Owen says...

Today Owen turned to me and said, "Mommy, Daddy is crazy!"

Owen's Strider Skills

Last Christmas, we got Jack a Strider Bike.  We are huge fans - he was riding a bike without training wheels just 3 months later.  Once Jack graduated to a pedal bike, Owen took over the Strider.  It's taken a few months (he wasn't even 2 when he started riding it), but he's finally getting the hang of it and even balancing for small stretches now.

The weather has been so nice the past few days that we've taken the boys to the little skate park in our neighborhood a couple times to ride bikes.  

Here are some pictures from our trip on Sunday:

 The boys always have to stop and pet the creepy egg hatching dinosaur when we walk by...

 Big boy on his bike!

And here's a little video of Owen's skills:

Dear Owen,

Tonight you are having a hard time going to sleep.  (I'm not sure why since you took an early nap that was only 2 hours - I suspect you are teething.)  I have been in your room three times already trying to help you go to sleep (your brother has been unconscious since the moment his head touched the pillow).  Each time you are so happy to see me and want me to get you out of your crib and snuggle you.  I gave in the first time (you're just too cute).  We snuggled in the rocking chair and I sang songs while you sucked your finger.  You have loved that finger since you were a tiny guy and you still love that finger.  You also love pointing out body parts.  Tonight you are obsessed with eyes, nose and "aaaahhhh" (mouth).  Each time I go into your room you make sure to repeatedly point out my eyes, nose and "aaaahhhh."  I love it.  I love you.  Please stay little and cute and fun forever.  Love,  Mommy

Sock Mitten

A couple of weeks ago Owen cut his finger with a pair of scissors.  

It was all my fault.  

Adam had the boys upstairs getting ready for bed and I brought the scissors over to the couch to open something.  I set them down on the couch and completely forgot they were there.  Adam brought the boys back downstairs and sneaky little Owen grabbed the scissors while we were getting everything ready for bedtime, and proceeded to cut his finger pretty good.  

I felt absolutely terrible about it.  

Bad, guilty mommy moment.

We tried to double bandage it, hoping that he wouldn't be able to get the bandaid off.

Fifteen minutes after we put the boys to bed, we heard him screaming.

Of course, his bandaid was off his finger, and he had wiped his finger ALL OVER THE BED.

Jack was already asleep, but I had to turn the light on to make sure I got everything cleaned up. 

He didn't even flinch.

That kid can sleep through ANYTHING.

Now how to keep Owen from ripping off his bandaid again?

Put a sock on his hand and tape it to his jammies.

Yeah.  We're awesome parents.

Owen is 18 months...

...and so stinkin' adorable.

I seriously love this kid so much.

Jumping on the bed

 Still LOVES his finger.

I'm hoping he outgrows it at some point, but I don't anticipate that being anytime soon.

 Finally got some teeth!  You can't see them too well in this picture, but he's got two on the bottom (both barely poking through), and it looks like he's getting a random one on the top too - 

see it over on the left of this photo?  

That's gonna look awesome when it pokes through!

A few random things about Owen:

-still isn't talking much.  He babbles quite a bit.  Other than the words I listed on this post, he now also says ball, cheese, please, and Jack.  I think he said "No" for the first time today too, but I'm going to pretend that he didn't.

-is becoming a bit of a picky eater.  Annoying.  He loves cereal, pancakes, cheese, yogurt, oranges, cucumbers and anything snacky (crackers, goldfish, chips).  Other than that he won't eat too much.  If he doesn't like the way it looks, he won't even try it.  (I don't really know what to do about that!)  He's starting to throw the food he doesn't want on the floor.  Double annoying.  Especially when it's soup.

-loves to mimic Jack and Daddy.  Cutest thing ever.

-LOVES bath time.  The second he hears mention of a bath he runs right over to the stairs.

-is starting to get a little bit of "toddler attitude" - throwing little fits, hitting (often himself - ?) and throwing things when he doesn't get his way.  He started this about a month ago, and the first time he did was in the middle of church.  Adam and I were trying so hard not to laugh because he was SO mad and kept trying to hit all of us and throwing anything in sight.  Not really behavior I want to encourage, but it was kind of funny at the time!

-is back in the "put everything in his mouth" phase.  Really hoping we outgrow that for good soon!

-is overall a very sweet, mellow boy.  We love our little Owen (O, Owee, Oboe, Odabodah, Bodah) SO much!

"Foxing"

Jack LOVES to play the boxing game on Kinect Sports.  He calls it "foxing."  He's actually pretty good at it too - he beats me almost every time, and I'm not going easy on him.  The kid can box.

All of my boys "foxing"

Jack is pretty intense about it...

Owen kept walking right in front of me saying "Eeeeeesss"  (Cheese)

 Here's the video that the Kinect took while the boys were playing.  

Favorite part?  

Owen joining in on the action and his little punches.  Cutest. Thing. Ever.

Don't mind me in the corner and the random flashes.  

Just trying to get some pictures of my boys in action.

Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails...

that's what little BOYS are made of...

Adam and I are not suprised at all...we were both thinking boy this time and we're super excited for another boy and for Jack to have a little brother! Jack is a TOTAL daddy's boy, so I have a feeling that Adam will have his hands full.

Within the first 30 seconds of the ultrasound our little guy had flashed us "the goods." (Sorry if that sounds graphic!) The ultrasound tech asked if we knew what we were having and we both said it was pretty obvious up on the screen! With Jack they didn't tell us he was a boy until the VERY end of the ultrasound, so it was kind of fun knowing the whole time that it was a little boy. We got a few pictures but they're not very good (this place just printed them on regular paper...lame!), plus he was being a stinker and wouldn't give us a good profile shot. We got a face on picture, but lets just face it, they all look like aliens in the face on ultrasound pictures.

So we have the whole boy thing totally figured out. Now the tough part: figuring out a name. We are TOTALLY clueless this time!