Sunday, September 27, 2009

Big Boy & New Tricks!!


Owen is such a big boy and is holding his head up so great to be 10 weeks old! He hates tummy time so we decided to put him in the Bumbo seat a bit earlier to work on his neck and he loves it! He can sit up for about 10mins and can follow us around the room. We love to see his little head turn around from side to side :) As soon as I figure out how to post videos I will take one of him moving his head and giggling...it's really funny!

Owen's New Ride!!


Owen got a new car seat last week and he sure does love it! Steve and Mel gave us their infant seat so we didn't have to buy one which saved us a lot of money...at first :) I guess when they bought the seat they had smaller sizes that fit babies up to 25inches and 20lbs.
Well Mr. Owen is a tall boy and is now 25inches long so his feet hang off the end and his head reaches the top of the seat. We didn't realize how much this bothered him until our trip to NC...he got so mad that he couldn't stretch out his legs and kept kicking the seat. He's a very active boy!
At his 2 month appt we talked to his doctor to find out how long he would need to be in the infant seat and riding rear-facing. He said that they usually stay in the seat until they reach 20lbs or 1 year, whichever comes first. Of course we could buy the convertable seat and put him in it as soon as he can hold his head up pretty good but with that seat we would have to take him in and out of it everywhere we go. That just seemed like a lot of work especially when O usually falls asleep in the car and we just pop his infant seat on to the stroller base and go. He will sleep in it anywhere; dinner, shopping, even just sitting in the house.
So we decided to just buy another seat even though they are expensive with thoughts that we will need it anyway for the next baby :) We got the new Peg Perego SIP 30/30 which is the best on the market for crashes and infant comfort. It's also bigger and allows for a baby up to 30inches long and 30lbs. So O will have room to grow! Thanks to Grandma Sue for helping us buy it! O loves it and is so much more comfortable!

Lots of Visitors...Owen is one popular guy!

Owen and Mrs. Lauren. O loves her and they got to play for hours!

Lauren & Jon come to visit


Lauren & Chris come too!

Aunt Mel sees me almost weekly...I sure do love her, Cailyn and Uncle Steve!


Andi comes to visit again...Sadie loves her and O loves when she comes to see him.



Clay and Lexi come and bring champagne to celebrate



Matt and Kelly...practicing before baby Chase arrives


Owen has had lots of visitors and here are a few pictures. He loves his new friends and can't wait for everyone to come back to see him soon!








Sunday, September 20, 2009

Pictures!!!

Owen's Baptism at my church in Pink Hill

Owen wearing Chris' Baptism outfit...so cute!



Our Family!






Owen's First ECU Tailgate!























Thursday, September 17, 2009

Long Blog...from 2 weeks old to 9 weeks...

Sorry to everyone that reads our blog...I am sure we have lost some readers since I promised to post weekly updates and it has been 7 weeks since my last post. I will try to catch you all up in one blog :) For those that I talk to daily, you all know that I have had some challenges with breastfeeding, infections, INFECTIONS, thrush, yeast, reflux and last and the worst Owen's reaction to one of his vaccine :( Between all that, I have wanted to spend as much time with my little guy as possible...so forgive me for not blogging!



With that said we're all doing great! I will start with breastfeeding, just a short little note to say that it's much harder than anyone ever tells you. It's week 9 and we are just getting things on track. From me having mastitis to yeast to dealing with a month of thrush...we have had our fair share of trouble in the feeding department! I also had a poor milk supply which by eating oatmeal and pumping lead to an over-supply. Wouldn't think that would be a problem, right? Think again...imagine a baby trying to drink from a fire hydrant versus a slow water hose. Nursing during this time always ended up with me and Owen crying and then Chris bottle feeding him then consoling me that I wasn't a failure and it would get better! And it did :) I go to a weekly bfeeding moms group and they all say that I am the poster mom for bfeeding b/c I am so determined even after all the problems I went through. Maybe I will become a lactation consultant in my spare time. But we got it...at least for now. THRUSH IS GONE after a month of treatment. It's a nasty virus that is pretty much impossible to get rid of. Maybe Owen has had his share and will never get it again.



On to Owen, or as we now call him "O Man" he's doing great and gaining weight like a champ. We went for his 2 month appt on Tuesday and found out that he is 12lbs 2ozs (75th percentile), head is in the 75th percentile (yes he has a huge noggin), height 24.5inches (90th percentile). We can't get over how tall he is. He is still wearing some newborn clothes but they are too short in the torso for him so we've moved into the 0-3 which most are still a little big. It's strange how they all used to fit well and then all of a sudden he grew longer and got leaner. Don't get me wrong, he still has a chunky belly but he looks more proportioned now.



