#132 - Coffee Table-1, Owen-0

Owen had a little run-in with the coffee table on Friday night. Unfortunately, the coffee table won. It was partly my fault - as I was sitting in Owen's little reading chair (how my behind fits in that thing is beyond imagination, but that's another story)...anyway, I was sitting there playing with Owen and my long legs were sticking straight out (thanks for not laughing at the long leg reference) and next thing I know, Owen had tripped over my legs and he landed directly on the edge of the coffee table. The instant it happened we knew it was a bad one, and sure enough, despite holding ice over it for an hour, it immediately swelled up and turned blue. The next morning, it looked like this:

Which, really doesn't look at the bad in the picture. But, seeing it in person, especially a few days old, you realize what a bad bruise it is. However, you know Owen - things like this don't phase him. He's been running around and having a blast.

He is a talking machine these days. He's saying three- and four-word sentences all the time now: "Mommy, you lie down right here." "This is Owen's fishing pole." (yes, he did say that today - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right?) And, my personal favorite: "NO, that's MINE." Welcome to toddlerhood.

Our bedtime ritual is about 30-45 minutes now, significantly longer these days because Owen just loves that time of the day when all three of us are laying around on his bedroom floor, reading books, singing songs, practicing his gymnastics, and enjoying being with each other. It's now the highlight of our days. It's the thing I miss most when I travel for work (which thank goodness, has significantly slowed down).

One last picture for you - here's Owen from this morning, with his black eye, pushing his lawn mower, in my bathroom, sporting his "I'm a doctor" pajamas, and wearing a pair of my black, patent leather shoes.
He's a cool dude!

#131 - Gymnastics

We started gymnastics this past week. We had pretty low expectations - we figured he would learn how to do somersaults, jumping jacks and that sort of thing. But, our expectations were far exceeded! It was pretty advanced for two year olds (at least in my humble opinion). He learned a number of things, including how to walk the balance beam, cart wheels, hanging from the bar (below) and even pulling up his toes and putting his toes on the bar. He's learning how to do hand stands, jump on the trampoline, and even jump off the vault into the soft pit. On top of that, he had a blast! He laughed and giggled and had the best time. We are definitely looking forward to the next 7 weeks of class!

(sorry for the blurry pictures - don't know what happened)

The goofy little boy putting a diaper on his head....

...and hanging out in the laundry basket.

And, finally, a little video for you. Owen does the cutest thing when he's mimicing a train - he moves his arms back and forth across his bed saying "choo choo".

#130 - First trip to the ER

Last Monday, we took Owen in for his two-year old check up with his pediatrician. He weighed in at 28 pounds (50th percentile) and was 34 inches tall (50th percentile). Everything checked out fine, and we ended the appointment with him getting two standard vaccinations. In his right leg, he received a hepatitis shot, and his right leg, he received a pneumococcal vaccine. No biggie, right?

Well, the next day, his nanny called me to tell me that it looked like he had a bug bite on his right thigh. I remembered that it's normal to get some local swelling and bruising from a vaccination shot, so I didn't make too much of it. It was pretty small at lunch time. Well, that night, when we were getting him undressed for the bath, we saw this:

Uh..... yeah, that's not normal. It has grown from the size of a small bug bite to this. Clearly, he was having a severe reaction to the vaccine he had received the day before. Lou looked at me and said, "get dressed", but I was already running to get my shoes on. We loaded up the little guy and headed straight to the ER. Now, this was about 8 pm on a Tuesday night in Savannah. You'd think it would be a relatively slow time in the ER. It wasn't. We saw all walks of life in there, including some very, very interesting people. Let me just say, the last place in the world you want to take your child is to the ER at the city's only public hospital. But, as with nearly every other experience I've ever had with Memorial, they took really good care of us. We only had to wait about ten minutes before we were triaged by the nurse. When she saw his leg, she immediately admitted us to the pediatric ER (which was a hundred times nicer than the general ER).

