Owen is 6 months old today--where has the time gone

Owen is 6 months old today. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday that I was getting ready to go to work and had to convince myself that "no" I was actually in labor. Owen has been such a blessing in our lives. He is always ready with a smile for his sisters and mama. He giggles when you blow on his belly or tickle his feet. This weekend he has started to get a kick out of "peak a boo". He loves to snuggle up with you. The girls truly love him. Sometimes I have to remind them not to love on him so hard or they risk squishing him to death. Tonight they fought over who got to hold him in the bath. We are lucky that he has learned how to sleep through the night so his mama is not so sleep deprived, although we still occasionally get a wake up call from him in the middle of the night (ie last night). Sometimes I wonder if his mild nature comes from being a third child. He must know that our lives are a whirlwind and he is polite enough to go with the flow. So at the 6 months mark I just wanted to send lots of love to my baby boy and thank my husband for allowing us to have this little bundle of joy.

Grandparents

We have been blessed with awesome grandparents on both sides of the family. Last weekend, Kit and Grandma Marilyn flew in for the weekend to attend the girls' recital and to love on the kids. As usual, they spoiled us all with love and gifts and we thoroughly enjoyed their visit.

This weekend, Grandma Karen came in for Katelyn's end of year Grandparents Day. She got to see Katelyn's class and see her end of year performance. I didn't realize it was going to be quite the show. The kindergarteners sang with the "Big" kids. It was such a surprise because I had not heard Katelyn singing or practicing much before. She had even learned the waltz to dance with her special guest. Imagine my mom's surprise when Katelyn came and got her.


As a belated Mother's Day, we had a couple of girls only events. Friday night we treated Grandma Karen to dinner and the theatre. We all went to see Cinderella. It was originally suppose to be at the Sherrmerhorn (sp?) but was moved due to the flood. The performance was wonderful. It was great to see so many CPAers have their hand in it. Saturday, mom, Sherry and I got pedicures--a treat from the girls for Mother's Day. We bid mom farewell after church today as she headed back to Louisville. Looking forward to seeing her in a couple of weekends when she returns for the girls' birthdays and also the Bargers when we head to PA this summer.

Dancers

Inspite of the heaviness in everybody's hearts this week as the neighborhood has dealt with the aftermaths of the flood, a since of normalcy returned to our house this weekend. My in-laws came in for the weekend to see the girls' dance recital. They were so cute dressed in their ballet costumes. It is all very humorous. You go to the venue and wait through 2 hours of dancing to see your kids do their two minute program as best as 3 and 5 year olds can do. They did pretty good and were quite proud of themselves, especially when they received flowers from their doting grandmom.



As usual I have to include a picture of my chunky monkey whom I just adore. He was all smiles for the grandparents this weekend. He is growing so fast. His favorite toy to play with right now is his toes.

Nashville Flood 2010

WOW! What a weekend. (by the way, this is Sherry posting since Amy is without power) I have never seen anything like it. It started on Saturday when it rained and rained. Amy and I went out anyway for a girls night. I stayed the night (which it rained and rained some more)and on Sunday morning, Alan woke us up saying that the river was flooding and we needed to start moving the furniture upstairs. As I looked out the window I could see that it had risen over the path and was slowly coming up to the houses. After moving the furniture, Amy and I along with the girls went to check out the situation. We walked down to a friends' house that lives along the river. Water was starting to come up into their backyard. At that point we knew that it was getting more serious. Went back to the house and moved more furniture. With all of our furniture moved, all we could do was watch and pray for the water not to come to the house. Watching it was the scary part. The water rose so fast and the current was so fast. People that wanted to stay in their houses were convinced to leave and were rescued by a boat. By late afternoon it had completely surrounded the houses on the river, the houses across the street from those and the houses in the cul-de sack. Luckily the rain finally stopped around 5:00. Even though the rain had stopped, as the night went on, the water was getting closer and closer to the house. It filled about half of the backyard and the side yard. While we were hoping and praying that the water wouldn't reach our house, Katelyn kept asking if she could get her bathing suit on. . .GROSS! If only she knew what was in that water! Some of the neighbors whose house had gotten flooded bunked in with us for the night. They are still without power (could be a couple of days) and without cellphone service. If you need to reach them and can't, try calling me. I am sure I will be out there a lot this week. Please keep everyone who was effected by this disaster in your prayers.

