Our trip to CT

Owen and I went to CT for 5 days at the end of July. Jeff was out of town for business so Owen and I decided to take a trip ourselves so we were not home all week alone. We visited Owen's Godmother Christina and her family. We had a great time! Owen was beyond good! We took an early flight and thankfully had an empty seat next to me so Owen had his own window seat. We arrived in CT by lunch time. I thought Owen would want to take a nap right when we got to their house, but he took a 10 minute nap on the way home from the airport and thought that was all the sleep he needed. He was happy so I will not complain!

Owen thought it was fabulous to have attention from Mimi, Bobbie and Christina. He had a blast showing off for them! Friday was a cool rainy day in Avon, so we stayed inside most of the day. We did venture out in the afternoon to get some ice cream and then walked into Borders because they were having a sale on kids book. They had wind up toys in the kids section and we spent over an hour there while Owen played with them.

We went to EGGS farm on a very HOT Saturday. Owen liked the little animals but was scared of the horses, pigs, and donkeys. His favorite animal was the farm cat. By this time we had been away from home and our kitties for a few days. Owen was so excited to see the cat. He ran right up to it and started petting it saying "kitty, kitty, kitty!"

Sunday was Jim's birthday so we went out to lunch. Owen was teething on Sunday and he was kind of crabby. We went to a wood fire pizza grill restaurant for lunch and Owen was very uncooperative about sitting at the table. He wanted me to hold him and stand at the grill to watch the man make the pizza. He must have told the man that the grill was "hot" about a hundred times. I suppose I was due for a bit of Owen crabbiness since he was good for so many days before Sunday. After a dose of Motrin he was much happier. We spent the rest of the day playing outside. Owen like trying to shoot basketball. The 10 foot basketball hoop was a little more difficult for him than his Fisher Price version! Owen also got to play with sidewalk chalk for the first time. Owen tried to blow bubbles but ended up licking the bubble wand! Gross!

Monday was our last day in CT. We went to the park in the morning but Owen got crabby kind of quickly. I thought he was just hungry, but when we went home he would not even eat lunch. He wanted to go straight to bed for a nap. I think he may have just laid in bed during his morning nap, which lead him to being crabby and tired early for an afternoon nap. He was in a better mood once he got some sleep. We started our trip back to Kansas City on Monday afternoon. We once again lucked out with having an empty seat next to me so Owen got his own seat! He was once again on his best behavior on the planes. On our second flight Owen kept sticking his hands in between the seats in front of us and trying to tickle the lady sitting there. Luckily she is a mom and was happy to tickle him back. I suppose it is better to have a wild crazy baby sitting near you than a screaming one! With about an hour left in the flight Owen was quite exhausted and fell asleep on my lap. We finally got home about 10pm. Owen was a bit standoffish to Jeff when we got home. I think he was kind of mad because Jeff left for a week. He was thrilled to see BW when we got home. He was petting him and even trying to pick him up! Owen gave Jeff the cold shoulder and was showering BW with love. Not quite the welcome home that Jeff was expecting.

Overall we had a wonderful trip and can't wait to visit again. It is nice to catch up with good friends. I know Owen had a great time being spoiled by so many people. He is gong to miss all the extra attention now that we are back home!

Introducing Xavier Neil Lueders

Xavier Neil Lueders was welcomed to this world on July 10th to Jeff's sister Pam and her husband Chris. He weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. He is a sweet baby boy! I could spend all day cuddling him and kissing his cheeks! I am looking forward to all the memories that Owen and Xavier will make growing up together! Hopefully Owen will not teach him to many bad habits!

Ducks!

We went to the Lake of the Ozarks the weekend of July 9th. Owen absolutely loved playing outside there. He was not happy at all when we put him in the lake, but it was nap time. The highlight of his trip besides throwing rocks in the lake was when he saw a duck! He has been saying the word duck clear as day for a while. Owen woke up both days at the lake at 6:30 with the sun. The first thing he wanted to do was go outside. He was outside with daddy on Saturday morning and a duck swam into the cove. Owen was the first to spot it! It was a very personable duck and even got within 4 feet of Owen. Owen thought it was great fun to feed the duck bread. Owen had so much fun with the duck until the duck decided it was time to swim away. After the duck left Owen kept running back and forth yelling duck duck duck duck ducky!

18 months!

I know I say it all the time but Owen is growing up soooo fast! Every last glimpse of my "baby" is gone. He is now 18 months old! At his 18 month doctor appointment he was 34 3/4 inches which is above the 95th percentile. He grew 2.5 inches in 3 months! He weighed 25 pounds which is in the 30th percentile. Needless to say he is quite a string bean!

He has started talking much more lately. He says Mommy, Daddy, hot, duck, no, cheese, puppy, hockey, Bobbie, eat, hi, up, Jack, boo boo, balloon (sounds like boop) and kitty. He says all these words very clearly. I think people that do not see him often would understand what he is saying. This is quite an improvement in his speech. I was pleased that his pediatrician says that an 18 month old is only expected to say 6 words plus mommy and daddy. Yeah! Owen can say more words than expected! He also has started repeating many of the things we say, but he does not say those words unless he is copying us.

Owen is an 18 month old with no fear! Jeff and I are sure he will break an arm or leg pretty soon. Jumping is one of his favorite things to do. He even tried to jump from the couch to the ottoman yesterday! No fear! Good thing we are there to catch him most of the time. I understand why he is so thin. He never stops running and jumping!

Fourth of July fun

Over the Fourth of July weekend we went to a fair in Parkville. Owen enjoyed riding the ferris wheel and cars. I let him pick out what car he wanted to ride and he picked the pretty pink car!
I think he would have really enjoyed fire works but there was no way he was going to stay up that late!