10 Months

DOUBLE DIGITS! How did we get here?? Time flies by when you are having fun! This month Owen  became very vocal! This kid can babble!! He just has his own little language and can talk up a storm. He ALWAYS wakes up babbling and sometimes we leave him in there a little longer than necessary just to hear him talk on the monitor! At 10 months Owen eats like there is no tomorrow. He can eat up to 10 ice cubes of baby food for a single meal!! I still make all of his baby food fresh and he still inhales all of it. We tried chicken and pork this month and he didn't seem to mind any of it as long as it was mixed with his usual food. He did have a hiccup with the virus he got in Houston and went on a food strike for about a week. During that week, he lived off of yogurt and Cheerios. It would have worried me a few months ago, but Owen is SOLID now. He used to be on the smaller side for babies his age, but he is now 100% chub/muscle. I feel like he is gaining a pound a day! 

Owen still has NO TEETH. I feel like they are coming, but there are no real signs of it. No drool. No crankiness. Nothing. Will he be 1 before he cuts a tooth?? He also still does not know how to sit up on his own. He will stay in a seated position if I put him there, but he won't get to that position by himself. I guess since he only army crawls, he hasn't quite figured out how to use his knees. I was worried about it even though the pediatrician told me NOT to worry about it. She said that some kids never learn to sit up on their own until they walk. But of course, I worried. I went and bought this activity table for him and he really wanted to play with it, but felt no need to pull up on it. Instead, he laid on his stomach and just reached up. Sneaky boy! I put him up on his knees to look at it and he just didn't seem to really enjoy it. Oh well! Owen has figured out exactly where he wants to be and what position he wants to be in. Some times I will hold him up to try to get him to stand up and he will hold his legs up so they don't touch the ground. It makes me laugh so hard! Such a personality!

This month, I cut Owen back to only 3 nursing sessions and bottles of formula for the rest. Once in the morning, once after I come home from work and then at night. His pediatrician said I could keep the morning and evening nursing sessions for bonding time for awhile. I do enjoy those and it is "our" time to spend with each other. I was never sure what to expect with breast feeding, but I have really enjoyed it. It was never very hard for me and I didn't have any complications. After I got over the disappointment that I couldn't keep up with Owen's intake, I was really happy with how far I had come.

Owen is super active now and loves to play on the floor. Our living room has become his play room and has toys strewn everywhere. He's very inquisitive and tries to get into everything he isn't supposed to get into. We definitely have to keep our eyes on him ALL the time. He also LOVES watching videos on the iPad. Most mornings after I nurse him, I will show him a video while I get ready for work. So he has learned to expect the iPad videos after he is finished nursing. He will literally look around for it. Shame on Mom! He LOVES books. His favorite is the Very Hungry Caterpillar. He loves the pages where you can see the things eaten through. He actually waits for those pages and when those end, he usually crawls away uninterested. Haha! He will sit very still for a long time reading all of his books though!

Owen is OBSESSED with balls. He is ALL boy. Footballs, basketballs, baseballs…anything you show him…he WANTS. In fact, our 10 month photo shoot was so successful because I bought a 99 cent plastic ball at Walmart before we took them. He was hyperventilating and laughing the whole time we held it up! It's TOO CUTE!!

He is still in 3 diapers and wearing 9-12 month clothes, but pushing the limits on that size. He's had a huge growth spurt and is super tall! I'm trying to hold out from buying any more summer clothes since it will be cold soon. So needless to say, our collection of outfits that fit these days are interesting. He is sleeping 7:30-7:30 every night and taking two naps ranging from an hour and a half to two and a half hours. He is a consistent sleeper and does wonderfully. He is also NOT a morning person. He typically wants to go down for his nap an hour or two after he wakes up from a 12-13 hour night! His second nap of the day is almost always 3 hours after he wakes up from his first nap. His schedule is so easy to figure out and we love it!!!

Owen, I love you so much. You are the sunshine in my life and you make me want to be the best Mom I can ever be. Thank you for being a dream baby and never giving me a hard time. I am so looking forward to the next few months and years with you and watching you grow and learn new things. You love to smile and I can't ask for more.  

Vacation Bust

From August 18 - 25, Owen and I went to Houston to visit my parents. What I had envisioned being a relaxing week of free babysitting plus visiting friends turned out to be a pretty big bust. I was traveling alone for the first time and SUPER nervous about it. Owen did relatively well, but juggling all the things you need to travel with an infant make traveling hard no matter how many extra hands you have.  I stupidly bought a cheap flight on American Airlines that stopped in Dallas. I will NEVER EVER fly American Airlines ever again. Frankly, I have rarely heard people ever getting to a place on time when flying that airline. Supposedly the plane flying us to Houston had a blown tire they had to replace. The idiots decided to half board our plane. Owen and I boarded and sat on that plane for AN HOUR AND A HALF. WHY board passengers on a stuffy plane without AC running when you knew a tire was being changed?? While this delay was happening, Houston was brewing a gigantic thunderstorm. So by the time we were in the air, the Houston weather got increasingly worse and we couldn't land. The pilot made the decision to reroute to Austin so they could refuel the plane. I was about to have a nervous breakdown at this point. We had plans to meet up for dinner with Tommy's family and I was so mad at not being able to get in on time. Once we landed in Austin, they opted to allow people to get off because they told us they had no idea when we'd get to go to Houston. I wish I could have gotten off that plane and driven to Houston because it felt like we were never going to get to there! LUCKILY, I had downloaded a TON of Baby Einstein videos on my iPad and Owen was as content as ever watching them while we were sitting on the ground waiting to take off to get to Houston. What was supposed to be 4 hours of travel time turned into 7.5 hours. Needless to say we were EXHAUSTED when we made it. Owen was such a sport and didn't complain at all. 

