10 months

Wow!  Owen is such a busy body these days that I failed to write a 9 month post.  He is into EVERYTHING and our house is far from baby proofed so I spend all day either following him around and keeping him out of the plants, dog food and toilet or taking him on adventures.  He isn't walking yet, just crawling (very quickly), pulling himself up on furniture and cruising.  He likes to put everything in his mouth and thinks electrical cords and the toilet are particularly fascinating.  He loves baby story time at the library and the aquarium.  Luckily for me, he still loves riding in the stroller.  Even though the fall rain is upon us, we have managed to make it out for a walk pretty much everyday.

I remember thinking that having a newborn was the most challenging stage of being a parent and that things would just get easier and easier as Owen got older.  Now, I am beginning to understand that each stage is equally challenging in new and different ways.  The newborn days were tough at times, but easy in the sense that Owen would take multiple two hours naps a day and didn't have the capacity to destroy a clean house in less than an hour.  At months 4 and 5,  he would lay on his play gym (without moving) for 15 minutes while I did the dishes and it seems pretty great in retrospect.  These days I can only do the dishes while Owen naps, otherwise he pulls himself up on the dishwasher and plays the knives.  I have a feeling that once he's walking I'll feel nostalgic about this stage as well.  This is one of the reasons I am so looking forward to having a second baby.  I've gained so much perspective and feel like I will be able to take advantage of each stage so much more the second time around.

We finally bit the bullet and hired a housekeeper. Best decision ever.  Seriously.  A friend recommended a lady, Elizabeth, and she is amazing.  We all know how anal I am and how over the top my cleaning standards are.  There are three ladies that comes and they clean everything.  They get the cob webs out of the rafters, clean the blinds, vacuum the flies out of the window seals, scrub the bathrooms, wipe down the inside of the fridge, vacuum under the bed and couch cushions, dust, mop, you name it, they do it.  It's such a load off and gives me the freedom to spend my days playing with Owen instead of worrying about all the needs to be scrubbed.  There is still laundry, dishes, etc and a lot of the things they do never got done before so it doesn't save me that much time but it gives me SO much piece of mind.  Knowing all that has been done every two weeks makes me feel so much better.  Can we afford it?  Not really.  But we are making it work and it's worth every penny.

As I am drafting this post, I am thinking about what I usually include and sleep has been an important topic.  It's not a huge deal anymore.  Owen consistently goes down easily, sleeps through the night and takes naps at consistent intervals.  I can't say even in the family is well rested 100% of the time, but who is?  I still nap with Owen when I can, although he won't sleep in the bed with me anymore.  He rolls all around and likes to sleep on his stomach so he has to be in his crib for now.  I hope this is just a phase and he will love napping with me again soon.

Owen has recently started eating way more solid foods and preparing two to three meals for him a day is also quite time consuming.  It's been an interesting lesson is how we eat now that Owen also wants to try everything we have in our hands.  Ty has really stepped up, kicked his junk food habit, and is making a conscious effort to model healthy habits for our little guy.  Even though he is taking lots of table foods I don't really feel like Owen has slowed down on nursing much.  I'm not exactly sure how to start cutting back but am hoping it will happen naturally over time.  I'm not in any huge rush, despite the judgement I can already feel coming my way if I decide to breastfeed for more than a year.

We kicked off the tradition of family dinners (with Ty's side of the fam) last month and I am super excited we are doing it.  We are meeting once a month with all the brothers and babies.  This is a tradition that is near and dear to Ty and Chris from their childhood.  As we are approaching the holidays and the end of Owen's first year it's exciting to start making family traditions that will cement memories into Owen's childhood and give him a sense of family pride.

I really love having a baby.  It makes everything so much more fun.  I love Owen more than I ever thought I could.  He brings so much love and joy to my life that I'm already dying to have another one.  Of course motherhood has its many ups and downs but it gives life so much meaning and purpose.  I'm crazy obsessed with my little man and can't believe we are already nearing the end of the first year!

Whidbey Island

One of my dearest friends, Beth, was in town just in time for my birthday.  Beth, Rach and I (the trio, as we like to refer to ourselves) took Owen on his first ferry ride over to Whidbey Island.  I'd never been and it was beautiful.  We had lunch, went for a walk, ate gelato and spent quality time catching up on life, work, motherhood and marriage.  I love that no matter how long it has been since I've seen Beth or how many miles away she is, when we're together it feels like she never left.  Though we don't get as much time together as I would like, I am so thankful for such a fun, loving and supportive friend.

