Give Me Chocolate!

We made brownies last weekend for a brunch we were attending, and decided to let Owen have a little taste from the bowl. Wow! He loved chocolate - he must take after his mama. This is the first really sugary thing Owen has had. 

We decided it was time - especially since we are attending baby birthday parties for the next two weekends. What were we going to do- deny him cake? I don't think that's fair. And, if this video is any indication, neither does he.

And sleep goes right out the window

We have confronted a large stumbling block in our household - sleep. Owen doesn't like it. He screams and thrashes and makes himself pretty miserable for a couple hours every night. We are currently trying to determine every possible thing that could be causing such behavior, and how to confront it and still get enough sleep on our end. 

Our daycare teacher, Tara, said although Owen seemed a little young to be experiencing them, it was probably night terrors.  A little investigation does seem to point to them as the culprit. We have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday to go over this with our pediatrician, and hopefully we'll come to some kind of resolution or action-plan. 

Until then, please be nice to us. We are very, very tired. Last night after an hour of rocking an inconsolable, sobbing Owen, I finally wrapped him in his blanket as tight as possible, and he fell asleep for the rest of the night. 

I'm Crawling!

Here I Come!

Monday marked Owen's first crawl. Prior to this week, he's been spinning like a top or steam-rolling himself to get around, but Monday everything changed. He finally figured out crawling! At this point Owen's speed is more snail-like than cheetah, but I predict by the end of the weekend he'll be motorin' around.

I didn't think Owen would be a crawler - I wasn't one, and his friends at daycare have been crawling for months and months. Owen just didn't seem interested. But I was wrong. He was just taking his time.

The Vomitorium (i.e. our house)

We have finally banished the sickness that kept Owen and Dave indisposed the past week - hooray! Poor Owen was a mess, projectile vomiting all over the place. Turns out he had a nasty stomach bug that was going around daycare, but the other kids just had it for 24 hours. Owen got it for a week.

We learned a couple of lessons that are worth sharing:

1. The best baby shower gifts are old towels for cleaning up baby vomit. No, seriously.

2. When baby is vomiting, only dress him in navy blue or black or brown. Anything other than this and you are silly.

3. After the baby throws up all over the daycare teacher, she deserves a little present. Yes, vomiting babies come with the job, but it's still gross.

4. It helps to have another adult around if you personally cannot handle the vomit. Then when the baby vomits all over you, you can yell, "Sarahhhhhhh!" and I will run in and scoop the vomiting baby from your arms and shuttle him to the bathtub. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

A New Year and a New House!

Owen Paints a Picture

Happy New Year! We have been busy, busy, busy, and our lack of posting only reflects our crazy life, not our relationship with you readers. We bought a house! We moved 6 blocks from our apartment to a new house up the hill. Dave's parents were kind enough to help us with our move, and now we are slowly, painstakingly unpacking boxes and boxes and boxes of law books. Ugh. One thing missing? The cord that sends our digital camera's pictures to the computer, so rather than a picture of our house and Owen, you get a picture of Owen painting.

A week after closing on our home, we flew to Oregon for the holidays with my parents, and returned after the New Year to a house full of boxes. (We thought they might magically unpack themselves, but alas...no luck). The cats are adjusting to all the new space (and TWO fun staircases to run up and down ad nauseum) and Owen is a bit confused by his new room and jet lag, but last night he finally returned to a normal sleep schedule. Whew.

I start my last semester of law school next Monday, then Dave begins student teaching after MLK Day. Owen is at day care full-time, and seems to be doing ok so far. So that's our lengthy update and an explanation of our lack of blog posting. Hope everyone is enjoying a healthy, safe New Year. Hooray for 2009!

Milestones

Owen Plays his Xylophone while Floppy the Penguin Looks On

Owen has become a lot more mobile since Thanksgiving. He's rolling all over the place, spinning like a top, balancing next to furniture, reaching for Mom and Dad, trying to crawl, pushing up from a sitting to a standing position from my lap... and some teeth have decided to come in. So far he has two that have pushed through his gums, and I've had the shocking experience of being nipped by them while nursing. Wow that hurts.

Child development experts say that walking and talking usually go together. For Owen, it's mobility and mimicry. The other day I said, "Hi, Arlo" in a singsong voice, and Owen looked at the cat and said, "Aye Oh" in the same singsong voice. I almost fell over. Being a parent is just so awesome.

Kind of Like the Zoo

Are we REALLY going to the zoo?

We decided to take Owen to the zoo last weekend. We set aside a whole afternoon... and then it poured cold rain from the sky. No good. What to do on a rainy Sunday when you promised the zoo?

You go to the pet store, of course. The SPCA was present with crates of kittens, the parakeets were awake and flapping all over the place, the guinea pig drank some water from his bottle, and a woman pulled her brand-new puppy around by his leash because he refused to walk any farther. Two hound dogs got into a howling match at the counter, and a squawking parrot chewed on toys. Four turtles munched on lettuce. It was kind of like the zoo. Owen didn't know any different.