Grandma Becky, Carolyn, Victor and AJ came down from Dallas for the weekend to see Owen. We were so excited to see everyone! It was sad that we missed dinner with them the night before but we tried to make up for it the next day. Owen decided to not take an afternoon nap and show everyone his perfected army crawl. It was SO nice to see everyone and let the babies play together.

Unfortunately a day after the family left town, the recycled air that we inhaled on the plane for almost 8 hours did not sit well. Owen woke up on our second day in Houston with a pretty high fever. He continued to have the fever for almost 4 days. At one point we got really worried and had Danny (thank goodness for pediatricians in the family!) take a look at him to make sure it wasn't an ear infection. On top the fever, he had horrible congestion and was just plain miserable. He didn't want to eat and just wanted to nurse. It was so pitiful. I was actually trying to wean him off nursing all together except morning and afternoon, but when he developed this awful virus, I decided to put off that plan for another week. 

Because of his awful virus, we stayed in for most of the week and enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's house and pets. We wanted to visit a lot more friends and get out more, but it still was nice to visit my parents for a few days. Thank you for spoiling Owen and taking such good care of him!!

PS: Our flight home was REALLY early in the morning and Owen slept the ENTIRE way home. Check out the very last picture. SUCH a GOOD traveler!! 

Owen's First Nanny

Owen's first nanny ever is Taylor. Taylor is actually one of my coworker's daughter. She goes to school at UNC and was at home for the summer. Right when I was going part time at work, I was trying to figure out where I would find someone to watch Owen. I really wanted someone who could come to our house and play with him. Right when I was about to give up, Taylor's Mom told me about her and I was SOOOOO excited. Needless to say, Owen was in heaven this summer. Taylor took Owen for walks, sang songs for him and even took him to the mall a few times. We could not have asked for more in a nanny and we were so blessed to have her as long as we did this summer. Owen absolutely ADORED Taylor. Every day when she would show up at our house, Owen would greet her with the biggest smile. It really never gets old watching your baby's eyes light up because you just know they absolutely love someone. Thank you Taylor for your time this summer and most of all for your unconditional love for our beloved baby. It will not be the same not having you with us, but we will definitely see you soon! 

Owen's 9 Month Well Check

On August 10, we went for Owen's 9 month well check. I don't seem to ever know what happens at each of his well check appointments, so I woke up that morning really anxious thinking he would have shots. LUCKILY, he didn't have to get them! He was given this ridiculous gown to wait for the doctor and it made me laugh. I guess it's to keep a baby warm, but it just made me want to take lots of pictures because it looked so silly. Owen didn't seem to mind. :)

Prior to this appointment, I was REALLY eager to find out how Owen was doing in weight. I can barely hold him for very long these days and he is seemingly growing out of ALL his summer clothes. Turns out, our little man had a HUGE growth spurt! He was 28.5 inches (42%) and 19.5 pounds (40%). It was a HUGE jump in height and weight!! I couldn't believe it. I can't remember exactly what his head measured at, but it was in the 90% percentile. So I'm thinking a large majority of all that baby food he is eating is going to that large noggin of his. :)

At the appointment, Dr. Slowik said he was one of the cutest babies on her list and that he is doing amazingly well. She saw nothing abnormal about our little man and gave us the clear to give him any kinds of food except cow's milk. She told us to let him try anything we love to eat so that he would have a similar palette to ours. I was excited to hear this because it seems like I'm making baby food for this food monster ALL the time. It would be nice to just give him parts of our dinner we were eating. I know that will take time, but it's good to know he can have anything we are eating! Get ready buddy, you are in for some fine cuisine! :)

9 Months!

Another month passes and I can’t quite figure out how the weeks get away from us. It is unbelievable that Owen is as many months old as I was pregnant. Let’s just say pregnancy did NOT fly by like the way things are going now! Owen does not feel like a baby anymore. 

Thanks to our nanny, Taylor, we are able to keep Owen on a really good schedule and he takes two solid naps a day. On good days, he can take up to a 3 hour nap and another 1-1.5 hour nap. On other days, the little stinker barely takes an hour nap for each one and is a handful for me the rest of the day. He definitely doesn’t handle being tired well – he gets that from his Mama! He is still sleeping beautifully through the night. He goes down at 7 and wakes up talking to himself between 6:30 and 7. On the weekends, we sometimes let him just play and talk to himself well past 7 and he doesn’t mind it the least bit. We are so blessed to have a baby that is happy when he wakes up!

