Who knew being stuck in the couch was so comfy?
A movie, melting, and crying.
Owen loves the movie Tangled. At the end when they’re watching the lanterns from the boat and they start singing to each other and take each other’s hands…
…Owen always grabs my hand gently (or will come and find me if I’m not next to him and take my hand in his) and then sing to me just like the movie. It melts my heart each time…and sometimes I even cry. 🙂
He can be SUCH a sweet little boy when he wants to be.
A nap schedule!
I think Katie is finally on a nap schedule instead of taking little catnaps all day! She takes anywhere from a 2-4 hour nap at about 9:30, a 1-2ish hour nap in the afternoon around 3 or 4, then goes to bed around 8 and then sleeps until 7. YAY!
(I hope I’m not jinxing myself by writing this.)
Some nights (like tonight) she was in bed before 8 even! When she starts screaming and refusing to eat, we break out the zippered swaddle and she calms right down. Some nights I have to swing her in my arms (if she’s really worked up) but most nights we can just put her in her crib while she’s still awake and she falls asleep peacefully.
She’s SUCH a good baby!
Magical B
After a long day, I was laying on the floor trying to stretch out my back. I was moaning and groaning because a) it hurts and b) of all the fat on my body why is there none on my tailbone so I can lay flat on my back without pain…where was I? Oh yes, Owen hears me and says “Mama, you okay?”
I say “Yes, Owen. Thank you. Mommy’s back hurts.”
He throws his B on top of me and says “Here, a B will make you better!”
Then he went and got his other B and came and laid down next to me.
Delish dish!
10# potatoes, 3 sticks butter, 1 cup of half and half, 1 cup of sour cream, garlic salt, and pepper, with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and bacon.
Lights! We have lights!
It was a really nice sunny day so it was time to put up the lights! YAY!
We had new lights this year—the icicle lights we had at this house before were long since dead—and of course, one strand wasn’t QUITE long enough (so two would have been completely too long) but as it happened, Tom had to restring them because he started with the wrong end (even though I told him so at the start!) so when he did, he adjusted them just enough to look good! I keep dreaming about lights on the second story, but Tom has said NO WAY—though if I want to hire someone to do it, go ahead. Let me tell you…I’m tempted!
Then I had to come up with something for the porch railing because the lit garland I had hung there other years had died (and Sam’s Club hasn’t had it since) so I used some colored lights that we used on the tree last year. It took a tiny bit of finagling, but I got the two strands to fit perfectly. I like the garland a lot better, but this works.
And the tree lit up…
The tree, the Tardis, and the Bear
This morning we put up the tree! Owen was GIDDY with excitement as Tom got the pieces out, turned the lights on, and put everything together. The tree isn’t as wide as the last tree, so it looks A LOT smaller, but it works with the space we have so it will do for a few years.
We try to only get Christmas ornaments that are meaningful—like from vacations, colleges, traditions, or our annual family Christmas photo. Sometimes they include favorite TV shows—for example, Owen has both Little Einsteins and Cars ornaments—and this year I bought the Tardis from Doctor Who (Tom has watched it throughout the years, but I just decided to watch it and got caught up on the past six seasons on Netflix over the last month or so). Owen has watched it with me, so he knows what the Tardis is…and was SUPER excited when I opened the package. We didn’t have the tree up at that point, so he kept asking where the Tardis was. So this morning, the Tardis was the first ornament he hung and now he runs around saying “The Tardis! The Tardis!”
Owen was REALLY good at hanging ornaments on the tree, too—except he wanted to hang them all in a one-foot clump. Also, of course, they were all hung at his chest-level! I eventually started pointing out where to put ornaments and telling him to look for a bare spot—and he did pretty well.
Lastly, we had to take the traditional photo of Owen kissing the Bear (I used to kiss the Bear when it hung on Grauntie Marge’s tree).
It’s a Christmas tree!
Owen has been WAITING and WAITING for us to put up the tree.
Yesterday he helped me clean out the room to make space for it…and his second question this morning after his usual “Where’s daddy?” was “Where’s the Christmas tree?”
This was the unboxing:
And this is him trying to wake up the tree (since we told him it was sleeping):
I wonder what he’ll do when we eventually get a REAL tree?!
The sweetness of silence.
Nuffing!
Owen is out of the room and I hear doors closing and opening.
Me: Owen, what are you doing?
Owen: [Running back] Nuffing! I’m doing nuffing!
A little big.
We were at our friends house for a get-together and Owen HAD to sit in this car—even though he’s about 30# and 10″ too big. 🙂
Hey! Where did all the toys go?
I transferred all the toys and treats from his potty jar to the poop jar (since we’re done with potty rewards) and the first thing Owen said when he saw the empty jar was “Hey! Where did all the toys go?”
Surprise nap
Someone was NOT tired and DID NOT want to take a nap. Then this happened.
