Welcome Nathan Charles and Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought this day would never come--Christal and Phil (Murray) FINALLY had their baby! And it's a BOY! Nathan Charles was born early Wednesday morning after an arduous 24+ hours of labor (you go Christal)! I was so excited waiting at the hospital w/ her family that I could hardly stand it!

We actually got to have two Thanksgiving dinners with different friends, which just reminds us of how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends here in NC. Here I am with little Nathan at our joint Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. What a cutie! Makes me fondly remember when Owen was all balled up and snuggly too! But it also makes me remember the sleepless nights...


Kyle has had a great schedule recently--lots of "home call" where he only has to go in if he's called, and he has the day off after, so it's been great. He's gotten to play w/ Owen a lot. He's been encouraging Owen's new recognition of (and love for?) dogs by taking him to visit our neighbor's dog (over the fence). He can now definitely answer the question "what does a dog say" with a breathy "boof boof". We tried to teach him cow/moo, but since we don't see many (any) cows, that one hasn't stuck. He was fascinated by Christal and Phil's cats at Thanksgiving dinner, so we're thinking "meow" might be possible, but we'll see. What would really be nice is if he could finally associate and say "Mama" and "Dada" actually referring to us. Right now, we're "dat dat" just like everything else, and we mean EVERYTHING! The pointing helps.

Here's Owen at the park w/ Dada.

Here's Owen in the stroller (on the way to the park) w/ Dada.

Here's Owen trying to feed himself. We have decided that Owen is good at "the delivery" (meaning, he can get the spoon to his mouth), but is bad at "the unloading" (meaning, he just sort of chomps down on the spoon and we have to help him get the food off the spoon and the spoon out of his mouth. Same with brushing his teeth...

If any of you have suggestions on 1) how to keep him from pooping in the bathtub, or 2) how to keep him from waking up at 5:10am, we would greatly appreciate it.

Other updates: his walking is almost a run and he likes to play chase w/ Dada, also he has 7 teeth now. We think that's about it.

Toodles until next time. :)

Tagged

Melissa http://themezgerfamily.blogspot.com/ (my sister-in-law) "tagged" me, so here we go. (Not sure how random or weird these are--you decide.)

1) I strongly dislike being in the bathroom with someone when they brush their teeth--the noise makes the hair on my arms stand up and just generally creeps me out. I guess that's one reason to be glad Owen just sucks on his toothbrush.

2) I think I was a spy in a "former life"...its' the only thing that can explain my minor obsession with all things espionage and conspiracy related.

3) I was so bored and lonely one weekend during my study-abroad in college that I saw the same movie at the theatre three times between Fri-Sun. I was embarrassed so I told my host family I had plans with friends. (The movie was Spy Game--go figure.)

4) I had a variety of weird interests growing up: newts, karate, and woodshop to name a few. I also started playing the piano at a really young age, but I used to pretend to fall asleep on the way to lessons so I wouldn't have to go. In high school my mom finally let me quit but told me I would regret it (as she had) and she was right. I don't regret giving up newts, karate or woodshop. Okay, maybe woodshop a little.

5) I vacillate between having the travel bug and the baby bug. They're hard to have at the same time which is a real bummer for both Kyle and I.

6) Like Katie's http://fosheafam.blogspot.com/ love for Wilderness Ranch, Camp Buckner will always be one of my favorite places on earth. The people and the place were so formative in my spiritual walk (and for Kyle and many of our dearest friends/family). Also, I have never ever ever had so much fun in my entire life...sort of my version of the "good old years," although college wasn't bad either! In some ways, I think heaven will be a little like camp--worship and fellowship--and hopefully chow-hall raids. Oooooweeeeeee!

7) I couldn't think of a 7th and Kyle just pointed out that I have a tattoo. I often forget. It's a tiny fish or "icthus" above my inner right ankle. Got it the summer before I started college and showed it to my mom the day she dropped me off. Yikes. I don't regret it, but Kyle says I'm going to have to be the one to tell our kids no tattoos...Great.

