Eugenia Mary Mettenburg

Eugenia Mary Mettenburg (not McConnel as Joe wrote in his first email, which would have been a particularly odd choice since Cate's last name is Mconnell with two l's), 6 pounds 11.8 ounces and 20.5 inches long, was born forty minutes past midnight on Saturday October 6, 2007. We're very excited for Joe & Cate, and we can't wait to meet Gigi! Now we just need to convince Cate (one of our blog's most loyal readers) to post lots of pictures ;-)

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).

Okkervil River

Thanks to Jen, who came through in the clutch to baby sit while all the grandparents were out of town, Elaine and I went to our first concert together since before Owen was born. One of our favorite Austin bands, Okkervil River, played a mere three blocks from our house at the Rock & Roll Hotel. It was a great show, sold out and packed with enthusiastic fans singing along with all the songs. It almost felt like we were back in Austin, rocking out at Club de Ville, Red Eyed Fly, or the Hole in the Wall.

(click here to hear a recording of the concert on NPR)
(click here to see Okkervil on Conan O'Brien)

RFK

We took Owen to the last professional baseball game at RFK stadium on Sunday. He won't remember the days when the Nationals played a short walk from our house, but one day, if he becomes a baseball fan, I suspect he'll get a kick out of telling his friends he saw the Nats beat the Phillies in the last game at the old ballpark.

Hook 'em Horns & Hanging Chads

The results of our unofficial poll are in and it appears that a plurality of our loyal readers feel that Owen should grace the hallowed halls of his parents', paternal grandparents' and Jenna Bush's alma mater and attend the University of Texas at Austin. However, this vote is not without controversy as I found myself unable to vote for Northwestern on Friday, despite the website claiming there were still 4 hours left to cast a ballot. Allen informed me that voting had closed on Thursday, that I'd had more than enough time to vote for NU if I'd really wanted to, and besides, much like our electoral college system, Owen wasn't bound by the popular vote. I still think it's a bit suspicious, but as Northwestern tied with William & Mary for second place, I've decided to let it go.

Thanks to all of you that voted for Texas, Northwestern, William & Mary and for our write-ins of Virginia Tech and St. Ambrose. Sadly, the University of Iowa didn't receive a single vote, even from the Marshalltown Gradys who gave Owen the Hawkeye onesie. I wonder how it will effect its U.S. New and World Report Rankings...

Daddy Day

Marlo celebrated her birthday on Saturday by having a girls day out, which meant that Brad and I were in charge of Mia and Owen all day. The girls had a great time shopping and the guys (plus Mia) spent the day watching the Texas game, hiking in the woods behind Brad & Marlo's house in Silver Spring, and watching Owen flirt with Mia.

College

Now that Owen has turned one year old (and collected a few birthday checks;-) we're finally setting up his college savings account. To celebrate the occasion, we're putting a poll on the blog (top of the column on the right), so you can help decide where Owen will go to college!*

Northwestern

William & Mary

University of Texas

University of Iowa

*The results of this non-scientific poll are not to be considered binding. Voting may be based on genuine interest in where Owen should attend school, reflect voting for your own alma mater, or cuteness of the picture of Owen wearing the school colors. Schools listed in this poll are limited to schools for which Owen owns a onesie. Although it is tempting, we are not planning on limiting Owen's actual school selection based on his onesie wardrobe. If your favorite school doesn't win this poll, don't feel too bad, there's always a second chance with grad school...

Animal ≾ Vegetable ≾ Mineral

We'd been invited by the Browns to join them last Saturday at the National Zoo. No time had been set, so when Brad called at 8:30 in the morning to say they were leaving in an hour or so, we weren't sure what to do. See, as a rule, we don't do morning outings -- we're pretty impressed if we make it out the door by three in the afternoon. But we rallied, showered, restocked the diaper bag and managed to make it out the door by 10 am -- or roughly an hour and a half before the Browns did ;-) We eventually met up with Mia and her posse and managed to see pandas, elephants, hippos, cheetahs, and a host of other animals that Owen was equally unimpressed by. Apparently, neither flora nor fauna have anything on the metal railings used to enclose them. Owen loved them, and expressed this love through frequent licking. Yes, that's right: we handmade organic babyfood and eshewed all formula only to have our son lick public railings and like it. We're very proud.

Party Boy

First birthdays are tricky -- it's not as if a one-year-old can tell you what they like, at least in any discernible way. So we tried to put ourselves in Owen's place: If we were one, what would we want? Allen and I agreed on a scooter for his present. I suggested an ice cream cake for Owen's actual birthday. And Allen suggested that we let Mom-mom plan and execute his birthday party. Two of the three were a hit.

Owen loves his Radio Flyer. Contrary to my sense of order in the world, Allen convinced me that we should give it to him a day early so that we could fully enjoy his enjoyment of it. It was totally worth it.



The ice cream cake cake received mixed reviews. He seemed to like the chocolate, but as you can see from the video, he couldn't quite get over the brain freeze.



The party was a hit for everyone involved. Owen was in a great mood (loads of attention and a lack of baby gates always perks him up), and Mom-mom made some delicious brined pork loin sandwiches (which Owen didn't try), a wonderful banana cake (which Owen liked better than the ice cream cake, but not as much as plain bananas), and some fresh watermelon slices (which Owen decided were the best food ever).

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Owen turned a year old today. He laughed. I cried. Allen took pictures. As we're saving the real celebration until this weekend, we thought today would instead be an opportune time to reflect on some of the lessons we've learned in our last 365 days of being Owen's parents.

1. Swaddle. Side. Shush. Swing. Suck.
2. Onesies are the last line of diaper defense.

3. Park etiquette dictates that you always bring a toy to share (it mitigates the bad feelings engendered when your son rips another child's toy from their arms).

4. Run fans in both your room and the baby's. That way they don't hear you, and you only hear them when they really, really mean it.

5. The line of destruction rises like the tide.

6. Never buy the tub of diaper ointment. Sure, it seems like a better deal, but do you really want to continually reach your hand, which has just wiped a baby's bottom, into a tub of cream?