I love how he pulls his B over his face. 🙂
2012 USMC Birthday Ball
The ball tonight was…a ball. It’s fun to get dressed up and get out of the house, but I literally know no one there so it’s not actually much fun (not like hanging with our good friends). It’s me and Tom hanging out during cocktail hour and me being introduced to wives I’ll only see at next year’s ball (if even then), making small talk with the three other couples at our table during dinner, then coming right home because neither of us really wants to stay and dance with people we don’t know. (Well, Tom knows them but he’s their boss so it’s not like friends friends.) I do feel bad for not enjoying it more—or I guess I should say for not making more of the experience—but I figure it’s still worth it to go since it’s something that won’t last forever and not everyone can do.
Thank you, Grauntie Marge!
And like brother…like sister. Owen was 3m3d and Katie was 4m5d.
Owen Storytelling
He was telling grand stories until I started recording…then we had to prompt him a little. But it’s still good. 🙂
Katie’s first rice cereal
We tried with Owen at 4m so we tried with Katie, too. She wasn’t much interested…just like Owen. 🙂
A boy and his cat.
Cute ABCs
You don’t get to hear/see this part on the video, but if you want Owen to start singing the alphabet and he won’t do it on his own, you just have to start singing them incorrectly—he usually stops you about the third wrong letter (A-B-C-D-O-F-Q). This is him correcting me.
Helping daddy in the garage
Oh, the adventures Owen has out in the garage with Tom…
First, just sitting and watching while having a snack and watching Netflix on Tom’s phone.
The scantily clad pirate is unable to lock the door with the key he found.
Right now he is enjoying playing Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures on the XBOX
He wanted to be closed in.
And “building” with some screwdrivers and energy drinks that he pulled off the shelf.
Love Trio
Katie’s four-month appointment
Weight: 15 lbs. 15 oz. (was 13 lbs. 4oz.)—between percentile 75 and 90
Length: 25-3/4″ (was 23-1/2″)—between percentile 75 and 90
Head: 16-1/2″ (first measurement that I have)—between percentile 50 and 75
I prepped her with Ibuprofen this time…and it seems to have helped overall (no bouts of screaming once we got home). However, at the time, it was a different story. First, strangely, she absolutely FREAKED OUT when the doctor checked her ears. Screaming like she’s never screamed before. The doc said everything was fine, so then it was off for the immunizations (another room at the clinic)…where she started screaming as soon as I set her on the table. And then boy did she scream. BOY DID SHE SCREAM. Probably twice as loud and horrific-sounding as when she was getting her ears checked. It definitely made me grateful for what little crying she actually does at home. Then it was over and she stopped crying by the time I had made her next appointment and we were walking out—and she fell asleep by the time we walked to the car. Good baby. 🙂
Just for comparison, at four months, Owen was 16 lbs. 1 oz. (so only 2oz different—and they were using an old skool scale (vs. digital) so it may have been off just a bit) and he was 1/4″ taller…so they are almost identical!
He still likes her!
Threenager short term memory
So Katie was sleeping in our room in her swing. We don’t tiptoe around, but we do shut the door and keep Owen out because he just can’t seem to be quiet even when he’s trying. But today he practically begged to go in and I was in there putting clothes away (silently!), so I said he could, but he had to be super quiet and stay away from her. So what does he do? Not 10 seconds after being in the bedroom, walks right over to her and starts messing with a pile of hangers (his “bows and arrows”) and wakes her up.
OMG. You just want to scream WHAT DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT WHAT I TOLD YOU 15 SECONDS AGO?
Today’s Owenisms
Me: Owen, where are your [bubble] wands?
Owen: I don’t know. Wands…where are you?
Watching Tom play his computer video game, there are midget characters. Owen calls them baby men.
Outside, grabbing the broom… I need to clean up!
Finishing up a Skype with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob…
Tom: Tell them you love them.
Owen: I love them!
Reading Big Little
Me: Birthday cake is—
Owen: BIG!
Me: Cupcakes are—
Owen: GREAT!
Police car in action!
We got Owen’s police car out today with the hopes that he’d like driving it since it’s been awhile. And he did! I had Katie in the stroller walking up and down the street in front of our house while Owen drove along with us.
It was actually a little slow, so we had a “pit stop” so Tom could remove the speed regulator—now Owen can zip along at a 4mph clip! He was SO excited to be able to go fast!
Now we just have to get him to understand he has to stay close to us and LISTEN to us when we yell at him to stop!
How Owen sometimes naps.
I was with Katie at the doctor’s office when Tom texted me this:
Skeletons that were dropped when I snuck up on him playing with them on the railing while he was “napping.”
It was warmer than I thought…
Owen was outside playing while Tom did some yard work. It was warmer than I thought it was (it was 70°!), so his clothes quickly came off—and he had a blast running around in his shoes, socks, and underwear!
Jenny outfit, part 2.
Here is the next outfit from my past that Katie got to wear…though, unfortunately, I waited a bit too long and it was too small for her so she just wore it for a few pictures! (I apparently am a very bad judge of sizes—and it’s a homemade outfit so there is no sizing listed—and of course Gramma Jean has no memory of what age I wore it!)
You can see how Owen likes to interfere with the photo shoot. 🙂
Katie is four months old today!
