Recap on the Last 4 Months

Ok, I've said it before and I'm saying it again...I'm not good at keeping up with the blog. When life gets crazy-busy, the blog gets neglected. I want to do better...so I'm going to try really, really hard. :)

So, first things first: Owen is 6.5 months old now! I honestly can't believe it. The time is flying by and I'm trying my best to document everything about his life so that I can always remember these sweet days.

6 month picture taken by Aunt Laura with Roots Photography

A lot has happened since the last time I posted back in October...I went back to work (the hardest thing I've done- I cried for 2 weeks every time I dropped him off), we celebrated our first Thanksgiving and Christmas with Owen, took our first trip with Owen to Florida where my grandparents and aunt and uncle live, Owen saw his first and only snow this year and we've enjoyed a very mild winter with some fun time outside. This boy loves going on walks in the stroller. :)

He wasn't very impressed with the snow...maybe next year!

We have transitioned into solid foods and Owen has loved every minute of it. So far we have tried squash, carrots, green beans, peas and zucchini. The only thing he is not a huge fan of are the peas. But I can't blame him...they're not my favorite either! The first time I gave him squash he looked at me like "you've been holding out on me, woman." At his 6 month check up, the doctor told us we could start introducing the sippy cup. He has caught on really well and he can hold it in his hands and take the cup to his mouth. He hasn't figured out the tilt-your-head-so-the-water-can-come-out part yet, but he sure thinks he's doing something when we hand it to him.

Another exciting milestone in our house: Owen has 2 teeth! His first tooth (bottom right) popped through on January 23rd. Just 10 days after his 5 month birthday. I was so shocked to see it pop through so fast, especially after reading that babies can teeth for MONTHS before seeing a tooth break through. His second tooth (bottom left) finally popped through on February 9th. For awhile Owen would just rub his tongue back and forth over his new teeth trying to figure out what in the world was in his mouth. Those little teeth definitely change the look of his little grin and it makes him look much older now. But those teeth are the cutest little teeth I've ever seen. :)

You can see a faint little pearly white in this weekly photo :)

Owen still sleeps through the night. We are so blessed! He goes down between 7:30 and 8:30 and we wake him up around 7am in the mornings to nurse and get him ready to take to the sitter's house. When we put him down at night, he goes right to sleep (unless he has already fallen asleep while nursing) and wakes up with a big smile on his face. So far we haven't had to do the cry-it-out thing at night to get him to fall asleep. He's a pretty easy baby and loves his sleep. He is napping 2-3 hours twice a day and takes a 45 minute to 1-hour nap in the evenings during supper time. Little Buddy just can't make through the evening without a power nap. This actually helps me out so much because I can get things ready for the next day and cook supper.

The girls have really been wonderful little helpers. They take turns waking Owen up in the mornings on the weeks they are with us. They love going to get him and it has been really fun to watch them with Owen. They are so nurturing and very natural with him. In fact, just this morning, Peyton asked to get Owen up for me to feed him and when I walked in his room, she was changing his diaper for me. I don't think she will ever know what a big help that is. I never push that sort of thing on the girls because I know just having a new baby in the house is a big enough adjustment but they continue to surprise me with all the things they want to help with. Now that Owen is eating vegetables in the evenings, they both beg to help feed him. We are getting into a really good routine with the girls and the older Owen gets, the easier life with 3 becomes. But man, those first few months were hard!

with big sis Peyton

I know I'm missing some things that have happened over the past 4 months, but these are some of the highlights and memories that really stand out right now. When I look back at the pictures of when Owen was first born, I am sad to see how much he has changed already in just 6 months, but I am SO excited for our future with this sweet baby boy. He has been nothing but pure joy so far and it really does keep getting better and better. I am loving seeing life through his eyes as he figures new things out.

