One proud daddy.

Dear Owen,

This past weekend we went to the mountains of North Carolina with your Grammy, Grampy, aunties, & uncle. When we left on Sunday morning, Daddy wanted to go to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. We drove through a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway & then into Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We admired the beautiful fall leaves as we drove. Fall is absolutely Mommy's favorite time of the year!

We arrived at Clingman's Dome & despite the fog & wind, Daddy wanted to walk you to the top. So, riding in your umbrella stroller up the incredibly steep incline, you went to the highest point in the great state of Tennessee. We snapped a couple of pictures at the top & headed down.

The Appalachian Trail runs right out onto the path up Clingman's Dome. On the way down, we stopped & took a few pictures of you at the trail head for the A.T. Your Daddy was beaming! He was so proud that you got to set foot (well, more like a stroller wheel) on the Appalachian Trail. All the way down, he talked about how fun it will be when he can take you hiking. Those will be such special times for you & your Daddy.

We know you won't remember your first trek up Clingman's Dome or the first time you saw the A.T., but your Daddy will always remember it & Mommy will always remember the pride on your Daddy's face when we snapped the first picture of you on the A.T!

Love,

Mommy

The many faces of Owen.

Owen has become so much more expressive in the last few weeks.
He makes all sorts of crazy faces, & I love every one of the them!

See for yourself...

Menu.

Owen's menu options are growing, & he continues to be a super eater.
Here's a list of everything he eats now:

• Peas
• Green beans
• Carrots
• Sweet potatoes
• Butternut squash
• Avocado
• Potatoes
• Whole-wheat pasta
• Puffs
• Apples
• Bananas
• Pears
• Peaches
• Plums
• Apricots
• Baby yogurt
• Eggs (so far we've only given him the yolks)

I still prepare most of this fresh for him & just try to plan ahead for his meals several days at a time. 

Next up on the menu for Owen- ground turkey mini meatballs, blueberries, & cottage cheese.

Owen's 7th month.

I'm obviously bit behind, but now that Owen is 8 months old (plus a few weeks), so we should catch up on the 7th month of his little life.

• You are very "chatty". You babble constantly, especially when we're riding in the car or you're hanging out in your high chair or jumperoo.
• You started trying harder to get up on all fours to crawl. You just can't move as fast as you want, so you still mostly "scoot". You're also learning that you can use things around you to pull up....oh dear!
• You're feeding yourself a lot more 'finger foods'. Although you didn't like mashed up peas & green beans, you love to feed peas & little pieces of beans to yourself now. You also feed yourself cubes of peaches, banana, avocado, sweet potato, and noodles.
• You still have just 2 teeth.
• You started "school" on August 27th & seem to love it. You haven't cried since the first day we dropped you off. You get excited when we walk in the building & when you see that we're going to your classroom.
• You love to read. Your absolute favorite book is "Where is Baby's Belly Button". As soon as you see us get off of the shelf, you shriek & start laughing. You love to try to help us lift the flaps too!
• Pop & Marion dropped by for a visit on their way home from Louisville. They brought you your 1st "noise" book, "Trick or Treat with Elmo". You love to try to push the buttons as we read it.
• You're sleeping less & less, both during the day & at night...bummer. You're just too busy for sleep!

1st day of school!

Owen's new friends on the 1st day of school

Trouble, trouble, trouble

I'm so tall!

Being silly with grandpa!

Playtime!

Watching a little football with Daddy

Watching Pop read me my new Elmo book

All dressed up for church

"Bye-bye"

Priceless entertainment!
(Side note-he obviously loves the word "Duke". I've never seen him laugh like that when Chris says "UNC" :-))

Couldn't resist.

Owen's new backpack for school....so love it!

Experimenting with video.

This is my 1st attempt at posting a video...hopefully it will be a success!

Videoing is so convenient now with my fun iPhone, Owen is doing so many video-worthy things. 

Here's a little clip of bouncing play time...enjoy!

Baby food.

Since introducing Owen to "real food" at about 4 1/2 months, I have attempted to make the majority of what he eats.

I have opted to use boxed rice cerals & oatmeals and jarred carrots (because of the high nitrate content). We also use jarred applesauce at times as it is a convenient thing to have in the fridge as a quick go-to food.
My favorite resource for baby food making is http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/. There are wonderful charts of when you can introduce certain foods, recipes for how to prepare & freeze foods, etc.

I have had great success freezing most things. I make a large batch & then pour the food into ice cube trays, let them freeze, and punch the cubes out to store them in a gallon-sized freezer bag. Our favorite things to keep in the freezer are sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, & green beans.

For foods that don't freeze well (avocado, peaches, apples, pears), I just make a smaller batch & make sure Owen eats it up in a day or two.

Love, love baby food-making!

Zipping zooming zebra.

