29 Weeks!!

Only 11 more to go!!

Normally 11 weeks would seem like a relatively long time.  That's nearly two and a half months!

But when 29 weeks seems like it has gone by in the blink of an eye, 11 weeks hardly seems

like anything anymore.  Especially with Owen arriving a little earlier than we thought, 

you never know what to expect.

 

We are super excited to meet the newest little addition to our family!  

We have so many questions about what's to come.....

 

How will the delivery go?

Will he have dark hair or red hair?

Will he be super energetic or a little more relaxed?

What will his little personality be like?

Will he be happy?  Nurse well?  Sleep well??  

How will Owen do with the new baby? 

So many questions and not that much longer until we get the answers to all of them.  WOO!! 

A Day with Grandpa and GiGi

Today we spent the day downtown with Ryan's dad and Gerri.  With 10 grandkids in Chicago

alone they keep pretty busy, so it's rare that they get to see Owen on his own.  They normally

see him when he's around his cousins and super energetic because he's so excited to be

around other kids.  Today was perfect because we got to relax, have lunch, walk around

the city and they got to see a little more of his personality when he was calmer.

 

Grandpa even bought Owen his very first pair of sunglasses.  He loves them!  He always 

loves playing with mine and putting them on, so now he has his very own pair.  Very stylish!

Then on our walk back to their place, he got to run around with Ryan along the river walk 

and look at all of the passing boats.  

 

It was such a great day!!  We really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with 

Grandpa and GiGi and Owen loved everything there was to see downtown.  Hopefully we'll 

have a chance to do it again soon while the weather is still so beautiful.

Thanks for a great day guys!!     

Millennium Park

Today Owen and I took a trip downtown and met the Elseners and Peros at Millennium Park.

We started out the morning with a visit to the bean.  Owen was more interested in

running circles around it than he was posing with it, but we got a few shots in.

 Then we went to the Family Fun tent for a Wiggleworms concert.  He was a little apprehensive

at first with so many other kids around, but before you know it he was up dancing, stomping

his feet and clapping.  Then after a minute or two he would run back and dive into my lap to

make sure I was still there.  He'd barely sit for five seconds before he'd be up on 

his feet again enjoying the music.

After about 20 minutes of the concert Owen had his fill and wanted to explore the other 

activities the Family Fun tent had to offer.  He and his friends played with the hula hoops,

then went over to the giant sized checker board to stack some monster checkers.

Our last piece of entertainment before a relaxing picnic lunch was the fountains.

As you can probably imagine, this was Owen's favorite part of the day.  The sign specifically 

states, "No Running," but obviously they do not know my son. 

 Thankfully we were able to escape without any major falls, which is always a good day in 

my book.  What a great way to spend one of the few remaining summer days we have left.

  

Keeping Busy

The summer is flying by and I can hardly believe we are halfway through August already!

Though we haven't had anything super exciting going on, Owen and I

find plenty of ways to keep ourselves busy.  

We keep up with the latest toddler fashion trends,

Go on exciting grocery shopping expeditions,

(This was Owen's first time pushing his own little shopping cart through the store.  Occasionally

he got distracted and wanted to take off running, but overall he did great!  He loved when

I handed him the groceries and he got to put them in his own cart.)

Practice our pitching to show Daddy,

And still find time to relax in the park with some of our favorite friends.
 

Fall is just around the corner, and I am so excited because it is my all-time FAVORITE season

by far, but that means Owen's only child status is quickly coming to an end.  So while we do

our best to keep busy, we also have plenty of cuddle time on the couch while watching some of

his favorite shows.  Sure the American Academy of Pediatrics might tell me not to have him

watch tv until the age of 2, but I wouldn't trade our cuddle moments for anything.  They've

quickly become one of my favorite parts of the day.  With baby #2 arriving in just a few short

months, we have to take advantage of our down time while we still have the chance.  :) 

Happy 32nd to Me!!

My birthday fell on a weekend this year which gave us lots of time to celebrate.  And celebrate
we did!  On Friday night my friend Lesa and her husband Adam had Ryan, Owen and I over for
a Mexican fiesta.  Everything was absolutely delicious!!  It was a great start to the weekend
and I truly appreciated how thoughtful it was of her to have us over.

Then on Saturday night Ryan and I got a babysitter for Owen and went out for dinner with just
the two of us.  We love spending as much time as we can with Owen, but it is so nice to have
our "date nights" every now and then where we can relax, eat dinner as slow as we like, 
and not worry about anything.  

Right now we really like going to places that have a tapas style menu.  That way we get to try a lot of different things and we have a ton of fun with it.  We decided to try out a restaurant we 
had never been to before.  Ryan had let them know it was my birthday when he made the
reservation so when we showed up at the table there was this cute little box there.  
Inside was a pouch of cupcake mix along with the recipe for the cupcakes themselves and the
frosting to go on top.  I thought it was really unique, and I can hardly wait to see how they taste.

To finish off the big birthday weekend, we started the day today with a delicious
breakfast at Wildberry, and finished with a cookout at the Pero's house.  It was a beautiful
afternoon and the kids had so much fun running around and playing together.

I feel so lucky to have such great friends to celebrate with.  Not only did Ryan do an amazing job
of making me feel special all weekend long, but it was so nice to be able to share my big
day with some of our closest friends too.  Plus, add in all of the singing voicemails, phone
calls and texts I got today and I am feeling very loved right now.  Happy 32nd to me!!  :)
Thanks to everyone for making it such an awesome weekend.
 

Minocqua Weekend

This past weekend we made our annual Kalita Family trip up to Minocqua, WI.

We dropped Marley off in Wausau so Grandma could spoil her, and we spent a few days up in

the North Woods with Tim, Val and the kids, the Ogilvie's and the Corbin's.

As luck would have it, we had one of the coldest weekends of the summer.  The high on

Saturday was 54 degrees!!  Friday was a little warmer topping out around 65 degrees so we

figured that was the day to make our trip to the beach.  Owen LOVES the water and loves

playing in the sand, so it was the perfect place for him to run and have fun for a little while.

His favorite part was probably playing in the water with his daddy.

 

 

With it being pretty chilly on Saturday we decided to go walk around the downtown area and
make our very important stop at Dan's Fudge shop.  I'm not sure how we do it, but we rarely
leave without spending over $50 on fudge, bear paws, and an obscene amount of salt water
taffy.  Sure we'll be eating taffy for the next 2 months, but it is without a doubt worth every penny. 

Later that afternoon we went out on the lake to get some good boat action in.  50 degees...boat ride...why not??  

Tim, Val, Pete and John even braved the water for some last minute water ski action, 
which gave Owen and Ruby some good entertainment. 

 
And what better way to wind down the day than a little S'mores party?  YUM!!

Even with the cold weather and the craziness of having five kids under age 3 in one cottage,
we had a blast spending time together.  Thank you Simones' for letting us use your
cottage for the weekend.  As always, great times and great memories.