things i don't want to forget!

*Owen can't say the "f" sound so we get to hear about how he wants some WATTLES for breakfast. Soap is called Toamy (instead of foamy, which is what Uncle taught him soap was called)

*He calls his nose "nariz" which is spanish for nose and anything that is inside his nose is also called a nariz. He also wears pantalones instead of pants. 

*Evan's teethers are known as "no teeth" to Owen. He hands him a no teeth to help him grow his teeth. He started calling them that when his daddy told him evan has no teeth. 

* He says EEEEEBBBBAAAAAANNNN when he catches evan playing with his favorite toys. (he can't say v either, it comes out as b) I need to get a video of this one, it's hilarious. 

life's a beach

Hello from Panama City Beach! We are just finishing up a really wonderful and relaxing fall vacation. This was Evan's first time to see the ocean and he seemed to be very impressed. He really loved the sand, it was so tasty! Owen had such a great time we are thinking he may have some beach bum in his blood. He drove his cars through the sand, made tunnels, and overcame his fear of seashells. yes, fear of seashells! For some reason when we first arrived, he wanted nothing to do with them. The best he could do is try to bury them by sprinkling sand on them from afar. By tonight though, he was a pro. once he braved picking up one, he was a shell picking machine. He loved to find them and toss them out into the sea.

A few weeks ago, we took a trip to Houston for our nephew Garett's first birthday. this was Evan's first plane ride and Owen's first one since he turned two! We had a nice visit and got to go to the zoo. Owen got his pockets stuffed full of nickels from his grandpa and he had fun jingling when he walked.

Well, i need to sign off, the dryer buzzer just went off! Yes, doing laundry at the beach! What fun. :)

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.