Mommy's Little Helper

Doing the dishes

"Fixing" the appliances

Switching around the laundry

Lately, Owen is on the move in a big way and that means pretty much being my shadow. He loves being where I am and "helping" me do whatever it is I am doing.......that means helping do laundry, dishes, making beds, you know "Mommy Stuff";-) It is super cute that he wants to be right by my side and even though I get a little frustrated sometimes when he tries to pull a knife out of the dishwasher or knock over an entire pile of freshly laundered and folded clothes, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Gotta love my little helper!!

10 years of Me

Ok, so I am a HUGE copycat of my friends Dollie and Annie......but couldn't resist doing a review of the last 10 years of my life. It is truly amazing to see the ways God has molded me into the person I am today just by looking at the ast 10 years! Hope you enjoy:

10 years ago (age 19): I was nearing the end of my first year of college and was preparing to apply for pharmacy school. A weekend would not have been complete at this point in my life without consuming large amounts of beer which more often than not turned into drunken drama by the end of the night

9 years ago (age 20): I had applied to pharmacy school, but was unsuccessful. Even though my denial of acceptance had most to do with the lack of completion of a few prerequisites it nevertheless crushed me and made me question the purpose of college and what I was doing with my life. At this point, much of my identity was found in my success and when I didn't succeed I went down the depressing path of being a failure once again.

8 years ago (age 21): By the point, I was well into my Junior year of college at the University of Iowa (which was pretty much the college binge drinking capital of Iowa). AND, I was finally of legal drinking age........this meant that alcohol would always be available to me, SCARY!! On top of being in a relationship that was pretty much unhealthy in every way possible, I would also go out to the bars every weekend starting on thirsty thursday.

7 years ago (age 22): The drinking continued and the relationship that I was in crumbled and cheating on both ends was a huge part of it. Do you think I would learn from this relationship, take some time as a single lady, and reevaluate the person that I was apart from a boy defining me? Oh, no.......I would jump right back into another relationship with a boy that would treat me right, but that I foresaw no future with. I decided at this point in my life, that being a pharmacist was what I really wanted to do and since I would finish my biology degree soon, I would apply again.

6 years ago (age 23): This year brought tests, applications, and pharmacy school interviews which meant a lot of stress. But in the end........SUCCESS......I was accepted to pharmacy school at the University of Iowa. I was one of the 109 accepted out of 700 applicants. Needless to say I was on cloud nine and was starting to regain confidence in who I was (which I will remind you all again, was defined solely by success)

5 years ago (age 24): This year of my life was VERY hard with many ups and downs, but looking back on it I realize how crucial this time of complete brokeness was in my path of coming to Christ. My relationship ended with cheating and once again I was starting to look at myself and why I wasn't lovable enough........I found my identity far too much in who I was as a girlfriend. The first year of pharmacy school was hard, and many of my weekend nights ended by blacking out after drinking WAY TOO MUCH! I realize now the hedge of protection that God placed around me at this time in my life even before I recognized my need for a savior.

4 years ago (age 25): The summer of 2006 was the summer I came to know Christ and actually LIVE. I moved back home with my dad, whom God used as a crucial tool in my steps to salvation. I was finally fine with just being a child of God and finding my identity in him and not in my success, my relationship status, or any other earthly thing. And just when I was fine with just being me God brought my amazing husband into my life. We began dating in the summer of 2006 and God used him (who was also a baby Christian at the time) to help me grow in my walk with Christ. The start of our relationship wasn't EASY PEASY, but was necessary for both of us to let go of things in our past and move on with the relationship that God intended for us to have.

3 years ago (age 26): I was just finishing up my third year of pharmacy school and was engaged to be married to my husband. What an exciting time.............4 months from engagement to marriage is all!! We were ready to be married and since we didn't live together and strived to keep our relationship pure, we didn't want to have a long engagement. We were ready to be husband and wife.

2 years ago (age 27): By this time, I had been married to my husband for almost a year. I am so incredibly blessed to be married to a man that will always stick by my side and never give up! I can be a real pain in the butt sometimes and birth control didn't help matters. We decided at about this time 2 years ago that it was time to start trusting God with the timing of starting a family and so the baby making practice began:-)

1 year ago (age 28): And then there was our Baby Hart #1.........almost a year ago Owen Patrick graced us with his presence in this world and even though the pregnancy wasn't easy emotionally and his birth outcome was unknown..........we knew God was taking care of him and he came into the world bright eyed and bushy tailed with NO problems at all even being 3 1/2 weeks early. PRAISE GOD!

NOW (age 29): At the present time we are beginning 1st birthday party planning for Owen and awaiting the arrival of our Baby Hart#2 in September. We feel convicted presently to let God determine our family size and therefore by this time next year we will be a family of 4!!

I am so thankful every day for the journey that has brought me to where my life is at right now. Even the hard times brought me to Christ which brought me to my husband and consequently made me a mom..............what a great thing to think back on the last 10 years of my life!

Almost a Year (11 months old!!)

I REALLY can't believe that I am beginning to plan for Owens first birthday party already!! He is such a big boy now......with big boy tastes, big boy emotions, and big boy interests. It is starting to be a challenge that is for sure as he now know what he wants and what he doesn't want, it definitely takes a lot of patience at times;-) We love, love, love our little dude and look forward to all the new things he does everyday. With the next post, I will give you stats from his 1 year appointment, so stay tuned! Also, I plan on posting a year in review pictures with a run down of pics from each month........so fun to see how much he has changed and grown.

