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