Wandering Browns

Keukenhof tulip gardens, Netherlands Transitioning from being a Stay-At-Hotel mother of one to a stay-at-home mother of two has been rough for me. Of course, some days are better than others, but in general it took me by surprise that I am having so much trouble. Living in hotels, I missed cooking, I missed being able to do laundry inside of my house, I missed having space inside to play and a ton of toys to play with. I missed so many things about "normal" life. Living in hotels is difficult in its own way, but the unpleasant things about it are offset by the amazing things we have seen and done all over the world. Plus, it's intellectually challenging for me to go into a foreign country and try to take care of my family. As I did some self reflection, I pinpointed this as the main reason I'm having a hard time. I don't have anything intellectually challenging me in Chicago. Owen's first bath Living here in a home, there are many responsibilities...

Our two month old Our sweet baby Owen is two months old! He is a generally calm, happy boy. He loves to smile and give loving looks and coos. He coos back and forth with us all the time! From birth, he has made these adorable high squeaking noises when he stretches or first wakes up. These squeaks have gradually decreased as he has gotten older and I miss them!  While Landon always had a spark or fire behind his eyes from birth (a sign of his feistiness I think), Owen has a soft look in his eyes. When he looks at me, I see an old, intelligent spirit who knows what's going on, and has just decided to go along with it instead of complaining. His hair continues to stand straight up in the back, and although the hair on the side of his head has thinned, the hair on top is long and brown.  His two month stats were pretty awesome. He's 15 lbs, 4 oz, and 25.25 inches long. That's in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. He has grown out of all of his 3 mon...

The boys We could not pass up the opportunity to bless Owen on December 29th while my dad, brother, and Mariah's husband Zach were all here for Christmas. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, babies are given a name and a blessing within a few months of their birth. It opens up their record in the church, and gives them a blessing from Heavenly Father to begin their life. Men who hold the Priesthood stand in a circle holding the infant in their arms while the father gives the blessing. For Landon's baby blessing, we just had friends in the circle because my family was not able to make it out. Typically, baby blessings are done in church on Sundays. Because my family was not going to be in Chicago on a Sunday, we arranged with our Bishop to have Owen's blessing at our home. He came over to stand in the circle for the blessing and we're grateful for his willingness to work with us and our schedule! Add caption Austin gave Owen a beautiful bles...

Paddling with his arms Before going to Michigan for Christmas, Owen was bathing in a baby bathtub. Every bath time, he would squirm down in his little tub trying to get more of his body in the water. I knew that it was almost time for him to graduate to bathing in a few inches of water in the tub, and I didn't want to lug a tub to Michigan, so we made his first big tub bath happen while we were in Michigan, when he was about 6 weeks old.  With both Austin and I being former collegiate swimmers, I am always worried that our kids will not enjoy the water. That would be a problem as many of our family activities involve water. Owen is officially a water baby! I put him in the water, and he immediately began splashing around and smiling and relaxing. It is precious how his hair waves in the water, and how excited he gets when water splashes up from his flailing. The only problem happens when he dips his cheek too far and sucks up water- so I have to be watching out for that...

Ready for anything with the goggles! One of the gifts my parents got Landon was a Magic School Bus Volcano science kit. Landon is really into science experiments and volcanoes right now so it was a great gift! On a cold afternoon when we didn't want to go outside, Grandpa broke out the set and did some experiments with Landon and Claire. Landon especially loved the goggles he got to wear, and that the volcano was an actual volcano (we have done the experiment before, but with a plain old bottle- not as cool!) Nervous and excited- thus the finger sucking! Success, and Grandma looking on. This kit has several different experiments, not just plain old vinegar and baking soda so we'll be doing more with this another day. It was a fun afternoon activity, and Landon loved it! Grandpa and Baby owen Another favorite activity of the week was Owen snuggling. I basically only held him and took care of him at night, and when he needed to eat. It was a great break for...

Making sugar cookies! With a six week old infant, traveling for Christmas was out of the question for our family. So, my family came to us! Because our house we are renting in the Chicago suburbs would not fit everyone comfortably,we rented a bigger house in southwest Michigan for a week so that everyone could shower and sleep comfortably. It was a blast having everyone together and we kept up some of our family traditions that we do every year- even with a smaller kitchen and unfamiliar house. Before Christmas, we made sugar cookies- some in the shape of Star Wars characters thanks to Mariah and Zach- and everyone except the Moms (my mom and I) went into Michigan City to catch a showing of the new Star Wars movie. Growing up, we watched the original three Star Wars movies many, many times, so it was a momentous occasion for all.  Landon was a great helper cutting out the cookies Our house in Michigan was in the small town of Harbert, along the Red Arrow Highway. There ...

Landon liked helping with the tree! My boys, the tree, and the jammies All of our Christmas stuff is in our storage unit, I wasn't sure what we were going to do to decorate for Christmas. Thankfully, our friends we are renting from generously left their Christmas stuff accessible and invited us to use it to decorate for Christmas. We had a great time putting up the tree and putting some of our own ornaments from this year with plastic, Landon-proof ornaments. Auntie Em and Grandma Ev found some matching Santa footie PJs for Landon and Owen. They were so adorable in their matching jammies with Santas on the toes!  We also made some ornaments this year out of a dough made of baking soda, corn starch, and peppermint essential oil. They smelled great, and we cut out different Christmas shapes as well as making hand impressions of Landon's and Owen's hands. Landon's hands are so big compared to Owen's! We love the Christmas season and the opportunity ...

For the first time ever, we hosted Thanksgiving. Owen was two weeks old, and Austin's parents and sister Emily flew to Chicago to spend the holiday with us. I tried to do a pretty simple menu and everyone chipped in to make a yummy meal. I baked rolls and pies on Wednesday, as well as Chex mix. I love chex mix. We had herb rubbed turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, stuffing, honey glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, rolls and gravy. YUM!  Our feast and all the participants (except Austin, the photographer) We also took the opportunity of having everyone together to take family pics. We took a bunch to make sure we got some good ones for Christmas cards. I'm thrilled that Landon smiled for the pictures! It is fun to see the resemblance between the Brown boys. The Browns Landon continued his smiling ways for our individual family pictures. It was too cold outside to do outdoor pictures, so the awesome accent wall in the dining room of our house did th...

So tiny! Owen's first month was full of visits with family and lots of drinking milk! He was born at 8 lbs, 13 oz, he dropped down to 8 lbs. even at the pediatrician's by day 3, and by day 5 he was at 8 lbs. 4 oz. At his two week appointment, he was 9 lbs., 14 oz. and by one month he was 12 lbs, 4 oz. and 23.75 inches long! My favorite feature of Owen's is his hair. He has a weird hair growth pattern on the back of his head that causes his hair to stick straight up. No amount of slicking or combing will tame the hair! His eyes are a dark blue/gray and we think they will be either lighter brown, green or hazel.Compared to Landon, Owen is a little tank. His shoulders are really wide, and he has a thicker build. Along with that, he is incredibly strong and could lift his head up during tummy time much earlier than normal. I love his hair! Owen does not mind being on his tummy...  It was a month of exhaustion and joy as we adjusted to being a family of fou...