7-Month Update and Summer Fun

Owen turned 7-months old last week, and he's cute as ever!  I feel like we're nearing the end of the time where he'll sit in one place for me to get a picture :).

Jack's jealousy of Owen getting attention has been increasing lately.  I only had a few chances to get pictures of Owen alone before Jack wanted to get in on the action.  

Owen officially started commando crawling on June 19th.  He had been kind of inching his way forward pushing off his toes a week or two before that, but he wouldn't get very far.  As of last week, he can commando crawl all over the place to get to whatever he wants.  He's still trying to work to get up on his knees, so I'm sure a true crawl isn't too far off.  On June 21st he started clapping, which is sooo cute!  He does it the most while in the Baby Bjorn.  Now that Owen is more mobile, the first signs of sibling rivalry have really surfaced.  Owen will work his way over to what Jack is playing with, try to grab it, and Jack will shout, "Momma, get Owen!"  Sometimes he'll try to push Owen away from things or he'll snatch something out of Owen's hand.  Sibling love! :)

We've really had a great time this past month as a family and with friends.  We've spent some time with friends from MOPS and gotten to play with their kids.  I had to share this photo, because it's about the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Both these babies are the youngest of two boys, which seems to have made them more rough and tumble!  They had so much fun wrestling on the floor with each other.  

Both boys had really bad colds/low fevers for Father's Day, so we spent the day at home relaxing with a box of tissues always within arms reach.  Both boys LOVE their daddy, and they got some guy time snuggling on the couch.  

The reason I took this picture is because Owen is not a snuggler generally.  He never wants you to cradle him, and he won't sit still with you on the couch on a normal day.  He does like to be held all the time, but only when you're doing something interesting or bouncing him/throwing him in the air.  Not that I'm happy he was sick, but I really enjoyed just sitting with him on the couch all curled up.

Jack's imagination and pretend play has been so fun to watch recently.  He is always talking to his toys and stuffed animals.  I walked in his room the other day and he said, "Oh dog, mommy's here" and faced dog out to see me so I could give him a good morning kiss.  In this picture he is lining up all of his cars, and he set up a sign from his train table where the cars were waiting in line to get through the sign.  

We're forging ahead with the baby led weaning strategy, and I think Owen may finally be swallowing a little bit of the food instead of sucking or chewing on it and spitting it out.  He really likes avocado, banana, pears, yogurt, cheese, carrots, and green beans.  He also tried and liked a small piece of chicken.  He's super interested in food, and he tries to get to everything we're eating.  The only drawback to baby led weaning where he feeds himself is that it is ridiculously messy!  When I started feeding Jack purees I was almost OCD about making sure things stayed clean, and that is reflected in the fact that Jack hates messes and will tell me, "Momma, get a towel!  Owen make a mess!"  I've tried to just let go this time around and embrace the mess.  These pictures don't even come close to reflecting the food explosion that normally occurs.  

Almost every meal is bath worthy.  Jonathan gave Owen a sink bath one evening when he fed him while I was gone.  Such a handsome little man relaxing in the warm water!

Summer has definitely arrived, and Jack's favorite food is an ice cream cone.  He asks for them so often that we went out and just bought ice cream cones and ice cream so we weren't going out all the time when we wanted ice cream (lucky for Jack his mother in particular always feels like ice cream too!).  You could blow up a car behind him, and he would maintain focus on that cone.

The evenings are cool here, and we have taken a lot of walks after dinner.  This guy loves a good walk.

Jonathan's friend Chris bought Jack a balance bike this week, so Jack has been hitting the streets.  It's the law in California that kids have to wear helmets while riding bikes, scooters, etc.  We were a little worried Jack would refuse to wear it, but he's worn it without a problem and had a great time!

We leave for Chicago this weekend, so the next post will be about that trip.  It's our first family vacation, so we're excited and hoping it all goes smoothly.

Park and Beach Days

The weather has been beautiful, and we've been enjoying a lot of time outside recently.  Jack needs to be outside to get that toddler energy out, and I think it's just good for all of us to get a little bit of Vitamin D.