Owen eats like a beast. He is eating 5.5-6 ounces of my homemade baby food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also nurses in the morning when he wakes up, a bottle after his first nap and second nap, nurses when I get home and nurses before he goes to bed. He is definitely gaining weight and I’m beginning to realize that I probably wasn’t producing enough milk for him in the beginning, hence his low percentage in weight. I am eager to find out what he is on the scales at his 9 month appointment! Owen has a few things he has decided he dislikes these days. He does NOT like bananas. It’s very rare that he turns away any kind of table food we offer him, but if we put a banana near his nose, he will back up or get angry you are even trying to put that vile piece of food into his mouth! I am probably to blame for his hatred of bananas. I haven’t liked them for as long as I remember. I guess the bananas will just be for Tommy in our house! Owen loves fruit and veggies and we’ve explored cauliflower, broccoli and plums this month. He devours anything you give him and has no issues digesting any of it. In fact, he probably digests things a little too well for my tastes. Haha.

Owen is still only army crawling. He is REALLY efficient at it and has shown no signs of getting up on his knees at all. Since he is only army crawling, he hasn’t mastered sitting up or pulling up yet. I’ve seen other babies younger than him doing these things and I keep wondering if Owen is behind, but then I’m also thankful we aren’t dealing with that kind of mobility yet. We still haven’t dropped his crib down to the lowest level yet and I don’t have to worry about him scaling our coffee table. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Owen is a smart little buddy. He knows behind every door is a door stopper and for some reason, EVER BABY is obsessed with these things. He will see a door and go looking for a door stopper. It's pretty funny to watch his inquisitive face and KNOW what he is thinking as he beelines it to a door. He also LOVES music. He can oddly keep a beat going with his arm when he hears music. I think our little buddy is going to be really into the arts when he gets older! I am going to be bringing him to a music class this weekend at a local Gymboree. If he likes it, I plan on signing him up for more!

Owen has yet to really cross over to the "stranger danger" stage. I can still hand him over to anyone and he is typically happy as a clam. The only time he gets a little scared is if there is a large crowd staring at him. I think he gets nervous with so many new faces. I try to bring him out and about so that he's not too much of a mama's boy. My Mom always told me to try to get him used to not being held or spoiled because it would make my job as a parent harder if he was like that. So far that pep talk from her has worked. EXCEPT,  he has learned how to get my attention in the most insane way. When he is upset or wants to be held, he will LITERALLY hold his hands up in the air and say "mama." Talk about pulling on some heart strings. I don't think I could pick him up any quicker the second he does that!! Speaking of talking, Owen still babbles a lot, but can repeat mama, dada, and baba!


Owen can give kisses on command and give high fives. He definitely has to be in the mood to play though. He can be temperamental. :) He is still in size 3 diapers and wears 9 or 12 month clothes. He has chunked up more in this month than any other month in my opinion. I always read that babies typically just get chunky between the 6-12 month period (which is why a lot of retailers just group their clothes 6-12 months). I think that Owen has gotten a lot LONGER and chunked up. He can barely fit into any of his footie pajamas these days and his little belly sticks out of tshirts now. It's quite the stylish look!


Owen has stopped taking a pacifier these days. He was falling asleep while nursing up until this past month and I could always slip a pacifier into his mouth if he fell asleep and he wouldn't miss a beat. He now knows the difference and refuses to take one. It is kind of nice to not have to deal with having to wean him from them, so I'm okay with the extra work it may take to soothe him!


We still have NO teeth. We see the buds on his bottom gums, but no pearly whites have appeared. He had a pretty high fever this past month of 102, but it only lasted two days. He never seemed like he was feeling sick and ate perfectly fine. He wasn't as active those two days, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. We chalked it up to a mini virus that apparently didn't really phase him. I can tell he is teething pretty badly since he puts everything in his mouth and his hand also stays there most of the day. He has started to tug on his bottom gums a lot and can be unusually fussy at times. We are anxiously awaiting that first pearly white though!


We had to give away Milly a little over a month ago because we found out I was highly allergic to cats.  We found a really sweet family to give away to and it sounds like she has adjusted really well. I was really devastated to have to give her away, but my asthma and allergies had gotten increasingly worse over the years and my allergist told me I had to do something or I would never feel better. I also was starting to worry that Owen might be allergic to her as well. Since she left our home, we haven't had to give Owen a breathing treatment at all. I am grateful we found the root of the problem, but also very sad we had to give up a pet I have had for 8 years. I know she is much happier now that she can roam in her new home, but we will miss her dearly. 

You keep us on our toes and in a constant state of exhaustion, but we wouldn't change it for anything. We are 3 months away from your 1 year birthday and I better start planning a big party for you! There are a lot of people who love you and can't wait to celebrate your first year. We love you so much!!