Some fun "firsts", and a beautiful day for a ride.

We went to a party at the house of one of Chad's co-workers. Earlier in the day they had a birthday party for one of the children. One of the activities they had for the children, and that was still going when we got there, was a bouncy house with a monster truck motif. Chad was all excited about Owen going into it, I however needed a little more convincing. But once I saw someone with a little girl only a bit bigger than Owen in it, I took him in. He and I bounced around for a little while together. It was fun! I think he liked it. But he had his typical serious face on that he tends to wear when he's doing something new and taking everything in. In addition to the bouncy house, there was a sandbox which seemed to be a big hit with the little ones. He and I went and sat in it and he loved it. Okay, maybe he loved trying to put all of the shovels, spades and rakes in his mouth the most. Well, and of course, the sand. But he was not happy when we got out.

And as it turned out, it was a gorgeous day out this past Saturday. It was sunny and around 78 degrees. A perfect day for Owen to go for a ride in his car. With one of his favorite bucket hats and his shades.

Owen and I in the bouncy house:


Owen and I in the sandbox--and yes, he most likely is putting snad in his mouth:


Owen in his little jalopy:

8 is Great! Well, mostly.

Owen is 8 months old! But before we get into that, we have some firsts to discuss. One, is Owen's first cold. Not a good first, by any means. But its worthy of mentioning. Poor Owen. He had a runny nose, sounded like a Gremlin breathing, he was sneezing, and didn't have his usual appetite. But the little bugger smiled through it all. He seems to be feeling much better now. Thank goodness. I felt so bad for him.

The second first was his first Easter. He really enjoyed his first Easter. The Easter Bunny made sure that Owen had an Elmo filled Easter. The Easter Bunny brought him an Elmo Easter basket filled with 3 Elmo books and the Elmopalooza DVD. He loved all of those, and the Easter grass is always good fun too. We had a low key, relaxed day hanging out at home. After his afternoon nap though, we went up to Chad's cousin Jodie's place in Shirlington for Easter dinner. Chad's Aunt Marie from California was there, as well as some of Jodie's friends--including her friend's 2 year old little girl Emily, who Owen loved. It was the perfect dinner and we had a great time. Owen got a ton of attention, hugs and love. All of his favorite things. :)

So. Our boy is 8 months old. I just cannot believe that he is only 4 months away from being a year. I'm not sure what I can say about this little boy of ours that I've not said a bunch of time. He is the joy of our lives. And our little joy still has not begun teething yet. Most babies start between 6-12 months, but it seems like all of the other little babies we know around his age have some. We'll see what the next few months bring in the teeth department. No crawling yet either, just rolling all over the place. He does get on his knees, butt in the air, but then he does nothing. We are still going swimming twice a week and loving it. He has tried some new foods which he really likes including cottage cheese, potatoes, grapes & kiwi. He absolutely loves Cheerios. He has turned into a wonderful eater. I can only hope that his good eating habits continue to grow in this positive manner.

Oh, and let's not forget, we had a visit from Grandpa Joe and Grandma Bonnie this month. They were heading back up to Massachusetts from their winter long stay in Florida. They stayed for two nights and we had a nice visit. The weather was just great for their visit. We went out to dinner and took Owen for a couple of walks. It was nice.

Until next month, here are some new pictures. They include the ones we got done at Babies R'Us for free.

Owen and his Easter Stash:


Loving his Elmo Books:



Owen and his, or in his, Easter grass:


Owen with Cousin Jodie and Emily:


Owen, wearing his new bucket hat, and Grandma Bonnie:



Owen and Grandpa Joe:


Owen's pictures from BRU:

We have a 7 month old!

Owen is now 7 months old. Wow. People tell you how quickly the time goes by. But you can't truly understand it until you experience it.

Owen is a wonderful little guy. We love him more and more each day. He has a great little personality. He's happy and loving. He's very determined and so curious about the world around him. Always looking around, taking everything in. I mean, obviously we're biased and think that he's a beautiful baby. But everywhere we go he gets attention in the form of compliments, smiles and laughter from strangers.

Owen loves his pets. Whenever he hears Ernie meowing, he looks to where he is. If Ernie is within arms reach, I encourage him to "pet the kitty". I know he is enamored with Quincy, but I don't think he quite knows what to do with him. Quincy is always bringing him one of his own toys in the hopes that this will be the day Owen will play fetch with him.

He and I have great routine during the week. He sleeps well, eats well and we have a great time running errands together. I think that he truly thrives on the routine we've establsihed.

Speaking of eating well he has turned out to be a great little eater. He enjoys his cereal. I give him either rice, oatmeal, or a whole grain blend. I've been putting a little cinnamon in it which he seems to really like. Unlike his daddy, he loves his veggies. Peas seem to be his favorite, followed by carrots, sweet potatoes and green beans. For fruits he LOVES bananas. I mean, LOOOOOOOVES bananas. Its nearly to the point where he demands them with the fruit I give him at night. He really likes peaches, pears and mangoes too.

Owen and I are taking a Child/Parent swimming class. He loves the water. We sing songs, "jump" in the pool and he "swims" back and forth between myself and the swim instructor, Miss Lizzie. We've also enjoyed going to the playground. He really likes the swings. We both have fun going down the slides together.

