Happy Halloween!!

Out of all of the cute, puffy, fluffy, infant Halloween costumes

what did we pick??

 

 

 That's right people....Elvis!

 

Why Thank you!  Thank you very Much!!

(Notice the sweet Elvis sneer)

So what two things happen when you take too long trying to get just the right photo?

Perhaps a tumble

 

and eat whatever is in sight.

But thankfully we managed to get a few good ones in there.

Happy Halloween!!

 

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary to my best friend.

It's amazing how much we've accomplished in just two short years!

New house

New Baby

And new jobs (Groupon for you, Full-Time Mom for me).

We might have a few angry moments here or there. 

 But the silly times far outweigh the serious ones.  

 

And no matter what, you always know how to sweep me right off my feet.

I love you so much and couldn't ask for a better person to spend the rest of my life with.

 

9 Months

Three quarters of a year old....Wow!!

9 months has completely flown by.

My tiny 4 pound 15 ounce baby has grown into a strong 19 pound 12 ounce little boy.

Current stats from our doctor's visit today:

Weight: 19 lb 12 oz (50th Percentile)

Height:  28 in (25-50th Percentile)

Head Circumference:  17.5" (25-50th Percentile)

He has gone from being completely below the growth curve to 

settling nicely right in the middle.

Owen is so much fun to be around right now.

I feel like every day we see him do something new.

He's getting so close to crawling that I'm just waiting to walk away 

from him and have him follow right behind me. 

He gets up on all fours, rocks back and forth, picks up one leg,

sometimes picks up a hand, but just hasn't figured out how to make it work all together.

Sometimes he moves backwards, sometimes he balances on one leg,

and sometimes he just lays on his tummy and kicks his arms and legs real fast as if 

he were swimming.  He might not get very far, but each time he falls and gets back up

he's getting that much closer to crawling his way across the floor.

He's getting better with his pincer grasp too, which means we can start some finger foods.

He has a great appetite, but still wants absolutely nothing to do with banana or avocado.

For fun I thought I would give avocado another try and he gagged the second

it touched his lips.

He LOVES green beans and peas.

And he loves his lunch time yogurt.

He still has 4 bottles a day for a total of 29 ounces.

His top two teeth are starting to come in, giving him a total of four teeth.
Whenever he smiles his two little bottom teeth stick out and it is adorable.

He can be a little serious and shy at times, but once he warms up he is more than happy 

to give a big toothy grin to anyone who smiles back.

He is so happy and makes everyone around him happy too.

One of my favorite things about Owen is his laugh.

It is the cutest little laugh I have ever heard.

Sometimes he gets laughing so hard that I have to stop him for a minute because

it seems like it is one of those laughs that hurts your belly if you go too long.

He takes a quick breath then will start right up again.

I absolutely love it!

I could listen to him laugh all day long.

The best is when he laughs at random little kids.

For some reason, he thinks other kids are so funny.

Whether we are walking through Target and see a kid, or he is playing with one of his friends,

he'll see a little kid and just start laughing.  It is so funny to watch.

Ryan and I are truly blessed to have such a healthy, happy little boy.

We love him so much and are excited to see what the next 3 months bring. 

Dancing Snowman

Grandma and Grandpa got Owen his very own dancing snowman.

He's not quite sure what to think of it yet.

As soon as I start to play it he just stares at it in complete awe.

Eventually he warmed up to it and wanted to see what it was all about.

Thanks for the awesome new toy Grandma and Grandpa!!

 

Impossible Picture

The weather has been really nice the past couple of days,

so Owen and I decided to share the great weather with Marley and take her for a long walk. 

They looked so cute together so I decided to try to take a few pictures.  

TRY being the key word there.  

It was one of those times that I was sure there was someone watching out 

their front window just shaking their head at me. 

Let me walk you through it.  

I parked the stroller in the middle of the sidewalk

I pulled Marley close to it and asked her nicely to sit.

Who am I kidding asking her to sit.

As soon as I step back to take the picture, she walks right towards me.

So I take her back, set her next to the stroller and in a more stern voice say, "Marley Sit!"

I step back to try again.

Here is where the craziness begins:

I step back, get the camera ready,

"Marley SIT!  STAY!"

Then in a soft voice trying for a smile, "Owen.  Hey Buddy.

Marley SIT!

Owen.  Smile Owen."

Crap!  Marley walks towards me again.  I drag her back again and plop her next to the stroller.

"Marley SIT!  STAY!" 

I start backing up..."Stay Marley, Stay Marley.

Owen.  Hi Owen.  Can I get a...

SIT!  Marley STAY!   

Owen.  Smile bud...

MARLEY SIT!!"

This went on for a good five minutes before I gave up hope of getting 

both Owen smiling and Marley sitting.

Neither of them understood their job was to look at the camera.  

 

Nice work.  You're both getting a little closer to looking at me.

Nice work looking Owen.  A smile would be nice.  Come on Marley, you can do it.

Great smile Marley.  Too bad it was so good that Owen wanted to watch it too.

  

  I guess those will just have to do.  You get the idea.

And sorry to the poor neighbor who had to watch our craziness in action.  ;)

Owen visits Notre Dame

This weekend was the reunion for Ryan's baseball team from 2002.

Notre Dame made it to the College World Series that year so every five years 

the school hosts a reunion for all of the players from that team.  

They put on a big tail gate for them and then Ryan and his team walk onto the field

and are introduced before the football game.

It is always a great weekend because we get to visit with a lot of friends we don't see often,

and this year was even more special because we got to introduce everyone to Owen.

Owen got to see where his daddy played baseball 10 years ago. 

