I'm back after a forced hiatus due to a crashed hard drive. It wasn't a virus after all that took down the computer but rather a total meltdown of the hard drive. So my worst fears came true and we have lost the last two and half years of videos, photos and files on our computer. I'm pretty heart broken. But at the same time relieved that at least I have been blogging for the past year and a half, and before then managed to use flicker for some pictures of Carter. So really, not everything is lost, about 15% is on the Internet waiting or me to figure out how to download it and print it. Thank goodness for the internet! We've also invested in an external hard drive to back up our files so this doesn't happen again.
So here is what we've been up to.
Carter went in for his two year check up and is healthy and strong. He's still a chart topper, coming in at the 95the percentile for everything. The pediatrician reminded me once again that he is the size of a three year old and that people will most likely mistake him for that and expect him to behave better and talk. He told me I would need to let people know he is only two. In actuallity I've been having to have this conversation with people since he started walking. Just the reality of having a big kid. Height: 37 1/4 inches Weight: 33.3 lbs FOC: 51 cm BMI: 16.98
Carter sleeping on the plane with his binkie and car blanket.
Carter is binkie free. We took away the binkie last Thursday. For the past 8 months he's only had it during naptime and bedtime. We've been meaning to take it away sooner but never felt the time was right, too many other changes happening. Once we got back from our trip we both felt it was time to say goodbye. We had a talk that went something like this.
Me: "Carter binkies are for babies. You are a big boy you don't need the binkie anymore." Carter: sobs and tears "whah" and then pleading.
Mike was the strong one, because after this I was useless, a sobbing mommy on the couch. I felt bad for Carter and was sad to see this last piece of him being a baby go away. Mike and Carter walked over to the trash and Carter threw it away. That was the last of the binkie. He cried for about three hours that night and for the past week has been getting up in the middle of the night crying. But each night it gets better and he is learning to live without it and I'm grateful.
Owen in Idaho 8 months.
Little Owen is a moving machine. He's getting quick and seems to crawl everywhere. Turn your back for a second and he could easily be in the other room. He's also pulling up on everything, his favorite thing to climb is my leg. We love it when he crawls across the room and climbs into our lap. This week he has started to pull up and cruise. Taking baby steps while holding onto the furniture. He doesn't go too far before falling, usually a few steps. I've taken the lion walker back out of storage, well to be honest Carter dug it out for me and is having a hard time sharing it with Owen. He's getting stronger each day and the idea of him walking excites me. At this rate my guess is in the next month he'll manage to take a few steps.
While in Idaho Owen started to get his two front teeth. Seems that with each trip we make up there one of our children gets a tooth. Makes for a few rough nights sharing a bedroom. Right now he has three teeth, the two bottom and one top. The other top tooth is on the verge of coming through. He's also figured out he has teeth on the top and bottom and is beginning to grind them together. We are officially done nursing and Owen is on formula. The first week on formula was also the week we traveled. After three days he developed a rash/hives on his cheeks which then spread to his legs and stomach. He also came down with a cold. There were so many variables it was hard to know what was causing what. I decided to switch him to soy formula thinking that the hives were from the milk based formula, within two days on new formula it began to clear up. I had one of those moments of pure guilt, like I should have nursed him longer, I even contemplated pumping and building my milk supply back up. But I was done and really felt like it was time to stop for both of us. I'm glad the soy formula is working out for him and I really enjoy the convenience of Owen being able to hold his own bottle during feedings.
Another update on Owen, he had surgery Monday morning to have tubes put into his ears. When we got back into town I had a feeling he might have an ear infection. So at Carters appointment I had the pediatrician just look in Owens ears. Sure enough he did. It was his third one since January. So I called the ENT and got him in for a hearing test and ask about tubes. I thought I was being pretty aggressive not wanting Owen to have the hearing loss that Carter had before the tubes. Turns out my aggressiveness wasn't aggressive. The ENT agreed Owen was a good candidate. He also had some moderate hearing loss, an infection in one ear and negative pressure in the other. So we got him in for surgery in less than a week (our high deductible insurance plan starts over on July 1, so it was a race to get him in before then). Mike was really busy at work so I had a babysitter come in the morning to stay with Carter and I took Owen in by myself. His surgery seemed so much easier than Carters and he seems to be doing well. Today he just wanted to be held and snuggled. He hates the ear drops but loves the amoxicillin. I really feel like I haven't stopped in the past week.
Between dealing with the computer hard drive issues, unpacking, doctor appointments for everyone in the family, teaching RS, running errands and just being a mom I am beat. The ironic thing is that I am so tired I just can't seem to sleep. Just restless and full of anxiety. Not sure what else is going to be thrown my way, but I really do feel like we deserve a break. An uneventful week would do us some good.
The entire gang. 
Owen with Aunt Nikki, she's expecting a little girl this September. 
Watching "Cars" with the Bryan and Mike. Every morning Carter would wake up go upstairs and say "more cars" and try to turn on the dvd player. I really think we watched it about three times each day and once each way on the airplane. Since then everything Carter says is still about cars, "more cars", "go cars", "bye bye cars"...
It was a competition with these two to get Grandma's attention. She was good at juggling them both.
Saying one last goodbye to cousin Landon.
With Love,
Love this Owen face.
Saying "cheese" for the camera.
Carter giving loves. 
Since this, I did trim Owens hair. I hadn't realized how tall his mow hawk was.
The little man by himself. 7.5 months.
I've started the weaning process with Owen. Things are going well and unlike last time I plan to make this as comfortable as possible on all of us, meaning we're doing this slowly for my body. Right now Owen is taking bottles all day with half formula half EBM. It's been a little tricky trying to figure out what formula to use and I'm trying to find one that won't break the bank. Recently I'm trying the target brand similar to infamil, the ingredients are exactly the same but half the cost. Owen still has acid reflux and is on prevacid so I'm trying to find something that will work for that too. What formula has worked for you? 
Owens first french fry.
Opening presents. Owen was getting into the action as well by eating whatever he could manage to get into his mouth.
"This is delicious, thank you mommy."
It was a pretty cool place to be for the under one crowd too. (
Cupcakes. Pizza. Pasta Salad. Watermelon and Capri Suns.
