Cute Kiss

Last week we were visiting with Owen's friend Summer. They are just too cute together. Look at this - their first kiss! Love the innocence of childhood.

Birthday Boy

Owen talks to his friend AJ... so cute!
Water balloon toss

Happy Birthday to Owen - celebrating with popcorn cupcakes.

Family photo at ice cream party.

Happy Birthday to Riley & Owen.

Owen has been celebrating his birthday for over a month now... and his birthday isn't until next week. We held his birthday parties early, just in case I went into labor early (which I didn't - as I'm still pregnant!) We look forward to celebrating Owen's birthday next week, hopefully he won't have to share his birthday with his new sibling! For the CT birthday party he celebrated with his cousin, Riley - they had a fun ice cream theme party. Yes, I dressed him like the Good Humor ice cream man - he will love me for this when he gets older. For his RI birthday he had a cool carnival theme birthday party.

Spring has sprung...

Family photo - baby bump included.

Uncle Jarred smiles with Owen.

Proud Memere and Pepere.

Owen gets his first golf lesson.

Owen shows off his new sunglasses from the Easter Bunny.

Owen enjoys time at the zoo with Auntie Sylvia.

Spring has sprung... and so have the tulips in our garden. It was much to our surprise that there were beautiful tulips blooming in our front garden... and we had no idea where they came from! Little did we know that Owen and his Papa planted them several months ago. We assumed that they were dormant for years (say, the last three years since we moved in) but found out this week that Owen kept this fun little secret from us :)

Well, time is flying bye so quickly that I haven't even had time to blog... or perhaps it's just because every free chance I get, I try to rest for a few minutes since Owen has decided that sleeping through the night is highly overrated. A few weeks ago, Owen woke up every few hours - it was exhausting, yet good preparation for the new baby. The following week he slept every night and then this past week, he decided to wake up in the middle of the night again... one night we were up from 2-4:30 am... my little night owl is ready for his college days. The best part is that regardless of whether or not he sleeps through the night he gets up at 6am -full of life and ready to go. His energy just amazes me and I wish that I could have some of it :) Someone asked me if I was worried about the baby keeping him up... actually I'm worried that Owen will keep the baby up or perhaps he'll keep me company during 2am feedings.

Speaking of the new baby, we have about 6 weeks and three days to go, which is so hard to believe. This pregnancy went by so much quicker than the last one! Owen seems to be looking forward to the arrival of our new little one, who he is convinced is a girl! Eric and I are not too sure... I don't really have a feeling one way or the other... either way will be thrilled to welcome Emmy or Emmit!

Above are some recent photos...

Donation to Dana Farber

We recently sent the following letter along with a $500 donation to Dana-Farber. Currently, Stop & Shop is matching all donations to Dana-Farber so we felt this was a great time to donate. I couldn't paste the letter here but it's pasted directly below in the comments section.

MRI Results

Owen had his routine 3-month MRI yesterday. The procedure went very well and the results showed that there has been no change in the tumor - again, we have much to be thankful for! We prepared Owen the day before the MRI by telling him that he was going to the doctor's and he was going to get a "pinch." He woke up on Thursday morning knowing where he was going and having a good idea of what was going to happen.

He's such an amazingly strong boy as when it was time for his IV he didn't even cry. The nurse practitioner, Jeff, is a blessing as he inserted the IV into Owen's foot with one try. Owen flinched but didn't cry... he did cry a few minutes later when they were holding his legs still and then he drifted off to sleep. After the MRI, he slept for 1.5 hours at the hospital, woke up, sat up, and said "all done, yeah" and started to clap for himself - it was like he didn't even miss a beat!

His recovery was much better than last time. The effects of the sedation didn't seem to last as long. He was back to his normal self by 3pm yesterday. We were so thankful that he handled the sedation better and that the results were positive in that the tumor has not grown. Now the MRIs will be every four months for the next year. Thanks for your prayers as they've provided Owen with much strength.

Our trip to NC

Cousins Alex and Ronnie Jr.

Giving Uncle Ronnie goodbye kisses.

Smiling with Auntie Terry.

Uncle Ronnie and Owen building with Lincoln Logs - actually Uncle Ronnie built houses and Owen knocked them down.

Owen helping Uncle Ronnie cook bread.

The Montecalvo Family.

We recently took a trip to Waxhaw, NC to visit our family - Auntie Terry, Uncle Ronnie, Saverio, Ronnie Jr., & Alex. We were actually supposed to take this trip last year when Owen was hospitalized. It was nice to finally get there one year later. We had a great time visiting. Owen really enjoyed playing with his cousins. While we were visiting, we took Owen to the circus for the first time. He had fun - especially while he was eating popcorn, which he ate plenty of! We had one nice weather day when it was 60 degrees... and we had two trips to the playground, which Owen really enjoyed - he would swing for hours if he could. Here are some photos from the trip.

Snakes & Cake

We spent this past weekend in RI. Owen went to a Toddler Trek class at Roger Williams Park Zoo where he learned about snakes. He was more afraid of the fake wooden snakes then he was of the real one! It was a great hands on class for toddlers. Below are some photos of Pepere and Owen enjoying class.

We also celebrated Jarred's 23rd birthday - hard to believe that my little brother is 23! Owen enjoyed celebrating Uncle Jarred's birthday. Here's a clip of Owen singing Happy Birthday!