11 Months!

I cannot, CANNOT believe that my baby is 2 1/2 weeks away from turning 1!!!! I was talking with my friend Cori just the other day about how this time last year we were playing the waiting game and taking guesses on when Owen would make his arrival. It seems like just yesterday!

I have been busy getting ready for his party and it has been so much fun to plan! My mom has done a special smocking for his birthday and I am busy sewing the outfit all together. It is going to be jumbo blue & white gingham long-alls and I can't wait for it to be done, it is going to be so precious! We aren't really doing too much of a theme, but his invitations have a train on them and I'm going to put a train on his cake too.

Okay, so here are a few things Owen has learned and developed during month 11...

He is saying so many words these days! His new words this month include: "bye bye" and "book"...and maybe even one or two more that I'm forgetting. We have also discovered that when Owen is saying "go," he is actually referring to Margo our dog.

Owen also has a handful of new tricks this month too! He gives the absolute BEST hugs and kisses!!! Oh they are heaven! He gives a little squeeze and makes a little "mmm, mmm" noise when he hugs--so adorable :) He gives them to his mama all the time, but shares some with his daddy and grandparents too!

We sing together all the time too. Owen LOVES music--I suppose he gets this from his mama, who gets it from her daddy! Pops loves all kinds of music and I think we've both inherited that passion from him :) A couple of weeks ago I was putting Owen to bed and it took a bit longer than usual. When I finally came downstairs Tony asked me what I was doing. I told him that Owen and I had been singing and we just kept on singing until he finally drifted off to sleep. I could spend hours singing with my sweet one, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing :)

He will dance when he hears music too. If he's standing up, he'll bend his knees up and down and slap his hands on the ottoman or couch. If he's sitting, he'll bounce up and down on the floor waving his hands. This kid's got rhythm too :) It's so precious to watch and we've captured it with the video camera several times. I will try and figure out how to convert it and upload it soon :)

Owen has become quite the little parrot these days too! He will copy all kinds of noises and movement that we do. He will "quack" like a duck, "moo" like a cow, and "woof, woof" like a dog. When you ask him when a dog says, he will say "woof, woof" all on his own, but the others you have to say first and then he'll repeat. We throw our hands in the air and say "Praise the Lord" and Owen does the same. (His praise the Lord sounds more like "aaaaahhhh!" right now though!)

He also waves "bye bye" and gives "High 5's" too. He's started stacking things like blocks and bowls inside of each other. He's gotten to be a pro with walking behind his push & ride toy and has even figured out how to ride it by himself too. No walking yet. I think he could if he really wanted to--his balance is great and he has the movement down pat--but he's just not interested yet and would rather crawl. Again, NO pressure here, he can take his time for sure!

11 Month Measurements:
18 pounds
31 inches long
47 centimeter head

I didn't check the percentiles, but maybe I'll check and come back and add those later. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this month...

11 Month Pictures

1st Haircut

Well, really it was more of a trim actually! Owen's hair was starting to get a little shaggy around his ears so I trimmed it up a little bit. I didn't touch the top or the back, but just snipped a little off the sides so it wasn't hanging down over his ears anymore. What a task it was too! I tried giving Owen "new and exciting" things to play with, which sort of kind of worked...I basically followed Owen around the room with my hair sheers and then as soon as he would pause to look at something, I'd snip a little here and there. Then he'd be off again and I'd have to wait until he was distracted again to cut anymore. It took quite a while to accomplish our task, but all in all I think I did a pretty good job!Brianne (Xan's mom) suggested giving him a lollipop to suck on so that's what we're gonna try next time! Thanks for the tip Bri! :)

Play Group & Trip to the Park

We have started getting together with some other mamas & babies in our neighborhood and it has been so much fun! We get together every other week so that the kiddos can play and the mamas can have some much needed "adult time" to chat and visit too. We currently have 3 boys: Luke, Jack, & Owen and 1 girl: Austyn. We also have another neighbor that might join us next time too which is so fun! Here are some pictures that I took of them playing last week. Unfortunately Luke wasn't feeling too great so he and his mama had to miss out, but I'll be sure to take some more pictures of the whole crew again soon!

The only shot I could get of all 3 of them at the same time!

Sweet baby Austyn, so adorable!

Jack & his beautiful baby blues :)

AAAH! I think Owen looks like he's about 3 years old here!

Playing with everything EXCEPT the toys :)

Owen using Jack as a jungle gym, silly boy!

Jack waiting on his mama for some lunch

Sweet little faces :)


A few days after we met for play group, we took the kids to the park for a picnic and walk. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so sunny and fairly warm so I got a few pictures of them playing there as well. We had a lot of fun and are hoping for another warm, sunny day soon so we can go back!
Sleepy Jack in his cool shades

Picnic at the park!

Crawling ALL over the field :)
Handsome boy!

Photography Assistant

So these days it's near impossible to take pictures of my kiddo without some assistance. I typically have to give him a toy of some sort and hope for the best (hence the abundant use of "props" in my pictures these days!), but for Owen's 10 month pics, I was fortunate enough to have Kelly (Noni) as an "assistant" to help me out. Noni was a HUGE help with keeping Owen focused on sitting in his rocking chair and I got some really great shots (the ones in the "10 months" slide show a few posts below). I also took some precious pics of the 2 of them while they were looking out the window at the school bus in the neighborhood. I just found some time to edit them and here are a few of my very favorites...

Cruising Right Along!

Owen just figured out how to walk using one of his push & ride toys this morning. He first started trying to push one of his play tables around the room, but when I showed him his push & ride toys he really started cruising. Here's a video of him. I love how he's looking at me in the beginning like "Okay is the camera on? I'm ready to perform!" and then he takes off...so cute! :)