Christmas and misc

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Although the temperature during the month of December was often near 70 degrees, it turned out to be nice. It makes it hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it's so warm outside. However, once we decorated the house and made our traditional Christmas cookies, it finally felt like Christmas.
We spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Karen's house in Charlotte. Barb, Margaret and Garrett flew in from Nebraska and Merritt was home from his first semester at CU Boulder. It was so nice to see everyone and I especially enjoyed hearing how much Merritt was enjoying school, and how he has fallen in love with Boulder. How could anyone not love that town?
Owen did alright at his first big family get-together despite all the new faces and stimulation. He had a couple crying fits when he got too tired to stand all the chaos. We had to seclude him to a quite room a couple of times until he calmed down and fell asleep. Not too bad! I remember those days with Taylor, who was completely inconsolable at family get-togethers. Owen was a piece of cake compared to her!
We arrived home late Christmas Eve night but Taylor made sure not to forget to leave out the cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeer (she left one baby carrot for each reindeer- so sweet!)
Santa arrived right on time and left a tree full of gifts for us! Taylor and Owen received toys and clothes. Jason got a new pair of shoes and Santa spoiled me with a new watch, new shoes and lotion (Santa was only supposed to buy me one gift per our mutual agreement, but apparently he forgot- silly Santa :)! Then later Christmas day, we were invited to dinner at Chris and Jen's. It was a very nice day!

Owen has been rolling over sporadically since he was two months old- but just recently he has taught himself to roll over at will. He is very excited about this new skill and so are we. He has only been rolling from his back to his stomach, so far. Once he gets himself over to his stomach he tries so hard to crawl- but to no avail. If anything he ends up pushing himself backward instead of crawling forward. It's so much fun to watch! He is doing great with the baby foods. He is a pro at swallowing now and usually eats a whole serving of the Gerber food at a sitting. I have not had a chance yet to make any of my own baby food at home- who was I kidding to think I would have the time for that?!?
Taylor starts Girl Scout Cookie sales January 1st- so if anyone would like to order some cookies- we would be happy to fulfill your request. We'll even ship them to you!

We don't have any plans for New Years Eve. Honestly, I would much rather stay in the safety of my own home then venture out on this night. There are too many crazy people out there these days!
Taylor and I have plans to go have a girls day out tomorrow! We plan to see the movie Marley and Me and then have lunch together. I can't wait!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Have a happy and safe New Year!! Enjoy the new video and pictures!!

Here is Taylor decorating her Gingerbread house that Grandma and Papa sent. She is wearing an apron that Jen gave her for Christmas. In fact, Jen gave Mommy a matching apron so we can both wear our matching aprons when we bake together! Too cute! Thanks Jen!!


Here is Owen with Barb. Owen fell in love with Barb. Barb was the only person, other than Mommy, who was able to calm Owen down when he was getting grumpy. I think Barb was pretty fond of Owen as well!


Taylor and Margaret opening gifts.


Taylor in her new coat from Aunt Karen.


Garrett opening his gifts.




Taylor got new books from Nana!!!


Owen with his new teething toy.


Taylor got to open one gift Christmas Eve night and it was her new Christmas PJ's- Aren't they adorable!!!




Christmas morning- Taylor actually waited until 6:30am to wake us up this year. That's late!!

Taylor in her Christmas dress....isn't she beautiful!?! Her dress came with a matching dress for her doll!





Owen in his Christmas PJ's


Taylor in her cook uniform set Grandma and Papa sent. Too Cute!

Bumbo Video

First Foods

Thursday night began the journey into new tastes and textures for Owen. He had his first taste of baby food....bananas!! I'd give him a bite, he would look at me like he was worried, then he would play with it in his mouth for a minute and spit it out. I don't think he actually "ate" any of the bananas.
We tried the bananas again Friday night, and I think he's getting the hang of this eating thing. He ate, and kept down, about a tablespoon altogether of bananas.
We'll finish the bananas Saturday night, then Sunday it's on to peas!

What is this?

This is weird!

Not today!

4 months old and second set of shots

Time has completly flown by and Owen is already 4 months old. We took him to the doctor today for his second round of shots. Owen is now 13 pounds 14 ounces and 25 inches long. He is in the 60th percentile for his height and 30th percentile for his weight. As the doctor put it, Owen is "long and lean". I was a little worried when I heard that he was only in the 30th percentile for his weight, but our doctor said that he has no concerns at all. In fact, he said that we would only need to worry if Owen were to have two consecutive visits at or below the 5th percentile. Owen is well above that!
As far as Owen's development, he is right on track. Owen is holding his head on his own very well and is even sitting up on his own for a few seconds at a time. He has rolled over on his own a few times, though that skill has not yet become routine. He is tracking with his eyes and grabbing for his toys. He is also super interested in food. When we sit down to eat in the evening, we pull Owen up to the table in his car seat so he can sit with us while we eat. Sometimes he gets cranky and wants to be held. For the past week or so when I hold him at the table while I'm eating, he grabs for my food and plate. The other night he nearly pulled my plate off the table. Little booger! The doctor said that is a good sign that he is ready for solids. We can start to feed him rice cereal and 1st step baby foods. I think I may dabble and make some of our own baby foods at home.
Owen has also learned how to make himself cough. He has figured out that if he coughs it will get our attention. It is too funny- he'll cough a couple times to get us to look over at him- then he just smiles like "Ha, Ha- fooled ya!"
We bought Owen a Bumbo seat so he can sit and play and we have some great video of him playing with his toys. I'll try to get that uploaded this weekend.

Happy Holidays!

Visit to see Santa

This weekend we took the kids(gosh, it still feels weird to say that- kids? plural?)to the mall to see Santa. Taylor was super excited, as she always is, except she was a little upset that she forgot her list for Santa at home. I made her feel better by explaining I had already emailed the list to Santa, and I was sure he would know exactly what she wanted for Christmas. Owen did fine- He got a little fussy while we waited in line, but Jason helped by walking him around, and that seemed to keep him happy.
Once we got up to see Santa, I handed Owen over and Santa propped him up on his lap. I just knew Owen would scream, but he didn't. He just sat there staring at Taylor while she told Santa what she wanted for Christmas.

I included a slideshow with the pictures from today. Plus, I added some photos from last weekend when we decorated the house for Christmas. And there is a special photo of Taylor holding her latest Math test. She has been struggling with Math this year. Poor thing, I was horrible at Math and I think she got my Math gene's. But she came home on Friday with an excellent score on her Math test. We are so proud of her!!! Great job Taylor- hard work pays off!!!