Our Christmas Card to You

Paul, Jenny, Lilly, Owen & "tator tot" want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! This month has flown by in a way, due to a bout with a horrible stomach flu, and then two weeks later a cold I can't get rid of. I am finally starting to get into the Christmas spririt, and am really looking forward to seeing my babies's faces on Christmas morning. They are amazing kids, and I am so thankful to have them in my life, even on those sub-par days :) They never cease to amaze me by using a word I didn't know they new, or deciding to jump for the first time ever. They are going to start Mother's Day Out the first week of January, and I suspect they are going to have a blast. I think I will too :)

We are looking forward to 2009, and to having a new addition to the family. We have so much to be thankful for, and hope that 2009 brings you and your family health and happiness.

Much love,

The Browns

Happy Halloween!

Well we survived Ike. We did lose power for 5 days and needless to say we were outta there within 24 hours of the no power thing. My friend Michelle was nice enough to put it up for THREE days. We didn't want to wear out our welcome, so then we headed to Dallas for the duration. I wish I had taken a single picture during this, but I didn't.

We're excited to go trick or treating tonight! I'll follow up with some pictures of that by Christmas, I'm sure :)

Until then, enjoy the cute photos below.

Jenny :0




Have you seen my children???



First popsicles!





Um, how come nobody ever told me about ketchup before???



Owen at the zoo. He LOVES fish!


Blackmail photo (note Owen in princess nighty)



Lunch at the Children's Musuem

Where did the time go???

Oops!

Wow, I can't beleive it's been so long. How do these other people post every day???

We had a great time on our vacation. We went to Vermont and upstate New York for a few weeks and got to enjoy the beautiful weather. We got to visit Aunt Patty and cousins Dave and Jeff, and then drove over to the cottage and spent two full weeks there. As always, we were not looking forward to returning to the Texas heat, and I won't even discuss how flying with two 1.5 year olds went, except to say we were "those" people.

The highlight of the trip was when Paul bid, and won, a boat at the Clayton Antique Boat Auction. Our whole trip was actually scheduled to attend this, so it was a good possibility that we were going to be boat owners before leaving. We are now the proud owners of 1961 Lyman, 24.5 feet long, named the "Honeyduck" by it's previous owner. We have to keep the name, otherwise it's bad luck, not to mention a lot of money to have it repainted on the back of the boat. It's a great family boat because it has very high sides so no chance of anyone falling over. We got to spend a lot of time on the boat while we were there, but of course it made leaving even that much harder. In case you were wondering, yes, the boat is staying in New York. So now you're probably thinking "you bought a boat, and you're leaving it in New York, where you only spend two weeks a year?" The answer is yes! We are hoping that Paul's parents will use it as much as they want, and we're also hoping that we eventually figure out a way to spend much more than two weeks up there per year. If we could just figure out a way for Paul not to have to go to work...




Since we've been back, we've been to our 18 month appointment, where the pediatrician said Lilly and Owen are definitely long and lean. They are doing great. Lilly weighs around 23.7 lbs and Owen 24.4 lbs, or something like that.



Lilly is turning into a big girlie-girl. Her favorite activity, besides watchign Elmo, is to play in my closet, trying my shoes on and draping my clothing all over her. She loves to carry a purse around as well. Oh, and one of her newest words is "shoes!"- go figure.

Owen has some words as well, but has quite the animal noise vocabulary and is a pro at pointing to body parts. He is still a total momma's boy and Daddy is being a good sport, but would like some attention too!

We joined the YMCA last week, after I found out they provided free child care while you work out! What rock have I been living under???? The is a great way for us to get out of the house, and Lilly really enjoys her playtime at the wall, and Owen has had a few fits where they had to come get me, but I'm sure this will pass......I hope it will pass. The Y has a great kids pool and playground, so I'm looking forward to getting to do those things as a family on the weekend.

The weather is finally a little more tolerable, so we've been able to start going outside to play some. Lilly is a master at the slide, she just loves it! Mostly, they just love playing in all the dirt, but it's good to be in the fresh air.

I hope everyone is doing great, and I promise to post more often, so please check back.

Jennifer :)

Lots of new things

We have been up to lots lately! For starters, Lilly is (finally) walking at 17 months! She finally got the confidence to let go last week and has been walking like a champ since - yay Lilly! This means she will be sporting many adorable dresses from now... I always felt a little guilty making her crawl in a dress.

