Owen Lately...

While Owen is still not showing interest in actual potty training, he is curious about his potty. Occasionally he'll tell us he wants to go potty so of course we take him and sit him down on it. Usually he wants to sit on it fully clothed, but every now and then he'll sit on it for real. We aren't pushing him to use it, only feeding his curiosity when he talks about it and also asking him if he wants to go potty every night before his bath. Sometimes he says yes, sometimes it's no, but the interest is there and that makes us excited about what's yet to come! (...and anyone who's ever changed his diaper knows that the day potty training comes will be a happy one as this boy DOES NOT like to sit still long enough for diaper changes!!!) Anyway, here's a cute picture I got of Owen the other night, practicing sitting on the potty, what a little man!
Owen is also really, really interested in his shoes. I've mentioned this before and that he comes by it honestly as his mama & his Pops are both shoe lovers too...can that sorta thing actually be hereditary?! Regardless, the first thing he wants to do when he wakes up is put on shoes and he's even been known to fall asleep at night with them on. One of his favorite games is going into our closest and parading around in mama's and daddy's shoes. Here is a cute shot of Owen trying out Beebee's cowboy boots a few weeks ago...such a silly boy!
Pictures of our fun snow day coming soon so stay tuned!!!
Also...only 4 days to go until we find out if Owen is going to have a brother or a sister...YAHOO!!!!

Update on #2

Today I had my 14 week checkup and everything went great :) I got to hear little one's heartbeat for the 2nd time and it sounded strong & healthy. I also scheduled my BIG ultrasound, yippie!--so exactly one month from today we get to find out if #2 is gonna be a girl or boy!!! I am super excited to find out if Owen's having a brother or a sister :) Either way it will be SO exciting with so many, many things to look forward to. For whatever reason, I have been extra impatient to find out the gender this time around...I don't know why this is, but March 3rd just can't come soon enough :) Tony & I have had a fun time guessing though--and for the record, I have NO idea or intuition what little one is, I guess I wasn't given that gift, haha :) I've put a poll at the top of my blog just for fun though so take a vote and let me know whether you think little one is a girl or a boy. Oh, and if you need something to go by, here's what we know so far...

• Little one's heartbeat at 10 weeks: 160 bpm
• Little one's heartbeat at 14 weeks: 150 bpm
• Food aversions: steak & eggs
• "Cravings": nothing really--though I'm almost always in the mood for fruit & salads

Happy guessing! :)

Pictures at the Train Depot

At the beginning of this week Tony had a day off so we headed downtown to the old train depot to take some long overdue pictures of Owen. We had a great time & I must say, it was MUCH easier to capture some great pictures of our little guy with daddy there to make him laugh & smile. With a little boy who's full force, pedal to the medal every waking minute, it's quite hard to get him to sit down and smile for mommy...but with daddy's help, promises of ju-ju's (aka candy), and walks on the train tracks I was able to get some great shots of our big 22 month old! Here are a few of my favorites... So excited to hear the "choo choo" whistle!

5 Christmases

We had an AMAZINGLY blessed Christmas this year--altogether we had 5 different Christmas celebrations! We celebrated our family Christmas with Noni, Grandpa & Chris on Christmas Eve. We had a delicious brunch & exchanged gifts. Then we said good bye to them as they headed to Mississippi & we headed to church for our Christmas Eve service. After the service we went to my parents' house for dinner & had a nice quiet evening with them before heading home to get ready for Santa's visit. We woke up Christmas morning to find some awesome gifts left by Santa--Owen was SO excited about his "bas-kit-boll" (basketball goal) and bike (tricycle). Then Geebee & Pops came over for breakfast & our family Christmas as we exchanged gifts with them. That afternoon we headed to my grandparents' house to celebrate with them & have dinner. My cousin, Onilee, is engaged to be married and her husband-to-be has 3 kids so Owen has some sweet new cousins that he enjoys playing with. The day after Christmas we traveled to Mississippi--first to D & Dean's house (Tony's mom's side) where we had a delicious dinner, exchanged gifts, & visited with them. Owen had a blast as alwasy playing with his cousins Reese, Charlie & Banks. The next day we headed to Grandmother's (Tony's dad's side) where we had a family celebration with them. Owen really enjoyed cutting up with his Uncle Chris, Uncle Ronald & Grandpa--running like a maniac all over the house & playing underneath the Christmas tree. God has blessed us with AMAZING family & we are so blessed that we were able to spend some great time with them this year!

