Cousins on Father's Day!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Father's Day with John's family at his sister Kristin's house.  Megan was so excited that she got to go play with Alexa at her house.  Plenty of room for the kids to run around and burn off energy...and get into trouble!  Alexa's room is on the second floor of their house and typically an adult had been with the girls at all times but here's what happened when they were left alone for a few minutes.  All the adults and babies were downstairs and I thought it sounded awfully quiet all of a sudden and we realized that no one was with the girls.  Dawn rushed upstairs to find Alexa and Megan in Kasidy's (Patrick's daughter) bedroom where Alexa was liberally applying lip gloss to both of Megan's cheeks.  Busted!  As soon as Alexa saw Dawn she knew she was in trouble and quickly said, "wash hands" and ran to the bathroom.  Megan didn't do much but felt very pretty with all this makeup on!

  

Alexa is preparing to be a big sister and really wanted to hold Baby Owen.  Apparently every baby she sees now is Baby Owen to her.  She will make a great big sister come November!

A couple cute cousin pictures.  I think Owen rather liked being with the older girls!  It will get increasingly harder to get good pictures of all the cousins but we'll do what we can.  I can't wait to add two more little ones to the mix in November/December!

 

Friday Funnies, Favorites and Photos - Megan 27 Months

We've had quite the humorous week here.  As Megan gets better with her communication, memory and comprehension of things we just can't help but be amused.  Hope she can bring a little humor to you as well!  Here's what we've been up to this week:

Sunday night we celebrated John's brother Michael's birthday at a Mexican restaurant in Maple Grove.  John mistakenly thought it would be at their house so the days prior he began telling Megan that we soon would be going to Uncle Mike's house and could play with Bella.  Well, as we drove to the restaurant Megan was still sure that was where we were headed.  As we pulled into the parking lot she exclaimed "Michael's house!"  Michael said he would have no problem making El Rodeo his home!  Also, I think Megan was looking for Bella the entire time we were eating.  Bella might be her new favorite pet since she seems to be working on her "L" sounds.

On Monday Megan started using the mouse of my computer to play some of her computer games.  I discovered some fun games on Fisher Price's website that she really likes.  I guess I was not doing it quite right, thus making her frustrated enough that she took the mouse out of my hand and started clicking away!  Great coordination already!  I see a win-win for both grandpas here.  Grandpa Gennrich might get some lessons on the computer and Grandpa Lewis might get some help on Fish Wrangler.

Megan's love towards Owen continues to grow.  Out of the blue she started saying a cute phrase to him when he is crying uncontrollably... "Don't cry, Baby.  Your mommy loves you!"  It just doesn't get any sweeter than that.  Megan will also sit by Owen when either John or I are close.  She'll say "Say hi to Mommy".  Then will take Owen's hand, wave it and say in a high pitched voice "Hi!".  Other favorite expression in relation to Owen is "Oh, honey..."

Megan and I were at the pond looking for ducks when we found a robin's egg laying in the grass.  Yes, they look like her favorite peanut butter M&M's and right away she wanted to eat it but I had to explain that it was a baby bird egg.  We brought it home to show Daddy and then brought it outside to take a picture when it dropped and broke.  (Just yolk, no real bird.)  Megan wondered where the bird was but quickly realized that the next logical step would be to find a mommy bird egg, a daddy bird egg, and, a few days later when my parents came over, a grandpa bird egg and a grandma bird egg.  Someone came to love this little egg if only for a few short minutes!

Later that night we did go back the pond to see if we could find another egg.  Instead we found some shasta daisy flowers to pick instead.  And what goes better with Daisies than these little yellow flowers which Megan quickly labeled Minnies!

 

Our church community group will be doing some volunteering at an assisted living home here in Waconia.  John had softball that night so I took the kids myself.  First thing I hear as we walk into the building is an offer from an old man to buy Megan from me for $20!  Sorry, not for sale!  With our group we got to know about five residents and sang some songs with them.  This was mostly geared towards the children - about a dozen children in total with our group.  I hope Megan gains some confidence in following months to actually sing along with the other kids.  Megan was lucky to score a couple handshakes as the residents left the room and even a kiss on the lips from a nice old lady!

Later that night roughhousing on the bed with Daddy!  I'm always surprised that she can jump and jump and jump without falling off the bed.  Owen was in another corner of the bed and she managed to stay away from him also.

