Baby Brother

26 week belly!

Owen at a Maxon wedding


Our little family is fast approaching an expansion! As you all know, we are expecting little boy #2 the end of November, which means we are now 26 weeks into this pregnancy. I am doing good, other than some tiredness and general aches, but lately have had more energy. Work is crazy and good delivering babies.
Chris is also enjoying his job and the end of the summer. Owen is busy discovering the joys of Disney and playing with his friends at daycare.
We are all looking forward to a vacation in North Carolina in a little over a week...we cannot wait for the escape! Other than that, it's getting ready for baby and the cooler weather.

Summer!

Dad & Grady with the Verazzano in the background

Fireworks

Steve & Kathy

Emma & Grady

Owen being initiated as an official New Yorker

The beautiful weather is finally here and we are all making the most of it. Over the July 4th holiday, Owen and I, Grandpa Leonard and Grady traveled to Staten Island to see Emma and to New Jersey. Staten Island was cool, for those of us who have never been there but definitley not green enough! Emma's coast guard base is practically right under the Verazzano Bridge leading from Staten Island to Brooklyn, what an amazing site up close. She was crazy enough, along with Sean, to put us all up for a night and day or two. Off to Toms River, NJ we went to see Aunt Kathy, Uncle Steve, Eric and David. They put together a pretty awesome cookout on the holiday and hosted about 20 people for a relaxing afternoon of food, talking, and backyard fun. The fireworks show for the 4th was pretty cool...and would have been even better without the rain that started during it!
For those of you who do not know, Owen will be getting a baby brother in November! Yes, we just found out that our new baby is a boy. Owen seems to know what we mean when we tell him "baby brother", but then he's only 2 years old.

Enjoy the pictures, everyone!

Round here....

Celebrating Tony's Birthday; Tony, Megan & Owen

Damian & Tia at the Cookout (which they hosted)

Daddy & Owen being crazy

Megan & Emma

Leonard Girl's Feet (Owen affectionately calls this picture "pew")

Hello to all our not so devoted readers as I have truly slacked on posting regularly here. Since my last post in January it has been crazy here. Between work, school, and various other events cropping up, we have been pretty busy. Sara finished the semester off in May with shouts of joy, which I am sure Chris agreed whole heartedly with. Owen has been busy tiring us out and learning a vocabulary that amazes us every day. He is now running and jumping and exercising his little sense of humor. He comes out with a new word every day and has been using 2 and 3 word sentences for a few weeks now. Daycare has been fun for him now that they are going outside on their large playgrounds and doing lots of projects in the classroom. We haven't started officially potty training him yet, but he uses his little potty whenever he feels like which is at least daily. Oh yeah, and I'm sure most of you know that we're expecting baby #2 around November 30th!! Sara has been feeling not so great until a week or so ago until the cloud seemed to lift (thank god). We are trying to prep Owen but he doesn't really understand it yet. When we ask him if he wants a baby he says "yes" and he loves to see babies in general, so that's promising.
Last week we had a visit from Emma, from NYC, and Megan and her flame, Tony, from Hawaii enroute to NC. A fun time was had by all, although the weather could have been nicer. Chris's sister Raeanne comes home this weekend from 10 months living in China, so we are all very excited to see her!
In other news, the beautiful summer weather is greatly anticipated as well as a visit from some of the SD Leonard's next month.
Enjoy the pictures and I'll try to keep it updated more regularly.
Love from Sara, Chris, and Owen

Goodbye...

Living Room after Christmas 2006

All empty...December 2007


Just a small post to say...

Goodbye to 428 South Meadow Street
Never again will we meet.
Your tiny bedrooms and one bathroom,
we never thought it would end so soon.
Parents and children alike tortured you
still you survived and came bravely through.

The fond memories of days past:
Mom and Dad heading out west
Sara leaving you for her man
Megan for another land
Damian breaking a window somehow
Emma all grown up now
Nels..not quiet at all, as you well knew
Grady still the baby, we'll all remember you.

Happy 2008!

