Evolution of a Nap

Auntie Kristi says I am giving her a very unrealistic vision of what parenthood is like - apparently, her coworkers don't think any baby could possibly be as good natured as our Cheeri-O. Owen does have his fussy moments, but they really don't last long, as long as you get him down for a nap, or fill his tummy, or change his bum. And so I give you, the evolution of a nap:

What the... I was just chewing on my fist, and Mom popped me into the swing! I'm so not even tired! Well, maybe my eyes are a little heavy...





I'm so not napping. I'm going to fight you, nap!





Wahhh! I'm so tired, why aren't I sleeping?





Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz





Hey, I feel much better now! Let's play!



What a guy, hmmmm? :)

A few more photos

I couldn't get all the pictures I wanted to in the previous post, so here are a few more: a general cuteness picture, napping with Mama and Papa pictures, Owen having a serious chat with his Auntie Lee Ann, and Owen in his Canada outfit from Auntie Kristi and Hunkie Unkie Ryan (he wore it to Poker night at Uncle Jamie's, because of the visor.) Enjoy!

Superstar!

First things first:





Some really cute pictures there, the Cheeri-O is such a smiley guy, I could snap pictures of him all day long.

So, the doctor's appointment went not too badly. Owen is 24.5 inches long, and 13 pounds, 9 ounces, putting him in the 95th percentile for height, and 90th percentile for weight. He's going to be a tall one! He HATED the shots. I don't think he even noticed the second one, he was screaming so much about the first. Poor little guy got his first band-aids, one on each chubby little thigh, because the injection sites bled a little. He had a pretty cranky evening, lots of sobbing and hiccups, but we dosed him with Infant Tylenol and he hic'd himself off to sleep. Thankfully, today he's back to his usual Cheeri-O self, and seems to have forgotten all about it. I just wish Steve and I could!

Speaking of sleep, Owen is sleeping in his crib in his own room now. I get weird looks from people when they look at me sympathetically and say, "oh, and is that hard on you? How are you handling that?" and I'm all "It's GREAT!" But really, Owen makes much more noise in his sleep now, and sometimes even wakes up, coos to himself a bit, and then drops back off - Steve and I have both been sleeping better with him in his own room. And since he's only up once in the night, getting up and going into his room for that middle of the night feed isn't so rough, especially since I get 6-7 hours of sleep before he wants to eat.

We were so proud of the little guy this weekend - we went to a party at our friends' house, it started in the late afternoon and went into the evening. We brought Owen's Pack n Play and set it up in one of the bedrooms so he could nap and even go down at his regular bedtime... and he did! When we finally came home that night about 11:30, he'd already gone down for the night, and he slept right through a diaper change and PJ change, and stayed down until 5 the next morning, when he woke for his usual early morning feed. What an angel!

Here's a question: do all babies LOVE to get their diaper changed, or is this just a weird Owen thing? Seriously, he can be crying, but you put him on the change table, and it's all smiles and giggles. Maybe it's the little nudist in him, but as soon as you start unsnapping his clothes, he gives you the biggest grin, and starts squealing away, he's so happy. It's so funny, and so adorable.

And he's finally noticed all his "friends" we painted in his room - he loves to be held up right next to the Sneetches and just stares and stares at them; sometimes he even reaches for them. The Hop on Pops above the change table get a lot of attention too, but the Sneetches are definitely his favourite. I can't wait until he starts trying to talk to them!

Finally, Owen is not only grabbing onto toys, but now he's bringing them to his mouth for chewing on. He loves his Rumble Bee (it's a bee that vibrates when you pull the tail) and spent the afternoon gnawing on its crinkly wings. (Whoever thought to put cellophane inside of kiddie toys was a genius - Owen loves his "crinkly" toys!) Another favourite that goes right into his mouth is Pokey Bear, and Mama's fingers are a close runner-up. Yes, it's so sweet when your son grabs onto your finger oh-so tight... and then tries to eat it! What's really funny is when he sometimes misses - there is no way he could pass the finger-to-the-nose test they give people who have been drinking, his hand-to-mouth coordination sometimes leaves a little to be desired. But he's getting it more often than not, and it's pretty cute! I'll try and post some pictures of him tasting his toys next time. Cheers!

Two Months Already!

I can't believe our Cheeri-O is two months old already! He's such a big guy. I know you all just come for the pictures, so first things first:






What a cutie pie, yes? And still good as gold. He's having a nap at the moment - he's on a rotating routine of approximately 3 hours. He wakes, eats, plays, naps, and then repeats every 3 hours or so until he's down for the night. He gave us a few cranky days when he was 6-7 weeks old, because up until then he was falling asleep as soon as he got tired. Now he needs a little help, but now that we've figured that out, we give him some "quiet time" and off he drifts. He's napping much better now too, giving me 45 minutes to over an hour with each nap, and only the occasional short cat-nap, which is nice. And he's gone from waking once-or-twice through the night to only waking once, so we've got high hopes for sleeping through the night by three months.

He's still in our room, but that may be changing shortly now that Steve is back to work - he needs his rest at night! Now that school has started again, we miss Papa during the day. We've started giving Owen a bottle (of expressed breastmilk) once every evening, so he and Papa can have some cuddle time. Last night was the first night they actually got cuddle time though, Owen's still learning to take a bottle, so the first few times were more like protest-time.

Owen has started grabbing toys, but it's still accidental - if there's one in reach when he's waving his hands, he'll grasp it by reflex, and then look surprised when he hits himself in the head with it. We only place soft, head-friendly toys in reach now. :) And he's really starting to get into tummy-time, lasting over 10 minutes on his own. (Tummy-time on mommy or papa's chest lasts much longer). And of course, he babbles non-stop, lots of coos and giggles. We went to Movies for Mommies at the Princess Twin yesterday, and he definitely did not get the lesson on not talking during the movie. He was gurgling away, and laughing like a loon. And staring around like crazy - he's really started to notice other babies, and can't get enough! We have our reunion with our pre-natal class next weekend, and I'm sure he's going to love it. (I also think that all the other babies who are going to be there are girls, which means my little flirt will be in fine form!)

We've also started running, with our awesome jogging stroller. I wait until he looks like he's ready for a nap, then pop him in and off we go - he sleeps the whole time. Right now, he's still lying flat in the jogger, but when he's older and can sit up, we'll do it when he's awake and can enjoy the scenery. I learned quickly during our walks though that he can only take so much staring at the sky before he gets bored and cranky. Love, love, LOVING my stroller.

Next week we're off to the doctor for his two-month shots. I'll get the official weigh-in then, but we're sure that he's closing in on 14 pounds. He's getting heavy in the car-seat bucket! He just keeps growing and growing, sigh. Lots of tiny clothes have already been put away for his little brother or sister one day. Sigh.