Owen vs. Beans

I was making 7-layer dip for scrapbooking and Owen saw the refried beans. I'm not sure if he actually ate anything, but he had fun:

Leap Day!

Today was Leap Day, woohoo! Owen and I decided to celebrate with a trip to the Mills. I guess we don't really have to be celebrating anything to make a trip out there though. Julie and Baby Abbie met us out there for some shopping fun.

Our shopping trip was fairly boring. We weren't really shopping for anything seeing as we were at the mall yesterday. Owen did end up getting a book that he wouldn't leave alone, but that was it. Abbie cleaned up pretty nicely though. So many cute girl clothes, so little boy stuff.

So we ended up not having to babysit today because the kids were going to Body Works. We get home and since it's nice out, I decide to be nice and take Owen and Bailey for a walk. Sounds simple enough right? I don't think so. We all get ready and of course Jake runs out. So I'm trying to keep Bailey and Owen close to me while wrestling to get Jake back into the house. The cat decides to start hissing at me. I finally get him into the house and we got to take our walk.

Chesterfield

Why can't the weather get nice out?! I'm so tired of hanging out at the mall play areas or in the house. Owen and I get bored with one another so much if we're cooped up in the house too long, so we planned a trip to Chesterfield Mall with Rachel, Rylynn, Kaden, and Marcey.



Archiver's was supposed to be having a "big" sale, which was the purpose of driving all the way to Chesterfield. It was a major letdown, but we had a fun time anyway.

16 Months Old Today!

Happy 16 months to Owen! He's such a fun kid to be around. I have so much fun with him everyday, even though he can be challenging at times! He's always busy and constantly suprising us with how much he's learning. It's amazing to see how he's turning into such a kid rather than a baby.



A few of his latest interests and accomplishments:

• climbing on the couch (and attempting to climb over the back)
• dancing (he's a dancing fool lately)
• being naked
• taking baths
• playing with his stuffed animals
• following commands (usually successfully)
  

We tried to get a few pictures today, but Owen wasn't wanting to sit still, so this is the best I have:

Bathing with Bailey

Mike was trying to cut Bailey's nails (which is definately not Bailey's favorite thing!) tonight while I was giving Owen his bath. All of a sudden Bailey decides that the only place for him to escape was the bath tub. I don't think either of them knew what was going on!
Owen looked completely confused for a few seconds then went on with his playing, Bailey on the other hand wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into. Once he was in the tub, I think he realized that it was a bad idea.

Is the dog in the tub with me?

Bad call on the tub idea

Fingerpainting Fun

Since it's been too cold to go outside, we've had to come up with fun indoor activites. I decided to try fingerpainting with Owen again. The first time he tried it he didn't really enjoy it, but he was really getting into it today:

Jury Duty Part 2

Grandma and Grandpa T came over to watch Owen so I could go enjoy jury duty, round 2. Day two went pretty much the same as day one. I was able to meet Mandy for lunch, so that was a nice change of pace.

All in all, jury duty was a fairly pleasant experience. It was the most quiet alone time that I've had since I can remember and I'm sure it will be quite a while until it happens again.

Jury Duty Part 1

Jury duty, 8 childless hours. I was actually happy to receive my jury summons in the mail a few weeks ago, because I knew that it would be a nice break from Owen. We arranged for Grandpa W to watch him one day, Grandma and Grandpa T the next, and we'd figure something out if we needed more.

Grandpa W came over to our house for a while, but Owen ended up going over to his house to play. He apparently had too much fun chasing Murphy and Buddy; they all ended up passed out on the bed together. A nice 2 hour nap!

Jury duty was fairly uneventful early on. I was able to take a nap, read, watch some tv, and listen to my iPod uninterrupted. I walked to Union Station for lunch and to wander around since we had nearly 2 hours for lunch. Union Station is definately not as close to the court house as one may think, especially in the frigid cold. After lunch, around 3:15 my number was finally called. We were told that we would have to go across the street to the criminal court building, but just before we were about to leave the case was cancelled. Back into the jury pool for us on Wednesday.

Poor Owen didn't get to see much of mommy and daddy today. We had tickets to the Blues game and had debated whether we should take him or not. Thankfully Aunt Anne and Uncle Ces said they'd babysit. It's a good thing they did, our seats would not have been very child-friendly being as they were in the middle of the row. We had a good time at the game and Owen had fun with his aunt and uncle.

