Family Self Portrait

Afternoon of thursday 3/27 on the living room floor

Rolling Over

Owen has learned to roll over from his belly to his back when he starts in the "sphinx" position supporting himself on his forearms. By throwing around the massive weight of his noggin he is able to drag his little body to the side. Here is a video of the little guy in action on Tuesday (3/25 -- the first rolling over was on 3/24):




Time to stop leaving nails and acid on the floor!

Sean

Hair loss and regrowth

Owen's hair has done some crazy things since he was born. He started off with some hair, although it was pretty thin. Then he started to lose most of it in the places that he rubbed a lot. By two months old he was pretty much completely bald except for a patch of his hair on the lower back part of his head:



Now his "real" hair is growing all over his head -- it's light brown with a little reddish tint. The same color as some of my favorite beers, in fact. I think my short window of having more hair than Owen has just about drawn to a close....

Sean

Daddy Transportation Service

Sean does a great job of toting Owen around in various modes....

Carseat: handheld and stroller-bound


Slings:



What a great dad!!

Owen Go Braugh!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

The Long Walk Home

Nope, I'm not referring to the movie from the early 90s, I'm talking about today's family adventure.

Spring has definitely sprung in Coloroado for now. So, we decided to go for a walk on the trails behind our house. The destination we had in mind - some cow pastures about a mile away - is the furthest we've walked with Owen. But, yesterday, Owen and I went on a mini-hike with our new friends Ashley and Cyrus (Cyrus was born on 1/13). Yesterday's walk, though shorter, seemed like a bigger deal because we had to drive to the trailhead. And, that walk went smoothly - Owen slept the whole way once he settled in the Moby carrier. We walked for about 2 hours. So, how hard could a walk behind our house be?

Turns out that it was harder than we expected. It started off great - Owen, being carried in the Moby by Sean, fell asleep within steps of our house.


But then we realized that we forgot his bottle, so I went home to get it. Okay, take 2 - oh no! we forgot the camera. So, I went home to get it (turns out we had it all along - the sleep deprivation has turned our memories into mush!)

It was one of those Colorado days where the sky was perfectly clear. Sean and I were both in T-shirts. Gorgeous! About 3/4 of the way to the cow pasture, Owen started to shift. Then, some little peeps - not quite crying, not quite laughing. So, we thought he was just enjoying the day too. He even smiled...

Then, about 10 steps later - the peeps turned into obvious cries of discomfort. Since we were almost at our destination, we decided to take a break and give him some milk from the bottle. After a few sips, it was obvious that what he wanted was to be lulled back to sleep but he wasn't happy about his position - he wanted to be lying down (not easy in the Moby without taking him out first). But there was no shade in site for a brief rest and we haven't yet bought Owen a pair of sunglasses nor, for that matter, did we put sunblock on his cheeks so we were skeptical about having him out. And, since he had settled down a bit, we thought we'd keep walking to our destination.

To make a long story short, we made it to our destination but... no cows. They were at a different pasture today. We did see pairie dogs and geese and horses but none of that mattered to Owen. He wanted to be home and lying down. And we were about a 30 minute walk home. It took us 45 minutes. We stopped to give him more milk from the bottle. We repositioned him in the Moby. Finally, he settled down when Sean gave Owen a finger to suck on. Note to self: the pacifier - don't leave home without it!

About a block from home, Owen was asleep. Naturally. Of course, his repose only lasted that block. He woke up as we walked up the stairs to our house!

-Marisa

Reflections Take 2

It's been a week since I decided to post my thoughts about parenthood. It's amazing how quickly time goes by these days! But, now the little man is asleep on my chest so I thought I'd try this again... But, first, a cute picture of Owen reflecting on his reflection:

Parenthood is an adventure, that's for sure. When people ask me how I'm enjoying it, my usual response is, "being a mommy the best thing I've ever done... and the hardest." While each day passes in a blur of diaper changes, laundry, and feedings, taking care of a newborn has been an amazing roller coaster.

The challenges
#1: learning to function while completely sleep deprived! Even my 6 weeks at SEA didn't prepare me for this. Some nights, Owen does great - sleeping 5-6 hours at a stretch. Other nights, I am awoken every 2 hours by his loud, needy cry. The problem is, we never know which sleeping Owen we will get!

#2: breastfeeding has been really hard. Owen likes to take his time and often falls asleep during feedings. The lactation consultant also said he has a "disorganized suck" so he doesn't get into a rhythm that lets me know how much he is eating. Therefore, like his sleeping, I can't anticipate how long a feeding will take. We're still working on it but, for the most part, I am pumping often and we are bottle feeding him the breast milk.

#3: finding time for myself. I don't. For instance, it's rare that I take a shower two days in a row and I've been to the gym twice since Owen was born. Mostly, I don't want to miss a moment with the little guy. There will be many missed moments when I go back to work in a few weeks.

#4: hormones. I have been known to cry, literally, over spilt milk. Seriously, Sean spilled some of the breast milk I had pumped and I cried. And, if I thought I was an anxious person before Owen was born.... the hormones have only exacerbated my worry-wart mentality!

But these challenges pale in comparison to the magical feeling I get watching Owen grow...

#1: his faces. My heart melts when Owen smiles at me!! He has several smiles including
- the shy, flirtatious smile when his glance is over your shoulder
- the wide, showing-off his gums, smile
- the "I just farted and it felt good" grin
- the "happy dreams" smile while he is in REM (he just made this face as I type this)

And it's not just his smiles that brighten my day. I love all his funny faces - here are a few recent examples:

#2: His eyes. Owen has these sparkly, inquisitive, big, blue eyes. When he is awake, he loves to look around at EVERYTHING. It blows my mind how intently he looks at the ceiling beams and window blinds. You can tell he is just soaking it all in!

#3: His personality. At 2 months old, you can already tell that Owen is going to be quite the character! (see #1 and previous photo postings)

#4: His appetite. Owen's primary job right now is to grow and he is doing GREAT!

Today, Owen laughed outloud - a real, hearty, happy laugh - for the first time while we were playing with him and I wished I had the power to freeze time. Being able to watch him grow and develop new skills, literally overnight, has been and is magical. Those are the moments that make all the sleep deprivation worth it!

-Marisa

Reflections on 2 Months of Parenthood

The gods are smiling down on Colorado today - right now (around 4pm) it is 73 degrees! It is so warm on our porch, in fact, that Owen got a bit of heat rash on his chest from wearing clothes. This taste of summer makes us very excited for things to come.

Today is also Owen's 2 month birthday and we are so thrilled to have the little guy around. While the man of the hour is napping, I thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect on the last two months and what they have meant to me....

Ooops... tiny cries coming from the bedroom. I guess I'll have to reflect later.

-Marisa

Owen at 2 months