Owen is 7 Months!

Ok, he's now officially 7 1/2 months!   A LOT has happened in the last few weeks in his development.

(See those hazel eyes?  He's our first baby without definite brown eyes)

He's started 'talking'.  I was ecstatic when he said his first word a couple of weeks ago, "Momma".  He looked directly at me and said it very intentionally.  He said it again a few more times that day, but hasn't said it since.  Maybe it was a fluke, but I'll still claim it:)

Here's another big one:  Owen can CRAWL!!!  He's getting pretty fast now too.  The house is no longer safe.  I have to watch out for stairs now, because he keeps trying to climb up them or venture down them.   He's also pulling himself up to stand on tables, chairs, and pretty much anything he can get too.  He scares me!  I wouldn't be suprised if he's walking in a couple of months.  He just is not happy sitting still anymore, and I'm a little sad to see my baby growing so fast.  I think he just wants to keep up with his brothers.  He loves Hyrum and Noah and always wants to be with them.  He has a little baby crush on Noah especially.  Noah can make him laugh and when Noah's on the ground it won't be long before Owen is on top of him or trying to tackle him with slobbers.  

Living Planet Aquarium

We started a family chart about a month ago to help us have better spiritual habits.  Every time we had family prayers, scripture reading, FHE, or Brett or I went to the temple we would have the boys color in one of the circles.  We let them know that when the chart was all filled up we would have a special activity.  Well, we filled it up so we took the boys to the Aquarium.  The boys really loved it!  Here are a few of the things we got to see/do:

Crocodiles!

Penguins, they liked these.

Otters!  They really loved these guys.  You can’t really see them clearly in the picture but they were rolling around wrestling and playing with each other and the boys thought it was the most fun thing to see.  We saved the touch exhibit for last and this was by far their favorite!  Both of the boys got to pet a Manta Ray.

Easter

Easter Sunday was beautiful. The weather was sunny and warm and it was wonderful to spend time together.

-Church = wonderful

-Pictures in the grass. . . getting all three boys to look at me and smile at the same time

is slightly impossible.

-After church the boys blew kisses into empty eggs and hid them for Brett to find when he got home. After one accidental sneeze into an egg, it then became a funny game of catching sneezes. Brett was fun enough to play along, so when he got home and opened the eggs he 'wiped' the sneezes off his face, and caught the kisses.

-For quiet time we let the boys play with their Easter presents quietly while Brett, Owen, and I all took a nap. After a while I was woken by silence, so I went down and found that the boys had snuck out to the front yard to explore with their magnifying glasses. Hyrum was pointing the magnifying glass at the ground (in the shade) trying to start a fire like they do in Toy Story. Anyway, I decided I would teach him the right way to magnify the sun. He, Noah and I had so much fun doing it. The boys were amazed, and for once I wasn't the mean mom:) I burned a smiley face onto a paper and they got a kick out of that. I know that they will learn how to do this eventually, so it might as well be from me with my rules.

-With all the cleaning I had been doing this last week I really haven't been in the mood to do any cooking, so Brett bought some Panda Express for us to eat Saturday and Sunday night. Yea, not a great Easter meal, but it is what it is:). It was still a wonderful Easter and I have so much to be grateful for.

Pre-Easter Egg hunt!

On Saturday we went to two different Easter egg hunts. In the morning when we told them that we were going to two egg hunts they were pretty excited. Hyrum immediately went down to the basement to get my hand weights. He started doing lifts and other random exercises. When I asked him about it, he said he needed to lift weights to get super big muscles so he could carry all of his eggs. The first hunt was sponsored by the city. The hunt began with a big fire truck siren at 11am and all eggs were gone at 11:05! Hyrum managed to grab two eggs and I grabbed one for Noah, because he was a bit confused in the chaos. They got to meet the Easter bunny. Hyrum loved it and gave lots of hugs, while Noah clung to my leg, scared. They had fun. Then in the afternoon we had a neighborhood egg hunt too. This was a lot more fun for the kids, because there were less kids and more eggs per kid.

These were my attempts at taking their picture just before the siren blew:)

After a long day of running and hunting eggs Noah was so exhausted that he literally crashed on the couch and fell asleep.

Challenge, Grime, and Bath Time

It has been a CRAZY week. I finished a 30 day fitness challenge this week that has been fun to participate in. I committed with some neighbors to exercise a minimum of 30 minutes a day for 30 days. Of the 30 days I only missed three days (2 were on Sundays and the other was just chaotic busy) I traded babysitting with a friend of mine three days a week, so we could both get good runs in. The rest of the week I alternated between Pilates and one hour of Just Dance(fun!). I was happy to see the scale showing that I lost 9 pounds, however my clothes aren't really showing that I lost anything. Either way, I'm feeling great, and it was a great jump-start to really losing this baby weight.

This week was also a big week because I did some MAJOR spring cleaning. Sometimes it feels impossible to keep the house clean with the kids leaving messes everywhere they go. Now I may not feel so bad about the messes, because at least I know the messes are in very dirt/dust free rooms:) I even got some serious scrubbing done on my kitchen appliances.

Finally, this would not be a real family journal without recording one of the boys' favorite activities. BATH TIME!!!

Then, the sad moment when it's time to let the water out. . . they just stayed in to play with the bubbles.

Socks, Flour, Hunger Games

The weather has been beautiful this week and I've been really looking forward to spring. Hyrum asks everyday, sometimes a few times a day, if it's time to plant the garden yet. He LOVES working in the garden, and I'm getting pretty excited too. Our perfect, easy going Baby O has been acting like a normal baby(crying, needy, must be held, etc.), which means one thing. . . teething! I still feel like he's a newborn but he's getting older way to fast for me! He can now sit up by himself and he constantly has something in his mouth. He's been eating like a maniac, but managed to not gain any weight beween seing the doctor at 4 month and his 6 month

appointment this week. He's in the 95% for height, which seems to follow the pattern of our other boys. He's adorable and LOVES laughing at his older brothers. His eyes are a little more brown now, but still seem to change in certain lighting. His nurse at the Ped.'s office complimented him on his 'big blue eyes'.

Once a month I grind a bunch of wheat with my boys to last for the rest of the month. Hyrum and Noah love helping me with the wheat grinder and pouring into the storage containers. This week, after finishing a batch of flour I needed to help Owen and left Noah in the kitchen with a big bowl of flour. About five minutes later I came in and found Noah completely covered. It was SO funny! HE had flour on every strand of hair, eyelashes, clothes, EVERYTHING. I don't know how he managed to cover himself so fully, but I'm sure a great deal of throwing occurred. He spent twenty minutes cleaning everything off the floor and counter, before I sent him to his bathroom for a major shake down. Noah just loves being dirty!

After a long week I was so excited to have a girls night. I went to see the Hunger Games at a Pre-Premier viewing, the night before it officially came out. I got the book read just in time and I had so much fun.

Avocados anyone?

We recently started Owen on his first ‘real’ foods. I’m excited to be making his baby food at home.  I now have the freedom to make more of what I want.  We started with avocado and then went to acorn squash.  Coming up will be peas, bananas, and who knows?  Here’s a look at Owen’s very first taste of flavorful food:

“What is this stuff?!”

“I’m not sure how I feel about this.”

  

“Okay, this is actually really good.  I want more!”

 

PS. Owen slept from 8pm to 8 am last night!!!