11 Months!

If you have ever been to my house, you know that decorating is a slow, slow process for me. I seem to have commitment issues with pounding nails into walls and hanging pictures. Well, just this past week, I overcame this obstacle and hung some pictures in the hallway that has been bare for 4 years. My favorite frame contains pictures from when Owen was just 6 days old. He was sooo tiny! I can't believe that soon he will be walking, climbing, running. . . Is it true that my baby is really just one month away from his first birthday! Well, I won't spend more time dwelling on the fact that my sweet little guy is getting older. Instead, I will focus on the fun milestones he reached last month.

Owen weighed in at 19lbs 14.5 oz this month. His weight gain has dramatically slowed ever since he became mobile. I guess this is normal since our little guy rarely stops moving when he is awake, and at times he roams around the crib during naps as well.

Our most favorite milestone to date is that Owen has spoken his first words. So far he has said bye-bye, daddy, tickle-tickle, and mama (if you count him saying it when he is sad). I just love it when he speaks! As I mentioned in my last post, Owen started waving bye-bye at Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house. It was a few weeks after that we heard him squeak out a bye-bye for the first time. Since then, he has continued to say it while waving, but he is pretty picky about when he wants to do so. Although bye-bye was pretty cute and fun to hear for the first time, the best moment of all was when he said daddy for the first time and reached for Luke. We both melted, and I have to admit that I was just a tad bit jealous :). Tickle-tickle is his latest word. The other day we were reading a book together and one of the pictures was of a baby laughing. Owen took his fingers, touched the baby's picture, and said tickle-tickle like he was actually tickling the baby. It was pretty adorable. Since then, he has tried to tickle both Luke and I a couple times and said tickle-tickle while doing so. I guess we must tickle Owen quite a bit.

Owen has really developed a love for reading. I am so proud! He loves to grab his board books and sit on my lap while I read him the story and tell him about the pictures. He is great about turning the pages and really likes to read the entire book through once and then flip to random pages and point at things on the page. We often find him playing with his books on the floor as well. Maybe he will be an English teacher someday!

Owen has taken a couple steps on his own, kind of. When Luke and I were upstairs a couple weeks ago, we were helping Owen walk between us. I thought Luke was ready for him, but he wasn't as close as I thought, and I let Owen go a little early. Instead of just plopping to the floor like usual, he took a couple steps and then grabbed onto Luke's hands. Since then, he has repeated the performance a couple times for us, and even once for Grandma and Grandpa Walker. He doesn't seem to be in too much of a rush to walk, but I guess he could take that leap at any time. I am not really ready for him to walk either. I know that once he starts walking he will no longer feel like my little baby boy but rather a waddling toddler. Part of me wants to keep him small forever.

Our boy is starting to climb. A few weeks ago while Luke was sitting on the floor, Owen climbed on him, then up on the ottoman, and finally transferred himself over to the couch, all in an attempt to reach the blinds. Then, the other day I found him standing on a step stool that had been left in his room after I was done hanging pictures. He had managed to get on it while I went to double check that I had closed the gate behind us upstairs. I think I was out of the room for a total of 20 seconds. If there is anything on the ground that offers him a little leverage, than he has no trouble at all reaching the objects of his curiosity. I am sure it won't be long before he is climbing up without any leverage.

10 Months (a little overdue)

Our little Owen is now 10 months old. Luke and I have truly enjoyed this stage. He is playing new games everyday and making us laugh with his new sounds and animated facial expressions. Here are some of the highlights from this past month.

He is now 19 lbs 7 1/2 oz.

Owen added one more tooth, bringing the total to 8. His teeth came in out of order, and after the onslaught of teeth at Christmas, we were wondering if the fourth bottom one would ever make its appearance. Although a good month or so behind the rest, it finally popped through making for a nice even set on both the top and bottom.

Owen is a dancing machine! If you haven't caught the latest video on facebook, you should take a quick look. We have enjoyed several evenings of laughter now that we have a little booty shaker on our hands.

Owen has started to really interact with his toys. He enjoys opening books, turning pages, and babbling like he is reading a story. It sure does melt this English teachers heart! He also loves his cars. A couple weeks ago he started pushing them around the floor while making a baby motor sound. We aren't quite sure where he picked this up, but Luke has had tons of fun getting down on the floor to play cars with his little man. A toy shout-out would not be complete without mentioning his continuing love for all things electronic. During our last trip to Yakima, Owen suffered a major meltdown just 30 minutes away from my parents house. Luke's solution was to hand Owen the cell phone. He spent the next 20 minutes pushing buttons on Luke's phone while the screen would light up. Don't worry, Luke's phone was locked so he couldn't place any calls or send texts.

