Owen is 12 Months Old!

I can't believe I got a picture of him smiling and somewhat sitting still!

What the heck is this sticker doing on me?!?

(Right before he tries to rip it off.)

Size:  Owen is 28.5 inches long and weighs 25 pounds.  We just got home from his 12 month appointment!  He is 75th percentile for weight and 10th - 25th percentile for height.  His height percentile has dropped a little bit, but it is to be expected given my and Jimmy's height.  I knew he would start to even out eventually.  He is wearing 12 month or 12-18 month clothes and size 4 diapers.

Special Trips/Visits:  Owen went to the pool for the first time this past month!  He was a little weary at first and clung to Jimmy the whole time, but he warmed up eventually and started to try and splash around.  I think his favorite part was the snack and ice water he got when he got out of the pool, hah!

Break time snack, munchin' on some gold fish!

Firsts:  Owen's vocabulary is growing and he is learning new words.  He is starting to understand a lot of what we say, but can't say the words/phrases himself quite yet.  He has also completely mastered the sippy cup.  I have moved him from the ones where the flow is a lot (but sometimes leak) to the ones where you really have to suck, but they do not leak!  He is still drinking water with his meals.  I've tried juice, but he's not into it.  I'm glad, water and milk are healthier anyway.

He has also moved from formula to whole milk.  I transitioned him a little each day, mixing it with his formula and he never minded the milk at all (I'm not surprised, boy loves eating).  So we are officially on all whole milk and no more formula!  He is still drinking the whole milk out of bottles.  I'll work on that transition after we get back from the beach.

Crossing legs like Mama.

Owen points at objects and tries to talk about them now.  He was doing it in the doctor's office this afternoon and she was impressed and said that is more advanced.  She was also impressed at how much he was talking and babbling.  Of course, I'm used to hearing him talking all the time.  :)  My grandpa used to call me Judi Jabber when I was little because I talked so much, I guess Owen is taking after me in that aspect so far!

Likes:  Owen loves feeding himself.  He does not like for you to spoon feed him anything.  So we are completely on table food now.  No more mashed baby food.  He is Mr. Independent!  Owen also loves animals.  He loves our dogs and squeals when they come to play!  He also loves little kids.  Every time he sees new kids out somewhere he tries to reach for them, smiles at them, and tries talking to them.  I'm going to start taking him to our neighborhood play group now that I'm not working.  I think he will love it!  He loves moving around, boy is SO active!  He is a busy body.  He also loves giving hugs.  He will crawl over to you when you are sitting on the floor with him and give you a lap hug!  He also loves stuffed animals.  He grabbed a stuffed dog off the shelf when Jimmy took him to the store and was cuddling it in his stroller.  Of course, Jimmy had to buy it for him!  The ladies working there thought he was so cute that they gave it to him for 50% off, hah!

My puppy dog!

Dislikes:  He has gotten to the point where he does not like when you tell him no or move him away from something he wants to do.  He will start crying, but I just tell him "You are just fine." and walk away.  He stops crying in less than a minute.  :)  

Family Update:  I am officially not working anymore... although it hasn't really hit me yet, just feels like a normal summer so far.  I think it will really hit me in September when all my teacher friends are going back to work and I'm not.  It's a little bittersweet, there are some things that I will really miss.  On the other hand, I'm so excited and blessed to be able to spend this time with my kids.  Everyone I talk to says they have never regretted staying home with their kids and that it was the best thing they ever did.  So, even though I am leaving some good things behind, I think there are even better moments to cherish in the future!

We are headed to Myrtle Beach this weekend with my family for vacation!  I'm SO excited!  Jimmy and I haven't been on vacation in over two years (besides our short trip to California in March).  It will be our first vacation as a family of three!  I'm so excited to show Owen the beach for the first time!  I'm also so excited to spend some time with my family, it's going to be so much fun!!!  I'll be sure to do a post about our vacation when we return.  :)

Love,

Judi

Happy First Birthday Owen!

Happy First Birthday to my Little Love!!!

The day you were born is the day our lives began.

You are Daddy's best friend!

Sweetest heart.

You've grown so much, but I still see the same little man!

I cannot believe it's been a year since we went to the hospital and I gave birth to this little miracle!  Owen, my love for you is endless and unconditional.  You will forever have this little Mama wrapped around your finger.  You will forever have a best friend in your Daddy.  You are the most joyful child I've ever known.  I am so excited to see how you grow and see your personality develop throughout your life.  I'm excited to teach you new things as a toddler and valuable lessons as a child and young adult.  Being your parents has changed our lives, and we are so grateful for the blessing and privilege it is to be your Mama and Dada!


For Owen's actual birthday we took him to Chick Fila and then to Effee's for dessert.  He ate an entire kids meal of chicken nuggets, apple sauce, and then even ate some goldfish.  At Effee's I always share my ice cream with him.  We shared chocolate ice cream with peanut butter topping.  He only gets tiny little bites, but he absolutely loves it!

I'M ONE!!!

Loving some ice cream!


Then we came home and he got a special phone call from Mimi singing him happy birthday on speaker.

He was dancing to her singing, it was adorable!

I think he had a wonderful day!  I'm so excited for the next year of his life and to watch him grow!  Owen, you are going to be an amazing big brother!

Love,

Your Mama

Owen's First Birthday Party!

