6-7 month update

It's probably obvious from my lack of posting lately how busy these 6th and 7th months have been.  We've been busy with work, holidays, and foot surgery for Katie, and Owen's just been busy growing. He's still pretty small on the percentile scale, but he looks just right to us and the doctor is happy. At six months, he weighed 15 lbs, 12.5 oz, putting him in the 17th%, and 25 3/4 inches long, in the 14th%.  His head continues to rank high at 44.5 cm circumference and 81% - full of brains! 

Speaking of brains, we have seen lots of progress in Owen's development these last two months.  He pays close attention to toys and items he sees us holding (to our chagrin, he already loves phone and computer screens) and has become very adept at grabbing things and passing them between his hands. He definitely has some favorite toys - he loves Sophie the giraffe, his little boom box as we call it, and a teddy bear that plays peek-a-boo with him.  He is so responsive to us now and can easily be cheered up by some goofy parental antics. We don't hear too much giggling yet, but it is a joyful sound, even if rare! One of Owen's favorite times of day is when Kyle gets home and takes him to the basement for some guitar music. 

He has had his first few bouts of illness recently.  He had a little stomach bug in November that cleared up within a few days, and currently has an ear infection and a nasty cold, with a fever on top. He has trouble sleeping because of his congestion and keeps tugging at his poor little infected ear.  We are giving him extra snuggles and praying he feels better soon! He got his first prescription..."the pink stuff" (amoxycillin) that I always hated as a kid! 

Sleep, in general, is going fine. At his six month appointment, our doctor said we should try to cut out his 4 AM feeding, and we agreed to give it until January or so until we got serious about it.  He must have understood the doctor though, because the next night and nearly every night since he has slept past 6 AM.  Bedtime has become more challenging, though - we know we need to establish a better routine and find just the right time, but I continue to nurse him almost to sleep until things normalize around the house a little bit (it's pretty exciting right now with Aunt Tera, Uncle Brett, cousin Daphne and doggie pal Gertie living with us temporarily). 

Owen is on the verge of crawling, which is why I had my foot surgery when I did! He can get himself up onto all fours and rock, but he hasn't quite coordinated moving his arms and legs yet.  He can also stand on his own for a few seconds, leaning against a low table or steady chair. 

Overall, he continues to get cuter and even more loveable!  That's not to say that we don't have plenty of challenging moments, but they are all worth it for one of his huge toothless grins.

Mother-son road trip: by the numbers

2700: approximate wipes of the windshield wipers, at 15 wipes/minute for three hours of 
rainy driving.
388: minutes it took to complete our trip (6 hours and 28 minutes).
375: minutes my iphone predicted the trip would take.
346: miles driven from Victor, NY to Parkville, MD.
210: minutes Owen slept.
37: minutes Owen cried consecutively.  This may be the longest he has ever cried at one time in his entire life.  Sorry you missed it, Kyle.
20: maximum mph above the speed limit I drove...those darn 55 mph zones get me every time! 
15: minutes wasted being lost in Harrisburg.  For the size and stature of that city, its highway system is far too complicated!
13: minutes longer the trip took me than the iphone predicted...not bad for half in the rain, half in the dark, one driver, and a baby.
8: adult stores counted along the way.
3: deer carcasses spotted on the shoulder.
2: diapers changed.
1: amish buggy passed, driving down the shoulder in the opposite direction of general traffic.
Innumerable: my gratitude for my son and family, and the chance to spend the weekend with them.

  

5 months old!

Warning: this is going to be a picture heavy post! Owen was especially cute today even though he's been feeling a little under the weather.  He turned 5 months old earlier this week, and 22 weeks...can we stop counting our lives in weeks now?! Anyway, Owen's had a runny nose for a week or so now, and had about a 101 degree fever last night.  Baby tylenol helped and he seems better today.

 As you can see, he's found his feet!  He loves to grab them when he's on his changing table, and occasionally puts some toes in his mouth.  

