Owen 1 year!

Sweet Owen,

You are 1 years old!  This year has flown by!  Your dad and I love you so much and we know that our love will only grow more and more each year.  You are an absolute delight and we love being your parents.  You are so much fun and we love watching your unique personality develop.  You are quiet and analytical and will sit by one toy or something unfamiliar and try to figure it out.  You also can get upset if you can't figure something out or don't like it.  We think you have a mixture of our two personalities and we love it!  You are developing into a curious little toddler, and one day you will be a little boy, then a teenager, then a man.  We want to raise you to love Jesus and to grow into the man of God that He created you to be.  When we decided to become parents, we could have not asked God for a better son.  You have totally surpassed our expectations of what we thought being parents would be like.  We are so lucky to have you in our lives and we can't wait to continue this adventure of life with you. 

Love always,


Momma and Dadda

Owen 11 months

Sweet boy,

You are 11 months old!  In exactly one month, we will celebrate you being here with us for a full year!  You are such an amazing addition to our family and we truly love you more and more each day. 

You are still crawling everywhere and aren't really showing any interest in walking yet.  That's ok son, because your dad and I were both late walkers.  It must run in the family!  When you see or hear something you really want get to, you will crawl really fast, almost like you are running, and will make a really excited noise.  You are constantly crawling with something in one of your hands.  We say that you can't leave a toy behind!  You also love to stand up by holding anything and everything.

This month, you have become very independent with eating.  You LOVE to feed yourself and we are starting to offer you more foods.  You have had fish, homemade pizza, peas, carrots, grilled cheese, maccaroni, waffles, toast, and anything else that is easy for you to pick up and gum.  You refuse to take a sippy cup with milk, juice, or water and will either throw it on the floor or push it away when we give it to you.  We have also tried different kinds of sippy cups and you are just not having it.  What can I say, you love your bottle!

Since getting tubes, you have felt a lot better!  You have started experimenting with making a lot more sounds and just seem to be in a lot better mood!  Now, you are working on getting more teeth.  You have white spots on several spots on your gums and we are wondering if you are about to have a bunch of teeth appear at the same time!

We haven't weighed or measured you this month, but I know you are growing!  You are outgrowing a lot of your clothes and you just look long like your daddy.

This month, your new favorite word is mama.  That's right, mama.  You say it all the time now!  You used to call everything dadda and now everything is mama, including me!  You also love to echo sounds and will say "uh" when I say "uh oh." 

You love to read books, play with balls or anything else that you can bang on the floor, you are beginning to roll cars, and you love music! 

You will reach out to be held and just recently you started reaching your arm towards something you want.  I love that you are starting to become more independent and your personality is really starting to show! 

You truly are the sweetest baby.  Everyone we meet comments on your red hair, how good you are, or that you are so cute!  You really are all of these things and we cannot imagine our lives without you!

Owen 10 months

Sweet baby,

You are 10 months old!  We are very soon going to start planning your one year birthday party and I hate to admit it, but I get tears just thinking about how big you are already getting!  You have no idea how much joy you bring to our lives!

You are still crawling everywhere!  You are pulling up on everything still and you are starting to cruise while holding onto furniture!  This month, you have also begun to dance!  It is absolutely the cutest thing ever!!!!  You will be standing, crawling, or kneeling and will hear a song and will just start bouncing up and down.  I guess you had no choice but to like music!

You are starting to eat more foods like waffles or toast, cheese, and carrots. You are still taking stage 3 babyfood too.  You are eating snacks once-twice a day now and you like Gerber puffs, pinwheels, cheetos, and Yogurt melts.  You are down to 16 ounces which means only 3 bottles now!  You are starting to take to your sippy cup more now and are starting to hold it by yourself.  You make this cute face where you make your lips look like a monkey when you are really concentrating on picking up food.  It is so cute!

Poor baby, I'm sorry to tell you that you will be getting tubes in your ears this month.  You have either had one long ear infection, or four in a row.   You are on your fourth round of antibiotics and each one has been different.  You also had to get an antibiotic a shot in both thighs. We hate how you had a week where you woke up in the middle of the night, diarrhea, fever, and pulling on your ears.  These last two months, you have been a trooper and have still been such a sweetie throughout this whole ordeal.  We are so excited for you to start feeling better.