Things that O Man is doing lately: He has started to recognize our voices and will follow them around the room looking at us. He smiles all day and laughs at himself...it's really funny to watch. He loves looking in a mirror and laughs. We have a mirror on the back of the seat in our car and he just watches himself and laughs. He is swatting things and just last week actually was able to grab onto things in front of him. He hasn't quite figured out how to let go but I am sure that will come. And he coos all the time! This week he has just started trying to make the same sounds that we make. We think he's pretty smart :)



Other O Updates: Poor baby has reflux. I had to take him to the doctor about 2 weeks ago b/c he was having horrible gas pains and couldn't get it out. We were constantly doing bicycles with him to help his little tummy but a few weeks ago it got so bad that he wasn't nursing properly. He would nurse for 3-4mins then pull off screaming. I would burp him but that didn't help. I realized that his little belly was hard as a rock and knew that wasn't normal. The doctor said that he may grow out of it as his GI system matures. We sure hope so! The Zantac that he takes 3 times a day tastes AWFUL! He has learned how to spit it out so it's a challenge to get it in him. I didn't realize that 90% of all babies have some form of reflux.



O got his vaccines on Tuesday and of course he would be one of the 3% to get a reaction. He had 3 shots and then Rotavirus which is a sweet drink. He loved it and did good with this shots. Our doctor told us that he may be fussy for a few days or he may be sleepy or both. We got home and he napped from about 10:30am until 4pm only waking every 3 hours to eat. I was in heaven and got some things done around the house. Or so I thought...O woke up around 4pm screaming and nothing I did helped. I walked the house with him for hours and hours and he was just not feeling good. We started him on Tylenol every 4 hours but that didn't seem to help. Finally around 10pm he fell asleep and we thought that maybe that was the end of his fussiness. He had a low grade fever but nothing to be worried about. He slept about 4 hours and then was up for the rest of the night. I held him and rocked him then when he did fall asleep, I put him down only to wake up 30mins later with him crying. This was so unlike Owen as he isn't really a crying baby. The morning wasn't any better so I finally called the doctor around 3pm to see if it was normal for him to be that fussy. Also, he had gone through about 10 dirty diapers in less than 12 hours which was a lot. They wanted to see him and we found out that he had a mild reaction to the Rotavirus, meaning that he got it. I have never had it but the doctor said it's really painful and you have horrible cramps and upset tummy. That explained it! So I came home ready for the challenge we were about to have with night. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I think he was so tired from not sleeping and crying that he was able to relax and sleep a bit. He went to bed around 8pm and woke up at 12:30am, then slept until 2am and was up every 30-45mins after that. I went to bed at 9pm so I was not a zombie like the night before. Today has been better and he has napped and nursed a lot. He went to bed at 7:30pm so I am hoping that we will be back on his normal schedule (7:30pm - 1:30am then back down until 5:30am...wish I could stretch that until 7am but I will be happy for just getting up two times instead of 5-6!!).



Last week was our first family beach trip. We all had a great time. It was so nice to get away for a week. It was Sadie's first trip too and she wasn't too fond of the water. It took her all week to get in and when she did, it was a short time. She made friends with a lab pup and she followed him into the water. They were too cute playing. Owen loves the beach...just like his mom and dad! We bought him this neat tent that was SPF 50 and he napped in it every day. He spent about 20mins laughing and cooing and then was out. Something about the fresh beach air and the sound of waves relaxed him completely! He sleeps with the sound of the ocean so he was in heaven on the beach. Both of the grand parents were there and it was nice to spend time with everyone and to also have some time for just me and Chris. Grandma Sue came back mid-week to watch Owen and also the last weekend. Chris and I got some good beach time together while she watched him. Much needed alone time for us. We were so sad to come back home after 10days in NC :(

Owen also went to his first ECU game, well the tailgate. I couldn't take an infant in the stands :) He had a fun time and spent most of the time in his bassinet talking to anyone that came by. He met our good friends and we got some cute pics. Daddy went to the game and we went to lunch with the grandma's and did a little shopping. O is such the shopper...maybe b/c he knew that we were buying him things...ha!

Owen was baptised that same weekend in my church at home. Chris' parents were able to come and it was great to have all the grand parents there all that was missing was Aunt Jen. We haven't found a church in VA yet and wanted to have him baptised now and then we will do something else when we join a church here. Owen did great and it was such a special day! It was really special b/c Owen wore Chris' baptism outfit from when he was a baby.

I think that's about it for us, I am sure I am missing something but here's a bit of an update. Now that we have established a good schedule, I will...SERIOUSLY, I will update the blog weekly.

I will post pictures in new posting since this one is so long...ha!

Love the 4 of us!