Too much Hannah Montana on this rainy day

My kids love Hannah Montana. I knew it was time to get out of the house on this rainy day when I got this musical rendition from Ellie. Turn off the playlist at the bottom to hear it.

Owen turns 5 months old

So I am a week late in posting, but Owen turned five months old last week. He continues to be my sweet chunky monkey. All the teachers love him at the JCC. He pretty much just smiles all day at them and then conks out on them.

Easter 2010

Headed to Louisville for a long Easter weekend. Friday was a gorgeous day. I think Spring finally arrived. The girls spent all day out in the yard on Grandma's swing set. We may have to look in to getting one ourselves.

Our family has a longstanding tradition of dying Easter eggs on Good Friday. The Bibelhauser clan comes over along with friends who have kids. I think we dyed eleven dozen eggs this year. The kids have their fun and then the adults finish things out. Katelyn dyed her hands blue, but fortunately it washed out. Owen didn't actually dye any eggs, but he enjoyed watching and getting passed off among the relatives.

My sister's boyfriend, Eric, came in for the weekend to participate in the Bibelhauser/Coombs whirlwind of activities. When my sister said we were having family over to dye eggs, I don't think he bargained for the sheer volume of people at our house.

Saturday we went over to my Aunt Vicki's to celebrate cousins' Adam and Stephanie's birthdays. It was one of the best weather days of the year. It was nice to just hang out with my dad's side of the family.

Sunday, Easter morning started with the whole crew of us trying to get ready at the same time. We managed to make it to church on time at Athanasius. The girls were wonderful in church. They kept asking very thoughtful questions throughout the service. You could tell that they have been listening to what is being said at school and church and were trying to put it all together. It was cool to just listen to them.

We had a blissful day visiting all the family for Easter. Lunch was a cookout at Grandma Libby's with the Coombs clan, followed by dinner at the Bibelhausers. The girls enjoyed two Easter egg hunts and received gobs of candy. They crashed on the way home from Mema's. Not sure if it was a sugar crash or they were just beat from the festivities of the day. Alan, Sherry and Eric went home Easter evening, but we were fortunate to be able to stay another night as both Katelyn and I were off school Monday.

Headed back to Nashville today. Finished off our Easter weekend with perfect weather. Although I felt an urge to get our house and lives back in order after the long weekend, I allowed Katelyn to talk me into hanging out with her outside.  I am so glad I succumbed. With the beautiful weather and the company of my kids, we had some perfect down time outside doing bubbles, chalk and playing with the dogs.

Happy Easter everyone!

Owen is starting to talk

His main words consist of uuuhhhh uuuuuhhhhhh  huuhuhuu huuhuuu. In case you can't decipher baby talk, that means I love my Mama!  He babbles all the time.

Healthy Baby Boy

Owen had his 4 month check up this week. He was deemed healthy.
17 pounds (90th percentile)
23.5 inches (75th percentile)

All is well. He continues to be a sweet, happy little boy whom we all just adore.
I can't believe we have already had him for four months. Time is flying and he is getting so big so fast.

Back from the Magical World of Disney

We finished up our action-packed Spring Break week yesterday at Disney World. I wish I had posted every day as the week unfolded, but we were just too busy or too tired. So I am going to try my best to give a day-to-day recap so I can record it all for myself as much as for you guys. Some may think we were crazy to go to disney with a baby, but we took reinforcements in the form of my mom and sister as well as Alan's mom and Kit for half the week.

Day 1--Arrived in Orlando. We stayed in a wonderful 4 bedroom house in a neighborhood just five minutes from Disney World. If you are ever looking for a place, check out RomancingtheMouse.com and let us know so we can get you a discount. We had originally thought of staying on site at Disney, but decided having a kitchen and living area along with the bedrooms was crucial--not to mention a washer/dryer for baby accidents. It was well worth it. Our loving Florida/Pennsylvania grandparents met us there and had dinner going when we got there. Yum.  The kids were able to go for a swim in our personal pool after dinner. Unfortunately we discovered too late that Katelyn's ear had been hurting. So between the plane ride and swimming, she woke up crying at about 10 pm. We headed to a nighttime pediatric clinic to have it checked out, only to find out that they had closed early due to an emergency. So with a very unhappy little girl, we headed to the ER which confirmed that she did have an ear infection. The comedy of it all was that she also had a little boo boo on her arm. I asked for a bandaid, but instead, the nurse brought out antiseptic, a ton of gauze, q-tips and a bandaid. I have discovered one of the problems with health care. I am sure her one picked scab cost my insurance company $100. Not a great start to our vacation. We got home around 2 am, so needless to say, our plans for an early Disney start on Sunday wasn't going to happen.

