4 Months

I can't believe it, Owen is 4 months old and we went to his check-up today. He is one healthy and TALL baby boy! We can't get over how long he is. He's going to be a model. We knew he had grown because several outfits that we just bought are too short for him in length and also in his torso. But he's a slim little guy so the next size up looks so huge on him. We're going to have to find him some slim outfits.

His stats below:

Length 27 inches - 95%-tile

Weight 15lbs 4ozs - 55%-tile

Head...well let's just say it's still huge and in the 90%-tile :)

We talked to Dr. Chris about getting Owen to sleep through the night. Yes, I am still getting up with him once a night and sometimes more. He does so good from 7:30-8pm and will sleep until about 3am but then he wakes up hungry. I feed him and he's back in bed by 3:30am and will sleep until around 7am, when we get him up. I have tried several approaches to cut out that night feeding and the only one that has worked so far is dreamfeeding. We have heard about it but after talking with our neighbor last night we decided to try it. Basically he will eat and go to bed at his usual time, 7:30pm then before we go to bed around 11pm, I get him up and feed him again while he's still asleep. We were surprised last night that we could change his diaper and feed him while he was fast asleep. I decided to bottlefeed him b/c he never nurses good when he's sleepy and as soon as I put the bottle to his lips, he started sucking...while asleep. He finished about 3ozs and was in a deep sleep. We put him down and went to bed. At 6:15am my alarm went off and I didn't remember hearing him at all...well, the I realized that I forgot to turn the volume up on the monitor so I am not sure if he woke up or not :) We asked Dr. Chris about it and he had never heard of this method and was not too sure that it was the best thing for Owen. Guess he thinks it could screw up how Owen acts when he is hungry since we are feeding him without him signaling to us that he's hungry. So I am back to deciding if we should continue the "dreamfeeding" of just let him dictate when he eats and sleeps. And as much as I would love a full nights sleep, I want what's best for Owen and if that means him chowing down at 3am for a bit longer, then so be it.

Dr. Chris also told us that we can start real foods now. I couldn't believe that he was saying that and thought for sure that we would start on cereal first. He said that he just went to a conference where they discussed the benefits of giving nutritious foods over cereal, which is basically empty calories. They discussed how in other countries they introduce fruits and veggies at a young age and babies/children are so much more healthy. The US is really behind when we introduce foods and it may be the reason we have a higher percentage of sickness. He even said that we could puree Thanksgiving dinner and give O some...not too sure that we're all ready to try that yet but we plan to introduce some basics in the next few weeks. And definitely will give O yogurt...it's so good for him.

This past weekend our friend Tina came over to take some pics of O for our Christmas cards. We all had so much fun and O was a perfect model. He was all smiles and giggles the whole time and she took 200+ pictures. It was so hard to pick just one but we love love the pic and card we choose.

Here's a pic of our little bugger...we are so blessed to have such a happy and healthy baby boy.

17 Weeks

I can't believe that Owen is 17 weeks and on Monday will be 4 months old! Where has the time gone. He's a big boy and full of laughs and smiles morning and night. We are so blessed to have such a happy boy. Even when he had an ear infection and didn't feel good, he was all smiles. We just love our little guy.

Things Owen is doing:

Rolling over from tummy to side and back. I was a little worried that he was behind b/c I couldn't get him to roll over more than just from his back to his side. But Miss Katie has been working with him and I have too at home and tonight he rolled over from his tummy to back several times. He still hasn't figured out how to go from back to tummy but think that will come soon. He knows how to kick his feet up and hold them and he leans to one side but he just hasn't been able to push himself over.

Feet in his mouth! Yes Owen has found his feet and he holds his legs and puts his feet in his mouth. A few days last week he came home from school with scratches on his legs and I thought, ok maybe another baby scratched him but he came home with more toward the end of the week. I was going to ask his teacher but then saw how those scratches got there. Owen constantly holds his legs now and he had a snagged nail so he was scratching himself :) I trimmed his little nail and no more scratches.

Pulling up and sitting up. Owen is starting to pull on our fingers to sit up and to stand up. We have been working with him to bear more weight on his legs and we found that he LOVES to pull up and bounce. He's getting better but I think he needs a little more practice. He has also started pulling up on his own when he lays back so that he's in a sitting position. He of course can't sit on his own but I was so impressed to see that he is able to pull his body to a 90 degree sitting position....then 2 seconds later he nose dives into the couch. Of course he thinks this is the funniest thing and laughs and wants to do it again.

Talking, talking and talking. Owen now talks all the time and talks very loud. We think he just likes to hear his own voice it's too funny to watch and listen to him. He will talk very fast and loud and then will laugh. For the first time this week we heard his laugh. He always has had this little laugh but yesterday he was flat out laughing. It's soo cute!

Drooling...yuck! Yes Owen has started to drool like crazy. He has been blowing bubbles and drooling a little for weeks but this week he has started drooling so much that we have to keep a bib on him all the time. I think he is teething now b/c he will put my finger in his mouth and chew/gum it. Where before he would suck on my finger.

Reflux...say goodbye (so we hope). We have been weaning O off his Zantac and so far so good. He is taking such a small dose now that it's probably not doing anything for him but he hasn't had any problems for weeks! And I have been able to add a few foods back in and he has tolerated those great too! Yeah for green veggies...I have missed you!

Here's a recent pic of our little guy! Will post updates at his 4 month appt next week.

Halloween

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! This post is a bit late but wanted to share a pic of our two pumpkins...ha! We dressed Owen up in his pumpkin outfit for school on Friday and also for our neighborhood cook-out on Sat, he was so cute :) We didn't keep him out too late b/c he had an ear infection but it was fun to take him around other children. I can't wait until next halloween when he can walk and we can go trick-or-treating.

Our Little Pumpkin

Our Family & the cutest pumpkins ever!

Positive Note

This post is several weeks late but it's a positive one. From my last post I thought my world was coming to an end with going back to work. I had a very hard time adjusting to my new schedule and also not being able to spend my days with my buddy. It was the hardest two weeks I have ever had to go through and I made it and am doing great with the new schedule. Owen really likes his school and his teacher Miss Katie is great. She gives him her full attention all day and really listens to my concerns. Owen has started napping better at school so when he gets home he's not a complete zombie. We figured it out, if O takes a nap around 4pm then he's wide awake when Chris picks him up and then I get a good 2 hours to play with him before he goes to bed. Some afternoons he doesn't get his nap and he is super sleepy but I have learned to love our cuddle time while he has a quick nap and then we can play. So no, the world didn't come to an end and it did get easier. Everyone was right but a few weeks ago I didn't think so.

Back to Work and School for Owen

Sad post this week...

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

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

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

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

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

Owen...Kramer???

Bad Hair?? Owen or Kramer??

Everyone is always saying how adorable Owen's hair is and how thankful we must be that he has such a head full of hair. We are and in the front, it's absolutely adorable...in the back is a different story :) We have tried to brush it in every direction and still it sticks up like a fan in the back.

He's our little Kramer(from Seinfield)...ha!

Weddings & 12 Weeks!

This past weekend I went out for the first time since Owen was born. I know, it's been 3 months but I just can't seem to leave him. I constantly wonder if he's going to wake up and be upset b/c I am not there...I am sure every mom can relate to this feeling. But Saturday was my night! Chris was so sweet to stay home with Owen while I went to my friends Dani & Andrew's wedding outside of Baltimore. I had a really good time and did a lot better than I thought with being away from Owen. Of course I checked in on him every hour. He and daddy had a fun night and he slept until 3am, which was nice for me since I was out until after midnight. It was so great to see everyone and especially Penny, Teenie and Crystal who I haven't seen in FOREVER!

Chi Omega Girls

Owen is 12 weeks...I can hardly believe it! He is such a fun little guy right now and loves attention! He will talk all day if you talk back to him. And if you don't pay attention, then he will talk really loud to get your attention. He loves to sit up and to be carried so he can see what's going on. He still likes to lay on the floor and kick and play but he is much happier sitting up.

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

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

Owen 12 Weeks!