Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy 1st Halloween!

It was Owen's first Halloween and of course we were going to celebrate! We made LOTS of stops because everyone wanted to see him and he was GREAT about it! He was definitely tired by the time we made it home and headed straight for the bath and then bed. He came home with lots of loot, so overall the night was definitely a success. Here are some pictures to document our first Halloween experience:)

Helping Daddy get ready to carve the pumpkin.

He was supervising:)

Getting his first "touch" of pumpkin guts!


As you can see.....he liked it:)


All of the boys with the finished product.


Chillin' with my pumpkin:)


Our little "monkey" (what else did you think he would be!!)


With his Mickey Mouse pumpkin.


Checking out his loot at Aunt Mindy and Uncle Bill's.


Saturday, October 30, 2010

Tooth #7

Well, no wonder we had some diarrhea and fussiness....tooth #7 was not far behind #6! He cut his top right one as well. After his bath I was trying to lotion up a squirming baby and caught a glimpse of it. He got REALLY mad when I tried to put my finger in there to confirm...but it is definitely there. Now....where is #8 on the bottom?

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Tooth #6

Well, tooth # 6 has finally popped through, but it wasn't the one that I thought it would be. I thought that it would be the right one on the bottom but low and behold it was on the left one on the top! So he is a little lopsided right now....two in the middle on both the top and bottom and then the left side on the top and bottom....makes me wonder when that right side will be coming in:)

Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Best Feeling!

I finally got home this evening.....after a long 8 hour drive from Minnesota. I could feel myself getting more excited the closer I got to being home. When I got home, I didn't even get my stuff out of the back of the car! Of course the dog greeted me first, but when I came around the corner and he saw me--he immediately put one hand out to me and started talking. He got a huge smile on his face and reached out both hands to me when I got close enough to him (Daddy was holding him). When I got him back in my arms, it was the best feeling ever! I missed him so much and it was such a good feeling to be holding him! He melted into me and let me hug and kiss on him. He touched my face and hair...smiling the entire time. He played with my necklace for a few seconds and then he looked up at me and leaned in to give me a kiss! That was a first! He will kiss and love on his stuffed animals, but WE have the hardest time getting kisses from him, so we usually have to steal them! Tony saw him do it and agreed that it was definitely a kiss....made me feel even better! Don't want to think about leaving him again.....although we do have a vacation looming in the future.....but I'm not thinking about that now!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Catching up.....and Taking Steps

So, it feels like forever since I have been on here....so I figure I better do some catching up:) It is so really crazy how fast time goes sometimes! Probably the biggest news from us is that I have had to endure one of the hardest things yet as a mommy......I had to leave my baby! There is a really great conference every year in Minneapolis which focuses on Assistive Technology. I was offered the opportunity to go last year, but I couldn't go because of the pregnancy. I knew the question was coming again this year and I just wasn't sure what my answer was going to be. I wasn't sure if I could leave him for 4 days!! Tony and I had several conversations and we came to the consensus that it was a really good opportunity for me to further myself in my job, so that I should do it. So, I and 3 other co-workers hit the road on Wednesday......and we come home tomorrow. I probably won't make it home until after he is in bed, but I can't wait to see him....and daddy:)

Our other big news is that Owen has been getting closer and closer to walking. He took a few steps for me on Tuesday evening of this week. I was very excited cause he did it for me....wouldn't really do it for daddy...plus I was leaving the next morning! I made Tony promise that he wouldn't encourage him in any way while I was gone.....but according to daddy, Owen has not needed any encouraging:) I received a video of him taking several steps.....I was standing in the middle of Mall of America with tears in my eyes! I figured I would go ahead and upload it for everyone to see (if you have Tony as a friend on Facebook, you've already seen it). Its really short, but he is really close!!

Daddy says he is not encouraging him, but you can clearly hear him tell Owen to walk to him!! Can't wait to head out tomorrow and have him walk into my arms!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Drs' Appt Update

Owen has had a few Dr visits lately that I thought I would share with everyone now that I have a few minutes (thanks Columbus!!).

