Drink of Choice...

Coke Zero is my number #1 drink these days.
I just can't get enough.It appears that I am not alone in that sentiment.

Evidently Owen needs a little afternoon pick-me-up.
I need to remember to put my drinks on the counter instead of table...unless I want his sloppy seconds to be a habit.

***note: no babies consumed Coke Zero at the time of these pictures. Coke Zero is not safe for babies & probably not safe for adults at the rate it is consumed in this household. BTW, babies were 100% supervised, you know, once the adult in room realize we had a Coke Zero theft on our hands.***

Fun on a Couch!

What do you do when your 1 year old is grouchy?

Why put him on the couch. He'll go crazy!

He loves crawling back and forth. When it is time to take him down, however, you'll be in for real trouble! For added fun..throw in an almost 3 year old!

Still here...

We are still here. Sorry about the two week hiatus. We've been...well you know...busy. You'd think with the school year ending in a week, we'd be slowing down. It seems to have the opposite affect on this household. That is rather unfortunate for us.

But we are still here. Doing well.

Things are pretty much the same (other than the busyness). Owen is still too timid to take anymore steps. He took two unassisted steps right after his birthday. He did it again that weekend afterwards. But he is to unadventurous to do it again. That stays consistent with her personality so far. He learns to do things (i.e. clap, wave, kiss bye bye) but he won't do them. I guess he doesn't want to be labeled as a show-off. No worries there, for sure!

Bethany is still pretty adorable. She's learned to huff and puff at things. You know what I mean? No?

Ok...an example is necessary. Here ya go:

Me: "Bethany, don't hit Owen with your Blankie."

B: "Arguf."

Me: "Bethany, don't growl at me. Just stop hitting Owen."

B: "Arguf. Okay Mom."

Later that day... Bethany takes a toy away from Owen.

Me: "Arguf. BETHANY be nice to Owen."

I've noticed where she's gotten the huffing and puffing from. I really need to watch that. But I get so exasperated at always telling them to play nice or her not to antagonize him...I just don't realize I do it. Well...I quickly learned that I do it. And now she does it, too! We are a work in progress.

So enough talk...here's a picture of my cute boys. Don't they look like they could be twins...you know if they weren't 30 years apart in age. Just too Cute! :O)

I promise not to be so bad at posting. I felt bad for my break. But anytime you miss us...just ask us if we are still here & I will get right back on to posting more! :O)

Owen's Day!

A picture story about Owen's First Birthday!

Once upon a time, Owen turned one!
When he woke up on the morning of his first birthday, he was greeted by his crazy mom and a camera!
He promptly got dressed and drank his milk. Then he was set down next to his overly expressive, sweater-obsessed sister for a birthday picture that he couldn't be less interested in.

After a breakfast out with Mom and his sister and a full day at the sitter's, Owen, ahem...really Bethany, opened his birthday presents from Mom and Dad.The presents included a cool tractor, pajama's and
a big box to sit on. Sitting on presents was proven to be far more fun then opening presents, ya know.
Eventually, they opened the big present (which was a shelf system for his bedroom) and we headed to Culver's to eat dinner with both sets of Grandparents. Bethany and Owen lucked out, as the Balloon Guy was there and made them some new friends.
After dinner...it was back at home with the Milles Grandparents. We posed with the cake...cause that is what you are supposed to do on your birthday.
Proving once again to take after his sister, he grabs his birthday cake.
Not wanting to make his mother aware of the grabbing-incident, Owen tries to hide the evidence before she catches on!
Once settled in the high chair, he was a lil' timid with his first piece of cake.
That timidness didn't last all that long. And he soon devoured the whole cake all the icing off the cake and was ready for a bath.
It was such a blast celebrating Owen's first birthday! I hope he had a fantastic day...I know that all of us enjoyed spoiling him rotten on his day! :O)

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday, Owen!

Gosh...I could just gobble him up!

just a phase

Perhaps it is just a phase....
You know...the phase you go through while staring at cameras. I think it is an unavoidable phase...like tantrum throwing, tooth fairy believing and thumb sucking.

This phase, though, is the one where you give the biggest, cheesiest smile humanly possible.

I will take that phase over some others (like trying to stand on the sit-n-spin) any day!
Yeah...it wouldn't be too bad if this phase sticks around a while. It's a pretty adorable phase, afterall! :O)

Wordless Wednesday.

I've seen other blogs do this thing called Wordless Wednesday. All it entails is a wordless (or nearly wordless) post of something going on in our lives. Well...here is our first Wordless Wednesday. Enjoy!

What do you see?

Look at this picture drawn by our own lil' Bethany:
What do you see?

Does it look like a blob of random colors aimlessly scribbled on the paper while she was waiting for her turkey dinner at Bandana's?

Or do you see more?

Like, perhaps, a heart (in purple) with eyes and a nose (all outlined in purple and filled in with orange) and a crocked sideways mouth (in light purple).

My jaw dropped to the ground when she says, "Look I draw a heart. Eye. Eye. Mouth. Nose."

Who knew that two-year-olds were capable of making such a detailed drawing of a Happy Heart!

Whole World...

He may have the Whole World in his hands....

I am happy as punch that I have these two in mine....

Cruel Irony

Whenever the kids need something, we are sure to go and buy it. During bath time, Owen's gotten in the habit of walking around the bathtub. He has an unsafe fascination with the faucet. I was concerned about Owen slipping and smashing his head on it.

