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Category Archives: Owen

Houdini!

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Owen is a Houdini in his crib. Tom said he went in this morning to check on him and sometime during the night he had managed to sneak his arms out through (over? under?) the mesh bumper to a bedside table and pull the (unplugged) clock radio cord AND an unused extension cord INTO his crib. 88|

I had actually forgotten the cords were there—they had been there for at least a few days—but how did he even know they were there? Was he just fishing for anything and caught them? Did he see them and then try to get them?

I know he loves cords, but that was impressive!

What a kid.

First trip to the mall!

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We wanted to hit Baby Gap for some more socks, so it was off to Somerset. I have only been there once since we moved here (when I went to Nordstroms for my spa afternoon shortly after Owen was born) and Tom had never been there…

We ran a few other errands first, and Owen fell asleep in the 10 minutes it took between stops. I hated to wake him up but we really wanted to hit the mall. (Normally when he falls asleep in the car, we’re on our way home and he goes straight from the car to his crib to try and finish his nap.) We half expected him to fall asleep in the stroller but there was too much to see so he was wide awake!

We had lunch first, which included feeding him as well. What fun he had! Puffs on the floor, hands flailing about and landing in the food dad had opened and placed too close to the epicenter, and trying both of our soups! I think we went through four wipes, which is twice as many as we usually use at home!

He managed to stay awake the entire time we were at the mall, and didn’t even fall asleep on the ride home! However, once home and fed a bottle, he slept for…are you ready?? THREE AND A HALF HOURS! He was getting up at the time he is normally getting ready for bed! He ended up going to bed about 7 (so, not too much later than normal) and even though he didn’t seem totally tired, he was out in less than 15 minutes.

…Finishing the story here instead of posting the following day…

AND HE SLEPT IN UNTIL 7:15! Which was great for him, since that meant he slept his typical 12 hours (instead of getting up at 5am regardless of what time he went to bed) but it stunk for Tom since he didn’t get his normal morning baby time like he does every weekday morning.

So, we’re intrigued to see if the sleep pattern continues (7p-7a) or if it will go back to normal (more like 6p-6a). Amazingly, he slept through the time change PERFECTLY—sleeping through to his normal wake-up time of about 6:30 (meaning he slept an extra hour!).

Goodbye, helmet!

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We had a helmet check-up today and I thought it was just going to be a normal check-up with some measurements and maybe a bit more grinding on the helmet…but the specialist just took a quick look and said “I think he’s done! I’m extremely pleased with the results!”

88|

I asked if he still had to wear it at night, like had been mentioned before, and he said no! He said since he rolls around so much and sleeps in all positions, he wasn’t worried about nighttime anymore. I also showed him one of the many face-plant pictures and he laughed. I wondered if Owen would still be able to sleep face-plant style without the breathing room the helmet allowed him.

So, Owen graduated today! YAY! He was in the helmet for just over three months (he got it July 24). Three months is apparently an AMAZING amount of time—most have to wear it at least four months, if not more.

It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to not having it on all the time—how bumps to the head (and the like) will make him react. But, he’s already napped face-plant style so apparently he can do that with or without the helmet, LOL. :))

Happy Halloween!

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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:

Monster Mash Screenshot

Stomach to sitting!

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So, now that Owen can crawl (he’s getting pretty good!), I wondered what the next achievement would be. As I watched him play on his stomach and roll around, I decided it would probably be moving from his stomach (or crawling) to a sitting position. Well, within a few hours, he did it! I watched him on his stomach, playing with a toy, to pushing up on his arms, and then voilà! He was sitting up straight! YAY OWEN!

First Cheerio!

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We were at our twice-monthly moms’ group and the babes were all rolling around, taking each others’ toys, and it was just so. damn. cute. Of course, while we are there, it’s usually snack or feeding time, so we had our puffs out. Another mom had Cheerios. I’ve been wanting to try Cheerios, but I really didn’t want to buy a whole box because I probably wouldn’t eat them if Owen didn’t like them. And I’ve been hesitating on “real” food like that because he really doesn’t like textures much, and he’s just now mastering the really airy, melt-in-your-mouth puffs.