7. Babies will eat almost anything if you add enough yogurt.

8. Sleepless nights are soon forgotten (it really does get better, and those long-term memories really are fuzzy).
9. Cheerios are like crack for babies -- it gives them instantaneous joy but then they immediately want more and more.
10. It's all worth it.

Dylan Avery Williams

Congratulations to Matt and Cecily Williams on the arrival of their son, Dylan Avery, at 2:40 p.m on August 14th. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces, a height of 20.5 inches and for those keeping score, 33 Scrabble points, Dylan enjoys a fresh diaper, cuddling and Biz Markie.

Pool Time

Brad & Marlo invited us up to Silver Spring last weekend to take the kids swimming. As you can see, Owen had a great time. He loved running around in the baby pool, and swimming with his pilfered float in the toddler pool was even better. All this pool stuff was old hat for Mia of course, but hopefully she won't mind having Owen over for another pool time play date before too long.

Fickleness, thy name is Owen

So Allen's reign as supreme parent appears to have ended as abruptly as it began. After roughly a week, Owen began to walk to me instead of Allen and not solely when Cheerios were involved. Now his preferences appear to be inversely proportional to how busy each parent is. Ah, our little capricious toddler.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. And while I hope we never resort to the life-size Allen cutout, I'm definitely keeping the "walking past Owen and crying out for Allen" technique in mind lest I fall out of favor again.

Daddy's Dearest

Allen is an amazing father. I know this and I'm grateful for this. Allen is far better than I at getting Owen to eat his vegetables, is largely responsible for Owen remaining (mostly) in a sitting position during his bath, and while the number of diapers I've changed probably exceeds his, Allen generally changes the more challenging ones. Owen lights up whenever he sees Allen (except when he first wakes up and is starving...) and delights in all sorts of daddy play, whether Allen is tossing a ball at him, tossing him, or simply crouching down and making what can only be described as the sound of a caveman doing a Scooby-Doo impression. It's incredibly endearing and makes me love Allen all the more.

However, a few developments this week have made me wonder if Allen is a little too good at this parenting thing. Like when our son crawled around me, as I sat with my arms outstretched, in order to get to Allen. Or when Owen began screaming inconsolably when Allen left his room for a moment while I was playing with him, but didn't even look up when I departed for a few minutes. Lately, when faced with being held by Mommy, Owen turns away and clings even more strongly to his father.

This development is not wholly unexpected. Long before Allen and I decided to have children, it was pretty clear that I would be the "bad cop," a "killjoy," the Fawcett family "fun police." After all, I don't like the volume of the stereo to be above 5, drive the speed limit and won a perfect attendance award my senior year of high school whereas Allen did not. I figured that Owen would eventually realize that Allen is a lot more outgoing and adventurous than myself and therefore prefer his company to mine. I just figured it would take longer than 11 months.

I wish I could say that this didn't bother me, but it does. I really thought that at this stage, if there was going to be a favorite parent it would be me. I am after all the mommy.

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 ;-)

From Devils to Angels

After a week gallivanting around Murder Lucifer Mounds (aka, Kill Devil Hills), we decided that a cleansing of the spirit was in order and so immediately headed off to Iowa for Owen’s baptism. Having already been thrown in the ocean, the baptismal pool failed to intimidate our little man, who so enthusiastically embraced the sacrament that his Great Uncle Bernie had to eventually take away the holy water. Following a brief Excorcism, Owen was anointed and blessed by Bernie as well as his Godfather/Uncle Steve, Godmother/Aunt Katherine and the rest of our family and friends that were able to celebrate Independence Day in this non-traditional manner.

Later, we all headed to Cold Spring Pond, site of our wedding and numerous Fawcett gatherings for a little bbq and some additional dunking in the pond. Owen got to visit with his great grandfather Pop Pop Pop, play with his first cousins Olivia, Maura & Sam Zimmerman, and meet his second cousin Ethan Fawcett for the first time, as well as numerous Grady relatives. There was a lot of splashing and eating, but not nearly enough sleeping from Mommy & Daddy’s point of view. Maybe when we’re back in Iowa for Christmas…

(click here to see all the pictures)

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)

An Unbiased Opinion

I just had to tell you, all babies are cute, of course, but my gosh, he’s magnificent!

Random guest at Days Inn, Williamsburg, VA

Sailing on Father's Day

On Father's day Owen and I went sailing for the second time, this time on Innisfree with Elaine, Mom, and Don. He was actually awake this time, and like a good sailor he was happiest when he took the helm!

 

2000 Diapers!

We changed Owen's 2000th diaper today! (869 poopy diapers and 1131 wet diapers, with 124 leaky diapers and 84 open-air accidents.) The chart below shows more than you'd ever want to know...

Free Ascent

As we mentioned in the last post, Owen has become quite the little climber. Check out this dramatic video of his ascent of Mt. Stairverest.

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...

Other Peoples' Baby News

Way back in the post about our trip to St. Louis and baby (girl it turns out) Mettenburg, we mentioned that there was even more baby news to be had, but that it was too much for a single entry and would have to wait for a future post. Almost two months later, we're finally getting around to detailing our friends' well, if not "news" then at least their parental status. Besides, now we have pictures.

Our friends from grad school, John & Amy, welcomed Matilda Jean Diggelman on March 30th. John claimed that Matilda was a sound sleeper from the start, but a subsequent note from Amy in early May exclaiming that Matilda had finally slept four hours in a row suggests otherwise. Apparently only John was sleeping soundly in those early days.


My college roommate Cecily and her husband Matt announced that they're expecting baby boy Williams on Owen's first birthday. While I think baby Leos are the best (especially baby boy Leos), I feel a little bad that Cec will also have to experience being nine months pregnant in August. Hopefully, Portland is more temperate than DC, or else Cec is less temperamental than me.


Finally our friend from grad school, Travis, and his wife Abby welcomed Jonathon Travis Warziniack on May 10th (or thereabouts). We don't have many details, but thought this picture was too cute not to post.

