funny Lucas

Lucas and I were just staring at Owen (again), and I mentioned how I can't believe how cute he is. Lucas said, "I think he's so cute because he's so symmetrical" He was serious... Owen is symmetrical, that's why he's cute.

New mom alert

I am not shy to admit that I am a new mom. I make rookie mistakes, like burping Owen without a burp rag, leaving the house without brushing my hair or not tightening the bottle lid before I shake it.

Today I was leaving the house for a walk with Owen. He was dressed, had a blanket, his binkie, and was strapped into the car seat. I had brushed my teeth, my hair, put on deodorant, and had clean clothes on... fresh from the dryer. I went for a walk up to grab coffee, waved at neighbors, said my polite "hellos" and "good mornings". I was having a great morning. I even had feeding time right, made it home with 30 minutes to spare before Owen woke up hungry.

During the feeding, I stopped for the mid-meal burp. However, the burp turned into full on spit up. All over my clean clothes. No worries, I had more clean clothes in the dryer. What I realized when I looked down to take off my T-Shirt, is that it was on wrong-side out. Sure I had minty breath, nice smelling pits, and a brushed pony tail... I just didn't quite dress myself right.

I am still a tired new mom, barely able to make it out of the house looking and smelling good.

Is that really comfortable?

Owen loves car rides. He loves going for walks in the stroller when he's strapped into the car seat. Almost always when he's done going for a ride, his head is off to the side. It looks like his head is falling off. We put it back on, and it just falls over again. Strange thing is that he has a very strong neck and he CAN upright his head by himself... I just think he's more cozy this way.

The training has begun

Strong with Owen the force is. A Jedi Knight he may become.

sleeping

I just can't get over how cute Owen is. I'll just stare at him, trying to figure out who he looks like. I can't really see me or Lucas in him. My friend says she sees my dad. All I know is that he's really cute and I'm in love!


He loves his hands. Almost always he'll have at least one of his hands touching his face. It makes it look like he's a thinker, or at least a day dreamer!

Olympian in training

Today I was feeding Owen and talking to Jill on the phone. I thought multi-tasking would be a good idea, but then my hungry hippo ate a little too fast without a "burp break". I sat him up to burp him and he projectile vomited over four feet. Jill heard it happen, I got to see and feel it. All over him, my shirt, my jeans, the edge of the couch, the carpet and the blanket sitting two feet from the couch. I think this may have won a medal in the Projectile Vomit Olympics. Amazing how far a little three week baby can toss his cookies.

I know this is only the first of many times he'll do this, but the first time is always the best!

Three Weeks

Today is Owen's three week birthday. I didn't make a cake, and we aren't having a party. I'm just stating the fact that he is 21 days old. I think today maybe marks the time were I no longer say how many days old he is, rather how many weeks. When we switch from weeks to months I don't know. And then when do you go from months to years? I don't say I'm 383 months old, I suppose I'll have to get back to you on that one.

We are in an odd time warp. It seems to be going quickly and slowly all at the same time. Somehow a week has snuck by, and this is the first chance to update my blog. Yet I have so many photos and stories to tell... so this is just one of a few entries I'll put up today. Someday I'll be more like Suzi and update daily... I just don't see that day anywhere in the near future!

The 5 S's

There is a video and book out there called "The happiest baby on the block". It's all about how if you follow these five things, a crying baby will stop crying. 1. Swaddle the baby 2. Put the baby on his Side/Stomach 3. Shake baby (not shaken baby type of shake, more of a jiggle) 4. Shush in the babies ear 5. Give baby something to Suck

Watching the video, it takes you step by step. So Lucas and I decided to give it a try. So, first we swaddled Owen. They don't just mean wrap the baby, they mean restrain the baby. So, arms at his sides, blanket tightly wrapped around him. He looked like just a head. This calmed him a bit, but we only just started the process.

Next we turned him on his side. He may appear calm, but I think we have stunned him by this point. So, maybe Stun should be one of the S's. His eyes got so big. I think if I could read Owen's mind, he's thinking: What are they going to do next? They've taken away my arms, now I'm sideways. Just hold still, stop crying... it's only going to get worse if I don't stop crying.
Next, we jiggle his head like a "bowl of Jello". Again, notice the fear in his eyes. I'm sure the jiggling does remind him of his old uterine home... but we aren't in Kansas anymore. I think he already knows this.
No picture of us "shushing" in his ear... but here's one of him sucking. Sucking the thumb right off of Lucas' hand. Notice how he has escaped from the swaddle, he really loves his arms. We call him our Houdini, he reminds me the patient that drives me crazy because he keeps getting unrestrained.
Overall, we are lucky that Owen isn't that cranky of a kid. But it's good to know we can stun the tears right out of him.

So to recap, maybe the 5 S's should be: 1. Secure 2. Scare 3. Shake 4. Shush 5. Stun

Quilt by Jill, Owen by Marla

As soon as I put him in this shirt, I knew that he would match the beautiful quilt Jill made for Owen.

Look at how small his arms are!

Hello

My cousin Nikki got us this adorable onsie. Seth has the same shirt, but of course, his says "Seth" and I'm just assuming that baby Kate has one too. It's a great success at parties. Yep, Owen and I ventured to a baby shower yesterday, and only two people asked what his name was... uh... read the shirt!

The first photo is before dinner time, the second after. Owen is usually a happy baby, only cries when he's hungry or naked. I can relate, that's when I cry too. The nice thing is that I still find him cute when he cries... especially when he does his "Captain Quiver-chin" impersonation... or when he sounds like a dolphin... or when his face looks like a cartoon baby crying turning both eyes into a giant "X" shape... he's just cute all the time!

What's Cookin'

As everyone knows, Lucas LOVES to cook. So it seemed only fitting to see what Owen stew might look like. We decided that there wouldn't be enough room for the carrots, celery and broth, so no Owen stew for us.

I know there will some of you out there that will be disturbed by this photo... Owen was not harmed during the shooting of this photo. He slept through the entire photo shoot. We didn't use any knives, hot water, or spices as props for a purpose. We would not have REALLY made Owen stew. He is too cute to eat. (also the reason I don't eat veal)

A few firsts

As I'm holding a handsome sleeping baby in my arms, I thought I should post a few pictures. The first few are from when my sister stopped by, so the first aunt to hold him (one down, two to go) and the first cousins to see him (2 down, 3 to go)

The other first is the first bath. He didn't cry too hard, but did pee on his dad to show his protest afterwards!

I love how "interested" Zachary is with him, until Suzi said he was like Amy (his doll). Then he decided to hold Owen for about 10 seconds before he lost interest.

grandparents

Owen is very lucky to have two grandmas and two grandpas to love, hold, and spoil him. These are from the hospital. Owen was one of 5 babies born within 45 minutes on the 29th, I think they all know he was the cutest baby born that day! Lucas and I still can't believe how cute he is, even if he is the source of our sleeplessness!

New Baby

Well, it's official... we are parents. On May 29th at 2:49pm, we welcomed Owen Alexander Friedler into the world. He was 20 inches long, and 7lb 13.6oz.

He started his appearance with the "breaking of the waters" at 0030 in bed. (I have pictures of the wet spot if anyone wants to see... we are nurses... we take pictures of funny things... including the placenta)


He is BEAUTIFUL. We are in love! Here are some photos... more to follow.