Kyle's weekend on the AT (and an Owen update of course)

Some day Kyle won't work so much and he'll have time to tell you himself about his adventures; but for the time being, you either hear it from me or not at all.

Kyle is trying to conquer his list of things he wants to do while we're still in NC (mostly hikes). So, this past weekend he and our friend Phil went and did a stretch of the AT between Max Patch and Hot Springs. They were gone 2 nights an did approx 21 miles. They stayed in 2 different shelters--1 night w/ 4 other people (very cramped) and the 2nd night by themselves (unless you consider the world's largest spider a 3rd person--in which case it was also very cramped). They had a good time, but I think Kyle was a little disappointed in the views--great if you could catch them but it was so wooded that it was hard to see beyond the trees--literally. They finished the trip with a manly dip in the "healing waters" of some hot springs. Manly. Healing. Nice.



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Now on to Owen-things (why you're really here, we know). Not much new to report. The mamamamas and dadadadas are quite frequent, as is a new lip smacking thing he's doing. He's getting more adventurous (or perhaps we are) w/ big people food. Granted, more ends up around him than in him, but he's trying his hand at little tiny pieces of real things--chicken, cheese, green beans. It's pretty funny. And I have to say that whoever invented PUFFS--those little "graduate" cereals that dissolve, was a GENIUS! We loooove Puffs! Oh, and I think I've given up on real kid toys. Owen is happiest with anything "new" we just randomly hand him--a whisk, a coaster, a clean sock, a new loofa. Except for "cold fishy" and "ducky" which I think will always bring him joy. :)

That's about it. Here we are w/ our little friend Cooper. He and his mom Christal came over for a picnic last week. One of two playdates we thoroughly enjoyed (especially me)!

Nana's Visit

Prior to my visit to Winston-Salem, Kyle had asked me "What do you want to do while you're here?" The immediate answer was "Play with Owen, that's all." And play with Owen I have done. Naturally I think Owen is the cutest grandson in the whole world, and my 5 days spent with him have been most glorious and gratifying. His sweet little sounds and his constant babbling have been music to my ears. While I was here he began to repeatedly say "Ma ma ma ma," which was music to Ali's ears. Finally on Father's Day I heard him say "Da da da," which was music to Kyle's ears. Then followed a contest between Ali & Kyle to see which name they could get Owen to say. As Ali coaxed with "Ma ma ma ma," and Kyle responded with "Da da da da," Owen's independent (rebellious) reply was "Bla bla bla bla bla," just to show his parents who was in charge.


We continued the boot camp regime that Bee had started, and we are seeing definite progress. I predict that in a few weeks Kyle & Ali will be asking themselves, "Why were we encouraging Owen to crawl? It was so easy when he stayed in one place."


The first day I mastered all of Owen's toys. We had fun time playing together on the floor. He loves the musical interactive toys, and so did I. Then I mastered Owen's car seat, how to buckle, unbuckle, and tighten: a far cry from the plastic infant seats that we all had back in the 70's.


One special time was when Owen and I laid outside on a blanket and listened to the sounds of nature. We lay on our backs looking up at the leaves, feeling the breeze on our faces, and listening to the sounds of the birds. When Owen is awake his arms or legs or both are in motion, but this time he got very quiet and still for a long time and I really thought he was going to fall asleep. We practiced being quiet, soaking in the beauty of God's creation. It was a special time.

From time to time as we played and snuggled, various little nicknames would pop into my mind and I found myself calling him everything from teddy bear to watermelon, monkey, and Humpty Dumpty. Owen is certainly an easy baby now. I enjoyed feeding him a variety of fruits and veggies in addition to his favorite cereal. Fun times included a trip to the park so I could see Owen swing, and throwing him into his little swimming pool fully clothed -- after all, it was close to bath time. I tried to convince Ali that the swimming pool adventure would substitute for a bath, but they opted for the nightly bath anyway. Good choice, as Owen loves his bath now and is into a great nighttime routine.

Yes, Owen is a joy, both to his parents and his grandparents and all who are blessed to be with him. He is so good natured and such an easy baby now it's hard to believe how challenging he was those first 6 weeks of his life. His parents are doing a fantastic job, and you need no other source of entertainment than Owen when you come to Winston-Salem.


Thanks to Owen, Ali & Kyle for a wonderful visit. Love you all.

Nana

Operation Mobile Baby (Bee's Report)

Drill Sargent Bee here. Upon my arrival at Camp Mezger, I realized I had been entrusted with a very secret and dangerous mission: intensive crawling training for an Infantry of one special soldier: Private Owen Timothy Mezger. The operation was not without its obstacles. Private Mezger is NOT a Tummy Man. Second, the personal training program must be designed to compensate for the awkward location of private Mezger's center of gravity:and girth. Undaunted, I designed and implemented a training program that included the sometimes risky "Buttocks Lift". The BL was immediately followed by the full body "Rocking Maneuver" and the controversial, yet requisite "Tush Push". Private Mezger met the tasks with guarded enthusiasm. He endured minutes of the regime three, sometimes four times per day. What he lacked in agility, he made up with shear determination and true grit. I am pleased to report that Private Mezger surpassed this drill Sargent's expectations. He has been promoted to Private First Class Mezger. While the training must continue, I am confident that Operation Mobile Baby will be complete within two -three weeks and Private Mezger will be well on his way to becoming a Baby Foot Soldier.

