More touring our home city

While I wait for Owen to wake up (I am letting him sleep in after his traumatic day yesterday, I thought I would blog about our recent adventure in Richmond last weekend. We have taken the opportunity to be tourists in our new home town over the past couple of weekends. Last Saturday, we headed into town to participate in a walking tour of the famous Hollywood Cemetery.



Here is a brief write-up on Hollywood Cemetery:

Hollywood Cemetery is a large, sprawling cemetery located at 412 South Cherry Street in Richmond, Virginia. Characterized by rolling hills and winding paths overlooking the James River, it is the resting place of two United States Presidents, James Monroe and John Tyler, as well as the only Confederate States President, Jefferson Davis. It is also the resting place of 25 Confederate generals, more than any other cemetery in the country. Included are George Pickett and J.E.B. Stuart.
Hollywood Cemetery was opened in 1849, constructed on land known as "Harvie's Woods" that was once owned by William Byrd II. It was designed in the rural garden style, with its name, "Hollywood," coming from the holly trees dotting the hills of the property.
In 1869, a 90-foot (27 m) high granite pyramid was built as a memorial to the more than 18,000 enlisted men of the Confederate Army buried in the cemetery.
Hollywood Cemetery is one of Richmond's major tourist attractions. There are many local legends surrounding certain tombs and grave sites in the cemetery, including one about a little girl and the black iron statue of a dog standing watch over her grave. Other notable legends rely on ghosts haunting the many mausoleums. One of the most well-known of these is the legend of the Richmond Vampire.
A place rich in history, legend, and gothic landscape, Hollywood Cemetery is also frequented by many of the local students attending Virginia Commonwealth University.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Cemetery_(Richmond,_Virginia)

On the tour, we did see the two presidents burial sites, as well as that of Ellen Glasgow (Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist) and many more.

Monroe

Tyler


In addition, there was a large "Lloyd" family buried there. The listing can be found here.
So...when you come to visit us...we will be happy to walk around the cemetery with you if there is interest. It was quite fascinating. A lot of history.

Chicks dig scars....

This morning around 930am, I was on the phone with Clint getting the low-down on what was happening in Alabama when Owen's daycare called. I switched over knowing that what they had to tell me was probably not good. I initially thought "Oh dear, Owen has spiked a fever" (something we have not had since June!). I can actually say that I WISH they had told me Owen had a fever. Owen had fallen in the toddler room and hit his head on a small wooden shelf. Christy (the daycare director) told me that Owen cut is head in two places and that they were bad enough that she wanted me to come take a look and decide what to do (take him home, leave him there, take him to the ER, etc.). I could hear Owen screaming in the background (yes...it is true...you know your child's cry from anywhere!). My heart ached for him already. I told Christy that I would be there as soon as possible. I left the hotel and got some encouraging words from Daddy and Gram on my way to daycare. Thanks to you both!

I got to daycare, promising myself to stay strong and act tough for Owen....but as soon as I saw him, I lost it. He was literally a bloody mess. His face was red from crying and from the blood. His tears were not making things better. Owen, as Christy had told me on the phone, had two cuts on his face. One right between his eyes, and one above his left eye. We cleaned him up the best we could one final time before getting in the car. Owen screamed the whole way to the doctor. Once at the doctor, we were seen almost immediately. Unfortunately, Dr Falik said that the cuts looked too deep for him to fix in his office. So, he suggested we go across the street to the ER. Bonita, Falik's nurse, took us over there. Thankfully, Owen had started to calm down. At the ER, we were seen almost immediately. With a few brief pauses at all the steps (paperwork, vitals, awaiting the dr, etc.), we were introduced to the doctor who was going to fix Owen up. She said that although the cuts were deep, they were straight so he was a good candidate for glue. After getting some "reinforcements" (read: big dude to hold Owen down), the doctor made quick work getting Owen cleaned up and his cuts glued shut. We were sent home with instructions to monitor him this afternoon for any indications of a more serious head injury.

We stopped at Chick-Fil-A on the way home to get some lunch. Owen had his first kids meal today. Definitely won't be a habit....but it seemed like the right thing to do! Owen had a great lunch and then slept for 3 hours. After getting up, Owen was a bit sad. I am sure he had a headache...but nothing that a few goldfish and some apple juice didn't cure! Owen ran an errand with me after that and instead of everyone saying "WOW....what a CUTE little guy" or "He is some handsome!"...they said "Oh my...what happened to you?" or "What did you do to yourself? Poor baby".

