Spring is here!

The weeks seem to be going quickly now, which is sometimes nice and sometimes not. We've had a lot of beautiful weather (sorry family in the Midwest) and some pretty memorable family time. No big events planned, just nice days. Both Nick and I are playing softball again, but we've cut back the number of teams. Owen has seen Daddy play, but hasn't quite been awake enough to see Momma play. Maybe next week...

We've been taking him to the park and putting him in the Bjorn while we do (sorely needed) weekend chores. I think our house has definitely started to show the effects of my going back to work. Nick and I have both been as good as we can be about keeping up with the general chores of each day, but the bigger picture chores such as vacuuming and bathroom cleaning might have slipped...significantly. I'm pretty sure the cats have created enough tumbleweeds in the corners of our house to qualify as an entirely new cat. Nevertheless, Owen was fascinated by "daddy chores" while Nick mowed the lawn and picked weeds. Gender roles aside, Nick and I have developed a system for getting things done and it works for us. 

In other news, we've made huge strides in the sleep department. We did some sleep training over a weekend and Owen has been in his crib and happy for over a week now. We're pretty excited! He's been a pretty good sleeper for the past month, but now he's transitioned back to his crib. He loves it and I think is excited about the new freedom he has. When I go to pick him up in the morning, he's worked his way to the opposite end of the crib and has turned 180 degrees. He seems quite content in there for a little while after he wakes in the morning, so it gives me an extra few minutes to get the day started.

He's also officially off his acid reflux medication! Very exciting. It's nice to not have to wake him to give him medicine, or time his feedings to work with the medication schedule. One more notch of freedom for all of us, and it's wonderful. 

More laughs, growing taller, talking more, reaching, grabbing, kicking...in writing it seems like a report of the same stuff, but in person it always seems different. He does things with more intent and purpose, and seems to discover new things in old things. His hair has started to grow back in the bald(ing) spots, and it looks like it's going to come in much lighter than the hair he has. 

Photo update from the past couple weeks:

Daycare disaster #327: Momma forgot to pack extra clothes
(but other Moms remembered)

Saturday morning story time for Owen...and Newton

Spring has sprung! Baby ducks in our favorite park

Chubby cheeks

Owen: Four months

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Official stats: 14lbs., 14 oz. (somewhere in the 50th percentile)

25.5" tall (somewhere in the 75th percentile)

HUGE head (somewhere in the 90th percentile)

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Poor kid. No wonder he's not rolling over.

"It's like an orange on a toothpick." 

"It has its own weather system." 

"I'm not kidding, that boy's head is like Sputnik." 

---Mike Myers, So I Married an Axe Murderer

All kidding aside, somehow he's still the cutest darn kid I've ever seen. He smiles at everyone (especially the ladies) and eats like a horse. I picked him up from daycare on Friday and he really started "talking" to me with real purpose. It was so cool. We sat there and talked to each other for a while, and then he retold the story to Nick when he came home. It's not that it happened overnight, and yet, it almost did. He had been making sounds and sort of cooing, but recently it seems he's really telling us something. And wants us to understand. He holds eye contact and just babbles. It's one of my favorite memories so far.

Over the weekend we had a lot of great family time, and Owen was such a trooper as we rushed to various events. Saturday was beautiful and we strolled the shops in Walnut Creek. We had a few gifts to purchase and just spent the rest of the day meandering.

Sunday we had quite the marathon of celebrations: First, a two-year-old's birthday party. We drove out to a place called "Little Farm" in the Berkeley hills. I've always wanted to go, and it was really a fun place for kids. We fed celery to various farm animals, and Owen seemed calm yet interested. When we went through a small sheltered part of the farm, I'm not sure if his eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark yet from the brightness of the day, but he was instantly alarmed. He calmed quickly when we were back outside, and we went on to feed cows, ducks, goats, and sheep. There were also a lot of other kids to watch.

