quick update- we found a tiny front tooth on evan 2 days ago! 

owen is now in big boy underwear!  he picked it out himself, thomas train of course. :)

well baby visit today:

Owen: 28 lbs, 36 inches tall (1 polio vaccine)

Evan: 15.3 lbs.,  26 inches long (1 DTaP vaccine) 

As I mentioned earlier, we started Evan on solid foods but we have stopped for a while and decided to hold off until closer to 6 months...it just doesn't feel right yet!

weekend recap

This weekend we struggled to find things to do...and  I am happy to report, we succeeded!

Friday night we took the boys to the Alabama State Fair. It was the first time at a fair for both of them.  Owen was too short to ride any rides, thankfully. Hahaa, the rides were rusty and squeaky and nothing short of terrifying. The carnival culture isn't quite as exciting as I remember from my childhood. We did get to pick up ducks and fish for sharks so that saved the night. We also ate our obligatory corn dogs on the way out. 

Today, we went to a reallllly boring folk music festival in Leeds. Granted, we got there an hour before they were to close but I'm fairly certain it would have been a snooze anyway. After that we stopped at a monster playground and Owen went down a giant silver slide. He's growing up too fast and I just can't keep up! we topped off the night with owen's favorite, PJ Changs, outside on the deck overlooking the mountains of birmingham. 

Solid Foods

We had been wanting to hold off until 5.5 months to start solid foods but Evan convinced us he was ready now. He has perfect head control, can sit up unsupported, and is very interested in our food. All criteria are met so we began. We gave him rice cereal a couple of times last week and he loved it. Tonight he tried peas. Owen fed him!  (unfortunately we don't have pictures b/c it took all four of us to have owen safely feed him) He gobbled it right up. Tomorrow we are going to stock up on some veggies and freeze enough for the next few weeks.  We are in no hurry since it's supposed to be more about practice until he's closer to a year old, that's when it will become more of a nutritional need. 

We have a crawler! Evan started crawling officially last week when we were cabin-ing in the smokey mountains.  ). Of course along with the crawling comes trying to sit up and he gets it sometimes but sometimes his legs get stuck halfway between and we have to rescue him. If he rolls over in his sleep, he instantly wakes up and is on his knees and crawling around. This is causing us some looooong and tiring night b/c he gets frusterated but as with everything, he'll outgrow it soon.  He is growing up so incredibly fast...he'll be 5 months old in 2 days. 

Owen is going through a Mr. Independent phase again. He seems to go in and out of these phases and they vary in intensity, depending on how bored he is. His favorite toys right now are his train table and water table and he loves to be outside. We all went on an adventure to Ruffner Mountain this morning and walked a rugged trail through the woods. I wore Evan and Owen walked part of the time (over the bridges and on the flat parts) but on the rocky hills, he rode on Starbuck's shoulders. We got lots of exercise, lots of mosquito bites, and had lots of fun. 

Now we are waiting on Uncle Jeremy to stop by on his way back from the Republican National Convention. he covered both conventions this year and he said the difference between the two was stark. We are planning on voting absentee and heading to the beach for the election b/c it's going to be a long, hard day to watch, might as well be somewhere fun. 

It's Potty Time!

This has been a fun week. Yesterday we took Owen (and evan!) to the Early Works Museum with cousin Lauren. They get along soooo well, they take after their mamas. They will be laughing hysterically over nothing in no time at all. They got to build things with blocks. play with ducks in a giant tub of water, and make pretend food in the most gigantic and heavy (DANGEROUS!) cast iron skillets and bowls. It was a nice day and I look forward to getting them together again soon. 

In other news, Owen started potty training himself last Saturday! This is something he is doing completely on his own terms. He started saying "go pee pee" and the rest is history. Starbuck took him to the bathroom, he sat down on his potty and did what he needed to do. He's done it several times a day since then. We never ask him if he needs to go, he tells us. Apparently he thinks potty training before 2 is the thing to do. 

For the last several days Owen has been asking about New Orleans. Apparently he had a great time the last time we were there. We are due for another trip so we may just grant his wish and head there next week. 

First we have to get through this weekend. We are attempting to have a yard sale Saturday morning. We'll see how well that goes, with us having to get up at the crack of dawn...

Wow, it's been a long time! I'm going to try, yet again, to keep up with this thing. 

We did indeed have a baby and HE is a beautiful baby boy! I will try to write up Evan's birth story in the very near future but for the moment, I will talk about what the boys are up to these days. 

Evan is now almost 2.5 months old, where has the time gone?!  He rolled over for the first time (from tummy to back) the day before he turned 2 months. He has been smiling since 3 weeks and is trying really hard to reach for things.  He has a great punch and is good at knocking things around on his playmats. 

Owen is still as charming as ever. Last week he started his first Art and gym classes. He made a rainmaker and a Papa G replica in art class and got to climb like a monkey in gym class. He now knows all of his shapes, even the tricky ones like pentagon and octagon. 

We spent father's day weekend in North Alabama with mimi and papa. We took the boys to Russell Cave (Russell Cabes in Owen-speak) in Bridgeport and got them some National Park Passports, which we hope to fill up with stamps over the years. 

Today Anna and her mom drove up to visit. She's visiting her family in south alabama for the week...it was so nice to see them for a little while, i miss her sooo much!

I'm really, really going to try to start working on this blog more frequently so I can actually share it with family and make it worth stopping by!