 

Yesterday morning Megan's breakfast was delayed due to me having to change Owen's blowout diaper (only second so far!).  Since she is able to now open the refrigerator on her own now, she didn't hesitate to open it up and see what was accessible.  She first brought me a plate with leftover pillow mint dessert on it and told me she wanted the cake!  I'm glad I had plastic wrap on it or else that would have been gone in no time.  I assured her that when I finished with Owen I would make her eggs and banana bread.  She went back downstairs and quickly hollered up at me that I should come make the eggs.  Here she had the only four eggs in the house out of the carton and sitting on the landing of the steps!  I think we need a lock for the fridge?

Now it's time for the "As Seen on TV" portion of this week's post...
Megan has begun watching Doc McStuffins on the Disney channel and it is a super cute show and she imitates a lot of her actions in her play.  It's one of the main reasons she loves her doctor kit and giving checkups so much.  On one episode a space alien toy needs help and during the checkup we learn that alien hearts are in their feet instead of chest.  At Megan's next "checkup" she made sure I used the stethoscope on the bottom of her foot!  She also runs around with a little notebook calling it her "little book of boo-boos", again, right out of the show.

Finally, right out of Jake and the Neverland Pirates... "Yo, Ho".

Baking Banana Bread

Ever since Megan finished the loaf of banana bread that Grandpa Lewis gave her she has been asking for more banana bread.  I was lucky to score a full tote of ripe bananas at Mackenthun's last week for only 99 cents so today was baking day.  Megan loves to help "stir" and today she dumped all the ingredients into the bowl, ran the sifter, said "crack" as I added each egg, and even mashed all six bananas with the pastry blender.  I generally love baking with Megan but sometimes it can get pretty hairy when she stirs and flour goes everywhere.  Today her hands seemed to be in the bowl the majority of the time but she learned that the sugars will stick to your entire hand if you try to pick it up and that flour tastes really bad when eaten by itself!

I sure hope Megan enjoys the baked loaves as much as she did licking the wooden spoon.  Yum, Yum!  And yes, real ladies wear their church clothes to do the baking!

 
 

Owen's Baptism

Last Saturday night, June 2nd, we had the privilege of getting baby Owen baptized.  After much debate we finally settled on a Saturday night baptism and I'm glad we did.  It was much more intimate of a setting than one of the morning services and a much more laid back.  It was also a nice coincidence that it was Holy Trinity weekend since Owen was baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Pastor Phil Wagner performed the baptism and we chose John's brother Michael and my brother Kevin to be Owen's Godparents and sponsors.

  

Please welcome the newest member of the family of God!

Family pictures of course!

 

 

 

  

With a 5:30 church service I knew it would be close to 7:00 until we would eventually get out of church so I chose to host the dinner at our house versus my parents' as we did for Megan's baptism to cut down on time.  I spent most of my free time the days prior to baptism cleaning and organizing our house and, with my mom's help, the house looked great on Saturday!  With 16 adults, 2 toddlers and a newborn we fit like sardines but it all worked.  We had egg salad or ham sandwiches on croissants, fruit salad, chips and veggies  for the meal and Great-Grandma's wonderful pillow mint dessert after opening gifts.

Before Megan was born, John's mom had given him the suit that he wore for his baptism.  John gave it to me and I tucked it away for the future.  Well, it turned out that it fit Owen pretty well and the seasons even lined up.  Isn't Owen handsome in Daddy's baptism suit?

Owen's First Month

Our little Owen has been with us for an entire month now.  Wow, has this ever gone fast!  He is the perfect addition to our family, making our family complete.  And after only these short weeks it's hard to imagine our family without him.  It is evident that Owen is completely his own person when compared to big sister Megan both physically and in his actions.  She was short and chunky and had a big head, he is long and lean with a little round head.

Both John and I refused to put a bassinet in our room for Owen to sleep in.  He and Megan would have to learn to share a room sooner or later so why not start right away.  So far there doesn't seem to be a problem at all.  Only during the first couple nights did Megan wake when he cried, otherwise she has slept through everything.  We typically put Owen to bed in the little crib or bouncy seat downstairs and move him up to the nursery when we go to bed.  I don't even have the baby monitors setup yet - he cries loud enough that I hear him at night.  At his checkup this morning one of the nurses told me that it's been a while since she's heard a baby cry as loud as Owen does.  Why do we always end up with the loud ones?  The amount of crying a baby does is supposed to peak at six weeks and it's looking like the volume level keeps going up with with it!  There's no calming him down to do a diaper change - just have to battle through it and soothe at the end.

