11 months...

 One month from today Owen turns ONE.  I'm dying!  How?!?!!!  Look at this big boy, wasn't he like just born?

Here is what he's up to these days.  Still not walking but he is a super fast crawler (so who needs walking I suppose is his game right now) and a great walker so long as he has a toy/chair/basket/box to push and help him.  I'm going to go ahead and make his first word blog official: "YAY".  He claps his hands and says "yay" and its pretty clear as day.  Some might argue he says "mama" but I personally think its more of a noise than him actually using it appropriately, every once in a while maybe but I'm going with "YAY".  So then obviously he has also learned to clap. SO cute and he does it with the biggest smile on his face!

Owen has 6 teeth now and officially hates baby food and thinks it is for babies only (which he is not, duh).  Only table foods for this guy.  He still loves cucumbers and pears and has done well with most other fruits and veggies.  We finally introduced some chicken which was  huge hit also.  He hates blueberries and bananas, won't touch them.  He has also had strawberries (much earlier than I let Scott have them, but they are organic and in season and I just can't say no) Owen loved them but his chin has been a little rashy so we might back off them for a few days and see if it clears up.

Still loves playing outside and anything his brother is doing.  He loves to play with cars and zooms them all over the house.  You rarely will see him crawling around the house without a car in his hand making vroom vroom noises.  And he HATES when toys get taken away from him. Scott and Owen are already fighting over toys - and it gets pretty rough, sadly with two boys I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg. 

Owen is definitely still growing like a weed.  I'm so curious to find out just how big he is when we do is one year well baby in a month.

We are definitely down to one nap a day these days, which actually makes scheduling our day much easier.  Night time sleep is still less than perfect but I am still rested because once Owen wakes up (anywhere from 1-3 hours after he goes down in his crib) he come and cosleeps with us.  He is getting a little big and taking up lots of room in our bed (he prefers the "ninja star" shape for his sleeping position) but it is what works for us right now.

He is such a little joy and always so happy.  I absolutely can't believe he is 11 months and I basically don't have a baby anymore but a toddler.

Valentine's Lovin'

Valentine's day was fun this year with Scott having a better understanding of holidays (not that Valentine's is exactly a holiday but you know) and with a school party to boot.

Here is a glimpse of ours.

Valentine's day chalk board:

Making valentine's cards for the class party (the night before, once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator...we went and bought supplies about an hour before the creative process commenced.)  Scott's card included pink and orange stamped dinosaurs, a pirate sticker and on a few he even stamped out his name. #preschoolisalottawork

 Valentine's morning greeted us with heart shaped pancakes and since it was Valentine's day what better time to let Owen have his first taste of pancakes.  I think he liked em!!!

 Owen saying "yay" and clapping.  Yay pancakes, can't beat em.

At school we had a pajama party so all the kids and moms wore our jams.  Scott, Owen and I rocked our jams when we stopped at starbucks on our way to school for a special Valentine's treat (kids sized apple cider for Scott)

 Scott's classroom with his teacher Miss Dana and a few of the moms.  Thanks to whoever posted this on facebook because I surely stole it, I took no pictures at school.

The day ended with work for me and pizza, bath and bedtime for the boys while I was out!  Happy valentine's day everyone!  Hope yours was extra special!

The time Scott (or his friend, or both) killed a fish (maybe)...

We just got home from an afternoon play date with Ryker.  It had been far too long since we had gotten together and it was much needed for all involved.

And now the story.

Ryker and Maddox got a fish tank for Christmas (?, or just because?), which is upstairs near the boys' room.  The big boys (Ryker + Scott) are allowed to play upstairs alone while Alexis and I hang out with the babies (toddlers now? sniff!) downstairs.  We can usually hear the big boys just fine and they play really well together so we hardly ever have to go up to check.

So Alexis and I are in the kitchen getting snacks for the little ones when Ryker comes down the stairs, followed closely by Scott (as always), and says "Umm guys??!!, one of the fishes died."  I look around the corner and so it is, dead, in Ryker's hand.

Oh my.

So we ask what happened as Alexis rushes Ryker + dead fish back upstairs.  She tries putting him back in the water (just incase he had some life left in him, we both suspected that the boys had plucked him out of the tank still kickin').  No luck.  So she's upstairs figuring out what to do with the fish + cleaning up the water that was all over and washing Ryker's hands, all the while questioning him on what happened.  I'm downstairs with Scott and the littles and I ask Scott what happened.

In his words:

"The fish was swimming, then it got dead."

Me: Did you touch it?