8) Bonus: There is no such thing as leftover pizza in our house because I will eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner until it's gone. Thanks Mom.

Oh, I tag: Cary, Jessica, Christal, Kristy (someone is going to have to tell me how to do the link thing where only their name shows up). Not 7, but that's what the bonus fact about me was for.

For Bee who misses Owen

Hey Mom, this is all I have by way of new pictures/videos...hope it helps.

Owen w/ Lauren at the mall playground (yes, we were that desperate).

He had a blast and is pretty much a walking-only kiddo now. Crazy.

Here he is raking the leaves. What a good little helper.

Other things I keep meaning to mention:

1) He LOVES brushing his teeth (the baby toothpaste tastes good and he just wants to suck on the toothbrush, but we manage to get a few scrubs in).

2) He likes to walk around w/ his sippy cup which makes both walking and sipping more difficult, but to each his own.

3) He has learned how to "give mommy/daddy kisses"...He responds to this request by bringing his face towards yours with his mouth wide open. We've learned it's best to just have yours open as well and touch lips, because if you make a kissy face, he sort of eats you. Gross.

Weekend with Nana

Kyle's mom Franny (aka Nana) was with us this weekend and we had so much fun. Kyle actually had a 3 day weekend so we had lots of time for playing with the little guy, raking leaves, and a few other little projects. Unfortunately, most of pics with Nana in them were taken on Nana's camera, so you're going to have to settle for just Owen.

Here he is playing one of our big piles of leaves. We'll definitely miss fall and the true change of seasons when we leave NC, but we won't miss raking the leaves!

There is a drawer in a little desk in Owen's "play room" that he loves to stand on his tip-toes and open because he knows he'll find an old pair of my glasses (hidden there for him b/c he likes to find them). Nana actually got him to put them on! He looks so much like Kyle to me now!

After Nana left we had some fun with David and Lauren (we miss them when we go more than a day or two without playing)! Here they are all looking outside because David heard the leaf truck (giant truck with giant vacuum that comes to suck up the leaf piles we rake to the street).

Okay, but here's the best part. Over the long weekend that Nana was here, it was AMAZING to see the progress Owen was making walking. Each day he gets more steady, able to take more steps, and is doing less and less crawling. He's figured out how to stand up without pulling up on something, and can even get to standing by sitting on the little step-down in our kitchen. This video is from a few days ago, and he's even more steady now. Even though all healthy children learn to walk, and even though there is nothing particularly impressive about learning to walk at 13 months (meaning, it's not early or anything), it is soooooooooo amazing to see your child start to do these types of things. You can actually SEE their little bodies and minds developing, figuring things out, trying new ways, learning, getting stronger. What a blessing to witness!



Oh, I think his record for steps is now 24.

Nine.

That's how many steps Owen took for Kyle today at Gymboree!!! It's probably not official walking since it's only here and there, but it's definitely a start!

Early Halloween w/ the Ketches

Happy (early) Halloween! Our friends/neighbors the Ketches are going to be out of town tonight, so we had some Halloween fun a little early. Day before yesterday we took the three kiddos to a pumpkin patch. Although a little sparce this late in the month, they still had fun running/crawling around. Owen found some just his size.

Then last night we decided to do some early reverse trick-or-treating where we took pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that David helped me make (while Owen destroyed things in the kitchen) to some of our other neighbors--they all enjoyed seeing the kids dressed up. David was a doctor (his scrubs say his name and he carried a toy stethescope), Owen was a lion (actually David's costume from last year) and sweet little Lauren was a baby polar bear. Here they are on their porch (Owen is waving). David kept saying, "Let's go to Halloween!" as if it were a place. His mom kept saying, "David--this IS Halloween!".

This little lion can't growl, but he can wave (at everything!) and point to everything and say "dat"--which is either his name for it, or (maybe?) he's asking us what it is???

We're going to enjoy a nice long weekend--Kyle is post call today and has the weekend off! So, yea for us and Happy Halloween to you!

