Father & Son

I don't have much to say tonight but wanted to share a couple pictures of Daddy and Owen that I took on Sunday.  These are my favorite pictures so far of two of the most important men in my life.  I know I speak for John when I say he is so excited to have a son and looks forward to many special father-son moments together as Owen grows up.

Love you guys!

Back To Work I Go

The time had come and my 12 week maternity leave was finally over. I returned to work last Thursday full time.  What a change this has been, but for the better I think.  As much as I loved staying home with Owen (and Megan most days) it was time for me to get back to reality.  With my first maternity leave I only took 8-9 weeks, but even though my last month or so this go round was essentially unpaid I am so glad we were able to make it work.

I seemed to bounce back both physically and emotionally rather well so I actually got to enjoy my time off.  The only thing that would have made it nicer would have been some not so hot and humid days but I am so thankful for the good-ole AC!  It felt like we were go-go-go the whole time but it's summer, what do you expect?

Even though my first words of advice to women expecting their second child is to keep their oldest in daycare while on their leave, I am so glad that I was able to spend some quality time with my daughter.  Sure, she would drive me nuts and things got kind of hairy at times but I wouldn't have traded it for the world.  How she ever matured in the last two months!  By being home with Megan I was able to help her learn to ride her tricycle, learn her colors and to count to 10, learn how to use the computer mouse and navigate through pre-school websites, help her start using the potty, use her ever-expanding vocabulary to turn her words into sentences and witness her unending affection towards her little brother.

And for Owen, he has changed and grown so much in these last couple months and sure doesn't look like a newborn any more.  One benefit of going back to work here is my back will get a little break as I won't be carrying around a 15+ pound baby around all day long!  I'm continuing to pump breast milk for Owen and hope to give him my mommy juice until he's six months but we'll see how that goes.

Even though it's work, it's nice to be back and see my co-workers again, have adult conversations and actually use my brain again!  I got a little rusty and there is definitely a little re-learning curve but for the most part it seems like I had never left.  (There is also a little cleanup effort on my part but that was to be expected... No one else is as anal about formatting their Excel spreadsheets as I am...)  I decided to go back last Thursday since the end of the week is usually a little more relaxed than the beginning.  And I got through my nearly thousand emails before lunch the first day!  I would have had a lot more had I not setup rules in Outlook to auto-delete daily things.

I won't be around Megan and Owen much during the days any more but I know that they are in excellent care.  John's parents will typically care for them on Mondays and Tuesdays, my mom on Wednesdays and Fridays and John is usually off on Thursdays.  We are thrilled that they can spend such quality time with grandparents!

Plus, there is nothing better at the end of the day than having a little one run up to you with open arms screaming, "MOMMY!!!!"

Friday Funnies

I hoped to get this post up earlier today but the last few days just got away from me.  Anyways, it is still Friday when I'm typing this so here come a few funnies from the last few weeks.


For those of you who don't know, Megan calls my mom Mama Mimmick (for Grandma Gennrich).  She was watching Megan one day when my grandparents decided to stop by.  My mom was in the basement when Megan, on the main level of the house, heard my grandparents' car doors open and close.  She quickly ran to the top of the stairs and yelled down, "Mama.... More Mimmicks!"

Megan and I were going to go to Target together one day and leave Daddy home with Owen.  Sometimes I don't put my seatbelt on right away until we are out of our neighborhood.  But Megan, our backseat driver, sure notices these things.  She quickly points out that the seatbelt is not buckled and giggles with her hands over her mouth.  "Oh Mommy.... the seatbelt!"

My poor laptop computer is probably close to six years old... I had it even before I met John.  Needless-to-say, sometimes it has problems keeping up with all of Megan's gaming websites and recently has started freezing on her.
Megan: Computer broken.
Me: No, it's not broken.  It's just tired.
Megan: Daddy fix it?
Me: Daddy can't fix it.  It just needs to rest.
Megan: Me fix it.  I get my hammer!

Megan recently has become obsessed with garage sales.  (I need to remind her of this when she's a tween and won't wear anything from garage sales much less go to them...  I'll enjoy it while it lasts...)  She knows that we tend to get a lot of clothes, toys and books from the garage sales and especially loves seeing the colorful stickers on every item.  Garaging on Wednesday with my mom she was saying, "Grandma, buy it, buy it!" to some toys.

Megan doesn't quite know how to say the word "feed" yet.  It comes out as "eat".  We know what M egan means when she says this but always sounds quite funny at the time.  For instance: "Papa's at the farm.  He eating cows again" and while she's holding Owen "I eat him?"

