We're back...and it's about time!

I know I know. I have to be honest, I've been dreading doing this post. I've sort of fallen off the wagon. Sort of like getting out of the habit of exercising or something--getting started again fills me with dread. I think I've felt like in order to post something again I have to cover the last 6 weeks...well, that's just not possible so I'm not even going to try.

Not to bore you with excuses, but you might actually find these interesting...There are two primary reasons I have been MIA...

1) We've been CRAZY-busy getting our hosue ready to put on the market (and now dealing with it being on the market--keeping it clean all the time for showings, etc.)...AND...

2) We're expecting BABY NUMBER TWO IN AUGUST! So, do you forgive me? We actually found out right before Christmas and told our family then but decided to wait a bit before informing cyber-world. The due date is August 20th and (again) we won't be finding out if its a boy or girl, so your guess is as good as mine...although (and this is the real reason for the lack of communique)...I've been sick as a dog. Even in the 2nd trimester I'm having to take anti-nausea medicine, which definitely helps. I'm just really really tired and still kinda barfy.

But enough about that. I know the real reason you're here is to hear about the little guy...and like I said, I can't possibly cover everything, but here's a taste, and hopefully (not a promise, but a strong desire of mine) posts will happen much closer together from here on out (it's actually much less stressful to not have to deal w/ the non-posting guilt!). (Oh, another part of the not posting has been that with our busyiness and my yuckiness we've totally not been good parents about taking pictures of Owen and blogging just makes me feel worse about that!) We do however, have quite a few videos and in the next few days I'll try to post a few...

Here is Owen trying to help Dada drill a whole in the wall behind our refrigerator (don't ask). I guess he's related to Uncle Luke after all!

Here he is enjoying some yogurt with a SPOON! We're making big strides in trying to feed ourself with fork/spoon. Some things are definitely easier than others. This is all Owen's doing--we weren't pushing it, but he would fuss and fuss when we tried to feed him, grabbing for the utensil. He's good at ravioli b/c it says on. Yogurt is messy. He usually spends about half of the time working w/ the spoon and then the hunger is just too much so he starts sticking his hands in and sucking his fingers. Whatever works little dude!

He seems to be talking up a storm these days. Most of it is still incomprehensible, but there are definitely words that have meaning to him. Here are a few (I may have put some of these in an older post but I can't remember...and if I can't I bet you can't either).

chu: shoe

ju: juice

bee-o: balloon (and maybe book too?)

dada: Dada and Momma

lots of animal sounds, my newest favorite is for owl: ooooh (really soft and sweet and sort of high pitched)

chu-chu: train (oh, he loves to watch youtube videos of trains w/ Kyle, also animal videos...fun until we realized we had basically turned the computer into another tv which he does not like being turned off!)

What we find even more fun and impressive is the amount of words he recognizes/understands. It seems like a good portion of every day is filled with him pointing at things (dat-dat) which we realized was him asking what something is called. It only takes a few times and when we ask where ______ is he can easily point to it. (This makes following simple directions--like go sit in your chair, bring me your jacket, where is your blanket? really fun/easy!)

Words he knows: eyes, ears, nose, cheeks, hair, lips, toes, shoes, chair, juice, blanket, sippy, doggy, ball, David, Lauren, Ann, outside, inside, water (like in the tub), bathtub, diaper, fork/spoon, kiss, book, balloon, all sorts of animals (beyond basic pets and farm ones too!), dance...

That's all I can think of right now. I wanted to sit down w/ Kyle and do this post together so we could talk about all the things he knows/does now, but you might have had to wait another 6 weeks!

So, other news. He's transitioning to one nap, but it's not that smooth. Some days he still takes a morning and afternoon nap. Some days he just takes a really long morning nap. Other days (and this is what we're going for) he says up (happy!) all morning and through lunch and goes down for a nap in the early afternoon. Today, he seemed okay until right about lunchtime where he proceeded to scream intermitently between falling asleep in his booster seat. By the time we had the ravioli cleaned off of him he was asleep in my arms. Surely he'd be sacked out for hours...nope, 20 minutes. What???

We've been a little stir-crazy w/ the seemingly endless winter here. We've made it to the park on a few occations when it's warmed up into the 50s or low 60s but we're really really ready for spring (and yes, we know what the weather in Austin has been lately...sounds great until you think about August)! We've been playing with Ann, David and Lauren A LOT which has been a lifesaver. It used to be just Owen and David and Lauren sort of watching. Now Owen has just as much fun w/ both which is super fun--they just do different things. Their house has been on the market too (but just sold!) so there has been a lot of swapping kids and cleaning/showing and playing in the backyard. What a lifesaver. I can't even stop to think about how much we are all going to miss them when we are no longer neighbors come June. They really are our family here. Okay, enough or I'll cry.

