Happy Halloween!

so owen likes to cuddle with anything that's soft and fuzzy. there are a gazillion stuffed animals in our house and he finds them and picks them up, especially when he's tired. he hugs stuffed animal in left arm and sucks on his right index finger. every time, guaranteed.

i originally planned on having him dress up as a monkey (isaiah's first halloween costume) for halloween, but ended up scoring a scooby doo costume for $5 at a mom to mom sale. i brought the costume home and owen proceeded to cuddle with the costume and nap with it. he was pretty upset when i put the costume on him because he couldn't understand why i would make him wear his stuffed animal. silly boy. eric jokingly suggested that we just dress him up in a green t-shirt and brown pants and let him carry around the scooby costume. it all worked out and he was the cutest scooby doo ever!

owen, picture! smile!

i'm a big brother... can you believe it? i love holding my baby xavier and giving him kisses. when i want to hold him, i hold out my hands in front of of me with my palms up and open and close them until mommy lets me hold baby xavier. i say, "bay-BEE!" all the time.

i still love to cuddle with soft blankets and got a lot bigger since baby xavier was born. i talk a LOT more and especially get a lot of use out of the word "NO." i also like to smile for the camera!

owen is slowly but surely building up his vocabulary. it isn't understood by most people, but he's making strides in communicating verbally. right now his favorite thing to say is, "ma MAAA!" it's good and bad. he knows me...but then he wants something. from me. all the time. i don't really mind. :)

other things he communicates:
"bah!!" (with a wave) = bye bye
"doo...doo..DOOO!" = cockadoodledoo, sometimes he responds to this when asked what his name is.
"roarrrrr" = the sound of almost all animals

he puckers up his lips when he wants to give you a kiss. this is my favorite.

he is happiest when he has a ball in his hand. happiness is doubled when the other hand has a bat or a stick that could resemble a bat.

when isaiah or ethan imitate the trailer to night at the museum 2 (boy, boy, firepower!), owen resonds with: "bah bah bo!" and shoots his arm in the air just like his brothers.

in the summer, eric likes to set up our little slide to go into the little ladybug pool with the water table next to it. he gives ethan and isaiah each a hose and they go to town. owen likes to play at the water table and splash around, but he's not about getting wet or sprayed with the hose. just a little bit of splashing here and there...nothing too crazy.

and then today. it's tuesday, so happy meals are $1.99 at the mcdonalds by our house. as we eat our happy meals (even mama and daddy get happy meals!) on the back patio, owen wanders over to the slide. he's so proud of himself for climbing up to the top. he positions himself in a seated position at the top of the slide as if he's going to go down it. no way he's going down it, eric says. he doesn't like to get wet. it rained yesterday, so the pool at the bottom of the slide is full of water.

um, owen definitely went down the slide and proceeded to play and splash in the ladybug pool with all his clothes on.

awesome.

this absolutely gave the older boys license to proceed to also get into the ladybug pool with all their clothes on. isaiah is even whirling his wet sock over his head, splashing everyone. "my sock got wet so i took it off," he said, very matter-of-fact. well of course when your socks get wet you take them off and whip them around your head. i kind of wish i took some pictures or a video.

the best part is when owen runs over wanting to be picked up...you're all dry and he's all wet. mmmm...nothing like cold wet baby to cuddle up to!

owen just had his 15 month check up. he's still a little little man, but at least he is growing. he's in the 11th percentile in length and is still trying to get on the charts in weight. it's kind of amazing that he's so little because he eats ALL the time.

he doesn't talk yet. he has a few choice words, but nothing really new. he definitely knows what he wants (or doesn't want) and can convey that to you. lately, he has just been very clingy. always wanting to be picked up and carried around. it breaks my heart when i put him down and he just throws a fit because all he wanted was for me to hold him. rarely do i resist the urge to pick him up and hug him tight instead of letting him cry it out to teach him that crying is not how you get your way. and how can you resist? he's just so sweet when he pats your back as he buries his head into your shoulder.

i can't believe he's going to be a big brother...

arrghh!

i took a few steps today all on my own! i don't think i realized that i was walking because i was more concerned with drinking my milk and getting to my daddy...