A Day with Daddy

Owen and I had the day off from work and daycare yesterday, while Elaine not only had to go to work, but had to stay late for a retirement party. Elaine was a bit worried about how we’d do without her, but Owen and I were excited to have a day out with the guys. Grandpa called and invited us to go sailing, and though Elaine was a bit sad not to be there for Owen’s first sail, she agreed that the weather was too nice to stay at home. So the three generations of Fawcett boys headed up to Pasadena for the first sail of the season. The sun was out, the temperature wasn't too hot, and the wind was just right. How did Owen react to this perfect sailing weather you may ask? He slept through it all. The collar on his life jacket was the perfect pillow, and the motion of the boat rocked him right to sleep. Looks like we'll have to take him out a few more times to turn him into a proper sailor.

(click here to see all the pictures)

(click here for a great video of Owen playing the piano!)

I'm It

Uncle Dave "tagged me" and requested that I share eight random facts/habits about myself. Here they are (in no particular order):

1) I only babble -- dadada, bababa, ayaaaack. Asking me to blog about eight things is a tad overly optimistic, Uncle Dave.

2) I think the world looks better upside down. If Mommy would let me, I'd stay that way all day (I'm pretty sure Daddy would).

3) As of this entry, I've had 1856 dirty diapers (813 poopy ones).

4) My favorite book is "Tails" -- I especially like its demonstration of tails swishing. My second favorite book is "1001 Cocktails". Self explanatory.

5) I love bathtime, except when I don't love bathtime.

6) Bananas are yummy. Carrots? Not so much.

7) Thanks to Grandpa Don, I won $22 last weekend at the Preakness. Next stop: Vegas!

8) I'm almost always smiling.

Under Pressure - Part IV

Proving the adage that no good deed goes unpunished, Mom Mom has become the latest victim of what will become known in Fawcett lore as the Mother's Day Massacre. Seems that after caring for Owen Sunday afternoon while I took Allen to the doctor and all day Monday while Allen and I tried to regain our strength, Mom Mom woke up at 3:30 am Tuesday morning feeling a bit off. She quickly realized what she was in for, and within a few hours was in the throes of agony. We're hoping that the strain has weakened now that its moved onto its third generation of our family and that her convalescence will be brief. Mom Mom can now add a purple heart to her silver star of grandmotherhood.

Under Pressure - Part III

Let me just say now that I’ve never been a fan of my birthday, as historically they’ve been a bit of disappointment. Like my 17th which was spent in the hospital as my grandmother lay dying (she passed away two days later). Or my 21st which took place in Philadelphia at the Dad Vails regatta which we lost (owing to some foot-stretchers breaking 11 meters from the start – just outside the breakage zone) and all my friends forgot (despite my having reminded them for months) only to remember belatedly so that I got to drive from Philly to Chicago in a school van with the worst hangover ever. Or my 29th where I had to pull an all-nighter to finish a take-home econometrics exam and grade some finals for my TA class. I could go on, but I think you get the gist.

Anyway, this year’s birthday is in a class all of its own. After spending the day attempting to care for both my ailing son and husband, I too succumbed to whatever it was that had completely incapacitated Allen, about a half hour after I got Owen to sleep. Fortunately, Owen slept through the night and I borrowed some of Allen’s anti-nausea medicine which got us through to six am, but then Owen woke and promptly threw-up on me after nursing at which point we called Allen’s mom and asked if she could watch Owen during the day since neither of us could handle caring for him. She happily swooped in to take Owen off of our hands for the day, so Mom Mom deserves some extra Mother’s Day props!

We appear to be on the mend now, though I think we’re all going to stay home tomorrow just to make sure. And so ends the story of my first Mother’s Day as a mother and my 34th birthday (which I don’t feel should count). Let us all hope that the pressure doesn’t get to us the next time my birthday and Mother’s Day coincide.

Under Pressure - Part II

So apparently Allen couldn’t handle the pressure either. Just as Owen was on the mend (after fourteen poopy diapers, six clothing changes, two bouts of vomiting, two baths and one trip to the doctors office all in a twelve hour period on Saturday), Allen became gravely ill beginning at 5:30 am on Sunday morning. At first we assumed that he would follow a similar trajectory as Owen, and after an initial vomiting spell, he’d be able to keep things down and be in fine spirits, although requiring a bathroom break every twenty minutes or so. That wasn’t actually the case. By noon, Allen became too weak to even make it to the bathroom, couldn’t keep down even the smallest sip of water and his pallor had turned grayish-white.

Fortunately, right about then Allen’s mom and her husband showed up for our Mother’s Day/Birthday brunch that we’d planned weeks in advance. They took Owen off in the stroller while I packed up Allen (with a bucket in tow) in the car and drove him to the doctor’s office, where he was given two IVs and some anti-nausea medication. We made it home by 5 pm to find Owen happily playing with Mom-mom and Grandpa Don. We exchanged presents while Allen sat in the fetal position and sipped water which miraculously he was able to keep down. He spent the rest of the evening lying on the couch.

Under Pressure

As every new father knows, tomorrow is one of the most important days of the year - our new family's first Mother's Day. A time to celebrate Mommy, her boundless energy, her love and affection, her sacrifices, and her patience. A day to shower her with presents, and to shoulder an extra bit of the parenting, to give her a chance to rest, relax, and reflect on the joys of motherhood.

For Owen and I, the task is a bit larger than for most new fathers. That is because tomorrow is not only Elaine's first Mother's Day, but it is also her Birthday! We need to make sure Elaine doesn't just feel special as a Mother, but also feels special for just being Elaine. She needs a little something extra to show we're not just lumping both of these celebrations together. Combined presents simply won't do.

Some people might think that's too much to squeeze into one day, but wait, there's more. Not only is Owen's mother's Birthday on Mother's Day, but my mother's Birthday is on Mother's Day. That's right, May 13, 2007, is a really big day for the Fawcett family.

Sadly, I think Owen is feeling the pressure. All the presents are wrapped, and the brunch reservations are made, but the burden of being extra cute for Mommy and Mom Mom's Birthdays and trying to say "ma ma" for Mother's Day (not to mention the pressure to say something adorable on the phone with Grandma Z on tomorrow) has put Owen under the weather. He's kicked off our big weekend with a bout of diarrhea and projectile vomiting. Hopefully he'll be able to rally by the time tomorrow morning rolls around, if not, wish us luck...

