If our child falls alseep in a forest...

We are quirky parents. We buried our son's umbilical cord in our front yard. We made stop motion animation books about our daughter rolling over. We forced our son to pose for pictures while suffering from a head trauma. And for nearly six and a half years, we've recorded every nap, diaper change and nursing episode that our children encountered.

But that is about to change.

With Owen going off the books long ago (back when he started at Peabody and we stopped getting information about if and for how long he napped during the day) and Nora now being completely potty-trained, there's not a lot to track. We agreed a while ago that when our subscription for the Trixie Tracker came up next, we would let it lapse. That day is today (which means that in at least one sense, the Mayans were right).

We've gotten a lot of grief over the years regarding our OCD tendencies concerning our children's more basic functions, but knowing that information was extremely helpful early on, and, well, later it just didn't seem like something really happened unless we recorded it for posterity. Personally, I'm going to miss it. And so it is with a somewhat heavy heart, I report the final stats as this phase of our lives ends:

Diapers Changed
Owen: 7,465
Nora: 7,139

Minutes Nursing/Bottle Equivalent
Owen: 31,824*
Nora: 24,292

Longest Single Sleep
Owen: 11 hours, 54 minutes (December 26, 2009)
Nora: 12 hours, 50 minutes (November 4, 2012)

Awake Longest During the Day
Owen: 16 hours, 33 minutes (July 3, 2010)
Nora: 15 hours, 24 minutes (August 24, 2012)

Awake the Least During the Day
Owen: 7 hours, 49 minutes (March 17, 2007)
Nora: 7 hours, 23 minutes (September 12, 2009)



(Please note: Owen's nursing stats are artificially high due to our attempts to convert bottle feedings to nursing equivalents. The underlying assumptions were revised downwards when Nora began nursing. However, we made no attempts to update Owen's nursing stats with the revised assumptions.)

School Daze

Owen started first grade at Watkins today. He was feeling a little nervous this morning as we headed to his new classroom -- he went from being one of the big kids on campus and surrounded by his buddies, to being one of the youngest in a really big school with his best friends all in different classrooms. Fortunately, Owen's friend Hayden from t-ball also ended up in Ms. Bowers class. As we left for the parent meeting in the auditorium/cafeteria, Owen was reading books and laughing with Hayden and Bernard (who'd been in different classes at Peabody).

Owen wasn't particularly forthcoming about his day (they ate lunch in the classroom, played on the field because the 2nd graders were on the playground at recess, and "kindergarten was a lot more fun" was about all we got out of him), but he managed to take the bus from Watkins to Peabody so we could pick him up at aftercare without losing himself, his backpack or his metro card. On the basis of that alone, we're willing to call it a success.

In the immortal words of Nora Fawcett...

In January three years ago, we had a post of some of our favorite, "Owenisms" -- random things Owen had said that were adorable or phrases that had become a regular part of his vernacular. We had decided to do it as a "Year in Review" post and as such, had a running tally that we added to and refined over the course of several weeks.

We didn't do that with Nora.

Partly because Nora's been more verbal at an earlier age than Owen was, that by the time we started writing stuff down, it seemed pretty rote. Partly because Nora mimics her beloved older brother so much that a lot of her phrases are really Owen phrases. And partly because what makes Nora's comments so endearing isn't necessarily what she says so much as the way she says them (there's a lot of singing and exclamation points).

But for the sake of equality and posterity...

1. I LOVE Uncle Dave.
2. I’m Ladybug girl.
3. I don’t have any poopies.
4. I want mines!
5. Go away, Mommy! I want Daddy tuck me in.
6. I want snack!
7. It’s my birthday.
8. I got a lollipop!
9. Don’t go breakin’ my heart...
10. I’m the baby robot and you’re the Mommy robot.
11. I’m awake.
12. Baby, baby Crockett...
13. We’re going to outer space!
14. I have a little gas. Do you have gas?
15. Argh…Where are all the peoples?
16. Thanks for cooking, Mommy.
17. I have blue and Owen has blue eyes and Daddy has blue and Mommy has brown eyes.
18. I’m so pretty.
19. I need the happy face.
20. Can I have Baby Jesus?
21. I’m swimming!
22. Bon appetite!
23. I go to church.
24. Can I watch Dora?
25. Tickle me!
26. My favorite colors are purple and pink.
27. I want to fly.
28. I’m so big.
29. Waaa…I want a tissue.
30. You have cold hands.
31. I’m spinning!
32. I don’t know.
33. Silly, Nora.
34. I need a wipe.
35. I’m Wonder Woman and Owen’s Superman and Daddy’s Green Lantern and Mommy’s Batgirl.
36. Yee-Haw!
37. Thanks for setting the table, Owen.
38. I want to sleep a little longer.
39. Can I have my crocodile be-be?
40. I’m not sorry.
41. Want to see me do something cool?
42. See my cool cool tower.
    
