Back to waking up 3+ times a night thanks to a stomach bug and a nasty cold. Oh this child is going to kill me with his sleep issues. He's lucky he's so sweet and so cute or we might ship him off....just kidding!
So we're back to crying it out for the next few nights. This kills me and I usually have to leave the house or sleep on the basement level.
Wish us luck that it takes just one night to get him back on track. Prayers needed!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Where did November go??
I was just looking at my last post from OCTOBER?? Really, could November have passed so quickly without even one post? Well it did for us. Let's see, just to catch you up on Mr. Owen. He is finally sleeping!! I know, everyone probably has a puzzled look on your face but Owen has never slept consistently through the night. Sure we would have our good weeks but then they would usually follow with more sleepless nights. Well, looks like O has learned to love sleep (I am probably jinxing myself right now). Next week's post will be...back to sleepless nights :) Something just clicked in him and now when you ask if he wants to go to bed, he says yes. We have even traveled to PA and NC to visit both G'ma's and he slept!! Good job little man, keep up the sleeping!
Owen is one busy little man, as usual but is now exploring and learning so much. He loves to read and will flip the pages and read to himself and laugh and get excited with he flip of each page. He knows some of the words from us reading to him every day so it's cute to hear his jibber-jabber and then hear "...doggie...woof.." He's at a really fun age and we love seeing him discover so many new things.
Owen is a dancer and let me tell you this kid has more rhythm than us. He bobs his head to every song in the car and no matter how many times I change the station, he picks up the beat and "dances" in the car to the music. And if I turn the music down, he says "...mommy, dance" which means, turn it back on so I can dance :) And out of the car, it is the funniest thing! Any time music comes on he gets so excited, grabs my hand and we dance together.
Owen is understanding so much and is saying a lot more words. We ask him questions and he says yes or no and shakes his head for both. Also, we give him choices and he picks what he wants, for example what he wants for dinner. And if he wants more of something that he's eating and he doesn't know what it is, he points to his plate where it was and says more. It amazes me how smart he is (well we think so anyway) and how fast he learns things. He is still eating like a champ and now has to have ketchup and honey mustard with EVERYTHING! He is just like his mommy, we love to dip things :)
Last time we weighed O and checked his stats was about a month ago when we were there for another ear infection appt. Yes, double ear infection :( He was 22.5 lbs and 32.5 inches. He is wearing 12-18 month clothes and most fit but some are still too big. Owen is almost 17 months old and pretty much in the 50th %-tile for everything.
Little things that make my heart melt...
...Owen loves to hold my hand
...Owen loves to give kisses and makes the "mmuah" sound when giving them
...Owen blows kisses to me and his girl friends at school then gets bashful when they smile
...Owen cuddles with me every morning for 15-20mins, just snuggled up in my chest
...Owen puts both arms around my neck, holds the back of my head and rubs his nose against mine
...Owen LOVES his daddy and after bath time runs to him and falls into his chest for snuggles
...Owen loves to read at night and now when I say "goodnight Owen" I have to say "goodnight Lovie" and he holds her up to give me a kiss.
...Ask Owen to show you "The Situation" and he holds up his shirt :) Ok that doesn't melt my heart but it's soooo funny!
...Owen gets so excited to read books especially Brown Bear and he loves to cuddle with his blanket and read.
...Owen loves to lay with Sadie, kiss her and rub her. He's such a sweet soul.
This little guy has my heart (can you tell)!!
Owen is one busy little man, as usual but is now exploring and learning so much. He loves to read and will flip the pages and read to himself and laugh and get excited with he flip of each page. He knows some of the words from us reading to him every day so it's cute to hear his jibber-jabber and then hear "...doggie...woof.." He's at a really fun age and we love seeing him discover so many new things.
Owen is a dancer and let me tell you this kid has more rhythm than us. He bobs his head to every song in the car and no matter how many times I change the station, he picks up the beat and "dances" in the car to the music. And if I turn the music down, he says "...mommy, dance" which means, turn it back on so I can dance :) And out of the car, it is the funniest thing! Any time music comes on he gets so excited, grabs my hand and we dance together.
Owen is understanding so much and is saying a lot more words. We ask him questions and he says yes or no and shakes his head for both. Also, we give him choices and he picks what he wants, for example what he wants for dinner. And if he wants more of something that he's eating and he doesn't know what it is, he points to his plate where it was and says more. It amazes me how smart he is (well we think so anyway) and how fast he learns things. He is still eating like a champ and now has to have ketchup and honey mustard with EVERYTHING! He is just like his mommy, we love to dip things :)
Last time we weighed O and checked his stats was about a month ago when we were there for another ear infection appt. Yes, double ear infection :( He was 22.5 lbs and 32.5 inches. He is wearing 12-18 month clothes and most fit but some are still too big. Owen is almost 17 months old and pretty much in the 50th %-tile for everything.
Little things that make my heart melt...
...Owen loves to hold my hand
...Owen loves to give kisses and makes the "mmuah" sound when giving them
...Owen blows kisses to me and his girl friends at school then gets bashful when they smile
...Owen cuddles with me every morning for 15-20mins, just snuggled up in my chest
...Owen puts both arms around my neck, holds the back of my head and rubs his nose against mine
...Owen LOVES his daddy and after bath time runs to him and falls into his chest for snuggles
...Owen loves to read at night and now when I say "goodnight Owen" I have to say "goodnight Lovie" and he holds her up to give me a kiss.
...Ask Owen to show you "The Situation" and he holds up his shirt :) Ok that doesn't melt my heart but it's soooo funny!
...Owen gets so excited to read books especially Brown Bear and he loves to cuddle with his blanket and read.
...Owen loves to lay with Sadie, kiss her and rub her. He's such a sweet soul.
This little guy has my heart (can you tell)!!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Frederick Holiday 2010
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Friday, October 1, 2010
Separation Anxiety Part II
This has been a long week to say the least! According to my weekly emails, Separation Anxiety peaks at 14 months...HELLO Sleepless nights! Owen is definitely going through extreme separation anxiety right now and is now waking several times a night screaming.
We are back to our retraining with letting him cry it out (a bit) and going to check on him every 10 mins but I have to say it's been soooo much harder this time than when he was younger. He knows now that we will come in if he cries long enough so we're worried that it may take much longer to get him back sleeping through the night.
Oh it was a nice 3 months of sleep...now back to the old days! We are determined not to take him out of the crib and trying to comfort him and teach him to go back to sleep. Wish us luck!
One good (well bad) thing is that our monitor broke...I know, silly but I am still using a monitor at 14 months. I really only use it for when we're on different levels but do keep it plugged in at night so I can peak in on him if he wakes up. Just to see if something is really wrong. Well our fancy $200 digital monitor no longer holds charge so I contacted the company and since it's still under warranty they are sending me a brand new one...YAY! But that means that I have to go 4-5 days w/o a monitor. It's super hard right now with him not sleeping but probably better b/c I don't hear every peep he makes.
Hoping for a sound sleeping weekend!
We are back to our retraining with letting him cry it out (a bit) and going to check on him every 10 mins but I have to say it's been soooo much harder this time than when he was younger. He knows now that we will come in if he cries long enough so we're worried that it may take much longer to get him back sleeping through the night.
Oh it was a nice 3 months of sleep...now back to the old days! We are determined not to take him out of the crib and trying to comfort him and teach him to go back to sleep. Wish us luck!
One good (well bad) thing is that our monitor broke...I know, silly but I am still using a monitor at 14 months. I really only use it for when we're on different levels but do keep it plugged in at night so I can peak in on him if he wakes up. Just to see if something is really wrong. Well our fancy $200 digital monitor no longer holds charge so I contacted the company and since it's still under warranty they are sending me a brand new one...YAY! But that means that I have to go 4-5 days w/o a monitor. It's super hard right now with him not sleeping but probably better b/c I don't hear every peep he makes.
Hoping for a sound sleeping weekend!
Friday, September 24, 2010
How many teeth do toddlers get??
I am starting to believe Owen is working on a full set of teeth! He has been teething for months and now has all 4 molars and working on all 4 eye-teeth. Let's just say nights at the Frederick house have not been too fun. Now to teach him to brush his teeth...this should be interesting!
I will post a pic of our little man with all his teeth...ha!
I will post a pic of our little man with all his teeth...ha!
School wears me out!
Just a cute pic of Owen one day after school...man was he pooped! He was sitting on the bed playing with Sadie one minute then passed out, shoes on and all! He LOVES school but it wears him out :)
First Real Boo Boo!
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| All banged up but still smiling! |
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| Yummy Lunch! |
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| Poor Little Nose! |
Owen took his first hard fall a few weeks ago and scraped his chin, upper lip, nose and forehead. He is running now and runs after Sadie and loves to play with the boys in our cul-de-sac. But little man forgets that he's small and not as fast as Sadie and the boys...so he falls often. But this time was bad, he fell face first and we could tell that he really hurt himself. He's such a big boy now, he cried for maybe a minute then wanted to get down and play. Sure hurt my feelings though!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Biting...OH NO!!
Last week marked the first of the biting reports and then they came daily :( Miss Amanda would write a little note that said, "...your child attempted to bite one of their friends today..." well obviously, if O is trying to bite them, they aren't his friend...ha! I of course freaked out, worried sick that my child was going to be one of those kids that constantly bites their classmates and comes close to getting expelled...Worry set in! But his teacher said not to worry that each time he was acting in defense. "He is the smallest and youngest in his class and he is still trying to express his words...and he's teething bad so not to worry", they would tell me but still as a mom I worried especially after I got report after report last week.
To Owen's defense, he did get bit by another kid the week before that left a nasty bruise so who knows, maybe he learned to bite from other kids.
Well, Thursday Owen tried to bite my leg. He was playing around and laughing but wanted my attention and I was in the middle of making dinner. I guess he wanted my attention so he tried to bite me. I immediately grabbed his hand and yelled NO!!!!!!!!!!! And I guess I scared him, he cried for a bit. I felt horrible but I knew he needed to learn that biting was NOT ok. Let's just say Friday when G'ma picked him up from school, no biting report!! Maybe it worked :) Oh and now he knows the word NO, so maybe now he will use it!
Side note he opened his mouth to bite my finger on Sunday and then just kissed it :) Maybe he had slight memory loss but it made me feel so much better to know that he knew it was wrong...YAY! Mommy=1, Owen=0...ha!
To Owen's defense, he did get bit by another kid the week before that left a nasty bruise so who knows, maybe he learned to bite from other kids.
Well, Thursday Owen tried to bite my leg. He was playing around and laughing but wanted my attention and I was in the middle of making dinner. I guess he wanted my attention so he tried to bite me. I immediately grabbed his hand and yelled NO!!!!!!!!!!! And I guess I scared him, he cried for a bit. I felt horrible but I knew he needed to learn that biting was NOT ok. Let's just say Friday when G'ma picked him up from school, no biting report!! Maybe it worked :) Oh and now he knows the word NO, so maybe now he will use it!
Side note he opened his mouth to bite my finger on Sunday and then just kissed it :) Maybe he had slight memory loss but it made me feel so much better to know that he knew it was wrong...YAY! Mommy=1, Owen=0...ha!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Teething
I think we are in the never-ending teething phase...poor boy has been cutting teeth for a month now. His first molar popped through on our vacation and the rest have been working their way through. He now has all his molars almost through and several other teeth...working on 6 at the moment. It has been the cause for some grumpy and sleepless nights :( Will post a picturs of our little guy with all his teeth...ha!