So I gave him a Cheerio. Broken in half, but still a Cheerio. And he opened his mouth readily, took the Cheerio, munched for a few seconds, then opened his mouth for more! YAY OWEN! Then I set him on the floor, and moments later, he was at the feet of the mom (with the Cheerios) who had happened to drop some on the floor…hence Owen crawling over there. 🙂 So cute! 😀 So he reached for one! I grabbed it, broke it in half again, and he eagerly ate both pieces! So it looks like we may be able to go up to Cheerios! Maybe after we finish our bottle of puffs!

Facebook Updates

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It seems like I’m always writing about Owen these days, but really, not much else is going on for me to write about here. I mean, just take a look at my recent Facebook updates…most of them have to do with the boy!

  • Jennifer Hudson has a boy covered in banana. He loves banana in the mesh feeder but MAN does it make a mess. And the banana wasn’t even fully ripe. Egads.
  • Jennifer Hudson asks the peeps: is Glee worth watching? I’ve been recording but missed the first few so would have to watch them online.
  • Jennifer Hudson says babywearing + grocery shopping = not a great idea in actual practice. It’s a total PITA to try and lean over, bend down, get stuff out of the cart…but he was a good boy the whole time!
  • Jennifer Hudson likes Sesame Street for showcasing a wide variety of people, but seriously, they have some of the homeliest people and ugliest babies I’ve ever seen. /shudder/
  • Jennifer Hudson just momentarily freaked out when I thought I lost all my Roboform info.
  • Jennifer Hudson is glad that Owen takes a good morning nap, because that’s when I shower. But sometimes I just don’t feel like showering this early. But I have to, because you never know if you will get another good chance.
  • Jennifer Hudson hates having bad dreams, then waking up with a racing heart.
  • Jennifer Hudson forgot to give Owen Motrin–hope he doesn’t wake up screaming.
  • Jennifer Hudson just figured out a cool new way to use Shazam – for all those songs in iTunes that somehow don’t have info and I don’t know it!
  • Jennifer Hudson hates days with appointments in neighboring cities. Naps get SO screwed up. 🙁
  • Jennifer Hudson is sitting in the parking lot waiting for Owen’s helmet appointment (we’re way early), letting him nap, and using KFC’s free wifi from across the street.
  • Jennifer Hudson hates clueless old drivers. Some guy almost backed into me in a parking lot because he didn’t look behind him first–and kept going even after I honked at him! I actually had to quick back up because he was NOT stopping. Asshat.
  • Jennifer Hudson is thinking her epsiode of acid reflux the other night wasn’t from the margarita…because I’m experiencing it daily now. 🙁
  • Jennifer Hudson wonders if it was the Tylenol or just being tired, or a combo of both that let the boy nap for 2.5 hours?
  • Jennifer Hudson wonders if anyone else has ever had lotion turn into [for all basic purposes] water? Apparently that’s what happens when you never use it and keep it for ~8 years.
  • Jennifer Hudson really needs to figure out her sleep number so her back doesn’t hurt every damn morning. That said, my back just hasn’t been the same since I was pregnant so maybe the sleep number is useless at this point.
  • Jennifer Hudson is going to bed early, yet still 17 minutes later than I’d planned.

We’re almost done!

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We had a helmet appointment and scan today. We were really thinking/hoping that this would be the visit where we’d get the go-ahead to just have him wear the helmet at night…but apparently we’re not quite there. The specialist said Owen is doing ABSOLUTELY AMAZING but could still benefit from another month, but said he should be out of it by Thanksgiving.

