Hey Sunshine

Owen's usually happy when he wakes up. I decided to film him one day because I heard a lot of talking coming from his room after his nap. Of course, once he saw the camera, he clammed up. Better video next time! :)

And in other news, the weather here is quite variable from one day to the next. Apparently, this is very normal for "spring" here, but the wind is nearly constant. Snow on Friday.

Yard work on Sunday.

Ranch Style

The pulling up continues on everything, but his favorite activity is still assisted walking. He can manipulate your fingers from a torso hold to walking handles before you know what's going on, and then he tries to take off before you can protest! Be aware before you offer him a hand. :)

Sometimes he pulls up under objects, entrapping himself. "How do I get out of here?"

Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind the playpen just yet. I think because he can pull up and still see what's going on, he doesn't feel abandoned. This has come in handy when I don't necessarily want a helper underfoot in the kitchen.
Earlier in the week, Granna and Grandad stopped in for a quick visit before they took Uncle Michael to the airport.

Making Uncle Michael feel right at home.

This past weekend we made a trip to the ranch to enjoy the fresh air and celebrate Granna's birthday. Here O's checking out his new shoes. Gotta give them a test run.

Yep, they seem to work just fine!
O's first mule ride. (Like the playground swing, he could take it or leave it.) :)
Doing manly stuff at the ranch like making fire to grill meat.

And more of the little things. Who knew that measuring tape was so much fun?

Baby socialization

Owen's got a few months on James and Maria.

"Look at all this cool stuff! Is it my turn yet?"

And Scott's got a few months on Owen. "You want to sit down in the grass?"

Stupid cat. She jumped in from the window sill, but could not figure out how to get out! She was actually running into the mesh sides trying to escape. :)

Cheering on his team. Good thing he was asleep through most of the game! :(

Hurray for Fall

The spectacular weather earlier this week allowed us to spend some quality time outside. This was O's first extended encounter with grass. He didn't seem to mind it at all.

An added bonus to the cooler weather is to wear warm pajamas again! I think our "Lil' Cowboy" was talking to me in this picture.

And here's a video of the excitement he shows every time Daddy comes home in the evening. If he had a tail, it would be wagging!

He's been interested in the stairs. Don't worry, we've got the gate, but they recommend leaving the bottom few stairs for the baby to practice on.

When I checked on him one night, this is how I found him. Who can sleep like this?

The Full Pull-up

So much for "partially" pulling up. He's been trying the full-blown pull up on furniture, people (including other babies), and his crib. I caught him in the process of the latter when I went to get him from his nap today.

Ta-da!

He would pull up on the cats if they'd stay still...

He was also my laundry helper. He's surprisingly strong and could tilt the whole basket despite it being full of clothes.

And here's the little piggy face alluded to in an earlier post. He was making that face/sound a lot today during cheesy potatoes. Who doesn't like cheesy potatoes? Apparently Owen.

Still Swiffering

Just a few little updates...

He's becoming more and more vocal. This includes cute baby babbling, excited screaming upon a cat sighting, and competing with everything in the house to be the loudest. He frequently uses "mamamama" in his chatter, but it doesn't seem to correlate to anything in particular yet. In related news, it seems that Family Dinner Out will be on hiatus because he does not enjoy quietly sitting still and watching us eat like he used to!

Here's a better picture of him playing with the neighbor. They look like they could be related, don't they? (Owen's on the right.) :)

Getting him out of the crib is becoming more interesting. Since he's been practicing his tummy-to-sitting skills, we often find him sitting up in his crib now. And the other morning I was surprised to find him kneeling on his knees with his hands on the crib rail peering out over the top. Guess it's time to lower the crib again. And maybe pulling up is not far behind...?

He's drinking water out of the sippy cup now, but he still usually needs help tipping it up to get liquid out. If left on his own, you can hear him sucking down air because we haven't had our lesson about gravity yet.

He's also making the rounds doing his army crawl. Baby Swiffer coming through!

Mini Milestones

For the record, we've had a few mini milestones in the past few days.

1) Owen joined us for dinner out and sat in the provided high chair (rather than his car seat) for the first time. We used a cover (yea for the Bilby!). It would have made for a good picture, but I forgot my camera. However, we felt like we were having dinner with a little old man, since he was slumping down, grunting (his latest noise), and his shorts were hiked quite high. Maybe we'll take a little pillow or stuff a bunch of napkins behind him to fill up the chair next time. :)

2) I left him in the care of the nursery staff this morning for a couple of hours, while I attended a mom's group at our church. It was a small step, but it marked the first time we've left him with non-relatives/friends. It all went well though. In truth, it seemed he didn't even notice me coming or going! I'm thankful for that, because I know in a few months that won't be the case.

3) At some point last night, he managed to untie the loop we were using to keep the diaper stacker hanging outside his crib. This sent the diaper stacker to the floor, but he kept the ribbon for himself! Needless to say, I had a bit of a scare finding him clutching onto a foot-long ribbon in his sleep and am now finally motivated to start baby-proofing. Yikes!

Now, because it's not really a post without a picture, here's two of Owen at play:

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.

Crib Time

Three months old today! Owen spent the weekend sleeping in his crib for the first time. He had been in a bassinet in our room, but has been sleeping through the night for a while, so it seemed like time. Pretty exciting to move him to his own room. As you can see, he's got plenty of room to grow and he's working on his "Hook'Em Horns" too!




And he joined us for dinner at the table last night.