Practicing my ABC's in the bath

Reading to Teddy

It took me a few seconds at the end to figure out what he was saying...but then I got it. Guess he's been picking up on all the blog posts I've been doing. :)

Thursday is my regular playdate with my girlfriend

We had another fun visit with Steph and Sarah Catherine today. We got to see Sarah Catherine's big girl room and the baby's nursery ~ both of which are gorgeous! The kiddos then enjoyed Sarah Catherine's water table and kiddie pool out on the deck before lunch. They both did a great job eating the lunch Steph prepared for them at Sarah Catherine's little table. Owen had a ball pushing around Sarah Catherine's babydoll stroller and playing with her tea kettle. Then it was the mommy's turn to have lunch and the kids played. We had to unfortunately make a quick exit due to a huge thunderstorm that was very quickly approaching, but we were able to give hugs and then run out to the car before the rain actually started. Owen took a great nap when we got home. He was worn out from all the excitement!

After my nap...

my hair is WILD and I like to have a snack. Me and my wild hair. :)

Visit with Alevia, Alevia Marie and the twins

Today we had a big day! We got up early and packed up to get on the road to Richmond to visit Alevia, Alevia Marie and the twins. And we got to see TJ for an hour when he got home from work that evening. The drive went by fast and Owen did really well in the car reading all his favorite books. We arrived around 11:30am and Alevia left Robert with us since he was sleeping and took William with her to pick up Alevia Marie from school.

When they got home Alevia Marie showed Owen all her toys and they had a ball playing in her kitchen and with her fire engine box toy. It was so cute watching them play together. Alevia made a yummy lunch (I picked up a new recipe - her ham and turkey croissant wraps!) and we all ate while the twins napped.

After lunch the kiddos took naps and Alevia and I fed the twins and had some time to relax and catch up. She is doing such an amazing job with the three little ones. Helping with the twins made me so excited to have my own tiny baby in my arms in another five months. The boys are doing so well with feedings and sleeping. They're growing so fast! William is already past 10 lbs and Robert is working on catching up. He even beat his big brother in one feeding downing his bottle in record time!

Alevia gave the kids popsicles for a snack when they woke up which they ate outside at the table. Owen didn't eat his fast enough, so it was dripping everywhere. But Alevia Marie was so helpful - she took a napkin and wiped his face off! So cute! You can tell she is such a good big sister.




At 4pm I had a phone interview, so Alevia graciously watched all four kids while I went upstairs to take the call. I'm happy to report that it went really well and I'm moving on to the next step! Keep your fingers crossed for me because it's a really awesome opportunity that I am very much hoping works out. I'll keep you posted.

The kids had fun dancing to the chicken dance song while I was on the call, and Alevia even took a Flip video of it which she's going to try to send me. They also enjoyed playing Hide and Seek while Alevia and I fed the babies. It was so funny because Alevia Marie would say to Owen "Want to play hide and seek?" and then take his hand so they could go hide together. They hid behind the chair right next to us and Alevia Marie had Owen sit on her lap! It was hilarious. We unfortunately couldn't get a picture of it since our hands were full, but it's a fun memory.

Alevia Marie wanted to show Owen her playground set outside, so she said, "Owen, want to go outside?". "Outside!" he replied. It was adorable to see them communicate together. They held hands and then went on the swings together and then down the slide a bunch of times until it started to sprinkle so we headed back inside.

TJ brought home dinner - wings and appetizers from BW3 - and Sarah stopped by to hang out and eat with us. Sarah is doing so well with her pregnancy and she and Mark just moved into an apartment until the house they're building is ready. She's so excited to meet her little on in early January and I can't wait for us all to have little ones so close in age!


It was such a fun day seeing all our friends. We lost track of time and didn't get on the road until 8pm, but did avoid traffic and made the trip in 2 hours. I thought Owen would sleep on the way home, but he wanted to talk about all the fun he had. He kept saying, "kitchen, cook it" and "oven" and "swings". We can't wait to do it all again soon!

