Fall Weather and New Tricks

Last week we had some nice fall weather in Texas which hasn't happened a lot so far this year. I took advantage of the cooler temperatures and had an impromptu photo shoot with Owen in the front yard. As you can see, I am not a very good photographer but it was fun to pretend like I was. I am pretty sure the two lawn service men taking their break across the street thought I was a crazy person. My goal for next year is to learn how to use my nice fancy camera so that I can take better pictures. I also probably need to learn how to use a good editing program too.

 

 

 

 

In the last week or so, Owen has learned 2 new tricks that are particularly amazing to me.

1. He is now able to stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything. For some reason, this milestone was almost more exciting to me than his first steps. I am not sure why but it just seems like a difficult thing to do and he was really pleased with himself when he was able to finally do it with ease.

2. I am in the process of transitioning Owen from bottles to cups and have not had the best luck. Over the course of the last week we have made great strides with the sippy cup but I am still holding the cup for him rather than Owen being able to drink it by himself. He knows how the sippy cup works and every now and then he will successfully drink from it, but most often he just shakes the cup instead of drinking from it. The other day I decided to see if I could get him to drink from a regular cup using a straw, on the first try he was able to do it!! This was another trick that was amazing to me. I don't know how he was able to figure it out on the first try but it was pretty neat to see. Now he loves using a straw to wash down his gourmet meals.

"Ones" Upon a Time

 

Before today, I did not have a valid library card. For as much as I read I don't have a good explanation for not having one. I have been meaning to go get a card for some time now but just haven't gotten around to it. Over Thanksgiving we will be taking a long-ish car ride and Myers and I decided it might be fun to get a book on CD for the trip. I like to talk in the car on long trips and Myers does not. He once said to me (after 7 hours of driving, which is about the midway point on the trip from Clemson to Dallas)"Karen, driving is for driving, not for talking." We figure that a book on CD is a good compromise between constant conversation and complete silence.

Anyway, I had vowed to go to the library this week to get a card and choose a book to listen to on the drive. On Monday we had a Preschool Playtime with some kids from church. One of the moms mentioned that she had just been to a story time at the library. I thought that sounded pretty fun so I went to the website this morning to check the schedule. Turns out they have a "Ones Upon a Time" story time for 1 year olds. According to the website, the class has a limit and you are encouraged to arrive early to get your ticket. Since Owen is only a month shy of 1 year I figured it would be no big deal if we attended even though he is not technically old enough.

When we got to the library there were tons of little kids waddling around. They have a pretty large section for kids that has toys and books (obviously) and little tiny tables. Owen was really interested in looking at everything and everyone. I was immediately aware that he was the only non-walker in the room and was sure that they were going to eject us before the story time even started. He crawled around and stared at a few different kids and eventually settled in front of a big wooden puzzle thing.

The class (I guess you call it a class) basically consisted of singing 10 or so songs with hand motions and then listening to the lady read a gigantic book. It was exactly like what I have seen in movies and on tv. A bunch of moms waving their kid's arms around in the air and singing nursery rhymes while making various animal noises. There were puppets too. As dumb as that sounds, it was actually pretty fun. I didn't feel like an idiot singing hickory-dickory-dock because everyone else in the room was doing it too, plus Owen was smiling and laughing the entire time.

If you live in or around Coppell and have a 1 year old (or almost 1 year old) I highly recommend Ones Upon a Time at the Coppell Library....as long as you don't tell anyone that Owen is too young.

A Bit of This, A Bit of That

I haven't posted in awhile. I was waiting for something exciting to happen in my life so that I would have something exciting to write about. I realized that I might be waiting for a long time so I might as well just write whatever. So, here is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Enjoy.

1. At my high school reunion I had a handful of people tell me that they had found my blog through other blogs. I was pleased to hear that I wasn't just writing to no one on here. I was even more pleased when a couple of the people said that they actually enjoyed what I had written and/or thought it was funny. So, to all of you who are reading this, thanks! I am glad that you are taking the time to see what I have to blabber on about. Please consider leaving me a comment, I love comments. :)

2. I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving since about July. This year my sister Sarah and (double) brother-in-law Reese are hosting the Lever and Ellington families at their house. I can't wait! I have been asked to make the most important (and most difficult) dish...green bean casserole. I have to go shopping this weekend for the best and most fresh cans of green beans and cream of mushroom soup.

3. Owen took his first steps last week! He walked from Myers to me and it was great! We have walking practice every night. He prefers to walk if he is holding a remote or toy in one of his hands but has doubled his previous record of 6 steps in a row to 12. Crawling is still his main mode of transportation but I bet by Christmas he will be challenging other babies to sprinting races down the streets.

4. Owen's birthday is just over a month away. I have made no plans for it yet. My co-worker Kelly says I better get on that soon. She is probably right.

5. Owen has really started liking his bath time. He has very fancy bath toys that most people probably couldn't afford but I will have nothing but the best for my baby. His bath toys include: a wash cloth, a tupperware container and two floaty fisher price men that are left over from when I was a baby. So, for a grand total of about 2 dollars worth of stuff, Owen has lots of fun playing in the tub. He mostly just splashes around by slapping the water with the wash cloth. It is pretty funny.

6. This past weekend I went to a baby shower for my good pal Jamie. There were about 45 pregnant ladies at the shower. One of them was going to the hospital that same day to have a baby. It was great to see a bunch of people that I have known for 20+ years, but don't get to see very often. I am hoping that even though Owen will be older than their babies, Jamie and Amanda and Liz will still invite us to their play dates!

7. Sorry for jumping all over the place...and for the sarcasm. Happy Thanksgiving.

Parks and Playgrounds

If you were to ask everyone I know to describe me in one word, I assume none of those people would choose the word "outdoorsy". I am a big fan of couches and television and other indoor things. I have nothing against nature but it is definitely not where I feel most at home. I feel most at home, well, at home. However, I am starting to embrace my inner hiker/camper/park ranger by spending more time in the great outdoors. Of course this time outside doesn't involve any actual hiking or camping or park rangering, it's pretty much just walks and trips to the playground.

Lately our little family has been heading to various playgrounds and parks around town. Owen is at an age where he is just starting to be able to explore some of the playground equipment and can slide down the slide with a lot of assistance. At our high school reunion a few weeks ago, Owen took his first ride on a swing and seemed to love it.

Yesterday we walked to Wilson Elementary school and played on the playground. I thought it would be fun for Myers to take Owen down the "big slide". I have fond memories of sliding down the big slide of my elementary school. If I remember correctly, my elementary school slide was approximately 30 feet long and made of metal. It was fortunate that you traveled about 60 mph down that thing because if you went any slower, you would burst into flames from sitting on a metal slide for too long that had been baking in the direct sunlight for the entire day. Side note: my elementary school also had a piece of equipment called the "looner lander" that was very odd and seemingly out of place for a school playground. It was not until I was in college that I realized it was actually the "lunar lander" (lunar, as in the moon) which made a lot more sense.

Anyway, Myers hiked to the top of the slide and sat with Owen on his lap. I had my camera ready to hopefully catch a quick shot of Owen zooming down. Apparently, things have changed since I was in elementary school. Maybe there were too many broken bones or something but slides now seem to be designed for low speed travel. It took about 45 seconds for Myers and Owen to travel down this 10 foot long, bulky plastic slide. There were lots of bumps and even some mid-slide scooting necessary to make it the entire way down. I managed to take several pictures during their descent. I even had time to take a water break. Ok, not really, but you get the point. I had a good laugh and the boys had a nice, slow, safe ride.

Neighborhood Stroll and The Ark

Pretty much every morning that I am off of work, I wake up and say to myself, "today Owen and I are going to go on a walk!" I would say we actually end up going on a walk about 30% of those days. Today was one of the days that I decided we needed to get out of the house for some fresh air. So after Owen's morning nap I got all geared up in my running shoes and shorts, loaded Owen into the jogging stroller, and hit the pavement.

I promised myself that we would travel no less than 2 miles and that I would jog (rather than walk) for as much of that 2 miles as I could. (sidebar: I hate running) Approximately 10 feet from our front door I walked through a gigantic cloud of gnats. About 10 feet after that, I walked through another gigantic cloud of gnats. Since the street was pretty much deserted I moved off of the sidewalk and on to the street to escape the swarm of gnats that now seemed to be engulfing the entire neighborhood. I detoured from my usual walking route to head toward Wilson Elementary to see if there were any kids on the playground. I forgot that it was a holiday and the school was as deserted as my street. Soon after I turned the corner onto the main road, I noticed an old gray truck lingering for far too long at a stop sign even though no cars were coming in either direction. I immediately came to the conclusion that the truck held an axe murderer/kidnapper who was waiting specifically for Owen and me. I turned around and headed back to the house. My 2 mile walk ended up being only about 200 yards. Time spent jogging = zero seconds.

I still wanted to get out of the house so we went to "The Ark" at First Baptist in Coppell. The Ark is an indoor playground with 2 separate areas for big kids and little kids. It is free and open to the public most days of the week. We had only been one other time. Last time there were between 40 and 50 kids, this time there were 3. Owen is just starting to stand up on his own but isn't walking yet. He crawled and climbed and seemed to have a lot of fun. There were several times that I had to crawl at maximum speed inside the playground to keep up. My knees are bruised and I definitely had to push the limits of my aversion to germs but all in all it was a lot of fun.

Consignment Shopping

Divine Consign is a gigantic sale of baby stuff that is held twice a year in Dallas. They offer a pre sale for 100 first time moms. About 6 weeks ago I came across the Divine Consign website and emailed them my information to see if I could get in on the pre sale. Turns out I contacted them early enough that I made the cut. The pre sale would allow me and a guest to go peruse the items before the sale was open to the public. I was picturing myself calmly walking around the convention center doing some methodical and intelligent comparison shopping since I was important enough to shop before the rest of the riff raff general public. I mentioned the pre sale to two of my friends and was concerned when BOTH of them said, "oh good, usually there are still some good items left at the pre sale, make sure you get there early and be ready to run". Hmmmmm.....

My mental picture of myself calmly browsing was now replaced with an image of crazy pregnant ladies elbowing and throat punching each other over the last Tickle Me Elmo. And women with babies strapped to their backs sprinting down the aisles of clothes grabbing any item they could reach. To make matters worse, I had invited my mom to be my "plus 1" but she backed out a few days before because my grandmother was coming for a visit. So now I was doomed to face the crazy mothers alone. I had made up my mind not to go at all. My original excitement had faded and I was now not wanting to wait in line and fight over used stuff that I didn't necessarily need in the first place.

The night before the sale Myers and I agreed that this really was a good opportunity to get some stuff for Owen at a great price and dear sweet Meredith offered to go with me. The game plan was that Meredith would head to the clothes section and look for fall clothes (since Owen has exactly zero clothes for cooler weather) and I would head to the toy section to look for a few items that I had in mind.

We accidently got to the convention center about 40 minutes early. It turned out to be a good thing because we beat the rush and were about 30th in line out of 200. Once the doors opened, promptly at 7:00, we walked briskly to our pre planned designated areas. I immediately found what I was looking for and picked up a couple of toys. The prices were lower than I was expecting and the items looked brand new. We definitely got caught up in the excitement of the event and left with the following:

1 activity piano
1 musical pusher thing
1 sit and ride thing
1 set of stackable rings
1 put-stuff-in-the-top-and-it-shoots-out-the-bottom-thing
1 musical hit with a hammer ABC thing
1 train
1 truck

5 pants
4 jeans (not sure why we got so many jeans, it seemed like a good idea in the heat of the moment)
7 shirts
5 jackets
1 Adidas track suit in mint condition

 

9 Months

Owen had his 9 month check up at the doctor's office today. I like to make the first appointment of the day in order to avoid as many sick babies as possible. Usually at the 8:30 a.m. appointment time we are the first ones in the office.

