 hours a night and taking short cat naps throughout the day.  I've yet to try and schedule his naps... I'm going to work on that (along with Katie) after the holidays are over.  He is not a fan of naps right now... He fights sleep like no other!  We say he has Missing Out Complex, he never wants to miss what is going on!

Size:  We just had his 6 month appointment this morning.  He weights 19.5 pounds and is 27 inches long.  He is in the 90th percentile for weight and height!  Boy is growing good!!!

He is still wearing size 3 diapers.  I think we'll be here for awhile.

I just packed away all of his 6 month clothes and brought out all his 6-9 month and 9 month clothes.  

Special Trips/Visits:  Owen got to meet my Oma and Opa for the first time.  They are my mom's parents and live in California.  It was so incredible of them to fly to Virginia to see him!  I nicknamed them Goma and Gopa (the G is for GREAT!).    I got some cute pictures of everyone...

Goma and Gopa!

Playing with the sweetest Goma ever!

Owen also got to meet some of Jimmy's family for the first time.  Owen met Jimmy's Aunt Debbie and Jimmy's Granny Marian.

Great Granny Marian!

Great Aunt D!

Firsts:  Owen has continued to eat cereal twice a day now, lunch and dinner.  He has now eaten several different kinds of fruits and vegetables.  Bananas are his favorite!  He has dropped a bottle at lunch and now only eats solids.  At dinner he will finish the rest of the bottle that isn't used to make his cereal, which is around 2 ounces.  Just enough to fill him up some more before bed.

I'm in love with this face!

Owen went to see Santa for the first time!  The line was TWO HOURS LONG!  Yes, two hours.  My boy was a trooper the whole time, not a fuss, and smiling at everyone!  Of course, when he sat on Santa's lap he gave us a huge grin.  I just love that boy!  I don't have the Santa picture on the computer yet, but here is a picture of us waiting in line!

Owen had his FIRST Christmas!!!  He actually LOVED opening all the presents!  He liked to pull the paper off and tried to put it in his mouth (of course).  He got REALLY excited for some of his toys!  He especially loved a lantern toy Nana got him, and a few of the light up toys Jimmy and I got him.  I loved seeing his face light up when he opened his presents!  

My playful boy!

This was the most joyous Christmas Jimmy and I have ever had.  To see Owen's face fill with joy and excitement when opening a present filled our hearts with joy.  We didn't get each other presents this year (just bought the house and have had to spend a lot of money on furniture and decor), but we both felt like this was the best Christmas we have ever had and are so excited for all the Christmases to come!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Developmental Milestones:  Owen is on target with all his developmental milestones.  The doctor said he is looking great today!  He rolls over all the time, and now he is sitting up on his own!  Christmas morning we noticed he could finally sit up on his own without our support.  He sat in between my legs and opened his Christmas presents!

Family Update: We are finally all done unpacking and settled into our new house.  It took us awhile, and it took Owen awhile to get used to the new surroundings... but we are so glad we made this move.  We now live in a family friendly community in a house that has plenty of room for our family to grow!  I can't wait to have more kids and raise our family in this house!  I get emotional thinking about all the memories we will create here and our future children who will grow up here!

Happy Holidays!

Love,

Judi

Owen is Five Months Old!

Sleep:  Owen is still sleeping 10-11 hours a night.  He goes to bed at about 8:15 and usually sleeps until 7:00.  This morning he slept until 7:30!  I love that he gets more sleep, but I leave for work at 7:00, so I miss getting a little hug in before I leave.  BTW:  This is one more awesome thing about Katie, I can leave him in his crib and don't have to wake him up and take him to daycare!

Owen will take about three naps a day for anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.  We don't have scheduled nap times.  I let him fall asleep when he gets tired.  I'll schedule them when he gets older, but for now, I'm sticking with what works best for him!

Size:  Owen is at least 18 pounds now.  Infants gain anywhere from 1 to 1.25 pounds a month, and since he is on the bigger side, I'm sure he gained 1.25, or more, this past month.

He is now in the size 3 diapers.  They fit him perfectly.  We still prefer Huggies.