 He's also rolling over now - both ways!  He started with back to front.  He was a little slow at first, but once he figured out how to get some momentum behind his legs and swing them over, there was no stopping him! A few weeks later he snuck a few front to back rolls in behind our backs - we looked away for a few minutes while he was playing on the floor and in his crib, and turned around and he had flipped.  We have since seen a few, but that direction is still more rare than the other.d

 He can rotate around and scooch a little bit, and has been trying to get his knees up under his big belly.  We often put a toy just out of his reach and he becomes determined to get it, and usually does! We also find him overnight snuggled up in the corner of his crib, after having set him right in the center.

 Owen continues to become more and more vocal.  He has been making consonant sounds  more, and recently started to make the "raspberry" noise a lot.  He even mimics others when they do it! 

 We haven't noticed a big change in size since last month, but it's also tough to notice when we see him every day.  His caretakers at daycare do comment often on how big he is getting. Speaking of daycare, he really seems to love it.  The women there take wonderful care of him - he always comes home clean, full, and happy, and they've even cut his nails when we slacked! One commented recently, "we're not supposed to have favorites, but we wish all of the babies were like him!"

 He also does great and loves being with Taylor, our neighbor and nanny.  He gets so excited when she arrives on Wednesday and Friday mornings, and she has a special touch for getting him to take two 2-3 hour naps per day.  She also sends me cute pictures and videos throughout the day. :-)

 We haven't started Owen on solid foods yet.  He hasn't seemed too interested in our food, and he doesn't seem to be extra hungry, so we're continuing with mainly breast milk, and an occasional formula bottle for now. 

 Owen is an excellent sleeper, usually going for an 10-12 hour stretch overnight.  We feel so fortunate to be getting 7-8 hours ourselves every night! 

 As you can see above, he is still a finger sucker! He rarely uses a pacifier, but pretty much any other object that can fit into his mouth will find its way there.  We think teeth might be coming soon because he's been drooling up a storm lately.

 Owen can sit too!  He mainly does what we call either the "gorilla" or "triangle" sit with his legs out wide and hands on the floor between them, but sometime he can manage 10-20 seconds of sitting unassisted before he topples over. 

 He looks more and more like a little boy to me every day.  Sometimes I want to stop time and keep him this happy baby forever, but I am also so excited to meet the little boy he will become! 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Snoopy the flying Ace! (and his parents)

Welcome, cousins!

What an exciting month it's been for our family!  We welcomed two new cousins.  

Daphne Mariner Smith was born on September 10  - 11 days late, just like Owen!  She is a delicate beauty who isn't afraid to let you know what's on her mind. I was lucky enough to spend my first night away from Owen with Daphne, Tera and Brett when she was about a week old. We are so excited for our visit with Daphne and her parents this coming weekend - can't wait for the cousins to meet!

Wyatt William Butler was born to Scott and Kate on October 11 - also a late arrival! He was almost exactly the same size as Owen when he was born and is growing fast! He seems to be a little confused about day and night, but pretty chill overall as you can tell from this shot.  I imagine Owen and Wyatt will find lots of trouble to get into together over the years! 

Our family may be a little non-traditional, but we couldn't ask for a better one!  

4 month update

We are a couple of weeks late in writing this update - Owen will already be twenty weeks on Tuesday! Being back at work has made every moment with him more precious to me, so I haven't devoted as much time to the blog. I'm also trying hard to really be in the moment with him, rather than always feeling like I've got to snap a photo for facebook or the blog.  But, we are still excited to share his progress and pictures, and to have a record to look back on, so I'll do my best to make time for it.  I promise Owen's cuteness will be worth your efforts to keep checking back.

Owen got an excellent report at his four month check up.  We got a new doctor; our first one, whom we loved, got married and moved to North Carolina.  We were sad to see her go but so happy for her and the new doc seems good too.  He may be younger than we are! He's a Hopkins trained pediatrician though, and has his own two year old, so I've got confidence in him.

Owen measured in at 14 lbs, 4 oz, which put him in the 22nd percentile, and 24.5 in, in the 18th percentile.  His head is still apparently full of brains, measuring up at 85%! His percentiles did decrease quite a bit since two months, but the doctor didn't seem concerned as Owen is still continuing to grow and is a healthy range.  We never really expected him to be a giant considering our small statures.