The first thing they do is weigh Owen completely nudey. At all of his other appointments I have had to lay him down on the scale and hope that he doesn't shoot a stream of pee at the nurse. Today it was weird to have him sit by himself on the scale with no problem. Owen weighs 20 pounds which, according to the doctor, puts him in about the 45th percentile for weight. He is 30 inches long/tall (93rd percentile).

Once the doctor comes into the exam room she lets us ask all of our questions. We love Dr. Han! She never seems rushed or annoyed and always answers all of our questions. Owen is right on target for all of his milestones and was in a really good mood for his check up.

I personally hate, hate, hate getting my finger pricked for the doctor to draw blood. They had to do that to Owen today and I was nervous for him. He didn't even flinch! I couldn't believe it. He also had to get 2 shots and although he did cry, it was only a little and he stopped as soon as I picked him up.

I know everyone says this, but I can't believe Owen is already 9 months old. Even factoring in the first few months of surviving on barely any sleep, the time has flown by. It is weird to think that 9 months ago he just laid around, slept, pooped and cried and now he is crawling, pulling himself up, feeding himself, "talking" (he says mama and dada), and smiling and laughing all the time.

Although it is a lot of work (duh) Myers and I are having a great time being parents! Owen is a laid back baby and is almost always in a great mood.

 

Labor Day Road Trip

At approximately 9:00 p.m. last Friday night, Mike, Meredith and 3 Levers jumped in the car and headed south for a weekend with Tony and Moe in New Braunfels. Although I was excited for our first vacation in a long, long time, I was very nervous about traveling with Owen. We originally planned to leave first thing Saturday morning but at the last minute I got it into my head that Owen would do much better in the car if we left at night, rather than in the morning. Turns out I was right. Owen didn't make a peep for the entire 4.5 hour trip and was even awake most of the time just staring at us in the backseat.

Our car ride started off with Meredith and I discussing work. After 3 minutes on this topic Mike loudly exclaimed, "BORING!!!" Which we took as a subtle hint to switch to a different conversation. We spent the rest of the ride playing "would you rather" with the most memorable being: would you rather have both male and female parts or no parts at all like a Ken doll? That became a reoccurring conversation for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday was a great day in New Braunfels. We started out the morning by walking around the Farmers Market and downtown NB. Tony was a great tour guide. He pointed out the world's first bakery, the world's biggest tree, the world's first German person etc. For lunch we headed to the Gruene Flour Cupcakery to visit Moe at work. We figured since we were already there we might as well try 1 (or 37) cupcakes. Yum. I do not care to admit how many cupcakes I consumed over the course of the weekend.

Saturday night and Sunday night I laughed more than I have in a very long time. At one point I almost stopped breathing because I was laughing so hard at a mental picture of a woman with no lower body. Ok, I realize that sounds morbid and disturbing but at the time it was very funny.

Overall, we gave Owen a 37 out of 42 for his weekend behavior. For the most part he was great!! He was a good sleeper and loved rolling around town in his stroller. We deducted points from his overall score because on Saturday he was a little "stopped up" (I will spare you the details) which made him a bit cranky. Then on Sunday and Monday he made up for lost time in the pooping department. We had to stop twice on the way home.

Turns out all of my anxiety about traveling with a 9 month old was unnecessary. We have such amazing friends that were willing to ride in the car and spend an entire weekend with a baby. Mike and Meredith and Tony and Moe all pitched in way more than they had to and helped take care of Owen which meant a lot to Myers and me.

Can't wait for our next road adventure!






Baby butt crack...