When I was in my mid 30 weeks of pregnancy, it was discovered that Owen had a UPJ during one of my weekly visits to the perinatologist. A UPJO is a Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction. In lamens terms he had a kink in his drainage system from his kidney to his bladder. The perinatologist made it sound like it was not really that big of a deal, so I didn't mention it in any of my earlier posts. I was told that most times it resolves itself on its own by the time the baby is 18 months old and that he would just have to be monitored a few times by renal sonogram to make sure of it. This happens a lot of times because the baby is scrunched in the uterus and when they get out the kink works itself out. In fact, they thought that it was a good thing that we knew in case he ever presented with a fever, then they could check for a bladder or kidney infection earlier rather than later. So we went on with our lives. They say that it doesn't hurt people who have it.....but how do they know?? He had a sono when he was just a few days old to get a baseline of his kidneys and the blockage. We had another sono when he was about 3 months old at our local hospital. The radiologist there thought that things had gotten a little worse, so we were referred to a pediatric urologist. He had to have a test done--a VCUG--to check to see if urine was backing up into his kidneys. The test was very difficult to be a part of because they had to shoot dye up his urethra and watch on the cameras to see how things reacted. Fortunately, the test showed that there was no back-up, plus the urologist said that she didn't think the original sono which prompted the test was really all that bad. We left feeling much better with another follow-up at 5 months. At that appointment, the sono continued to get better.....so we had another appt at 9 months.

My mom came with me to this sono....it was much harder to get completed because he did not want to lay still! plus they were more than 30 minutes late at the hospital! After the sono we had an appt with the doctor. Unfortunately things had gotten a little worse with his left kidney. He had hydronephrosis pretty severely....which is not what we wanted to hear! The doctor wants to have another sono done at about year old. She wants to wait until he is at least a year old because when babies start walking, they begin to start holding their urine....didn't know that either!!...which could greatly affect the hydronephrosis. Depending on the results of that sono, he may need another dye test--a renal scan. This is where they inject the dye into the blood and watch how it travels through the kidney to the bladder. It can answer a lot of questions about the blockage and if the doctor thinks it will get better on its own or if he will need surgery to repair it....and that is something that we don't even want to think about!! So, now we wait and pray.....his appt is scheduled for Dec 1st....and we hope for good news! So please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

We also had an appt to have his birthmark looked at by a dermatologist. It has turned into more of a mole, so we just wanted to make sure about it. The dermatologist said that most times with birthmarks that large that they usually surgically remove them! What!! So, we go back to meet with a plastic surgeon in March to get his opinion on the situation.....I can tell you that I'm not sure I could handle 2 surgeries within months of each other!!!

So--there are our Dr updates:)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Our 1st Gate

We've been talking for a while about getting one of those really long gates to put around the TV, but have just been putting it off. Well, Owen had a pretty big tumble this morning while playing around the TV stand, so we decided that it was probably time. Grandma Mary came over this afternoon while we ran to Babies R' Us to pick one up. To be honest, I thought that it would have been more expensive than it was, plus I had a coupon! (which while typing this I realize that I probably had a better one that I could have used!!!) Anyways, it is up and we hope to have no more big booboos because of the TV stand!

I took several pictures trying to get a good picture of it!
It's on the top of his cheek-a couple of inches long:(

Daddy got it all put up while Owen was eating dinner.

Owen realizing "no more button pushing for me!"


Saturday, October 9, 2010

Pickin' Pumpkins!

This morning we went to the local Apple Orchard with some friends who have a baby a few months younger than Owen. We had lots of fun, but know that next year we will have to brave the playground:) Owen got to pick out his first pumpkin! It's so fun to start new family traditions!

Hammin' it up in the pumpkins!

I like this one momma!

Really, the grass is much more fun to play with!

Hanging with my buddy Jackson!


Family photo in front of the Tanner's Sign.


Not sure about the goats at first.
Oh, Daddy will help me do it!


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

10 Months!

Wow, another month has flown by! Pretty soon I will be writing about his 1st birthday! But lets not get to ahead of ourselves.....he is still my baby right now:) Here is our update:

Teeth: We are still holding strong with 5, although the 6th one is visible. He has had a few irritable moments lately, so I am thinking that it will be here soon!

