July 2009

Hilton Head was certainly the highlight of our month. The rest of the month was a bit more low key. The announcement of our pregnancy to everyone was exciting, but quickly followed with all day nausea and exhaustion for me. I’m finally getting over it, but it made for a really tough month! Owen however, is very excited to become a big brother. He’s not fully aware of what’s going to happen to our family in a few months, but he’s starting to understand the concept a little. We did manage to have a lot of summer fun this month. We had some exciting and fun outings, and tried to enjoy as much as we possibly could...

Owen creating a masterpiece!

Our trip to the Baltimore Zoo.

He walked this bridge at the zoo - probably 10 times. He loved the way it wobbled.

He wanted to know the dinosaur's name... we named her Betsy.
Really wanted to know where the rest of Betsy was...

No trip to the zoo is complete without this picture in the Oriole Nest.

Owen and Sofia checking out the fish and turtles inside the Chimpanzee Forest.

Snack Time!

Watching the penguins being fed.

We cannot catch them both smiling at the same time... (at least not on camera)

Owen loves to take photos with his camera!

Helping Daddy install our new trash/recycling system!

Our trip to the B&O Museum... the trains were amazing (actually even a little intimidating for Owen at first) but what a good trip!

Owen driving the train!

All Aboard! The actual train ride was only 25 min. long, but Owen enjoyed it!

The caboose

This was one of Owen's favorite exhibits. It was a huge model train exhibit of the B&O line... Owen loved it and we came back 3 times to see it!

Another favorite exhibit!

The Roundhouse is amazing. Owen's expression when we walked inside it was - WOW. That about summed it up for both of us.

The 4-H Fair

The pigs

The chickens.

Owen just loves to get out and explore, and he is so good on our outings. It's so fun to be able to do these fun activities with him. What fun we're having!

Hilton Head 2009

What a fantastic trip to Hilton Head! Daddy, Owen, Grandma and I all left Baltimore, Friday evening June 26th, facing the first 6+ hours of our trip. Owen was very good in the car, even though he didn't sleep a wink! We drove until 12:30 am, and finally checked into the hotel, not a moment too soon. We all crashed and woke up about 8am, got some breakfast, and headed back onto the road. We arrived in Hilton Head, after our 11 hour journey and were so excited to see what a gorgeous home we would be staying in. The ride was long, but after seeing the beauty of Hilton Head, we were convinced this would be one cool place to vacation. The house was huge and very nicely decorated. We had 5 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, a gourmet kitchen, a large deck and huge patio with a pool. We were 3 or 4 rows back from the beach, but once we figured out how to get there, it was well worth the trek. I would definitely stay at this same house again!

Steve, Lisa, Taylor & Sienna arrived late night on Saturday, so after everyone finally got settled into bed much later than normal, but very excited about heading to the beach in the morning. Sunday we decided to head to the public beach, where we could drive there, park, and then take all our stuff to the beach. Sounded good, but the downside was the crowd! It was so crowded there, it was hard to even find a spot to put our stuff down. We made the best of it, but definitely decided we needed to figure out how to get everyone to the private beach that was near our home.

The kids really enjoyed the pool at our house too. Owen LOVED having a pool in his back yard. He swam so well, it was amazing how quickly he had picked up kicking his feet to motor where he wanted to go. He was swimming like a little fish by the end of the first day. So independent!

Once we decided the public beach was for the birds, we set out the second day for the private beach. Then we really got to enjoy the luxurious side of Hilton Head. We had the beach almost to our selves. It was so great, because the kids could play and have fun and we didn't have to be worried about them lost in the crowd. It was also so incredible watching Owen braving the waves, and having a blast in the ocean. Last year in Ocean City, he wouldn't even put his feet in the sand, much less a big toe in the ocean! How much he has grown!

The crabs on the beach were definitely a sight. I haven't seen anything like them ever! They were everywhere! They crawled into your bag, over the beach blankets, they were kinda gross. The kids didn't mind them, but Grandma - batted down everyone that got near her! One even found it's way into my beach bag, and we found it in our room under the night stand. EWWW! Fortunately, they started to disappear by the end of the week.