Owen's playtime activities have become much more interactive this month as well, with hide and seek certainly becoming a favorite. The minute we say "we are coming to get you" he darts off down the hall. Part way to one of his favorite spots he turns around to make sure we are still coming. Then, he finds the most obvious spot to hide and laughs the minute we find him. He especially loves to hide right in front of the bathroom door, in the middle of his closet, and by the baby gate in the hallway.

Although Owen isn't walking on his own yet, we think he is pretty close. He can push his toys and chairs around like a crazy man, and he is starting to stand on his own for a few seconds at a time. I can't believe we will have a wobbling walker soon.

Owen is starting to explore cause and effect. This has probably been going on for some time now, but it has really become rather entertaining as of late. He loves to hit things together, throw toys so he can watch where they land, and open and close things. It is great to watch his little mind at work, if only we knew what he was really thinking.

He is also showing a new love for climbing. Yikes! When we are on the floor, he likes to use us as a platform to play king of the mountain., and whenever he spots a staircase he b-lines it over there just so he can go up and down over and over again. Unfortunately, his new love for stairs has also brought out the tantrums in full force anytime we pick him up to move him to safer ground.

Here are some pics from our latest adventures.

Playing at the parkHanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Maissen's house

Taking full advantage of their unbarricaded stairs!

Lots to Celebrate!

On Sunday we celebrated both Luke's 30th birthday and Owen's dedication at church. The dedication was such a special event for us. Although Luke and I have the priveledge of raising this sweet little one, we also recognize that he first belongs to God. Therefore, Luke and I, along with our family members and church family, made a promise to raise Owen and teach him about Christ's love and our relationship with Him. We feel so blessed to be Owen's parents and are thankful every day that God has entrusted us with this special gift.

After church we all went back to our place to celebrate. For his birthday, Luke requested a Sunday brunch with his mom's signature angel food cake and strawberries for dessert. It turned out to be quite the feast! The afternoon was filled with relaxation, family, and of course the best entertainment of all, Owen. It was a such wonderful day celebrating the two biggest blessings in my life!

9 Months (the pictures)

After three frustrating attempts to publish the previous post with pictures, I have decided to just create a separate entry. Sorry for the overwhelming amount of pictures, I just couldn't help myself when it came to picking my favorites. I felt the pictures captured his personality better than my attempt to write about it. Here is our cute 9 month old!

9 Months

Owen is certainly starting to lose his baby look and starting to become our little boy. He seems to change every day, and we are continually amazed at the little things he picks up. Of course a few of our favorites are cataloged here for you.

We made a trip to the Dr. last week for Owen's 9 month appointment. Owen is now 29 inches long (75 percentile) and 18 lbs 15 oz (25 percentile). We should also note that our little one's head is measuring in the 75 percentile as well. As Luke puts it, he is tall and skinny with a big noggin, but, still cute as ever!

After he started crawling, Owen was pulling himself up on furniture within a week. Now he has absolutely no trouble walking around all of our furniture and pushing his toys, and the occasional pampers box, around the living room. He still doesn't have the courage to take that first step away from the furniture, but he seems pretty close. I am pretty sure he will be walking on his own before we know it, but I am not quite sure if I am ready.

Just this past weekend Grandma Bev taught Owen how to wave bye-bye. It is just so precious. We aren't sure he knows what it means since we ask him to wave bye-bye all the time, but it's still cute.

Lately Owen's favorite thing is to stick his tongue out, and while his tongue is out, well, he just goes ahead and licks anything close at hand. Who knew it would be so important to taste everything in the house before you form an opinion about it. While we are on the slobber subject, I should also mention he also enjoys spitting. It is amazing anything stays dry around here.

Our little man's first Mohawk!

He looks so tough

Thanks Aunt Bekah for your stellar styling skills

One of those days

Some days (and nights) are really hard. For instance, last night my little angle decided to wake up at 11 pm and stay awake until 2:30 am. To make it just a tad more challenging he cried for all but 30 minutes during that 3 and 1/2 hour marathon. As I watched the minutes pass by, I knew that I would be exhausted today. I kept holding onto the hope that maybe he would nap well since he slept terribly. Oh no. . . it has been one of those days. He skipped his morning nap (well cried through it), then I accidentally woke him during his afternoon nap. Believe me it was a very sad moment when I made a noise upstairs and then heard him start crying on the other side of the door. In all, he has slept for 30 minutes today. Needless to say, the kitchen is still a mess, the laundry is still folded in the baskets upstairs, and my sweet little guy has left a trail of toys through the living room. I am not sure how much of that will change before I crash tonight.

But . . . then there are moments like these

. . . and I find that the exhaustion and frustration just seem to melt away. I mean just look at that cute face!

* And yes, I took pictures today of my super cute boy instead of putting away the laundry :)