I don't think he likes it..

Maybe it was the snowsuit he didn't like.. I'm not sure, but he wanted nothing to do with the snow!  Then I offered him a taste.. and that was ok with him.  

I love this little guy!

It's been way too long!

I haven't posted in awhile, but a lot has happened!  Owen started crawling, seriously crawling, and fast!  He zooms all over the house now.  We had to hide the cat food because that was his favorite place to visit.  He is also pulling himself up on everything, he loves to stand.  Gary said he stood without holding on for about 8 seconds yesterday.  

He's also sprouted 2 more teeth and then this morning I looked in there and he has yet another poking through!  It should be all the way out by tomorrow I think.  

We just got a ton of snow and I'm going to take him outside a bit later.  I will take lots of pictures to post!  

He can move!

Owen has scooted before, but it's never amounted to anything more than that.  A couple days ago, he started army crawling, then yesterday it just took off!  He army crawls to all sorts of things he's not supposed to touch haha.  His favorites include the phone jack and wires.  This morning I was sitting on the floor with him and I had a glass of milk.  One of the cats wanted to eat, so I got up to feed her and Owen army crawled over to my cup and tipped it over.  Thank goodness it was almost empty.  It's really time to start child proofing now!  

It's ok, Mama, I'll feed myself.

Breakfast this morning, oatmeal and applesauce!  I fed him most of it, then he wanted to have a go.  And yes, a bath followed shortly thereafter.  

9 Months Old!

Owen turned 9 months old yesterday!  Our friend Angie is visiting, and she took some amazing pictures for us.  We went to Ithica and had lunch at our favorite chinese food place!  Owen had some avocado and rice.  We walked around a bit, went to a really cool consignment shop, and accidentally got a new cat (which I'm not too sure I'm happy about, but Owen loves her!).  We had a great day! 

Thanks Nana!

We love the red sweatsuit!  It was perfect for our walk to the waterfall today since it was so chilly!

We are all moved in!

We moved to NY state on 8/25, and we are really getting settled now.  There are only a few boxes that remain unpacked, most of our furniture is in place, and we just love it here so much.  Owen was a little out of sorts for a couple of days, but yesterday and today he did great!  Back to his happy, smily self.  In the back we have a gorge and he just loves to splash in the water (splashing in the tub is also a much enjoyed activity now).  We've been taking him for walks in the woods and spending a ton of time outside.  Tonight he got to see his first campfire, he didn't really care, but I thought it was neat.   

He has so much room to just roll around and play here, inside and out.  We all really needed this move, it is just perfect for us.  The people here are friendly, the air is clean, everything is beautiful.. there are even chipmunks that come and hang out on our back porch.  

It's always been a challenge to cook dinner because dinner time is usually Owen's "I really need your attention now" time.. but here since the layout is so open, he is just happy to play with some toys in the living room because he can see me the whole time.  

Speaking of dinner, guess who is finally into food?  He loves applesauce, yogurt, bread.. I've been giving him little bits of what I eat and he seems to like that better than any puree I've tried to give him in the past.  It's really cute when he chews.. 

Just wanted to let everyone know, we are really happy here.  It's what we've always wanted but we didn't know until last June.  I hope everyone comes to visit at least once so you can roll around on the floor and splash in the gorge and go for long walks in the forest.. it is just the best. 

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Today was Miranda's surprise party for her 18th birthday!  We had a great time!  Owen loved the balloons and the cantaloupe!  Today was his first time trying cantaloupe and he was crazy about it!  

Number 6 came through!

Forgot to post yesterday, but his 6th tooth popped through.. finally.  This one was a tough one for him (despite what my previous post says).  

We have a scooter!

Owen did his first scooting today!  He is really wanting to move, and he is so close to figuring out how!  I just hope he holds off until we move into our new house.. that would make my life a little bit easier.  I guess it's time to make sure we have all the childproofing things we need!

Also, he LOVES peas and carrots!  It's nice to finally feed him something he enjoys.  I also got him some of those biter biscuits and he really likes those too.  He only gets those before bathtime though!  

Tooth number 6 is still visible under the gum, but it hasn't come through yet.  He is his normal happy self though, so I don't think it's bothering him too much!  

Number 5!

Another tooth popped through today!  It's the top one next to the front, left tooth.  The right side is very close.. maybe another day or 2!  

I have a little piranha on my hands.

Butternut Squash it is!

And he LOVED it!  I made it this morning and gave him some, this is the first food I've given him that I'm pretty sure he enjoyed!  Pics to come tomorrow!

Mystery Doggie

We have this tan and white stuffed dog that Owen is absolutely in love with.  His face lights up when he sees it, and when I give it to him, he squeezes it tight.  It says "Tweakie P. Piper" on it's foot, and this toy brand is exclusively sold at Michael's.

If you bought this toy for Owen, can you please let me know who you are? 

Yuck.

The past couple of days, Owen has been really anti-food.  

We gave him baby oatmeal today and here was the result..

I tried to give him sweet potatoes today too, but he would not keep one bite in his mouth.  Maybe he needs a break?  

Hello SCA!

Today Owen and I went to visit SCA.  We had a great time!  It was so nice to see everyone.  We had lunch together, and I shared the good news about our big move to NY! 

Sweet Potato Day

I made some sweet potatoes for Owen yesterday, and he tried some today!  He really didn't seem to like them, but he didn't seem to hate them either.  He only spit out one bite!  We didn't take any pictures, but we did take a video, I'll try and figure out how to get that loaded on here.. Actually, his reaction was very similar to his reaction when we first gave him rice cereal.  

