Thank You!

 I apologize for the long delay in blog posts! Things have been pretty crazy here. We are in the process of buying our first house (we close Dec 15), and have recently returned from Owen's first trip to the East Coast to visit his NJ family/friends. I'm pretty sure Jen was more impressed by the Fall foliage than Owen. It really was amazing to see the rapid development that's been happening with Owen, almost overnight. While we were in NJ, it was like someone flipped a switch in his little brain. All of a sudden, he is clapping, pointing, giving high-fives (thanks Weipz boys!!), saying "bye bye" while waving, and responding to brief directives like "Can you close the lid?" or "Can you put the blocks in the box?". It's amazing!! He isn't walking yet, but he stands unassisted (when he's not paying attention to the fact that he's standing unassisted), and cruises all around town holding onto whatever's even remotely stable.

While we were in NJ, we celebrated quite a few wonderful events. Even though we were a week early, we had an East Coast first birthday party for bub. He was less than thrilled with the Happy Birthday song, and even less enthused about the cake. He did, however, love the 4-wheeler that Uncle Brett and Aunt Pam got him.

Cousins!!

Later that week, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Monetti/Weipz clan, just like when I was  younger! In fact, I hadn't had Thanksgiving with my whole family since I was 8. Once Brett went off to college, he was rarely around for the holiday, so this year was EXTRA special. It was easily my favorite Thanksgiving (although last year's was a close second. Who doesn't love going into labor on Thanksgiving??).  Owen participated in his first Thanksgiving football game, and even scored a touchdown (or, rather, was used as a pawn so I could score MY only touchdown).

Just another Weipz boy ;)

Uncle Brett, Aunt Pam, and cousins Bella and Darby were in town for a joint baby naming ceremony for Owen and Darby. In the Jewish faith, a baby naming is somewhat like a baptism or christening. It's the child's official welcome into the Jewish faith community. It's also where the baby receives his or her hebrew name. Owen's hebrew name is Kaleb Hershel after a good friend, Kyle Sattin, and my great Uncle Harold. Since Owen didn't do so well with all of the birthday party attention, we were a little nervous about how he'd do standing in front of 100 people at the naming. He was a ham, though!! At one point, he looked out into the crowd and started waving at people. It was hysterical! He also opted to take his shoes off and attempt to eat them, as well as kick off cousin Bella's yamulke.

Stay tuned, as I'm sure we'll have much to fill you in on over the next month!