A Wrinkle In Time

It seems that every week we vow to cut back on our weekend plans in order to avoid over-scheduling Owen and to find some time to relax and maybe even make a dent in the long list of projects we have for the house. The reality though is that something always comes up, and since we haven’t managed to add any hours to our day, the relaxation part of our weekend tends to get the short end of the stick. This past weekend was no exception. We squeezed in lunch with the Hyatts, dinner at Mom & Don’s, and a visit with the Brown family, and that was just Saturday! On Sunday we took Owen to his first baseball game, on Friday night I went to the Dismemberment Plan reunion show at the Black Cat, and I think I ended up at the extra-innings Nats v. Mets game Saturday night as well (thanks Elaine!).

Despite the hectic pace, it was a good weekend (except when Owen got suntan lotion in his eyes at the Nats game -- apparently there is crying in baseball). The most interesting part though was seeing Owen interact with Kaden at lunch while we were visiting Nabeel and Megan, and then seeing Owen with Mia later that night when Brad and Marlo came over to Mom’s place for pizza. Kaden turned two a couple months ago, and Mia just turned two months, so Owen went from being the little kid at lunch, to being the big kid at dinner. I was struck by the juxtaposition of seeing how far Owen has to go in the next year to be able to walk, talk, and interact like Kaden; and seeing how far he’s come in the past six months since he was a tiny infant like Mia, still longing for the comforts of the womb. Amazingly, at this stage Owen seemed to have more in common with the two year old Kaden than the two month old Mia. Kaden and Owen could play with the same toys, chase each other around, and get into all sorts of trouble; while it will still be a few more months before Mia is really ready to interact with another baby.

Our two visits also reinforced how dynamic the task of parenting is. Living through it all we've certainly felt how fast things are changing; every time we start to feel like we're getting the hang of things, Owen changes the game. But when I held a crying Mia and shushed and swayed her to sleep, I couldn't help but think how obsolete those techniques are with Owen now. And watching Nabeel and Megan try to convince Kaden of the values of sharing showed just how much our skill set will have to evolve. Thankfully we have some great friends that can help us out when we need parenting advice, empathize with our trials and tribulations, and share in all the joys of child rearing. If only we had more time to see them all!

Giggles

Best with sound...

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 ;-)

Catching Some Z's

This weekend brought Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman ... eventually. They were supposed to get here in time to wish Owen goodnight on Friday, but their flight was delayed due to bad weather in Denver. Then the plane they were supposed to take was decommissioned and they had to find another one. After they found another plane and got everyone boarded, four tornadoes touched down near Dallas resulting in an emergency evacuation. Owen was fast asleep by the time they finally rolled in around 1 am. The morale of the story: don’t fly on Friday the Thirteenth.

Grandma and Grandpa Z did get to wish Owen, “good morning” on Saturday, though, and then got to go down the slide with him at the park, play the “spin the stacking rings and cups” game Allen recently created, feed Owen bananas and rice cereal while Mommy & Daddy got ready for a night out, put him to sleep, and baby-sit Saturday night while Allen and I attended our friend Mala’s wedding.

Despite the brevity of the visit, Grandma and Grandpa managed to witness some new developments. Owen’s first tooth made an appearance Saturday, Owen waved goodbye to Mommy and Daddy on Saturday night (which I missed but Allen and Grandma swear it happened though it hasn’t been replicated since), Owen learned how to "high five" and Grandma taught Owen to raise his hands above his head whenever she said, “So big!” We’re unclear as to the utility of this last skill, but they both seemed to enjoy it so who are we to judge.

Sadly, Grandma and Grandpa had to go home Sunday night. But Owen’s looking forward to visiting them in July for his baptism, when he really will be “so big!”

Dental Eruption

We have a tooth siting. It appears that Owen’s lower right central incisor has pushed through his gums (though it could be his lower left central incisor, it’s hard to tell with only a single reference point…). Hopefully, now he’ll be in a bit less pain and sleep a bit more soundly – at least until the next one appears.

B B B BumBle Bee

One of the axioms of early childhood development that we've heard over and over again as new parents is that babies tend to focus on one area of development at a time. In other words, early walkers tend to be late talkers. For the last few months, Owen has borne out this conventional wisdom as he's been focused on movement, while his vocalizations have remained somewhat random. We've been trying to pique his interest in talking for a while now by working with him on his consonants, particularly his D's and M's. The goal, of course, being that if he hears "D D D Daddy" and "M M M Mommy" enough times, he might break out a "da da" or "ma ma" and melt our hearts. For the most part, he's responded to all of these sounds with only mild interest. That is until we went to St. Louis. Cate joined in on our consonant fun, skipping past "D D D Daddy" and "M M M Mommy," and going straight for the jugular with "B B B BumBle Bee." Owen must of loved it, because for the past week he's been all about the "B". It's quite adorable to listen to him experimenting with the sound, but at the same time it's a little bit sad that his first pseudo word isn't "ma ma" or "da da," instead he can't stop saying "Buba".

Stair Master

While we were visiting Joe & Cate, their friends Craig and Amy stopped by with their two kids. Craig and Amy are both pediatricians, so we were a little curious what their take would be on Owen. Craig observed him for a few minutes, asked a couple of questions and then promptly told us we were screwed.

Craig’s prognosis stems from the fact that we can no longer place Owen in one spot and expect him to still be there five seconds later. We understood that Owen’s new found ability to pull himself up would complicate matters further, but felt that Craig’s alarmist tone was a bit extreme and probably more due to his sulking over a home improvement project gone horribly awry than any real peril we were facing.

But then we got home, and decided that after being cooped up in an airplane all day, we should let Owen crawl around a bit before bed. At first he just meandered around the living room. Then he decided to explore the dining room, but turned back before noticing the bookshelves with their many breakable knickknacks. He was almost back to his play area when he turned again, this time heading to the staircase.