I'll leave you w/ a little square dance party video. I've got some other great ones and I'll get a few others up this weekend--it's going to be cold and rainy so I'm not expecting much house activity (oh, see www.830bellviewstreet.com if you're interested). Hey, and thanks for your patience and for checking back in with us!

Oh, I forgot: Owen got his first haircut today! Still got his curls, just tamed the matted-fro look a bit. He did great--better than we could have imagined. Just sat in Kyle's lap and read his Thomas the Train book like a champ. I did get a picture or two (though didn't save a lock) and I'll get one up asap. :)

Christmas Past

I know I know I know...weeks and weeks since our last post. We're just now getting back into "normal" since the holidays. Owen and I went to TX for 2.5 weeks and Kyle joined us for the last part. Then the day after we got back I went to Nashville to watch Vandy WIN the Music City Bowl against Boston College (Go Dores!) and when I got home after 3 days we all came down with a nasty little bug that seemed to hang around forever! So, those are my excuses...thanks for your pacience.

Christmas in TX was great, but busy as usual. We spent time w/ all my family and Kyle's, saw both of our grandmothers, ate lots, had 3 rounds of opening Christmas presents, etc. Here are some pictures...

Here's Owen trying to get to his favorite thing--a doggie! He had lots of fun playing with all the dogs that our family has in Austin.

Owen and Bee
Owen, Nana and BB (w/ his jack-in-the-box)

Owen and Nana talking about the lion on his pjs

Me, Owen, Katie, Emmy

Joel, Emmy, Kyle, Owen (eating some good ol' Rudy's BBQ!)

We attempted double and even triple-baby bathtime a couple of times with varying success...Here is Owen w/ cousin Bailey in a huge bubble bath (I think Emmy had just been yanked). Bailey went in like a little scuba-diver--she ended up with a bubble beard and tried to wash Owen's bath. Owen (as you would expect if you know him) was more timid, but he did enjoy it in the end.


Here is Owen w/ Alex (my brother) and his sweet girlfriend Deidre (future babysitters). He's wearing a t-shirt commemorating the Stratford Elks' 2008 1A football championship--even more fun is that it was signed by a couple of players that lived in Meridian for a while--their family knew the Mezgers--small world!

Here's Owen w/ his new tricycle--from Bee. He couldn't quite do it by himself yet, but it won't be long. In fact, it'll get here later this week (Mom had to ship it--thank goodness) so we'll see how it goes--should be fun.

In addition to his tricycle, Owen got a seriously lifesize stuffed lion, his very own nativity set (so cool), an old-timy jack-in-the-box and lots of other fun stuff.

In a general Owen update...

He's doing great. He's definitely learned who "Da Da" is...he is actually going through a phase (a phase?) where Dada is by far is favorite. If he's not home, he points at his pictures and says his name over and over again, or he points outside where Kyle parks or upstairs and says his name, essentially asking me where he is. The only problem is, he sort of thinks my name is Dada too... He responds to the name Mama for me, but doesn't say it, and calls me Dada.

He also has lots of other words/sounds (can't remember what I told you last)..."Tsu Tsu" for what at rain says, "Yay Yay" for what a cat says (yes, that one is a little bit off, but he's consistent), still lots of boofing (dog) and roaring (lion), djus (juice/milk--the white juice!), Dodoo (doggie), he makes a vrooming noise for cars and trucks which is fun.

Last month he really started liking his wooden rocking horse...but in the last week he's decided that riding it isn't enough--he likes to stand up on it. Yes, we've made this a "no no" but I have to admit that the first time he did it we laughed pretty hard. Especially when he let go and waved to us. Oh my goodness.

He also really likes to dance--we turn on the music and he sort of does these little squats and then he spins around and makes himself dizzy and falls down. Now we can just tell him to spin and he starts going in circles. It's great.

Can't think of what else is new with him although I'm sure there is something...Won't be so long until we post again. :)

Busy December

It's amazing how fast this month is going by! Owen and I are off to Texas tomorrow afternoon for a little over two weeks! (Kyle will join us on Christmas Eve.) We're really looking to seeing family and friends and (hopefully) just taking it easy a bit!

