The Death Star

Owen is obsessed with an inflated black beach ball that we have hanging in the living room. The ball actually has all the constellations on it (how stereotypical of me) but we call it the Death Star. Whenever Owen is in the living room, he constantly looks up and stares at the Death Star. He often arches his back like crazy to see it, and almost throws himself out of your arms if you are carrying him.


Of course, this is what the real Death Star looks like. Remember that this is the second one. The first one got blown up by Luke Skywalker. This second one looks like it's not complete but it really is. It is fully operational! Good thing Lando blew it up before they could hurt too many ewoks. Oh, I am babbling....


Sean

Water!

One of Owen's favorite activities these days is playing in water. He loves bathtime, watering the garden, and relaxing in the sink. We took this photo of him after returning home from the baseball game last weekend...


He actually put himself into this relaxed position. He sat like this for ten minutes before deciding that splashing his feet in the water is also very fun. I think we're going to have to buy him a bigger kiddie pool to play in - he is getting a bit big for the sink!

After hanging out in the "hot tub" for a bit, Mommy picked him up and bounced him around in the water. He loved it!



The day before we had made another water-based excursion to a stream pretty close by. The water was coming from up in the moutains so it was cold! But Owen had fun and kept sticking his toes in for a few seconds before taking them out and shaking his legs to warm up.




Always fun for us to go for a walk with the boyo!



About 10 minutes after these photos were taken, Owen was asleep and slept the whole time we were at Costco. We had thought he would like seeing all the stuff, but he saw nothing...

I hope it rains soon! (I always do -- it's way too dry here in CO)
Sean & Marisa

My first Father's Day

It was more than a week ago now -- Father's day!





It was a really fun time. First, the three of us drove up toward Boulder Falls but Owen was asleep so we continued up and walked around in the woods by a ski resort called Eldora.



Next we hit Boulder Falls on the way down to Boulder. Owen got to play in the water until he was superpooped! I also practiced imitating him. It's pretty easy for me to look confused -- I spend about half of every day doing that anyway. Notice the wetness on his outfit -- unfortunately that is not from the stream.



Then, Nan and Pip came over for some dinner and playing around. My dad and I had some big german beers -- we let Owen smell but no beer until he is at least 5 years old!




It was a really fun day. At the end, we were all tired. You can tell because we were all sucking our thumbs.



Being a dad is great fun so far, and it makes me feel so warm every time Owen has a big smile for me. That's all the deep insights I have for today.

over & out
Sean

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

We took Owen to his first baseball game on Sunday - Rockies vs. Mets. Technically, it was Owen's third baseball game. He went twice while in utero - the first time was about a year ago when the Mets were also in town. Tom Glavine pitched for the Mets who were blown out of town by the Rockies (I forgot who was pitching for the Rockies at that game). The second time was during the playoffs (see the archives from October). Since Owen's great-Vovo lived near Shea Stadium for over 30 years, we thought it was as good a game as any to take him to.

Anyway, Sunday was a hot day but the little guy did GREAT! We got seats in the very last row to protect him from the sun....



...but it was still hot (the car thermometer read 100 degrees!) so we took off his cute uniform.


We bought some peanuts (but no cracker jacks) during the 7th inning stretch. Owen was much more interested in looking at the peanuts than singing the song.


It was one of the quicker games Sean and I have been to recently (Mets won 3-1), but Owen was still exhausted by the end!

Curious Owen

Owen has become quite a curious little monkey. He is always inspecting the world around him. It is truly remarkable to watch. As adults, we take a lot of things for granted - such as leaves or a stream - but for Owen, this is the first time he has seen these things and they fascinate him with their colors and sounds, etc. Watching him has made me see the world in a different way. It has made me appreciate the details - whether we are out in nature, at the supermarket, or in the bathtub.

Here are some cute pictures from Owen's recent explorations...

TEETH!!