Pics to follow. I won't have the cable to get them off my camera until the moving truck arrives.

Quote of the day:
"Don't worry sweetie (Mommy)....Chicks dig scars" - Daddy

The move is progressing....

Clint flew back to Oxford AL today to meet the movers. Nonnie and Pop are going to be with Clint for the next three days in AL while the house is packed and loaded.
It will be a huge task, but hopefully it will be a productive and uneventful three days.
Good luck to all!

We close on our Virginia house THIS FRIDAY! We are so excited. Maybe my next post will have some more pictures of our new house.

Random bits

Owen is doing some really funny things lately. So...I thought I would do a "Random Bits" post to capture them.
Here are some highlights of what our little man is up to:
1) Unless Owens really tired or shy around others...he likes to walk everywhere. He squirms to get out of our arms if we try to walk with him. The only downfall is....he goes where HE wants :) However...he KNOWS the way to the hotel breakfast (from our room door, to the elevator and to the eating area). It is amazing that he understands "Let's go get some breakfast"!!!
2) Owen is a scheduled baby through-and-through. After eating dinner, he knows that we get our shoes on, get his Chariot out, put Nash's leash on and go for a walk. The other night, we were cleaning up from dinner and Owen started pulling out his Chariot (we keep it in his room). It was too funny. He was up on his tippy toes, holding onto the stroller handle and backing it out of his room. He was ready to go for a walk. Of course, Nash is his best friend at that point!!
3) If there is a TV in the room, Owen will have it turned on in a few seconds. He used to turn the TV on, then off, then on, then off. But, he has started to figure out how to put the volume up and change the channels (either on the TV itself, or via the remote control). Typically he puts the hotel room TV on CNN. CNN is Channel 11, so it is easy for him to change it to that by pressing '1' twice (or over and over). But today, he found the GOLF channel and left it on there! Pappy would have been proud!
4) Since we have been in temp housing, we have been eating out more than normal. Owen has taken great interest in the check when it comes to the table and the credit card that goes along with it for payment. The wait staff is always amused that Owen 'pays' them for our meal.
5) Owen has started to take a great interest in pen and paper. We have some crayons for him, that usually end up in his mouth...but he does like to try and draw first.
6) Anything that looks like a phone is a phone to Owen. He likes to "talk" on them. He holds these items up to his ear and chats away. He then hands them to us so we can talk. Of course, if he sees our blackberry phones, he needs to hold or play with or talk on the blackberry too. We both have an app loaded on our phones called "Baby GO!". Baby GO! is a BlackBerry® application for a 0-2 year old. It keeps Owen entertained, helps him learn, and keeps our BlackBerry® devices safe. Owen loves pressing the keys, seeing colorful images dance around the screen and hearing the letter, number or name of the object being pronounced.

7) Owen is eating all kinds of things now...but his favorite by far is any pasta. The kid can eat some lasagna! But he also likes tortellini and alfredo sauce, ravoli and meat sauce and of course spaghetti. Owen has also started to take bites of things. He still only has his four front teeth on top and bottom (eight total), but he will bite off a piece of cracker, cookie or chip when offered. Yes...Owen eats chips. Not many...but I did give him a Pringle for the first time tonight (I was eating them and he thought he wanted one). He eat the whole chip without spilling a crumb.
8) For the most part, Owen and Nash get along well. Owen heads straight for Nash's crate when we get home and attempts to let Nash out. Of course, we have to intervene to help open the crate, as well as get Owen out of way so Nash does not stampede over him. Owen frequently gets a Nash-tail across the face or worse...bowled over by the 85 pound furry-spaz-dog...but they are still friends. Owen is into 'hugging'. If we say "give Nash a hug", Owen walks over to Nash and lays his head and arms on Nash. It is too cute.
9) Owen understands A LOT and will respond to many commands ('bring me a book', 'do you want a snack', 'where's your ball', etc.), but he doesn't say much. His vocabulary consists of "Uh-oh", "Bye-bye", "Hi", "No", "Nigh nigh" (for night night) and "Mo" (for more...which we know means "more" because he signs it too)

10) Sometimes we don't really know where Owen learns things...but the funniest surprise to us lately has been Owen's reaction to "Do you want to take your shirt off?". Of course, we used to just ask that when it is bathtime, or when his shirt is really messy and he needs a change. However, when he started lifting up his shirt and pushing out and tapping his fat belly....it has become a question we ask often to get a good laugh. Probably not something we should encourage...but it is quite amusing!

