Owen's first boat ride

Our friends Brandon and Kelly have a pretty sweet set-up; they live in a cute townhouse right on a river that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay, and have a great boat that they dock steps away from their front door.  They are kind enough to give us an open invitation, so we went on a cruise to a waterfront restaurant on a beautiful Tuesday night.  Brandon took it slowly on the way there, and since Owen did so well, we told Brandon to open it up on the way home...Owen loved it!  We didn't get any pictures of the big smile that was on his face most of the ride, but you can see the wind in his hair in this last one.  He cried on the way home because he didn't like to be all strapped in to his car seat, but he went right to  sleep when we got home and is probably dreaming of learning to waterski.

grandparent time

We have been fortunate to spend a lot of time with Owen's grandparents lately.  My mom spent a few days with us, left on Saturday morning, then Kyle's parents arrived that evening.  Both kindly watched Owen while we enjoyed a few nights out.  They got more than they bargained for...Grammie experienced Owen's third, but very large, spit-up, and Mimi and Papa changed Owen's first dirty (very dirty!) diaper in a week. Otherwise, he was very smiley and charming! He is blessed with loving and generous grandparents and we can't wait to spend more time with them all soon! 

Grammie can't get enough hugs! 

Home from dinner before dark! 

Fun with Papa Pirate

The many faces of Owen

Owen has become quite expressive over the past month.  Here is a fun series of pictures I took recently.  Unfortunately, he now seems to know that I want him to smile when I hold the camera up, so it's getting more and more difficult to catch the cute moments! 

  

our first family picnic

We found ourselves without Saturday night plans this weekend so we decided to keep it simple and head to the nearby Loch Raven Reservoir for a sunset picnic. We picked up bbq on the way instead of making our own picnic (hey, we have an infant!) and brought the baby book to start getting some memories down on paper. Owen loved staring up at the beautiful sky, and we enjoyed the quiet and lack of mosquitoes!  

still gr'Owen...7-10 weeks old

Owen has been growing and changing a lot since the 5-6 week update. Thankfully, he has stayed really healthy and has gotten great reports at all of his visits to the doctor.  Now we don't go back until four months!  Unfortunately, our pediatrician, whom we loved, is leaving the practice and moving to NC.  We'll meet her replacement at the next appointment and hopefully we'll feel comfortable with him.  At his two month check-up, he weighed 11 lbs, 11.5 oz (34th %), was 23 1/4 in tall (59th %), and had a head circumference of 41.1 cm (95th %).  Still has a big brain bucket!

The biggest change is probably how smiley Owen has become!  He has always seemed happy, but now that he can smile back at us and even spontaneously smiles and squeals with delight, we know for sure how he is feeling! We both feel amazing when we make him grin. :-) Just in the last week or so, we have noticed Owen discovering his hands.  He has been putting them in his mouth for a while, but now it is clear that he is looking at them.  He holds them out in front of his face and gets a little cross eyed trying to focus on them! He is also tracking other objects well, as long as we move them slowly in front of his face.  He has also been holding his head up higher and for longer stretches while on his tummy.  He is sleeping on average 6-7 hours overnight, from about 8 PM - 3 AM, then falling back to sleep for a couple more stretches before starting his day around 8:30 AM.  We're very happy with his progress, which has happened naturally without any "sleep training", and we're hoping we can modify our morning routine well when he starts daycare in a few weeks.

Here are some close-ups from the last month.

He's got a little "tail!" He may need an early haircut.

Owen's first flight

We flew to Atlanta to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby Smith at Tera's shower.  Owen didn't want to miss the fuss about his cousin-to-be, so he tagged along too.  We were fortunate to get two wonderful seat-mates on our flights there and back - I guess baby lovers self-select on Southwest flights! Sweet grandfather Don sat beside us on the way to Atlanta and grandmother hopeful/pre-school teacher Joy on the way home. Owen didn't make a peep on either flight, even while having his diaper changed in the teeny airplane restroom. Lee, the woman behind us on the way down, was going crazy over him (in a good, normal way) so I let her hold him during our delay.  When she handed him back over the seat, her 9 year old son, Anderson, gave Owen some advice - "Owen, the best day of your life will be when you get your ipod."  Hopefully not, Anderson, but thanks for the tip!