Five Months

We're almost halfway to a year! Who can believe it?! This month seems to have flown by a bit faster than the others. Our little guy is growing before our eyes.


This month's highlights:

**We have been experimenting with cereal. Most of the time he does really well with it, sometimes he isn't in the mood and gets a digusted look on his face and doesn't want to open his mouth.


**Owen loves his Bumbo. He loves "helping" with the dishes or laundry in it and sitting with us at the table while we eat. We have also been using it as a high chair. He can sit in his regular chair, but slumps over a bit, and the Bumbo has been working well for now.

**He loves when Jacob comes home from work (I do too!) He smiles and grins and watches him put his things away. His eyes are glued on him after he walks in the door. It could have something to do with the fun they have together!


**He also loves books, magazines, and anything with pictures. He'll even help you turn the pages!



**Over the past few weeks he has really gotten into reaching and grabbing for objects. When you put something in front of him he gets really excited!

**He loves to be mobile. I bet we make hundreds of laps around the island in the kitchen admiring everything from the refrigerator to the food in the pantry. He would love us to carry him around to look at things all day! A few days ago we got this walker out so we can roll him around. He loves it!


**He has really become attached to his mom and dad. He'll let strangers hold him long enough to look at them, realize they aren't his parents, and then he'll scream and cry. Let's hope he gets over this phase quickly, or the poor babysitter will be pulling her hair out in a few weeks!

**Speaking of the babysitter, today was technically my last day of maternity leave. When school resumes in January, Owen's life as he knows it will be much different. I have been lucky to get to spend so much time with him, but am also ready to go back and see my kiddos at school. We took Owen over to meet the babysitter last week, we really like her and think it will be a good experience for him, but it will take a lot of adjustment!

Four Months

Owen is four months old! Where has the time gone? Oh, wait, I remember: we spent it feeding, playing, changing diapers, rocking, repeat. I know I say it every month, but our little guy is growing so fast. We just got back from his check-up at the doctor's office and he weighed 13 pounds 7 ounces. He's almost doubled his birth weight. I guess that's why he feels so much heavier! Here are some of the highlights from his fourth month:

**He's gotten really good with controlling his head. He loves to look around and take everything in.

**His back has also gotten quite strong. For the past week he has been really into trying to sit up by himself. He curls his head and shoulders up. He also likes to "stand" and put weight on his legs. It makes him look like such a big boy!

*He smiles, goos, gurgles, and " talks" like crazy, especially when you change him. He loves to be on the changing table talking and kicking his legs and waving his hands around. He found out he could squeal last weekend and has had fun trying that out too. He loves when Jacob does baby talk and makes sounds back at him, it's like they are speaking their own secret language and understand each other!

**He loves to put anything in his mouth! His hands, your hands, toys, anything! He has also started to be a little drooly. I'm wondering if teeth aren't far off in our future!


**He has started to reach out and grab things. Before he would hold onto objects if you touched them to his hand, but now he actually sees things he wants and tries to get them.

**The sleeping situation is still the same. We get up twice about every night. We have had a few fluke nights where he slept 7 or 8 hours, I can't wait until that becomes the norm!

**We love him more and more every day!

Dad, What's This One Do?

I guess it's never too early for a boy to learn to use the remote! I just realized I'm outnumbered around here. I'm seeing a future even filled with sports, sports, and more sports on TV!

Halloween 2010

Guess who had a blast on his first Halloween? This little spider!


We trick-or-treated at Grandma and Grandpa Shively's and Nana and Poppy's. This little guy was a great sport at putting his costume on and off! We can't wait until next year!

Owen Jacob: Three Months

We've made it three months! Hooray! Everyone says the first three months are the hardest, so I'm taking their word for it and expecting this baby stuff to get easier very soon! (I won't hold my breath though) All of the hard work is definitely worth it, we couldn't love this little guy more! Here is his progress on his three month birthday:

**Owen is growing and changing everyday. He was 11 pounds 6 ounces at his 2 month check-up and I'm guessing he is around 12 1/2 pounds now. We don't go back to the doctor until 4 months so we'll have to wait and see. He is still wearing mostly 0-3 months clothes, with a few 3-6 months mixed in. How cute is he in his first pair of jeans?!