Well Paul left the house for a few hours last Sunday. When he came home, he discovered a very definite set of teeth marks on Lilly's arm...now I'm not a forensic scientist, and you'll have to forgive the fuzzy picture where we tried to get a close-up up the bite marks, but we're pretty sure we'ved found the culprit. Not to mention Paul and I don't bite.

4 on top, 3 on bottom

4 on top 3 on bottom

And this is poor Lilly' arm....

The bad thing is when Paul asked when and how it happened...I couldn't really give a definite answer. They scream and meltdown several times a day, so I honestly didn't even notice. Plus, Lilly is a tough gal..not a cryer so I guess she didn't make much ado over it.

This picture of Owen was taken a few days ago...too cute! Daddy says we have to train them young. I got them each their own broom so they could help, but he grabbed the rag all by himself :)

Cinderfella

.

Owen woke in the night early last week with an awful stomach virus. So bad that the pediatrician sent us to the hospital. Luckily they gave him some medicine to stop the vomiting, and we were in and out in a few hours. I actually took him back again two days later, because he still looked horrible, etc. We're happy to report he's back to his normal self, but last week certainly was a rough one on all of us.

Pitiful little dude just laid on his bed the whole time we were there, too weak to do anything else!


Recovering at home.

Luckily, Lilly did not get sick!

Haircuts and more

OOPS.
I thought I would post these pics the day they got their haircut, but I didn't. This is probably why I finally gave up on scrapbooking.

Anyways, Lilly and Owen had their first official haircut, with a real hairdresser. They behaved as you would probably expect 1 years getting a hair cut to behave. Needless to say sitting in a big chair with combs and shiny scissors being taunted in front of you is fairly exciting, until they arebeing withheld from you. But we survived.

Before...

Me helping.

I may be cute, but I'm not gonna like it. (Yay! I can see Lilly's eyes again!)

OWEN

Couldn't leave Owen out.

I can't beleive I paid $12 for his hair to be cut.

She even used clippers on him....don't ask. Probably so the haircut would last longer than 30 seconds and I'd feel like I wasn't getting ripped off.

A special thanks to Aunt Laura for going with and being official photographer. I brought my camera too....um, when did I think I was going to take pictures...when I was holding them forcefully again their will, or fighting them for scissors? Thanks Laura!



I hope to be back soon with our photos from our big week in Dallas last week. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mission Failed

It's Monday...somehow I always seem to post on Mondays. I'm not sure why that is.


I had a nice weekend out of town with one of my best friends, we've know each other since 4th grade, pretty cool! Anyways, that meant Paul was alone with Lilly and Owen for 32 hours, but who's counting right? He did a great job and they cooperated pretty well for him. Of course he had to show me up by doing all the laundry, making them a huge hot breakfast, etc, etc. I think they all had a good time.


My post title is my story from last week. As any mom who is a nap freak knows, any outings must be carefully choreographed so as not to miss that golden nap window. So last Wednesday I decided to be productive and we left that house at 8 am to go grocery shopping - plenty of time to be back by 10:30, which is our usual nap time , kinda. So....we're in the car and heading home by 9:30. Have I ever mentioned that I live extremely far from any store you actually want to go to...like Target and Kroger? So that means a 20 minute drive each way. You can probably see where this is going...they freaking fell asleep at 9:45 in the car..could not keep them awake for anything! Grrr!!!! The trouble we moms go to, to only have it slap us in the face. But I guess the silver lining is that they actually did take a small nap in the car even once we got home.

Owen is walking everywhere now, and doesn't have to use his arms to steady himself anymore. He will stand while holding a cup and a snack, and you can tell he is so proud. Lilly...my sweet little stubborn girl, still has no interest in walking. We have tried everything including bribery. She stands all day, uses her walker toys all the time, but she still needs that little bit of confidence to let go. I have a feeling when she does, she will never stop, and will be running!

It's 12:15 and they are still sleeping - yay! When they wake, we are off to Chic-Fil-A and Target. Really, what did stay at home moms do before Chic-Fil-A and Target? I feel sorry for them, that's for sure.

Check back next time for first haircut pictures....first hair cuts by professionals that know what they are doing that is. Not haircuts from moms that think "really, they're one, how hard could it be?" We plan on going some day this week.

A week in pictures...

