Flashback Friday

I just love this picture of Danny. I have no idea how old he was here, maybe around 1 year???

Owen

My future heartbreaker!

maybe just a little

(Our good friend Michael took the pictures of Owen at 6 months of age. Ben is 7 1/2 months here.)

If you look real close, you can see those mean little teeth that are causing my poor Ben so much pain!

He ran a fever all last night and barely slept (which meant I didn't sleep either.)

Look at all that drool...

(I think he is really starting to look a lot like Danny! Especially those big brown eyes and expressive eyebrows!)

Shower for baby Will

On Saturday, me and Ben attended a baby shower for Ali and baby Will. Will will be joining the Parris clan in April only a few days after her girls, Anna and Brooke's, 2nd birthday.

Our good friend and my college roommate, Lori, hosted the shower. She did and amazing job!!! Martha would be proud!!!


I thought Little Ben was going to start crawling while we were there. He pushed up on his knees and started rocking. It wont be long...


wore out!

James the Birthday Boy

Saturday morning Danny and I took Owen and Ben to celebrate our little friend James' 2nd birthday. It was at Asheville's Fun Depot. I think all the kids had a ball!!!

Owen especially loved the basket ball toss.
and the Pinata!



and he had his share of cake and cupcakes, too!

He said # 3 & 4

#3

There is an episode of Go, Diego, Go where they have these bees that swarm in formations and sing. Well, when Owen comes downstairs in to the foyer when the sun is shining in brightly, he'll start singing the little song they sing and over and over he is saying, "busy, busy bees." When what he is referring to is not actually bees, but dust in the air.

He did this today when we had company...like I wasn't embarrassed enough that you could see the dust in the air, but he just had to sing a song about it!

#4

When I change Owen's dirty diapers, I'll usually say,"Ewe gross." Last night he lifted up my shirt exposing my stomach and said, "Ewe gross," and quickly lowered my shirt.

** You can always count on your children to be honest with you**

This little guy...

Now has two bottom teeth (hince the drool covered bib.)

Is busy playing, rolling, trying to crawl and he started babbling ba ba ba ba ba today while looking in the mirror at himself.

Loves, loves to splash and play in the bath!

Welcome Baby Mackenzie!

Mackenzie Grace Collins
Born 2/16/2009 11:34pm
7lbs 4 ounces
20 inches

He said #2

I have been trying to teach Owen mine and Danny's real names just in case he ever needs to know them. The other day, our conversation went like this...

Me: Owen, what's Mommy's name?
Owen: ristal

Me: Owen, What's Daddy's name?
Owen: (yelling) DANNY

I take it I must yell for Danny A LOT :)

Where's the party?

We took a break from painting today and walked up the street to our new little friend Matthew's birthday party.

Here's the birthday boy... Notice the missing Trix ice cream cone? I'll bet you can't guess who snuck that one off the table and probably licked the other 7?

Ben was having his own little party in the exersaucer. He liked it a little better once we raised it up.

This lady took Ben from me as soon as we walked in. I am not real sure who she was and she didn't speak much English.Perhaps as it is customary to remove your shoes, so is it to pass off your child. She seemed harmless, however, I stayed pretty close at all times.

Owen and the birthday boy. Owen was SO excited to wear a party hat!

"Where's Waldo?"
(if you can't find him, he's the one in the red shirt)

(Notice the Trix ice cream cone is back. I think poor Grace had to keep replacing the ones Owen kept taking.)

The buffet... I didn't have a clue what anything was, but Danny was in hog heaven and was so glad he didn't eat before we left the house.
We had so much fun!

Be Mine

Danny and I decided to not "celebrate" Valentine's Day this year, so no dinner out, flowers, cards and unnecessary gifts. Instead, we decided to spend all day yesterday painting our bedroom, which almost led to a divorce, and take out from Panera. I really wanted to bake cupcakes with Owen and let him give them to his friends... Danny thought I just wanted cupcakes, so today he made them while I was painting the bathroom. When he told me they were finished, I got upset and made him at least let Owen add sprinkles and take a few pictures.

So here ya go...

He managed to sprinkle one cupcake...

eat a few sprinkles...

and test the icing to make sure it was OK...

