Owen - World Traveler

Owen took his first trip to another state this weekend! Okay so it was only Minnesota (emphasis on only).

Mommy and Daddy woke up at 4AM to get ready and pack the car. By 5AM Owen was up and eating. At 5:30 we hit the road. Of course it took us until 6:00 to leave Pulaski, what with the stop at McDonald's and the bakery for donuts ...

Just as planned, Owen slept until Thorp, where we stopped to feed him and ourselves. It took a lot for Daddy not to visit the local restaurant called the Thorpedo across the street.

After another 30 minutes Owen gave us a nice surprise - he fell asleep and didn't wake up until Minneapolis. He slept almost as long as Mommy did.

Owen and Daddy were able to stay in the church until just before the wedding started. Owen was tired, cranky and hungry. He refused to eat, he refused to be held, he refused to not be held, etc. After an hour and a half of wondering the halls and playing in the nursery we were finally able to return to the church - where everyone was leaving. According to Mommy it was a nice ceremony.

Owen was so proud of his Daddy for saving the day on the way to the reception. When Grandma and Grandpa's Garmin failed to find the hotel it was Daddy who pointed out the correct direction. Once again trip planning pays off.

We left for home right after the meal. It was a long 5 hours, especially considering Daddy did not get any cake. Owen slept the entire trip home! What a good little sleeper.

9 month update

OK, so the update is late again.... I think we are getting more timely - only 13 days behind on this one. In a couple more months we will be on time! We will post pics later.

So here is what made the last month with Owen special:

Official Stats as of Friday: 29.25" long (78%), 19 lbs. 7oz (29%), head circum. 45.75" (63%)

Daddy's Interpretation of Stats:

Mommy's Interpretation of Stats:

Owen is.....

hitting his head on everything. With his new-found mobility comes many boo-boos. He just recovered from two marks on his head. No cool scars though. We are trying to squeeze in a mark free 9 month picture on Thurs. Cross your fingers!

insisting on waking up at 12:30am for a midnight snack. That has got to stop... We like being spoiled parents.

crawling around in his crib, wrestling his bear (Owen's crib buddy) and flipping over to sleep on his stomach.

feeding himself finger foods... some of it gets in his mouth - the rest forms a nice pile on his seat for the hoover vac to take care of (best purchase ever!) (along with the inflatable tub)

can shape sort squares and circles. He just graduated to the stars. However the triangle has yet to be conquered. Owen is still convinced that squares and triangles are the same thing.

waving bye-bye. Sometimes it is with his hand, other times it is with his whole arm, and still other times his arm starts to move, he tries to stop it and then smiles and gets all shy because he doesn't want to wave but yet is. No official clapping yet - just fist bumps. Maybe Owen is going to be a gangsta.

screeching. While many people think Owen is a mild and quiet baby, he has recently found a new octave and decibel level. He screeches loudly when mad. That also has got to stop...

Despite the jokes, life with Owen is just great. Every night we are glad that he is such a good sleeper and such a happy baby. We watch Owen sleep in the monitor and he is just soooo cute. All I want to do is wake him up and hold him and kiss him. That's when Nick says "Are you crazy? Lets get some sleep!" We also can't get over the fact that Owen is now moving and making decisions for himself. It was just a few months ago Owen had to do whatever his parents wanted to do. (Nick looks back fondly at this time) While is it frustrating now that Owen voices his dislikes of peas and car seats, it also warms our hearts even more when Owen puts down a toy to crawl over to one of us for a hug..... (Side note: Owen usually pushes us away a few moments later - but we take what we can get)

Owen's nightly ritual

Owen has settled into quite a routine in the afternoon. After spending the day exploring the daycare facility with his friend Brody, Owen is always excited to see Mommy arrive to bring him home … or maybe he’s excited about the prospect of a ride in the Jeep.

Once at home, Owen immediately develops an insatiable appetite for all things food. If the area in front of Owen is empty for more than 5 seconds, the world comes to an end … at least until another serving of cheese or bread is dropped in front of him. Owen’s daily menu includes several servings of bread, corn poofs, cheese, Gerber baby juice, fruit, meat (luckily he doesn’t know how gross this stuff is), vegetables and baby cereal.

Once the pantry is empty, we move on to the decontamination process. This involves holding Owen at arms length while we bring him to the bathroom to give him a bath. Owen loves being in the bath tub. We use a small inflatable tub that sits inside the bathtub. There is just enough room for Owen and his flock of ducklings. It contains him and uses less water. How much water does a 20 pound boy really need anyway?



Once Owen is clean and in his pajamas it’s time to blow off a little steam. It’s amazing how proficient a crawler he has become with only a few weeks of practice. He has developed a ‘second gear’ – when he realizes we are about to pick him up and pull him away from the cable wire, he speeds up and tries to get away. Is this a sign of things to come?



Last but not least, this is Owen’s new shirt:

Does this shirt complement Owen or is it a put-down to Daddy? Tough call. Can you guess who picked out the shirt in the picture? Daddy. Daddy also wanted Owen to hold something "manly" in the picture, like a hammer. When Daddy offered Owen his favorite hammer to hold, Owen refused and grabbed a brush instead. Owen refused to let go of the brush and would cry/shake if it was taken away. Looking at the picture you can tell who won this battle...