6 Months

I have totally fallen off the blogging world!!! How do Mothers do baby books these days? I'd love to say that I have everything written down in Owen's baby book, but that is a big fat lie. It's all stored in my head somewhere, so I am going to need to catch up on this blog so I can look back! When I was pregnant, I thought 6 months was a lifetime. I didn't think I'd ever get through it. And here we are…6 months FLYING by. It's insane!! Owen is SO much fun now. I feel like I say that every month, but this month has really shown our little man's true colors! He's SUCH an easy going baby. We keep asking ourselves how and why we got so lucky with such a mellow baby. 

I took Owen in for his 6 month check up and he was great. He was only up to 16% in weight, but jumped to 40% in height and kept up with his big noggin at 78%. Our pediatrician said she was pleased with how much bigger he looked. She did tell us that she was slightly worried at how teeny he was at his 4 month appointment, but was thoroughly pleased with his weight/height gain this time around. I'm glad she didn't tell me she was worried last time, because I would have STRESSED out and lost a lot of sleep over it. Thankfully, Owen is back on track and growing like a weed. He had 3 shots at his appointment and barely cried. He even gave the nurse a big gummy smile right before she stuck him three times. He didn't cry during the first two shots, but by the last one, he was REALLY upset and was screaming as if asking WHY ON EARTH he deserved such pain. It was so sad. The shots never get any easier for me. I break out into a sweat every time I have to wait for the nurse to come in. Owen didn't need to nurse after his shots this time. He just need to be picked up and hugged. He instantly stopped crying! See? Our little man is SO easy going and happy!!

We have entered into full on solid food eating in our house at 6 months. Owen is OBSESSED with eating. He loves anything you give him. We started rice cereal at 5 months and started to try a few different things about a week before his 6 month birthday. I decided to make all of his baby food because in all honesty, the baby food jars kind of gross me out. They don't look appetizing and I just felt like it was healthier for Owen to have me make his food. Not to mention, the cost of making the food is ridiculously cheaper than actually buying all those jars! I've really enjoyed it so far and I definitely think I can keep up with it until he is eating table foods. My Mom had gotten this giant steamer for herself when she stayed with us after Owen's birth and I've been using it to make all of his baby food. Thank goodness it's so huge because I can make huge batches and freeze things, otherwise I'd be making baby food every day! His first non-cereal food was sweet potatoes. He made a face when I first gave it to him and didn't want much to do with it. The second time I gave it to him, he decided he liked it and ate a ridiculous amount. When he finished his bowl, he started to scream, asking for more!! Since then, Owen has eaten green beans, carrots and apples. He LOVES solids. I mean LOVE doesn't even justify his reaction to food in general. He stares down his bowl and will scream when he finishes every meal asking for more. It is HILARIOUS!!

Owen is babbling so much now! He cane eve say DaDa….but of course he has NO clue what he is saying. He has found his vocal cords and screams when he is tired. Not really a cry, just a scream to let us know he's watching us and tired. It's pretty funny! He has almost perfected his sitting position. He is still sitting in a tripod sometimes, but can sit with a boppy pillow unassisted now. He is an EXPERT on spinning on his belly. Sometimes I think he'd rather be on his stomach observing things than sitting. He can spin around on his stomach so fast these days! And if I think about it, he gets to places by spinning and rolling! I am enjoying the fact that he is only spinning and rolling now and not quite fully mobile yet. Owen LOVES his walker. I know that these things aren't really the safest things for babies, but we LOVE it and so does Owen. He can steer himself all over our kitchen and it is the funniest thing to watch. It's also nice to have him hang out with me in the kitchen while I cook. We always keep an eye on him when he's in it so that we don't run into any of the hazards. We finally have a bedtime routine down. Owen goes down to bed by 8-8:30pm and can sleep until 7:30am on good days. We have almost figured out a nap routine, but we aren't pushing it. He is such a good sleeper at night that we don't always feel like we have to figure anything out for naps. It's easy to figure out when he's tired, so we takes those cues and put him down for naps when we see them.

Owen is such a social baby. He has yet to be scared of strangers. I'm sure it will hit overnight down the line, but I enjoy the fact that I can hand him off to a family member or friend and he is still as smiley as ever. He LOVES babies and children. We try to get together with his girlfriend, Ella as much as possible. We were able to do a pool date with her recently and of course Owen tried to steal some kisses. :) It's so cute to see the two of them together. You can really see the gender differences between a girl and a boy with them. Ella is calm, sweet and poised and Owen is overly active and just a mess compared to her. We feel so lucky to have friends that have babies Owen's age!

The last 6 months have been the most tired Tommy and I have ever been, yet being parents is the most rewarding job we have ever had. No matter how exhausted we are, it's so nice to wake up to an adorable face. We can not wait to see what the next 6 months hold for you buddy!!

Five Year Anniversary

Five years, a move across the country and a baby later, here are we are a family of three. It's so crazy how life changes so quickly and yet things just seem to get better every year. I didn't think that was possible on my wedding day! Happy five years to us!

