Saturday, June 25, 2011

Heading home early

My poor Daddy caught a bad virus and wasn't feeling well at all this morning, so we decided to pack up and head home early so that we wouldn't be exposed longer than we had already been in hopes that we wouldn't catch it.

But of course before we left town we HAD to visit Chocolate World. I wore Vivi in my cloth carrier and he did really well (my first time using it for longer than 15 minutes) and of course Owen loved every minute of the singing cows. They gave out samples of the new Hershey kisses that are aerated ~ Hershey Air Delight ~ and they were devine. I thought Owen would cry for more after he ate the two they gave us, but he was amazingly satisfied. (Now if only I could stop at two. This is why we did not visit the retail section.)

We treated Grandma to lunch at Panera and then afterwards I got to catch up with my dear high school friend Amy and she met Vivi for the first time. We had a great time chatting while Owen ran around Cocoa Castle (he was on cloud nine!)

Once we got back to my parent's condo, I packed up the car, Vivi had a bottle and Owen had some fruit salad, we did diaper changes and were ready to go. We wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a similar bug to what he caught last month and definitely did not want to experience that again. We're now looking forward to seeing them again in July.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Visiting Hershey

We drove up to Hershey today to see Grandma, Poppy and GiGi. I had both kids fed and we got on the road after I quickly packed up the car with: the Pack n Play, the portable highchair, the baby playmat, the snap and go stroller, our big bag of clothes and diapers, my diaper bag, the camera bag and a grocery sack full of bottles, formula and baby food. I was hopeful we'd make it the entire way without stopping. We did, but barely. Vivian woke up at the 2-hour mark (it's a 2hr 15min drive) and was entertained for about 15 minutes by Owen, but then suddenly started screaming to be fed.

I was going to stop and feed her, but we were on the PA turnpike and there really wasn't a good place to stop safely. So we just kept going and she eventually tired herself out from screaming and fell asleep again.

We got there just as Grandma and Poppy were pulling in from picking up a new pull-out loveseat for the den. We had a nice lunch and Owen was in heaven with all the new toys Grandma had bought for him at a recent yard sale. I logged on to work for an hour while the kids played.

That evening GiGi came over for dinner along with Aunt Diane and Cindy. We had fun catching up and I took a few pictures. Cindy brought Owen these great bubbles and he was having so much fun playing with them that he didn't realize he had accidentally dumped out the bubble solution. I saw his lower lip begin to tremble and then he ran into my arms and started crying so hard. :( Luckily, Miss Cindy was prepared! She had brought not one, but TWO tubes of bubbles with her just in case something like that happened. The smile returned as soon as she pulled out the new bubble tube. Cindy rocks.
Owen gave my Aunt Diane a workout when he asked for piggy backs and rides on her shoulders. He loves the books she brought him too.

Here's to hoping Owen sleeps well in the big boy bed with no bed rails. Lord knows he should be completely exhausted from today since he didn't nap at all. He'll probably be dreaming of Chocolate World since he's been asking about it ever since we got into the car. Headed there tomorrow! I love being in the sweetest place on Earth!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

I guess avacado is an acquired taste

Owen had a similar reaction when he tried this veggie.

I thought by blending it with kiwi fruit it would make it more appealing. Guess not.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Happy Birthday Aunt Hillary

We love you so much! You are so special to us. Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day 2011

We went to Owen's swimming class this morning, then came home and let Daddy open his present before we headed over to Ben's parents house for lunch.

Vivi helped by chewing a hole in the end of the gift - so Daddy could open it easily. :)
I think we were successful in surprising Ben with a day of golf with his buddies and a room to crash in that evening at Landsdowne resort.

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Marshall and Aunt Hillary over lunchtime. It was a fun day to celebrate two great dads! Grandpa got some books - being newly retired he has some time on his hands to relax with a good book or two. And an LL Bean gift card to pick out some gear (an ice pick maybe?) for his upcoming trip to Washington state with Hillary.

Ben received some really nice shirts and ties for work. He starts his new job with TASC tomorrow, so he'll look snazzy at the office. :)

And we got to call my dad and my brother to wish them Happy Father's Day as well - Mike's first! We're looking forward to spending time with them when we're all together for a weekend in August when Vivian gets baptized.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Waiting for Grandma and Poppy to get here

Owen had a busy day today. We started off with swim lessons at 8:30. Then we came home and had a snack. Then he and Daddy went back out to get some stuff at the store to make tonight's dinner. Came home with a kiddie pool from Target. Daddy inflated it and filled it up so that Owen could try it out. Kel and Matt called to see if we wanted to meet up at Breezyhill pool for a dip. Owen and Kayla did some serious splashing around before we came home and had lunch. Tried to put Owen down for a nap, but he wasn't interested. Played with Daddy while Mommy did some cleaning. Had some dinner. While Mommy put Vivi down for the night, Daddy came upstairs to say that Owen had fallen asleep in his highchair.