He eats real food twice a day now, cereal in the morning and sweet potatoes in the afternoon.  We are still nursing strong for the rest of his feedings, despite my war wound that some of you may have heard about.  After this week is up I will make something else for him, not sure what.  Introducing him to new foods is so much fun! 

Please let us know what you think!  Vote for which veggie you think Owen should try next!  

The poll is on the right.

Happy 4th of July!

We spent Owen's first Fourth of July at Aunt Laura's shore house.  We had a great time hanging out with family!  Amy really loves Owen, she was so happy to just be with him this weekend.  He is fond of her too, his face lit up every time she came around.  They went swimming together, read books together, and just sat with eachother.  He warmed up to everyone nicely!  He even let Katie hold him for a little bit, long enough to get silly pink sunglasses pictures (sorry buddy, but it was funny.)  I decided that taking him to see fireworks wouldn't be a good idea since it was right at his bedtime, and boy I was glad I made that choice.  Every time he drifted off to sleep, a firework would wake him up.  By 11:00 he was hysterical and we had to take him for a car ride to get him to sleep.  He slept through the night and woke up a happy, smiling boy though!  

 

Caught on Camera for the First Time in History..

The elusive top front teeth!  This was no easy feat.  I've been trying since they came in to get a picture of them, but the boy just wouldn't cooperate.  I needed to get him to look up since the teeth aren't out very far, that's the only way they could be seen.  I tried dangling toys above him to get him to look up, but nothing was more interesting than Mama's camera.  

Then I had a brilliant idea.  I had to offer something he never gets to play with.  Something he's seen and wants to touch.  My sunglasses. 

Here's three good shots of his top teeth, and one picture of his prize.  

Just some pictures...

I took some pictures outside today while we were hanging out in the grass.  He is very interested in the grass and he loves to touch it.  There's some really great shots of his bottom teeth here!  No luck capturing the top ones yet.. 

Big Foot

Today while Owen was napping I took a print of his foot.  I compared it to his newborn footprint, what do you think?  Big difference!  The picture doesn't show up actual size, I have no idea how to do that.  And yes, his foot has a slight orange tint to it.  

Two Front Teeth!

Last Saturday, Owen's first top tooth came in! It was the front one on the left. Then today, I noticed his right one is peeking out too! I can't believe how fast he's getting his teeth in. He is chewing on everything and drooling like a fountain. He seems to be doing OK pain wise, and we are thankful for that! He has been clingier than usual, but I don't mind the extra snuggles!

We started feeding him rice cereal about a week after he turned 6 months old. The first time he tried it, he made a yuck face (the video we have is so cute). Now he opens his mouth right up when he sees the spoon! I can't wait to start feeding him other things. I am going to ShopRite this week and I'm going to get some veggies for him. I think I am going to start with sweet potatoes.

Time does fly!

It's unreal how fast Owen went from a sleepy eyed, squished up newborn, to a squirmy, grabby baby. This first post of mine will be a quick summary of his first 5 months.

• Birth - Owen surprised us and decided to make his debut into the world 3 weeks early on December 13th at 11:10a.m. He was very ready to be here, he weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and measured 21" long. My labor and delivery was the most difficult but the most rewarding thing I have ever endured. When I saw him, all I could think was, "that's my baby.." I have never felt like more of a hero than I did when I finally had him in my arms.
• First 3 Months - I am going to group these months together because honestly, they are such a blur or visitors, clumsy breastfeeding, and diaper changes. My favorite memory of this time is having him curled up and sleeping on my chest. I hardly put him down, I just loved to hold him (and still do). His umbilical cord stump fell off only 5 days after we brought him home from the hospital. Gary is the one that found it, it was during a night time diaper change and he thought it was a poop. (Just a quick night time diaper change story.. it was 2a.m. and I was up and changing his diaper. When I took the dirty diaper off, he made a little fart. Then he let out this huge wave of poo that hit me right below my neck and sprayed all the way down to my thigh. I had NO idea what to do as I was covered in poo, and it was dark. I had to wake up Gary to help me get the mess cleaned up. Wasn't funny then, but I think it's hilarious now!) When he was 3 weeks old we gave him his first tub bath. I was really worried that he was going to cry the whole time, but he didn't make a peep. He has always really liked his baths. When he was 2 months old he went for his first round of immunizations and I was completely horrified. I cried when he cried. I know it's silly, I know it's just shots, but I hated to see him in pain.
  
• Fourth Month - This month was a huge change for me. I remember picking him up and looking at him and thinking, "Wow, I finally know who he is." Before it was just a big guessing game, but during the 4th month I started to realize what he needed when he was crying. I figured out which comfort techniques worked best for him. And finally, this is the month he smiled at us. That smile to show us that we were making him happy. It became a contest to see who could get him to smile again. Actually, he smiled at Gary first and Gary was also the only one he would smile at for awhile. By the end of the month though, he was freely giving smiles to worthy people.
• Fifth Month - This was a big month for him! He giggled for the first time for me! I have to admit I was jealous of Gary for getting the first smile, but when I got that first giggle, that made up for it! He learned how to roll over and he started teething. On May 28th, he cut his first tooth (the bottom, front left one) and got into his first car accident (no one was hurt). On June 6th, he cut his second bottom tooth. I can't explain how precious that two-toothed baby smile is.. He also really enjoyed being outside. He loves to touch the grass, swing on the swing, and lay on our hammock. He got really good at grabbing things, and he loves to jump in his jumparoo. He also developed quite an interest in animals, especially our dog Tuck. All Tuck has to do is look at him and Owen breaks out in a huge smile and the occasional giggle.

I read this quote once that said, "It's true you don't know what you have until it's gone, but it's also true that you don't realize what you were missing until it arrives." I would do anything for this little boy. Motherhood is the best thing that has ever happened to me.