Saturday, June 23, 2012

4 Months

We are a little past due for this post! It's hard now to separate what happened in month 4 and what has happened since! Returning to work is just getting in the way of so many things...especially loving on my boy. It has been so good though only having to work 3 days a week. Two of those days are 10 hour days which are SO hard because I don't see Owen for almost 12 hours but we are figuring it out.

After Owen's first week of daycare he got sick with a cold and was sick for about 4 weeks! It was rough but the doctor said that is just part of daycare (I took Owen to the doctor twice...convinced he had something serious). I've got a lot to learn apparently!

The biggest thing that happened in month 4 was my little gallbladder adventure. Who knew that pregnancy can trigger gallstones? I learned that one the hard way! About a month after Owen was born I started having these "gallbladder attacks". Which consists of severe abdominal pain for usually about 4-6 hours. I was trying to watch what I ate to prevent having to have surgery. Well, apparently Joe T. Garcia's chicken fajitas are not too healthy. They triggered a gallbladder attack that would not go away. After about 17 hours of pain I was told to go to the ER. Turns out my gallbladder was inflamed and infected and had to be taken out. I ended up staying in the hospital for 2 days (including over Mother's Day) and had to be away from Owen. That was the hardest part. When I got home I ended up becoming jaundice which meant something had been missed in my surgery and I had to go back to the hospital for another 2 days to have another procedure done...once again being away from Owen. It was a tough deal but Tim definitely wins the husband/dad of the year award for taking care of me and at the same time making sure Owen had everything he needed at my parents house. My parents were incredible as well keeping Owen the whole time...at that point he was still getting up at 4am for a feeding. We were so blessed by family throughout that whole situation.  After another 2 weeks off of work (after only being back 2 days) I was feeling better and we were able to get back into the routine of things.

One of the best things about month 4 was my brother and new sister-in-law coming into town for their Texas reception. I just love them getting to spend time with Owen. Owen loves his Uncle Brian and Aunt Autumn. It was such a fun weekend.

His 4 month vaccinations were SO much better. He was barely fussy and did not get a fever. Praise Jesus!

4 Month Checkup
Length: 27 1/4 - above the 95th percentile (taking after his Pops and Uncle Brian)
Weight: 16.1 lbs (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 50th percentile

He is a big boy! The doctor said he is tall and skinny.

Loves: the mirror, being held so he can look around, his play mat/activity gym, holding things, reading/eating books, touching his toes, face to face time, and hearing lots of different sounds that make him laugh. He also smiles so big every time I sing "Jesus Loves You" (I changed the words)

Hates: being sick :(...aka to use the nasal aspirator or snot sucker, tummy time (not quite as much but still not his favorite thing)

Owen still has some onsies that are 0-3 months that he is wearing. Most of his shorts and other outfits are 3-6 months. He is wearing size 2 diapers. He eats every 3-4 hours, still just breast milk which is a miracle considering the gallbladder ordeal! He now sleeps through the night! He will go 10:30-6:30 or 7. He has been taking much better naps as well. Anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours! Quite the range.

He is still the happiest baby. He wakes up in the morning with a big smile on his face. It is so sweet because he has started reaching for our faces and wants to touch our noses and mouths. He has started to lose some of his hair. He has the cutest little bald spot I have ever seen! He is getting so much better at grabbing things and he wants everything in his mouth. He has a wubba nub pacifier that we CAN NOT leave home without! The big thing of the month was Owen rolled over from his stomach to his back. That was so exciting! Funny how all those little things are such a BIG deal.

Pretty much our sweet boy is growing way too fast like everyone told us. He is such a blessing from the Lord and we praise Jesus everyday for him.

Our verse this past month that we prayed over him was:

"Your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, and Your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be Your rear guard." Isaiah 58:8

This was such a great verse as we dropped him off at daycare and as he was trying to heal from the cold he had for so long! I'm so thankful that we serve a God that longs to be in communication with us and hears our prayers!

Might have gotten a little carried away on posting pictures this month...there are quite a few :)


My first Mother's Day :)



Happy and content at Pops and Gigi's while Tim and I were in the hospital

Love this picture!

Go Horned Frogs! My parents bought him this.



First time in the pool..not too happy




Owen's Great-Grandmother made him this quilt using patches that his great-great grandmother made. Such a special gift!

He has his daddy's eyes

So cute in his little robe

With Great-Grandpa

Little Chunk!

Eating lunch with Pops and Gig

This is the perfect picture

Nap time with Daddy


With Uncle Brian and Aunt Autumn


Eating at Joe T's





With Aunt Autumn and Autumn's mom


The Texas Reception


Mr. and Mrs. Brian Wang






Worn out at Bella Italia's

Our happy boy!!



Thursday, May 24, 2012

Pinterest Cookin'

I was pretty hesitant to jump on the pinterest bandwagon. I really didn't get it...I mean what does it mean to pin something or create your own boards? Well I now see why pinterest is so popular. My favorite thing about pinterest is all the recipes. I love to cook. I even had a little cooking blog with a good friend for a bit. It's still up but neither of us have posted any recipes for awhile (Taste and See ). There are some good ones on there! Anyways, I wanted to share my successful recipes that I have found on pinterest! They were all SOOO delicious.



       This dish was SO good and SO easy...the name sounds more complicated than it really is! Too bad the brussels sprouts upset Owen's stomach. Tim got to have all the leftovers himself!