Last week we went to the Irvine Regional Park where we rode the train, fed the ducks, and played on the playground with my friend Heather and her son Cole.  Jack is obsessed with the train and talks daily about getting a ticket and riding the train.  He also had a blast feeding the ducks pieces of bread:

Later in the week we went to his favorite park.  It's a multi-level park that has 3 or 4 different playgrounds so we generally don't go anymore since it's impossible to supervise him well enough while pushing a stroller.  Last week I put Owen in the Baby Bjorn and took Jack, because I know he loves it. Once again he proved his amazing climbing skills:

He climbed up this entire thing without any help.  I stood under him to catch a possible fall since I know the one time I don't is when he'll lose his footing, but he made it up without problems as usual.

This long Memorial Day weekend has been a lot of fun.  On Saturday we went to Laguna Beach and walked along the water.  Jack got soaking wet being hit by some pretty big waves at his low stature.  We were there with Jonathan's friend Chris who took this picture of the guys. 

It's a little hard to see, but it's still a super cute picture.

Here's another one Chris took of our family of 4...a rare picture :).  We couldn't get a nice one due to lack of cooperation from the little ones, but I feel like this is a more natural depiction of the family.  I'm not sure what exactly Jack was saying, but he was thinking and trying to decide something with his finger up to his face saying, "Mmmm..."  Owen wasn't a fan of his hat, because he would stop crying when we took it off.

Today we went to the park, and Jonathan showed Jack how to climb a tree:

I mentioned in a previous post that Jack is currently BFFs with Mr. Tato and that my parents recently sent us 150 pieces for Jack to play with.  We definitely do not have all of them in the house, but more and more are making their way in.  Jack can sit independently for the longest time working on Mr. Tato.

 Here he is with one of his creations.

Within the 150 pieces there are around 6 bodies to play with, so Jonathan and I have also gotten a lot of Mr. Tato time.  It's actually a fun activity and a way to be creative making a bunch of different funny characters.

6-Month Update

Owen turned 6-months old last Monday, and I remembered to take his monthly photo late in the evening again:

He's getting to be quite the little chunk a monk.  After his good photo he got playful snuggling with his stuffed animals.

 Owen had his 6-month wellness visit this past Wednesday, and here he is waiting for his shots:

Here are the stats and comparison from 2-months ago:

6-month check-up (Wednesday May 22, 2013)
Weight- 17 lbs., 2 oz.
Height- 27 inches
Head-  44.5 cm/17.5inches
**He's following along his growth curve

4-month check-up (March 25, 2013)

Weight- 15 lbs., 4 oz. (65th percentile)

Height- 25.5 inches (75th percentile)

Head- 43.2 cm/17.0 inches (topping the charts)

As you may notice, he is pretty much fully blonde now besides the ends of his hair around the sides.  His blonde is not quite as white blonde as Jack's, but he's definitely blonde.  He looks so different than when he was first born with a ton of dark brown hair.  Such a funny change!

As far as developmental milestones go:

