Happy Valentine's Day!

We hope you have a great day with all of your loved ones!
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Yesterday we took advantage of a nice sunny day to check out the snow from last week. This is the first time Owen has played in it. We had so much fun!!!! Last year he was scared to death of the snow and the only other real snow we got this year (I know, sorry to all of you in PA and the east coast who have been hammered this year), by the time the weekend rolled around the temperature did not get above 0. I was not about to go out in that!

We had some crazy ice on the side of our house.
In the afternoon I got some mommy time and hung out with my friend Jill. We got mani/pedis and then went to a little cafe for some coffee and a bite to eat. It was wonderful!

Here is what Owen will be doing this month in school.

In honor of the snow, I thought I'd post this cute snowman Owen made.

And last but not least, I was poking around on the PBS kids website and they had a cute area where you could do a photo mashup. I made this one with dinosaurs and Buddy from "Dinosaur Train," Owen's favorite TV show.

Catch-up

The week has been a bit nuts, so I'm just getting last week's update posted.

We had an unexpected guest last weekend which was nice. Ed, my Aunt's husband got stuck in Chicago while on his way back to Baltimore so he got to experience all of Owen's antics.

On Saturday Owen and I went to the children's museum with my friend Kristy and her daughter Ava. It was lots of fun!

Playing with the boats (a favorite)

Drumming with Ava

Driving the boatPlaying with the duckieDriving in the car (Owen looks a little possessed here but I think he was just concentrating)

On Sunday morning Owen had swim lessons and is starting to get more and more comfortable with the water which is great. Brett had him floating around and swimming after the shark and even holding his breath and going partially under water. Getting the shark toy from the week prior was no small feat. But, Brett managed to get it for Owen first before another kid got it (I'm so proud of him!) so we avoided a major meltdown.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Jeff and Jill's for a Superbowl party. It was lots of fun and Owen had a great time playing with their doggies.

Today Owen had a "Hearts" party at school (they won't say Valentine's Day, ugh) so we went and hung out for while. Here is Owen painting a flower and everything else he can find. He's not into arts and crafts so I'm just happy he made it this far.

Sitting with his buddy Jay and Jay's younger brother Ben

We hope to play in the snow tomorrow and then I'm headed for a girls afternoon with my friend Jill. Mani/Pedis and dessert at a place called Hot Chocolate. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Lastly, we want to give a shout out to Papo and Nonna Barbara who are in New Zealand for 5 weeks. We hope you are having fun!!!!!

Baby G #2 Update

It's hard to see my belly in this shot, but I'm 26 weeks now and getting bigger! I feel bigger and more tired a lot earlier this time around I think. Although Brett tells me I'm the same as my first pregnancy, I just have mommy amnesia. True I'm sure.
The rest of this blog is all about crafts! My Aunt Lulu and Ed sent us an early Valentine's present this week. It was filled with FABULOUS goodies. I just love handmade gifts and this package was so special.

She knit Owen a stuffed triceratops. So great.

And made him a stuffed TRex (he was so excited I thought his head was going to pop off)

They also got him some great dinosaur books, including a pop-up book. He was so excited. Given how much he loves dinosaurs, I'm not sure they could have sent more perfect gifts.

My Aunt Lu made me this adorable penguin ornament. I can't wait to hang it on the tree next year!
Another great thing they sent us was this clock that you can insert pictures into (and I think it talks) that they filled with pictures. It is really great! Owen had a blast looking at all of the photos.

As you may remember, my Aunt I did a swap together. I sent her jewelry and she sent me these awesome tea cozys. It is a little pouch you can put tea packets in to carry with you in your purse. So cute.
Last but not least, I received my swap items from my partner for a recent crafting swap I was part of. I got these great potholders and some earrings. I love both of my swap items!!!

Owen's been busy at school with creating his own masterpieces.

Owen's Dinosaur Train

Purple CloudOwen's "Nest"Wheel of HandsSpaghetti and Meatballs

I'm definitely still in the crafting mood. Tomorrow I'll be working on my next swap which is making a paper doll for someone. I'll chronicle everything and share it with you when it's ready.

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Update

We had a fun and productive weekend, although frustrating at times.

On Saturday we made a return trip to the library and had fun picking out lots of books. Owen also really enjoyed giving the librarian our library card to check out the books.

That afternoon is where the disaster began. NO NAP. Let me repeat, NO NAP. I was convinced we killed naptime after taking away the pacifier last weekend. He does great at night, no problem. But he seems to have so much trouble settling down in the middle of the day. If any of you have suggestions, I welcome them. If you come up with something that works I may even send you money.

Needless to say, all of the fun things we had planned for the rest of the day died and we counted down the time until we could put him to bed (7pm for reference.)

