Rolly Polly

Owen had a major first that we've been waiting on (myself, somewhat impatiently) for a while: he rolled over (tummy to back)! He's no longer rolling-challenged! He's been strong enough to do it for quite some time, it just seemed like he had no interest/need even though we do "tummy time" every day. Anyways, Friday he just did it, sort of out of no where. It was really slow. He was sort of suspended on his side for a while before he decided to go all the way. But then he kept doing it--5 times in 1 hour! Kyle got to see him do it Sunday morning. Did he know what he did? I'm not sure--he's able to repeat it, so that's a good sign. He definitely looked shocked/excited but I think that is mostly due to my extreme cheering him on!

He's also showing signs of being interested in maybe thinking about possibly crawling someday... Now when I put him on his tummy (in between rolls) he'll bury his face in the floor or bed and push w/ his legs (baby bottom in the air) like he has no arms. It's hysterical. The reverse is that he pushes up w/ his arms and sort of slides backwards a little bit (like an inch). Both "moves" lack the tummy coming off the floor which he'll eventually figure out is a key to actually moving.

It is such a joy to see these developments actually happen! I'll try to get it on camera soon. Oh--we also had our first successful (read: resulted in laughter on his part as well as mine) game of peekaboo--such a treat--and one that I'm sure we'll repeat hundreds of times. :)

Fun things

• Owen is fascinated w/ Kyle. He gets so distracted by him anytime he's in the room that he quits whatever he's doing whether its eating, playing, whatever. And he'll get in just about any position he can to keep his eyes on him--he cranes his neck back over the boppy when he's eating in order to look at Kyle if he hears him talk--its about the only time we see is little neck from under his huge cheeks!
• I am hesitant to give this report because I don't want to "jinx" it, but Owen has been a SUPER napper this week! Something about hitting 6 months old? He has gone from 3-4 mini (25 min) naps a day to 2 SOLID naps (1.5-2 hours) with much more predictability. It's amazing!!! Boy, I hope this continues!
• Owen ate sweet potatoes yesterday for the first time and LOVED them. I know this because he ate an entire jar AND he moves his entire upper body towards the spoon I'm holding, mouth agape. (He's also tried peas and pears, but didn't care for either one yet.)
• Owen is getting more and more able to self-entertain. His "new thing" is to sit (boppy behind him just in case) with his basket of toys dumped on its side in front of him. He can sort of lean in and dig through it and pull out toys (shake them for about 5 seconds and then throw them somewhere) and go back in for another. After a while I just shove everything back in and he starts all over again! Today, we put a blanket on the grass in the back with his basket and he played, allowing me to do some yardwork. So fun!
• Owen's voice is getting used in two new ways: 1) he does a grunt/squawk (kind of sounds like someone clearing their throat w/ their mouth open--very loudly) in order to get my attention. For some reason he tends to do this a lot when he's playing in his exersaucer. 2) He has taken to waking up at 3am to "sing" (coo, squeal, grunt, etc.) for a few minutes before going back to sleep. I have no idea why he's doing this--payment for the naps? :)

6 months old = half a year!

I can't believe the little guy is 6 months old!!! We went in to see his pediatrician today for his well check and immunizations. He actually cried less than last time, but it still hurts me when they give him those shots! He's pretty much in the 75th %tile in every category (evening out a little bit). He weighs 18 lbs. and 12.7 ounces (we were guessing 19-20), and is 27.25 inches long. The Ped seemed a little surprised he isn't rolling over yet (it's obvious he has the strength to), but he wasn't concerned. He said some babies just don't "have the need". Weird. :)

While we were in TX he started splashing in his bath for the first time. So much fun. So wet!

He's also talking more and more and laughing more and more (although we still have to do things to him to coax out a laugh). One of his favorites is hanging upside down. He's also started slapping a lot--himself (sort of like clapping, but against his leg), me--all the time, just to get/keep my attention, and how he splashes in the tub. Such a little boy.

Texas, our Texas

First and foremost...the interview...It went extremely well. We really couldn't feel better about it--what a blessing! Kyle did amazingly well (no surprise, here). He/we loved everything we learned about the practice and they gave us reason to believe they liked him too. It really does seem like it would be a great fit from both sides. Again, we're trying not to get our hopes up, but it's hard. We should find out if they're going to make an offer in early May, so we'll just continue to pray until then.

Owen travelled really well and we had a great time bouncing all over town seeing the grandparents and other family and friends.