• He can sit up unassisted for a short period of time, but he doesn't want to do it.  Every time I try to practice with him he pushes onto his back or stomach so he can move around the room.  He prefers to be laying down so he can roll around the floor over to objects.
• He rolls ALL over the place!  I'll set him down in the middle of the floor, go get something out of the kitchen, and he'll be on a totally different side of the room.  He rolls over to the toys he wants to play with.
• When on his back he pushes off his heals to propel himself towards things, and when he's on his stomach he tries to push off the floor with his toes and knees.  He wants to crawl sooo bad!
• He hasn't been sleeping in the sleep suit for a few weeks now.  I stopped using it primarily because he couldn't roll over to his side or stomach easily, and he would get really angry in the middle of the night since he prefers to sleep on his side or stomach.  It was also getting a little warm in our house, even at night, for such a thick suit.  
• He LOVES baths!  Initially we were using the Nuj bath seat in the sink, but we started giving him full baths a few weeks ago.  There were two initial bath experiences where he screamed the whole time, but I finally got him eased into it very, very slowly where he figured out it's quite relaxing.
• On May 6th, 2013 I noticed his first tooth breaking through his gums...his bottom right tooth.  He went through a period right before I noticed the tooth where he was waking 4-5 times a night.  Once the tooth broke through he went down to twice per night.  I'm hoping all of teething won't have such a dramatic impact on sleeping.  I think the tooth next to it is getting ready to make a breakthrough soon.
• He still regularly wakes up twice a night.  The doctor was telling me that he should be down to once a night by now.  I can handle twice per night, but any more than that makes me a little frustrated.  I'll probably start to try some night weaning to get him down to once sometime in the near future, especially since he and Jack are going to be sharing a room.
• He has tried a few different foods including egg yolk, carrot, banana, pear, and avocado.  He threw up 6 times in an hour a few hours after eating egg yolk for the second time, so we're going to hold off on that for a while just in case he has a food sensitivity or allergy as recommended by the doctor.  I decided recently that I'm going to do the baby led weaning strategy for food introduction this go around.  He's extremely oral and interested in what we're eating, so I think it'll be a good method for him.
• He can drink out of straws and a sippy cup, but he usually just spits the water out of his mouth once he gets it out of the cup.  
• He has really started to find his voice.  He yells out all the time, and he will straighten his arms by his side locking out his elbows and clenching his fists while he lets out this guttural yell that is hilarious.  
• He is absolutely not a snuggler when he's sleepy.  When I finish feeding him before bed and/or naps he immediately kicks off the side of the nursing chair, arching his back, and screaming until I put him down.  I used to think I'll just enjoy this snuggle time with him in the middle of the night to try to be positive about being up in the middle of the night, but he does not want anything to do with it.  On the plus side, he knows how to put himself to sleep, because it's really not possible to nurse him to sleep.

And here is one last picture of the little cutie:

I can't believe he is already 6-months old.  The time is flying by so fast!

First Haircut and Fun in the Sun

I wanted to get one more blog post in before Owen's 6-month update.  On May 8th Owen got his first hair cut.  It's so funny to me, because Jack didn't get his first hair cut until around 18 months or so since he didn't have hair for a long time.  Owen's bangs were starting to get in his eyes, and his hair was going over his ears at a mere 5 1/2 months.  Big brother went first and had a crazy meltdown, but Owen took it in stride.  Here's all 3 of us in the chair.  

Owen sat in his car seat during Jack's haircut since Jack was NOT having a good time.  He's never flipped out before, but I guess 2.5 years old is when you get a fear of haircuts.  Jack was screaming trying to roll out of my arms.  The girl cutting Jack's hair was spraying the water bottle, and Jack was dripping snot and tears all over me.  Jack's super fine hair was in my nose and mouth.  I told Jonathan that it was like wrestling an alligator in the rain while someone blew feathers/dandelions in my face.  I had hair in my throat for about 2 hours after we left.  Quite the experience!  Owen just watched and relaxed on the sidelines.

Here's the little man with his fresh look:

We've had some record high temperatures here, but overall the weather has been beautiful (as usual, really).  Summer is definitely in the air.  This past weekend we went to the mall to enjoy the weather.  It was just a great family day.

Jackson has really been honing his climbing skills recently.  The boy can climb just about anything on a playground.  He called this netting the 'spider web.'

Jackson officially turned 2.5 years old two days ago.  He's changed so much even since his second birthday.  He talks constantly, and he's gotten a little bit demanding in his old age.  When he's upset he'll tell me, "Mama, get out room," "Go to room and close door," or point at me yelling "No!"  He also has the beginnings of a competitive spirit.  Whenever he finishes anything whether it's a game or not he'll yell, "I did it.  I win!"  My favorite, though, is that he recognizes his mother's addiction to caffeine.  He asks me most afternoons, "Mama, you need co-ee (coffee)?"  He must be able to see me hit the afternoon slump.  His favorite toy is currently Mr. Potato Head who he refers to as 'Mr. Tato.'  He has started projecting how he feels onto Mr. Tato where he'll tell us Mr. Tato is hungry or wants to watch tv when that's really how he feels....so cute!  He also talks to him, and he'll have Mr. Tato talk back to him saying, "Jack, do you wanna...."  I'll have to get a picture of the BFFs for the next blog.