On Sunday, we had a busy day. We started off with swim lessons. Owen seemed to really enjoy them this week and participated in the songs, etc. He only cried to get out once. I think it's because the water is a bit cold (so Brett tells me.) All of the poor kiddos are shivering uncontrollably by the end of the session each week. Owen enjoyed chasing the shark toy around the pool as you'll see in this video.

After that we went to visit Jeff and Jill's church for a pancake breakfast. Jill is one of the youth group leaders and it was a yummy event!!!! Owen LOVES pancakes so he was very excited. We then attended Mass. Since it's a different church than ours, and much larger, Owen had a lot of trouble sitting still so he went away for a while with Daddy. But, we made it through.

We headed home for a nap, which Owen was asking for so we thought we were in luck. Thought being the operative word. He did actually settle down after about 45 minutes of playing and slept for 1 1/2 hours, so that was a big relief. We may try and put him in the crib next week for a nap, but not sure how that will work since he really likes the big boy bed. We'll see. At least in the crib he can't get out and play with his toys. Until he climbs out I guess...

That afternoon we just relaxed, ran some errands, and played with Playdoh. It was lots of fun!

Back in August you may remember my post about my first Inchies I made for swap-bot. Well, the ones I sent to Argentina never made it and the person contacted me about it in November. Being a fellow crafter, she was patient and they finally got sent out again. 3 of the 4 were replicas of what was made originally. Not very exciting, but my brain couldn't work any harder.

On another crafting note, I'm in a paper doll swap and just bought all of the materials. I'm very excited about what I'll be making and will be sure to share my progress along the way.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Our Own Worst Enemy

I'll explain the post title in a minute, but first I wanted to share Owen's first swim lesson. He's taking them at DePaul University on Sunday mornings. 9:30 am, a little early for us, but we'll live.

The rest of the pictures are of Owen's new big boy bed. We finally made the leap, which was hard because he really had no desire to get out of his crib. But I didn't want him to feel like he was getting kicked out of the crib for the baby.
So, back to the title of this post. Another big leap we made was getting rid of the pacifier. He's only been using it to sleep and only at home, but definitely uses it for comfort. And I'll admit, we all have been using it as a crutch since Owen is such a wonderful sleeper. Brett and I were both pretty nervous that the next week was going to be awful on everyone with a lot of crying and not a lot of sleep. To our surprise, he climbed right in bed. Although he did ask for it, we told him that they were not for the big boy bed and that they were all gone. He went to sleep on his own without a peep. Guess we've been dreading it for no reason.

Although today at nap time was pretty much a nightmare and he only slept for 45 minutes instead of 3 hours. I guess we'll have to work on this... I'd rather him sleep at night if we only get one or the other though.

I'm going to see Dreamgirls with Jill Wrobel tonight and am excited for a little time away!

Trip to Florida- Part 2

Saturday
The weather was a bit rainy on Saturday so we hung out inside most of the day. Barbara's family came over for a yummy lunch and it was a lot of fun. Owen enjoyed showing off his cuteness of course:)

Barbara's aunt brought Owen an adorable dinosaur puzzle which Owen thought was just great.
After everyone left Barbara and I did some crafting which I of course really enjoyed. The rest of the day we just relaxed and laid low.

Something funny that happened today: After Owen's bath, he noticed pruny fingers for the first time and freaked out for about 10 minutes over it saying "What happened?" over and over while looking at his hands. It was pretty funny. I told him they were just "wrinkly" which he pronounces as "rinkery." Pretty funny.

Sunday
On Sunday morning we got up and played outside, it was beautiful. We had fun playing with bubbles and looking for things in the yard.

Exploring Papo's lemon tree

There was an episode of Dinosaur Train recently where they discovered fossils. Owen found a rock which he called a fossil, and ironically enough, when we looked close there was an old shell embedded in the rock. It was just limestone so it's probably not a real fossil, but a good find nonetheless and Owen was so proud. And apparently Owen still really likes the palm fronds. (Sorry the video is sideways.)

After some fun outside, we went to get Owen's hair cut. Gladly, it was not the nightmare (for everyone involved) that it was last time in Chicago which was great. He was still really anxious but we got it done.

That afternoon we finished up one of our crafts from the day before. We made Owen this really great Superman cape since he's been talking about this character a lot lately. He was really excited and I think it turned out really great.

We also made these great counting bean bags which I think we'll have a lot of fun with. Thanks to Barbara for all of her help with these projects!
Monday
On Monday it was time to go home sadly. Owen came down with a fever on Sunday night so I wasn't really looking forward to traveling by myself with a sick kid, but he still did really well.

Thanks to Nonna Barbara and Papo for a great trip!!! We already miss you and the nice weather.