Monkey.

This little monkey is in love with bananas right now. He still loves his cars and has three clutched in his hand below and the other hand with a death grip on his banana so Owen doesn't get it.
He's up to eating about three a day and follows me around asking,
"more nana?"

He also insists that you start peeling the banana and hand it over to him. I've learned to pick my battles and how can you deny a little person asking for fruit. Gummy worms, yes. Bananas, no.
We've got one happy little monkey.

This Man...

...Celebrated his birthday and turned 31 today!... Spent some time with his boys watching Wipe Out and Listened to Carter say "more crash."

... Just happened to wear a matching Birthday shirt with Owen.

...Opened presents (with the help of Carter) his favorite candy, Red Vines, PB M&Ms and racketball glasses.

... Shared his cake and new birthday glasses with Carter.

... Took some time off from work tonight to celebrate with his family and his wife was grateful to see him.... Has two little boys who adore him and did an outstanding job coloring his birthday card.
Happy Birthday Mike!

Assisted Walking.

Owen is moving right along.
Yesterday he discovered the joys of "assisted walking." Then decided once again, he gets where he wants to go quicker when crawling. He'll be walking sooner than we think. Today at the splashpad he pulled himself up using me and then stood there, I was in shock. Go Owen go!

Another Word.

Carter is continuing to learn new words and never ceases to amaze us. Here's my favorite one from the past two weeks. We laugh every time we hear it.



Some other words Carter is saying these days...
eyeball, bubbles, stuck, red, green, blue, hot dog, kethcup, chicken, nanna (banana), key (candy or cookie), ready-set-go, choo-choo, cat, sheep (says "baah"), fish, slide, bike, tree, boat, chair, stairs, tractor, juice, O-we (Owen), mine, my car, nite-nite, off, up.


PS_ Notice the hard blinking Carter is doing in the first video? Weird huh? Does anyone else have a little one that does this? I'm thinking we may need to go visit the eye doctor but don't want to take him there if it is normal or nothing to worry about.

Out.

In reference to my earlier post this week, I have decided that the best therapy for me this week was just to get OUT of the house. Sometimes just the smallest act of getting everyone ready and out the door can seem gigantic. We make it to the gym almost every morning, but getting out twice in one day is a chore. But we needed it. Thanks to a good friend of mine, who's finally home from vacation wahoo!, we've made it out of the house several times since Monday. I am feeling rejuvenated and Carter is so much happier with the change of scenery and the chance to play with other kids.

We had a play date at our friends home and even Owen was able to play. Yesterday we headed out to the splash pad.* We stopped at Sonic for drinks and lunch. Here are Carter and Tayson enjoying themselves. Yes, poor Carter has my fair skin and I still can't figure how Tayson gets so dark. Must be a Ramage thing.














Owen wasn't sure at first about the splash pad. I'd put him down and he'd crawl over and climb up my leg. The funny thing is last summer I remember Carter doing the exact same thing when we started going to splash pads. But Owen soon warmed up once we found a little spout he could play with and not be overwhelmed by. In fact, he was so entertained I couldn't do anything to get his attention for a picture. Overall it was a lot of fun and much needed for everyone in our household. I'm just sorry that Mike had to work all week while his family got to play.



Another good reason for getting OUT. Carter played hard and when he finally crashed it was on our bed snuggling with me. That alone is therapy. It's not often a toddler slows down long enough to snuggle with mommy. I won't mention that he crashed in undies, so the entire time I kept thinking, please don't pee in our bed, please don't pee in our bed. He didn't and he slept there like a log for over an hour. Don't all kiddos look angelic while they sleep? I still love peeking in on both of them at night when they are all snuggled up and snoring. They get that from Mike.

*(Splash pads are really popular in Texas and we love them. Just a play place with water shooting out of the ground and all over from different contraptions. Perfect with little ones and less scary than going to the pool. Most neighborhoods and parks have them.)

Hybrid.

So what's your hybrid sound like?



Carter loves Cars. Mike loves to watch YouTube with Carter. I love VW commercials.
(sigh... we miss our Passat)
This commercial seems to make us all laugh. Especially when Carter plays along. Enjoy!

Since we're on the subject of things that "hawl." Here's a quick video of Owen hawling it across the game room. He's a mover!

Therapy.

After having a rough day some people need a little therapy.

I'm having one of those, feel all alone days, with a two year old testing boundaries at the expense of his little brother, trapped in the house because you have no where to go and no one to go with, with a husband working late...

Back to the therapy...Some people eat, some people work out, some people call a friend to talk, my therapy of choice? Retail. I am in love with this...
Now the discussion in my head begins...
Do I need this? No
Do I want the adorable blue tank and short sleeve white cardigan? Yes
Will it make me feel better? Absolutely
Could I explain to Mike spending $50 bucks on it? Nope.
Do I have anywhere to wear it? Sadly, no.

