Jump Up, Jump Up, Jump Around!

My cousin Nate and his girlfriend Jen were so thoughtful and passed along their son's jumpy seat to Owen now that Brett has outgrown it. Owen seems to really enjoy it! Thanks so much Nate, Jen and Brett! And to Sue and Gary and mom and dad for getting it here for us!

Smiling at Daddy

Posing for Mommy

What'choo talking about bird?

Apparently he didn't acquire my fear of birds!

Sweet Potatoes!

Owen had his first vegetable tonight. He didn't seem to mind sweet potatoes. It was fun to see the curiosity on his face when the spoon hit his tongue and it didn't taste like his oatmeal.

Oooh, what's this?

Is that a smile trying to peek out?

I'm full!

Love that Little Grin!

Owen has had a really good week so far. He's napped well at daycare, and has started to enjoy their daily walks to the park. In the past, he always started to fuss when the stroller stopped, but now he's getting better with that. Apparently the puppet wagon was at the park one day and they got to touch the puppets!

He's really enjoying his oatmeal now and eats really well from the spoon. He's getting into a pretty good bedtime routine too, which is great. He goes to bed around 7 or 7:30 and usually gets up between 5:30 and 6:30. I get up several times in the night though to move him back to the middle of the crib. He's quite the mover and shaker! He ends up curled up in the corner of his crib at least twice in the night! This morning at 4AM I heard him making some noises (usually the hint that he is stuck in a corner) so I went in to help him. I walked in and found that he had flipped himself over onto his back and woke himself up. He got the biggest grin on his face when I walked in the room. Love those special little moments! :)

Here are a few cute photos that I snapped this week.

LOVE that little grin! :)

Happy 5 Month Birthday Owen

My what a long way you've come baby Owen! I can't believe that you are the same baby you were in the NICU.

Owen at 1 month - the stickers are the same size every month

Owen at 5 months

You now sleep through the night, eat oatmeal cereal, down 6 ounces of formula like it is nothing, smile, watch TV, dance, play, cuddle and coo. You go to daycare and play with the other babies, you can hold your head up and your whole body doesn't shake when your stroller goes over the sidewalk cracks while out on our walks like it used to (now just your cheeks jiggle!).

It has been our pleasure watching you grow and develop. Daddy and I can't imagine what our lives would be like without you. You are the love of our lives and we are so incredibly lucky to have you. We thank God for you each and every day.

Happy 5 month birthday little man!

It has become our tradition to take photos of Owen on the morning of his "month" birthdays to document his first year. This morning, he slept too late, so I couldn't take photos of him before we went to Ronda's. Since Owen was the only one at daycare today, I decided to bring our camera, the onsie and the 5 month sticker to Ronda's and ask her and her grandkids, Asia and Rocco, to take pictures of him throughout the day. They got much more creative than I get! Here are a few from Ronda's and a few that I took at home tonight. Enjoy!

A day at the spa - this one was Asia's idea!

Playing in the exersaucer

Not so sure about the other guests invited to this tea party!

I'm definitely not interested in any of this monkey business!

Enjoying his daily walk to the park - in a single stroller instead of the triple stroller they normally take when all 3 boys are at Ronda's.

Happy boy in Ronda's sun room

I'm 5 months old!

O loves to lay on the floor and kick and flail his arms. We always have music on at our house and he LOVES to dance!

Kicking the beach ball is his new favorite passtime.

Lately I've been sticking out my tongue at Owen and wiggling it around. He has started to copy me when he sees me do it.

Sleeping at Ronda's

Yesterday when I got to Ronda's house to pick up Owen, I was prepared to hear that he didn't sleep much. Instead, when she handed me his daily report card, it showed that he slept for a half hour in the morning, then took an hour and a half nap, then a three hour nap! I was shocked! I even took his temp when we got home, just to make sure he wasn't sick! We expected him to not sleep at all last night. But he slept for a half hour during our walk and then slept from 9PM until 3:45. He ate, then slept again from 4:15 until 7:10. In fact, I actually had to wake him to get him ready to go to Ronda's today. He was happy as a clam when I left this morning, so hopefully it will be a good day!

Here are a few photos I took of him playing with his new toy. I think he likes it!

I LOVE this little smile! :)

Daycare

This week went a little better at daycare. Owen still isn't sleeping very well for Ronda during the day, but he is really starting to enjoy the other two babies. He's much more interested in what they are doing and the toys they are playing with. Last week he didn't really seem to care that they were there.

We are really struggling because Owen is a tummy sleeper. They were able to put him on his tummy a lot in the NICU because he was hooked up to monitors. But now that he's come home, he doesn't want to sleep on his back. He'll fall asleep on our shoulder and the second he gets put on his back, he screams. If we are lucky enough to get him to stay asleep, he flails about and wakes himself up after just a few minutes. We've tried swaddling and he hates it - same with sleeping on his side. If you lay him on his tummy, he'll usually sleep soundly and wake up pleasant as can be.

