Happy 4th Birthday Owen!

Saturday was Owen's 4th Birthday.  We had a party at our house, which meant that the last few weeks were spent planning/cleaning/buying for that.  I was so busy with preparations that the normal nostalgia didn't hit me until Friday night when Keith played a song that he played while I was pregnant with Owen ("Miracle" by the Foo Fighters).  I had forgotten that this wasn't just a day to have a party; it was the day my water broke 6 weeks before it was supposed to.  It was the day they induced me into labor.  It was the day Keith kept saying "You're almost there!" 100 times in the 45 minutes that I pushed.  It was the day that at 6:56pm our lives were changed forever.  And now that 5lb 12oz baby is 30+lbs; he's walking, talking, reading (some), doing math, learning how to swim, enjoying gymnastics, organizing his cars, and making us laugh and smile more than ever.

Owen woke up at 5:30am, so excited he couldn't go back to sleep.  We (tried to) spread out his gift openings to every 30-45 minutes that morning.  He kept dancing around, trying to set the timer so he knew how long until the next gift (we've been using the timer a lot lately to help with his sense of time).  We once again had too many people over for his party, so since he was already tired to begin with, it was a bit overwhelming for him.  He was completely wiped out by the time everyone left, and fell asleep before Keith got to the end of one book.  But he (and everyone) seemed to have a good time overall, so I would call it a success.  And our house is almost cleaned up from the party.  Which means it's actually cleaner than it's normal state.  :-)

We are taking advantage of Owen's birthday by making several "Now that you're four..." rules.  No more sleeping in our bed; milk is now drunk from a cup without a top; he puts his shirts on by himself; we now floss his teeth.  So far that trick has worked better than I thought it would.  I think he even made one up himself.  He is also trying to take advantage by saying he wants four of things (scenes on the computer, etc.) when before he would say three ("Because I'm three!")

Pictures from the party (it was a dress-up party, hence the costumes):
 

I'd say I haven't written in such a long time because we've been so busy, but I know that's a lousy excuse. And we haven't been anymore busy than we usually are. In January we took a trip to Santa Monica for a beach Ultimate Frisbee tournament. We created the team by inviting a bunch of parents, and then some "babysitters" to fill in the roster. We were quite a sight on the sidelines with 10 kids and several tents. We were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa come along as well. We decided to forgo hotels this year and rented some beach houses; one of our best decisions ever. We were in one of the houses with our good friends Megan, Bryan, Finn & Maya.  We had a ton of fun!

Pictures from the trip, mainly in the beach house:


 I had the fun of breaking my nose playing frisbee in February. It was kind of funny to see it crooked. Surgery and a few not-so-fun days later, and the nose is looking good (well, as good as it did before)! Sophie was in the hospital overnight a couple weeks ago after her g-tube wouldn't stop bleeding after the doctor burned off some granulation tissue. Her blood clotting times were tested as too high. She is now on a Vitamin K prescription for it, and feeling good. Spending a night in the hospital with Sophie is never fun, but has so far always been an interesting experience.

 Sophie has changed a lot in the last couple of months. She is now cruising and getting stronger. She's no where close to walking, but I can see her progressing to that, perhaps this summer. She is not talking, but is communicating more, pointing, makings sounds, and using sign language (so far only "more"). She is showing more preferences for certain books and certain foods. She is still a very social baby, giving smiles to anyone who gives her attention. She's becoming more of a toddler, so I guess I can't call her "baby" too much longer. But with Owen now so grown up, I'm going to hold on to "baby" as long as I can!

Other pictures from January and February: