The Pea is a She!

Apparently, while I was writing yesterday's post, the Pea finally decided to make an appearance! Yesterday, Olivia Allene was finally born, weighing 8 lbs, 12 ozs. (Yes, I DO remember when Owen wasTHAT size!) Auntie Erica is doing very well, and I think she and Olivia got to go home last night, which is much better than the 5 day hospital stay she had with Nathan. So now Owen has TWO new little girl cousins to admire! And lucky for him, they're cousins in name only, because I have a feeling these two little girls are going to be heartbreakers! :) Here's a picture of Olivia, and I added Lily's birth announcement to the post below. Cheers, and congrats to Auntie Erica, Uncle Marty and Nathan on their beautiful little princess!

A Round of Applause for Owen's New Cousin!

Edited Feb. 27: I've added Lily's birth announcement to the bottom of this post, for anyone who wants to see how lovely she is!

Owen has started clapping his hands! (I meant to mention that in the last post too...) He's been holding a toy in each hand (Peek-a-Blocks or Roll-a-Rounds work best) and banging them together for some time now, and LOVING the noise he could make. And a few days ago he finally got the hang of clapping just his hands. Now he does it all the time! And nothing delights him more than if he starts clapping, and then you join in. Now the clapping has joined screetching as his way of expressing excitement. And he's had lots to be excited about....

Auntie Rachelle had her baby! Her C-section was actually scheduled for today, but she had labour pains early Saturday morning, so Owen's newest cousin arrived a few days early. (And as far as I know Auntie Erica still hasn't had the Pea, poor girl, but that will happen any moment now!) Baby Lily Jade was 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and already has way more hair than Owen! (Big sister Ella was born with lots of hair too.) We got to have a quick visit at the hospital yesterday, and even snuck Owen in with us (the only kids that are supposed to visit are siblings). Rachelle looked great, she said that this recovery is already so much better than last time, so we're very glad about that.

Steve was very funny, he looked at Lily and sighed, Remember when Owen was that small? And I had to laugh, because at 8 lbs 8 ozs, Owen was never that small! Silly Papa. :) Owen wasn't too interested in Lily, although I think he was only pretending. When we first got there, he took a long look at her, and then gave his Uncle Steve a very worried look, with wrinkled forehead and all. I think it was a "Hey, she's cute, but oh yeah, Uncle Steve carries a gun. I'd better pretend that I don't like her AT ALL." I think he'd heard Uncle Steve's joke to Daddy about how now that he has two girls, he has to get a double-barrelled shot gun. Hee.

So, welcome Baby Lily! And Come On Pea!

Toof x2

Well, Owen's second tooth has finally broken through his gums, and the first one is now easily visible whenever he grins (although it's still quite small). He's also THIS CLOSE to crawling, rocking on all fours, pushing himself backwards very vigourously, and skootching (yes, it's a word, watch me conjugate it: I skootch, you skootch, he/she/one/it skootches...) around on his little bum. Skootching is when he almost gets up on all fours, and then plops back down on his bum, but in a different location, so he has moved a little. For a guy who's not quite mobile, he sure doesn't stay in one place anymore! :)

Birthdays, Be Mine, and Don't Forget to Floss!

Last weekend, Owen's Great Grandma Howard celebrated her 91st birthday! We all went to brunch at the Waterloo Inn, and Owen was a very well behaved little gentleman. For the occasion, he wore his suit (which he's only worn once before, to Auntie Kris and Uncle Ryan's reception, so I guess it's good it got worn again!) Owen did very well in his high chair, and even ate his lunch there at the head of the table:

Owen and Mama together (featuring Mama's new hair, which I got cut and highlighted the day before. I hadn't had my hair done since before Owen was born, so that was a treat!)
Owen is thinking, hey, I think that's a camera pointed at me!

That IS a camera! Give it here! I LOVE expensive electronic equipment. I promise to chew VERY carefully on it!

Hee. We had a fun brunch. Steve's Uncle Steve and his friend Tracy were there too, they're going to come down for another visit with Owen at the beginning of March, which is great.

Valentine's Day saw lots of surprises at our house. Owen and I spent the afternoon preparing a special dinner for Papa (stuffed shell pasta and a salad). When Papa came home, he had roses and a card for me, and he took Owen out to get what Owen had "left" in the car, a card and an "I love you" balloon for me. Owen had a card for Papa too, although he wasn't very good at giving the cards - he's still very big into paper, and would much rather chew on the card than hand it off. :)

Owen's first tooth is all the way through the gums, although it's still quite tiny. And it has a little buddy just starting to sprout next to it that I noticed today. Owen came with me to my dentist appointment yesterday afternoon, which was fun. All the girls in the office were very glad to meet him, and he was his usual charming self. I can proudly say that I am nearly 30, and have never had a cavity. The doctor gave me a toothbrush for Owen, and the hygienist actually gave me bubblegum flavoured dental floss for him - apparently, babies are prone to getting cavities between their little molars when they come in! She suggested that when Owen gets his back teeth, I sit on the couch with his head in my lap to floss him (she does this with her kids, and lets them watch TV while she does it). I am not the best at remembering to floss myself, so hopefully knowing that I have to care for Owen's teeth too will keep me on track!

