little blue eyes

month 8

dear owen,
you are 8 months old, 3 days ago. i know i say this alot, but you are growing up so fast. everytime i turn around you are doing something new. it's amazing watching you explore your surroundings. in our living room we have a big carpet that you play on. you sit there and we surround you with your toys. i think we might put to many toys around you, cause the things that interest you the most are pillows and shoes. you love to climb over anything. i've never felt more house dirty than now, as you army crawl to the hardwood floors and pick the dirt out of the cracks.


your new talent is smacking your lips when youre hungry. it's the funniest and cutest thing. you just look up at me and it's as if youre saying "geeze mom, i'm starving! cant you tell!" we play this game now when youre eating. as i'm at the kitchen sink cleaning everything up, i look back at you and you just laugh. i dont make any funny faces or noises, you just laugh.


you also love to bounce in your bouncy thingy that hangs from the doorway. it's a great piece of equipment! and i cant tell you how many times youve pooped in it. yes that's right, it's become your new poopy chair. it used to be the excersaucer, but now its the bouncy chair. which, by the way... it squishes things... squishes it right out. many times i wish that you would have choosen a different spot to 'get comfortable' in. but hey, to each his own.


i love it that when we go out we have a blast. in fact, you are much happier when we are on the go. when we are out and around people you actually yell at them if they are not looking at you. and then when they do turn around to see what that screeching noise was, you give them the biggest smile.
your other new thing is not going down as easily for naps and bedtime. not really sure what the deal is, but i pray that we get that under control! i love you tons, more than anything... but mommy does need her time alone.

love,
mama (which you still have yet to say.... come on boy, you dont want to ride the short bus!)

happiness is...

no sippys in africa?

this morning was pretty hectic. we were up at the crack of dawn, amazingly before even owen was up. i always hate it when i have to stir a sleeping baby, but i decided to go with brian and steve to WEC, not even sure what that stands for, but they were leading worship at 8:30am for the WEC Conference this morning. basically its a compound where missionaries on furlough come to live. so, owen and i decided to tag along. we arrived a little after 7am and that's when i realized i forgot the diapers. what mom in their right mind forgets diapers. you can forget toys, extra clothes, even wipes... but dont forget the food or diapers! so we ran out and found an acme... no problem, just a bit of extra flexibility. as brian and steve were busy setting up, i set up camp with owen. he was getting a bit fussy (hungry fussy) so i took care of that with bananas and pears, pulled out the sippy cup, got out the blanket to lay on the floor, dispersed all the toys we brought, and sat owen down on our beautiful space. i was busy watching owen and just sitting there noticing all the people coming in, and in general just enjoying the time. it was a "post-modern" worship time, the had already done latino, korean, and were gearing up for african and what not for the rest of the week, so that's why were were there. giving them a little taste... haha. anyway.... so they had candles set up too and a gentleman was walking around lighting them. well he makes his way over to our little space and starts lighting the candles on the table next to us. i'm playing with owen and look over at the guy, smile, then look down at what he is actually trying to light. folks, he is honestly trying to light the sippy cup! the flame is on the sippy cup... it's melting the sipper part... he is TRYING TO LIGHT THE SIPPY CUP! who does that! well... let me tell you, after i inform him that the cup was not a candle he is obviously a bit embarrased and walks away. as he is walking away a lady sits down next to me.

"oh, that's so-and-so, he just returned from africa..."
ahh... ok... i think.
"he was there for 38 years."
i would say that does explain it.

for your viewing pleasure: our baby looks like a boy

the front porch

Now that Lindsay's soccer season has started, i have been spending more time in the afternoons and evenings with our little Owen. One of his favorite things to do is sit on the front porch. He loves being outside: the cars going by, the sound of the train, the little girls who live next door playing in their driveway... he watches and listens.

Did you ever drive by a house, in a frantic rush to get somewhere, and see someone sitting on their front porch just watching you pass, and think, "How can they have nothing to do but just sit there and watch the cars go by?" Maybe it's just me. But i got to thinking, what a wonderful thing that is! There's a line in an Aaron Sprinkle song that goes, "...the clock just won't slow down, like it gets its kicks pushing you around" .. and man am i sick of that being me!

When we got back from vacation last month, things got busy again real fast. Piles of email and things to catch up on. But I've decided to be less responsible from now on. The world won't stop spinning if some things just don't get done. Anyway, that leaves us more time to sit on the front porch.

for your driving pleasure