Rockin' and Rollin'

Owen got to play the bongo drum and ride a bike at his friend Olivia's house the other day. He is getting so active these days that I can't keep him in one place, and he tires of activities so quickly now. For the amount he and I move around we should both be very skinny... hhmmm...

Juice box

Owen's new favorite thing is drinking from a juice box. He likes both the juice, and drinking from a straw. Below is the look of desperation he gets when the juice box is empty.

Sssssshhh... I have a secret

Mama is going away this weekend, so I, Owen am stuck at home with Papa for the weekend. Things have been better with Papa and me lately, so now, every once in a while, I will say his name. He likes that a lot!

I have had sleepovers at Grandma's house before, or Mama has been away for one night at a time, but never two nights. I will miss her a lot! But this will prepare me for when she goes away to Las Vegas for 4 nights in March.

A good day at the park with my friends

Today we went to the park with some friends form Play Group. We had a great time. Owen didn't like the swing, but he did meet a puppy dog he liked quite a bit. I can't wait for the weather to get nicer so we can make going to the park a regular occurance.

12 months with the bear

Owen has been posing with this bear for 12 months. Once he is taller than the bear while sitting down I will stop doing these monthly photo shoots. Until then, I get to try and convince my ever-moving son to try and sit beside a large stuffed animal while not touching it or making a face. It's becoming quite the task!

Owen's Birthday Party

Thank you to everyone who came today to Owen's 1st Birthday Party! Owen (and the rest of us) had a great time.

Here is Owen playing with his buddy Charlie. It was so great to see Owen play so well with all the kids that came (age 1 month - 7 years old). I was afraid he would become too overwhelmed, but he was great!


Owen says thank you so much for all the presents too! He got tons of cute clothes and fun toys! This t-shirt says "Future Heartbreaker" -thanks Stacey, Joe, Joshua, and James!









And here Victor is helping Owen open a farm tractor from Auntie Liz, Uncle Adrian, and Jewel.

And after opening all presents, Owen got to blow out the candles on his cake. Victor and Maisey tried to beat him to it, but eventually Mama helped Owen blow out the candles, and then everyone got to eat yummy cake.

Here is everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to my little man.


The birthday party theme was musical instruments, so Owens cake was a drum.



Just like Owen's last party, the icing was his favorite part! He is getting much better at being able to feed himself with a spoon, but today Owen wanted to just use his hands.

Mmmmmmm... yummy cake!

And Owen also got to drink a juice box for the first time today - he loved it! Good idea Grandma!

Happy Birthday Owen! We sure love you!

Owen is one!

This is Owen's official "first birthday picture". We had them done at Walmart. Isn't he so cute?

Happy 1st Birthday Owen!

More new stuff

I forgot to include some things Owen has been doing for a while when I wrote in this diary last night. Owen loves the neighbors dog. He barks at it. It’s so cute. And Owen has this toy at my Moms house that has a puppy on it, and when you push it, the puppy barks. And then Owen barks too.

And Owen loves face party – eyes, earls, nose, mouth, tongue, and teeth. And glasses, if you wear them. Owen will touch one at a time and ask "What’s this?" (like always), and then you tell him. And he sometimes points to the same face part on his face. He is pretty good at knowing where the nose is, and he loves to stick his fingers right up your nose. He actually loves to stick his fingers everywhere – in your eye, mouth, nose, and ears too. And when he touches your eye, he is very gentle to go under your glasses. And for the most part he doesn’t grab glasses, or smack them off your face. He does get little finger prints all over them though.

And Owen is getting better at not being afraid of animals. Besides loving the neighbors dog )who we only look at from afar), Owen has gotten used to Nana’s cat. Nana is his daycare lady, and they have an indoor cat. Miss. Kitty (that is her name) used to scare him when she would enter the room, but now he can sit and pet her and not be afraid. Way to conquer your fears Owen!

Big update

So much has happened lately! Owen is almost walking – he can take a few steps, stumble, catch himself, and take a few more steps. He is so proud of himself when he does this. Although walking is not his movement of choice – Owen would still rather crawl.

Things are still going great with Owen in daycare 2 days a week, and at my Moms house 1 day a week. He has a great time wherever he goes, and they all just love him. My Mom says Owen said "Good" and "Grandpa" today.

