Our slice of life

2010-01-07T18:13:00.002-05:00

A loooooong overdue Isaac update!

2009-08-25T01:04:00.004-05:00

It really is quite ridiculous how long it's been since I've posted a blog entry. And for all my faithful readers-all 4 of you...chuckle- I'm sorry about that! Soooo much has happened these past few months, as we find ourselves living in a bit of limbo between Chattanooga, TN and Lagrange, GA. Several months ago, Roby was presented with an awesome career opportunity at the carpet company Milliken. After carefully weighing the pros and cons and praying, praying, praying, Roby left the company he has worked at for 10 years (which is an awesome accomplishment in itself!) to join his old designer buddy Todd in this new endeavor. While Roby was sad to leave his company and work friends behind, he was extremely excited for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of something progressive that will stimulate his creativity.

Our house has been on the market for several months, so Roby has had to work a week at a time in GA and TN, which is hard on us as a family with two small children under the age of 4...but we are managing. We continue to house hunt in GA, trusting that God will provide the perfect living situation for us as we try to transition to a new town and get Owen in pre-school. So many decisions need to be made and so many steps of faith taken! We appreciate your prayers as we try to navigate our way during this unsettling state of flux.

The children continue to thrive, with Owen approaching his fourth birthday in October, and Livy Lu just turning one on July 24th! We definitely have our hands full, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

During these summer months we have been quite the busy bees. We made several whirlwind trips...during our fifth annual fourth of July trip (although it took place in May this year :) we met up with our cousins and friends in New Orleans for a week. Wonderful times! We also jetted to Michigan for Juleen's wedding (one of my bridesmaids was now the bride and I was honored to be her maid!) and to Philly for our cousin Binoy's wedding to Ryn (we were honored to be a part of their bridal party as well!) My Mom was also able to come to Chattanooga to visit in June while Roby was in Chicago for work- which the kids thoroughly enjoyed! Lastly, the kids and I whisked Roby away to a secret location for his 32nd birthday = Savannah,GA! Despite Olive having a high fever the entire weekend, we still had a lot of fun on our little family vacation. In other news, last month I became a Creative Memories Consultant...and I hope to be able to grow my fledgeling business so I too can contribute to our family! We'll see how it goes! (Later I'll post some of my digital scrapbooking pages with a few details about what I do!) I'm sure I'm missing a TON of stuff that's been going on with the Isaacs for the past 6 months (have I mentioned just HOW behind I am with my blog posts? I still need to post pics from CHRISTMAS when my mom, brother and sis-in-law visited...yikes! So forgive me if I start posting old pictures in an attempt to catch up in the blogosphere! :) Hopefully soon I can post pics from Olive's first birthday and our various trips!

Olive standing unassisted!

2009-04-16T01:09:00.005-05:00

For a week or so Olive has started trying to stand in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything for support. Last night she was determined to master the new skill as I kept my I-flip rolling. Meanwhile, my enthusiasm rubbed off on Owen-super proud big brother that he is. By the end of the night, Olive turned into a pro, and when Roby arrived home from his Chicago trip he was greeted with a happy baby showing off her new skills and a brother all to happy to narrate her antics. This is such a fun stage! Olive is 8 months old..I wonder if she will take after her brother and take her first step at 9 months?!

Owen update!

2009-04-07T22:37:00.008-05:00

It's been awhile since I've written about O-man, who is now 3 1/2 years old! He has adjusted well to big brotherhood and *loves* his little Olive silly. Every morning when she wakes up, he crawls into our bed to hold her and as he rubs his cheeks against hers he croons, "Good morning sunshine! Did you have a nice 'nap' Olive? It's ok, sweetheart, I know it's hard to wake up...." So cute! He is a wonderful helper/protector and can often be heard proclaiming, "No Olive! That is dangerous...it has small parts!" He doesn't show one ounce of resentment or jealousy toward her, which I was concerned about...but rather he enjoys spending time with her, loving on her. I know he can't wait until she can play with him for real!

These days Owen is into Transformers (more than meets the eye....) and super heroes. He is brimming with monster/transformer/super hero stories, which usually entail someone "fighting with all their might." Uncle Jason sent him a box of original transformers from when he was a child, which Owen thinks is the coolest thing. He also enjoys drawing & constructing elaborate etch-a-sketch images of all of the above, as well as the Titans (no, not the Tennessee Titans, but the bad guys in the Hercules myth ;). He continues to impress us with his drawing ability and the creative way he sees things. The boy NEEDS to go to school...he wants to so badly! He is just itching to learn, and every day sits down writing the words he knows how to spell on his own (Owen, Nana, etc.), and then he writes a string of letters asking, "What does that spell?" and then he'll ask, "How do you spell Incredible Hulk, Mama?" It's so cute to see him in school mode, and we are anxious to register him in preschool once we move.

Right now his favorite cd is Here Come the ABCs by They Might Be Giants (a band I actually dug back in middle school...gasp!) It comes with an audio CD as well as a DVD with animation to each song, which all pertain to the alphabet. In fact, Roby and I can't get the "Vowels are important letters, there's one in every word..." phrase out of our heads! It's stuck! The other day I went to the grocery store while Roby watched the Os and realized upon my return that I had been listening to Owen's cd all the way there and back...singing along! Ha!

Owen remains a sweet boy who still loves to "snuddle" with his Mama and Dada. He's still a picky eater, but LOVES baking recipes out of the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. Each time he tries something new, he gets a star on his chart-which adds up to a prize eventually. We're getting there. He also sleeps all the way through the night, thank goodness (I can remember when he was a baby thinking he NEVER would!), but it's quite a feat getting him down at night. He's at that, "I wanna glass of water" stage. He also keeps us on our disciplinarian toes with his stubborn streak, but overall he's a great kid. Hopefully he'll take this next year full of newness with moving, school, etc. in stride and enjoy every minute of it!

Seeing Double (8 months)

2009-03-27T17:08:00.006-05:00

L: Olive R: Owen

Seeing Double (7 months)

2009-03-27T16:44:00.005-05:00

It took 7 months for me to see obvious changes when comparing Owen & Olive's baby pics. I really had to search for this month's look-a-like shot. While they still share a lot of the same mannerisms, Livy is finally starting to develop distinct features! It's been fun going through O's baby pics, and I am SO glad I tackled the take-a-picture-a-day for the first year of life for both of them! In 4 months Olive's metamorphosis will be complete! (Top: Livy Bottom: Owie)

6 months

2009-02-03T00:59:00.007-05:00

Olly-pop has hit the half-year mark! Our little 15-pounder is still a baby on the move! This past month, she continued practicing her newfound mobility and just yesterday crawled without flopping forward! She went from learning to sit up while leaning on one arm to completely sitting up unassisted. Olive also likes to pull herself up on things to stand, which is a bit precarious at this point since she soon comes tumbling down. She has also started to climb on us everytime we hold her. Her other interests include: sucking on her Sophie the giraffe toy (thanks Libby!), chewing on any type of paper product she can get her hands on, laughing at her brother's antics, sucking on her tongue, making utterances that sound like a seal, playing with O's toys while completely ignoring hers (she is forever crawling toward a matchbox, superman or dinosaur...i think we have a tomboy on our hands!) It will be interesting to see what this next month holds...solid food, here we come! Let's hope she isn't as picky as Owen! ;)

On the move

Olive with Owen's T-rex

Seeing double

2009-02-02T23:00:00.005-05:00

We wonder at what point Olive will start looking completely different than Owen. There are still so many similarities! The tongue quirk cracks us up! (Lil o on top, big O on bottom.)

5 months

2009-01-03T13:08:00.004-05:00

Miss Olive is quite the active baby-always rolling, rolling, rolling. She has also started doing modified push-ups, rocking herself back and forth and flopping on the ground attempting to propel herself forward-just like Owie did at that age! She also inches herself forward with her strong legs and manages to turn herself around as well. I imagine she is going to keep us on our toes as she gets closer to mobility!

Aside from her active lifestyle, Olive also enjoys playing with her toys & sitting in the exersaucer (although she gets frustrated with both and tends to need a change of scenery after 10 minutes), playing with her feet, putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, pulling Owie's hair (which he thinks is hilarious until it starts to hurt ;), sucking on the bottom of a cold glass of water & gumming our faces ;). These days, she's a fussy Mcfusserson...not as happy-go-lucky as before. We think the personality change is due to teething coupled with her strong-headed, independent streak. This girl wants things her way! For instance, when she wants held, you have to be standing up...this drives us crazy! And, unfortunately, our nights of 8 hour straight sleeping with her snoozing happily in her bassinet have come to a screeching halt. Now that she doesn't like being swaddled, she automaticall turns over on her belly and screams. And it takes SO long to calm her down. I've been holding her in bed at nights to get some sleep, but recently we've been working on transitioning her to her crib in the nursery. We've made a little progress, but still have a long way to go. She continues to flip herself over, but is starting to be ok with belly sleeping. Yesterday she put herself to sleep for a nap in her crib with no crying and slept for 3 hours. Small victories! Roby and I can't wait until she sleeps through the night in her crib. We keep reminding ourselves that it's a phase and will get better, but it's hard to look forward through bleary eyes. ;)

Despite those few challenges, Olive continues to be a joy and we *love* her laughing fits (she has at least one a day...now if only adults could be like that!). We eagerly watch each new personality trait and her likes/dislikes emerge. We get such a kick out of watching Owen and Olive's personalities bloom!

Seeing double

2009-01-03T12:53:00.017-05:00

L-Owen R-Olive

Bingo Christmas Party

2009-01-03T12:28:00.008-05:00

This year, Aimee hosted our second annual girl's bingo Christmas bash at her abode. We think even the hubbies had as much fun as we did catching up over good food and drinks! The kids certainly had a wonderful time chasing each other through the house and playing reindeer games. ;)

The challenge every year: getting all the kids and mamas in the shot!

Olive and Meredith all matchy-matchy

Bad Olive!

Thankful

2009-01-03T12:19:00.003-05:00

This year just our little family celebrated Thanksgiving together. We had SO much fun during Roby's extended days off. At first we considered not making a huge meal, then thought, "why not?" Instead of cooking a giant bird, we tried out a Giada recipe from the Food Network for a spice rubbed 5-pound turkey breast-delish! It proved a little hectic getting all the cooking done with the kidlets in tow, so we ended up eating at 9:00 at night. chuckle. The rest of the week we relaxed by playing our Wii (even Owen is getting pretty good!), watching movies, taking drives, & enjoying Owen and Olive!

four months

2008-11-26T13:51:00.002-05:00

Our little cutie turned four months old on Monday, and, unfortunately, celebrated with a cold she caught from Owen (who has two ear infections :( Otherwise, she is perfectly healthy and is now in the 40th percentile for length, at 24 inches, and 50th for weight- 12 pounds 9 ounces. A perpetually smiling baby, Olive *loves* to have a good laugh with us every day. Amazingly, if she spies Owen from across the room, she'll smile, and if he walks over to talk to her, she starts giggling. This girl ADORES her big brother!

Olive mastered rolling over both ways just a few days ago, as well as holding onto and playing with her feet. Now when she is in the bouncy seat, she props her legs up in the shape of a V on the overhanging toy holder...doesn't look very comfortable, but apparently she wants to be enrolled in gymnastics! She still is a hand sucker and has started sucking on her top lip, which is pretty funny. And one of her favorite things to do? She gets a kick out of being lifted above your head so she can grab handfuls of your hair...especially Owen's curls! That will calm her down from a crying jag anytime. We can't wait to see what she'll be up to next month!

Seeing double

2008-11-26T13:39:00.001-05:00

Olive still resembles her big brother!

It's hard to find really similar pics of them now because Owen didn't
smile as much as Olive does.

They even share some mannerisms!

Look at those lips!

Recent Owie antics

2008-11-26T13:36:00.000-05:00

Lately Owen has taken to carrying his roaring two-foot-tall T. Rex around, calling it his "dinosaur baby." I've found dinosaur baby safely tucked inside Olive's carseat, swaddled with soft blankets, as well as in the swing covered by "lambie." So cute!

Owen has also been in "rescue" mode these days. He is always looking to rescue Olive, or his toys or the world in general! But, to do so, he must be clothed in his "rescue socks" and his "rescue shirt," etc....which are whatever clothes at the time he deems appropriate super hero attire. For awhile, he needed to sleep with his soccer shin guards on or wear them under his pants all day. Today he is wearing his pirate pants from Halloween,& his long-sleeve pj top with his tight swimming shirt layered over top. None of it matches color-wise of course! Pretty hilarious! Oh, he also has been carrying around (and sleeping with) the silver toilet paper roll holder, calling it his "spotting scope," which apparently is something Diego uses to rescue animals. ;)

Lastly, the other night Owen lovingly pinched Olive's chubba chubba cheeks and asked in a sing-songy voice, "are you my sweetieheart?"

