Best Buddies!

On Sunday, we met up with our friends from our old small group and enjoyed visiting with them and getting to see how much their kiddos have grown. We started the small group as 5 married with no children couples and we ended the group with 3 couples having babies and 2 couples with babies on the way!!! Guess there was something in the water! The babies are 3-4 months apart!

Here's some pics of the kids playing together. (the little boy, Hayes, is secretly Caroline's boyfriend!)

Birthday party pics

Caroline's birthday party went well! The food was yummy (thanks mom!), decorations looked good, and Caroline had a blast being the center of attention. We only had family members over and she ended up being the only child so she got a lot of attention from everyone!!! It was a nice, relaxed and laid back party...which is good for her! She did lose it though when we let her eat her cake. I was putting on her birthday hat and the strap hit her chin and boy did she let me know that she was not happy. She was on the verge of needing a nap so she didn't let up with the crying. I had to finally just get her and take her upstairs to get her calmed down. I came back down with her after a few minutes and my mom was cutting the adult cake for everyone and Caroline grabbed the plate from my mom and dug in. So, my mom ended up sitting with her at the table and letting her dig into her own cake! Can we say that she is the PRINCESS around here!!! Here are some pics of our fun day celebrating our baby girl turning 1!

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Happy Birthday sweet girl! Your daddy and I are so proud and lucky to have you in our lives! One year ago today our lives changed forever. God blessed us with such a beautiful little girl and we can't wait to see what your future holds! We've had quite a first year trying to learn everything about parenthood. You were such an easy baby and such a great sleeper...and still are! You've really been a joy to be around and have never been a fussy baby! You love to go shopping and out to eat and you will just sit there and be as calm as can be! I know this may not last forever but I sure am enjoying it for now! You've always loved bath time and I swear you are going to be a swimmer like your daddy! Daddy can't wait to take you to the pool this summer. You are eating table food now and love it! Mommy does too b/c it makes things easier:) You are crawling but still aren't walking and I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm not ready for you to grow up too fast! The worst part about your first year is how sick you've been the past 6 months. You have had just about everything you can think of. Daddy and I are ready for spring to be here so you will have a break and get better!


We hope you have a great birthday!!! We can't wait to celebrate many many more with you. We love you!


All photos were taken by Farrah Nicole Photography.

Letter to Caroline

When we dedicated Caroline last September, we were asked to do some homework and part of that was to write letters for her. At her dedication we read the lettes to her and it was such a special day for us. In celebration of Caroline turning one, I wanted to post these letters on the blog. These letters represent what Caroline means to us. She is SUCH a special little girl to us our our lives and hearts have been changed forever!

WARNING...this is going to be a long post! Don't say I didn't warn you:)

Mommy's letter...

Dear Caroline,

First off, I am so lucky to be your mommy. Before you were born, I loved feeling your little kicks inside of my belly and I remember all of the anxiety of waiting for the day that I could meet you. It took us months to prepare for your arrival with getting everything ready and perfect for the day that we could bring you home. The first time I laid my eyes on you, I knew we would have a special bond for eternity!
I have treasured all of the moments that God has allowed us the past 8 months to spend quality time together. I love watching you grow and seeing you learn new things as you explore the world around you. I look forward to all of your “first” experiences that you will have...such as first birthday, first night away from home, first day of school, etc. You hold such a special place in my heart and words cannot express how much love I have for you. Your dad and I are going to do our best in teaching you about God and how important he is. God is always by your side through the good times and bad…all you need to do is put your faith and trust in him. Please know that the sky is the limit and that you can do anything that you set your heart to.
Today we are dedicating you to God and thanking him for letting us be your parents. God created you and has great plans for your life. I pray that you will desire to have a growing relationship with God as you get older. You are such a beautiful and sweet little girl and I am so excited to see what is in store for you. Please know that the love that mommy and daddy have for you will never end and we will always be by your side.

I love you!
Love,
Mommy


Daddy's letter...

Dearest Caroline:

Today your mommy and I will be dedicating you to the church. This is such a special occasion because while your mommy and I love you very much, God your heavenly creator loves you so much more. He made you so very special.
As your father, I want you to know what a joy it was to see you for the very first time. I remember those big brown eyes just staring at me, piercing me right to the heart. I remember I couldn’t stop crying because I was so overjoyed to see you. As you grow older and older each day both your mommy and I will be right there for your every need. I will always be there to be a shoulder for you to cry on when you need it. It is so hard to fathom you getting older. It seems like just yesterday we were carrying you home from the hospital, but I know these days are coming and I long to see what a beautiful woman in Christ you will become.
I can’t wait to see you blossom. Just the times I spend with you on Thursdays, I see the joy and happiness shining from you every time you smile at your daddy. If you bring me this much joy now, I can only imagine what happiness you will bring to others in your life down the road.
Sweet Caroline, there is so much I want to tell you but I know this letter must be short. If I can leave you with a little fatherly advice it would be to follow your dreams and your desires. There is nothing you can’t do! You have been created so beautifully in the eyes of the Lord. He has sculpted you in his image and has given you a world to use your talents. Seek his wisdom daily, and do not lean on your own understanding. As I look at you sleeping in your tiny crib I see a little girl who is determined to love, destined to be great, and the apple of her daddy’s eye. I look at you and see your mother….a determined little girl who will stop at nothing to care for the one she loves.