The cousins got a long great. They had their little tiffs, but Owen loved being around them. Every morning, he would wake up and say - where are the cousins? It was so neat for them to get to spend such good quality time together, since they live so far apart! Oh, and the grownups had fun too!!!

One of the highlights of the trip was definitely Greg Russell. He plays in a place called Harbor Town, under a huge oak tree. Has been singing there for over 30 years, and he invites all the kids up on stage, sings songs, tells funny stories, invites the kids to sing along. It was so good, we went back a second time. Owen is still singing the Green Alligator Song. So adorable!

We had dinners in, dinners out, and even some carry out. We had a terrific (but very late) dinner at the Crazy Crab, Uncle Steve & Aunt Lisa took us all out to dinner at Red Fish, we also went to the Salty Dog Harbor, and a few other places. It was nice to get out and explore such a neat place.

After years and years of vacationing in Ocean City, Maryland, we now fully understand why people drive 10+ hours to the South Carolina beaches, year after year. It was wonderful, and a very memorable trip that we will remember for a long time. We decided to make the drive all the way home without stopping at the hotel. We were so tired after the long drive home, but so happy to be home rather than still facing a few hours in the car on Sunday. Grandma was also super happy to get back to our house on Saturday, because that meant that she could drive home Sunday morning. It had been such a long car ride, but Owen was so amazing, we were so proud of him!

We got home on the 4th of July about 8pm, just in time for Daddy to get ready to light off the fireworks he had bought in South Carolina! What a way to end our trip!

Funtime, Summertime

It's been another fun and busy month! And we're getting ready to leave for Hilton Head tomorrow! After 3 months of waiting, our vacation is finally here. Owen is so excited to go to the beach! He's all ready to play in the sand and swim in the pool with his cousins!


As usual, we've been pretty busy! We went to a few carnivals, had several pool days (in between many, many very rainy days). We also took a trip to Hershey for Grandma's birthday, and went to the bay house to celebrate Father's Day.
Father's Day was very relaxing and Owen was such a good boy, he had so much fun playing with everyone, and always wanted to be where the action was. He's grown up so much!


Our neighbor broke ground on a new pool, and Owen has been loving the construction. He actually think it's HIS pool. Maybe the neighbors will be nice enough to let us take a dip every once in a while. But Owen has been enjoying going to the pool that we joined this summer. There is a HUGE little kid pool that is about 18 inches deep with fountains and sprinklers, and recently he started going into the big pool, wearing his swim vest. He loves jumping in from the side of the pool, and using his water guns. We're really happy that we joined the pool this summer, and it is so nice that it is only 5 minutes from our house. Owen loves going!


He also has a small baby pool that we fill up in our back yard. He just really enjoys the water, and it's so fun to watch him entertain himself and play!


This month was also Owen's final Gymnastics class until the fall. He really enjoys gymnastics, and he keeps asking to go, but we decided to take the summer off, and go back in the fall after the weather cools down (and the pool closes).



We passed the Baby Cradle that was given to me by Mom-Mom, to Justin and Samantha, who are expecting Baby Jackson to arrive any day now. We decided to make the cradle for all of Mom-Mom's great grand children, and had a plaque made and Owen's name put on the cradle as the first user. Hard to believe that Owen slept in this tiny cradle. And when Baby Jackson is done with it, his Mommy & Daddy will add his name and birthday to the cradle and pass it on to the next Great-Grandchild... Owen wanted to sleep in it again... :)

Another highlight that I remember from this month was going to Tyler's birthday party. Tyler turned 4 earlier this month, and he had a birthday party at a Karate Studio near our house. Owen was a little shy at first, because he was tired and a lot of the kids were older, but he stepped right up to the teacher when it came time to break the boards. He was so proud of himself when he broke it with his foot! He took it to Daddy and said - "I kicked it really hard!" We were very impressed! (I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of this).