Now we’ve known for a while that we need to get gates for the staircase (as well as the kitchen and his room), but the design of our stairwells don’t easily lend themselves to gates (particularly at the top), making the task a huge pain. So we’ve been putting it off.

We watched with trepidation as Owen approached the first stair, held our breath while he banged on it and quickly swooped down and grabbed him as he pulled himself up and started banging on stair number two.

Gates will be installed this weekend (because nothing says, “Happy Easter” like baby-proofing ones house). Meanwhile Owen is no longer allowed to be anywhere unattended for any amount of time, which means (among other things) that Allen and I either have to have company or hold it until the other is available in order to use the facilities at home.

Which is why, as Craig would say, we’re screwed.

Meet me in St. Louis

Where to begin? This past weekend Owen reached several new milestones, we heard exciting baby news from several friends, and we flew to St. Louis to visit our good friends Joe & Cate. All this was too much excitement to fit into one post, so I'll start out by writing about our trip to St. Louis.

We hadn't seen Joe & Cate since they moved from Charlottesville to St. Louis last May (which also meant we hadn't played bridge in all that time), so Elaine and I decided we needed to squeeze a trip to the show me state into our busy spring. Thankfully, Joe's mini vacation before starting his radiology residency coincided with one of our free weekends, and we jumped at the chance for a visit.

Joe & Cate's new home is adorable, but our favorite part of the whole tour was this little unfinished room in the attic, which is going to be baby Mettenburg's nursery! That's right, Joe & Cate are expecting a baby on October 1st (or as Cate likes to say, late September since October sounds so far away). Elaine had suspected for a while based on a few clues Cate let slip, but that was only fair given how early Joe & Cate figured out that Elaine was expecting.

The exciting news gave Owen a chance to break in the parents-to-be. He wasted no time sharing his adorable side with plenty of smiles, and not one but two developmental milestones! Leaving his endearing "beached whale" scooting phase in the past, Owen took his first few legitimate crawling steps. As if that weren't enough, he also perfected sitting up from a prone or supine position. We've known for a few days that he could do this, since we've found him sitting up in his crib at night, but he finally demonstrated his new move in front of us.

The rest of our quick little trip was filled up with delicious food, torrential rain, Owen's first visit to a zoo, and plenty of bridge. The next time we'll see Joe & Cate will be at the beach, when Cate should be showing, and Kaden can chime in on the parenting lessons.

(click here to see all the pictures)

Eggs, Owen, and the Equinox

Owen turned seven months old on Tuesday, which also happened to be the vernal equinox. Some conspiracy theorists out there have suggested that the spotty evidence of Owen standing up on his own coming out so close to the equinox is no coincidence. These doubters seem to believe that there are two things that can only stand on the equinox, eggs and Owen. Well loyal readers, I'm going to nip this urban legend in the bud. Eggs can be stood on their end on any day of the year, the myth persists because people only ever have the patience to do it on the equinox. As for Owen, the indisputable video evidence is now in, Owen can pull himself up. See for yourself.

A watched pot …

Owen just pulled himself up. Sadly, I had my back to him when he pulled off this amazing feat, and while I diligently spent the next half hour attempting to coax him back into an upright position, the best I got was ¾ height.

This all happened today at daycare. I had just finished nursing him, and sat him on the ground next to me in order to put a couple of things back in his cubby. When I turned back, he was standing up while leaning against an ottoman and smiling beatifically at me.

What’s interesting is that the same thing happened the first time he rolled over. I was standing over him in a pack-n-play at his great aunt’s house, had turned to say something to someone and when I looked back, he was on his back. It took a couple of days being around him 24/7 until I was actually able to witness him in all his glory.

So another milestones has been missed, not because I’m at work and not around him enough, but because I have slow reflexes.

Almost Crawling

Anti-dentite

We have it on good authority that Owen is teething. We'd been told he was for several months by friends, family and child care providers that all pointed to Owen's excessive drool and tendency to gum anything he gets his hands on as signs of the imminent arrival of dentites. We waited with anticipation, but to no avail -- apparently, Owen just has highly developed salivary glands and an adventurous palate. Now, however, teeth have been spotted just beneath the gum line and having spent the last three nights dealing with a screaming child, we can say with some confidence that his incisors are coming.

The official diagnosis came Monday when Allen took Owen in to check out a persistent cold that seemed to have escalated over the weekend (he would wake himself up coughing and then start screaming). After telling us yet again that Owen has a viral cold that we should probably just let run its course, his pediatrician noted that some baby teeth are on the way (hence the screaming).

Sadly, the doctor didn't offer an advice on how to deal with the fact that the coughing keeps waking Owen up and once awake, Owen becomes fully cognizant of the agonizing pain his mouth is in which causes him to cry for a solid hour in the wee hours of the morning. Just when he finally starts drifting off to sleep, he starts coughing and the cycle begins again. And to think it was only last week that he was sleeping 10-11 hours at night...

Snowman!

Owen built his first snowman today! (Actually, mommy and daddy built the snowman while Owen watched with mild interest).

Mia Alena Brown

Congratulations are in order for our good friends Brad and Marlo! Mia Alena Brown was born this morning at 12:12 am on February 25th. She was an impressive 7lbs, 14 ozs and 20 inches long! Marlo went into the hospital for an induction at 8 am yesterday, so I'm sure the Brown family is all trying to get some much deserved rest.

I'll update this post when I hear more.

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Update - Here's a picture of the happy family!

Chinese New Year

Owen turned six months old today, and befitting his rather uneventful half year birthday, this blog post is not going to be about how our son has now made it half way around the sun. Taking a more lunar bent instead, this blog post is about the Chinese New Year. On Saturday we took Owen over to our friend Billy's mom's place to say goodbye to the year of the dog, and ring in the year of the pig.

It really was quite brave of Billy to have us all over. As soon as Billy's mom saw Owen, she fell in love, and the questions about when Billy would bring home a baby began. When Chad arrived with his daughter, Uma, the baby pressure on Billy only increased. To top it all off, when our friend Melanie started speaking Cantonese, Mrs. Kung thought she found the perfect woman to bring home those babies with Billy. Sadly for Billy's mom, Melanie's husband was also at the party, foiling her plans of a Cantonese speaking wife for Billy, and a lucky grandchild in the year of the pig.


