I wanted to start a blog and decided to start when life got really interesting and busy...when Owen was born! Owen was born 4 weeks early on Jan 9, 2009. He was a healthy 6 pound 19 inch baby. I always wanted to be a mom, but never understood how consuming motherhood really was!
January 2009- After Owen was born we had some company come visit us in Minnesota. Both sets of grandparents and his Aunt Pam and Uncle Chris came to visit. Owen was a wonderful baby at first...he slept all the time. He slept so much it was hard to wake him to eat at times. Needless to say that was short lived! By the time he was one month old he was already 8 pounds.
February- We took a few trips this month. First to Kansas City to visit Pam and Chris. Then we took Owen's first trip on an airplane. We had a 7 hour delay in the Minneapolis airport due to a snow storm. Owen was fabulous during the delay. He slept the whole time except to eat twice. I was so worried that he would wake up and scream the whole flight, but he just sat happy on my lap. We finally got to St. Louis to introduce Owen to our family. We had a great time and Owen met so many new people. All of his little girl cousins LOVED him so much. They fought over who got to hold him.
March- Life continued as normal with me on maternity leave and Jeff traveling to Kansas City every other week. Owen continued to grow and even started to smile. By this point we had realized that Owen was an especially irritable and crabby baby. He was gassy all the time. I stopped breastfeeding and switched him to lactose free formula and he was a new kiddo over night.
April- We sold our townhouse in Minnesota and came to Kansas City to look for a house. Owen started to have an obsession with the T.V. He couldn't roll all the way over yet, but he would roll just enough when he was playing on the floor that he could see the T.V. He didn't even care what he was watching. April was when I bought Owen's beloved Blue Puppy blanket. He was grabbing at clothes when he was falling asleep, so I thought I should get him a little blanket that he could cuddle with. Who would have known that it would have been the best investment of my life. To this day he still sleeps with Blue Puppy and takes him everywhere. He is Owen's best buddy. Now I just need to find an exact replica of Blue Puppy in case he ever gets lost! In April I also went back to work after 14 weeks of maternity leave. I was a bit sad to leave Owen, but after being in the house for the majority of my leave due to Minnesota winter weather, getting out and having adult conversations was a nice change.
May- Owen continued to grow and grow. He was up to 14 pounds, 13 ounces and 25.5 inches long at his 4 month doc appointment. Owen also started laughing this month. Jeff was holding him and I told Owen that he better be taking a nap by the time I get out of the shower, and he just started cracking up. It took Jeff and I by surprise, so we then started laughing which made Owen laugh even harder. Looking back he was probably laughing at the idea of him taking a nap. Sleep continued to be an issue at our house. He took many cat naps per day and still woke a couple times at night. At the end of May we had to say goodbye to Minnesota. Three years prior I would have never told you that I would be sad to leave Minnesota, but over time we made some great friends, and Woodbury Minnesota became our home. We still decided it would be in our family's best interest to raise Owen near family and we made the move back to Missouri. The story of our move and the moving company is a disaster that I would rather not relive in this blog. Lets just say that in the end we had all of our damaged belongings replaced or repaired. And I do not want to move again any time soon!
June- June consisted of us getting unpacked and getting acclimated to our new city. Owen started eating cereal this month. Once he got the hang of it he really liked it! June started the SUMMER OF SICKNESS. Owen had his first ear infection this month. He also got hand foot and mouth virus. He is a miserable sick baby! He wakes up about 10+ times per night and barely naps, so we had a difficult month. At the end of the month I started a new job in Kansas City. I started working at the University of Kansas Hospital. Looking back I should have known that was a mistake since they are rivals to the Missouri Tigers!
July- Owen turned 6 months old on July 9th. He weighed 17 pounds. We had a little scare at his 6 month pediatrician appointment. His head was now off the growth chart, so the doctor was concerned that he had a mild form of Hydrocephalus. We had to take him to Children's Mercy Hospital for a head ultrasound. Thankfully everything was fine and I just have a big headed boy! The summer of sickness continued and Owen had another ear infection- bilateral this time! We took a trip to Florida for my cousin Meredith's wedding. Owen got to enjoy some sun and went in the ocean for the first time. We were lucky to have Jeff's mom and sister come with us to help watch Owen for the rehearsal dinner and wedding! Owen was not so sure about the time change and he was waking up between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning when we were in Florida. Talk about a relaxing vacation! By the end of the month Owen was sitting up unsupported and eating lots of fruit and veggie baby food with his favorite being squash.
August- Owen started crawling right around the time he turned 7 months old. He caught on very quickly and was crawling at the speed of lightning. I enrolled Owen in a Gymboree play and learn class this month. He loves going to "play" with the other babies. We practice crawling, climbing, singing songs and socialization. It is also nice for mommy to get to talk with other adults during the work week. Owen was baptized in August. We had about 30 people come to Kansas City for Owen's baptism and we had a great time. His Godparents are Jeff's cousin Stevie and my Goddaughter Christina. It was Owen's first time getting to meet Christina and her family. I was fed up with my 7 month old still waking up in the middle of the night demanding to be fed. I finally decided that he was just going to have to cry it out. It was not nearly as bad as I thought. He cried for 40 minutes one night and that was the last I heard of him unless he is sick or teething. We managed to make it through August without a ear infection, but Owen was on antibiotics for a "red throat". By this point he was a pro at taking amoxicilin and he would hold the syringe in his mouth and I would slowly squirt the medication in. You would think that as a nurse I know how to prevent the spread of infection. HAND WASHING!!!! By this point we had hand sanitizer in about every room of the house...but Owen just kept getting sick!
