A little behind.

We have had a pretty crazy month, so I am a tad behind on my postings. We had a good 4th of July celebrating with some friends here. Ethan was a little leery of the fireworks at first, but he ended up loving them. Owen slept through them all like a champ. I was rather thankful to have that holiday over because are dear neighbors seemed to like celebrating it every night late all week long. The guys in my house didn't seem to notice, but I did not enjoy being kept up late!

Ethan is getting more chatty than ever. The "stories" and questions he comes up with continually crack me up. He's started drawing robots that are pretty cool looking, and I am hearing "I do it myself" a lot. Owen is getting better and better at maneuvering his large noggin. Tummy-time isn't spent face down anymore, and he's started sitting up by himself (with help from the Boppy). He's continued to be an easy, sweet little guy that smiles with his whole body - makes my heart melt everytime!

A Pretty Nice Little Weekend...

We had a fun filled weekend full of friends, hot dogs, fireworks, and summer heat. (and it's not even the 4th of July yet!) Friday night we went to a Naturals baseball game with some friends. Ethan was so excited to see the baseball players and the field. However, the petting zoo, blow up jump things, and the play ground managed to distract him for quite awhile. He wasn't overly fond of the fireworks before the game, and his friend Jack was terrified of the team mascot. But both of them managed to get over their fears to have some fun.

Sunday night Bentonville First Baptist put on a huge "freedom celebration", and I don't think we've ever seen so many people in the square. They were serving free hot dogs, drinks, ice cream and popsicles. They even had Twila Paris (a blast from my Christian-music-filled childhood past) there to sing. We didn't manage to stay for the whole thing due to bedtimes, but we all managed to thoroughly enjoy the people watching and free food eating. I am not sure how we're going to top this for next weekend!

Wine Tasting

We had some friends over last week for our first ever wine tasting party. It was a blast. Everyone brought two bottles of one wine. We sat one bottle aside and then had a taste test with the other. We all ranked them and the winner got to choose what bottle from the stash they wanted, then the 2nd place chose, and so on. Most of us had no clue what we were doing, but we still enjoyed every wine and the food that went with it. I am ready for the next party!

4 Months Old

It's hard to believe that our "Big Top" has been with us for four months now. He's really starting to carve out his own place in the family as he becomes so much more social and chatty. He hates being laid on the floor b/c he can't see what going on, and his whole body seems to light up when someone starts talking to him too. We had his 4 month check up this week, and he's starting to even out in his height and weight (40th percentile for both), but his head is staying strong in the 90th percentile! Our doctor attributes his not rolling over yet to the size of his head...if he could just get some momentum behind it... Owen's latest tricks are sticking his tongue out (ALL the time), grabbing at objects, finding his feet, chewing on his hands, and making crazy squeeling sounds. And his favorite toy is the bouncer.

Down South

We headed South this weekend to see the Hoyle clan. It was Chris' dad's birthday AND Father's Day, so we had a lot of celebrating to do. The guys also had cattle to work, so the Ethan, Owen and I played with Kerri and the cousins. Ethan, as always, loved getting to see all the animals. Between the horses, the donkey, cows, goats, sheep, dogs, cats, ducks, and who knows what else, he has no need for any farm books! He gets to see them all first hand.

He also loves being the center of attention with his big cousins...although that's changing now with Owen in the picture. Alyssa took on the role of taking care of Owen, and she did an awesome job watching him. And I think Adam is glad to finally have someone younger than him so he can be in charge! Alex is the cool oldest cousin that can play the guitar, so Ethan is crazy about him too.

Actually...

Ethan is getting more and more entertaining. His vocabulary continues to expand like crazy, and it's been hilarious watching his personality continue to develop. Apparently I say "actually" quite a bit because Ethan has started incorporating it in almost EVERY sentence. You'd actually be amazed at how many times it's been said lately. :) He's also started asking the standard two year old question, "Why?". Oh, Lord, please give me patience! He's also started saying, "Momma, I love you lots" which completely melts my heart. Of course he's learning that after saying that he can usually get what he wants. I'm pretty okay with being charmed by him...so far...

The Lake

Last weekend we went to Lake of the Ozarks with our friends that Harris'. We stayed at Amy's parent's amazing condo that looked out over the lake. We were able to take a couple boat rides, ride a jet ski, enjoy some sun at the pool, and we even managed to stay up late both nights after the kids went to bed to enjoy some grown up time.

