10 months

Today we celebrate 10 months in the life of Owen! In two short months, we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday. I can't believe it!

His stats (by my calculations):
Height: 28.5 inches
Weight: 20.8 pounds

At 10 months, he:

-is crawling all over the house. It is still on his stomach but he is fast! He is obsessed with finding power cords and the fireplace. He like to lick the tile hearth and beat on the glass of the gas logs. We are desperately trying to break the habit before winter comes and the gas logs are actually on.
-is sleeping 10 hours at night, taking 2 2-hour naps.
-is nursing 4x a day
-drinks water out of a sippy cup
-is eating more foods with his fingers. His favorite are Cheerios.
-is eating new foods this month: chicken, pork, pineapple, blackbeans, cheeries, cheese, potatoes, and rice.
-babbles up a storm (I wish we knew what he was saying!)
-waves bye-bye. We are working on the baby signs for all done and more but he hasn't shown them back.
-flirts with everyone we come in contact with in the grocery store
-is chewing on everything. We are now up to 4 teeth. 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom.
-loves to play peek-a-boo and banging things on the hardwood floors.
-loves books and being read to.
-loves to play in the bathtub and roll over while you are trying to change his diaper.
-is having mild separation anxiety when we leave him at church.

I'm sure there is more but I can't think of them right now.

Toy Recommendations

Hey moms out there! I need your help. Owen turns one in two months (whoa!) and I'm starting to think about what to get him. What do you recommend? What did your kids love to play with? Thanks!

Who needs a teething a ring?

...when you have a chair. Introducing our little beaver.

How can you not smile at that face?

I Can Do It By Myself

Lately Owen has been very difficult to feed. He has become rather discriminate about what is put in his mouth. He refuses to eat any homemade green vegetables but will eat the Gerber jar ones. We have also been trying to expand his palate and feed him dishes that somewhat resemble what we are eating. Tonight we had the Cox's famous chicken pie and thought it would be a great meal for Owen because it's basically chicken, cream of chicken, broth, flour, butter, and milk. Much to Jeremy's dismay, his son does not enjoy this dish as much as he does. He was holding his lips together refusing to move. We tried to trick him by alternating between it and hsi fruit. He's smart though and figured it out. In our final attempt, we put it in his hand (anything that gets into his hand goes straight to his mouth). The pictures below show Owen's "attempt" to feed himself. I'm not sure how much ended up in his tummy but he had fun doing it.

Look at these hands. He definitely needed a bath after this.

It's Your Own Fault

Owen fell asleep while eating breakfast this morning mid-bite. Jeremy was able to take his picture, wipe his face, remove the bib, get him out of the high chair, take him upstairs and put him in the crib without waking him up. This is what happens when you wake up at 3:45 then again at 5 am. He was ready to play at 5 am so Jeremy stayed up with him. They played awhile and then ate breakfast. This picture was snapped around 6:45. Crazy boy...just sleep later and you won't fall asleep at the breakfast table!

Reminiscing

Do you know where this is?
Or this? It's the beautiful view from Beacon Heights on the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Blowing Rock, NC. For those who don't know, this where Jeremy and I went on first date in Boone and where he proposed. Sunday, while we were visiting J's family, we went back to visit this spot. We took a picnic and hiked up there for lunch.

Stopping along the path for a photo op. Owen had it easy; he got to ride up the mountain.Checking out the view.
J and Owen standing on the edge. I was one nervous mommy!
That's a long way down!
Mommy, do you always have to give me kisses?


Our little family on the rock face. It was fun to go back and spend some time there. Last time we were there, we were getting engaged. Now we've married for 5 years and have a son. Wow!

Oh What a Night...

July 10th marked our 5 year wedding anniversary. We have been blessed the last 5 years; no matter what the Lord has thrown at us we have come through it together even stronger. The last 5 years have been awesome! We have moved 3 different times, gone to seminary, were part of an amazing church, gone through multiple crazy jobs, and had a terrific son. Having Owen has not only brought us closer, but it has made me fall in love with him even more. There is nothing like seeing the man you love care for and love on your son that you created together. (I'll save you from all the mushiness as I wrote it in J's card.) We have had an amazing journey up to this point and I can't wait to see what the next 73 years bring (we're both planning on living until we are 100. :))

Originally I was bummed that were weren't going to be able to do anything special like a trip or anything because of finances. I should have known the Lord was looking out for me. :)


To celebrate the event, Jeremy planned a special date night. (Thanks Nana and Papa for babysitting! Hopefully next time he'll go to bed easier for you!) He made reservations at The Mint in downtown Raleigh for early in the evening. We got all dressed up (yeah I forgot to take pictures) and headed to Raleigh. Evidently we are old people already and eat dinner before most hip people in Raleigh so we were the only ones in the restaurant. Jeremy said he "arranged" for private dining. :) We had an AMAZING 3 course dinner! The manager found out it was our anniversary and gave us a gift certificate for 10% off the next time we came.

After dinner, Jeremy had plans for us to peruse an art gallery. Once we got there, it wasn't what we thought so we decided to find something else to do. I suggested we go down to the BTI Center and see if they had any cheap seats left for the play Jersey Boys.


Again the Lord's hand was at work..we found a parking space right in front of the theater (free!) and walked up to the ticket counter. Jeremy asked the lady about seats and she passed some tickets through the window. She told us they were free and to pay it forward to someone else! FREE tickets!! Once inside the theater our seats were upgraded due to empty seats. (Later we looked to see how much those seats would have cost us...$85 a piece!!)

I cannot say enough about this play! Jeremy and I knew we would enjoy it but we didn't realize how much. The play is the story of how the group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons began. Their repertoire includes..Oh What a Night, Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like a Man, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, and Working My Way Back to You Babe. It was a great show that had you singing all the way through.

We had a wonderful evening full of food and music. It was so nice to spend time just the two of us and to celebrate all the Lord has blessed us with over the last 5 years!