big disgrace

You got mud on your face

You big disgrace

Somebody better put you back in your place

Really....I am not sure which is the biggest disgrace of all....

Is it the 2-year old who goes in the pantry, pulls out the instant pudding, bites into the packet and makes a gigantic mess on herself and floor

OR

Is it the parents who can't seem to get the message that the pantry needs to STAY LATCHED!

*Sigh*

We'll figure it out sooner or later!

Our own fairy tale

Once upon a time there was a Mommy, Daddy, Bethany and a lil' Owen . The Mommy and Daddy decided to take the lil' babes apple picken'. We even invited our queen Mum (Grandma Milles) to join in our adventurous day.

We started in a land very close to us (aka O'Fallon) and
we needed to head to a land far, far away (Grafton, IL).

A magic boat arrived to carry us across the great river that beautiful day!

We arrived in the magical kingdom of Eckerts--land of the apples!
The most scrumptious, magical apple we were determined to find.

We found trees upon trees with apples of every kind.

Under the branches and leaves the apples hid.

But nothing could hold back this little kid.Didn't take us long to find the most scrumptious apple in all of the land.

Even our gentlemen were looking fine and grand.

With her apple in her hand, our little princess was as happy as can be.

Riding back to the farm on the tractor was fun for both Bethany and me.

What else is there to say about our glorious day?

Only that our family of four couldn't enjoy our adventure any more!

Sadly Mistaken

A note to my Little Bethany:

I hugged you a couple of days ago and said, "I love my baby."

To which you replied, "Owen's your baby. I'm your big girl."

Oh sweetie you are sadly mistaken. You have so much to learn about this world.

I don't care that you insist on wearing sunglasses with your night gown.

Or if you demand to feed your baby brother his bottle.

Yes, you may even be capable of pouring yourself a real drink of water using your tea set.
No matter the fact that you love playing outside with the neighbors and create a gigantic mess whenever you are given a popsicle.

Despite the fact that you are able to have your friends over to our house to play now.

My dear Bethany, you are even such a big help with feeding Owen his veggies....

So my dear glasses-owning, popsicle-wearing, brother-feeding, baby-cuddling little girl.... it doesn't matter how big you get, what you are able to do or how many words you know.

Dear little Bethany....you'll always be my baby. Sweet Baby Bethany, you'll understand one day...

when you have your own 2-year-old insisting that she's no longer a baby, but a big girl!

Owen vs. Dog

I fought the dog

and the dog won.

Oh! I fought the dog

and the dog won!

All about the "O"

Not very often is it all about the big O.

Really...I am not sure if I have posted one single post just about our little man. He definitely deserves it!

Well, Owen went to his 4 month check up yesterday. Bethany was a little jealous, I think. She said,

"Bet-an-ni hurt." as she points to a fake boo-boo.

"Bet-an-ni go to Dr. Rozin!"

Did she get to go, you ask...

Nope!

Are you kidding. Why would we want take a 2 year old to the doctor's office when it isn't absolutely necessary. Waiting in that tiny little room is torture for anyone under the age of 99 and over the age of 1.

However, Owen had a blast waiting. It is so amazingly easy to entertain a 4 month old!

Especially since they are entertained by the simple fact they can blow bubbles now...
Anyhow... back to Owen's dr. appointment.

The doctor says Owen is doing great. He is healthy and happy and developing just fine.

She gave us the green light to start him on some fruits and veggies. That is pretty exciting for him.

Here's his stats:

Height-->24.5" (50th %tile)
Weight--> 15 lb, 4 oz (50th %tile)
Head--> 17.52" (99th %tile)

Seriously...we make babies with big heads. Isn't that crazy! If you look at Owen head-on, it doesn't look that crazy big. But once you take a glance at him from the side....

It. Is. BIG!!!

Overall, Owen is a GREAT baby. All parents would be lucky to have a such an easy-going, laid back baby as this one. He is just so content 98% of the time. ***the other 2% he is either hungry, tired or in the car--he HATES the car***

So as for his hidden talents:

• He sleeps through the night (9 pm to 5 or 6 am)
• He can roll over from belly to back
• He can follow you across the room.
• He loves to talk. Right now his favorite sound is "AaahhhhhAhhhhAhhhhAhhhh".
• He just learned how to blow raspberries.
• He is grabbing toys and really starting to explore them.
• He is amazingly patient with his big sister who likes to: put things in his mouth, poke his eyes, "help" him roll over, smothers him with love, steals his toys, screams in his face and pulls him by his various limbs.
• He has the BEST laugh. It is such a full, belly-jiggling laugh. It is completely infectious!

So that all about our little man. I am so amazingly blessed to be the one that gets to continue to watch him learn and grow. I absolutely love this stage. Everything is so new and the milestones just keep on coming. It is great watching him figuring things out. It won't be long, I'm sure, until we have both of them running around this house going crazy! :o)

Labor Day Weekend!

Our 3 day weekend was a welcomed break from our typical school work. We had a lot of fun doing nothing special in particular. Does seem that we didn't get much down time. We had quite a bit of school work to get caught up on & plus quite a bit of housework to do. What do you expect when you mix two schoolteachers w/ two young kiddos. The weekends are all we have to work with in our to keep life in order.

However, whenever the kids were up-and-at-'em, we made sure to take time to play with them.

Bethany got plenty of bike riding time in Saturday.
She loves riding down the street with the other kids.

Mommy...look at me going faster!

Hi Mom!

After working too hard riding her bike, she wanted to ride in the wagon.
Owen, of course, needed to go too. Although, Owen didn't last all that long in the wagon.

His look says it all...

Owen had a couple monumentous moments this weekend.

First off, we got out the exersaucer for him.

It was most defintely a hit for Owen and Bethany.

Perhaps, the best part of the weekend was Owen turning 4 months old.

So hard to believe that he's been here 4 months.

But at the same time, it is hard to remember what it was like before Owen joined us.

Although this Labor Day was far from being a labor-free weekend as it was full of work, it is great to have good quality time to spend with the babies. A part of me, though, is looking forward to going to work tomorrow, so I can have some "downtime".

Kinda funny how it tends to work out that way, now isn't it?