Well it has been a hot minute since we’ve posted any updates on our lives so here we go.

Owen turns 18 months on the 11th of March, which is just crazy to us. We can’t believe that time is flying by so quickly and soon he will have a cousin to join him (Emily is pregnant.) Owen loves to help out around the house with the dishes, vacuuming and mopping and picking up his toys. Just as much as he loves helping clean up he loves making a mess. Dumping out his toys from their nice bins is his favorite thing to do every single day… needless to say our living room is a toy disaster zone by about 10am daily. Owen climbs on everything, he managed to climb onto our countertop height dining room chair the other day, I was impressed and freaked out all at the same time. Helping mommy or grandma cook is another favorite of Owen’s, he loves just watching but is happy to get in on the mixing and the pouring as well. The only teeth that Owen is missing is his canine teeth, which we are dreading. He talks all the time, most of it is still pretty incomprehensible but I’m starting to learn the secret art of understanding a toddler. He will tell something to someone that will then curiously look at me for translation, i’m up to about 30-35% of the time I know what he is saying so we are improving, slowly… Owen’s comprehension skills are better than most kids I’ve seen his age, he knows exactly what I am telling him and typically does the task or repeats back to me what I am saying. One of his favorite things to do right now is count to 3 with 2 being his favorite number. If you ask him what is favorite word is, that would be “uh oh”. Please, we beg of you, never say “uh oh” around him, he will say it on repeat for the next 20min - 2 hours.

Owen got to take a trip to Utah a couple of weeks ago for Aunt Emily’s baby shower which was fun and crazy all at the same time! Owen got to see his great grandparents on my side of the family as well as Kara’s parents in addition to lots of Aunts and Uncles. Salt Lake was fun but it will be quite some time before I travel alone with a toddler again… if you want the full story hit me up it was insane.

Lucy turns 6 at the end of the month and Austin is in a little bit of denial. He told me yesterday that he must spend more time with her because he is quickly running out of it. Unfortunately it is true, we never have enough time with our fur babies but we love them while they are here. All of the dogs are anxiously awaiting spring though. They have been a pain in the behind to get inside the house because the snow-sun combo is to die for, Loki in particular just can’t get enough of it. Owen has started identifying the dogs by name lately, the only one that is coming across pretty clear is Jack-Jack, Loki and Lucy sound very similar at this point. The dogs all got their post-winter baths this week and are working on their “summer-bods” already as clumps of hair can be found in every corner of the house and between the couch cushions (we promise we vacuum almost daily.) All I can say is at least someone’s got their summer-bod coming in strong, cause it is definitely not us!

In case you haven’t seen Austin’s social media lately, he has been flying a lot and is up to 18 hours of flight now so we are getting much closer to his private pilots license. Race season is about to start getting hot and heavy so we are bracing for all of the travel that is about to occur so wish us luck.

I am busy as ever at the lab and at home. Even though nothing is working at the lab right now, my advisor assures me I will be done by next May so that is my only saving grace at this point. The other big change lately for me is a schedule change. After I got back from some work travel we decided to try and readjust our schedules when Owen left daycare, so I now work from 5am-6am until 1:30pm when Austin goes to work and then again once Owen goes down for bed. It has been a little bit of a rough adjustment and the cold that hit Owen and I last week didn’t help the transition for me but it has been nice to get to hang out with the little man more. Owen sure misses daycare though, he loved playing with other kids that is for sure! Good thing he gets to go to nursery on Sunday from now on!

As always, pray for our sanity!