Worshiping with my boy

Today has warmed up here in Atlanta. The past few days have been REALLY cold! I love the cold , but too cold for walks and I have been motivated to walk with Owen and it's just been too cold to take him out. Too cold especially when he and I have been sick. We have had this nasty cold that has been going around. YUCK. Nothing like baby snot all over you to make your day! Can I get an Amen from all you mom's out there?? Anyway...like I saying it warmed up today and it was actually a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. So, I told Owen on the car ride home from Bible Study that after we had lunch we were going to for a walk just me and him.

We had a great walk. I have discovered Owen loves the outdoors. He loves to be in either the stroller, or in the backpack. We try to point out his surroundings: trees, flowers, the blue sky, the clouds, birds, etc. He just loves it! On this particular walk. I took the iPod and was blasting the worship music loud enough for me to get lost in the music, but low enough for me to hear my kid. I also was singing at the top of my lungs. I wasn't caring if my neighbors were hearing me or not (which I don't think any of them did) I was in the moment and loving it! Right as I was belting "How Great is our God" I heard Owen "singing" along with me! My heart melted!! Oh, how God must must have been smiling at that sweet moment. It is one of those things as a mommy I won't ever forget. I was worshiping with my son and teaching him to love Jesus-how cool is that?!?!?

Owen Observations

I can't believe my eyes and my ears these days! Owen is growing and growing so fast, he is becoming such a kid rather than a baby...and he LOVES every second of it!

Things I hear these days:
" Da Da Da" (all the time-but he does know and say it to Joe!)
" Ba Ba Ba " ( we never call his bottle a bottle to him-it's always milk and usually done with the sign for milk, so I think he is just exploring his voice.
"Mmmmmaa!" (usually when he is crying)
Screams and Screeches-the kid loves to scream. And yes sometimes I so it with him. I know it's probably not teaching him good habbits, but it's fun!

Things I see these days:
Lots of climbing on furniture, Charlie, Joe, me, basically anything!
I taught him tonight how to give high fives!
Him kissing girls already!!! He loves baby Olivia!
The kid LOVES dirt! He is all boy. I have a house plant that he gets into a fe times a week and just the other day I caught him eating the dirt!
He loves to be outside.
He's a Daddy's boy.

Highlands, SC

This last weekend we had an awesome time with our AWESOME community group!! We went up to Highlands, SC for a very short weekend (for the Braun's anyway-Joe had to be a work on Sunday)

We left home Friday mid morning and followed our friend's Mike and Michelle up to Michelle's Grandma's house. It was a beautiful drive. The leaves are just starting to change and Owen did fabulous in the car! We stopped for a healthy (hahhahah) lunch at Wendy's and got back on the road. It wasn't until 15 minutes or so before we got to the house that Owen started freaking out! I didn't even consider the fact that his poor little ears might have a hard time adjusting to the elevation...well they did have a hard time, and he did let us know! Thankfully I had a little bit of milk left in his bottle for him to drink. He doesn't take a pacifier, so I was very thankful for that bottle!

The house was huge and gorgeous! It held all 4 couples very comfortably. We ate very yummy soups and played fun games. And as usual had great fellowship with one another. On Saturday morning we tried to go see some waterfalls, but Jonathan couldn't handle the winding roads leading to the falls, so we hiked instead. After our hike Joe and I had lunch duty. We made "grown-up grilled cheese sandwiches" a tasty recipe from my mama. I think we ALL crashed for some good nap time and then our little family got packed up to come home.

We had a great time. It was just what I needed. I know it's just what me and Joe needed. We have been so very busy with life these days that it was so great to be in a car with him for almost three hours catching up. Thank you Penny's for the hospitality! We love you!!!

In the pumpkins

I was inspired a few weeks back to call a few mom's from the church and gather our kiddos together for a picture in the pumpkins at the Methodist Church down the street from our church. Now, this wasn't going to be any old photo with some cute kids surrounded by huge pumpkins-it was all the kids who LOVE "Baby Owen", or "Baby O", or "Baby Ownie" (just depends on what kid is lovin on him at the time) I wanted to show my family and friends who do not leave near us just how lucky he is and just how much love he really does get way over here. I couldn't gather all his friends, but two of his most favorite big boy buddies: Noah and Tyler showed up and we got some fun pictures

He's a crawling machine. Oh, and he loves his shadow!