He is still wearing 6 month clothes, but some are snug on him.  I'm just now starting to pull out the things that are too snug and put them in his closet to be packed away.  I just bought him Christmas outfits and bought them all in 9 month.

Special Trips/Visits:  My best friend growing up came to visit us over Thanksgiving weekend.  She now lives on the eastern shore with her husband, which is about a 5 hour drive from here, but her parents live in Fredericksburg, which is only about 45 minutes away.  While she was up visiting her parents for Thanksgiving, she stopped by.  It was so awesome to see her!!!  I LOVE when I get to spend time with her!  It was her first time seeing Owen, so of course, I had to get some pictures!

Owen the stud with Aunt Molly!

Firsts:  The most exciting first for Owen this month was trying solids!  Our doctor told us to wait until he was 5 months, so on November 25th we broke out the cereal and mixed it up!  Owen absolutely LOVED his cereal!!!  It took him a couple bites to get used to it, but after the third bite, he knew what to do!  He squealed and made "mmmmm" noises while he ate.  It was precious!!!

Yummy!

Gimmy that cereal!!!

We started with organic oat cereal.  Our doctor told us to skip the rice cereal since arsenic has been found in it recently.  I'm choosing to go the organic route with Owen's food for the first year or so.  I feel better about it, and it's not that much more expensive.

So far Owen hasn't shown any signs of being allergic, nor have the solids interrupted his sleeping pattern. 

Owen also met the horses at my parents house for the first time this month!  I'm sure he's seen them before, but this time he was actually interested in them, and I remembered to bring my camera.  :)

What is that?!?!

Cutie boy.

Owen has also learned how to 'spit' this month.  I know it sounds gross, but it's actually kind of cute.  He discovered it all on his own, and now he does it whenever he's feeling spunky!

While I'm taking his 5 month photo...

Developmental Milestones:  Owen is on target with all his developmental milestones so far.  He rolls over to his tummy, holds his head at a 90 degree while on his tummy, and has started to sit up on his own.  He can sit up on his own with a tiny bit of support.  He likes to hold onto your finger to support himself.  I think he'll be sitting on his own with no support by 6 months.  He loves playing in his excersauser.  He pushes with his legs and plays with the toys.  Another cute/cool thing he can do now is put his passy back in on his own!

Family Update: The most exciting thing that has happened this month is moving into our new house!  It was a big hassle and closing on both houses ended up being a mess, but it's ALL over now!!!  We are almost all the way unpacked and are now just trying to relax a little bit before the Holidays make us crazy busy again.

Home sweet home.  <3

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,

Judi

I am Thankful for...

I thought it would be nice to think about things that I am thankful/grateful for each day in November.  I'm going to try to post something every day, but chances are I'll miss a few days and try to catch up at some point!  I'm going to keep editing one post, so there aren't 30 "I'm Thankful for..." posts!

Jimmy and I feel like we have SO much to be grateful for... so many things in our life are just wonderful right now.  Sometimes I tell Jimmy that I feel like I'm living a dream!  It's easy to think about how bad things can be when everything seems to be going wrong, and it's easy to complain about things you wish were different.  Often we forget to think about how good they are when they are good, and to thank/praise God for his goodness in our lives.

November 1st - So today I am going to reflect on how thankful we are to have found Katie.  I have found such peace going back to work knowing that our son is well taken care of.  When I come home each evening Owen is such a happy guy and in such a good mood!  I'm sure all the other mothers out there understand how good that makes a working mom feel.

November 2nd - I'm thankful for my husband!  He provides for our family because he wants to, not because he has to.  He loves me and Owen with all of his being.  He writes me a love note every day (yes, every day!) and leaves it next to my breakfast!  Oh, and he makes me breakfast every morning - egg whites and turkey bacon/sausage.  He thanks me every day for making dinner.  He thinks I'm the most amazing mom in the world.  He appreciates me.  He changes diapers, feeds, and holds Owen when he is crying all with a smile on his face because he is so happy to be a dad... and the things that has made me fall in love with him all over again - he is an amazing father.

