Mary's 1st Birthday!!!

Mary turned 1 over Labor Day weekend, and I almost can't believe how quickly this year went by.  We moved to Tulsa when she was 3.5 weeks old, and that feels like yesterday.  Our entire family had a pretty bad cold that weekend, but we still had a little family party for Mary as planned.  

I love seeing the difference a year makes.  In the first picture Mary is 1 week old at her newborn photo session, and the second picture is the afternoon of her birthday.

We spent the morning relaxing at home, and the boys helped wrap her presents while she napped.  In the afternoon we went out to lunch and picked up her cake.

The boys were excited to watch/help Mary open her presents.

Here's the happy birthday girl waiting for her cake.

Mary LOVED her cake!  She ate the entire piece and probably would have eaten more if given the chance.

We had her 12-month wellness visit on September 8th.  Here's a picture of her waiting for her shots.

12-month stats:

Weight: 19 lbs., 6.5 oz. (23rd percentile)

Height: 28.9 inches (43rd percentile)

Head Circumference: 46.7cm/18.4 inches (89th percentile)

After being off the charts underweight at her 9-month appointment, I was pretty excited to see how much weight she had gained at this appointment.  I think the head measurement is a little off, because I don't think she had the measuring tape on correctly, but she definitely has a good sized head.  

As far as her development, Mary completely stopped commando crawling and just started crawling normally on August 12th.  She now crawls around very quickly, and she'll speed up when you start chasing after her.   She is obsessed with the fireplace, shoe rack, all outlets and cords, and pretty much anything she's not supposed to touch.  When you tell her no as she approaches something she just speeds up and giggles.

She started clapping on August 26th, and she claps all the time.  She loves to clap while she swings at the park, and anytime someone says "yay" she'll clap.  

She's so preoccupied with standing and practicing letting go of things to stand independently that she can't focus on much else.  She hasn't been very interested in eating lately, and I think it's just because she wants to get down and move around.

I think it'll still be a little while until she starts walking, but she's getting there.

Mary loves to stand at the front window and look outside (just like Izzy).  

I've been trying to teach Mary how to drink out of a straw for a month or so now, and she finally got it on September 14th.  She was very proud of herself!

I loved this picture of her at the park after her wellness visit.  The boys were doing their thing at the park, and Mary wanted to get in on the action.  She tried a few times to climb up this tube.  I love this little face!

Mary has the sweetest temperament, and she's just an easy baby.  We have loved watching her personality develop over this past year.

Owen is in Preschool!

Owen started preschool recently, and he has been anticipating the first day for about 2 months.  Most days over the summer he would say, "I be big!  I go to my school!!"  The school year began with a short meet the teacher time.  Owen was mad in the car that I was going in with him.  In the classroom they had a craft for the kids to do, and he had a chance to walk around and play with some of the toys.

When it was time to leave he told me I should leave and he would stay.

He is going from 9:30-2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the first week they only stayed until noon to give them the chance to get used to the new routine.  Here is Owen ready to head out on Tuesday, September 8th.

Owen has 13 kids in his class, and he's really excited to have friends.  He's already talking about his birthday in November and having a party in his class with his friends :).   Jack didn't go to preschool until he was 4, so it's fun to see such little kids in a class together.  Approximately 10 of the 13 kids in his class cry when their parents leave them, so it's pretty loud in there in the morning.  I admire the patience of the teachers!

A Post Devoted to Owen

I felt compelled to write a post devoted to Owen today after our first week with Jack at school 5 days a week.  Since Mary still takes a long nap in the morning, Owen and I have had a lot more alone time together than we're accustomed to.  Jack and Owen usually spend most of the day playing together, so it's been a change not having big brother around as a buddy.  If you don't keep Owen busy he tends to stray into troublemaking behavior.  Busy hands make for a happy Owen and happy mommy.  He loves activities where he gets to build, and he's a huge projects kid.  The first day Jack was at school we spent about 45 minutes playing with this airplane that you build using an "electric" screwdriver.  

I also get Owen involved in whatever I need to get done around the house.  He is a great duster, and he has enjoyed making muffins on two different occasions last week.

Owen also uses his little tool to pretend he's fixing things around the house.  We got our house painted last week, and Owen was really interested in all that was happening.  He spent some time outside surveying the work that was being done.  

Yesterday he helped me scrub the grout in the kitchen and entry hall.  His main job was to spray the cleaner onto the spot I was working on.  He also helped with the washing.  It may look like child labor, but he had a great time doing it!  :)

 

Owen spends a lot of time on the side of our house where we have a rock path digging rocks and dirt with his digger trucks.  He just loves digging and moving things with trucks.

Owen is still a blankie addict, and it's his go-to way of relaxing.  In the second picture below we are waiting for Jack to get out of school in the car line.  It's a long wait.

Owen also likes to display his alter ego around the house.  After I took the picture of him in his Superman outfit he put his hands on his hips and said, "Maybe I can fly in the sky."

Yesterday morning before school the boys found a toad in our backyard.  Owen loved this little toad and wanted him to come inside.  The toad hopped away into a little hole right before we left to drop Jack off at school.  When we got back home after drop-off, Owen went outside and started yelling, "Hey toad! Hey toad! I can't find you!" over and over again.  Owen's a little bit intense, so he strikes me as someone who would try to love the toad and end up literally squeezing the life out of him.

We were on FaceTime telling my mom about the toad later in the day, and we were telling him that he wouldn't want to pick it up since it would probably poop on him.  Owen said, "He not poop!  He not have a butt!"  He was laughing so hard when we told him that frogs have butts too.

I love these two pictures of Owen.  In the first picture he is having a serious talk with me about the fact that it's about to rain and our stuff is going to get wet.  In the second picture we had gone to the park before picking Jack up from school.  Leaving the park he said he was thirsty, so we stopped at Starbucks to get him an ice water (an me a coffee of course).  He loves having ice in his water like it's some kind of special treat.

I just love this picture so I wanted to include it.  

 Owen is a little bit wild and unpredictable, but he is a super sweet little person.  He definitely challenges me, and we have to come up with new strategies for parenting him compared to Jackson.  One funny story to share for the sake of memory is from this morning.  At about 5:40 this morning I woke up to Owen shouting "Jackson!! Jackson!! Jackson!! as loud as he could in the living room outside of our bedroom.  I went out to find almost every downstairs light on and Owen in the middle of the living room with only a diaper on (I still can't find where he put his pajamas).  I told him it was way too early to be awake, and he stuck his lower lip out in a pout and headed for the stairs.  I got him dressed again and tucked him in, and thankfully he fell back to sleep.

We go to his preschool to meet his teachers tomorrow morning.  I'm so interested to see how he does in school.  He's a little bit of a Mr. Sassy Pants with a tendency to hit and bite his siblings when he gets frustrated, so we'll see what happens with kids his age.