5 months

This roller coaster never slows down. 5 months! How on Earth did we get here? Didn't we just have Owen a week or two ago, when it was winter? Turns out, winter did finally end just a few days ago, thank the Lord!, but Owen's been here a whole 5 months.

Summer is here! I can barely believe it and this year I'm SOOO excited about it! I love Minnesota summers and I hope to suck every last drop of daylight, fun and happiness out of this one. Owen will be along for the ride, like it our not. I'm pretty sure he'll like it though, he's already showing signs that outside is one of his favorite places to be.

Owen is changing everyday challenging us to keep up, or get out of the way! Our days are getting to be much more fun and a lot less maintenance, and I finally feel like we're back to the sane people most of society know us as.

Dear Owen-
You are 5 months old now, and I feel like every time I turn around you've accomplished something new. You are so incredibly happy, nearly all of the time. I say nearly, because lately you have been spending so much time chewing on your thumbs, making us painfully aware that your little gums hurt and you're teething. Most of the time you are fine with just gnawing away on your fists, but sometimes at bedtime you get restless and have a hard time staying asleep.

Now that its nice we try to get outside often, but I'm hesitant with you- because you are still too little for sunscreen, but we're so anxious to suck up the fresh air, warm grass, parks and fun that we go out when we can.

Your days are getting to be more regular, beside the teething issues. We try to protect your sleep as you are not the very best napper. You take 4 to 5 naps a day about an hour each, rather than 2 longer naps. Its okay, but makes me worry that you don't have enough deep sleep to be very rested. You get up about 6:30 am, sometime 7:00 am if we're lucky and head to bed about 6:30 pm. You sleep well overnight, until about 4:30 a.m., eat and then head back to sleep until morning.

From about 7 to 9 we go through our morning routine, where you spend time with Collin as we get ready for the day. Breakfast, play time, stories, potty time with Collin, you're along for the ride- which seems to be fine with you, you seem so amicable to whatever we do. I love this time with you, enjoying the early morning happiness, taking our time through the morning. It makes me feel blessed everyday, knowing I'm exactly where I need to be with you and Collin. You fill our days with fabulous smiles, and love to "talk" to us, mostly telling Collin all about your efforts for the day. Your face lights up when you see him. We love seeing your "brotherly love" blossom, its heartwarming and compassionate, and amazing to see how little you are and how much you love your brother already.


You're working on sitting up now, and doing a great job. You're not quite there yet, but it adorable to see you pose as you try desperately hard to hold yourself up. You are also getting very close to being able to roll from back to tummy, which is exciting and makes us anxious all at the same time. If you roll over soon, who knows how long it will be before crawling?!? Its all happening too soon!

Everyday we get a chance to see more and more of your expressions. You're very skilled at moving your eyebrows around and making faces that tell us your mood and thoughts. For example, sometimes we see this face:
which usually means, what on earth are you trying to make me do, now??? As the day continues on we head toward 10'oclock where four days a week your nanny, Lindsey, comes over. Collin adores her, and you seem so content when she holds you-- it puts my heart at ease to know you are in such good hands when I'm at work.

By that time you've already had at least one nap, potentially two depending on how early you've woken up. We're trying hard to consolidate and give you a longer nap time, but you've had the majority of control in that situation and it seems like you don't really want to be asleep, instead you'd rather take lots of little naps. Around 2:00 daddy comes home and you spend the afternoon eating, playing, reading books, sleeping and growing. I usually don't get home until about 5, at which point you're closing in on being hungry and tired. It breaks my heart that I don't get to spend a ton of time with you before you have to go to bed, but we know that your sleep is incredibly important, so I sacrifice my time with you to make sure you are growing and developing with the best of intentions.
Its no surprise that our life has changed with you in it, but we can hardly contain how quickly things change from moment to moment and as a result I try harder and harder to hang on. We know that its a lost cause, but still we try in vain, hoping against hope that the world will accommodate our needs, our desire to hold onto your childhood, because no matter how many times we heard it from others, how kids grow so fast, it never sinks in until its your own child, and you suddenly realize he's two, or twelve, or twenty-one.

Owen, I look forward to every single moment, and I promise I'll do my best to try to keep up.

Love,
Momma & Daddy