6 months

Spring is in the air here....I'm looking forward to evening walks with my family and preparing for a larger garden this year. So many exciting things to come and I'll do my best to blog along the way. :)

Time

This is my last week of maternity leave and the time is flying by too fast. I can't believe it's been over 7 weeks since Owen was born and that it's almost time for me to return to work. I can't stand to think about it. I've already told the sitter that I'll probably cry all week next week and she agreed that I probably would. I don't want to leave this face:

sweet baby boy

Luckily, he will be staying in someone's home and I know he will be taken great care of. Selfishly, I just don't want to be away from him. I know I'm not the first woman to return to work after having a baby, so I'm forcing myself to look on the bright side and be positive....but until I have to go back, I'll be spoiling my baby boy and holding him as much as possible. :)

Please Lord, let this week go by sloooooooooowly.

Happy Baby

Owen has been "talking" for a few weeks now and he is starting to become more and more expressive each day. He is making parenting so much fun. I was able to catch a little video today:

Oh....one more thing....I think we have a thumb-sucker...

We'll see if he sticks to the paci or if he switches to his thumb in the coming months.

Sleep Is Good

Go Gators!

Owen did it again! We have slept through the night 2 nights in a row! Our nightly routine seems to be working so far. My next goal is to start gradually moving his bedtime to an earlier time, but the 10pm-6:30am schedule is a great start!

Brag Moment

I am so proud to say that Owen slept through the night again last night! He has done this a few times before and every time it happens, I have to check the clock twice to make sure I'm not dreaming!

We're trying to establish a more consistent nightly routine since I'll be returning to work in 2 weeks. Last night, I bathed Owen, fed him and then laid him down at 10pm. He didn't wake up until 6:15am this morning! And the best part when he woke up: He had a huge smile on his face!

I'm going to try this routine again tonight and hope for the same results. :) I am finding that a swaddle blanket is the key to keeping him asleep....sometimes he wakes himself up when he is dreaming, however he is really good at putting himself back to sleep. 

It's amazing what a full night of sleep will do to a mama. Owen typically only wakes up once around 4am in the night, but that still takes a toll after awhile. But I can't really complain. He has done so well in his first 6 weeks of life. :)

Keep up the good work/sleep Owen!

Check-Up Time

Owen had his One-Month check-up this morning and he was a good little patient. My mom and I have been trying to guess his weight for awhile now and I was excited to see just how much he is weighing now. My mom guessed over 11 pounds and I was thinking more like 10.5 pounds.

I moved his arm 3 times and he kept putting it back on his face...silly boy.

We had an 8am appointment so luckily we were in and out fairly quickly. His stats for this visit were:

weight: 9 lbs. 14.5 oz. (55th percentile)
height: 21.5 inches (50th percentile)

I was surprised he wasn't over the 10 pound mark, but he is certainly growing! His doctor said he is "growing beautifully" so that's all I needed to hear. Basically he is an average sized baby for his age but of course we think he's perfectly sized (I know, I know.... I'm a cheesy, proud mom).

Anyway, this visit was easy. The next one won't be. Owen will get 4 shots and I'm not looking forward to it. Hopefully he'll do better than I do with shots...we shall see.

"O" Happy Day

Happy One Month to my sweet baby!

I love this baby more and more every single day. I'm a very proud mama. :)

4 Weeks?!

It can't be possible that our baby boy is 4 weeks old tomorrow.

Time is going by WAY too fast. I have to go back to work in a month and it literally makes me sick to my stomach when I think about leaving him for extended periods of time. I've only left him for a total of 30 minutes since he was born and even that was hard to do.

Ok, enough about the depressing stuff...

Owen is still a really good baby. He is stretching his sleeping at night out to 5 hours at a time but still likes to eat every 3 hours during the day. I'm totally fine with this!

He's still wearing newborn-sized clothes and diapers but I feel like we are on the verge of transitioning to 0-3 months in the clothing department soon. The way they size baby clothing is crazy to me...some newborn things are still baggy on him and other things are tight. Weird, I tell ya. I think we'll still be in newborn diapers a bit longer, mainly because he likes to pee out of his diapers all the time and the smaller diapers seem to work better at keeping the urine contained. Some days it seems we change clothes as many times as we change diapers...and that's a lot of changing!

