9, and feeling fine!

Owen is 9 months old! I can't believe he's been outside of me longer than he was inside. It couldn't be going by quicker if I wanted it to.

We had Owen's 9 month doctor's appointment on the 12th. He is weighing in at 19 pounds and 12 ounces, and he is 27 1/4 inches tall. He is healthy and the doctor says he is doing well.

Owen is a strong boy, in body and in mind. He sits up and crawls like a pro. He is so curious about the world around him that he can barely stay still. When he gets his diaper changed its all I can do to get him to stay on his back, usually he's flipping over, trying to sit up, rocking on all fours...you name it, he's trying to do it. And I'm trying to get a diaper on him all the while! I've become so good at putting on his diaper with him in all positions that when he actually does lie still on his back I almost forget how to put it on him. LOL

He and Quincy have begun "fighting" over Quincy's toys. I guess its the colors and the shapes of Quincy's toys that Owen likes. Quincy will put a toy in front of Owen, in the hopes that he'll throw it to play fetch with him. But then Owen picks it up and plays with it. Sometimes Quincy will let Owen keep it and will then go get another toy to play with instead. And othertimes Quincy will swipe it back from Owen. And then Owen cries. Actually, Owen has been crying when we take any toy/anything away from him that he does not want to give up. This is a new thing.

Owen is still loving food. He loves to eat. Loves Breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. He has definite favorties and definite dislikes. He loves fruit: grapes, kiwi and bananas top that list. He loves cheese. He likes some veggies: broccoli, sweet potato fries, peas, carrots and green beans. It became quite evident to me tonight that he dislikes cauliflower, as he made faces and growled at me when I tried to feed him. He has tried chicken and loves it. He really enjoys having toast with cream cheese on it with his breakfast. Some of his favorite snacks include graham crackers, Gerber puffs and Veggie Fries.

Owen continues to sleep well. He is good for two naps a day and 10-11 1/2 hours a night. We've been teaching him to high five. He smiles at everyone and has the most beautiful little voice I have ever heard when he's singing, talking (lots of da-da's and some ma-ma's) and even when he's screaming. He's such a wonderful little boy and we feel like the luckiest parents in the world to be sharing our life with him.

Our sweet, smiling boy:

Magnificent May

We have had a lot going on in May so far, so instead of having a bunch of different posts (and who am I kidding, I haven't had the time for 4 or 5 different posts!), I thought we'd have one post for all of the fun and wonderful happenings of May.

The first weekend in May we went to the Singers house in Columbia, Maryland for a cookout. We saw our Maryland peeps: the Singers, the Morgans, the Nelsons and the Badowskis. We last saw them all during Christmas time and swore we'd do a better job of getting together in '09. Um, that didn't work so well as it took us 5 months. Oh well. We had a nice time anyhow. It was exciting as the Singers have a new house and the Nelsons are due with their first baby in September and got to see Anita's adorable little baby belly. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures from this visit. Darn it all.

The second weekend in May brought us a trip to the zoo and my first Mother's Day. Chad's cousin Theresa, her husband Liam and son Graham came down from New York to visit with us and her sister Jodie. We decided to take the boys for their first visit to the National Zoo. First of all, the day could not of been more beautiful. It was sunny, in the 80's--just gorgeous! We didn't stay all that long, but it was nice. We saw a few animals and had lunch. We were lucky enough too to see the orangatans climbing along on the big ropes overhead. Around 2PM it became evident that it was nappytime at the zoo, as almost all we could hear were the cries and screams of tired young ones. So we decided to leave at that point to get Graham and Owen home for naps. We had a great time though!

Owen and Mommy at the zoo--with a lion in the background, if you look hard enough:


Owen and Daddy, being silly:


Happy the Hippo, who the zoo is sending to another zoo someplace to enlarge the elephant habitat (so not happy about that--hippos are cool, I love Happy!):


The three of us, during the zoo's naptime:


On Sunday the 9th I had my first Mother's Day and it was wonderful. I am very happy just being Owen's Mommy, so to get a holiday for it...its kind of weird and surreal all at the same time. I enjoyed my day so much. I recieved some wonderful cards. My favorite was from Owen--it made me cry when I read:
"There's no one like my Mommy....For stopping what she's doing to rock me for a while.
There's no one like my Mommy...for hurrying to hold me when seh hears my little cries."

For gifts Owen gave me a new Willow Tree figurine called "Child of my Heart":



Chad gave me a spa gift certificate, which I promptly took and got a pedicure. And an eyebrow waxing. LOL We had grilled steak for dinner with strawberry shortcake for dessert--so yummy!

The following week, May 13th, brought us Chad's 32nd birthday. He had a nice birthday. Unfortunately he did have to get up super early for work. But when he came home he was welcomed with some cold beer, chicken parmasean for dinner with a homemade chocolate cake for dinner.

Owen and Chad opening up Chad's presents:


That Friday we went to the Cheesecake Factory for a joint birthday lunch. My most favorite!!!!

The 16th I begrudgingly celebrated my 36th birthday. I'm not going to lie. I feel OLD. I'm now on the downslope of my 30's. Yikes! We started the day by going into Washington D.C. to participate in the Police Week 5K. Chad ran it and I pushed Owen, walking. I loved the race route. It took us up Capital Hill, behind the Capital where I saw for the first time the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court building. It was a humid morning and Chad ran the race in 23 minutes and Owen and I finished it in 53 minutes.

Chad and Owen before the race:


Owen(enjoying his Cheerios) and I before the race:



Owen and I crossing the finish line:


We ended my birthday by going up to the Morgan's house for Luke's 10th Anniversary of his 21st Birthday suprise party. How fun to hang out with our Maryland peeps (and also with Parke and Sarah who were visiting from Maine) twice in one week! Talk about making up for lost time. We had a great time and Luke was definately suprised.

We are looking forward to the rest of May, especially in going on vacation the last weekend. Can't wait!

Just keep swimming!

As Dory says in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim."

So, yay! Chad finally came with Owen and I to swimming class and took some pictures of us enjoying the water.


Making our way into the water:


Getting ready to practice "jumping in the pool":


Owen floating on his back: