Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Back to Work and School for Owen

Sad post this week...

This week has been a hard week in the Frederick house. I started back full-time on Monday and Owen went to school for his first full day. Owen seems to really like school and his teacher and is adjusting well...me however, I am not :( It's a huge adjustment for me going from spending 24/7 with him to barely spending 2 hours a day. Everyone says it will get better and I can only hope so but for now, I am just taking it day by day. The hard part is my commute and not getting home before 6pm every night. And Owen has always gone to bed at 7:30pm-8pm no matter what. We try to keep him up later but it hasn't worked...he has decided his bedtime is 7:30pm and that's it! Monday I was a mess, cried all day pretty much and then came home to a sleeping baby. Chris tried his best to keep Owen awake but he was so pooped from school that he couldn't hold his eyes open. I held him while he slept and cried and cried. I was finally able to wake him up just in time to give him a bath and feed him, then back to sleep. I didn't even get to see his sweet little smile at all that night. This is going to be hard for me, not being able to spend any time with him at the end of the day. And everyone says to hang in there, it will get better and I hope so but am having a hard time understanding how and when. Owen will continue to be tired from school and I can't do anything about my commute. I am just hoping that he will start napping better at school so that he's not a zombie when he gets home. We have thought about several options if this doesn't get better but I am really hoping I can be strong and get through this. One option would be to put him in daycare near my work. We opted against that b/c we didn't want him in a car for 2+ hours a day. And being at school close to home and his doctor's office, if he gets sick, Chris can get him and be at the doctor's office in less than 10mins. And Owen's school is really nice and I really like it there so I want to keep him there. Praying for strength to get through this! I never realized how hard this was going to be :(

Owen Updates:
Growing, Growing and Growing! Owen is getting to be a tall boy! He is so long now that pants and outfits that I bought just a few weeks ago are too short on him now. I can't wait until his 4 month appt to see how long he is. We measure him at home on his tummy mat and our measurements say 26.5 inches long. But we'll see for sure in a few weeks. I think he has gained weight too and I am guessing he's probably close to 14lbs now. He's now wearing 3-6 month clothes easily. We had to do a little shopping last week to get him some outfits that fit for school...at least that's my excuse for shopping for him :)

Owen is holding his head up great on his own now. They do 30mins a day of tummy time at school and we can really tell that it's helping. His teacher says that when he does his tummy time that he turns his head from side to side a lot so he can see everyone, which helps strengthen his muscles. I have also been working with him to roll over and he can do it on his own every once in a while. But if not, he grabs my finger and pulls himself towards me and rolls over onto his elbows where he then just looks around :) Then when he's tired he kicks his leg over and rolls onto his back. I think he'll be rolling over on his own very soon...oh boy!

I have also been working with him to sit up. Not sure when they are supposed to do this on their own but I think he's very close :) When we put him in his bumbo chair now he leans up and isn't supported in the back much so we think that maybe he can start to work on sitting up. Sure, he can sit up and lean against anything but we want him to sit alone. Can't wait until that day! Hope he's not at school when it happens :(

Well that's about it for us. Excited for a weekend of nothing and spending every minute with our little guy.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Owen...Kramer???


Bad Hair?? Owen or Kramer??
Everyone is always saying how adorable Owen's hair is and how thankful we must be that he has such a head full of hair. We are and in the front, it's absolutely adorable...in the back is a different story :) We have tried to brush it in every direction and still it sticks up like a fan in the back.
He's our little Kramer(from Seinfield)...ha!

Weddings & 12 Weeks!

This past weekend I went out for the first time since Owen was born. I know, it's been 3 months but I just can't seem to leave him. I constantly wonder if he's going to wake up and be upset b/c I am not there...I am sure every mom can relate to this feeling. But Saturday was my night! Chris was so sweet to stay home with Owen while I went to my friends Dani & Andrew's wedding outside of Baltimore. I had a really good time and did a lot better than I thought with being away from Owen. Of course I checked in on him every hour. He and daddy had a fun night and he slept until 3am, which was nice for me since I was out until after midnight. It was so great to see everyone and especially Penny, Teenie and Crystal who I haven't seen in FOREVER!
Chi Omega Girls
Owen is 12 weeks...I can hardly believe it! He is such a fun little guy right now and loves attention! He will talk all day if you talk back to him. And if you don't pay attention, then he will talk really loud to get your attention. He loves to sit up and to be carried so he can see what's going on. He still likes to lay on the floor and kick and play but he is much happier sitting up.

He has grown so much! We had his weight checked to make sure his Zantac dose is correct and he's 13lbs 3ozs and 26 inches long....WHOA! He's going to be a tall little guy. We're having a hard time finding clothes to fit him right now. He's still in the 0-3month but they are getting too short. The 3 month and 3-6 fit length wise but are way too wide on him. Renee told me about extenders that snap on the bottom of the onesie to make it longer so we will definitely be buying some of those. But other good news, Owen's doctor thinks that he may be able to come off the Zantac soon so we're cutting down the dose and only giving it twice a day to see how he handles being off it. We're so excited b/c Owen HATES it! I don't blame him, it tastes horrible.

Owen starts school on Monday...I am not happy about this at all! I know, it's really daycare (I am sure my mom is laughing at me right now for calling it school). He will be at Minnieland Private Day School which, out of all the places we really liked it a lot. They really work with him on developmental aspects so he's not just sitting there all day. We went 2 weeks ago and met with the director and then went on Friday to meet his teacher and observe the infant room. I have to say that both days went really well and I only teared up once. His teacher, Miss Katie seems really nice and she was soo understanding that I was having a hard time letting go. One good thing, well I think so anyway, is that she had long blonde hair and the same skin tone as me so maybe she will look familiar to O. I always thought I would be happy to go back to work but I can totally see how moms end up staying home. I have cried every day this week :( Just the thought of not spending my days with my little guy make me so sad. I am happy to get back on a schedule but I just wish he was closer so that I could pop in during the day and check on him. Thank goodness I will be working 1/2 days the first week back so hopefully that will help us both get used to Owen going to school. I'll let you know how it goes...pray for strength for me...I will sure need it!

Owen 12 Weeks!