After Little Farm, we headed to our first A's baseball game--in box seats! I was grateful that we wouldn't have to deal with the wind and sun, and he sat and watched a few innings. Sadly the A's played a terrible game, and he fell asleep by the time it was over. (I was almost jealous). However, Nick and I were able to spend some time with our good friends which made it all worth it.

Go A's!

Taking Away My "Mom" Card

I've had this thought a lot lately. It's funny since Owen is doing so well; thriving, even. Each day when I go to pick him up at daycare, he's learned something new. Or maybe I notice he's studying something extra hard that he didn't seem to notice before. It's such a fascinating process, and it sometimes makes me sad that I'm missing so much. Then again, maybe some of this progress can be attributed to being around other kids and experiencing new things at daycare.

However, when I decide to check out which milestones are coming soon, I get all excited about the next steps. Then, of course, I read what he should already be doing at this stage, and I think, "Well, he'll get there. Every child is different. It's OK." Sometimes Nick starts to worry that he's not reaching milestones, and I scoff at him. I even feel annoyed that he would worry about it.

And then doubt creeps in. It's one thing to read about baby averages, and another to talk to other parents with kids of similar ages who can do all that. The parents are not in any way intending to make me feel bad, and I am genuinely interested in their lives. But it does give me this feeling that I must be doing something wrong. I mean, of course I think Owen is capable. So I must have held him back somehow.

I don't think Owen has to be the best and the brightest, and I don't feel competitive with other parents. In fact, I've always felt that I wanted him to learn, but also spend time just being a silly kid. I don't want to push him too hard (as I believe I will have a tendency to do).

Sigh. I do know that in the long run, he will figure things out and be just fine. Why I can't seem to let go of the worry and guilt that I'm not doing enough to help him achieve, I can't figure out. I think secretly, inside, I believe he's probably a genius and I just need to get this parenting thing right. :)

In any case, right now he's very happy. He's been sleeping through the night for about a week, and laughing more often. He's started to knowingly grab things within his reach, and he seems to study both people and objects much more intently. He loves to stand and jump and kick.

I don't think we're anywhere near rolling over just yet. He still sleeps almost exclusively in his swing, so we're working on transitioning back to the crib. He likes the more upright position for sleep rather than the swinging motion itself, so hopefully that will make things a little easier. Ugh...sleep training.

Day in the park with Mom & Dad

Back to Work

It's amazing how quickly things can become your new normal. I've been back to work for almost 2 weeks and life just seems to be happening right now. I have to be incredibly organized in order to get everyone and everything where they need to be.

Work feels good. I've been able to pick back up where I left off and it's so great to be able to soak up all this creative energy. I work with the most amazing group of people, and they have been so supportive of my new motherhood status. I have a new temporary "corner office" so I can keep up with my pump schedule, and everyone encourages me to gush all about Owen. It's nice.

I do miss him so much, and I get teary-eyed sometimes when I think about him. Nevertheless, he seems to be doing really well in daycare. Every time I pick him up, I hear, "He's such a smiley baby." He loves watching the other kids, and I think the other toddler girls are eager to "help" with all things baby. There's no lack of attention coming his way, of that I am certain.

Nick has been in Chile for the past week so Owen and I have been working through our new routine on our own. I was absolutely terrified of how this week would go, and it's definitely been challenging. It hasn't been as bad as I imagined, but I've definitely felt pretty exhausted. I'll be so glad to have Nick home again, and I know being away from Owen has been rough on him too. I sent a lot of video and photos to keep him updated, and here's a snippet of Owen on Easter.

He'll grow into it; Thanks, Daddy!

Final days of Maternity leave

The serious face

Everyone always says these days go by so quickly, and I'm finding it to be true. This last week has been so fantastic and yet so hard to acknowledge that our little honeymoon period is over. I admit, I'm feeling a bit dramatic about the whole thing. I'm really excited to go back to work, because I love my job and I miss my whole work environment. But it will be so hard to leave him. I can't help but think he'll think I abandoned him, but my rational side knows we'll both be just fine.

