Owen is 19 Months!

19 months... on his way to being 2!

We had a quieter month this January.  It was nice to hibernate for a little bit and just get back to our daily routines after all the craziness of the holidays.  We had a few play dates here and there... Owen's friend Garrett came over one morning to play and they had an absolute blast!  They chased each other around the dining room table giggling, played hide-and-seek in the curtains, and read books together.  They were like two peas in a pod.  Instant best friends!  Garrett lives down the street from us and I just love his mom (Janelle).  I'm excited Owen has some boys in the neighborhood that he gets along with so well!

Owen still loves music and gets his groove on anytime he hears a good song!  He will even say "Uh oh!" when the song is over, like "Hey, turn it back on!"  I was singing Funky Town the other day (got stuck in my head from a TV show) and he was spinning around and shaking his head to tunes!  I love that music excited his bones and touches him this way!  Jimmy and I are both hugely into music, so it's such a joy to see that he got this gene too!  Thinking back, he would even grove to songs when he was in my belly!

Owen is now saying several two word phrases.  He has been saying "Mama, cookie!" and "Hot, no no!" for a little while now.  Now we are catching him putting more and more phrases together.  It's amazing to see how quickly he learns and grows.

Owen still loves to read (I know, I write about this almost every month!).  He will pull every book out of his two book boxes and bring them to me to read to him.  He likes to snuggle up in my lap while I read them, but sometimes Dylan is taking up that space, so he will just sit on the floor next to me and turn the pages as I read.  He has started to learn the books and predict what is going to be on the next page or under the flap.

Snuggling with Lola in his reading chair.

Owen loooooves animals!  We have a few books that have pictures of all kinds of animals throughout the books and he has learned all the sounds that they make.  Since he can't say all of their names, he calls them by the sound they make.  He is learning more and more animal sounds every week!  His favorite animal right now is a horse.  He does the perfect little "Neigh!" noise!  The TV was on and there was a segment about horses... I had to rewind the TV 3 times for him to watch the horses (and he NEVER watches TV, won't sit still long enough to watch something).  When I wouldn't rewind it a 4th time he threw a little fit!  The whole time he was watching them he was neighing!  

Speaking of animals, Owen loves the dogs.  He especially loves Lola (our chihuahua).  He will grab her and hug her, pet her, play with her ears and toes, and give her kisses.  When she comes upstairs he gets so excited to see her!  He ca't say his L's very well right now, so he calls her "Yaya."  She has been so good with him.  If she gets tired of him she'll just go lay down, but for the most part she loves all the attention and puts up with being poked and prodded.  

Here are some other cute moments from the past month...

 I've been making some games for him to work on fine/gross motor skills, sorting, and other skills.  He's mastered this one already.  :)

 Saturday morning pancakes, I made an "O" for Owen with my pancake pen.  

 He loves to do "yoga" and will do moves like this whenever I say yoga.  Honestly, no idea where he got this!

 Smarty pants!

 Trimming his hair... I give him a lollipop to keep his head still.

 Finger painting!

 He lines all of his bath toys up on the edge of the bath.  #OCD Hah!

 He loves to run around naked before his bath.  He will get ready for his bath, run in Dylan's room where I am changing Dylan and say "Mama!" and smack his belly or butt.  One word:  HAM!

 Riding his trike while holding a drum stick.  Totally safe.

 Cheesing with Dada!

(Those are glasses from Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head)

Making cookies with Mama!

 Little hipster.  He wouldn't take this scarf off.

Another hipster photo.  I think he looks up to his Uncle Miles!  :)

I hope everyone is staying warm!  We are just about tired of all this cold weather in Virginia.  

Love,

Judi

Dylan is Five Months Old!

 The man is 5 months!

 He found out he can squeal!!!

Trying to eat the sticker.  :)

Sleep:  I am so so so happy to say that Dylan is finally sleeping 11-12 hours a night!  Wooo hoooo!!!  He has his last bottle at 7:45 and goes to bed at 8:00.  He will wake up anywhere between 7:00 and 8:00 the next morning.  If he is not awake by 8:00, I wake him up so he stays on schedule.  Jimmy and I figured out that when he woke up in the middle of the night he couldn't fall back asleep because it was so quiet.  He is used to so much noise around him when he is sleeping and we play lullabies for him the first hour he goes down.  So, Jimmy made a 13 hour play list of lullabies on his iPod.  Presto, he was sleeping 12 hours since we did that!  

