NINE?!

June 14th marked nine months. NINE months?! Our Owen is getting so old and so big and so...not a baby anymore. It's exciting and sad at the same time. With Eli I was just so excited for every stage to come: "I can't wait until he can feed himself"..."I can't wait until he can crawl, talk, walk!". But with Owen it's a little different. I find myself constantly thinking, "SLOW DOWN!"and trying my best to savor every little thing that he does.

At 9 months:

Weight:21lbs .5oz(71%)

Height:30inches(97%....yes. more than half my height.)

Head:18.66inches(97%)

In the last little while I feel like he has changed so much. He is VERY mobile so when he gets focused on something nothing can get in his way. He is starting to get into anything and everything. His favorite room is the bathroom and his toy of choice is Eli's Lighting McQueen training toilet. He seems to have some sixth sense that lets him know when that bathroom door is open because it's not open often and when it is, he's in there!

  

Since Owen has become more mobile and more social, Eli is starting to pay more attention to him. They will play "hide and seek" around the living room. Owen will crawl after Eli, Eli will run, pause, wait for Owen to catch up, they both will squeal, repeat. It is the cutest thing. They usually will play until Owen gets distracted by a toy or worn out from working so hard to keep up! 

This past month, Owen decided that he no longer wants anything to do with a pacifier. I'm still not sure if I should be excited about it because I don't have to deal with weaning him off it later, or upset because using a pacifier used to be a quick, quiet fix if he was upset or restless... especially in church! Doesn't matter how I feel about it, he's done.

 And food. He loves his food. He's become very opinionated about what he eats and how he eats it. For example, if he's given peas or carrots, he screams until he swallows them or is given a piece of fruit to help them go down easier. He has yet to figure out that he can just spit food out when he doesn't like it...His fine motor skills have gotten a lot better in the last little while too. His movements aren't so random anymore. If he sees a piece of food that he likes, he will pick it up. This morning when Craig was feeding him yogurt, Owen wanted to take over. When Craig gave in, Owen had a hay day!

Summer is officially here!

Oh my, I just love summer.
The smells: sunscreen, chlorine, freshly mowed grass, and barbeques.
The sounds: kids squealing and splashing in the water, Eli singing "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog" every time we walk outside, and concerts in the park.
The sights: beach towels out on porches  to dry, leaves on the trees, water in the pool, people on their porches, kids EVERYWHERE.
I am SO HAPPY summer is here!

My mom came to visit us earlier this month! Craig was out of town on a high adventure campout with the 14-16yr old boys from church so I begged asked my mom to come out to Colorado to be with the boys and me. She came on Wed. June 12 and left late on Tues. June 18. I taught swim lessons in the mornings so she stayed home with the boys and played cars, held basketball tournaments, read books, and had yummy snacks while I was gone(which was just an hour and a half or so).  when I would get home, we'd eat then the boys would nap. It was so nice having her here because she would just step up and change a diaper, empty the dishwasher, or cook without saying a word. It was SO nice.  After Craig got home from the campout we went to Dan and Stacy's to eat and visit. Then Monday we went to downton Golden and ate at a local Pizzeria(so yummy!), walked on the trail by the river and played at the park. It was a busy week with me teaching swim lessons, but I'm glad that the boys were able to have the time with her that they did. It was so fun to talk to her and hear her advice and ask her questions. I love when my family is all together, but I also love the quiet moments that I get with each person(maybe that's why I'm so excited that people are coming to visit this summer one at a time. :)) Eli is still asking about Grandma and when she's coming to back to play. I didn't really take my camera around much when she was here, but I did get them playing games on the computer(which Eli LOVED, of course). Thanks for coming to visit!

Eli playing in the river and at the playground at Bellview Park. Of course I forgot to take a picture of him and Grandma on the cute train that they have there...oh well.

With warmer weather, Craig has been riding his bike to work everyday. Wednesday was Colorado's official bike to work day. There were little breakfast stations and t-shirts that they gave out in different stations in the Denver metro area. Since he bikes everyday anyway, might as well get a goofy sweet shirt!

Lucky

When Craig and I were first dating and he was living with his cousins and their kids, on of the things that attracted me to him the most was the fact that he could play for hours with their little girls. Piggy back rides, hide and seek, peek-a-boo...the works. I could tell then that someday he'd make a great dad. Of course, at the time I didn't realize he'd be the dad of my kids, but lucky for me that he is! For Father's day, I sat down with Eli and asked a few questions. here's what I got...

