Owen Laughed.

Yes he did!

Owen laughed his first REAL laugh today.

He has done some little chuckles before today. But this. This was an honest to goodness, shake his fat little belly, laugh.

At his Mama.

🙂
Who needs to win the lottery?

Owen 2 months; Hudson 18 months

Oh dear. I am late late late in posting this, but better late than NEVER, right?!

Owen turned 2 months on February 12. Here is the run down:

– Sleeping 7 (occasionally 8) hours at night every 2 or 3 nights, then he’ll be back to every 4-5 hours.

– Eats every 3 hours during the day

– Is awake for 1 hour after he eats then goes back to sleep. He is pretty much like clockwork.

– Poops every 2-3 days

– Has a double ear infection (BOO!!! This is my first experience with a child having an ear infection because Hudson has still never had one. Owen didn’t have any of the classic signs and wasn’t fussy at all, we found it at his well-baby check-up. It wasn’t a very bad one according to our pediatrician, and probably just because he has had so much congestion for so long & his little ears couldn’t drain. It broke my heart all the same.)

– Is such a social baby. He smiles and laughs and coos ALL the time. I love it.

– Adores his brother. Watches him all the time. Will smile GIANT smiles at him.

– Is a super snuggler. He loves to be on your shoulder with his head tucked into your neck. {Bliss}

– Is still sleeping in the pack N play in our room. We’ll kick him out to share with Hudson once he is sleeping a long stretch consistently.

– Weighed 11 lbs 12 oz and I don’t remember how many inches…I’ll update it later. Let’s be honest, if I go find his “report card” I may never finish this post!

~ ~ ~

Hudson turned 18 months on February 19:

– Sleeps from 6:45-7pm to 7:30-8pm

– Takes one nap from 1-3 (I’ve discovered he really has to go down at 1. If I keep him up later then he won’t sleep his full nap and will be CRANKY) He can stay up until about 2 every once in a while and be ok but not for consecutive days and he has to go to bed on the early side.

– Is still a really good eater for a toddler (I think), he will still LOVE something one day and HATE it the next, but not as often

– Can feed himself with a fork & spoon really well, but usually asks me to feed him about halfway into his meal

– Is talking like crazy. Every day he has new words. They are sounding more & more clear, but still very much toddler speak – not clearly enunciated. Words he says really well:: Mama, Dada, Up, Down, Out, Nana, Papa, Pop. (he says “Grammie” but it sounds like “BeBe”). Owen (“Ahdeen”). Drink. Eat. Airplane (“Ahpay”). Hi. Bye bye. Hudson (“Hutayn”).

He can do names/sounds for: Dog. Cat. Cow. Duck. Pig. Rooster. Snake. Horse. Lion. Squirrel (ha!). Bunny (wrinkles his nose). Monkey. Fish (face).

– Knows his first two catechism questions:: 1) Q: Who made you? A: GOD! (2) Q: What else did God make? A: ALL THINGS!

– Adores all things airplane. We read airplane books. Watch airplane videos on youtube. Sing airplane songs.

– Loves reading. All the sudden, he just can’t get enough. We read and read and read. Often the same 3-5 books…over and over and over and over…and over. (Right now were are especially loving these: Freight Train. That’s Not My Airplane. Planes at the Airport. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. The Little Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry, and Big Hungry Bear. From Head to Toe. Brown Bear, Brown Bear. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Choo Choo. Goodnight Moon.

– Loves to “drive” the car. He & Jordan will go sit in the car and pretend to drive for a long time.

– Loves to be outside (we’re super thankful for the nice weather lately!!)

– Loves to help. With everything. Work outside with Daddy in the garage or yard. He helps me clean and do laundry and cook. He loves to help vacuum and sweep. He helps with Owen (brings me a clean diaper and throws away the dirty ones), he helps bathe him when I put them in the tub together.

– Got 5 teeth in the last month or so (3 molars and 2 other bottom teeth – can’t remember their names). We’re making up for lost time I suppose!

– Is very interested in the potty. We are not doing anything official yet, but I’m starting to make a plan.

– Gives the sweetest hugs & kisses…without being asked. {Melts my heart}

– Is very good about holding our hands when we are out and about. Or when he wants to take us somewhere & show us something. {Love it. That started ~ 15 months when we were really working on coming to us and holding hands without pulling away}

– 23.5 lbs and 32 inches

~ ~ ~

I am SO SO SO thankful for my precious boys! I just can’t get enough of them. The Lord has blessed us indeed.