I would try to get pictures or videos of some of the above, but I have trouble doing that these days because when the camera comes out, Owen thinks he needs to play with it. Perhaps he will grow out of that soon?

Shocktoberfest

Last weekend, we went into downtown Richmond to attend "Shocktoberfest". It took place at the 17th Street Farmer's Market.

The Market is on every weekend, but sometimes they pair it with another festival. In this case, the German Festival of Octoberfest melded with the market. It was a beautiful day. There was a fantastic turnout of people and some great German dancing. One of the highlights...we were interviewed for the 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news! The cameraman/interviewer was very excited to hear that we were just moving to the Richmond area and asked us a bunch of questions about why we came down to the market that day and what we liked best. Since 6pm is a busy time for us around our house, we missed the 6 o'clock news. Clint stayed up until 11pm and woke me up to watch the news. Sure enough....we were on the news! TV stars in our new city within the first two weeks of being here. HA!

Richmond Folk Festival

Last Saturday, we went to the Richmond Folk Festival. We enjoyed the beautiful fall weather, walking around, seeing the crafts, listening to some bands and some bay chips (kettle chips sprinkled with Old Bay Seasoning). The fresh air made us all very tired...so it was early to bed for us on Saturday night.

15 months and 12 weeks...

This week has been a busy week for doctor's appointments. New doctors equals lots of paperwork and introductions!

Mommy and Baby McR #2 went to the OB yesterday for a 12 week check-up. Dr Dausch will oversee the pregnancy from here on out and deliver us in April. Dr Dausch was all smiles and full of energy. She was very excited for us and said that everything with Mom and baby was looking good. The baby's heart rate was in the 160s and mom's vitals were normal. The 16 week appointment is on November 10th, the day before we get our household goods from Alabama and our 20 week appointment is on December 9th. We will find out what we are having on that day! Sleep countdown will start next month ;)


Owen met his new pediatrician today. Dr. Falik was very nice and said Owen was perfect (which we already knew!). Today's appointment was Owen's 15 month check-up. Owen weighed in a 25lbs, 4oz....which puts him in the 75th percentile for weight. He was 32.5 inches long, which is also the 75th percentile. So....we have a growing boy on our hands! Dr Falik went through all the milestones that Owen should have hit by now....and he was able to check off all of them except one. Dr Falik wants Owen to be off the bottle completely...but he still gets one in the morning and one at night. We'll see what we can do after we move into our house. Too many changes right now to take away the bottle too! Other than that....Owen got a check mark for knowing some body parts, saying a few words, eating solid foods with his hands, walking on his own (and being stable while doing so), interested in books, and kicking/throwing a ball. Right on track! Yahoo Owen!

Successful House Hunting

Last week, Mom and Dad spent a week in Richmond VA looking for a house. It was a very interesting week, as we were introduced to a whole new market of housing.
In the end, we found a great house two hours before we flew back to Alabama. We ended up in a small bidding war for the house with another buyer...but our real estate agent was a HUGE help and assisted us in 'winning' the house by putting in an escalation clause. What an experience!
Here is a picture of the house that we will live in later this year! SO EXCITING!
We will update everyone with the address as soon as we move in!

Owen's Announcement

Like Father, Like Son...

....just one has more hair than the other....

Ready for Aggie Football!!!

Daddy and Owen donned their Aggie gear this morning for work and school respectively. Mommy snapped this quick picture
before everyone had to leave the house for the day.

Changes

The word is out....the McReynolds are moving to Richmond Virginia! We are so excited for the upcoming changes in our lives! We will try to blog throughout the move....but will apologize in advance for any lack of updates. It will be a busy few months.

