Eek!

It's been nearly a month since my last post. Lots has happened in the last month. Owen has reached the following milestones:

standing unassisted (did it a few times one day, hasn't really done it since)
walking unassisted (ditto, took two steps last sunday, hasn't done it since)
clapping when he hears (a) applause or (b) someone saying "yay!"
understands "no" (but doesn't always obey)
is being gentler with the cat, but he still has a way to go.

As for me, I'm looking at changing schools and put in for two music jobs here in town at different schools in my district. the job postings closed on wednesday and i got a call on thursday from one of the principals asking me to come in for an interview. i did that yesterday and feel really good about how it all went. even if i don't get the job, i am satisfied that i did the very best i possibly could have during my interview. i was a little nervous, but not too, and it was a pretty relaxed environment. i even laughed a couple of times with the principal and teacher who were interviewing me. one of the questions that i used humor to answer was "how would you teach a 90 minute reading block?" since i've never done that, i said, "with training." then went on to tell them that i've never been at a school where i've been asked to teach a reading group but also that i am willing to do it. i came out of the interview totally jazzed. hopefully i'll hear by the end of this coming week. i also need to find a daycare for owen this week. yikes!

tonight i get my anniversary present. jeffy and i are going to the pbr (pro bull riders) at the puyallup (pew-AL-up) fair grounds, about 20 minutes from here. I'm really excited. I love watching bull riding! next month we get to go to the rodeo - it'll be owen's first!

it's after 11:00 a.m. i guess i should get showered and dressed, huh?

Five

We now have five teeth. The latest tooth (one of the top central incisors) cut through on Monday. This morning, Owen realized that he can push his lower jaw in and out and click his bottom teeth and top tooth. Really cute!

We have a cold. It's mostly his nose, which is really runny and can be quite nasty at times. I've ended up having to wrap him up in a blanket to tie his arms down and use the nasal aspirator. The good thing is that with his arms tied down (or wrapped up as it is), I only have to fight with his head, and he's learning that he should just let me do it because then it's over quickly AND he can breathe easier. He is still his normal happy self, which is good. It would be emotionally draining on me if he were crabby and lethargic, too. Plus Jeffy started a new job this week so it's just me from the time we get up until about 5:30 every day.

Yesterday, Owen spent a good part of the day chasing the cat. Max is getting the idea that when he sees Owen coming, it's time to go elsewhere. He really likes curling up in the rocking chair in the living room, but Owen can reach him when he's in the chair so I watched Owen chase Max around in circles, from the chair around the coffee table, onto the couch, and back into the chair where the whole thing would start again. I was almost getting dizzy! I think it will be easier and better when Owen learns to pet instead of grab and pull...Ugh.

Swimming with my mom. Once he got used to the temperature of the water, he was fine!

Waiting for the fireworks to start in Denver on July 3. We're sitting between the left field foul line and the warning track at Coors Field. Owen is sitting between Jeffy and my dad. The game was our father's day present to my dad.

With our new friend Ethan in Salt Lake

With our new friend Benjamin (on the right) in Denver.

130

posts, that is.

we are back from denver. after the first day, there was no real excitement on our trip. we did manage to stay busy, though. between a picnic in the park in miles city, mt with family, including one of my cousins who drove in that day from red lodge just to see us, the zoo, museum of nature and science, swimming, going to a rockies game (see the picture below), getting together with friends from high school and their little boy who is about 5 weeks older than owen, and the drive back to tacoma, we stayed pretty busy. pictures will be coming soon.

the day of the game, we drive to the park-and-ride and take the light rail into downtown to meet said friends for dinner. as soon as we get on the train, it starts pouring - for the first time in a long time there - and by the time we get downtown, it is really coming down. we still have several blocks to walk to get to the restaurant for dinner and by the time we get there, owen is soaked, my jeans are drenched nearly to my knees, and it's to the point where we can't get much wetter. we dried off by the time dinner was over, and the rain had stopped. after the seventh inning stretch, we left our seats to meet my friends so they could take us behind the scoreboard. after the game, we got to go onto the field to watch the fireworks. owen was ok for some of them, but not for others. he really didn't like the big barrages. he clung to me and whimpered while they were happening (too loud for him i think) but would look at the less-intensive explosions and seemed to enjoy that.

probably the coolest thing that happened during the trip was owen's development. he figured out how to really crawl, plus he can now pull up onto everything. yesterdray he actually climbed up onto the coffee table using my leg as a step. he was pretty proud of himself. (and i was proud of him too...) i quickly got him down before he took a header off of the table.

i can't believe that my little man will be 9 months old tomorrow. incredible. parents always say that their kids grow up too fast. now i know just how fast 'too fast' is. what happened to my little newborn? i look at pictures and those days seem so long ago, but they were only 9 months ago. it's really crazy. october 12 will be here before we know it. he'll be walking and talking (or maybe it's running and talking). my m-i-l won't even recognize him when she gets back next monday. she's been gone for a month in upstate ny helping my s-i-l recover from surgery.

we have errands to run today so i should get going. i need to eat before we go (and owen is asleep right now so it's the perfect time.)

at the rockies game on july 3. jeffy is holding owen out of one of the slots in the manual scoreboard (it's way cool!) and my dad is taking the picture.