And finally.... Megan has such a good vocabulary and I think she actually talks very clear for a girl her age.  But sometimes she gets so excited and can't get the words out fast enough so the words just get all jumbled up.  So Daddy says, "Megan, it would help if you didn't begin every sentence with 'Da bit, da bit, da bit, da bit!"

Daddy Daughter Vacation days 2 and 3

Sorry it took a few days to write days 2 and 3 I haven't been on the computer much since to get to writing this.  I've also updated the post on Day 1 to include some pictures so be sure to scroll down for a look.

On Friday the four of us set out early and went to the Kansas City Zoo.  Megan really liked this idea since she wasn't able to go the zoo earlier in the week since plans had fallen through.  We thought that if we went earlier in the day Megan would be able to get a nap in and also go while it was still cooler out.  By the time we had gotten there it was already boiling.  Our first big surprise when we got there was that we were able to get in for a whole lot cheaper than we had previously thought.  We expected to be paying about $12 to get in but when we got the the window to pay they had asked if we were from one of the counties in the area.  We said no and they said that it would be $6 then.  I don't know if it was just because it was during the week or for something special going on but who am I to complain about being able to go in for so cheap.

We go inside and it appeared be be a really nice zoo.  I would love to go back again.  The only down side was that everything was spread so far apart.  That's nice in a way because they could make everything look like it's natural habitat and for some animals there were no fences.  You in theory could just right up an touch a kangaroo if you wanted to.  We even went into a bird area and had a couple real big birds just resting on a railing to would look over.  Near the end they had a little petting zoo for the kids and it was pretty much just sheep but that was alright.  The sheep were just walking around on there own and Grandpa thought it would be nice to feed the sheep so he walked up the the dispenser to grab some food and all of the sheep rushed over to him just so they could eat.  I was surprised Megan was even able to get to Grandpa to feed them also.

 

 

 

We were starting to walk back and then going into a different section of the park and we saw an area to take a train ride around within the area of animals we just saw.  With it being so hot and the amount of walking it would be we thought that it would be fun.  Once there we saw that instead of just the $2.50 charge just to take the train we could have unlimited rides on the other modes of transportation throughout the park for only $8 so we took it.  The train was a little small for me but Megan just loved it.  Especially the 2 tunnels we went through.  There were a couple young girls a few rows in front of us that screamed for fun every time we went through a tunnel and Megan now describes her train ride as Train, tunnel and then she screams.  Boy I hope she doesn't remember that one for the future. 

After the train we got off and decided to take a tram ride over into the Africa area of the park.  On the way Megan got to see 6 big elephants.  At first she only saw 5 but then a little bit farther she saw the sixth.  Now when you ask her if she saw elephants she says 1 more.  Which is kind of cute.  We got to see a few more animals even if they did come fast at us. 

With the heat and the free rides we just didn't want to walk any more so we went straight over to the safari sky ride and rode over so different animals.  Megan really loved the giraffes.  She even got to see one eating right from the trees.  What I was most surprised about was the heights didn't even phase her.  She just sat in the chair with me and enjoyed the whole thing.  We got off looked around for a few minutes and went back across with no troubles either. 

 

We then went over to the water and waited for a boat ride that we could do and that was a lot of fun.  It showed us the same animals that we saw on the sky ride but it was still fun.  While we were waiting for the return trip back Megan got to see a little turtle sunning itself on a log which she enjoyed. 

 

After the boat ride we decided we have had enough and that it was nap time so we were taking the tram back and were starting to walk to the exit and saw a carousel going so we decided to take a couple trips around.  Boy does Megan love these.  Whenever she sees one she needs to ride.

After the zoo we decided it would be nice to take a nap before the Twins game but I think Megan had something else on her mind because she kept playing and playing and when we had turned the lights out it turned to crying which didn't stop for about a half hour.

By the time she was down she would only get a half hour of sleeping time in before we had to wake her up and go to the game.  This was her first baseball game ever and she was very well behaved.  She sat on our laps quietly and actually watched most of it.  It didn't hurt that she got a hot dog and 2 bowls of ice cream either but what she was really waiting for was the fireworks at the end.  All in all 11 innings had passed the Twins ended up winning and then for the show.  She was smiling from ear to ear and loved every second of it.  She will describe to fireworks show just by the colors she saw of red, blue, green, purple.  She just loved it.  Afterwards we went back to the room and went to bed around midnight.

 

 

On Saturday we woke up around 8:30 and hit the road to come back home and made a straight show north.  Our only stop besides gas, potty and food was a Russel Stovers chocolate store in Owatanna and Megan and I got 2 big boxes of chocolate for 75% off.  I think it was almost 3 pounds of chocolate for only $9.