You weigh 22 pounds this month!  You are growing like a weed and probably by 5th grade you will either  be as tall or taller than me!  This month, we have really seen a change in your face.  You are looking so much older and are growing into such a handsome little guy! 

You will suck your thumb to soothe yourself when you're tired.  This is always our cue that you need a nap or that you have just had enough!

You are still babbling by saying "dadada" or "bababa".  You started saying a bunch of gar and gr sounds this month too. 

You are so funny when you're tired.  You will start making the funniest noises that sound like you are clearing your throat really loudly.  When you do this, we will do it back to you, and we will go back and forth over and over.  You think it is so funny!

You have started to enjoy peekaboo this month and I will hide behind anything or just my hands and you will giggle when you see me!  Your laugh is so contagious and we absolutely love to hear you giggle!  Your other new favorite thing to do is when I roll the ball to you, you will throw it to me!  You will smile as we do this over and over!  You are also really starting to enjoy hearing stories more and you love looking at the pictures!  It is so sweet to see you as you look at the pictures, or turn the pages. 

You have a tooth cutting through on the top and so with this and the ear infections, you are not a happy camper at times!  I love your little teethy grin!

You had your first Christmas this month!  You had a Christmas with MiMi at our house first, then we traveled all the way to Louisiana for you to meet all of MawMaw's family!  You did soooo good in the car and only had two minor meltdowns.  They loved you and kept commenting on how sweet and laid back you are. Oh yeah, and they also kept saying that you are a big boy!  You didn't really understand the whole Christmas thing.  I would open presents for you and then you would just stare at me or the present like "what is this?"  Now you have a million toys and you are having so much fun exploring all of them! 

Love you pumkin! 

Owen 9 months

Baby boy,

You are now 9 months old!  I know I say this every month, but I seriously can't believe it.  In only 3 short months, we will be celebrating one whole year of you being alive!

This month, you have started crawling really fast.  When you spot someone or something you are excited to crawl to, you will crawl really fast, get a huge smile on your face, and start panting.  It is the cutest thing ever.  You have also learned how to pull up on pretty much anything and everything now, and recently started to use your walker to take steps.  You are literally growing up right before our eyes!

You are starting to eat a little bit more finger foods and you are not quite sure about them yet.  We love your funny face when you eat something you are unsure of.  You are eating stage 3 foods now and you are still taking 4 bottles a day. 

You have another ear infection this month and this time it is a double!  You are such a good baby that you never even let us know that you are hurting.  The only reason we went to the dr. in the first place was because you have had this cough for a long time, a runny nose, and your eyes just looked like you didn't feel well.  Hopefully after this round of antibiotics, we are done with ear infections for a while!

You weigh 20.5 pounds and are 29.5 inches long.  You are growing out of some of your 12 month clothes!  I should have known you would be long like your daddy.  It is hard to believe that you started as this tiny little guy who has grown into my big baby! 

You are saying, "babababa" all the time now and just tonight actually you finally said mama (although I don't think you knew you did.)  I loved it and almost cried though.  You are also starting to make a bunch of noises using your tongue and while doing that spit flies everywhere.  Recently while saying "baba", you will say it really loud and it sounds like a squeal.  We laugh so hard every time you do it.

You have 2 bottom teeth now, but that is it.  I think you will get more soon because you are gnawing on everything in sight.

You met mommy's grandma in October and you got to meet a lot of family in daddy's family this month at Thanksgiving including Memo.  You will get to meet all of mommy's Louisiana family next month at Christmas.  You are such a good traveler, and as usual, are the most content baby in the world.

We hear almost daily from Mrs. Shelley or church nursery workers that you are the happiest, most easy going baby in the world.  Someone told me that if she had octuplets, she would want eight of you.  You see my darling, everyone loves you so much!

We love you so much baby and can't say enough how lucky we are to have you and how greatly you have blessed our lives.

Owen 8 months

Owen pumpkin,

You are now 8 months old!!! You are such a sweet boy and our love for you seriously grows every month!

This has been a busy month because you have started crawling, sitting up, and trying to pull up on stuff!  You started out crawling really slow, but now you are so fast and we have to keep our eyes on you our little runaway boy!  You are so funny when you spot something, start taking off towards it, then turn around to see if me or your dad is watching you.  It is so cute! 

