Blessing Day

Owen wore the same tux Isaac did for his blessing.  It cracks me up to see his serious little faces when I was trying to get pictures of him in it . . . and I couldn't help but think of one part of a song that I'd just heard on a commercial, over and over again in my head while I looked at the pictures later . . .

And I somehow managed to get 250 pictures down to this . . .
Man, I love good excuses to get together as family.

Two Months

On March 1st (due to the lack of a Feb. 30th, my baby boy turned 2 months old. 
Already?!

Out of all my kids, he seems the most 'newborn-ish' for the longest amount of time.  He still seems to spend all of his time eating, then being cute and happy for a few minutes, then being angry at the feeling of tiredness, then sleeping.  When he's awake and alert, he's so adorable and happy.  But then it's not long before he's fussy and crying and wanting to go back to sleep.  He also seems to be the 'floppiest' still -- he just wants to lie around in my arms (or my lap, he LOVES lying in my lap while I'm sitting cross legged), and unlike his other siblings, doesn't want to be held up in standing, or even sitting, position for very long.  Add to that he has a little cousin only two and a half months older, who practically came out of the womb as a two month old (she was the smiliest, most alert, bright eyed newborn I have EVER seen.  She never seemed floppy or sleepy, it's like she was just up and ready to go since birth) . . . and Owen just seems so young to me.  Which isn't a bad thing by any means, I like having my sleepy newborn.  (Less thrilled by the fussy, overly tired, crying thing -- but, you take the good with the bad.)   He doesn't cry anywhere near what Annie did, but he's fussier than Isaac was . . . I am now convinced though that I was just never destined to have a laid back, chill baby.  :-)  

Now for the two month stats:

Weight:  11.9 lbs. (55%)

Height: 23.62" (75%)

And the shocker --

Head: 15.4" (26%)
(Although I think this was possibly measured a bit smaller, and at his last appointment he was 37%).

That is miles away from my other kids.  I remember Ellie at times having a 90%+ head circumference and being 2% in weight.  Greg and I used to joke that we didn't know how our kids didn't look like bobble heads, since all three older ones have always been higher than 85% on the charts (Isaac was 98% at his 18 month appointment.)  

I think Owen will be the Talina of our family.  (My family will get that.)

And just for fun, to compare to his big (and I do mean BIG) brother:

Isaac at this age:

Weight: 14.66 lbs. (96%)

Height: 66%

So Owen was taller, but Isaac was much heftier.  (Seriously, over 14 and a half pounds at only TWO MONTHS old?!  Ellie was 13lbs. 9oz. at SIX MONTHS old.)  The funny thing about Isaac was that he actually looked thinner than the girls at this age -- who both had chipmunk cheeks and chunky thighs.  Isaac didn't look like he had any 'extra' weight on him, he was just so freakingly solid.  Of course, all my kids shoot up on the charts for the first four months.  Then they stop growing for awhile, maybe getting a bit taller and putting on a bit of weight, but the spend the next 8 months slowing dropping back down the charts.  Our gigantic baby, Isaac, had slimmed down to less than 21 pounds at a year old, at 19% on the charts, and at just over 29" was at 29% on the charts.  But now at a year and a half, he's quickly climbing the charts again.   I find it so interesting that all three older kids, despite being very different sizes and weights from each other, followed very, very similar growth patterns.  

And lastly, some pictures from the day he turned 'two months old'.  I'd taken Ellie and Isaac to the doctors, so Aunt Talina and cousin Bailey came over to play with Owen and Annie.

Heard in the Last 20 Minutes at our House . . .

Annie:
Annie and Ellie were excitedly talking about the future.  "You'll be four, and I'll be six!" Annie said, "Then you will ask me, 'Annie, what is the world made of?' and I will say, 'I don't know.'" 

Ellie:
"I'm just like a Daddy!" Ellie exclaimed, telling me about how she was going to take the little trash can in their room and dump it into the bigger trash can.  Then I heard her as she came out of her room, "Annie, I've done this like 12 times -- I'm done, I think it's your turn."  I had no idea she'd taken on (then grown to resent) the trash duties in their room.

Isaac:
My 19 month old and I had a bit of a miscommunication issue earlier.  He came up to me with a box of crayons.  He pulled one out and exclaimed, "Owens crayon!"  "It's Owen's crayon?" I asked.  "Isaac's crayon," he firmly shot back.  "Oh, Isaac's crayon."  He held up the crayon again and said, "Owens crayon!"  "So, it's Owen's crayon?" If the boy knew how to roll his eyes he would've, "ISAAC'S crayon," he reaffirmed.  "Isaac's crayon," I agreed.  He pulled out a new crayon, held it up, and this time I heard the ever so subtle difference, "Owans crayon."  I looked at the orange and orange-red crayons he was holding in his hands, "OH! ORANGE crayon! Gotcha!" Smart boy.  Not so smart Mom.  :-)

Owen:

He doesn't actually contribute much to the conversation yet.  But he's recently discovered he is very amused by the cow-print bar above his bouncy chair . . .