Lots of excitement coming up the next while. Auntie Erica is THIS CLOSE to having the Pea, and Auntie Rachelle is less than a week away from her due date. This weekend, Auntie Lee Ann is coming to town to do some bridesmaid dress shopping, and we have a dinner party on Saturday night (yay!). The next weekend, Uncle Steve and Tracy are coming to visit, then the next weekend, my parents are coming to visit, and then it's March Break, and Steve will be off for a whole week! Then Auntie Jill will be having her baby, then my 30th birthday, and before you know it, it will be April and we'll be off to Barrie to celebrate Owen's Great Grandpa's 90th birthday with everyone. Crazy! I love it. :) Cheers!

It's a Toof!

Well, now I know why Owen has been such a drooly baby the last few days! And why he hasn't slept well the past two nights. He's got a tooth that is just about to break through! It's on the bottom, his front left. I can see two little bumps, and he's been very irritated by it today, gnawing on everything he can get his little hands on. (The strap of Mommy's diaper bag, Mommy's jeans, Mommy's finger.) I got my hair cut yesterday, so there's no more ponytail for him to snack on, much to his dismay.

He's been so into trying to pick up every tiny little thing fluff off the carpet and put it in his mouth (the bane of light-coloured carpet - I vaccum in the morning, and there's still fluff by evening!) so I bought him some little snacking puffs. They're Gerber Graduates, tiny star-shaped rice puffs (I got the sweet potato flavour). They just melt in your mouth, so even though they say they're for 12 months and up, Owen's doing just fine with them (I watch him very closely, but he drools so much, they're practically melted in his hand before they even get into his mouth!) Anyway, Steve's decided that since he's now eating "chewable" food, that's why this tooth decided to put in an appearance.

Of course, it's not a tooth yet, it's still just two little bumps - I can't feel it with my finger yet either. But it's there, just below the surface, and that means that someday soon, our little guy won't be giving me gummy grins anymore - he'll be sharing snaggletooth smiles! Sniff, he's growing up! :)

Howieland gets the Plague

Ugh, we have just had a bout of yucky sickness here in Howieland, and we're not sure where it came from. Owen and I travelled to Barrie last weekend for Owen's Grandma's and Great-Grandma's birthday celebration. We drove up Friday night, and he was an angel. I brought his lullaby CD, and left around bedtime. He slept for about an hour, woke up and "talked" to himself for a bit, and then fell asleep for the rest of the drive. He was a complete ham the entire time we were at Grandma and Grandpa's, playing, "talking", and being full of general cuteness. Sunday morning we were supposed to have a quick visit, maybe some cake, and then head home after lunch in time for Owen's first SuperBowl with Daddy (the Bears are Daddy's team. Yes, he's getting over their loss, thanks for the concern.)

Unfortunately, I woke up feeling just awful on Sunday. Just as I was about to wake my mom, she was already up and coming down the stairs, and I made it back to bed just in time. I ached all over, and my stomach couldn't keep anything down. Luckily Owen is really good with baby food and cereal now, so I nursed him a few times, but Grandma and Grandpa were able to handle everything else, including a short trip to Great-Grandma-and-Grandpa's place, so the birthday celebration went on without me. (Not that I cared, at that point. The high point of my day was eating an apple.) And Owen didn't seem to miss me that much, although he gave me a few looks like, Mama, get out of bed and play with me!

Monday I was feeling much better, and we were out of diapers, so even though there was a lot of blowing snow, Owen and I hit the road at naptime. He took a good nap, and then we stopped in Fergus when he woke up to have some lunch. I went to the McDonalds, because I know they have high chairs. I had some apple slices and a bottle of water, and Owen ate his green beans. And happily shared them through a big gummy grin with everyone who happened to walk by. That was our messiest meal ever - good thing they package the high chairs with wet naps!

Come Wednesday night, Steve came home from school not feeling at that great, and by dinner time, it was pretty clear that he had what I had had. (Which was weird, since it was so much later). I did my best to take care of him, including calling his vice-principal, taking dictation on some notes for a supply teacher, and delivering the notes before school the next day (with Owen, of course). He was feeling much better by end of day yesterday, and was back at work today.

And Owen? Not even a runny nose. He's been a drooly baby the last few days, but healthy as can be. So all in all, no complaints. And I was happy that I was at my parents' house when I was sick, but if Steve and I can arrange that kind of sickness and recovery time between each of us getting sick on all successive illnesses, then one of us will always be well to look after Owen! :)