Family Visit & GA Aquarium Trip

My aunts & uncles from my mom's side of the family were in town last weekend--Alison (mom's sister) & Berry and Sandy (mom's brother) & LeeAnn. They were here for the entire weekend and we had such an awesome time visiting with them and catching up. It was also Sandy & LeeAnn's first time meeting Owen :) To kick off the weekend, we all (minus Tony, he had to work) took a trip to the GA Aquarium. It was both Owen & my first visit and we all had a blast! That place is soooo awesome! Owen really thinks so too, he was in awe the whole time, pointing and laughing and telling us all about the great fish he was seeing! We were all in such awe of the enormous fish surrounding us that I only ended up taking a few pictures of Owen with Geebee & Pops. The rest are of just Owen with the fish and then a few of the fish & other sea creatures by themselves. I really hate it that I didn't get a group shot or any of Owen with his great aunts & uncles at the Aquarium but I guess we were all just so enamored by the fish that it slipped our minds! Owen's very first encounter with the fish. He started pointing and saying "wow" immediately!
Checking out the giant jellyfish Watching the sea otters with Geebee My sweet boy and me :)This was my favorite creature, a dragon sea horse...I forgot the real name, but they were so fun to watch! Watching the beluga whales with Pops The main attraction! The whale sharks :) Owen in the concave window, it looks like the fish is right next to him! Silly boy trying to grab my camera while I was taking a picture of him with Geebee

...and this last one pretty much sums up Owen's GA Aquarium experience. I absolutely LOVE his expression in this one!!! I'm pretty sure he's saying, "I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!"

Snow Day :)

Busy, busy, busy!!! That's what our life's been lately for sure :) I know that the old saying March comes in like lion and out like a lamb refers to the weather, but that saying fits our life these days too! All in good ways though, no complaints here!!!! We've had lots and lots of fun times with family and friends, but it has left me little down time and my blog has been a little neglected lately! That being said, I have at least 5 posts in the works so stayed tuned over the next few days and I promise to get them all up :) Okay onto the first one...

We started out the month of March with a snow day. Now I do use that term very lightly...we do live in Georgia here, but nonetheless, we did at least see some snow. The snow fell down for the majority of the day and we had a very light dusting, but not enough accumulation to cause the schools to close and give Tony the day off :( It was Owen's very first local snow sighting--he saw snow for the first time in Crested Butte in January--(and our first one in a few years too I might add!) so we took the opportunity to bundle him up and get a few pictures in the cold, white stuff. That's about all it was to Owen too. He wasn't too big a fan of the cold or the wet so we only stayed out for a few minutes, but here are a few cute ones :) Sweet boy Snowy kisses from daddy ;)snuggling with mama my 2 favorite people! smiley faces :) precious love!

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! :)

10 Months

In usual fashion, I'm soooo late (almost an entire month this time, perhaps a new record?) with Owen's 10 month post. However, Owen is now 10 (and a half) months old now, which I can hardly believe, but he is. It's so cliche to say how "time flies by so fast" but it's really so true, and I don't think I really grasped HOW fast until I actually became a mother. I suppose what really gave me some perspective this month, was that my sweet friend Emilie & her husband, Whit, just had their baby boy on Tuesday. His name is Hansell Lee Smith II (named after Whit's dad) and they are calling him Lee. He is a precious tiny little bundle--only 5 pounds, 5 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long--and mom, dad, & baby are all doing great by the way :) So, we went to visit them in the hospital the other day and it just really shot me back, I mean, we were JUST there! Yet, already it's almost been an entire year, geeze! Here's a picture of us holding sweet little Lee by the way :)What a cutie, huh? :)

Owen is really content crawling these days and not showing too much interest in moving on to walking (...and I'm sure not rushing him either!) Since he has seemed to be on the go practically from birth, Owen kind of got us thinking he'd be a really early walker. He still may do just that, I know it is still quite early, but he's not showing signs so far. He will occasionally stand on his own for a moment or two, but he isn't making the move with his feet yet. Also, he hasn't liked the few times we've held his hands and tried to see if he'd walk with us with assistance--he's content just to get around on all fours :)

Owen is eating a huge variety of food these days too. He's tried just about everything Tony & I eat, except for nuts & seafood. He is really not picky at all with the exception that still not crazy about eggs, but I still try them every now and then. I'm sure he'll eventually develop a taste for them :)

His vocabulary is ever growing too. The list of words includes:
wow, ow, woah, and dog---ALL the time
la-la (what he calls Delilah our cat), cat, ball, and go--quite frequently
da-da and ma-ma--occassionally

He loves to play with balls, his push toys (riding on them with us pushing him, he hasn't gotten the hang of how to push them yet), his shape sorter, and his tunnel, but he LOVES to play with anything he isn't supposed to be playing with (ie. the fireplace tools, remote controls, tv, etc.)

