Owen to the barber

Today Owen's locks got the chop. Mom & dad decided it was time. So into his feeding chair he did go and one, two, three...................ten, eleven, twelve snip snip snip. Mom held his ears down and dad bravely took the scissors to his hair. It was going well until Owen clapped eyes on the scissors, which he obviously has never seen before, and decided he had to have them. A bit of a tussle ensued. We went a bit short on the overall look but felt that there was really not enough for a hairdresser to do.



The last few times that Owen & I have been to the gym, and Owen goes to the creche, has been a drama. Friday I just knew that he would cry so I gave him to Marion, the creche lady, along with usual instructions and bolted right up to the cardio section. Normally I cycle to warm up and then run, step and cool down. This time I jumped straight on to the treadmill and ran as fast as I could. 16 minutes later I heard the intercom go on but no message. I just knew it was Owen. A minute later the receptionist, who I know personally now from this whole saga, was at my side telling me Owen was crying. I now have a plan with Marion - to take Owen when she is there and for only short periods at a time in the beginning and then lengthening it. Ok, roll on Monday!



In the meantime Owen still enjoys his milk - whether it comes from the boob or the bottle seems immaterial to him. Mealtimes are still a real joy and he continues to feed himself successfully with his fork. Dad time is very special too. When Owen woke up on Friday morning he was very interested to know who was asleep in the bed next to mommy. A priceless smile melted dad's heart! Brendon spends Saturday mornings with Owen doing domestic duties and cycles with him in the afternoon after Owen's dinner. Still no appearance of the next tooth!

A week of go go go!

It has been a very different week. Owen has developed so quickly in a number of areas it amazes me. The gate is up on his bedroom door frame and I must say that I feel so much better popping upstairs to the loft and not fearing that he will fall down the stairs. He has become so active in such a short time. The carpets slow him down but when he gets going on the tiles and laminate he is a real speed monster. He loves sitting in his feeding chair, holding a toy over the side of it and watching it drop to the floor. He finds it even more amusing, once he wails that he doesn't have a toy in his hand anymore, that mom bends down to pick it up EVERY TIME! The small things that he does makes me realise just how much he has learned in the last few months. Less than 2 months ago we started using his next level car seat. Now when I unbuckle him and the straps spring back he lifts his little arms so that I can remove them and he be lifted out. Amazing. Even when he is engrossed in playing with his toy he still does that. He holds his sippy cup really well and insists that he holds his bottle when it is milk time too, even though he has been a breast-feed baby! Marina (in the next street) took him for an hour the other day and commented on just how independent he is as he did not cry once I had left & was so curious about every detail in their house. Jip, that's our little Owen.

Today was a rainy day so we managed to pop out for a 30 min walk in the morning. There was lots of playing going on. Owen loves positive praise. He takes all 4 plastic rings off the fisher price stacking toy and glows when I clap my hands and call him a clever boy. Daytime sleeps were a struggle and totalled only 1h15m. After one of his sleeps I heard him making a noise in his cot so I went to check on him and got the fright of my life. He was sitting up in the cot playing with "Mickey Big Ears". He has never gone from lying to sitting before. I guess he must have pulled himself up using the bars. Needless to say Owen & the mattress were out of the bed in a matter of minutes and I was adjusting the height of the bed to make sure there were no accidents.

Dinner was a gamble. On Sunday one of the ladies from the church gave me 15 pots of deluxe baby food (Eur 3.50 for 2 pots nogal!) The only problem was that there are only two varieties - ratatouille & chicken curry (baby strength). So tonight we tried chicken curry with mom's trusty faithful home-made pots in the fridge on stand-by. The first couple of spoons made him shoot me a "you've gotta be kidding" look. After a few more spoons and Rudolf the Red nose Reindeer song he finally decided that it was good stuff. Dinner ended off with a lolly shared by both of us. I enjoyed teaching Owen how to eat it. I would take a bite and go "mmmmmm" and then hold it out to him. He would take a suck and look at me and smile although I could see he was battling with the new cold feeling. What a funny boy.

The baby monitor has been banned from our bedroom during the night now. Owen is such a wriggle-pot every move used to wake me up. He does sleep on his tummy now which concerns me but I just have to trust the Lord that he will be fine. Owen doesn't get me up in the morning anymore. The sound of the neighbours house sitters alarm clock at 5am and Brabant accent calling the bulldog "beauty" inside the house is what gets my day started. Never have I wished the neighbours a speedy return from their holiday like now.

I must say that I am REALLY looking forward to Brendon being home tonight. Not to physically help with Owen but for me to mentally have a rest. Lets see what the next week brings.

A little man on the move

Another change is in store for us. Owen has started crawling (well sliding/rolling/caterpillaring around) to grab hold of anything that catches his interest (which is everything and anything at the moment). I have already sourced some gates for the stairs and on the weekend Brendon will be on his hands and knees, viewing the world from Owen's level, to get rid of any dangerous/precious items that Owen may feel the need to eat/tug on/break/hide. God really knew what he was doing when he created man. If there was no break in between teeth appearing parents would have a maximum of one child! Owen is showing all the signs of another tooth appearing, only this time we are onto him. Today was the first time in the history of Owen that he did not enjoy his walk in his pram. He yelled, then cried and when I went to sit him up-right he stuck his legs out and was as stiff as a board. Yesterday he dined alfresco in the summer heat (with 100% humidity) and decided he was missing his afternoon nap so stayed up for 5 hours before bedtime. Brendon took him on a cycle ride to distract him and his bath time was a real mission. After being asleep 1 hour he woke up crying and thrashing around in his bed until a paracetamol was administered and then we did not hear a peep for a good few hours. 1 tooth down +/- 19 to go!

Douglas & Lynese's stopover

It was nice to see Douglas & Lynese on-route to the USA. They had so many gifts for us I was sure that there was hardly any space for their clothes & USA gifts too! We spent time catching up and taking Owen to the animal farm (although the crowing roosters made him cry). On Friday Brendon, Owen & I swum at the gym pool whilst Granny and Grandpa waved at Owen from behind the big glass windows. It is good to know that in 3 weeks time they will be resident just across the water in the UK. Owen (and his parents) will enjoy regular visits.

8 months old!


Tomorrow Owen is 8 months old. I cannot believe how time flies. Just the other day he was a helpless little person now he tries to feed himself with his fork and gets it right some of the time. He sits so well now which gives me more freedom to do household tasks. Hence, dad has less tasks to do on the weekend! On the last couple of trips to the shops he sits in the shopping trolley and smiles at all and sundry.
Today Owen & I went to the clinic so he could be weighted and measured. 10.1kg's and 74.5cm's! Brendon commented that he is half of our checked-in airplane baggage allowance. He is such a happy little man, still loves the trees & flowers and basically anything that moves. Owen is now able to take things with both hands now and they don't always have to go via his mouth. I have been trying to get him to switch to formula now as he has become a biter, even at 5am. I have no humour with this new phase. So now I first try formula and then if that does not work he gets expressed milk.

We are all looking forward to seeing Douglas & Lynese on Thursday on-route to America and then UK. They will be amazed at how much their little grandson has changed. He interacts so well now I am sure all will have fun together. As they are going to be just over the channel we look forward to seeing them as often as we can in the time they will be in the UK.