What's in Your Vase?

We have one "decorative" item left in our house. It is a large vase with bamboo sticks up by our front door. I'm not sure why we chose this item to leave out when baby-proofing, but we did. For the most part, Owen has left it alone...but in the past few weeks he has been starting to notice it a little more. We here him playing with the sticks and in the past few days he has even brought one of the sticks to us....but we have persevered and decided to leave it out:) Last week, I installed a new app on my phone called Toddler Lock. I was letting Owen "play" with it, and he ran away from me.....and when he came back he didn't have the phone. We could here it though (thanks to the music) so Tony went looking for it.....and he found it in the vase. When he took the sticks out to retrieve it, he found a host of other treasures that Owen had been storing in there as well:)

The Vase

The "treasures"

So....to answer the question: 1 dog bone, 1 basting brush, 1 tablespoon, 2 bottle caps, 4 outlet covers (that were not in outlets, but a drawer!), several pieces of paper, and the bamboo sticks of course!

We've decided we need to check the vase when something goes missing:)

15 month update

We went to the Dr today for Owen's 15 month appointment. We were a little late, but decided to wait until our preferred Dr. was on the "well-baby" side:)

Height: 31 1/2 inches (50%-75%)
Weight: 21lbs 1 oz (3%)- more on this later
Head: 47 1/2 cm (50%-75%)

Overall he is a very healthy boy and is ahead in most of his developmental milestones, which always makes a parent feel good! Unfortunately his weight had dropped off a bit. In fact, on Friday when we revisited urgent care for a chest x-ray (all was clear) he was 22lbs 8 ozs, so he had dropped off a lot in just a couple of days. We were a little worried about this, as was the doctor. Owen has become a much pickier eater as of late, not just picky but not wanting a whole lot of anything. He also has not been wanting to drink much milk lately. The doctor said to really push his milk and even wants us to add a few scoops of milk powder to boost the calories in that. He doesn't think it was bad enough that we needed to start with pediasure, but that will be our next step if this doesn't help. Plus he was just pretty sick, so we aren't jumping to any conclusions as of yet. We revisit for a weight check in a month, so we hope that he has fattened up a bit by then! I will keep everyone posted on how we think he's doing with that!

I realized that I hadn't posted any pictures lately, so I figured that I better add a few on this post! These were taken just a couple of days ago as he was working on using a spoon to eat his macaroni and cheese! Utensils are his new favorite thing....and we even use them to get him to eat sometimes. He is pretty good at stabbing with a fork and is kind of getting the hang of scooping with a spoon. Sometimes though he just picks up the food and puts it on the spoon...much easier that way! He still amazes me everyday with all that he is learning! Oh yes, and we tried a day of sitting in the booster chair at the table.....but we're not quite ready for that, so we're sticking with the high chair for now:)

Thinking about loading up the spoon instead of using it to scoop!

Got some on there, now lets see if I can make it to my mouth!

Ooops, fell off....better try again.

Success!

Croup:(

Well, we hid as long as we could! Croup has made a visit to our home:( For the last couple of days he has had a little cough every now and then, but nothing major. This morning he woke up sounding a little froggy. I told Gramma to keep an ear on it and let me know if it got any worse. I talked with her around lunchtime and she said that it seemed to be about the same...so I went about my day hoping that it continued to stay that way. About 3:00 I got a text from Gramma saying that he sounded worse after his nap and that maybe I should call the pediatrician for an appt tomorrow. I immediately did that and instead of being able to just schedule an appt, they wanted me to talk to a nurse which meant I had to wait for a call back. Well when I got home and heard him, it was definitely worse than this morning. Gramma left and I continued to wait for a call. He had a couple of crying/coughing fits and I was pretty sure that he had a temp. At 4:30 I called the office back, but got the exchange....so off to Urgent Care we went.

It really didn't take too long, which I was surprised about, and the doctor said that he had "infectious croup." We got a prescription for a steroid and he told us to give him tylenol/motrin for fever (it was 101 btw) and then benadryl as well. The Dr there (a former pediatrician with a good reputation) said if he had a coughing fit and was having trouble catching his breath to take him into the garage so he could breathe in the cold air....this helps supposedly...but if after 15 minutes he was still struggling that we should head to the ER for a breathing treatment. Well, needless to say that doesn't help Tony and I as we will try to get some sleep tonight! but it was good info nonetheless:) He also said that the cough could stay around for up to a week or so...great news as well!