Playdate with Colin and Heather

Today we met up with Heather and Colin who just turned 1! The boys had so much fun playing at the playground. Colin was trying to snack on the mulch, much to his mommy's dismay! Owen had fun running away from us, so after some time we headed over to Cosi for lunch. The boys did well at lunch and us mommy's enjoyed some delicious salads and lemonades.

We walked back to Heather's house and let the boys play some more. Owen was enthralled with Colin's big truck. Colin is doing so well with walking ~ he's such a big boy! Before we left Heather pulled out Colin's Tickle-me-Elmo and we took a few pictures of the boys together. We had a great time and look forward to our next playdate together.

Cleaning up & learning shapes

This morning Owen and I cleaned up the family room which was a mess with all of his toys everywhere. I started picking up, and gave Owen a job - to pick up all of his blocks and put them by his toolbench - which he went about diligently.

When I was just about finished picking up the rest of his toys, I looked over at his toolbench expecting to find a pile of blocks. I was so surprised to see that he had neatly arranged his blocks in the shape of a semi-circle! It was so funny! Here's a quick video of what it looked like:



I tried to tell him it really was a semi-circle, but he kept insisting it was a circle and then as you can hear at the end, it morphs into a triangle. :)

18 weeks!

I found this ticker on TheBump.com and just love it. Each week it shows you how big the baby is compared to a fruit or vegetable. I can't believe that this week the baby is as big as a sweet potato! No wonder I have been feeling him or her move around several times a day and a ton at night. At my last OB-checkup, they said I had only gained 3 pounds so far, which I find hard to believe since I feel like I look bigger than that. But I don't have a scale at home to use, so I have to go by their calculations. I asked my doctor how much I had gained at this point with Owen and it was 8 pounds, but last time I used pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted and this time I'm eating much healthier and am exercising more. But no matter what I do, I'm sure it'll all start to pack on soon.

Mr. Knick-knack & RTC Sprayground

This morning I took Owen to see Mr. Knick-knack at the Reston Town Center. He didn't get quite as into it as he used to when we went to see Rocknoceros, but he enjoyed the songs while he munched on his goldfish.

After about a half hour we were getting really hot, so we headed down to the sprayground to beat the crowd. Owen took off his shirt and I slathered him with SPF 70 before I let him enjoy the water. He had a blast! I was amazed that after thirty minutes of it, I was able to tear him away without a tantrum.



We headed home for lunch and air conditioning for the rest of the day. :)

Just relaxing with the Sunday paper

Chicks-a-munks

Ben recorded the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie for Owen and he put it on tonight after dinner. Owen loved it!

National History Museum

This morning we got moving early and headed into DC to visit the National History Museum. The last time Owen visited this museum was last year with Grandma Marshall.

He had a great time and it was a nice way to spend the morning. We got home right in time for lunch and then he took a long nap. I guess we wore him out. :)

Playdate with Sarah Catherine

Steph and Sarah Catherine came over to play today! We had a great time catching up and the kiddos had fun in the sun (for the 20 minutes we could tolerate the heat). At one point Sarah Catherine tried to climb into the water table! Saying goodbye was so adorable ~ Sarah Catherine gave Owen a big hug and kiss. So cute!

Owen's version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm

It's Owen's new favorite song. Grandma & Grandpa Marshall and Aunt Hillary even got him the Little People farm which plays the song. He's working on learning the real words. :)

Baby kicks!

We were watching TV tonight on the couch after Owen went to bed and I started to feel the baby kick. It felt pretty strong, so I had Ben come over and put his hand on my belly. He immediately felt the kicks! With Owen we were just over 21 weeks pregnant before Ben could feel the kicks from the outside. This time around it's a month earlier which amazes me.

I love the feeling and love that Ben can now experience it with me. :) :) :)

Lunch date with Aunt Molly & baby Nate

Owen and I got to see Molly and Nate today for lunch! Owen always loves seeing his Aunt Molly and his friend baby Nate.