Sunriver

Our final trip of the summer was a long weekend in Sunriver for Labor Day.  We rented a house with my family-- Jim, Karen, Mom, Marty, Layla, Levi, Rach, Josh and Rachel's parents, Kim and Rich.  We spent time riding bikes, floating the river, swimming at the aquatic center, cooking, drinking and playing board games.  Layla finally learned how to ride a bike and Owen was as charming as ever.  He slept well despite an incredibly loud crowd far past his 6 pm bedtime and loved spending time with everyone. The only thing that would have made the weekend better is if Erin and Amanda were able to make it.  Family vacations aren't quite the same without my sisters.

I have fond memories of central Oregon from my childhood but had not been there as an adult.  It's beautiful and Sunriver is an awesome place to vacation.  From Seattle it's a bit of a drive but I would defiantly like to go back.  Sticking close to home this summer has really made me appreciate how much there is to do and see in Oregon and Washington.  I have always loved to travel and when I was younger I was eager to head of to exotic destinations.  As I am getting older I am learning that while there is certainly amazing things to see all over the world, there are also incredible things to do within the pacific northwest.

It's been such an amazing summer that, I have to say, I am ready for fall.  Bring on the rain, pumpkin spice, soups, teas and falling leaves.

8 Months

It feels like a lot has changed from 7 to 8 months.  Owen is now on a schedule, sleeping through the night and a total mama's boy.  

As much as I was enjoying the freedom of not having a nap schedule, it became clear that Owen was ready for one.  He now sleeps from about 6 pm to between 5 and 6 am.  He wakes up in the morning, nurses, and goes back to sleep until between 7 and 8.  He is sleeping in longer than he has in quite a while.  Depending on when he wakes up, he takes a morning nap around 8 and an afternoon nap around 12.  The afternoon nap is now pretty much always 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  Being able to count on a few hours to myself in the afternoon is amazing but being home and putting him in the crib at 12 can be tough.  The problem is that if we are out in the morning and heading home close to nap time, he falls asleep in the car, which throws everything off.  That being said, now I know when he will be napping and can plan activities accordingly. 

Owen is FINALLY sleeping through the night!  I feels like such a win because he stopped waking up on his own.  We never followed through with our plan of giving him a bottle at night and I was prepared to eventually bite the bullet and sleep train, but we didn't have to.  I think establishing a nap schedule helped and apparently he was finally ready.  It was a little sad not seeing him from bedtime until morning the first few nights but now that I know what it feels like to get a full nights sleep, there is no looking back!

Gone are the days of Owen laying on his changing table and loving it.  Now is he is monster on that thing.  He is constantly flipping on his stomach and attempting to dive off of it head first.  He screams while we pin him down and wrestle his diaper and clothes on.  Somehow diaper changing quickly morphed from a way to calm him down to a way to make him mad.  

I have thought O was teething for the last few weeks but have now concluded that he is going through a developmental leap and has been needier than usual as a result.  He has all the sudden turned into a totally mama's boy and wants me to hold him ALL the time.  It's really sweet and I love that I'm his main squeeze but it's getting old quick.  My back is sore from lugging him around all the time and I can't hand him off to other people nearly as easily as before.  He often won't even let Ty hold him if I'm in the room.  My arm muscles are going to be ripped by the time this phase passes.

We are continuing to see more and more of Owen's personality and he is pretty hilarious.  He seems to like everyone and cracks up all the time.  He is the grabbiest gus there ever was and tries to get his hands on everything in sight.  We've been attempting to read to him a lot and he seems to prefer eating the books to reading them.  Hopefully that too, is just a phase.

Sadly, Rachel's last day watching Owen has come and gone.  Tomorrow he is off to the new nanny's for a full day.  You always hear about the day your first born gets on the bus to kindergarten and how emotional that day is as a mother.  But nobody warned me about the million ways you have to learn to let go before then.  We are now having a stay at home mom, with a 6 year old and 18 month old, watch Owen.  I was totally caught off guard by how much control I had to render in order for him to be cared for outside of our home.  We've left him with other people but always within our house where I can control the food he was eating, cleaning products used, presence (or absence) of dog hair for him to crawl around in, etc.  I remember reading that being a parent is a perpetual state of letting go and this is a big step for me.  Owen loves being around the other kids and Tiffany is a great mom, I have total confidence in her as a nanny.  I think it is going to work out great and I'm taking my first step in learning that as a mama I don't have control over every aspect of my little one's life, no matter how much I wish I could.