Size:  He is still wearing all 6 month clothes.  I did finally pack away all his 3 and 3-6 month outfits.  We also just moved him into size 3 diapers.  He has his 4 month appointment on January 10th and he was 15 pounds and 23 inches long.  He is a tad small for his age (30th percentile) but that is to be expected considering my and Jimmy's size!  Nevertheless, he is growing right on track!

Special Visits:  Dylan's two best friends came over for a play date this month.  (I say two best friends, but of course, they have no idea, hah!)  My good friend that I used to work with had twin boys on September 24th, so they are less than a month apart.  They all hung out together, looked at each other, and drooled.  Seeing three babies together, all about the same size/age was just simply adorable!

Firsts:  Dylan has started to scoot around on the floor and in his crib.  He will pick his bck legs up and push himself forward.  It's a crawling motion, but without the arms doing any work just yet.  I think he will be crawling here soon!  His pediatrician said his development was ahead of the game, so we'll see!

Dylan tried solids for the first time a couple weeks ago.  I had a hard time getting him interested and he really didn't like it, so after a couple tries I decided to give up for a few weeks and start again when he is 5 months.  I feel it's not something to be rushed, and he will tell me when he is ready!  I did cereal with Owen starting at 5 months and didn't introduce any other foods until he was 6 months, and Owen did well with that, so I'll probably do the same with Dylan.  I'll just let him tell me what he is ready to try!

*Update:  Since then, we started again with just cereal on January 28th and he has loved it.  Gobbles it down, and I had to increase the amount he is getting.  It's funny how just a couple weeks made all the difference.

Dylan is also picking up his passy and putting it in his mouth himself.  He loves smiling at Lola and Owen.  I would say Lola and Owen are his two other best friends right now.  :)

Likes:  We brought out the Jump Jump (or, that's what we call it) for Dylan and he absolutely loves it!  He will get in that thing and bounce for 45 minutes with a big smile!  

Owen thought he should wear the cool whip container as a hat!

Dylan has also started to like looking at books!  He loves to look at the pictures while I read to Owen.  Of course, sometimes he tries to put it in his mouth!

He loves to roll over on his tummy and scoot around.  I'll look over and find he has scooted off of his play mat!

I think he looks so much like Owen in this picture.

Lately he has shown a little separation anxiety... he likes to be able to see me, especially if his teeth are bothering him.  This can be a little frustrating at times, but I have been telling myself, that it's a not such a bad thing that he just wants to be comforted.  Time goes by so fast, this phase too shall pass!  

I'm trying to be in more pictures... I'm always the one taking the pictures and never actually in them, so Jimmy has been trying to take more of me with the boys.  Here are some sweet moments from the past month...

 Kisses from mama!

 Playing on his lion chair.

He loves bath time and kicking his legs in the water!

Stay warm!!

Love,

Judi

Making Baby Food

So, lately Jimmy and I have really been trying to eat healthier and more natural.  We both feel like there is a reason there is so much cancer and disease in the world now, and one cause for this is the way people eat nowadays.  So many of these illnesses did not exist 100-200 years ago...

Side Note - Did you know that there is a lawsuit against Naked drinks for claiming their drinks are 'All Natural' when they have actually been putting formaldehyde in them?  Read about it here:  http://livingmaxwell.com/naked-juice-lawsuit-settlement-details-shameful-truth

We have been buying more fruits and vegetables, eating more protein and eating a lot less processed foods.  Don't even get me started on soda!  Jimmy has officially kicked this habit!  Luckily, I was never a soda freak.  I finally got him to drink more water, and he says he can totally feel the difference in his health and body.

Anyway, in an effort to eat more natural, we decided we wanted to attempt to make Dylan's baby food.  I found this amazing baby food maker that steams, blends, and even defrosts and reheats baby food.  Today I tried it out for the first time, and I LOVE IT!

I tried something simple first, plain apples.  I peeled them and cut them up into 1/2 inch pieces.

Then I placed them in the basket of the machine and turned on the steam setting.

Fifteen later minutes I had soft mushy apples!

Next, I took the apples out of the steam basket and poured them in the pitcher with the same water that was used to steam them.  Turned on the blender and presto! Homemade apple sauce!