Owen has teeth! His two lower teeth cut through last weekend (just in time for a Father's Day gift). After months of saying that his excessive drool was because he was teething, we were finally right!


Speaking of biting, we probably should stop letting him chew on our fingers now. We don't want him to be kicked out of day care for biting the other kids! :-)

Actually, it seems that Owen may be considering a career as a bouncer-- check this out:


Would you mess with this guy? Well, what if he squeaked at you? Or drooled on you? Or tried to bite your finger? Or fell asleep on the job?

Owen's first trip to the playground

Our friend, Ash, turned 2 years old a few weeks ago. His parents and friends celebrated with a fun birthday party at a playground in North Boulder. It was a beautiful day! Ash had a cool train cake and Owen got to experience a swing ride for the first time. He enjoyed it a lot for a while until he got tired...

Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO SEAN!!!!!

I'm sure Sean will write some of his thoughts about the day in another post but I thought it was a great day. We took Owen up to Eldora (a ski resort in the winter) and to Boulder Falls (where Sean was interviewed for a BBC Horizons special last July). Here is a video of the day....



It was a great day with my boys. Sean is an amazing father!! When he walks into the room, Owen's face lights up. It's so much fun to watch!

New Experiences

Owen has done and seen a lot of new stuff lately. Here is our account of a few things.


Owen witnessed a big thunderstorm! It was pouring outside, so Mommy held him and let him watch. He was quite excited by it and didn't get nearly as spooked by the thunder as I expected. (The photo on the right is a few years old but I was so excited to get lightning at sunset that I couldn't resist including it...)




He is also becoming a champion thumb sucker. We like this because it helps him fall asleep and calm down too. If he is bucktoothed in a few years then that's a price we are willing to pay for some calm now. Besides, if he looks like a goofball with crazy crooked teeth then maybe he could be a circus clown! That would make me so proud.


He has not forgotten how to be ridonkulously cute. Here are a couple of recent photos. Notice that in the one on the left his shirt says "property of Marisa and Sean". We were thinking of tattooing that on his arm somewhere with our phone number. Unfortunately, he is growing really fast so the phone number would probably get distorted pretty quick.




Tomato has continued to develop as a bloodthirsty tiger. Here are two photos taken just before a vicious attack on his Mommy's arm. She survived, luckily, with arm mostly intact, but I had to lure Owen away with a raw steak covered with peanut butter.



And when he does eat, he is a complete slob. Just look at this mess!


More soon -- I don't want to make these posts too too long.... Plus, my pizza is ready!

Sean

Hungry baby

Since Owen has been sleeping through the night, he has been waking up FAMISHED!

At first, we thought milk would be enough but he quickly showed us that we were wrong...

So, on his 5 month birthday, we decided to try something more substantial... and solid.

Here is a video of Owen's first taste of solid food... It's a bit long (3.5 minutes) and big (5MB) so it may take a while to load. But, it's definitely worth it!

Owen at 5 months

Owen turned 5 months old this weekend. Wow! Time has gone by so quickly. Our little man is getting big! On Friday we went to the doctor and he is now more than 14 lbs (almost 2x his birth weight)!

He is also developing quite a personality. Here is a list of the cute/funny/silly things he does:

1) In one of our posts when he was about a month old, we said that Owen looked like a little monkey. Well, now he is playing like one too.... His new favorite position is hanging upside down:

2) Though, sometimes Owen seems more like a puppy - chewing on EVERYTHING he can get his hands on...

Toys, fingers, baseball cards from Uncle West...


I don't know where he got that idea...


3) His is also very playful. He especially loves to get a blanket waved in his face...
and bouncing up and down...

4) And he is really curious... it seems like he is always trying to figure out how things work. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head:

He is so much fun! And it is amazing to see how he changes every day!!

5 months old!

Owen Tomato is now 5 months old today. To celebrate, we took him on his first adventure to the farmers market in search of other big tomatoes!