We LOVE Owie's little personality and how he continues to be such a good brother (and super hero!)

Our Philly friends visit!

2008-11-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

We hadn't seen Abbey, Soby, Brenda and Shibu since Summer '07, so we were thrilled when they planned a trip down South. At the time, we had no idea we'd end up hanging with them in Philly a week before their TN visit. It was definitely nice knowing when we left Philadelphia that we would see them again very soon!

The day after they arrived, the guys planned a little surprise for the Mamas. In the morning, they cooked us breakfast (including some killer spicy potatoes....yummo!) and informed us there were cards underneath our placemats. We opened the envelopes and found a letter on each of our cards...put together, they spelled SPA. YAY! We were totally spoiled with hour-and-a-half hot stone massages and facials. Heavenly. Afterward, we went out for cocktails while the guys continued to watch the kiddos. We were impressed with the thoughtful afternoon our hubbies planned for us and thoroughly enjoyed the "me" time! Thanks guys, you rock!

With Soby & Brenda after our spa day!

Much of our time consisted of hanging out at the house, chilling with the kiddies, catching up on life, and cooking great food. One day we drove downtown, ate a yummy lunch at modern diner Blue Plate, and then walked to the aquarium. After we had our fill of underwater eye candy, Shibu taught me how to take pics in rapid succession with my camera. We caught Owen throwing leaves into the air and Corinne sitting on the ground playing with leaves. When you scroll through them quickly, you have a miniature flipbook! I also took my first picture where the object (Roby chasing Shibu) is in focus, and everything else is out of focus. He definitely taught me a lot about my camera and inspired me to try new effects. Darkness started settling in as we headed over to the Bluffview Art District for some caffeinated pick-me-ups and macaroons at Rembrandt's cafe.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Daniel and Philip families, and it was soooo wonderful getting the kids together. Roby and I were saddened upon their departure and wondered if we will ever live in the same vicinity as our Philly friends. Who knows what the future may hold!

Soby & baby Pailyn

Brenda & sweet Corinne

The Philip family

Owen trying his hardest to plant a kiss on Ab's lips! :)

Downtown

2008-11-24T19:25:00.012-05:00

Shibu with his cocoa bear at Blue Plate

Owie at Blue Plate (I love how he perfectly matched the diner's color scheme!)

Pailyn sharing a secret with Olive in the aquarium's butterfly garden

Roby and Olive standing under a black olive tree!
It's actually quite a beautiful tree.

Corinne enjoying the leaves

We love this fun Fall pic of Owie!

I don't know who had more fun, O or Shib?!

le bebes

2008-11-24T06:30:00.000-05:00

Pailyn & Olive

(We will never forget Pailyn's birthday because he was born on Olive's due date!
They're just two weeks apart!)

Olive and Pailyn held hands on their own! How sweet!

I wonder what this could possibly mean?

Owen arranged himself next to Pailyn on the couch, covered him up and held his hand.
He is such the big brother!

Shibu captured this sweet moment between Owie & Pailyn

Olive, Owen and Corinne hamming it up for the camera.

(Though it looks like Livy is pouting, she is actually sucking on her top lip! ;)

Spontaneous trip to Philadelphia

2008-11-23T18:08:00.021-05:00

Recently, we were able to make a childhood dream of Roby's come true! He has always wanted to go to a championship parade in Philly, and this year the Phillies made that possible when they became National League champs, going on to win the World Series! (They haven't won since 1983.) Originally, Roby wanted to cash in miles and fly home with Owie for the occasion, but the day after the Phils won, we thought, "let's drive home!" The very next morning, we packed up the Scion and off we went on a 12-hour-trek to PA with the kidlets. Owen, the awesome traveler that he is, happily watched his DVDs, while Olive slept most of the trip. We arrived at 9:00 p.m, in perfect time to surprise Roby's parents with our impromptu presence. Mummy was so confused when her eyes fell on Owen. In her mind, the little boy standing in front of her couldn't possibly be her grandson who lives in Chattanooga! Needless to say, she and Pappa were beaming-so happy to see the grandkids one more time before their 6-month-stay in India. We were happy to spend quality time with Roby's brother, Rony, and sis-in-law, Rani, and meet the newest member of the family-our nephew Kenneth!

After discovering that more than 1 million people would be roaming the streets of Philly during the parade, I decided to stay behind with the kids. Roby had a killer time living out one of his childhood dreams with his best friends, while I spent time with Brenda, Soby and the kids-a wonderful treat. In the evenings, we stayed with Abbey, Soby and their son Pailyn at their new home. We spent a lot of time chillin' with friends at the house, especially on Halloween night. Roby took Owen, our little pirate, around the neighborhood, while Brenda and I made a quick drive to visit Julie and Charley, who welcomed their newest daughter, Shyla Lily, several weeks earlier. Div arrived early, and Binoy, Ryn & Mat showed up after visiting a Halloween event at the Eastern State Penitentiary (I mention this now defunct prison because it is often labeled as a historical haunted site on ghost hunter-type television shows! creepy!) Lisa and Shoney also drove down from NY to hang out with everyone. (We can't wait for their visit to Chattown, hopefully in February!)

The following day we made the rounds, visiting Roby's aunts and uncles and eventually ended up back at Rony's house-where Owen had a blast playing with his cousins. We love to see this, and wish they were all able to grow up together the same way Roby and his cousins did. We even held the rarest of photo shoots: Mummy and Pappa with all six of their grandchildren at the same time, and believe me when I say it wasn't easy! We shamelessly used bribery with lollypops to get the job done. :) That evening, we met up with my Mom, who drove up from Harrisburg, and stayed with my brother Jason and sis-in-law Melinda at their new place in Chestnut Hill. Exhausted Owen passed out on their couch for most of the night, and Olive happily slept in Nana's arms. We enjoyed talking around their firepit and trying out the Wii they bought us for a combination of gifts! (How awesome of them!) The following morning we all grabbed breakfast at a local diner, and we were on our way. The drive home seemed to take forever, and we were quite happy to see the signs directing us to Chattanooga.

This trip was one of the most spontaneous things we have ever done, and was well worth it! In just two days we somehow managed to spend time with the majority of our friends, as well as both sides of our families! We probably won't be making the drive again anytime soon, but it's nice to know that it's doable and the kids handle it just fine.

Olive rubbing the Philly Phanatic for good luck!

Owen watching the final game, right before we won

Roby & his new nephew, Kenneth

Roby, Ab and Shibu leaving for the parade (sporting their philly reds!)

O the pirate. The eye patch was his favorite part!

Corinne as Piglet

Shibu with our little pumpkin

Ab and Soby with Pailyn the bat

Lisa and Shoney with Livy

Charley, Julie, Jaelyn & Shyla

The proud grandparents!

The cousins enjoying the benefits of bribery

Livy & Kenneth (born almost exactly a month apart!)

Mel, Jase, Mom and the kids

The Stutlers & Isaacs in the '60s

2008-10-28T20:28:00.007-05:00

Anatomy of a face painting

2008-10-25T21:40:00.011-05:00

Today we met up with friends at a Fall festival called Normalpalooza, where local artisans sold their wares and children played on bounce slides (one of Owie's favorites!), took pony rides and participated in other festivities-all set to lively music/drum beats. The highlight of the excursion? FINALLY meeting Emily and Joseph and getting to hang with Kiko and Vincent, of course! Next on the list? A little mother-son face painting! Owen wasn't sold on the idea when I've mentioned it in the past, but today he welcomed becoming batman for a day. An artistic sister duo based out of Dalton, GA, paint faces for a living at various community events, birthday parties, etc. Here are pics of the process, as documented by Emily (thanks girl!)

Let the festivities begin!

2008-10-25T09:00:00.003-05:00

After Normalpalooza, we made a quick pitstop at our house for eats and coffee and ventured out into the evening for another Fall activity...the Fantasy Maze at the River Park. By now Owie's design had rubbed off, so we re-painted his face with our Batboy version and off we went. For $3 total we took the kids through a maze with high school volunteers dressed up in non-scary, fairy tale character costumes. Owen shyly stuck out his pumpkin basket for treats, but wouldn't speak to any of the actors. :) I *love* festive Fall events! Next we are looking forward to a Halloween party playdate at Miss Aimee's house on Friday. Roby has been trying to design a costume for Owie (who wants to be Plex, a robot from Yo Gabba Gabba), but looks like time is running out to be creative. Perhaps next year!

3 months old

2008-10-24T09:26:00.009-05:00

Our little olly-pop turned three months old today! We enjoy watching her personality bloom and seeing what she's going to do next, well, when she's not sleeping...which she still does a lot of! Lately she has been obsessed with her hands. She always has her fists in her mouth and once in awhile manages to suck on her thumb, opting for a pacifier when falling asleep. And the drooling has begun, my friends. We have quite the slobbery girl on our hands these days! Olive also loves to suck on the corners of fuzzy blankets and chew on her lamby doll, which entrances her at times. Perhaps she will be the type to carry a lovey around? I always thought it endearing when children were attached to a stuffed animal or blanket. (Emma and her pink bears! ;) [sidenote: although i chuckled when i saw a little girl in wal-mart dragging a full-size quilt everywhere she went, i felt for her mother! i hope olive gets attached to a small item]

Olive still eats up her one-on-one time with Owen every day. He has a way of calming her down, even during a crying jag sometimes! And, if you could see the way she looks at her Daddy...it melts my heart every time. She looks at him with these wide, bright eyes. I am worried that if she does that when she is 16, Roby will do something crazy like run out and buy her a car! :)

Gazing at Dada during a bath

Seeing Double

2008-10-24T09:18:00.006-05:00

Olive is still looking like her big bro!

Owen at three months

Olive

Owen

Olive

Owie telling Livy a story

2008-10-21T10:31:00.004-05:00

Owen has been telling Olive stories ever since she was in my womb! I think that's why she recognized him right away in the hospital the day after she was born and *smiled* at him for the first time!

Translation: the arm he is speaking of is the mechanical arm the garbage trucks around here use to pick up the trash. (Watching the garbage truck do its thing on trash day is a treat for Owen, and the garbage man always looks for Owen and blows his horn for him!)

Meeting our Left Coast friends in the Deep South!

2008-10-18T22:18:00.011-05:00

Recently we had the good fortune to meet up with some California friends (who now live in TX) in Atlanta, while they were en route to visiting family. The timing proved impeccable since Roby had to fly out of ATL airport the following morning for a business trip. After quickly settling into our hotel room, we drove a short jaunt to a local Ruby Tuesdays, and there they were! I haven't seen Suzanne and Aron since visiting them in Dallas when Owie was 5 months old or so, and *finally* got to meet their darling nearly two-year-old, Maggie! For the next hour-and-a-half, we chatted over dinner, while Owen and Maggie shared each other's markers and little people toys, and Suz & A had some Olive time. The kidlets played together wonderfully and, after relocating outside for some picture taking, enjoyed rock hunting most of all! I tried capturing some sweet moments of the energetic twosome-which proved interesting and comical-and was quite happy to get updated pics of me with my simply radiant preggo friend and a few of the guys as well.

While our time together was definitely way too short, it was most definitely sweet! I am SO happy everything worked out and we were able to catch up a bit. Our time together made me miss the good old California days even more, which Roby & I agree were some of the sweetest, most memorable of our lives! We used to have dinner at each other's houses and catch some shows (along with Suz's sister Shannon and her hubby Steve), and Suz & I participated in a book club and Bible study together. We can't believe it's been 6 years since we attended their wedding and that we have two kids and they are nearly there! Ah, we miss you guys! We wish we lived closer to you and look forward to hanging out again...hopefully sooner than 3 years from now! Can't wait to meet baby boy McKay at some point!

Afterwards, Roby and I had a little adventure trying to find the H&M store at Atlantic Station to get Owen's winter coat and then headed back to the Westin where we excitedly watched the Phillies win the National League Pennant! World Series here we come! I then took Owen for a little late night swim, which is one of his favorite things to do every time we visit Atlanta, while Roby had some Olive time. We had a fun-filled little day/night trip-which was MUCH needed on my part!

Owen falling for Mags!

2008-10-18T13:34:00.000-05:00

Owie is THREE!

