My Godparents

Matthew and Krista (Owen's godparents) are staying with us for a few days. It has been so nice for us all to spend some time together, and especially so for Owen. The last time he saw then (as they live in Alberta) was back in April when Owen was baptized. She he is spending some good quality time with them now.

This is Matthew, Gabe, and Owen at Granville Island at the beer tour/tasting. Owen helped them pick out a couple of good beers.

This is Owen and his Auntie Kimberly (Matthew's sister).

Here we all are at Cultus Lake - me and Owen and Krista. Owen is so cool in Krista's sunglasses. Too bad he HATES them. Owen even has his own pair of sunglasses with flames on them, but he refuses to wear them. He doesn't like things on his face or head.









Uncle Matthew and Auntie Krista are going to be with us for a few more days still, so I'm sure there will be even more photo shoots to come - including Owen's first New Years Eve (although he is going to go to bed at 7pm just like every other night).

Notes from yesterday's journal

Owen got his 7th tooth today – the top, right eye tooth. He has been so cranky for the last 2 days, so it all makes sense now. I hope he feels better now that it is through.


Owen said "light" today. We have been working on "light" and "clock" a lot lately, and now he can say both – and he knows which one is which. My boy is a genius!

Paparazzi

I took 204 photos of Owen this morning, and it isn't even 10am yet. Sheesh! This is Owen looking exhausted. (he reminds me of that Kit Kat commercial with the air-head male model)

After deleting the blurry ones, light ones, dark ones, and photos that look just like other ones, I am left with 121 photos that I am going to keep. I feel sorry for Owens poor retina's, because I'm not even done taking photots for the day! I love my new camera!

My Mom sure takes a lot of pictures!

My Mama has always taken lots of pictures of me, but now she takes even more. She got a new camera for Christmas. And now she even takes lots pictures of other people too!

These pictures are of me and my friends at Play Group today. The first one is me and Jacob.

Then there is Olivia, Charlie, Jacob, and me playing on the floor.

And the last one is of me and Keira. I'm showing her my window.

Christmas morning

First thing this morning we went to my parents house in Abbotsford to celebrate Christmas with the Townsend/Warawa family. We arrived with Owen in pajama's, nervous about having so many Uncles attention on him, but excited to open his presents. He got a couple of cool gifts (clothes, toys, books), but his favorite part was helping people unwrap the presents. My Mom got this box of perfume stuff, and Owen helped her remove all the shredded paper. He loved it!

Owen's first Christmas celebration

Christmas with the Lantegine's (and Hepburn's, Smith's, and Mailhoit's too!)

Visiting with Grandma

Owen got to visit with Grandma today while Mama went into work for a little bit. Apparently, while I was away, Owen took his first steps. I don't know if I beleive Gerandma or not. Just kidding Mom - you know I beleive you.

:)

So, here is the story... while holding onto the coffee table, Owen realized Grandma was too far away to also hold onto. While the coffee table has it's attractions, Owen decided what he really wanted was Grandma, so he let go of the coffee table, took two steps (one with each foot) and grabbed onto Grandma's hand. She said he didn't even realize he had done it.

Once I got home all Owen wanted to do was eat the paper towel roll and smash my glasses with the turkey baster. Nice, eh?!

So all afternoon I have been trying to get him to walk - or even just stand on his own, but Mama is not nearly the temptation of Grandma, and he just won't do it. He's not even close. But today is the day that will go in the baby books as his first steps. Maybe he'll walk for us on Christmas, and that can be his gift to us. It's a nice thought, eh?!

Another unsuccessful attempt

Santa was at our playgroup today, and I thought Owen might be ok as he didn't cry when seeing Santa, or even when sitting near him. Apparently it's sitting on Santa's lap that he didn't like this time. At least Owens reaction is consistent!

:)

My happy boy

In the last few weeks Owen seems to have grown up a lot. His hair is getting longer, and that might have something to do with his looking older. But Owen is developing new tricks and personality traits everyday, and that is what is making him seem older too.

Owen now initiates play time. He understands how games like chase, hide and seeks, and throwing a ball work, and he is so much fun to play with now. He still races up the stairs, and laughs when he gets to the top, and he dances (and sings) to music, he loves to play with his new musical instruments (recorder, tambourine, maracca, and jingle bells), and he's talking up a storm. For the most part he says "what's this" and points to everything. But once I tell him what it is, he still says "what's this", so we're not counting that as a real word, just fun noise. I must say "what's this" to him a lot.

But Owen is curious about everything, and quite upset with us that we put up safety features on all the kitchen and bathroom drawers and cupboards now (he still has his one cupboard in the kitchen to play with). Owen wants to touch everything, and lick it too. We had a shower yesterday and he kept licking my knee. It was weird. I think he just likes the water.

And he is sooooooo close to walking! I bet he'll be running by his birthday in January. Owen walks with the help of his toy on wheels, or our computer chair (also on wheels), and every once in a while he'll stand on his own for a second, and then be off again. And when I say on his own, I mean not holding onto anything. He will be walking along furniture, and take a second to transfer to another piece of furniture and for a moment there (in the middle) he is standing up all by himself. It's so great!