And can I just say that this child is the king of pooping in a freshly changed diaper. We sure go through the diapers in this house. Thankfully we were blessed with so many packs/boxes of diapers at all of our baby showers that we haven't had to buy any yet and probably won't have to for awhile. Holla!

We have kept our outings to a minimum this first month, but some of the places we've taken Owen so far are:
-the doctor
-Nonna's volleyball game
-big sister Peyton's softball game
-Mama Dips for Uncle Matt's birthday
-big sister Raegan's soccer practice
-Uncle John's football game tonight (GO COMETS!!)

I'll try to venture out more this next month but I honestly have really enjoyed having an excuse to stay at home. Somedays I feel a little more stir crazy than others, but overall I've enjoyed being at home with Owen.

Oh, I think Owen has decided he likes bath time now. He screamed through his first bath but lately he seems to enjoy laying in the warm water and creating his own waterworks. :)

That's all the updating I can think of right now. I still can't believe 4 weeks have passed. He'll be going to college before I know it...

Oh Boy!

I'm officially a mommy. It's still sinking in and I'm loving it.

On August 13th at 12:23 am, Kris and I welcomed a beautiful 7 pound, 1 ounce baby boy into the world.

Meet Owen Daniel LeRoy:

Hat too big = cone-looking head

He is a week old today and I already feel like he's growing too fast. He is a perfect baby. The only times we hear him cry is when he's hungry or when his diaper is being changed. It seems like he is sleeping around the clock but he doesn't appear to have his days and nights mixed up. He will usually give us a good 4-5 hour stretch at night before waking up for a feeding. We put him in his cradle between 10 and 11 each night and then he will usually wake up once in the middle of the night and then again anywhere between 6 and 8. The interrupted sleep has been a little hard to get used to, but I know we're very fortunate to have a baby that will let us sleep as much as Owen is letting us sleep so far. I also know anything can change when it comes to babies, so I keep reminding myself that this may not last long.

The moment I laid eyes on this sweet baby, I was overcome with emotion. Even now when I look at him, I can't believe he was growing inside of me for 9 months. It was always hard to imagine him being here but now that he is here, I don't know how I got through the days without him. He has stolen our hearts and we are so thankful that God chose us to raise him. We are the luckiest parents.

 The Monday after Owen was born (the 15th), we had to take him to the doctor for the first time. The pediatrician on call while we were in the hospital wanted us to take him in for a weight check and to have his bilirubin checked. When we saw our pediatrician, she said his color looked great and that she didn't want to have him pricked that day. He had lost weight since his birth (6 pounds, 11 ounces) and she wanted us to come back on Thursday (the 18th) for another weight check. She said if he started to look yellow by then, they would prick him but that he didn't seem to have any issues with jaundice at all. I know lots of babies go through this and I had pretty much expected to have to deal with it, but I'm so happy that it wasn't an issue for Owen.

I'm so in love with this baby boy.

Oh, and when we went back to the doctor on the 18th for his weight check, he was back up over his birth weight! He weighed in at 7 pounds, 2.5 ounces. I was just hoping for some weight gain. I wasn't expecting him to be over his birth weight in just 3 days. It confirmed that he is getting everything he needs from my milk, which is a good feeling because it's so hard to tell how much exactly he is getting. I guess he would let me know if he wasn't getting enough though. :)

And the verdict is still out on the color of his eyes. In some light I can see a hint of blue and then in other light I see more of a brown tint. I think they will end up being brown like mine, but I have no problem with them being blue like his daddy's either. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. :)

I'm a sucker for baby feet and I can't get enough of these.

That's pretty much the latest in our lives right now. The first week of motherhood has been emotional, wonderful, amazing, perfect. I wish I could freeze time, but I'm so looking forward to this crazy adventure and raising this baby with my best friend. 