Last weekend I participated in the Color Run of Orange County.  It was a great time, and I got to wear an outfit that was outside my normal personality.  I live with all boys, so there aren't many tutus in my life :).  Lucky for me it was more about having a good time than running fast, because I didn't train for a 5k.  

I was a little nervous that Owen would freak out while I was gone since he won't take a bottle, but everything ended up working out really well.  I fed Owen at 5:45am and put him back to sleep.  Owen usually wakes up sometime between 6:30 and 7:30am, but that morning he woke up at 8:30!  Of course the day I'm not home to sleep he sleeps in.  I was home by 10am, and he did totally fine without me.  

Fun at Home and Swimming Weather

We've been having a lot of fun at the house lately.  I'm trying to stick to some form of a schedule for Owen's naps to try to get him to sleep better at night, so we don't stray far from the house to make sure we're back in time for the next nap.  Luckily, both boys like being at home either playing with toys inside or playing out on the porch.  Owen has been getting some good floor time trying to strengthen those crawling muscles:

I try to do some sort of educational activity with Jack every morning, and I like to get Owen in on the action as much as possible.  Owen likes rolling the blocks and playing with the beads on the abacus looking thing.  I downloaded some preschool apps for Jack to work on numbers and letters.  He really got into tracing letters the other day.

I was having some 'alone time' in the shower the other night, and Jonathan was in charge of childcare.  During that time, Jonathan took pictures of Owen in a bunch of random spots in the house for his take on "Elf on the Shelf."  Here are a few of the picture of Owen being a good sport.

It's been back to swimming weather here, and there are several heated pools in our neighborhood.  Jack and Jonathan have had a lot of fun swimming in the evenings after Jonathan gets home from work.  Last summer Jack was still not a huge fan of the pool, but it's amazing the difference a year makes.  He LOVES the pool, and even likes jumping into the pool into Jonathan's arms.  It might be time for swim lessons.

We got a huge pool noodle and shark backpack for Jack.  Here he is excited to go:

And a little bit better picture of the adorable backpack before a late evening trip to the pool:

5-Month Update and Brotherly Love

Owen turned 5-months old this month, and the time continues to fly by.  His 5-month picture is a little bit dark, because I forgot to take it until close to bed time.  The lighting wasn't great...  He also kept trying to get on top of the elephant and bite his face :).

Owen is a little roly poly!  I'll leave the room and come back seconds later to find him on the other side of it.  He would have rolled under the couch the other day if he could have fit.  He LOVES his activity bouncer.  He has been in it over an hour at a time completely content just bouncing and bouncing.  Jack never really liked the bouncer very much at this same age, so it's nice to finally feel like it was a worthwhile purchase.  Owen still can't sit up on his own very well.  He can hold himself up with his hands touching the ground like a tripod or sit up unassisted for a few seconds, but he still tips over.  He pushes up and locks his elbows.  He also pushes up onto his knees while his face is still plastered to the ground.  He just needs to link the two together, but he is definitely starting to put the skills together to crawl in the next few months.  His sleep is still pretty inconsistent, but he averages about 2-3 wake ups a night still.  We've had bad nights with 5 wake ups and good nights with 1 wake up, but those are still rare.  He can put himself to sleep for naps, which is nice.  I'll put him down for a nap wide awake, he cries/grumbles for about a minute, and falls asleep on his own.  I think that covers most of the current developmental stuff!   

We have not introduced solids officially, but Owen liked gnawing on this carrot while I was making dinner one day.    

I have mashed a little banana between my fingers and let him taste it.  He kept pulling my finger back into his mouth to have another taste.  He makes a little bit of a shocked face, but he seemed to like it.  We'll officially start solids at the 6-month mark, but it's fun to let him have small tastes of baby-friendly foods. 

This picture makes me smile, because he's just so cute in the little duck outfit.  He liked grabbing at the ducks on his feet.