November 3rd - I'm thankful for my son!  His smile lights up my world.  His funny noises crack me up.  He is the best thing that has ever happened to me and the best thing I'll ever do with my life.  I thank God every day for blessing me and entrusting me with his beautiful life.

*I know the last two are pretty much a given, but I feel so incredibly blessed to have found the man of my dreams (when I was only 18!) and have a beautiful son with him!  So, of course they had to be on my list!

November 4th - I'm thankful for my sister!  The first 12 years of my life I never had a sister and when Lauren became my sister it changed my life.  She is such an amazing person and I admire her so much.  I know she doesn't hear this a lot coming from the older sister, but she inspires me.  I feel lucky that I was blessed with her presence in my life and I'm SO thankful for our relationship.  I also love how much she loves my son.  She adores him with all her heart, and I love her even more for that!  She is a special person and I cherish her!

November 5th - My job!  As I am sitting here inbetween parent-teacher conference (I have 28 back to back today), I am thankful that I have a job.  I'm thankful to have found sommething I love to do and that I'm pretty good at!  Even on a long day like today, dealing with parents, and questions, and  interpretors, and all that stuff, I'm thankful for my job.  I'm also thankful Jimmy has a job that he enjoys and is successful in too!

November 6th - I'm thankful to live in the land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE.  God bless the USA!  Now, GO VOTE!

November 7th - I'm thankful for my friends!  I have some wonderful friends who I have been close to for more than 10 years now, and I have made some wonderful new friends in the past two years.  They have really been there for me through trying to get pregnant, pregnancy, and now motherhood.  I'm so glad that I met them!

November 8th - I'm thankful for my family's health, especially my son's.  Sometimes you take being healthy for granted... but today I want to recognize how important and meaningful our health is. 

November 9th - I'm thankful for my students.  Each day is new and different... Each day at least one child makes me smile!

November 10th - I'm thankful for my car.  I know I probably shouldn't be thankful for material things, but I just love my car, haha. 

November 11th - I'm thankful for a steady and stable income, thanks to my hubby!  Many people are struggling right now with this economy, and I'm SO thankful that we are doing well.

November 12th - I'm thankful for our new house!  I'm so happy to have found a house that we can grow and raise our family in. 

November 13th - I'm thankful for sunshine.  A bright sunny day always cheers me up.

November 14th - I'm thankful for the little moments... little moments are what makes life meaningful.  The smiles, hugs, kisses, glances, touches... Those moments are what bring us all together.

November 15th - I'm thankful for my brothers.  Growing up was a blast (most of the time), and I'm thankful my son has such great Uncles!

*Since we're moving this weekend, I'm going to jump ahead and do a few in advance!

November 16th - I'm thankful for my parents.  They helped shape the person I am today, and I'm forever grateful.

November 17th - I'm thankful for photographs.  Sometimes our memory doesn't do memories justice.  I'm thankful we have cameras to capture all those 'little moments'!

November 18th - I'm thankful that I have a warm bed to fall asleep in every night.  And that my son does too.  :)

November 19th - I'm thankful for my grandparents.  All four of them are still alive and thriving.  All four of them are part of my life and we see or communicate regularly.  I'm thankful that we have such a good relationship and I admire all they have accomplished, especially their marriages (both have been married for 50 years).

November 20th - I'm thankful we can hire people to help us... this may sound crazy, but we're moving into our house today and I'm SO thankful we could hire some big guys to help us unload the truck!  It will get done so much faster!

November 21st - I'm thankful for technology... where would we be without it?  Can you imagine how different life was 20 years ago?  50 years ago?  It has made our lives much easier... and maybe harder in other ways.

November 22nd - I'm thankful for family!  I love the holidays and getting together with my family.  Family is the MOST important thing.
 

What are YOU thankful for?!?!  :)

Love,

Judi

Happy Halloween!

Most of you know that we had a hurricane earlier this week - Hurricane Sandy.  School was canceled on Monday and Tuesday so Owen and I got to hang out all day!  We had a little Halloween photo shoot!  Enjoy the pictures!

My little punkin!

Happy boy!

What in the world is this?!?

