5 months

My baby boy is five months old. These months are going. so. fast.

Owen's not so much a newborn anymore.

Each day with Owen is more fun than the previous as he gets more interactive and keeps learning new tricks. He laughs at the funny noises we make. He's proven to be a future trumpet player the way he puts his lips together and blows. He loves sitting up (assisted) and looking around the room. He's so observant of everything around him. He can grab and pull the bird that dangles from his carseat handle. He's tried oatmeal, rice cereal and avocado.

On Friday, Owen will begin a new adventure. He's starting daycare. Owen, Dave and I have all loved having my mom take care of Owen. My mom and dad have liked it too. I know for me, I loved the opportunity to take care of my nieces everyday for a couple of months when I was in college. I felt a bond grow between us that is still there today. I hope my mom will be able to say the same about the last two months she's take care of Owen. It's the sweatest thing to walk into my parent's house at the end of the day and seeing my mom rocking a sleepy Owen or seeing my dad on the floor playing together. Having my mom take care of Owen has been a really nice way to transition back to work. And now that the transition is complete, it's time for Owen to go to daycare. I think he'll like the opportunity to interact with kids everyday, especially now that he started enjoying people watching.

And of course, Owen continues to grow like a weed. I weighed him this morning, and he's approximately 16.5 pounds now. He's down to his last few size two diapers and the box of size three is waiting for him.

My love for Owen is unreal. He is pretty much the highlight of my day every day. I knew I'd love being a mom, but I love it more than I imagined. Owen is a great boy and I'm so thankful that he is my boy.

I think month five will be a good one for Owen. I know he'll continue to grow and change right before our eyes. Will he get a tooth this month? Will he be able to sit up on his own? Will he learn how to say mama? I'll be back next month with a full report.

J.B.

What a girl wants...

For today's blog challenge, we're supposed to share three things we want. Anything. And not feel guilty for wanting it.

So here's the first thing I want.

A house. A single-family house with a backyard. And this particular picture is the model home for the particular house that I found that I want. It's gorgeous. At the moment, it's the house of my dreams. But it's just barely beyond our reach. This house has been consuming me. All day long I dream about living here. Room for Owen. Room for the dogs. Room for guests. Room for future children. Not to mention the model has one of the most beautiful gourmet kitchens I have ever seen. The three car garage seems big, but hey, we actually have three cars in our possession right now. So maybe this house isn't so way too big for us after all.

Since selling our current house isn't an option at the moment, I guess I'll pick one thing I'd like to do to our house.

Bathroom remodel! Fixing up anything in our house right now wouldn't be the wisest use of our money either. So the bathroom remodel is another dream of mind, just beyond my reach. I just kinda grabbed this picture of the world wide web, but now that I'm looking at it, I kinda like it. And it actually fits with the layout of my bathroom. It's like fate is trying to intervene here, and tell me that this bathroom needs me.

So for the third item, I'm picking something that I actually desperately need.

Jeans! Wearing my favorite pair of jeans through the first 4 months of my pregnancy, and squeezing back into them not even a week post-birth, caused some crazy stretching to my jeans. I swear, if jeans could get stretch marks, my jeans would have more of them than I do. And for the other jeans collecting dust in my closet, well, they just don't fit right anymore either. Pregnancy seemed to have caused my thighs to get smaller, while my hips grew. The net effect is pretty much a muffin top combined with a saggy butt look. Not flattering. Let me know your favorite brand of jeans. I don't even know where to start the search for new jeans.

Now for my runner up.

A closet like this would make my clothes look so beautiful. I might even look forward getting up in the morning, knowing that I would have to go into my closet to pick out something to wear. And in a house like mine -- with very little storage space, I think a closet organizer would be a smart use of what storage space we have. So we're not only looking at something beautiful here, it's practical too. A new closet is something I've always dreamed of having, so this was a close third. Especially, since I had a great home-related theme going. But the jeans are something I actually need, so they trumped the closet makeover.