Completely unrelated:

This is what my walls look like several times a week . . . thanks, Isaac.

Grandpa Robert babysat the other day while Talina and I ditched him with four of our five children.

Six Weeks Old (last Friday)

So last Friday Owen was six weeks old (wow, already!?)

I took these pictures last Thursday (so, when he was almost six weeks old).

And I'm posting them now (almost a week later).

Time is an interesting thing with a newborn around. :-)

Smiles

Are there anything better than baby smiles?!  Owen has been especially happy and smiley today, and I've loved it.  The best moment by far was when we was nursing this morning and suddenly smiled up at me, a big wet milky smile that caused him to unlatch.  It is by far one of my favorite parts of nursing!

I took a few pictures of him later that afternoon practicing his baby smiles . . .

 

Here's Owen & Annie comparison pictures . . .

Here's Owen & Ellie comparison pictures . . .

all of my kids have their 'own look', but I swear Ellie's the least like the rest.

And then some comparison pictures of Owen & Isaac both making goofy or happy faces . . . 

Four Weeks Already?!

It hit me this morning that Owen is four weeks old now.  That seems so old!
I was taking pictures of him all wide eyed and awake, and the pictures kinda reminded me of Annie.  So, I pulled up pictures of each of my kids around a month old . . .

Owen on top, then Annie, Ellie (who was one CHUNKY looking baby, which is funny, 'cause she was by far the smallest), and Isaac

I can't get over how huge Isaac looks nowadays . . . he's like this mammoth child who I swear was my tiny, little boy just yesterday!  Here's a comparison picture of my two boys -- so you can see why Isaac seems so massive to me now!

Cousin Bailey came over to visit today . . .

Having Bailey come along a few months before Owen was born was really good for Isaac.  He's really fond of Baby Bailey.  Of course, once Owen was born, Bailey and all other babies were promptly renamed "Baby Owen."  His default is to call her 'Baby Owen', but he will call her Bailey if we prompt him.  He cracked Talina and I up today though when he referred to Bailey as "Baby Owen Sister".  She is now officially the female version of his little brother :-)

The two younger babies were on their stomachs doing some 'tummy time', and Isaac threw himself down and participated. :-)  Owen surprised us by rolling himself over one time, but didn't' do it again.  Four weeks old though, not too bad for rolling over for the first time :-)

Here's Owen tonight refusing to fall asleep . . .  he's so bright eyed when it's well past bedtime . . .

 

Absolutely nothing exciting happens in this video -- he's only four weeks old afterall -- but I couldn't resist getting some 'four-week-old-milestone' video.

 

Then, just 'cause this cracked me up, I came across this picture of Annie when she was two years old.  The shirt along with the face and stance made Greg and I giggle . . . 

Weekend Pictures

My cousin Makayla had her Mission Homecoming on Sunday, so after Church, we all headed to my Aunt Judy's house for the afternoon.  The kids had so much fun seeing all the extended family, especially the second cousins.  In fact, Ellie's prayer last night at Family Home Evening went something like this, "Thank you for Jesus and for Makayla.  Thank you for Makayla's mission so that we got to go play with Jaxson and Kenzie.  I LOVE playing with Kenzie and Jaxson, especially in the basement with the toys." 

Isaac was a fan of the food.  Well, the desserts, at least.  When I walked into this scene I asked Greg if maybe a sugar cookie would've made more sense for the one year old than the Red Velvet cupcake . . . :-)  

Isaac had fun playing on the pool table, putting the balls in the various pockets.  Interesting fun fact we learned -- Isaac can count to 10!  Yeah, I didn't know that.  My sister Star called me down and was all, 'Watch this!' and she's hand a ball to Isaac, he'd count it, then put it in the pocket closest to him.  He struggles sometimes with numbers 3 & 4, but from 5 on he has no problem at all . . . 

Since we were all dressed up and all (except Owen, 'cause he just wears pajamas 24-7), we figured we might as well get a 'family photo' of all of us in one place . . .

My adorable little boys.

 And then today, I snapped a couple adorable sleeping pictures of Owen.  'Cause he's sleeping less nowadays and I want to remember this; plus, is there anything more adorable than a sleeping baby?!

Speaking of sleep, guess who went SIX hours between feedings last night?  The kid did not wake up until 4AM.  That's amazing.  I think Annie was nearing a year old before she was sleeping that long of a stretch :-)  I don't want to get my hopes up too much that this'll be our new norm, but MAN, do I love me a sleeping baby!  Makes life so much easier! :-)