Holden: 7,8,& 9 months

Wow! I can't believe Holden is 9 months old today! We have had such a busy summer full of travels and home remodeling and construction.
Holden finally cut his two bottom teeth two weeks ago, we have been waiting on teeth for a while and they both came through at the same time.
Holden has earned a new nick name "pig". Now that Holden is eating food- he has totally earned this name. He is often cleaning up owen's left overs if it's possible. He is loving all kinds of foods: pasta, rice, yogurt, peas, carrots, bread, melon, peaches, strawberries, pancakes, oatmeal, banana,& potatoes( all in real food form) so far with baby food you eat everything we have tried. Sometimes you make funny faces but continue to eat what ever it may be. Hence the nick name- pig :)
Holden began Scooting about a month ago, crawling about 2 weeks ago, and now cruising along anything he can pull up with.

Since being able to move he has been really playing with Owen. I love it!!! It's the coolest thing to watch my boys loving each others companionship- I know one day they will be fighting, but for now they 100% love each other! They laugh and giggle all the time. Owen talks to Holden calling him "haha" or "pig" and it's the cutest thing ever! Owen has learned his shapes and some of his colors and he is trying to teach Holden along with the animal sounds- I just can't get enough of this big brother love and action! Holden couldn't have gotten a better brother- Owen has never had jealousy over Holden. He wants to make sure Holden is happy 100% of the time, he wants to share everything with him, kiss him, hug him, play with him and teach him. When Holden isn't around Owen ask about him over and over, he is quite concerned.

Kitchen remodel

It's almost done. Small things are still left to finish- new moldings, lights, a few missing hardware pieces we are waiting on. But i am loving it already!

And here are the before pictures.

Wow! I can barely remember that kitchen.
My husband was too eager to do the demo and started taking down the cabinets before I got pictures.

And the reason we changed the kitchen all around and added that door... The DECK!

Owen's birthday

Here are a few pictures of Owen's beach party.

22-24 months

Wow- in just a few weeks I am going to be the mother of a two year old!!! That seems SO crazy to me? It seems like just yesterday we were headed to the hospital to meet Owen, and become parents. Fast forward two years..... I have a running, jumping, singing, dancing, talking, loving toddler. I am amazed at the fun and love that has consumed my life in those two years. It is 100% amazing.
Over the past few months Owen has become much more of a little boy and less of a baby each day. It makes me so proud to see, and so sad that time is flying by so fast.
Owen's is....
-Talking up a storm. Small sentences, answering questions, asking questions, and just having conversation. I love that little voice that doesn't stop all day. Everyday I notice 5-10 new words that are used correctly. I can't even begin to count anymore. I counted when you turned 21 months and it was close to 250 words.
- starting to have letter recognition of the letters in your name and a few others. We practice this often and you now ask when ever there are letters you see...(typically larger letters- titles of books, words on clothing)
-counting things, and knows that there are numbers on the clock.
- has a fondness for trains & Thomas but not the show.
- loves blues clues
- still a pip squeak, wearing 18 months in mostly everything- some 24 months.
- won't use the potty but will sit on it.
- loves playing in the water at the pool, but hates the "big" pool.
- ask to "play" everyday
- loves playing the "mine" game. This is a total game- he laughs and laughs if you say something is "mine" he will find something and say "my juice" or "my mama" etc. He wants you to find something else and say "mine" this goes on and on. It's too funny.
- so far we haven't had and terrible two tantrums. I hope I'm not jinxing myself here.

Every second of the past two years has enriched my life with the greatest love I've ever known. I am seriously loving every. Single. Minute. Of being a mother. I look forward to watching Owen become an individual over the next many years to come.

Summer Fun!!!!

So I absolutely love summer and all the fun things we can do. We have been in NC for 10 days now visiting while the kitchen is getting over hauled, and we are having so much fun with outdoor activities!!! We only have a couple more days to spend in Charlotte and then we are headed east to the outer banks!!!! I can't wait. The DH will be flying in and I am counting down the days. 2 weeks without him is way too long in my book!

Summer time!

We are in NC for a few weeks while our house is under demo & reconstruction. This is how we've been spending our time.

Picture overload!