Merry Christmas!

It's Owen's First Christmas! It has been a busy day full of stockings to open, naps to take, and presents to open. Not to mention lots of love from Owen's older cousins (Reese and Megan) and Uncle Bryan, Aunt Becky and Gramma and Grampa. Here are some of the highlights of Owen's First Christmas.


Owen Crawling near the Christmas tree.



Here Owen is opening his stocking - he was gifted with some fun things including Sweet Potato Puffs and a new pair of leather shoes.


Fun with cousins...we miss you Anna Rose!


More fun with cousins.


Here are the three of us on Christmas Eve. We went to the 7pm Christmas Eve service at our church in VA. Owen mostly enjoyed crawling around in the hallway playing with the envelope in the bulletin. We joined the rest of the family at the end of the service for Joy to the World and Silent Night. It was very special!


We are thankful for a wonderful family to celebrate the birth of Christ with. We miss the rest of our family, but we hope to see them soon.

We look forward to many years of celebrating the birth of Christ together - teaching Owen what that means, and learning more for ourselves too!

My weekend with my Son House Aunts

This weekend I got to go to VA with mommy. We met up with her roommates from JMU. They are a funny bunch! They kept telling me that I look like I'm in 1st grade and that I should be talking. They must have forgotten that I'm just 9 months old.

This is mommy and me on the steps of Wilson Hall at JMU. Do you like my orange hat? It was keeping me warm.


I finally got to meet Aunt Sarah - she lived in Mississippi. Now that she's getting married, she'll live in VA. I can't wait to see her more often!



There was this neat table. I figured out how to crawl under it and how to play peek a boo. I liked playing peek a boo with Aunt Jenny and Aunt Missy.



Two things happened that made me worry. First they had a chick flick on Saturday night - not sure about that! Then Sunday morning Aunt Emily let me play with this necklace. Then they put it on my head! Not sure what daddy would have thought.



They played with me a lot. I liked that. Aunt Regina and Aunt JB liked to teach me all about sounds and words. They're teachers.



It was a fun weekend - I know it was special for mommy that I got to play with my Son House Aunts. I can't wait for Aunt Emily to have her baby. Next time he and I will play trucks and ball. That will be fun.

Son House Reunion Weekend

I (Kristen) had the privilege of getting together with all but one of my college roommates this past weekend in Afton, VA (we missed you Jane!). We stayed in the mountains at a family members cottage. It was so sweet to get some good girl time in. Owen joined me for the weekend and got to meet all of my room mates that he hadn't met yet. Check Owens posting on the weekend for more input from him!

We had a great time talking and walking around JMU and EATING lots of bagels at our favorite bagel shop, Mr.J's.

It was a blessing for sure!


Here is a picture of some of us on a walk at JMU.



While Owen was eating his lunch in the car, the girls had a photo opp with the Duke Dog himself.



Can you tell we have fun with self-timer pictures?

Special Boy, Special time of Year

Sweet Anna Rose

This is a picture of Owens cousin - Anna Rose. She is 6 days older than Owen and lives in Connecticut with her mommy and daddy (Kristen's Brother). I thought this picture of her with Santa was so precious that I wanted to share it with you all.

Merry Christmas!

9 Months Old!

Yesterday was Owen's 9 Month Birthday! As my brother stated last night on the phone "You almost have a One Year Old!" That is so true and so crazy! So, what does a 9 month old baby boy do? Here you go...

Owen's Crawling! He started Monday afternoon (12/4) and is taking a few crawls at a time. He is by no means cruising around the room, but if he sees something he wants, he can get it. Sometimes that is helpful, other times it is not! But we're excited and thankful for this progress!

















One of Owen's favorite activities is playing ball. We literally play catch with him. We throw it to him, he picks it up, and throws it back to us. It's very fun. Here Owen is playing catch with his pal Puppy. He looked at puppy with delight the whole game.

















Owen is enjoying some new foods in his diet - cheese, yogurt, CheeriO's, water out of a sippy cup, etc. His favorite by far were Lima Beans that our friends Jake and Melissa brought over for dinner. He could not get enough of them!

















Here is Owen's new facial expression. (Sorry the picture is on it's side) He makes it along side many different moods. He will make it when he's happy, frustrated, sad, angry, etc. At least he tells us what he thinks! He's our little communicator!


















With every new phase of parenting there is a portion of joy and a portion of trial. It is great that he's crawling, but it brings a host of new issues. You get the idea. We're praying that the Lord would give us love for Owen in all that he is doing; that He would allow us to know when to discipline and when to train and when to let a baby boy be a baby boy. Thankfully He offers to give wisdom to those who need it. That is us for sure!

Another Hair Cut!

Right before Thanksgiving, we took Owen for another hair cut! The other was more like a trim, but still. His hair grows SO fast. He already needs another one! He did great for the hair cut - just sat on my lap and watched Barney. Hey, there is a first time for everything, right?!