We also went bowling with Tyler and Candace in Timonium. We were supposed to go to the zoo, but it ended up raining, but we had a blast. Owen and Tyler are getting along so nicely, it's so cute to see them play together. So cute!


So we're off to Hilton Head tomorrow, and while I'm dreading the drive, I can hardly wait to get there and let the kids relax and play.

May Videos

Owen at Miami Beach in Middle River, MD - this year he loves the sand...

Owen singing - Rain Rain Go Away:

Laughter is the best medicine - (One day when Owen was home sick... but starting to feel better):

Owen doing the Trapeze at Gymnastics (after months of being afraid of this, he loves it now):

Spring has Sprung... Lots of Fun!

Wow, May is over already! But what a fun month we’ve had! The weather is getting warmer, and that allowed us to have a lot of fun times outside. It also rained…A LOT… so we also had to find some fun activities inside too… We had a very active month with a bunch of activities, and I’m wracking my brain trying to remember all the stuff we did. We had visits to Pop at the bay house, Granny for lunch, a visit from Grandma (and she also came down for a visit too), and even dinner with Great Mom-Mom, and a trip to visit Grandpa and Grandma Bev. A bouncy play date & lunch with Melissa and Alik, a dinner play date with Robyn, Jaime and Sofia and so many other fun activities, it’s hard to remember them all.

I think it’s fair to say that we’re really going to enjoy this summer. Owen is enjoying every minute we get to play outside and enjoying all the warm weather activities – bikes, playground, sand box, pool and baby pool, watering flowers, all the good stuff! Last summer was so consumed with moving that we didn’t enjoy it nearly as much… This summer is going to be different, I can tell…

We bought Owen a sandbox last month, due to his overwhelming fear of being messy and he HATED the sand last year, so with Hilton Head fast approaching, I wanted to get him used to the sand. It took about 6 weeks to desensitize him (it wouldn’t have taken so long had we not had so much rain). But not we will completely immerse himself in the sand, cover his feet and allow the sand to stick to him. So after doing it in the sandbox, I rewarded him with a trip to “Miami” Beach in Middle River. It’s on the bay, and he had a blast! He put his feet in the water, and loved running around the beach. It’s nice to feel that we won’t have to battle the sand when we go on vacation in June, that he’ll enjoy it and have fun playing!

May also included a wonderful Mother’s Day. It was my 3rd Mother’s Day, and it sure was special, since Owen can actually say, Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy and give kisses and understand. It made it very special. We had a lovely brunch, and it was so great! I loved especially that we were home from brunch relatively early, and had plenty of time to relax. Something I so rarely get to do these days…

Memorial Day we went over to Pop’s house on the bay, and had a big BBQ with everyone. Owen didn’t have a nap that day (we’ve been letting him skip a nap once in a while (when it’s not a school night) so that we can do things during the afternoon, and he’s been doing remarkably well when he does skip.

All in all, a fantastic and wonderful month. We are very blessed as a family.

New Video

Here are 2 recent videos of Owen... I got a Flip Video Camera for my birthday, and have loved snapping videos of Owen. It makes it so easy to share videos, because there is no DVD involved, just download to computer and go! So COOL! Can you tell I LOVE IT!

Spring is Here!

I can’t believe another month has flown by again. It’s been a hectic month of birthdays, Easter and egg hunts, and lots of fun outside. Owen is continuing to gain his independence, and is doing nearly everything on his own. “I do myself” is his favorite phrase, well, it takes a very close second to “NO MOMMY”. Another thing he's saying lately is - "That's my favorite" everything is his favorite toy, every snack is his favorite snack... so cute.

Daddy had a busy month with a lot of traveling, so many of the weekdays were spent just the two of us. Grandma was here early in the month before leaving for a trip with Uncle Steve, Aunt Lisa, Taylor and Sienna. Owen and I took Grandma to the airport and had a blast watching the planes in the observation area, it was such a nice morning, BWI airport has such a fun place for kids to explore, I’ve never been there before so it was a pleasant surprise.