Rockin' at Church

I (Karen) really enjoying singing. I do not claim to be a professional or anything close. I would say that I am a decent enough singer that you are not likely to cover your ears and run away if I am singing in your presence. If you were to come to Hackberry Creek Church at 9:00 on a Sunday morning, you would most likely find me singing (yes, into a microphone and everything) at the altCHURCH service. Last weekend there was a party to welcome the new 6th graders into the youth group and we performed a cheesy medley for the parents and teenagers. The medley included such classics as What I Like About You, Boom Boom Pow (haha), Wanted Dead or Alive and Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song.

This morning, just for fun, we decided to play the medley at the end of the church service. Owen was there and Myers had him on his shoulders in the back of the room. There is a part in the Immigrant Song that goes, "ahhhhhhh ahhh" (look it up on YouTube if you are not familiar). Anyway, there is a slight pause between "ahhs" in the song and during that instrumental part, Owen was singing along shouting out "ahhhh". Everyone turned around to look at him and it was pretty funny.

Up until this week, Owen was going down for a nap everyday right around 9:00 a.m. This was fine during the week but posed a problem on Sundays since that is the exact time that church begins. It is great that he is now awake longer and we can all go to church as a family which is so important to us. When all of those tired teenagers are staring blankly at me whilst I sing, it is nice to see a smiling baby face among the crowd. Plus, when the message is boring I can play with Owen instead of paying attention, just kidding.

And now some pictures....just because.



Just so you know, he is laughing in this one, not crying out in pain. He has ticklish shoulders apparently.

Elbow Rodeo

When Myers and I were just young pups, we used to play elbow rodeo. Not sure if this is a game that we invented or something that other people did as well. The way it works is one person would grab on to the elbow skin of the second person. Then, the second person flails their arm around while the first person tries to keep hold of the elbow skin. I know everyone is going to pause right now for a quick game of elbow rodeo with their friends and family. Not the most exciting game in the world but it was fun for two 13 year olds.

The reason I bring this up is because Owen has started to play the game of diaper rodeo. Once he started crawling, he decided that a great time to practice crawling was the exact moment that I was attempting to change his diaper. He flips himself over and tries to scoot away no matter if he is on the changing table or the floor. There were several occasions where he would be on the floor army crawling away with his butt cheeks hanging out of a partially attached diaper. This whole routine seemed to be very amusing for Owen but quite exasperating for me.

After several days of chasing him around the floor or repeatedly flipping him over on the changing table, I decided to try and distract him with something to see if that would make him forget to play diaper rodeo. The first thing I grabbed was a baby shoe and handed it to him before I started the diaper change. He loved it. Owen was inspecting (and biting) the shoe and was so engrossed that he completely forgot to flip over and try to crawl away. I couldn't believe how interested he was in a tiny shoe. Now, he gets to play with the shoe during his diaper changes but only at that time. This way he doesn't get bored with it and I genuinely think he looks forward to playing with the shoe as a treat.

It has been so amazing to see how quickly he picks up new skills. Within a couple of days he went from army crawling, to real crawling, to pulling himself up and now "cruising" on the furniture. We had to lower his mattress because after he pulled himself up he was trying to eat his way out of the crib!

Parenting, 7 Months In

Having a kid is great; some might say it's the best thing a (sufficiently mature and financially stable) person can experience. I would agree. However, the greatness is hard to explain while the struggles are easy to see. The average person doesn't think your baby's first smile or roll-over is the greatest thing ever but probably thinks a baby crying or lack of sleep is the worst thing ever. You get used to those things. There is no doubt parenting changes you.

Like just about everyone else, I love food. The other day I made the most beautiful bacon and cheese omelet I've ever made. It was a perfect light brown on the outside and melty on the inside. I had my toast buttered and was ready to eat (note: I thought about using the word "nosh" but I couldn't do it. It's a recent addition to my top 3 least favorite words list. Just writing it makes me cringe.). As I was getting my fork Owen woke up from his nap and started crying, he needed a bottle. Karen was at work so it was up to me. In the past, just about anything could wait if food was on the table. Not anymore, I calmly put down my fork and fed Owen with only a single forlorn glance back at my omelet. I eventually got to eat my cold masterpiece and soggy toast. All that is to say, priorities change and you're happy to do it.

