Bye-bye Rachael Ray

I have officially OD'd on Rachael Ray. I have reached saturation point - I was on a daily dose of her Food Network shows and CBS talk show plus her magazine (only one on maternity leave can do this!). We need some time apart; I removed her from my links list.

I kept the Food Network link because I still love Giada.

Roundup roundup

Today was the Redhead Round Up at the Garden Grove Strawberry festival. I was a bit unsure what to expect, but as you can see from the pictures below, this was a pretty low-key event and people were just there to have fun. We met some really nice families and kvetched about there being too much sun and our "Irish tans". Here's how it went.

Its our turn

The interview


Meeting with the judges

Feeling Good After


"Can I ride the horsie now?"

"Yes"

Andrew did get his picture taken by a photographer at the OC Register so we'll be on the look out for his picture in the paper.

Bros

Owen at 2 months

I'm two months old today!

Watch out Thorpedo

Watch out Thorpedo - Andrew has made it to the intermediate swimming lesson class after only three weeks in beginners. Next week he starts his new class. I think the main criteria for moving up to intermediate is to get through a beginner class without crying, but hey that's still pretty cool.

The indignities of being a baby

I now call Owen "Owey-Bowey" exclusively.

Countdown

Only 5 days 'til the Red Head Roundup.

We are totally entering this contest.

No joke, we're really going to enter!

Baby stats

Owen went to his 8 week appointment this morning. Here's how he did:

• Weight: 14.0 pounds - 95th percentile
• Height: 25 inches - 100th percentile
• Head circumference: 15.5 inches - 50th percentile

This is one big kid - except for his head. Eric and I laugh that two average sized people like us have had two really big babies. I knew he was getting really big because he really blew by 3 month outfits right into 6 month outfits but I was not expecting him to have gained over 5 pounds in 7 weeks!

Owen is doing the just the right things for his age: cooing, smiling and following objects with his eyes. He still favors his right side and has a bit of a flat spot on his head (I hadn't even noticed the flat spot) because he tends to lean to that side more. This is most likely due to residual muscle weakness caused by his birth. His doctor recommended doing some exercises with him to strengthen his neck muscles on his left side.

Owen is very resistent to bottle feeding lately. I will have to work on this so he's ready for Kindercare in about a month. Boy the time just flies by!

Double booked

No joke, Andrew was invited to two more birthday parties this week. Sadly, they are both on the same day at the same time. We'll go to the one that we got the inviation for on Monday since it came first. I can't believe his social calendar has a conflict! This kiddo really does have a better social life!

The many faces of Owen

When I'm bloggin' Owen is usually on my lap on the boppy. You know he likes to snuggle close. Now that Owen is almost two months old he is becoming very expressive. Here are a few of his favorite faces. His head is a little cut off in these pictures since he was too close for me to look through the lens and focus.

I love iTunes

It is way too easy to buy music and audiobooks from Apple iTunes. I just bough 1 CD and two books in about 30 seconds . This could get very expensive very fast.

Party Time

Andrew's social life far exceeds his parents. Yesterday he went to a party for his friend Noah's 3rd birthday. The party was pretty great for little kids. It was at a Pump it Up "the inflatable party zone". So the kids jumped in bounce houses, went down slides, played in cars and moved non-stop for 2 hours. (Eric was moving for two hours too keeping up with Andrew!). Andrew was in heaven because like Andrew, Noah is a big Thomas the Tank Engine fan and chose that for his theme. Lots of Andrew's friends were there, the picture above is Andrew with Regan and Garret - his good buddies. I have more pictures but this one is the only one where any of the kids were still and you could see their faces. They were still because the employees of Pump it Up are kid experts and were able to get their attention long enough for everyone to sing happy birthday. In fact, the parents really don't have to do much, the location handles everything, setting up lunch, cake and clean up.

Oh by the way I'm done planning Andrew's 3rd birthday party:

Save the date: March 17th, 2008
Location: Pump It Up

Back on track

Just wanted to report that Andrew was a rock star at swimming lessons today. He was happy and smiling the whole time and even enjoyed extra free swim time with Dad after class. He also got to see his buddy Regan and do a few laps with her before her class started.

There are no pictures because mom kept out of view so Andrew could concentrate on class and have fun. It worked.

When dad's away...

...everyone sleeps in the big bed.


Note: Choppers the Cat is not pictured but she was there too taking up way more room than necessary.