This one is for sure my favorite!! Don't forget to add water into the crock pot before cooking it. I used about 1/4 cup. It really keeps the chicken moist! 




This one was Tim's favorite. The only change I would make is how the sauce is done at the very end. It took FOREVER (probably 45 minutes) for my sauce to get thick. I would recommend this: 
Still remove the chicken from the crockpot. Then pour all the sauce into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. In the meantime combine the cornstarch and water until it is smooth. Slowly stir the cornstarch mixture into the sauce. Stir until the sauce has thickened. Then pour the sauce onto the delicious chicken and sprinkle on the sesame seeds. We had white rice with ours!!


Sunday, May 20, 2012

3 Months

Another month gone! It was such a great month with our little guy. My brother's wedding week was so much fun. Owen did great on the airplane...pretty sure I was way more stressed than he was! Tim wasn't able to come until Thursday so my mom, grandmother, Owen and I left Monday morning. I think the most stressful part was getting through security with all our stuff! It is amazing how much such a little guy needs (or at least how much I think he needs). Poor Tim had to watch from behind the ropes as we not so smoothly made it through. We found out later Tim could have gotten a pass to come and help. There was a really nice man that helped me though...and 15-20 minutes later we were through. I had lots of good tips for the plane ride and was able to make sure he was sucking on something when taking off and landing. That was really the only part that stressed me out. Owen pretty much slept the whole plane ride after that.

The week was full of activities to get ready for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. I feel like it was really good for me because I had become quite obsessed with Owen and his schedule that not having such a set schedule (except for him eating) not only made me enjoy my time with Owen so much more but Owen seemed to take better naps and be happier over all! We did have some excitement that week as well with an ER visit for me (thank you gallbladder for your great timing) and the imminent weather report of a massive storm on Brian and Autumn's wedding day... for their outdoor wedding. It was so incredible how calm both Brian and Autumn remained. They were both so focused on just getting married and trusted that the Lord would take care of everything else! And that He did! It did rain on Saturday, but the huge storm split and did not hit Sarasota. The wedding was perfect in every way and Autumn was the most beautiful bride ever. She was so sweet to include my mom and me as she put on the wedding dress since that was such a special time...Owen however decided to scream in the small RV the whole time Autumn was getting dressed. Ruined that moment a little bit. During the ceremony Owen stayed in the RV with our best friends from California and they were so sweet to take care of Owen as well during the reception so Tim and I could focus on Brian and Autumn. The flight back was a success as well and much less stressful having Tim there with us.

The hardest part about month three was my return to work. Don't worry that I cried the first time we dropped him off at the nursery at church...I knew daycare was going to be even harder and it was! I was pretty much a wreck but I survived and Owen did great. He only went 2 days that week and the daycare even sent us great pictures of Owen with big smiles on his face.

Tim and I had to do our own measurements this month so they probably aren't completely accurate :) I found a website also that tells you what percentile your little cutie is in which is nice!

Weight: 15.5 lbs, between 75 and 90th
Length: 25 inches, 75th percentile
Head Circumference: between 75 and 90th

Loves: being bounced, his changing table, the nap nanny (best purchase Tim and I made), looking at books, face to face time, reaching for toys and objects, music and singing, snuggling, The Very Hungry Caterpillar soft book, hearing different sounds, activity mat

Hates: still tummy time

Owen is wearing 0-3 months and 3-6 month clothes. He barely fits in his size 1 diapers which we are trying to finish the package we already opened before moving up to size 2! He eats every 3-4 hours, still just breast milk. He teased Tim and me for 6 nights sleeping from 11-7 but that has sense stopped.

Owen is one happy boy! He wakes up with a big smile on his face and is cooing and gooing like crazy. He has started a little laugh and we just can't get enough of it! Sometimes if he laughs too hard he will get the hiccups. When you hold a toy in front of him he is able to grab it and immediately tries to put it to his mouth. He loves his activity mat and grabs and pulls up on the toys.

Our verse for Owen this past month: Proverbs 3:24 "when you lie down you will not be afraid. When you lie down your sleep will be sweet." Owen really slept so much better this month!

Tim and I didn't take very many pictures at all during the wedding...once we get the ones the photographer took of Owen, I will post them! He was so handsome in his little tie!



Can you find Owen? We had quite a few things!
Trying to get through security...I look kind of calm?

There was the nice man that helped us

My mom and me with the newest addition to our family!

Uncle Brian giving Owen a bottle

Leave it to Uncle Brian to teach Owen how to hold the bottle himself

Sleeping with Pops

With his Aunt Autumn

Lorna loved to hold Owen

With Shannon

Rehearsal dinner...Texas BBQ on the beach


Shannon did such an incredible job...love what she did with the Texas flag ;)


Our sweet boy sleeping at the rehearsal dinner


Rehearsal dinner game..I love Brian's face in this picture

Wedding day!

Smiling at his Uncle Brian on the wedding day

Such a handsome boy in his little tie

Our little family

The wedding wore him out!

Sleeping on the plane

On the airplane back to Texas

Visiting dad at work

He fell asleep like this in Tim's lap

We love the nap nanny!

Holding his book by himself

Meeting Tim's small group

Reaching for toys

Little cutie

Smiling at mommy

Look at him smile at Tim! I love it!

Owen loved listening to Michael play the guitar

With his friend Kinley

Milk drunk to say the least

My first day back to work

He hates tummy time!

He is getting so big!