43. I LOVE my big girl bed!

City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks

We posted about Nora's first steps a while ago, but in the last month or so she has really taken off. An update seemed in order so everyone can see how fast our little baby is growing up.

Walking, Climbing, Riding

Nora's mobility has greatly increased recently. The week before her birthday she took her first steps. Just a few at first, and generally they were more of a controlled fall into Mommy or Daddy's arms, but she quickly gained her footing and started stringing enough steps together that "walking" really is the only suitable word to describe what she is doing.



She has also extended her range vertically by finally deciding to take on the task of climbing the stairs. While Owen started climbing the stairs soon after he started crawling, Nora was so uninterested in the stairs that we haven't needed to bother with the gate at the bottom of the stairs. Now she's discovered that when all the fun is upstairs, she doesn't need to ask to be carried up to join in, but can simply climb up herself. I guess it's time we finally start using that gate.



For her first birthday present, we pulled Owen's first birthday present out of Mom Mom's attic and gave it to Nora. She loved the scooter, and had no complaints about the hand me down present (although Owen had to be convinced that he's too big for it now). It's faster than crawling, easier than walking, and is all together the perfect mode of transport for our little one year old.

What a difference 3 days make

After my kvetching that we were missing all of Nora's milestones and had to resort to staging a series of firsts in order to accurately record them, Nora decided to take matters into her own hands. Tuesday her first two teeth broke the surface (they're still not all the way in). Wednesday morning she pulled herself up for the first time (she was pretty excited). Wednesday evening she caught her first softball (That was actually an accident. Owen threw a softball that hit Allen's shoe and landed in between our little girl's chin and the sippy cup she was holding. Amazingly, she was unhurt (and also unfazed) by this unintentional game of catch which will not be repeated for a long, long time). And Thursday afternoon she clapped for the first time. We figure at this rate she'll be walking Memorial Day and talking in full sentences by the Fourth of July.

The teeth thing isn't particularly exciting, Nora's refusing to clap on screen, and we're not re-enacting the softball thing for obvious reasons, but for your viewing pleasure, here is Nora pulling herself up, day two.

Crawling?

Our baby girl is on the move! She's not yet up on her hands and knees, so we're not quite ready to officially call this "crawling", but she can commando crawl wherever she wants to go.

Nora Sitting

The status of Nora's ability to sit-up has been source of contention for weeks now. Allen claims she's been able to sit upright since late February; I've been less generous. Allen is an eternal optimist and so the fact that when placing our daughter in a sitting position she didn't immediately topple over clearly meant that she was now a sitter. To me, the fact that she did topple over shortly thereafter meant she was not. (We had a similar debate when Owen was at this stage.) But now Allen has proof that our little girl has indeed mastered the art of sitting (or at least was kind enough to wait until after he stopped recording to fall).

 

Nora's First "Solid" Meal

Now that Nora is almost five months old, we've started her on solids. With Owen we waited until he had his first taste of Avacado, a food a bit more substantial than rice cereal and breast milk, before we wrote a blog post on his first solids, but we decided Nora's first taste of semi-solids warranted a post. She wasn't quite as excited as Hazel was for her first taste of rice cereal, but she took to it fairly well. Our little baby is growing up...

Rolling Over

On December 15th, Nora rolled over for the first time from her belly to her back. It happened at 11 am and was so unexpected that no footage was obtained at the time or even when she repeated the feat that night for father and brother. She then refused to do it again for over a month. The past few weeks it's made a return appearance, and on January 25th Nora even added the more difficult back to belly maneuver to her repertoire. Alas, Nora has abjectly refused to let us record it for posterity and lately has taken to waiting until we leave a room or turn our back to alter her poise. She's apparently the Snuffleupagus of the rolling over world.

But after a couple of intensive nights of filming we were finally able to capture the elusive Nora rolling from back to belly (we've given up on filming the belly to back thing entirely). It's not her finest work, there's a lot of teasing, and I find it maddening that once Allen took the camera away she was practically doing flips, but at least we finally have evidence to back up the baby book.

Nora Atchison Fawcett

Between facebook, email, and text messages I think most of our loyal blog readers are well aware that Nora Atchison Fawcett was born at 6:54 pm on Tuesday, September 1, 2009. She weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs, 14 0z, and was 21 1/4 inches long at birth. It is somewhat amazing how the speed and style of communication has changed in the last few years with iPhones and facebook enabling a much more real time reporting of events, this blog is feeling down right old media, but it none the less provides a forum for a much more detailed account to preserve for our family history. So, for all of you die-hards out there lets dive into the details!