Owen's 10 month measurements:
17 pounds, 6 ounces (5th to 10th percentile)
30 in. long (75th to 90th percentile)
46 cm. head (50th to 75th percentile)

...still tall & skinny with an average sized head :)

Here are some of my favorites pics this month, enjoy!

10 Months

Crested Butte slideshow

Crested Butte!

During MLK weekend, my parents, Tony, Owen, and I flew out to Colorado to visit my brother, Matt, in Crested Butte. Matt moved out there just a few months ago and wasn't able to make it home for Thanksgiving or Christmas so it was so great to be able to see him and see where he works and plays! He works at a beautiful ski resort called Elevation and he was able to get us some sweet deals on ski rentals & lift tickets.

We had an AWESOME time out there spending time with him, skiing, eating absoultely wonderful food, and relaxing. Owen did such a great job on the airplane (I was a little worried!) too which only made things better. He wasn't super crazy about the cold weather, but when we bundled him up he was a great sport about it. It was a bit challenging, because CO time is 2 hours behind us so it was interesting trying to juggle his schedule with the local time out there. About the time we'd head out to dinner every night was just getting to be bed time at home and Owen fell asleep more than once inside of Tony's coat :) It was so precious!

Owen was of course way too little to get out on the slopes, but we did take him tubing which he absolutely LOVED! He squealed and laughed all the way down the hill and then as soon as we finished, he started babbling, telling us all about it :) He also loved the indoor pool. It was heated, but for some reason the days we took him swimming, it wasn't heated nearly enough. He started shivvering a little bit, but still wanted to stay in the water. We let him for a little bit, but then to warm him up a little, let him dangle his toes in the hot tub. He loved the jets and the bubbles they made.

The skiing was so wonderful too. I skiied mostly with my mom & Tony, but got to go down a run or two with my brother when he wasn't working which was fun. He snowboards on the double blacks mostly and Tony went down those with him some, but I am NOT a double black skiier ;) Dad wasn't crazy about skiing so he stuck mostly to the spa & workout center and also went snowmobiling with Matt one day. We took turns going out on the slopes so that someone was always there to watch Owen and it worked out fabulously--an excellent time was had by all!

Crested Butte is SO, SO beautiful!!! As my friend Renee put it, "Colorado is like God's work on steroids!" That statement is so true. It was an act of worship just to stand on the mountain and take in all of God's glorious creation. Words and pictures cannot describe how beautiful it truly is.

2008 Baby Dedication

On January 11th, our church, McEachern Methodist, held a Baby Dedication service for all of the babies born in 2008. It was a very meaningful and special church service for us as we got to take Owen down to the front and present him before our church family. Geebee & Pops were there (we all attend McEachern together) and we even had some of our best friends, Ashleigh & Joel, in attendance to witness the special occasion. Owen was presented with a beautiful little white Bible that has his name in the front of it with the Dedication date and our pastor's signature. What a very special gift!
Listening to the Dedication Receiving Owen's Bible (The Madsens with baby Mackenzie are in the background!) Showing Owen his Bible Loving on my sweet boy!

Phillips Christmas

After Christmas lunch and a nap for Owen, we headed to my grandparents' house (my dad's parents--my Nonnie & Poppaw) to celebrate with them as well. Owen was fired up and ready to go and had just as much fun trying to chew on the bows as he did playing with his new toys. We had another great meal there (I think it's pretty safe to say I probably gained a few that day!) and visited with them. My cousin Tristan got a new remote controlled car and Owen was VERY interested in it. He crawled after it for a long time trying to catch it. Owen was quite the entertainment as always :) Owen giving Geebee & Nonnie a laugh :)

Playing peek-a-boo with Pops

When those festivities were over, we headed over to my parents for the evening. We exchanged presents with them and got some AWESOME, AWESOME gifts! We got the board game, "Loaded Questions," which if you haven't played it--come on over to our house anytime and we'll play it, cause it's a BLAST! We also got some wonderful, much needed kitchen gadgets & some great, sharp knives (can you tell we were in need of kitchen stuff this year?!) Owen got a really cool push & ride dump truck. He loves to ride it while we push him all around the house, I think he feels like quite the big boy :) He also got lots of wonderful books--a few of his favorites being some "touch & feel" books that he likes to investigate very carefully, it's so cute to watch him lift the flaps and feel the different textures. Playing ball with Pops--I'm telling you, Owen didn't let that thing out of his sight all day long :)

We were so blessed this year--not just by all of the wonderful presents, but by all of the quality time we've gotten to spend with family. Having Owen this year renewed and magnified all of the excitement and anticipation that Christmas has always had for me, but it has also deepened the meaning and gratefulness that I feel--first and foremost to my wonderful Lord and Savior, but also to my family and friends for all that they mean and all that they do in my life.