When I first saw this picture, I immediately assumed that Ben put Owen's hand in the bowl, but he insists that is the way he fell asleep. Classic. I guess every little kid has to fall asleep at the dinner table once in their childhood.

In case you're wondering, he wasn't eating his mac and cheese with his hands. He had finished that, and was on to his second course of the evening, Kashi Berry Blossoms. :) And he just missed my parents by a mere 20 minutes. He'll be excited when he wakes up tomorrow and they're here. <3

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Friday, June 10, 2011

Vivian is 6 months old!

Happy Half-Birthday Vivian!!!
I cannot believe that half a year has already gone by. It's amazing how quickly time goes by these days. Vivi has been doing really well this past month and has hit a few milestones which we are so happy about (aka sleep being the #1!). Her 6-month check-up is on Monday therefore I'll post her stats later. So until then, here's what she's been up to:

* Eating 5 six-ounce bottles a day
* Also eating cereal with a fruit in the morning and a veggie at dinnertime
* Starting to drink water out of a sippy cup
* Taking 3-4 naps a day
* Finally started sleeping all the way through the night for the past week
* Wakes up around 6-6:30am and goes to bed around 7pm
* Wearing size 3 diapers during the day, size 6 Huggies Overnights at night! :)
* Wearing mainly 6-9 month clothes, shorts don't work on her chubby belly so we're sticking to dresses and bloomers for the most part
* Just started splashing in the bathtub this week!
* Loves her exersaucer, but not much of a fan of the bouncy seat, jumper, swing or play gym
* Is very very squirmy - loves to stand up on your lap when you're holding her
* Started to scoot backwards a bit, loves to turn in circles and roll around on the floor
* Definitely knows her name already - turns to see who's calling for her when you say her name
* I've started to use baby sign language with her and she smiles whenever I sign - love it!
* Loves to grab her feet whenever she's on her back (ex. top left picture in the collage)
* For the past month has been flipping onto her tummy to sleep at night
* Still doesn't have enough hair to really do a barrette :(
* Face lights up whenever Owen talks to her, hugs/kisses her, or plays with her

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Mesh feeder

Vivian has been teething for the past few weeks, so to try to give her some relief, I put half of an apricot - straight out of the fridge - into her baby mesh feeder and let her chomp on it while Owen and I ate breakfast.
She loved it! Kept her occupied for a good fifteen minutes. I think the apricot was the best fruit to try in there since it's soft, yet not too soft to drip all over her. Owen's on an apricot-kick too lately. He calls them peaches. :)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Vivi splashing


Tonight was the first time Vivi splashed intentionally during bath time! She was having so much fun! (Please excuse my singing at the end.)

Monday, June 6, 2011

Big baby = big diaper

Vivi's diapers were leaking through at night ever since she started rolling onto her tummy at night during sleep (last week). So I decided to try using one of Owen's size 6 Huggies Overnight diaper on her. Worked like a charm. Even with an early morning poopy. :)

It's convenient for me that I can use the same overnight diap on them both. Now I'm only buying 3 types of diapers versus 4. (Oh, well I guess it's actually 5 types of diapers when you count swim diaps for them both too. Sheesh - this house is overflowing with diapers!!!) I cannot wait until Owen grasps potty training. That day cannot come soon enough.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

YUCK


This was Owen Saturday night. I should have know that the burps I was hearing while we snuggled together watching his favorite show (SuperReaders) were a sign of what was coming....

Five minutes later he puked. YUCK. We scooped him up and put a big orange towel under him and a big bowl next to him while we quickly cleaned up the purple mess (thanks to the blueberries he had as a late morning snack). Luckily, our Bissell Spot lifter was able to get it all up.

We called the doctor and she said to wait an hour, give him Tylenol, then give him a teaspoon of water every 5 minutes for the next half hour to see if he tolerated it. He did fine and even asked to go to bed around 9:45. Poor guy.

Lunch with the Deputys

Erica, Greg and Blake came over today for lunch. We had fun catching up and seeing the girls play together. Unfortunately Owen came down with some kind of bug right when they got to our house, and was sick (again!) for the duration of their visit. We're just praying now that the babies don't catch it. Luckily he was asleep in his room for pretty much the entire time, so I'm hopeful that he didn't pass anything on. As a coincidence, the girls were both wearing their adorable Ralph Lauren striped dresses and bloomers. Super cute. We look forward to our next visit hopefully in July.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Reaching up


This was the first time I saw Vivi reaching up for the hanging toys in her Exersaucer!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Carrots are yummy

I attempted (and succeeded!) at making carrots for Vivi - the first time I've ever made my own baby food. I bought organic carrots at the store, peeled them, cut them up, steamed them, pureed them and froze two servings in those small Gerber plastic containers I had left over from when Owen was eating baby food. It was a lot of steps for only two servings, but when I saw how much she liked them, it was worth it. And now that I'm going to start working part-time soon, I'm going to try making as much of her food as I can.
For comparison ~ Owen eating carrots.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Water table fun

When we get home from school around 5pm, the water table is the perfect toy to entertain Owen until dinner is ready...