Compared to Elaine's pregnancy with Owen, this has all been a very different experience. For one thing, this baby was far more active, kicking up a storm, where as Owen was comparatively calm in utero. With Owen, we were constantly being told how big the baby was and his due date seemed to be a moving target always moving up even though Owen ended up being late. This time around, we ignored any revised due dates, and Nora showed up right on schedule, almost a pound heavier than Owen! Also, whereas a sonogram technician's slip up gave us a pretty good idea that we were having a boy with Owen, this time around we were completely in the dark. We were always pretty set on a girl's name, still being happy with the name 'Nora' that we picked out for a girl before Owen was born, but we never quite settled on a boy's name. (We were still debating between 'Henry' and 'Calvin' between pushes.)

One similarity is that, as with Owen, Elaine's water broke sparing us the any debates about contraction timing and when to go to the hospital. This time around, Elaine's water broke at 4:40 am, so we were relatively well rested for the big day ahead. We quickly gathered up our bags, told Grandma and Grandpa Z what was happening so they could take care of Owen for the day, sent a couple quick emails on the blackberry to make sure Allen's latest analysis would be delivered to the Senate Finance committee, updated facebook, and headed out the door to the hospital. This time around there were no doubts from the hospital staff about Elaine's water having broken, so we were checked in right away and didn't have to walk the halls for hours to prove she was in labor. This also meant that the epidural arrived much sooner, providing much needed relief. Elaine was dilated 1 cm when she was first examined at the hospital, so we knew we had a long day ahead.

With Owen, Elaine also started out around 1 cm when we arrived at the hospital, and after 18 hours of labor she was stalled out at 8 cm requirng a Cesarian section. This time aroud the plan was for a VBAC, but given past history, we were a little nervous about how things would progress. By 11:30 am, Elaine was at 5 cm, much more progress than we were expecting by that point, and we started feeling more optimistic about avoiding a C-section. By 2 pm she was at 7 cm and our wonderful Nurse Robin was becoming quite confident that Elaine would deliver the baby before her shift ended at 7 pm. When they checked at 3:30 pm, Elaine had blown past 8 all the way to 9 cm, and upon hearing this, Mom Mom headed down to the Hospital excited about meeting her new grandchild. At 4:40 pm, exactly 12 hours after her water broke, the cervix was gone and it was time for Elaine to start pushing!

Given that we never reached this point with Owen, we weren't entirely sure what to expect. Elaine's friend Audra was due the day before Elaine, and she just gave birth to her son a couple days earlier after less than an hour at the hospital and just a couple of pushes. Marlo just needed a few pushes to deliver baby Ben a few months earlier. Not that we expected things could possibly go so quickly, but after the first half hour of pushing or so, the epidural began to wear off and the pain began to intensify. After an hour of pushing we began to see a little swirl of dark hair on our baby's head, but the baby still had a ways to go and the pain was beginning to get to Elaine. She may even have wanted to get up, but soon the doctor arrived and solved that problem for us. Elaine's usual doctor wasn't at the hospital, but her evil faternal twin sister was. As Elaine was straining to push, the doctor came in and mumbeled something about having to give up on the VBAC and do a C-section. This of course made Elaine all the more determined, and after the doctor left, she beared down for another half hour of pushing and our baby was finally ready to come out. The nurse called the doctor back and our baby was delivered at 6:54 pm. After a little twisting around, we saw we had a little girl, and we could stop debating boys names and welcome Nora to our family. It was a truly remarkable experience that I was ever so fortunate to witness (not sure Elaine would feel quite the same way feeling everything first hand). Seeing our little girl for the first time she stole my heart and overwhelemed me with joy (and that certainly goes for both of us).


(click here to see all the pictures)

And Now for Something Completely Different

Tales from the Crib

Last night Owen climbed into his crib all by himself. For weeks he's been hanging onto the railing as part of his bedtime routine, but last night he found some additional footholes, stood over the top of the railing, pitched forward into a somersault and collapsed into giggles atop his stuffed lion. He quickly wore out as Allen and I begged him to do it two more times since we'd missed the initial volley, but apparently enjoyed the excercise so much that, refreshed from a night of sleep, he climbed into his crib for at least 10 minutes this morning and tried to climb back out -- even throwing out a bevy of stuffed animals to cushion his landing -- though I kept intervening. I suspect it's just a matter of time before he gets his way and that Allen and I will have to revise our timetable for moving him into a big boy bed.

(editor's note: Now with video!)

Caca

Owen started saying "caca" a few weeks ago. Despite its Spanish meaning, we were pretty sure that Owen was asking for a "cracker" whenever he used it, and responded by giving him something in the complex carbohydrate family and congratulating him. However, Owen's use of the word quickly morphed into whatever food he was in the mood for, including pears, bananas, tortellini and other non-cracker like substances. Yesterday, he used "caca" to refer to the brass knocker on our front door and the chain on the the storm door. Allen is convinced that when Owen uses "caca" he really does mean something and that we as parents are simply failing to understand him. I think Owen is just babbling and that Allen is full of caca. Any thoughts, gentle readers?

