This was Owen’s first big sucker, and a special treat for cousins Robert and Gabrielle. They all LOVED it!
Suckers!
Category Archives: Family
Fun with Uncle Rob
Road trip!
We took a road trip to Frankenmuth to meet up with Grandpa Mike and Grannie Lin—and Great Grandma Pat and Mary Kay (who were down to Traverse City from the U.P.)! Unfortunately, Owen only got about a 40 minute nap on the way there, so we knew the afternoon might get a little sketchy… But he did pretty well at the park with us before lunch and I even got a few great pictures!
I caught him jumping! Look how high he is! I never even realized he was jumping when I was taking the picture!
Lunch at the Bavarian Inn didn’t go quite as smoothly as we had hoped, because Owen just got really tired of sitting in the high chair and HATED the accordion player who stopped in our room—but had plenty of fun walking around and hanging out with grandpa while we ate. Then it was back to the park for some playing, where Owen lasted about an hour until he needed to nap.
Go Green!
Owen in his new (from cousin Nick!) MSU outfit! I put the hood up when I first got him dressed…and he wore it like that ALL day—even through playing, lunch, and dinner!
Cousins!
We finally made it back to Lisa and Timmy’s for a visit… It took quite awhile before Owen would actually play with the kids, but he had fun the whole day! I forgot my real camera, so I just have these few from my phone.
This is Owen and Aubrey. She is six months older, but he outweighs her by about 5-7# and has probably 3″ on her.
Professional Owen Photos
http://www.facebook.com/a…41&l=2609ffb6a8
These are two of the pictures that my cousin Stephanie took when we were at the Smith Family get-together in Frankenmuth at Splash Village in May. (You can see all the photos at the Facebook link above.) These are his first professional pictures (since we never got the ones the professional photographer took when he was eight months old). Thanks, Steph!
First Crayon Drawing
We were up in Grayling for the weekend to visit with Filipek’s, and I was sitting doing something with Izzy when she suggested she get a piece of paper for Owen to write on. Well, he was using a pencil, and kept poking through the paper, so I suggested a crayon instead. She ran to her bookbag and brought back a turquoise crayon. I held the paper and let him go to town…
(Gramma says it’s a nice picture of snow-capped mountains behind a lake!) Then Izzy wanted to write on the back. 🙂
A little while later, while we were all still eating dinner and Owen was left to his own devices (having already finished eating), we suddenly heard Marcus saying “NO, OWEN!” Yeah, he had just drawn his first crayon WALL art. |-|
Thank heavens for Magic erasers!
Three firsts today!
1) We took him to the Grayling fish hatchery with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David. He was still a bit too young—maybe next year will be better!
2) Tom took him wading in the AuSable River—we were impressed that he didn’t mind the chilly water…although the current intrigued him.
3) Grauntie Marge brought over a watercolor paint book!
Owen is 17 months old today!
On the back porch at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Linda’s house in Traverse City.
And our group photo from the family picnic…
Everyone in the pool!
Owen was out playing in his pool after we got home from our Costco trip…and I was hot from hauling everything in and putting it away, so I stepped in the pool with him…then invited Grandpa as well.
And then I got out and let Owen and Grandpa continue having fun…
A new (water) slide!
Tom and I saw a sign for a garage sale (“lots of baby things!”) on the way back from the grocery store, so we stopped. And they had…a slide that was just the perfect size for Owen! And I thought it would be a great addition to his little pool that we brought to Gramma Jean’s house.
And boy, did he love it! At first, Tom sat him on the slide and then held him as he slid down into the pool…but after a handful of times, he knew how to inch himself forward just enough to move himself down the slide—without Tom even holding on! He had an absolute BLAST with it…so we’ll definitely put it to good use at home, too!
And a sample of the crazy splashing that had us all wet—and in stitches!
Family Picnic
We all drove up to spend the long holiday weekend in Grayling, and my mom offered to host a picnic for everyone on Saturday! We had a great time watching Owen play in his pool (and later splash around nekkid!) and enjoyed the company and the good food!
Splash Village
We spent Saturday night in Frankenmuth at Splash Village for a belated Smith Christmas/Reunion (we’ve had enough with driving in the snow and thought this would be a nice change!) so we got to take Owen to the pool again! (This is what we were training for at the community center pool!)
Due to sleep and nap schedules, Owen didn’t make it to the pool until the morning we were leaving, and Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike volunteered to take him in. Of course, Tom and I sat on the sidelines and watched and took a few pictures (not as good as my usual pics since I had our old camera).