It's Monday again....sigh. We had a nice, relaxing weekend, though, and the weather was really nice. Owen has been getting more and more brave with his walking. Lilly is taking a step here and there but is still out of her comfort zone - she has to be touching something in order to walk. We spent lots of time on walks and playing outside this weekend, and other than that, just kind of relaxed....as much as you can with two one year olds. They have both learned to climb EVERYTHING. Lilly is a good listener and understands NO, Owen does not. We're off to run some errands and get out of the house this afternoon. Hope everyone is well!

Helping with the laundry.

Cooperating.....rare event.

Monday

Its Monday...again... anyways we have a great couple of weekends. Last weekend we drove to Dallas to see my long lost brother, it'd been 4 years. He flew in from Portland. It was fun to see him interact with the babies, as he's probably never been around one, much less two, but he was a good sport. I think he liked seeing them for the first time.

The weather was unseasonable cool in Dallas, but still nice enough to go to the park. It was so nice being outside and just relaxing. After the park, we stopped by Angie's house (high school friend) and visited them awhile. We don't see each other near enough. We also got to see some old friends, Mike, Joe & Heidi while we were there as well. We hadn't see Joe & Heidi in over two years, and we've all been very busy reproducing during those two years, so it was fun to meet each other's kids for the first time!


In other news, Lilly chipped her cute lil tooth last Monday. It's fine, only upset her for about 10 minutes, but we are going to the dentist on Thursday just to make sure. I don't think anyone but me would even notice it.

Oh, and the biggie, Owen is WALKING! And he's SO dang proud of himself! All day yesterday, (Mother's Day), he was going 6-7 steps at a time, and just loving it. No doubt Lilly will follow soon, they always tend to do things close together.

Not much going on this week, but we are definitely going to make some plans, as otherwise these days get to be really long.

Hope you all are well, I'll post photos soon.

15 months!

Lilly and Owen were officially 15 months yesterday! We celebrated by going to the doctor for their check-up. Lilly weighed in at 20 lb 4.5oz, and Owen was 20 lb 8.5oz, but was 2 inches taller than Lilly. So..according to the charts Owen is long and lean, and Lilly is a short with a little meat on her bones, go figure.

For further proof that these are indeed our children, we have discovered moles on each of them recently. Owen's is on his rear...after many attemps at trying to wipe a tiny piece of poop off his cheek...I realized that nope, that's staying there, my baby's first mole, hehe. And Lilly's first mole made it's appearance on her index finger. Again, I wiped and wiped, then thought maybe it was a small scab, but it too is here to stay. For anyone who has taken a good look at Paul or mine's skin, it is obvious that these kids don't stand a chance when it comes to moles, poor babies. Who knows, maybe by the time they're our age, there will be a new device that just zaps those suckers right off with no scarring. If there is, they'll have to wait in line behind me.

Honarary Uncle Mikey was kind enough to pay a short visit to us last Thursday. He happened to be in town for work, so stopped by for dinner. It was nice to see him, it'd been way too long! Of course we couldn't let him leave without forcing him to read books to our babies, but he's always a good sport!

Well we're off to the big D this weekend to see my brother, it's been FOUR years. We're looking forward to it! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

What we've been up to

Lilly and Owen are almost 15 months, and learning lots of fascinating things each day. Paul and I have become amazed out the little sponges they have become, and are always amused and amazed when we see them doing new things all the time. The latest feats have been actually stacking the rings on cones, putting the shapes in the shape sorter, playing kitchen, and trying to put clothes on themselves. Probably all things only a parent could actually find astounding, but we absolutly do! They are not walking yet, but we figure it will be soon. Owen actually did take his first steps a few weeks ago, but has not shown any more interest. I keep hearing it will get harder once they are walking, but dang it they crawl pretty fast so I'm not concerned about that, and I'm ready for it!

I actually let them play on the germ-infested mall playground yesterday. We met up with some of their "friends" and all had a nice time. They have runny noses today....ask me if I'm surprised :) I swore I'd never let a kid of mine play on one of those things, but how easy it is to say all those things when you don't actually have any kids. Here's a few recent picture of the babies in the sandbox....good thing Daddy wasn't there to see what a mess they were!

We're heading to a crawfish boil tomorrow night. Other than that, we plan to lounge around the house most of the weekend. Hope anyone reading has a great weekend!

We are on the net!

Hi friends and family,

I've FINALLY gotten around to setting up something to share more of Lilly and Owen. Please check back often if you want to know what's going on with us.

Love,
Jenny