10 Months

Now that Owen is crawling and pulling up on EVERYTHING, it made it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to take the pics this month, but thanks to help from my Mom we somehow accomplished it. There were a few tantrums and smiles for the camera were few and far between, but at least we can see how much he has changed in the last month (especially the super fast hair growth spurt that happened). It is a lot of fun to watch Owen on the move, but also VERY exhausting a lot of the time, especially for a first-trimester-mama;-) I am very thankful he has reached this milestone in his life and will soak up every minute of it!!

3/4 year old (The Big 9 months!!)

I thought 6 months old was a ton of fun, but it just gets more fun with each month. Owen is learning so many new things now and is so anxious to explore EVERYTHING! It brings so much joy to our lives to see him experience so many things in this world for the very first time:-) Since I didn't post much of an update on what Owen has been up to lately last month, I will try and catch you up on the many new things that have happenened in the world of Owen in the last couple of months, enjoy!

Stats from his 9 month appt:

Weight: 17 lb 3 oz. (10th Percentile)--he gained almost a whole pound in the last month!!

Height: 27 3/4 inches (20th Percentile)

Head Circumfrence: 97th Percentile

1.) Eating: This kid can eat thats for sure. He is down to only 3 bottles a day now (1 after each nap). He eats rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with fruit for breakfast, and 4-5 oz of fruit and 4-5 oz of veggies for both lunch and dinner. And of course we have started working on letting him feed himself..........he will eat pretty much anything that we are eating as long as he can gum it;-)

2.) Sleeping: Has been sleeping from about 7 pm-6:30 am which is fantastic!! He occasionally wakes up in the night crying (I think he must have bad dreams;-() but if I go to him, he calms down and goes right back to sleep. Oh, well someday in the next 20 years maybe I'll get a good week full of interrupted sleep;-)

3.) He has 2 teeth now on the bottom. The first came in the end of December and the second came during the middle of January sometime. It is too cute to see those little chompers. And yes, we have started brushing them!! He isn't much of a fan of the regular toothbrush, but loves the Sonicare electric toothbrush so we use that on him.....it works better anyway. He is such a smart kid already;-)

4.) We have a mover!! The boy doesn't ever want to sit still and has figured out how to get up to a sitting position from being on his tummy as well as the other way around. And he army crawls EVERYWHERE:-)

5.) The little sinner in him has also started to come out with tantrums when he doesn't get his way, sometimes it is so funny you just want to laugh but know you probably shouldn't! Looks like it is time to start "training" him.........Kevin and I are up for the challenge!

Owen is learning things so quickly now so stay tuned for next months update and see what new things he has picked up in the last month

We have an 8 month old!

I will keep this post short since Owen is now only 5 days away from being 9 months old and I will update you more with that post........hopefully I can get it done soon after I take his 9 month pics:-) From 7-8 months Owen had some big firsts: First flight (an international one nonetheless).....to Mexico, First time seeing the Ocean (he wasn't so sure about the loud sound of the waves), and First time in the big boy bathtub!! Owen absolutely loves splashing in the water and really enjoyed the pool at our resort in Cancun, he was in his element thats for sure. It is so fun to see him experience new things. More details in the life of Owen when I post his 9 month update! Stay tuned:-):-)

Lucky Number 7!!

Yep, thats right...........Owen is 7 months old!!! (well actually 7 & 1/2 since it took me so long to do this post, but who's keeping track;-) This was the first month of pics that I barely had to con him into smiling big for the camera. He is a very happy boy with a lot of smiles!!

I think this month has been the most fun with Owen learning so many new things and being interested in EVERYTHING! We can't get enough of watching him soak in life like a sponge. Here are this months stats and activities in the Life of the Owen Man:

*It sure seems like Owen is growing like a weed, even if his stats don't show it. A week or so ago when I weighed him he was 15.2 pounds (such a little peanut). He eats like its his job, so he must have a super high metabolism. Height:?? Head Circumfrence: still big:-)--at his month check his head was in the 95th percentile while his weight and height were below the 5th. Maybe someday his body will catch up to his noggon!!

*Food: I weaned Owen this past month (which was much harder on me than on him!!) so now he is on formula and drinks 6-8 oz. bottles at a time, depending on how famished he thinks he is;-) It is funny because over the last month he has decided that he really likes baby food and would much rather just eat that than his bottle, so we have to make sure he drinks his bottle before we give him baby food so that he actually gets those much needed calories!! He gobbles up his rice cereal and fruit and has decided that he isn't such a fan of some of his veggies, but he still is a great sport and eats them anyway. Another new thing we tried this month are Rice Rusks that are kind of like a rice wafer for a baby that dissolves in their mouth, but helps them work on coordination with feeding themselves. It is very messy, but he enjoys them!!

*New tricks

1.) Sits up very well all by himself now

2.) Has started to smack things with his left hand (hmmm......do we have a lefty??)

3.) Does a balancing act trick with Daddy...............not easily explainable, but fun!

4.) Plays peek-a-boo with his tag blankie

5.) Cracks up laughing at Daddy...........it is such a cute, contagious laugh

Owen will be going on his first international flight (only to Mexico, but nonetheless an international flight) and will be putting his little piggies in the sand for the very first time in a week so stay tuned for pics from our trip to Cancun. On to Month 8.........