Our slice of life: November 2008

four months

Our little cutie turned four months old on Monday, and, unfortunately, celebrated with a cold she caught from Owen (who has two ear infections :( Otherwise, she is perfectly healthy and is now in the 40th percentile for length, at 24 inches, and 50th for weight- 12 pounds 9 ounces. A perpetually smiling baby, Olive *loves* to have a good laugh with us every day. Amazingly, if she spies Owen from across the room, she'll smile, and if he walks over to talk to her, she starts giggling. This girl ADORES her big brother!

Olive mastered rolling over both ways just a few days ago, as well as holding onto and playing with her feet. Now when she is in the bouncy seat, she props her legs up in the shape of a V on the overhanging toy holder...doesn't look very comfortable, but apparently she wants to be enrolled in gymnastics! She still is a hand sucker and has started sucking on her top lip, which is pretty funny. And one of her favorite things to do? She gets a kick out of being lifted above your head so she can grab handfuls of your hair...especially Owen's curls! That will calm her down from a crying jag anytime. We can't wait to see what she'll be up to next month!

Seeing double

Olive still resembles her big brother!

It's hard to find really similar pics of them now because Owen didn't
smile as much as Olive does.

They even share some mannerisms!

Look at those lips!

Recent Owie antics

Lately Owen has taken to carrying his roaring two-foot-tall T. Rex around, calling it his "dinosaur baby." I've found dinosaur baby safely tucked inside Olive's carseat, swaddled with soft blankets, as well as in the swing covered by "lambie." So cute!

Owen has also been in "rescue" mode these days. He is always looking to rescue Olive, or his toys or the world in general! But, to do so, he must be clothed in his "rescue socks" and his "rescue shirt," etc....which are whatever clothes at the time he deems appropriate super hero attire. For awhile, he needed to sleep with his soccer shin guards on or wear them under his pants all day. Today he is wearing his pirate pants from Halloween,& his long-sleeve pj top with his tight swimming shirt layered over top. None of it matches color-wise of course! Pretty hilarious! Oh, he also has been carrying around (and sleeping with) the silver toilet paper roll holder, calling it his "spotting scope," which apparently is something Diego uses to rescue animals. ;)

Lastly, the other night Owen lovingly pinched Olive's chubba chubba cheeks and asked in a sing-songy voice, "are you my sweetieheart?"

We LOVE Owie's little personality and how he continues to be such a good brother (and super hero!)

Our Philly friends visit!

We hadn't seen Abbey, Soby, Brenda and Shibu since Summer '07, so we were thrilled when they planned a trip down South. At the time, we had no idea we'd end up hanging with them in Philly a week before their TN visit. It was definitely nice knowing when we left Philadelphia that we would see them again very soon!

The day after they arrived, the guys planned a little surprise for the Mamas. In the morning, they cooked us breakfast (including some killer spicy potatoes....yummo!) and informed us there were cards underneath our placemats. We opened the envelopes and found a letter on each of our cards...put together, they spelled SPA. YAY! We were totally spoiled with hour-and-a-half hot stone massages and facials. Heavenly. Afterward, we went out for cocktails while the guys continued to watch the kiddos. We were impressed with the thoughtful afternoon our hubbies planned for us and thoroughly enjoyed the "me" time! Thanks guys, you rock!

With Soby & Brenda after our spa day!

Much of our time consisted of hanging out at the house, chilling with the kiddies, catching up on life, and cooking great food. One day we drove downtown, ate a yummy lunch at modern diner Blue Plate, and then walked to the aquarium. After we had our fill of underwater eye candy, Shibu taught me how to take pics in rapid succession with my camera. We caught Owen throwing leaves into the air and Corinne sitting on the ground playing with leaves. When you scroll through them quickly, you have a miniature flipbook! I also took my first picture where the object (Roby chasing Shibu) is in focus, and everything else is out of focus. He definitely taught me a lot about my camera and inspired me to try new effects. Darkness started settling in as we headed over to the Bluffview Art District for some caffeinated pick-me-ups and macaroons at Rembrandt's cafe.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Daniel and Philip families, and it was soooo wonderful getting the kids together. Roby and I were saddened upon their departure and wondered if we will ever live in the same vicinity as our Philly friends. Who knows what the future may hold!

