Owen trying to take his shirt off

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDrpNUM4GYI

We were outside on the porch waiting for Tom to come home, when Owen decided he wanted to take his shirt off. Sometimes we do this when he plays in the sprinkler, but we weren’t doing that and he didn’t want to do that…so I have no idea why he wanted it off. So, I wasn’t going to take it off—but I told him that if HE could take it off, then it could come off. So he tried. And tried. Then asked for help. Then got more interested in watching himself (as usual) than trying to get the shirt off. Then got distracted by the spiderweb…

Katie’s Closet

I had to go shopping for a few baby necessities the other day (how could we not have ANY size 1 nipples?) and I just couldn’t believe the sheer number of new baby/kid products in the three years since I really SHOPPED at a Babies ‘R Us. I wanted soooo much stuff but just bought what we needed. Well, plus a few clearance clothes. 🙂 I’ve been purposefully trying NOT to buy much since I know the grandmas are going crazy buying…but when there’s a great sale (40% off already sale/clearance prices) I just couldn’t resist. Meaning I did have to reign myself in a bit.

But then—OOPS!—I went back to Babies R Us today… Not for clothes specifically, but I had to return some things. Darn! And then I bought some more clothes because, I mean, I was there. And they were still on sale. :))

My friends keep telling me you can’t have too many baby clothes—but I think I may have had too much with Owen… People were buying me gifts (first baby syndrome), I was buying stuff (first baby syndrome), and we were getting hand-me-downs from a cousin. It was nice not having to do laundry every other day, though… But it’s been so long since that age/stage that I honestly can’t remember how much we had (since I have obviously give the hand-me-downs back and have sold some stuff) so it’s like I’m starting from scratch. I didn’t take all the tags off my last two days of purchases, though…we’re going to wait and see just how big she is. She might blow past the 0-3m stuff from the start and we’ll just start with the 3m stuff…

Aside from one drawer of outfits and one of PJs (newborn, 0-3m, and a few 3-6m)…this isn’t a lot, right? (There are about eight or so hangers of 2-4T stuff.) It feels like a lot, though my friends assure me it’s not. 😮

“Christmas” Morning

We had “Christmas” this morning (since Owen won’t know the difference) so Santa could give him the train table…and he LOVED it! (We were sure he would, but you just never know.)

He is also really into opening presents now, and thinks every wrapped present is his. Soooo cute!

Also, Owen is now in 5T pants. Some 4Ts still fit, but they’re a little tight in the butt and thigh area.

Lastly, we got a decent family photo in the first session of 20 pics! (And of course, Owen looks the best!)

And with his stocking!

Parenting tip for the newbies

Keep all future clothes/baby supplies/etc. in ONE area, so when you wonder “Do I need to buy ____?” you only have to look in one place.

Yeah, I just found a 2T winter coat that was stashed in some random drawer. Since I found some online on sale and thought I needed one and didn’t see one in the closet…I bought it. Now I have two. Granted, I think one goes to lower temps than the other (both Lands End) but still, I think one was plenty. They were both on sale, so still not too bad…but I could have gotten 3T (of 4T!) had I known I already had a 2T.

I also forget about stashed food, since I keep it in the basement pantry as well as the upstairs island and cupboards. I just realized I have a box of oatmeal and yogurt…which Owen doesn’t eat any more. It’s only $5 worth, but it’s the idea that I forgot about them.

Owen, please stop growing!

We just moved him into size 6 diapers. At 19 months. The 5s were just leaking way too much. We thought we’d at least use the Size 5 overnights for during the day—except he completely soaked through it and his pants in 2.5 hours. 😮

And I bought some clearance PJs today at Target—size 3T, thinking I was planning ahead—except I looked at the weight range listed on them: 32-35#! So they should fit him now! 😮

Shoes, Part 2

So, I just got an email that they sold the shoes in-store before my order came in and they didn’t update the website in time. HOWEVER, I can choose one of these two similar pair with a $10 refund:

shoe choice

And I’m torn. I like the one-color ones because they’re a solid color but I’m not sold on the loafer look. But the sporty ones are just fun and cute.

Baby shoes shouldn’t need this much decision. |-|

Feet & Shoes

I really should get Owen’s feet professionally measured. I’ve just been guessing at sizes and/or holding them up to his feet—and while I’ve not purchased any that were too small, I have certainly bought some that were too big. At first, it was pretty easy—just move up a size in Robeez, starting with 0-6 months, then 6-12 months, 12-18 months, and 18-24 months…but then they stop measuring by months and convert to actual sizes. Well, Owen is currently in 12-18 and 18-24 month Robeez.

So anyway, I thought I had plenty of shoes for him (since I’ve bought a few pair that are too big PLUS we got some as hand-me-downs) but for whatever reason, they still aren’t the right size. Sigh. So I really like the pair he’s growing out of, so I just figured I’d buy them in the next size—but I can’t FIND them in the next size (they are out of stock everywhere). And it’s apparently quite hard (at least so far) to find an all-brown shoe in the size that I want that I like.

I guess he doesn’t HAVE to have shoes to match his outfits…but I thought I was doing well having only two pair (three if you count the cute red/black/white hard-soled shoes that I only have him wear when he wears the matching pants!)…but I searched and searched and searched and searched and FINALLY found the bigger size of his current pair (man I loooooove Google). Hopefully that pair will take us through to the rest of his shoes waiting for him. 🙂

Owen’s 9-month appointment…and first blood.

