party time!

We are so grateful to Margie for hosting a wonderful meet-the-baby party for Owen! To avoid travel late in the pregnancy, we decided to have this party rather than a traditional shower, and it ended up being so much fun.  The attention was thankfully off my belly and on Owen (much cuter subject!), and men got to attend!  So many friends and family came, and we enjoyed catching up with everyone. I caught a few of the guests on camera as well as some of the delicious and adorable details.  Thanks, Mimi!

The baby feet theme was sweet! Those are Owen's piggies in the big picture.

Great Aunt Elaine arrived before Owen was out of his jammies for some early snuggles! 

Great Aunt Linda wore her baby blue! 

We had to stop cousin Dee from giving Owen a taste of frosting! Look closely...you'll see her cupcakes are arranged to spell "Owen Norton".

Such a sweet shot of three generations.

Margie and her best gal pals! 

Owen was smitten with Cheryl and Linda! 

Our friends Rick and Becky and their 9 month old Luke came from Buffalo.  Luke made Owen look tiny again! 

Owen: "Dad, who are all of these bearded men?!"

first family road trip

We took a tiring but wonderful road trip this past Friday to Tuesday, and introduced Owen to a ton of special family members and friends along the way.  He behaved so well - sleeping in strange places, being held by strangers, and being subjected to lots of time in the car seat.  He really took it all in stride and made a good first impression on a lot of people!  We relished the attention he received at his "meet the baby" party in Eldred (more details to come!), celebrated Margie and Terry's 40th wedding anniversary with the extended Norton/Bishop clan, met cousin Cory and her sweet Gia and Caterina (left the camera in the car...shoot!), spent the night at Great Gramma and Grampa's house and got spoiled with a delicious meal by Great Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tom, and took a short detour to Seneca Lake to meet the Peters clan (forgot the camera again...doh!).  It was no surprise that Owen slept nearly the entire 5.5 hour trip home on Tuesday.

Pit stop on Route 83 for a bite to eat (and maybe a bathroom break? We think we heard something.)

About halfway home to Mimi and Papa's in Eldred, PA

Seems the Keating family was prevalent in NW PA

Settling in at Mimi and Papa's on the breezy front porch

On the porch of the HoStaGeh Restaurant, celebrating Margie and Terry's 40th anniversary

Jenna and I practicing our fish faces at the fancy dinner

The first of many times Owen will probably get dressed up by his older girl cousins

Kate sings to Owen after a long day

Owen meets Great Gramma Ryan for the first time...love at first sight! 

Snuggling with Great Grampa Ryan 

I love Great Aunt Lisa!

Uncle Weed! (aka Great Uncle Tom) 

Just reclining and catching some golf on tv

We have the greatest family! (plus, Kyle is tall!!)

Proud greats!

Loving the lake! 

Heading home.  Owen's got a pretty sweet set-up.

future rockstar

Owen's future girlfriend, Elise, and her big brother and parents sent him a cute little rockstar outfit and I caught him playing air guitar while he was wearing it!  Then I made him do a more formal pose for his album cover. What a stud.  

A hug from Grampa John

One of the toughest parts about welcoming Owen to our family has been knowing that he'll never know my Dad.  Dad would have been an incredible grandfather, as he was to his step-grandchildren; he was so fun-loving, goofy and imaginative.  Any sense of proper decorum (which he didn't have much commitment to anyway!) dissolved as soon as a kid entered the room.  I've been thinking about how I'll "introduce" Owen to his late Grampa as he grows, but still wanting to create some sort of connection between them now as he's meeting all of his other grandparents and family. 

My friend, Lindsey, takes beautiful photos and offered to do a shoot with Owen while he is still little.  I was rummaging around the house looking for props to use or places to photograph him, and spotted my dad's LL Bean bags in the top of a rarely-used closet.  He hardly ever ventured out of town without one of these, and they made countless trips to our cottage filled with treats.  Over the years, the bags, especially the older blue one, have become well-loved; soft, frayed, flexible, and covered with stains that give them character. 

We propped Owen up in the bag for some photos, and watching him, I felt like he was getting a big hug from his Grampa John.  We had him in there for way too long on a too hot day, but he barely fussed and lifted his head up for the longest he has yet.  Dad was certainly frayed and broken-in, and he sometimes stayed away for too long, but he always had some goodies up his sleeve and his hugs were always full of love.  I hope that I will be able to carry on even a fraction of Dad's enthusiasm and share the love I know he is sending down to his grandson with him. 

5 and 6 weeks old

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun as Owen has learned to smile and has become very responsive to his mom and dad.  His fifth week was really rainy and sixth week unbearably hot, but we have managed to get out and about - I've just been forgetting to take pictures!  Last week we got together with a few of my girlfriends for walks, took Owen on his first visit to the dump, and on his first visit to Wegman's (he preferred Wegman's.) This week we visited my office for the fiscal year-end barbeque and I went in for a half-day retreat while Owen stayed home with Daddy.  He also came to church with us both weekends, and made it all the way through both services! We are becoming a pro team at stealthy nursing.  Here are some of his weekly pics, and I'll start to be better with the candids during our travels! 

5 weeks

Owen is going to be a very good student, never speaking out of turn.

Six weeks

He probably has a career as a conductor ahead of him.

And, he is clearly right-handed! This hand is always either in the air or by his face.

Blurry, but cute!

The weight room is that way...

once upon a time...

...we actually went to the bank and post office instead of doing all of our business online!  I imagine this is what we may be telling Owen by the time he is old enough to use these institutions himself, so I wanted to record our errands on film (ok, on the iphone - he'll probably never know what film is!) today.