Avoiding the Blog
I have been avoiding our blog for weeks because I am so far behind, it ain't even funny :) I gives me anxiety as to where to begin with updates. So while I have a list from August with promised updates, I decided to start with what Owen is doing this week...I mean really, that's what's important, right???
So with that said we have a injured little man on our hands. Yes, Owen is 100% all boy and we are finding that out the hard way. He runs, and I am not kidding when I say runs. I can hardly keep up with him. Well this weekend he was chasing Sadie and well, he took a tumble and fell face forward. Chris and I freaked out because he banged his head really hard on the sidewalk. Ran over and picked up a bloody face little guy...it broke my heart! He cscraped his chin, top lip, nose and forehead and everything was open and bleeding :( Poor little guy! He cried for maybe a minute and then wanted to get down and play, yes he's a boy! He looks like rudolph but doesn't seem to mind the cuts. We're making sure to keep them gooped up with neosporin and so far they are healing well. Let's hope it stays that way!
Other new things....Owen is talking sooooo much more! His new favorite words are more,"Adie" which is what he calls Sadie, ball, air plane, shoes, cup, no, Tasha (his teacher's name) all done and did I say more. The child wants more of everything :) Mostly food but now that he knows how to ask for more, he definitely does. As you may remember, we tried to teach Owen sign language, well that didn't work out so well...he clapped for more, hit my chin when I was teaching him thank you and threw his ands in the air for all done..let's just say motor-mouth would rather say what he wants than sign. And I don't blame him :) I asked his doctor if I should be worried that he wasn't picking it up quickly and he said that he doesn't really care for signing and that most toddlers that sign don't learn to say words as quickly. So guess we'll skip the signing for now and just keep working on our words.
It's amazing how much O has changed in just the past few weeks. He understands what I say and somewhat listens. In the morning I ask him where his shoes are, he gets them and then brings them to me, sits in my lap and we put them on...it's so sweet! He also knows to sit down when I tell him, knows what "no touch" means. Its great now because just a few weeks ago when we would take something away from him, he would throw a fit. Now we ask if he wants to help us put it away and he does without a fight and then claps...he's so proud of himself :)
He's become so independent now and really a toddler. It scares me how fast he is growing up now and before I know it he will be a little boy...tear :(
So with that said we have a injured little man on our hands. Yes, Owen is 100% all boy and we are finding that out the hard way. He runs, and I am not kidding when I say runs. I can hardly keep up with him. Well this weekend he was chasing Sadie and well, he took a tumble and fell face forward. Chris and I freaked out because he banged his head really hard on the sidewalk. Ran over and picked up a bloody face little guy...it broke my heart! He cscraped his chin, top lip, nose and forehead and everything was open and bleeding :( Poor little guy! He cried for maybe a minute and then wanted to get down and play, yes he's a boy! He looks like rudolph but doesn't seem to mind the cuts. We're making sure to keep them gooped up with neosporin and so far they are healing well. Let's hope it stays that way!
Other new things....Owen is talking sooooo much more! His new favorite words are more,"Adie" which is what he calls Sadie, ball, air plane, shoes, cup, no, Tasha (his teacher's name) all done and did I say more. The child wants more of everything :) Mostly food but now that he knows how to ask for more, he definitely does. As you may remember, we tried to teach Owen sign language, well that didn't work out so well...he clapped for more, hit my chin when I was teaching him thank you and threw his ands in the air for all done..let's just say motor-mouth would rather say what he wants than sign. And I don't blame him :) I asked his doctor if I should be worried that he wasn't picking it up quickly and he said that he doesn't really care for signing and that most toddlers that sign don't learn to say words as quickly. So guess we'll skip the signing for now and just keep working on our words.
It's amazing how much O has changed in just the past few weeks. He understands what I say and somewhat listens. In the morning I ask him where his shoes are, he gets them and then brings them to me, sits in my lap and we put them on...it's so sweet! He also knows to sit down when I tell him, knows what "no touch" means. Its great now because just a few weeks ago when we would take something away from him, he would throw a fit. Now we ask if he wants to help us put it away and he does without a fight and then claps...he's so proud of himself :)
He's become so independent now and really a toddler. It scares me how fast he is growing up now and before I know it he will be a little boy...tear :(
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Slacker...I know, I know...
Let's just all acknowledge how much of a slacker I have been about posting updates...
Our last update was at 11 months...oh boy have things changed in the past month.
Here's a list, in no particular order and I will do my best to blog about everything...
1. Owen turned 1...YAY! We had an awesome birthday party...details and pics to come
2. Owen's first vacation at the Outer Banks
3. Owen started walking a little over 11 months and is a very busy boy
4. First Molar...ugg!
5. Moving over to the Big Boy Room at school :(
6. Shoes, shoes and more shoes. Our little guy is running and wearing through shoes like crazy
7. First Haircut...our baby now looks like a little boy
8. Living without AC for 4 Days in AUGUST!!!!
9. My wrist surgery
10. 12 Month Well Check Stats
11. Talking, Chatting, Pointing, Playing Alone, Dancing in his carseat, highchair and pretty much anytime you sing or he hears music.
12. Pics from Owen's 1 Year Photo Shoot @ our house.
Looks like I have my work cut out for me....
Our last update was at 11 months...oh boy have things changed in the past month.
Here's a list, in no particular order and I will do my best to blog about everything...
1. Owen turned 1...YAY! We had an awesome birthday party...details and pics to come
2. Owen's first vacation at the Outer Banks
3. Owen started walking a little over 11 months and is a very busy boy
4. First Molar...ugg!
5. Moving over to the Big Boy Room at school :(
6. Shoes, shoes and more shoes. Our little guy is running and wearing through shoes like crazy
7. First Haircut...our baby now looks like a little boy
8. Living without AC for 4 Days in AUGUST!!!!
9. My wrist surgery
10. 12 Month Well Check Stats
11. Talking, Chatting, Pointing, Playing Alone, Dancing in his carseat, highchair and pretty much anytime you sing or he hears music.
12. Pics from Owen's 1 Year Photo Shoot @ our house.
Looks like I have my work cut out for me....
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
11 Months!!
Today marks 11 months for Owen...WHOA where did time go? I can't believe that he will be O-N-E in a month. My baby is now a toddler.
What's going on with Owen these days?
Busy, Busy, Busy....
This little man does not stop and is full of energy all the time. I think someone secretly gives him sugar water...ha! We love his little independence and are amazed how he challenges himself daily.
Owen is talking up a storm and says Mama, Dada, Baba, Duck, Dog, Ball and Yeh-Yeh (This is what he calls Sadie) and boy does he yell it all the time :) It is too funny to watch him sit on the floor, yelling yeh-yeh and pointing at things. He moves his arms around like he's having a conversation with her. It is so funny! O knows who Dada and Mama are and will call us by our names. We answer him "Yes buddy" and he just smiles then starts "telling us" something. Wish we knew what he was saying. He's funny b/c when he can't see us, he yells Dada or Mama loud and then follows our voice and finds us.
Climbing and walking! Owen is climbing everything, he is up the stairs in a flash. We have to be careful b/c he is on the move. Owen takes 4-5 steps on his own then realizes he is walking and sits down. He gets going too fast, almost like he wants to run and then gets a little nervous. Won't be too much longer until he is walking on his own. Then we are really in trouble!
Eating everything we eat and lots of it! Sometimes I wonder where he puts it all b/c he's pretty slim. He must be feeding the dog right? This little 19-20lb guy can't be eating that much, but he is!
Owen is wearing some 12 month clothes but a lot are still too big for him. He loves Mini Boden and thank goodness the 6-12 month are still fitting him. We've tried shoes since he's walking a bit but he thinks it's more of a game to take them off than to wear them :)
Owen loves being outside and when we ask him if he wants to go in the stroller, wagon, down the slide or in his swing, he points outside. So he's definitely understanding what we say more now. We go for walks every day and we point and say car, tree, dog and everything else we see. He is so observant, he loves watching people and cars. And of course, yelling at Sadie (Yeh-Yeh)!
Owen and Sadie are becoming best friends and starting to play together. I know that sounds weird but Owen plays fetch with Sadie and just laughs and laughs when she runs toward him. He knows how to throw balls (left handed might I add) and Sadie will go get it and bring it back to him. But not with a bit of wrestling, which usually ends up in Owen getting knocked down but he just loves it and so far, hasn't got hurt. He yells at her and laughs, we just love watching them play.
NO!...No Touch!...the are the terms we are teaching Owen when he's not supposed to touch something and he's just learning what they mean. He loves to tempt me by climbing up and putting his hand an inch from the TV screen and then turns around and looks at me smiling. I say no touch and he laughs but he doesn't touch it. If he does he knows he will get verbally scolded if he touches it. It's amazing watching him develop into a little person :)
More updates to come as we mark Owen's first birthday! I can't believe my little baby will be O-N-E!!!
What's going on with Owen these days?
Busy, Busy, Busy....
This little man does not stop and is full of energy all the time. I think someone secretly gives him sugar water...ha! We love his little independence and are amazed how he challenges himself daily.
Owen is talking up a storm and says Mama, Dada, Baba, Duck, Dog, Ball and Yeh-Yeh (This is what he calls Sadie) and boy does he yell it all the time :) It is too funny to watch him sit on the floor, yelling yeh-yeh and pointing at things. He moves his arms around like he's having a conversation with her. It is so funny! O knows who Dada and Mama are and will call us by our names. We answer him "Yes buddy" and he just smiles then starts "telling us" something. Wish we knew what he was saying. He's funny b/c when he can't see us, he yells Dada or Mama loud and then follows our voice and finds us.
Climbing and walking! Owen is climbing everything, he is up the stairs in a flash. We have to be careful b/c he is on the move. Owen takes 4-5 steps on his own then realizes he is walking and sits down. He gets going too fast, almost like he wants to run and then gets a little nervous. Won't be too much longer until he is walking on his own. Then we are really in trouble!
Eating everything we eat and lots of it! Sometimes I wonder where he puts it all b/c he's pretty slim. He must be feeding the dog right? This little 19-20lb guy can't be eating that much, but he is!
Owen is wearing some 12 month clothes but a lot are still too big for him. He loves Mini Boden and thank goodness the 6-12 month are still fitting him. We've tried shoes since he's walking a bit but he thinks it's more of a game to take them off than to wear them :)
Owen loves being outside and when we ask him if he wants to go in the stroller, wagon, down the slide or in his swing, he points outside. So he's definitely understanding what we say more now. We go for walks every day and we point and say car, tree, dog and everything else we see. He is so observant, he loves watching people and cars. And of course, yelling at Sadie (Yeh-Yeh)!
Owen and Sadie are becoming best friends and starting to play together. I know that sounds weird but Owen plays fetch with Sadie and just laughs and laughs when she runs toward him. He knows how to throw balls (left handed might I add) and Sadie will go get it and bring it back to him. But not with a bit of wrestling, which usually ends up in Owen getting knocked down but he just loves it and so far, hasn't got hurt. He yells at her and laughs, we just love watching them play.
NO!...No Touch!...the are the terms we are teaching Owen when he's not supposed to touch something and he's just learning what they mean. He loves to tempt me by climbing up and putting his hand an inch from the TV screen and then turns around and looks at me smiling. I say no touch and he laughs but he doesn't touch it. If he does he knows he will get verbally scolded if he touches it. It's amazing watching him develop into a little person :)
More updates to come as we mark Owen's first birthday! I can't believe my little baby will be O-N-E!!!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Planning for Monkey's 1st Birthday
This is going to be one cute party! I have ordered everything for our little Monkey and he will be decked out from decorations to his custom little outfit! Of course Monkey themed and everything is sooo cute! I can't wait!!!
Gotta love Etsy, there are seriously some talented women on this site. I can't wait to share pics from his party.
Still in shock that our little guy will be one. And the biggest question we get is when we will have number 2! We always wanted our children close in age but right now we are loving every minute with our little guy. We are both so in love with Owen and so wrapped up in watching him grow, that we don't want to miss a thing :)
Gotta love Etsy, there are seriously some talented women on this site. I can't wait to share pics from his party.
Still in shock that our little guy will be one. And the biggest question we get is when we will have number 2! We always wanted our children close in age but right now we are loving every minute with our little guy. We are both so in love with Owen and so wrapped up in watching him grow, that we don't want to miss a thing :)
Packing up the Medela
This is a bittersweet moment for me but I have officially stopped breastfeeding this week. After 10 1/2 months we decided it was time to stop. I would have gone longer but with Owen's attachment to nursing, we decided it was best. I have over #100, 6 ounce bags frozen so this should take us through his first year with no problem. Right now we mix 3ozs of bmilk with 3ozs of Earth's Best Organic formula and he hasn't been able to tell the difference. After all the trial and error with formula, I am so happy that we found one that works for O!
I stopped bfeeding several weeks ago and it was such a sad day. I never thought I would miss those moments with just me and Owen as much as I did. I learned to appreciate the bond we shared and still share through nursing, it's such a sweet time for just the two of us. But I have to face the facts that Owen will soon be a toddler and he's growing up :(
The first morning I didn't nurse him, I broke down. We went from cuddling and nursing morning and night to Owen laying on his boppy holding his bottle on his own watching Nick Jr. Yes, TV because he gets so distracted with what's going on around him that he needs something to focus on. And at night he would have his bottle, hold it himself and just look at me. It was hard on both of us and he wanted to nurse badly for a few nights after I started weaning him. But we made the decision so we had to stick with it.
O's problem is that he associated nursing with sleep. As I mentioned in an earlier post, part of his sleeping issues is that he was so used to being nursed to sleep and that was the only way he knew how to get back to sleep. His doctor said sometimes it affects babies and then other babies can be nursed to sleep forever and have no affect. But since we alreay have sleep issues with Owen, we needed to break his "sleep crutch" which was nursing.
So for the past 3 weeks I have been weaning O and me and this week I am officially done. Owen is doing great with his bottle and still cuddles with me with feedings, which is so sweet.
And for me, after the first few days of being heartbroken, I was happy. Happy that I could actually go somewhere more than 5 hours and not have to take my friend, Medela with me.
So goodbye old friend, I am no longer a plus one for every trip I go on. I will see you again in a few years.
I stopped bfeeding several weeks ago and it was such a sad day. I never thought I would miss those moments with just me and Owen as much as I did. I learned to appreciate the bond we shared and still share through nursing, it's such a sweet time for just the two of us. But I have to face the facts that Owen will soon be a toddler and he's growing up :(
The first morning I didn't nurse him, I broke down. We went from cuddling and nursing morning and night to Owen laying on his boppy holding his bottle on his own watching Nick Jr. Yes, TV because he gets so distracted with what's going on around him that he needs something to focus on. And at night he would have his bottle, hold it himself and just look at me. It was hard on both of us and he wanted to nurse badly for a few nights after I started weaning him. But we made the decision so we had to stick with it.
O's problem is that he associated nursing with sleep. As I mentioned in an earlier post, part of his sleeping issues is that he was so used to being nursed to sleep and that was the only way he knew how to get back to sleep. His doctor said sometimes it affects babies and then other babies can be nursed to sleep forever and have no affect. But since we alreay have sleep issues with Owen, we needed to break his "sleep crutch" which was nursing.
So for the past 3 weeks I have been weaning O and me and this week I am officially done. Owen is doing great with his bottle and still cuddles with me with feedings, which is so sweet.
And for me, after the first few days of being heartbroken, I was happy. Happy that I could actually go somewhere more than 5 hours and not have to take my friend, Medela with me.
So goodbye old friend, I am no longer a plus one for every trip I go on. I will see you again in a few years.
Eating Machine!
Our little man is a eating machine! We have been off babyfood for over a month now and O is eating all adult food. Well, I do cook him specail foods so they are softer and not as spiced. But for the most part he eats what we eat and more! He loves everything, there isn't one thing that we haven't given him that he hasn't liked. He loves fish, chicken, pasta, veggies, sweet potato pancakes, waffles, potato, meatballs, fruit, yogurt, cheese and more! These are just a few of his favorites but he will pretty much eat anything.
We take a trip to Whole Foods every Sunday to get O some yummy foods for the week and man is he expensive! Well partly because we buy all natural and organic food for him but still, if he's eating this much now, how much is he going to cost us when he's bigger...ha! We love that he's eating so much and a healthy boy. This his new favorite food...A+ Cinnamon All Natural Whole Grain Sweet Potato Pancakes. He practically cheers and claps when he sees them...ha!
We have cut out one bottle so he's down to 4 bottles a day and are decreasing the amount of milk in each bottle now because he is eating a lot more solid foods. He's still getting 24+ ounces a day which Dr. Chris says is perfect for his age. Also by next month he will probably drop one more bottle and be down to 16-18ozs a day.
Owen is doing great with a sippy cup and has water with each meal. He has his favorite brand now, thank goodness! It took a while to find "the one" but he seems to love the sport Nuby's. We are going to work to switch his lunchtime bottle to a sippy cup in the next few weeks. But one change at a time and as soon as we see that he's taking in enough from the sippy, then we'll switch it. This weekend I filed his sippy with 5ozs of water at snack time and he drank 3ozs and wasn't too wet so hopefully he's taking some of that in :) He totes his sippy every where...such a big boy!
I still can't believe our boy will be one in less than 2 months and off bottles all together! Time sure does fly and we love every minute with our little guy!
Sleep
Well, since I am on a roll I thought I would do a short post about O's sleeping. O has been sleeping through the night random nights and then will have a few where he is up every few hours. We finally decided to let him cry a bit alone because we knew he could put himself back to sleep. Some nights he doesn't cry at all and then others, he cries for a bit. But he does eventually fall asleep and most of the time within a few minutes. We're still working on getting through the night and lately we have had good nights (knock on wood) so we're hopeful that in the next few weeks we'll be on a schedule and all sleeping.
Our little man however has decided not to nap. On the weekends he usually takes a 2 hour nap in the morning and then a 1 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon and at school he takes a longer nap around 11:30am then a short afternoon nap. Well the past 2 weekends he has decided to fight naps and the only way we can get him to sleep is to stroll him around. Something about the fresh air and the movement of the stoller put him to sleep immediately. Oh well, guess we'll take screwed up naps over not sleeping at night anytime!
We're hopeful that his sleep will improve and we'll have naps and night time figured out!
Our little man however has decided not to nap. On the weekends he usually takes a 2 hour nap in the morning and then a 1 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon and at school he takes a longer nap around 11:30am then a short afternoon nap. Well the past 2 weekends he has decided to fight naps and the only way we can get him to sleep is to stroll him around. Something about the fresh air and the movement of the stoller put him to sleep immediately. Oh well, guess we'll take screwed up naps over not sleeping at night anytime!
We're hopeful that his sleep will improve and we'll have naps and night time figured out!
Hide and Seek
This has to be the cutest thing ever and as soon as I figure how to load video's I will post one :)
Chris has taught Owen to play hide and seek. When he told me that they played it with O while I was running errands, I thought, Ok Chris is exaggerating but it's sweet that they are playing new games. Well, I was wrong :)
I came home to find not only Owen finding Chris when he hides but Owen will go hide by himself and wait for Chris to find him. It's the cutest thing ever! Owen crawls beside the couch, bed or whatever he is hiding behind and sits up really straight with his back against the furniture and is super quite. When Chris finds him he makes a little noise almost if he's trying to say "boo" :-)
This made my day watching my boys play hide and seek. Can't wait to see what other games our little guy figures out!
Chris has taught Owen to play hide and seek. When he told me that they played it with O while I was running errands, I thought, Ok Chris is exaggerating but it's sweet that they are playing new games. Well, I was wrong :)
I came home to find not only Owen finding Chris when he hides but Owen will go hide by himself and wait for Chris to find him. It's the cutest thing ever! Owen crawls beside the couch, bed or whatever he is hiding behind and sits up really straight with his back against the furniture and is super quite. When Chris finds him he makes a little noise almost if he's trying to say "boo" :-)
This made my day watching my boys play hide and seek. Can't wait to see what other games our little guy figures out!
Climbing, Walking and More Climbing!
Well, it's safe to say that Owen is on the move! He has been crawling and cruising the furniture for several months but now he is really moving. This weekend he climbed upstairs, yes up the whole flight of stairs from our main level to our bedroom, including 2 landings by himself. Of course as soon as we saw him climbing we quickly ran behind him to make sure he didn't fall. But Mr. Independent wanted to do it himself. We are in trouble! I worked with him this weekend and taught him how to go back down on his butt and he was able to do a few steps on his own but he's still a little wobbly so we will continue to chase him and hold our breath that he doesn't fall...and that we get to him quick enough :)
Crusing...O has been walking back and forth on furniture for a while but just the past week he has learned to walk to things. Meaning that if he wants something near the windback chair at the end of the couch, he will walk the length of the couch, take a step or two to his next object that he will cruise around until he gets to what he wants. He made it from the family room almost to the dining room by holding on to pieces of furniture...OH BOY!
This little man is smart! He copies us and figures out how to do almost everything. Chris and I decided that we are going to crawl every where we go from now on...ha :)
Crusing...O has been walking back and forth on furniture for a while but just the past week he has learned to walk to things. Meaning that if he wants something near the windback chair at the end of the couch, he will walk the length of the couch, take a step or two to his next object that he will cruise around until he gets to what he wants. He made it from the family room almost to the dining room by holding on to pieces of furniture...OH BOY!
This little man is smart! He copies us and figures out how to do almost everything. Chris and I decided that we are going to crawl every where we go from now on...ha :)
30th Birthday...WHOA...Reality Check, I am OLD!
My 30th Birthday was perfect, small and simple just as I wished :) Although I did have to intervine as Chris was planning a surprise party. He tried his best to keep it a secret but I knew all along. He's not the best at keeping secrets, his face tells it all.
My very bestest Lil and Neal came into town to celebrate and all my close friends went out to dinner to celebrate. Chris knows my love for fish and took us all to GrillFish in DC. He had bought several bottles of champagne and wine for everyone which was a nice treat. I think at one point I was sitting with 5 drinks in front of me...maybe not such a great idea :)
Mel brought my favorite, Georgetown Cupcakes for dessert...Yumm!
And we finished off the night at Fly Lounge, yes this momma who hasn't been out in almost 2 years due to being pregnant and breastfeeding went clubbing...ha! We had a great time! I felt like my young pre-mom self again. We decided we definitely need to have more nights like that to keep us young...ha!
Owen made me another sweet card with the help of his teacher Miss Katie...she is the sweetest! And Chris and Owen got me the Nook...I was soooooo excited! I am obsessed with it and it's so easy to use! Also, Chris got me a hanging basket and and took me to dinner at Rio Grande, gotta have a litle Mexican in the b-day weekend :)
And my big gift, which I was completely surprised and still in shock...Chris is taking me to pick out a diamond and sapphire band to wear with my wedding rings. I have wanted one to remind me of sweet little O and I can't believe Chris is getting it for me. I am so excited to go and pick it out :)
I had a great birthday and looking forward to many more with my sweet hubby and little man!
My very bestest Lil and Neal came into town to celebrate and all my close friends went out to dinner to celebrate. Chris knows my love for fish and took us all to GrillFish in DC. He had bought several bottles of champagne and wine for everyone which was a nice treat. I think at one point I was sitting with 5 drinks in front of me...maybe not such a great idea :)
Mel brought my favorite, Georgetown Cupcakes for dessert...Yumm!
And we finished off the night at Fly Lounge, yes this momma who hasn't been out in almost 2 years due to being pregnant and breastfeeding went clubbing...ha! We had a great time! I felt like my young pre-mom self again. We decided we definitely need to have more nights like that to keep us young...ha!
Owen made me another sweet card with the help of his teacher Miss Katie...she is the sweetest! And Chris and Owen got me the Nook...I was soooooo excited! I am obsessed with it and it's so easy to use! Also, Chris got me a hanging basket and and took me to dinner at Rio Grande, gotta have a litle Mexican in the b-day weekend :)
And my big gift, which I was completely surprised and still in shock...Chris is taking me to pick out a diamond and sapphire band to wear with my wedding rings. I have wanted one to remind me of sweet little O and I can't believe Chris is getting it for me. I am so excited to go and pick it out :)
I had a great birthday and looking forward to many more with my sweet hubby and little man!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Mother's Day
This Mother's Day was very special as it's my first to celebrate with my little man! We had a great day, doing really nothing but spending some family time together. We enjoyed a lunch out and did a little shopping. It was such a beautiful day to walk around the town center.
Owen made me the sweetest Mother's Day card with finger paint and he also got me a spa certificate to Red Door. Much needed! Chris gave me money (I know that sounds weird) but he wanted me to buy a fun new dress for my birthday dinner and didn't know what I wanted. Cash Money!!! Although I wasn't able to get out and get a dress in time for my birthday, it was a sweet thought.
Owen made me the sweetest Mother's Day card with finger paint and he also got me a spa certificate to Red Door. Much needed! Chris gave me money (I know that sounds weird) but he wanted me to buy a fun new dress for my birthday dinner and didn't know what I wanted. Cash Money!!! Although I wasn't able to get out and get a dress in time for my birthday, it was a sweet thought.
Lunch was at The Counter for custom built burgers...my choice :) They have the best burgers and sweet potato fries...yumm! Here's a pic of my HUGE custom burger (note sweet baby boy napped the whole lunch...so not like him).
Friday, April 30, 2010
Where did April go???
This month has flown by so fast mainly because of travel and that we have a VERY BUSY boy and have no time to sit down. We love his little independence but O is into everything and crawling everywhere!
Here's what we have been doing this month...
Owen took his first airplane trip to Lake Tahoe for Matt and Heather's Wedding. He did great on the way out and slept 75% of the time. The rest of the flight he spent talking to everyone around us and flirting with the girls seated behind us. The flight back however, different story...O decided that he wanted to be awake the whole time and walk and play. Thank goodness we had a whole row to ourselves and O had his own seat (which he was very excited about!). The wedding was beautiful and the weather was nice, a little cold but what can you expect for Tahoe in April. Owen also went in the big pool for the first time with Chris and Matt and he loved it! Don't worry, the outdoor pool was heated so it was perfect for our little guy to be in. He cried when we took him out but I didn't want him to be out in the cool air for too long.
The very next weekend I went to Miami for Crystal and Dean's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and my first Jewish wedding and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I love how there is meaning to everything they do. I was there for 24 hours so it was a very quick trip but I was so happy to be able to spend the day with them and then hit South Beach with everyone after. I will admit I put up a fight to stay in, it was 1:30am and we were just heading out and I prefered to sleep instead AND we had a morning flight. Let's just say I didn't win that battle and we ended staying out until close to 5am. New Mommy+Partying in South Beach=ZOMBIE! But it was fun :)
On to the worst part of April, NO SLEEP! Owen has never slept throught he night, well that's a lie he did sleep for 4 weeks. Now his sleep has gone from bad to worse. We have been struggling to get his Reflux meds working and finally saw a GI specialist who got O on the right combo of meds and they seem to be working. We also took him off formula b/c the Similac was giving him excema. So yes, I am still bfeeding even though I planned to be done by all these trips and by 9 months. So everything with his reflux meds are working but now we are struggling with Separation Anxiety in a bad way! Owen is standing, climbing and jumping in his crib in the middle of the night for us. We know he's not in pain so we have been doing a bit of tough love. It's so hard to hear him cry but we have to teach him that he will be ok without us. Also, we learned from our 9 month appt that b/c I nursed Owen to sleep at night that he has associated bfeeding with sleeping. So when he wakes at night he wants to bfeed to get back to sleep. It's not his fault but that's what he has learned and he doesn't know how else to get back to sleep. I am reading Good night, sleep tight which teaches you how babies get attached to objects, actions etc and associate them with sleep. Oh why couldn't O get attached to his lovey more :) It also teaches you that sleep is a learned behavior so we have to teach O how to go to sleep and stay asleep on his own. This has not been easy and we are still working on it. More updates to come :) Praying for sleep...9 months with less than a few hours a night is not looking good on me!
9 Month Appt - Owen did great and this was an appt with no shots! We love those :) He did get his finger pricked but that was nothing. He was more upset over the band-aid than anything. But then saw it had elmo and cookie monster on it and then he was excited :) Oh the little things...ha!
Stats:
Weight 19lbs 25th%-tile
Height 30in 75th%-tile
Head 19in 90th%-tile (Yep, still has a huge head)
What Owen is doing...
-Crawling, crawling and crawling...and very fast now too! He is into everything and has figured out how to open cabinets, drawers, etc. We def have to baby proof our house soon.
-Pulling-up to stand and standing alone for 3-4 secs. O has been pulling up to stand for a while but now he is standing alone for a bit until he realizes he is not holding onto anything then he plops on his butt.
-Taking steps - O walks with holding our hands and also walks back and forth holding the sofa and in his crib (which is a slight nightmare when trying to get him to sleep). My mom bought him a little car that he can stand up with and walk and I think this has helped him with taking steps and with balance. Oh boy!
-O has 8 teeth, looks more like a little man now more than ever.
-Talking, Talking and Talking...O says Mama, Dada, Baba, SaSa (we think he's trying to say Sadie), YaYa (not sure where that came from) and Hi all the time. And some other things that we can't understand.
-Imitating...this is the cutest thing ever! He does, or tries to do everything we do. He has learned to do air kisses and constantly puckers his lips. I am trying to get him to put his hand to his mouth to "blow" kisses but no luck so far. He tries to wave byebye but does it backward and with his hand down. He's still working on it.
-Temper, Temper, Temper! Can you tell O has learned to throw a fit when he wants something or something displeases him :) He knows the word NO now but gives us the sweetest smile when we try to disipline him...ha!
-Eating, Owen still will eat a few baby foods but now prefers everything we are eating. We are cooking organic foods for him and trying to season things so that we like them and so far so good. Although we made turkey meatballs over the weekend and seasoned with oregano and found out that O doesn't really like it. He loves most herbs but I guess Oregano isn't his fave. He does a great job at feeding himself and will sometimes feed himself with a spoon. He is also drinking water from a sippy cup for lunch, afternoon snack and dinner and he's doing great with it. We hope to slowly move his evening bottle from before bed to dinner. He's a big boy now!
-Banging toys (and everything) together! His favorite thing is to bang everything on the table, floor, our heads. Guess he's learning sounds and loves making noise! He also has learned to throw things and loves to see how far he can throw his toys. Oh boy! Makes it hard to tell Sadie no when he's constantly throwing things to her. We need to get some dog friendly toys for them both to play with.
-Favorite things for Owen right now - baths, wagon rides looking at Us Weekly :) Yep, he loves magazines and it never fails that he wants to destroy my Us Weekly. He also loves playing peek-a-boo and has learned to put his lovey over his face and play with us.
-Things O absolutely hates right now - his room (we think b/c he associates it with sleep so he hates being in there), having his diaper or clothes changed. He would much rather be naked...but who wouldn't :)
-And last and the worst part of his 9 months is SEPARATION ANXIETY! He has now learned that when we are out of his sight, that we are not there and he gets so upset. We are working with him to teach him that we are just around the corner but as soon as he realizes he is alone, he crawls at super speed to get to us. Hoping this passes soon!
Hope to post more updates soon! Here's a pic from Matt & Heather's Wedding weekend of our little guy in his Tie t-shirt :)
Here's what we have been doing this month...
Owen took his first airplane trip to Lake Tahoe for Matt and Heather's Wedding. He did great on the way out and slept 75% of the time. The rest of the flight he spent talking to everyone around us and flirting with the girls seated behind us. The flight back however, different story...O decided that he wanted to be awake the whole time and walk and play. Thank goodness we had a whole row to ourselves and O had his own seat (which he was very excited about!). The wedding was beautiful and the weather was nice, a little cold but what can you expect for Tahoe in April. Owen also went in the big pool for the first time with Chris and Matt and he loved it! Don't worry, the outdoor pool was heated so it was perfect for our little guy to be in. He cried when we took him out but I didn't want him to be out in the cool air for too long.
The very next weekend I went to Miami for Crystal and Dean's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and my first Jewish wedding and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I love how there is meaning to everything they do. I was there for 24 hours so it was a very quick trip but I was so happy to be able to spend the day with them and then hit South Beach with everyone after. I will admit I put up a fight to stay in, it was 1:30am and we were just heading out and I prefered to sleep instead AND we had a morning flight. Let's just say I didn't win that battle and we ended staying out until close to 5am. New Mommy+Partying in South Beach=ZOMBIE! But it was fun :)
On to the worst part of April, NO SLEEP! Owen has never slept throught he night, well that's a lie he did sleep for 4 weeks. Now his sleep has gone from bad to worse. We have been struggling to get his Reflux meds working and finally saw a GI specialist who got O on the right combo of meds and they seem to be working. We also took him off formula b/c the Similac was giving him excema. So yes, I am still bfeeding even though I planned to be done by all these trips and by 9 months. So everything with his reflux meds are working but now we are struggling with Separation Anxiety in a bad way! Owen is standing, climbing and jumping in his crib in the middle of the night for us. We know he's not in pain so we have been doing a bit of tough love. It's so hard to hear him cry but we have to teach him that he will be ok without us. Also, we learned from our 9 month appt that b/c I nursed Owen to sleep at night that he has associated bfeeding with sleeping. So when he wakes at night he wants to bfeed to get back to sleep. It's not his fault but that's what he has learned and he doesn't know how else to get back to sleep. I am reading Good night, sleep tight which teaches you how babies get attached to objects, actions etc and associate them with sleep. Oh why couldn't O get attached to his lovey more :) It also teaches you that sleep is a learned behavior so we have to teach O how to go to sleep and stay asleep on his own. This has not been easy and we are still working on it. More updates to come :) Praying for sleep...9 months with less than a few hours a night is not looking good on me!
9 Month Appt - Owen did great and this was an appt with no shots! We love those :) He did get his finger pricked but that was nothing. He was more upset over the band-aid than anything. But then saw it had elmo and cookie monster on it and then he was excited :) Oh the little things...ha!
Stats:
Weight 19lbs 25th%-tile
Height 30in 75th%-tile
Head 19in 90th%-tile (Yep, still has a huge head)
What Owen is doing...
-Crawling, crawling and crawling...and very fast now too! He is into everything and has figured out how to open cabinets, drawers, etc. We def have to baby proof our house soon.
-Pulling-up to stand and standing alone for 3-4 secs. O has been pulling up to stand for a while but now he is standing alone for a bit until he realizes he is not holding onto anything then he plops on his butt.
-Taking steps - O walks with holding our hands and also walks back and forth holding the sofa and in his crib (which is a slight nightmare when trying to get him to sleep). My mom bought him a little car that he can stand up with and walk and I think this has helped him with taking steps and with balance. Oh boy!
-O has 8 teeth, looks more like a little man now more than ever.
-Talking, Talking and Talking...O says Mama, Dada, Baba, SaSa (we think he's trying to say Sadie), YaYa (not sure where that came from) and Hi all the time. And some other things that we can't understand.
-Imitating...this is the cutest thing ever! He does, or tries to do everything we do. He has learned to do air kisses and constantly puckers his lips. I am trying to get him to put his hand to his mouth to "blow" kisses but no luck so far. He tries to wave byebye but does it backward and with his hand down. He's still working on it.
-Temper, Temper, Temper! Can you tell O has learned to throw a fit when he wants something or something displeases him :) He knows the word NO now but gives us the sweetest smile when we try to disipline him...ha!
-Eating, Owen still will eat a few baby foods but now prefers everything we are eating. We are cooking organic foods for him and trying to season things so that we like them and so far so good. Although we made turkey meatballs over the weekend and seasoned with oregano and found out that O doesn't really like it. He loves most herbs but I guess Oregano isn't his fave. He does a great job at feeding himself and will sometimes feed himself with a spoon. He is also drinking water from a sippy cup for lunch, afternoon snack and dinner and he's doing great with it. We hope to slowly move his evening bottle from before bed to dinner. He's a big boy now!
-Banging toys (and everything) together! His favorite thing is to bang everything on the table, floor, our heads. Guess he's learning sounds and loves making noise! He also has learned to throw things and loves to see how far he can throw his toys. Oh boy! Makes it hard to tell Sadie no when he's constantly throwing things to her. We need to get some dog friendly toys for them both to play with.
-Favorite things for Owen right now - baths, wagon rides looking at Us Weekly :) Yep, he loves magazines and it never fails that he wants to destroy my Us Weekly. He also loves playing peek-a-boo and has learned to put his lovey over his face and play with us.
-Things O absolutely hates right now - his room (we think b/c he associates it with sleep so he hates being in there), having his diaper or clothes changed. He would much rather be naked...but who wouldn't :)
-And last and the worst part of his 9 months is SEPARATION ANXIETY! He has now learned that when we are out of his sight, that we are not there and he gets so upset. We are working with him to teach him that we are just around the corner but as soon as he realizes he is alone, he crawls at super speed to get to us. Hoping this passes soon!
Hope to post more updates soon! Here's a pic from Matt & Heather's Wedding weekend of our little guy in his Tie t-shirt :)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Easter Bunny
We took Owen to meet the Easter Bunny on Sunday and let's just say Owen loved him. He was sooo interested in this huge bunny :) I was so excited to dress O up in his little Easter Bunny John-John that I bought last year and to see his reaction. He did great and we got some good pics. And yes, we did visit the Bunny in the mall. But we were the first in line so hopefully he didn't have too many germs. Here's a few pics...ha!
Pictures
I know, I am so behind on adding pictures of Owen. Our laptop is on it's last leg and uploading pictures is such a process but I will make it a point to add a few this weekend.
Next on the list...new laptop! We're thinking about a MacBook...any tips or suggestions are welcome!
Next on the list...new laptop! We're thinking about a MacBook...any tips or suggestions are welcome!
Crying, Crying and Crying...
I had to share this funny story that O's teacher told me the other day. Owen has always laughed at other babies when they are crying, for some reason he thinks it's super funny. But the other day, well I guess Owen changed his mind. Poor Emily, she is the tinest 6 month old I have ever seen and if I had to guess, she probably weighs 12lbs at the most. Well, she was not happy one day last week and had been crying all day. None of the teachers could console her so they just played on the floor with her and tried to make her happy. Well, guess she had been crying for a bit and Owen decided to do something about it. Yep, he crawled over and sat beside her and tried giving her a toy, sweet boy, right? She was not interested and kept crying. So what did Owen do, he popped her on the cheeks twice and she stopped crying...haha! His teacher said he had a look on his face like, ok Emily, I have had enough :) They all joked that next time she was crying and crying that they were going to send Owen over to make her stop. Oh boy, we're going to have our hands full!
The Trials of Formula
As you all know I have been breastfeeding and am still going strong. My goal was 9 months and I can't believe it's almost here. As much as I would love to continue until a year, my supply is just not keeping up so we decided to supplement with a little formula. Easy enough, right??? One would think but not so much for us.
We tried Enfamil Lipil Gentlease first as it was reccomended by Owen's doctor. Since he has reflux and has a sensitive tummy she thought it would be best for him. The Gentlease has partially broken down protiens that are easier to digest. So, she stacked my arms with cans of samples and off we went. We tried 1oz mixed with 5ozs of breastmilk for the first time on Sunday. We thought such a small amount, he wouldn't notice. Wrong again, of course Owen tasted it and refused to drink it. We waited patiently until he was really hungry thinking that it was just something new, and again he not only refused it, he pushed the bottle away. We knew he was hungry so finally after trying and trying I just made a new bottle of breastmilk and he sucked it down. Again, we tried at each feeding and he would not drink it. So what to do next...
We thought maybe his teacher would have better luck so we sent a bottle of 3ozs to school the next day along with all his usual bottles. I didn't want to waste anymore of my milk so I decide that making a small bottle was best. Katie called me shortly after lunch to tell me that he refused it yet again and that she tried several times and he just would not drink it.
So, frustrated and clueless what to do I started asking friends. Of course everyone I know hasn't had any problems with their babies drinking formula just some that it didn't agree with their tummy. So finally one friend told me that her baby tried the gentlease and wouldn't drink it and she tried just the regular formula and had success. So we decided to try Similac Advanced Earlyshield the next day....and success! Owen drank the bottle with no problems (knock on wood). Today is day 2 with Similac and I am hopeful that we will get a good report today too.
This, just in time for our trip to Tahoe in 2 weeks. I was so worried about going away and not having him on a formula as I will need to supplement while I am there since I can't take my frozen milk with me. My plan is to continue feeding him morning and night and then half-formula-half-bmilk during the day.
Wish us luck with traveling...we are nervous!
We tried Enfamil Lipil Gentlease first as it was reccomended by Owen's doctor. Since he has reflux and has a sensitive tummy she thought it would be best for him. The Gentlease has partially broken down protiens that are easier to digest. So, she stacked my arms with cans of samples and off we went. We tried 1oz mixed with 5ozs of breastmilk for the first time on Sunday. We thought such a small amount, he wouldn't notice. Wrong again, of course Owen tasted it and refused to drink it. We waited patiently until he was really hungry thinking that it was just something new, and again he not only refused it, he pushed the bottle away. We knew he was hungry so finally after trying and trying I just made a new bottle of breastmilk and he sucked it down. Again, we tried at each feeding and he would not drink it. So what to do next...
We thought maybe his teacher would have better luck so we sent a bottle of 3ozs to school the next day along with all his usual bottles. I didn't want to waste anymore of my milk so I decide that making a small bottle was best. Katie called me shortly after lunch to tell me that he refused it yet again and that she tried several times and he just would not drink it.
So, frustrated and clueless what to do I started asking friends. Of course everyone I know hasn't had any problems with their babies drinking formula just some that it didn't agree with their tummy. So finally one friend told me that her baby tried the gentlease and wouldn't drink it and she tried just the regular formula and had success. So we decided to try Similac Advanced Earlyshield the next day....and success! Owen drank the bottle with no problems (knock on wood). Today is day 2 with Similac and I am hopeful that we will get a good report today too.
This, just in time for our trip to Tahoe in 2 weeks. I was so worried about going away and not having him on a formula as I will need to supplement while I am there since I can't take my frozen milk with me. My plan is to continue feeding him morning and night and then half-formula-half-bmilk during the day.
Wish us luck with traveling...we are nervous!
What's New...
So many things are new with The O Man these days. I think he does new things daily. The big step is that O started crawling about 3 weeks ago. What started off as a slow crawl has now evolved into a fast "I am right behind you" crawl. And he is all over the place :) No more quick little trips into the kitchen to grab water while O is playing on the family room floor. A few nights ago we lost him for a bit only to find him under the end table beside the chair tucked away playing with the cord of the lamp...oh boy! He loves his new independence and goes where he wants. His latest crawling adventure was to the bathroom. He LOVES taking a bath and now as soon as he hears the water, no matter where he is, he will crawl to his bathroom and pull up on the side of the tub to look in. We've really got to be careful.
Owen has also learned how to "throw a fit" when he wants things. At first, yes very funny but now we're having to tell him NO. The best is at dinner, we always feed him and give him puffs, bananas, string beans, avocado...whatever real food we have that he can eat and as soon as it's gone, he throws a fit for more. He will stand up in his highchair and bang on the table and makes the most unhappy face...it is actually pretty funny to watch. We had to lower the foot part of his chair so he can't stand any more. What can we say, our little guy loves to eat!
O is also talking up a storm and has said "ma ma" several times...YAY!! Chris thinks that will be his first word and I love it! Don't tell Chris but we practice saying it every morning on the way to school...ha!
Owen has also learned how to "throw a fit" when he wants things. At first, yes very funny but now we're having to tell him NO. The best is at dinner, we always feed him and give him puffs, bananas, string beans, avocado...whatever real food we have that he can eat and as soon as it's gone, he throws a fit for more. He will stand up in his highchair and bang on the table and makes the most unhappy face...it is actually pretty funny to watch. We had to lower the foot part of his chair so he can't stand any more. What can we say, our little guy loves to eat!
O is also talking up a storm and has said "ma ma" several times...YAY!! Chris thinks that will be his first word and I love it! Don't tell Chris but we practice saying it every morning on the way to school...ha!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Play Date
Owen has lots of play dates with adults, toddlers, 4+ year olds and newborns but this was his second play date with his buddy Cole that is just 4 days older. Cole lives in PA and is moving to NC soon so we hope to have more play dates in the future. They met for the first time when they were around 4 months old and now they are almost 8 months, where does time go? They were so cute together and I just love these pictures.
Cole wasn't too sure about Owen at first and just stared at him for a few minutes.
Then a few mins later they were playing together. I would love to know what was going through their little heads...ha!
Owen is a very loving boy and always hugs and gives kisses....Cole wanted nothing to do with that...ha! This picture is priceless :)
Cole was so sweet and had one hand on Owen's shoulder for a while and then leaned over to check him out...almost looked like he was telling him secrets.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Reflux is Evil
As you may remember O has been on and off reflux medicine since he was about a month old. We had to put him back on Zantac around 4 1/2 months, when he started eating foods until his tummy got used to the new foods we were intrducing. I took him off around 5 1/2-6 months because I thought he was doing better and I just hate giving him so much medicine being this young. Well, aparently I was wrong!
Owen has never slept through the night but up until I took him off his meds he was only getting up once maybe twice at the most each night. It just so happened that he got sick a few weeks after we took him off the meds and that's when the sleeping went downhill for O. His doctor mentioned that when babies are really sick that it screws up their sleep schedules and it may take a few weeks to get him back on schedule. Fast forward to 2 months later, still not on a sleeping schedule and has been getting up 5+ times a night and can't put himself back to sleep. This = very exhausted parents. We read everything on how to get him to sleep, tried every method and listened to everyones advice and nothing worked. When he woke up I would have to go in and pick him up and he would fall back to sleep on my shoulder.
I was a mess, crying thinking where did I go wrong and what could I have done to make him now need me at night. I was praying for a night like before he got sick where we would only get up once.
Finally a breakthrough...thanks Jenn Urban for listening to me and then telling me about her friend who has a 15month old that was sleeping just like Owen. Her friend's son had just started new meds for reflux...yes that evil word, refulx!
I did a ton of reading online and learned soooo much about "silent reflux" and made a doctor's appt for the next week. Forgot to mention that O was soooooo congested that he couldn't breathe at night either which was making him wake up even more. So back to the reflux, turns out that silent reflux is just that, you don't notice the symptoms because they just act up at night (after laying down) and you may or may not see spitting up or bad tummy issues. Also, a huge problem with reflux is congestion...hello, why didn't I think about this before. Also excessive drooling, wet burps and mucusy spit-up...everything that O was doing. I read that I should cut out acidic foods at dinner, decrease the amount he drinks at night and elevate his bed. We also had a little zantac left from his old prescription so we gave him a dose and that night, magic happened! I am knocking on wood as I write this and am not "really" speaking of what happened that night but let's just say that we are going on 8 days of magic nights :) We're just hoping that this cured the problem and O is back on schedule...well an even better schedule!
I knew that something was going on, maternal instinct told me that and I am sooo glad I listened and didn't go through nights and nights of crying with the whole CIO method (which I have never been a fan of anyway). I just hate that I put O through 2 months of belly aches because I thought he was doing better and didn't need his meds...it's all a learning experience!
We went to the doctor today and I told Dr. Alice what was going on and all the reading I had done on silent reflux and she said I was absolutely right and we needed to start the zantac again and hopefully he would outgrow the need for it by 9 months. She was impressed that I had done everything and he was doing better but deep down I knew she was laughing at me...once again, over-the-top mom self-diagnosing....but I was right!
Reflux, you are evil, evil, evil!!
Owen has never slept through the night but up until I took him off his meds he was only getting up once maybe twice at the most each night. It just so happened that he got sick a few weeks after we took him off the meds and that's when the sleeping went downhill for O. His doctor mentioned that when babies are really sick that it screws up their sleep schedules and it may take a few weeks to get him back on schedule. Fast forward to 2 months later, still not on a sleeping schedule and has been getting up 5+ times a night and can't put himself back to sleep. This = very exhausted parents. We read everything on how to get him to sleep, tried every method and listened to everyones advice and nothing worked. When he woke up I would have to go in and pick him up and he would fall back to sleep on my shoulder.
I was a mess, crying thinking where did I go wrong and what could I have done to make him now need me at night. I was praying for a night like before he got sick where we would only get up once.
Finally a breakthrough...thanks Jenn Urban for listening to me and then telling me about her friend who has a 15month old that was sleeping just like Owen. Her friend's son had just started new meds for reflux...yes that evil word, refulx!
I did a ton of reading online and learned soooo much about "silent reflux" and made a doctor's appt for the next week. Forgot to mention that O was soooooo congested that he couldn't breathe at night either which was making him wake up even more. So back to the reflux, turns out that silent reflux is just that, you don't notice the symptoms because they just act up at night (after laying down) and you may or may not see spitting up or bad tummy issues. Also, a huge problem with reflux is congestion...hello, why didn't I think about this before. Also excessive drooling, wet burps and mucusy spit-up...everything that O was doing. I read that I should cut out acidic foods at dinner, decrease the amount he drinks at night and elevate his bed. We also had a little zantac left from his old prescription so we gave him a dose and that night, magic happened! I am knocking on wood as I write this and am not "really" speaking of what happened that night but let's just say that we are going on 8 days of magic nights :) We're just hoping that this cured the problem and O is back on schedule...well an even better schedule!
I knew that something was going on, maternal instinct told me that and I am sooo glad I listened and didn't go through nights and nights of crying with the whole CIO method (which I have never been a fan of anyway). I just hate that I put O through 2 months of belly aches because I thought he was doing better and didn't need his meds...it's all a learning experience!
We went to the doctor today and I told Dr. Alice what was going on and all the reading I had done on silent reflux and she said I was absolutely right and we needed to start the zantac again and hopefully he would outgrow the need for it by 9 months. She was impressed that I had done everything and he was doing better but deep down I knew she was laughing at me...once again, over-the-top mom self-diagnosing....but I was right!
Reflux, you are evil, evil, evil!!
7 1/2 Months and SOOOOO BUSY!
Just a quick update...more to come!
I can't believe how time has flown by so quickly! Owen is now 7 1/2 months old and sooo busy, as we call it :) He is exploring so many new things and is so close to crawling! He crawls backwards but can't get going forward. Everyone says it's prefectly normal to crawl backwards first so hopefully he will move in the right direction soon. He gets on his knees and rocks back and forth and gets one arm out forward but then brings it back and sits back down, it's so cute. He can't quite figure out how to make both hands and knees move at the same time. If he needs to go anywhere he scoots on his butt, which is really funny to watch. He can move quickly from one side of the room to another all on his little tush. Thank goodness he has a bit of padding back there, I can imagine his little butt would get sore from all the bouncing and scooting...ha!
Owen has also learned to go from laying to sitting which is great in the fact that he can play on his back or belly then sit back up when he's ready but hard when he's napping and wakes up. Instead of going back to sleep, he now sits up and pulls up on the side of his crib to look for us and then just plays. He's so nosey :)
We are working on waving but so far he waves backwards too...maybe he will do everything backwards...ha! Let's hope not, he would look funny walking backwards. When we say bye-bye he opens and cloes his hand and then stares at it...so really he's waving bye to himself.
He's saying a few more words and so far the one he still says all the time is "Hi." He says "ma, ma" and "ba, ba" several times but I can't get him to do it on commnd. Hopefully he will start saying it more and it will be his first word.
O is a eating machine (still) and now likes all the foods that he spit out before. So I can really give him anything at any temperature and he will eat it. He's a chunky monkey! He has been eating puffs, graham crackers and teething biscuits and doing pretty well with them. Puffs are a little bit of a challenge and he's still working on picking them up with his pointer and thumb. Now he picks them up with his open palm and they just get stuck to his hand, which makes him mad. He has also learned that if he hangs his hand over and drops them on the floor, that Sadie will race over to eat them, which he thinks is hilarious!
O's still wearing 6 month clothes and a few 9 month outfits. He's soooo long that he needs the 9 month clothes for lenght but they are too big everywhere else.
He is now sleeping on his belly no matter how many times we put him on his back. He's just decided that's how he wants to sleep.
Well that's a little update, hope to keep going and update a few other entries and add pictures of our little guy!
I can't believe how time has flown by so quickly! Owen is now 7 1/2 months old and sooo busy, as we call it :) He is exploring so many new things and is so close to crawling! He crawls backwards but can't get going forward. Everyone says it's prefectly normal to crawl backwards first so hopefully he will move in the right direction soon. He gets on his knees and rocks back and forth and gets one arm out forward but then brings it back and sits back down, it's so cute. He can't quite figure out how to make both hands and knees move at the same time. If he needs to go anywhere he scoots on his butt, which is really funny to watch. He can move quickly from one side of the room to another all on his little tush. Thank goodness he has a bit of padding back there, I can imagine his little butt would get sore from all the bouncing and scooting...ha!
Owen has also learned to go from laying to sitting which is great in the fact that he can play on his back or belly then sit back up when he's ready but hard when he's napping and wakes up. Instead of going back to sleep, he now sits up and pulls up on the side of his crib to look for us and then just plays. He's so nosey :)
We are working on waving but so far he waves backwards too...maybe he will do everything backwards...ha! Let's hope not, he would look funny walking backwards. When we say bye-bye he opens and cloes his hand and then stares at it...so really he's waving bye to himself.
He's saying a few more words and so far the one he still says all the time is "Hi." He says "ma, ma" and "ba, ba" several times but I can't get him to do it on commnd. Hopefully he will start saying it more and it will be his first word.
O is a eating machine (still) and now likes all the foods that he spit out before. So I can really give him anything at any temperature and he will eat it. He's a chunky monkey! He has been eating puffs, graham crackers and teething biscuits and doing pretty well with them. Puffs are a little bit of a challenge and he's still working on picking them up with his pointer and thumb. Now he picks them up with his open palm and they just get stuck to his hand, which makes him mad. He has also learned that if he hangs his hand over and drops them on the floor, that Sadie will race over to eat them, which he thinks is hilarious!
O's still wearing 6 month clothes and a few 9 month outfits. He's soooo long that he needs the 9 month clothes for lenght but they are too big everywhere else.
He is now sleeping on his belly no matter how many times we put him on his back. He's just decided that's how he wants to sleep.
Well that's a little update, hope to keep going and update a few other entries and add pictures of our little guy!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Blizzard 2010 - Feb 5th
We took really cute pics in Dec of Owen's first major snow and were so impressed at how much snow we got. Well the snow storm this past weekend topped that storm by a foot! We ended up with 30-32 inches and are still not completely dug out yet. And as I write this post we are in the middle of another snow storm and expected to get 10-18+ inches overnight. What was pretty snow and a fun day to play with Owen is now grumpy Frederick's stuck inside. We all have a bit of cabin fever but I have to say it has been fun playing with Owen every day...I could get used to this...ha!
Here are a few pics of the snow. I will post more once we add another foot or two to the piles :) Wish us luck digging out tomorrow!
I'm a Big Boy!
It's hard to believe that our baby boy is growing so fast and changing daily. What used to be his favorite place to nap is now a jungle gym. A few weeks ago I put Owen in his swing in hopes that he would take a nap. We had been running errands and Owen, as nosey as he is had to look around and missed his afternoon nap. So as soon as we got home I put him in the swing. We hadn't used it for a few weeks but I knew it always worked like a charm.
I turned my back for a minute and this is how I found him...
Needless to say, the beloved swing is packed up and our big boy always naps in his crib now :)
Nativity Scene
This post is really late and the picture got mixed up with other pictures. With this being Owen's first Christmas we wanted to get him a nativity set that would be special to him but also help teach him the reason for Christmas. We thought this one was perfect for his first set. He helped set it up and placed baby Jesus in the perfect spot :)
A little late but always nice to celebrate the reason for Christmas!!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
6 Months and Happy half-year Owen!
I can't believe it, Owen is 6 1/2 months old! This post is a little late because I wanted to wait to give his 6 month updates and milestones. O is back to his healthy self, thank goodness! After a rough time with RSV we are so happy to have our happy baby boy back. As much as his doctor tells us that he's going to get sick and that it's so great for his immune system, it doesn't make it any easier. With that said we're hopeful that this was the worst of the "first year" colds and hoping 2010 brings health into the Frederick house!
Updates from Owen's Appt:
Weight - 16lbs 8ozs (50th %-tile)
Height - 28.5 inches (95th %-tile...we're still not sure where he's getting his height from)
Head - (90th %-tile...still big and holding all those smart brains...ha!)
Milestones:
Sitting Up - O has been sitting up unassisted for over a month now. He started "trying" before Christmas and then all of a sudden he was sitting on his own for 10mins...then 20mins...then almost a hour later he was still sitting and playing. We love his little independence!
Rolling over - O has been rolling over both from back to front on both sides and front to back since about 4 months or so but now he can do a continuous roll. So instead of flipping from one side to the other he can now roll across the floor. And he knows it too :) He recently rolled under his crib! We got a great photo of that.