You LOVE to play with your toys and anything else you can get your hands on for that matter.  You are very content playing by yourself, but you love for me and your daddy to play with you also.

You love being outside and have gone on several walks, swang at the park for the first time, and went to the pumpkin patch with your cousins. 

You giggle so much now!  Things that make you giggle are the dogs, your daddy's funny faces, and anytime you get tickled or blowed on. 

You had your first ear infection this month.  They prescribed you amoxicilin and you LOVE it.  Your daddy says, "let's take your bubble gum."  Ha!

Also, at your dr. appointment you weighed 19 pounds.  You are such a long boy, although we don't know how long you are now.  You wear anywhere from 9-12 month clothes. 

You love to eat!  You are taking 4 bottles a day that equal 24 ounces.  You have started holding your own bottle this month.  You are on stage 2 foods now and you eat several different fruits, veggies, and meats.  Also, you have started to give yourself baby snacks.  You like the Gerber cheetos, Mums crackers, and the spiral puffs.  You have started taking a little bit of water or baby juice from a sippy cup too. 

You have two teeth coming in on the bottom.  They are almost out and we are very grateful because watching you cut teeth is no fun!

We cannot imagine our lives without you.  You are such a joy and a sweet, precious baby.  We love you "pumpkin", "beefcake". 

Owen 7 months

My little pumpkin,

You are 7 months old!!!  You are developing quite the personality and you make daddy and I laugh every day.  You smile more this month than you ever have.  I haven't weighed or measured you this month, but I do know that you are in anywhere from 9-12 month clothes you big boy!

You have started sitting all by yourself this month and when you fall, you will get into the crawl position.  You army crawl and you will also take a couple of real crawls.  When laying on a blanket or the floor, you will move everywhere by rolling around, scooting, reaching, pulling yourself, and turning. 

You have figured out we have dogs and you love to watch them.  When one of them gets in your face, you will smile at them.  It is so sweet!

You are still eating 4 times a day and you are beginning some stage 2 foods now!  You absolutely LOVE to eat!  When you see your bottle, you will start making this cute noise and the closer it gets to your mouth, the more dramatic  you get.

You love to take baths and we got you a seat that you can sit by yourself while you bathe.  You will reach for your bath toys and love to kick your legs in the water.  It is so cute!

You are still teething and there is still no tooth in sight.  But, I know that your first tooth will make its appearance any day now.  You love teething tablets and to just gnaw on things.

You are developinng quite the personality.  You make the funniest noises and will smile when you do something you feel like you accomplished all by yourself!  We love watching you just stare at something and try to figure it out and at other times you roll around and get so excited!  You have figured out your tongue this month and love to stick it out.  You silly boy!

We love you so much and can't wait to see grow up sweetie pie! 

Owen 6 months

Sweet baby boy,

You are now 6 months old!!!  Oh how the time does fly. I cannot believe you are half of a year old!  You weigh 17. 5 pounds and you are  27 inches long. 

I am back to work full time, and we are both adjusting pretty well.  I miss you a lot, but we still spend a lot of time together and you really like Mrs. Shelly and Mrs. Patsy.  They play with you a whole lot when mommy is at work. 

You are sooo close to crawling and I think it will take place any day now.  You will get on all four's, scoot, fall, and then try again.  You get the most serious look on your face when you are practicing because you are concentrating so much.  You are also closer to sitting up on your own.  Your daddy says that you fold yourself in half.  You will sit for a few seconds and then either fall forward or to your side. 

You are still eating 4 times a day and 3 of these meals are combined with cereal and/or babyfood.  You absolutely LOVE bananas and sometimes I wonder if this is because I ate a lot of these when I was pregannt with you little one.

You are starting to make a lot of new noises.  You sound like a sick dinosaur when you are tired or pooping and it makes us laugh so hard. 

You are definitely starting to teethe and you are wanting to put everything in sight into your mouth.  You like to suck on frozen fruit inside of a teething toy or pacifiers.  This is funny because since you were born you have never liked pacifiers.  We still don't let you fall asleep with them, but we let you suck them to help soothe your little gums. 

You giggle when we tickle you or when we kiss your belly or your neck.  That is the sweetest sound in the world.  You are such a sweet boy and we love having you in our lives precious baby.