Owen's Nursery Reveal

     I'm finally ready to reveal Owen's nursery. I know this is a little late coming, but we had Owen's furniture delivered not too long ago and we finally hung up all the art we have for the walls just a few weeks ago. I really love how the nursery turned out. There are still a few things that I would like to add to it, including curtains and a bookcase, but it is mostly done. It is my favorite room in the house. I remember before Owen was born I would peek in there about three or four times daily just to imagine what it would be like to have a baby in there. It is such a special room and I hope that Owen enjoys playing in it for however long we live in this house.

      
     This is the view of Owen's room from the doorway. I would like to add curtains to the window to maybe bring out some more blue. Also, because the sun starts coming up here around four in the morning and sets after nine, so it's tough convincing Owen that it's time to go to sleep for the night when the sun is still out. 

This is the complete view of the right side of the room.

This is the chair that I rock Owen in to get him to sleep for most of his naps. Next to it is his basket of books for reading time. We need to get him a bookcase soon because he now has more books than will fit in the basket.

This is a complete view of the left side of the room.

Here is a close-up of his bedding.

This is an elephant embroidered on his quilt.

Just in case we forget whose room it is.

Menu Monday

     Yeah, yeah... I know it's been a while, but in case you hadn't heard, I have a baby. Not that I don't still cook dinner. It's just that I don't have as much time to blog and if I'm going to make time to blog, I'm blogging about Owen. But I find I have a little free time right now, and I've gotten ahead of my to-do list (who knew that was possible?!) and I thought I might post our menu for this week.


Monday: Grilled pork chops with brown sugar and pineapple, sweet potato fries, and sauteed spinach.
Tuesday: Country chicken fricasse with steamed broccoli and baby carrots. This is a recipe that my friend Jane made for us when we were back in Georgia. It was so yummy that I asked for the recipe.
Wednesday: Taco meatloaf with corn and black beans. Again, one of Tim's favorites.
Thursday: Chicken spaghetti casserole with green peas. This is one of the last of my freezer meals and I'm trying to use them up to make more room in the freezer for frozen breastmilk. 
Friday: Grilled chicken with rice pilaf or some other side and sauteed spinach. I'm marinading the chicken in Newman's Own Herb and Roasted Garlic marinade. So tasty!
Saturday: Beef stew with beer and paprika. This is a recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks. I know beef stew isn't really a summer recipe, but I don't really care. It looks really tasty. I'm not sure if I will use the beer in it or just extra beef broth. I don't really care for the flavor of beer.

Sunday: Ultimate turkey burgers. Unless ground turkey costs a fortune at the grocery store this week. In that case, we'll have regular ground beef burgers. Either way, Tim wants to grill. 

Happy Father's Day

     This is a little late, but I wanted to show everyone what Tim got for Father's Day. We spent the majority of Father's Day on the plane flying back to Washington, but we were able to relax and hang out just the three of us when we arrived home. Owen presented Tim with his first Father's Day present, a framed collection of pictures of himself holding letters to spell out Dad. It took a few tries to get the pictures because Owen was in a bad mood the first day I tried, but they turned out really great and I'm really happy with them. I've saved the letters so that we can update the photos each year for Father's Day.

Here Dad, let me read that for you.

I picked out this card for you, Dad.

Who is the cute baby in those pictures?

You're the best Dad ever!

     I'm so thankful to have a husband who is also a great dad. Seeing him playing with and cuddling on our baby boy warms my heart. When he first talked about starting a family, I thought he was crazy, but now here we are...sleepy and stressed, yet happier than ever. And I can't imagine my life without my sweet boy or my wonderful husband.

Trip to Georgia

     The week we have been waiting for for months has finally come and gone. We were able to go home to Georgia to visit family and friends and introduce Owen to everyone! We had such a wonderful, if busy and hectic week getting together with everyone. And Owen was the center of attention. I think he was beginning to wonder where Mommy and Daddy had gone since we barely held him the whole week. He had such a great time being loved on by everyone. Here are some photos from the week. I regret that we don't have pictures of him with everybody, but we promise to be more diligent about picture taking in the future.

Here is Owen with his Grandpa right before the big party for friends to drop in and meet the little man.

This is Aidan, my friend Haley's nephew. He was born almost a full year before Owen. He kept patting Owen saying, "Baby, baby, baby."

This is my mom's friend Dorann. She was so excited to hold him and her hands were moving so fast, the camera couldn't focus on them.

Haley's mom, Cathy, is an experienced grandma.

Mom provided some really good food for the party. I grazed on the buffet all day long.

Here is Haley with Owen. For some reason, he is out of focus.

My "older brother" Marcus was a baby-holding natural.

Owen slept on Mama Jane for most of the evening.

Owen tried to give Jodi the baby fever.

Owen with Daddy Mark.

When we stay with my mom, Owen wakes up early and hangs out with her while Tim and I get to sleep in late.

We took Owen to visit our friends Dane and Deb who welcomed their third child, a baby girl named Sage just a few days before we arrived.

Owen with sweet baby Sage. It's hard to believe that he was her size just 10 weeks earlier.

My cousin Johanna is a natural with babies. Doesn't Owen look relaxed?

Owen with his Great Aunt Twyla and my mom.

Another natural with babies, our friend Nick from our old church. Look at that big smile!

Owen with Matt and Stephanie.

Owen saying, "Where have you been Mommy? I thought you abandoned me."

With Great Aunt Barbara.

Hanging out with Grandpa.

With Daddy at Uncle Joseph's wedding. Owen was a pro and slept quietly through the whole ceremony.

Nana and Papa with Owen.

Owen got to dance with Uncle Joseph at the wedding.

Daddy is silly.

Doesn't Aunt Jenny look pretty?

Owen is two months old!

