Halloween Dinner Club

 

We all survived the first dinner club with an infant in attendance (that was Owen)! The Halloween themed dinner was fun (the menu had roasted bleeding heart as its entree!) and Owen got to meet lots of our friends!  He even tested out his bee costume to make sure he'd bee cute enough for halloween night!  Here are some photo memoirs of the event.  above: The dinner, Ron giving Owen his first Halloween fright

below: Owen's foot in Ron's shoe (after Ron made amends for the big scare by rocking Owen), and Avey holding Owen (with Emily close by in case he needs help!)

   

For anyone who doesn't know the Rugrat parents are in a dinner club with 8 couples and we rotate having dinner at different houses every month or two.  So far we are the first to produce offspring but Marni and Dan have one on the way and those cute babies will probably convince others to jump on the wagon :)   Here's one of me with Owen and Marni with Ayla (who'll be a more animated guest come January) 

What Owen can do now - 7 weeks

Besides eating, pooing and punching himself in the face,  Owen has a few more skills now.  These are very exciting for new rugrat parents but probably not that exciting for all of you.   No one is forcing you to watch!

Owen's First Babysitter

Thanks to Nanci for watching Owen while mom & dad took their baby CPR class (now we have skills that we'll hopefully never need). She did a great job although she did let him watch baseball, but it was the World Series so I guess that's ok.   I'm not even sure who won that game, wait I'm not even sure who's playing.  Sorry uncle bri, is it one of your teams? Good thing Nanci & Ryan have HD or this picture would never have turned out!

Getting to know AJ (Aunt Jen)

Instead of heading somewhere warm and sunny, Aunt Jen spent her fall break with us!!  Thanks AJ!  She held Owen lots, taught him a few tricks, and even gave him a bath.   Jen took over Matt's midnight feeding for a few days so he was very happy to have her here.   Aunt Jen and Mom were going to play in a soccer game one night (don't tell my doctor!). Dad and Owen planned to be our cheerleaders, but the other team didn't show up so the whole family got to kick the ball around for a while. 

Hola Bebe!

Owen has had several international visitors already but we let him get to the ripe old age of 6 weeks before subjecting him to language lessons.   Jon, his fiancee Michelle (from Venezuela) and their dog Linus visited this past weekend and started Owen's Spanish training.  We're sure he learned a lot and will be able to help his parents navigate Costa Rica in February!  Sapphire was glad to finally have a visitor that was more interested in playing with her than with Owen.  

The Great Pumpkin(s)

Owen's first Halloween season has officially kicked off.  Friday night we attended Jackie's 7th annual pumpkin carving party.  It was great fun and we managed to carve 2 of the 3 pumpkins that Gigi and Bob brought us from their garden.   Can you guess which pumpkin is Matt's and which is Courtney's?   (Hint:  Courtney stopped at a work happy hour before the party and had her first raspberry drink in a long long time!)

The party turned out a bunch of fun pumpkins see the artwork and creators below (the picture is a little dark I guess in keeping with the halloween spirit)

Vitamin D

The Doctor said its important for babies to get their Vitamin D and the best way is 15 minutes of sunbathing everyday so we headed straight to the park!   Owen also weighed in at 7lbs, 1oz!!!  What a big healthy boy! 

Video of the Rugrat

Not that exciting but check out his wiggles

And his favorite move, punching himself in the face. 

Owen's Many Faces

Owen's number of expressions has multiplied lately.  We don't know what they all mean but we can take guesses.  

The first is definitely  'please repeat what you said a little louder but don't you dare touch my "paci"'.  Followed by 'don't bother me now mom, I'm practicing to be a rock star'

Then comes 'hmm that concerns me a little but not enough to open my eyes' followed by 'that concerns me a little more so I'll open my eyes but my lips are sealed' 
 
Next is 'leave me alone, I'm thinking about something' followed by 'ahhh, this whole basket thing is a little scary'

and finally no expression at all...complete trust that mom will not drop his head!

  

Better View of House Project

I've now acquired a camera that can take video clips so look for this blog to go multimedia.  How terrible that Owen isn't even featured in the first video but he was not doing anything interesting when the camera was ready to be tested. So for anyone who cares...check out our new office and  bathroom (located off the living room on our first floor).   If you watch carefully you'll catch a glimpse of Owen in my arms in the mirror.   