I had been nursing Owen in the hospital and the first few days at home but as soon as my milk came in I remembered why pumping was the best option for me last time.  I seem to have the same abundant milk supply, heavy letdown and annoying leaking problems as before.  Plus, for the first several weeks Owen would sometimes go 4 or 5 hours between daytime feedings!  At two weeks of age he got bumped up to 4oz bottles about every 4 hours.  It sometimes took about 45 minutes to down a bottle so it was nice he was spacing out the feedings.  Now, at one month, his feedings are closer to 4oz every three hours and I have a feeling the ounces will increase here shortly.  At six feedings a day our little man is drinking over 24oz of milk!  I always have plenty of milk on hand in the fridge so it will actually be nice once he does start to take in more at a time.

Owen is doing a pretty good job with sleeping at night.  It was definitely a little better at the beginning and maybe I just need to fill his belly up a little more before putting him down for the night.  If we put him to bed around 10 he will typically sleep until 2:30 or 3.  I wish the nighttime feedings would be easier because most nights it's two hours until I can get back to bed.  He gets so sleepy that sometimes it takes close to an hour to finish his bottle.  Then to make sure the little guy burps enough, diaper change and then I need to pump.  The good thing is that he will typically fall back asleep in the bouncy seat and all I need to do is transfer him back to the big crib.

One thing that we enjoy using with Owen are sleep sacks.  This kid really loves to be swaddled and bundled up tight when sleeping probably because he was so cramped inside of me so it just feels natural to him.  Using the sleep sacks is probably one of the reasons he took such nice long naps for us in the beginning.  It was not uncommon for Owen to take three or four hour naps during the day during the first 2 or so weeks.  I've stopped using the sleep sacks as much during the day and just swaddling with a lightweight blanket so I can help him differentiate between night and day.  Plus, with an extremely loud older sister there is a lot of noise in the house preventing those long naps as he becomes more aware of surroundings.

Owen started cooing and making little gurgles when her turned three weeks - music to this mommy's ears.  His umbilical cord fell off at 2 1/2 weeks meaning it was time for his first bath.  He's not the biggest fan of them yet but at least he's not crying throughout the entire process.

Here is how Owen measured at his one week checkup:

Height - 22 inches - 97%

Weight - 9lbs 7oz - 90%

Head Circumference - 14 5/8 inches - 70%

We had a home visit from the county at two weeks old and using their digital scale he weighed 9 lbs 10.5 oz.  She said the goal at two weeks is simply to be back up to birth weight so no worries.  Besides, each location's scales tend to weigh just a little differently.

This morning I took Owen in for his one month checkup.  (I don't have the exact percentiles or head circ.)

Height - 22 1/4 inches - 75%

Weight - 11lbs 4oz - 75%

His doctor was pleased to see that his height and weight were nicely proportionate to each other.  Each day I held him he seemed heavier and longer than the last and I guess the numbers above prove that.  Definitely one healthy little guy.  When he was born his fingers and toes looked like those of an old man but it only took a week and we could tell they had filled out.  Slowly, but surely, his arms and legs are plumping up too.  He still has a tiny little waist and I can't wait for his tummy to fill out so his shorts fit better!

Talking about a healthy little guy... Owen sure has one strong neck.  From the day we came home from the hospital we noticed that and it sure has made burping quite the challenge.  I try to burp him several times during a bottle but he gets so impatient and will fling his head to the right as if to tell me he wants to get back into bottle position.  Other times he will just keep bobbing his little head instead of just relaxing it on my shoulder.  Owen really enjoys his tummy time - when laying on someone else, that is.  He sure likes to cuddle but if he needs to sleep, better just bundle him up and lay him down.

Right now Owen has a nice bald head and we're not quite sure what color hair he will end up having.  He has some hair coming in at the nape of his neck and the nurse today thought it looked red.  I'm not convinced so we will just have to wait and see!

Maybe it's because it's the second time around and I know what to expect and how to handle a newborn, but I am feeling and doing great!  I was up and moving around at the hospital and the lack of sleep really hasn't been too much of a factor for me.  It makes me realize that I was worse off postpartum with Megan than I thought at the time.  I have had a couple rough days since being home - mostly due to sleep factors, a really loud toddler or lack of patience but I think a couple bad days here and there are to be expected.  I think the fact that it's summertime and nice and sunny out helps my mood tremendously since my energy seems to feed off the weather.  Whatever it is, I'll take it and actually enjoy my time off of work this time around!

 Here are a few cute pictures of Owen that were taken during his second and third weeks.