Love those chubby cheeks and thunder thighs!

Playing around! 

(This one is my wallpaper at work!)

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween!

Love,

Judi

Owen is Four Months Old!

Happy Four Month Birthday Baby Boo!

Can't believe how fast time is flying by (I know I say that every time, but I still can't get over it!).  Little man is growing like a weed and is SO much fun!

Sleep:  Owen is now sleeping 10-11 hours a night!  He eats at about 8:30pm and goes right to bed.  He wakes up around 7:00am and is always in a good mood!  He never wakes up in the middle of the night, he is SUCH a good sleeper.  The morning is his favorite time.  He wakes up smiling and chirps, sings, and coos for about two hours!  I always try to get some good pictures in the morning.  He naps off and on throughout the day for about 45 minutes each time.

Size:  Owen went to the doctor on the 25th and weighs 17 pounds!  He is in the 90th percentile for weight.  He is 25.5 inches long, which is the 75th percentile.  He is such a chubber!  Everyone comments on how chubby his little cheeks are!  I just love it! 

He is in the size 2 diapers, but they only go to 18 pounds, so sometime this month we'll have to move him to the 3's.  The 3's start at 16 pounds, so we could move him there now, but we've got some 2's to use up! We cannot stand Pampers diapers... every time he wears them they leak, and I'm not just talking pee (yes, I just went there! hah).  So we only buy Huggies, they never leak.

He is now fitting in 6 month clothes.  Yes, SIX MONTH CLOTHES!  He's a BIG boy!!!  I bought him some long sleeved clothes and pants for the fall/winter.

Special Trips:  We went to Cox's Farm and got some cute pictures in the pumpkin patch a couple weekends ago.  It was pretty cold so he was bundled up good!

Bundled up and ready to go to the Pumpkin Patch!

Momma and baby.  <3

 Father and son.

Nana came too!

Firsts:  This month Owen had his first 11 hour stretch of sleep.  He also had his first full day with Mommy back at work!  Oh, and he also made his first friend!  

Our Nanny has been awesome this week.  She makes/cleans his bottles, she is early every day, she takes care of the dogs for us, and she even unloaded our dishwasher this week.  We LOVE her and feel so blessed to have her!  My favorite thing is her daily pictures she texts me.  She will send me pictures of Owen playing and smiling.  She sent me one this week of Skyler laying on the floor right next to Owen while he played on his mat!  She brings her 17 month old daughter with her, Kenzie, so Kenzie is Owen's first friend!  One afternoon when I came home they were both staring at each other checking each other out and Owen was smiling at her!  Such a love bug!  Kenzie LOVES our dogs too, and they are both just so great with her!  Skyler is excited to have a little buddy.  :)  We are blessed!  Oh, another great thing about Katie, she lives less than a mile from our new house, so she is going to be SUPER close!  Just awesome!!!

Developmental Milestones:  Owen is on target with all of his developmental milestones.  We just had his doctor appointment where they check all of his developmental activities and he is doing great!  He hated tummy time for awhile, but we started using the Boppy pillow to prop him up and he likes it a lot better.

Singing and playing.  :)

Owen also rolled over for the first time!  He's been rolling to his side, but last night he rolled from back to front for the first time.  He woke up on his tummy.  :)

Here is a sweet video of me playing with Owen... I just love baby giggles!!!

Family Update:  We had Owen's four month pictures taken at our house and outside last week.  Here is a little sneak peak photo!

I'm in love with those blue eyes!  I can't wait to see the rest!  I'll post on facebook when she does her blog.  :)

I went back to work this past Monday... it was hard the first day, but I've been SO busy that I don't have much time to stop and think about anything.  Overall, it hasn't been as bad as I thought and I'm really enjoying my class.  I have the sweetest kids this year.  I already have a few boys that are just adorable, kind, caring, sweet children.  Having kids like that makes it so much easier to come back to work!  

Our house is coming along pretty well!  We are so excited to have a garage, a yard, plenty of space in our living room... It's going to be nice to live in a family friendly neighborhood where everyone is new!  We went out to check out the house last weekend and met a couple of our new neighbors.  They seem great and that makes us even more excited to move!