Owen had a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed first birthday party yesterday!  I had SO much fun planning and decorating for his party.  I loved doing it!  Here are some pictures of the food and decor (it might be picture overload, so sorry in advance!)...

I found these lollipops at Michaels, and they happen to look just like the ones from the book!

I found all the food labels online from someone who had the same party and made them, then put them online for others to use.  Yay for sharing!

I made the 'ice cream' using ice cream cones and baking cake in the cones, then icing the top of the cake to look like ice cream.  They were a hit!

I made the icing (homemade) and colored it green to look like the caterpillar's body.  

The caterpillar's head was Owen's cake!

I used vanilla wafers and M'n'M's for the eyes and nose!

Here you can see the whole dessert table and the whole caterpillar!

I found the template for this banner on Etsy, bought the template and made it myself.

Nana made the cherry pie!  It was delicious!

I think everyone really liked the theme and all the little touches.  I thought it was the perfect theme for my chunky little man!

Owen was really good with so many people over at our house.  We had over 20 people over to celebrate (all family).  When he went down for his morning nap no one was here, then when he woke up the house was filled with people.  I thought he would be a little overwhelmed, but he did really well!  He loved playing with the balloons, I think it was the first time he had seen a balloon.

We had burgers and all kinds of 'caterpillar food' for lunch, then Owen got to open his presents!  He got a little fussy opening the presents about half way through, but did really well overall.  He loved ripping the tissue paper and playing with the bows!

He is having so much fun this morning playing with all his new toys!  He loves pushing around the push type ones and it is making his confidence grow already.  I think his first steps will be any day... this morning he was SO close!

After he opened all his presents it was CAKE TIME!  I had been waiting for this moment all day!  We sang Happy Birthday to him and he thought we were all weird standing around singing to him and staring at him.  He just stared at us all like "What is going on?!?"

Here are some pictures of him digging in!

I made this ribbon to decorate his high chair!

He eventually demolished the cookies on top.

He loved the icing more than the cake!

After the cake it was about time for his afternoon nap.  He went down and then everyone headed home.  So when he woke up later on everyone was gone.  I imagine he thought it was like magic!

It was a fabulous day and I think Owen loved every little thing about it, especially all the people who came to share in his special day!  It would not have been the same without all his family there!  You know that everyone loves your child, but seeing everyone so excited for him and love on him just made my heart swell. He is one lucky boy to have so many people in his life who love him to no end!  Jimmy and I are so thankful for everyone's love and support (okay, I'm trying not to cry right now, hah!).

On Tuesday/Wednesday I'll do a special post about his birth DAY and being 12 months old!  I made it all through the day yesterday without crying, but I'm not sure I can do that tomorrow... I just know a break down is coming!

Love you all!

-Judi

28 Weeks

Helloooo third trimester!
(I love Owen's photo bomb in this one!)

Along:  28 weeks!  I can't believe I'm this far along already... I feel like I am saying that all the time, that and how much I can't believe Owen has grown up!  Time just goes by too fast...

Size of Baby:  Baby 2 is now 17 inches long and about 3 pounds.  He is almost as long as he will be at birth, but not quite there in weight.  He will start to really pack on the pounds in these last two months.

Gender:  BOY!  We have not decided on a name yet, but have decided that we are not going to share the name until he makes his arrival!  

Sleep:   I am still sleeping like a rock and rarely even wake up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.  I know, I'm lucky!

What I Miss:  Being able to move around easily.  With this big belly sticking out it is hard to get in and out of the car when another car is parked close, or just move around in general.  I'm in the middle of packing up my classroom, so moving around to do that has been annoying too.  Luckily I have some super sweet boys in my class who help me out a ton!

Cravings:  Milk, chocolate, ice cream... anything sweet.  I craved the same things with Owen.  This pregnancy my cravings/food aversions have not been as intense as they were with Owen.  I don't have any weird cravings or severe food aversions that I had with him... yet!

Symptoms:  Eating more... which is fun!  A little heart burn here and there, which is one thing I never had with Owen.  My back has not been hurting nearly as much as it did with Owen.  I think this is somewhat due to my weight gain.  I gained more with Owen by this point than I have with Baby 2 so far.  Overall, this has been a super easy and enjoyable pregnancy!  

Best Moment this Month:  We are almost finished with Baby 2's nursery.  Jimmy surprised me one day and when I came home from work he had already painted the room!  He said he knew I would have tried to help and didn't think I should be painting at 7 months pregnant.  We also got the furniture, hung curtains, and put up some cute decals.  There are still some things we need to buy before we are fully ready, but it's a huge start. 

We are doing a green and sea turtle theme.  We painted one wall green (Owen has one wall blue), the exact green that is on the bedding, and hung up these wicker turtles I found at Pottery Barn.  Then I put turtle decals on the walls.

I didn't find any sea turtle themed bedding that I really liked, so I am doing a green and white theme.  I LOVE Pottery Barn Kids, and found his bedding there.  His crib sheet is a green and white chevron pattern.


We wanted to mimic Owen's room, but make it his own too.  So, he has the same color furniture, but a different style, and the same wall in Owen's room is painted blue, and they both will have the cute decals on the walls!  The jack and jill bathroom adjoining the two rooms is a sea theme, so we thought sea turtles would tie everything in!

I hope everyone is enjoying their start to the summer.  I know we are!

Love,

Judi