Or course, here are some pictures. We hope to get some swimming pictures soon.

Owen sleeping in his crib:


Owen enjoying some carrots:


Munching--okay, slobbering, on an apple slice:


Sharing a toy with Quincy (one of Quincy's toys, to be precise):


Our first trip to the playground:

Silly Boy

It was inevitable that Owen would end up being a silly boy. Chad and I both have silly sides. But you know what? He's really a smart silly, if you want to know the truth.

His latest act of sillyness occured during his "bathy time". He loves his bath. Always has. Since he's been sitting well in his tub and is showing an interest in his bath toys, we've been letting him play more in the tub. Now, whenever I bathe him Quincy is always there wanting me to play fetch with him. During his bath last Tuesday, I turned for maybe 2 seconds to throw Quincy's toy out the door and I looked at Owen to see him doing this:




The boy is so smart. He found the one toy that somewhat resembles a pacifier and stuck it in his mouth. Is that silly, or what? He gives us more and more reasons to love him every single day.

Adventures in Babysitting

We have neighbors, Emi and Carlos, who have a little boy, Keifer, who is 9 days older than Owen. Carlos is in the military and has been away since December, and will be gone through April. Upon hearing that he'd left, we let Emi know that if there was anything we could do for her while Carlos is gone we would be more than happy to help.

I was genuinely excited to get an e-mail from Emi asking if we could watch Carlos for her because she had to work over the weekend. We, of course, said yes. Friday night we stopped by to see Emi and Keifer to see if there were any special instructions. She had Keifer on the floor and we put Owen down on next to him. Owen immediately rolled closer to Owen so that they were shoulder-to-shoulder. They happily shared a rattle, and were soon shrieking and screaming together.

Keifer was a joy to babysit! Owen had just gone up for his morning nap when Emi brought Keifer over. He played in Owen's Jump-a-roo and with some toys. Once Owen woke up, it was time for Keifer's nap. Owen then had lunch and played as well. Keifer took a nice nap. I tried to feed him afterwords, but he was too curious about his surroundings and wouldn't take his bottle from me (luckily it'd only be an hour until Emi would be picking him up, so she could take him home to feed). So we put him on the floor to play with Owen. The two of them had a good time together. They rolled around, they played with toys. Keifer is laid-back and sweet. Owen is outgoing and sweet. A great combination, I think. They had a great time. We can't wait to get the two together again!

Hey man, what's up?


I'll put my right foot up, and you put your left foot up.


Owen looking like he wants to wrestle.


So many activities!

Happy 6 Months Owen!

Wow...where has the time gone? Our little boy is 6 months old.

Owen had a doctor's appointment on his 6 month birthday. Grammy Penny was here while Chad had to go to South Carolina for work. He is weighing in at 17 pounds and 13 ounces. He is 27 inches tall and his head is 17 inches big. He is in the 75th percentile for all mesaurements. He also got some shots, I don't know if they're less fun for me or him.

We had a nice visit with Owen's Grammy Penny. It was truly a joy to see my mom with Owen. It truly gets harder and harder to live far away family, especially now that we have Owen.

Owen continues to grow and thrive. He has great dexterity when it comes to handling toys. He will roll from one end of the quilt to the other when he's on the floor playing. He shows happiness by laughing, smiling and shrieking. Really, our little boy is pretty happy all around. But he's funny in that he shows his displeasure by groaning and grunting. He can be kind of dramatic at times. In fact when he got his oral rotovirus vaccine he was making grunting and gagging noise, of which the nurse said, laughingly, she'd never heard a baby do. Yup, that's my boy.

Owen has been enjoying his solid food. He really likes his rice cereal. He has also tried bananas and avacado. Today after his nap, he's going to try some sweet potatoes. Once we get past him trying various foods and figuring out what he likes, and making sure he doesn't have any allergic reactions, I'm going to make his food. Yup, I'm going to be one of those mothers. :o)

Owen had his first Valentine's Day. He got a lot of cards and some Valentine stuffed animals from his Grammy and Auntie Lisa.

I think that's it for now. Just some pictures, of course.

Our happy boy:


Grammy Penny feeding Owen avacado:


Owen and some of his Valentines:


Owen and Grammy Penny:


Peek-a-Boo!:

Mmm, mmm, good!

I had done all kinds of reading on introducing solid food to Owen. Most of what I had read said that if you are exclusively breastfeeding to wait 6 months. This in spite of our pediatricians giving us the green light to start him at 4 months. My Mommy instincts kicked in and I felt like he was ready before the 6 month mark and we started feeding him rice cereal on February 1st. This would be more like 5 1/2 months.

So we put Owen into his high chair seat and put on his bib. I had alerady washed some bowls and his little spoons. I mixed the rice cereal up with the breastmilk and we were ready. From first spoonful he enthusiasticly and sloppily gobbled it up. We're on day 6 now of the rice cereal and I've learned, after making it a little too thin a couple of times, how he likes to eat it.

Here are some pictures of his first eating adventure. One of the baby food books I borrowed from the library has said that avacados are a great first food. So I bought some of those and we will try those next. Hopefully, more on that in our next blog entry.

Looking oh-so-dashing his a Dr. Suess bib.



Mmmm, that wasn't bad.




I don't know what this thing is, but it tastes pretty good!