Happy Halloween!

Love,

Judi and Jimmy

New House!

I am so excited to finally share the news of our new house!  We wanted to wait until we sold our house and all the financing was in order before we shared with everyone...  So now that all of those things are in order, here you go!!!

In August, we made the decision to purchase a new house (new construction!) and sell our house.  It was a pretty big decision to make, but we put everything in God's hands and both Jimmy and I felt like it was the right time.  Our offer was accepted on the new house and we put our current house on the market the next week... it sold in SIX DAYS!  We had two offers and accepted the best one.

Our new house is a single family home in Gainesville.  (For those of you in the NOVA area, it's across 29 from Lake Manassas.)  It has four bedrooms upstairs (5th in the basement), 4.5 bathrooms, and it's about 4,000 square feet (including the basement).  It's a corner lot, so we have one neighbor on one side and another behind us, but the side of their house backs to ours (you'll see in the pictures).  The elementary, middle and high schools are all great (Go Battlefield!).  The community is great... and there's a Wegman's a mile away!  Haha!

We are so excited to move into our forever home!  We plan to grow our family here and have this be the home our children come to for Thanksgiving when their grown!  I am so thrilled to have a home that Owen and our future children will grow up in.  All their memories will be in this home and community, and I've always wanted to have that.

Here are several pictures to show you how the construction has progressed since August...

This was right after we signed all the papers.  They are digging for the foundation.

The foundation was just laid...

Putting the walls up!

View from the back/side.

Roof and framing done!

Back/side view again...

Most recent picture... porch is on!

We try to by once a week to check it out and take some pictures.  It's coming along so fast!  We just heard this weekend that it should be done in 30 days and that we should be able to close before Thanksgiving!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about this new exciting time in our lives!  Happy fall to all!

Love,

Judi and Jimmy

Thank God for Miss Katie!

And, yes, I mean that literally... Thank the Lord for sending Miss Katie to us.

I've been dreading the day I have to go back to work.  It's not (at all) having to work that was bothering me, but leaving my little man.  And honestly, it wasn't just leaving him, it was dropping him off at day care and leaving him in the hands of people we don't know.  I was having such a hard time with this, MUCH harder than I even want to admit...  I felt like I was abandoning him.  I also could not fathom how one person could take care of four babies (that's the raio, 1 to 4).  I'm sure someone is going to be left to cry at some point during the day and that just completely breaks my heart.

Jimmy saw how much I was struggling with this and suggested we look for someone to come to our house to watch Owen.  This way he can stay on his schedule and in his own home.  The adjustment would not be as severe as if he were to go to day care.  I thought, let's just look into it and see what happens...  Well, we found Katie.

Katie was the first person we interviewed.  She came over and spent about an hour and a half with us.  We interviewed her and she spent some time with Owen.  It was very organic and natural.  Owen absolutely loved her.  He went right to her smiling and fell asleep on her!  (This is really saying something, as lately he is realizing who strangers are and is not comfortable with just anyone, even family!)  Seeing Owen with her, that's when we knew, she was it!  So Katie will be our 'nanny'!  (I don't even like the word nanny, but it is what it is!)

Katie is going to come to our house when Jimmy is not working from home, so on average 20-35 hours a week.  She has a 16 month old daughter, Kenzie, that she is bringing with her.  I love that she is a mom, I feel like being a mom has made me more patient and understanding.  I also love that Owen will still get some socialization with Kenzie around!  It is going to make our lives so much easier, as she will make bottles/food, wash bottles/food, we won't have to pack a bag for him each day, and he gets to stay in his favorite place, home!  She will also take Owen and Kenzie to the park and on other fun little outings.

I had been asking God to prepare my heart for leaving Owen and returning to work, and I think he answered my prayers in his own way, of course!  For the first time, I can think about going back to work without sobbing!  For the first time, I think about teaching again and get a little excited!

Not only do we need Katie so much, but I believe God put us in her life for a reason too.  It's just one of God's little coincidences.  :)

So thank Katie and thank God!

