Missing in action

The one obvious flaw that Desiree & I certainly have as parents, is that we always forget to bring the camera when we go anywhere.

So as requested by a few people, here are some recent & a few past pics of the Sinclair 'Rules' family.

Owen on his favourite Saturday morning swing.

His usual meal time hamming for the camera

Look Daddy, I'm Dieter!!!

Strolling along the beach

First & last time at a splash pad in Toronoto, at least until he is a little older. The swings were also a distraction.

Owen's first time at a farm.......Feeding the goats & sheep

Riding a tractor

Sorry for the delay, but things have been a blur since Desiree has gone back to work & baby sitting for Owen has brought more home than just a change in behaviour. It feels like someone in our family is sick once a week. Desiree & Owen both had a fever over the Easter weekend & both are still feeling the affects today.


Since I like to keep things short and sweet I will highlight what has been going on in our house in a style I like to call...........Point form.

-Owen is talking A LOT, usually to himself & in a language only he could possibly understand.
-He does have his favourite words they are: "No Touch", "Bath", "Crash", "Dad or Daddy", & "teeth"
-We refer to Owen now as the Rooster.........See picture below as to why.
-Is starting to take steps. My bet is he will be walking by May
-Sleeps through the night............AWESOME!!
-Favourite foods are Kraft Dinner, Cheese & Fruit. If you asked him, " if he were to live on a deserted island & had only one thing left to eat for the rest of his life". His answer: Strawberries
-That is all I got..............See below for some pics

Gameboy Anyone.........?

The Rooster............ Picture of the Big Snow storm..........Whats left of trees at the side of our house
Owens imitation of Hulk Hogan
Owen before Daddy cut his hair.......
Owen after Daddy cut his hair..........

Live example of Owen talking on what he believes is a telephone.

1 year old!!!

Where did the time go? A year ago Andrew and I were still in shock that we had a new life in our home. Kiwi was confused, I was a mess of hormones and sleep deprivation and Andrew was taking care of all of us AND we were still going through our home renovations. Fast forward a whole year and Owen has changed from a terrible sleeper to a pretty good one, Kiwi has accepted that Owen is a permanent fixture (in fact, Kiwi won't eat her food now unless Owen feeds it to her or watches her), I have flourished as a mother (in my own esteemed opinion), and Andrew - not only did he become a great dad, he did so while starting a new position at work and managing the home renovations AND completing a bunch of the finishing touches himself.

Back to Owen...when he was born the doctors told us he was below the 5th% in height and weight and this continued for months and months. Last night the doctors told us he is now in the 22nd% for height and 10th% percentile for weight - doesn't sound like much but for proud parents, music to our ears. He is a growing boy!

Anyhoo, Owen turned 1 on January 31st, 2008. He shares his birthday with Justin Timberlake which is why I assume he likes to dance so much. Yes, Owen is bringing sexy back.

We had a big football themed party on Saturday (in honour of Superbowl) and Owen entertained us all. He looked quite puzzled when we all sang Happy Birthday for him. In fact, he looked at us all like we were crazy. Then he had his first taste of cream cheese frosting on a chocolate cupcake....his eyes instantly widened and that cupcake was destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Owen's cake...clearly, I'm not a baker or a cake decorator

There was a cupcake there a minute ago

Thanks for sticking by us for the first year!

One of the looks Owen is currently giving us

Having a swing on a mild winter day

2008 so far so good!

I'm sure you are all wondering how the holidays went for this particular clan of Sinclairs...it was GREAT! Owen was of course spoiled by everybody, clothes, a red wagon with cupholders(!), new safe bottles, and toys galore. Andrew and I enjoyed watching Owen play with the packaging of stuff as opposed to the actual gifts. We also all enjoyed the holiday food. As I look back on it, we enjoyed at least 3 Christmas-y meals during the holidays. It wasn't all sugar plums though...





Owen caught a nasty flu bug right before Christmas and managed to pass it on to Daddy, Nana and Auntie Irene. Then Andrew and I decided that we needed to take a united stance on Owen's inconsistant sleep paterns. So, we took the plung and Ferber-ized the child (allowing him to cry at 3, 5, 7 and 10 minute intervals until he learns to fall asleep on his own). I'm not going to lie, it was a very rough couple of nights (and days). But it was productive and while Owen's sleep isn't 100% perfect, it is a vast improvement to what it was. Its a work in progress.





