Cereal Killa

Owen's first go at solid food. He started with the very tasty, very runny, rice cereal. He just looks disgusted in this first picture!

He's thinking, "Mommy and Daddy, why are you making me eat this?"
Now he's getting into it, although not much ended up making it to his belly. He loves to have his mouth open all the time (I think he gets that from Dan :) so most of the cereal just ran right out.
We'll keep practicing. He'll get cereal for the next couple weeks. Once he masters swallowing some of it, then it's veggie time!

Diehl Reunion

Some pictures of Emily in the creek at our family reunion. I remember playing in this same creek when I was young, so it's cool to see her enjoying herself there. She had so much fun that day! I think being outside all day long was a real treat for her. She had my uncles and grandma picking raspberries for her and feeding her, and poor Lisa was doing laps with Emily around the pavilion. But, Emily had a blast, and she was so worn out that she fell asleep before we got home :)

Hotel Fun

Our night before getting home...so exhausted!



The next morning before leaving, Emily insisted that Owen had to sit in her bed and watch Sesame Street with her. He looks thrilled, right?

Last Day :(

Owen spent his last day at the beach in his usual way:
Dad found a tree frog outside and showed Emily. She thought it was really cool, but the frog hip hopped away into the bushes pretty quickly. Emily and dad searched for it, but the frog wasn't dumb...he was gone.


We then went for ice cream, and dad and Shirley both shared theirs with Emily.
And here are the after-effects of the sugar:

4 month stats

Owen had his 4 month checkup this morning. I was excited to learn his weight, since it felt like he'd gained 10 pounds recently! Everything checked out fine, and he only cried for a few seconds after getting his shots. His stats: 15.4 pounds (70th percentile) and 26 inches (90th percentile). To compare, Emily weighed 13.13 pounds and was 26 1/3 inches at her 4 month appointment. We also got the okay to begin solid foods, so this week we'll start with rice cereal. I remember doing this with Emily, and I have to say, I don't miss the days of baby food all over the place. Still, it will be exciting to see Owen's reaction to all the new tastes he'll be experiencing over the next couple of months!

Beach Baby, Beach Baby, There On the Sand

Here are some pictures of our morning spent on the beach yesterday. We were chased off by 12:30 due to very dark storm clouds which eventually brought a little rain, but for the most part, we had very nice (very hot) weather.

Emily loves the ocean, so she's usually sitting in her little pink chair down by the water. However, we had to get Owen under some shade, so we came up to our area to play in the sand. When Emily plays in the sand, she has a very specific routine. First, she makes Dan fill her bucket with water. After he brings it back to her, she dumps it out in the sand. Then, she orders him back to the water to fill the bucket again. After several trips, Dan told Emily she had to walk to the water too (I think he hoped she'd tire and not make him continue going back and forth).

Owen spent his time on the beach napping...

After nap and bath, Emily and Grandpa headed outside to try out a scooter. At first, dad had to push her on the scooter, and she simply held on. But by the end, she was using her foot to push herself along.
Dan and I then had a date night. Dad and Shirley offered to watch the kids while we went out on our own. We headed to Myrtle Beach for the evening. First, we hit the outlets. Dan wanted a coat, but instead, we ended up getting the kids clothes (go figure). We then planned on eating at Broadway on the Beach; somehow we missed our turn, and we ended up in downtown Myrtle Beach. That was okay...we admired the water as we tried to find our way back to the highway. We did finally get to where we were going, and we ate at Tripp's - very yummy! Then we walked around, saw some fireworks, and fought traffic to get out of the parking lot. I've never seen a parking lot so packed except for concerts and sporting events...it was crazy! We returned home and I went into the bedroom to find my little bed hog was once again in the middle of the huge bed.

Something's Fishy

We headed to Fort Fisher on Monday to take Emily to the aquarium. While it's not as big as the aquarium in Baltimore, it is really nice and the perfect size for a 2-year-old with a limited attention span. We decided to drive rather than take the ferry, and the trip started out well. By the time we got there, Owen had to eat. There was a group of picnic benches at the edge of the woods where we parked, and I figured that would be the perfect place to feed him before going into the aquarium. Well, within a minute, I was itchy. At first, I couldn't figure out what was happening. Then I saw them: an army of little black bugs attacking me. Dan tried to swat them off of me as best he could, but we were sorely outnumbered. I packed up and retreated...we finished the feeding inside the aquarium. The damage? I had at least 15 bites on my legs, arms, and feet. Dan and the kids? Kids = zero. Dan had one, and I'm pretty sure that was just because the bug he was swatting got confused and bit him by mistake. I must just be extra tasty!


Emily by the alligator. They had an albino alligator there, which was pretty cool. Alligators live in North Carolina's lakes, ponds, and rivers, which is just one more reason why I will never swim in these bodies of water.

