Taylor's 8th Birthday Party

Taylor's birthday is tomorrow but we had her birthday party today. She invited some of her friends to celebrate her birthday at Ray's Splash Planet. Ray's Splash Planet is an indoor swim park in downtown Charlotte. All the kids had a great time playing together. They especially enjoyed going down the large water slide. This trip was the first time Taylor was tall enough to go down the big slide and she was super excited. I think she must have gone down that slide at least 30 times!
After two hours of playing in the water we went into the party room for pizza, cake and ice cream and gifts. The theme of the party was Hannah Montana- go figure! :)


































After the party we came home. Nana was nice enough to watch Owen for us while we took Taylor to her birthday party. Owen did great and was a good boy for Nana. Then, Nana surprised Taylor with a birthday gift. Nana got Taylor a guitar! Taylor has wanted a guitar for a while now and could hardly contain her excitement when she ripped open the large package. It is a pink Daisy Rock acoustic guitar- perfect for Tay. Monday we're going to get Taylor signed up for guitar lessons. I think we have a future rock star on our hands!!

Under Water!

Can you say rain, rain and more rain? The past 24 hours have been wet here in good ole' N.C. Our area has been graced with the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay which has inundated us with more than 8 inches of rain. The storms were most aggressive last night bringing tornado and flood warnings/watches. The lighting and thunder were intense! This morning we woke to reports of more than 12 thousand people without power and multiple road closures due to flooding. In fact, just down the street from our house a major road was closed due to the flooding of a nearby creek. The large nature preserve in front of our house is completely flooded. I've never seen the water so high! Taylor's new school also flooded and all the kids had to start classes in the Gym this morning. Poor kids! I don't know why they didn't just cancel school for the day.
Fortunately, our house and cars have gone untouched and we remain above water. Some of the neighborhoods around us have not been so lucky. The worst part is the forecast is calling for more rain tonight. They are also worrying about the rain we might see if the remnants of Gustav make way into our area. We can only wait and see what happens.





This house is in the neighborhood just down the street from us.




This is a shot of one of the many flooded streets in Charlotte.

Doctor, School, Misc...

Owen's two week check-up was Wednesday. He now weighs 7 lbs 15 oz which means he has gained a total of 1 lb 3 oz since he was discharged from the hospital less than two weeks ago! The doctor was very surprised to see how quickly he is gaining weight. Maybe we have a future linebacker on our hands! Owen's color is much better- so no more worries about jaundice. Funny side note- Owen peed on the doctor! :) I had to have his diaper off to have him weighed and then the doctor started examining him and got a shower in the process! The doctor had a good laugh and said "at least we know his pipes work!" Too funny!

We went to Back to School Night on Thursday at Taylor's school. We got to see the brand new school where Taylor will attend 2nd grade and meet her teacher Ms. De Long. The new school is beautiful and her teacher seems really nice. We are so glad they built a new school and that Taylor was one of the lucky kids chosen to attend school there. Her old school was built in the 1920s and was just a bit run down.

Taylor's first day of school was yesterday. She wanted to wear some of her new school clothes that Great Grandma Rose got her. She looked so pretty! I can't believe she's already going into 2nd grade. It seems like only yesterday I was taking her to her first day of kindergarten. I hate it that kids grow up so fast!! On top of that- Taylor turns 8 this weekend! Where does the time go?








Here's Taylor on the morning of the first day of 2nd grade. New dress, new shoes, new backpack. Stylin'!





This is another new outfit Taylor got from Great Grandma Rose. It is a Hannah Montana outfit. Taylor wore this on the second day of school. She is too cute!







I had to add these two photos. Jason was trying to feed Owen his first bottle. Owen wasn't taking it very well. He wouldn't eat from the bottle unless I was feeding it to him. I guess Owen is just used to me being the "milk machine" :)

What's happening......

Owen had his first doctor appointment on Wednesday. He is doing well. As all babies do after birth, Owen lost weight and weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. when we discharged from the hospital on 8/7. As of Wednesday 8/13, Owen has gained all of his weight back and more, weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 oz.!! Owen was showing some signs of jaundice so he had some blood work done to check his bilirubin levels. Turns out Owen's bilirubin count was a bit elevated. But upon a second blood test on Friday 8/15, the count has gone down. So we have just been instructed to keep an eye on him. Typically once the bilirubin count starts to decline it does not increase again. The doctor also told us that jaundice is common in breast fed babies. So, no worries! We are all doing well. Owen is such a good baby. He wakes up every two hours during the day to eat and between 2-3 hours at night. Once he is fed at night he usually goes right back to sleep.
Taylor is adjusting well. She loves her little brother very much and is eager to help out. To give her some "Daddy time" we took her to NASCAR Speed park to play video games with Jason. She had a blast. I included some pics from the trip. Owen slept the entire time even though it was extremely noisy.
I also included some photos of Taylor singing in her bedroom. She likes to put her Hannah Montana or Jonas Brothers CDs on and lip-sync to the songs. She pretends she is putting on a concert- it is too cute!










Taylor's legs weren't quite long enough to reach the pedals.



Daddy and Owen taking a nap- how sweet!



Tay in her "I'm the Big Sister" T-Shirt






Tay at her "concert"

Go Buffs!

I just had to update the blog with these new pics of Owen. My Dad bought Owen his first CU outfit- he looks so cute in it! Go Buffs!!!


"You know who's #1"

Owen has arrived!!

I apologize for taking so long to update everyone on Owen's birth. The last few days have been hectic as you might expect. After 13 hours of labor, Owen came into the world on August 5th at 2:31 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. 20 inches long. Owen and I were released from the hospital on Thursday and since then we have all been trying to establish some sort of routine. Owen is doing great. He is a very healthy and happy baby. Taylor is such a proud big sister. She really enjoys having her baby brother around although she does not enjoy hearing the baby cry. Owen has a very healthy set of lungs! The dogs are also trying to adjust to our new family member. Lanai has been through this before, so she has been fine. Sos, on the other hand, is very curious. He gets up to check on Owen at every little peep. I will continue to update the blog when I have time- Enjoy the pictures!









Just born

Proud big sister



Grandma and Owen

Update

Well, no news to report. We did not hear from the hospital Thursday or Friday and they do not do elective inductions over the weekend. We'll see if they call on Monday. My Mom comes into town tomorrow- so excited! It will be so nice to have her here.
We haven't been up to a lot these last couple of days. Taylor and I have done some art projects together and watched a few movies. It has been extremely hot and humid here which makes it hard to be outside for too long. We tried to walk up to the playground in our neighborhood, which can't be more than a mile away, and that proved to be a bad idea. We didn't stay at the playground for more than a half hour before we were tired of the heat and needed to get back to the air conditioning.

I took Taylor and her friend to play in "the fountain" at Birkdale today. This fountain is one of our favorite places to go. The kids always have such a blast and it's a great way for them to cool off. Below are some pictures.


Taylor and Brianna- I love this picture!




Tay being silly.