Anyways, it felt like its been a while since I posted a general "what's Owen up to" blog, so I wanted to do that before we leave.

I mentioned before that he can saw "boof" when we ask him what a dog says. Now we can add a growl to the list when we ask him what a lion says. It's by far our favorite...and his. This afternoon when I put him down for his nap he spent a good 20 minutes in his crib just growling (he has a lion "lovey" in his crib so there's the association). It's actually a really quiet, sweet growl. We're working a "meow" for a cat too. It's sooo funny to watch him try to figure out animals--our neighbor's dog, our friends cats (who hide from him). He's also saying "uh oh" although he doesn't necessarily use it correctly. I have no doubt that like crawling and waving bye bye, Bee will put him in "talking bootcamp" while we're at home over the holidays. Kyle suspects it too and is afraid Owen will have some major breakthrough that he'll miss. I reassured him...

Other things...he loves to "give five"--it's so cute. He'll sort of walk around with his hand up just looking for people to give five to. His slap isn't very good though, so we're working on that!

Here he is w/ his neighbor girlfriend Lauren. They were both smiling about .5 seconds before I took the picture--promise!

Roar!
Here he is with David (Lauren's big brother) at the Children's Museum. They're in the Krispy Kreme store making some doughnuts. There's a conveyor belt and a truck and about a billion plastic doughnuts. It's pretty cute. (Funny--it's across the hall from a display/play area all about eating healthy and exercising.)

David and Lauren were away for Thanksgiving and everytime we went outside to play Owen would walk down our driveway (w/ me closely behind), across the street, up their yard, onto their porch and would begin banging on their screen door. Why won't they come out and play with me? (I guess the move is going to be hard on all of us!)

Oh, and an update from a post a while ago--we tried something to get Owen to sleep in past 5am and IT WORKED! He's been hovering around the 7am mark for over a week now and it's wonderful! Fancy diapers and cutting off his sippy cup earlier in the evening have done the trick!

Oh, last update (maybe I've mentioned this before?)--but Owen waves at us when we tuck him in for bedtime or a nap--he knows we're going bye bye. It's so cute to see him zipped up in his sleep sack, with his blankie and lion waving us bye bye. Melts my heart.

Okay, that's all that's on my little sticky note. So...until the Christmas postings--perhaps "on location" in Austin, we'll see. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Welcome Nathan Charles and Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought this day would never come--Christal and Phil (Murray) FINALLY had their baby! And it's a BOY! Nathan Charles was born early Wednesday morning after an arduous 24+ hours of labor (you go Christal)! I was so excited waiting at the hospital w/ her family that I could hardly stand it!

We actually got to have two Thanksgiving dinners with different friends, which just reminds us of how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends here in NC. Here I am with little Nathan at our joint Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. What a cutie! Makes me fondly remember when Owen was all balled up and snuggly too! But it also makes me remember the sleepless nights...


Kyle has had a great schedule recently--lots of "home call" where he only has to go in if he's called, and he has the day off after, so it's been great. He's gotten to play w/ Owen a lot. He's been encouraging Owen's new recognition of (and love for?) dogs by taking him to visit our neighbor's dog (over the fence). He can now definitely answer the question "what does a dog say" with a breathy "boof boof". We tried to teach him cow/moo, but since we don't see many (any) cows, that one hasn't stuck. He was fascinated by Christal and Phil's cats at Thanksgiving dinner, so we're thinking "meow" might be possible, but we'll see. What would really be nice is if he could finally associate and say "Mama" and "Dada" actually referring to us. Right now, we're "dat dat" just like everything else, and we mean EVERYTHING! The pointing helps.

Here's Owen at the park w/ Dada.

Here's Owen in the stroller (on the way to the park) w/ Dada.

Here's Owen trying to feed himself. We have decided that Owen is good at "the delivery" (meaning, he can get the spoon to his mouth), but is bad at "the unloading" (meaning, he just sort of chomps down on the spoon and we have to help him get the food off the spoon and the spoon out of his mouth. Same with brushing his teeth...

If any of you have suggestions on 1) how to keep him from pooping in the bathtub, or 2) how to keep him from waking up at 5:10am, we would greatly appreciate it.

Other updates: his walking is almost a run and he likes to play chase w/ Dada, also he has 7 teeth now. We think that's about it.

Toodles until next time. :)

Tagged

Melissa http://themezgerfamily.blogspot.com/ (my sister-in-law) "tagged" me, so here we go. (Not sure how random or weird these are--you decide.)

