On the move!

Look at him go! Can you see the slobber flying off him? And seriously, he "talks" like that all the live-long day! Gotta love him!

What Strep Throat looks like...

When Owen is sick (and he's had Hand-Foot-Mouth more than the average bear) it doesn't really slow him down. He still runs laps around the house. So when the called me to pick him from school and he was laying in the teacher's arms I knew something was wrong.

He spent the next two days (until the antibiotics kicked in) on couch. Poor baby. But look at those eye lashes!!

Six Months

I cannot believe another month has come on gone, but what's freaking me out more is that if the next six months goes as quickly, I'll have a full on toddler and my baby days will be over. And truth be told, I'm sad. Nathan is such a fun baby! He's so easily entertained and happy and sweet and I love this baby! But grow they must and grow they will!

Nathan at 6 months:

• I could kiss his face off! I mean really, he's the happiest thing around. Even if he's tired or sick, he's still so easy to make smile or chuckle.
• Sits up independently. This literally happened over night. One day I plopped him down and he stayed and he has done it ever since.
• He is as curious as they come. Owen was never into everything, we really didn't have to babyproof much. Nathan is into EVERYTHING. Toys, computers, cords, remotes, cups, food, hair, shoes anything he can get his hands on. Babyproof we must.
• Everything goes in the mouth. The above list is what goes directly into the mouth. Again, wasn't a issue with Owen. BIG issue with Nathan.
• Crawling? Yep, everywhere. Not fast or efficient, but effective. And he is quickly working on pulling himself up (see video).
• Loves food. We started oatmeal and bananas and little rice puffs and he loves it all. He gets super excited when you even start to put him in the high chair. So have the food ready before you sit him down!
• He's sleeping great. Still gets up once (sometimes twice) a night. He's started taking longer naps, which is FANTASTIC and much appreciated.
• Still in 6-12 month clothes, but moving out of anything just labeled 6 months.
• Changing his diaper or clothes is exhausting. He will not lay still. He tries to roll over and crawl away. It's hard.
• Still loves the bath.
• Still loves Owen and grins as big as possible when he sees him.

Take a look at our cutie at 6 months!

Uncle Joe Visits

Uncle Joe came to visit for two weeks and man, was it the fastest two weeks ever. It sure was fun! He replaced all the pipes under our house, cleaned, fixed and made usable our garage and then he did a million 'little' things that we would have never done, but really needed! Thanks Joe we already miss you!

The boys really loved having Joe around (except when he was pissing Owen off).

Owen helping fix the tub!

Nate and Joe, hangin' in the garage!
Joe and Owen hangin' on the couch!

Robin was here for one night, which wasn't even close to long enough!

I need to complain....

I've hit the wall. Hard. Having two kids can be real hard some days. I know, I know, people do it everyday. People have more, closer together and less help and blah, blah, blah. I'm just saying, some days are real hard, FOR ME. Like I don't get 60 seconds with my own thoughts hard. I hate when you try to vent and everyone just wants to tell you how hard other people have it. I get it. I'm a lucky, lucky woman. Just let me bitch for a minute!

Here are the 3 things that make it hard for me (not the woman with five kids under three, four of which have special needs and a dog with two legs) just ME:

• Nate's loud. All the time loud. Talking. Yelling. Screeching. Laughing. He's just a loud kid. When he's awake, there is not a full minute of quiet. I'm easily over-stimulated. Sometimes, I need it quiet. Silent. This for me, this constant noise is hard.
• I like things clean. Not necessarily neat, but clean. I hate dust and dirt and mildew and mold and soap scum and food smears. I for the life of me, cannot keep things clean. I can keep it neat. I cannot keep it clean. This puts me near the edge of insanity some days.
• I don't get to eat in peace. Ever. Our current schedule just doesn't allow it. If you know me, you know that if I'm hungry, I am not friendly.

So you there go. If you catch me on a day when all of these things are in full force I suggest you turn around and walk away, clean my house or offer me a beer.

Any morning/every morning

I love pictures like this because it shows the REAL day-to-day. In 10 years from now I know I'll remember how each morning began: Nathan wakes up, then Owen wakes up and then we hang out on the bed while momma has her coffee and dada gets ready for work.

Good times. Real times.

Go Giants!

Opening Day! Woot! Woot! I haven't gotten a good picture of the boys together. Mostly because I'm a terrible photographer and Owen really hates having his picture taken. However, I think these are cute!

Smiling, happy brothers in their Giant's gear.Owen helping to make Nathan laugh.
And once I said "OK all done." Owen was out of there and Nathan was left to fend for himself.

Easter 2010

We had a pretty low-key Easter weekend. It's one of those times we really wish we lived closer to family and cousins, but we had a lovely weekend with our little family. We hit up all the local egg hunts. Had a few of our own and then just enjoyed our day. It was cold and rainy, so we got outside in between the rain storms.

Here are the pictures of our fun.

Nathan and Matt hanging out.

Waiting for the first egg hunt. (I think they have have the same expression in this picture.)
Still waiting. Nathan hanging out.
One hunt had them divide up by age group and gender. Which was nice.

GO!Finding lots of eggs.He found the golden egg! (at both hunts actually)

The bunny!Our hunt at home...Owen found his basket.Nathan really loved Easter.Then we did our outside hunt before the rain. Nathan I are were COLD!

Happy Easter!!

Owen & sports

Owen is a quirky kid. Try as you might, you really cannot make him do something he doesn't want to do. We're learning this first hand with potty training. He can hold it (#2) for days on end and flat out refuse to go. This is not fun.

Owen has an abundant amount of energy. More than most kids. Lots of times it's a destructive type of energy. Think dumping baskets of toys, ripping cushions off the couch, or whacking everything with anything that has "bat" potential. While we try to channel this energy into more productive things, it's hard. I'll say "we can ride your bike or play baseball" for example. Two great choices for for most kids, right? Owen will choose one and do it for about 2 minutes and it turns into forcing him to play. It's so weird. AND I'd totally get it, if he was completely uncoordinated. But he's NOT. He can hit a line drive off a tee with great accuracy. He can dribble a soccer ball. He's getting better on his bike (it's a real two-wheeler w/o training wheels). So why do we have to force the kid to to do these fun NORMAL kid things? Ya know what he loves to do? Run! He'll run around the block, around the house, around the park, anywhere.

Matt finally got proof that we do in fact try to focus the kid and that he can do it! If only for our own sanity!