Yesterday Owen was running around with one sock, dancing to High School Musical 2, and practicing his pitching with "dad". What a crazy boy!

Owen is getting the hang of saying "cheese" when we hold up the camera. He's learning so much! Tonight he said, "poopy." The word is not new, but he told me when he went poopy without me even checking! What a proud moment...for mama and baby!

Auntie Julie gave me a great idea. Those of you who have not seen Owen for even a month or two may want to know how "big" he's getting. Julie suggested that we take a picture of him standing next to me. What a good idea!...that is, if you can get him to stand still! :-) I think he's about 31 inches or so "big". I don't know for sure, but he weighs somewhere between 27 and 29 pounds. I think he lost a pound or two from being sick, but he's making up for lost meals lately!

This was another time I tried to take Owen's picture, but he wouldn't stand still. I finally caught him when he climbed up on a chair and turned around. :-) I think this is also a fresh look at his most recent hair cut.

It often takes something tough to make us appreciate the beauty of the blessings in our lives. I will say that Roger and I had a fun engagement and wonderful wedding. We've traveled to Hawaii, Jamaica, Canada, Colorado, Ohio, Illinois, and Florida together, not to mention the few short trips within MN...and...we've only been married a little over three years. Owen will be 2 in June and he has not been sick more than a day in all that time...until this past week. His fever didn't go away, I stayed home and held him for two days; Roger stayed home for another two days as well. His fever and congestion held on so we ended up at the doctor on Thursday afternoon. He confirmed a cold...then surprised us by saying he had a double ear-infection...and then...he took x-rays to confirm a bit of pneumonia as well! Poor little guy! I had spent many hours rocking, hugging, praying...Owen was so miserable! He didn't want to play ball. He didn't want bananas. He didn't even want crackers. It took this bit of suffering for me to redefine that Owen is the BEST thing that has ever happened to us, been given to us, and that we've been blessed with. It was in the middle of the night, one night last week, that Owen prayed,

"God...Help."

God heard and healed. Owen has eaten at least two bananas a day the past two days and is running around with his basketball again. Whew! What a champ...here is how it all looked:

A week ago Friday Owen played with his cousins and Auntie Kate while Rog and I went out...he had lots of fun with them!
A week ago Sunday he had a fever and kept me up most of the night...so we took a nap...
I finally got him to sit by himself by popping in "Mommy & Me" playgroup songs and dances (the cheesiest DVD EVER!) The next day we went to the doctor, and...
By today he was climbing on furniture, banging on walls with wooden spoons, and running his football across the room!
Daddy was teaching him to make silly faces...
and Owen picked it up fast, but couldn't hold it without giggling!

He's saying, "see! I can do it on my own!"