I love relaxing on the couch almost as much as I love food but now we spend a lot of time on the floor with Owen. First it was trying to get him to roll over, then sit up and now crawl. I am on the floor just about from the time I get home from work until Owen goes to bed. The other night I had just made dinner (a cheddar, bacon and guacamole hamburger if you're scoring at home) and was headed upstairs to watch TV while I ate. Owen was already asleep and Karen was at the grocery store so it was just me. I was halfway through my hamburger when I looked around and realized I was all by myself sitting on the floor eating my dinner, right in front of a perfectly comfortable couch. I thought "what's going on?" "how old am I?" I gave the non-existent camera a Jim Halpert look and kept on eating. The floor isn't that comfortable but still our furniture had become pointless.

At the beginning I said a baby is a great thing for a sufficiently mature and financially stable person, I suppose you can never be too financially stable but you can definitely be too mature. And if you are, it takes all the fun out of it. You'll see and hear things that would make a 12-year old laugh and if you're not able to laugh you'll just be grossed out and miss out on some of the funniest moments of your life. I had a point to this post but I got up on my soapbox and lost sight of it. Kids aren't always great but YOUR kid is always great; they'll make you do funny things and will do funny things to you. I think that was it. Seven months makes me an expert, right?

New Friend

Summer is in full swing! This year, summer means soccer, soccer, soccer, and work, work, work. Since I got my new job as Education Director for Hackberry Creek Church, I have spent a lot of time planning and preparing summer activities for kids. It has been lots of fun but also quite exhausting and it is only June. Any of you who have worked a week of Vacation Bible School will know what I mean. In between working and sleeping, we have been watching game after game of the world cup. Myers took the day off today in order to watch the US vs. Slovenia game. It was an exciting match that Owen missed most of due to a long morning nap.

We have all been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Owen's new friend, Lady Hiss. Little Emily Forney was born last weekend and Owen got the chance to meet her today. Myers and I were both surprised at how tiny Emily looked (she is only 6 pounds) since we were used to seeing our big guy. Matt and Laura were surprised at how gigantic Owen looked since they were used to seeing their petite lady.

Emily came about 2 weeks early. Last Saturday, the Levers, the Haynesesesss, and the Forneys all had a fun day together cooking, talking, watching soccer and playing games. The very next day Emily decided she was ready to enter the world!

Teefs

Owen has been a really good baby. Not much crying, good nap taker, lots of laughs etc. However, over the past couple of weeks he has been a bit grumpy. Myers and I often find ourselves making the most ridiculous faces and noises in order to make him stop crying. Glad Owen doesn't have a camera of his own to take OUR picture.

About a week and a half ago, we discovered what all the crying was about: he has sprouted 2 teeth! Both teeth are on the bottom and they make him look like a distinguished gentleman. I can't believe he already has teeth, it makes me realize that he won't be a baby forever.

Other recent milestones:
1. Rolling front to back and back to front. He likes to practice these moves in his crib. We never know what position he will be in when he wakes up in the morning. We often find him sideways, face down, with his booty sticking up in the air. Very cute.

2. Cereal eating. It was a slow process, but Owen now seems to have gotten the hang of eating from a spoon. He has made some pretty funny faces along the way and is now eating cereal twice a day. I think we are going to start adding some fruits and vegetables to his diet soon. Another step away from being a baby.

3. Sleeping!!! After months of waking up 3 or 4 times a night, Owen is FINALLY sleeping through the night. Hallelujah. He usually goes to bed at 7:30 and then wakes up to eat at 5:00ish and then back to bed for another 2 or 3 hours. It is fantastic.