Then he enjoyed his very own red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing and sprinkles...

If you subtract the # of cupcakes Owen stuck his finger in and the # we each ate, there actually aren't enough to share. Oh well...

This week...

A wonderful visit from one of my former students, Jackie.
Me and Ben and my super fancy camera! Don't hate.


Owen and his "turtle ride." He rides the turtle ALL day long.

Owen running. He likes to play chase with the dogs... He does more of the running. They just sit back and look at him with the look on their face that says, "such a kid."

Although, they really wanted to be his friend the night Owen had popcorn for the first time.
Owen is really into playing with his Mr. potato head. He tries to wear all the pieces himself...
This one assured me that Owen had not gotten his 2 year molars yet...

and a little video of Owen playing with Ben. There is not any sound, but you can see Owen saying, "Baby Cute" as Ben is grabbing at Owen's pants and giggling. At the end, they are both lying on their backs doing what we call "dead bug."

7 months

It honestly feels like I just blinked and Ben turned 7 months.

Here's what my little sweetie pie has been up to this month...

- can now put his piggies in his mouth. His socks and footed jammies are always
- soaked
- 1/13 got sick for the first time
- 1/14 diagnosed with Croup and Strider Cough. Prescribed a steroid.
- 1/16 -1/18 first trip to Florida
- 1/19 first puree (green beans)
- is now eating three meals a day. Including ¼ cup of rice cereal for breakfast, veggie for lunch and ¼ rice cereal for dinner
- is a rolling machine! And showing signs of crawling. He’s really trying to push off with his feet!
- Rotates in circles while on his tummy
- Can sit by himself for short periods of time.
- Is really into playing with his toys now (he loves linking ring, books, stacking toys and rattles and his sound stage.)
- Wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes
- His hair is starting to grow back. He’s looking like a blonde babe. With brown eyes.
- Has the sweetest smile and the most precious giggle. He’s discovered his voice and he seems to prefer it most when’s it’s REALLY LOUD!
- Is VERY ticklish!
- Reaches for lizard and toucan hanging from jumperoo. He really enjoying the jumperoo these days. Before, he would just stand there and spin the toys. Now he really jumps and moves around.
- Loves to bounce on our knees

- bath and story time are two of his favorites
- Had RSV
- Stands really well and LOVES to be held in the standing position
- 2/6 reached for me as I was reaching to pick him up.
- Has eaten… peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash and prunes
- LOVES rice cereal and oatmeal

- Molly and Sam need to get lots of rest now! Ben watches them very closly and you can see him trying to figure out how to grab their hair.

Danny and I often mention how good of a baby Ben is and how lucky we feel to have him. We always thought Owen was a good baby too and never in a million years thought it would be possible for us to get another really good baby... and believe it or not, Ben's even better than Owen was.

(Since our block set only has one "E," I had to get a little crafty. I used the letter "F" and turned it into an E with a little molding clay. I know it looks silly, but you gotta do what you gotta do.)

Blog Patrol

Several months ago I signed up for Blog Patrol. It's a free service that tells you how many people look at your blog daily, weekly, etc. It also shows graphs displaying the countries, search, engines, referral sites, etc. Don't worry, it doesn't tell me WHO is reading, just how you got here.

I Don't check it very often, but I did look at it this week and found it interesting that 2 people in Egypt and 1 in Peru had found the site and just recently, someone from the Netherlands.

I laughed out loud when I got to the section for "keyword searches." This is usually blank, but today I was surprised to find the following key word searches led someone to our site:

"boy hair" bowl
cut hair "8 guard"

Do you remember this post? I guess it may have been the one that led them here, or perhaps it was one of the many post where I mention how desperately Owen needs a hair cut (which by the way he's getting one on Monday.)

Anyways, I got a good laugh this morning ;)

This weeks favorites...

Owen reading Going on a Bear Hunt just before his nap. This one, Where the Wild Things Are and anything about Dinosaurs are this weeks favorites.

Owen passing down his Angel Brush to Ben. He had to show him how to chew on it first...

And Sam, well, he never misses a photo opportunity.

I think Ben's got it figured out!