Home sweet home

Well I know it's been awhile, but do much had gone on, and I'm going to have to make separate posts for each thing. Hopefully I'll get caught up soon!

So we have been in our house for a month now. We closed on September 26th and spent our first night on September 28th. We absolutely love it. The kids have pretty much adjusted to it, and they love their new backyard and of course, the stairs.

We are pretty much settled and unpacked, and we have started the whole decorating process, which we're going to be taking very slowly. I'm so excited though to make it our home.

There is still a lot of construction going on on our street so we spend a log of time outside watching the big machines! And we're enjoying getting to know our neighbors, but we're really hoping that more young kids will be moving in soon.

We are really loving McKinney! We're on the edge of McKinney and Frisco, so we do things in both cities. It's so nice to be close to so much stuff.

We still do not have Internet out here so I do not have good pictures of the house, and I'll probably wait until things are more decorated anyways until I post some, but here are just a couple of pictures from a few days before we closed.

Holding hands

This afternoon, Landon and I were sitting in our front porch while Owen was napping. We had just sat down in our chairs, when I asked Landon if he wanted to sit on my lap while he ate his snack. He shook his head and said, "no mommy, I'm sitting in my own chair.". I said, "Please? I really want to cuddle with you." He looked at me and thought for a few seconds and said, "I'm gonna stay in my chair, but we can hold hands." I told him I would love that, so we sat on the front porch just hanging out and holding hands :) I sure do love him.

Those parents...

Yesterday we were those parents at WalMart who let their child sit in the large part of the shopping cart when we knew we shouldn't have, and the worst thing that could happen happened. 

Owen was strapped in up front, so if we were going to get anything done in the store, in a timely manner, Landon had to get in the large part.  He's usually very good about staying seated in there though.  We may have had to ask him a couple of times to sit down the whole time we were there.  When we got to the self checkout counter, I was up by Owen looking for something in my bag and Landon was starting to help Brandon by getting things out of the basket and handing them to him.  I looked away and Brandon was looking at the screen getting everything started.  Next thing we know, Landon reached a little too far towards Brandon and went head first on to the ground.  It sickens me to even thing about it because I saw his terrified face as he was falling out and I couldn't get to him in time to catch him and neither could Brandon.  We heard a loud crack as soon as his head hit the floor and he immediately started screaming and so did we. We picked him up and tried to calm him and ourselves down but we were all shaken up, not able to believe what just happened.  No one around us, not a customer or an employee of walmart, came to hlep us or to ask if he was okay.  The lady that was working at customer service right in front of us saw it all and just stared at us, and I know the people around us at the other counters saw it, but no one bothered to help the screaming child and shaken up parnets.  We rushed to the car and went straight to the hospital.  Landon was screaming that he didn't want to go to the hospital; he just wanted to go to Home Depot (where we were originally planning on going after WalMart).  So we knew that he was somewhat okay because he never blacked out and he was coherent, but we were not going to just let things go and go about our business.

At the hospital they looked him over, asked us questions, and ultimately told us that he was okay.  They said they didn't want to expose him to the radiation of a catscan unless they saw the need to, and they didn't.  He was amazing at the hospital too! I can't believe how brave he was.  He answered every question that the doctors and nurses asked him and let them look him over without any hesitation.  Such a big boy! 

Brandon and I can't believe we let that happen to our child.  I know we all make mistakes, but when it comes to our kids, those kinds of mistakes just can't happen.  So PSA to all parents, please don't let your kids sit in that part of the shopping cart.  Even if you think they're old enough to, don't do it. It's just not worth the risk.  I know we won't do it again. 

Boys on the four wheeler

Our Owen is getting so big!

Crazy but wonderful days

I wish I had time to blog about all the funny things that happen in my everyday life because there are some pretty entertaining things that go on over here. Today was an interesting day to say the least.

So we are without a table to eat at right now because we've been getting rid of a lot of our old furniture that we don't want to take to our new house. We sold our table and Brandon is in the process of refinishing a $20 find off Craigslist (ill have to post some before/after pics when it's done) so meal time is definitely difficult right now. Landon's usually at his little art table and Owen is in a little booster on the floor. Well today, Landon insisted on eating his cereal at the train table in the playroom. So fast forward twenty minutes later, and Landon didn't even eat much of his cereal, but he left it on the train table and now he's in the bathroom "taking care if his business." So I'm in there with him thinking that he's about to need my help and then I realize that Owen is being very quiet, so I leave Landon in the bathroom and go to the playroom to find Owen pretty much finger painting with a huge raisin bran and milk mess on the train table, the floor and leather ottoman. It looked like our little destroyer just picked up the bowl and threw it around the room.