**He is getting good at holding his head up and pushing himself up. He hasn't turned over yet, but we're working on it!**He sleeps well most nights, although we went through a rough week when he was getting up all of the time (like every hour!). Naps however are another story. He is such a cuddle-bug that he only want to nap when someone is holding him, he lasts about 5-10 minutes once you lay him down. This gets really old when you take 4 naps a day! We are hoping that he grows out of this quickly. Any tips to help are welcome!

**He's established a pretty stable eat, play, sleep schedule every three hours. He stays awake for about an hour and a half before needing a nap.

**He likes to play on his play mat in the living room. He especially loves his cow toy. He grabs onto the handle and doesn't like to let go. He is grabbing onto everything these days!


**He's still smiling! He really likes smiling at Jacob. We've even heard him laugh a couple times!


We like to have a little celebration for each month this first year. We are celebrating his three month birthday tonight with his first trip to Oldenburg for fried chicken. I think Poppy wants to get him started early. I also make a different cupcake flavor each month. The first month was lemon, last month was carrot, and tonight is pumpkin. Yummy!

Sunday Smile

Hope this little guy's grin makes your day!

Weekend Wedding

Last Saturday we braved a wedding with a baby (something more stressful and challenging then I originally envisioned), and we survived! Hallelujah!

My cousin Courtney got married at Chateau de Pique Winery in Seymour. In the old days we would have hopped in the car and taken off, now...not so much. We had major planning to do. We had to plan Owen's eating schedule around the hour long drive, figure out where we could make a pit stop if necessary, how to feed him once we got there, and prayed he wouldn't be fussy during the ceremony. We've done church 7 or 8 times successfully, but I definitely did not want our baby to be the one crying through someone's wedding. I really freaked out when we got there and the ceremony site was on a hill in the middle of a field, and there was no where to escape to if things got crazy. Luckily it all worked out...even though it was extremely hot! We stopped at my grandparents' on the way so Owen could eat, he was well behaved when we got there, and we only had to go to the car to feed him once in the middle of the night. I think he was so mesmerized by all of the new sights and sounds he was too distracted to be fussy! Mission accomplished!

Jacob and RJ entertained Owen during the ceremony.

Nana, Poppy, and Owen deep in conversation.

Us.
My grandma held Owen while we ate. She has the magical baby touch (could be the 13 grandchildren before him)! Notice he doesn't have his shorts on anymore...it was that hot. We were wetting down his burp cloth and wiping him down with it. Thankfully after the sun went down it was much more comfortable!

Happy Wednesday!

Hope you're having a great week!

Love, Owen

Two Months Old Already?!

Look who's excited to be two months old!Owen is growing and changing so much these days. Here are a few of the highlights:
**He is smiling more and more each day. Unfortunately it's harder than you think to catch one on camera!
**He loves to have "conversations". He coos and makes vowel sounds all the time. You can tell he's working up something loud to say when his legs and arms start moving like crazy.
**Weight gain-our boy loves to eat. He was 9 pounds 15 ounces at his one month check-up, but I can tell he's a lot heavier now. We'll find out at the doctor on Monday.
**Eyelashes-suddenly he grew these dark, thick, long eyelashes. They appeared almost overnight!
**He is super alert. He is checking out everything constantly. He can track objects that move across and up and down.**He still LOVES bath time. It is like he's in a little baby hot tub. If he is fussy all you have to do is bring him in the bathroom with the water running and he immediately calms down!
**He is sleeping longer during the night. Last night he slept through the night without waking up once-hallelujah! It might be a fluke-but I'll take it! Usually we get a 4-5 hour stretch each night. During the day naps are getting more difficult. He is so alert and wants to check everything out that he doesn't want to close his eyes even when he's sleepy and yawning like crazy. Then when you do get him to sleep and lay him down his eyes pop open. We have to work on this!

Baby Dedication

Last Sunday, our church had a baby dedication. All of Owen's grandparents and his Aunt Laura were able to be there. I know he appreciated that they all came (or will some day!) After church everyone came to our house for a family lunch. It was a great day!

Owen's definitely excited about the day's events!