I wish I had a birthday coming up then I could purchase it guilt free.
Mike has a birthday coming up? Does that count? Most likely not.

If you love it too, www.downeastbasics.com, but if you buy it, I wear a small and would like to borrow it for next Friday. wink, wink.

Sundays.

It was a busy Sunday. Early church, crazy un-routine naps for the kids, preparing dinner for six and two little ones, a missionary farewell open house, dinner with the missionaries, cleaning up toys, kids and the house from the busy day. Whew. I really missed my Sunday nap.

The boys are doing well. Carter is still potty training. Over two weeks now in big boy undies and he's just 25 months. I say potty "training" because every three to four days he'll have an accident at the house. Frustrating, but at least it happens at home where it is easy to take care of. I know everyone has their own definition of potty trained, mine is no accidents. So we're well on our way. He's made it through three Sundays at church with no accidents and over two weeks at the gym in the morning. He absolutely loves his "Cars" undies and gets excited each time he puts them on. I'm pretty proud of him!

Owen is full of surprises these days. Like earlier this week at a friends house when I turned around to see him half way up the stairs. When did that happen? Now if we don't shut the baby gate downstairs you can hear him giggle as he crawls as fast as he can around the corner to the stairs.

It was a beautiful afternoon so we took the boys into the front yard for some pictures together. This is Carter helping Owen clap. We've been working on this all week. I can't tell who enjoys it more Carter or Owen, either way it makes us all laugh. It was a little trickier this time getting both boys to look at us and smile. Here's the before... ...and the after. That pose didn't last long at all before Carter took them both down. Owen wore his first pair of shoes today. They match Carters and Carter thought that was the greatest thing in the world. But was frustrated Owens shoes wouldn't fit his feet. Carter size 8.5 wide, Owen 3 wide. They both have the crazy wide pillow top feet, an absolute nightmare to find shoes for and I unlike most women hate to shoe shop. So it's a challenge, but I was really pleased when I found these. Here they are admiring the new kicks. Sometimes I love Sundays and sometimes I have a hard time with them. Trying to keep two little ones quite, happy or out of trouble at church can be a challenge and is harder some Sundays. Today was no exception other than Owen taking a nap third hour, which is what really threw a kink in our nap schedule for the day. I do however enjoy spending time together with our family. It's nice to practice keeping the sabbath day holy and take a step back from the world. There's no pressure to accomplish things or errands. It really does allow families a chance to get back to the basics. To build and strengthen relationships with the Lord and each other.

Here's to another week of everything all over again.

Dance Fever.

It's funny to think that I look forward to Wednesday because of a television show, but I do and I'm not the only one. Carter loves, loves, loves So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). We started watching it last summer and even then he would get super close to the TV and dance. This year he loves it that much more. He snuggles up in our laps and is mesmerized by the music and movements. (He really is my artsy kiddo, loving all music and dance.) Carter has now started to learn some new dance moves and copies the dancers on TV. Anytime he hears music you can see his head start to bop and then his hips start to sway, even today in church he busted a move while the choir sang and then clapped at the end and asked for more. A few weeks ago he even started to sing along to the radio in the car.

Two weeks ago there was a dance by Kayla and Kupono that we liked. Very moving. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Lv_Feui8c)
Watch this before you watch Carters version to really appreciate his moves. Enjoy!


The video below is from a month ago when he was still in diapers. He's in big boy undies now. He's dancing to the music on Owens leap frog table.


Have a little extra time on your hands?
We loved this dance too. I also love the Twilight series so it all fits. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evDZhPya5SA)

Nine.

Owen is now NINE months!

The Stats: Weight 21 lbs.50-75%, Height 29 inches 75-90%, FOC 45 cm 50%

Updates: Still crawling and pulling up. Sleeping 12 hours each night and is a 7:15 pm in bed baby. Down to one nap a day for 2-3 hours. Eating fruits, veggies, cereal and finger foods. He loves green beans, chicken nuggets, whole grain bread, bagels, nutrigrain bars and yogurt melts. You put it in front of him and he'll eat it... I love this stage.


Here are some fun things to know about our little "O-We" as Carter calls him.

• Face Chomper. He's always done this. He loves to grab onto your hair and then he opens his mouth wide and comes in for the face chomping. He'll latch on and chomp or suck or just rub spit on our cheek. It's very endearing and funny.
• The Silent Type. Owen is a pretty quiet baby, always has been and is pretty easy to please. I can't decide if just prefers to sit back and take it all in, or if he realizes the competition with Carter is too extreme. He likes to hang out and watch everything and then once he makes a decision he silently and quickly creeps his way over to whatever he wants. (Usually it's the dog bone that he can spot from the other side of the room- a real thorn in my side) Not much baby jabber is heard from this man unless, 1. He's moments away from falling asleep, either crying or jabbering in the car seat, or 2. He's hungry and will climb up my leg and whine.
  