 

 

 

 

Tub, Berries & Bike

All the schedules aligned this morning and I was able to take both kiddos outside before 9:00!  It started out with just going for a walk, but since I can only push one kid in the stroller at a time and I prefer that Megan not ride in the storage basket of the stroller we opted to just play in our pool, a.k.a. "tub".  Megan was so excited to put on a swim diaper and her swimsuit - she hasn't cooperated that well with me in changing clothes in a long time.  Even putting on the sun screen was fairly effortless.  

Pool was empty so we needed to fill 'er up!

Not even 10:00 yet and already getting warm outside.  Time for a cool and refreshing snack.  I've lost too many strawberries lately so I figured I would hull and quarter them for easy snacking.  There won't be any waste now, I'm sure!  I thought I could share the strawberries with Megan but she quickly and firmly told me to go play in the "tub".  (She did eventually reluctantly share with me...)

 

Next on Megan's agenda was riding her trike.  She hasn't had the most luck with it lately so I was hesitant to bring it out this morning.  I was so surprised that she did as well as she did - she biked all the way from our driveway to the end of Larkspur Lane!  Of course it was five pedals forward, three backwards and then she would use her feet to push her back ahead, but she made it there on her own!  She sees so many kids biking around the neighborhood and she is just in awe of them.  I think that is all the encouragement she needs to keep trying, trying, trying!  PLUS, there is a group of three girls that always rides around in their swimsuits so I guess Megan was dressed appropriately this morning.  

 

 

 

Megan's Friday Funnies - 26 1/2 Months

I realized last night with all the funny things Megan is doing lately that I really need to start writing more things down than I do.  Hopefully you get a chuckle out of some of her recent actions - she sure keeps us on our toes.

Megan's favorite songs are Twinkle, Twinkle and the ABC's.  Ironically they both have the same tune which is probably why she likes both of them so much.  Not only does she like to sing the songs but she likes to hum the tunes and also play the tunes on her kazoos.  Every day the pitch gets better but it does end up going into a minor key just a little bit in.  John and I were getting a little annoyed the other night at dinner because she kept humming louder and louder.  I said that we should just sing the songs and get it over with already.  John and I sang both songs rather loud and that kept her quiet the rest of the night!

Megan and I went to a garage sale on Wednesday and we saw a Rocket toy from Little Einsteins, one of her favorite shows.  I thought it was neat because the rocket opened up and she take the four kids out and put them in their seats.  Then we turned it on and it just kept playing the same song over and over - rather annoying. I was getting nervous that Megan would want to take this toy home but she quickly discovered that, while the kids went in and out, there were no seatbelts to buckle them into the seats like they do in the show.  Therefore, not realistic and she was no longer interested!

For some reason Megan has been sleeping with her head at the foot of her bed lately.  I wonder if she just wants to mix things up as she often does or if she no longer feels she needs the protection of the side rails.  Only time will tell!

Megan loves M&M's and will ask for them all the time.  I like that it's easy portion control and I can only give her one if I choose.  She's caught on, however, to which ones are the best.  She now asks for the "big M's" and is no longer satisfied with the regular ones.  I guess she likes the peanut butter centers!  I also get a kick out of the fact that she will open up the hall closet, grab an Easter egg and ask us to fill that up with M&M's!

I bought Megan a pair of jeans and two pairs of shorts at a garage sale yesterday.  I put them in the wash tonight and discovered that one of the three items also came with a pair of fairy panties!  Quite the bonus item, huh?  How did I not see that at the sale?

Megan was quite the klutz the other night.  She fell over the armrest of the recliner when she was trying to pull the lever to let out the foot rest.  Later I told her to get something for me from upstairs.  Well, she was telling me no in a sassy little way and ended up toppling down a couple stairs - the ones she does hundreds of times each day.  In addition to those two things was a lot of dropping her drink cup.  I wished John would have been here to help with the two crying babies!  Oh yeah, and after dinner that night Megan started pushing her chair to the kitchen telling me she was going to do the dishes.... No way, not tonight, dearie!

My absolute favorite recent story is from last night.  John had just changed Megan's diaper and Megan came downstairs with her mind set that Mommy's diaper needed to be changed too since apparently I had pooped.  Megan insisted that I lay down on the carpet and that she would be right back.  Didn't take long for her to come back with a baby diaper and a wipe from upstairs.  I was getting nervous of how this would play out.  Luckily, Megan only needed me to lift up my shirt so she could wipe my belly and lay the diaper on it.  I had been changed!  Next up, Daddy's dirty diaper!

Finishing up with a cute picture from Memorial Day.  Megan and Auntie Rachel are soaking up some rays!  Ahhhhh......