Talking - O is now able to mimic our sounds so if we make smacking noises, he does it back to us. It's really cute and he thinks he is the funniest baby around. He is making his vowel sounds and I keep working with him to say "ma ma" :) He does it every once in a while but still thinks we are playing a game. He started making a noise that almost sounds like he is saying "hi" :) His teachers think it's so funny b/c in the mornings they always say "Hi, Mr. Owen" and he smiles and says "hi" back. Guess he picked it up from them. Oh and Owen knows his name :) You can say Owen, O or O-man and he will look all around until he finds who said it. Love that he knows his nick-names too :)
Grabbing/Reaching - O reaches for anything and everything and is passing things from one hand to another with ease. He loves to reach for things and pull them down. Every morning when I drop him off and pick up his lesson plan, never fails that he grabs the cup with pens and pulls it over. No matter how careful I am or how far away I am from the cup, he still gets it! He has started reaching for things that are too far away and ends up on his belly. Which is great because he then scoots to get it. So far he has scooted about 4 feet at school so we bet he will be crawling soon...oh boy!
Recognizing/Trusting others - I am not sure if this is a milestone but O has really started to know who we are and who his teacher is. Before he would just get excited to see us but now not only does he reach for us but he comes to either me or Chris for whatever he needs. When it's time to eat, he reaches for me. Chris can come pick him up but he will reach for me to let me know that he needs me. Then other times when he wants to ride on Chris' shoulders for example, he will reach for Chris. He always looks to me when he's sleepy and ready for bed. Even with school, he will reach for his teacher when he gets there b/c she usually sits on the ground and plays peek-a-boo with him every morning. He is one smart little guy and we love that he is now starting to be able to tell us what he wants and needs. We are starting to teach him sign language so hopefully that will help him tell us easier what he needs.
Eating/Drinking - Again, not really a milestone but just an Owen update. We still have a great eater and he is eating 3 meals a day and gets upset when we get off schedule :) He loves fruit but will eat pretty much anything. We have been giving him real fruit also and he loves pineapple, banana and strawberries. He has also had avocado and a taste of green beans. He wants whatever we are eating so I thought, why not :) Anything he can grab and put in his mouth on his own is soooo much better than us feeding him...ha! We have also started giving him a sippy cup and he holds and drinks out of it but he would rather chew on it. He will drink from a regular cup but that is a bit messy if I don't watch him :) But we love that he can pick it up and put it in his mouth. That's a step, right?!?!
Owen is still wearing 6 month clothes and some 9 month ones. He is very long so we have a hard time finding things that fit his torso. He is pretty slim too so a lot of clothes that fit his lenght are too wide. But with the way he is eating I am sure he will plump up soon!
Sleeping - Ugg, this is one subject that we wish O was good at. We have just decided that our child is not going to sleep through the night. He has several good nights and will sleep from 8pm-7am but ever since he was sick we have not been sleeping through the night. In fact, he is now waking up to eat around 4am. I guess it's not the end of the world b/c he is sleeping 8 hours then waking up but we just wish he would go back to his old habits. Oh well! We found a solution to the paci problem and have been placing 5+ paci's in his crib at night so when he tries to find one he has several to choose from. So far it has worked great and he finds his paci and is back to sleep in minutes. But for some reason lately he has been waking up hungry at 4am. And there is no rocking him back to sleep, he throws a fit until he eats :) I am hoping that he will add an hour on until we're back to 7am but I have a feeling he is going to be a light sleeper like me.
O has also discovered the fun of arching his back. Several moms at school have told us about the dreadful arching and how much fun it is when they discover it. So now when Owen doesn't want to sit or get in his car seat, he arches his back and it's super difficult to get him in. It's oh so fun! Guess he's a big boy and making decisions on his own now.
Oh and teeth! O has his two bottom teeth now and is working on the top ones. He cut his bottom teeth when he was sick and they are completely through. I can feel a sharp corner on the top but so far they have not broken through. I love his little smile with his bottom 2 teeth. We have heard that when they are teething it lowers their immune system so maybe that's why he got so sick several weeks ago. I have heard of several babies getting sick and then their first teeth pop up. Hopefully he will not get sick with the rest of them :(
Other updates...I am still breastfeeding and so happy I made it to my goal of 6 months. Next goal, 9 months but not sure if I will make it. I love the bond with O but these teeth are not fun when feeding him...ha! I have 2 months worth of milk in our freezer and am still freezing 6ozs a day. Although we are now using a bit of frozen milk since they changed the storage guidelines. Milk can only stay frozen for 3-4 months now where before it was 3-6. So we're using the Sept/Oct milk and freezing fresh milk. So hopefully we can keep a good 2 months frozen so when the time comes, we're set.
Well, that's an update on us and I will post some pictures in the next few days. We are sooo blessed to have such a sweet and happy baby boy! He really is the happiest baby and we just wish we knew what was going through his little head. He laughs all day and anytime you call his name, he looks up smiling. We just love him and couldn't imagine our days without his smiles.
Updates from Owen's Appt:
Weight - 16lbs 8ozs (50th %-tile)
Height - 28.5 inches (95th %-tile...we're still not sure where he's getting his height from)
Head - (90th %-tile...still big and holding all those smart brains...ha!)
Milestones:
Sitting Up - O has been sitting up unassisted for over a month now. He started "trying" before Christmas and then all of a sudden he was sitting on his own for 10mins...then 20mins...then almost a hour later he was still sitting and playing. We love his little independence!
Rolling over - O has been rolling over both from back to front on both sides and front to back since about 4 months or so but now he can do a continuous roll. So instead of flipping from one side to the other he can now roll across the floor. And he knows it too :) He recently rolled under his crib! We got a great photo of that.
Talking - O is now able to mimic our sounds so if we make smacking noises, he does it back to us. It's really cute and he thinks he is the funniest baby around. He is making his vowel sounds and I keep working with him to say "ma ma" :) He does it every once in a while but still thinks we are playing a game. He started making a noise that almost sounds like he is saying "hi" :) His teachers think it's so funny b/c in the mornings they always say "Hi, Mr. Owen" and he smiles and says "hi" back. Guess he picked it up from them. Oh and Owen knows his name :) You can say Owen, O or O-man and he will look all around until he finds who said it. Love that he knows his nick-names too :)
Grabbing/Reaching - O reaches for anything and everything and is passing things from one hand to another with ease. He loves to reach for things and pull them down. Every morning when I drop him off and pick up his lesson plan, never fails that he grabs the cup with pens and pulls it over. No matter how careful I am or how far away I am from the cup, he still gets it! He has started reaching for things that are too far away and ends up on his belly. Which is great because he then scoots to get it. So far he has scooted about 4 feet at school so we bet he will be crawling soon...oh boy!
Recognizing/Trusting others - I am not sure if this is a milestone but O has really started to know who we are and who his teacher is. Before he would just get excited to see us but now not only does he reach for us but he comes to either me or Chris for whatever he needs. When it's time to eat, he reaches for me. Chris can come pick him up but he will reach for me to let me know that he needs me. Then other times when he wants to ride on Chris' shoulders for example, he will reach for Chris. He always looks to me when he's sleepy and ready for bed. Even with school, he will reach for his teacher when he gets there b/c she usually sits on the ground and plays peek-a-boo with him every morning. He is one smart little guy and we love that he is now starting to be able to tell us what he wants and needs. We are starting to teach him sign language so hopefully that will help him tell us easier what he needs.
Eating/Drinking - Again, not really a milestone but just an Owen update. We still have a great eater and he is eating 3 meals a day and gets upset when we get off schedule :) He loves fruit but will eat pretty much anything. We have been giving him real fruit also and he loves pineapple, banana and strawberries. He has also had avocado and a taste of green beans. He wants whatever we are eating so I thought, why not :) Anything he can grab and put in his mouth on his own is soooo much better than us feeding him...ha! We have also started giving him a sippy cup and he holds and drinks out of it but he would rather chew on it. He will drink from a regular cup but that is a bit messy if I don't watch him :) But we love that he can pick it up and put it in his mouth. That's a step, right?!?!
Owen is still wearing 6 month clothes and some 9 month ones. He is very long so we have a hard time finding things that fit his torso. He is pretty slim too so a lot of clothes that fit his lenght are too wide. But with the way he is eating I am sure he will plump up soon!
Sleeping - Ugg, this is one subject that we wish O was good at. We have just decided that our child is not going to sleep through the night. He has several good nights and will sleep from 8pm-7am but ever since he was sick we have not been sleeping through the night. In fact, he is now waking up to eat around 4am. I guess it's not the end of the world b/c he is sleeping 8 hours then waking up but we just wish he would go back to his old habits. Oh well! We found a solution to the paci problem and have been placing 5+ paci's in his crib at night so when he tries to find one he has several to choose from. So far it has worked great and he finds his paci and is back to sleep in minutes. But for some reason lately he has been waking up hungry at 4am. And there is no rocking him back to sleep, he throws a fit until he eats :) I am hoping that he will add an hour on until we're back to 7am but I have a feeling he is going to be a light sleeper like me.
O has also discovered the fun of arching his back. Several moms at school have told us about the dreadful arching and how much fun it is when they discover it. So now when Owen doesn't want to sit or get in his car seat, he arches his back and it's super difficult to get him in. It's oh so fun! Guess he's a big boy and making decisions on his own now.
Oh and teeth! O has his two bottom teeth now and is working on the top ones. He cut his bottom teeth when he was sick and they are completely through. I can feel a sharp corner on the top but so far they have not broken through. I love his little smile with his bottom 2 teeth. We have heard that when they are teething it lowers their immune system so maybe that's why he got so sick several weeks ago. I have heard of several babies getting sick and then their first teeth pop up. Hopefully he will not get sick with the rest of them :(
Other updates...I am still breastfeeding and so happy I made it to my goal of 6 months. Next goal, 9 months but not sure if I will make it. I love the bond with O but these teeth are not fun when feeding him...ha! I have 2 months worth of milk in our freezer and am still freezing 6ozs a day. Although we are now using a bit of frozen milk since they changed the storage guidelines. Milk can only stay frozen for 3-4 months now where before it was 3-6. So we're using the Sept/Oct milk and freezing fresh milk. So hopefully we can keep a good 2 months frozen so when the time comes, we're set.
Well, that's an update on us and I will post some pictures in the next few days. We are sooo blessed to have such a sweet and happy baby boy! He really is the happiest baby and we just wish we knew what was going through his little head. He laughs all day and anytime you call his name, he looks up smiling. We just love him and couldn't imagine our days without his smiles.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Long Week!
This week marked Owen's first real sickness and we are all exhausted from it! O started coughing about 10 days ago and we thought it was just a simple cold and didn't think anything of it since he seemed to feel ok. We were so wrong! Sunday a week ago O all of a sudden started coughing really bad and wouldn't eat and was just fussy all day. Again we didn't think too much of it, just a little cold and maybe he's fussy b/c he has been working on his two bottom teeth for the past few weeks. Again very wrong and Sunday was the start to a week home and daily doctor's visits.