Play date

Owen got a surprise visit from Kayleen yesterday. He pretty much slept through the visit, so we'll need to plan another for the two of them to get acquainted. Kayleen's mom Sheila stopped by to say hello too.


Sheila is a talented photo book and scrapbooker - look at the cool border she did for this picture of Owen.


She is going to create a wedding album for us. I showed her the photos we have of our big day and she laughed at the inch think layer of dust on the photo box! I am so grateful I have a friend who has her own photo album business - I have already asked her to do photo albums for Andrew and Owen too. I know I don't have to tell anyone related to me that scrapbooking and album making is NOT a talent of mine.

i-Baby

Being a baby is hard work. At the end of the day Owen likes to listen to tunes on his iPod to chill out.

How to eat a PB & J Samich

Andrew would like to demonstrate how to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or "samich" as the cool two-year-olds call it.

Step 1 - Pull "samich" apart
Step 2 - Lick jelly from bread
Step 3 - Repeat step two
Step 4 - "All done"

Please see illustrations below:

Swimming Lessons

Andrew went to his second swimming lesson on Saturday. Here he is at the pool before the class. So happy, so excited...

He spent the next twenty minutes like this...



And this...

What a change from last week! Andrew was upset for the entire 20 minute class - but he did stay in and complete all of the moves. The minute Andrew got out of the pool, he started laughing and smiling so he was no worse for the experience. I think next week mom won't be on the deck taking pictures, I think Andrew kept hoping that I would rescue him if he kept crying.

Yawn

Owen woke up every two hours last night...yawn.

All Smiles

Owen has been smiling for the past few days. These smiles are hard to capture on film though! Here he is smiling because his mom is making funny faces at him.


Here's his more serious side:

I am all smiles because for the past two nights Owen has only woken up once! I think we are on our way to sleeping through the night soon. Andrew was sleeping through the night at two months, I'm hoping Owen follows his brother's example.

Wanna ride da horsie?

Andrew had a HUGE weekend. On Saturday he went to his first swimming lesson. He's going to go once a week for the next 12 weeks. Before the lesson I was prepared for some trepidation and tears from Andrew because it is a new experience filled with people he didn't know. But Andrew did great! It's a "Parent and Me" class and dad was his partner. They worked on floating on his back, jumping into the pool and going completely underwater. Andrew didn't like being on his back, but each time he quickly recovered and was ready for the next move. I don't have any pictures darn it - the kids look so cute in their little swim suits - we'll get some next weekend.

After a quick nap, we went to San Juan Capistrano to get some Pedro's Taco's for lunch (Andrew as usual just had the chips and salsa) and then we went to the petting zoo. The zoo has pony rides and we thought Andrew would love a ride on a real pony instead of the merry-go-round type. We saw a couple of cute little ponies and a horse ready for kids. We figured given Andrew's size he'd get the pony - nope, he got to ride a giant horse! Here's Andrew checking out his ride:

He doesn't look too sure about the horsie ride there and mom wasn't too sure either. I told Eric to be ready to rescue him if Andrew decided attaching himself to an animal 100 times his size wasn't a good idea. But as you can see below we've got a budding cowboy on our hands. He did great on his first horseback ride.

Here you can see how big the horse was (and how nicely his hair matches the horse's coat) :

After the ride Andrew got a new sheriff's hat:

As a parent of a two-year-old I am ready for melt downs in most situations and here were two where I expected Andrew (or any two year old) to have a tought time, but Andrew surprised me with his fearlessness this weekend.

The Boys

Here are the boys. Andrew is becoming a great big brother. He is giving more and more hugs to Owen and loves to show off his baby brother to his friends at school. After a rough couple of weeks of big changes (new classroom, new brother), Andrew is his happy self again. He has a new best friend at school, Garrett. Everyday on Andrew's daily report at school says that he loves playing with Garrett. Andrew's report also says that he is successfully going potty on the big boy potty at least once a day! We haven't reproduced the success at home but we're working on it. Andrew has also successfully learned his colors.

Owen is doing great too. I don't know how much he weighs now, but its alot, I would guess at least 10 pounds. I'm still learning his cues and figuring out the best way to feed him. I've learned that its best not to fill him up too full and then to keep him upright for a while after so he doesn't spit up. Owen is also starting to smile. We going to try to capture it on film this weekend.

Last weekend Andrew got to hang out with his cousins Sammie and Cassie and Uncle Scott and Auntie Kat. They had a great time playing at the park and playing soccer!