Day at the Park

Last week Owen and I went to the park with my friend Renee and her daughter, Bailey. We had so much fun walking and talking and pushing our children in their strollers. Renee was a good friend in high school and we recently reconnected. I am so blessed that we have too, she is such a treasure! Her daughter is almost 11 months old and she is absolutely precious! I think she looks just like her mama :) We took a picnic lunch and ate it under a tree while our babies played (well, Bailey played--Owen just kinda hung out and watched the action!) I always enjoy spending time with my sweet friend Renee and I am so excited to raise our sweet little ones together! Here are a few of the pictures we took at the park. All the pictures you see of Owen and me were taken by Renee--she has such a gift for photography!

Father's Day

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

Psalm 103:13

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I am way behind in posting this, but I really wanted to put some thought into it and say something from my heart. Here goes...

Tony. Wow, that man in incredible. He is kind, patient, genuine, and so full of love. He amazes me every single day. Fatherhood comes so naturally to him. I mean, I knew he would be a good father, it is one of the qualities that made me really fall in love with him (no, I'm not talking about when I was 15 (!) I mean when I really, really knew he was the man that God put on this earth to be my helpmate).

Tony has blown me out of the water. From the very instant that the doctor put Owen in his arms when he was born, fatherhood fit Tony. He was comfortable from moment one. Being a daddy seems to come as naturally to Tony as breathing air. As Owen has begun to grow and change before my eyes, witnessing the interaction between my huband and son has only gotten better. Owen absolutely adores his daddy. When Tony walks into the room Owen turns on. His eyes sparkle and light up and a huge grin spreads across his face. I wish I could capture the love between these two in a photo because I cannot put into words the tenderness of the love that flows between them (though I do think the one above comes pretty close!)

First thing in the morning, I go and get Owen from his room and bring him into our bedroom to feed him. When he finishes eating, Owen immediately starts looking for daddy who is sleeping beside us. Owen coos and babbles until Tony wakes up to play--and when he does, our day has truly started. I will treasure our precious family morning time for as long as I live.

Tony is Owen's hero. I am so excited to know that my son will grow up being taught the morals and values that his daddy has. Thank you Tony for your unwaivering love for our son. Thank you for your pure and constant love for me. Thank you for living your life with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Thank you for being you.

Happy (belated!) Father's Day!

I love you completely,
Hannah

am I gonna have my hands full or what?

Okay, so Owen likes to stand up (with us holding onto his arms of course). It gives him the best view of everything that's going on and he NEVER wants to miss a thing. He's getting really steady and strong, but this morning he took things to a whole new level...

We were playing in his room and he started to take a few steps towards me! At first I thought it was just a fluke, so I put him back out in front of me...but he just kept on doing it! I had to call Tony in to take a look and he captured it on video. Oh my goodness...he's gonna be quite a handful, I already know it!

3 months old

I can hardly believe it, but Owen turned 3 months old yesterday (6/12)! Time has just flown by and he has grown and changed so much in the past 3 months.

What Owen's doing these days:
rolling from his tummy to his back
rolling from his back to his tummy
blowing bubbles
playing with his hands & feet
laughing & squealing

He also LOVES to stand up (with us holding him steady of course). He really has great control of his both his head and his core muscles. He also loves to play in his jumparoo--and has actually cried a few times when we've taken him out of it. He can also balance for a few seconds in the sitting position. Tony thinks he's going to be an early walker, but I told him he better hope not because he'll have to quit his job and help me chase after the little guy, haha! He's so active, ALWAYS on the move! Every morning we have a little play time after he eats and I joke that's when he takes his morning jog because he kicks his legs non-stop, it's so funny!Owen's 3 month stats:
weight: 13lbs. 60z. 50th percentile
height: 26 inches 95th percentile
head: 16 inches between 25th and 50th percentile

These percentiles are according to medcalc.com--I don't have official measurements or percentiles because we took all of these measurements at home.

Orange Beach

Last week we headed to the beach with some of our sweet friends--The Dunns and the Hankinsons--to my grandparent's beach house in Orange Beach, Alabama. It was Owen's 2nd beach vacation and we had a blast! This time around we actually spent a good amount of time at the beach and some at the pool as well. We had a neat little sun dome for Owen to keep him out of the sun and a portable fan to keep him cool and it was the perfect set up! We even put an umbrella on the shore for a little bit and dipped Owen's toes in the ocean and he seemed quite content, I just know he's going to be such the water baby by the end of the summer. He really seems to love the water! He provided quite a bit of entertainment for us all week--lots of squealing and laughing, he is such a happy baby! At one point, Cori, Sara, & I were reading our books in the sun by the pool and Tony was sitting with Owen in the shade. Sara told us to look across the pool at the guys, and when we did, we saw such a precious sight. Owen held all 3 grown men just absolutely captivated. I was wishing I had my camera, it was so very sweet. One wonderful daddy, one wonderful daddy-to-be, and one future wonderful daddy--all focused on my sweet little boy. They were all enjoying a little "guy time."

Owen must think that the beach is a great place for "firsts" because he rolled over from his back to his belly for the first time while we were there (last time we were at the beach he rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time). He isn't in love with being on his tummy though. He likes to be able to see everything that's going on so after he does it, he immediately starts squirming around and rolls back over. He does seem amused by his new trick though :)

What Owen has to say...

