Don't want to forget..

There are a couple of things that I wanted to share quickly that I just want to make sure I remember. First up is one about Owen. Owen, you are a great sleeper! Some times you might not think you should go to bed but trust me you always end up falling asleep in seconds once you are in your bed, even if there are 10 or so seconds of tears. Once you wake up you are quiet as can be. I think you would be content to stay in your crib for most of the day if you could. When I come to get you 99.9% of the time you snuggle up as close as you can to me and you will happily stay that way for as long as I will let you. Yesterday after your nap I just let you cuddle for 10 minutes. It was so sweet. You are so sweet!!!

Ryan --- you have recently become scared of pretty much everything, or so you say. There are now monsters in our bathroom (although you can never tell me where they are, but you are sure they are in there). You see a spider out on the back deck while you are inside and state that you are scared of the spider. You are funny!

18 Months!!

A couple weeks late but oh my goodness...Owen is 18 months old already!!! Wow! I cannot believe how fast he is growing and how big he is acting!!! We go for his official 18 month check up later this week so we will know how he is growing but he has had some really big changes in the past month! He has gotten a couple new teeth and a couple more are starting to break through. He has become much more talkative. Most of what he says though we still don't really understand. He is SO friendly to everyone and everyone we meet. He is very much a go with the flow child, unless it is something that he really just doesn't want to do. Trust me, if that is the case he will let you know. Owen has a scream like none other and isn't afraid to throw an occasional, rare tantrum. YIKES!!

18 things Owen loves at 18 months!

1. Mommy cuddles

2. Glasses - he will swipe yours if you aren't paying attention. :)

3. Hats

4. The book Snuggle Puppy. He will read very few books but this one is one that he requests over and over and over again. He loves it.

5. Splashing in the water.

6. FOOD!

7. Saying "cheese" for the camera.

8. Cake!!! Are there people out there that don't like cake?!?!?!

9. Anyone who remotely looks like they could be a Grandpa to him. He LOVES people in general but is especially fond of middle-aged men.

10. Crocs. He was constantly trying to wear Ryan's until we finally caved and bought him his own pair. He loves them!

11. Doing whatever his big brother Ryan is doing.

12. Being a helper.

13. His paci. He is officially an addict. I probably need to be a little more stern with allowing him to have it but really he only gets it if he is sleeping or if he is having a really, really rough day!

14. Being outside!

15. Chasing birds and/or ducks. Hey, it is super-duper fun to make them run/fly away!

16. Pointing out babies anywhere we go. Then he repeats baby baby baby over and over and over again while waving and pointing in their general direction. :)

17. Waving bye bye to every single airplane he sees. He will say "bye bye a pan" over and over and over again anytime he sees an airplane fly past.

18. Bubbles!!! The child asks for more more bubbles 1o0 times a day. He adores them and giggles with delight anytime we bring them out.

Let's Ride Bikes!!

On one of the first semi-nice days we had this spring we decided to take the boys out to try out the new scooter and bike. Owen is really fond of Ryan's bike and Ryan is still trying to get the hang of the scooter. He really thinks he should just stand on it and be pushed around. We are working on it. :)

Owen Loved Ryan's Party too...

I should have posted these ages ago but I totally forgot until I was weeding through photos. After Ryan's birthday party, Owen had an absolute blast playing in the cars. His personal favorite was Lightning McQueen of course. He also tried to imitate the Michelin baby and hopped into a tire for a few quick photos. :)

We're Back...

We just returned from an almost 3 week trip to Texas. We had a great time visiting with friends and family and did not want to leave. If anyone happens upon large sums of money or knows a legal and legit way to "get rich quick" let me know. That way we can move! We are happy to be back home and into our normal routine again and are enjoying this wonderful VA spring!

Lots and lots of new posts coming...hopefully I can get through one or two a day in order to get caught back up!

It's a Girl!!

Well we weren't going to find out the gender of our baby. Then we decided it would be really fun to find out and actually be able to share the news with our family in Texas in person as we are soon making a trip. Then we actually found out and realized that we were too excited to hold in our news for that long! We had Ryan make some phone calls to all of his grandparents and to his Aunt Jenn and Uncle B. Everyone was super-excited! No one even knew that we were going to find out so when Ryan called them to say he was going to have a baby sister, most of them thought that he was just wanting a baby sister. :)

I was 100% convinced that we would be having a boy. Ever since I was pregnant with Ryan I had visions of us having 3 boys. I even had dreams about having another boy. The only thing that has been different with this pregnancy is that I have had cravings. I never craved anything with the boys. This time I have been craving junk food to the extreme. I will probably gain 100 pounds if I am not careful...yikes! Jeff has been saying it's a girl from day one and Ryan even got it right! :)

We are so excited to welcome a sweet baby girl into our lives. I look forward to all that is ahead for our growing family. I love having my little boys, don't get me wrong. But I have dreamed of having a little girl forever. I am so excited about all that is in store for us and for her! :)

Cherry Blossoms

In Texas they have the lovely bluebonnets. Here in the DC area, we have the Cherry Blossoms. They are one of the first signs of spring every single year. We didn't make it down to DC this year, but there are plenty of beautiful blossoms all around our town. They are scattered all throughout our neighborhood so today on our walk (as many of the petals were starting to blow away) I snapped a few quick photos.

There were 4 cherry blossom trees together on a hill..