September- Owen was now 8 months old and incredibly mobile. He would pull himself up to a standing position and even cruse a little around furniture. His Parents as Teachers educator was shocked and guessed that he would be walking by 10 months...goes to show that that was just an educated guess! He was quite a content crawler! Owen had another ear infection this month. September was when our lives started having some sense of normalcy. Owen started eating and sleeping on schedule! It was fabulous! And he started taking "real" naps not the cat nap business he had been doing. It just goes to prove that no matter how many books you read on infant sleep...and trust me I own them all...your baby will do what he wants no matter what!
October- Owen went to his first MIZZOU football tailgate. The weather was great and he had a blast crawling around on a blanket. Owen and I went to my college roommates house instead of going to the football game. Jeff and I went to St. Louis for a few day for my friend Stephanie's wedding. We left Owen in Kansas City with Jeff's parents. We had a blast with Owen on his first Halloween. We bought a cow costume and I made a Chick-fil-A sign for him to wear. We brought him to Chick-fil-A for lunch and they even gave us free food! By mid October I quit my job at The University of Kansas Hospital. I had come home crying one to many times from how terrible of a night I had had due the the short staffing and unreasonable patient assignments. October was also the month of major teething. When we went for Owen's 9 month doctors appointment the doctor could feel 5 teeth coming in. They all broke through within 2 weeks of eachother.
November- I started a job at Children's Mercy Hospital in the NICU at the beginning of the month. Owen had his final ear infection this month and that led us to tubes being placed at the end of the month. His ear infection this time had a blister on the eardrum, which could have possibly ruptured his ear drum. We were refered to an ENT, and a couple weeks later Owen had his tubes. I was a nervous wreck having him under anesthesia even for a 5 minute surgery for tubes. Owen woke up from anesthesia screaming! I gave him a bottle since he had been NPO for surgery, but that did not help. They quickly discharged us because I don't think any patients were getting any "recovery" with us in the recovery room too! He screamed the whole 40 minute ride home until I put him in his bed. I think he woke up feeling woozy from anesthesia and I'm sure the can ride did not help at all. After he woke up from his nap he was acting like himself again. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving with Owen this year. We went to the Lake of the Ozarks to be with Jeff's family. The only Thanksgiving food that Owen liked was the sweet potatoes with marshmallows melted on them! By the end of the month Owen had 8 teeth. We welcomed (with hesitation from Jeff) BW into our house this November. He was the neighborhood stray cat. I started feeding him in October with the intention of having him stay outside. I then saw a racoon and possum on my front porch also eating the cat food and decided that I was not willing to feed all the wildlife. I had him checked out out by a vet and come to find out he was already neutered and declawed. Him and Brody are best buddies now. They love to play fight and sleep together all day! He is the most loving...almost too loving...cat around.
December- December was spent prepairing for Christmas. Owen did not appreciate all the extra shopping! I had a photo shoot of Owen in front of the Christmas tree for our Christmas card. It did lead to one broken ornament...I can see how it looked like a ball to a little boy! Owen went to the mall and met Santa for the first time. He was very happy to sit on his lap...next year will probably be a different story. We went to St. Louis to spend Christmas with family. Owen was once again loved to death by his little girl cousins. Owen had a great first Christmas and made quite a hauling from Santa and family.
January 2010- I'm sad to say my baby boy is now 1 year old. At his year doc appointment he weighed 22 pounds (30th%) and was 31.75 inches long (90th%). His favorite two things about his birthday party were his cards (he thought they were books and kept handing them back to us to read again!)and cake! He had cake a few days before for his professional pictures, and he remembered exactly what do do with it. He was already digging in before we blew the candle out! We started sending Owen to a home daycare this month 1-2 days per week when I am at home sleeping after work. He had always had a sitter at our house because I was afraid of exposing him to extra germs since he had been sick all the time. At first he hated going to the babysitter, but he now enjoys playing with the other kids. He was going through a bad period of seperation anxiety already. He would have tears and be shaking if I even went into the garage to thrown out trash. I think he thought I had abandoned him. Right after Owen turned one he started going to bed later and sleeping in later. Jeff and I were very happy to finally get to sleep to 7 am on a regular basis.
February- This month Owen's Parents as Teachers educator came to the house and was slightly concered because Owen did not seem to understand many words. He defently knew what kitty, ball and milk meant, but when she said mommy he did not even turn and look at me. We have since been working on words alot. He knows many more words now, so we just need to get him talking! The only word that he tries to say is kitty, but it sounds more like "kit". Owen has pictures of family members on the fridge and he loves to point to them and have us tell him who they are. When we ask him where certain people are he points and gets them right most of the time. Owen has been copying Jeff and I a ton this month. He puts cell phones up to our ears and cleans his highchair tray ect. His new obcession is the kitchen and everyting in it. He empties all my cabinets and could play all day in there. His favorite is a mixing bowl and spoon.
March- Owen seems to be much more of a toddler and less of a baby this month. He started walking consistently mid-late March. I see his toddler attitude coming through at times. He throws fits over things like Jeff and I trying to spoon feed him. HE CAN DO IT HIMSELF! He still loves playing with everytihing in the kitchen and also likes to dance. We have a CD called Dance, Baby, Dance and he loves it! We had a terrible first this month...poop in the bathtub! I was so grossed out! I quickly rescued Owen, aligator, Elmo in the submarine and all the other bath toys. We decided to skip shampooing Owen's hair until I could get the tub cleaned out real well. Owen contines to be a picky eater. One day he loves something, the next day when you try to feed it to him he acts like you are trying to poison him! We are lucky to get him to eat one bite of meat, and vegetables...forget it! He pretty much lives off milk, bread, yogurt and fruit. I guess it coud be worse!