Baby Book

If you haven't figured this out by now, this blog is pretty much our baby book for Owen; so, forgive me if there's detail that you don't care about (you can understand how as a parent I want to remember as much of his little life as possible), and forgive me if I repeat myself...

Here is what Owen is up to these days:

1) pointing at everything (usually things he wants?), and exploring with his pointer finger (instead of primarily using his mouth)--we appreciate this development (us LOVES touch/feel books and actually seems to know what to look for--he says "dat dat dat" for everything.

2) squealing and kicking wildly (if I'm holding him) when I open the front or back door meaning we're going outside--conversely, he gets very upset when I close the door especially if we just stepped outside to get the mail or something quick. the funny thing about going outside is that for the most part when we get out there he turns into "stoic Owen" as if he's not even enjoying it

3) he's got his 4th tooth (that makes for 3 on the top)--little weirdo!

4) has figured out that standing on tiptoes makes it easier for him to get into things he shouldn't...he's found a couple of drawers in our office and my bedside table that he is particularly fond of.

5) kyle noticed the other night and he's right--Owen pretty much is always making sounds--except when we're outside--it's constant alien gibberish with the occasional ba, ma, da, oh, ah, etc...he "says" things when he points, and it really does feel like he's trying to communicate with us which is so exciting even though it doesn't mean anything yet! He does make a sound like "yeah" a lot so it sounds like he's answering questions, but we've tested it and he's not. :(

6) he's learned to turn light switches on and off (up is harder)...this goes hand in hand w/ his fascination with buttons of all sorts--the computer keyboard (which he can reach on his tip-toes), the TV (on-off-on-off), my phone--if he hasn't accidentally called you yet, just wait your turn...

7) he's sort of "learned" how to cuddle--this is probably my favorite development--before nap times and bedtime he'll actually lay his head down on my shoulder and just hang out with his little arm around my neck. it is soooo sweet I wish I could bottle it up forever.

8) OWEN TOOK HIS FIRST (unassisted) STEPS YESTERDAY--TWO OF THEM! Kyle and I were both there and it was sooooo awesome to see! He's also been standing for longer and longer times--it's absolutely amazing to see how quickly this has started. In a matter of days he went from letting go for 1 second to 8 to 20 and then to a few steps! Truly amazing!

Here we are at Gymboree--which he is LOVING! Being around walkers is such an encouragement. Last week we stayed for 2 hours! Here is he climbing up a ramp after crawling through that tunnel.

I asked Kyle the other day if volunteering at a 5K counted as exercise for me. From a medical perspective, he said, "um, no". Well, fine. Here Owen and I are standing at an intersection near our house directing the runners. I'm pretty sure I had just eaten a doughnut (oops!) but that gave me the much-needed energy to encourage the runners up the big hill in front of us! I actually took this picture because Owen was up to something but I couldn't see him in the backpack...he was eating part of a tree. Don't worry, I took care of it.
Here we are out on a walk. We went up and down our block and he pushed this little toy around--it was such a hoot! He's pretty much turned everything into a push-toy now: silverware basket from the dishwasher, all chairs/stools, toy and laundry baskets, even small stuff that he has to crawl behind to push like my shoe or his tiny piano.
Cuteness. (Look close and you can see his teeth!)
Rock climbing at the park. It's dirrrrty business but so much fun!

Okay, so you've read that we have the most wonderful neighbors in the world, and this video shows one of the reasons...David (2.5) is almost the only one who can elicit this type of laugh from Owen. Okay, that's not true, but his success-rate is dramatically higher than anyone else's. (He's saying ribbit and jumping like a frog--if it's not obvious.)

Sometimes Owen just stands at the front door (glass) and just waves and waves hoping he'll see his friend David across the street even when they're inside or not home.

Oh, and I forgot to include this after his birthday, but at his 12 month appointment he weight 25 lbs and 10.5 ounces (75-90th percentile--slimming down!) and was 31 inches tall (75-90th as well).

Whew--I'm exhausted. If you made it through the entire post, you deserve a cookie. :)