Silly Sons

Every time I take pictures of our boys, especially Owen, Dan asks me why I bother. For every good picture we get, we get 20 more "bad" ones. I never delete the bad ones though, because they're awesome too. I thought it would be fun to share some of the outtakes for a change so you can see what I mean.

Josh:










Owen:

Owen the Comedian

Well, I don't know if he's trying to be funny or if he just accidentally is, but Owen is hilarious these days. A few quotes, just from this morning for your enjoyment:

Owen: Mommy, can I have some chocolate?
Me: Sure, do you want some chocolate cat cookies?
Owen: No, I want BROWNIES!!
(They're in the oven now...can't say no to logic like that!)

Owen: Mommy, can you open this lollipop?
Me: How 'bout we find a different snack?
Owen: How 'bout we find this one?
(He settled for mini marshmallows -- second breakfast of champions.)

Owen has been big into role playing lately. I posted about his kitty cat scenario, but he is even more into being different Thomas train characters. He is Thomas, Dan is Diesel-10, I'm Lady, and Josh is Percy.

Dan: Owen, what train is Josh?
Owen: Percy!
Dan: So you and Josh best friends?
Owen: I don't know about that...

He's got such an imagination and such amazing language skills. Though the recent addition of "whatever" to his arsenal could get old fast.







I don't like the sucker in his mouth, but I wanted to share this picture anyway because of Owen's incredible blue eyes!

Owen Kitty Cat

Owen is changing daily and going through interesting phases, some good and some not as good. Right now, he's starting to play pretend, and his imagination has turned us into a family of cats. Owen Kitty Cat asks Mommy Kitty Cat and Daddy Kitty Cat for favors. Owen Kitty Cat eats Kitty Cat sandwiches, and watches shows on his Kitty Cat iPad. He takes Kitty Cat naps, and plays with his Kitty Cat brother. The other night, he didn't want dinner, but Kitty Cat Owen would take Kitty Cat bites of his Kitty Cat dinner. Awesome.

He has also turned our dining room table into his hide-out. He takes toys, snacks, and the blasted iPad under there and is perfectly happy for hours. Thankfully, he has (kind of) moved past YouTube videos of kids crashing their Thomas trains and is enjoying the power of Netflix for the iPad. Not that everything on Netflix is appropriate, but he doesn't end up watching crying babies or potty humor videos that he gets to somehow through the YouTube suggestions. Technology - can't live without it, can't keep your children away from it!

As for our newest addition, Josh is doing great. At his weekly checkup on Tuesday, he had gained 5 ounces in the 5 days before (right on track!) and his hematocrit level was the same as the week before. Hooray! We can only hope his hematocrit stays consistent over the next few months as his body starts to crank out its own red blood cells. The non-changing hematocrit may be an indicator that my antibodies are almost done doing their damage, but we'll need to keep checking weekly until we know that for sure. I'm not sure what they're waiting for and why they haven't finished attacking, but there are still active antibodies at work in Josh's blood. Poor guy. You'd never know it though -- he's alert and feisty and eating like a champ. He looks like a chubbier version of Owen as a baby but with darker hair. We'll have to wait and see what his final hair and eye colors turn out to be. Just more to look forward to!

I should go help Kitty Cat Owen eat his Kitty Cat lunch now, but look for new pictures soon. We just got a new Kitty Cat camera and will need lots and lots of Kitty Cat practice to figure it out. :)

Life is Good

You hear lots of "wisdom" from friends and family while pregnant. Specifically, I got very tired this most recent pregnancy of hearing that two is way more work than one. I get it - you don't have the luxury of napping at any point in the day or sitting on the couch for 16 hours straight or leaving the room with both kids in it alone, but I have to say that so far, it's really not that hard.

Knock on wood.

We're tired and it takes us hours to get out of the house still, but we're doing really well. Joshua is a great eater and sleeper. Owen is a great helper and genuinely loves his new brother. We have survived the newborn nights before, and I am 99% sure we'll survive them again. We're braver this time than we were with Owen. The four of us went out to breakfast this morning, and it was awesome. I'm not scared to nurse Josh while we're out, though I haven't needed to yet. I'm still not sure how to tackle bedtime alone yet, but I also haven't had to, thanks to my fantastic husband. Josh is a different kid than Owen, obviously, but we're better prepared for him than we were with Owen.

Now, I'm not saying that it's easy or that we have everything figured out - quite the opposite, actually. But I don't really understand the need to share horror stories or scare soon-to-be parents.

So, in closing, here are some adorable photos. :)

Amazing Owen

I've been focused on Baby Josh lately, but Big Brother Owen is far from back burner these days. Along with his usual obsession with trains and our iPad, he now helps with his baby brother too. He is very huggy and kissy, and checks on him often. He's quickly concerned when Josh cries, and yesterday told me that Josh was sad and I needed to feed him. Owen is worried each week when we go for Josh's blood work ("Baby Josh has an owie, and needs a 'bandoo' [bandaid]"), but Josh is doing well, so hopefully we won't have to go too many more weeks. Owen is continually fascinated by life, and it's great to see it through both of our boys' eyes. "I never seen dat before!"

Here are the photos of Owen I promised, courtesy of Jeni Dwyer Creative. She perfectly captured the light in his eyes and his joy for life. She did a beautiful job on a cold, snowy day at Golden Gardens Park. See for yourself:























And here are a few from home the next day:







We'll have to schedule a follow-up shoot in a year or two to get the whole family together in one place. Sound good, Jeni? :)