2008-10-17T22:38:00.012-05:00

Wow. Our firstborn turned THREE! We are still a little shocked at how the years flew by! Owen is super excited to be a big boy now, (he says, “I’m a big boy, but Mama can still call me her baby boy.” Apparently I needed his permission!), and we treasure watching his personality bloom. He fared well at his annual check-up today, even impressing me by watching the nurse do a finger stick to collect blood without flinching/crying! We are so proud of him! Owen currently weighs 31 pounds and is 37 inches tall. Roby and I are so thankful he remains a healthy little boy-growing just fine in every way!

Owen’s interests still are: robots, dinosaurs, diggers, books, puzzles & drawing. He continues to amaze us with what he picks up. One day we were talking about a tall building that still needed some work near the top. After pondering a bit, Owen offered, “They are going to need an aerial truck to fix that, Mama!” Yeah, I had never heard of one either. He learns so much from his books! He also told us recently, “I want to be a builder when I grow up!” and thinks it would be pretty cool to become an architect or an archaeologist too. Owen can still put his 50-piece dinosaur floor puzzle together by himself in no time flat, basically remembering where each individual piece goes. His drawings have started getting more and more detailed, and I keep snapping pictures for his little kid portfolio. (When he’s older we think he will enjoy seeing what he drew as a toddler.) Oh! He has pretty good taste in music right now as well! He requests to listen to his favorite songs, over and over, especially in the car (which is cute, but can eventually drive you slowly mad :) His current faves are: Vampire Weekend: Blake’s Got a New Face, Jack Johnson: Upside Down, One Republic: It’s Too Late to Apologize and Jason Mraz: I’m Yours. You never know what song he will like obsessively next! He absolutely *loves* to dance, too. I’ll have to post some video of his moves!

I’m amazed at how Owen is developing his speech patterns. It’s such fun to watch as he learns to speak in long sentences and use little phrases he picks up from us along the way. He uses correct grammar the majority of the time, and doesn’t mind if we correct him…even enjoying using it correctly and pointing out that he did so. He still can’t pronounce hard Cs, Ss and other random sounds. Some of the cute things he says these days: I’m farry (sorry), bemember? (remember), barry white (very right), atarium (aquarium), hanitizer (hand sanitizer), byack (black), byue (blue), & chicken donald’s (mcdonald's-an oldie but still a goodie. :) Also, anything that has transpired prior than the current day, in Owen's world happened "last night." Owen can also write his name, although he spells it OMEN- which is either endearing or a bit creepy!

Our little guy still likes to “snuddle” with us in the morning and before bed. Such an affectionate little guy. The funny thing is, even though he is just mispronouncing “snuggle,” the urban dictionary defines snuddle as a verb mixing the words snuggle and cuddle. So I guess he is our snuddle bug! And Owen makes it abundantly clear that Olive is his “cutie.” The boy is so protective of his little sis! I showed Owen pictures of Maggie on our friend Suzanne’s blog, explaining that we were going to meet up with them in Atlanta yesterday, and I casually asked, “Isn’t Maggie a cutie?” Owen said very seriously, “No! Olive is my cutie.” I replied, “She’s pretty though, right?” and he agreed. (After meeting her, he told me today that “Magdie” is a princess ;) Apparently he takes his big brother status with his cutie very seriously! Chuckle. When Olive cries, he rushes to her side repeating, “It’s ok, Olive, I’m here,” trying to comfort her. Every day he gets to hold her for a few minutes and brushes his cheeks against hers and says “Yes, you are” over and over. (We will say something to her, like “You are such a sweet baby. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. So now Owen just says “Yes you are” without anything preceding it. Cute!) He also asks (a million times a day it seems!), “I washed my hands, can I touch Olive’s hands now?” I don’t know what it is about her hands, but he always has to be touching and holding them! We love watching Owen transform into such a good big brother to Livy!

It's so hard to wrap up Owen's personality in a tiny blog entry, but I will continue to update the blog with his three-year-old antics!

Owen's moves!

2008-10-17T20:53:00.005-05:00

Here are two videos of Owie getting his groove on (to one of his favorite songs no less)! As a bonus, the second one also involves some eating of plums and following of the 10-second rule ;)

Olive's accomplishment

2008-10-17T17:02:00.004-05:00

While Jason and Melinda were visiting, Olive decided to roll from her belly to her back for the first time! It took her awhile to get where she is in this video-I thought I would spare you the beginning and show you the good stuff! She still has yet to roll over the other way, but I think it's due to the fact that she doesn't like being on her belly...so why would she want to purposefully roll onto it? he he he.

party, party, par-tee

2008-10-13T09:16:00.017-05:00

For Owen's third birthday party, we invited his closest little pals and their families, along with his "blueberry," Miss Vicki, who Owen is very fond of. The kids chilled inside a bit then moved out into the cool weather to play with the sand table and chase Mr. Chris around the yard. Roby grilled, while the adults hung out on the back porch chatting and passing around Adrian and Olive. Then it was time for cake! This year, I didn't go with a theme, but had Owie pick out his plates (wall-e of course!) and opted for yet another Martha Stewart inspiration-a cake made out of Rice Krispie treats and decorated with Trix! Vicki lent a hand (literally) mixing the mass of gooey marshmallow and cereal. It turned out to be a cute, whimsical, little cake for the O-man, who, flanked by Caleb and Isaac, enjoyed his Happy Birthday song and didn't even mind Isaac helping blow out his candles! Afterwards, Owen gave his buddies their treat bags, which he had painstakingly colored in the morning. They finished off the perfect evening on the front porch with some bubble blowing fun before heading home with bright green balloons.

We all liked the atmosphere of his small get-together with a few children his age, as opposed to a huge party (although I'm sure we'll still have some of them once in awhile!) The adults had a great time and were surprised at how calm everything was with 3 toddlers and 2 bebes! Owen had a blast with his pals and is so excited that he is 3 now!

Owen laughing with Uncle Jason

2008-10-07T12:05:00.006-05:00

While playing with Jason, Owen started dramatically sighing after a spell of laughter, which would crack us up, which would get him started laughing again. I love his little, well, big, laugh!

Jason and Melinda's Visit

2008-10-06T23:00:00.000-05:00

My brother Jason and sister-in-law Melinda recently visited us for a week! After some craziness involving their flights and 24 hours with no sleep, they arrived in Nashville and drove to Knoxville for an University of Tennessee game. They are Penn State Alum, so that's where there hearts lie, but they enjoy the sport in general. After driving down to Chattanooga and getting a night's sleep, the adventurous duo left for a white-water rafting trip about an hour's drive away. My brother has a busy job as a newish lawyer in Philadelphia, working many hours to ensure he gets his quota of billable hours. Because of this, he rarely takes any time off, so we were happy he was able to escape for a vacation and come see us!

Owen enjoyed all the attention from Uncle Jason (who, for some random reason, he chose to just call "Uncle" while he was here) and Aunt Mel and the busyness of their stay. While Roby worked, we piled into their rental car and drove down to Alabama (a two-hour drive, not bad!) to visit with Mel's Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Mel & I took in the nice weather, chatting with her Aunt Janice on the back porch, while Jason channeled his inner child and jumped on the trampoline with Owen. All that activity wore out Owie, who promptly fell asleep at the dinner table as we enjoyed some homemade Italian food! I think Olive had fun on her first little day trip too!

On Melinda's 27th birthday, while Roby worked, we went to the Chattanooga aquarium. Owen continues to be fascinated by marine life, and even witnessed a special treat...We happened to be at the right place at the right time when divers descended to feed the fish and stingrays. In the evening, to celebrate Melinda's special day, Jase took her for some delish eats at Tony's, an Italian restaurant located in the carriage house of a Victorian mansion in Chattanooga's Bluff View art district. Upon their return, we had a little party, that, thanks to Owen, wasn't much of a surprise. While they were enjoying their dinner, Owen, Livy and I shopped for some birthday items. As soon as Melinda stepped in the door, Owie said, "Let's have your birthday cake now!" and "We got party hats!" Thankfully, O's antics amused Mel, and she seemed to enjoy her little birthday party.

The following day, Jason, Mel, the kidlets and I drove down to Dalton, GA, to pick Roby up from work on our way to Atlanta. A rep at work kindly gave Roby tickets to the Phillies vs. Braves game, and we decided to make a little overnight trip out of it. Thanks to hotwire.com, we secured affordable rooms at a posh hotel in Buckhead, a nice part of Atlanta. After arriving at the hotel, we got ready, made sure the kids were fed and took a train to downtown Atlanta to catch a shuttle that took us to Turner field for the game. Owen liked his first train ride. (I love how everyday things fascinate children so much!) We had fourth-row seats in left field. This was Owen's second Phillies game, and he wondered where the Phillies mascot was (the Philly Phanatic). He amused us by clapping whenever anyone else did, including for the other team. ;) He also enjoyed his first little taste of spun-sugar heaven. What would a baseball game for a kid be without some blue and pink cotton candy?! Oh, and it was nice to win, too! Roby also bought a commemorative home team ball, which he does at every stadium he visits. Apparently they will one day be displayed in Owen's room- which I'm fine with as long as we can do so in a cool way. ;)

After a night snoozing in big, comfy beds, we walked to nearby Lennox mall, grabbed breakfast at Panera's, purchased discount tickets, and then were on our way to Zoo Atlanta! This zoo was much bigger than the one that Owen is accustomed to. He just told me his favorite part was seeing "the giraffes...and the zebra by the giraffes." I think we all liked watching the giraffes unfurl their long tongues to grab leaves from the tall trees. Olive slept most of the time either in the stroller or worn by Roby in a sling. Afterwards, we had a little photo shoot by some trees with Jason, Mel and their niece and nephew. I think the pictures turned out spectacular! On the drive home, we stopped at a Crab Shack for some eats, which I think Owen enjoyed because 1. pizza 2. shark toy that came with daddy's drink 3. the waiters and waitresses spontaneously started dancing to loud music every once in awhile...what's not to like?!

After a week filled with hanging out and fun excursions to different places, it was time for Jason and Melinda to drive back to Nashville for their flight home...but not before taking in Owen's first soccer game! (See details a few entries below.) We were so happy that they chose to come visit us, and that they were able to spend some quality time with Owen and meet Olive for the first time! We look forward to seeing them at Christmas time!

Celebrate!

2008-10-06T00:10:00.001-05:00

Go Phillies!

2008-10-06T00:05:00.000-05:00

Zoo Atlanta

2008-10-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Roby and I dig the bamboo groves at zoos

Either that's foliage or quite a fancy hat there, Jason!

I love the leaves of the scarlet curls willow tree, indigenous to Asia

Yes, ironically, I think we look alike. He would disagree! ;)

Our little monkey chillin' with an ape

All smiles for Auntie Mel!

The next Pele?

2008-10-02T13:07:00.009-05:00

Taking after their father, both Roby and Rony have played soccer for many years. Roby usually is keeper, but plays other positions as well. He has always been excited to share the sport with Owen, who actually has shown a lot of potential kicking the ball around and dribbling pretty well at home. So when our friends Stephanie and Michael told us about soccer sign-ups for two- and three-year-olds, we were in! Off we went to buy itty-bitty cleats, shin guards, soccer socks and shorts. It proved interesting trying to dress a wiggly toddler in all his sports garb...and he looked so cute in his first little jersey! (#5 like McNabb-different football but still cool!)

What we didn't realize is how shy he would become once he got on the field. He needed to hold Roby's hand at all times and didn't want to participate in the warm-up games or the actual match. (They don't keep score of course, but running and kicking the ball aiming for a goal is encouraged.) Nowadays when O is nervous around children he is unfamiliar with, he rolls his tongue over and over. That's what his first game consisted of, pouting and rolling his tongue. When the teams were at one side of the field playing, you could find Owen on the other side shooting goals with his own bright orange ball. At least he was interacting, just anti-socially. :) He fared a bit better at his second game and interacted well with the coach. His next game is this Saturday, so we'll see how he does.

More than anything, we just wanted him to be exposed to the sport and the idea of the game/teams at a young age, while having fun at the same time. I try not to stress about the fact that he isn't participating correctly like the other kids and realize that it is just a phase and completely normal to feel overwhelmed. So we just try to make it fun for him any way we can, including staying after everyone leaves so Roby and he can kick the ball around. Roby recently hired a cool chickee Yukiko at work and has started playing Wednesday nights with her husband Vincent. He's enjoying getting back in the game despite the challenges that come with being out of practice. (I was actually extremely impressed with his fancy footwork and can't imagine how well he will play when he isn't rusty!)

notice the tongue :)

when the ball came to him, he reacted by pouting

shooting goals/playing on his own while the team was at the other side

update! today (10/4/08) owen played with his team (with me by his side) and scored 2 goals! He's getting a little less shy with each game-only 2 more before his season is over though.

