SUTTON

Sutton still surprises me everyday with something different that he does! He is the happiest, silliest toddler I have ever seen. I was telling ever body that I thought he was probably about 25 pounds. Well, when I took him to the doctor last month (the first of many in the month for the never-ending ear/sinus infections he had) he was 33 pounds and 33 inches tall! I couldn't believe he was even bigger than I thought. He is starting to talk a lot. Not very many words yet, but they are coming quickly.

Sutton already is the one that lightens all of our moods whenever we need a little pick-me-up. He makes sure that none of us wake up on the wrong side of the bed by being so cheery in the morning. He calms Owen down when he is in the middle of some first class fits by tackling him with giant hugs every time he's in timeout. He gives the best goodnight cuddles and kisses to all of us at the end of a long day. He greets us with a smiley "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" or "Dada, Dada, Dada" everytime we get home feeling stressed from work and worried that we missed our kids entire day. And hopefully this picture makes every body's day a little happier:

Him and Owen both got toy workbenches for Christmas and they love them. These are the goggles that came with the Bob the Builder tool set. He is hilarious when he plays, usually holding a drill in one hand and a hammer in the other going to town on the poor plastic screws.


He has been folding his hands together a lot lately. So cute.



Here he is talking to my parents on the web cam. He loves to see them on it, but I have to very strategically place the computer where he can't attack it.

Awe, my little monkey.

OWEN

My sweet little baby now seems like a giant to me! When we went to the doctor last week he was 44 lbs and 44 inches tall. As Owen said, "Hey, just like I'm 4, those numbers all have 4's." His favorite thing to do is anything involved with arts and crafts. I know that most kids feel this way, but he REALLY loves it. He will work on a project for hours at a time and get a kick out of picking who he will give it to. We need to get better about actually sending it to whoever he chooses! It's usually for one of his second cousins that he barely remembers even meeting, or his cousin Kierstyn. He also loves the outdoors. The first picture is a lookout point about half the way up to Mt. Lemmon. We stopped there after sledding with Ryan and Brandon (Colin's cousin and his son).

Bri gave Owen glow-in-the-dark skeleton pjs last fall. And she is a genius for doing this! I think he liked them more than any present he's ever received. He immediately asked to wear them for Halloween. Yes! This is a pic of him at his school party.

Here he is in his snow gear at Mt. Lemmon. I will try to post a video of them sledding later. It was awesome! I couldn't believe how much fun Owen had. He did not whine or complain about anything all day... with all the walking, climbing, falling, getting wet, being cold, etc. I definitely was expecting him to. He was a happy trooper all day and couldn't believe how exciting it was to play in the snow. I wish we could have done it more this winter. Darn the whole no snow in the desert thing! I think it's 90 degrees out today!

Owen is 4, going on 14! Sometimes he reminds me so much of a teenager it's scary. Actually, now that I really think about it, just one particular teenager... my brother Rory when he was younger. (Absolutely no offense, Rory, I mean this in the nicest way possible!) Most of the time he is a huge sweetheart, especially towards his brother. He is learning so much in preschool that it is amazing! He really likes to learn when he feels like he is getting it, and will work on something for hours at a time if he is doing well. However, if he feels like he doesn't get something, he gets instantly embarrassed and does not want to finish. He has a "no" attitude and his favorite phrase right now is "I can't do it." I thought 4 year olds were supposed to want to gain independence. If Owen had his way (and he way too often does) I would dress, feed, and help him go to the bathroom all the time! I'm trying to help him gain the self-confidence to want to try to do things for himself, but it has definitely been a struggle lately! Going to school and having a lot of friends there is helping. It's so sad to see him get hurt, because he feels the pain of embarrassment way more than the physical pain. The first thing he says when he falls down is "I didn't fall".

He wants to take Karate lessons so badly! We've told him he can start when he's 5. He is fine with this and talks about how he's waiting until he's 5. But, he's taking the waiting so well and is so darn cute when he's practicing, we might cave before then.

Here he is on the Heisey's quad. He loves it! But don't worry, he only rides with Colin and they go about 5mph on the dirt lot next to our house.

Here is Owen at the lake last summer. Another of his favorite days ever!

Colin's dad gave Owen a shovel for his first Christmas (He was 2 months old). Owen has been waiting to use it ever since (But not as much as Greg and Colin have been waiting for him to use it). This summer he definitely got his use out of it. He had a lot of fun with it around the house.

Owen and his baby cousin Ellie:
She is adorable!