As I'm looking at the mess, Landon is yelling from the bathroom that he needs his Bo Bo wiped!! So I tell him just give me a second, and I go to the kitchen to get paper towels to clean up the cereal mess and then I hear Owen crying, so I rush to the playroom and find him on the ground laying and rolling around in the milk and cereal. He had slipped into the milk and was rolling around in it! So I pick up the milk and raisin bran covered baby, and then hear Landon yelling at me, telling me he still needs his Bo Bo wiped!! So I go take care of that, wash off Owen, then clean up the cereal that Rocco is already trying to lap up. Whew! That was all before 8:30 too!

Then, Landon wouldn't take a nap today ( that's a whole different post) but I left him in his room for a couple of hours for quiet time, then when I go in there he has taken every single book off of his shelf and made a huge pile on the floor. He said he needed to do it because his baby hippo (imaginary animal friend that's been hanging around lately) was on the shelf and she needed to breathe?! Where does he come up with this stuff? He is one funny kid.

Building our new home!

Our new house is coming along nicely, and I'm really hoping that the Sept. 28th completion date will be moved sooner! Here are some pics of how it looks right now.

Outside...can't wait to see what it looks like with an actual yard!

 Kitchen

 View of kitchen standing in the nook area.  The archway leads the the hall that goes toward the front door and dining room. 

 Upstairs playroom

Owen 10 months

Happy 10 months to you baby boy!  You are growing into such a big boy!  It's hard to believe that you're so close to one year old already, but it's coming so fast.  You amaze us every day, and bring us such joy and happiness.  You love your brother and your daddy so so so so much it's unbelievable.  You really are lucky to have two such amazing guys to look up to.  Landon says that you're his best friend, and we hope that it will remain that way throughout your whole lives.  We asked him what he would say if when you guys were bigger and someone was trying to be mean to you, he told us that he would tell them, "NO! Back off dude!  That's my brother!"  :-) Already taking care of you. 

You can say hi, bye bye, mama, dada, Landon ("anda").  You say woof woof when we ask you what the doggie says, you roar like a lion, you push cars and motorcycles and make their sounds.  You clap, you're starting to high five, you give kisses, and so much more!  You haven't taken your first steps yet, but you get everywhere you want to go by crawling or holding on to things and walking. 

Mommy, daddy, and bubba love you to pieces!!

Blessings

Our family is receiving lots of blessing right now, and we couldn't be happier.  We have finally found where we will be putting our roots down and have a house under contract!!  Yippee!!  After two loooooong years of renting and not really liking where we were living, we are finally going to be homeowners again!!  The house is in McKinney and is in the process of being built.  It should be completed by September 28, if not a little bit sooner.  We are so excited!  I think it's going to be the perfect home for where we are in our life right now.  It's in a brand new neighborhood, and we'll be one of the first families to move in.  The house is going to beautiful, and I can't wait to get into it and start making it our home.  We cannot wait to finally own a home again and make some friends in the neighborhood.  After lots and lots of praying, we really are so blessed to have found the right home for us. 

Just this week, I started a work from home job that I do during naptime.  I am so excited to have something to do from home and contribute to the family financially, but I didn't want anything that would take time away from my main job, my boys.  It's such a blessing that the person whom I work for is such a nice and easy going person, and they understand that my number one job is being a mom.  I prayed for a long time for something like this to come my way, and I'm so happy that it has.  Now, I just have to figure out when I'm supposed to do the housework that I usually do during naptime, because the last few days, I've been staying up until midnight doing the housework and I am super tired! 

We also have two healthy boys that are growing like weeds, and that's definitely something to be thankful for!

Here are some pictures from our zoo trip a few weeks ago. 

God is great.

Soccer camp...kind of

We signed Landon up for a free soccer camp that was at a church down the street from us a couple of weeks ago.  Landon was all pumped up about it.  I talked to the people that were putting it together, and they assured me that his age group would be learning little drills and would have lots of fun kicking the ball around to each other, etc.

 So since Daddy used to play soccer, he was excited that Landon was interested in it as well.  We got Landon his own big boy soccer ball and little shin guards.  He was so ready and excited to get on the field when we got there.  Unfortunately, his smile faded when they told us that his group was inside, and come to find out, it was just a little playtime/nursery for his age :-(  Cue the tears now!  He wanted to be outside with the big kids.  We ended up staying for a while, and he did have fun playing with the other kids, but he didn't really do anything soccer related so we didn't go back for the rest of the week. Maybe next year, he'll be old enough to do something a little more competitive?  Here he is looking adorable and excited for soccer camp!

9 months old

Happy 9 months to our handsome, sweet, vivacious, loving, happy, smart, smiley, boisterous, determined, bright blue eyed go-getter Owen! 

Owen is 20 lbs. 1 oz (57th %) and 26.9 in (5th%).