Everything and everyone out there right now tells you that babies MUST sleep on their backs or they can die of SIDS. It's funny though because when I was a baby, it was a big no-no to put babies on their backs to sleep! So, we've wrestled with the guilt of being horrible parents and letting him sleep on his tummy even though we aren't supposed to. But we've also seen what a difference it makes when he gets a good, restful night of sleep on his tummy. At what point do we do what we think is best for him?

Anyway, we went to the pediatrician and she said that since he is rolling from his tummy to his back, he should be able to roll from his back to his tummy pretty quickly. At that point, if he wants to sleep on his tummy, he'll just roll to his tummy. She wouldn't give us a doctor's note allowing Ronda to put him on his tummy to sleep. However, Ronda spoke to the licensing board and found out the there was a new ordinance put into place that no longer requires a doctor's note. We simply have to fill out some forms releasing her from liability should something happen while he's in her care. So hopefully the sleep thing won't be an issue anymore!

Owen is starting to become interested in what the other two babies are doing now at daycare. One day when I dropped him off, I laid him on the floor next to Liam. He gave Liam a big grin and reached out to him. Liam grabbed his hand and cooed at him. It was just the cutest thing! I wish I would've had my camera with that day. I did have it with today and both Liam and Sullivan got there first today, so it was the perfect day to snap a few shots.


A day in the life of Owen:

Getting ready to head to daycare at 7:30. I'm kind of sleepy!




Buddies - Liam, 6.5 months (left), Owen almost 5 months (right), and Sullivan 4 months(top)

Owen and Sullivan having a serious conversation about toys

At the doctor yesterday, Owen weighed in at a whopping 15.6 pounds! Who would've thought that our little 3 pounder would grow to be such a big, healthy boy so quickly? We believe in miracles!!

Owen and Murphy

Owen met his second doggie friend last weekend. We went to my friend Jackie's house for a get-together and her brother had his dog, Murphy, there with him. They were pretty curious about each other, but neither really knew what to think of the other one! Murphy is adorable and very well behaved. I fell in love with his beard and his eye brows!

My First Week at Daycare

Owen and Ronda

This week was Owen's first week at daycare. We started him on July 5 even though we both had the day off. This gave us a chance to drop him off at our own pace and spend some time there with him. It also worked out perfectly because the two other little boys who go to daycare at Ronda's house were home that day, so she could spend the day getting to know Owen.

We feel really blessed that we found Ronda. She loves kids and has either run her own daycare or worked in centers since college. She takes a different approach to child care, which Paul and I really like. She doesn't take on 12 kids so she can make a lot of money. She takes three babies and keeps them until they go off to school, then she takes on three new babies. So Owen will be with Liam and Sullivan until they go off to school. We really like that there is the potential for fewer germs, that he'll get more one on one time with her, and that the kids are all just a month or two apart.

He's had a little bit of a rough week. He is struggling with acid reflux, constipation and not wanting to sleep on his back right now. We put him on rice cereal to help the reflux, but that makes the constipation worse and then he wants to sleep on his tummy even more. :( So he has been a little bit of a beast at Ronda's. She says he's like Dr. Jakkel and Mr. Hyde - he's crabby and fussy in the morning and then he's like a completely different little boy in the afternoon. Hopefully we can get him feeling better so that she can see his gummy little grin more often!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Firsts...

This weekend has been a weekend of firsts for Owen! We finally had to move him to his own room, into his big crib. He was getting too big for his bassinett and spent much of the night banging his hands on the sides of it, waking all 3 of us up. I've been dreading moving him, but we have an angel care monitor that alerts us if he goes longer than 16 seconds between breaths, so that makes me feel better about him being down the hall. He did very well, although 3 times in the night I found him with his arms or legs sticking out of the slats on the crib.

Owen's room

Owen's crib with the quilt and bumbers (all of which are out of the crib now that he is sleeping in it)

O's friends

Night night little guy!

Sleep tight!

The next and very exciting first happened this morning. I had O on his tummy for some tummy time and he rolled over onto his back!! I put him on his tummy again and video taped him doing it a second time. Then daddy got to see him do it a third time. Such a big boy!

Owen rolling over for the second time

The final first was Owen's first trip to the zoo this morning. I've been itching to take him, but he's been too little to get anything out of it. He was even a little young today, but he did watch the fish swimming in the tanks and the monkeys jumping around, so he enjoyed it!

All set to go to the zoo!

Mommy, what is that monkey doing behind me?

Owen, Mommy and Sparky

Daddy and Owen checking out the reindeer

Our first trip to the zoo!