A Quick Review Session

Way too much has happened over the past few months to record all of my favorite things, but I want to atleast have the big milestones recorded. And I know my mom has many, many pictures she's waiting to see. So here are a few events...

Sutton started walking at about 11 months.  It seems like so long ago that he was a tiny baby, and yet it seems like yesterday.  I know that every parent in the world says this same thing, but it really is still a surprisingly unbelievable feeling.

Sutton turned 1 on Sept. 20th. We had a small party for him and our friend Kelly (who is his godmother and shares the same b-day).  He really enjoyed the cake.  But my horrible photography skills definitely did not capture the joy.

Owen turned 4 on November 4th. It was a Spiderman extravaganza that would be hard to top! We had the party at a nearby park and rented a jumping castle that was a big hit. Unfortunately, we were having too much fun and things were way to chaotic to take very many pictures.  And by very many, I actually me NONE.  Sorry, Bud.  Hopefully we can get some from the Grandmas.

Colin has been working at his dad's CPA business. Things are going well, but very busy until April 15th. I have had a very hectic schedule for the last couple of months that is hopefully slowing down for a while.

This is depressing... but this picture is the one and only picture of all four of us.  I've really got to start taking more pictures.  And really need to start including adults in at least some of them!  This one is from last 4th of July.

FINALLY!!!!

OK... I'm just going to take the plunge back into the world of blogging... I can't believe that it has been almost a year since I have updated this thing. At first, I told myself I was just too busy to even think about making a post. Then, I kept thinking there was too much to catch up on. Then, after many times of lying to myself (and my mother-in-law) that I was going to start posting again, I basically gave up altogether and forgot about it. Well, now with all the guilt of not recording the past 9 months of my children's lives (and trust me, that's a lot of guilt when you also factor in all the working-mom guilt too), I am diving back in! I really want to keep track of as many things that our family is going through as possible. The boys are changing way too fast, and even today as I look back at my blog I'm so happy that I have all of it to remind me and re-melt my heart at the thought of the wonderful memories. So, to start off... here are a few pictures of the boys:

Oh, how I've missed you!

Ah, my blog.... you are like an old friend that I miss so much but avoid because it's going to be so long and awkward to catch up with you! But I'm going to have that long, boring conversation with you soon. I can't wait.

CHANGES!!!

So much has happened over the last couple of weeks that it is crazy! I will summarize:
I have a job.
We are moving to Tucson.
I am in training in Chicago this week and will be back in Chicago next week too.
This means that the first time that I spent more than 2 hours away from Sutton I am also spending 4 days away from him! It's HARD!!!
Owen started going to preschool full-time. He's been having lots of fun, but this is also hard for me.

I'll update when I have more time. But my job is with a company called BrainLAB that makes incredible software and instruments for image guided surgery. You can check out www.brainlab.com if you are interested. They make some pretty amazing things. I will be working as a clinical specialist and will be working at a Tucson hospital that is opening a CT BrainSUITE (if interested, you can also check this out on the website). This is a really new and exciting thing (there are only like 4 in the country) and I am really excited for the opportunity to be a part of it. I will actually be there in the OR as it used.

So, there are a lot of huge adjustments for our family coming at us really quickly.

Sutton is Six Months Old (+1 Week)

For my happy, beautiful baby.... here is a recap of your 6 month journey to today:

After an easy, low maintenance pregnancy I guess you felt the need to add some drama. You were born with the cord wrapped around your neck, which caused a high respiratory rate and low oxygen saturation level. You had to go to neonatal intensive care immediately after you were born and they wouldn't let me come see you for a couple of hours. With how worried I was, I guess it was probably a good thing I didn't see you like this. But I was very upset about not being able to see you at the time. You did not even have a name yet. After a couple of hours they took this contraption off you, but you still stayed in NICU for about 36 hours.

Then we all stayed together in the hospital for another night. We went home in a daze that I think we are still in. I am constantly amazed at how blessed I am to have our little family.

Each Grandma stayed with us for a different week during your first month. This was necessary for our survival and is so appreciated.

For your first couple of months you slept a lot, but always wanted to be held. Because you slept so much it was kind of hard for us to figure out a schedule for you. You woke up every time we put you down for a nap but would be so tired. So we both quickly got addicted to this:

Which we transitioned into an addiction to this:

We just stopped using this swaddler about 3 days ago. (as well as your wedge pillow that I lovingly refer to as little wedgie.) I thought you would wake yourself up a lot, but you have actually been doing great without them.