It was fun picking out stuff I want. But it is making me feel like I need more in my life, which I don't. So now, in an effort to make me feel better, I just want to say that there is already so much that I'm lucky to have. And how all the things I do have don't even matter. And that all of the things I have could be swept away in a tsunami (Ok. It'd have to be a really big one to reach me.) The point is that I don't need those things pictured above. I already have more than enough. Because all I need is love. And I have a lot of that in my midst right now.

J.B.

Operation meatballs

We had our meatball contest today. Dave made his cheesy meatballs with shredded cheese while I made mine juicy lucy style. And I made some cheeseless ones that I could actually eat. Dave was the judge.

The verdict.

Draw.

I guess when you use the same ingredients, no matter how you build it, you get the same net result. Cheesy meatballs.

We had fun with our little contest and plan on tweaking our meatball recipes to make them both even tastier.

And now, for your viewing pleasure. Owen pics!








J.B.

Food

Food. I love food.

I love finding recipes and making new meals for Dave and I to try.

But not lately.

Lately, nothing sounds appetizing. I can't figure out what I want to eat. And the odd thing is that I feel like I'm always hungry. Hungry, but not knowing how to satisfy the hunger -- not a great combination.

Except for a few weeks in February, I haven't had any dairy since the middle of December. Owen has an intolerance to the dairy protein, so that means I can't have it.

And I think that's my problem. I feel like I've tapped the dairy-free recipe well dry. I don't mean to complain about not being able to eat dairy. For the most part, it hasn't been hard. But it's been a long time now, and I miss cheese.

Tonight Dave and I had a great dinner idea for tomorrow. Meatball juicy lucies. We both had different techniques to try, so we're going to have a little competition. His idea is to use shredded cheese. My idea is to use cheese cubes. But we have to make plain meatballs as well just so I can eat some. And that means Dave gets to do the judging of our little meatball juicy lucy contest. As if he won't be biased.

I'm looking forward to the day I can eat dairy again. And hopefully, the appetite flood gates will open wide.

J.B.

Spring?

Yesterday morning, I opened the garage to see Mother Nature puking snow everywhere. Yes, at this point of the year, I'm sick of snow. Therefore, in my opinion, it's the equivalent of puke. It's spring. I'm ready for warm weather! Sadly, the extended 10-day forecast doesn't show any temps above 50, so instead I'm going to blog about all the stuff I'm looking forward to doing with Owen this spring. (And thanks to Erin for suggesting this topic!)

• Family walks! This is near the top of my list. I can't wait to resume our ritual of evening walks with Dave and the dogs. And this spring, Owen gets to join us.
• The zoo! We have two great zoos nearby our house. I can't wait to take Owen, so he can see all the cool animals. His first trip to the MN Zoo will be coming up soon, when we go see the baby animal exhibit with my sister and nieces. We just need to plan the date.
• Swimming! This won't happen for a couple of months yet, but we have a community swimming pool in our neighborhood. I hope Owen enjoys playing in the water.
• Dog park! Owen's going to love watching Otis and Cooper run around at the dog park. It's been one of Dave's and my favorite pastimes, and now it'll be one of Owen's too.
• Playground! Owen's a little small for most of the playground equipment right now, but there is a baby swing with his name on it.
• Play dates! There are a couple of kids in the neighborhood close to Owen's age that he hasn't met yet. It's about time Owen gets to know the kids on the block, who will likely be some of his best buddies in the years to come.
• Easter! Is Owen too young to dye Easter eggs? Maybe. But I'm still looking forward to putting together an Easter basket together for him, on behalf of the Easter bunny. And buying him a cute Easter outfit.
• Twins Game! Although we don't have tickets yet, Owen is bound to go to a Twins game this spring/summer. He's prepared. He has two Twins hats, a Twins jersey, a Twins bib and at least three or four Twins onesies all ready to wear to the game. Not to mention other numerous baseball-themed clothes in navy blue and red.
• Vacation! Owen gets to go to the beach in 33 days! We're heading to North Carolina for Anthony's first communion. Even better, Owen will get to meet his cousins, Auntie Diana, and uncles Ed and Brian. If spring doesn't get here before then, well, at least Owen will get a taste of warm weather in North Carolina. (Dear God, please don't let me have jinxed myself. We need warm weather stat.)