Football Firsts

We've had a lot going on around here, and I have many posts and pictures to get up. Today we'll start catching up with Owen's first weekend of football.

Friday night was homecoming at Shelbyville High School. Every year they have a cookout for the staff and their families. We decided to make it Owen's first football game. We stayed for the first quarter, and then decided to make it a night when he got hungry.

Sunday we kicked off the Colts' season at home. This picture sums up how Owen felt about it. Must be a rough life!

My Boys

One Month

Owen is already one month old! Can you believe it? I sure can't. (I meant to get this post up yesterday-his actual one month "birthday", but he kept me quite busy yesterday!) Here's the latest on our little guy:

*He is growing like a weed. We go to the doctor for his one month check-up Friday to get his exact measurements. He's grown out of his newborn clothing and is now wearing 0-3 months.

*He is getting more alert everyday. He can focus on objects and faces and loves to look around and take everything in. He especially loves the ceiling fan!

*He is staying awake more everyday. Instead of falling right to sleep after every feeding, he usually has a period of play (look around and talk) time before he doses off.
*Sleeping seems to be getting more routine. He usually has one "longer" period of about 3-4 hours each night, but then gets up every 2 hours the rest of the night. Mom can't wait until these get a little longer!*As you can tell by the picture above he loves napping in his bouncer, but sleeps in his crib at night.
*He seems to like taking walks in the stroller and rides in the car. We haven't gotten to take many walks since it has been so hot, but hopefully it cools down soon and we can get some more exercise!
*He loves bath time, he totally relaxes until you take him out and he gets cold!
*Owen is definitely loved! His grandparents can't go too long (a few days) without seeing him, usually one set visits everyday. We usually eat lunch with Poppy (my dad) a few days a week when he is working in town.
*We call him our little turtle. He bobs his neck up and down when you hold him on your chest. When on his tummy, he can lift his head and turn it from side to side.
*We love him more than ever!

Back to School

It's that time again! As all the teachers sigh in disgust and the parents cheer about having their kids out of their hair for awhile. The back to school atmosphere has changed at our house this year. Since I'm not going back to work until January, it has been very strange not to be planning themes for the year, going to trainings, and preparing bulletin boards. I could definitely get used to it! It was a very sad morning this morning when Jacob had to go back to school. He has been such a big help these past few weeks, I don't know if Owen and I can do it without him! I guess we'll see what the rest of the day brings!


The past few weeks have flown by around here. I guess having a newborn around will do that to you. Since our lives revolve around little Owen and his schedule, all of the highlights from the past two weeks involve him:

Practicing his dance moves already!

*We ventured further out of the house. We've taken him to restaurants, church, on many walks in the stroller, to his first baseball game (Jacob played in an alumni game), to the coffeehouse, the grocery store, to Nana and Poppy's (my parents'), and with me to get my hair cut. So far so good-we haven't had any public meltdowns! (Knock on wood) It definitely takes a lot longer to get somewhere and a lot more planning when you have to schedule around his eating schedule. Two hours flies by!

**Owen also made his first trip to school. I had to go meet with the person taking over my class this semester, so Jacob entertained him while we met. He got to meet lots of my co-workers.

*We're gradually getting used to our abbreviated sleep schedule. You never know how valuable sleep is until you miss it!

**We've continued to have visitors trickle in to meet Owen. It's wonderful that he has so many people to love him!

**Perhaps the biggest change, like I mentioned before, is the start of school. The little guy and I are on our own while Jacob is at work-this will definitely be an adventure!

Our little man-looks like he's contemplating something serious!

All cuddled up after bathtime!

One Week

It's hard to believe that Owen is already one week old! The past week has been filled with joy, pride, and exhaustion all at the same time. We got to come home from the hospital Monday afternoon and then spent the rest of the week getting acclimated to our new little family, enjoying sharing our little man with visitors, going to a check-up at the doctor, and trying to catch up on sleep whenever possible.

He's definitely the star around here now!

A few of the many visitors we've had this week:

Aunt Laura

Grandpa Shively

Grandma Shively

Nana

Uncle Ben and Aunt Ash

We finally got out of the house on Friday and took the little guy to my parent's house. Looks like he's already got Poppy wrapped around his little finger!

Owen's First Day

Our New Family