Gabe also taught Owen some new words today – well, they are noises actually. Owen can now moo, baaa (like a sheep), and make oooohooohoooh aaahaaahaaa monkey noises. It is too cute.

And a few days ago while Owen and I were stuck in traffic, I was pointing out all the big trucks driving beside us, and I make the truck noise (like blowing a raspberry). About 20-30 minutes later, once we were out of the heavy traffic, a truck drove past us and Owen pointed at it and make the truck noise. It was great! He is learning so many things – and so fast too!

Owen has moved up to size 24 months in most tops, but it still in 18 month bottoms. His favorite foods are still fruits, peas, and sweet potatoes, but he loves chicken, and he has taken an interest in cheese lately (cheddar and mozzarella – he didn’t care for the swiss).

Everyday is a new adventure for all of us – we love Owen so much. And I know he can’t wait to have real conversations with us. He loves life so much – I hope that lasts into his teenage years. It’s neat to see how Owen is similar to Gabe and I – and he gets his passion and zeal for things from me, and he gets laid back attitude and general contentment from Gabe – he’s a great little mix!

My new game

Owen has a new game. It consists of him sitting in our computer chair, and Gabe pushing him from the kitchen to the great room. Owen loves it!

Sometimes we spin the chair a little as we push it. We used to do this with Owen in our laps when he was too little to sit all by himself, or when we thought he would lunge forwards. Today was the first day we let him sit all by himself. He feels like a big boy. He is so proud. It is too cute!

Happy Birthday to us!

Owen is one of 5 babies in our Play Group that celebrate their first birthday in January. First is Jacob, then Charlie, then Ellenor, then Keira, and Owen brings up the rear.

Here is a picture of all Owen's friends at Play Group today.

Birthdays mean 2 things to a kid (usually): cake and presents. Owen got both today! Here is Owen opening some of his presents.

Thanks to Charlie and Deanna for the Mickey mouse bowl and the great touch-and-feel books - Owen loves them! And thanks to Karen and Jacob for the tigger t-shirt - it fits Owen great! And thanks to Rebecca and Olivia for the noise makers and the book - Owen played with them all the way home today - he loves them! And thank you to Mandy and Keira for the Little People toys - I think Owen even called one of them "man" already - they are bound to be a hit! And thank you to Sheri and Hayden, and Heather and Ellenor, for the outfits - they are so warm and fuzzy - Owen will love them I'm sure (and I love them too)!

And here is the other big birthday party lure - chocolate cake! This was Owen's first time eating cake. He liked the icing the best!

Owen fed himself the cake and was quite content as I chatted with the other Moms and took pictures of the other kids. And when I went back to Owen he had a big handful of icing. After wiping him down, I found chocolate cake behind Owen's ear, and icing on his eye lid!

Owen wasn't so social today, but he did have a good time. He was so distracted, in fact, that he didn't even notice he wore a hat for most of the party.

Owen gets another birthday party in a few weeks - this time it will be at our house with family and a few friends. Owen will get another chance to open presents and eat cake - we are both looking forward to this all over again!

Not much better

Owen had yet another poo explosion on Wednesday night. This time Gabe got up (at 1:30am) and dealt with it. Thank you Gabriel!

But Owen is still waking up every night - poo or no poo - and crying for about 10 minutes. He seems so uncontrollable, like he had a nightmare, and then we clam him down, give him a bottle, and he goes back to bed. Its rough - happening every night for a week. I need my sleep!

Well, we're off now to celebrate all the January babies birthdays at our Play Group get together this afternoon. I am so excited! I bought some presents for the other birthday kids - I love buying little girl clothes! I can't wait to buy them and not have to give them to someone else!

So gross!

Owen still isn’t 100% better – he still has one massive poo explosion a day that goes right through his onesie and pants. But he is eating solids, and his poops are getting less-liquidy. Gross.

Last night was a rough one though; Owen woke up at 1:30am completely covered in poo – it was in his hair, under his toenails, smeared all over his crib – everywhere. It took us half an hour to clean him up completely and then he was wide awake. So Gabe stayed up with him while I went back to bed. After a little bit of playing and a bottle, Owen went back to bed. But he was up again at 5am. I think he had a nightmare, because Owen was crying so hard and nothing we did would calm him. So after 20 minutes or so of trying to calm him down, Owen finally took another bottle and went back to bed. 7am came very early for us when Gabe’s alarm went off. I was lucky and had the day off. Owen didn’t wake up again until 8:30am, so I got a bit more sleep after Gabe went to work.