Poor Baby

POOR BABY!!! Owen caught his first cold when he was about 8 weeks old and since then he has seemed to struggle with being sick. When he started day care, he had a CONSTANT runny nose and it only bothered him in the beginning. But then he caught this cough and it literally NEVER WENT AWAY. Strangely, he didn't act any differently having the cough. He played great and ate fine, so I didn't worry about it. I started to notice last week that he didn't really cough during the day at all. Then I realized he was only really coughing when he took long naps and at night. It made me a little worried and it made me listen to him more after I put him down. Then this week he started to cough NON stop at night. It oddly never woke him up, but it was SO bad and it literally sounded like he was gasping for air. It finally got Tommy and I worried enough that I asked Danny to come check him out. Uncle Danny is always helping us! He came to look at Owen and told us that we should probably bring him in to see his pediatrician. Apparently babies who have asthma or allergy issues tend to cough more at night when they are asleep. Though babies don't "technically" get diagnosed with asthma until they are much older. Anyways, it warranted a visit to our pediatrician. Our pediatrician came HIGHLY recommended by Danny and other friends of ours. We are seriously so LUCKY to have Dr. Slowik. After Danny told me to bring him in to see her, I emailed her at 10:30 that night to tell her Owen's situation. She had given me her email address at his 4 month appointment and told me to email her any time I wanted to. I wrote her and said he was only really coughing at night, but was not acting like he felt sick, but just sounded awful. She wrote me back in literally 5 minutes and told me to bring him in to see her the next day. I don't know that we will EVER find a pediatrician that allows you to email them and to have such a rapid response to any concerns you have as a parent!! I felt bad for even emailing her and was only really doing it to see if I was being a worry wart. I took him in for his first sick visit and he weighed in at 15 pounds, 9 ounces! Hooray! We are up 2 pounds from his 4 month appointment. I fully anticipate another full pound on him before his 6 month appointment, so let's hope we double that 13% figure in weight! :) Anyways, that's off topic. Dr. Slowik listened to Owen and checked him out and said his ears looked perfect and he just sounded a bit congested. She wanted to give him a breathing treatment because of my history with asthma and the fact that he has been congested for SO long. Owen was such a trooper with that breathing treatment. It was so sad to see him. He barely cried and just sat there breathing it all in. She listened to him after his breathing treatment and he sounded like his breathing was much less labored. Poor little buddy! We wound up giving him one more breathing treatment before bed tonight and he has yet to cough!! I feel so guilty that I didn't do it sooner, but at least we are on the mend. The good thing is we have the nebulizer in our hands now and we can use it when our little man gets sick and needs a little help. Get better soon buddy!!

Fun with Mom

I started my new work schedule of working Tuesday - Thursday in the office in April. It has been absolutely AMAZING. In just 2 weeks, I was able to FINALLY put Owen on a semi-schedule and really enjoy some quality time with my little man. I have also been able to really feed him on demand and fix the whole "13% in weight" issue for him. I think I've fattened him up in the last few weeks that we should DEFINITELY be at LEAST 20% at his next appointment. Haha. I really want some good baby rolls on him!! He never did have a nap schedule at day care, so since I am home more, I have almost figured it all out. Since he is also napping in his crib, he takes MUCH longer naps now and I am able to get a ton of work done during those naps! It's worked out so well! I love getting to work from home and also being able to get out of the house on other days to have a real job to go to. Owen is so much fun these days and I take him out on my days home to get some fresh air and am able to really have some good one on one time with him. I LOVE it!

Our First Easter

Easter weekend was fantastic!! On Good Friday, we went to my good friend, Michelle's house to dye Easter eggs with her family. Owen spent most of the morning hanging with the "guys" and observing his surroundings. I am so sad I did not get any pictures of Owen spending time with everyone that day. All I got was a picture of him with a sticker I put on his forehead! Bad Mom!! It was fun to share in the Deese family traditions - thank you for inviting us!! We love spending time with you guys!!


The weather that weekend was absolutely amazing. We've had kind of a weird winter this year in that it wasn't very cold. In fact, I can count on one hand how many times I had to scrape ice off my car. It normally is a daily habit of mine in the winter, but it just never happened this year. We fully expected to have NO spring since our winter was so warm, but it has been beautiful for the past few weeks. On Saturday, I wanted to get Owen out of the house so we could let Tommy study, so we picked Camilla and Owen up to see some Easter festivities. The babies met the Easter bunny. They gave the Easter bunny some side glances, but overall seemed unimpressed. Next year kids…next year. 

On Sunday, we went to Easter Mass and dressed Owen up in his best outfit. It is a gift from a sweet co-worker of mine and he looked so handsome in it. He was so well behaved at Mass (he actually is always well behaved at Mass, come to think of it) and the couple sitting next to us got a ton of flirty smiles. After church, we came home and hosted a brunch at our house. Danny, Jenn, Jeff, Meg, Camilla and Ella all came over to eat a delicious brunch with us. It was so fun to have everyone at our house and just relax and play with the babies. I love that we live near our family and have made friends that we consider family.

Here are some pictures of Owen's first Easter!

Owen's BFF & Girlfriend, Ella

As of April 1, Owen is out of full-time day care. I was trying to find a way so I didn't have to use the day care at all and it turned out that my good friend, Camilla was willing to watch him. Camilla and I shared our pregnancy journeys together. It was SO amazing to have a good friend understand everything I was going through and to be able to ask each other questions. I will always think fondly of our time together as pregnant mommies. ]Anyhow, Camilla gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Ella. Ella and Owen are a week apart. In fact, I went into labor the day Ella was due. I think Owen knew he'd want to be the older one in the relationship, so he demanded to come out earlier than Ella. :) We decided to let Owen stay with Camilla because we knew she'd love him just like her own and also because Owen LOVES babies. I was actually really sad to pull him from his day care because he LOVED playing with other babies. But NOW…he gets his very own playmate ALL to himself!! It is SO FREAKING cute watching them play with each other. They talk and grab at each other - I see a TON of funny play dates in our future!! Owen is definitely a little handsy…we'll have to work on that. :) Here are pictures of their few days together during my first week of part time work!