Bailey meets Britax

Since we put the carseat in Grandpa W's car while he babysat, it was sitting in the living room until Mike could install it in my car again. Bailey decided that he wanted to see what the big deal about the Britax seats was all about. This is what I saw when I walked into the living room:

Playdate with Rylynn

Not that Owen and Rylynn don't hang out enough, but we figured we'd get together for a playdate today. Cole and Katelyn joined the fun for a while too. Owen had a blast playing with all of Rylynn's great toys and especially hanging out with the girls. After Cole left, Owen had both girls to himself and he was very pleased. I didn't have my camera with me, but Rachel and Christine both got some cute pics of the kids that I'll have to add soon.

Owen had such a great time that he completely crashed! He was asleep before we got out of the subdivision.

Church

We hadn't been going to church lately, so we figured we should start taking Owen again. Completely dreading a toddler sitting through an hour long mass, we headed to church. I was completely shocked at how well he behaved! I think the fact that he was exhausted had something to do with it, but whatever it was, it worked. We went to Chris's for breakfast with Grandpa Watson.

Monkey Joe's

We decided to take Owen to Monkey Joe's today to let him burn off some energy since it's been too cold to play outside. Mike had never been, so he wanted to see what it was all about. Owen normally loves the place, but for some reason he was terrified today. I don't think he liked the way that it felt when he walked since it made him unstable and there were about a million birthday parties going on, so it was a madhouse. We eventually got him to play after we each jumped with him for a while.

Tiffany babysat tonight so that we could go out to dinner and hang out with Tim and Joan. We went to Stir Crazy (yummy!) and attempted to go bowling but that didn't work out. We headed back to their place and played a game. I think Owen and Tiff both had a good time together while we were gone.

Our Valentine's Celebration

Owen must have been upset that he wasn't getting steak for dinner that he decided to protest bedtime. I tried and tried to get him to sleep, he'd finally fall asleep, and suddenly wake up as soon as I moved an inch. I just put him in his crib, assuming he'd cry for a few minutes and fall asleep. Wrong! He screamed the entire time we ate dinner. Romantic, no?

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Pics of Owen and his new Build-A-Bear puppy:

Playdate at Owen's!

Owen decided that it was time to have his friends over to his house to hang out. Caleb and Rylynn ended up coming over for an afternoon of fun and ended with a few drinks.

"Owen, mix me up something good."

Apparently Owen's too slow, Rylynn decided to chug the bottle of wine.

Dada?

Since Owen has decided that he enjoys waking up at the crack of dawn lately, we usually get to see Mike before he leaves for work. Owen normally blows him a kiss, watches him out the front door, and finally closes the door once he drives away. Today he walked around the house asking for dada.

"I'm pretty sure he went out this door...."

"Come on! I know he's out there!"

Park Fun

It was a fairly decent day, weatherwise, so we decided to take a quick trip to the park with Owen. He seemed to enjoy himself despite the wind.

Going down the slide:

Mike getting in on the action: Playing with the rocks was the highlight of the day

Not completely terrified of the swings like he used to be

Aunt Shari ended up babysitting Owen while Mike and I went to the Fox with his parents. We found out quickly that Shari's house is not babyproofed. Owen walked in and grabbed a few candleholders and was eyeing up a vase that was as tall as he is. Apparently nothing was broken and he had a great time hanging out with Aunt Shari and playing with Torino and Mica.

Snow Pics

I forgot to add these pictures from the snow last week. This was apparently the worst snow we've had in 15 years which I'm not sure that I entirely believe, but who am I to decide that.

Future Model?

Does Owen possibly have a future in modeling? After today, I'd say probably not, but that might be because I forced him to try on a dress that I made for Rylynn. The last time I put a dress I made on him, he ran around the house laughing. He somehow figured out that boys don't wear dresses. That or he saw me get the camera out and knew that this wasn't something that he wanted documented in any way. Whatever it was, he completely fought me the entire time. But I won of course, he wore the dress and I have the pictures to prove it!

"What the hell is this thing?"

"Ah, yes! Back in my manly clothes!"

Dental Hygiene

Owen has been very concerned with dental hygiene lately. He recently got an electric toothbrush and is obsessed with brushing his teeth. Any time he walks into the bathroom, he points to his toothbrush and frantically signs "more." Once he has his toothbrush, he proceeds to walk around the house brushing until we finally have to take it away from him.

The Perfect Husband

No, not Mike. Owen's training to be the perfect husband someday. He loves to vacuum, fold (or unfold) laundry, dusting, and playing with his kitchen. He's going to make some lucky lady very happy someday!