If you look closely, you can see a fish with a long snout off to the right of Emily.

Emily was busy pointing something out while we cheesed for the camera. This aquarium also had a touch pool, and Emily had the chance to touch a horseshoe crab. She was more interested in trying to splash in the water, though. She also loved the box turtles...there were so many of them, and they were super active right behind a bench we were on.

Owen and Dan hamming it up for the camera. I took a second to pose with Owen as well, but the bugs were back and gearing up for another attack, so as soon as these pictures were snapped, I booked it out of there!
I missed our turn on the way home, and as a result, we took a little tour of Wilmington. For anyone considering college, UNC Wilmington looked very pretty :)

Freestylin' Part 2

A few more pictures from our time at Freestyle Music Park. Dan and I crammed into a British telephone booth (and if you thought it was hot that day outside, you should have been in here!)

Walking Abbey Road...
Dad, Shirley, Dan, and Emily...she was mesmerized by the stuff in the water.
Emily busting her best moves after eating supper...
The fireworks at the end of the night. Both Emily and Owen liked them...I was worried since they'd never been around loud fireworks before. Owen was mesmerized, and Emily sat on Dan's lap and simply stared at them.
After the fireworks, Emily made sure to say good-bye to everything she came in contact with...rides, random strangers, chairs...what a dork!

Freestylin' Part 1

After spending some time on the beach Sunday morning, we decided to head to Freestyle Music Park (formerly the Hard Rock theme park) so Emily could ride some rides. Dad heard that if you got to the park by 4:00, you could get tickets for half price. So, off we went. However, because we all had to shower and get dressed and eat lunch, we left a bit later than we planned. Not too far into the journey, dad (who was my co-pilot) told me to speed up if we wanted to get there in time. I should have used my cruise control, but I only partially take responsibility for what happened next. As I passed a car on my right, I blew by a cop sitting in the median. Seconds later, looking in my mirror, I saw him coming up fast. Soon, he was behind me with lights flashing - I was being pulled over. As the kids napped and Dan fumed in the back seat, Dad explained to the cop that we were trying to get somewhere by 4:00 so he told me to go faster. I don't know if the cop took pity on me because I was traveling with a carload of family or because he saw the smoke coming out of Dan's ears from being angry at me, but I got away with a warning. Thanks, officer!

So, we did make it to the park on time, and Emily had a blast. Here are pictures of her on some of the rides. Dad, Dan, and I also got on The Time Machine roller coaster, and we even talked Shirley into getting on an easy coaster with Dan.

On the Road

This week, we are on our annual visit to North Carolina to visit my dad and Shirley. The difference this year, however, is we now have two little cherubs to transport (as well as all their stuff). So, Dan made the decision that rather than fly down (which we've done since Emily was born) we'd drive. While I'm not the best traveler when driving long distances is involved, I tried to look at it as an adventure. It also helped that I booked a hotel in Virginia so we could break the trip into two days :)

We started off Friday after Dan got home from work. What was supposed to be a 4 hour ride to the hotel according to Mapquest was a 7 hour journey through rush hour traffic in Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia. Misery! It also rained for much of our trip, so when we finally pulled into the Sleep Inn at 10:00 that night, I was relieved. As you can see, the kids were still in good spirits, even after being stuck in the car for that long period of time.

Emily had her first taste of sleeping in a "real" bed (we converted her crib to a daybed last weekend, but I still don' think she realizes it). She slept with me, and Dan had Owen duty during the night. The next morning, we were up and ready to get to Supply! Dan and I have a pretty good system for the car: I drive (and entertain with my singing), and Dan deals with the kids' needs (since I can't turn around in a moving vehicle due to motion sickness issues). We were in Dad and Shirley's driveway before 2:00, the sun was shining, and we were ready to officially begin our vacation!

Dad immediately put Emily to work picking tomatoes in the garden. She had fun helping her Grandpa!

After dinner (shrimp burgers...YUM!) we went to the beach. Emily didn't put on a suit because we were *supposed* to only be putting our feet in the water. Well, running down the beach with Grandma changed that in a hurry. By the time we left, Emily was soaked and had sand in her hair and stuck to her face. Here's our family shot:
Owen was amazed by his first time at the beach!
Emily chased waves, first with Grandma, then with Grandpa. Even though she wasn't supposed to get wet....well, Grandma didn't listen :)

Potty Time

We haven't formally been potty training Emily, but she does like to pee on the potty. Lately, though, she's developed a new habit. When she's upstairs on her froggy potty, she MUST have a book to read. It's pretty funny. However, now she sits on the potty all day long it seems, just to read! Today she was sitting for over 30 minutes...at the end, her butt was red from sitting on it, but there was absolutely nothing in the potty. I think she lies and says she has to potty just to read her favorite books!

Happy July 4th!