Helmet

At Owen's 4 month doctor appointment, the pediatrician suggested that Owen might need a helmet to correct a gigantic flat spot on the back of his head. Myers and I noticed the flat spot a long time ago but were hoping it would correct itself. (yes, we were delusional enough to think that Owen's skull would magically mold into a normal shape all by itself). I have to admit I was a little upset at the prospect of getting a helmet for our baby. The more I thought about it though, I realized that if I were a teenage boy with a misshapen head and my parents could have fixed it and chose not to, I would be really mad.

Cranial Technologies is THE PLACE for this kind of thing. They have several locations around the country and apparently people drive hours and hours to get their helmet (DOC band) at Cranial Tech. I feel very blessed that there is a Dallas location. We went for a consultation where they take mugshot-like photos from all different angles of Owen's head. It was very difficult to have someone point out all of the problems with your baby's head/face/skull. Anyway, after a cool digital imaging appointment Owen is now in his helmet. Since he is so young they are hoping he will only be in it for about 6 (maybe 8) weeks.

Big Changes

After 4 years at ACIG, I will be leaving the insurance field to begin a new phase of my life. After months of prayer, thoughts, meetings and interviews, I have been hired as the Director of Education - Membership at Hackberry Creek Church. I could not be more excited and can't wait to get started. My new friend, Kelly Shultz, will be the Director of Education - Outreach and the two of us will both be working part time.

Since I am moving from a full time job to a part time job I will now have a lot more time at home with Owen! Myers and I feel so blessed to be in a situation where one of us can be home with Owen most of the week. We are going to have to get used to cutting back on some of our favorite luxuries (i.e. going out to eat) but we both know that the "sacrifice" is well worth the reward!

Swimming

Ok, this time I promise I will start updating the blog more consistently. Do you believe me? Didn't think so.

Owen is turning 4 months old this weekend. How exciting! His new tricks include grabbing things, laughing, sitting up (well, sitting against the back of the couch and not falling over) and swimming! Last weekend we heated up my parents' spa to a nice luke warm temperature and gave Owen his first swimming experience. He wore his fancy little swimmers diaper covered by very stylish orange swim trunks. We had high hopes that he would absolutely love the water. While he didn't hate it, he didn't exactly love it either. He almost seemed not to notice that he was in the pool. We held him in there for about 5 minutes and then got out. Even though he didn't laugh and splash and play, I am still considering it a successful experience.

As the weather gets warmer we hope to have many more trips to the pool. By August, Owen will be a regular George Hamilton sporting a beautiful bronze glow.

Stay tuned for a new post next week with a report from Owen's 4 month check up.

Not So Great at Blogging...

Big News! Owen is here! Ok, so he was born 8 weeks ago. Our initial plan to update the blog several times a week is not going so well. Oops. Anyway, the first 8 weeks of parenthood have gone pretty well. Lots of eating, lots of sleeping and lots of pooping for Owen. I read a message board that was polling new mothers to see how often their babies poop. Many of the women said once a day or once every other day. Some even said that their little ones poop once every 5 days!! Owen is pooping, on average, 5 or 6 times every day. Usually he poops immediately after we change his diaper and then laughs at us. (Myers is not a fan of the word "poop" so I wanted to include a story that used the word poop as many times as possible)

Other highlights...
I swore to myself that I would not refer to myself in the third person and that I would not talk to Owen in a ridiculously high pitched voice. I am sad to admit that I am now doing both. If you were a fly on the wall at our house during the day you would likely hear me say something like, "smile for your mama" or something dumb like that. What is it about having a child that makes you suddenly talk like an idiot? At least I keep this nonsense contained within the walls of our house.

At 8 weeks of age Owen is able to hold his head up. He also smiles and laughs and sleeps like a champion. When he was born he weighed 8 and a half pounds, he has now chunked up to an astounding 13 pounds. Most of that weight is contained in his gigantic cheeks!