Sleeping: He is still taking 2 naps a day. They usually average about 1 1/2 hours, although there are times he can sleep 2 1/2 hours for one of them, but the 2nd one is usually shorter:) He still goes down around 8 and is getting up between 5:30 and 6:00 most mornings. There have been a few days where he has slept in longer, so I am thinking that he must be going through a growth spurt:)

Eating: He still nurses 4 times a day when he is with me. Sometimes my mom has a hard time getting him to take a bottle during the day when he is with her. She will sometimes put his milk in a sippy cup and he will take it and other times he just flat out refuses. I know he probably uses nursing with me as a soother, especially since he usually does it with me before a bedtime and he never took a binkie or sucked his thumb, so I can see how he still wants to nurse when I am around. We will have to see what the next month brings with that.......as far as food, he definitely does not mind having that! He is getting to the point where he would rather have regular food than any baby food. So we are using up what we have in the freezer and will probably make no more at this point:) He still eats oatmeal in the morning, but now with a little extra flavor added to it, and usually my mom gives him part of whatever she is having at lunch-he likes to share. At dinner, we try to get him to eat a fruit and a veggie with some meat in it, although some nights he is voicing his opinion that it is not his first choice! Then we usually try to share whatever we are having with him, as long as it is something we don't think will upset his belly. Some of his favorites are yogurt, mac & cheese, vegetable soups, and cheerios:) He hasn't been a big fan of cottage cheese just yet, but we've only tried it once. Other than that, there aren't many things that he doesn't like! He is also excellent at picking things up and feeding himself!

Mobility: Oh wow, is he mobile! He is still crawling everywhere, but it seems he gets faster everyday! He can use just about anything to pull-up on and he is a master at cruising around the furniture. He also started using a push-toy to practice his walking skills (I do have a video I hope to get up soon)....now he would rather run with it and he gets mad when you try to slow him down! He has practiced standing at times...thinks it is really cool, but still only does it for a few seconds before he grabs back on. We've seen a few "steps" out of him, but nothing that could be considered walking just yet. He has taken some pretty big tumbles, but that is all part of the process, although now our coffee table has been retired to the basement! I'm afraid by my next month post that this section will just say "walking!!"

Talking: He is still doing lots of babbling, but does say momma and dadda very regularly. He LOVES to shake his head 'no' no matter what the question is! Very cute to see, and this is also how he voices his opinions during mealtimes! He appears to be trying to say words for several different things, although they all sound alike right now. He really likes to talk to the dog and he seems to be stringing more sounds together lately:) He has also started signing "more", "all done", and "milk" (every once in awhile) so that has been very exciting for us! He also loves to wave hello and goodbye. I now get a send off every morning when I drive away from my mom's house-makes my day. He also likes to wave at the cars that drive by when we are out on a walk!

And now.....the pictures:)

Trying yogurt for the 1st time:) It is one of his favorites now!
Looking out the window....Wild Hair Day!!
Practicing his walking skills....at 6AM!!
Sleeping.....is there really anything cuter?

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Monster Dash

So I did it! I completed the race.....and I didn't stop the entire way! (Tony kept telling me that as long as I didn't stop, I would be able to say that at the end-no matter what my time ended up being!!) It was FREEZING, rainy and windy when we got there and unfortunately the weather didn't get any better before race time. We both decided to run in our sweatshirts, but decided to leave our pants behind and just go in shorts. I was glad that I did that because once I started it got a little warmer:) Tony stayed with me the entire time...I only needed help with one of the obstacles....and it was poorly put together.....so I think I did ok:) I did not do the Warrior Dash in June, but this had WAY less participants so overall it was a much smaller venue. Tony thought that overall the course was longer, but the obstacles were not as intense. He keeps telling me that I did good for my first time.....hopefully next year I can be a warrior too:)

The Results:
Time: 33:53
7th overall female in my age-group
101st overall out of 396 participants


Pre-Race....can you tell we were cold?

Post-Race....and we were still smiling:)