ALL ABOUT MY DADDY

June 2013

By Eli, 2 ½ years old

My Daddy’s name is Craig

He is 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10! feet and 4 ­­inches tall.

He weighs lots of pounds.

His hair color is brown.

His eyes are white.

I’m not sure what my daddy does at work.

He likes to go to the TOY store, and he likes to go work.

His favorite drink is juice, and water and all those things.

His favorite food is pizza.

For fun he likes to go to work.

I love it when my daddy plays with me and plays cars or somethin’.

My favorite thing about my daddy is he likes to work.

(Even our two-year old notices your hard work ethic.)

Happy Father's Day! Thanks for being ours!

Chalk Festival

One of my favorite parts about being close to a big city is having lots to do! This past weekend we went downtown to the chalk festival. On the train we always meet the most interesting people, and this weekend was no different. Denver was hosting a Comicon event at the convention center so we saw lots of people dressed up as super heroes, action figures, and super women. It's so fun being surrounded by so much variety! I just wish I would have taken pictures of some of the people we saw...but I didn't. So here are pictures from the chalk festival.

We talked to the artist of this piece and she said that she had already spent 14 hours(!!!!) on this, and still planned on a few more hours the next day to finish it. She was happy that our huge stroller provided a buffer to keep people at a distance so she could take picture of her progress. Ha, Glad we could help.

It was so interesting to see what people came up with. Some pieces were serious, some where goofy, but all in all, I just can't believe what they were able to create...on a road...with CHALK!

Father and Sons Campout

 Father and Sons Camp out, May 31-June 1, 2013

Lookout Mountain, Colorado

Friday evening after I got home from work Eli and I headed up into the mountains for the annual stake father and sons camp out.  I love this LDS tradition, and I loved being able to spend some quality time with Eli in the outdoors.  This is our second time going, and next year Owen will be able to join in the family tradition. Follow the link to read about last year's adventure: http://theonlyfishintheseaforme.blogspot.com/2012/05/fathers-and-sons.html

This year Eli knew a little bit more what to expect and was so excited to go camping and to sleep in a tent.  The camp out was held at a private campground, owned by the church, near the top of Lookout Mountain above Golden, Colorado.  After setting up camp, attending a brief fireside, and visiting the restroom a couple of times we settled down to "sleep" around 9:30.  Eli loved being in the tent.  He exclaimed happily at least twenty times, "We're sleeping in a tent!", and "I love it here in my sleepin' bag!".  We read a couple of books, and then Eli talked my ear of for the next hour.  He was so excited that he had trouble falling asleep.  It was some good quality pillow talk.  We both finally fell asleep around 11.  I awoke at 3:30 to Eli rustling around in his sleeping bag.  I looked over and saw that he had slid down to the bottom of the bag.  I pulled him to the top of the bag, and he woke up slightly and started rambling about how much he loved sleeping in a tent. Ha ha.  That lasted for about thirty seconds and he fell asleep again.  I think he had a good nights rest.  I can't really say the same about me.

Eli woke up just before six (totally normal for him) and we left our tent for a hike.  I didn't want to stick around all the other campers, because I was afraid Eli would wake them up.  We came out of our tent and saw these six deer running through camp.  That was awesome.

I am glad Eli was up for going on a hike so early.  I love having a hiking buddy. 

 We hiked along the Lookout Mountain trail from the Nature Center to the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave site.  The views of the sunrise and the city were fantastic.  This picture doesn't do it justice. 

 We got back to camp, ate breakfast and then participated in some of the activities.  We played kickball.  Eli kicked the ball halfway to the pitcher's mound and made it safely to first base, which was a flat rock.  He shouted, "I touched the rock Daddy!"  It was cute. His next time up to kick eli kicked it to the pitcher, and the pitcher, probably 5 or 6 years old, grabbed the ball and I guess he forgot to go easy on the 2 year old and pegged Eli with the ball.  Eli fell and his face and didn't want to play kickball anymore.  :)  We then moved on to shoot some water bottle rockets.  This was probaly Eli's favorite activity.

Eli patiently waiting for his turn.

I love this little guy and I am grateful for the quality time we could spend together.

Where you go, I will follow...

 Eli now runs to the bathroom himself when he needs to go(SO NICE!) and Owen follows him EVERYWHERE, so it made me smile the other day to walk in and see both boys hanging out in the bathroom.