Today marks 17 weeks pregnant. Thank goodness the worst of the morning sickness is over. Now I'm just dealing with an overactive bladder at night. Otherwise things are great. I've even started working out again with the elliptical. The most exciting thing is that I can feel the baby every day now. Mostly after meals. I love relaxing on the couch after dinner so that I can focus on feeling the baby squirming around. Such an amazing feeling.

Twinkle Twinkle Cuteness

A while back Owen and I feel into the routine of singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" before bed. I used to sing it to him while I was putting him in his jammies, but over time I began singing it after I had him dressed for bed and had him in his sleep sack and we were rocking.

For the past few months, each night we have the same mini-conversation before bed. I say to Owen, "do you want to sing Twinkle, Twinkle?". He responds: "Tinkle, Tinkle, up above the....Mommy sing, Okay!"

Then I proceed to sing him two verses of Twinkle, Twinkle before he says: "Crib! Ready!". :)

We're sort-of dreading the transition to the toddler bed because we know it's going to be a challenge and we'll miss the months of nights of him going to bed so easily in the crib.

Sickness

This was Owen this morning watching Sesame Street while eating breakfast. He didn't eat much, and I guess his tummy wasn't feeling too good because about 20 minutes later, it all came back up. :( After he emptied his belly he seemed to be just fine.

I cleaned up the mess and got us packed up and we headed home to see Ben. Owen seemed to be back to normal and even drank some water on the drive home, but before he was even finished eating lunch when we got home, lunch ended up on his tray. Yuck. A call to the pediatrician verified our only suspicion - he had picked up a stomach bug. She said no food or drink for the next 4 hours which worked out well since it was over his nap time.

When he woke up he had some juice (he always rejects Pedialyte and Gatorade) and he ate some dry Cheerios and a piece of toast. Later for dinner he had water, crackers and more Cheerios. He made it through the late afternoon, evening, and overnight without getting sick again and is back to his normal peppy self. Hopefully he won't get sick again for a long time because it's never any fun.

Hanging with Poppy

My mom went up to Long Island with my Grandma and Aunt Barbara for Uncle Marty's flower shop opening party, so Owen and I spent the rest of the weekend with my dad.

When Owen woke up I had him hold Teddy so I could get a picture:



Owen was still half-asleep. After breakfast, we all got ready and decided to go up to the Hotel Hershey to walk around and see all the recent upgrades. We saw the new pool and water slides, played on the playground, saw the new cabins, walked around the gardens and in the middle of all that stopped inside to cool off.



After all the walking around, Poppy treated us to lunch at Mr. Sorrento's. Owen just loved the pizza. Then it was home for his nap and a nap for me as well.

We had dinner at home and then went out to Bruster's for ice cream. After he had his fill of my lemon ice and Poppy's chocolate ice cream, we went home to give Owen a bath and put him to bed so I could go listen to the Dave Matthews concert with my friend Amy and her boyfriend Matt.

Meeting Teddy

Owen and I drove to Hershey today to see Grandma, Poppy, GiGi, and Aunt Barbara. We got to meet my parents new puppy, Teddy, for the first time. He is soooo cute! And so tiny! We had fun catching up and playing with the puppy and Owen even ate dinner at the table without his booster seat.

Pool day

Today we went over to Kelly & Kayla's for a playdate. We got to see Laura and Eva for a little bit before they had to head out to do some wedding planning activities for her sister's wedding this week. Then Molly and Nate came over and all the kids had a ball playing together. The cutest part was when Owen and Kayla held hands on the walk to and from the pool ~ precious. Kelly made a yummy chicken salad recipe for lunch and we all had a great time hanging out together.

Fireworks!

Molly, Tim and Nate were going to be near Ashburn for fireworks, so they invited us to join them in meeting up with LouAnn, Mike and Colin. We had a fun dinner at Hooked, a seafood/sushi restaurant before heading over to Cascades to the new Trump golf course community to watch the fireworks display.