2 months old

2008-10-01T20:39:00.004-05:00

Our little sassafras turned two months old on September 24th! Her pediatrician proclaimed her one healthy doll (I hear that a lot...and it's true, not only in the cutesie sense, but she resembles a baby doll sometimes). She has evened out a little and is now in the 50th percentile for both length (now 22 1/4...she grew 2 inches in a month) and weight (a whopping 9 pounds, 13 ounces ;). While she takes after her brother looks-wise, she is much tinier. At this age, O weighed more than 11 pounds and rolled from his back to belly already. Olive has rolled from her belly to back though, perhaps motivated by her dislike for being on her stomach. I'm not too worried about her not following in Owen's milestone footsteps...she just seems more laid back than him. And she sleeps MUCH better than he ever did! chuckle. Olive settles down for the night at 1:30, and has been sleeping between 5 and 7 hours a night for weeks now. All I can say is *thank you*. I don't feel as sleep deprived as I did the first time around. Our little Livy continues to be a quite friendly, smiley, happy baby, and yesterday she *laughed* for the first time! It sounded soooo adorable! I'm hoping for a repeat giggle session soon so Roby can hear that sweet sound.

who, me?

Seeing Double

2008-09-26T08:49:00.008-05:00

I'm going to make my Seeing Double entry a monthly occurrence to track how long Owen and Olive resemble each other. So far, little o is pretty much a more delicate carbon copy of big O!

Owen at two months
...and Olive

Olive's little buddies

2008-09-22T16:10:00.006-05:00

Happily, Olive has a lot of little pals close in age to her. Handsome, blue-eyed Adrian is two-and-a-half months older than Olive. The babies accompanied Stephanie and me to our girls'-night-in birthday bash for Aimee and Alyson (complete with chinese take-out and a chick flick), while the hubbies stayed home with the toddlers.

Hayes, the cutie patootie daughter of our friends Hank & Amanda, is 6 months older than little o. They visited us on a friday night, bringing along a delish home-cooked meal for us! Hooray...thanks guys! Hayes was especially bubbly and seemed to enjoy her little photo op with baby Olive.

They held hands on their own! Cuters!

Pappa & Mummy's visit

2008-09-21T20:43:00.012-05:00

A week after my Mom returned to PA, Roby's parents came for a 3-week visit! They were helpful while we continued to adjust to life with a toddler and newborn. Man, what would we do without our parents? O was thrilled to have Nana, Ammachy & Appachan visit for weeks at a time! Clearly he would love if we all lived near one another. I wonder if the future ever holds this for us? We are always saddened when family leave...we feel so far away.

Meeting their fifth grandchild for the first time

Olive's first bath

Owen "helping" with Olive's bath

As part of Roby's Malayalee culture, the grandfather ties a black string and gold chain around the grandchild's belly on the baby's 28th day of life.

We are forever trying to get the perfect family shots to share with the grandparents. Every year we make my mom and Roby's parents an ofoto calendar with various pics from throughout the year. Thankfully we have many good shots to choose from!

We had to bribe Owie with freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies for him to comply with taking these pictures! Olive requested a full belly and seemed to deal with her photo shoot pretty well!

my favorite photo of the kidlets so far

2008-09-17T23:20:00.000-05:00

I wanna be like Dada!

2008-09-07T08:46:00.006-05:00

One night while Roby's parents were visiting, Owen went over to Roby's luggage (he had just returned from Austin for Lisa and Shoney's wedding...congratulations!) and started pulling out clothes. He declared that he wanted to be "like Dada and go to work." I helped him adjust the clothes to fit him by a ton of rolling and using a chip clip to keep the pants up in the back. ;) He, of course, also wanted socks-which came up to his thighs-and Roby's hat, watch & shoes. Here are some pics of the dapper mini-Roby!

Don't you just love his shoes on the wrong feet?!

O trying to walk without the pants falling off

Choppity, chop. chop.

2008-09-07T00:40:00.004-05:00

So I did it. After, oh, 1,000 years I took the plunge. I chopped my long, curly locks opting for a more modern look. Yes, me, the girl who gets her hair cut every few years and highlighted about every 7. Shocked? Me too. Hmmm. Still not used to it, but I think I like it! I was able to donate my hair, which makes it all worth it. Besides, I can always grow it back!

the high main me

the low main me

Owen's newest art work

2008-08-28T21:25:00.010-05:00

Rockets

Roby

Owen
(And while that may look like a goatee, he told me it's his chin.) I think this is also the first picture where he drew limbs. I bet that means something, but I'm not a pyschologist. ;)

Stegosaurus

Unidentified fish (perhaps a clown fish? ;)

One month old!

2008-08-28T21:01:00.003-05:00

Little Olive is already one month old! We can't believe how quickly babyhood flies by and are trying to soak up every sweet moment...even though most moments involve her sleeping! ;) Her one-month check-up went well; she is healthy and growing! She weighed seven pounds, 3 ounces at birth and is now 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and has grown from 19 inches to 20.5 inches (50th percentile for weight and 25th for height). She still has a tinge of jaundice, but we continue to give her indirect sunlight to chase it away. Olive sleeps through most of the day and is fussy at night, so I'm battling sleep deprivation a bit right now. Seems she is most alert, awake and smiley at 1:30 a.m. and wants to settle down for nighttime at 3:00! I hope this night owl gets her sleep schedule turned around soon. What we are most excited about is how she has started cooing and interacting with us more. I look forward to those cute little Olive sounds! And the way she smiles when Roby holds her is pure magic. This is a picture of her beaming at her daddy.

(A bunch of....) First family pics!

2008-08-26T14:09:00.015-05:00

We took our first family photos when Olive was two weeks old and my Mom was still visiting

Isn't my hubby sooooo handsome? ;)

Big O & little O

2008-08-26T13:47:00.010-05:00

Here are pics of Owen and Olive right after they were born. Olive is definitely a miniature, more delicate version of her big brother!

And at one month!

Olive's birth story

2008-08-07T16:34:00.021-05:00

On Thursday, July 24th, I went into labor two weeks early at 1:30 p.m. My friend Alyson, who lives right down the street, came over to my house to help me with some last-minute packing and to collect Owen, while Roby made his 40-minute commute from work. We arrived at the hospital, which thankfully is 5 minutes away, at 3:30. Unfortunately, they sent me home after two hours of breathing through contractions because of zero progression from 2 1/2 centimeters. I know, that's crazy talk you say. I whole-heartedly agree!

After 2 1/2 hours of intense laboring at home, my water broke and Roby had to channel Speed Racer to get me to the hospital. Once there, he couldn't coax me out of the car, where I was trying to deal with the pain, into the waiting wheel chair and had to tell me what my two options were: 1. Get into the wheel chair immediately 2. Have a parking lot baby. I opted to not have a parking lot baby. :) The nurses wanted to see progression, well, apparently Olive was thinking, "I'll show them!" After a crazy race to a room, and no time to even change into those lovely gowns, there I was in full-on labor, unable to get an epidural or any relief at this point, with the on-call OB still on the drive to the hospital. God certainly was looking after me that day, as He provided an awesome, wonderful, sweet, encouraging, understanding, compassionate, CALM OB from a completely different practice who just happened to be down the hall after delivering a baby and heard all the Heather-in-labor ruckus (it's actually quite accurate that most everyone in that hospital wing did!). Dr. Newman introduced herself and asked if she could deliver my baby. Hmmmmm, let me think about that...uh, YES PLEASE! After pushing through 2 contractions for 5 minutes, Olive made her way into this world at 8:22 p.m.! The amount of time passed from parking lot baby option to Olive's birthday? TWENTY minutes. Yes, friends, it officially was a crazy labor and delivery- parts of which I am still trying to cope with and get past...(such as why in the world did they send me home with a pain pill when I was having contractions 2 minutes apart and 45 seconds long?), but I'm slowly dealing with it more with each passing day.

God blessed us with an incredibly healthy, beautiful, happy baby girl (who looks like a miniature Owen)! We are so grateful that she didn't suffer from any complications! She lost nearly a pound in her first few days of life, but thankfully after about 10 days of nursing her every 2 hours, she gained all her weight back by her second week birthday, woohoo! The other concern we faced was her jaundice. Since it had not cleared by her last check-up, she needed to get her bili-rubin levels checked, and we discovered they were high. The next three days we continued to place her in indirect sunlight for as long as possible to help get rid of the jaundice, and I'm excited to say that after getting retested a few hours ago, her levels went down...and she is officially out of the woods! Hooray for an official clean bill of health- such a relief!

Owen seems to be adjusting well to this new little girl in his life, whom he has dubbed "his ladybug." Alyson brought him to the hospital the day after Olive was born to see his sister and meet up with his Nana, who had driven 12 hours straight the night before from Pennsylvania to get here for her two-week visit. He seemed a little shy at first, but soon was holding her in his lap and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...and that's when it happened...her first real smile! I didn't know it was possible so early on! It was SO obvious that she recognized her big brother's voice from when he would talk and sing to her while she was still swimming in her watery world! It was AMAZING. I have never seen such a smiley, happy baby. If you speak to her in a certain soft way, she will flash a little grin at you, and has even laughed for Roby (which he captured with the camera)! The other thing that makes me melt is when Owen goes over to Olive when she cries and says, "It's alright, Olive, Owen is here. There is nothing to be scared of" in his sweet little voice. And he will randomly say, "I want to touch Olive," and touch her hands and graze his lips across her fuzzy little head and then say, "Awwwwww. What a cutie."

These first two weeks have been wonderful with my Mom visiting and Roby able to spend some time at home with us. Olive has slept through most of it, but we still relish those cozy moments snuggling with her sweet little sleepy self. Roby returned to work after the first week, and Mom has helped tremendously by cleaning my whole house top to bottom and cooking yummo meals EVERY night. Roby is in heaven...now I have so much to live up to...uh oh! ;) It is going to be a challenge Monday when Mom leaves and I'm left to take care of a rambunctious nearly 3-year-old and a needy newborn. Hmmmm. I'm kinda terrified people. Obviously mamas do it all the time, so I'm sure I will figure it out. If you have any tips, please share!

I will do my best to keep our blog updated with news and pics of the latest addition to the Isaac family. Looking forward to sharing our continued adventure into parenthood with you all!

Introducing.....Olive Ella Isaac!

2008-07-28T19:16:00.005-05:00

Olive Ella Isaac
born exactly two weeks early on Thursday, July 24th at 8:22 p.m.
She weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and measured 19 inches long.
Mama and baby are healthy, and she is absolutely a dream!
Details and more pictures coming soon!

Olive is almost here!

2008-07-21T22:22:00.004-05:00

I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant with our daughter (can you believe it!? a girl!!!) Olive. This pregnancy has definitely been challenging, particularly for the first 5 months. I am definitely ready for her to be here, but still not completely satisfied that I have everything done that I want to with the house, her room, etc...probably just that crazy nesting instinct that guys don't particularly understand entirely! ;) I have an appointment with my OB on Wed. to see how much more I have progressed, and he has suggested scheduling an induction for this upcoming weekend. I'm not totally sold on the idea yet, although I recently received some extremely encouraging news from a friend of Suzanne's...who was basically in the same situation I am and she just had a healthy baby girl after an induction and 5-hour labor! So that gave me hope! I will ask a TON of questions on Wednesday until I feel like I have my answer.

And although it may sound crazy, I have a plan! There is an Italian restaurant, Scalini's, in Atlanta that is known for their eggplant parmesan that puts nearly due preggo women into labor within 48 hours of eating the dish! I've been to the restaurant before and have looked at their "baby wall" filled with 300 pics of babies born after their Mamas ate the eggplant parm! The restaurant has graciously posted the recipe online. So I am thinking of scheduling the induction for Saturday and then having Roby make me the delish dish and eating it like crazy friday night and sat. day and praying that I will go into labor naturally and that God will make Olive an eggplant baby! ha! Wouldn't that be a story to tell the grandkids! Who knows if I'll go through with it, just one of my crazy ideas! (By the way, they aren't quite sure what it is about the entree that sends women into labor. Some theorize that it isn't even the eggplant, but the combination of herbs such as oregano and basil that may have a labor-inducing effect.) If you want to check out the baby wall: http://www.scalinis.com/Bambino.htm

So the next time I write here, our little bambino will have arrived! And, as always, we really would appreciate your prayers during this exciting, yet stressful, time! Thanks!

Loooong overdue Owen update!