So here's to hoping for a quick recovery for my little man.....and to hide from croup for another 15 months or so! Oh and my pediatrician's office did call back.....but I was in urgent care when they did:)

Momma's Boy

It seems in the past week or so that Owen has become a downright Momma's Boy. He is wanting nothing to do with Daddy:( It hurts my heart when he refuses to go to Tony, give him a kiss, play with him, etc. I know that it is probably just a passing phase, but it still makes me sad.

We had kind of gotten into a routine at night that I was the one who usually put him to bed. I don't know why, but Tony just hadn't been doing it much the past few weeks. Well, a couple of nights ago Tony was going to put him to bed....and lets just say that it did not go well. He practically had to pry him out of my arms, then he refused to give me a kiss because he was upset, and then he cried and cried for Tony in the bedroom and pointed to the door because he wanted me. We have tried a couple of more nights since then and it has been about the same. Tony has been a trooper and kept at it....and I have been good and not gone in to rescue.

I remember a few weeks after Owen was born that I wondered if he would ever be a Momma's Boy. I know I wasn't quite myself, but it seemed like Tony was the only one who could calm him down. It would make me happy to see them together, but make me wonder if I was cut-out for this "mom" thing. I guess we have come full circle....

Tony says that he is fine with him when I'm not around....hope that is true since I will be gone for a couple of days next week for a training. Maybe when I come back he will be a Daddy's Boy:)

Grandparents & Fingers

While growing up, Tony and I were both very close to a set of grandparents. They were very integral parts of our lives growing up. We both spent lots of time there and have wonderful memories of them throughout our lives. We also have great memories of times together with them once we began dating and into the beginning of our marriage. Unfortunately, they did not make it to meet Owen. We talk all the time about how we wish they were still here, or how they would "just love it" when Owen does something. We are sad that they are not here with us physically, but know that they are looking down on us and were probably an integral part of pleading with God that it was finally "our time" for a miracle......

All of that being said, one of the longest memories that I have of my grandpa was that when I would sit on his lap he always used to play with the tips of my fingers. I always wondered why he did it, but I never thought to ask. It just became something that he did and I grew accustomed to it as I grew older. In the past few weeks and in the rare moments that Owen is "still" which is usually right before sleep or right after waking up, he will at times play with the tips of my fingers. The first time he did it, it took my breath away because I immediately thought of my grandpa. I'm not sure if it is something that will continue for a long time, but I will cherish the moments with him when it does.

I can only hope that there will be more moments with Owen as he grows up when other little "traits" of our grandparents will appear. Tony and I will try our hardest to let him know what wonderful people they were and I know that others will as well. We miss them terribly, but know that they will always be watching over us.

Snow Days 2011

The blizzard of 2011 hit us pretty squarely over the head! I've been off from school for 3 straight days (which is a HUGE rarity!!) and Tony came home early on Tuesday and was off all day yesterday. I've been having a great time home with my little man....kind of like an early spring break:) Thought I would share some pictures of how we fared after the storm left and of Owen experiencing being out in snow for the first time....he had a blast! In fact, he cried when I made him come in:)

We lost a pretty big limb and Owen's swing is barely holding on!

There are 5 trees under all of that snow.....I hope they survive the thaw!

Watching daddy clear the deck for Tasker.


There is a driveway somewhere under all of that snow. Tony
swears that our driveway caught everyone else's snow!

Venturing out of the garage...

The drifts were about as tall as he was!

He liked the snow blower....Tony said that "Daddy's vacuum was

better than mommy's!" I think Owen agreed:)

He fell, but didn't seem to mind. He kept trying to throw "balls" for

Tasker but they all fell apart in his hands before he could!

Wasn't too sure of being in the snow:) Liked it much better

when he could walk around and touch it himself!

Teeth 11 & 12

It was a long, hard battle but I am happy to say that teeth 11 & 12 have finally made an appearance! To be honest, tooth 12 is only 1/2 way through but I'm going to go ahead and count it because it seemed like overnight my happy baby returned:) Owen had been increasingly fussy in the evening hours over the last couple of weeks. Tony and I were about going crazy some nights because nothing seemed to make him happy! Finally, on Monday night we both commented that he was in such a better mood.....I had an inkling so I checked and the two bottom molars were showing! Life has been much better these last few days:) I really hope that his two year molars are not this difficult on him.....or us!