Soby & baby Pailyn

Brenda & sweet Corinne

The Philip family

Owen trying his hardest to plant a kiss on Ab's lips! :)

Downtown

Shibu with his cocoa bear at Blue Plate

Owie at Blue Plate (I love how he perfectly matched the diner's color scheme!)

Pailyn sharing a secret with Olive in the aquarium's butterfly garden

Roby and Olive standing under a black olive tree!
It's actually quite a beautiful tree.

Corinne enjoying the leaves

We love this fun Fall pic of Owie!

I don't know who had more fun, O or Shib?!

le bebes

Pailyn & Olive

(We will never forget Pailyn's birthday because he was born on Olive's due date!
They're just two weeks apart!)

Olive and Pailyn held hands on their own! How sweet!

I wonder what this could possibly mean?

Owen arranged himself next to Pailyn on the couch, covered him up and held his hand.
He is such the big brother!

Shibu captured this sweet moment between Owie & Pailyn

Olive, Owen and Corinne hamming it up for the camera.

(Though it looks like Livy is pouting, she is actually sucking on her top lip! ;)

Spontaneous trip to Philadelphia

Recently, we were able to make a childhood dream of Roby's come true! He has always wanted to go to a championship parade in Philly, and this year the Phillies made that possible when they became National League champs, going on to win the World Series! (They haven't won since 1983.) Originally, Roby wanted to cash in miles and fly home with Owie for the occasion, but the day after the Phils won, we thought, "let's drive home!" The very next morning, we packed up the Scion and off we went on a 12-hour-trek to PA with the kidlets. Owen, the awesome traveler that he is, happily watched his DVDs, while Olive slept most of the trip. We arrived at 9:00 p.m, in perfect time to surprise Roby's parents with our impromptu presence. Mummy was so confused when her eyes fell on Owen. In her mind, the little boy standing in front of her couldn't possibly be her grandson who lives in Chattanooga! Needless to say, she and Pappa were beaming-so happy to see the grandkids one more time before their 6-month-stay in India. We were happy to spend quality time with Roby's brother, Rony, and sis-in-law, Rani, and meet the newest member of the family-our nephew Kenneth!

After discovering that more than 1 million people would be roaming the streets of Philly during the parade, I decided to stay behind with the kids. Roby had a killer time living out one of his childhood dreams with his best friends, while I spent time with Brenda, Soby and the kids-a wonderful treat. In the evenings, we stayed with Abbey, Soby and their son Pailyn at their new home. We spent a lot of time chillin' with friends at the house, especially on Halloween night. Roby took Owen, our little pirate, around the neighborhood, while Brenda and I made a quick drive to visit Julie and Charley, who welcomed their newest daughter, Shyla Lily, several weeks earlier. Div arrived early, and Binoy, Ryn & Mat showed up after visiting a Halloween event at the Eastern State Penitentiary (I mention this now defunct prison because it is often labeled as a historical haunted site on ghost hunter-type television shows! creepy!) Lisa and Shoney also drove down from NY to hang out with everyone. (We can't wait for their visit to Chattown, hopefully in February!)

The following day we made the rounds, visiting Roby's aunts and uncles and eventually ended up back at Rony's house-where Owen had a blast playing with his cousins. We love to see this, and wish they were all able to grow up together the same way Roby and his cousins did. We even held the rarest of photo shoots: Mummy and Pappa with all six of their grandchildren at the same time, and believe me when I say it wasn't easy! We shamelessly used bribery with lollypops to get the job done. :) That evening, we met up with my Mom, who drove up from Harrisburg, and stayed with my brother Jason and sis-in-law Melinda at their new place in Chestnut Hill. Exhausted Owen passed out on their couch for most of the night, and Olive happily slept in Nana's arms. We enjoyed talking around their firepit and trying out the Wii they bought us for a combination of gifts! (How awesome of them!) The following morning we all grabbed breakfast at a local diner, and we were on our way. The drive home seemed to take forever, and we were quite happy to see the signs directing us to Chattanooga.

This trip was one of the most spontaneous things we have ever done, and was well worth it! In just two days we somehow managed to spend time with the majority of our friends, as well as both sides of our families! We probably won't be making the drive again anytime soon, but it's nice to know that it's doable and the kids handle it just fine.