(p.s. I know it looks like the babies were really tying one on, but all the beer was non-alcoholic, and neither of them actually drank anything anyways... ;-)

Sit Ups

Elaine has been dutifully recording all of Owen's milestones in his baby book. Some of these are easy to keep track of (e.g. his first meal was clearly on January 1st), but others can be rather difficult to pin down a date for. Owen is clearly able to sit up on his own now, but when exactly did he acquire this skill? This picture shows Owen sitting up on his own, propped up in a chair way back when he was two months old. He certainly wasn't really able to sit up on his own then (he needed to be propped up, and even then he would only last long enough to snap a quick picture before toppling over to one side). The last few months he's been sitting up more and more on his own. Always with a hand near by to catch the inevitable tumble at first. Then gradually, he gained more control, staying upright longer, reaching for objects, and sitting back up after he'd lunge forward to grab a particularly enticing toy. We still prefer him to be sitting on something soft, just in case he decides to pitch over backwards, and we wouldn't want to be too far away lest we need to make a diving save, but I think this is one milestone we can check off the list.

Catch Up...

Today is my birthday, which means one year ago today, we started telling people we were expecting. It also means that people have been calling me to wish me a happy birthday, and politely remind me that it's been too long since I've updated the blog. Well it's time to remedy that situation. Elaine already put up a post this morning (admittedly backdated) about Owen's first snowfall, and I'll try to catch everyone up on all the other events of the past few weeks.

The big news is that Owen is mobile. Gone are the days when we could set him down and know that if we turned away, he'd be right where we left him. He's not quite crawling yet, but he manages to get around with a combination of rolling and a little inch worm maneuver where he thrusts his but up into the air and lunges forward to advance towards whatever he's after. I tried to capture this with what I thought would be an adorable series of pictures of Owen inching towards his red block, but he thought it would be far more fun to roll towards daddy and the edge of the bed instead.

In other news, Owen has his first girlfriend. Last weekend we had a gathering of EPA babies over at Misha and Sophia's house. Eric and Kathryn brought their five week old baby Cole, and we brought Owen over for an afternoon of burgers and babies. Misha's daughter, Maria, was born one week after Owen, and they both seemed quite smitten with each other (although in typical boy fashion, Owen was more interested in the toys at first, and it took him awhile to catch on that there was a cute girl staring at him). Cole meanwhile was happy to simply admire the other babies' ability to hold their heads up and manipulate objects with their hands.

Since Owen is old enough for his first girlfriend, it turns out he's also old enough to start shaving. In the latest bit of one-upmanship in the generations long feud between the Grady's and the Egan's, Owen started shaving at a mere five months old. I have a feeling that it will be a while before he has to shave again, but hopefully Bernie and Pete will put the pictures to good use.

What are we doing for my birthday you might ask? Well, we're throwing a baby shower / Super Bowl party for our friends Brad & Marlo up at Mom & Don's house. So I'll sign off for now, and with any luck I'll have pictures of the shower up in less that three weeks...

Let it Snow!

With global warming and this being an el nino year, we weren't really sure that Owen would get to experience snow until he was a bit older -- possibly while doing a semester abroad in Greenland his junior year of college. But then low and behold, we got a little surprise while visiting Mom mom and Grandpa Don up in Silver Spring, which Don managed to capture on film. The snow followed us to DC and was enough that Allen had to shovel the next morning, but not enough that the government was in any way delayed. So instead of celebrating his first snowday, Owen got his second round of vaccinations. Still, at least he got to enjoy the weather a bit.

Independece Day

Today I was just confronted with the first of what I expect to be a long line of events where Owen asserts is independence, and lets me know that he doesn't need me, he can do things himself, thank you very much.


Elaine is off at a wedding shower, so Owen and I are having a nice little father and son day, which I've been looking forward to (even after he had horrible nights sleep and a minuscule nap this morning, leaving daddy rather exhausted). The difficulties began when I tried to give him a bottle shortly after mommy left. I knew he must be hungry, but he was having none of it, screaming and turning his head away when ever I tried to convince him to eat. So, I decided to let him have it his way, and we put the bottle aside and went for a walk. When we returned he was starting to get really fussy, and I knew he really must hungry. We tried the bottle again, and again he refused it, hitting the bottle and turning his head away. Frustrated and about to give up yet again, I let go of the bottle, and to my amazement, Owen picked it up and started feeding himself. Fortunately, the camera was within reach, so managed to capture Owen's accomplishment. He ate for 18 minutes, fell asleep clutching the bottle, and I moved him over to the swing. Now, he might just let Daddy have a little nap.

(editor's note - Owen woke up before daddy got his nap in, but not before he but a little video clip of Owen and his bottle online here.)

1000!

We just changed Owen's 1000th diaper! (522 poopy diapers and 478 wet diapers, with 56 leaky diapers and 60 open-air accidents.) Thankfully it took a bit longer to get here than we predicted after number 100.

Solid!

If you've been following the recent Owen pictures on the right, you already know that 2007 has brought some big changes in Owen's gastronomical options. On New Year's Day, we gave Owen his first taste of solid food. He had been showing some interest real food for a while (when one of your favorite activities is putting things in your mouth, how could you not be interested in stuff that even mommy and daddy put in their mouths!), so we decided that Owen's New Year's resolution would be to start eating real food.

I've waited a little while to write this post, because after we prepared Owen's first meal of ground up rice cereal mixed with breast milk, the adjectives "solid" and "real" didn't seem to apply to the type of food we were introducing him to. He didn't seem to mind though, and reacted to his first bite as if it were the most interesting thing he ever felt in his mouth (which it probably was). We spent the first week adjusting the whole family to our new routine. After the first feeding we quickly realized that it was time to add a high chair to our stable of baby accessories. We also decided that messy process of transferring food from bowl/chin/bib to Owen's mouth was a job best suited for daddy.