I can hardly believe we've been out of school that long...yikes!

 

 

We weren't quite ready to take Owen into the game,

but he and I kept busy walking around campus which is one of my favorite things to do anyway.

The day always flies by when we are at Notre Dame, but we had a great time 

and are looking forward to the next reunion.

 

Owen's First Flight

This past weekend Ryan's best friend Kris got married,

which means Owen got to take his very first airplane ride to Seattle.  

I was nervous leading up to it wondering how he would do.  

Would he cry?  Would his ears hurt? Or perhaps he would just relax and sleep through it?

It took us longer than we expected to get all packed up and get to the airport 

so we missed our first flight.  Thankfully they were able to get us on the very next flight.  

It actually worked out well because it gave us a chance to get some breakfast and relax.   

Owen and Ryan seemed to be more interested in the TV's overhead than their meal. :)

While we were walking through the airport a pilot stopped us to make sure 

Owen had his very first set of wings.  

 

The first flight was a little rough, but that was partially because we left a little later than 

expected so Owen was way overdue for a nap by the time we got on the plane.

He fell asleep as soon as we boarded so I thought things were going well.  

But he woke up just a few minutes later when the pilot spoke over the intercom.

After that he decided he didn't want to go back to bed and was awake for the next 3 hours.

We did our best to keep him occupied, but it's tough for a little guy to stay in one place that long.  He's grown quite talkative now too, so he let everyone around know he was there.

He finally fell asleep with an hour left on the flight.  Better late than never.  

First flight = B-

Owen slept great in the crib the hotel provided us and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:00 AM.  (In his defense, that is 7:00AM Chicago time which is his normal waking time.)  

    

Ryan was pretty busy with wedding activities the whole weekend, 

so it was nice to wake up early and get to spend some time with him.  

We bundled Owen up and went for morning coffee walks.

Then Owen and I would hang out and explore while 

Ryan took care of his duties as the best man.

 

The wedding was beautiful, and I had the two most handsome dates.  :)

 

 

We woke up early Sunday morning to catch our flight home.

Owen did GREAT!  He had his bottle during take off, and then fell asleep shortly after.

The trick was to drape his blanket over the carseat to make his own little fort.  

It was dark and cozy and he fell asleep within just a few minutes.

 

 

 He slept for 2 hours and 15 minutes....WOO!

Ryan and I split the best breakfast burrito from Qdoba and relaxed enjoying the silence.

Once Owen woke up we only had 45 minutes to keep him occupied, so I was feeling good.

Then the pilot came over the intercom telling us there were storm systems in Chicago and it was going to get a little bumpy.  We had to stay in our seats for the rest of the flight.

This is when the flight went downhill.  I'll make it brief...

I started feeling sick from the movement of the plane.

Owen had a blow out diaper that I couldn't get up to change.

He was upset because he couldn't and wouldn't sit down.

I got even more nauseous smelling his diaper.

We finally landed so I got on the floor and changed his diaper and entire outfit.

He was a little happier, but still restless.

We got to the gate and the electric walkway didn't work so we couldn't get off our plane.

To make it worse, because there was lightning, no one was allowed outside to fix it.

After 5 minutes some "brave soul" as they put it, went out and got it working.

It moved 3 feet then stopped again.  

We were once again told we were stuck on the plane.

To make it worse our luggage was stuck on the plane too.

None of the ground crews were allowed out because of the lightning.

A few minutes later someone else went out and got the walkway working again.

We finally got off the plane, but now we couldn't get our stroller that was checked at the gate.

We had to sit in the walkway for 10 minutes waiting for someone to be able to go out to grab it.

Got the stroller and headed down to the baggage claim which was a complete mess.

After 30 minutes Ryan found two of our suitcases on a random carousel.

His golf bag was missing. 

Talked to customer service.  Told his bag was put on a later flight and they would deliver it.

Finally we can go home!

2nd Flight - Owen = Solid A

Airline/Weather = C-

We had a great time in Seattle, the wedding was a blast, 

and I am glad to have the first flight under our belt.

But it sure did feel good to be home and sleep in our own bed Sunday night.

Pumpkin Patch

If it isn't clear by  now, I love taking pictures of Owen.

I am especially fond of his "first" pictures.  

First time smiling, first time rolling, first time eating solids....you get the idea.

So of course when October came around there was one place we had to visit.  

The Pumpkin Patch

We had to get pictures of Owen with his very first pumpkins. ;)

So we headed out to Goebbert's in South Barrington, camera in tow.

It was pretty cold out today so we had Owen all bundled up and would quick take off his hat

and blanket, take a few pictures, then get him all warm and cozy again in the stroller.

There were pumpkins that were much larger then Owen,

pumpkins smaller than him,

And ones that were just the right size.

If we had him in an orange jacket, he'd fit right into this group.

 

Overall it was a great day and fun spending time as a family.  

Apple Cider donuts...check.

Pumpkin pictures...check.

Fall family picture...check.

 

Mission Accomplished!

Man I love the Fall.

 

 

 

Playground Pals

The weather is changing so fast and it seems like 

Fall will come and go before we know it.  So we've been taking advantage

of the nice weather and getting out to go for walks.

Yesterday we met up with Lauren and Ava to go for a walk and 

then ended up at the playground. 

The kids got to hang out and swing for awhile.  I love this picture because Owen 

looks like such a little meatball in this swing.  He's like a ball with 

little legs sticking out of the bottom.

He really loves the swings so it was fun to let him play.

 Then we gave him his first look from the top of the slide.

He was a little more apprehensive with this than the swings,
but before long he'll be going down it like a champ.  

 

Thanks for a fun day at the park Lauren and Ava!