We got a great spot on the sidewalk which was only slightly blocked by trees, so we had a pretty good view. The best part was that Owen LOVED the fireworks this year. He kept saying, "big one!", "boom!", "crash!", and "pop, pop!". It was so fun to see him enjoying them. We had a great time and the traffic was not bad at all getting home.

4th of July Festival

Today we went to our local Rec Center's 4th of July Celebration. There were pony rides, a tractor ride, face painting, and crafts and other activities for the kids. We skipped the pony ride for fear of waiting in a really long line and having Owen cry when we put him on the pony. He's probably not old enough yet. Instead we admired the ponies from a distance while waiting in line for the tractor ride. It was a long hot ride but Owen had fun and that's all that mattered.

After the tractor ride, we grabbed lunch at a shady picnic table and took some time to cool off. Then we explored one of the cabins which was filled with fun things to explore like sea shells, starfish, and a stuffed squirrel which Owen was fascinated by. There also was a small sand table that had animal footprint things so you could make animal tracks in the sand.

Before we headed home we stopped at the face-painting station so Owen could get painted. He got a fireworks burst for the occasion. He sat still the entire time (only about a minute). It was Mommy's favorite part of the day. :)

On a side note, Owen has started talking in four-word sentences. This morning when playing with his Little People car garage, he said, "Sit down right here." several times to get Ben or I to sit and play with him.

ABC's

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!!

To celebrate, Owen wanted to sing his ABC's.

Winery picnic & splashin' in the fountains

The weather was gorgeous today so after breakfast, we all got ready, packed a picnic, and headed out to Chrysalis vineyard to enjoy the day. Owen took a little catnap on the way, so he was ready to run once we picked out a picnic table. He spotted the tractor by the barn immediately and had to go over to see it.



We were able to pull him away in order to feed him some lunch, but then it was off again to see the tractor. While we were eating I noticed that I was feeling the baby move for the first time! I had thought I felt it before, but this time I can say with 100% certainty that it was the baby squirming around - such an amazing feeling! It was a fun hour, but Ben and I got tired of chasing him, so we packed up and drove home to put him down for his nap.



After he slept for a few hours, we grabbed a beach towel and change of clothes for him and went over to the Landsdowne shopping center which has a sprayground for kids. It wasn't too crowded so that was nice. Once Owen saw the kids running around in the water he couldn't wait to join in the fun.



It was so funny because he found the one water spray that stayed on most of the time, and he just hung out there holding it. Of course, he was sad to go. But we'll go back a few more times this summer.

Ocean City - day 2

Today was our second and last day in Ocean City. It was a quick trip, but definitely worth the drive. This morning we woke up and had coffee and breakfast out on the balcony overlooking the ocean. It was gorgeous! The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze. Hillary and I even spotted a pod of dolphins swimming along!



We got moving quickly and went straight out to the beach. It was really windy when we got out there, but that didn't bother us. Hillary and Grandma set out again to make a huge sandcastle for Owen - complete with a moat and bridge! When Grandma went to sit down in her beach chair and Owen noticed she wasn't there beside him he looked over at her and said, "Grandma, play! Grandma, play!" so she went back and played some more. Mommy mainly stayed wrapped up in her double beach towel and watched all the fun. It was so relaxing to sit and enjoy the sunshine, sand in my toes, and sounds of the waves crashing in front of us. Owen sported his new "Ocean City" baseball cap that Grandma bought him until it blew off his head into the water. It was rescued quickly by Aunt Hillary. He'll be wearing that cap the rest of this summer I'm sure.



After some quality beach time we again went up to the hotel pool to swim for a little and wash some sand off before heading back up to the room. We all got showers (Owen and I took a jacuzzi swim and he had so much fun saying the word jacuzzi the rest of the day which was funny), we got packed up, and waved goodbye for now to Ocean City. Owen and I had so much fun with Grandma and Aunt Hillary and thank them so much for inviting us to join them!