J.B.

Poor little man

So it turns out that nothing can make you pity your child more than seeing him sick. (In my experience. So far.)

Last night was great with Owen. He ate his food. Still seemed hungry. Ate a little more food. Gave him a bottle. Still seemed hungry, but decided to wait until bed time to give him more. He loves to eat and makes this cute grunting noise the whole time we're feeding him, because we literally can't. feed. him. fast. enough.

He was laughing and giggling. We even found a new way to make him laugh. (By copying the grunting noises he makes while he's eating. There won't be any videos of me grunting. Sorry.)

So anyway, per our usual routine, I gave him another bottle right before bed. And even though it was only an hour and a half or so after he last ate, I had Dave make a four ounce bottle instead of two. (See previous paragraph. He still seemed hungry after the last feeding.)

So he's laying on me, drinks up his bottle, dosing off. So I put him on my chest to burp him. The biggest burp/spit up ever is all down my shirt. So Dave takes him and puts him to bed, so I could get cleaned up.

Per usual, he makes noises that we can hear through the baby monitor as he's falling asleep. But then he starts crying. So I go into his room and reach into his crib to turn his musical seahorse back on and put his pacifier back in his mouth. It was dark. I reach in and. EWWW. Wetness all over. I turn on the light just in time to see more puke errupting out of his mouth. Instinctively, I reach in and turn him on his side to let it out. He was soaked. His crib was soaked. By now he is sobbing.

Our poor little baby. Dave and I felt so bad for him and just wanted to cuddle him all night. He was exhausted. He slept on us and then would wake up heaving and puking and then would cry again. My heart was breaking. Thankfully, the puking didn't last long. We were able to put him back to bed an hour or so later, and he hasn't puked since then. He slept straight through the night until 5:30 a.m. this morning and was back to his normal cheerful self.

So it seems that Owen gave us a preview of what sickness is like. I know its inevitable that more experiences like this are to come. But hopefully, those experiences will be few and far between.

---

Also, check out my new blog header! Katie made it for me!

Also, thanks for the emails wondering where my blog posts are. I love that I'm being held accountable for blogging. :)


J.B.

Good friends. Good times.

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my last post. You did good. And so, here I am posting today! Complete with pictures!

Some friends are just in your lives for a period of your life. Other friends come into your life and never leave. Even though there are ups and downs, struggles and carefree times, for some reason you just stick together through it all. Tonight, I hung out with two such very important people in my life. At one point, I think we were just kinda in awe over how much has changed in our lives since junior high. The fun part of the night of course was watching Owen and one of his girlfriends. This little girl is two months older than Owen, and he's definitely catching up to her in size.

Owen's 4 months old and his girl is 6 months old

And the good ol' days when they were little babies. Owen was just a couple of days old and she was almost two months old.

And here's one from earlier in the day. Just because I think he looks cute. Notice the drool.

J.B.

It's like any fad diet.

So no less than a week into my blogging challenge, I miss a day. That didn't take long, huh?

Trying to blog is becoming a bit like dieting or exercising. I start with great intentions and motivation to do well, but after a couple of days that motivation starts to slide. Next thing you know I'm skipping a day here and there, and soon I'll have completely lost track.

Oh well. Can't say that I haven't tried. Don't worry I'm not giving up my lent/blog challenge quite this fast.

I think I need something from you dear readers. I know that there is at least three of you loyal readers out there. I need your encouragement.

Excercising and dieting is so much more fun when you have a buddy doing it with you. Words of encouragement keep the motivation strong to put on those running shoes when all you want to do is to curl up on the couch.  The same is true with blogging.

Help keep me motivated! Leave a comment. Let me know you still read the blog. Or just started. If there is anything specific you want me to see or read on my blog, let me know. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

J.B.

To share or not to share. That is the question.

Today's topic: When you blog, what's off limits? Why?