I'm two months old!

At his two-month doctor appointment, Owen was:

Weight: 11 pounds, 7 ounces, 50th percentile

Height: 23.7 inches long, 75th percentile

Head Circumference:15.5 inches, 50th percentile

     Dr. Lawrence was very pleased with Owen's growth and development. He said that Owen was showing advanced motor skills for his age and was impressed with his ability to hold his head up, track movement with his eyes, and his alertness.

     Also at his two-month appointment, Owen received several vaccinations, including those for Hepatitis B, Rotavirus, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Pneumococcal, and Haemophilus influenzae. He did really well with the shots. He looked surprised at first when they stuck him, but then burst into tears. We were able to calm him pretty quickly and after I tucked him into the Moby, he fell asleep. 

I had shots today. I was a brave boy.

      Towards the end of this month I started to get Owen on a schedule. He does everything in three-hour increments during the day, but I’m not super strict about it. It has been really nice though because he seems to be sleeping better at night and is generally happier in the evenings than he has been. I pretty much start his schedule whenever he wakes up naturally in the morning, which is generally around 7 or 8. He eats first and then gets to be awake for a time either playing or having a bath or going for a walk. To round out the three hours, he takes a nap. Then he wakes up or I wake him up to begin the next three-hour shift. In the evenings though, he generally skips that playtime and just eats and falls asleep. I do not schedule his nights of course and just let him sleep for as long as he will. He’s been doing really well with it and seems to be much more alert and happy during his eating and playtime. We made the mistake before of thinking that if he were awake more during the day that he would sleep better at night. Quite the opposite is true. Now that he is getting his naptimes in, he sleeps for about six or seven hours at night, generally waking up at about 3 or 4 in the morning.

Eating:

     Owen eats about every three or hour hours now that he is on a schedule. He generally eats four ounces on average each feeding. He is still drinking from a bottle. Breastfeeding has still been a trial and I think Owen has been spoiled by the bottle. Regardless, he is still getting breast milk and is growing great.

Sleeping:

     Owen is pretty close to sleeping through the night. For the most part during the past few weeks, he has only woken up once during the night. He generally wakes up at around 3 or 4 in the morning. Every once in a while, he will wake up two times during the night, but we still realize how fortunate we are to have a little baby who does so well at night.

     This month has been a little rough because Owen has had some bad evenings where he cries uncontrollably. I have given up dairy products in hopes that it will help with his gassiness and fussiness, but we're not convinced it makes a difference. Sometimes we see a difference and other days he will revert back to his old ways. Eventually once he’s cried himself out and we've used every method imaginable to console him, he will sleep really well.

I love taking afternoon naps with Daddy on the weekend. Sometimes I snore even louder than him.

Mommy takes tons of pictures of me and Daddy sleeping. She must think we're cute or something.

Other Things I Want to Remember:

    Owen’s biggest accomplishments this month are smiling and his increased awareness of his surroundings. Owen smiles a lot now, particularly when he first wakes up. (My kid is a morning person. Who would have imagined?) He began the month by smiling when I tickled his cheeks, but now he can do it spontaneously in response to us smiling and talking to him. He also smiles a lot at the ceiling fan. He loves to look around and gets quite frustrated when he’s flat on his back or lying back in my arms. He can hold his head up pretty well now, but is still a bit wobbly. 

    Owen has also started cooing and “talking” more. It’s fun to have little conversations with him. He is particularly talkative in the mornings.

     Owen fusses anytime I try to get him to take a nap, but now that he is on a schedule he is falling asleep much faster and waking up happier.

As you can see, I like to nap in the big bed.

     Owen is wearing solely 0-3 month size clothing now and size one diapers. He has some size 1/2s that we got for a deal at Target, but I think they are a little too big.

     His eyes are still dark blue, though some days they look like they could become another color. He still has most of his hair. A tiny bit has rubbed off on the back of his head where he lays. 

My eyes are pretty blue like my Daddy's.

I love to be held on your shoulders so that I can look around.

     Owen is loving his activity mat more now and can spend 10 to 15 minutes on it at a time, wiggling his arms and legs and batting (unintentionally) at the toys hanging from it. He still hates tummy time, but he is getting stronger at holding his head up and is managing to move around on the mat by pushing himself with his legs. A few days ago, he rolled up on his side from his back to look at himself in a mirror, but did not roll all the way to his front.

Sometimes I play so hard that I fall asleep.

    Owen still loves bath time, but generally cries and cries during the drying off and redressing process.

I fit much better in my whale tub than I used to.

      We have started using the Moby Wrap to soothe Owen when he is sleepy and when we’re out and about running errands. He does really well in it and falls asleep really quickly. I love it because I have both hands free to get things done around the house or to grocery shop, etc., but I still get to have him close. 

     Owen is much more playful now than he was last month. He loves to coo at us and smile and wiggle around. He enjoys playing with a few of his toys, such as those with rings he can grasp in his fist. His favorite toy to do this with is his daddy’s finger, which he is becoming very adept at grabbing and pulling into his mouth. Owen still loves his musical elephant toy, Ned, and thanks to his Aunt Jenny, he has an almost identical one (named Zed) that we have in our bedroom. Owen’s favorite book is “Peek-a-Who?” by Nina Laden. It’s a short book of just a few rhyming words with brightly colored pictures. It also has a mirror in it so Owen can look at himself after we finish reading it to him. He loves to look at the pages. 

"Peek-A-Who?" is my favorite book.

I like to look at myself in the mirror in the back.

Here are some pictures from his two-month photo shoot:

Ned is my pal.

Smile for the camera, Ned.

Look at those long eyelashes.

Check out all that hair.

Being on his tummy still makes Owen unhappy most of the time, but I was able to get this picture before he got upset.