First Night Teething

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We did give him Motrin before he went to bed (about 6:15). All went well, and I finally fell asleep about 9:30 (I had a case of acid reflux), only to be woken up by him screaming at 10:20. But just as suddenly he was quiet again, so I fell back to sleep, only to be woken up at 10:40 by him screeching again. 🙁

I managed to drag myself out of bed (I felt even worse now), gave him some teething tablets, then listened to him for another half hour or so, waiting to hear if his screeching got worse (or better), knowing I couldn’t give him any more Motrin until at least 2am. He finally fell asleep about 11:30, and did sleep through until 6:15 (yay!). Unfortunately, I still slept like crap the rest of the night—plus Tom’s alarm went off at 4am—so I am exhausted this morning.

A TOOTH!

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So Owen has been somewhat cranky over the past few days, but we really didn’t think too much of it. People said he might be teething, but we’ve been thinking that for weeks, if not months—with no teeth ever appearing.

So for the past week or so, he has NOT been a good eater like he usually is—you know, where I basically shovel in food as fast as I can and he eats three whole jars of food per meal. Lately, it’s been maybe one jar or four bites from three different jars—not even really liking or wanting his favorite yogurt. 88| So we thought something might be up.

And then yesterday evening we noticed a rash! We googled and thought it was probably just a heat rash, as we’d had him in his chicken costume for a bit and it was probably too warm. It also might have been a contact type of rash, since he had the costume on for a few minutes without any barrier like a onesie (and it’s not washable, so we didn’t wash it after we got it). So we just thought we’d keep an eye on it and if it was worse (or no better) in a day or so, we’d call the doc. Again, someone suggested teething (apparently some crazy things can happen when teething starts) and we just said YEAH, WHATEVER, because so far there has been no teething.

So this morning he ate a good breakfast (which he hasn’t been lately). And then he wasn’t eating his lunch and he was fussy and screeching a bit and I happened to look in his mouth while he was screeching and I swear I saw something different! A little white spot! So I stuck my finger in and sure enough! A tooth is starting to come through! OWEN’S FIRST TOOTH! :>>

So I got out the teething tablets and those seemed to help quite a bit. I also gave him a frozen strawberry to chew on. He seems to be doing well, but I think we need some Motrin for the next few nights…

So much for [new] homemade food.

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Since Owen loves sweet potatoes and eats the ones I make for him, I decided it was time to try some other foods (that other moms and websites have recommended). So I got dried peas and dried black beans, as well as pears and apples (both of which I know he likes).

I spent all afternoon (well, about two hours) peeling and chopping and cooking and blending…and the little stinker didn’t like ANY of it! I couldn’t even get more than one bite down—and some of the bites came back out. 🙁 And some of the bites made him gag! Hoo boy. It has to be a texture/consistency thing for the most part, since I already know he likes peas, apples, and pears—but I know he will eat mashed banana and thick oatmeal, so I’m flummoxed as to why he didn’t like any of the new home-cooked things I gave him.

So it all went in the freezer and we’ll try again in a few weeks.

That said, I just remembered I also did squash with a very thin consistency (that we haven’t tried yet because it was still too hot), so we’ll see if he likes that.

What a stinker!

First teething biscuit!

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We’ve had them in the cupboard for quite some time—“just in case”—and Tom decided to give him one at lunch today—not because he was teething and needed it, but just for the hell of it. 🙂 (Tom was home for Owen’s lunch because I was at the vet’s office with Maggie and Bella.)

He didn’t take pictures of this momentous occasion :>> so I let him have the biscuit again later:

Tom said Owen loved it at lunch (liking it more than his puffs, even!), but for me he just kinda made a half-hearted attempt at it and wanted his puffs instead!

First professional photo shoot!

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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!

Eight months old & First Haircut!

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Eight months! EIGHT! He cannot be that old—he’s our baby! But look at that long hair! We can’t have that…

So we went to get his hair cut!! Partially because it was really too long, partially to fix our shoddy razor job from a while back, and partially because we have a photo session with a professional photographer next week!!!