Lake Chelan

We had a lovely time in Lake Chelan.  We drove to Leavonworth and spent Thursday with Pam and Don.  Friday morning we continued on to Chelan and enjoyed three nights there.  As per our summer routine, we took along our fabulous nanny and best friend, Rachel.  We enjoyed spending time with Alex and Patrick.  Aside from Saturday morning's 10K race and one afternoon of wine tasting; the weekend consisted of swimming, drinking, cooking, chatting and lounging in the sun.  Owen handled the disruption in his routine like a champ.  Every time we travel with him I am surprised by how much easier it is than anticipated.  This is the first summer since I moved to Washington that I've gotten a tan without leaving the state.  It's been fabulous.

7 months

It has been an atypically warm and wonderful Seattle summer.  Owen is growing and changing every day.  He eats solid food, has two teeth, babbles, sits up and crawls.  We have been having a blast and basking in all the joys of summer.   

We still aren't on any type of schedule.  I thought that one would naturally develop but it hasn't yet and it has actually been working out quite well for us.  It's nice because I feel like we can go out and do things as the mood strikes us.  We're not tethered to the house during nap time and Owen sleeps on the go in his carseat and/or the ergo.  When he goes down for a nap I never know if its going to be 30 minutes or 2 hours but he usually takes at least one long nap a day.   He generally saves the 2 hour naps for when we have somewhere to be but they are glorious none the less.  It's so nice to have the days of battling over 30 minutes naps behind us.  That being said, it is getting harder and harder to get him to nap outside of his crib and I think these days are gradually coming to a close.  We follow his lead and will start staying home during nap time once he indicates to us its necessary.  

Nighttime sleep has gotten much better.  He puts himself to bed without a fuss between 6:30 and 7:00, wakes up to nurse between 2 and 4 and gets up for the day between 5:15 and 6:30.  It's hard to believe it has been 7 months since I've slept through the night.  Although O is sleeping a good 7-8 hour chunk, I don't go to bed until 9 or 10 so I am still sleeping in 4 hour blocks.  I am defiantly fantasizing about an uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep and feel like Owen is waking up out of habit rather than hunger.  Our plan is to start giving him a bottle at night so we can gradually give him less milk over a few weeks and then we'll cut him off.  It's kind of bittersweet because I do love nursing him at night, but it's time.  After he starts sleeping through the night maybe we can find a way to tackle to 5:15 wake ups, but we'll pick our battles for now.  Our biggest success in the last month is that Owen has figured out how to put his binky back in his mouth independently.  That saves us a lot of trips in and out of the nursery.  

Ty had his first major parenting fail a month or so ago when he let Owen fall out of his swing.  I had mine last week.  Owen was in his crib going down for a nap and I was eating trail mix.  He was fussing so I went in to check on him and accidentally dropped a walnut in the crib.  Some kind of motherly intuition prompted me to check on him again and when I went back in he was smiling and chomping away on it.  Luckily he didn't choke or go into anaphylactic shock so I guess all is well that ends well. 

Feeding him solids has been really fun.  So far he has tried avocado, sweet potato, banana, strawberry, carrots, green beans, broccoli, and pear.  Bananas seem to be his favorite thus far.  I have been mashing up his food and introducing a new one every three days but now I feel like he's ready to start eating whatever.  I'm attempting to start feeding him what I'm eating in small chunks.  I want to give him a variety of beans, chicken, and salmon in the next few weeks.  

To sum up what he is up to these days; he is rolling like crazy, sitting up, has two teeth, says mama all the time, reaches for everything, loves watching and petting Jake, cracks up when tickled, usually falls asleep in the car, is starting to hold the bottle to feed himself, rolls onto his stomach and kicks on the changing table (it's almost impossible to change his diaper and put pants on him) loves to drink water out of a cup-- he laps it up like a dog, went in the pool for first time, loves the swings at the playground, 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed is his new favorite song, he's an iPhone fanatic, and favorite toys seem to be water bottles, fun size chip bags, paper and the remote control. 

Rach has taken over as our summer nanny.  Her and Owen are having a wonderful time together.  I love how enamored with him she is and that she gets to see him grow and change every week.  She has been teaching him sign language and is a total natural.  We are incredibly blessed to have her.  I can't wait for her to have a little one of her own, she is going to be an amazing mama one day.