Don't want to forget

All of a sudden it seems that Owen is learning A LOT.

I need to blog more, so that I can kep track of these milestones. I don't want to forget when he started doing what. And I know I'll love looking back and re-reading these posts. Even if I keep them simple, they'll definitely job my memory and bring a smile to my face.

Owen is finally crawling on his hands and knees! Last Monday, he was just in his diaper, and we were in our kitchen. I guess the tile floor was cold on his belly. It was just enough of an issue to force him to figure out how to crawl on his knees. He still army crawls, but is definitely crawling "normally" more and more.

Owen loves pulling himself up and standing. And he's constantly finding new places to pull up -- the stairs, the couch, the bin that holds dog food, the humidifier in his room (not all of these are good to climb, obviously), and worst of all -- the crib. Owen used to be so great at falling asleep. Now, he just pulls himself to standing and starts crying, which causes his paci to fall out of his crib. It's cute and annoying all at the same time.

The cutest thing of all happened the other night. I was on the floor playing with Owen and I told him to go get his daddy. He got on his hands and knees, crawled over to the chair and pulled himself up to see his daddy. Sooo cute!

On Monday, Owen was diagnosed with an ear infection. His second. Dave and I were so much better at noticing the symptoms, so we got him into the doctor (with a regular appointment -- not a 9:30 p.m. urgent care visit) before he was in too much pain.

His 5th and 6th teeth are starting to come in!


 J.B.

Owen's first summer is officially over. :(

I can't believe it's fall already. It's the season we'll celebrate Owen's first birthday! My boy should not be that big already! He had been battling a little cold this week and I've never seen Owen so cuddly. It's so sweet to get all the snuggles, but I want him to feel better.

So what are we up to this fall? Here's what I'm looking forward to doing with my family.

• Go to the apple orchard and pick apples (we've already done this. lol.)
• Celebrate Owen's first birthday! Eat cake!
• Volunteer in the church nursery. (It's Owen's first job!)
• Play with leaves
• Go to ECFE class (that stands for Early Childhood Family Education). I did pre-natal yoga with several of the moms, and we did BYOB (baby) yoga, infant massage and other ECFE classes, so it's fun seeing all the babies that are Owen's age grow up alongside him.
• Run (maybe I'll finally use the jogging stroller for it's intended purpose)
• Vacation with Dave (DONE! We had an awesome vacation to Washington D.C. last weekend).
• Camp (DONE! We did this a couple weeks ago and it was really fun).
• Dog park (it won't be long before it's cold and snowy, so we need to do this a couple of times this fall).
• Go trick-or-treating
• Go to North Carolina for Thanksgiving and Lillian's 2nd birthday (tickets are bought, so we're going!)
• More zoo visits
• Children's museum? I think Owen would like the baby room, so we might try it out...although I think he'll get more out of it as he gets older.
• See Owen take his first steps? Each day he's getting better at pulling himself up and standing...but it seems that walking is still a ways off. But it's probably not that far off, since he's one in October, huh?

I think that's a lot. Hopefully, I blog again before I report in on the results of this list, but the chances are pretty slim. lol.

 J.B.

How'd we do?

Randomly as I was driving back to work, a blog post from earlier this spring popped into my head. It was a list of things I was excited to do with Owen this spring and summer. I wanted to check in and share how we did on completing the list.

Here it is (view original post)

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.

Recap: We've done this, but not as many times as I would have liked. Owen requires 12 hours of sleep. In order for him to get his full night's sleep and wake up on his own in this morning, he goes to bed shortly after 7 p.m. each night. I don't get home from work until 5:30 - 6 p.m. That only gives me an hour and a half at most to play, feed, bathe, and get Owen ready for bed. It's not a lot of time, so unfortunately most nights we don't go on walks. I'd rather spend as much as that time as I can playing with my boy than pushing him in a stroller.


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.

Recap: Done! We got a Minnesota Zoo membership and have been there a couple of times. Owen loves the tropical fish, penguins, bears and seals the best. We might be due for a trip this weekend!
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.

Recap: Done! Owen loves swimming. Sometimes it does take a minute for him to get used to the water, but he really likes splashing and swimming with mommy and daddy.

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.

Recap: We've done this a couple of times. Again, not as often as we've done in the past. The month of July was super hot, and we spent more time inside than we usually do.
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.

Recap: We've done this one too! Not too many time though. The black baby swing and the hot sun don't mix well, so we have to be strategic when go to make sure the temperature is just right.

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.

Recap: He's met the kids on the block. We haven't played too much yet though. It really seems to have been the summer where schedules don't match. But this is something that we can continue to do in the winter and fall, and it'll be more fun as the kids interact with each other more.

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.

Recap: This one didn't really pan out. No Easter basket or cute outfit, but Owen did get some books. My grandpa's funeral was the day after Easter, so we spent Easter weekend traveling to New Jersey.

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.

Recap: Believe it or not, I've only been to one Twins game. And Owen's been to none! With aunties wanting to babysit, it was easier just to leave him behind. He's too young to get anything out of the game, and chances are we would have had to leave early because of a crabby baby. Maybe next year...or in five.

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.)

Recap: Done! We had a blast in North Carolina! Awesome weather. Awesome company. We got to meet some online friends in real life. We also got to enjoy the ocean, the river, go on a carriage ride and eat at some yummy restaurants. It was great to be able to support Anthony in person for his first communion (and one of his baseball games).

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So I think we did pretty good with this list. There wasn't anything that we completely missed. And we did some other fun stuff. We went to Illinois to visit some friends, I went to some concerts, went to a lake, went to a parade and a few weddings.

This was fun. I think I need to make another list for fall!
J.B.