We also went out for Maggie’s birthday, Daddy was in New Jersey, so Mommy & Owen went solo. It was a great, but long evening. Owen was adorable and had a blast running around and saying hello to everyone. He even helped Aunt Kathy take pictures of everyone.

Then we had Mommy’s birthday. We had such a great day, and Mommy & Daddy got to go out for dinner too. It was a rare evening to have a babysitter, but quite nice to celebrate on the actual day.

The month was also full of Easter celebrations. We had a great time with Granny and Pop at the country club for the petting zoo and egg hunt. It was the first of many egg hunts for the month, we had several at home, the big on Easter, and also one in the neighborhood. Owen really understood the concept of find the eggs and there are treats inside. He really enjoyed it. Easter we went to church, he was so very good in church, it was probably the best he has been in church since he was a baby and would sleep through the whole service. We were VERY proud parents. Then we came home and Owen found his Easter basket and the tricycle that the Easter bunny had left, and also the egg hunt in the basement. He really enjoyed himself had a ball. Then we went down to one of our neighbors houses, who was having a big neighborhood egg hunt for all the kids, and the Easter bunny even made an appearance! It was such a fun time, but really chilly. Granny & Pop, Aunt Jess & Uncle Tom, Aunt Lizzie & Ryan, and Uncle Alex all came over for dinner, and we had a really nice evening.

Other highlights from the month were that Owen has really started using the potty… I’m not officially saying we’re potty training, but we’ve added a few extra potty breaks during the day, and many of them are successful. He definitely has interest in the potty but he rarely tells me that he has to go, any time he sits down however, he goes… So it’s a balance.

We also bought Owen a sand box. He really hated being “messy” with sand at the beach last summer, and since we just booked a vacation to Hilton Head with Uncle Steve and family, we decided Owen needed some “practice” playing in the sand. Owen still doesn’t really want to get into the sandbox, he’ll play from the outside, but we’re making progress, now he’ll play with the sand in his hands, (before he would only use a shovel), and he’ll get inside the box as long as he have flip flops on, and we still have a month or so (assuming it ever stops raining) of play to get him into the sand box. Hopefully he’ll be so excited to play with cousins Taylor and Sienna that he won’t care about the sand at the beach… Our new motto is "It's OK to get messy"... and one day I'll probably regret this but for now, it's OK to get messy, because we can clean it up.

Owen got a chocolate bunny for Easter, and was nearly devastated when Daddy bit the ears off – he kept saying – “It’s OK bunny, Daddy, why did you do that?” He was so upset that Daddy was eating the bunny that we had to put it away. What can I say – my little vegetarian is an animal lover…

We also had some other fun outings this month – Owen and I went duck pin bowling with Ms. Robyn and Sofia. That was a lot of fun, Sofia was so funny, because she didn’t like it when her turn was over… She would have bowled all 10 frames at once. Owen was so cute because he was cheering for everyone. Unlike the other place we had gone duck bowling, this place had a “little kid” ramp that helps the kids send the balls down the alley. Owen really liked the independence of this.

We also went to the bouncing place again, and since we haven’t been in several months, it was neat to see how much growth Owen has had since our last time out. He was so much more independent and interested in playing and bouncing. We also went shopping one day with Granny and Liz and had lunch, we threw pennies in the fountain at Kenilworth. Owen loves to throw pennies. And we went to Chocolate world again. He never tires of those dancing/singing cows.

Owen has also gotten a few new molars and still working on 2 more that are stubbornly waiting to finish coming through. And, yes, he is still very stubborn to try new things to eat… but we’re managing. Life is just too exciting for a 2 year old to slow down and eat a real dinner. But we are ever impressed with his communication skills, and all the things that he says and understands. It’s so incredible!

It was a great month, and very fast. Hopefully may will slow down a little… but I doubt it.