• Smiler. He's always been a good smiler and it doesn't take much to get a big grin from him. His little smile is now full of three top teeth and two bottom ones.
• Snuggler. His favorite spot is on your chest with his bum patted and sucking on his thumb. He would prefer to be snuggled and rocked to sleep every night, but is learning to get a good snuggle, lullaby and then go down by himself a little drowsy.
• Addition. When you have one baby you feel like your heart can only contain enough love for the one. Then you have another one and your heart triples and the new addition makes you realize the bounds of love are endless. Owen has taught me to dig deeper, try harder and love more. He's the perfect addition to our family. He's easy going (one of us needs to be), full of giggles, puts up with Carter and at times puts him in his place, he loves his Daddy, can light up a room with his blue eyes and perfect smile and melts his Mommy's heart.
  

Bonding.

For the past few weeks we've been putting Owen to bed first and letting Carter stay up a little later. It's been a good thing for Mike and Carter. A little extra time for these two to play together and just hang out and bond. Mike reads him books, they watch a little tv together, sometimes they wrestle or practice somersaults. I was able to capture this moment the other night after bath time. Oh how I love my boys.

C.A.D.

Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a!

I'd been looking forward to this day since I heard about it last year. It's amazing and so simple. You dress like a cow and get free food on July 10th for cow appreciation day. Sign me up, slap a cow spot on me and bring on the chick-fil-a number 1 - no pickle, no butter and an ice cold coke! Lucky for me my family was willing to come along and let me dress them up as well.
At this point our "spots" were already falling off and Owen was taking them off to chew on. Owen loved the fries and free cheerios. I believe he was more excited than Carter.
All in all, five sheets of black construction paper,
one white headband,
two cow ears,
a few print outs from the computer on white card stock,
a yard of brown ribbon,
double sided tape
and white shirts already hanging in the closet
=
two #1 meals,
two kids meals
and a perfect free family date night.
I'd guess by swallowing our pride and dressing like cows we saved at least $25 bucks and a had a good time doing it!
I've already marked my calendar for next year for the second Friday in July.

Moments.

Moments like these I live for... Owen is a force to be reckon with. He doesn't sit still for long and is exploring every nook and cranny of our living room and kitchen. Yet, Carter has a way of pinning him down to give him hugs. It's been an interesting few days with these two. We haven't left the house much other than the gym, but the story behind that is for another post. For the most part they do a pretty good job of entertaining each other and I'm grateful they have each other and grateful that, well, we've survived the past eight months. whew.

However, moments like these I could do without...

Looking up before you turn off your bedroom light to see this above your bed and ceiling fan is a moment I can live without. Lucky for me, Mike saw it first. I can't even imagine what would have happened if it dropped off the ceiling into the bed in the middle of the night, yikes! The big question is how in the world did our little lizard makes it way into the house, and then up on the second floor ceiling of our bedroom? Really? We've had frogs through the doggy door before, but this time the doggy door isn't even in. Only in Houston I suppose. Should I be worried about other things making their way in?

Tackle.

There's nothing like a good push on the lion... followed with a tackle by your loving big brother.

Owen is a tough little guy and wasn't hurt. Mike was filming them and I believe he said they both rolled around on the floor and giggled. Or that could just be the story he's telling me...

Just a few notes.

Here are a handful of pictures and just a few notes from this past week.

We stayed home on the 4th so we could put Owen to bed at his normal time 7:15. He's finally on such a good schedule we just didn't want to mess with it when we have church early on Sunday mornings. Also, it's just been too hot to take the kids out. Carter really didn't care for anything firework related. He would sign "done" and hide behind me. But given Carters reaction to the fireworks we had at the house, I'm glad we didn't bother going anywhere bigger. Maybe next year.

Now that Owen is bigger we've decided to let him lose in the bathtub with Carter. Here he is tackling Carter. I believe this is the only time he has the upper hand. Carter is usually slapping his own belly followed by jumping down in the water to create a monster splash covering the entire bathroom. Owen is not a big fan of the splashing.

Carter enjoying some cookie dough. Owen eating some beef stroganoff. Doesn't he have the best baby blues?

An afternoon pep talk from Carter to Owen after church. Carter is definitely two and has decided he has his own opinion on things. Sometimes he wants to be helpful and I love it, other times he refuses to do things and simply shakes his head no. I asked him to smile, say cheese for the camera. He decided he would much rather look at his cars book. But hey, at least Owen still smile for me.
He's up and cruising. Pulling up on everything and gaining more balance. I love that he still has his baby arm rolls.