Ethan was a little hesitant about all the new things at first, but it didn't take long for him to fall in love with driving the boat and swimming with his dad. He also loved playing with Drew and Ellie. He and Ellie have a weird sort of love/hate relationship. They were either loving on each other or taking turns pushing each other. (Ellie is a year younger but she more than holds her own!) Drew, being smart, stayed out of most of their spats and worked on learning how to walk. We were able to see his first several steps at the pool!

Sweet Owen didn't make it in a lot of the pictures, but I am sure he had a good time observing all the craziness.

It's taken me a full week to recover from all the excitement, but I am ready to go back!

Whirlwind of a Weekend

Last weekend we went to Oklahoma, and I think we crammed about a months worth of weekend events into one weekend. We left Friday for Tulsa so that Owen and I could see our favorite Dr Asher there. My mom met us there and took Ethan on to Stillwater so that Chris and I could get lunch and do some shopping. It was amazing how just having Owen with us seemed like a vacation!That night we left both boys with my parents and celebrated our 5 year anniversary at the Atherton Hotel in Stillwater. We had a fabulous dinner at the Rancher's Club there. Owen took a bottle that night and the next morning, so we got a whole 15 hours with just the two of us. It was amazing.

On Saturday, we picked up Owen and headed to Norman to see Chris' mom. Ethan stayed with my parents and had the time of his life. My dad took him for donuts for breakfast, to Lowe's, to the OSU basketball stadium, the football stadium, for tractor rides, and who knows what else! I think my dad slept really well after the weekend!

That night, Chris, Owen and I headed to my friend, Brandi's, wedding. It was so good to see Kristin, Kobie, and Rachelle there too. We were able to all go out after the wedding and do a little catching up. It made me really ready for our annual Labor Day trip together.

On Sunday we were back in Stillwater for Owen's baby shower thrown by some family friends. It was great to see everyone there, and Owen got some really cute things. Now he actually has some clothes that his big brother didn't wear first!

It was such a fun weekend, and everything went so smoothly. We loved every minute of it, but we were definitely ready to get home.

Half Way to Hippie...

(This is Owen modeling his cloth diaper and his new favorite trick - sucking on his hand)

So, we figured since we had gotten into the natural child birth thing, we should go ahead and take the next hippie step to cloth diapering. Actually, it was mostly motivated by the thought of saving money, and some curiosity b/c everyone that does cloth diapering claims to LOVE IT. Weird, I know.

We made an investment of about $200 to get all the cloth stuff we would need (8 all-in-ones, 18 prefolds, 3 covers and 2 Snappis), and we figured that I would need to stick to it for at least 4 months to break even. We've got a month under our belt, and while I feel like we've got the hang of it, I am no where near LOVING IT. It really hasn't been too big of an adjustment. The extra load of laundry every third day is easy, but the smell of the diapers grosses me out. (and we're not even to the serious stuff yet!) It bothers me that some of the diapers are already stained...if I use them on our next kid, will they feel abused for wearing used diapers?! I see the bills for the shrink adding up... (any suggestions on stain removal other cloth diapering moms?)

On the positive side, I think the all-in-ones are really cute. It does feel good to not have to buy diapers, and our trash can is a lot lighter too. Like I said, though, I don't love it yet. So we'll see how things progress.

Big Top

My new nick name for Owen is "Big Top". The poor kid's head is huge, but he's doing a pretty good job of holding it up considering. We finally found our Bumbo (thanks, Papa!), and Owen really seemed to like sitting in it. He gets so frustrated when he's laying on the floor...I think he knows he's missing out on all the action.

I couldn't help myself...

Ethan is going to kill me for posting this picture when he's older, but I just couldn't help it! We're no where near being ready to potty train, but every once and awhile he'll ask to go potty. He's getting a little more particular in how he wants it all to work - he has to have a book and the door must be closed all the way with no one else in there. (He "scolded" me for opening the door to take this picture.)

My Guys

Ethan really has a way of making Owen laugh that no one else does. We've been trying to keep Ethan off of Owen, and then we realized that (for the most part) Owen really seems to like Ethan all up in his face! He laughs and starts kicking like crazy. Of course that just encourages Ethan more. I hope this little duo continues to enjoy each others company as they get older!