New Cousin Reveals!

I don't think I mentioned it here on our blog yet but Megan and Owen will be big cousins this fall/winter.  John's older sister, Kristin, is due around Thanksgiving and his younger brother, Michael and his wife Becca are due on 12-12-12!  Lots of new Lewis babies!  For a couple months there were three pregnant Lewis women... Wow, I don't that will ever happen again.

Anyways, both couples recently found out their babies genders and Michael and Becca hosted a family dinner on Sunday for the reveals.  The way they decided to tell us was by popping balloons.

Michael first had to model his "baby belly" and then do a quick size comparison with Becca who wasted no time in popping his belly!

 

 

It's a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Time for Kristin and Patrick's reveal..........

It's a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We think it's kind of neat that all of us will be having a girl first and boy second.  It follows the pattern of my family, John's family and order of Patrick's two older children.  We are super excited for the new babies and to have our first little nephew!

Tummy Time!

Guess who's been rockin' the Tummy Time lately!  That's right, our little man!  From day one Owen has had a super strong neck which we became aware of whenever we put him up to burp.  He'd always want to look around and move his head around.  He is also showing off his super strong head and neck during his Tummy Time.  We find that Owen prefers to have something under his chest like a rolled up receiving blanket or Boppy, but either way has no problem keeping his head held high.

 

 

 

Lately, we've noticed that when Owen's on his tummy his legs are starting to do a crawling motion can propel his whole body forward.  Guess he just wants to go, go, go and will be so happy once he's able!

Daddy Daughter Vacation Day 1

This is my first post on this blog since Karen is at home watching Owen so bear with me if this blog isn't as good as what Karen would do and since I don't know how to get pictures attached to the blog I will post them after the trip with Karen's help.  Updated with pictures below!

Our vacation planning started months ago with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis.  We decided that it would be fun to go see the Twins play the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City.  Grandma and Grandpa have gone down to see the Twins the last couple years and have had said hat they had a good time so Megan and I decided it would be fun to join them. 

It started with Karen and I really starting to do any packing wed. just before I went to work.  I was able to get most of my things put together fairly quickly and Karen put together everything for Megan.  She got her cloths and lots of little activities for Megan to do during the car ride.  I had talked to my Mom the other day and they wanted to leave at 6 am Thursday morning.  Imagine my excitement knowing that I will be leaving my house at 5:30 in the morning with me working until 11pm the night before but I figured that all I needed to do was get to my parents house and I could sleep the rest of the way if need be.

Low and behold I ended up needing to work a bit late and both Megan and Owen really didn't want to sleep so Karen and I didn't get to sleep very well with both of them waking up almost every hour.  When it was time to get up I was shuffling around finding all of the things I should have packed and rushing to get stuff together (I really need to realize that procrastication isn't for me).  Once ready we get Megan up and dressed and we head out the door.  She was pretty excited and that's probably why she kept waking up. 

We get to my parents house get loaded up and hit the road around 6:20 in the morning.  It didn't take to long before Megan wanted to starting doing something but we did get about 10 minutes of distaction with having her do a little coloring before she was ready to move onto something else.  So we ended up either watching or listening to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Needless to say I can't wait to get these songs out of my head. 

Along the way we made a pit stop at one of the road side rest stops and Megan happened to see a few kittens walking around in some bushes and Grandma had brought along a package of free cat foor that Karen and I had given to her.  What are the odds of that.  So both Megan and Grandma went and fed the cats.  Megan had a thrill just watching them eat. 

We got down to the Amana Colonies around 12:30 and we hit a few little shops and made sure we got some cheese and pastries.  The small town looks just like it used to around the turn of the century which is pretty cool.  There isn't much to do there but it is still nice to see a place like this though.

After doing a little shopping we hit the road toward Kansas City and 6 more hours in the car continued.  We did get around 2 hours of nap time from Megan which was nice since we didn't have to listen to her shows and I was able to tune out everything and watch a movie.  Just outside Kansas City we at at a small resturant called ma's and pa's kettle.  It really felt like we were entering a real country style cheap resturant but everything taked good.  Grandma even got to buy a milk glass there also.  For Megan we had order milk for her and usually resturants would put milk in a cup or give you a milk carton but this was a milk carton in a glass jar which was kind of cool.  We wanted to just take it but the waitress said we needed to pay for it since they get a deposit for it.  Needless to say grandma paid for it and is taking it home. 