Owen's culinary adventures really began in his second week on solid food. While the rice cereal was a pretty uncontroversial choice for his first food, the real debate began when deciding what his second food should be. The choice really comes down to fruits vs. vegetables: some argue that fruits like bananas are best because your baby is already used to the sweet taste of breast milk, and the sweetness of fruits make for an easier transition; others argue that if you introduce sweet fruits first, it will be harder to convince your baby to eat vegetables later. We decided to split the difference and start Owen off with avocados. Avocado is a good Texas food, and while technically a fruit, it's not too sweet, and hopefully it will convince him later in life to love guacamole! Thankfully, Owen took to the avocado like a champ, and he really seems to enjoy dinner time. It looks like introducing him to a world of new flavors is going to be a lot of fun!

So how did that first meal go? Take a look for yourself...

Future Wildcats

Between Christmas and New Years we managed to squeeze in a brief reunion with my college roommates in Michigan. This was technically Owen’s second trip to the Wolverine state, but as the first trip was the result of our missing an exit on I80 and Owen slept through the fifteen minute detour, he had a much better appreciation for Gerald Ford’s birthplace this time around.

The trip was motivated by Tracey’s return to the states from Australia for a brief family visit with Kailash and Satya in tow. Since Audra, Mike & Colin are now conveniently located in Grand Haven, MI, we descended on their house the 28^th. Tracey and her brood drove up from Pickney MI the 30^th. And while Cecily was unable to join us, we did manage to get all the descendents of the women of J1 together for a brief photo session. They’re all pretty adorable.

Satya was a bit under the weather, and so mostly slept and ate during our visit, but Kailash and Colin (ages 4 and 2 ½ respectively) were a bevy of activity and introduced Owen to the joys of toy firetrucks, cartoons and jumping on various pieces of furniture. Owen needed a bit of help to join in, but we figure by the next reunion he’ll be holding his own.

(click here to see all the pictures)

2006 - The Year in Sleep

New Year's Day, a time for parades, bowl games, and year in review articles. Here on our humble little baby blog, it's time to look back on one of the hot button topics of 2006: Owen's sleeping patterns.

Back in September we analyzed the first month of Owen's sleeping patterns. We've kept up the trixie tracking, and now we bring you 2006 - The Year in Sleep! As a refresher, each row in the graphic on the right is 24 hours worth of sleep patterns, starting at midnight, with more recent days at the top. The blue areas represent times when Owen was asleep, and yellow areas are periods of wakefulness.

So what's happened in the world of sleep since that first month of sleepless nights? A quick glance will tell you they've become a lot more restful. The almost random pattern of blue and yellow from the first month has separated into distinct days and nights. Owen's bedtime has marched steadily back from midnight to about nine o'clock, and hopefully the trend will continue for a bit longer. Those painful patches of yellow between 2 and 4 am have shrunk considerably. An ultra reliable 2 to 3 hour swing nap developed, and was only disrupted by travel and daycare. And, the blue stretches have on occasion lasted all through the night (9 h 8 min on Dec. 21st and 7 h 57 min on Dec. 28th).

Looking ahead to 2007, Owen will keep on sleeping, and we'll keep tracking, and with any luck our nights will be nothing but blue.

Owen's First Christmas

Christmas Letter

Greetings,

I begin this holiday season by noting that most biblical scholars believe Christ’s birth actually occurred in the spring. Citing a reference in the Gospel according to Luke to shepherds watching their flock at night, these scholars argue this would only have occurred during the lambing season, as otherwise sheep would be corralled. That we celebrate Jesus’ birth at the end of December is largely due to a Roman interpretation of winter solstice as the earth dying, a fate only avoided via the “Return of the Sun” -- a bacchanalian festival. A pragmatic bishop decided that his flock could avoid religious persecution if they just celebrated the birth of the savior around the same time, and this is how December 25th became Christmas. I mention this because had early Romans lived in the Southern Hemisphere or understood the earth’s orbit, I would have had several more months to prepare for this holiday season. As such, consider the fact that you’re receiving this letter before February as some sort of Christmas miracle.

While I tend to feel overwhelmed by the holidays every year, this year I feel it more acutely, primarily because after Allen and I had a baby in August and this is Owen’s first Christmas. Halls were to be decked. Cookies decorated with sparkly things. Homemade cards with handwritten notes. Gifts thoughtfully picked out months in advance. There was going to be bunting and holly and all things merry and jolly with each evening ending with our singing carols by the fire. And while Owen would have no memory of any of this, it was going to be dutifully recorded in his baby book so that he could read about his amazing first Christmas once he was able to read.

Now having known I was pregnant since before last Christmas, one could argue that we had more than enough time to accomplish such a wish list (plus the light display I wanted that Allen nixed). But I had morning sickness for most of January. We spent February through April searching for a house, May purchasing and moving into said house and June through July preparing it for Owen’s arrival (plus Allen’s had to go to South Africa for work). In August we had Owen and September and October were spent trying to convince Owen that he wanted to sleep for more than three hours in a row (he’s still not fully convinced).

In theory, a perfect Christmas can be accomplished with just November and December. But early in November Allen’s grandfather passed away and so we went to Iowa for a week. We had already planned to spend Thanksgiving at my parents and so there was another week in Texas. Then Allen had to go to Japan for a week in December. All the while, I’ve been trying to work from home.

So we scaled back a bit. There is a tree and stockings but no bunting (Allen felt it was more appropriate for the Fourth of July or opening day of the baseball season anyway). We nixed the cookies as our nod to America’s growing obesity problem. Our fireplace isn’t currently in working order, but I do sing various carols to Owen when I’m changing him and he seems to enjoy it just fine. We’re still working on the gifts. And while Allen did make our Christmas cards, the personal notes got replaced by just this letter.

Anyway, we hope you all have had a wonderful year and that the holidays find you healthy and happy. Thanks for all your well wishes, gifts and advice with regards to our new little one, and to hear more about our adventures (or get a jumpstart on our excuses for why next year’s Christmas didn’t turn out as planned), please check out our blog at:

http://allen-and-elaine.blogspot.com/

And in the immortal words of the Daily Show’s Samatha Bee,

But really let's face it all other days bow down to the 25th: Christmas. It's the only religious holiday that's also a Federal holiday. That way Christians can go to their services and everyone else can stay home and reflect on the true meaning of Separation of Church and State.