1) I strongly dislike being in the bathroom with someone when they brush their teeth--the noise makes the hair on my arms stand up and just generally creeps me out. I guess that's one reason to be glad Owen just sucks on his toothbrush.

2) I think I was a spy in a "former life"...its' the only thing that can explain my minor obsession with all things espionage and conspiracy related.

3) I was so bored and lonely one weekend during my study-abroad in college that I saw the same movie at the theatre three times between Fri-Sun. I was embarrassed so I told my host family I had plans with friends. (The movie was Spy Game--go figure.)

4) I had a variety of weird interests growing up: newts, karate, and woodshop to name a few. I also started playing the piano at a really young age, but I used to pretend to fall asleep on the way to lessons so I wouldn't have to go. In high school my mom finally let me quit but told me I would regret it (as she had) and she was right. I don't regret giving up newts, karate or woodshop. Okay, maybe woodshop a little.

5) I vacillate between having the travel bug and the baby bug. They're hard to have at the same time which is a real bummer for both Kyle and I.

6) Like Katie's http://fosheafam.blogspot.com/ love for Wilderness Ranch, Camp Buckner will always be one of my favorite places on earth. The people and the place were so formative in my spiritual walk (and for Kyle and many of our dearest friends/family). Also, I have never ever ever had so much fun in my entire life...sort of my version of the "good old years," although college wasn't bad either! In some ways, I think heaven will be a little like camp--worship and fellowship--and hopefully chow-hall raids. Oooooweeeeeee!

7) I couldn't think of a 7th and Kyle just pointed out that I have a tattoo. I often forget. It's a tiny fish or "icthus" above my inner right ankle. Got it the summer before I started college and showed it to my mom the day she dropped me off. Yikes. I don't regret it, but Kyle says I'm going to have to be the one to tell our kids no tattoos...Great.

8) Bonus: There is no such thing as leftover pizza in our house because I will eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner until it's gone. Thanks Mom.

Oh, I tag: Cary, Jessica, Christal, Kristy (someone is going to have to tell me how to do the link thing where only their name shows up). Not 7, but that's what the bonus fact about me was for.

For Bee who misses Owen

Hey Mom, this is all I have by way of new pictures/videos...hope it helps.

Owen w/ Lauren at the mall playground (yes, we were that desperate).

He had a blast and is pretty much a walking-only kiddo now. Crazy.

Here he is raking the leaves. What a good little helper.

Other things I keep meaning to mention:

1) He LOVES brushing his teeth (the baby toothpaste tastes good and he just wants to suck on the toothbrush, but we manage to get a few scrubs in).

2) He likes to walk around w/ his sippy cup which makes both walking and sipping more difficult, but to each his own.

3) He has learned how to "give mommy/daddy kisses"...He responds to this request by bringing his face towards yours with his mouth wide open. We've learned it's best to just have yours open as well and touch lips, because if you make a kissy face, he sort of eats you. Gross.

Weekend with Nana

Kyle's mom Franny (aka Nana) was with us this weekend and we had so much fun. Kyle actually had a 3 day weekend so we had lots of time for playing with the little guy, raking leaves, and a few other little projects. Unfortunately, most of pics with Nana in them were taken on Nana's camera, so you're going to have to settle for just Owen.

Here he is playing one of our big piles of leaves. We'll definitely miss fall and the true change of seasons when we leave NC, but we won't miss raking the leaves!

There is a drawer in a little desk in Owen's "play room" that he loves to stand on his tip-toes and open because he knows he'll find an old pair of my glasses (hidden there for him b/c he likes to find them). Nana actually got him to put them on! He looks so much like Kyle to me now!

After Nana left we had some fun with David and Lauren (we miss them when we go more than a day or two without playing)! Here they are all looking outside because David heard the leaf truck (giant truck with giant vacuum that comes to suck up the leaf piles we rake to the street).

Okay, but here's the best part. Over the long weekend that Nana was here, it was AMAZING to see the progress Owen was making walking. Each day he gets more steady, able to take more steps, and is doing less and less crawling. He's figured out how to stand up without pulling up on something, and can even get to standing by sitting on the little step-down in our kitchen. This video is from a few days ago, and he's even more steady now. Even though all healthy children learn to walk, and even though there is nothing particularly impressive about learning to walk at 13 months (meaning, it's not early or anything), it is soooooooooo amazing to see your child start to do these types of things. You can actually SEE their little bodies and minds developing, figuring things out, trying new ways, learning, getting stronger. What a blessing to witness!



Oh, I think his record for steps is now 24.