He did really, REALLY well—even though he slid off the slippery wooden seat a few times and even though he was really squirmy (he LOVES to look at anything going on around/behind him, so getting him to look straight ahead was a bit of a challenge), the stylist never got frustrated and kept talking to him and trying to direct his attention elsewhere. I had imagined being there FOREVER, but we were done in probably 15 minutes!

And here we are back home, with a cute new ‘do! Unfortunately, the bangs are a little crooked, but that was the hardest part to cut with him being wiggly.

Such a little man! He does NOT look like an 8-month old baby!

Weekend with Grandpa and Grandma

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Tom and I went away for a long weekend (the first time I’ve been away from Owen for more than one night!) so my dad and Linda came down to watch Owen. We told them he was a REALLY easy baby, and after the weekend, they wholeheartedly agreed and gave him an A+ report!

He can now clap and make noise (before he just kind of clapped silently) and just does it on his own without our “Clap! Clap! Clap!” prompting. It’s adorable.

He can also now drink from his sippy cup pretty well on his own, although he isn’t quite able to tip it up as far as he sometimes needs to. He also can now eat an entire puff at once—as by the time it gets to his mouth it’s usually pretty wet (he doesn’t quite have the pincer grasp down yet, but it’s getting close).

Dad and Lin were telling us how they took Owen to the park and ended up on the swings next to Lily. In talking with her mom, they found out Lily was 12 months old and almost 20#. The mom, of course, thought Owen was MUCH older than he really was, and was surprised that he wasn’t even eight months yet—but weighed more than her daughter. We have only been guessing what Owen weighs, so Tom finally weighed him and he was 22# (meaning he’s gained about 2.5# in two months). Hoo boy! (Similarly, a mom in my group has an 18-month old that weighs about 20#!) He’s definitely a big boy!

Stomach sleeping!

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Over the past few days, Owen has started flipping over on his stomach in his crib (in the mornings) or the pack-and-play (during naps). He doesn’t much like it and gets really cranky when it happens. What’s ironic is that he already knows how to roll from his stomach -> back but he seems to forget it once he gets there. :))

Last night, though, he flipped over in the time it took for me to put him down, walk to the bedroom to get the monitor, and turn it on! Stinker! So I went back in and flipped him back over. He squirmed around like normal, and somewhere around 7:30-8 he must have flipped again because he heard the noise! At about 8pm, when he just couldn’t get settled, we debated leaving him to cry it out so he learns to fall asleep that way (without our intervention) but he just seemed soooo tired (he is normally asleep by that time, and here he was still flailing about) so Tom eventually went in and flipped him over, and Owen was out about three minutes later. Poor kid.

This morning at 5:30 sharp he was squawking in there so we looked at the monitor and—yep—on his stomach! Tom let him be for a bit, but then got him up so I could sleep. For his first nap, he was on his stomach pretty quick, and I just left him. He finally fell asleep face down—which was definitely freaky to see (and I made sure he was still breathing!)—especially since he had that silly burp cloth under his face!

Of course it doesn’t look comfortable, but I just let him be—going over every little bit to make sure he was still breathing!

Pureed carrots! Sippy cup!

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I made some pureed carrots awhile back and he wanted nothing (NOTHING!) to do with them—and we even tried two separate nights. |-| So I froze them.

Tonight we tried again. And he ate them! YAY! Well, most of them anyway. Then we tried a banana—even less mashed than normal—and he ate some of that. Then since he really hadn’t eaten THAT much (like he normally does) I broke out the dried yogurt that he likes to finish him off. 🙂

He’s so cute. When he doesn’t want something anymore, he purses his lips and you can’t get ANYTHING in there. He also sometimes just shakes/rolls his head back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I swear the first time he did it I thought he was having a seizure. :))

Oh, he also drinks (well, kinda drinks) from a sippy cup! We started it a few days ago and he barely wanted anything to do with it…so in just a few short days, he’s already getting better! He can’t hold it and drink by himself yet, but he can pick it up and stick the handles in his mouth! If you hold it for him, he will drink a little bit. And now he even stops eating to make a fuss and reach for the cup telling you he wants a drink! Of course, some of it dribbles down his face, but for the most part he IS drinking. To make sure, I keep track of how much I put in and how much is gone. It might only be an ounce or so, but it’s a start! YAY OWEN!