2008-07-21T18:39:00.010-05:00

It has been so long since I have updated everyone on what's been going on with the O-man! His second year has been exciting, but has held some challenges. If it tells you anything, we've recently invested in The Strong Willed Child by Dr. Dobson, as well as The No-Cry Discipline Solution. Don't get me wrong, he is thee sweetest, most loving, affectionate child, but he just likes to say No! alot and has very selective hearing. :) I suppose this is common 2-year-old behavior though! Let's see, where to begin? Let's start with his obsessions!

He still loves construction vehicles/trucks, particularly diggers, and can distinguish between front loaders, excavators, cranes, bucket trucks, brush trucks, garbage trucks, recycling trucks- you get the picture! There is a lot of construction going on around here, so he is forever pointing everything out to me.

Owen also continues his unabashed adoration for robots, so thank goodness Wall-E recently came out! We took him to the drive-in movies to see it and he was spellbound! Oh and dinosaurs, he has his little menagerie of dinosaur figures and can distinguish which ones are which- "The one with a frill is a Triceratops, the one with the spikes is a Stegosaurus, the big one is a T-Rex, the one that flies is a Pterodactyl." I think I learn right along with him!

Another activity he absolutely enjoys is putting together puzzles. He has a dinosaur floor puzzle that he has basically memorized where every piece goes and can put it together in record time! We have since moved on to a smaller 24-piece Green Eggs and Ham puzzle, which he mastered in one night!

Owen loves singing, specifically "Jesus Loves the Little Children" (which is SO sweet-sounding coming from his adorable little voice), "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "Ba Ba Black Sheep," "Tomorrow" (I think that's the name...the one from Annie) and, of course, the alphabet song...which he now sings "O O O O P" because he knows everyone gets a kick out of it!

He still has a hard time pronouncing some words, but some are way too cute to correct, like Fuperman, and Fippa Ja Jones (for his Skippy John Jones book), Bump Truck, "pasta" instead of hosta, and for awhile grasshoppers were "ass boppers" :) There are so many more, but I can't recall them all right now. I have started teaching him how to sound things out like "Duh, Duh, dump truck," and he can say it correctly if he really tries. But now when we don't understand something he is saying, he will say Duh, Duh and then the word, whether it begins with a D or not. Hey! At least he is trying! :)

A few other random things, he *loves* to snuggle, and he isn't quite gentle either so he basically rolls all over you and jams his face into yours...so it will be interesting how we will get him to be gentle with Olive, who he can't wait to meet by the way! He talks to her every day and calls her "olve" and says she is a ladybug. He tells her stories and enjoys laying his head on my belly when she has hiccups and thinks it's hilarious that he can feel her move. He is already so generous toward her, always wanting to help get things ready for her, like paint her room, and is excited that she will be using his old crib, swing, toys, etc. Not one ounce of jealousy about her using all his stuff..he even gave up his room for her without a whimper. Hopefully he won't be jealous of her when she arrives, but I am thinking he is just going to be so happy that she is here! So cute!

Owen signs I love you the correct way and tells us all the time, says his name is Owen Isaac Anders Isaac, starts his made up stories by saying "one a time," plays a game where he says, "you are a digger, I am a bucket truck," loves his new big boy twin bed, is very polite and even says, "Excuse me Mama, I would like to say something" if he is interrupting a conversation, loves taking showers, would wear his rain boots every day inside and out if I would let him, and enjoys dancing-even trying to break dance.

And, drumroll please, he is almost fully potty trained! Yippee! I decided to start trying while reinforcements were here and was just so determined to not have two kids in diapers. For awhile he has been using his Elmo Potty before bath time, but just didn't want to proceed any further. I am ALL for bribing...and that's all it took. At first it was a matchbox every time he actually went, if you know what I mean, and then I ran out of cars. So then Roby made a potty sticker chart/grid. Every time equals one sticker. Once he gets 5 stickers he gets some of a Hershey's candy bar, second five it's an ice cream cone, third set it's a dinosaur figure, fourth it's a matchbox, and last five it's a book. This system has worked like a charm! I'm proud to say that today he has finished his whole first chart and hasn't had an accident at all! He will even tell us in public places when he has to go! Now, if only he would stop being lazy about peeing in his pull-ups...we are almost there though!

I realize this was A TON of info on our little guy, but I really haven't written a proper update for him in over a year!

Owen's artwork

2008-07-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

Owen has exhibited an interest in all things artistic since a young age (hmmmm, taking after his designer daddy perhaps?) and has always loved drawing, whether with colored pencils, pens, crayons, markers, etc. His favorite tool is the magnetic doodle pro that he is constantly drawing on. Because of the very zen nature of the doodler (erase it after you draw it...just like the monks who draw on the sand and let the waves lap away their art), i have to take pictures of his creations. He generally tells me what the subject of each masterpiece is, and I love the way he interprets things and sees the world! Here are his pieces starting from when he just turned two until recently! I hope you enjoy his creative endeavors as much as I do!

His very first work of art...a dump truck!

Pablo (the blue penguin character to the left of the doodler)

Bee

Gate

Snake

Backyardigan's house

Unidentified

My personal favorite-Dada :)

Stegosaurus

Triceratops

"Hummingbird whale"

Owen's interpretation of the Lady and the Tramp picture from this book:

Jacob's arrival!

2008-07-21T17:23:00.007-05:00

Our close friends Shannon and Steve used to live down the street from us in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA- now they live in Bishop, Northern California. We are bummed being so far away from them, but thankfully we have been able to see each other on a few occasions since we moved down South. We were sooooooooo thrilled to learn of Shan's pregnancy, and how awesome that we could be preggo at the same time! I *love* that!

On Shannon's birthday, May 31st, Shan received the biggest birthday surprise ever-Jacob decided to come 10 days early! After an 8-hour labor and natural delivery (so proud of you girl!), Jacob arrived weighing in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and measuring 20" long. We can't wait to meet the little guy! Congratulations guys!

(Oh, and are we still on for the arranged marriage between Jacob and Olive down the road? ;)

Stephanie's baby shower

2008-07-21T17:02:00.011-05:00

The Bingo girls threw a baby shower for Stephanie at Aimee's house, which was decorated with irises fresh from her amazing garden and glowing Indian stars we used at our wedding reception! Alyson made a diaper cake complete with le bebe's name. We all had a wonderful time celebrating the impending arrival of Adrian Alexander, who made his arrival on May 14th! He is the sweetest little thing, quite the sleeper, and has a wonderful fuzzy head. It's so fun to watch how Owen's buddy Isaac loves on his baby brother!

The Mama-to-be!

Aly and Aimmee grilled up a delish supper!

Jen is our resident drink maker...on the menu for that night? virgin frozen pina coladas (made with real pineapple juice, coconut, etc., not a mix, and for the non-preggos, )

Here he is!!!

Philly family visit!

2008-07-21T16:00:00.001-05:00

Roby's parents, Pappa and Mummy, recently visited us for 2 months to help me with Owen while Roby went on several business trips. They are SO helpful, everything from cooking (I pretty much ate chicken curry with Naan, Biryani, and iced chais for 2 months straight! Which is good for Olive, since she'll hopefully have a taste for Indian food like Owen does!), cleaning, watching Owen, re-arranging the garage, painting the nursery and Owen's new room, shopping, crocheting Olive two blankets, landscaping, etc. Wow! What would I have done without them? While they were here, we celebrated my birthday, Pappa's birthday, our 5th wedding anniversary, Mother's Day, Father's Day and their 40th anniversary! Alot of celebrations going on!

For part of their stay, Roby's brother Rony, sister-in-law Rani, and our nieces Isabel and Anngelina drove down from Philly for a week and a family friend Jose Uncle, his wife and daughter, Alicia, flew out. We had quite a full house there for awhile, but had a fantastic time hanging out and doing some touristy things. Chattanooga isn't called the Scenic City for nothing!

Summer fun with Ammachy

Aboard the Southern Belle river boat on the Tennessee River

Rani is due a few weeks after I am! Everyone predicts they are finally having a boy, but we won't know until August!

The captain blew the horn just as I tried to snap a pic of the proud grandparents!

We took the kids to Coolidge Park, and they absolutely loved playing in the fountains, although Anngelina and Owen were a bit more apprehensive and needed their Daddies by their sides. Rony and Roby didn't have trunks with them, but it didn't stop them from having a good time!

Happy birthday Pappa!

Wow, 32 already? Crazy!

Roby and I have been married 5 years and together 8! Since we had visitors in town, we haven't yet properly celebrated, but hopefully we will get a chance to soon! (yeah right, i really envision that happening with a baby due any minute! ;)

Isabel is a budding Rachel Ray and enjoys learning about cooking. Here she is putting the mint leaves she picked from my backyard in the iced team maker. For our cookout, she also helped me prepare the potato salad and mac and cheese! I love that she has such an interest in the culinary arts!

Jose Uncle with his family

Our friends Sherine and John were recently married and decided to go on a year-long honeymoon, driving cross-country visiting various friends, relatives and sites, ending up on the left coast to live in CA for a year. What an awesome idea! They happened to be visiting relatives in Atlanta and drove up to have breakfast with us so we could visit for awhile. Good luck on your adventure guys!

Owen rocked at helping paint Olive's nursery (we primed this wall with magnetic primer) a grass green and his room a chill blue. Thankfully we are getting new carpet in tomorrow so we didn't have to worry about him spilling.

Owen loves his Appachan and Ammachy!
He was sad to see them go, asking if he could go to Philadelphia with them. While dropping them off at the airport, Ammachy gave him some money for ice cream (all grandmothers are the same aren't they? :) and he said the bill was a plane ticket so he could go too. Awwww.

April Tampa trip

2008-07-21T15:20:00.001-05:00

Four years ago, when we flew to Atlanta to visit Bindu and Mason over the fourth of July, along with several other cousins and friends, we didn't realize it would become a tradition. The following year, everyone came to Chatt-town for the festivities, followed by Houston, then last year we all had to skip it with too much going on. This year we met in St. Petersburg/Tampa, FL. Although, due to Soby and myself being pregnant, everyone agreed to celebrate the fourth during April ;) no fireworks, but still a chill time!

We decided to make it into a roadtrip (about 9 hours) since Owen loves traveling (he would chant, "Road Pip! Road Pip! Road Pip"). We rented a house near Treasure Island beach, with plenty of room and a BBQ of course! It was sooooooooo wonderful to see everyone again and witness how much Luke had grown since their visit in November. As always, there was plenty of good food, beach time (which Owen *loved*...he still asks if we can go to the beach!), Phase 1, Madden, and chillin'. We missed those of you who couldn't make it this year, and are planning on doing either a cruise or all-inclusive Island destination next year for our trip. Unbelievably, by then Luke will be 2 years old, Owen 3 1/2, Jacob (hopefully Steve and Shan can make it!) will be 1 and Pailyn and Olive nearly 1. Wow! So everyone start saving up now for next year! We are already dreaming about it!

Day dreamin'

The gang sporting the Tampa shirts Roby designed for us!

In Ybor City (Roby spelled backwards...strange!)
And we found a rare olive there too...how fitting!

Soby and I are due one week apart, which is interesting since her husband, Abbey, and Roby were born 6 days apart!

Notice the rifle above our heads. We tend to frequent steakhouses on our trips, and there is always something interesting in our pics...last time it was a deer head!

Easter '08

2008-07-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

After Easter service at our church (thankfully Owen is now comfortable being left alone in his toddler class and enjoys learning songs and coloring pictures!) Owen came home to a little Easter egg hunt in our lawn. He was thrilled to find some matchboxes in his dinosaur eggs and candy in the others. Last year he filled his soccer ball basket with rocks, this year he finally understood. ;)

Christmas 08 with Nana

2008-07-21T11:00:00.001-05:00

This past Christmas, Nana came to visit from Harrisburg, PA, and we had a blast! As usual, our time was filled with a lot of grandmotherly spoiling of the O-man, a ton of good food (Roby loves my Mom's food, and we both always have a few requests for her!) and fun times. We are looking forward to Christmas 2009 with Nana, as well as Uncle Jason and Aunt Mel....oh, and little miss Olive too! yay!

Christmas monkey bread!

2008-07-21T10:00:00.001-05:00

We decided to start a new Christmas tradition this year...monkey bread! Yummo. This year we used a recipe from Real Simple...I think we may just have to use my Mom's sticky bun recipe for subsequent years because nothing tops hers! Owen enjoyed getting his little hands sticky dipping the dough in the butter and sugar-cinnamon mixture and, of course, eating his creation!

