Best Day Ever

Owen has had a lot of good days in his short life, but today may be one of the best as far as he's concerned. Our museum had a Special Dinosaur train event today. Owen got to play with some of the toys not out yet, have a sing-along with the show's creator and meet Buddy, one of the main characters.

Playing with the toysOwen and Mr. Conductor

Owen and NedOwen, Ned, Mrs. Pteranadon, Buddy, Tiny and Morris

Sing-along with the creator of Dinosaur Train. Owen is in the orange (Mr. Conductor) shirt.

Meeting Buddy. I thought his head (Owen's) was going to pop off.

For those of you not familiar with the show, it is a really cute show on PBS that teaches all about dinosaurs. It's a great show that we do not mind watching. Everything about it is fabulous. And Owen is obsessed. It's pretty much all he ever wants to watch.

There are also lots of other dinosaurs on exhibit at the Field Museum. We checked all of them out to kill time before it was our turn to go to the event at 2:30. Sue, the TRex is the museum's big attraction and they are celebrating 10 years so there are dinosaurs everywhere. A little boy's dream!

Sue's actual skull
Overhead shot of Sue

Owen was TERRIFIED of this dinosaur walking around. It was pretty creepy I must admit.

Real fossil lab. So cool!

Trying on glasses that had many lenses, just like a bug!

Earlier this week Jeff and Jill came over to meet Maddi and brought over pizza and gifts for the kiddos. It was so nice of them and great to see our friends!

Here is darling Madeline swinging away.

Ages and Stages

I'm writing this post mainly for myself. If for some crazy reason I decide to have another child in the future, I want to remind myself how difficult having a newborn around is.

Everyone has their favorite age range for kids. Before having my own, I LOVED little babies. After having my own, not so much. Around 4-6 months is when I really start enjoying them.

I'm not really sure why I dislike this stage so much, but I think a big part of it is the sleep factor. I LOVE to get my sleep. 9 hours a night for me is ideal. Not 2 hours. It's especially hard when you add in breastfeeding because no matter how you slice it, you have to get up to feed or pump so there is no reprieve unless one wants to be in a lot of pain.

I also like it when they are more interactive. I think that's why the 18 month-2 year range has been my absolute favorite stage so far. Although the older Owen gets, the more fun it is to take him out to do things. I love watching him explore something new. He gets so excited and looks at everything through fresh eyes. If we could get rid of the tantrums, it would be perfect!!! It's also nice (most times) that he can tell us what he wants and we don't have to guess like you do with a baby.

Perhaps some of my frustration with the newborn phase also comes out of having c-sections with each baby. It is frustrating not to be able to get out and run simple errands. The recovery is long and hard. I'm used to being out and about so just sitting around the house helpless drives me nuts.

Apparently these are all the same things I went through with Owen according to Brett, but my momnesia does not allow me to remember the bad parts...

Anyway, I love each of our kids to pieces, just ready to get through the next month or so with Maddi to the part where she sleeps more:)

Weekend Visitor

This weekend Nonni Pat came for a visit to see Owen and meet Maddi.
On Saturday they took Owen to a classmate's birthday party at My Gym. Owen had lots of fun and his favorite thing was the ball pit. For those of you that know Brett, being a microbiologist who is always aware of bacteria, he is really grossed out by water parks first and foremost and ball pits second. It was pretty much a nightmare for him that Owen wanted to only really play in the pit, but at least he wanted to climb too (one of Owen's favorite thing to do.)

Owen has been into holding his sister's hand this week. It is SO sweet.

Still trying to find some sleep, but enjoying our new family nonetheless.

Artwork for Everyone

It's been awhile since I've scanned in Owen's artwork, so here is a bunch from the month of April for your enjoyment:)
A book all about Owen:

Maddi's First Bath

Yesterday we gave Maddi her first bath at home. It was a sponge bath since part of her cord still hasn't come off, but she did really well. Much better than Owen who screamed his head off. Starting to sense a pattern here... She could have her Daddy's temperament, where Owen definitely has mine.

Picture of me and the kiddos. Posted against my better judgment since I didn't have makeup on and the lack of sleep is apparent:)

Please Send Sleep...

We have received some lovely gifts for our new lovely addition, but if someone can figure out how to send sleep, that is what we really need!

Maddi truly has her days and nights mixed up. And, whereas with the first one you can sleep whenever, caring for a toddler too complicates things a bit. Thank God for daycare. At least we have some place to send Owen during the day. I don't know how all of you SAH moms do it. Kudos to you.

Owen has been acting out a bit more (at school too) so it's been a challenge. But no matter how much of a pill he is being with us, he is always SO sweet with his sister. We just love watching them together.

My mom left this past Tuesday so we have been on our own since. It's nice to be settling in as a family, but we do miss the help. Brett's mom will be here this weekend to help out so that will be nice.

Gigi and Maddi

A few weeks ago we posted an outing at the park with Owen's buddies Jay and Alex. Alex's family posted some of their pictures and I just absolutely loved this one of the 3 boys going down the slide together.

More updates:
Another update I forgot to post was that Owen peed on the potty at school for the first time on May 4th. Very exciting! I think he's done it a few times since while at school, but there hasn't been much progress at home. To be honest, with the new baby, we haven't really been trying. It's beyond my capacity right now to force the issue.

Owen has been walking around saying "Oh Man." It's pretty funny.

And last but not least, there is the matter of the naughty step. (I may have blogged about this before, but due to the sleep deprivation I can't remember.) Owen has decided that sitting on the naughty step is no longer a punishment, but rather an alternative to not having to do something we ask him. For instance, if we ask him to pick up his toys and he does not want to, he just says "I'll sit on the naughty step" and goes and does it. Arrgh. Not exactly what we had in mind.