Leaps & Bounds

Over the last month or so Owen has been constantly surprising us with his newfound communication skills. He has a few words now, most notably "uh-oh," "da da," "ma," "ball," and "book" (which sounds remarkably similar to ball). He's also started using some baby signs, which are much more useful for actual communication. When he's hungry, he signs eat, he makes the milk sign when he wants to nurse, and he'll rub up and down on his chest when we take him upstairs for his bath. The best part of all these signs is that they really make it evident that he's trying to communicate -- when he's talking, we have to work a bit harder to figure out what he's trying to say.

In other developmental fronts, Owen is figuring out how everything works. When he plays with keys, he tries to put them up to the door knob; when he plays with the watering can, he tries to water the plants; and he tries to put his shoes and socks on his feet. It's a fun time watching him develop into a full fledged toddler (and a little sad now that he's not our little baby any more).

12 Step Program

Due to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as well as much craziness at work, it's taken us a while to capture Owen walking on video. Without further ado, Owen walking.

Walking!

Owen took his first steps today! Much like our ancestral forebears Owen has evolved from a crude means of locomotion based on all four limbs, to full fledged bipedalism. I was upstairs in the bedroom with Owen and we were playing the game where he runs while holding my hands. Owen was running toward his reflection in the mirror, I let go, and he kept moving! He took a full five steps before reaching the mirror, turning around, and giggling to his heart's content. Elaine rushed upstairs, and Owen kindly took a few more steps for mommy, but refused to repeat his new trick for the camera, so the video will have to wait ;-)

Owen Takes on the Atlantic Ocean

Owen visited the ocean for the first time last week during our biennial Outer Banks beach trip. We were joined by Joe and Cate and the future baby Mettenburg at a lovely little house called the Guilford right on the boarder between Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. Due to a series of unfortunate events we weren't able to get the whole crew back together this year as Chris & Elise, Nabeel, Megan & Kaden, and Billy all couldn't make it, but the good news was that with just the Fawcetts and Mettenburgs at the beach we had the perfect number for plenty of Bridge!

For Owen's first encounter with the Atlantic Ocean (or any body of water bigger than our bathtub for that matter) we lathered him up with sunscreen, stuffed him in his life jacket and waded into the surf. In retrospect, we probably should have taken more time to ease him into the water. Between the waves crashing around us and the sunscreen seeping into his eyes, Owen was not too thrilled about floating in the Ocean at the mercy of Poseidon.

After the first encounter, we wisely set up a wading pool on the beach for Owen to play in, and spent the rest of the week letting him run around (holding his hands of course, he can't yet run on his own) in the surf. By the end of the week he absolutely loved having the surf wash up around his feet, and even a thunderstorm on Friday afternoon couldn't dampen his enthusiasm for the beach.

On the developmental front, Elaine and I have long thought that Owen might start walking around the time of our beach trip. While he didn't start walking last week, he did take his first step. Standing up in his wading pool, Owen picked up one foot, moved it few inches forward, and put it back down. His expression made it clear that he wasn't too sure about this new development, and with the rather uneven bottom pool, he clearly decided it was best to sit right back down in the water. Since he didn't start walking at the beach last week, clearly he'll take his first steps this week in Iowa ;-)



(click here to see all the pictures)

On the Move

Our little boy is growing up. Owen is just about ready to take off walking and will almost run if he's holding someone's hand. He also started standing on his own for the first time yesterday -- just for a few seconds and only if you stood him up and let go of his hands. But today he did it on his own for a few seconds when he was playing by the shelves and was so into his toys he didn't realize he wasn't holding onto the shelf any more.

He's also rediscovered the stairs. We took down the gate at the bottom of the stairs to do some painting, and Owen quickly discovered how fun it is to crawl up the stairs. He made it all the way to the top without any help (don't worry, he was "on belay" the whole time) multiple times, and couldn't have been more pleased with himself.

If that weren't enough, he's also pretty intent on feeding himself now. He's not particularly adept at it yet and in all honesty, it's probably more accurate to say that Owen is intent on "feeding" himself, but it makes for some pretty entertaining as well as messy mealtimes.

Now if we could just teach him to change his own diapers...

Decreased Entropy

For the last few months Owen has greatly increased the entropy of our household. In his wake, toys are strewn about, magazines are shredded, and the contents of shelves are dumped on the floor. Wherever Owen goes, disorder follows. That's why I was so amazed by our little boy's simple act of putting one of his stacking rings back on it's base. With that little act, he increased the order in our home, and decreased the entropy (of course in our home we obey the second law of thermodynamics, so it's important to note that Owen and his toys are not an isolated system ;-)