Day 2--Animal Kingdom
Let everyone sleep in after an unexpected evening. Had originally planned to spend the day at Hollywood Studios, but chose to do a half day at Animal Kindgom instead. So began our Disney adventures.

Entering the park

The Girls had their own mode of transportation with Daddy and Kit

Grandmom Marilyn let them get their faces painted so they could be true fairy princesses.

Grandma Karen bought them Minnie ears. Ellie shared hers with Owen. 

While in Animal Kingdom, we saw It's Tough to be a Bug in 3D. We even got jabbed on the back with a stinger and felt creepy crawly bugs crawling under us on the benches. Yuck. Katelyn rode her first roller coaster--Expedition Everest. She loved it and became a roller coaster junkie the rest of the week. We got to see Finding Nemo--The Musical and ended by watching the parade. For those planning a trip to Disney, Animal Kingdom was the least favorite of our days which is why it was only allotted a half day. We didn't see any characters so the girls were a little disappointed. 

Day 3--Hollywood Studios

This was actually my favorite park. It had a much better feel to it than Animal Kingdom. It felt less crowded and rushed and was laid out very well. The girls saw characters as soon as we got there. They were excited to meet Minnie and then right afterwards ran into Pluto and Goofy.

Katelyn was invited to introduce the Voyage of the Little Mermaid Musical. She was super excited to have a role in it all. It was interesting to see a whole movie condensed into 17 minutes, but it was pretty good.  Ellie's favorite was actually the Beauty and the Beast show. They also got to play in a Honey, I shrunk the Kids movie set, saw Muppets in 3D, took a ride on the Star Wars simulator, and saw all the characters from Playhouse Disney. The Little Einstein's were a big hit. I rocked on the Toy Story Mania ride where you shoot at Targets. 

I got to see Katelyn's tenacity in line for the Rock n Roller Coaster. You had to be 48 inches to ride. She was just a hair short, so the lady would not let her get in line. Alan, Sherry and I rode it. While Kit and Katelyn were waiting for us, apparently Katelyn kept giving the lady a sulky look to the point that she finally went and got her supervisor who approved Katelyn to go on. Katelyn LOVED it. 

Day 4--Magic Kingdom (Owen turns 4 months)

Today was the day of the princesses. The girls dressed in their princess dresses for the big day. They were mesmerized by the castle from the moment they saw it from afar on the ferry over until we walked down Main Street.

Grandmom Marilyn bought the family tickets to have breakfast with the Princesses at the Royal Castle for Christmas. The girls were ecstatic. The food was pretty good and the princesses rotated around the room during breakfast, pausing to sign autograph books and take pictures with the girls. They were very personable and played their roles to a T. We saw Jasmine, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. The girls met Cinderella when they came into the castle, but didn't get to see her during breakfast.

 At the end of the breakfast, all the girls closed their eyes and made a wish on a wishing star. Katelyn and Ellie were very intent on their wishes, but wouldn't say what they were. Ellie looked down at herself after the wish and said it didn't come true, but I am still not sure what she wished for.

Katelyn showing off her  hula hoop skills

We spent the rest of the day on rides (Katelyn loved Space Mountain) and watching the parade before heading back to the house for a nap. After naps and quick dinner we returned to the park for more rides, fireworks and Spectromagic lights parade. The girls finally got to see Mickey and Minnie in Toontown that evening and mom got her picture with Mickey.

Sherry's must ride ride was the Teacups.

It was a late night for all, but well worth it.

Day 5--SeaWorld
After our late night on Tuesday, we decided to sleep in on  Wednesday. Kit and Marilyn had to leave on Wednesday to head to Jupiter to see the other Calhoun clan. We had a leisurely morning and then went to SeaWorld for a few hours in the afternoon. It was refreshing to sit down and watch some shows at SeaWorld after being on the go most of the prior two days. Ellie loved the shows and Katelyn gravitated towards the rides. The girls decided to sit down close during Shamu's show to get wet. Their daddy escorted them to front and was a good sport about it. They bought ponchos, but near the end decided they weren't going to get wet and took them off. Big mistake--they got drenched.