We are so blessed.

New Nephews

Last night, Kris and I went to see the newest additions to the LeRoy family: our new nephews Sam and Luke. They were born Thursday, 7 weeks early, but they are healthy and happy...and too cute for words. They are tiny but they are doing so well and progressing each day. Little Sam showed us his precious little eyes, while Luke snoozed. It's amazing how similar they look, yet seem so different too. I can't wait to see how their little personalities develop as they grow.

This has been an exciting time waiting for all these new LeRoy boys to arrive and now that the twins are here, it's starting to hit me more that we are about to become parents. I've been nesting pretty hardcore lately and there's really not much left to organize/get in order before our little boy arrives. But, I still have that feeling of "what if we forget to do something before he gets here?" It hit me last night that there will always be something to do, whether baby is here or not, so I'm trying to let it go and not focus so much on stuff that still needs to be done and focus more on enjoying these last few weeks of pregnancy. It's hard to believe that I've been pregnant for 36 weeks now and that we are less than a month away from meeting our little guy. I can't wait. Kris is like a little boy at Christmas time waiting for presents. I love his excitement. The girls have started a countdown on the little dry erase board on our fridge too. We are definitely ready to see our baby!

At my doctor's appointment this week, my doctor told me that 37 weeks is considered full-term, so if I happen to go into labor anytime after that, then they won't try to stop it. I don't think I'll be going into labor in the next week (or anytime soon for that matter), but it still seems crazy to think we are so close! As long as he's healthy, I really don't mind when he decides to come. I can't wait to hold him though. :)

2 Months Later...

I just noticed that I haven't posted in exactly 2 months. Ooops. I'm really not good at this whole blogging thing, yet somehow I think I'm going to keep this up once Baby Boy arrives...? Should be interesting to see what happens!

Anyway, we've been pretty busy the past 2 months, but not really in the "preparing for baby" department. We're down to less than 5 weeks to go until due date and we still have everything stacked in the corner of the dining room. Not good. We really are going to be tackling it very soon- we have no choice at this point! Part of it's my fault...I'm overwhelmed with where to start and since I have the summer off and Kris works during the day, it's hard to do much by myself. I've organized stuff, but that's as far as I've gotten. But, my mom has been down in Florida for the past 2 weeks and won't be back until this Sunday, so once she gets back, I'll have some help and we'll hit the ground running.

Speaking of Florida, we were able to spend our family vacation in Fort Myers, Florida back in June. My grandparents and Aunt and Uncle live there, so we were able to enjoy some great family time before Baby Boy arrives. It's hard to believe that was our last vacation with just the girls. They had a great time and can't wait to go back next summer.

at the beach...33 weeks

We had a wonderful time away and it really was just the relaxing trip we needed before baby. :)

In the past 2 months, I've also had 2 wonderful baby showers. I'll post more on those later but we have been super blessed with amazing friends and family who have been so generous in this most exciting time in our lives. There really aren't words to describe my gratefulness for such sweet people.

Well, I better get back to organizing all my closets and cabinets...that's how I'm using my time off this summer- along with going to the pool as much as possible, of course. It's hot out there!

New Addition(s)

A few weeks ago, we did something a little crazy...well, crazy for us.

That's right, we bought 4 baby chicks. Not one. Not two. Four. That's what makes us crazy. But, now that we've had them for a few weeks, it's really not bad at all. Chicks are pretty easy to take care of. You feed them. They sleep. You clean up poop. They poop more. Easy peasy.

There's no way of knowing for sure if you have female chicks or male chicks so we're hoping we scored 4 females. We aren't exactly looking to have a chicken farm or anything. If we end up with any roosters, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.....I make a yummy homemade chicken pie.

JUST KIDDING :)


Anyway....

Blackie, Lilly, White Wing, Ava

Kris' girls named the chicks. The little black one is Blackie, naturally. One of the yellow ones is White Wing, since she has white wings, duh. The other yellow one is Lilly and the brown one is Ava.