Owen is 3 Months Old

(Owen was intently watching his big brother perform for him. He was mesmerized! And just ignore the drool spot on his shirt. :) )

I can't believe my sweet little guy has been here for three months now. I am constantly amazed at how much he's changed. He's become obsessed with trying to get his hands in his mouth - his poor little face has the marks to show it as he's punched himself repeatedly. He's got the greatest little grin with two dimples that shows up more and more now. And he's survived his first "war wound" from his big brother. (a nice scratch on the face from Ethan getting a little too excited to see him.) I have a feeling Owen is going to be my dramatic child. He can be completely fine and then out of the blue he can let out the worst cry to let you know he's suddenly unhappy. He also has perfected the bottom lip turned down that is the most pitiful thing. One of these days I will get it on camera...

The ABCs

We've been working on our ABCs for awhile now. Ethan had it down but then regressed making up his own alphabet for awhile. It was pretty entertaining - lots of "elemenopies". But this past week week he decided to go back to the standard alphabet, and I was able to get it on camera.

The Wright Family

When we were in Oklahoma a few weekends ago, I was able to see my dear friend, LeAnne, and her family. She and I were kindred spirits in college. We spent many hours in the art studio together, survived being roommates, walked through life's many ups and downs, and shared all comedy that the male species in our lives brought. We're still sharing comedy in our lives - the males are just smaller (and waaaay cuter). Between the two of us, we have four boys. It was so fun watching Ethan and her son Titus play together. They jumped on the trampoline, fought with swords, played basketball, drew, played with trains, and ate popsicles...and that was just in an hour. I can't wait to see the boys grow up together...and what trouble they'll get in together!

1st Farmer's Market of '09

We made it to our first Farmer's Market this season this past weekend. The weather couldn't have been better! We had a nice walk there, saw several friends, played at the park, and had a moment of silence for the closed coffee shop. Apart from the missing scones and coffee, it was a pretty perfect Saturday morning!

All Boy

We had play group at the park this past week. It was the one nice day in a week full of rain...a week full of rain that produced a lot of mud puddles. The majority of boys could have cared less about the slides and swings. They were all surrounding the mud puddle throwing rocks and sticks in it. Of course Ethan was in the mix. My first instinct was to try and distract him in hopes that he'd stay clean. But I kept hearing my dad's voice in my head telling me to "let boys be boys". So I said nothing. And Ethan proceeded to walk back and forth through the mud for about 30 minutes. The rest of the kids stayed at the edge of the puddle, but Ethan seemed to prefer standing in it. When it was time to go, I didn't even know where to start the cleaning up. Wipes did nothing. So I stripped him down, let the mud dry and we threw him the car in just a diaper. Apparently I need a summer "mud kit" in my car for next time b/c I know this won't be our last mud adventure!

Update on Owen: he's off the medication. It was nasty stuff that made him miserable. He cried more during the five days he was on it than he has in his entire life. I got him into the doctor that does OMT in Tulsa this past Friday, and she couldn't believe our other doc had him on meds. She did some manipulation on him, that should help, and gave me some other instructions (that I won't write about due to the embarrassment it might provide Owen when he's older). He's back to his happy self that has slept all night for the past 4 nights. Happy Mother's Day to me!

My Squatty Body Boy has Reflux!

We took Owen in for his 2 month check-up last week. Overall, he was very healthy and has doubled his birth weight! The nurse told me that he was in the 90th percentile in head size (not a huge surprise since he has Dodson in him...our heads run large...let the jokes begin), 75th in the weight, and 25th in height. Short and round. :) I'm sure his height will catch up eventually...right?! We also found out that he has reflux pretty badly. It wasn't a huge surprise with the way he was spitting up and eating was becoming uncomfortable. She has put him on medication for two months now, which makes me cringe. I just pray that he won't have any bad side affects and that the medication will help his tummy. It's pretty remarkable how happy he's been in spite of being in pain. He's pretty wonderful!

Hero

Every night when Chris gets home from work, he and Ethan go upstairs so Chris can change out of his work clothes. And so they can shoot a few hoops in Ethan's room. This particular night, Ethan decided Chris needed help picking out what to wear. He chose Chris' basketball jersey, a pair of basketball shorts and then he told Chris that he needed a jersey too. When they came downstairs, you could tell Ethan was thrilled to be dressed in his dad's clothes. It was pretty sweet...

Laughing

I was playing with the boys on the floor yesterday and noticed that every time Ethan laughed, Owen laughed back. I caught some of it on video. I don't know if you can hear Owen over Ethan talking or not b/c Ethan was trying to climb on me while taking the video!