Alison and Kyle thought it would be fun for someone else to share thoughts and observations about Owen. I'm afraid that my comments will be no less biased than those of his parents. I am totally enanmored with him. He is just as cute, sweet, clever, and sometimes ornery as they describe. He continues to change quickly. I was surprised at how much he had changed since his visit to Texas in April. Physcially, he seems to look more like a little boy and less like a baby. His hair is growing and it reminds me of Alison's baby hair, only a little darker. The most noticeable change to me is in his demeanor. He is rarely fussy. He has become rather laid-back and easy going. He is completely happy entertaining himself and is much more patient when he has to wait a few minutes for whatever it is he wants at the time. Owen still loves to study everthing. Alison will tell you below that he is a "scholar". I agree. Owen is definately becoming his own person. I love my Owen. ~Bee

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Alison here. Bee is back in TX and I wanted to share a few more things about her trip. Here is she buying Owen an "I love you Grandma" balloon at the grocery store. Nice. He loves it. It makes a crinkly sound.

A few other observations Bee made while she was here: Owen twirls/wiggles his hands (wrists) and feet (at ankles) almost constantly. She incorporated this into his "training" by trying to teach him to wave bye bye. He's not quite there yet (no surprise here)! He also has his arms out (like a T) almost all the time, but he's started to raise them further up when he wants to be picked up. It's baby communication! I love it.

The scholar comment she made...here is the story. Her last night we went to Mellow Mushroom for pizza and this really nice younger guy came up to us as he was leaving and told us that he has a 2 year old son and is a teacher (establishing his authority) and he believes our son to be quite the "scholar". He did that thing where you point at your eyes and then someone elses with your pointer and middle fingers in a V and said "he (Owen) knows, yep, he knows"... It was really funny!

Oh, and it shouldn't go w/out saying that Alex (my brother) was here for about 24 hours right before my mom came. He flew up to drive "the Legend" back to TX--it made it and crossed 200K miles in the process! Here he is w/ him (look at how he holds Owen's spoon)!? Owen had a blow-out and Alex said "I'm glad I'm just the Fun Uncle". So true.

Off to play w/ the little/big guy and Nana...it's the month of family! :)

(Almost) 8 Months Old

Just some fun pictures to go along w/ my Owen update.

Here he is as my date (Kyle was there too) to Matt and Melanie's wedding in Nashvegas. It was great to hang out with and introduce him to old friends. We walked through campus, ate at some of our favorite joints, went to my favorite church, and even got the little guy a Vandy t-shirt (which is already stained w/ mashed carrots...Yum). We had a great weekend!

Here he is hamming it up in the backyard. He's a totally independent sitter these days. And yes, he's huge (we weighed him ourselves yesterday and he came in at 22 pounds)!
Scream squeal squeal! (His mouth goes crooked and his tongue twists around when he's really excited--it's hysterical.) His favorite new words: RaRaWaRaWaRa, Nine Nine Nine (number or german for No?), Edna Edna Edna, and the favorite: HuBBBBBB BBBBBBBB. Keeps those arms out, scream, squeal!I just missed the smile. He really does like the swing (at our park just up the street).
Look at that belly!
Other developments: He's definitely not crawling yet (or rolling in any additional directions) but he has started leaning forward over his legs to try to get to toys/anything of interest (a hairball yesterday-gross) and eventually toppling over and faceplanting. If he didn't bonk his head too hard, he'll stay on his tummy for a moment and "swim" (belly firmly anchored on the floor, arms and legs waving). If he would just elevate the belly he would be crawling!

He's also started to figure out he has hair! It's so cute. He sort of slaps his hand up on his head and plays with his hair. He does it a lot when he's sleepy or nursing. It's really cute.

And of course...eating like a champ. Three solid meals a day--what a big boy!

And (maybe I've already shared this) he's taking 2 solid naps a day. Woohoo!!!

My brother (Uncle Alex) comes tomorrow for a quick visit. Immediately followed by my mom Saturday. Immediatley followed by Kyle's mom Wednesday. And when I say immediately I mean immediately. I'm sure we'll have pictures/stories to post then! :)

Playtime at the beach (more pictures)

Bailey has started "army crawling" and we found her a couple times right up under Owen's feet! She's determined to get to where she wants and no exercauser in the way is going to stop her!

Emmy in her mommy's hat--doesn't get much cuter than this.
Bailey w/ Melissa catching some rays.
There were a few afternoons where the wind was pretty harsh down on the sand so we stayed up on our deck. The kiddos didn't seem to mind at all.
We have approximately 400 shots of the three of them on the futon. At first Owen was in the middle (flanked on either side by his girls) but Bailey kept trying to crawl away so we had to put her in the middle. What we don't have a picture of (and it would be priceless) is the show the parents and other bystanders were putting on in a hysterical attempt to elicit smiles. It worked for all three babies but almost never at the same time.
I could post so many more...Phil up w/ Owen (and Kyle) at what seemed like the break of dawn while the rest of us slept in (or tried)...Luke flying a kite and building a sandcastle w/ funny little minarets on top that looked like turds; Luke reading a book...Endless cooking fun!..Bocce ball...Cary wearing Owen's hat and sunglasses (yes, her head is that small). What a great week!

Beach Photos (at last!)

Okay, so all of these photos are of Owen (aka "Shark Bait"). But I'll post other ones next (most of which will be of Owen and his cousin Bailey and his "girlfriend" Emmy). Sorry--it's what we take pictures of now!

Kyle w/ Owen out in the waves.

Owen chilling in some dune grass.
Owen eating some sand. Yummy! (He pretty much had a sand goatie whenever we were on the beach.)
Kyle showing Owen something. Probably the sand, which he just ate some of.
Owen (you can see the sand goatie if you look closely) and me. He doesn't look very happy but I'm looking pretty pleased with something!?