With Grandma Linda in the lazy river:
He really, REALLY amazed and impressed us…as soon as he saw the pool, he walked right into it and just kept going…deeper and deeper! He did hold hands with the grandparents, but he just…kept…going! He hadn’t even done that with us at the pool! They would play with him then walk him back to the shallow entry…and Owen would turn right around and walk back out! Over and over and over. It was soooo cute!
He did a great job overall, and we can’t wait to take him back to our local pool to see if he does the same thing there. We also bought him a bigger pool for the back yard—so hopefully he’ll like that, too!
Sushi Blanket!
I got the idea from a baby blanket I saw on Etsy. I had seen that sushi fabric before and LOVED it, so I went on the hunt. No local fabric stores carried it, so I had to get it from eBay. Then I had to wait for mom to come down with her sewing machine because—a) I didn’t have a sewing machine and b) I can’t sew. 😛
So she came down and it was off to JoAnns to find some backing fabric. I loved the idea of the chenille but they only had white and that didn’t seem good for my ultimate usage ideas (the park, the beach, etc.). We ended with a reddish orange denim…and I love it.
Getting Started
Finished Projects (Blanket & Bag)
Can you guess what the handles are made from?
Look closely. More closely. Yes, the handles are bra straps. :>>
Her cool sewing machine can do letters!
And look at that cool edge stitch!
The Blanket
If I remember right, it’s about 7′ x 6′.
It is SO awesome and I am SO thrilled with it! I cannot thank my mom enough!! Oh, and just so you think she did it all…she MADE ME sew the buttons on (you can’t see them in any of the pics, but they’re there!).
Real food!
The real food thing is going a lot better now!
Since the last update, he has tried (and liked) a lot of things including red and green grapes, spaghetti (any shape noodle), and Kraft cheese slices. We tried fresh strawberries again (for about the third time) and he finally ate some! YAY! He also really loves fried eggs now, and can easily eat a whole one by himself. He is still really liking Cheerios and of course he still LOVES his yogurt. He wasn’t too keen on broccoli, although he did eat the tops. And he’s LOVING his whole milk.
This past weekend Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob came down, and we went out for lunch. Owen ate chicken and grapes, tried shrimp (he ate it!), and had a lot of fun squishing (and eventually eating) orange pieces and jello.
It’s really fun to try new foods, although it’s still frustrating when he will scarf something down at one meal and won’t touch it the next meal. He’s pretty much off baby food, although now and again he’ll get some (I fed him a jar when we went out to lunch). Some times it does feel like a challenge trying to figure out what to feed him (if what we’re eating isn’t really acceptable) but there’s always yogurt. 🙂
SQUISH!
1st Birthday Party!
What a day! We had a houseful of family to celebrate Owen’s first birthday…
He wasn’t too sure about the cake but quickly got into it (while still holding his balloons). And I was expecting him to get VERY messy, but it wasn’t bad at all. YAY OWEN! GOOD BOY!
And things continued to go pretty well through the bath…
And the meltdown happened when we tried to get a group photo…
But all in all it was a great day…and here’s just a little 9-minute snippet of the festivities:
Don’t miss this video!
Or should I say THESE videos…
December 5, 2009
December 25, 2009
Grandpa Mike and Grandma Linda brought Owen his first sled! He loved being pulled around inside the house!
December 26, 2009
In the middle of Owen’s first sledding experience. The actual sledding videos are jiggly and headache-inducing to watch, so this is what you get!
Christmas in Grayling
We went up to Grayling for the long holiday weekend. We went over to Kalkaska on Christmas Eve Day to have our Christmas with Marsha and Rob and then Christmas Day we exchanged gifts with Marge, then my dad and Linda came over for lunch and Owen time. Here are some of the best shots:
Grandpa Mike brought over a sled for Owen, in which he THOROUGHLY enjoyed being pulled around the house!
We were able to finally take him sledding outside later in the weekend. Cousins Isabelle and Gabrielle were there to help! Here are some of the best shots:
It was great being able to have the entire family together again (the last time was actually just in July, when we all vacationed together in Kentucky). Here’s the annual group shot and the Christmas shirt photo with a new inductee:
Carousel & Second Haircut
Since we were up north for Thanksgiving, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike said they wanted to take Owen to the carousel at the Grand Traverse Mall. So off we went!
Grandpa took him first, and Owen didn’t think too much of it. But he was cute. We have video from it, but it’s enough to make you nauseous so I won’t post it here… you’ll have to suffice with the pictures I took on Owen’s second ride, with mom and dad (specifically to try and get some good pictures):
After the carousel, we decided to walk around the mall a little, and one of the first places we passed was Mastercuts…so I decided it was fate (we had been saying for a few weeks he needed another cut) so in we went! He did a pretty good job—again, no crying! And again a little fidgety (he constantly wanted to see what was going on behind him) but overall he was very good! And now look how dapper he is again!
Thanksgiving Up North
Since Tom had the entire long weekend off, we decided to go to Traverse City to stay with dad and Linda—it would be the first time we had been there in years. They also invited everyone (mom & David, Marge, and Marsha & Rob) for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday!
The trip up didn’t go quite as planned. Owen was a pretty good trooper on the ride—it was his nap time when we left, so we hoped he’d sleep at least two hours…but 30 minutes was all we got, and then he was hungry shortly thereafter, so we stopped in Midland to eat dinner and feed him. That added about 45 minutes to our trip. Then we discovered US 131 was closed and the resulting back roads detour took us a good half hour out of our way. GRRRR. (Apparently everyone knew about this but either forgot to mention it or thought we were going another direction.) |-| But Owen did sleep the whole way after dinner, and made the transition form the car to his crib nicely (he did wake up, but fell back to sleep easily). I was happy about that because that was what I had been most worried about, as I hate to do anything that might mess up his great sleep schedule.
The family dinner went well. Linda had said that everyone was welcome after 1, and mom was pulling in at 1:03 and Marsha was pulling in at 1:07. :>> Mom was actually three minutes later than I expected her. Hee. Owen was freshly bathed and in a new (from cousin Nick) outfit and was just such a dashing little gentleman (aka cutie pie):
We had lots of yummy hors d’œuvres, everyone brought goodies to add to the meal, I did the mashed potatoes, then watched and helped my mom make the gravy (I figure if I watch it enough times, I might be able to do it on my own one of these days :oops:). I also really enjoyed a few glasses of wine. :p Everything was delicious, and Owen even had Thanksgiving fare—albeit the baby food versions. We did give him a bunch of tiny bites to try, though, including turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, squash, and rolls—which he ate, but didn’t really enjoy (he still has texture and thickness issues).
And then. Unfortunately. At the exact moment we gave him some pistachio fluff to try, he barfed up his entire meal. I guess the fluff broke the camel’s back, so-to-speak, and his little stomach/gag reflex said ENOUGH! Thankfully it all landed on him, his bib, and the high chair, and none hit the table or the carpet. Poor Owen. But he was no worse for the wear and we all got a good laugh out of it.
I wanted to be sure to get a group picture since it’s not a common occurrence to have all the grandparents together. We only took two, so imagine my surprise when one of them came out pretty damn good!
New toys!
Aunt (Grandma? Grauntie?) Rose sent Owen a new outfit and some toys—which he just loves! He LOVES the the “mp3 player” and gets so ferocious with the spinny toy that it never stays suctioned for long!
THANK YOU!
(This video is a combination of three separate videos.)
Visit with the cousins!
We decided it was time to go visit Lisa and Timmy and the kids, since we’ve been here a year, only live 1.5 hours away, and haven’t been there yet. We timed it for Owen’s nap times, and it worked perfectly.
We got there around noon, and they prepared a great lunch for us. Owen ate his normal baby food, but since we had a bunch of kid-friendly foods available, we gave him banana pieces (which we know he likes), then tried strawberry (which wasn’t too bad), bread (which he’s had before), and cheese (which he liked). He didn’t want a lot of any of the new foods, but at least he tried them and didn’t spit them out!
Owen was the youngest of the four—I think they’re five, two, and 17 months. The funny thing is that Owen is bigger than the 17-month old! Lisa says she’s 22#, but she felt A LOT lighter to me! :)) Here is the proof of the size difference (and you wonder why people think we have a toddler!):
And boy did Owen have fun with the cousins. (Technically I think they’re second cousins? My cousins’ kids?) Anyway, they were all banging on a plastic bin and talking and since he can’t talk, he was just screeching and having a blast making noise with them. And then Nick leaned over and gave him a kiss. Soooo cute!
And then Nick gave Owen a little rough-and-tumble-yet-gentle take-down from behind, and it was sooooo adorable, and Owen loved it. This was the best pic from the bunch:
We had a really good time, and we loved having Owen be able to play with (and just be around) kids of different ages. We hope to get together more often in the future so they kids will know each other…
Family Photo Attempt
We tried to get a family photo on the fly today, because Owen was in a happy smiley mood. Unfortunately, this was the best of the bunch. 🙂
Happy Halloween!