Multiple doctors and nurses examed Owen. It was everyone's consensus that he had a severe reaction to the vaccine. In fact, the worst reaction they remember at the ER. They suspected that the vaccine itself was contaminated, or the injection given was contaminated, and Owen developed a serious staph infection from it. Although serious, it was something that would likely respond very well to antibiotics, which they prescribed him. But, during this process, new people kept coming into the exam room "to see the leg" as it was the talk of the ER that night.

The next morning, we followed up with his pediatrician, whom we love. He suspected it was not the vaccine itself, but something in the vial or syringe. Regardless, as an adverse reaction, he was required to report it to the FDA and CDC. He agreed with the ER doc's prescription, and sent us on our way.

On day three, it looked like this...

And now, on day 6, it's very nearly gone. Fortunately, Owen was never bothered by it. It's hard to believe, but he had no pain, no fever, and no obvious symptoms, other than a large hematoma. It was, however, a big scare for us!

#129 - Owen is TWO!

It's hard to believe that our little baby is two years old now. It seems like he was just born, and he was a little bundle of sweetness who fit in the crook of my arm. It seems like he was just that little infant who slept, ate, pooped, slept, ate pooped, over and over. I feel like he just learned to crawl, and then learned to walk. Now, my little man is running all over the place. Jumping on things and climbing up anything that can be climbed. He's starting to say his "ABCs" and count to ten. He can sing the entire Caliou theme song and Amazing Grace. He loves anything that resembles a truck or a car, and anything that makes noise. He's such a big boy now.

And, if you don't believe me, just ask him. He'll say (with all the certainty in the world), "Mommy, I two!!" and hold up two fingers. :)

We had a really, really special birthday party for Owen this year. For the first time ever in his little life, we had both sides of his family together - my side and Lou's side. We were extremely fortunate that Abuela Isa, Tita Susan, Tito Mark, Noah and Grace drove down from Michigan to spend the week with us and help us celebrate Owen's birthday. And my family, including my dad, mom, sister and cousin, were here too. Owen was able to play with all three of his cousins (and a 2nd cousin as well) for the first time.

To say that he had fun would be an extreme understatement!

That little boy had a blast!!! When he woke up from his nap on Saturday, all of his family and friends were here, and he was so excited. For the next 6 hours, he played and played, and laughed, and jumped, and giggled, and became a sweaty, hot mess in the Savannah heat. But, he loved every minute of it. We rented a bouncy house which provided hours of entertainment for the kids. It's hard for me to understand, but it was much cooler (or much less hot) inside the bouncy house.

Noah and Grace were here, which was one of the best birthday presents Owen got. In another post, I'll share all the fun things they did together....

And, Aunt Jen and little Kaylin were here too! They drove up from Jax with Dad and braved the 110 degree heat index to spend the day with the birthday boy. Thanks, Jenifer!

About every fifteen minutes, we had to take a break, and come inside and cool off. Fortunately, Owen received tons of new and fun toys, which were a hit.

Mrs. Rebecca came, with Reese (below) and Peyton. Peyton is just a few months older than Owen, but has the cutest, most outgoing personality. Rebecca and Will better watch out when she gets a little older!

And, these three boys are the cutest ever! On the left is Liam, who is exactly six months older than Owen. He's the son of Becca, Owen's nanny. They are BFF. On the right is Peter, Holly and Andrew's oldest, who turned three in June. He's a doll!

I don't know what the heck they were looking at, but this picture is hilarious!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Owen, Happy Birthday to you!!!!

The dark blue buttercream frosting captivated Owen. He got it all over his face and hands. (Tito Mark made this cute little table for Owen)

Owen getting a hug from Becca. She's a special part of our family!

And, we love Tita Susan and Tito Mark! Owen was totally spoiled this weekend with them in town. Despite living so far away, Owen has a really special relationship with them.

And, finally, my three favorite guys.....my husband, my son, and my father. Owen is so red and hot from playing outside. His hair was a matted mess. But, it was totally worth it!

Now, compare this picture to the first one, and you can see how much fun they had. By the end of the night, they were spent. It was a great party!

#128 - Weekend with the Flemings!