Jack and Owen are continuing to strengthen their brotherly bond.  Jack always says Owen is cute, and when Owen cries he'll tell me "Owen sad."  Jack helps to grab a diaper for me during Owen's diaper changes sometimes, and he likes to lay in bed with Owen after Owen wakes up from his nap occasionally.  Jack has always been a very affectionate child, and he loves to give his little brother hugs and laugh with him.  Owen thinks Jack is hilarious, and some of Owen's biggest giggles come from watching Jack do his 'silly dance.'

The picture on the right in the collage below is at Walmart with Jack in the cart and Owen in the Baby Bjorn.  They laugh at each other throughout shopping trips.

We bought matching kids chairs for Jack and Owen recently, and this is them try them out for the first time.  This is one of my favorite pictures.

That about covers it, and I can't believe next month we will have a 6-month old and 2.5 year old!

4-Month Update and Enjoying the Great Weather

My blog updates have become monthly instead of being more spontaneous like in the past.  Well, Owen turned 4-months old last Wednesday.  I'm loving these monthly pictures, because I feel like they really show how much he is changing.  This month he didn't continuously slide down in the chair onto his back.  He was able to hold himself in a seated position.  

Owen had his 4-month wellness visit this past Monday, and the stats are in:

4-month check-up (Monday March 25, 2013)

Weight- 15 lbs., 4 oz. (65th percentile)

Height- 25.5 inches (75th percentile)

Head- 45.2 cm/17.8 inches (topping the charts)

2-month check-up (January 24, 2013)

Weight- 12 lbs., 4 oz.

Height- 24.25 inches

Head- 40.5 cm/~16 inches

He has grown A LOT in the past 2 months!  Here he is waiting on the doctor...such a handsome little man:

Recently I purchased the Baby Merlin Magic Sleepsuit for Owen.  I was swaddling him, and he was starting to break out of the swaddle while rolling around and getting a little bit tangled up in it.  He was also waking himself up more often, especially as he fell asleep, with the involuntary twitches that babies often have.  I would set him down to sleep, and his arms would swing and wake him up.  This suit helps to minimize those twitches to help them fall asleep and stay asleep.  It is also thick to act as a blanket.  It has actually helped his sleep quite a bit.  He went from sleeping 8-9 hours per night with two wakings to 11-12 hours per night with two wakings.  He also falls asleep easily after each feeding at night instead of taking some work to get him to fall back asleep.  Here's a picture of him trying it on for the first time:

I just had to include this picture, because it's one of my favorites.  Owen loves snuggling with his daddy in the evenings.

The weather has been particularly beautiful lately, so we have been spending the majority of our days on the back porch playing and doing little crafts.  I bring Jack's table out and his bins of toys so he can play outside.

We did a little art project I found on pinterest where you fill a ziploc up with paint and let them move it around.

Jack has also really enjoyed painting pictures and using his crayons.  He likes me to join in sometimes where he will tell me a letter, and I draw it on his picture.

Jack also really enjoys puzzles lately.  Most of his Melissa and Doug puzzles were too easy for him, so we got him this 24 piece piece transportation puzzle from Pottery Barn Kids.  He and Jonathan will look at the cover of the box, and Jonathan helps walk him through the puzzle.  He is really good at it, and his patience and attention span for it is a little surprising.

Jack's vocabulary has been exploding lately, and he says a lot of funny stuff.  Some of his words for things are made up, and we have no idea where it comes from.  He calls a fire truck a "who who truck."  We are guessing that comes from the wooeee, woeee of the siren maybe?!  If I leave the house in the evening I say, "I'll be right back" and say "I'm back" when I come home.  Now Jack says, "I be right back, Mama."  He will leave the room and then come right back in and say, "I back!"  He also likes when you kiss his boo boos when he gets hurt.  He has fallen on his butt twice and said, "Mama, you kiss my butt?"  My favorite, though, is that he tells me that he loves me when he goes to bed at night.  Two year olds can be difficult at times, but they are also super, super sweet!