Bingo Christmas party

2008-07-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

A year ago, after being inspired by Dannielle's fabulous neighborhood Bingo parties that I visited in Southern Cali., I invited my friends to start a monthly Bingo group with me. Now, this isn't your Grandmother's Bingo! It's basically an excuse for us to get together once a month (rotating between all of our houses), eat delish food, have some fun drinks, play Bingo and win prizes along the way, all the while catching up with girly talk-while the hubbies watch the kiddos! This past January marked a year of gatherings for us, and we celebrated our first Bingo Christmas party at Jenn's house...with husbands and kids of course! We missed you Alyson!

It's so difficult getting the whole gang in a picture using a camera timer.

The first time, I fell on Aimee trying to get back in time! :)

Catching up...finally!

2008-06-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

As you can tell, I am a bit behind with my blog (hmmmm, by like 9 months!), so I'm trying to get caught up before little Olive makes her way into the world in 7 weeks! I think to get everything posted that I want to, I will have to cut down on the writing and just get the pictures up (that's the main thing people want to see anyways, right? ;) Thanks for your patience!

A Chat-town Thanksgiving with Houston and Philly family!

2008-06-14T11:40:00.018-05:00

Tobi, Joyce and Luke visited us for Luke's first Thanksgiving! We were so excited to finally meet baby Lukie, as O affectionately calls him, and watch the two cousins interact. We are hoping that Luke and Owen (not the Wilson brothers ;) develop a strong relationship through the years like their daddies did, and Binoy too-who also came to visit! I love how Roby and his cousins are such a close-knit group. I also appreciate that they make me feel like part of the family too, and Joyce is like a sister to me!

We spent a lot of time chilling out together, playing Chinese checkers, eating yummo food, the guys playing Madden (of course), with a little bit of sight-seeing mixed in.

Coolidge park

2008-06-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

Whenever we have visitors, we usually take them downtown to Coolidge Park, overlooking the Tennessee River. There are fantastic views, particularly in Fall, and the kids love the carousel, fountains and space to run free. We decided to do a photo shoot with Owen and Luke, which proved challenging with Owen not wanting to sit still and Luke just learning to sit up! We still were able to get some cute shots of the little cousins and some great family shots too!

Rock City

2008-06-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

One of the largest tourist campaigns I have ever witnessed is put on by Rock City. Barns all along route 75 sport large white letters urging "See Rock City," which is located on top of Lookout Mountain. On a clear day, you can view seven states from Rock City. During Christmas time, they set up light displays along the trails. We decided to check it out, and enjoyed it as much as we could while freezing our bums off! (Yes, that's Luke in his first dramatic role, playing the part of baby Jesus ;)

Owen's second birthday!

2008-06-14T10:47:00.007-05:00

Owen turned two on October 12th! For his second birthday party, I decided on an ocean theme since O is still obsessed with all things sea creature-ish and loves visiting the aquarium often. I, of course, had it in my head that I needed to be Martha Stewart-like yet again and make the cake and cupcakes, and although we were up until 4:00 in the morning adding finishing touches, everything turned out perfectly! Owen loved having his little friends surrounding him and seemed to enjoy eating all the goodies too!

Jason and Mel's wedding

2008-04-01T12:30:00.001-05:00

In August, we made our first roadtrip with Owen to Philadelphia for my brother's wedding to Melinda! The 12-hour trip went smoothly with the help of O's trusty DVD player and a short stay overnight at Dency's house in Maryland, where Owen enjoyed playing with Rahel and Rayhanna. The next day we arrived in Philly and attended the dress rehearsal at the beautiful Glen Foerd mansion overlooking the Delaware River where they got married, followed by a lovely Italian rehearsal dinner. The following day Roby and I were honored to be a groomsman and bridesmaid in Jason and Melinda's wedding. (Although Owen was a tad too young to participate in the actual ceremony, he put on some fancy duds for the important occasion. Dooney, our lifesaver, entertained O, walking him around the grounds during the wedding so he wouldn't interrupt the ceremony.)

Mel looked radiant in her stunning dress, and Jason quite handsome as they exchanged vows by the water's edge and mingled colored sand together representing their union. It was hard not to cry watching my little brother (I'm sure he hates when I call him that ;) marry the woman of his dreams. Melinda is awesome- I couldn't imagine anyone else more perfect for him. I'm excited to have a sister, and O is happy that she is officially his Aunt Mel! (which used to sound like "oatmeal" when he first started saying it :) A fabulous reception with funny speeches, delish food (plus a chocolate fountain...yum!) and crazy dancing rounded out the perfect day. As you can see, they had fun dancing the night away. (One of the pictures is of Jase and his law school friend Bernard, maybe doing the lawnmower? :) Energetic Owen joined in the fun, dancing around like a little crazy man. (Sorry for the lack of proper wedding pics, but it's hard to take them when you are in the wedding. Hopefully once I buy some from the photographer I will be able to post one.)

It was wonderful to see cousins we haven't seen in awhile and meet Jason and Mel's friends in the wedding party. Roby's parents, who have always really liked my brother, attended as well- quite the family affair! Since Jase and Mel didn't leave for their honeymoon right away, we were able to spend some quality time with them several days after the wedding festivities ended, including a picnic the day after the wedding for everyone who was still in town (we did this too since our wedding fell on Memorial Day weekend...apparently the Hanfords like to get married on picnic holidays ;), a Labor Day picnic with Roby's friends and family, a small picnic with just the newlyweds, us and my Mom, and a nice dinner in Manayunk.

During our Philly trip, we were also able to spend time with Roby's family while staying with his brother and sister-in-law (Rony & Rani). Owen enjoyed playing with his cousins Isabel, Anngelina and Alex since he is finally old enough to play with them. Roby worked in NY during part of our trip, giving me some time to meet with friends, including a playdate with Julie and Brenda (who was still pregnant with her little girl Corinne at the time). I was happy to have the chance to spend some extra time catching up with Brenda over dinner and a movie. One day I drove to NJ (benefit of having your car with you during a trip) to visit my college friend Jodi and her 6-month-old boy Hunter. We ate at a yummo Princeton vegetarian restaurant and then hung out at a nearby park. It had been years since we had seen each other, so it was much needed and *wonderful* to finally get together.

Roby took Owie to his first Phillies game with the guys (Shibu, Divyesh and Binoy), and Owen STILL remembers eating french fries at the game, pretty funny thing to attach importance too. He still has his bright green Philly Fanatic doll to remind him of this milestone (his first Phillies game, not the french fries ;) For a belated birthday present, Roby surprised me with tickets to see Wicked! We went with Binoy, Ryn, Dooney, Abbey and Soby. (Having read the book, I loved this broadway show!) Afterwards we stuffed our faces at Monk's Cafe, known for their pommes frites with bourbon mayo, and their extensive Belgian beer list. At the end of our trip we were able to attend John and Sherine's lovely wedding, which thankfully took place during the time we were in town. They too, looked fabulous and so in love, and we had a great time celebrating with friends. (Some of the pics below of Shibu and Brenda and us on the little bridge are from the wedding location.) We weren't able to stay for the fireworks display because we left from there for our trip home. All in all it was such a lovely visit, full of some great times and memories, especially Jason and Mel's wedding! This was one of our best trips back home ever, and we look forward to another one in the future so we can visit family and friends yet again. We miss you all here in lonely Tennessee!

2008-04-01T12:00:00.002-05:00

Owen and Rahel

O with cousins Anngelina & Isabel

...and Alex

Brenda & me (and Corinne ;)

Mummy grilling at the cook-out

Ab, Shib & Div

Jodi & Hunter

Hunter & Owen

The night we saw Wicked

Shib, Div, Binoy with Roby & O at the Phillies game

I *love* this photo that Shibu took of Roby & Owie at the stadium!

Rob with the guys at Sherine's wedding

Ab & Doon at a George Michael concert...I mean Sherine's wedding!

Brenda & Shibu

Notice Owie in his little Indian outfit and sash :)

A tuckered out Owen on the drive home

Congratulations!

2008-03-27T15:54:00.002-05:00

Our cousin Binoy recently got engaged to our friend Ryn!
Yay! Congratulations guys, and welcome to the family Ryn!
(and how excited am I that I will no longer be the only non-Indian in the fam! ;)

2008-01-06T17:08:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lag in entries. It is annoying me how far behind I am falling. Our computer that holds all of our photos was infected with a virus, so we had to wipe the hard drive clean. Though we thought we had all the pictures backed up on disks, it seems like only the first three months of Owen's pics were saved. Thankfully, we have the best pictures saved on our ofoto.com site. So now all the pictures I uploaded from our Philly trip home for Jason and Melinda's wedding are gone, and I need to save them from ofoto before i can post them on the blog. Soooo, that said, it's going to be a process.

I will send out an e-mail letting faithful readers know when I massively update the blog with: our Philly trip, Thanksgiving in Chattanooga with Tobi, Joyce, baby Luke and Binoy, our Bingo girls Christmas party, Christmas with my Mom, and, of course, an Owen update! Thanks for checking in every once in awhile. (I still am not convinced that more than 4 people read this blog anyways...so to you four, thanks :)

Injustice infuriates me

2007-12-21T17:09:00.000-05:00

Please pray for Eric Volz!

Eric Volz has finally been released from prison for a crime he did not commit. However, his life has been endangered every day, and he isn't truly safe until he is back on American soil. Please pray for his timely and safe release, his deteriorating health, and ultimate transition to freedom. (For the entire back story, visit: http://www.friendsofericvolz.com/index.htm)

A little Sunshine in the South

2007-12-03T09:29:00.000-05:00

Sunshine, a close friend from my college days who lives in Colorado with her son Otis (my godson!) recently made a trip to the South to visit family. Thankfully we were able to meet up with her and her new fiance Kelly in Atlanta for some brunch and had time to chill in a nearby park. We missed Otis, but were thrilled to meet Sunny's charming future hubby and spend some quality time. Sunshine and I have been trying to see each other once a year, which we have pretty much been able to achieve these past few years. How lucky am I that her sister lives in Atlanta?! We had a wonderful time Sunny, and can't wait to see you guys again!

Philly trip post coming soon

2007-12-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

The pics from our roadtrip to Philly in August for Jason and Melinda's wedding are on our virus-riddled computer, so I'll have to wait until our PC is fixed to post. I figured I should catch up on subsequent posts with laptop pics before I get too behind. More to come!

Photo Shoot

2007-11-07T09:02:00.000-05:00

Recently we borrowed our friend Misty's killer SLR digital camera and staged a little photoshoot downtown for Owie. GAP held their annual contest to find a new child model, and we figure O is a contender with that cute little face of his and his overall bi-racialness (which seems to be a GAP model quality ;) We had breakfast at a sunny little spot at the Back Inn Cafe, then wandered over to the statue garden nearby, which has a lovely stone wall and bench overlooking the Tennessee River. O had fun just being himself while I snapped away. I didn't include the actual pictures I entered since I didn't want to jinx it and go against the rules by "publishing" them. Here are some from our day!

Owen is Two!

2007-10-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

Can you believe baby Owen is already two years old? We are constantly amazed at his growth and development. At his second year wellness check-up, we discovered that he is still growing like a weed. At 36 inches, he is tall like, well, not us! :) And he finally surpassed 25 pounds, which he has weighed in at for months (80th percentile for height and 40th for weight). His vocabulary continues to expand, and he has started forming sentences more consistently. His new favorite things to say, or ask rather, are "What's that Mama, what's that Daddy?" (even if only one of us are in the room), "What are you doing?" and "Where are you going?" He is one curious kid!

Owen still enjoys learning and currently knows all of his colors, most of his shapes, and counts by himself from 1 to 13 (and then skips ahead to 18, 19, 20! :) He loves counting out loud, and is so happy with himself when he completes a sequence/task, clapping his hands and saying, "Yaaaaaaayyyyy" and "I did it!" He also loves to sing-especially an Elmo jingle and some theme songs from his shows A Big World and WonderPets. He sings the alphabet, getting about 80% of the letters...and the real treat is how he calls W "bubble-U." He still can't pronounce a hard C sound, replacing it with a T or P. So he says "Puptakes," for cupcakes and "tookies" for cookies, etc., which i find so endearing (notice the word examples involve sugary treats, can you tell he just had a birthday party? pics coming soon.) Sometimes it seems like we need an "Owen to English" dictionary, but we are figuring it out. I still think the sweetest things we can possibly hear are Owen's laughter and speech!