He's teething again, but I haven't seen any new teeth in quite a while. So who know if they'll pop through this time. Owen is all better now, and his ear infection is finally all gone. But now I am quite sick, so maybe I'll be nice, and pass it back to him (he's the one who gave it to me in the first place).

This photo is from a few days ago. Owen is feeling much better now. Now Mama just has to get better.

:)

Sometimes sharing isn't a good thing

Owen is sick again –snotty with a cough. Argh. I took him to the Doctor this afternoon (after lunch with Grandma) to find out he has another ear infection. Dr. LeGresley figures I caught him, changed the strain, and gave it back to him. If my poor boy is going through anything close to what I have been going through for the last few days (my ears have been plugged since last Tuesday)… I can’t believe how good he has been through it all.

A familiar Santa

Gabe was Santa at the Barton kids Christmas party yesterday. But that still didn’t help Owen who cried when put on his lap. At least we got some cool toys out of the deal.

10 months old

This is Owen's 10 month photo with the bear.

I bought a helium balloon today and it has provided hours of entertainment - Owen just loves it! And it was great for the photo shoot today. I would tap his head with the balloon, and then bring it near my head so Owen would look up and I could take the picture. This was by far the quickest photo shoot I have ever done!

But Owen is teething pretty bad right now, so I didn;t get a great smile. Although he does know what the word "smile" means, and when he is in a better mood, he will smile at me when I say "smile".

Don't you just love Owen's shoes in this photo though?! They are new - size 5! Owen is getting so big already!

A boy and his cupbaord

I finally gave in and Owen got his own cupboard in the kitchen. I put some of Owen's plastic dishes, a few plastic bowls and measuring cups, and some dish towels in there to keep him busy.

My plan was to keep his busy enough to stay out of the other cupboards until we can find a safety device that works (we bought one kind, but it is too small for tour cupboards). However, my plan didn;t work. Owen was so interested in his cupbaord that he figured he's see what is in all the others. So now I put him near his cupboard, and he says "Mama, I already know what is in this cupbaord - now I want to see what it is that one over there!"

Well, he doesn't really say all that, he only says "Dat", but I know what he means.

Animal House

Every few weeks Owen and I spend some time at the local pet store - Animal House in Chilliwack. Here Owen gets to look at all sorts of animals, fish, and birds.

Today we watched a few hampsters run on the wheels. When we first started to watch them, the hampsters were sleeping, But slowly they woke up, and when one of them crawled towards the window where we were standing, Owen jumped! Owen has always been very cautious of animals - he like to watch them from afar only; He doens't like it when they get too close. But after a few minutes of watching them hampsters crawl around asnd run on the wheel (and knowing Mama was keeping his safe) he warmed up to them and even put his hand on the glass.

Fish

Owen said another word this morning – fish. He has been trying to say "fish" for a while now, and it is very intentional (he loves his aquarium!), but today he actually got it. Gabe got him up ion the morning and brought him right into our room, and Owen looked around and said "fish", so I brought him into his room to feed the fish like we do every morning and he said "fish!". He actually says it more like "hish", but we know what he means. Then he waved to the aquarium, said "hiya"(which means hi – but we haven’t counted as a word yet because he doesn’t do it often, and doesn’t often say it at the right time) and then Owen kissed the aquarium. He just loves those fish!

My first visit with Santa

Owen didn't know what I was doing today when I put him on the lap of a dressed-up, bearded Man. I guess I can't blame him for crying. We tried three times, but this was the best photo by far.

St. Nicholas party

Our Church had a St. Nicholas party today for the kids, and Owen was feeling good enough to go. Yay! He had so much fun playing with all the kids - mostly the big kids, but he was gently rubbing Baby James' ear which was so cute until he tried to rip it off.

Here is Owen reaching for the gingerbread house candy. He managed to get a piece of hard candy in his mouth before I could stop him, but I guess it didn't taste good becasue he spit it out right away. Owen did get to eat some big people food today though - he nibbled at my dinenr roll until the whole thing was soggy with small chunks of bun missing here and there.

We are all very happy he is felling better.

:)

Playtime in the morning

Owen is feeling much better. He's still not 100%, but he's not contagious anymore at least. We still haven't seen any friends for a while because he's still got a cough, but we hope to get out on Saturday for a little bit.

These pictures are from yesterday morning. The fireplace was on as it was cold first thing in the morning, and Owen was mesmerized by it. He didn't try to touch it, thank goodness, but he just sat and stared at it for a while. It was really cute. It was like he needed a few minutes to wake up fully, and that was it for him. And after playing with the toys in the great room, Owen followed me into the kitchen to play with his Winnie-the-Pooh (in a bee costume) there. Owen has never showed any interest in stuffed animals until quite recently. Now he likes to chew on their extremities and kiss their heads.

Still sick

Owen is still quite sick. His nose runs all day long and he is so stuffed up that he can't breathe well, and is constantly choking and coughing because he tried to take a deep breath in and only sucks back snot. I know, it's gross.

I feel so bad for him. He hates taking his medicine and having his nose wiped, and I don't even use the snot sucker ( I didn't find it worked well when used in the past), so all I can do is wait for his body to fight this off.

