Blankenship Family!: February 2013

Well, it's time to make the announcement...

Owen will be a big brother!!!

Yes, another little Blankenship bun is in the oven! Baby 2 is due August 24th, 2013.

Jimmy and I are thrilled that God has blessed us with another child! It looks like they will only be about 14 months apart.

We wanted them close together!

I'm currently 14 weeks pregnant and feeling great!

It's true, you definitely pop out sooner with #2. I've already started wearing some of my maternity clothes... mostly just the pants. I do plan to post pregnancy blog updates throughout this pregnancy, but will probably only post them once a month. I enjoy blogging, but I'd much rather spend my time soaking up my little man's smiles!

So here it goes...

Along: 14 weeks!

Size of Baby: Baby 2 is the size of a naval orange (about 4.5 inches and weighs only 3 ounces). Baby 2 is practicing breathing in the womb this week. He/she is also moving around like crazy, but I can't feel the movements yet.

Gender: Do not know yet! We find out in about 6 weeks. We are actually considering being surprised .. so I'm not sure if we will actually find out the gender or not yet...

Sleep: I'm sleeping wonderfully!

What I Miss: Nothing right now... maybe an alcoholic beverage now and then.

Cravings: I have been craving some juicy fatty hamburgers. 5 Guys is the best. I have also been craving Mexican... which is interesting, because with Owen, I could not stomach Mexican the entire pregnancy.

Symptoms: I was pretty nauseous weeks 5-8, but never actually got sick. I switched to a natural vitamin and it has made wonders. I was also a little tired the first trimester, but not nearly like I was with Owen. I just had to go to bed an hour earlier. I have had a few food aversions... specifically yogurt. I cannot even stomach the smell of yogurt. Jimmy has to eat it in the other room. I was the same way with Owen.

Best Moment this Month: The best moment had to be hearing the heartbeat for the first time and seeing little baby 2 moving around on the ultrasounds screen. He/she was sucking its thumb and had hiccups during the ultrasound, just precious!

Jimmy and I are very excited and we think Owen will make such a wonderful big brother!

Love to all,

Judi and Jimmy

Happy 8 months baby boy!!!

Sleep: Owen sleeps about 11 hours a night. He goes to bed at 7:30/8:00 and wakes up around 7:00/7:30 each morning. He never wakes up in the middle of the night.

He is down to two naps a day. He will nap from 9:30-12:00 and then again for an hour or so anywhere from 3:30-5:30. I knew his naps would fall into place when he was ready. :)

Size: I'm not sure exactly how much he weighs, his next appointment is at 9 months. I'm sure he weighs over 20 pounds, and my guess would be 23 pounds. He is getting so much longer too. He is outgrowing some of his 9 month clothes and I'm going to have to go shopping for some 12 month outfits! He is still in size 3 diapers, and Huggies are the best.

Special Trips/Visits: We have not had any special trips or special visits this month. Owen loves getting out of the house though. We take him everywhere we go. He especially loves the grocery store! His other new favorite place is Sweet Frog. We took him there last weekend and he loved it! We are planning on going today since it's going to be warmer! He is so good out in public... I have not had a single time where he has cried in public or thrown any kind of tantrum - yet!

Daddy's grocery shopper!

(Owen loves Wegmans!)

Owen loves Target! He smiles and squeals at everyone!

Firsts: Owen is CRAWLING! He started crawling shortly after he turned 7 months. He is all over the place! He loves crawling on Skyler's dog bed. He will bury his face in the bed and squeal! He also loves all of the dog toys... he will see a dog toy across the room and BOOK IT to get the toy. The dogs are VERY good about sharing with him, even though we obviously don't want them to share! I have found him chewing on the dog toy basket just wishing he could get all the toys out!

Can I have your bone?! :)

Owen has also just started to eat more solid foods (like real people food, not the gerber squares of pureed food)... he has had some yogurt bites (freeze dried yogurt that he can pick up and eat), avocado, banana, apple, and orange. He loves all of it and when it's all gone or I take it away he is not a happy camper! I have to have a quick distraction handy!

Being silly!

I love his posed smile. He now knows to 'smile for the camera'!

Owen also made Radford University's Facebook page on Valentine's Day!!! I sent them this picture saying "When two Radford grads get marries, they make an RU baby!" They posted his picture on Valentine's day and he got more than 300 likes!!!

Radford Baby!!

Owen also got a Jump Jump (the seat that hangs in the door frame). He absolutely loves it. He will spend an hour jumping in it and squealing with excitement!

Dude gets some air!

Owen also had his first Valentine's Day this month. Jimmy is already teaching him how to be a gentleman. Owen got me the book Love You Forever, which, of course, made me bawl that morning! Owen also picked out yellow roses for me (yellow is Owen's favorite color). Owen treated Momma pretty good, and I felt more blessed than ever to have such a wonderful son, and an amazing husband!

Likes: Owen still loves fruit, and now loves whole pieces of fruit. He is still not at the point where he can eat small chunks so we watch him carefully. He likes to eat when everyone else is eating. When we take him out to dinner, he needs to have something to eat while we are eating otherwise he whines for some of ours! He loves everything he is not supposed to have (now that he is crawling). This morning he threw a little fit because he couldn't have the carpet cleaner! He loves taking a bath. We have a blow up bath and tons of bath toys.

Dislikes: Owen does not like when you take a toy away from him that he is not supposed to have. He still doesn't like green vegetables... but, honestly, that is about all I can think of that would make him unhappy... he is such a happy guy!

Developmental Milestones: The major milestone this month is crawling. He is also starting to babble and make different sounds "ba ba ba ba" and "da da da da". He will copy you when you make the sounds to him. When have a book we read to him and every time we get to the word 'bus' he says "ba ba ba ba"! He also loves to share... he will take out his passy and try to put it in your mouth. He will also try to give you his bottle! He also knows his name now and will turn to look at you when you say Owen!

Family Update: Things are going very well for us and we have some special news... more to come in the next blog post!

Here are some more cute pictures that I could not resist sharing!