Christmas in Tennessee

Road Trip: Tennessee Christmas

We took a "long, long car ride" to visit family for Christmas. This was the first Christmas Jeremy has had off in almost four years. Owen was so happy to just be together - in the car and in the "ho-towel" rooms we stopped in along the way.

He was so crazy in the room, dashing around telling us all where we would sleep. Checking everything out. Jumping on the bed and finally passing out at night. He was a champion sleeper while we were gone. Play hard, sleep hard.

 We packed up some yummy goodies to take with us too!

Brothers Matching Shirts!

Gillen 17 weeks | Owen 34 months

Good Morning, Boys!

There is a theme going with pictures of these boys. 

Owen = LOTS of enthusiasm; Gil =What the hell?

Gillen 16 weeks old

Enjoying the Holiday Lights: Phipps Botanical Gardens

We finally broke down and bought a membership to the Phipps Botanical Gardens. They had candlelight nights inside and a winter garden outside. The night we went it was 50 degrees and absolutely beautiful!

Chanukah Shabbat

His favorite gift of all the nights combined. A "tinky"

Six Candles: A special visitor

Tuesday evening our power went out again from 1-3am. Owen's music, light and fan turned off and he was scared again. He was wide awake, crying and asking for food while Jeremy and I scrambled to find the LED lights we went out and bought the night before. Jeremy was on call and trying to make sure his alarm was set and thankfully Gillen's ipod went to battery back up and he was the only one who wasn't awake!

Needless to say Wednesday was a very tired day for this Mama. In the evening we welcomed a VERY special visior - GOGI!

I was busy making dinner so I didn't get any pictures of Owen opening Chanukah presents with Gogi but he was thrilled with his doctor costume and I'll have to post a picture of him in it very soon.

Thursday Gogi and Owen went on a special adventure on the BUS to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Owen had a blast showing Gogi around the dinosaur museum.

After naps, Daddy came home early and we bundled up the boys and walked up the street for Chinese food.

That night Owen opened presents from Uncle Phil/Aunt Marylou and his Doda Kelly. He was so exited he could hardly stand it, that and he has been opening up Gillen's presents too so double the presents!

Four Candles

Today we joined our friends at the Children's Museum to jump in the bounce tunnel some more. Owen wanted to bring gelt to share with his friends for Chanukah and it was a HUGE hit. Owen was so proud to hand out the candy to his friends after lunch and they were all saying they wanted to be Jewish like Owen so they could celebrate Chanukah too... it made my heart swell so big.

After we lit the candles Owen opened up his presents from Nana and Papa right before going to bed. Gillen was super tired but stayed up long enough to watch big brother.

He got a dot-paint set and paper that he has been using at Miss Yovonne's class and now he can paint (mess-free!) at home. He loves it! He also got a basketball hoop for the bath and now wants to take a bath all day, every day!

Three Candles, no power

Today our power went out around 3:30 and didn't come back on until 9:30pm. It was so dark in our apartment and Owen's nap music went off and woke him up less than an hr in. He wasn't very happy. We laid in my bed while Gil napped/nursed and O watched Curious George on the ipod and then I was going to make dinner. Turns out even if you have a gas stove, you can't cook on it in a power outage.

So a friend offered to have us over for dinner and we accepted. Owen was scared and I only had one flashlight.

We lit the candles early tonight, we needed a little extra light :)

Chanukah: Two Candles

The boys woke up in the morning and played blocks together. We put Gillen in the bumbo for the first time and he absolutely loved it. He's both strong and fat so he easily sat up and watched his brother play blocks. Owen gave him one to chew on and it was pretty adorable seeing how interested Gillen is in everything O does. The shot of the two of them, I couldn't get Owen to stand still so his face is blurry, but it's too cute not to post ;)

 

Tonight Owen opened up a dicast toy airplane and a soccer ball. He has been asking for a soccer ball for a while now so he was SO HAPPY! (We ended up having to take it away after several near-misses to Gillen's head, but we'll try again tomorrow.)

First Night of Chanukah

Tonight we went to a Chanukah party and ate lots of latkes and doughnuts. When we arrived back home we lit our candle and Owen opened up his present from Sissa - an adorable wooden train menorah, which he was so excited about.

Owen is obsessed with socks right now, so he also opened up a pack of socks from us that had a pair of snowman socks and reindeer socks. He is so excited to wear them!

Baby Blue Eyes

Brother Bath

Giggles galore from these two in their first brother bath!

Gillen Azar: Three Months Old

Dearest Gillen,

This video sums up everything about you right now. You are happy, giggly smiles 90% of the time. Unless it's after 7:30pm and we try to put you in the car - you aren't having any of that. Your favorite person continues to be your brother and he can make you giggle no matter what he is doing. We do have to remind him to give you some space because he likes to love on you a little too close and a little too hard sometimes but it warms my heart to see the two of you together.

Oh the giggles. The sound of you laughing is so infectious. I makes me laugh until I cry happy, sappy Mama tears. After raising such a serious boy in your brother, having a giggly one show me how different you both are. My second favorite thing about you? YOUR CHUBS! So many chubs, my love. Your butt, legs and thighs are adorned with roll after roll of soft chubby goodness. You have so many chins we've lost count and your little belly jiggles when you laugh. We moved you to size 3 diapers and this week I packed away all of your 3-month clothing. We actually had to make an emergency run to Carter's one night when we realized you were busting out of your jammies and we had no fleece jams in storage because Owen was in six month clothing in the dead heat of summer. We told Owen we were going on "an adventure" piled into the car and listened to you scream the entire way there.

When you are awake you are strong and active. I don't even remember a time when your neck was floppy. You are sturdy and want nothing to do with being put over our shoulders or held like a baby. You want to look around at everything. You love your baby milk, which from the size of you is quite obvious. You take it very seriously and demand my undivided attention when I am nursing you. If I talk to Owen or look at my phone, you pop off to coo and smile at me until you have my attention back. How do I have a distracted nurser this early? 

You don't like baths, but we're working on it and you don't like being held by strangers. You REALLY, REALLY don't like being passed around. I think you have the loudest cry I've ever heard and the two times we've let a stranger hold you in the evening - you let us know that was NOT okay with you.

You are so easy going and I can't imagine where you've gotten it from. Perhaps is necessity of being the second child. You'll nap in the wrap, in the Ergo, in the swing - even sometimes IN THE CAR! You flash your gummy smile at anyone who inquires about you. You giggle and smile while we change your diaper and have brought nothing but joy into this family.

I know I've told you this since the day you were born but you quite literally exude happiness.From you, to you and all around you. My darling boy, you make us so incredibly happy.

Love and giggles,
Mama