Best Buddies

House to ourselves - FINALLY!

This post is not exactly Owen focused but thought you might still want to know.  As many of you know, we're in the midst of a construction project to create a powder room and small office in what used to be our side porch.  The project was supposed to end before Owen arrived but he came early and they ran late so we're sharing the house with a bunch of contractors right now.   They are very nice about it but I'm ready to have the house for just Owen and I!  It's just about done so I figured I'd post a couple pictures. But its hard to take pictures of tiny little rooms with lots of doors - here's the best I could do - sink above, front and side windows below. I'll try to remember to take some of the exterior tomorrow!

  

Owen for Obama

This is Rugrat Mom and I approve this message!  Yesterday we heard Obama was going to be having a rally in a nearby park and it was open to the public. Seemed like a cool thing to check out so I looked at our calendar and [big surprise] it was empty!  So Owen hopped in his wrap and we hiked a mile or so into the park.  Owen cleared his first metal detector and we were in!  A bunch of local politicians talked and then Obama took the stage and spoke for probably 30 minutes (yes that's him in the photo below, with the white shirt on in front of the flag).  We were pretty far back but it was fun to listen!  At the end he was talking to volunteers etc and we made our way up pretty close and I was hoping he might be looking for babies to kiss but I guess they don't really do that anymore!  These pics are all with the cell phone camera - I'm pretty impressed!

Back to work

Luckily we just went for a visit.  There are things (and people) that I miss at work, but I definitely can't imagine going back yet.  My group hosted a belated shower for us since Owen's early arrival forced me to miss the one originally planned.  We had some great cake and answered lots of questions about our early Pampers experience (for anyone who might have forgotten, I work in diapers at P&G :).   Owen got all dressed up in his "big boy clothes" - a 3 piece outfit, not a sleeper - for the occasion.  He looked pretty snazzy even with the legs and sleeves rolled up.  The picture actually makes him look chubby too - he's not - at least not yet! 

Tom, my boss, holding Owen - he looks like he is ready for grandkids! And Al, a coworker and climbing buddy, sizing Owen up for his first harness.  

Krista matches Owen so nicely!  And Luke missed the shower (darn meetings) so he and Veronica paid Owen a home visit.  

 

Pictures Galore

If you read this blog faithfully and still want more pictures....here's the link for you

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=19k3s0i1.8v9c158l&x=0&y=-gaofya&localeid=en_US

Pennsylvania or bust

Owen's 3rd state was PA but this time we didn't just drive through...we went to Pittsburgh and visited Owen's Great Grandma!  She lives in a retirement community and just loved seeing and holding little Owen.  One of her children was born around 4lbs so he didn't seem so little to her.  She told Owen (and us) about all the great activities they have had at their community like a ventriliquist and a singing quartet.  I think the pictures really tell the story! 

3 States and Counting

Owen has left Ohio!  He spent 3 days in West Virginia this past weekend (no he didn't wear shoes - but he never does!).   He finally got to meet his Grandma and Grandad Wasson and boy did they love him.   He cuddled with them lots and even let Grandma change his diaper  and help give him a bath.  Matt's longtime friend Michael came to see little Owen and we stopped to visit several neighbors on our walk around the block.  Saturday even more relatives came to meet Owen - George and Gail, Scott & Staci and thier little ones Ben and Cami spent the afternoon with Owen.   Owen even got to go on a hike in the woods led by 3 year old adventurer Ben.  Yes I know that only adds up to 2 states (and we won't even count the little part of PA that you have to drive thru to get to WV)...the next post will reveal state #3.   

ROAD TRIP!!

   

Our excitement for this week was getting ready for our big road trip to Morgantown West Virginia to introduce Owen to his grandparents Wasson.   We leave tomorrow so we should have big stories for the blog next week.  Thinking about the trip, packing for the trip and feeding Owen has taken most of our time this week so we don't have too much else to report.   Some small things:  Owen got weighed again and he's 6 pounds now!  Way to go Owen (and mommy if I do say so myself)!  He's even outgrown some of his preemie outfits and we've started to move into newborn size.  We've finally found a hands-free, wheels free transport method that will support our little guy for walks in the park or just around the house...its called a wrap!  See Owen in his wrap below.  Yesterday we found a few minutes with Owen's eyes open to set up our tripod and do a little mom/owen photo shoot.