I've had the best time this week taking him on outings to see a lot of my local friends. Many of them have little ones of their own, so we had different play dates of sorts. I'm getting better at packing up to cover all of the "what ifs" of the day, and Owen is definitely enjoying our adventures as well. He's so interested in all sorts of things. I talk to him a lot on our walks, and he humors me by giving me "The serious face." His favorite books are definitely the Dr. Seuss books--probably "One Fish, Two Fish." Maybe I read those with extra gusto, but I get a lot of smiles and thoughtful studies of the pictures in them.

We've gone to the park, taken a lot of walks, had 80's dance parties in the living room, and enjoyed playtime with the fun gifts from Gramma and Grampa. When I need to get something accomplished, I put him in the Baby Bjorn and off we go. Yesterday we made banana bread together. He's particularly fascinated when I'm doing dishes. I can't explain it, but I hope that lasts forever. 

Of course, it's not perfect, and I don't mean to paint a completely unrealistic picture of our time together, but right now in this phase of his life, he's been a pretty happy baby. And by this phase I mean the past 3 days or so? Yeah, probably 3 days of happy baby. I'll take it.

Nick has been really amazing, and I know he's enjoying this phase as well. We finally heard a real laugh just a few nights ago. It was really amazing, especially since we've been working so hard to make it happen! Owen thinks Daddy is much funnier than Mama, but he's probably right. I attempt funny, but it's just not the same. And by attempt I mean present every dance move I can manage, contort my face into various expressions, and try to make cool 'splosion sounds that only boys can do. And what do I get? I get "The serious face," Daddy gets the laughs.

And now I'm going to photo bomb the rest of this post. I have a lot of cute to share. And when crabby baby returns, I'm going to come back to this post and read it over and over.

Playmat from Mostek Grandparents: His favorite monkey!

Newton couldn't resist

How you doin'?

Will he take over the world? Stay tuned.

First restaurant outing-doing great!

Play date with Jes and Colin: new friend coming soon!

Jumper from Lamos Grandparents-gummer smiles all around

He's my buddy: wherever I go, he goes.

Owen: Three months

 

So handsome! We've "graduated" from the 0-3 months outfits and moved onto the 3-6 month stash. I wish I had made the switch sooner, because he already fits in most of these pretty well. There's a lot of cute stuff in this size batch! Hopefully I'll get at least one wear out of everything before he hits another growth spurt.

We don't have a checkup for weight until 4 months, but we estimate he's between 13-14 lbs. He's definitely tall, but starting to fill out with some nice baby fat. I admit, I am so proud of all the weight and height gain we've accomplished together so far; it takes a lot of work to keep up with his appetite! I've been determined to increase my production--pumping every 3 hours and taking herbal supplements--and I'm proud to say I've been able to keep up with his feedings for the past two months or so. I've battled a few bouts of mastitis which caused a big setback in the milk production, but we made it through. Whew! I'm not sure how my body will respond when I go back to work, but I'm going to try to keep up as well as I can.

We also had some goods news when meeting with the specialist about his inguinal hernia. It turns out he actually has what is called a hydrocele, which is essentially the same complication but much more mild and generally heals on its own. We have to meet with the specialist again when he's 6 months old to check whether he's healing properly, but I'm so grateful for the chance he won't have to have surgery.

Gramma and Grampa Lamos visit!

Gramma and Grampa Lamos came out for a short visit, and we really loved having them here. The weather was beautiful, so it gave all of us a chance to enjoy the weather (especially when the forecast for Iowa was major snow!) They were so wonderful and really wanted to do whatever they could to help while they were here. It gave Nick and I a chance to get out for a short date, and Dad even washed and waxed my car. This is a notable service since my car had recently been attacked by a swarm of berry-fed diarrhea birds, and well, I have to park under the tree that produces those berries. It was pretty epic. So thank you, Dad, for cleaning my car. It was getting embarrassing to drive around town.

So glad to see Gramma Lamos again!

Gramma gives the best "face tickles"

Grampa always goes after the toes.

Lovin' the sunshine! Let's get ice cream.

Owen considered napping on the way to Foster Freeze