"Yes, I held it.  Then I squished it."

Me: Was it alive when it was in the water?

"Yes.  No.  Yes."

Me:  Was it swimming and moving around?

"Yes.  It was swimming up to the rocks then down.  Then it stopped and rested at the top.  We held it.  Ryker said we could hold it and we held it.  And I squished.  Just a little."

Me: (trying not to laugh at the "squished it just a little" comment, because although we are talking loss of fish life here, that was a really funny moment) So it was already dead when you got it out?

"I don't know.  I squished it."

So we washed them up and Alexis wrapped the fish in a kleenex and put it in the outside garbage.  Now at this point Ryker is upset about the fish dying and we told him the fist went to heaven.  Ryker: "No.  He went in the trash can."  We tell him the fish's spirit went to heaven.  Ryker: "How does the garbage truck get it to heaven?"  Stumped.  We tell him that the garbage truck just deals with the fish's body and the spirit goes to heaven on its own.  He is satisfied.  He then has lots of other questions about heaven.  "will the fish have a family? What if he doesn't like his family? what will happen when he comes back and is alive again?"  We do our best.  Meanwhile Scott is so over it all and playing with trucks again.  

We never really got a straight answer as to how/when the fish died.  We can hope for the best and assume it died of natural causes (at one point Ryker said he caught him with his hands, probably easier if he's already dead no?) as opposed to being squished to death at the hands of curious toddlers.

Rest in peace Barry the fish, Jewel (his tank mate) will miss you and I'm quite certain will be getting a new roommate here shortly (I heard mom promise, and a toddler never forgets).

A day trip

 Some of our family went camping at Lake Buena Vista for the weekend.  We decided to join them for the day.  It was FREEZING out, but we had a blast.  We stayed until the boys bedtimes, then got in jams and they went to bed in the car.  Perfect. I barely took any pictures (as always, whoops).  Actually, I only got my camera out once.  I snapped a few then put it away, never to be seen again.  

We brought Owen's car (smart move us!) so he could cruise around, which he did from the time we got there until he took a nap.

And speaking of cars, the big cousins (Tyler and Britney) brought their RC cars and Scott was in heaven.  He had never played with anything like that before and he had a blast getting to drive them himself.

We were home and in bed by 9!  Next time we will probably try to stay the night but for Brian's first weekend in town in a month it was the perfect day getaway!  

Happy Thursday

 Owen had his first play dough experience the other day.  Hmm well I think he experienced it at preschool with Scott once before but I took it away quickly because he was eating it.

So this time he got to play (and eat a little) to his heart's content.  I did have to haul it out of his mouth regularly but once he got the hang of squishing it in his fingers he put it in his mouth less frequently.

And he loved sitting up at the table and doing something with Scott.

Later the same day I hid some new giant dinosaurs in the backyard bushes and let Scott hunt them down with his binoculars.  It was a blast.  And Scott was really good about sharing them with Owen.  And bonus, I have four more of these bad boys tucked away for a rainy day.  Gotta love great lakeshore finds!

We just got home from preschool and Owen is taking the greatest nap.  I love Thursdays (and tuesdays too, school days are awesome for tiring these two out).  I guess I should go do the dishes now...

Up

 Here is what we accomplished at the park today.

If big brother can climb UP the slide then so can little brother.

Stairs are for babies.

All the way to the top, all by himself

In case you are keeping track the kid is only 10 months old.  Oh and he can't walk yet.  I thought first steps would come before spiderman climbing.

My very own superhero

There are really no words necessary.  Scott's face says it all.

Mac n cheese dinner date with batman.  Lucky girl!

He literally has not taken it off since we got home.  He asked to sleep and bathe with it on by I convinced him batman took his mask off for those things.  He already asked if he can wear it to school (which isn't until next tuesday).  Also he's a little afraid of giants (go figure, not monsters, giants?!!?) and I told him to get something from his room he asked me "no giants in there right?" and I said "no giants, buddy.  But if there were no big because you are batman and you can take them.  He said, "oh yeah" and ran into his room fearless.

Scott also wanted Owen to have a mask, when I explained that Owen was too little for a mask, Scott said "that's ok, he can still be batman anyways".  

And last night:

 Superman, scaling tall buildings and flying.  (as soon as I walked in from work he yells: "hey mom, where is my cape?" - where's my super suit?, Incredibles?!!?!)  And I of course knew what he was talking about and exactly where it was.

Clark Kent

Even superheroes get tired.  My sweet ones asleep together.  I love how they are touching each other while they sleep.  So sweet and peaceful.