Currently Owen's interests are trains, building with every kind of block/large leggo imaginable, scribbling with crayons and pens, reading, singing, hiding in his closet (strangely he likes the dark, and he also enjoys jumping out and shouting "Peekboo!"), playing with his little buddies, playgrounds, dancing (the boy has rhythm!), washing dishes and helping clean in general, & all manner of animated penguin movies :). He is doing well in his big boy bed and has been sleeping through the night, thankfully. O is a pretty healthy kid, so we couldn't figure out why he had had what we thought was a virus for a week at a time, every other week. Turns out he has allergies, which recently caused a slight ear infection-so he is now on his way to relief from weather-related allergies.

Owen modeling the hat I knit for my godson Otis

These past two years have been so amazing for Roby and me, as we clumsily started out as new parents and watched our little guy grow in so many ways. He certainly is the apple of our eyes and thee biggest joy we could have ever imagined in our lives. We are so blessed and honored that God chose us to be his parents! Now he might need a sibling to play/grow up with sometime in the near future ;)

Quinn is here!

2007-10-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

Julie and I have been friends practically from birth (since we were 4!), so it is so amazing to now watch as both of us have children. Her firstborn, Kaia, is my goddaughter and turns 5 this year. (She was just 6 months old at the time of my wedding!) We were pregnant at the same time and her son Micah and Owen are just a month apart in age. And on October 18th, she and Kevin welcomed baby #3, Quinn Makenzie, into their family! I can't wait to meet the little cutie-pie! I wish we lived closer, since Owie and Micah are best buds by default. :) It would be wonderful to watch them grow up together. Looks like Roby and I have some catching up to do with all our friends having babies left and right these days!

Welcome Selah!

2007-10-22T13:41:00.000-05:00

On October 16th, our friends Mo and Alisa in Virginia welcomed baby girl Selah Elise into the world! Their son Isaac recently turned 3 years old and is excited to have a little sister. Congratulations guys! We are so excited for you!

2007-10-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the path Papa and Roby created as promised!

And baby makes six!

2007-10-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

Our friends Jesseca and Buck in Iowa recently welcomed their fourth child, Graysen Titus, into the world on October 8th. Siblings Caelan, Gabriella, and Brennen have been so loving toward their little brother, and comical with their interactions with him. When Gabby heard Mommy had a baby boy, she turned to her 2-year-old brother Brennen, put her arm around him and cutely quipped, "I'm sorry you didn't get a sister. Sisters just give better hugs." Adorable!

Summer fun

2007-10-01T08:37:00.000-05:00

Roby's parents visited us for two months during the summer, and Owen loved having his grandparents around! He started calling them "Umma" and "Uppa," which they were tickled with because usually when referring to them he only makes a silly sound that reminds him of Malayalam. By the end of their stay, he was calling them Ammachy and Appachan like a pro! He still points to airplanes and says "Plane, Appachan, poi," meaning "Grandpa went away on the plane." So cute, but sad...he certainly does miss them! They spoiled him with love, attention, winnie the pooh critters, Indian food & baby blankets. (Mummy and I were knitting fiends during her stay...she showed me the basics of crochet, and i taught her a few new knitting patterns for baby blankets. So she made him three!) We made many fond memories.

Some of Owen's antics during their stay: We quickly discovered Owen's affinity for Mummy's biryani (sort of an Indian version of fried rice with chicken, peas, and spices.) To this day he asks for "spicy rice," but mine just isn't as good as hers of course!
I had been tracking each new word he started saying every month, but while they were here he started speaking so much, I had to give up writing them all down!
He also learned to pray with us at the dinner table, folding his hands and closing his eyes (every once in awhile he would open them to see if we were almost done...Roby and Pappa tend to say long prayers :) When we said Amen he would loudly repeat, "Amen!" Several times when we began eating without praying he would remind us, "Pray!" and fold his hands. Cuters.
Once while Mummy and I were driving somewhere in the rain, I turned on the back window wipers, which make an annoyingly loud, grating noise against the glass. We laughed so hard and couldn't stop when Owen started saying "bless you" each time the wiper made the noise behind him. Hard to explain, but I assure you very funny at the time. Owen always is saying or doing something to make us smile and chuckle. He also would stand on top of my recipe box and loudly babble to an invisible audience...perhaps he's preaching? :)
Mummy pointed out several of Owen's habits that Roby had when he was little, like choosing to call cats "meows," even though he can say cat, and running around on his tiptoes. There were several more, but I can't recall them right now, but I thought it was cute that Owen's traits were reminding Mummy of Roby as a baby.

During their stay we celebrated a bunch of occasions: Pappa's birthday, our four-year wedding anniversary, father's day and Roby's 30th birthday! We also visited the aquarium, took O to Coolidge park downtown, went to the drive-in movies, enjoyed a visit from our friends the Newtons, traveled to Atlanta to see some friends from Philly who were visiting relatives, helped Owen garden & did some landscaping and hardscaping. Actually, Pappa did most of the work, but with some of Roby's help at night and on weekends, they were able to complete a brick and gravel path leading from our back porch slab to the patio that my brother Jason helped Roby lay last year. (pics to come in a post shortly). We started planting our shade garden (but it will take awhile for the ferns to get big and spread) and watched Owen's little wildflower garden grow out front (complete with miniature sunflowers that were his height). Owen *loves* to help water flowers with his little fishy watering can and always squats down to give them a good sniff!

Here are pictures from Mummy and Pappa's stay and our summer in (hot, hot, hot!) Chattanooga.

We celebrated Pappa's birthday at a local Mexican restaurant, where he was quite surprised when they presented him with a sombrero and sang to him!

May 31st marked our fourth year of marriage (and seventh year together!)
Mummy and Pappa watched O while we went to the movies & The Bonefish Grill (try the bang bang shrimp and yummo steaks with gorgonzola butter sauce). We can't believe four years have passed since we said "I Do" in California. We *love* marriage and continue to grow as we face together all the adventures unfolding before us!

Three generations of Isaacs on father's day!

Owen evidently loved the 30 candles adorning Roby's birthday cake. After the party, when all but one piece of cake was left, we caught Owen taking all of the candles and placing them in the last piece. Once he accomplished his mission, he proudly blew on all of them and proclaimed, "Happy, Happy, Dada!"

Owen loves exploring at the aquarium!

When Mummy announced she had finished Owen's blanket, he promptly climbed up on the coffee table and laid down on it!

We had a wonderful visit with our friends Buck and Jesseca Newton and their kids Brennen, Gabby and Caelan! I worked with Jess in CA, and they have since moved to Iowa. They were on a roadtrip home from New York, and we were happy they stopped during their travels to spend the day with us. Owen and Brennen are the same age, so it was cute to see them interact. We wish we lived closer together so they could play together more often.
Buck and Jess are expecting a little one TODAY!

Could the girls BE any cuter!?!

Future (and already talented) photographer Caelan snapped this picture of us!

This is Owen proudly looking at the 17-block tower he built all by himself.

Quite a feat!

Owen being a little monkey at the park

(I am beginning to think he has some of my gymnastic genes in him!)

Owen, Owen, has does your garden grow?

2007-09-30T10:17:00.000-05:00

Above, the beginnings of Owen's little wildflower garden by the front porch in May.
Below: Full-grown sunflowers in August.

We appreciated all the hard work Pappa did in our backyard. He removed overgrown brush, vines, and poison ivy that take over behind our landscaping.

After a dip in his pool, O decided he would rather garden.

Chat-town friends

2007-09-29T10:29:00.000-05:00

Owen had fun this summer with his little friends, whether chilling out in someone's backyard, splashing around the pools outside of the aquarium, or playing at the mall playground and local parks. I always look forward to playdates with Stephanie and Alyson, the moms of Isaac and Caleb-who you might recall from previous posts. (They keep me sane!) We all met through a mother's connection group at the hospital where we had the boys. Since then, we've added Aimee and her adorable one-year-old daughter Meredith to our little group. It's cute to see how the boys interact with Meredith, and how she tries to keep up with them....and she is doing a pretty good job of it too!

The boys are SO going to be wrapped around her finger!

Trying to get a picture of three squirmy nearly two year olds is always a fun challenge!

Partners in crime, can you tell? :)

Yes, O is wearing a mitten in 90 degree weather, don't ask. On this particular day, Caleb and Owen were enjoying running up to the outside of the living room windows, making strange semi-spitting noises with their mouths, giggling profusely at themselves and then repeating. One word for ya = BOYS!

Ab's wedding

2007-07-29T21:30:00.000-05:00

When I met Roby I marveled at how many friends he had, and not just a bunch of acquaintances, but true, hardcore friends...most of them made of life-time stuff. Abbey is one such friend...I guess if we weren't 30 you could even say one of his best friends. (Can we use that term since we're old now? :) I've enjoyed getting to know Ab through the years and always wished for him to find the right girly who will treat him right and be a perfect fit...so how excited were we when he started talking about Soby. We finally met her when we visited philly last year, and I adored her...beautiful, intelligent, fun-loving, awesome personality...she got our stamp of approval for sure! This past May, Abbey and Soby tied the knot in NY. Roby was honored to be a groomsman, and it was wonderful to share in their special day (even if I did have to watch the ceremony from a sound-proof room because Owen started crying the minute he saw his daddy standing up front and he couldn't join him...at least my other mommy friends were right back there with me!) We had a blast during their wedding weekend, and it was awesome to reconnect with all of Roby's friends in the same location. Roby's parents, sister, cousins (even Tobi from Houston! Unfortunately Joyce couldn't make it because she was so far along in her pregnancy), & aunts and uncles were there too, so it was great to spend time with family as well. We stayed with Roby's brother Rony and were able to get some quality time with our nieces Isabel and Anngelina and nephew Alex. While Roby worked out of the NY office, I stayed in Chestnut Hill with my brother and my Mom came for a visit. Overall we had a *wonderful* trip overflowing with good times, friends and family-it can't get much better than that!

Congrats Ab and Soby!
We are so excited for you and can't wait to see where the adventure that is marriage leads you!

Wedding pictures

2007-07-18T17:05:00.001-05:00

They make such a beautiful couple!

Black Rob & Pappu
(hey, I didn't give them their nicknames :)

*The cousins*

I love when Owie wears his little Indian outfits...so cute!

*My handsome guys*

I'm always happy to see my sister-in-law, Renu

Owen & his cousin Alex are partners in crime...and look how dapper they are!

Our cousin Bindu just moved from Atlanta to Long Island.
We already miss them sooooo much.

Cousin Binoy and his girly Ryn...our roomies for the weekend.

We always have so much fun with these crazy kids!

(And Ryn impressed me with her ability to rock a sari during her first Indian affair. I still stick to the easier to manage tops and skirts...some day!)

Julie and Charley recently had baby Jaelyn, thee cutest little girl! A few weeks ago they visited cousins in Atlanta ,and we drove down to spend the day with them. Roby and Charley discussed dowries, since we are arranging Owen and Jaelyn's betrothal in 20 years...we settled on 20 cows (or cats!) By the looks of it, the cutie pair are already into each other.

Apparently Jaelyn likes older guys!

Brenda is expecting her first baby, Corinne, in several months....so exciting!

That's Brenda's hubby, Shibu, on the right. They also were in ATL recently, and we were able to visit them as well! (What's with the face, Dooney?)

Gotta love Diamond Div!

(This is a perfect example of a classic "Roby trying to ruin the shot" pic. He sticks his face with his big mouth open in the background. Many of you know of his sneaky tactic :) Dooney is thee man. A talented dancer, he choregraphed the amazing dance that many of the girls took part in during the reception. I really wanted to take part, but lived too far away to learn it. And let me just say that if anyone has seen that Indian guy dance Bollywood-style on America's Got Talent, just know that he is awful and has got nothing on Dooney!

I wish I had a video to post...Indian dances are so lovely with all the girls gracefully twirling around the dance floor in those beautiful, vibrant outfits...makes me wish we had that at our wedding, but I didn't know about them then!

Sisters Milly and Lisa have been in Roby's life forever too! I guess you could say Lis is his girl best friend, if we were still 8th graders. In 30-year-old speak I guess they are "close" :)
I finally met Lisa's boyfriend Shoney at the wedding...he has smiley eyes!

Milly, her husband Jay, Shoney & Lisa

Let's play find the vellambi ("white girl" in Malayalam)

Philly trip family pics

2007-07-17T21:05:00.000-05:00

My Mom was laughing hysterically as Owen relentlessly tried to plant one on her lips!

Owen and I spent a day with Nana at a park near Jason's house, where
O tormented the ducks by chasing them screaming, "Quack, Quack!"

Thankfully, we were able to hang out with Uncle Jason the same night and go out for dinner.

