6-month Portraits

We had Owen's 6-month portraits done yesterday. 2nd try was better, but we still didn't quite capture his smile. (At the first try, he was dead on his feet- emotionless, despite our best goofy efforts, so we opted to reschedule.) Note that he is SITTING (mission accomplished!), and he is TEETHING, which explains the serious lower lip biting that was going on instead of smiling. :)

These are the highlights. They are low resolution, but we'll be getting a CD of higher res pictures for printing purposes. Enjoy!

Father's Day

Happy first Father's Day to John! We packed up and headed to the ranch to celebrate.

Owen even got to meet his Uncle Michael back from Washington!

He had a great visit, albeit a short one, being tickled by his new buddy.

And we were all thoroughly entertained by Owen's newfound mobility. It's pretty rough and slow, and I swear he was all over the place before I got out the video camera, but he did move a little bit for the camera. Time to baby proof!

6-month checkup

Today marks Owen's half-way point to his first birthday! The stats, according to the doctor's office are 16.8 lbs and 26 inches, which puts him at about the 45th percentile for both. His head circumference is at the 55th % though (got that Peterson noggin). He got 3 shots and an oral vaccine, and we're supposed to work with him to reach the sitting milestone in the next 2 weeks. Otherwise, he's doing great!

No pictures of the doctor's office; it's not very interesting. :) But, here are some examples of his "naps" lately. They're always preceded by rolling, burrowing, scooching, and general complaints, before he passes out. Here, he managed to drape his blanket over his head like a scarf whilst rolling around.

I think it may be time to retire the bassinet! I caught these little eyes spying on me while I was in the kitchen.

Bib Fashions

This one goes out to Oma for sending us some fashionable bibs. (Thanks!!) I took some pictures of them before they were turned green, orange, and crispy a la Owen.

I like my sweet potatoes mashed, not stirred.

And, as promised, we tried green peas. While it may look like he's in pain, please keep in mind that he makes some semblance of this face every time the spoon goes in his mouth for the first bite of the unknown. He did end up gobbling them down by the end of the bowl!

Tomorrow's his 6-month checkup! I will post with the latest stats.

Dirty, Clean, Dirty, Clean

It's a vicious cycle. We get dirty. We get clean. Repeat.

We've now made it successfully through the addition of sweet potatoes, bananas, and oatmeal to Owen's diet. Now we'll probably venture off into something green (peas anyone?) and see how he handles that.

Sweet potatoes...
Oatmeal...

And now for the getting clean part.

Before (for blackmail purposes later)...
After...

And, we always cap off the day with story time! Owen likes to hold the books, sometimes to the chagrin of the reader. (OK, let me turn the page now...) Ha ha!

What a mess

More messy eating pictures. They say it's good for him to learn about food through touch, otherwise I'd strap his arms down! :) Can't wait for the colorful foods...

This picture is of the avocado tasting. He really wasn't a fan of the avocado alone, so I ended up mixing it in with the rice cereal and milk. It's hard to make out in the picture, but he got it everywhere just like the above photo.

We've been attending a playgroup since Owen was about a month old. It's for 2009 babies, so he's usually the youngest baby there. He wowed the crowd with his 'walking'.

And here he is eyeing Leah's toys. She lives in the neighborhood and is just a couple months older than Owen. She has the best toys!

Mmm...cereal

Things have been progressing right along in the cereal department. We're up to twice a day, 1.5T each sitting or so, slowly increasing the quantity and the thickness. I think we may try avocado tonight! (Ah, it's the little things that are so exciting these days!) Owen likes to make sure the cereal makes it to the back of his mouth by shoving it there. :)

In other developments, he's easily rolling from back to front, but has forgotten how to go front to back. So, we usually find him sleeping on his tummy in the crib or voicing frustration at being stuck on his front on the playmat. We keep reminding him how it's done. Hopefully, it will click one of these days.

Babies are everywhere! Our little maple tree (planted soon after we moved in ~4 years ago) has become home to a family of mockingbirds. I managed to sneak a picture of the two babies while Momma Bird was off hunting for worms.