Owen's new games

My son is quite the character. He has taken a real liking to stuffed animals lately. But not in the way you might think he would. What Owen likes to do is bite them, and then crawl around the house with them in his mouth, dragging underneath him. It's quite hillarious to see!

Here is Owen with Goliath the lion.

And here he is with a stuffy book. This one is his favorite to chew and crawl with becasue the little stars that stick out of the book are the perfect size for him mouth. We find this book all over the house now.

Owen also has a little stuffed animal fish that he loves to chew and crawl with. And then he will crawl over to us, take it out of his mouth, smile, and say 'fish'. It's great!

This is Owens baby. He got it for Christmas from his Mummo (Gabe's Mom). We call it 'baby', and he knows he is supposed to be gentle with babies, so he doesn't bite the baby (although he likes to eat her hair and chew on her bow). What Owen does instead is hug the baby - with passion. I think he got that from me. I like to hug Owen and rough house with him, so he thinks that hugs are great when they are strong. So that is how he hugs the baby. He picks her up, wraps his arms around her and squeezes the life out of her while making a face and shaking. It's so funny to watch! And he is so proud of himself too.

My new 'do'

This is the before photo - see how long Owens hair is at the back?

Here are the curls I cut off - all this hair comes from the back of his head and by his ears...

And here is the after photo - it's a little choppy, and I think I took too much off right behind his ears, but it looks way better and doesn't stick out as much!

A few new firsts

Owen had a few new foods today – blackberries (in yogurt), cherries, (in applesauce), and teriyaki chicken. His appetite is coming back, and I think he is feeling a lot better.

Owen had his first haircut today – Gabe and I did it ourselves in Owens bath. We didn’t cut off much – just the long parts in the back, front, and near his ears.

Flu bug

Owen is still sick. Gabe is now sick too. I am healthy… for now. Owen had a few explosive diarrhea’s at Moms house on Thursday, and now Mom and Dad are sick too. He’s had a couple more nasty explosions since then, but no more puking, so that is good. We tried to give him Pedialite, but he doesn’t like it, so he doesn’t drink much of it. He hasn’t eaten solid foods for a few days, now (with the exception of a couple of bites of yogurt here and there).

The plus side is that Owen sleeps a lot now. He was up thing morning at 6, down at 7, up at 9, down at 10:30 and is still asleep (it is 12:30 now). Hopefully he is better by Monday. I don’t want him to go to daycare still sick.

Owen's 1st birthday party!

I am in the midst of planning Owen's 1st birthday party, and I'm loving every minute of it!

I guess there is something in me that just clicked on when I strated this process. And now I've realized all the great things I get to plan for Owen, and do with him, now that I'm his Mom. Like birthday parties. I worked from home as a party planner for a few years a while back. I organized events, did fundraisers, planned Christmas parties for businesses, and even planned a few weddings too. I loved it! But it became too time consuming, and without benefits (and wanting to start a family), I returned to working for other people's companies.

But now I get to plan Owen's 1st birthday party and I am psyched! I have decided it will have a MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS theme, and I am asking those invited to bring their own musical instruments from home if they want to. I figured Owen wouldn't really unsderstand a theme like fire trucks or sports (especially as I don't want soccer balls kicked all around my house), so I went with somethng I thoguht he'd have fun with, and something age appropriate. And he loves his musical instruments.

Now I just have to plan the decorations, send invited to people we don't have email addresses for, get the goodie bag treats, and try not to buy Owen too many presents. My Mom and I are making Owen a cake -a cool shaped cake, but I won't say of what - that is going to be a surprise!

I know he won't remmeber his 1st birthday party, or maybe even his 2nd or 3rd, but I want him to have fun while he does remember. And of course I'll be there to take a million pictures!

:)

Cardboard castle

Our TV broke yesterday (everyone went bright green) and so we bought a new one today. We haven't even watched it yet - Owen and I spent the day playing in his new cardboard castle. He loves it. Heck, I like it! (I have to really watch my language now that Owen is copying everything we say!)

I plan on coloring this castle and making it look totally awesome. Gabe says it will be destroyed soon, so I shouldn't bother. But just you wait - this will be THE coolest castle ever! Just give me time...

Caption contest!

What should the caption of this photo be?