happy birthday to you!
happy birthday to you!
happy birthday, sweet owen!
happy birthday to you!

my baby is one! one whole year has passed since he surprised us by coming into the world a week early.

oh, owen! one year old and you're *almost* walking. you took a couple steps today, but that doesn't quite count. you have two teeth on the bottom and one tooth on the top...a bit of a snaggletooth, but that second top tooth is coming in so soon you'll be our four-toothed baby. you drink out of your own sippy cup and try to drink out of the juice boxes that your kuyas leave behind. you loooove to eat big people food. when you eat ice cream you scrunch up your face because the cold surprises you.

you love love love to cuddle. with daddy, with mama, with your blue bear and your bunny. nani looooves that you love your blue bear and your bunny. you blow kisses and give real ones. you say "mmmm-wah!" when you plant a kiss on our cheeks. you say "ba" instead of "ball" and i swear you say "isaiah", though you don't always use it correctly. if we don't block off the stairs, you will inevitably find your way to the tub upstairs. you can't get into it, but you do like to stand outside of it. you have, however, found yourself stuck head-side-down in the toy box when trying to reach for a toy at the bottom. hahaha...it was cute to see your little legs sticking out of the toy box! you like to play with the remote controls and you are just so pleased with yourself when you turn the receiver to fm radio.

owen, we just love you so much. you bring us so much joy and make us very happy. you are growing up far too fast, but we hope that you will always know how much you are loved!! happy birthday, baby!

my little baby owen is quickly outgrowing his babyhood. he spent 10 minutes tonight just planting kisses on my cheek. i love him so much! i cannot say enough how sweet he is. when you hold him he likes to pat your back or shoulder like he's giving you a hug.

he has finally picked his tummy off the ground and is officially crawling. he sometimes gets lazy and reverts to the army creep, but not that often. he loves to stand up whenever he can and mastered climbing the stairs in just a couple days. one day i find him stuck on the second step, the next day eric's calling me saying that he found owen at the top of the stairs. it's baby gate time once again!

owen does things that his older brothers never really did.

• he falls asleep without needing eric or me next to him. eric and i still lay down with him out of habit, i think, but owen doesn't *really* need it.
• he doesn't really cry. even when he's hungry, he'll cry for a few seconds and then he stops. isaiah and ethan would wake up crying for their bottles. not so much with owen...although he will shake from head to toe once he sees the bottle is ready for his consumption.
• he looooves the red blanket on our bed as well as the blue bear from nani. isaiah and ethan don't really have blankies or stuffed animals that comfort them.
• he doesn't dive head first off the couch to get off of it. in fact, he dropped the remote control off the couch earlier tonight, and instead of diving head first, he righted himself to leave the couch on his feet. smart and safe baby!

one of my favorite things is when owen is cracking up because he thinks his brothers are funny. it will be a whole new world for him when he gets to face forward in his car seat just like his kuyas.

owen is in the other room pat patting with daddy and interjecting with "ba ba ba" and "da da da" and "ahhh!" when he is excited he extends his arms at a 45 degree angle and waves them inward in fast circles. he is feeding himself little puffs that you put on his tray. i would say 1 out of 5 actually make it to his mouth. some get close and just get stuck on his cheek. oh, owen!

he can't crawl yet....still creeping around and dragging himself by his arms. he will be 9 months old in 6 days. still so tiny yet so big!

he has just creeped his way from the family room couch to the office door. i peek out the door to see his droopy eyes. sleeeeepppyyy. he gives me the kind of smile that wrinkles his nose and shows his dimples and all is right in the world.

a couple weeks ago owen looks at me and says "clap clap" and then starts clapping! he hasn't done it for me again since, but i still count those as his first words.

owen has mastered the army crawl and now uses it as his primary mode of transportation...chasing down ethan to get whatever toy ethan happens to be holding. he'll chase ethan to the ends of the earth to get what's in big brother's hands. ethan was already walking along the furniture by the time he was 8 months old...i'm not all that concerned about when owen starts walking (or crawling for that matter) because i just want to be able to hold him tight without him wiggling away.