Renu with her husband, Alex, and baby Alex

Owen's cousins, Anngelina (above) and Isabel (below) seemed to enjoy hanging out with him!

Trying to take a picture of your son with his 3 cousins aged 6, 4 & 3 is quite the challenge! You end up getting a lot of silly, but endearing ones, and some that are actually pretty decent!

I love this shot of Alex and Isabel. How sweet are they?!?

Anitha & Jaya

2007-07-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

I finally met Roby's friend Anitha, who I've been e-mailing for awhile now, and her daughter Jaya (who is only 2 days younger than O!) We got together at Julie's house for a playdate, and Jaya and O had fun being mischievous together. At one point Jaya tackled Owen, and from the looks of the picture, he didn't mind at all. They also kissed on the lips...looks like Jaelyn might have some competition :)

Talking up a storm

2007-07-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

Owen continues to be very verbal, learning new words every day...which he has begun stringing together to form sentences! He surprises us by pointing at objects we didn't know he knew the words for and blurting them out. I can't believe how something so simple can be such music to my ears!

When Roby's parents visited, Owen went from referring to them by using a silly sound he associates with their language (Malayalam) to calling them "Uppa" and "Umma", to saying the actual words "Appachan" (grandfather) and "Ammachy" (grandmother). They were thrilled by this! He also learned another Malayalam word from them. I don't know how to spell it-Poi (rhymes with toy), which means something like "it went away." So O will point at butterflies and airplanes, and after they leave his line of vision say, "Poi Mama!" He also calls up the stairs, Rooooobbbbbyyyyy, which is the way I call him I guess. I love watching the way his mind works and seeing what the little guy comes up with. So cute!

He was particularly wound up while I was taking this video, hence why he is screaming out the words. For some reason, he will only let me film him when he is hyper-boy. Oh! At the end, when he makes a sound like "OH," that is his way of saying "Love You." (He has moved on from "Dove Doo," which we thought was super cute too ;)

Welcome to the world Jasper!

2007-07-17T15:05:00.000-05:00

Our California friends Vicky and Casey recently welcomed the arrival of their second son, Jasper Joseph Hanrahan, on July 8th. Little Asher is going to be a wonderful big brother. Congrats guys! We can't wait to meet the little guy! (My heart was warmed to see Jasper wrapped in the baby blanket I knit for him. As a knitter, there's nothing more satisfying than seeing a little one safely tucked in one of your creations. I hope it brings him much comfort!)

Happy Birthday Luke!

2007-07-12T23:50:00.000-05:00

Our cousins Joyce and Tobi welcomed their first baby, Luke Christian Thomas, into the world on June 25th. We can't wait to meet the little guy, and we are thrilled for Owen to have a new cousin. We hope they grow to be close like their parents are!

(And you know they just HAVE to be best pals with celebrity names like Luke & Owen :)

*congrats on your beautiful little boy*

A Baby Boy is Blooming

2007-07-12T12:11:00.000-05:00

Owen and I traveled to Houston for our cousin Joyce's (and Tobi's!) baby shower in April. We seem to visit them every few months, but this time called for celebration. Since this is a long overdue post, congrats are in order for them as Joyce gave birth to Luke Christian Thomas on June 25th! (I will post newborn pics soon.) As always, we enjoyed our time chilling in H-town with Tobe and Joy-cee and their good friends Kate and Erik. We finally met Jenny, Joyce's sister, who also visited for a week and had a great time getting to know her! Thanks to Joyce's friends and sis, the shower turned out to be a smashing success. The theme "A Baby Boy is Blooming" played out in everything from the cake and cupcakes, to the potted flower favors. It seemed like Tobi and Joyce had a wonderful time opening all of their baby gifts and chatting with the guests. I'm so thankful we were there to celebrate with them.

Nana and Debby Auntie Visit

2007-07-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

In April, my Mom and cousin Deb drove down from PA to visit Owie and me while Roby worked out-of-state. Debby had not seem Owen since she traveled to Chattanooga with Mom right after O's birth. We had a wonderful time catching up, celebrating Mom's birthday, dining at a local Greek place, and taking Owen to the aquarium and Coolidge park. Owen enjoyed being majorly spoiled by his Nana and Debby Auntie!

It is certainly getting harder to take pictures with Owen since he is running around 24-7, but we managed to capture him a few times!

Happy birthday Nana!

Come home Dada Daddy!

(Owen's newest term for his father.)

My Mom transferred a lot of my childhood toys and boxes o' stuff accumulated through the years from her storage to my garage this trip. I discovered a dress I wore when Owen's age with my collection of dolls, and couldn't resist promptly slipping it over my son's head. Let's just say we laughed for a verrrrrrry long time as he ran wild around the house in my hot pink/lime/orange number from the '70s. Roby walked in, did a double-take, mentioned something about that being "just wrong" and asked me to remove it quickly.
Ha! I guess I really DO need to have a girl next.

Park Cutie

2007-07-02T17:30:00.000-05:00

Chilling with the Butterflies

2007-07-02T17:28:00.000-05:00

The Chattanooga aquarium houses a butterfly atrium complete with orchids and other lovely flora, and a variety of colorful, dramatic-looking butterflies. Owen loves to observe them, pointing and saying "fly!" but is still a tad apprehensive when one perches on our finger. I really must take my (real :) camera one day to capture these beauties on film.

I think the butterflies are secretly entrancing Owen!

Happy 30th Birthday Roby!

2007-07-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

Binoy, do you remember this tiger? I heard you two fought over it often :)

Owen's 18 month update

2007-05-03T22:09:00.000-05:00

So our little guy is a year and a half old, and we can't believe how much he is growing and changing. He has always been a delight, but his little personality continues to emerge in big ways. Every month I record his accomplishments and cute/funny things he does, and for his 18th month I have written more than ever before! I'll list some of the things he has been up to recently.

Old Man Owen (who eats bubbles)

* Owen's vocabulary has grown to more than 40 words, and he enjoys pointing at things and naming them, especially the moon, cars, balls, shoes, bubbles, animals and birds. His favorite phrases to say are: thank you, please, help please, bye bye, night night and bless you (and not just when you sneeze, but also if you cough or yawn. One day he had the hiccups and it sounded like this for 10 minutes: "Hiccup. bless you. hiccup. bless you. hiccup. bless you." It was cute how he was blessing himself). Apparently he loves being a polite child, and I am thrilled. These days there are plenty of older children who have no manners whatsoever and don't respect their elders, so we are trying to teach him at an early age...and he seems to enjoy it! (He also has started to sing, repeating "doo, doo, doo" in different variations and saying E-I-E-I MOO MOO in a sing-songy voice for Old Mcdonald.)

Enjoying his first ice cream cone with Daddy

*O's interests right now are birds, butterflies, balls and rocks. He absolutely loves birds and will stand at our windows doing his version of the sign for bird and saying "birdy" and "tweet tweet." Thankfully, many birds, including a red-headed woodpecker, have made our backyard home, and he gets to watch them in action every day. He also enjoys butterflies, which he calls "flies," and likes to visit them at the butterfly atrium at our aquarium. His obsession with balls persists (his first word was ball), and he is proud to own as many as he can get us to buy. Rocks are his newest fascination, and we continue to find them in his pockets and strewn throughout the house after he comes inside from his rock collecting expeditions.

*Our boy is a kissing machine! He always hugs and kisses his stuffed animals, which he takes naps with and drags from room to room. Before bed each night he will give Roby a kiss, then turn and kiss me, and repeat this over and over, saying the "muahh" sound...it is so cute! He also responds to the word "umma," which means "kiss" in Malayalam, and kisses his bruises and scrapes because that is what mama does :)

I actually think he looks like me here (for once)!

*O is becoming very independent and likes to do everything himself. He has mastered the use of adult forks (the baby ones seemed to hinder him) and is pretty good with the spoon. He loves brushing his teeth at night-although we have to do it for him and then he pretends afterwards- as well as brushing his hair and pretending to clean. He has a miniature broom and follows us around sweeping, pretends to dump the dust pan in the trash, and wipes at spots with a paper towel. He certainly is becoming our little helper!

Future graffiti artist?

(notice 3 of his favorite things in this pic taken by my friend Stephanie: rock, ball and chalk)

*Finally, Owen is drinking whole milk. He wouldn't touch it for the longest time, and I was worried that it would hinder brain development (which is why whole milk is good for toddlers). My friend Alyson suggested Carnation Instant Breakfast, which he loves. Then I gradually lessened the amount that is in his milk, and he is nearly weened from the sweetness. He ate really well for awhile, but now he is becoming extremely picky, which i suppose is the nature of toddlers. Sometimes he picks at his food and won't eat much at a meal, and other times he will down several meatballs, veggies, yogurt and fruit! So you never know with him. At his well check-up last week, he weighed 24 pounds and is now 34 inches tall. He is still in the 75th percentile for height and has gone up to 35th percentile for weight. He has always been a long, lean, baby just like I was at this age (believe it or not!) I thought it sweet when Owen's pediatrican said, "He certainly is the type to make you want to have another baby, but I am way too old for that!" He wins her over with his charm every time! (The doc also said, "In my 14 years as a pediatrician, I have never heard a baby answer to his mom asking what a squirrel says!" He clicks his tongue when you ask him that :)

O demonstrating how he "exercises."
He also twirls in circles when asked to dance & stomps when you ask him about his happy feet.

Roby and I got a family pass for the Chattanooga Aquarium and have been taking him downtown on the weekends for a visit with the fish, then a stroll around town and lunch. It has become a sweet little ritual for us lately. We also take him to Coolidge Park by the Tennessee River, where he enjoys running around on the grass chasing every toy, ball and kite that aren't his and going for a whirl on the hand-carved carousel. He still has his reservations about the fountain the children play in at the park, standing at the edge in his little swimming trunks holding on to our hands. I suppose as he gets older it will appeal more to him. We delight in watching him experience new things as he explores the outdoors and his surroundings.

*There is just something so refreshing about viewing the world

around you anew through the eyes of your child!*

Owen and I recently visited Joyce and Tobi in Houston for their baby shower and Owen's Nana and Debby Auntie just stayed with us for a few days, so I will post pictures soon.

Easter

2007-05-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

For Easter, we met up with our GA friends Tommy and Courtney and their sons Dakota and Chase, attending their church service and participating in an Easter egg hunt at their house. Owen looked dapper in the linen suit jacket I bought him while still pregnant, and loved filling his soccer ball Easter basket with...rocks. Despite all three of us having colds, we enjoyed our long weekend together.

We took Owen for a ride on a whimsical frog at the Coolidge Park carousel

Our slice of life

A loooooong overdue Isaac update!

Olive standing unassisted!

Owen update!

Seeing Double (8 months)

Seeing Double (7 months)

6 months

Seeing double

5 months

Seeing double

Bingo Christmas Party

*Thankful*

*four months*

Seeing double

Recent Owie antics

Our Philly friends visit!

Downtown

le bebes

Spontaneous trip to Philadelphia

The Stutlers & Isaacs in the '60s

Anatomy of a face painting

Let the festivities begin!

*3 months old*

Seeing Double

Owie telling Livy a story

Meeting our Left Coast friends in the Deep South!

Owen falling for Mags!

Owie is THREE!

Owen's moves!

*Olive's accomplishment*

party, party, par-tee

Owen laughing with Uncle Jason

Jason and Melinda's Visit

Celebrate!

Go Phillies!

Zoo Atlanta

The next Pele?

*2 months old*

Seeing Double

Olive's little buddies

Pappa & Mummy's visit

my favorite photo of the kidlets so far

I wanna be like Dada!

Choppity, chop. chop.

Owen's newest art work

One month old!

(A bunch of....) First family pics!

Big O & little O

Olive's birth story

Introducing.....Olive Ella Isaac!

Olive is almost here!

Loooong overdue Owen update!

Owen's artwork

Jacob's arrival!

Stephanie's baby shower

Philly family visit!

April Tampa trip

Easter '08

Christmas 08 with Nana

Christmas monkey bread!

Bingo Christmas party

Catching up...finally!

A Chat-town Thanksgiving with Houston and Philly family!

Coolidge park

Rock City

Owen's second birthday!

*Jason and Mel's wedding*

Congratulations!

Injustice infuriates me

A little Sunshine in the South

Philly trip post coming soon

Photo Shoot

Owen is Two!

Quinn is here!

Welcome Selah!

And baby makes six!

Summer fun

Owen, Owen, has does your garden grow?

Chat-town friends

Ab's wedding

Thankful

four months

3 months old

Olive's accomplishment

2 months old

Jason and Mel's wedding

Philly trip family pics