Owen is in a good mood most of the time, but I can tell he is sick of being sick. And I've had to cancel a few play dates already, plus I know he won't be well enough to go to Play Group tomorrow, which will be sad because we both love that.

I try to give him lots of fluids, and not push solids too much. Which seems to be working. He can't get enough water these days, and he isn't really hungry (you know how you get when you're sick). All we can really do is wait.

Don't you just love the drool line and the snot in this picture - oh he's just gorgeous when he is sick!

What do you do when you have to stay indoors all day...?

Owen and I watched the snow come down from the kitchen door. Owen could see his reflection in the glass and liked to kiss himself.

This actually lasted quite a while. Owen loves to look at things move outside. He positions himself near the front window when people are coming home - he loves to watch their cars go into their garages and disappear!

Then Owen and I played, read books, and cuddled. This was my favorite part of the day.

Then Owen had his bath. He gets especially stinky when he is sick, and he had snot all up the side of his head. Yuck! The bath was Owen's favortie part of the day. Do you like my stragetically placed whale?

Owen's first snow!

Owen is feeling a lot better. The medicine we are gicving him seems to be working after all. He went to bed at midnight, woke up at 4 (just for a few minutes), and then was up again at 8. He just went down for a nap at 10, so he seems to be doing a little better today. He did eat breakfast - 2 actually - so his appetite is back, and he loved playing - inside and outside.

It snowed just after Owen was born, but he was too small to go outside in it at all. And I think it was gone the next day. So this is his first real snow. At least the first tiem he got to go outside in it. As the snow fell this morning he watched it from the window, and then once Papa clearned the walkway we got to go outside and take some pictures. We were only outside for maybe 10 minutes as he is still sick, and got very snotty out there, but at least it was something.

Amoxicilin

Owen is very sick. He cries all day long (nights too). He won't eat or drink, and it looks like swallowing hurts him. We took him to the clinic today and they said he doens't have an ear infection, but it sounds like an infection so they gave him Amoxicilan. That is what he took when he did have an ear infection.

Hopefully he will feel better soon. I hate to see him cry like that. And he hates taking medicine. We are also clearing his nose with the nasal spray. That never goes over well.

So needless to say, we didn't get our Christmas photos done today. Maybe next week sometime, once Owen is feeling better.

Messy eater!

Owen is, for some reason, giving me trouble when it comes to eating. He has always been a good eater, but lately....

So today I gave him his favorites - toast (didn't go over well at all), an apple (he has to be able to eat it off the ccore, so don't give him just a piece!), Cheerios (always a favorite), turkey sausage (he ate 2 whole links!), applesauce (which he refused), and fruit leather (yummy, but messy)!

I am afraid the fruit leather may have stained his shirt. I really hope not becasue it's brand new - today was the first time he wore it. And I really like it!

I love this last picture - Owen looks like he's thinking "hey - what's with the photos Mom?" He should know by now - I photograph everything! Well... almost everything.

Sick again

Owen is sick. Again. He had a cough that started 2 days ago, and I gave him Tylenol for it yesterday and today. He hates taking the Tylenol – not that I blame him – it tastes awful! His chest sounds full and he wheezes a bit when he breathes, so I have no idea what this may be other than a cough. But he is refusing to eat again (bottles too today) so maybe the cough is bothering him, maybe his teeth are bothering him, or maybe he has something worse. Who knows? If he isn’t better by Monday I’ll call the Doctor.

Almost 10 months old

Don’t blink or you’ll loose track of him – that’s right! I was not looking at Owen for 10 seconds this morning and he was up a flight of stairs! He can really motor on those stairs now! I’ve tried to take photos, but every time he sees the camera he tries to pose and I’m afraid he’ll fall down the stairs. And then I turned away for another 10 seconds and he was walking across the room holding onto my rolling chair! How crazy is that? It’s like I haven’t seen him for a week, but I see him all day long everyday! How could he have learned how to do those things so quickly?!?!?

Me and my posse

Here are some photos of Owen and his buddies (or posse, rather) at Play Group today. Owen made a new friend there - Hayden (in the white outfit behind Owen). Here is Owen playing with Heather - Ellenor's Mom. Owen played really good with the other Moms today - he chewed Kaelen's Moms knee and sucked on Jacob's Mom's necklace.

And at the end of the visit Owen, Jacob, Keira, and Ellenor (not in photo) played with wooden spoons and metal bowls. They make lots of noise when you bang them together! Luckily the kids were more interested in sucking on the spoons than banging the bowls with them.

Look what I can do!

I have to find a way to lock the cupboards and drawers becasue Owen can now get into them all!

Even an athlete knows reading is important

Thanks to Stacey who lent Owen a bunch of Josh's old clothes. They fit Owen great and will save me a ton of money!

This is a great little outfit that prompted a photo shoot this aftenoon. Can you see the wrist bands?

Library

Owen and I went to the Chilliwack Library today. Today is Child's Day. There was a lady who told stories, a man who sang, and even a puppet show. Owen loved it all. We even got to read some books.

Hockey boy