Playing Catch Up!

We had so many fun events during the past few months that I didn't have time to blog about any of them! So now I'm playing catch up :) Here are highlights from some of the fun events that we were a part of...

We kicked off December with our small group Bible study Christmas party. It was a murder mystery party and it was such a blast! The theme was Murder at the Deadwood Saloon--Tony was a gambler and I was a bar maiden. Tony was actually the murder victim & I must say he really hammed it up with a great performance. A great time was had by all!
We continued to celebrate the season with some of our great neighbor friends with a Tacky Sweater Christmas party. We had a yummy dinner, an ornament exchange, and an overall great time visiting with our sweet friends. I must say there were some crazy tacky outfits that night & we had a great time laughing at each others' get ups :)
We also brought in the New Year with some of our neighbors. We had a delicious steak dinner, put the kiddos to bed and then played games and watched an amazing fireworks show put on by the fellas. Bringing in the new year with our friends by our side was a great way to start out 2010.
A few days into the new year, I had my annual yummy Maggiannos Christmas dinner (albeit a little late this year) with my amazing girlfriends. These are my nearest & dearest & I look forward to this tradition every year. We laughed, told stories, stuffed our faces, & did our annual ornament exchange. I absolutely LOVE these ladies with all my heart!!!

We are VERY excited to announce that...

...we are having another baby!!!
haha, I'm sure most of you probably could have guessed that on the first try given a title like that! ;)

Baby #2 is due August 1 and we are beyond thrilled that Owen is going to be a big brother :) I am currently 12 weeks along & have had 2 great dr. appointments so far. I'm feeling pretty good, a little tired still, but overall feeling much better than I did a few weeks ago. (I had several weeks of feeling pretty icky that I did not experience the first time around so it was quite a new experience for me!) I just feel so incredibly blessed and thankful to be carrying this amazing gift that God has given us. We do plan on finding out if we're having a boy or a girl, but that won't be until around the first of March...and for those of you wondering, no, we honestly do not care what we're having, we're just praying for healthy! It would be so fun to have a little girl so we'd have one of each, but at the same time, I would absolutely love for Owen to grow up with a brother. I"m glad the decision is God's and not mine, as I just don't know how I'd pick! We would definitely appreciate prayers for a great pregnancy, safe delivery & a healthy baby :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas to all!!!
I pray that everyone has a very blessed Christmas and a joyous start to the New Year. Our family has been blessed beyond measure in 2009 and we are so thankful to our amazing Heavenly Father for all the love and grace He has poured over us. I hope that everyone takes the time to stop and count your blessings & remember the real reason for this exciting time of year, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
See ya'll in 2010!!!

Cookies With Santa

Last week we took Owen to the "Cookies with Santa" party that my inlaws' neighborhood has every year. Okay, so last year Owen looked around, looked at Santa, looked at us, and then started screaming...this year he fast forwarded directly to the screaming part. Even when bribed with a "ju ju" (aka a candy cane) directly from ol' Saint Nick himself, Owen wanted NOTHING to do with the bearded man in red! We made him sit there just long enough to snap a few pictures and then we promptly removed him from Santa's lap and let him enjoy his ju ju safe in the arms of his daddy. Here are a few pictures of the event...I'm sure Owen will look back and laugh at these one day, right?... Owen's reaction the second he sat in Santa's lap
Who ARE you?!
Daddy!!! Get me outta here!

Tony turns the BIG 3-0!!!

Last Friday Tony turned 30 years old & we threw a big party to celebrate with our family & friends! My parents were generous enough to let us host the party at their house--it was a good centrally located place to have it since we had guests coming from all directions. We had lots of yummy food, drinks, a bonfire, & an overall great time with awesome people! Here are some pictures from the party... Owen made a short appearance to wish his daddy a happy birthday before heading off to bed! Ash & JoelMarisa & RandyNeighbor ladies in the kitchen Tony blowing out his candles My birthday boy! Neighbor fellas Tony's oldest & dearest friends The ladies that belong with the "oldest & dearest" Our neighbor crew Crazy, fun people! The bonfire Rounding up the festivities for the evening

Thank you a billion to all who came to celebrate Tony's 30th birthday, it meant so much to us to have you there & we love you all! For those of you who weren't able to make it, we missed you dearly & we love you all too!!!