It's sort of becoming a tradition that when we're in Austin we get family and friends together at my mom's for a cookout. It was such a nice evening we snapped some photos of all the babies outside. Kyle/Owen are with our friend Joel w/ his daughter Emmy (3 months old), and Kyle's brother Luke w/ Owen's cousin Bailey (3 weeks older). (Katie, Joel's wife, and Melissa, Luke's wife were there as well.) Aren't they all adorable!

Here is my mom (Bee) teaching Owen how to play the piano. He really got into banging on the keys. The next day Owen's 2nd cousins (removed?) gave him a little toy piano--how perfect!

It's pretty much a requirement that if you're in central TX in spring and you have kids (maybe even dogs) that you take pictures in the bluebonnets. Trying to get Bailey and Owen both napped and fed at the same time presents a challenge, but we still got a coupel really cute ones. They didn't look at the camera much because the flowers were so much fun...to try to eat. It doesn't get much cuter.

Just for kicks...Franny (Kyle's mom) has been on a cleaning spree and brought some things to Austin that she thought the boys might want (or they were going to Goodwill). These old ski jackets were among them. Do I need to say that they are going to Goodwill?

Overall, we had a great week. It's hard not to be excited about (hopefully) moving back to Austin when we have such great family and friends there!

Special Guests

Before our trip to TX last week, we had a couple of special visitors. My dear friend Andrea and her husband Harry were driving through W-S so they stopped to have lunch with us. They are friends from Vandy/church in Nashville and it was such a treat to see them! Owen took right to Andrea, and like Harry's beard!

Then we had a surprise slumber-party when the heat in our friends' house went out. Anne and her two kiddos David and baby Lauren stayed with us--it was crazy fun to have so many little ones in the house! Anne and I were almost bested by Lauren's mini-crib, but we finally figured it out.

Beuler...Beuler...

A post not about Owen? How can it be? I know, I know, but humor me. This is really interesting. Check out the trailor for Ben Stein's new movie.

www.expelledthemovie.com

Easter, Etc.

He is risen, He is risen indeed!

We had a great Easter weekend. Kyle was post-call Thursday and had Friday off (which was a last minute surprise) so we had a much-needed 4-day weekend! He's been working soooooo hard this month w/ ridiculous hours and studying, so it was great to have a break.

Church was great too. Wonderful message and some of our favorite songs, which is always fun. And Owen did GREAT! We opted to go to the early service because of lunch plans w/ our Bible Study friends! This has become (like our Christmas meal) somewhat of a tradition--its a pot luck and everyone tends to bring "their usual" so its easy and so nice to celebrate/fellowship with friends.

Owen milestones:
1) He's able/willing to take a bottle! Kyle has now successfully fed him several times and the nursery helper (a stranger to him) fed him at church--wow!

2) Owen has successfully transitioned to an earlier bedtime. We start at 7:30 and he's usually down by 8:15 or so after his bath, feeding, etc. And he's still sleeping through the night. He's waking up a little bit earlier too (not too much though) so we are able to go to early church and avoid him getting fussy b/c he needs a nap (the problem the last few weeks). Another benefit is that we're able to hang out with friends after he's asleep. We spent Saturday night staying up late with Christal and Phil watching the TX Aggies almost prevail over UCLA. (Part of Kyle's TX interview preparation!)

3) Owen took a nap in a pack-n-play at our friends' house after Easter lunch yesterday--went down just fine and actually slept for over an hour and a half! (I told our host that we may be back every day if he naps that well at her house.) Yea for being able to nap at other places! (One funny note about his naps these days: he sleeps in a "sleep sack" but likes to have a thin cotton waffle blanket to play with...he rubs it all over his face as he's falling to sleep and leaves it there covering his head and nothing else--like Bee's "softy".)

All three of these things mean more and more normalcy/freedom and its wonderful!

Here are a few photos after church/lunch/nap:

Next year there will be Easter eggs in Kyle's beautiful green grass for the little guy to pick up!

For any of you that remember "study face"...this is his new one. He sucks his bottom lip in and looks very contemplative. What a serious baby!

Stay tuned for a video we're hoping to catch of Owen's belly laughs. Very similar to my quest to get him to smile (and catch it on camera) a few months ago, his real laugh has made appearances, but is not regular...so we'll keep you posted.

And a prayer request: we're travelling to Austin next week to see family/friends and (drum roll) for Kyle's 2-day interview w/ a practice there. We are sooo excited and are trying not to get our hopes up. We know God has a perfect plan for us...