8 months have gone by so fast. where did my tiny baby go?

clap clap clap. clap clap clap. good job, owen! you're clapping!

he is just so pleased with himself when he claps. he is so pleased with himself when he's just sitting up like a big boy. he's 7 months old now and he's still not even close to crawling. he can get to where he wants by creeping or rolling...but i don't think any of us are in a hurry for him to be mobile.

i cannot get over how incredibly sweet owen is! he grabs your face and pulls you so you're cheek to cheek. he just needs a little bit of attention and still hardly ever cries. when he does cry, it completely breaks my heart because he looks so sad and cute. i love him!

i wonder how he'll be with his brothers. right now isaiah and ethan both love him. isaiah stumbles into our room every morning looking for his baby brother. he lays down next to owen and tries to cuddle. we have to stop him so that he doesn't wake owen up. ethan puts toys in front of owen and shows him how to play with them. owen is pretty happy just sitting in the middle of a room where his brothers are playing.

time's going by so fast. in no time, it will be christmas then new years then owen's first birthday!

oh owen! just when i think you're getting so big, we visit the doctor and you're in the 17th percentile in weight and 24th percentile in height. you're still a tiny baby boy!

...but you can roll over a lot. a lot a lot. you can get anywhere you want to go as long as you can roll your way there. you grab our faces and give big laway-ey kisses and you always have a smile to give. mmm! i love you so much!

meeting baby isabella!

new jersey

chillin' with baby jd

chillin' in the double stroller

have i mentioned that owen is such a good baby?

he's a smiler. he gives smiles out like it's his job. he wakes up in the morning, takes a second to register your face...and smiles. a big goofy grin telling you that he's happy to see you and happy to be in the room with you. he loves to smile! and he doesn't really cry. only for a minute if he gets super hungry or super uncomfortable in his diaper. but if we can't get to him right away he just starts sucking on his finger, rolls to the side and falls asleep.

he also sleeps through the night. this isn't anything new, just something that i appreciate immensely. before i went back to work with all three of the boys (at about 8 weeks old), they were sleeping through the night. what a blessing that is. i hear lots of stories of babies not sleeping through the night for years.

owen's eczema on his face is finally clearing up. can we give it up for aveeno 1% hydrocortisone cream? aww yeah.

he's 25 inches long and 13 pounds. he'll be 5 months in 4 days. that puts him in the 64th percentile in length and 15th percentile in weight. i have another skinny baby. right when i think my baby's chubby, i meet jd. jd is two weeks older than owen and SUCH a cutie patootie. he's also 18 pounds. whoa!

i'll have to post new pictures of him. he doesn't look like the same baby!

i'm big enough to sit in the bumbo!

i got my hair cut, too!

my baby boy is three months old.

owen will be two months old in a little over an hour.

he. is. HUGE.

he has already outgrown his newborn clothes and *fits* into 3 month old clothes. his hair is out of control. i love it and hate it. so soft and so fun to style, but there's so much! for sure, it's going to get cut soon. it's long enough to tuck behind his ear!

hair aside, he has learned to suck on his fist, coo, give us beautiful smiles, and attempts to mimic the faces you make at him. i love love love that isaiah and ethan randomly run up to owen and give him hugs and kisses. they both sing "oh oh owen!"

oh, owen, it will be hard to leave you for an entire day when i go back to work! i love you!

owen kind of has a mullet. it's especially evident after he has a bath, his hair sticks straight up so you can see that it is shorter on the top and longer on the bottom. i remember wanting to give him a haircut when he was two days old.

he'll be three weeks old in a couple hours. how has three weeks gone by so fast??? he has grown so much! the outfit that we brought him home in is almost too small on him already.

he likes to sleep on his right side. i've decided that he likes to sleep that way because he's so used to hanging out in the crook of someone's left arm. my favorite is when he falls asleep on my shoulder.

i love him!!!

isaiah or owen?

oh oh oh, owen! i fell in love with him immediately.

january 28, 2008
2:27 a.m.
7 lb 6oz (might be 0.6 oz)
20 in

he is just so sweet!

i forgot how gentle their cries are when they're newborns. the biggest challenge now is giving owen's brothers enough attention so that they don't feel like we love them less. equally challenging is finding time for me and eric to just have a conversation that's not about feeding or diapers or who's picking up or dropping off...

in the meantime, i will savor my time at home until i go back to work on march 31st.