Sledding with Megan

Owen on the Beach

Christmas pictures

The Leonard Clan (October 2007)

Me, Danielle, & Alicia at Danielle's Wedding


Well, it has been quite a while since an update so I'll try to recap the last months for you. Chris is still loving his job and doing well, as is Sara. Owen has been growing and changing right before our eyes!! He loves to run, climb, takes baths, and play in general. He does not like being separated from his parents very much at all. He is still talking up a storm and more frequently when we say a word to him he will give a try and repeat it back to us.
We had a great vacation in November when we traveled to NC and stayed for a week oceanfront for some much needed R & R. Aunt Megan visited us in December and we tried to entertain her as best we could. In fact, we're now babysitting her kitty, Sadie, for her while she gets her sea legs. Our holidays were good if uneventful. Owen loved opening presents and loved playing with them even more.
As I am writing this I am recovering from my latest workout at the YMCA (we treated ourselves to a membership recently) and we're having quiet night at home while Owen sleeps. School starts again for me next week so the updates may continue to be few and far between, but keep checking!!!

I'm Sure You're All Thinking "Finally!"

Mommy & Owen (Camping at Letchworth in August)

Daddy & Owen at Ontario Beach

Dylan & Owen in Our Wagon

I don't remember putting this in the cupboard!

Hot off the Press...Owen this morning.


Yeah, yeah. It's taken me a long time to finally update our blog and I am sorry for that to all our faithful readers. A lot has happened this summer, from Owen growing like a weed, to Chris working a lot, to me starting school this fall.
As I am writing this Owen is unloading the bookcase in the den. You can't really blame him because he loves books lately, even if they are grown up books with no pictures he likes to take them off the shelf and give them a quick look. He has definitely turned into a little boy over the last months. He started really walking at about 13 1/2 months and has now conquered running and climbing, unfortunately for us. He has gotten 6 new teeth: his top 2 molars and 3rd and 4th bottom front teeth are about 1/2 way in, and a couple bottom molars are still making their way up. We took him for his first big boy haircut last week because the back of his hair was very full and getting ratty easily. He did phenomenally well at the cut, sitting on daddy's lap and sucking a lollipop I got him for distraction. I totally forgot the camera though so we have nothing to share with everyone. He's also coming out with a new word almost every day. He can say the usual mama and dada, as well as a version of turtle, shadow, dog, walk, eat, juice, snack, milk, euw, down, up, book, night-night, morning, bath, ball, poo-poo, baby, mine,and so on and so forth. He has a great sense of humor and loves to 'play' with the cat (read: torture the cat).
Daddy has been golfing the summer away and working like a maniac. And I have been working and starting college at U of R this semester to work towards by bachelor's of nursing degree.
This fall is going to be very busy so I may not get to updating this again for awhile. Chris and I have close friends getting married, a vacation coming up, people having babies, and life as usual, not to mention a visitor coming in December.Until next time, take care and keep checking for the next post!!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Owen assisting Grandpa Leonard with the drool-and-pull hair revitalizer treatment.(patent pending)

"Wanna ride? Here we go!!"

"Wanna play ball?"

Yes, it takes 3 people to dress a wiggly one year old.

As many of you know 'baby' Owen turned 1 on June 10th!! We were lucky enough to have a beautiful, sunny day for his birthday party with family and good friends. Chris and I put together a big barbeque for the event and Grandma Snyder made a cake with Winnie the Pooh on it. Owen was showered with attention and presents and sends a huge thank you to everyone who celebrated with us whether in body or in spirit. So he still seems so much bigger than a little boy but Chris and I know we'll have to get used to that as it will only get worse. He is talking and crawling and playing as hard as he can and almost walking. Everyone enjoy the pictures and thank you to Daddy who was our photographer for the day.

Summer is Here

Hello to everyone who has been wondering when I would update this again. A lot has been going on in the last months. Owen is growing like a weed, getting into everything and has started to take 1 or 2 steps by himself depending on how adventurous he's feeling.
It has become more and more apparent to us how BIG he is getting. Our little baby is grown up and more independent. Lately he has started giving lots of hugs to Chris and I and the cat so it helps to know he loves us still. I started a new job in April and am loving it while Chris is still enjoying his job.
May was a long month complete with a trip to the Lilac Festival with the Leonards and a visit to the Snyders over the holiday weekend. We are currently very excited to be planning Owen's first birthday party to be celebrated with family and friends.
Enjoy the pics and we'll post some fun birthday party details after the 10th!!