The Intentional Life

We had a great time with Paul's family this last weekend. We had to do Christmas a little early this year because of some scheduling conflicts. We did the traditional Villia (spelling?) dinner-a Czech tradition- and then opened gifts. Owen was having a great time with the wrapping paper and the boxes of fruit in the kitchen - I tell you, he is easily entertained. Owen also started walking this week just about exactly at 14 months. He is quite proud of himself, too. He also is blowing kisses, giving kisses on the mouth when asked, and knows that a bear growls. Some kids learn cat and dog sounds first. But Owen? it's a bear :)

Owen had his first real experience with snow after the first snowfall of the season at the beginning of December (I say 'first real experience' because it snowed on the day he was born, but that doesn't really count as far as "experiencing" now does it?) We didn't stay out there too long (5 minutes, tops) but he was quite fascinated with the snow (i think) And don't worry, moms, Owen has already received some mittens from his Grandma Suvar for Christmas!

Ok, so I haven't updated for 2 months (thank you, Carmen, for the reminder : ) so here is a few pics from Thanksgiving. I was able to get a picture of the Suvar clan while we met at Ben and Jaime's on Thanksgiving Day. This is the first picture I have gotten of everyone together. And then when we were at the Gramm family singing on Friday night, Sam took a few pictures of just the 3 of us (the mini Suvar clan). We did a bunch of traveling at Thanksgiving from home to Columbus to Gridley to Tremont and then home again. But Owen was a trooper through it all - Thank you, Lord!

Well, my sister is married off into wedded bliss, and my mom can get back to her normal routine : ) We got to keep Mike and Carmen, and Jason and Ellie this past weekend for the wedding. We had a chance to catch up on Saturday night, amidst the wedding chaos. I didn't get many pictures taken, but I at least got a couple of Jack and Owen on Sunday morning (I couldn't catch Kate on camera, she was too busy "investigating" : ) I think Owen is more thrilled about the encounter than Jack!

I took Owen's 1-year pictures last week, with the help of my mom. I did the posing and picture taking, and she did the goofy antics to keep Owen smiling. It's so hard to believe that he is already a year old!

At Owen's 1-year birthday party we announced to our family that Paul and I are expecting another addition to the family. I'm due on May 5th, but it looks like I will have the baby before that, because I have to be a C-section for now on. So it may be the last week of April. I will hit my 12th week on Friday, and so far this pregnancy has been worse than the first. I wasn't sick at all with Owen, and now I have daily "evening sickness." About 6:00 PM I start feeling nauseous and crummy, and I feel that way until I wake up the next morning. I'm hoping the 2nd trimester will see the end of this. We'll see...

There is a nice park here in Antwerp, and Owen loves swinging on the swings that they have. The last time we were there, though, we could only stay about 5 minutes, because the mosquitos were so bad!

The first week of September, Paul, Owen, and I, along with my parents, took a trip to Central Illinois. We stayed at a resort along the Fox River. We golfed, hiked, played tennis, visited my Grandpa and Grandma, and generally "hung out." : ) Owen went home with my mom and dad halfway through the week and Paul and I enjoyed the rest of the week to ourselves.

So here is Owen's latest toy - an empty diaper box and a belt. We spent 15 minutes last night "riding" around the house. Maybe if I put a rag under the box, we could polish the dining room floor....

Owen has had a chance to play with a few family members in the past few weeks. A week ago, Uncle Curt, Aunt Kathy, and Caleb came out to visit. Owen got a kick out of playing with Caleb. By the way, Caleb does a great job serving ice cream - so if you are looking for a willing worker... This past weekend, Paul's family was here and Owen got a chance to bond with his Aunt Kat (another friend to play blocks with!)

So here is my first posting. I'm not a scholar when it comes to bright and witty things to say, that's more Paul's thing. So I may just mostly stick to updating on Owen, and what's new in our lives. It's also awkward for me to talk about myself, so we'll see how all this goes. Anyways, Owen is currently 10 months and 1 week - he's crawling all over the house, climbing stairs, babbling about all sorts of things, will eat anything you place in front of him (excpet green beans!), and is starting to walk along furniture and walls. The best word to describe him is "curious." Everything needs to be investigated, which I can completely understand - everything he is seeing for the first time. We'll end with that at the moment. See, I told you I'm not good at this...