Once at the hotel Megan wasted no time at all to go swimming.  We had her in her swim suit within 5 minutes of getting to the hotel.  Once in the pool megan had fun diving into the water and being caught by daddy and her wanting to swim and do everything on her own even though she can't swim and doesn't want to get her face wet but she still had a lot of fun.  Now we just need to see what tommorrow has in store for us.

 

Hey Mom.... I Was Here First!

As much as Megan enjoys playing with baby brother Owen, she likes playing with his toys even more  You can see how she weaseled her way right beside Owen so she could take over his playtime.  It was like Christmas morning when I brought all the baby toys in from the garage!  She definitely enjoys these toys more now than she did when she was Owen's age - although I'm sure it helps to have someone to show them off to.  Megan talks to him when showing saying something like, "See, Owen... Huh?...Yeah!"  I hope they always play together this nice :)

Owen At Two Months

Our little Owen turned two whole months on the 8th and last Tuesday, the 10th, Megan and I took him in for another checkup.  I have his stats below.  Looks like Owen gained about 4 1/2 pounds and three inches since birth!  My back had been killing me from carrying him around the house and I had a feeling that Owen would weigh into the 13 pounds, just surprised it was at the higher end.  And I'm sure that by now he has topped 14 pounds!

Height - 24 1/4 inches - 92%

Weight - 13lbs 13oz - 70%

Head Circumference - 16 inches - 70%

Owen just finished up with a big growth spurt as is proven by his two month stats.  I always get a kick out of growth spurts because you take a look at the baby and then at the clothes hanging up in the closet and suddenly realize that he is never going to wear them again.... way too small!  There are just a few 0-3 month clothes that fit Owen still but I am quickly replacing everything with the 3-6 month clothes.  Crazy!  I also switched him up to the size 2 diapers.  I have enough diapers for probably a month but then I think I will start with size 3.  It says they start at 16 pounds and he'll be there in no time.  Plus with the blowouts he's been having lately it will probably be a smart move.  

With the big growth spurt came a lot of eating and Owen was actually downing 6 oz bottles, about 5-6 each day.  Now that it's over he is pretty consistently having a tough time finishing the 6 ounces so I will probably go back to the 5 oz.  It still seems like it will be only 5 feedings each day - primarily because Owen is sleeping so long at night and then takes an awesome afternoon nap.  Right before he turned 2 months he was sleeping about 6-7 hours at a stretch but now it is not uncommon for Owen to sleep 7-8 hours!  I can get (and am getting) used to this!  He mostly will stay up for an hour to an hour and a half between feedings before getting super cranky and needing his swaddle blanket.  My favorite part of the day is when I can get both Owen and Megan down for a nice long afternoon nap!  Usually they both will nap for 2-3 hours!

Owen is getting so strong in his arms and upper body.  We can sure tell this when putting him up to burp but also during Tummy Time.  I had him on his tummy today and he had no problems propping himself up using his arms and taking a good look around the room.  I think I'll have to give him more time on his tummy!  I also pulled out some of Megan's toys that he can lay under and listen to music and watch lights.  He is more entertained by these than Megan was at this age!  The swing is also a big hit!

Owen's smiles are just the most precious thing in the world and they light up the room.  I bet he will be a big flirt as he gets older.  He sure knows my face and voice as he always perks up when I am near.  He loves to have people close to him and look at their eyes.  Owen loves to be talked to and have "conversations" with us.  What a sweetheart!

Car rides are becoming a lot easier with him.  My chiropractor made mention to me that some car seat carriers don't have padding that goes all the way down the back and ours was one of them.  Basically, there is cushion halfway down and then just the hard plastic.  I put a towel where the padding was missing to give him a nice smooth surface for his back to rest.  He has seemed a lot happier since then!

And, of course I couldn't leave you without a few more photos - these taken within the last week and a half.  

 

Owen absolutely loves bathtime!
Megan also gets to participate by giving Owen toys to use in the bath!

Ponies & Pool

A neighboring town celebrated 125 years so they had a celebration this weekend.  Saturday was a hot and humid day but since they had pony rides we just had to go.  My mom was able to come with me, Megan and Owen and I definitely could not have done this by myself, especially with the heat.  There was a small petting zoo set up so Megan could pet goats, rabbits, sheep and more, but she really was interested in the ponies.  She started off on Misty but once we started walking Misty wasn't a good pony for Megan and kind of shook her off.  Luckily Megan wasn't afraid to 'get back on the horse' and went right onto Daisy who was very nice to ride.  