Gramma Jean made this video initially, then I tried to redo it with different pictures, but it turned out about the same. Owen just takes the cake. This makes me smile and laugh each and every time I watch it…
Edited on November 10, 2009, to say that I finally broke down and bought the actual video for $5—I figured it was worth it for something that brought me so many smiles. 😀 So now it’s uploaded at YouTube instead of just having a link.
SCREENSHOT OF THE ENTIRE CAST:
Phantom of the Opera
Gramma Jean came down to babysit so Tom and I could go to Phantom of the Opera at the Detroit Opera House.
(Yes, the photo should look similar—I wore the same dress and Tom wore a very similar shirt for our anniversary picture!)
We opted for the cheapest seats since we had already seen Phantom in Toronto and wanted a different vantage point—and went by the Yelp recommendations that there is “not a bad seat in the house” and “don’t let nosebleed seats discourage you.” So we got seats in the center of the very last row of the entire theater! Three stories up!
Unfortunately, it was a bad call. There was absolutely NO room and we were squeezed in like sardines. I am 5’10” and my knees were touching the seat in front of me. Tom, at 6’2″, was even more uncomfortable and could only fit his feet into the small space where the seats (in front of us) came together. Needless to say it felt like a longer performance than it really was. 🙁
That said, Phantom is always a good show…but had I not seen it before, I would have been very disappointed with the seats. You obviously couldn’t see what anyone looked like and you missed some of the action that took place high up on the stage (it was blocked by curtains).
But I did get the chills throughout the entire show during all my favorite moments so it was worth it!!
Then we went out for an early dinner and had a good time there, as well. It was a good day!
A perfectly Polish dinner!
Our 8th Anniversary!
Grandma Jean was here to babysit, so we were able to go out for our traditional Chinese dinner (Mon Jin Lau if you’re interested—it was VERY good and I would highly recommend it)!
A boat for the boy…and a trip to the lake!
Since we were up in Grayling, Gramma Marsha came over to visit. She also brought Owen a gift—a blow up boat, complete with leg holes and a horn! It was perfect, as we were planning (hoping!) to take him to the lake (for his first big water experience) that weekend.
What was funny, though, was me reading the box: “For ages 6 months to 12 months. Up to 20 pounds.” 88| That meant we had better use it that weekend, otherwise he would be too big! (Yes, he is only six months old…but remember, he weighs as much as a 12-month old so he was already at the max weight!)
So just in case the beach thing didn’t work out, we had a photo op at home beforehand:
So then it was off to Houghton Lake to see Rose and Jim at their cottage. They have lake access just down the street, so we all walked down there, cameras and towels and boat in hand, boy in the stroller, hoping for it to go well.
Things started off well, but then he wasn’t anywhere near the water yet.
Unfortunately, it was windy, which made the water a bit choppy.
And the water was cold, so it took about five seconds to register that he didn’t like it so we pulled him out.
But we still wanted to try the boat. And this picture pretty much sums up his entire first lake experience:
So much for my grand visions of a nice and warm day, with the sun having warmed the first two inches of CALM lake water, with us sitting next to the boy IN the water, watching him play and kick. |-|
Then it was off for a pontoon ride around the lake. Rose and Jim didn’t have a baby life jacket but they did have a kinda small one—which Owen didn’t really like, either (but then, he was hungry—so once the bottle was finished, he was much happier). That said, his helmet was really in the way:
…so we eventually took it off—and once the helmet was off and he relaxed a bit, things were better:
…and he eventually fell asleep! 🙂
Size 3T jammies!
So when Gramma Jean was here earlier this summer, we hit some neighborhood garage sales. One item she bought was this pair of Cars pajamas. She bought them for Robert (another grandson) who LOVES the movie Cars. The PJs were size 3T. However, they had obviously been washed and worn and had probably shrunk somewhat over time. Mom looked at them and thought “You know, they look like they would fit Owen.”
Nah. No way. I mean, he was (only) five months at the time. Fitting into 3T jammies? Get real. I said we could still give them to Robert. And then we forgot to pack them on our Kentucky trip. So when we got home, we put them on Owen for a laugh…except we really weren’t laughing.
They fit. THEY FIT! The size 3T (meaning 3-year-old toddler) fit him! The legs were a bit too long, but not by that much. And the top fit perfectly.
Oh my.
But sooooooo cute.