Love,

Judi and Jimmy

Owen is Three Months Old!

That's right, three months already!  A quarter of a year!

Sleep:  Owen is progressing well with his feeding schedule.  He has his last night time feeding between 8:30 and 9:00 and sleeps until 5 or 6.  So he is now getting a good 8 hours of sleep each night.  When he wakes up between 5 and 6 he eats and goes right back to sleep.  This is so awesome because on the weekends we can feed him and go right back to bed!  We usually have to wake him up between 8 and 9 for his next feeding, or he would sleep even longer.  

He is now sleeping in his crib each night and has grown to love it!  After his night time feeding he goes straight to his crib and falls asleep with no fussing at all.  Once he got used to sleeping in the crib he is a super easy baby to put to bed each night.  He has started to take some of his naps in his crib as well, but awakens more because he doesn't sleep as deep during the day.

Size:  Owen weighs about 15 pounds (or so) now.  I'm guessing he is around 24-25 inches long now.  He goes to the doctor for his four month appointment next month, so then we will have a more accurate weight and length.

He is fitting pretty snugly into his 3/3-6 month outfits right now.  He can also fit into his 6 month outfits, but I'm trying to get more use out of the 3/3-6 month outfits before I pack them away and move onto the 6 month ones!  I'm starting to put him in long sleeves and pants because it's getting cooler outside.  

Special Visits:  Jimmy's brother Phil finally came over to meet the little guy!  It was nice for Owen to meet the last of his 5 uncles!

Special Trips:  Owen goes everywhere with us.  We are very comfortable just packing up his diaper bag and taking him with us wherever we go.  The only place we used to go often and cannot take him is the movie theater.  That we'll need a babysitter for!

We've been enjoying walks in the evening now that the weather is just perfect!  We also take him to Fairfax Corner and walk around, or get something to eat and sit outside.

Firsts:  This month Owen had his first 9 hour stretch of sleep.  One night he slept from 9:30 to 7:00!  Hopefully this length of sleep will become more consistent soon!

Developmental Milestones:  Owen now rolls over to his side consistently.  He LOVES sleeping on his side.  As soon as I put him down in his crib he rolls to his side!

My little snuggle bug!

Owen is now reaching for objects and grasping some of his toys.  He also giggles and smiles on a regular basis.  He loves to play, especially with his Pops!

Playing Around!

Owen is also starting to pull himself up on his own.  When he is sitting in his swing, or someone is holding him at an angle, he will crunch his stomach (like he is doing a sit-up) and try to sit up!

He is very active and loves to kick his legs and move his arms when he is laying on his play mat!

He is now talking consistently.  Lots of goo's and aahhh's.  He will also talk back to you, in his own little language, when you talk to him!  He just LOVES to interact with you!

Family Update:  We are having Owen's 4 month photo shoot in October.  I cannot wait to have these photos taken, as Ali is just amazing!  I will be sure to share her blog on facebook and in my blog.

I'm also returning to work on October 22nd.  I've been so blessed to have 4 months at home with Owen.  I know most women don't get as much time as I did, so I'm definitely thankful for every moment.  I'm also thankful that Jimmy works from home about 20 hours a week.  So we're going to try and have Owen home with him while he is working from home.  It makes me feel a lot better knowing that he will only be in day care for 5-6 hours a day.

The other morning Jimmy was watching Owen while I took a shower and I came into the office to find him playing guitar for Owen!  Owen was just mesmerized.  Of course, I had to snap some photos!

I even caught a picture of Owen singing along!

I swear this boy is going to be musically inclined.  He loved music in my belly, and music always calms him down now.  I couldn't believe he was making noises along with the guitar!

Here are a few more adorable pictures!

Straight Snuggin.

That's right, Ma!

Cracking himself up!

Holding Pops' hand.  :)

Whatcha doin' Mama?

Chatting away!

How you doin'?

Yes, he put himself in this position!

I love that you can see his blond streak in this picture.  :)

I hope everyone is having a great start to their fall!  I love fall in Virginia.  It's such a beautiful time!

Love,

Judi and Jimmy