This little guy claps, waves hi, says hi, says mama, "rolls 'em up" (in the pat-a-cake) song, plays peekaboo when asked to, and signs more.  He bangs on everything and pretty much wants to get a hold of and destroy anything in his path.  He walks a few steps behind push toys, and walks along the couch, train table, and anything he can pull up and hold on to. 

He's busy busy busy but still the sweetest and most loving baby!  We love you to pieces Owie!

Owen the Lion!

Owen is learning so many things right now!  We've been reading a book that has a lion in it for a few months, and he has learned to roar like a lion!  It's the cutest thing.  Here it is:

Swimmy

Last week, Landon completed a rigorous two week swimming course with the Dallas Swim Lady.  I can't believe what he learned in just eight lessons.  He worked his butt off and can now jump into the pool, swim under water, get out of the pool on his own, somewhat float on his back, swim down to the floor of the pool and retrieve a toy, and jump off the diving board and swim to the wall!  I was skeptical of the whole thing, but I'm so impressed with how Ms. Adams taught him such important water survival skills. 

The first few days were a little rough, and Landon definitely did not want to be there, but after the first week, he started loosening up around Ms. Adams and actually enjoying it.  He has so much confidence in the water now that it's kind of scary because he thinks he can do anything in the water.  He was even trying to have a swimming competition with a five year old at Sea World last week, and he definitely held his own! :-) We're so proud of our little fishy! 

Here are a couple of pics from his first day.  I'll post some videos soon!

Eight months?!

It's been eight months since Owen came into our life! What an awesome eight months it has been. Of course it is going extremely too fast, but I am relishing in every moment of his swishy cuddly babyhood that is going away so quickly. I can't stop myself from holding him, kissing him, tickling him, hugging him (he gives the best hugs ever!!) and just simply loving on him constantly.

I say it over and over again, but if you know Owen, you completely agree with me that one single word to sum him up is "happy." He's so happy that you can't help but be happy around him. If makes me smile just thinking about how big of a heart he already has and how much love he has to give at such a young age.

He is a go getter and has so much determination. He somehow will get anything that he wants. He'll turn himself around in complete circles or he'll roll across a room to get what he has his eye on! He is starting to try to crawl big just can't figure out what to do to make his body move. He gets up on his hands and knees, but one of his legs gets stuck under him awkwardly, hindering him from moving. Then he'll face plant and get really mad. I think he's got another couple of weeks and he'll be mobile, which really scares me because he is the baby that will find everything he's not supposed to have! We're going to really have to baby proof with this one around!!

He is still nursing every two to three hours and then gets a 6 oz bottle of formula right before bed. He usually sleeps from around 8-6 and will go back down until 7:30. He takes two naps that are usually around an hour and a half each.

He is really "talking" now. He babbles the sounds "ma" "ba" "da" and "ya" he also says hi usually in the right context, so I guess that would be considered his first word!

He still does not like baby food, so he pretty much eats what we eat. He loves starches and veggies but really is not that big of a fruit fan.

I'm not sure about his length or weight right now, but I'm pretty sure he weighs around twenty pounds. I'm looking forward to his doctor appointment on the 23rd of this month to check his length. We're praying that he has grown at least a couple of inches!

Here's our sweet boy at eight months

7 months!

Little squeakers turned 7 months old this past Monday, and I am really in denial. Why does the second baby grow so so quickly? I'm enjoying every second of every stage this time around, but he's still getting older quicker than I want. Anyways...:*(

I really really love this age. Owen is so much fun and just a little chubby nugget full of smiles and curiosity.

We had a little minor incident while at the river last weekend involving Owen, Landon and a slide, and skipping over all the details so I don't have to relive all the horrible mommy feelings, Owen ended up with a little sprained ankle. We had about four x rays done to make sure nothing was broken, and thank god everything was good. It really didn't bother him too much. He wouldn't put weight down on that leg when we would try to stand him up and if you pulled his foot down like to point his toes, it would bother him. He's been back to 100% for a couple of days now though!

While at the urgent care, we found out that he now weighs 19 pounds, which means he gained two pounds in one month. I wish we would have asked them to measure his height because that's what we really care about, but from my measuring, I think he's a little over 26 inches now. 

He is getting a little better about eating his baby food, but he really only wants what were eating so I've been trying to give him more foods that he can feed himself. He's been liking toast and green beans a lot, not together.  He stole a tater tot off my plate last week and shoved it in his mouth and ate it so fast I could only get half of it out. That thing gave him an upset tummy and ended up causing a nasty blowout while in his carseat in the middle of cvs! I was so embarrassed! You could see a pool of diarrhea in between his legs. Yuck!

