Landry's 23 month day, Owen's (almost) 7 month day

Landry turned 23 months old on Christmas Eve. She is such a big girl! Her comprehension really seems to have taken off over the past several days. She's articulating better as well. It's hard to believe that she'll be two in less than a month. Where does the stinking time go?

Owen will be 7 months old tomorrow. We've got an early morning flight to Mexico, so I thought I better post this sweet picture tonight. He's trying to become mobile, but so far all he does is scoots himself backwards. His poor fat tummy keeps him high-centered a lot of the time. He briefly gets up on all fours, but all he can muster is a little rocking action. He's making more and more sounds these days. He's got "dada" down very well. His second tooth came in on Christmas Eve. Seeing teeth in a previously empty mouth is a little weird, but he's still cute as a button!

See? I told you so.

Christmas 2009: Part 1

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Blake's mom, step-dad, sister, brother-in-law and niece. Camden was so excited about opening his presents that he ate his entire dinner. We got our first dose of "is it time to open Christmas presents yet?"

He got a tool bench from Nana and Chappy. He loved it so much that every time Landry got near it he started babbling incoherently and pushing her away. Even though we couldn't tell what he was saying, he was definitely angry! This was made even more evident when he would throw whatever was in his hands down - in a not-so-nice way. Landry got a bassinet for her babies and a new red-headed baby doll. She really loved her gifts, but the fact that Camden kept pushing her away from his made her all that more interested in staying up in his business. Owen got a cute plush toy car that was just his big. He had a big time chewing on it and accidentally honking the horn. Landry and Camden both took a turn behind the wheel, which looked pretty ridiculous because they're both entirely too big for it. Landry also got a purse and mini baby doll from Aunt TaTa. Camden got a couple of new movies to add to his collection, and Owen got a little cow doll that counts.

It's only the first day of Christmas, and it's obvious our kids won't be hurtin' for anything this year! Although Mama might be hurtin' if they don't get a handle on this fighting over toys stuff. I try to keep telling myself that they're only one and two, and that they can't really help it, but JUMPIN' JESUS ON A POGO STICK! it's killing me already. But anyway, besides me getting stressed out over the sibling rivalry, it was a very nice evening!

I'll update more after Parts 2, 3 and 4!

A wonderful weekend

Friday night we had Blake's company Christmas party at the house. The big kids stayed in Waskom with Nana and Chappy, and little O stayed home and partied with us. On Saturday we went and picked up the kiddos and went up to Pop Steve's old home place in Huffines, Texas. We had a great time visiting with Aunt Nancy and her clan from South Louisiana. The kids had a big time swinging, running and playing. Nana and Chappy came and rescued them (and by them, I mean us!) and brought all three kids back home so we could stay up at the farm and hang out with all of the cousins by the camp fire. A LARGE thanks to Nana and Chappy for all the kid wrangling they did over the weekend!

Toothless no more!

Six days before his 7 month day Owen finally cut his first tooth. The second one is not far behind. You have to use your imagination, but it's really, really there!

This was my first attempt at capturing the little shiny tooth:

A sad, sad day

I am so sad today. Wendy's dad, Ray McKibben, passed away yesterday. He went to school with my dad, so I'm going to guess that he's the same age - 57. Not that there's ever a perfect age to die, but 57 is way too young.

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Wendy and I met in sixth grade, but didn't become friends until 7th grade. (She had a weird haircut in sixth grade!) Mr. McKibben called me Other Daughter and I called him Other Father. He has been a part of my life for many years. He did an excellent job of grilling Blake before we got married to make sure he was good enough for me!

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He was truly a neat, neat person. He was loud. He was talented. He was brilliant. (He was also often cranky and sometimes downright abrasive, but that's neither here nor there!) The thing I know most about Other Father is that he loved his family beyond measure. He will be greatly missed. My heart goes out to Other Mother, Wendy, Hillary, Jason and their families.

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(By the way, I stole this picture from Wen's facebook page.)

Lots of ground to cover: Landry's 22 month day, Owen's 6 month day, Thanksgiving, Owen's 6 month stats

So, I'm obviously way behind - even more behind than I have been over the past several months. My laptop monitor bit the dust early in November, and I just got it back this week. I can't blame that alone, but it was a contributing factor! So if anyone's still reading this, here's enough to catch us up for the month:

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On November 24th, Landry turned 22 months old. She's still a nutjob! She loves, loves, loves her babies still. I think Santa will be hooking her up with some more gear for her brood. She's still in love with Owen, but doesn't particularly care for it when he reaches out and grabs her clothes or hair. She frequently tries to love on Camden, but when he rejects her (which he usually does) she starts swinging. It's the few times that he embraces the idea of showing her affection that truly melt my heart. They can be so stinking sweet to each other when they want to be. She can say just about anything she wants to, but her voice is so nasal that almost everything that comes out of her mouth sounds the same.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We went to Uncle Bruce's and Aunt Linda's to gorge ourselves this year. It was great, and a lot less tiring than being at Granny's. Aunt Linda has wayyyy fewer knickknacks lying about for our kids to dig in.

The day after Thanksgiving we had Blake's family over. The highlight of the day was surprising Peyton with her new car. She had no clue, and must have said "oh. my. gosh." about a bazillion times after she saw it.

On November 28th, Owen turned 6 months old. He's a very lazy baby! He's reached all of the developmental milestones appropriate for his age, but he doesn't really like to show off his skills very often. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that it's just not safe to leave him lying around on the floor in these parts. We need to be better about that, but I'm not ready to have him squished to bits just yet. Besides, I distinctly remember making the comment that if we had to have three kids, it would be great if the third could be a little slower than the first two. So far so good! He had his 6 month checkup on December 3rd, and the fact that's he's short was confirmed.

Owen's 6 month stats:

Height: 24 inches (3rd percentile)
Weight: 16 pounds, 13 ounces (25th percentile)
Head: 17.5 inches (75th percentile)

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Not that we're counting anymore, but Camden turned 33 months on December 2nd. We are amazed daily at the phrases that come out of his mouth. He and Landry went in for their second round of the flu vaccination, and after the nurse gave Landry her shot he got very upset and asked "did you hurt my sister"? He told me last night (after I had punished Landry for something or another) "you being ugly to my sister". He's very protective of her when he's not trying to beat her up.

He's finally figured out his relationship to Owen. He repeats (often) "Owen's my little brother", or "hey, mister brother Owen". He's super sweet to Owen, but the bigger Owen gets, the less and less careful the bigger kids are around him. I'm surprised the poor guy hasn't suffered a crush injury yet.

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There was also Camden's first movie (with Dee and his boy cousins). We saw Planet 51, and he did pretty well. He wasn't sure about the volume for the first few minutes, but he quickly decided he could handle it. He sat in his seat eating popcorn and drinking Sprite for the first 45 minutes or so, then got ants in his pants and kept going back and forth between me and Dee.

There's lots of laughter, lots of tears, and lots of loudness around these parts. But most of all, there's lots of LOVE! It's not always easy, and might not be everyone's idea of heaven, but to us it's simply perfect!