I love you Always!
Love,
Daddy

And she even got this awesome Bible with her name on it. I hope that she will keep this bible forever as it represents the day we dedicated her life to God.

Update on the Owen Family

So, I just realized that I haven't posted in over a week. Maybe that's because we have been so busy with our schedules, or me just being lazy/tired, or me having nothing new to say or all of the above!!! So here goes me catching everyone up on what we've been doing. We had a pretty good week last week but by Thursday we realized that Caroline was starting to catch something else since her cough was back, her snot had turned green again, and she was wheezing. I pushed it off that it was just her getting over RSV. But when she wasn't getting any better, I ended up taking her in to the dr on Monday (yesterday) and she has a sinus infection. She's on antibiotics with ear drops and an inhaler so she should be feeling pretty good soon! Let's hope it just stays that way b/c her party is this Saturday! Can't believe my baby is going to be a year old.

Not only was Caroline sick but mommy and daddy were too. On Monday morning at 2am I wake up to hearing Blake throwing up and Caroline coughing her lungs out. Mind you that I'm not sleeping well either b/c my sinus's are a mess too. So, let's just say that our night was LONG. I didn't get a wink of sleep from 2am on... I had so much to do yesterday to get ready for her party so I didn't get a chance to rest so I'm extremely tired today. But daddy is on the mend and getting better, I'm starting to feel better and we are just praying that Caroline (or I for that matter) don't catch the stomach bug that daddy had. We stayed away from him and I cleaned the house well so hopefully I killed all of his dirty germs!

Something fun and exciting that we did is get our family pictures done. We used Farrah Nicole to do our pictures and I had her do some of Caroline in her birthday outfit that I had made for her. Farrah did a wonderful job and was very patient with Caroline. I can't wait to see how the pictures turn out!

Other than that, we are just busy working and getting everything ready for our sweet baby girl's 1st birthday. We aren't having many people over...just family but we will all enjoy being together and celebrating miss Caroline! I was just thinking this morning that this time last year I was on bed rest so anxious to see my little one!

Sorry that this post is so wordy,long, and has no pictures. I promise to post pictures of Caroline soon.

Mommy's helper

This is how Caroline entertained herself tonight while I cooked dinner. Ohhh...I just don't think I'm ready for a toddler that's into everything yet. Here's a picture of her eating spagetti for the first time! She LOVED it:)
It was fun watching her eat the spagetti but NOT fun to clean all of it up!!! We are finding spagetti everywhere!

Our Weekend...

...was super lazy and relaxing. With Caroline having RSV, we didn't go anywhere or do much. We just stayed home and played and slept! Here's some pictures from our weekend.

My niece and nephew had this tunnel thing that they gave Caroline a few weeks ago. Since we really don't have much space we hadn't put it up for her to play with. But on Friday night, Blake and I thought it would be fun to get it out for her and let her crawl through it since we were getting tired of playing with her other toys. These pics aren't that great but she had a good time crawling back and forth through the tunnels.

Notice she still won't let go of her paci's...they are her best friend!

Of course, her daddy thinks he's still a kid and thought he would be able to fit through...not so much!!!


Caroline just sat to the side laughing at her daddy getting stuck.

Here she is on Saturday playing with her entertainer wondering why mommy keeps taking her picture!



On Saturday afternoon, my parents came over to watch Caroline for a few minutes while I went and got stuff for her party. I had fun going to Hobby Lobby, Party City, and Home Goods. Here's a sneak peek at some of her decorations. I'm so excited with all that I have for her party...I can't wait!


And today she played and played with her car. She LOVED getting pushed around the house by mom and dad! She also learned a new trick. She will put her paci's under the hood that lifts up and then take them out. She spent a good part of the day doing that over and over! It's the small things that amuse them! (oh and she has her hood from her jacket on b/c she liked it that way. She loves hats, thank goodness, and wanted to wear it!)


I can't get over how quickly our weekends come and go. I'm sad that we have to go back to the real world tomorrow. Caroline is also going back to daycare. I'm hoping that she'll do okay. She seems to be doing much better but still has a little bit of wheezing and coughing. But no fever and her snot is finally clear again so I'm assuming that's a good sign! Blake and I aren't holding our breath that we will make it this entire week without visiting a doctor...that's just our life these days!!!