Who was there...

Check out the pictures we just found!


Who was there...


for Ryan and Tara's first picture together?
when this was the view for dinner?

when Ryan and Tara were this skinny? (To her credit, Tara is this skinny again! Ryan is hopeless!)when we got engaged!

When Ryan bleached his hair. Yes, that was scary. Strangely enough, Ryan met his future in-laws with hair like this. How did he ever pass the test?!

Sorry, that's kind of unfair to many of you since all of these happened when we lived in Turkey. But even if you weren't among the handful of people there with us, we figured everyone would get a kick out of this - especially Ryan's hair.

Walking Ever Make You Tired?

Walks sure do make Owen tired!

New Workout Video

Try this for 5 minutes at a time - great results.

Easter

Ryan's parents came over for Easter. We had an action-packed weekend of Eastering (beauty of English - make up your own words), going to the zoo, shopping, eating and watching basketball. Ryan and his dad have never watched more basketball in one day than on Saturday.

Owen liked his Easter basket. He really likes playing with the eggs. He got a fun hat, which he wore all weekend. He also got some fun books and toys from Anne and Papaw - and bubbles!
Reading the Easter story.

Since he can't have candy, Owen got Puffs in his eggs. That's what he's eating here. Puffs are flavored "puffs" that dissolve in your mouth that are for little ones. Owen really likes his Puffs. The fun part was keeping Tozer away from the Puffs, which you can see Ryan trying to do in the bottom of the picture.
Checking out what the Easter Bunny left at Anne & Papaw's house for Owen. Aunt Ta is helping him check it all out. If you ask Aunt Ta, Owen learned a new word - "Ta" - which we thought sounded a lot like "Da", but we'll give her credit for it.
Still working on crawling. He's started scooting around and does this funny thing where he plants his face in the carpet and bottom in the air to go about 6". But it's progress! We put all his eggs in front of him to challenge him to get them.

Chilling on the floor with Ta after church. This is the only picture we got of him in his Easter get-up, so here ya go!

Monday - Another Non-picture Post

Just a few things to talk about, but no pictures.

Last night Owen finally figured out how to say "m" and spent a lot of today saying "mamamama," much to Tara's delight.

Tara's been fighting allergies, which is no fun at all. It always stinks when you keep taking medicine and it does nothing.

The second tooth came in on Friday.

Someone from Ryan's office brought some little child chairs to the office to give away and we got three. Tonight Ryan and Owen sat on the front porch in their chairs and watched everyone in the neighborhood come home from work.

That's all for now! Looking forward to a 3-day weekend (thank you MMA for still observing Good Friday)!

Ryan's Lost Prediction

Let me be on the record 2 hours before tonight's episode of Lost come on saying that Michael (aka Walt's dad) will be Ben's man on the boat. And that Miles (the paranormal expert that came on the helicopter) is somehow in cohoots with Ben and was actually warning him when he asked for $3.2 million. And while we're at it - I think Sun will be the last of the Oceanic 6.

So now it's official. And if I'm wrong, I'll just take this post down and act like it never happened!

Vote Carefully

UPDATE WITH DISCLAIMER - The comment below does not mean that we are supporting Obama. All we're saying is that with such a small legislative resume, people are only going on "hope" and what the media (who love the guy) are saying. Please actually read the article below to better understand the point we're trying to make. Thanks.

Like many of you, we too have been somewhat swept into Obamamania. I mean, the brother knows how to rally a crowd. And while this blog is not a place where we typically promote political dialogue, I felt that I should at least point out an article that my friend Scott references on his blog about Obama. So, the only statement I'm trying to make is to be sure to dig deeper and get all the facts before casting your vote - the media only promotes the hype.

Check it out here.

Stuff White People Like

Ok, I thought we fit so many of these categories (except 1 & 2) that I had to post this. Enjoy!

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/full-list-of-stuff-white-people-like/

What Owen's Been Up To

So enough about trips...what has Owen been up to lately? Well, a lot has happened in the last 2-3 weeks.

!!!Breaking News!!! We have teeth...er...tooth. Friday a tooth appeared! And it looks like the other one is working on popping out any day now. Owen can't wait for the second one to come out because it's driving him batty, which has made for a long week for Tara! If what Dr Rayne (our pediatrician) says is correct, Owen will be a righty. Dr Rayne says that a majority of the time the side the first tooth comes in will be your dominant side. Way to be like the majority of the world, Owen - originality is overrated!

Movement - good grief the child will not sit still. Why did we ever say we couldn't wait for him to become more active?! And the crazy thing is that he's not even crawling yet. He's lunging for things, occasionally rolling around, but constantly moving. He can support himself on his hands and knees now, but he's not real interested in it.

This is the look of a child whose mother just put him in a position that he didn't like. And you all thought Owen was a little angel all day long. Don't worry, there's a picture below that will make you believe that again.

As much as he does like to move, there are some spots where he will stay put for a while. One of those is at the door. Tozer doesn't like it though because that's usually his spot.

Words/Sounds - It's now official that Owen's first word is "DaDa." (obviously tonight Ryan is writing this post since the word "official" was used instead of less definite words like "maybe," "it seems," or "probably.") Yes, he does still use it as a babbling noise, but it is noticeably directed to Ryan. It seems that he's even learned how to talk about the dog before his own mother! He calls Tozer "t" - as in the sound of a t. It's really hard to write down what that sounds like so I hope you understand. Despite our best efforts, there is still no progress on the "Mama" front.

Sign Language - In the last 2 weeks sign language has caught on around our house - but it's our own version. While in Iowa, Gale taught Owen a trick to hold up his hands when she said "Owen is so big!" At the same time we were trying to teach him how to sign "More." Well, the hands above the head quickly morphed into "more" and it's so stinkin cute, we couldn't correct him (see below). So, it stuck. He's also learned "all done" but he doesn't fully grasp the concept yet. And just this week he's figured out waving, although you have to prompt him to do it. But all good progress.

Catching Up - Pt 2 - Iowa

Tara and Owen made a last minute trip up to Iowa for a week to hang out with her parents. They went to see what winter was really like - in Siberia! When they landed the temperature was -5! It snowed over a foot while they were there and it finally "warmed up" enough for Owen to go outside one day when it got in the 20s. Iowa apparently hasn't seen the ground since before we went there for Christmas. So, it was a good time to sit around the house and just relax.

Tara did have a chance to go to a baby shower for an old friend, Pramila. It was so much fun to see all her old friends and catch up on what everyone is up to!

Owen checks out all the snow outside.

Hangin' with Grandpa and Willie. Grandpa's in China right now, but Owen's been hearing rumors that he's going to bring back lots of bootleg dvds of cartoons for Owen!

The one trip outside to play. Owen has his own "special" tobagan (it's special because it has a little seat for him to sit on) that stays in Iowa for occasions such as this."#$%! it's COLD out here!" Check out that grin!