In the last few days, Owen has really started "talking" a lot more. He's so engaging and entertaining...it just gets better every day! He laughs and opens his mouth really wide and just jabbers away, especially right after he eats :). Here's a cute video of him performing for his Daddy the other night...

This is my first attempt to post a video so I hope it works! I will try and get some more of these up soon :)

2 months old (!) and Mother's Day

Good grief, how time flies! I cannot believe that my baby is 2 months old...he'll be 10 weeks on Wednesday, he's getting so big!!! We had our 2 month check up last week at our new doctor's office--Brookstone Pediatrics. I LOVE them! We actually saw the nurse practitioner, and she was fabulous! She gave me as much time as I needed to ask questions (and there were a lot!) and she fed Owen his bottle while I wrote down all the answers. She was so good with him and so sweet. Owen had a GREAT checkup and her words were that he's "perfect"...and I do tend to agree ;)

Here are his 2 month stats for anyone who's interested...
11 lbs. 8oz. (50th percentile)
24 1/4 inches long (90th percentile)
30 cm head (50th percentile) My mom said my brother's measurements were very similar when he was a baby and I find that pretty interesting because Owen reminds me so much of how my brother looked when he was a baby. Not all the time, but occasionally I see such a strong resemblance. Here's a picture I took the other day that I think looks so much like Matt... I will try and upload a baby picture of Matt for comparisons sake soon so you can see what I mean :)

I had a FABULOUS Mother's Day!!! I feel so very INCREDIBLY blessed to be a mother. Each and every day is such a HUGE blessing from God and I am so in awe of His abundant blessings. Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of being a mommy one day and now that I am it is even better than anything I could have ever imagine. I have a fantastic husband too. He and Owen made me a very sweet card that had Owen's footprints on it. It was soo sweet! Tony also cooked me breakfast and gave me two knockout rose bushes that he planted in our yard the very same day. They look fabulous! We had our moms over to our house for brunch after church and had a very nice time. We gave them framed pictures that I took of Owen for presents. I absolutely love how the pictures turned out!!!
Geebee's picture

Noni's picture

and here are a few others that I just LOVED :)

Stone Mountain

Last Sunday (5/4) my dad had his company picnic for all of his employees at Stone Mountain. We decided to go along for a fun family outing. We had a BBQ lunch, walked around the park a little while, and then rode the tram to the top of the mountain. It was so nice and sunny, but a little warm so Owen wore his cute floppy sun hat and we tried our best to keep him in the shade.

With Nonnie at lunch

Precious face

Hanging out with Geebee

Big Smile :)

At the base of the mountain with James & Caitlin

On top of Stone Mountain...bright sunshine!

Lali and BG

This past weekend, my Aunt Alison and Uncle Berry (my mom's sister) came for a visit and to meet Owen for the first time. We grilled out several times and had a great time visiting with them. They even came to Stone Mountain with us (another blog entry to follow...) on Sunday for my dad's company picnic. They have 5 grandchildren themselves who call them Lali and BG. They absolutely love babies so needless to say, Owen was well loved on all weekend!
Owen hanging out with BG


Lali and BG


Owen loves his Lali and BG--and I love that smile!!!

The goings on of the past few weeks.

We've been very busy the last few weeks and had a lot of fun too! Last Thursday, Owen and I went to visit Daddy at work and take him lunch. He was so proud to show off his little boy to all his co-workers and we had a very nice time. Owen fell asleep on Daddy's chest while he was sitting at his desk and I just had to take a picture because they just looked so cute!I promise I'm not going to take a picture and document every trip to church, but Owen just looked so cute this past Sunday that I had to take a picture! He's wearing an adorable little Feltman Brothers day gown that my cousins Joe and Sandy and my brother all wore when they were babies. Such a handsome little guy :) Owen and I go on a walk just about every day and last week we had a little cold snap so I put him in this adorable little jacket. Again, I just had to take a picture of him. His expression was just too precious, but I know he was probably thinking, "mama, why do you dress me in these ridiculous clothes?!" haha!

Here's a picture of tummy time last week. He's getting so big and strong and holding his head up so well these days! He just coos and smiles and squirms all around when I put him down on his blanket. He's still rolling over occasionally too so I'm pretty sure he's mastered that trick and it's not an accident that he's doing it. We laugh and read a lot too and he just loves it.

Love those chubby cheeks!

Meeting More Dichiaras...

Several weeks ago (I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged...again!) Tony's grandmother, his aunt Lee, and uncles Ronald and Tommy came from Mississippi to visit and see Owen for the first time. Tony's parents took his grandmother to Savannah and we got to see them before and after their trip. John & Elisa as well as Chris's girlfriend, Ashley, came to meet him for the first time as well. Here are a few pictures of that visit. Unfortunatley, we didn't get any pictures with John &Elisa...maybe next time! Oh, and no picture with Lee either...she said she'd wait until he got a little bigger before she held him :)

Great Grandmother Dichiara

Great Uncle Ronald

Great Uncle Tommy

Ashley

Grandpa, Noni, and Owen enjoying the sunshine

Tony & Ronald