Happy Holidays,

Allen, Elaine & Owen

Reunited

After a long week in Japan, our little family was reunited last Saturday, and now that I'm finally recovered from the jet lag, it's time for the blog post (plus since Owen's 4 month birthday is today, we thought it was time to put up a new picture).

I have to say, these international trips were a lot easier before Owen showed up. It was always tough to be apart from Elaine for a week, but she never increased her weight by 5% while I was gone, and somehow it never bothered me that I didn't see her roll over or improve her ability to grab things.

Technology helped close the distance while I was in Japan (Elaine emailed many pictures using my camera phone, and I was introduced to the beauty of Skype, which let us talk to each other from halfway around the world for free), but it really was no substitute for a hug. When Owen started day care, Elaine could of used one from me, and every day I could of used one from Owen.

As happy as I was to see Owen upon my return, the best part was how happy he was to see me. He smiled and laughed, and let me know that he missed his daddy.

Man's Best Friend?

I don't like dogs. I primarily attribute my disdain for canines to having been bitten a few too many times in my formative years, which has made me skittish around them ever since. To be honest, though, I've just never understood the allure of cleaning up the poop and drool of something that won't return the favor when I'm old and grey. Suffice to say, we currently live in a pet-free zone and while I will probably eventually submit to Allen's desire to get a cat, I'm pretty resolute about the whole puppy thing.

However, many of the people that Owen loves and who love him are dog people. As a result, Owen has spent a fair amount of time in close proximity to various breeds of varying ages in his short life. I've actually thought this was a good thing since I'd like our son to be comfortable among animals and not inherit his mother's nervousness around them. So while I may not have actively encouraged his interaction with dogs, I've been pretty amenable to it.

But my willingness to facilitate Owen's play-dates with man's best friend suffered a serious set back this week when we discovered that one of these beasts has infected our son with a fungus.

We noticed Owen had a sore on his temple a couple of weeks ago, but assumed it was either some form of baby acne that he'd scratched, or possibly a slight case of rug burn resulting from his recent forays into rolling over. Despite my diligent application of various ointments though, it kept getting bigger and so yesterday I finally had the doctor check it out. Her diagnosis: ringworm.

Since he picked it up before he started daycare and he hasn't spent any time in dirt, we're pretty sure he got it from one of the many dogs that have sniffed, licked or just been around him the past month or so. I'm not sure what all the repercussions of this latest incident will be, but please understand if I'm a little more nervous when Owen is around dogs now, and no matter how hard he may beg, Owen is never getting a puppy for Christmas.

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Update!

For two and a half weeks, we dutifully applied anti-fungal cream to Owen’s temple, only to find that not only had this ringworm not abated, but he’d developed a bad rash on his torso. Allen took him back to the doctor’s office where lo and behold we find out that the reason Owen’s ringworm wasn’t clearing up was because he never had ringworm: instead he has eczema with a strange presentation. So to all of our dog-loving readers who I accused of infecting our baby boy, mea culpa.

The end of innocence

When Owen was six weeks old, Allen’s mom asked me if I could imagine going back to work then. I shook my head with a knowing look, but secretly all I could think was, “Yes! Let someone else deal with his crying and screaming inconsolably for hours on end…” But then week seven came and Owen started crying less and smiling more, and then he started giggling and staring at me with awe and delight when I sing Frankie Valley songs or pull him into a sitting position using his arms, and I thought, I could really do this forever.

Alas, when Allen and I bought our house it was with the understanding that I would eventually go back to work (you really need two federal salaries to put a roof over your head in the DC market). While we would have preferred to wait a little longer, the acting Assistant Secretary has been inquiring as to when my maternity leave is up, so today Owen went to daycare for the very first time. For four and a half hours.

My hope was that he would sleep through most of it only to be interrupted by occasional feedings with me, but apparently meeting new people and the abundance of sleep he’s gotten the past few nights conspired to keep him awake for the bulk of his stay. Initially he seemed to take it just fine while I was a bit of an emotional wreck, but he wouldn’t nap which made him fussy and then he didn’t have his mom there to comfort him which made him cry. He seemed to rally when I fed him at noon, but that didn’t last much past my departure and when I went to check on him at two o’clock, he’d only just calmed down. By two thirty he was ready to head home so we packed up the stroller and took off.

Were not going back tomorrow – with Allen leaving the country on Sunday and my leaving him with strangers on Monday, Owen really needs a day at home to recover. We’re going to try again on Wednesday for another four or five hours and then we’ll see about Friday. And next week…

Sayonara, Daddy

Allen left this morning for Japan, leaving Owen and I to fend for ourselves for the next six and a half days. Owen and I have been alone together quite a bit, and between working late, Nationals games and the occasional beer with a friend, it’s also happened that from time to time Owen has gone almost an entire day without seeing Allen, which would suggest that Allen being on another continent for this week shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Then again, he’s never been gone an entire day and Allen was always in the same time zone if not cab zone and could be easily reached should I become overwhelmed and require immediate aid. That’s going to be a little difficult this week.

Owen thus far, has taken his father’s departure in stride, sleeping over seven hours last night and taking an almost four hour nap this morning. He’s either seeking solace in his slumber or is trying to switch to Tsuskuba time as an act of solidarity. The rest has been beneficial as Owen also managed to roll-over three times onto his belly this afternoon (he rolled onto his back the day before his three month birthday, but the more challenging belly-roll eluded him until today). I just wish it wasn’t while I was changing him.

Despite all the rest, Owen’s been a bit grumpy today and I suspect it’s because his father isn’t here to throw him in the air, sing alternative rock songs to him or watch some sporting event while Mommy gets some work done. I’m missing Daddy as well, and not just because I had cereal for dinner and had to clip Owen’s fingernails by myself (I even managed to not draw blood this time). At least Allen left us a voice message telling us both how much he loves and misses us. I suspect it will probably by worn out by the time he returns…