More food firsts!

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Today was Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal (Stage 2), Strawberry Banana YoBaby yogurt, “homemade” pureed sweet potatoes, and Sweet Potato Puffs!!! 88|

I know that’s a lot of new things for one day (since you’re only supposed to do one new food every 3-4 days, so you can rule foods out in case there are allergies or rashes, etc.) but he hasn’t had ANY food issues so far, so I chanced it. (Hopefully it won’t come back to bite me in the butt.)

I was really excited that he ate the sweet potatoes—because I made a HUGE batch probably two weeks ago because he looooooves the jarred version…and then he didn’t want anything to do with the ones I made. :crazy: So this time I only prepared one potato and he loved it. YAY! Now it’s back to Kroger to get more! 🙂

The puffs are interesting. Although they are meant to melt in your mouth almost instantly, he will gag if you give him a whole one. But if you break it up into pieces, he will eat them! You might have to push the piece back in his mouth, but he eats it and opens his mouth for more! That said, he’s NOT quite ready for them yet—they are supposed to be using their pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger) and he’s almost there, but not quite.

Real food? Meh.

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And by real food, I mean stuff like REAL sweet potatoes and REAL baby carrots and REAL bananas. Steamed and blended or just mashed.

The verdict? Not so much on anything except the bananas.

He can eat a whole banana in one sitting (plus oatmeal) but he hasn’t been too keen on the carrots or the sweet potato, which is ironic because he LOVES sweet potatoes out of the jar.

We’ve tried different consistencies and he will eat maybe the equivalent of half a jar and then that’s it—he wants something else (he loves the grain/yogurt mixture). We’ve tried the veggies when he’s starving and when he’s just hungry and he just. isn’t. thrilled. So we end up reverting back to the jarred food and Maggie gets a fresh veggie treat (so she’s happy).

It’s frustrating because I really wanted to make his own food (definitely cheaper) but he’s just not having it. So we’ll just keep trying.

For research purposes, we did try the teeny tiniest sliver of banana, which he promptly put in his mouth…then started gagging…so he’s not quite ready for pieces (although he does eat it pretty roughly mashed now, as opposed to the pseudo-soup he required before).

Second Helmet Scan

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Our specialist wanted another head scan to see just how well Owen’s head is doing, so it was back to Livonia and the laser scanner. I didn’t get a picture of it the first time, so here it is:

Something else I didn’t get the first time was the cute little stocking cap Owen has to wear when getting scanned (of course I couldn’t get a good picture). The black dots are stickers pointing towards his ears so they can align the scanned images:

Laying down in the scanner! Of course this is much, much better than the alternative of plaster casting, but it’s still a bit of a challenge because he has to be very still to get a good scan…which means you have to hold his arms (so they don’t fly up and get in the scan) and try to get him to not move. Of course, he would be perfectly still…until the motor started whirring, then he’d twist his head to look at it (which made for a very interesting scan!). I think it took about six tries (scans) this time to get a workable one.

A comparison of the first scan (left, with the cute frowny face!) and the second scan (the bigger head on the right). From the size difference, you can see right away how much his head has grown—and the numbers definitely proved just how much his head had changed shape for the better. Before, the critical measurements were off by centimeters (plural!) and now they’re down to tenths of a centimeter! (If you are looking really closely at the scan and see that the back of his head still looks flat—it isn’t. I asked about it, and it’s “flat” because that’s the tiny spot where his head was laying on the glass.)

After only wearing the helmet for 1.5 months, the specialist is THRILLED with the progress. He is guessing that in a few weeks, if we are all happy with the results, we can go to just wearing the helmet at night!

Go, Owen! Or, should it be: GO, OWEN’S HEAD!? 😀