They are about to outgrow the box Kris built for them so we'll have to fix our coop soon so they can have more room to sit, eat and sleep. Seriously, that's all they do.

So, there you have it. Our new additions to the family. I can't wait until they start laying eggs!

1st Mother's Day

Sunday was a good day. 

I guess it was technically my first Mother's Day, even though Baby Boy won't be here until later this summer. It was a special day thinking about him and what it will be like when he gets here. We got to spend time with both of our moms and families. I love when it works out for all of our families to get together. It reminds me of how it was for me growing up. Seeing my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on special occasions was always something we got excited about. 

Here are some pictures of our day...

26 weeks

the goofy belly pic

I'm not a "belly picture" kind of girl, but my husband's sense of humor won out in that second picture.

sibling love

John may or may not have passed gas in the picture above...

Okay, he did. We laughed. Kris captured it. Good times!

Putting all the fun and silliness aside, Mother's Day really was a great day. I didn't dwell on the reason for celebrating Mother's Day too much, but something just felt special about the whole day. Looking back, I think it's because of this little boy growing inside of me. It's changing me every day and I'm finding myself often wishing he were already here. We are so blessed and so thankful for this little life that God is trusting us with.

Okay, one more picture just for fun...

...and judging by our faces, I honestly can't decide who I wish our baby is more like. I hope he thinks he's as lucky as we think he is!

I hope all the mamas out there had a special Mother's Day. It really was a good day.

Fun Day Ahead!

We may have lost our minds but we are up to something crazy today. I'll share pictures of the craziness this afternoon but for now we're enjoying this sunny Saturday morning and getting ready for a softball game.

I love springtime. :)

Easter and Spring Break

I've been enjoying Spring Break since Thursday afternoon and it has been a much needed break. I've been able to get some spring cleaning done, spend time with my mom, enjoy lots of time with Kris and had a little bit of time to rest too. Sadly, Kris had to go back to work today so I'm missing him a lot. I always get spoiled when we have extended weekends together.

Over the weekend, we were able to spend time with both sides of the family. We went to church at Love Chapel Hill where Kris' brother Matt preaches. We love Chapel Hill and miss being there each week. After church, we had a big Easter lunch with all the LeRoys and celebrated a very special 5th birthday. It's hard to believe in a few short months the 4 grandchildren will become 7! It's going to be fun watching these sweet cousins grow up together.

After the fun in Chapel Hill, we headed back home and spent the evening with my mom, brother, sister and my sister's boyfriend, Rob. We even made time for a walk after supper. I was exhausted from being on-the-go all day but it was a great day spent with each of our families and I'm glad it worked out for us to see everyone. I'll try to get my act together soon and upload our pictures and share some of our favorites.

Until then, I'll keep enjoying this break. Thursday is still 2 days away. :)

Back in Action

After taking a break for the past 7 months, I decided it's time to bring the blog back. We've been so busy that I've hardly missed blogging...and let's face it, I wasn't that consistent with it like I thought I would be. But, with a huge change around the corner for our family, I wanted to get back into writing and reflecting on our journey through the next phase in our marriage...a baby! 

That's right, we're having a baby and we couldn't be more excited. We found out on March 15th that we're having a boy and we affectionately refer to him as "Baby Boy LeRoy" (I told Kris we should name him that, but he's not going for it). My mom had a dream that we named him "Sir Lawerence." Crazy woman. Naturally, she calls him "Sir" now. I think that's her way of getting back at me for the silly nickname my sister and I gave my brother when he was a baby. We made up a song to go with the nickname. Yeah, we were cool. 

Anyway, that's basically the latest in our house these days. We can't wait to start this new chapter in our lives and I'm so blessed to be able to share it all with Kris. He's the best dad to his girls and Baby Boy LeRoy is going to be one lucky baby.

But...until he arrives in August, we'll be sleeping as much as possible. :)