I thinks it's easiest for me to start answering this question by explaining why I first started this blog. This blog was started as a challenge between my sister-in-law who lives in North Carolina and myself. We both started blogs because we wanted to chronicle our lives and make it easy for family on the other side of the country stay current with what we're up to. Soon after, my other sis-in-law and some friends (here and here) started blogging too. Even my husband and dad and father-in-law blogged for a short while. (And yes, I'm linking to all of your blogs to guilt you into updating them.) :)


That said, the purpose of my blog is to update friends and family on what's going on in my life. But there is a lot of life that I don't want to share with them. I don't blog about fights with my husband. I don't blog about breastfeeding struggles. I don't blog about many personal issues. I don't blog about work either. And with the lack up updates I've been posting lately, I haven't been doing a good job of sharing the stuff I want to share either.

Sometimes I think I want to blog more about my private life and struggles. Lots of people do it, especially in this world of reality TV and mommy bloggers. I think it would breath new life into my blog and I'd probably attract more readers. But I've never made that leap.

The one thing that I've been fairly open about was my miscarriage. Writing about that experience helped my heart heal. And I love that my words on my experience has resonated with other women, and dare-I-say even helped them deal with their own similar issues. But even then, I didn't share the physical side effects, because really, who wants to know how bad the cramping was and how long it lasted. (If you want to know, talk to me privately. But I don't need to put it out there for the whole world to read.)

Sometimes I think I need to be more private. I use my husband's and my son's names. It's pretty obvious what my last name is. There is a lot of info that the wrong person could learn about me and my life, if they wanted. I actually have pseudonyms picked out for my family and an idea for a new blog name, but it's a huge project to go back through four years of blog posts and delete all references to our names. Maybe someday when I get some free time. lol.

So I guess in the end, my blog is a little lot lame. It's a balancing act of wanting to share more and being cautious of what I share, and I guess I'm tend to stay on the conservative side of sharing my life story. But it still getts the job done -- well, at least it gets the job done when I get around to updating it.

J.B.

Look how he's grown...

From this (just born)...



To this (1 month)...



To this (2 months)...

To this (3 months)...

To this (4 months)...

J.B.

My dreams

Little did I know that there is a daily theme for this blog challenge. So I don't have any excuses for not having anything to write about.

Today's theme: What was your big childhood dream? Are you still pursuing it? If yes, how? If no, how did you reconcile that within yourself?

I had a lot of childhood dreams. I wanted to be President of the United States of America. I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be Joan Lunden on Good Morning America. When I went to college, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. I had a lot of interests and a lot of ideas, but there wasn't any one dream that consistently stayed with me throughout my childhood years.

Well, there was one consistent dream.

I wanted to be a mom.

Thank you, Owen, for making my dream come true.

J.B.

Laughter

"The laughter of a child is the light of the home."

Giggles and laughs is something we're hearing more and more around our house. And I love it. I'm not sure anything could warm my heart more than hearing my little man giggle when we play. He's happy. I'm in heaven.

Owen and Daddy



Owen and Mama

J.B.

A little challenge...

I'm partaking in a little blog challenge. To blog every day throughout lent. Yes, lent started a few days ago, but I just learned about this challenge. I have no idea if I'll be able to complete this challenge -- chances are pretty slim, in fact. But imps blogging. And writing is a stress reliever for me. It clears my head. And I can use a lot of stress relieving and head clearing these days. Life and work continues to be pretty intense, and I don't see any signs of things slowing gown.


This. Moment. Is. Perfect.


I just want to soak it up. Owen woke up crying pretty hard from his nap a half-hour or so ago. I scooped him up and came downstairs to cuddle with him on the couch. So now I have a sleeping baby in one arm, and the iPad on my lap. The news is on. Cooper is laying on the other side of the couch. Dave is in the kitchen making dinner and Otis is supervising (or waiting for scraps of food.) Gracie is sleeping somewhere. It's a perfect, relaxing way to spend mtg Saturday afternoon.


I need more days just like this.
J.B.