Vacation

We are in Denver right now. We head home tomorrow (Wednesday). O is a real trooper. We learned quickly (like on the first day) that I need to be in back with him. Joy. This at least makes it easier to keep going and not have to stop every hour or so to either feed or change him (or both).

Road trip with us are always, um, interesting, shall I say? On day one, we were about 1/2 way across the top part of Idaho when we blew a tire. And I mean that sucker blew. Tire shreds were being strewn about on I-90. We made it to the side of the road where Jeffy changed the tire and we made it into Kellogg, got a hotel room and four new tires. Nothing else exciting has happened on the road since.

We spent time with Jeffy's grandmother in Missoula and my grandfather in Miles City (both places in MT) and both loved meeting their great-grandson. We've been with my dad the last week and we've been really busy. O's been to the zoo (he loved the fish!), made friends with Benjamin (the son of a couple of friends of mine from high school. Benjamin is about 5 weeks older than Owen.), been to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and to a Rockies game where he got to go behind the manual scoreboard (and out one of the holes for a picture after the game, too! Be looking for that a little later on...) and onto the field for fireworks. He kinda liked the fireworks, though he clung to me when they were going off a bunch at a time. He was ok when it was just one or two going off at a time but the big barrages were too much for him.

Today we took Owen swimming for the first time in the pool at my mom's apartment complex. Once he got used to the water temp and figured out that he was going to be ok, he had a blast. He splashed quite a bit, turning his head and stopping when the splashing got his face. It was really funny. He also started frog-kicking a bit and was having a blast.

Before we went to Mom's apartment, we went to the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It was fascinating. Real human bodies that had been injected with plastic so they would not rot were the entire exhibit. There were some really cool things to look at and learn. One of the most interesting parts was the fetal growth area. I was able to see how small both Owen and Jacob were when we had our first ultrasounds with each of them, there was also a fetus in a uterus at 3 mos. gestation - right about when I lost Jacob. It was a very interesting exhibit. Probably the coolest part was the exploded body - hung from wires and everything was being shown. If it comes to a city near you and you haven't seen it - go. It's totally worth the money (I think our tickets were something like $10.) I wanted to see it in Chicago when we were there last summer, but we didn't get the chance.

O slept through most of the exhibit today, which was just fine by me. That's why I brought the sling into the museum. Easier to carry him in that than just on the hip.

He's really getting up and crawling now - more the regular stuff than commando crawling now. He's also starting to pull up and say, "Mama". He prefers to be up on his feet than down on the floor. He's even let go a couple of times without realizing that he can't balance himself yet.

Bedtime for Little Man.

Sum, sum, summertime!

at last! i've been out of school since Thursday at 12:30. the kids left at noon. i did bus duty, and sang as the bus pulled away (na na na na, na na na na. hey hey hey. good bye!) it was an odd year. it really didn't seem like the school year should have been over yet. probably because i was really only there since january. it was like i had a short (6 week) school year, then summer break, then another truncated school year. not that i'm complaining, mind you. i'm loving being a full-time mom to baby o. he is so much fun these days. he's giving kisses and hugs, chattering like crazy, and even has the start of a few words: mama, dada, baba (bottle). he can say these words, though he's not using them as lables as yet.

solids are coming well. we had real banana pieces yesterday after breakfast. the mess was pretty big, but he ate the pieces just fine. he's also getting pretty good at self-feeding. he likes veggi puffs, fruit puffs, and bananas so far. he's not too wild about cheerios. (michele - can we give him the yogurt burst cheerios?) he had one at church on sunday and pretty much spit it out.

we now have four teeth. two on top (lateral incisors) and two on bottom (central incisors). i wouldn't be surprized if he cuts a few more over the next few weeks. we go in for our 9 month check-up on the 17. i can't believe it's getting close to time for that already!

o is now able to crawl. he still will do the commando thing, but he can get himself pretty easily from point a to point b on his hands and knees. his favorite color currently seems to be red. he goes straight for anything red.

a better picture of the toofers!

zerber baby!

cutie pie with teeth!

Surprise!