The water park in Oxford

At Oxford Lake, there is a little water park for kids to play in. We took Owen there today...a beautiful Sunday here in Alabama. We thought we would just run up there, let him get wet and walk around for a little bit and then head home. We figured he wouldn't last long....boy were we wrong! He LOVED it. He enjoyed watching the bigger kids do their thing, but he would also run through all the water spouts. He seemed to really enjoyed himself. Dad took one for the team and got soaked right along with Owen!

No pants!!

Since it is summer time, we often let Owen walk around with no pants on...mainly after he eats dinner and before his bath. Now that he is walking all over the place, we love seeing his chunky little thighs in action!


Owen LOVES the camera....and he tends to get pretty excited when he sees it

Activity Table

Owen still loves his "Bright Starts Around-we-go" activity table. We removed the seat several months ago (when he started pulling up), but he still bellies up to the table to play the piano or munch on one of the teethers. We also place snacks in the little tray....and then he really bellies up to it to eat! We have to watch both Owen and Nash closely, as Owen wants to walk with his food and Nash wants to eat Owen's food.
You can see here that Owen loves animal crackers!!!

Leap Frog Fridge Magnet Animal Farm

One of Owen's favorite birthday toys (from the Johnston's) is the Leap Frog Fridge Magnet Animal Farm. It consists of ten magnets...five have animal 'fronts' on them, and the other five have the matching animal 'backs'. You can make up to 25 combinations with the puzzle, and it can be played with on the refrigerator or floor. When two matching pieces are inserted into the farm, a cheerful electronic voice says the animal name. If the pieces mismatch, the toy creates a silly name for that animal. Matches are positively reinforced and the toy makes mismatches seem funny rather than wrong. When set to music mode, Farmer
Tad plays five banjo tunes for a real barnyard hoe-down.
Mom and Dad like making matches (or mis-matches) and Owen enjoys pulling all the pieces off the fridge and throwing them on the floor. Someday he will enjoy it as intended!!!

Water Play at school

Back in July, Owen moved up a class at daycare (to the transition room (transition between being a baby and being a toddler)). That meant that he could play with the big kids on Friday during "water play". Basically, the school set out baby pools and sprinklers and let the kids get wet!
Here was Owen on his first day of Water Play! Everyday is our CAPTAIN AWESOME!!!

Baby Keller

The same weekend that we went blueberry picking, we went out to Oxford Lake and got to meet Baby Keller Murray. He was so calm and seemed to enjoy being outside. His older two sisters and brother were definitely enjoying the park!

Blueberry Pickin'!!!

This is a catch-up post....

Almost one month ago, we went blueberry picking! We went to Craft's Blueberry Farm and enjoyed some early morning pickin'. Together, Mom and Dad picked one gallon of blueberries (and paid $6 for them!!!!), while Owen ate a few along the way. It was a warm day already, so we were glad to get home and wash/cook/process the berries for puree. Owen now eats blueberry yogurt several times a week.
Here is a picture of Owen and Daddy picking blueberries.

Transitions

It has been awhile since I wrote. We've just been busy at the McReynolds' house (much like everyone else) and I have not found the time to blog.

Owen has probably had the busiest time of all. He has been through SO many transitions for a little dude, but is adapting so well. First, he turned one and at his one-year check up with the pediatrician, I was told to take away his bottle and have him drink from a cup. I clarified with the doctor, thinking she meant sippy cup....but no....she wants him to drink from a real cup. YIKES! I knew for a fact that daycare would not be able to meet that request and that it would be a mess at home if we tried to go straight from a bottle to a cup. The end result....Owen is now drinking from a sippy cup during the day, but he still gets a full bottle of milk in the mornings and at night before bed. It is really the only time that I can get a lot of milk in him. Slowly, I will take those away and have him drink from his sippy cup...but in the meantime I am not going to worry about it.
Shortly after Owen's first birthday, we got the word that Owen would be moving into the next room at daycare. This meant that he was 'graduating' from the baby room and going into a toddler room. Great news! The new room had its own schedule and therefore, daycare would not follow our dictated schedule for Owen any longer. I was fine with this, and wanted to match the new schedule at home. The biggest difference - the kids all napped at the same time and only once a day. The first weekend we did this at home, Owen napped for three hours (from 11am until 2pm). We were amazed. And the first day in his new room at daycare, he slept for over two hours. It helps that at school, all the kids go down at the same time now. In the baby room, everyone had different schedules, so of course Owen would rather be playing with his friends than napping! Less than two weeks in the new room passed and last Wednesday we got word that Owen would be moving yet again at daycare!!! This time, he will be going into a room where they nap on cots. We are a little nervous about how that will go, since he still rolls around and changes direction in his crib while he sleeps. We had to get him a nap roll. One of Clint's cousins (Rebecca Rhodes Franklin) sells nap rolls through her company called Boutique Designs and does a fabulous job embroidering them. So, we purchased one from her and we should get it tomorrow...just in time for Owen to start in his new classroom. The nap roll is made by a company called Mint.
Here is a picture of the nap roll we are getting:

Owen's name will be embroidered in Hunter Orange! :)

We are also starting to transition towards Owen self feeding himself. Of course he has been eating puffs, Gerber biscuits and animal crackers for awhile on his own....but he needs to start eating more chunked-up veggies, fruit and meat. So far, we have not had a lot of luck with many of the conventional foods that little kids like. We find it somewhat odd, but Owen throws banana, cheese and chicken on the floor. He has had all three in pureed form and has loved them....so maybe it is a texture thing? Owen also has no portion control whatsoever. I am sure he is not unique in this...but whatever is on his tray in front of him goes in his mouth. Then when he mouth gets too full, he spits everything out. What a mess! We are certainly learning A LOT from Owen these days!

Owen has also been walking since right around his first birthday. He is getting stronger and stronger by the day! He still loves to push his walking toy and Pooh Train around....but for the most part he walks on his own to get around. Owen also now loves to walk around outside on the grass. He always finds the driveway though and does not like his hand held (we're worried that he will fall and skin some knees since he hasn't quite figured out how to walk slowly down hill yet). It is interesting to see his desire and determination to be independent.

Walking!

Owen is taking more and more steps each day. This video was shot JUST before bedtime on Friday after a long week of school! Owen's little legs are tired and ready for bed. But...he decided to venture out from the wall.

Owen and his vTech walking toy

Three weeks ago tonight, we got Owen a walking toy. We chose the vTech sit-to-stand walker. It has a medley of fun: three spinning flowers, five piano keys, colorful rollers, three light-up shape sorters and a telephone handset. Had we'd known....we would have got it even earlier than we did. The walker has a "barnyard of friends" that cheer Owen on, and he loves the easy-to-remove play panel for floor play.


Here is a quick video of the few minutes right after we put the walking toy together. We didn't have to show him how to use it....he just took off!

Owen and Pappy playing ball

Owen's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Owen's first birthday this past week. We had about 25 people (plus Owen) at our house to celebrate. Thank you to all those that made the day special for our family. We are so grateful to not only have a healthy precious baby boy, but to have great friends and family who are loving and supportive of us.
Here are some pictures from the party.

Donna Ogle (a workmate of Melissa's) made the cakes. Thanks again Donna! They were beautiful and delicious!



With everyone staring at Owen, he was a little shell shocked when it came time to eat his cake. He did not 'dig in' by any means. There's always next year!


Sarah Freeman, her husband Ashley and their ten month old Addison made the trip from Muscle Shoals AL to meet and party with Owen!


This is the very talented cake maker, Donna and her little 15 month old David.


Friends watching Owen watch them (instead of smashing his cake)




Mommy helping Owen open birthday presents.





The ribbon pinata (that didn't work)






The night of Owen's party, Owen slept like a rock from 7pm to 7am. He was exhausted! The next morning (Sunday), Owen ate a great breakfast and then bee-lined for his new ball. He sat with it for about 10 minutes just staring at the TV (we had put a "They Might Be Giants" DVD on). He loves his new ball (and "They Might Be Giants")

No daycare!

Owen's daycare was closed this past week, so Gram and Pappy kept Owen while Mommy and Daddy went to work. It was a great week for all. Owen was fever-free all week and really progressed in getting around (crawling, walking around using his walking toy and/or holding on to furniture, etc.). He LOVED for Pappy to read him books and enjoyed some yummy new foods that Gram made (including sour cream meat pie...Daddy's favorite!).

Owen was a big fan of Pappy because Pappy let him mash all the buttons on his laptop!