Sweet Family Time

We had a really great time this afternoon just hanging out as a family. This is by far the most pictures we've ever posted at one time. I hope you enjoy them!

Owen has been pulling to a stand now for the last week - it's so fun. All of a sudden one day he decided he could do it, and now he acts like this is a skill he's always had! Here he is after pulling up on the couch.



He has started to blow kisses - not very consistently - how sweet!



This is a funny face that he makes.



He is such a thinker at times - really studies and tries to figure things out.



Here is a picture of me and Owen. He has moments of being so cuddly! Then it's back to playing.



A little tickle fun. After all of the years of being tickled by my two older brothers, I can't believe I tickle my son.



Matt captured this one - what a shot!



Thanks to one of my college roomates (who is a teacher), Owen has been learning his letters and what sounds they make. Here he is learning about the letter "P". So smart. Thanks JB! (note: He doesn't actually know his letters and sounds, but he really likes putting the letter tile in the space and making the song play!)



What is more fun than a box? Matt and Owen were having a lot of fun with the box!



We are so thankful for our sweet boy and can't believe he's almost one year old! There will be many pictures of cake and cupcakes smooshed on his face soon enough!

Finger Painting!

What fun we had this morning with finger paint! It lasted about 3 minutes, but it was well worth the mess!

Owen started out cautious - not too sure what to think.



Then he really got the hang of it! In no time the whole page was covered! Look how "fast" his hands are moving - they are blurry in the picture!



At one point, a small amount of paint had gotten on his nose. I thought I would try to wipe it off. He did not enjoy that and proceeded to grab is hair with his painty hands. Then he pressed his hand on his face. Once the first bit of paint was all over him, I wasn't too worried - it's washable! What fun is finger painting if you stay clean?



Here he is tired of me holding his wrists still for pictures. He's had enough.



All done - most of the paint off. It's amazing what a little soap and water can do!



We are going to let this drawing dry and it will go in his baby book for sure! We'll have to post some of his art work at some point. You never know we may have an artist on our hands!

Pancakes!

In the Purdy Household, we love having breakfast for dinner! We were having pancakes the other night. We weren't going to give any to Owen because they have egg in them and babies are not supposed to eat egg WHITE until they are 12 months old.

Well, Owen was pretty cranky (teeth coming in we think) and so we gave him a mini pancake to see if it would help him. It did!! He loved it.

It's so fun to see Owen enjoy the foods that we enjoy so much!

Two Stairs!

Owen is still not pulling to a stand, only to his knees. It doesn't bother us, but we do encourage him to do things to help him learn. The other night he was sitting at the bottom of our stairs, and he pulled up on to his feet. We were really excited. THEN, he proceeded to climb up one stair!! Then another!! Matt was right behind him to ease my nerves. We cheered him on and captured these pictures. You'll notice that we were luring him the stairs by placing the basketball just out of reach. Anything for a ball!

We both agreed that this is the only time that we'll rejoice in stair climbing! He hasn't done it again, but I know to keep a much closer eye on him near the stairs!

Owen goes to Virginia

This past weekend we got to fly to Virginia with Owen. One of the churches that Matt has interviewed at flew us up to meet and spend some time with their staff. It was a really great weekend. Please pray that the Lord would give them wisdom and guidance! They will let us know by March 1 if Matt has been selected.

Here are some pictures from our weekend.

(Our airplane pictures are from our way home - we were too nervous/excited on the way up there.)

Here Matt is teaching Owen all about the planes and the people outside working on the planes. If you look close enough, you can see that Matt is making some plane sound.



Here is a picture of us on the plane. Not only were we THOSE people with the infant on the plane full of business men commuting home to Charlotte after a long day of work, but we then asked one of them to take a picture of us! Owen did great on the planes! Just a little fussy, but who wouldn't be!



We were only a couple of hours away from both sets of Grandparents, so they all came down for lunch on Saturday. Matt's folks are on the left, and mine are on the right.



This is the crib that Owen slept in at the hotel. It worked well, but it looked slightly prisonish. It made nap time interesting since we were 5 ft away - thankfully we had a neat "nook" in the hallway next to our room where Matt and I could go talk while Owen was falling asleep.



We had a great weekend and Owen had a great first flight!

SNOW!

We woke up this morning to snow! We were very surprised! In the 2 1/2 years that we have lived in Charlotte, they call for "wintry conditions" throughout the winter, and we have yet to see anything wintry. So we were surprised and excited to see the snow falling.

These first pictures are from an early morning stroll with Owen. He really liked looking at the snow while we were strolling. Once we sat him down to take the pictures, he wasn't so sure.

Here he looks in awe of the white stuff falling all around him.



Now he's trying to figure it out - very inquisitive.



There's a smile!



A little while later, we went back out and played with some good friends who happen to be our neighbors too!

Here is Owen with Bennett (sitting) and Celia Kulp (standing).



Matt and Owen borrowed Mr. Jake's sled for a quick trip down the hill.



Here is a shot of all of us - Mr. Dave and Matt made this great snow man! It was perfect packing snow.



Our first family photo in the snow!

Basketball, Baseball and Measuring Cups...

The other day, Owen discovered that it is fun, and a bit of a challenge to put the baseball or basketball into the measuring cup. If I laid the ball next to the cup, he'd pick up the ball and put it in the cup. If he was not able to get it in the cup, he got frustrated at himself. I would help him get it. It was neat to see him trying to focus and figure it out. He looked so proud when he did it!

Our Little Musician

We might have a musician in the making living under our roof!

Like father like son!



Owen had a musical moment the other morning while I was eating my breakfast - the Mozart Music Cube was playing and Owen was shaking the home made shakers and clinking the measuring cups. The pictures shows that he was singing too! Look out American Idol!