Day 6--Off Day and Heritage Farms
By Thursday we were pretty exhausted. We slept in and went for a family bike ride around the complex. I have a cousin that lives in Titusville, so we visited him and his family. He lives and works on an orange grove. The girls thought that was pretty cool. They ate more than their share of oranges while we were there, picking them straight from the tree. They also fed the fish at his pond out back. Cousins Dick and Joy Hartlage stopped by to visit awhile along with Katie. We had a delightful dinner with Gene and Scott's family.

Katelyn, Owen and Ellie

Gene showing us his orchard

Day 7--Magic Kingdom
We finished the week back at Magic Kingdom, hitting the rides and shows that we had missed--Big Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain. We watched two shows in front of the castle. One was a block party with the characters. Katelyn danced in the street for that one.

I think her face shows it all with respect to the fun they had. 

Day 8--Back to Nashville
Our flight left at 8:15 am, so we had to rise early, early, much to the dismay of the girls. The line was  a mile long at the airport and we almost missed out flight. We made it to the gate just as they were loading the first group. While the week was definitely not relaxing, we had a lot of fun. We couldn't have done it though without the help of mom, Sherry, Kit and Marilyn. It made it so that we could all enjoy the rides and attractions and have the extra hands available for Owen and Ellie. Just realizing that I didn't mention Owen at all in this post. He was the best baby every. He just laid back in his stroller, taking it all in, with hardly a fuss. We definitely made the right decision in taking this trip now, before he is mobile. I don't think we could have asked for a better trip at this stage in our kids lives. We're already thinking about when to go again so that Owen can remember it too.

Katelyn is reading

I have been a little worried about Katelyn because she has seemed slow to catch on to reading and just did not like to read herself, but tonight, she floored me. For the last few weeks, we have been reading 8-10 page books and sounding out just about every word. But when I got home tonight, she was reading just about every word out of Green Eggs and Ham. She was so proud of herself. It is like it just clicked for her and she was zipping through sentences.

She was concentrating so hard I didn't have the heart to make her stop and go to bed. So if my kid is cranky tomorrow, you know why. But is will be worth it given the look of accomplishment she had when she finished PAGE 64.

Soccer Season starts up again

Katelyn started spring soccer this weekend. Her team is a force to be reckoned with. I think the final score was 12-3 or something like that. Katelyn enjoys her team. Two other players live in the neighborhood, so hopefully we can get some friendly games going this summer. She also loves to play goalie.

 Owen enjoyed his first soccer game. 

Forgot to post first day picture

He was snoozing when I left him which made it much easier. The place is pretty cute and active.

Surprisingly, this week has been much more hectic and crazy for us. The last two weeks were a great gift from Alan as I went back to work, but we are definitely feeling the full brunt of it this week.

Purim Parade and Owen's first day of school

O.K. I am two weeks late on this, but Owen officially turned 3 months old on February 16. My mom and Larry were up the weekend before to bring Sherry's stuff. She moved to her own apartment for some peace and quiet. She will be missed, but I can understand how living with a family of five may crimp ones style.  I can't believe how fast the time is going. Owen's first three months were a whirlwind. I really enjoyed my time off with him and can't believe my maternity leave is already over. I have actually been back at work for two weeks now and feel like I never left. I do feel blessed to work at a place that I love, where people ask about my kids all the time, and where there is a true sense of community.

After I went back to work, Alan took two weeks of paternity leave to hang out at home with Owen---well not exactly at home. He had many projects to work on and kids to chauffeur around. I was lucky enough to have him visit me at work with the O Man a few times to smooth the transition. He was able to spend Fridays at Shabbat with Ellie and be a part of her Purim Parade before heading back to work today.  For those not of the Jewish faith. Purim is a celebration of when Esther saved the Jewish people.

Which leads me to today. Owen, my baby, (I'm getting sappy aren't I) started school today. OK not really school, rather it is daycare, but daycare equates to preschool before too long and preschool inevitably leads to kindergarten which quickly turns into college. So I guess I could say Owen started the road to college today. I am starting to think that my lack of sleep is making my head a pile of mush leading to a bit too much drama. The day actually went very well. They all loved Owen and said he smiled all day at them. Not sure what else he did to burn off energy, but he crashed at 5:30 pm tonight and hasn't stirred. I am anticipating a rough night for us all.