 

 

We stayed a bit longer so Megan could get a balloon animal made for her.  Guess what she chose?  An orange Keeper dog.  Megan picked out the wiener dog on her own and the orange color was a nice coincidence!  I would have loved for her to play in the bounce house too but it was just a little too hot :(

My sister was out on Sunday and since we didn't have any plans we decided to take the kids swimming at Safari Island.  We had taken Megan there while I was still pregnant but now it was Owen's turn to make his pool debut.  Plus, we had a super cute swim suit for him to try out!  He was only in the pool for maybe a half hour but he did great.  It sure wore him out, however, but helped him take a really nice afternoon nap :)

 

Kids Workshop - Penske Truck

This past Saturday John got the opportunity to bring Megan to a Kids Workshop at Home Depot!  He's been itching to bring Megan there and got the ok from a couple people at work.  Typically they request that the kids be at least 4 or 5 but why not start early, right?  Home Depot sponsors these free workshops the first Saturday of every month and hopefully it will work to continue this tradition.

As I put Megan to bed Friday I told her that we would go to Daddy's store the next day and use the hammer to build something.  She never forgets so the first thing out of her mouth on Saturday was something about a hammer and building it all by herself.  And as soon as the car door opened after we parked she could hear the kids banging away since they were having the workshop outside.  

Here John proudly puts Megan's apron on.  She can wear this apron to all future events and she will get a pin for each workshop she participates in!

Lefties at work!  After Megan surrendered to actually allow Daddy's help the process was fairly smooth.  John obviously did all the work but Megan held on tight the entire time.  About halfway through the construction process Megan discovered what they were building... Papa's Truck!

All done at the building station... Now on to paint!  The night before she told us she wanted to paint her truck pink so color selection was pretty easy.  Again, John did all the work and Megan was just along for the ride.

The finished product and a very proud Megan and Daddy!

Megan loved her truck so much and building it too.  She talked about this all day long and every time it was the same story... I hammer.... the nails... I painted... Papa's truck!  Yup, that about sums it up!

John helped her add the actual Penske stickers to the truck yesterday and now it's pretty sharp looking.  We had my family over yesterday for a short while and she loved showing her project off to them.

4th of July Celebrations

I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July.  We kept it pretty low key here but still wanted to share what our family was up to as well as a few photos.  

John actually had to work on the 4th so he took out his big stash of fireworks and had some fun with Megan on the 3rd.  John and Megan first did some sparklers which she really enjoyed and wasn't afraid at all to hold it and wave it around.

 

But she really liked it when Daddy took out the big torch!

On the 4th we did what we do every year which is go to my aunt and uncles place for a birthday celebration for my cousin.  Even though she is now 19 we are still getting together!  The kids and I were lucky enough to hitch a ride with my parents and brother over to the party which sure helped me out a lot considering John was away at work.

Owen in his Red, White and Blue!

As good as it gets photographing these two goofs!

Since the temperature was well above 100 degrees on the 4th we were only outside (and tried to stay shaded) for a very short time.  We mostly kept Megan on the swing set and I don't think she minded one bit!

Trying to push Auntie Rachel...

Megan's buddy, Papa...

I think the highlight of Megan's 4th of July was discovering this trap set in our cousin's basement.  Since she is so into music I am not surprised that she gravitated towards this.  She actually did a good job of letting everyone take turns playing the set but really rocked out when it was her turn.  I forgot how loud these sets are because when Megan was playing in the basement I could hear her while I was up on the 2nd floor!  Auntie Rachel taught her how to play Twinkle, Twinkle (right, Rach?) so that is what she played.  Rachel took her turn at the set and led us in singing Jesus In The Morning and How Much Is That Doggy In The Window.  What fun!

My favorite part was how Megan wanted to give each drum and cymbal equal attention.  When we went downstairs after dinner to play drums again she noticed that the desk chair had been moved and the hi-hat was also moved out of the way to let the chair through.  When Megan wanted to play the set we put the chair back for her but didn't think about putting the hi-hat back.  Well, during her performance she made sure that after she played all of the drums in reach that she would climb down from the chair, walk over to the hi-hat, hit it and go back to the chair to continue playing!

 

We left Eagan around 7:30 knowing that Owen would be ready for a feeding around 8:30 so wanted to be mindful of that.  And let me tell you, about 10 minutes from home he was already sucking pretty hard on his pacifier!  John was home shortly after that too.  He had a busy day at Home Depot and even had to grill brats outside during the hottest part of the day for several hours.  Ugh...  He and Megan watched Waconia's fireworks from our bedroom window like we do every year.  Sure beats all the bugs and traffic!  Maybe if we were outside she would have liked them a little better.  She was tired and got distracted easily and kept looking over at the full moon!