First Word Update: Kitty!!!

And the winner is... KITTY. On Thursday, I pointed at Arlo, said, "Arlo," and Owen pointed at Arlo and said, "Kitty." Ooh, I was excited to tell Dave. And then Dave heard it later. And Owen's said it a handful more times, too. Yay Owen! You're talking!

I heard Owen say "ball" yesterday. Not sure yet if it was coincidence or not, so I'm reserving judgment on that one.

THEN today, I was talking to Dave on the phone, and Owen heard Dave's voice and said, "Dada."

THEN today, Dave and I both conferred and decided that Owen has been calling me "Mom-mom."

I had this feeling that once Owen started talking, he'd be rolling. And I was right. What a funny little guy.

Owen and I went to the zoo today, and surprise, surprise - his favorite animals were the lion pride.

Owen and His Cats

Owen loves his cats. And his cats tolerate him, although in the above picture Purna looks put-out that this little dude is trying to climb up into their window seat. Regardless, it's been interesting to watch the progression of their interactions as Owen has gone from newborn to baby to babbling toddler.

We're convinced that Owen's first word will not be "momma" or "dada" but "kitty." This is because, although he thinks that we are great, the cats really hold his attention and love and general admiration. Also, he is beginning to mimic our sounds, and the other day both Dave and I were saying, "kitty" over and over again. And Owen was babbling back and said, "Titty." We about died laughing. So his first word COULD be "kitty" although it might come out sounding like something else.

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!