O had RSV which lead to a lung infection. RSV can be very serious and babies can end up in the hospital without proper care. We noticed O started wheezing on Sunday night and we were up with him all night, poor boy! Dr. Chris listened to his lungs and heard the wheezing and put O on nebulizer treatments every 4 hours and we went back for a re-check the following day. Tuesday his lungs still sounded about the same and his wheezing sounded better after the treatments so we were told to continue treatments and then to come back for a re-check. Tuesday was about the same as Monday, fussy baby that couldn't eat or sleep b/c he couldn't breathe. Chris and I were completely exhausted and we knew we had a few more days to get through this. We were so worried b/c O wouldn't eat anything. It was a challenge just to get 4-5ozs of milk in him each day and he would not drink pedialite for anything. We watched his diapers and made sure that he wasn't getting dehydrated. Wednesday we had a little scare so we headed back to the doctor. O spiked a fever and was pretty much lifeless. All he wanted to do was sleep but he couldn't do that b/c he couldn't breathe. Finally I got him to sleep in a sitting position and he slept for almost 4 hours straight. When I picked him up after he was like a limp noodle and just nuzzled into my chest and went back to sleep. He was breathing more rapid and his breaths were over 60+ a minute (normal is 20-40) so we went back to the doctor. His lungs sounded about the same but his doctor thought that he was in the peak of the sickness so hopefully the next few days we would see a turn. Thank goodness!
Chris stayed home with O on Thursday and thought he was doing good. He drank close to 15ozs of milk and was somewhat happy. He still had a horrible cough and b/c he has been coughing and crying so much, his throat is hoarse. It's so sad but cute, when he cries it sounds like a squeak. He had an overall good day and we were looking forward to a night of sleep...well maybe a few hours at least. Wrong!!!!!! I was up walking the house with O from 11:45pm to 4am and nothing seemed to help. I was exhausted but whatever I could do to make him feel better was worth it. Finally at 4:30am, after another neb treatment he cried himself to sleep and we got about 2 hours before he got up for the day. We had another doctor's appt that morning (this is now Friday) and his lungs sounded so much better but were not 100%. Dr. Chris said his throat was raw and that he probably just doesn't feel too good but over the weekend we should see a change and if not to call for a re-check. I decided to stay home with Owen on Friday again even though I really needed to go to work but I knew that I needed to be here for him and no matter what, he is more important. Thank goodness my job and co-workers all have young children so were very understanding.
Friday afternoon was a huge turn for Owen. He woke up from a nap smiling...could this really be?? And he was hungry too! We played for the afternoon and he seemed to be feeling better. He went to bed pretty easy last night and we went to bed at 9:30pm to prepare for another night like the rest of the week. He did get up a lot but nothing like earlier this week. And he was hungry! Every time he got up he wanted to eat, so I fed him and he went back to sleep for a few hours. I was so happy to get up with him to eat, I didn't mind at all him waking every 2 hours or so. Reminded me of when he was a newborn. Except he slept more as a newborn than he did this week :) This morning he woke up hungry...this is huge progress! And he has been playing all morning and only gets upset when he coughs but nothing like earlier.
Today, if he seems happy then we are all going to get out of the house for a bit. We have discovered that O gets "cabin fever" if he stays inside for more than a few days and that leads to a super grumpy boy. He loves car rides so we figured maybe we could hit Target and get our errands from last week done :)
So if you are wondering where he got RSV, it's still unclear but Dr. Chris says that most likely he got it from an adult that had a mild case and may have passed it off as just being stuffy. I thought that I may have given it to him since I was sick over Christmas but his doctor said that he would have had it a little sooner. So chances are he came in contact with it the week after Christmas possibly the beginning of last week. We were ready to have a "talk" with daycare b/c we were sure he got it from there. We are still going to talk to them to make sure they are keeping up with washing his hands, cleaning the toys 4 times a day and checking their sick policy to make sure babies are not allowed back sooner than they should be after being sick. But one of the things we liked about Minnieland is that it was soooo clean. I guess we have to realize that babies are going to get sick this time of the year and we'll get through it!
Another thing we discovered this morning is that Owen has cut one of his bottom teeth. So that may have added to him not feeling good. His gums have been white for a few weeks and he has been chewing on everything not to mention the drool. Well this morning we noticed little slits in his gums and when we felt them, there was a little and sharp tooth that had pushed through. Such a big boy now!!
O had RSV which lead to a lung infection. RSV can be very serious and babies can end up in the hospital without proper care. We noticed O started wheezing on Sunday night and we were up with him all night, poor boy! Dr. Chris listened to his lungs and heard the wheezing and put O on nebulizer treatments every 4 hours and we went back for a re-check the following day. Tuesday his lungs still sounded about the same and his wheezing sounded better after the treatments so we were told to continue treatments and then to come back for a re-check. Tuesday was about the same as Monday, fussy baby that couldn't eat or sleep b/c he couldn't breathe. Chris and I were completely exhausted and we knew we had a few more days to get through this. We were so worried b/c O wouldn't eat anything. It was a challenge just to get 4-5ozs of milk in him each day and he would not drink pedialite for anything. We watched his diapers and made sure that he wasn't getting dehydrated. Wednesday we had a little scare so we headed back to the doctor. O spiked a fever and was pretty much lifeless. All he wanted to do was sleep but he couldn't do that b/c he couldn't breathe. Finally I got him to sleep in a sitting position and he slept for almost 4 hours straight. When I picked him up after he was like a limp noodle and just nuzzled into my chest and went back to sleep. He was breathing more rapid and his breaths were over 60+ a minute (normal is 20-40) so we went back to the doctor. His lungs sounded about the same but his doctor thought that he was in the peak of the sickness so hopefully the next few days we would see a turn. Thank goodness!
Chris stayed home with O on Thursday and thought he was doing good. He drank close to 15ozs of milk and was somewhat happy. He still had a horrible cough and b/c he has been coughing and crying so much, his throat is hoarse. It's so sad but cute, when he cries it sounds like a squeak. He had an overall good day and we were looking forward to a night of sleep...well maybe a few hours at least. Wrong!!!!!! I was up walking the house with O from 11:45pm to 4am and nothing seemed to help. I was exhausted but whatever I could do to make him feel better was worth it. Finally at 4:30am, after another neb treatment he cried himself to sleep and we got about 2 hours before he got up for the day. We had another doctor's appt that morning (this is now Friday) and his lungs sounded so much better but were not 100%. Dr. Chris said his throat was raw and that he probably just doesn't feel too good but over the weekend we should see a change and if not to call for a re-check. I decided to stay home with Owen on Friday again even though I really needed to go to work but I knew that I needed to be here for him and no matter what, he is more important. Thank goodness my job and co-workers all have young children so were very understanding.
Friday afternoon was a huge turn for Owen. He woke up from a nap smiling...could this really be?? And he was hungry too! We played for the afternoon and he seemed to be feeling better. He went to bed pretty easy last night and we went to bed at 9:30pm to prepare for another night like the rest of the week. He did get up a lot but nothing like earlier this week. And he was hungry! Every time he got up he wanted to eat, so I fed him and he went back to sleep for a few hours. I was so happy to get up with him to eat, I didn't mind at all him waking every 2 hours or so. Reminded me of when he was a newborn. Except he slept more as a newborn than he did this week :) This morning he woke up hungry...this is huge progress! And he has been playing all morning and only gets upset when he coughs but nothing like earlier.
Today, if he seems happy then we are all going to get out of the house for a bit. We have discovered that O gets "cabin fever" if he stays inside for more than a few days and that leads to a super grumpy boy. He loves car rides so we figured maybe we could hit Target and get our errands from last week done :)
So if you are wondering where he got RSV, it's still unclear but Dr. Chris says that most likely he got it from an adult that had a mild case and may have passed it off as just being stuffy. I thought that I may have given it to him since I was sick over Christmas but his doctor said that he would have had it a little sooner. So chances are he came in contact with it the week after Christmas possibly the beginning of last week. We were ready to have a "talk" with daycare b/c we were sure he got it from there. We are still going to talk to them to make sure they are keeping up with washing his hands, cleaning the toys 4 times a day and checking their sick policy to make sure babies are not allowed back sooner than they should be after being sick. But one of the things we liked about Minnieland is that it was soooo clean. I guess we have to realize that babies are going to get sick this time of the year and we'll get through it!
Another thing we discovered this morning is that Owen has cut one of his bottom teeth. So that may have added to him not feeling good. His gums have been white for a few weeks and he has been chewing on everything not to mention the drool. Well this morning we noticed little slits in his gums and when we felt them, there was a little and sharp tooth that had pushed through. Such a big boy now!!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Chris' Baby Clothes
At my PA shower, Chris' mom gave me a bag of clothes that Chris wore when he was a baby. How special to have a few outfits to pass on to O. Unfortunately they were born several months apart so Chris' 6 month clothes (that he wore in Aug/Sept) are fitting O now. But we thought we would dress O up and take a few pics. He looked soo cute in his Little Pro short romper...a mini Chris :)
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve dinner was hosted by Chris' sister this year. Mom "A" cooked her traditional fish dinner and we all had our 7 fishes on Christmas Eve. This is an Italian/Catholic tradition that their family has always done and I was more than happy to join in and partake in the fish dinner. Since fish is my favorite food. Dinner was cut short by a horrible bout of gas for poor Owen. He suffered for about an hour crying then we finally got him to fall asleep for a short time so we could eat dinner. He woke up crying again so we had to take our dessert to go. Poor boy and his reflux! It was great to spend time with family and only made O's first Christmas more special.
O fell asleep in the car ride home and woke up...happy??? How did this happen when he was in such pain earlier. We snapped a few pics, sorry his pants were open. That's how he rode home :)
So excited...and his cookies look yummy!
Can you tell Sadie wanted a cookie?!?!
O fell asleep in the car ride home and woke up...happy??? How did this happen when he was in such pain earlier. We snapped a few pics, sorry his pants were open. That's how he rode home :)
With Oma Sue (this was just before I threw up on her...but I felt sooo much better after!)
So excited...and his cookies look yummy!
Can you tell Sadie wanted a cookie?!?!
Cookies for Santa
Oma Sue and Owen made some yummy cookies for Santa! O was such a big helper and added his own flavor to the batch...drool...ha! O has started teething and is chewing on everything! Why wouldn't he chew on the bowl?!?! :)
Here's our little chef in the making! He assisted from his favorite seat...Thanks Renee for the suggestion for the highchair! O absolutely loves sitting in his highchair to eat and to just hang out.
Here's our little chef in the making! He assisted from his favorite seat...Thanks Renee for the suggestion for the highchair! O absolutely loves sitting in his highchair to eat and to just hang out.
Baby's First Christmas
Owen's First Christmas
We had a wonderful first Christmas with Owen! It went by so fast and but we loved every minute. Both of our families came to VA and it was so great to be able to wake up and have Christmas at our house. O decided to sleep late on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning so we didn't get started until close to 9am. O is a morning boy, so random that he slept late. Must have been from all the excitement.
Grandaddy made his famous stuffed french toast for breakfast and it was sooo yummy! O had his favorite, pears and oatmeal :) We opened gifts and opened gifts until well after lunch. Everyone said they were going to go light for O since it was his first Christmas and he was really too little to play with much...YEAH RIGHT! O's pile of gifts tripled ours. We enjoyed playing with all the toys and the paper...that's right, O's favorite thing about the gifts was the paper and ribbon :)
O got so many toys to help him with his sitting and scooting and by the end of Christmas day he was already sitting unassisted for 10-15mins without falling over. Now, a week later he sits by himself and does great until he leans back. He hasn't quite realized that there's not always something behind him :) It's ok, usually he catches himself and ends up leaning to one side where he can get himself back to sitting position.
Here are a few pictures of O on Christmas Day. And yes, the family picture we are wearing our famous tacky Christmas sweaters...ha! We started our annual Tacky Christmas Party last year but decided to skip it this year b/c O is so little and it would be a lot getting prepared with a very busy 5 month old. So to be funny, we decided to wear them on Christmas Day. Our parents laughed and laughed :)
Merry Christmas All!
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