A few random shots from this week

Learning to brush his teeth...

Bath time fun...


Crazy hair day...

Walk This Way

I think we can safely say Owen now prefers walking to crawling...He also drank an entire sippy cup of milk tonight. No bottle!

School Daze

I was in the St. Paul's parking lot at 6:40 this morning. I was trying to register Owen for preschool and they only had one slot left in his age group. To my surprise, there were already two other dads in line. One had been there since 6:15. I stayed in my car b/c I knew they were already ahead of me, and I could see if anyone else entered the parking lot. At 7:15 a van pulled up and I got out and began walking the short distance to the door. She took off running, but I made it there before her. You would think she would have come earlier if it was that important. I immediately asked what age the other parents children were, and they were all older than Owen. I thought I had a pretty good chance.

The four of us stood out there in the freezing cold weather. When another parent arrived, she started asking us about age, etc. and the other (running) lady told her the youngest class was 2-year-olds. I was pretty certain she was wrong, and since I was the only parent that had a brochure and registration form, I took a look. I was right, but I wanted to keep that info to myself.

The director felt sorry for us and opened the door at 8:20, ten minutes ahead of schedule. We all signed a sheet, and I could barely write my name despite the fact I came prepared with gloves and hat. We had to wait until 9:00 and luckily the two guys in front of me had kids in different classes. Owen got the last slot in the toddler class and I was so relieved. I can't believe what a competition it is to get your kid into preschool. I was so nervous on the short drive from home to school...like I was going to a job interview. I'm so glad he will get to start this fall, and that will make it easier to register him next year.

How now brown cow?

Yesterday was the first day without formula. We still gave Owen his milk in the bottle b/c we didn't want to freak him out too much. This morning as I was vacuuming (see post below) Brig attempted to give him his milk in a sippy cup. He drank it for a sec then stopped. She had to take the dogs out, so I decided to put in some Nesquik. This was suggested by his doc if he had a hard time transitioning. He hasn't, by the way, had a hard time transitioning.

Anyway, he still didn't want it. So...what's a parent to do? Into the bottle the brown milk went. Of course he guzzled it down. All we can figure is that it comes out too fast or too slow in the sippy cup. We are going to keep offering the sippy cup at each meal until he finally drinks. He will give in eventually. The doc also told me he wouldn't drink as much milk as formula, so we shouldn't expect him to have three 8 oz. bottles of milk a day.

I heart Dyson

When you have two dogs that shed like crazy, and an almost toddler who will put anything (and I mean anything) in his mouth, you have to vacuum constantly. The days when we only had to vacuum weekly are a distant memory. It is now a daily chore, even though we could probably do it twice a day and still never keep up.

As you can see, it was 6:38 a.m. and this is what I was doing:


Thank you Mr. Dyson! You were expensive, but you are sooo worth it. Thank goodness Owen isn't scared of you...yet.

Who ya gonna call?

Owen was in a great mood yesterday afternoon, so we decided to try and get a shot of those two teeth. He was cooperating at first, but then spotted the telephone. This kid loves the phone and the remotes. Once he got the telephone, the camera battery died...again...even though it was just charged. We will be purchasing a new battery this weekend. So...the quest to document the teeth continues.

A side note: Since Owen got well, we have been weening him off of formula. He is currently drinking two ounces of formula with six ounces of milk per bottle. We hope to go to all milk on Saturday. Hopefully we will be done with formula and bottles by the start of next week.

Snuggle Puppy

Sometimes Milo actually lays in his own bed. Sometimes Owen likes to lay on Milo.

Visit from the Valentines Day fairy?

So...Owen did not get up this a.m. until 8:00! Happy V-day to mommy and daddy. When we put him in his high chair for bfast, he started yapping away. All of a sudden I saw another tooth! We knew it was coming, but this one was really fast. We still couldn't manage to get a decent pic to post, but here's one of the balloon Grammie and Papa gave him. He also got a toy helicopter from them, a Disney movie from Grandmama and Granddaddy, and clothes and a pair of shoes from us.

Worst...cold...ever...UPDATE

We have had a rough few days in the Owen zone. The good news is that Owen is still drinking his formula. He must have felt really bad on Tuesday. We started giving him his bottle before he had solid food to make sure he got the liquid and calcium he needs. The bad news is his cough and fever are still making him miserable. His cough is so bad he turns red and gags himself. I want to take his cough. I will be more than happy to have the cough if he can be free of it. And this fever...he has never had a fever for more than a day. This one has come and gone since Sunday. It's always worse in the afternoon/evening. We give him Tylenol, and that works, but enough already! He isn't playing much and prefers for us to hold him. I like snuggling with him, but I wish it wasn't b/c he felt like crap. I guess we have been pretty lucky that this is the worst it's been...I am thankful for that. Hopefully we only have a few more days of this and life can get back to normal.

