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

Owen is 11 Months Old!

He does NOT want to sit still - typical boy!

It probably makes him more mad that I am laughing at him the whole time!  Haha!

Okay, this is the best I could get!

Sleep:  Owen still sleeps about the same as he has been for awhile now.  He is starting to phase out his later afternoon nap and transition to just one nap a day, but every day is different and sometimes he still needs that nap.  So we go with the flow...  

Size:  I'm going to guess he is about 25 pounds and 30 inches long.  He is wearing all 12 month clothes and some are even a little tight.  He is now in the size 4 diapers too.  I just love dressing him in all the cute summer outfits!  He's got some super cute outfits that make him look like a STUD!

Special Trips/Visits:  About two weeks ago we took Owen to the Leesburg Animal Park.  This place is so adorable!  It has all kinds of animals from different parts of the world that you can pet and feed.  They have giant turtles, monkeys, deer, goats, chickens, ducks, cows, horses, a camel, and many more... Owen was a little weary of all the animals at first, but once he got comfortable he was reaching out to touch each one!  There is a contact area you can go into where you can walk around with the animals.  He loved the baby cows and lambs in the contact area.  They also had the smallest goats I have ever seen, so cute!

Let me in there!

Touching her nose!

He liked the lambs.

For Mother's Day we took my mom to Effe's Frozen Treats which is an adorable little ice cream shop down the road from us.  They have such delicious ice cream and these cute red tables to sit at outside.  A perfect summertime spot!

Enjoying some ice cream with my boy!

Owen knows what ice cream looks like and will not stop grunting and squealing for some when we go out to get some.  We don't really go out for ice cream that often, and I don't eat it in the evenings until he goes to bed, but I guess he has caught on to the delectable sweetness of ice cream!  Just like his Mama!

We also took our first road trip with Owen.  We went down to Virginia Tech (4 hour drive) for my brother, Miles', graduation.  Owen was pretty good in the car, he had his moments and I had to crawl in the back to entertain him a few times.  But, overall it went pretty well.  I was worried about him being irritated by being strapped in the car for so long, but it didn't seem to bother him as much as I thought it would.  We took him with us to the graduation ceremony and he did AWESOME!  He sat on my or Jimmy's lap for over two hours and didn't fuss one time, and the entire ceremony was during his nap time.  He was clapping along with everyone when people's names were called and even drank his bottle just fine.  He was a trooper!  I'm so glad that we could be there to celebrate such a special moment in my brother's life!  We are so proud of you Miles!

Firsts:  Owen has started to really use words in context.  He says Mama, Dada, Doggy, and Uh-Oh... maybe a few more words, but I can't remember right now!  He will come into the room and see Lola or Skyler and say "Doggy!!!"  He also says "Uh-oh" when he drops something on the ground or finds something that he knows shouldn't be there.  He also squeals "DADADADADADA!!!!" when Jimmy comes home, or even walks into the room!  He can understand a lot of what we say as well.  I can tell him to come here, go get it, I'm going to get you, and of course, no!

He is still cruising around furniture and I think walking will be in the very near future.  He will let go of the piece of furniture and stand without holding on, but I don't think he is ready for that first step yet.  It will come soon enough.  :)

He is really getting good at drinking out of his sippy cup, which I am so happy about because next month he will switch from formula to whole milk.  We are excited to not have to wash bottles anymore and buy expensive formula.  He will be fully transitioned to sippy cups before baby 2 comes... I'm NOT going to wash bottles for two babies!  Luckily, I don't anticipate this being an issue for him.

He also got to swing on a swing for the first time at the park in our neighborhood.

He loves it!  So, Jimmy got him a swing for the house and attached it to the underside of our deck.  Now we can just go out back in the evenings.

I told you he is a squealer!

Likes:  Owen loves crawling around and exploring his surroundings.  He loves crawling on top of people when they are sitting on the floor with him.  Everyone is his jungle gym!  He loves getting out of the house and running errands with me, he loves walks, he loves our dogs and other animals, and he loves eating!  We are very lucky that he is not a picky eater and will eat just about anything we give him.  It makes life so much easier.

Yes, he crawled up there himself!

Exploring the cabinets.

Dislikes:  Owen does not like to be fed.  He wants to feed himself.  So, we are over the Gerber squares, cereal, and baby yogurt.  He wants to eat anything he can pick up on his own.  Today he tried pasta with red sauce for the first time!

Every kid needs a messy spaghetti picture!

Do you want some?

He always tries to share his food with us.

We went to Cracker Barrel last weekend and Owen got to eat some apple sauce, green beans, biscuits, and strawberries while we were there.  I absolutely love the high chairs there, they look like normal sized chairs!  I just get a kick out of him in these pictures - I swear he looks like he is 3 years old!

So grown up!

Family Update:  We are doing really well!  I'm counting down the days until this school year is over (15 more days!) and I am really looking forward to a relaxing summer!  I have started planning Owen's birthday party and it will be a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme!  I'm so excited to celebrate him turning ONE!  I can't believe it has been 11 months since he was born... 

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

Love,

Judi

24 Weeks!

6 months pregnant already... where has the time gone?!

Along:  24 weeks!  Baby 2 will be here before we can even blink.  I swear time goes by SO fast lately.

Size of Baby:  Baby 2 weighs more than a pound and is the size of a standard letter.  He can hear all kinds of noises and recognize voices.  Hopefully he will be used to Owen's squeals when he is born!  (Man that kid can squeal!)  Baby 2 will gain about 6 ounces each week for the next couple of weeks.

Gender:  BOY!!!  We are so excited to have two boys.  The bond between brothers is so special, and I'm sure will be even more special being as they will only be 14 months apart.  Jimmy and I have already started saying 'the boys' and 'our boys.'  I LOVE it!

Sleep:   I sleep like a rock and haven't even had to start getting up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night yet.  

What I Miss:   An occasional alcoholic drink.  We had happy hour last night with some friends and I couldn't indulge... only a few more months though.  :) 

Cravings:  Right now I really want some Chick-Filet nuggets... good thing I convinced Jimmy to go there for lunch while we are out running errands today!  I also crave ice cream, which I did with Owen as well.  Sweets are my weakness.  Thankfully I am doing really well with my weight.  I started a few pounds heavier than I did with Owen and I've not yet reached the weight I was with him at 24 weeks.  I think I've only gained about 10 pounds so far.

Symptoms:  I get tired sooner and easier, but other than that, nothing else bothers me.  This pregnancy is super easy.  Besides the obvious growing belly, I wouldn't even realize I'm pregnant.  

Best Moment this Month:  Jimmy can now feel baby 2 moving around!  It's so special for him.  I also love hearing his heart beat each time I go to the doctor.  They say the same thing each time - very strong heart beat!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there!  I'm so excited for my first real Mother's Day.  Jimmy has some special things planned!

Love,

Judi