We were at the annual Bryant (my school) Block Party last night. It was a blast. Owen and the daughter of another teacher (she's about 3 months older than Owen) were giving eachother hugs. It was so cute! I was talking with another mother, who asked if he was getting his top teeth (lots of drooling, chewing on fingers, etc.) and I said they were starting. I put my finger in to feel and guess what I felt! Not a central incisor but his right lateral incisor on top! It's definately through. That could have been part of the issues we've been having this last week or so. What a surprise! Needless to say, this most recent bit of teething has been nothing compared to the first. If this is how the rest of his teething goes, bring it on!

I've told Jeffy what I want for our anniversary at the end of next month: tickets to see Wicked when it comes to Seattle in September.

mobility!

he did it! he's crawling! and i watched him start! before long, he'll be all over the place and quickly. i'm just waiting for the day when little man crawls away, looks at us, grins and giggles as we chase him down. "chase the baby" will be our new favorite game! right now "peek-a-boo" is high on the favorites list.

i'm crying happy tears. he's so proud of himself. no more commando crawling (or minimal commando crawling)! i got it on video tape! max (the cat) had better watch out, because o thinks the cat is the coolest thing.

Learning Limits (I made him cry!)

Last night, I was sitting at the computer playing a great game (Lemmings Revolution) and had Owen in my lap. He decided that it would be fun to grab onto and yank my hair. I told him "No" with a pretty forceful tone in my voice. He scrunched up his little face and started to cry. (I'm such a mean mommy!) He got over it pretty quickly, though. He also hasn't yanked on my hair since.

Last Saturday, we learned a new trick. Owen can now sit up from being on his tummy. He did it once in the middle of the floor and again under the coffee table. I thought the latter was pretty funny.

No school tomorrow or Monday for the Memorial Day weekend. We'll have our niece for a part of the day (her day care center got closed down so we've been day care for the last two weeks. We love having her!) It's supposed to rain, otherwise I'd take the kids to the zoo. Maybe we can go to the history museum...dunno we'll have to wait and see. I'm gonna want to get out of the house, at least. As of today, we have 12.5 more days of school. Only one more full week, plus two partial weeks. Our last day is June 15. Yay!!!!!

I ordered a great DVD set today, though I won't get it until early August, since it's not going to be available until July 25. (Animaniacs!!!!!) Can't wait to get that and watch it! I used to come home from high school and watch that show every day.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

Commando!

i'm typing with one hand and holding a sleepy 7-month-old boy who doesn't want to go to sleep in the other.

little man is so close to crawling. his current preferred method of locomotion is commando crawling, on his belly pushing with his legs and pulling with his arms. it's pretty effective. he's also an expert roller. he is frequently up on all fours, rocking, practically sitting up, and can move one or two limbs (usually arms) off of the floor with ease. one other thing he is getting good at is 'walking' while holding to my hands.

we've outgrown the carrier (too long!) and have moved into a convertible car seat (that can go backward facing, forward facing, and will also serve as a booster when he gets older.

***And now a word from owen!***
hk.v iv,ufk uv g fd y

A Sign?

I'm thinking Owen is starting to communicate with us now. Last night as he was having his bedtime bottle, he let go of the bottle and waved his arm around. He's never done that before. We've been signing to him, and "all done" is signed by shaking both hands...he was pretty close to that. I took the bottle away from him and he didn't protest at all. We'll see when he does it again. I was told in the Signing with Baby class I took that they will often do approximations before they do the real thing, especially if the motor skill required are a little more than they have. I'd say this is a pretty good approximation.

We got his convertable car seat yesterday, too. The nice thing is that it will go all the way up through a booster (until he's 80 lbs.) since it has the shoulder belt positioning things on the sides. One less thing to buy. I think I'm going to a seminar at the children's hospital here in town on Thursday to get a second one. For $35, you go to the 90 minute session and they give you the next size car seat that you need. Not a bad deal! This way we'll have one in my car and one in Jeffy's truck and we won't need to switch them back and forth.

Changing Every Day!

Wow. I'm amazed at how quickly Owen is growing and changing these days. It seems that he has a new trick every day, sometimes two new tricks. Take yesterday for example. He not only got up on all fours and rocked for a few seconds, but he also earned himself a hose-down in the kitchen sink. Jeffy tried the bathtub first, but then I mentioned the sprayer in the sink, which worked beautifully!

Owen is getting so mobile and he's not even crawling yet! He can roll anywhere. He will also "flop" (go from tummy to back or vice versa but moving his legs to face a different direction. Basically doing rotations and revolutions), do the inchworm thing on his back, and do an army crawl on his tummy. Time to get anything we don't want him to get off of the floor!

Owen's other big news is that he now has two teeth. He cut his second tooth on April 22. He has chomped down after nursing a few times. That's fun...

Growing so fast!

Two quick things:

1 - Owen nearly got up on all fours last night!

2 - Owen cut his first tooth last night! No wonder he's been so fussy lately!