Festival BBQ

My friend Megan holds a Herndon Festival BBQ every year, and as always it was great fun. Owen had a wonderful time playing in the pool, well sort of. The pool was a little chilly, so he played with me while I was in the pool. This meant throwing diving sticks in for me to retrieve. He did enjoy taking a ride on one of the floats and sitting and kicking his feet in the pool. But the hot tub, aka kiddie pool, was much more fun for him. It was a little warmer and of course shallow so easier for him to play in. I had to laugh at all the people piled in the hot tub. Owen was really sweet when he wanted Aiden to get in too. I dipped Aiden's feet in and Owen loved it. As always Aiden was great and just hung out for all the fun. Food yummy, company great and a ton of fun.

Playing Pool Fetch

Excited Owen
Daddy and Owen in the Hot Tub

Mommy and Aiden during dinner

Herndon Festival

We always have a good time at the Herndon Festival and this year showed the same. We walked and shopped, Owen likes to shop, otherwise he likes to look at everything and happy when he actually gets something. :) He also really enjoyed listening to some music. The big hits included driving robots, watching the trains, and riding the carousel. It was a very fun family outing.

Boy and a Balloon

Me and My Boys

Listening to Music

Boy and the Trains

Mesmerized by Trains

Watching Trains with Daddy

"It's Thomas!"
(Owen has just now shown interest in learning all of Thomas' trains.)

More Train Watching

Owen and Daddy Driving Robots

The Robot Cars

Carousel Riding

Loved the Horse Ride

Owen got excited every time we'd pass Daddy.

As you see Aiden was happy to hang out for the ride.

Aiden Update

We have made the three month mark with Aiden. Here's a "quick" update. Over the past month he has calmed down A LOT and is super sweet now; he is a pretty chill and happy little boy now. He gives lots of smiles, has become a little chatterbox (mostly when Owen is not talking), and will give me huge laughs. As most babies this age, he tracks and bats at toys and actually grabbed one this morning. He is good at sitting up with help and has great neck control. He likes to play on his tummy but always rolls back over after several minutes. I think his favorite thing right now is standing up and kicking. He has also started to push on his legs so he can scoot around on his back. And he has come close to rolling from back to tummy, got to his side.

As for his gas and sleep issues, still not "solved". I have been doing the dairy free diet to see if he has a dairy sensitivity. Well it has been about three weeks and he is not as gassy but still pretty darn gassy. This is the main cause for the bad sleep. It wakes or startles him a lot. But I am going to continue to do dairy free for a little longer, it does seem to have helped. So he is still in on our bed at night. Ugh! I really don't like kids in my bed, but you do what you need to do to survive this portion. Just much easier to soother his gassy belly when he is right there instead of having to walk all the way down the hall. And out of utter weakness he has slept on me tummy to tummy several nights, but we both sleep pretty good that way. And when we do this he usually only wants to eat once, which is awesome, but still startles a lot. Like I said what works right now. And you guessed it he is still napping in the Moby Wrap. Over the weekend we tried him in the crib, rocked him to sleep in minutes, and he actually slept for 30 minutes each nap. So I am going to keep trying to do his short naps in his crib to get him used to it, but the afternoon nap will stay in the wrap because right now I have both to sleep for about 2 hours at the same time. Need that time!!! I really hope all those experts are right and you can't spoil a kid before 6 months, because otherwise Aiden and I are in some trouble. :) Why is sleep always the main issue in new parents. HeeHee Okay enough on sleep, it will happen...baby steps.

Here's a bunch of recent pictures of our sweet Aiden and his new skills.

Finding the Phone

Finger Sucking

Bug Eyed

He loves to look at the mirror.

Who is that?

Grabbing elephant, he actually pulled it down too.

Elephant Pulling

Tummy Time

Pushing up High

Moving Over to See Butterfly

Pushing those legs to move. He started laying on the zebra.

He ended up on the giraffe.

Sweet Baby Face

Standing on my Tummy

Took a Break to Chew on my Hand

The Blankies

Mrs. Holley had made Owen his blankie, the one with the brown corner now that has worn down from all the "love" Owen gives it. Well she made one for Aiden as well. Of course Owen had to give it some snuggles and when we got home, he ran to get his blankie. Then he gave Aiden his blankie and the snuggling began. I have to include, I have the biggest smile on my face from seeing my boys together like this. So cute!

Brothers and their Blankies


Owen snuggling blankie and Aiden

Memorial Day BBQs

We enjoyed two BBQs over the weekend which meant late bedtimes two days in a row. Sad this does not mean later mornings. :) It was great to see some friends and kick back and enjoy some yummy food. On Sunday we went to the Huang's, they made some delish food and really enjoyed the company. As always Owen had a blast. The biggest hit was the kiddie pool. The kids were drenched, but got to enjoy popsicles after dinner.






Then on Monday we headed over to our neighbors house with some of Omer's volleyball friends. As they all have older kids, they love the babies. Owen did great with a very late dinner, however he did munch down a lot of chips predinner. We were also impressed how happy Aiden was with complete strangers.

Mrs. Holley with Aiden


Playing with my babe


Aiden really likes to suck on hands, shoulders, well about anything


Enjoying some Daddy hand


Owen Being a Ham

I must say Aiden is ADORABLE

Little Poser

Owen loves Mr. Holley and was happy to get to play with him.

Photo with Grandparents

Omer's parents came by for a visit this morning and we finally attempted to get a quick posed photo of them with their two grandkids. Got three to choose from, and with Owen not being to keen on the idea of stopping playing to take a picture actually came out pretty good.

One with just them and Aiden

Hike with 2 Kids

This afternoon we headed out as a whole family to the hike. It went pretty well minus the fact it took way too long. I used to be able to do it in about 45 minutes with Owen, but he was just having way too much fun and was hard to keep moving. He also wanted to walk the whole thing. As the time kept ticking away, I had to convince him to get back in the backpack and very quickly walk back to the car so poor Aiden could finally eat and we could maybe get home in time to make dinner. Door to door it took 2 hours, much more than expected. But Aiden was happy in the carrier, took his little cat nap and only started to cry once we were driving home (30 mins after he usually eats). Owen had a wonderful time and I really want to take him out there when we have more time. He was being very creative and talking about the dinosaurs in the forest and also all sorts of animals who live in the caves. I was shocked that he walked down the very steep hill; he used to ask to be carried every time. He also loved the river and dipped his feet in. And of course the pups had a great time, even got to chase a deer. All in all it was a wonderful trip, just took too long.

Love Being on the Hike


Mommy and Owen

Daddy and Aiden

Finding Sticks

Can you find Owen and me?

Hiker with Big Stick and Flower

Tree Canopy

Making Our Way Down the Big Hill

Dipping his feet in the Potomac


Chloe Taking a Swim


Soaking Wet Chester

Intently Watching the River