Owen at 9 Months

This month Owen learned to crawl! But he has a unique crawl, as any good breech boy would. I have posted a video of him crawling. Even though this video is 9+ months and would technically belong in the 10 months post, I think it's worth it.

Owen also pulls himself up on anything and everything. I never realized how dangerous floor lamps and toilets could be before. He especially enjoys pulling himself up next to the tub and watching as I fill up his whale tubby with water. He also enjoys getting in his whale tubby, naturally.

Now that teaching is over, Mommy is home with Owen full time. I purchase a BOB stroller and we go to Stroller Strides class where I get to work out and Owen gets to enjoy being outside. Plus, he is able to interact with other babies following the class. Mostly he just wants to pull their hair.

Favorite toys that aren't toys: Mommy's water bottles, a plastic pitcher, the cover to Clifford, the Big Red Dog, the wrapper to Baby Mum Mums, the wheel to the BOB stroller.

I celebrated my first Mother's Day this month by going to breakfast at The Flying Pig in Mt. Kisco and by purchasing some beautiful annuals.

Stats:
Weight: 16lbs 3 oz.
Length: 27 and 1/2 inches
Teeth: 7!
Saying: much the same as last month, though somehow it seems to have more meaning and be associated with emotion.
Eating: Solids--Bananas, Eggy Bread (a.k.a. very eggy French Toast), Macaroni and Cheese, Crunchies, Avocado, Puffs. Has moved from interest in strained foods to complete disinterest...unless it's something fruitylicious.

Question: If I can't get him to hold the number 9, how is next month's picture going to work?

Owen at 8 months

Lots of fun things happened this month, including Owen's first Easter. He started with an army crawl this month. But still no crawl. He also kind of cruises--meaning he walks holding onto furniture. Mommy couldn't find her camera cord for a month and finally bought a new one. That's why this post is so late!

Stats

Speaking: a whole bunch of sounds. Most often mamamama and dadadada. Sometimes dadadadaducky. Also likes to play with his voice as you can see in the video.

Eating: Baby Mum-Mums (baby crackers), oatmeal cereal, pureed bananas, pureed prunes, pureed peas, pureed carrots, strained Chicken Mango Risotto, strained Mango Pear, strained Pumpkin Apple, strained Turkey Sweet Pea... The Mango Pear is probably the favorite. More finger foods next up on the plate...

Teeth: Five!

Weight: Same percentile. This dude can eat and eat and eat and never gain. Why isn't this kind of metabolism available in adults?

Checkup is next month.

Pictured here: First Easter! He got 3 toys. Flopsi ended up being the favorite--also the first one he reached for. He gets three eggs at the Easter egg hunt. Mommy gets to eat what's inside them.

Owen at 7 months

As you can see, Owen enjoys exploring things with his mouth. Here he is with a number 7. He sits up well, pivots, moves toward toys, moves into crawling position but doesn't crawl yet, and rolls across a room (back to front, front to back, back to front, etc.). While a big roller, he's also interested in walking. According to Granddad, he took a step--having let go of his gym and moved toward Granddad. Overall, he's a delight.

Speaking: Nine or Nein. Nyah. Mamamamamaamamama. Nananananananana.

Also, mommy had some coffee this month. While it did create a tiny bit of fussiness, it wasn't nearly as bad as before. And the gas issues seem much better.

With the third tooth peeking through, this is what's currently on the menu: prunes, oatmeal cereal, rice cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, pears. Next up: crackers, peas, and water (sippy cup).

Seems to be most interested in Cooper. He'll stop and watch Cooper whenever he enters the room.

Also, Mommy finally bought a new charger for the video camera, so now we have a couple movies.

Owen at 6 Months

This month Owen started solids! We started with rice cereal for a couple weeks. Then, when he got bored, we added sweet potatoes. We tried pear and banana first, but he wasn't fond of either yet. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, are a real hit.

We hired a doula and are now sleeping much better. Daddy takes care of nighttime wakings because if Mommy goes in it's like saying to a candy addict "Look at all this wonderful chocolate. Now you should go to sleep and not eat any of it." In other words, it doesn't work so well.

While he started sitting up at the end of the fifth month, he's really perfected it in the sixth month...though he still requires some spotting. He's big on reaching for toys and sometimes that takes him down head first.

You may wonder why there aren't too many smiley pictures of him. Most of the time he smiles and moves and the same time...so the smiley pictures end up looking completely blurred. But we managed to get a couple this month of him while he wasn't moving too much. You can see how mobile he is, however, from the monthly pic with the boppy that Mommy attempted to make. Also pictured practicing early pickpocketing skills.

Other mad skills: Rolls over from back to front (reminder that he's been doing from front to back since 3 weeks), raspberries like a champ, reaches for everything, enjoys the telephone the most, plays piano while he eats, and gets onto all fours.

Height: 25 and 3/4 inches
Weight: 13 pounds 12 oz. (Apparently just has a very active metabolism because now that Mommy's back to work we're certain he's getting enough food. Gerber Good Start ended up being the formula of choice, though he really only gets 1 bottle of it a day the days Mommy is working.)
Head: 43cm

Owen at 5 Months

Because of the low weight and Mommy's job looming, we started supplementing with formula. Tried Earth's Best, Earth's Best Soy, and Baby's Only, but they all seem to give him acid reflux. We've had to put him in the car seat to sleep at night once, and we raised his mattress to a 30 degree angle. Sleep is bad. Sometimes he's up every hour, which is not conducive to sleep for Mommy and Daddy. Time to hire a doula.

Height: 24 and 1/2 inches (say what? isn't that less than last month. yes, they made a mistake last month. no worries--he's growing out of his clothes so he definitely didn't shrink)
Weight: 13lbs 2 oz.
Head: 42cm

Almost forgot to mention the biggest development: TWO TEETH! bottom front.

Owen at 4 Months

No coffee for Christmas. Someday...

This month Owen celebrated Thanksgiving with his Guillorn (Odice) family and Christmas with the Sheas, Diamonds, Dalys, and Myers. He loves being out, meeting people during the day--enjoys when others hold him and make funny faces for him. Still trying to roll over from front to back. Also on the agenda...teething and crawling. Lots of thumb in the mouth (or fingers). Enjoys biting down on the antlers of the moose he received for Xmas. He got lots of gifts for Christmas and is very thankful.

Same old same old with the gas.

Length 25"
Weight 11.14 lbs (though a day later he was 12.14 on a different scale)
Head: 41 cm

Also enjoys playing with antique napkin rings,

Owen at 3 months

Still with the gas issues...and here Mommy thought it would go away by three months. Cross your fingers and toes so that Mommy can drink decaf coffee again for Xmas.

Owen weighs about twelve pounds. No doctor's appt. until next month so we don't know exact weight.

Owen celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating with his buddies. In general, he's surrounded by chics his age. 2010 was the year of the girl baby.

He celebrated Thanksgiving with the Odice/Guillorn side of the family and then he joined the Leonard side for Blew Friday. He was disastrously late to that because of a leak in our heating system, but that's another story for another time.

He had his first trip to Massachusetts. He met so many wonderful friends and family members. He slept perfectly with almost no gas and when he returned to NY his gas returned. This can be explained by proximity to Yankee stadium.

Milestones
He laughs and squeals in delight.
He has superior control over his head. It's nice not to have to support it for him.