Sydney Marie

I haven't posted in 8 months. The reasons aren't important- what's important is that Sydney Marie Owen was born on September 15th!







Her birth was amazing and she is a happy and healthy baby. At this posting, she is eleven weeks. It's true that the second baby is much easier, it's like I'm a different mommy. Sydney loves to be held. So much so that she will only nap in someone's arms. During the day I carry her around in the baby carrier. All. Day. Long. I try to remember that someday she won't want me to hold her at all, so I cherish this time that I can snuggle her and give her kisses whenever I want.

Colton is sweet to her. He likes to help me change her diaper (he says, "Ew! Dirty poo poo." We're hoping it will help him want to not be in diapers anymore, but so far no luck there) and tries to cover her with a blanket.

Jason is over the moon. He smiles at Sydney with such love it just melts my heart. She's got him under her thumb already.




So, now we are a family of four. We are complete.

Raising a Boy

"A young boy doesn't come with instructions. He just comes with boundless love and an adventurous spirit. But the journey to manhood begins very early...the first time he looks at his dad and thinks, 'I want to be like him'" - Harry Harrison author of Life Lessons on Raising a Boy

Before Colton was born, I knew Jason would be a great father by the way he treated me. He is kind, caring, compassionate, responsible, sincere, and most imporatnt, has the kind of morals, respect and integrity that I have learned are the pinacle of life. He's not perfect, nor would I want him to be, but he knows his flaws and accepts them and tries to fix them when he can.

When I was pregnant we saw a little boy in the neighborhood riding his bike on the sidewalk. He had hit the breaks and turned around to look at the ground. Jason , with a big smile on his face, mentioned that he used to do the same thing as a child. I had no idea even what the little boy was doing and he told me that he had looked behind him to check out his skidmark on the sidewalk from his bike. I remember thinking how happy and blessed I was to have him in my life...to show Colton all the "boy" things that I had no idea about. To teach him how to treat girls (and to tell him he doesn't understand them sometimes either, even as a grown-up), how to pee standing up, how to spit, to be there at his sports games when Colton says, "Dad, did you see me?", and over the years to teach him how to be a good man. So, thank you Jason, you mean more to me now that ever. I love you.