Soon after I returned to work, Owen moved into his own room.  He had learned to rotate around on his back, and we'd find him sideways in the co-sleeper, sort of wedged in!  We had him take a few naps in his crib, and he made the transition with no problem.  He loves the mobile that great gramma Jackie chose for him, and watches it's birds spin around intently before falling to sleep each night.  He goes to bed around 7:00, and usually sleeps until somewhere in the 3:30-5:00 AM range. Kyle's been great about heading downstairs to get him and bring him up to me, then I nurse him and he usually stays in bed with us until we get up after 6:00.  I cherish this snuggle time with my boys before work!

Owen has become much more verbal this month.  He gave us his first real giggle during a visit to gramma Pat's house, and has just recently started to laugh more consistently. A good game of peek-a-boo never fails to produce a few belly laughs.  He has also started to "sing" or coo a lot, both in response to us talking to him and while by himself in his crib or car seat. He also seems to have figured out some cause and effect logic...we often hear a little fake cough when we have turned away from him for too long!

He has started to reach for things and has improved his grasp significantly.  It is amazing how quickly an object makes its way from our hands to Owen's hands, and into his mouth! This month I have become increasingly happy about my decision to cut my hair, since he loves to grab at other women's long locks.

He does very well with "tummy time" and enjoys it well enough for 10 minutes or so.  He can hold his head up high and push up well with his arms. He is so close to rolling over!

I've read that the first three months are like a fourth trimester - the baby still needs to be comforted as they were in the womb, and is pretty sleepy and needy most of the time.  Although Owen has been pretty alert from the beginning, we have definitely noticed his transition out of that stage this month.  He clearly expresses his opinions now and is so much more capable physically.  We are so proud of and in love with our little man!

three months old

Owen turned three months old last week!        

Owen slept a lot in his third month.  He usually takes three good naps per day, anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, and yesterday he slept for three in the morning - I think he was tired out from all of the change this week with me going back to work.  He began sleeping for 8 hour stretches probably around 7 or 8 weeks, then he was up to 10 -11 hours for a couple of blissful weeks in mid-late August.  He has regressed a little in the past week and a half - when I need sleep the most, of course! He has been waking once or twice overnight, but he eats quickly and goes right back to sleep so it really isn't too bad.  He is still sleeping in our room in his co-sleeper bed, but he is starting to get close to outgrowing it.  I'm hoping he will return to longer sleep stretches before we move him into his own room, so I can save myself trips downstairs overnight.

He has outgrown most of his 0-3 month clothes now and some of the smaller 6 month onesies are even snug already.  We are learning that baby clothes are like women's clothes in that every brand's sizing is a little different.  We like baby gap the best since they have the largest neck holes for his big head to fit through!  His legs are filling out, he has some little wrist "cuffs," and it's tough to find his neck sometimes.

one of my favorite shots of him yet

The first week back to work went about as well as we could expect.  Owen is making friends quickly at day care - he is known by the caretakers as "the baby" because the next youngest baby is 8 or 9 months old.  They spoil him by holding him all day! He also did great at home with our nanny, Taylor, for two days.  She was lucky enough to change his one dirty diaper of the week on her second day! It was tough for me to be away from him all day, but I'm hoping I'll get used to it, and for now, it makes the weekends that much sweeter.

Opinions seem to be about equally divided now on who he resembles more; we can definitely see some of each of our features in his cute little face.  Nearly everybody who meets him comments on his big eyes - I can't disagree - they are beautiful, and very curious! 

He is so close to giggling - I'm worried I'll miss his first real giggle while I'm at work! He does a lot of razzing...a new term I learned from the What to Expect the First Year book...sort of a wet noise from the back of his mouth.  He does a lot of cooing and says "ah goo" a lot. He loves to have our attention and sometimes if we haven't looked at him in a while we'll hear a little yelp from across the room.

We go back to the pediatrician next month for a checkup, so we will have updated size stats then!