19 Weeks

We were in Ames last week so I didn't get a post done. We left on Wednesday and stayed with Joel and Tori until Saturday morning. It was so good to hang out with them. It's always so great to be with good friends. They're moving to Virginia Beach at the end of July and we'll miss them a lot! Saturday we went to Des Moines for Pat's cousins wedding reception. We stayed in a hotel on Saturday night with Pat's parents and Owen got to try out the swimming pool. He didn't get as much pleasure out of it as I was hoping but he didn't hate it. He was pretty straight faced the whole time.

I started working on teaching Owen to fall asleep on his own this week and it's been rough. I enjoyed nursing him to sleep at night and would have continued to do it if he'd stay asleep like he used to. Monday night was a nightmare. He didn't go down well and woke up every 2 1/2 hours. He refused to take a late afternoon nap so I think he was overtired. Tuesday and Wednesday were a little bit easier. I hid in the corner and he complained in the crib but never really cried. Tonight it took about 30 minutes and 3-4 trips in to calm him down. Today he needed to see me to fall asleep. I tried having him sleep in his swing for a nap but he cried the whole time I was in the shower and then a while after that but quieted down as soon as he saw me so I just sat in his room until he fell asleep. Tonight after picking him up a couple times I just went in there and stood by his crib while he stared at me and he fell asleep in a couple of minutes. I hope there will be some predictability again soon.

Owen is laughing more frequently now which is so fun. Nothing like at the doctors office but I usually get a few chuckles everyday. His belly and ribs are really ticklish.
He's grabbing his toes every once in a while. He mostly just hangs onto his knees though.
He loves sitting in the Bumbo but not more than 10-15 minutes at a time.
He's much less content to play by himself and usually whines until one of us talks to him.
We've gotten a couple of squeals out of him.

This week has been so hot so we didn't get a walk in until today. Owen sat in the stroller instead of the carseat and he loved it. He just sat and looked at everything and fell asleep about 10 minutes before we got home. It's so fun to see him grow but I sometimes miss the little bitty baby he used to be.

Next week we're heading to Minnesota for a few days. My brother's haven't met Owen yet and I haven't seen them since January so I'm pretty excited. Owen has been handling the traveling pretty well although it's tough to keep a routine. We still have several trips planned this summer so hopefully he continues to do well.

Smiling is more fun than sleeping Mom!

He loves to eat his hands!

This is the face a get to see a lot of!

 Swimming

Helping daddy work

Trying on shoes at the mall

Bathtime

17 Weeks

Owen had his 4 month appointment this afternoon and he decided the nurse was hilarious. He's been pretty stingy with his laughs but as soon as the nurse started talking to him he just busted up laughing. He laughed while she measured him and then laughed again while he was getting weighed. A few other nurses came out and said "is that baby laughing??" He became quite popular. The one nurse said it made her day and put her back in a good mood. I kept telling them that was the most he's ever laughed! I really wish I had recorded it because it was awesome. Our last appointment he cried through the whole thing so this was like a whole new Owen. The doctor said he's right on track with everything so that's good!

25.5 inches (75%)
14.13lbs (50%)
Head: 17 inches (75%)

He cried and cried during and after his shots but they didn't seem to bother him after we got home. He fell asleep in the car and slept a little while after we got home but he wasn't nearly as sleepy as last time. He got really crabby tonight so I gave him some tylenol which didn't go down well so we had to deal with the choking for a while. Never fun.

He decided that tonight he didn't really want to be nursed to sleep. He'd been eating for about 10 minutes and then just kept looking up at me and smiling and how to you try and ignore that? You just can't. He eventually got back to business (kind of...he was on/off, on/off) for a few more minutes and then I laid him in his crib. He did the usual fall asleep for a few minutes then cry for his paci and I think I went in three times. The third time I think he was mostly asleep because the pacifier was still partly in his mouth and he was just saying "aaaaAAAaaAaa" so I let him work that one out himself and I think (I hope) he's out for the night.

Today was the first day of being a stay at home mom! Yesterday morning was bittersweet but I'm so happy to not be going back to work. This job was probably the one I liked the most but was the least sad to leave. Usually when I've quit a job it's to move so it's a pretty emotional event but this time I'll still be able to visit my co-workers and I don't have to think about job hunting. I'm excited to have more time and energy to take care of my house and not have to worry about getting days off to go somewhere.

Saturday we had a picnic with the people in our home association and both Pat and I thought it was going to be a total bust but people actually came and it was good! One of our neighbors is due any day with their first baby and she just resigned from her job so we exchanged numbers and will hopefully get together for walks and such after her baby comes. I'm excited to have a first time mom friend so close. Owen was a little grumpy while we were out there so I eventually brought him inside and figured out he was just tired of being held because as soon as I laid him under his toys he was all smiles.

Tomorrow our house church (aka small group/bible study/faith family) is coming over for dinner. Pat got a new charcoal grill that he's excited to use so we're going to make sliders which should be fun. I'm glad that we're starting to get to know some people in the church as well as outside of it.

Happy boy even after getting 3 shots!

Owen likes to be like one of the guys

Mommy can't get enough of these glasses!

Owen's Photo Book

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