You can blend as little or as much as you'd like to get the consistency you want.  You can also add less water to the machine to get a different consistency.  Since Dylan has just started solids he needs it to be as smooth as possible.

I have one container that holds several 4 ounce servings.  You just place this container in the freezer and pop one serving out as you need them (like an ice cube tray).

One apple made four servings.

I also have small cups with lids that I plan on using when I make more.  The cups I have are BPA free and are made by Avent.  They are actually made to store breast milk, and I used them for that when I was pumping.  I really like them because they have ounce measurements on the side.

I did one more apple and had a little left over after I filled this container, so I gave it to Owen.  He LOVED it and kept asking for more!  I tasted it myself as well and it was delicious.  I'm even thinking of making Owen's apple sauce using this method!  He seemed to like this apple sauce way better than the store bought kind!

Once I was done, I threw the top on this container, labeled it with the date and type of food and tossed it in the freezer until Dylan is ready for it!

The economical benefit is amazing too.  I made 32 ounces of apple sauce using two apples.  Buying 32 ounces of baby food would cost me about $8.  Buying two apples costed me about fifty cents!

Overall, I absolutely loved making this for him.  It was so simple with this machine.  It only has 4 parts that need to be washed afterwards as well.  Super easy clean up.  I love that I know exactly what is going into his body.  I can't wait to try some more foods using the Beaba Babycook!

Happy Friday!

Love,

Judi 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  

Jimmy took some time on New Years Day to create this sweet montage of special moments of our family from 2013.  I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with everyone.  It is set to my favorite song right now, Old Pine by Ben Howard.  I'm seriously obsessed with this song and the emotion it captures in my heart.

I hope you all find joy in all the little moments life grants us this year. 

Love,

Judi

Dylan is Four Months Old!

Happy Four Month Birthday Dylan!

Of course Owen has to help me take pictures.  He is giving Dylan's foot a kiss.

Sleep:  Dylan goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 and wakes up around 5:00.  He is sleeping a little longer now... sometimes he will wake up at 6:00 and a few times he has even slept until 8:00.  We are still working on sleeping longer.  He usually has this early morning bottle and goes right back to sleep and sleeps until 8:00 to 8:30.  

He is really good about going to bed.  After his bed time feeding he goes right down and never cries! Sometimes he is asleep when I put him down for bed, sometimes he is awake.  If he is awake, he just coo's and puts himself to sleep.

Size:  He is now wearing all 6 month clothes.  His 3 month outfits are definitely too small now, but I haven't had to heart (or the time) to pack them away just yet... Gosh they outgrow these small clothes so fast!

Special Visits:  We had a busy December and had Jimmy's family up to celebrate Christmas one weekend.  We also went to visit Santa one Sunday.  It's been a busy and stressful month... I'm ready to start this new year off at a slower pace.

My Mom's friend Deb stopped by to see Dylan for the first time.  Here is a cute picture!

Firsts:  Dylan is now making the squealing noises!  He will sit and play with himself and squeal away!  It's so cute!  He is rolling all over the place now too!  He is now reaching for objects and grasping them, especially toys and people's faces.

 Dylan's first Christmas ornament!  

My best friend, Molly, and her husband came up for a visit and gave Dylan this ornament.

First Christmas dinner at Mimi and Pop's house!

He is wearing the hat from his popper.  :)

Likes:  We brought out the excer-saucer a few weeks ago and Dylan LOVES it!  He jumps up and down in it and loves to play with the toys.  He spins them, grabs them, and smacks them around and then squeals!

Jumping around!

Here are some more sweet moments from the past month...

 Daddy time while mommy bakes Christmas treats with some friends.

 Looooves to be thrown in the air!

 Owen loves to rub his head.

 And give him kisses!

 After visiting Santa.

 Passed out from playing, what a tough life!

Owen tries to feed Dylan with his play bottle.

My Grandma gave me a picture of my Dad when he was 4 weeks old.  I thought it was the spitting image of Dylan... here is the photo.

I tried to do a side-by-side picture, but this is the best picture I could find that shows the resemblance.

Dylan is about the same age as my Dad in this picture.

I also got a picture of Dylan where I think he looks a lot like Owen.

Dylan is 4 months and Owen is about 9 months.

That's all for now!
Happy New Year everyone!

Love,

Judi