When I got home yesterday, Owen was playing, talking and walking. I was so happy he was (almost) back to his normal self. We had loads of fun during bath time and when he got ready for bed, there was no fever. Can I get a Hallelujah?! He still has a cough, although not nearly as bad as it's been. He is on the road to recovery. Let's hope he is well for the first bday festivities.

Formula gone bye-bye?

I took Owen to the doctor yesterday and thank goodness his ears and lungs were clear. He still has a horrible cough/runny nose/fever. Dr. Tillman asked about his eating and drinking habits and mentioned whole milk. When she was done examining Owen, I had a list of questions. I always take advantage of her expertise while we are there and paying for an office visit. Anyway, I wondered why she mentioned whole milk since he isn't 12 months for a few more weeks. She said we could go ahead and drop formula if we wanted and switch to milk. That made me happy b/c it would be nice to be done with bottles. Well...I don't know if it's b/c he's sick but Owen refused his bottle last night and this morning. And this kid has never refused his bottle...ever. We are going to try milk today...keep your fingers crossed.

Bath time is fun again

Everything with bath time is back to normal....glad that's over. Now if we can just stay well for more than a week. Owen is sick again. He has a horrible cough, runny nose, etc...and a slight fever. Hopefully the Tylenol took care of the fever. We may be heading to the dr. in the morning.

Fear of water...UPDATE

Getting better! Last night I ran the bath water without Owen in the room. Then we brought him in and let him see the water. I pulled out a few toys and wet them and let him touch them. I put him in the tub and he just stood there. He got upset if we tried to sit him down, but I wasn't going to push him. If he wants to stand the entire bath then that's fine (until we get passed this). At least he wasn't screaming and I didn't have to get in with him. That's improvement in my book. Of course we did have to lean him back to rinse his hair, and he didn't like that. But it was at the very end and we were quick and then it was done. Not nearly as bad as the night before. Tonight we may try to put the inflatable tub back in to help him feel more secure.

Fear of water

We have a problem. Our child who has, until now, loved bath time, is now scared to death. I always run the water while Brigette undresses him. He crawls into the bathroom and is very excited. He normally stands up at the edge and watches his inflatable tub fill up.

Let me back up...A few nights ago, he wouldn't sit down and wanted to crawl/climb everywhere. I decided we should try bath time without the inflatable tub thinking he may have outgrown it. At first he was a little apprehensive, but then bath time proceeded as usual.

Today while I was at work, Brigette was doing laundry and had the pantry door open. For those of you who don't know this, we have a laundry closet and the detergent is kept in the pantry with the other cleaning supplies and the vacuum. Anyway...Owen crawled over at that moment, spotted the vacuum cleaner, which he loves, and nearly pulled it over on himself. In an attempt to stop this, Brigette put the liquid detergent down quickly and a very small amount dripped onto the back of his head. She immediately scooped him up, took his clothes off and attempted to put him in the tub. He screamed the entire time but she had to wash this off of him. When she told me this story this afternoon I thought it was a fluke...or he was ready for his nap...or hungry...or not used to her giving him a bath.

That wasn't the case at all. Tonight was going the same as always until I put him in the tub. He screamed. I told him it was okay and he still screamed. I pulled him out and hugged him and gave him a paci and he was fine. I tried to put him back in with the paci in his mouth and he screamed. So...I decided to get in with him. I thought this would solve our problem. Not so much. He screamed until I hugged him, and then he just whimpered. I could barely bathe him...I call it "hitting the high spots"...I knew I could forget washing his hair, but Brigette already did that earlier today. As soon as I got him out of the tub he stopped crying.

I'm so surprised he's developed this fear of water. He's never been scared of anything. I need to do some more research, but looking back a few hours, I probably shouldn't have forced him into the tub. I guess it's like forcing someone to hold a bug when they are scared of bugs. I'm really glad we don't have swimming lessons anytime soon.

Pucker up!

First Tooth

Better late than never! It's been coming for what seems like months, but it's finally sharp and poking through. Is that when you count it? Not sure on that one.