Since the first day you learned how to smile, the expression has hardly left your face. I like to think that we have something to do with your wonderful disposition, but I'm pretty sure we probably were just lucky enough to hit the baby jackpot. It really is amazing how happy you are. You've always loved to watch Owen play. And for some reason don't even mind when he talks to you from 2 inches away from your face. He loves to kiss you; always on either the cheek or the hand.

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By 4 months old, you always wanted a toy in your hands that you could shove comfortably into your mouth. You also started eating solid foods and cannot get enough. Pears, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes are your favorites. You started sitting up a couple of weeks ago and now you've gotten pretty good at rolling and kicking yourself around to wherever you want to go. Yesterday I left you inside to play on the floor for a few minutes while I went outside to throw a baseball for Owen. I heard you squirming around, and when I looked over I saw you right by the window watching us, about 5 feet from where I left you!

You have the most amazing Daddy I could ever imagine. Your face lights up every time he comes home from work. He's so gentle during your late night fussing, and he knows that no boy is ever too young to wrestle. You do a really good job of completely freaking him out any time you spit up within 5 feet of him. This is pretty humorous for your mom. If you look at the picture below, you'll see he even loves you enough to hold you when you're wearing your Sun Devil outfit. Trust me... that means a lot.

You've always enjoyed being outside, but now you even get excited to go to the park. You watch Owen and all the big kids and I feel like you even already have the desire to want to join them. You start kicking your legs every time.

I'm really trying to remember everything you do... but I know my tired little mind has already forgotten many precious things that it wanted to hold on to. The little baby at the bottom of my blog page is getting scarily close to the 1 year mark. You definitely already have a unique independence, so I'm sure you'll be walking away from me before I know what's happened.

So happy half-birthday my sweet boy! Thanks for all the wet baby kisses tonight, even if you were just trying to eat my face. I'll never forget your giant, red, always wet cheeks that I got to kiss back.

Excuses, Excuses

I really wanted to do a post last week for Sutton's big 6 month birthday. But things have been crazy! We were gone all day on Thursday doing different things (dr. appointment, shopping, dinner at Carrie's) and we left early Friday to go to Tucson for the holiday weekend. We were so happy that Colin got Good Friday off so that we could go early and hang out with everybody in Tucson. Unfortunately, Owen and Colin both started to get really sick on Friday with really bad fevers, chest congestion and coughs. So, the weekend turned out a bit differently than we planned. Owen still stayed in high spirits and loved doing all the Easter festivities. He was sad that since he was sick the neighbor boys couldnt join in the egg hunt, but really excited because that meant that he got 3 times as many eggs! Kathy was really smart and filled most of them with pieces of dried fruit instead of candy (although, he still got plenty of candy). And he fell asleep right in my arms during the Easter church service. Anyway, I'm getting way ahead of myself. I really just wanted to write a little post to say that I'm not going to beable to write a post quite yet. Pretty silly, I guess. Sutton and I ended up getting sick when we came home (found out this morning both boys have ear infections) and I had to go to Chicago and back yesterday for a job interview. But more on that adventure later! So, I'm sorry Sutton, your half-birthday post will come later. Once you sleep more than 15 minutes without waking yourself up with a coughing fit and once I can get all this junk drained out of my head so that I can think about how truly wonderful you are.

Oops!

One Oops! for me: Lack of sleep has caused me to be super scatter-brained... today when I pulled Owen's sheets out of the washing machine I also found a raisin, half of a plastic Easter egg, and a pull-up (luckily unused). I've learned my lesson... no more laundry!

And one for my hubby: Colin cooked a great dinner last night of tri-tip. As we were eating Owen left the table to play in the living room. It's a good thing, because when I went in to tell him he had to come finish his meal I noticed our grill was on fire! Huge flames a foot from our house. Colin didn't believe me. He said that he must have just left the grill on and I should just turn it off. He finally came out to see the lid on fire and melting. We were lucky we saw it when we did and only needed a pitcher of water to put it out. I think he wins the Oops! award for the week.

Best Friends

This is my new favorite picture!

Owen gives lots of big brother kisses.

Are you noticing the trend? Owen loves to hold Sutton, and Sutton loves to be held by Owen! It's so nice to see. It melts my heart every time. And yesterday in the car I hear Owen whisper "Sshhh.... be quiet Mommy, Sutton is sleeping. Can I still hold his hand even though he's asleep?" Awe... tear.

This is Owen's pillow and blanket mountain. I thought it was pretty cute that he included Sutton's boppy pillow and asked me to let Sutton play with him.