This weekend, the Flemings visited us in Savannah. Owen had been talking about "the boys" for the past week, and just couldn't wait to see them again. As soon as they arrived, the fun began. Owen immediately wanted to start wrestling with Luke and Andrew, and it wasn't long before we were all outside, hot and sweaty, playing on the swing set and playing a quick game of football. Little Lauren hung out with Heather and me while the boys were running around the back yard. I see years and years of the three of us girls "hanging out" while the guys do their own thing.

Even though we saw them just a few weeks ago, it was so much fun to have them visit. Mike and Heather are such wonderful friends, and Owen just absolutely loves Andrew, Luke and Lauren. If only they lived a little closer.... :)

After they left, Owen was worn out. He fell asleep in our bed, and when I came back in our room, this is what I found..... Cocoa sleeping right under Owen.

A few days ago, Owen and I made homemade pizza. He's definitely got his Mommy's love of cooking; I could barely get the rolling pin back from him. Since this picture, we've made pizza a few more times. He loves to roll out the dough, and then put the pepperoni on the pizza. It was delicious too! We made two small pizzas - one with pepperoni, the other with fresh basil, fresh mozzerella and tomatoes. Guess which one Lou and I ate? :)

#127 - Feeding the dog

Owen loves to feed Cocoa. Offering up, "do you want to feed Cocoa?" in the midst of a meltdown always works. Too bad we can only use that trick twice a day.

The other morning, I captured this video on my little camera. Pardon the 3 year old wall patches from when Cocoa was a little puppy and ate the walls in the laundry room.

And, one more quick video - this one from the pool on Sunday, enjoying the water fountains.

Counting down until the big day on the 31st....... :)

#126 - St. Simon's Beach Trip

Well-rested (kind of) and tan, we are home from our beach vacation! We spent a week in St. Simon's Island, Ga with Heather and her family - Mike, Andrew, Luke and Lauren. It was a great family vacation. We rode bikes, walked on the pier, played on the beach, played at the pool, visited a water park (twice), and had nightly competitions on board games. The Fleming kids are so sweet, and the perfect playmates for Owen. Owen affectionately called Andrew and Luke "the boys" and all week referred to them as such: "where are the boys?....I play with the boys.....boys are napping....etc." Even now that we are home, Owen still asks about the boys.

I say that we are semi-rested only because our nights weren't that fun. Owen didn't sleep well at all, and I ended up in his room, sleeping with him in his bed every night. On top of that, the master bedroom was taken over by flying ants most nights, and Lou and I were not happy. And, finally, on the last day of the vacation, Lou twisted weirdly, and injured his back. Not only could he not walk or sit well, but sleeping that night was nearly impossible. Fortunately though, we had a day and a half to get back into the groove of Savannah life, and all is well.

Today was a huge day for Lou and his family. The Spanish soccer team won the World Cup! Today, all three of us dressed in Spain's colors, and I cooked two different Spanish meals to celebrate. Viva espana!

On to picture time.....

First up, Owen body surfing on the beach. I can't believe how much more comfortable and adventurous he is in the water now. Just a few weeks ago, he was afraid to get into the water even up to his knees. By the end of the trip, he was dunking his head and blowing bubbles!

Here's a picture of Heather and me. Tuesday was Heather's birthday, and we celebrated all day long! That night, we walked to dinner at the Crab Trap, and this was taken on our way home. (Sorry for the original typo - yes, it's crab, not crap)

St. Simon's has a really great water park for the kids. It's nothing too fancy, and just big enough for the little kids. Owen had a blast!

Here he is going down the water slide next to Luke. Lou was there "just in case" but by the second trip to the water park, he didn't want us anywhere near him when he went down the slide.

Lou and I on the beach....

Here are the four children - Andrew, 6; Luke, 4, Owen, almost 2; and Lauren, 14 months. Heather made each of their outfits! Aren't they adorable?

Mommy and Owen.
And, probably one of my favorite pictures of all time of Lou and Owen.

Finally - the little guy running on the beach. He was a happy little kid on this trip. Just seeing him laugh and have fun was the real highlight of the vacation. :)