Height: 30½” (95th percentile)
Head: 26″ (95th percentile)
Weight: 22lbs. 10oz. (50–75th percentile)

Overall, she said he looks great and I’m doing everything right. Phew!

She was impressed by his sleeping—she could NOT believe that not only did he sleep through the night, but that he slept from (generally) 6pm–6am. She was even more amazed when I told her that the previous night he slept from 4:30pm–6:30am. I told her we do whatever we can to keep his sleep schedule status quo with no disruptions like being away from home, staying out late at someone else’s house, etc. She said that sleeping that long (through the night) is fairly unusual, but that it’s great—and to keep doing whatever we’re doing because he has great sleep habits and it’s a great thing to start this young! So, YAY us! 😀

He didn’t love getting his ears or chest checked, but he did just fine.

I asked about the H1N1 and the generic flu shot, and they will have them in the office, they are just out of both right now. The nurse said she wouldn’t be in a rush to get the H1N1 since he’s not in daycare and we don’t generally come into contact with a lot of people, but she would highly recommend the normal flu shot. The nurse said the media is making it seem much crazier than it really is—the few cases they’ve actually seen are not that bad. That said, the doctor said if we wanted the H1N1 it would be okay, but also highly recommended the normal flu shot. So I have to call next week to see if they have them in and decide if we want him to get one or both shots.

Right before we left, he had to get a blood test—just a finger prick (he didn’t even make a peep!)—and she put a band-aid on it and said to leave it for at least 10 minutes. I put his mitten on and things were fine. We stopped to see dad at his office then went home, and since it had been much longer than 10 minutes, I took the mitten off. I was doing things around the living room for maybe (MAYBE!) five minutes, when I look over and see something dark on Owen’s lip, and I thought it was some fuzz off the floor or something (even though Tom vacuums every morning) so I come closer and—OMIGOD—it’s blood. BLOOD! 88| It took me a good two L—O—N—G seconds before I realized nothing serious was happening and it was just his finger bleeding.

But OMIGOD—his finger was bleeding…all over. Swear to god it was gushing. It was all over his pants and his face and in his hair—so the band-aid had obviously been off for a bit. So I grab a wipe to try to clean him up and stop the bleeding, and I see him drooling and don’t think much but then it hits me that it is A LOT of drool (it seemed like a bucketful) and I realize that OMIGOD the band-aid is in his mouth! 88| 88| Bad mom, bad mom, bad mom!

So I fish the band-aid out of his mouth while I’m still trying to clean him up and stop the bleeding, and I leave him for like 10 seconds to see if there’s a bandaid in the bathroom and there isn’t, so I grab a tissue and come back and there is blood all over again! From just a tiny finger prick! That had stopped bleeding IN THE OFFICE! Egads. So I pick him up, holding his finger in a tissue and trying to keep his finger out of his mouth, go upstairs to get a band-aid, sit him on the floor, clean him up again, and put on TWO band-aids. By the time Tom got home for lunch 10 minutes later, the band-aid was off again, although thankfully not in his mouth and not bleeding anymore.

So, then I changed him into his fourth outfit of the day. (The first one was soiled by the coffee spill/crawl. The second one was soiled from spit up. The third one from blood.) After lunch, it was outfit #5 after more spit up.

What a day!

First professional photo shoot!

So today was Owen’s first professional photo shoot. Corinna (of Corinna’s Camera) came to our house, which was great! I thought it would go smashingly, since Owen had JUST gotten up 15 minutes before AND had finished a 6oz bottle! And it was a nice temperature and the sun was out! Perfect, right?

Ha.

My normally happy and smiley and laughing baby? Not so much today. He was ALL about the serious today and he really didn’t like all the outfit changes. 😐

Speaking of the outfit changes, here’s what we did:

  1. Maroon thermal long-sleeved onesie, khakis.
  2. Added jean jacket.
  3. Chicken costume with real pumpkins.
  4. Dark blue cable-knit sweater, khakis.
  5. Light blue short-sleeve collared onesie, khakis.
  6. Added helmet.

Don’t get me wrong—he was REALLY good overall…no crying, staying seated (even on a REALLY springy seat), no falling over…but we just had a hell of a time getting him to look at the camera and smile or laugh. We REALLY could have used Tom here, since he can ALWAYS get him to laugh…but unfortunately he couldn’t leave work. 🙁

And then…the animals. Maggie wanted to be right there, of course, but refused to sit sill for a picture. So I’d put her outside. Then the cats would be strolling through and Owen would turn to look at them. Then I’d try to use Maggie to get Owen to look or smile. If we ever do this again, ALL the animals will get locked up. I honestly didn’t even think about it since they usually keep to themselves…but apparently NOT when someone new is in the house! Oh well.

Corinna assured me we got some great shots…but it will be at least three weeks before I get to see them since she is going out of town. This is the hard part—as after my own photo shoots, I get to look at the photos immediately!

In the meantime, though, I will continue to work on editing her website—I’ve already done a quick overview for her (15 bullet points of mistakes, site errors, and/or things that I would change) and she really liked it, so now I have to do a full page-by-page edit.

I will post a link to the gallery when Owen’s pics are uploaded. For now, I’ve just linked to her website. I would highly recommend her—very professional, personable, and great with kids!

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.