Almost 11 Months!

I can't believe that our sweet little boy is almost 11 months old!! We have been more blessed and challenged in the last year than ever before. We are so thankful that the Lord gave us this sweet boy! We look forward to many more months and years to come!

Here are some pictures of what he's been up to recently!

Owen is crawling everywhere, and pulls up to his knees. He's not yet mastered pulling to a stand, but when we get him set up, he'll stand at this toy chest and look out the window at the trees and cars. He likes to fall backwards to a sitting position from standing. He gets frustrated when he tries to stand up. I think any day now he'll surprise himself and just stand up! He also likes to walk when we hold his hands.



Owen's been eating new foods too. He enjoys the staples of cheese, yogurt, sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, veggies, bread, etc. Some days for breakfast we make him "Eggy Bread" - dip bread into egg yolks and cook it. He likes that a lot! In the past few weeks we're trying to feed him more of what we're eating - pork roast, pasta - and one day last week we made his first Grilled Cheese! It's a favorite of ours and it was very fun to see him enjoy it!



We are trying to teach Owen to sleep without his Paci! It's going pretty well so far. So now instead of sleeping with a Paci, he sleeps with Puppy. So sweet! (Somehow this night he ended up with both!!)

Why would you not get a Mac?

Saturday night we brought Owen over to our friends the McCann's. They watched him for us and put him to sleep while we were out on a date. When we got back we were chatting and discovered that Sean and Lindsey got a Mac laptop for Christmas. There is a function on the laptop called "PhotoBooth." You can take pictures with a camera in the laptop and then edit them in fun ways.

We were laughing so hard! It is so funny to see how distorted it made us all look! Here are a few of the pictures that we took...INCLUDING some we took with Owen after we woke him up to take him home. Poor boy!

I left being convinced that we need a Mac for our next computer.

Purdys and McCanns



An attractive shot of Kristen and Lindsey.


Family Portrait



Like father like son.

Swimming!

Tuesday was Family Day. This was our first whole day without school, work, or traveling in a LONG time. We were looking forward to it quite a bit. One of the elements we planned into our day off was a trip to the YMCA to take Owen to the pool. The only time he'd been "in" the water was when we dipped his feet in the ocean and pool this summer at the beach. He wasn't thrilled! So we weren't sure what he'd think.

We'll let the pictures tell the story.

Here is Owen in his bathing suit before we left for the Y. He doesn't know what's coming his way.




Here is a picture that perfectly captures how he felt at first - very unsure! He wasn't crying, but certainly not happy.



Here he is willing to sit in the water and pat it with his hands, but he's still very timid.



By the end he was loving it! He would crawl around in the super shalow section, and he and daddy waded out to the "deep" level at 2ft.



Owen is getting mommy and me swimming lessons for his birthday, we look forward to more fun in the pool!

It runs in the family...

Last week we moved Owen's board books down to the lower shelf on our book case. This was a great move on our part. As you can see in the pictures, he loves it! He loves to sit and pull off the books one at a time and "read" them. When he's done with one book he'll move on to the next one. He is currently reading his books and has been for the last 15 minutes! It's so sweet to watch him. His love for books was certainly passed down through his daddy, his Gramma and others!


Owen reading.



Going back for another one.

Corduroy Day

One day last week ended up being Corduroy Day in the Purdy house. Here is a picture of all of us standing in our kitchen with our Corduroys.

Pizza love runs in the family!

I can't believe we haven't posted this picture yet. For all who know Matt very well, you know of his LOVE for pizza. In fact it is a true statement that he ate pizza EVERY DAY his Freshman year of college. Needless to say, we have looked forward to Owen's first taste of Pizza since his birth. Owen enjoyed his first pizza crust over Christmas. I think it was more fun for us to watch, but Owen seemed to enjoy it as well!

Here is a picture of Owen with his daddy. Note the pizza crust hanging from Owen's mouth.

"Sledding" In Charlotte

I am pretty certain that this is the closest that Owen will get to sledding this winter! We were taking down all of our Christmas decorations yesterday, and Owen happend upon the lid to the tupperware that we store the decorations in. Matt had the great idea to play a game similar to the laundry basket game. Owen loved it! Just imagine the joy of snow and a sled!! Oh well! Lids on carpet bring joy too.

A visit from The Purdys

Since our parents only live 2 hours away, we were able to have a visit from Matt's family on the 28th. Matt's parents, and most of his siblings made it down to Harrisonburg for an afternoon and evening. (We missed you Noelle, Scott, Ashley, Madison and Anna!)

We enjoyed playing fusball, talking, exchanging stocking stuffers and watching them play with Owen.

Thanks for making the trip!

Owen enjoyed some time with Grandpa Purdy and Grandma Purdy on the couch before they headed home.

More Christmas Fun

Here are a few more pictures from our time in Harrisonburg with my (Kristen's) family. We had such a blast - we didn't want to come home. But at the same time, we are glad to be home. Owen's stint of waking up at 5:30 during Christmas break has been ended. He's now sleeping until 7:30! I can go for that!

Matt discovered this fun game with the laundry basket one afternoon. Owen was having a ball - Megan was too!



Here's an up close shot of Owen in the laundry basket.



Here is Owen adoring his sweet Aunt Becky. What a joy it was for us to see Bryan and Becky get to know Owen better. I look forward to Owen's Aunts and Uncles being a very special part of Owen's life.



One last shot of the cousins before we left. They had such a fun time together. Owen's eyes started to light up when they'd enter the room. Reese and Megan were such a great help! It was a blessing to see them get to know each other. I hope and pray that he and his cousins will be closest of friends until they're old and gray!



What a great first Christmas!