We are really starting to see more of Owens personality now and it's so funny that it differs from Landon's already. Let's just say that I'm a little afraid of how this one is going to be as a toddler! He is determined, strong willed, and will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. The poor little guy constantly falls over while sitting because he tries so hard to get things that are out of reach. He's been sitting up for almost two months now, so it's not that he falls because he can't sit up its because he tries to do things that his body can't do yet. Landon was very observant and cautious at this age and still is to sone extent. He would watch us do things over and over and not try to do them himself until he thought he could do them perfect (like his daddy) Owen, I think, seems to be more like me. He'll just go for it and try to do something not caring how perfect it is going to be or if it will even get done, but he'll just try and see how it goes.

Owen is mr independent and wants to be on the floor playing all the time, rather than being held or constrained in a jumperoo or exersaucer.  When we go to the river, we set up the pack and play, and put him in it with some toys and he will entertain himself, playing, talking and screaming.  I don't know why I never did that with Landon.  I think I thought it was cruel to put him in a pack and play and let him play by himself.  Crazy first time mom. 

Owen loves to play peek a boo still and he is now pulling blankets up over his face and he'll wait for us to say, "Where's Owen?" and then he'll pull the blanket down really fast with a huge smile on his face.  He's so proud of himself! 

It really is just as amazing the second time around watching your baby reach every milestone and develop into a little person.  I wondered if it would be the same the second time around, and it is just as exciting because it's a totally different person that you have created.  God's work is amazing, and we're so thankful for this little gift from God.

Love you Squeakers!

Landon lately...

It's been a while since I've done a blog posting on Landon, so since he's going to be 2 1/2 next week, I figured I'll just ramble about everything that's going on with our Lan Man right now!...

Landon is a mess! A cute, funny, crazy, precious, wild, and rotten mess! He constantly amazes me with the way he speaks so well and his large vocabulary.  He also has the biggest heart and is one of the most compassionate kids I've ever been around. 

He is definitely a two year old though!  He has an extremely curious mind and loves to test boundaries just to see what will happen.  We've definitely been putting our 'parenting with love and logic' to use some lately, but when it comes to his behavior, we really couldn't ask for a better kid. He has his moments where he whines or throws a little fit, but even when he does that, it's not near as bad as it could be. He is still so loving and sweet to us and his brother and pretty much to anyone he meets.

He loves attention! His latest thing is talking like a country boy. He puts a little Texas twang in his voice when he says, "ginger ale" "oatmeal" "not right now" and "well". I'll have to try to upload a video of it soon. 
He can recognize several letters, spell his name, knows his left and right,  can recognize most shapes, count to 14, says his abc's almost by himself, and when he speaks he talks with correct pronoun usage most of the time.  When he is hiding from us and wants us to come find him, he says, "Where are me?"  I think it's the cutest thing so I don't correct him :) 

He has also been wearing underwear at night for a month now, and he has not wet the bed at all!  

He still loves books! I would say we spend almost two to three hours total every day reading books. We have a large bookshelf full of books, but we still go to the library once a week and check out 20 books each time we go!  He can't get enough of books. 

If we're not inside reading books, then we're outside playing in the backyard. He loves being outdoors. He occupies himself out there for the most part, but he loves when I race him, pull him in the wagon, push him in the swing or help him wash his ride on toys.

He has really taken an interest in his trains and train table recently.  He'll keep himself occupied for quite a while playing with them. 

We read a book a few weeks ago called "Not a Box," and it was a short little book about a rabbit that had a box that was imagining it was several different things.  Well, the mom would keep asking the rabbit what he was doing with the box, and the rabbit kept getting frustrated saying that it was not a box, it was a fire truck or whatever...well, long story short, Landon wanted a "Not a Box" so Brandon brought one home from work and he had a blast playing in it.  Then, later that night, Landon told Brandon that he needed to bring home a small not a box tomorrow, and Brandon asked him why he wanted another one, and Landon said, "No, it's not for me.  Owie needs a 'not a box' too."  Brandon said he got a tear in his eye when he said that because he's always thinking about others, and he wanted to make sure that Owie had his own not a box too.  He's such a loving little guy. 
Funny things he has said lately:

Daddy was telling him about being nice to Owen and told him "nice boys get nice things" and Landon adds "at central market!" lol only our kid would enjoy going to central market so much!

When he fell on his bike, i asked if he was okay and he told me his "loo loo" hurt. I asked him what his "loo loo" was and he said, "you know my loo loo!" I told him I didn't know what a loo loo was so I needed him to show me and he said, " you know, my balls!" I have no idea where loo loo came from.

He says grape instead of great, and every time he wakes up in the morning or from nap, I ask him how he's feeling, he says, "I'm feelin' grape mommy'"

One day it was raining, and we had to go to target so we got a little wet in the parking lot. Inside target, it was freezing especially since we were wet. When we went back outside, the rain had stopped and it was warm out, and I told Landon that it felt so good outside because it was freezing in there. He responded with, "We need to defrost out here!!" :)

He pronounces all his y's as w's, so he says "wes" instead of "yes," and "wellow" for "yellow" and "wummy" for "yummy."