Owen's Baptism

Last Sunday we had Owen baptized at church. It was such a wonderful day! Words cannot describe how incredible an experience it was for Tony and me to stand before our family and church body and dedicate our son to our Lord and Savior. He was baptized in a very special day gown that belonged to my grandfather. He looked absolutely precious! Afterwards, we had a brunch with our family and close friends at my parents' house. There he wore another very special day gown that my mom hand smocked and made just for him. He looked so adorable in both of them, but I think the one my mom made is my favorite :) It was also my mama's birthday and she was very sweet to share her special day with Owen. It was so fun to get together and celebrate both wonderful events! Hope you had a GREAT birthday mama, I love you so! Here are a few pictures of Owen's baptism as well as some other pictures I took of him in his special gowns.

Playing with Grandpa after the service
Looking out the window with Pops
My Nonnie is so proud of Owen :)

...and so is Dean! (Tony's grandmother)

uh oh! starting to get a little sleepy!

asleep at last in Noni's arms :)

the day gown my mama made

up close details of the smocking

my Papa's gown

full shot

sweet little booties

It must have tasted pretty good because Owen tried to chew on it the whole time I was taking his picture!

4 months old

Last week we took Owen to the doctor for his 4 month wellness checkup. He checked out great and is doing so well. He did have to get 4 shots :( but he was such a trooper. I think he hated being held down on the table worse than the actual shots and he stopped crying as soon as I picked him back up and cuddled with him for a bit.

The doctor gave us the go ahead to start him on cereal, so we've been doing that for about a week now and it's going very well. He really seems to like it and has started opening his mouth for the spoon. He's even fussed a time or two when I couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough :) The other day Tony was eating some ice cream with a spoon while he was holding Owen and Owen opened his mouth and tried to take a bite of it. It was so funny! He definitely already knows what a spoon means, haha!

Some of Owen's tricks these days...
-rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy
-laughing out loud
-LOTS of babbling and putting different sounds together
-standing with assistance (I think he'd sleep standing up if he could!)
-sitting for a few seconds without assistance
-pulling his knees under him when on his tummy (hasn't quite got the strength to support himself with his arms yet though)
-lots of bubble blowing and raspberry noises
-putting EVERYTHING in his mouth!

4 Month Measurements...
14 lbs. 1 oz. (25th to 50th percentile)
26 3/4 inches long (9oth to 97th percentile)

I misplaced the sheet they gave me at the doctor, so I don't remember what his head measurement was, I'll update that later.

Here are a few of his 4 month pictures as well as some shots of him eating cereal for the first time...

my sweet angel

Something was pretty funny ;)

4 months old...already?!

Eating cereal for the first time....mmmmmm

He likes it :)

July 4th

Man, I'm waaaaaay behind! For the 4th of July we started the evening at my grandparents house. We had a great time, wonderful food, and we took Owen swimming for the very first time. He really enjoyed it! He was so cute-he kept looking all around him and staring at the water. He also LOVED playing in the little waterfall that runs from the hot tub into the pool. My grandparents really loved watching him swim too. Later we went to Emilie & Whit's house for the fireworks. We had a blast there and Owen LOVED the fireworks! He just stared at the sky absolutely captivated. We got to spend some time with sweet friends that we don't see often enough and had a great time visiting and catching up with them. Plus we got some super EXCITING news while we were there--Owen is gonna have another little friend to play with :) Emilie & Whit are expecting a baby in February and we couldn't be happier for them!Owen swimming in the pool

Kicking those little legs :)

Playing in the waterfall with Daddy :)

LOVE my sweet friends!!!! (not sure what Owen's looking at though, haha!)
Somehow Emma didn't make it into my pic though :(

Staring at the fireworks from Daddy's shoulders

LOVE IT!! He was so enamored by those fireworks!

Family shot :)

Trip to New Mexico--Owen's 1st Plane Trip

Last Thursday we took Owen on his very first airplane ride. We went out to New Mexico for the wedding of our friends, Matt and Denine. We flew to Albuquerque and then rented a car and drove to the small town of Las Vegas, New Mexico (not to be confused with LV, Nevada--this tiny little Vegas bore no resemblance to Sin City). Interesting fact though, "No Country For Old Men" was filmed there--I haven't seen it, but it was kinda neat to see the place it was filmed. Owen did fantastic on the plane ride out there, he slept the entire time. On the ride back, he slept a good bit and alternated playing in mine and Tony's laps. Both flights he was an absolute champ! We used our skymiles from our credit card to get 1st class tickets, which I must say was quite a treat and made it much easier traveling with a baby! We had a great time while we were out there and even took Owen to his very first baseball game--Albuquerque's minor league team, the Isotopes. I will post those pictures in a little while. We had a great time, but it is good to be back home. It's exhausting traveling with a 4 month old!

Check out his stylin' outfit from Noni & Grandpa :)
Owen with Daddy--getting ready to get off the plane and see Albuquerque for the 1st time
At the rehearsal dinner (Owen was upstairs asleep)
Matt (in center) with all his groomsmen
Matt & Denine--Just Married :)

Sleeping?! What's That?....

So basically, Owen has decided that he does not like to sleep! Okay, I need to be a little more specific...he is still sleeping through the night (Praise God!), but he hates naptime--specifically afternoon naptime--these days. I'm thinking he is probably about to learn a new trick or go through a growth spurt or something, but he's making ME tired, haha! Yesterday, after he woke up from his early afternoon nap (around 1:30) that child did not go back to sleep until 10pm! Now, don't misunderstand, we are still putting him down for his naps, he just doesn't sleep. Sometimes he'll play, sometimes he'll cry, and sometimes he'll just stare at his mobile, but he's not falling asleep (and I know because I keep watching the video monitor in disbelief!). He's still good with his morning nap and then takes a really long nap from around 11:30 until about 2pm, but after that he wants little to do with sleeping until bedtime. I'm really hoping that this won't last very long. He's thankfully still the same sweet and happy baby (with the exception of a few small meltdowns around 7 or 8pm-ish), but for some reason feels no need to sleep in the afternoons/early evenings. Oh well, I guess we'll just motor right on through and keep putting him down and hopefully he'll get over this soon...

oh, and if any mamas have any tips or tricks, i'd love to hear some! :)

ah sleep, what a sweet memory ;)

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

.

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 :)