So, we went to BabiesRus to buy this.

The Elmo Spout cover kept on slipping off the faucet. So we took it back and bought another one.






Here was our second bet.

A cute blow-up cover with little frogs. Well, that didn't work either. Instead of buying anymore spout covers.






I decided to take matters in my own hands.

With a hand towel and 2 ponytail holders, I custom-fitted a spout cover that was for sure to work. See, that is a perfect spout cover that would, for sure, protect our lil' boy from any possible ouchies.

See, now Owen didn't care as much for the spout as usual. I typically can't get him away from it all.
Well, Owen did find his way back faucet. I was working on adjusting the towel a little, while at that I got distracted by a 2-year-old. As cruel irony has it, Owen slipped and hit his eye on the very faucet I was working so hard to protect him from. The one day I actually had a suitable cover on it, he still hurts himself!

He didn't seem to care too much. He is pretty tough!
See, the lesson learned--is that sometimes the stuff you buy at stores can't stand up to good old-fashioned intuitiveness. :O)

11 months and some change

Owen turned 11 months old.

A week ago.

Sorry!

But, I thought I'd better get to my monthly pictures of my lil' Boy.
Here are some basic facts about our boy:

• He goes to bed around 6:30 every night and is woken up at 5:45 am. He goes to bed with a story, a cuddling, a prayer and then thumbtime with his blankie.
  
  
• The blankie of choice is a blankie made of the same material as thermal-undies. We only had one. We were worried. We searched high and low and finally found 2 more blankies of the same material. He loves his blankies for night-night time.
  
  
• When boogers are going down his face, he hates having his nose wiped. But, he loves his side rubbed--Loves IT!
  
  
• Diaper changes are a nightmare. Yup...It...Ain't...Happening...Without...A....FIGHT!!!!! I've learned to change diapers on an upside-down baby. Yeah, I am that talented.
  
  
• But, baths are AMAZING. He actually tries to climb into the tub. Once in the tub, he won't sit down anymore. That makes me nervous. I can't wait until we are over that stage.
  
  
• He loves his sister's kitchen. And taking toys out of the toy box--one--at--a--time. Opening and closing the toy box repeatedly is also a pretty amusing pastime.
  
  
• Owen cruises. A lot.
  
  
• He falls. Occasionally. He's got a black eyelid currently. Ouch!
  
  
• He gets pushed down a lot by his sister. He doesn't care, though. He'll cry, get back up and let it be known that he's not a going anywhere.
  
  
• He was a picky baby-food-eater, turning down foods semi-often.
  
  
• He hasn't turned down any table food so far. There are some favorites over others (ahem, pizza). But he is great at trying new foods, even motivating Bethany to be more adventurous!
  
  
• He is a shy guy. Doesn't smile for strangers. Doesn't always go to other family members. He loves his Mama and Daddy!
  
  
• He knows what the word "No" means. Just doesn't always obey.
  
  
• He can say 3 words. Mama--his first word, Dada and Ab-ba (All done).
  
  
• He knows how to wave, blow kisses, and I think 2 signs. But he won't do them when you want him to. No matter how much you prompt him and look like a fool. This kid will do it on his time only!
  
  
• He loves to be chased. While you are crawling. He will run(crawl) away. Pause. Look at you with a sheepish, yet daring smile. Then he'll start crawling away again. He's too cute!
  
  
• He loves, I mean, LOVES to play peek-a-boo. LOVES IT! Just cover him with a blankie and watch the fun times begin.
  
  
• When Owen laughs, it is a deep, hardy laugh that stems from the very tippy-bottom of his toes. I LOVE HIS LAUGH! It is one of the bestest laughs out there!

Our Owen is pretty amazing. It is hard to remember life without him. I remember our last weekend before he was born. I was a little sad that it was the last weekend with it just being Bethany. But Why? Owen has enriched our lives so much!!!

Even Bethany loves him. A lot! She introduced him to our friend tonight as, "This is Owen, my sweet little boy." Usually she calls him Bubba. Or Boy.

She is pretty good to him and wants to do things like he does.
You know...like holding signs with your age on it.

It is for sure. God has blessed us with two amazing babies. They are the greatest kiddos around. I don't always feel worthy of having these two beautiful kids in my life, but, man, I do feel so honored to be their mother!

Out and About

It is so nice to have pleasant weather once again. These two can't get enough of being outside.

Couldn't you just gooble them all up!?!?!?!

An Easter Puzzle

So how do you explain the meaning of Easter to a two-year-old?

Do you mention the Bunny and the Candy?

Do you talking about the pretty dresses and bonnets?
Do you give gifts of chocolate bunnies, peeps, Bibles and stuffed animals?

Do you just tell her to cuddle her Daddy for a quick photo?

Perhaps the meaning of Easter can be made clear by giving her a basket and...


have her search high and...

low for the eggs that resting in the foliage all around?
Do you just give her lil' brother eggs to roll about?

But I really don't see how any of that all matters. What does it all have to do with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus?

So, readers, answer me this...What do you tell the lil' girl with the wide-eyes about the real meaning of Easter?

Once I figure that out...I will then try to figure out how the Bunny and Egg Hunt ties into the whole shebang!

Reason #45839

Reason #45,839 of Why I love my Bethany!

Because she says things like this:

"Mama! I've got a great idea. How about I give you a flower."

Then she bends down and picks me a dandilion! That IS a GREAT idea, Sweetie!!!!