About 2 months ago, we discovered that Owen loved the sound of the letter 'Z'. We randomly found this out when we were zipping him up in his sleep sack at night & would say 'zzzzzzipppp'. He would just laugh, laugh, laugh.

So, I took this a little bit further (I promise I'm not crazy) & I made up a little song for him.

Zipping Zooming Zebra


(To the tune of "If you're happy & you know it")

There's a zipping zooming zebra at the zoo,

There's a zipping, zooming zebra at the zoo,

There's a zipping, zooming zebra,

There's a zipping, zooming zebra,

There's a zipping zooming zebra aaaatttt theeeee zoooooo!

Now, because the zebra was getting lonely we had to create more beautifully alliterated animals like...

A school of swimming starfish in the sea

A sneaky slithering snake in the swamp

A friendly frolicking fox in the forest

A long leaping lizzard in the lagoon

Despite all of the new animal friends, the zebra is still his favorite. It calms him & usually makes him laugh...whatever it takes! So, I promise I'm sane just trying to have some fun with my little man.

Owen's 6 month.

Owen turned 7 months old this past Saturday (unbelievable!), so it's time to see what fun things happens in his 6th month of life!

• You're making more & more 'babbles'. ..lots of sounds like ma, ga, and pffff.
• You sit up entirely independently, but aren't so graceful at lying down when you get tired of sitting...oh dear!
• You 'army crawl' across the floor & move remarkably fast!
• You love to scoot to anything that you're not supposed to play with (floor vents, electrical cords...). It makes life all the more interesting!
• You now have 2 teeth that are completely in. Growing those teeth was rough for you-you didn't sleep well, were so fussy, and not at all like yourself. Glad we're somewhat back on track now!
• You have developed a severe dislike of green beans & peas. You scream when we feed them to you unless we disguise them in bites of other foods you like. So, that's what we do because we're sneaky & mommy wants you to love your veggies!
• We added more yummy foods to your menu selections-pears, sweet potatoes, zuchinni, & peaches. You weren't so much a fan of the zuchinni so we've given you a break from that but boy do you love all of your other new foods.
• You love puffs...it didn't take you long to figure out how to grasp them & get them into your mouth...now you're a puff-eating machine!
• You love running water! You've always loved water, but now when you see us turn on a faucet you immediately dive forward & try to get your hands into the water.
• Your favorite thing is for us to take your hands & help you stand up & take a few steps.
• You have started reaching your arms out to us when you want to be picked up.

Owen loves to see himself in the mirror

Mommy's Puff Eating Machine!

Helping Daddy drive

1st lawnmower ride!

He loved playing with Grammy's wrapping paper tube

When you thought I wasn't looking.

Chris' grandmother sent me this sweet poem for mothers so I wanted to share it with my fellow mothers...

When you thought I wasn't looking

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I wanted to paint another one.



When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I knew that little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I believed that there was a God to talk to.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I felt you kiss me good night and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt but it's alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked. Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.

Things people say about you.

I've learned that people will say any number of things to you when you have a baby with you in public.
Most often, they're sweet sentiments about my precious son, but there are times people have said things that make me wonder what they were thinking (i.e. the woman who told me children are only cute for a short while & then they get "mean"...ok, thanks lady).

So, here are the lovely things people often say to you...

• "Look at those big blue eyes"
• "Oh, do you have red hair?"
• "You're such a big boy"
• "Ohhh, look at that smile!"
• "You're so happy" (He loves to go places & behaves like such a gentleman in public!)
• "You look just like your mommy"

I hope that people always notice how cute you are, how happy you are, & how lovely your sweet smile is!

A baby divided.

Poor little guy may be quite confused when he's old enough to understand the basketball rivalry around here!

Owen & I decided to have a little picture fun with Daddy's hat...

 

However, Owen is definitely a Blue Devil at heart!!!

1st trip to the lake.

We took Owen to Lake Hartwell for the first time 2 weekends ago.
We enjoyed getting to visit with grandma, grandpa, Boo Boo, & Aunt Kit Kat.

Owen seemed to enjoy his first swim in the lake, got to wear his super cute Mickey Mouse bathing suit, & got to use his awesome baby float again!

6 month check-up.

Owen went for his 6 month check-up on Thursday. We're a bit off schedule because he's 6 1/2 months old, but that's ok!

She confirmed that Owen was just perfect (we knew that already :-)). He would hardly lay still for her to examine him & was constantly grabbing for her stethoscope & opthalmascope. You were grabbing the paper on the exam table & crunching it between your fingers and trying to tear it. She said "oh my, he has quick hands" & "he's so busy". Indeed he is!


Owen's head measures in the 75%, he is 28 1/4 inches long (95%), & he weighs a whopping 20 lbs. (85%). He's a very proportionate chunk! He had grown just under 3 inches in 2 months-crazy!

Can't believe how big our baby is getting...