The new year has already started off strong. Owen officially has 4 teeth, is really into making expressive and hilarious faces, and is eating lots and lots of new foods including grapes and of course, Kraft Dinner. Owen has also discovered how to climb up our stairs (yikes). Andrew and I are in the midst of planning Owen's first birthday party. We've started playgroup again and we now have a wider social circle of babies and moms who we visit or who come to visit us. I can't stay home with my baby forever, so I'm planning to return to work in Mid-March. I'm incredibly sad that the year has flown by so quickly and I have to leave Owen with our wonderful sitter but, I'm also just a little bit excited to have some "Desiree" time back.





Enough about us...on to what you guys really want - PICTURES!













Posing in front of the tree...













Enjoying the snow


















Playing peek-a-boo from behind his hood.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Andrew, Desiree, Owen and Kiwi!

Its funny, the holidays seem way more exciting and meaningful now that we have Owen in our lives. Not that spoiling Kiwi wasn't fun, but the dog gets excited over dropped Cheerios so buying fancy treats isn't really worth it.

The last few weeks have been jam packed. Owen finally got his first teeth (the bottom two came within days of each other) and we also got all the drama that came with teething - crankiness, fever, loss of appetite. Now the top two seem to be on their way...so Owen might get his two front teeth for Christmas.

As you can see above, we got a tree that is taking up most of our living room. So far, Owen hasn't shown interest in it which is great! He is the world champion at finding the most tiny object on the floor, so I've never swept or vacuumed this much in my entire life.

Owen still enjoys bouncing more than walking so thats another plus. I'm still trying to stifle his development when it comes to walking....I know, I admit it, I'm lazy and I don't want to run after him just yet.

Owen has learned to play with Kiwi. He picks up her doggie toys and has learned to throw them so she will fetch for him. I thought this was a wonderful development because they could entertain themselves for a few minutes out of the day - but low and behold at playgroup Owen threw a musical shaker at another mom. Whoops!

Owen is also big into kissing. Big sloppy wet kisses that are almost x-rated. He kisses the characters in his books, stuffed animals, his mom and dad and most recently Kiwi. The poor dog is really very patient with Owen.

Finally, Owen has become a ham for cameras. He sees the flash-ready light and he just makes this ridiculous scrunched up face. Examples below

This household of Sinclairs is wishing everyone a very safe and Merry Christmas!

love,
Andrew, Desiree, Owen & Kiwi

Whew..

The past few weeks have been crazy. Owen caught an awful cold and was miserable. Then when he started to recover he caught a little diarrhea bug (passed on to his parents for a short while). While he was in remarkable in a good mood despite having the poops, he had me a little worried. Now that he's all better, he's full of energy and back to his mischevious self. We still found time to live a little and have some fun.

Speaking of fun...Owen has a budding social life. Owen started to visit a babysitter for short segments to get him ready for the transition to when I go back to work in February. At the babysitter's place he's met another little boy and is completely in love with the babysitter's puppy Golden Lab. Owen also goes to play group once a week. While there he does a little socializing with other babies, a little flirting with the one older lady (she's 3), and lots of experimenting and exploring. The other week he learned that linoleum floors aren't as tasty as they look (yes, he licked the floor). He has also learned to shove other toys out of the way when he crawls to get the toy he really really wants. Of course, babies don't know how to share yet so its always funny to watch Owen try to negotiate taking a toy away from another baby or when another baby takes a toy away from him. Luckily these kids are still easily distracted.

Lots of other stuff has happened this month, but I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

An absolutely stunning day at the farm in Mount Forest. Despite the reasons for being there, we had a lovely day. Exactly how my dad would have wanted things.

Just an ordinary day doing chores.

Andrew took this picture to prove that Owen may need a haircut soon. Unfortunately what this picture does not show is the relative thiness of the rest of the hair on Owen's head.

Owen's new favorite activity...crawling under the table.

Owen trying baby pasta....some of it went into his mouth.

Here is Owen at playgroup...it was a small class that day.

$1 toy!

Check out the big toy we picked up at a garage sale today...for a dollar.

Happy Thanksgiving.