I’ll post pics later. I am almost out of battery…but at least I got this done!!

~~~

Here are the pics!

What a photo shoot USUALLY amounts to 😉

This is Hudson’s “cheese” face

Bubbs loves playing the piano these days

And this last picture…oh my. I die.

The Weekend

Three cheers for Saturday! The day when our favorite guy is home all day.

I adore these people.

I took these last two on my lame phone…sorry they are SO blurry, I shouldn’t even post them, but I love them!

Owen smiling

Love.

{squint really hard so Owen’s face doesn’t look so weird & creepy, okay?}

A Kick in the Pants

Since Owen has been sick he has been nursing really frequently. Gone is the 3 hour schedule for now.

And don’t get me wrong. I love breastfeeding.

But it is exhausting when he is eating this often.

And I am selfish.

And I really don’t want to nurse him when we just finished a feeding less than 2 hours ago.

I mean, of course I will. He is hungry & helpless. I love him & desire his good.

But maaaaaaaybe I’ll feel a little internal frustration/”woe is me” while I do.

And maaaaaaaybe while I’m at it, I’ll be short & snippy with my man

And then when I am smack in the middle of my not-so-hypothetical pity party sin {lets call it like it is} I get this big ol’ kick in the bootay.

{found here & here}

It is not to this that Christ’s example calls us.

He did not cultivate self, even His divine self: He took no account of self.

He was not led by His divine impulse out of the world, driven back into the recesses of His own soul to brood morbidly over His own needs, until to gain His own seemed worth all sacrifice to Him.

He was led by His love for others into the world, to forget Himself in the needs of others, to sacrifice self once for all upon the altar of sympathy.

Self-sacrifice brought Christ into the world. And self-sacrifice will lead us, His followers, not away from but into the midst of men.

Wherever men suffer, there will we be to comfort.

Wherever men strive, there will we be to help.

Wherever men fail, there will be we to uplift. Wherever men succeed, there will we be to rejoice.

Self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows: it means absorption in them.

It means forgetfulness of self in others.

It means entering into every man’s hopes and fears, longings and despairs: it means manysidedness of spirit, multiform activity, multiplicity of sympathies.

It means richness of development.

It means not that we should live one life, but a thousand lives,—binding ourselves to a thousand souls by the filaments of so loving a sympathy that their lives become ours.

It means that all the experiences of men shall smite our souls and shall beat and batter these stubborn hearts of ours into fitness for their heavenly home.

It is, after all, then, the path to the highest possible development, by which alone we can be made truly men. Not that we shall undertake it with this end in view. This were to dry up its springs at their source. We cannot be self-consciously self-forgetful, selfishly unselfish.

Only, when we humbly walk this path, seeking truly in it not our own things but those of others, we shall find the promise true, that he who loses his life shall find it.

Only, when, like Christ, and in loving obedience to His call and example, we take no account of ourselves, but freely give ourselves to others, we shall find, each in his measure, the saying true of himself also: “Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him.”

The path of self-sacrifice is the path to glory.”

~ B. B. Warfield

Amen & amen.

How thankful I am for the Spirit that brings conviction.

Utensils

The last two days Hudson has fed himself his whole bowl of oatmeal with very little help from me! He starting showing interest in using a fork & spoon sometime around his first birthday.

I wasn’t pushy about making him try, honestly I probably didn’t give him as many opportunities as I could have, but if he showed interest in our spoon/fork I’d give him one as well. Or if we were having a slow day & could stretch out meal time then we’d work on it. I’d just let him try & guide then guide his hand & then let him try some more. I remember I was really surprised how easily he maneuvered his utensils to his mouth without much help – now, the FOOD didn’t usually stay on at the beginning mind you! But he would more or less get the utensil into his mouth 🙂

For a long time he just used our normal dessert sized forks & spoons because I kept forgetting to get a kiddo sized set at the store. When I finally remembered I bought a set of these (Gerber brand), they were cheap at Wally world. I like that they are metal vs. plastic. It makes them a little heavier, which seems to = sturdier and easier to maneuver for Hudson. Plus the fork will actually poke & hold onto stuff easier than plastic. Plus it looks more like the real deal – which he totally notices.

Anyhoo…we haven’t really been working at it lately – just here & there during the week – so I was really excited when I gave him his spoon yesterday and he rocked it all by himself!

 Such a big boy!

Oh…and when he gets a bite on the spoon he says, “biiiiiiiii bie” (“big bite”). Guess he’s heard that a time or two 😉

This is his “say cheese” face – goober!