Eight Months

Its been eight months since that bitter cold night that we made our way to the hospital to welcome Owen into this amazing world. Eight months seems entirely too long ago and entirely too brief of a time all at once. Was it really 8 months ago that I was pregnant, waiting anxiously for this baby boy to arrive? That part of this journey feels like it was ages ago. I can barely remember what it was like to be pregnant. But, seeing little Owen grow and become such an adventurous baby for 8 whole months, seems like it can't possibly have been that long already. How do they grow so quickly?

8 months has been another amazing adventure for Owen. His little life is taking turns left and right toward independence and adventure. Just a few days after turning 7 month Owen cut his first tooth (read Razor Blade), and a few days after that he spouted his first clear word : Mama.

Past the first week the whirling dervish of milestones continued. Owen has started moving, but true to form, he's carries the stubborn genes that both his parents have and Collin has too. Owen moves on his belly, like a seal lion, mostly backwards and in circles, but he's quick and clever. He will turn his body around and go backwards to get something in front of him, rather than just crawling forward towards it.

This week has also brought oodles of new food choices, as we started Owen on the real deal. He's had puffs, and cherrios, raspberry pieces, watermelon pieces and mango pieces, and as you can tell by his many chins, he continues to love them. When we started dinner meals with meat (like "tender beef spinach") he seemed a bit like I was feeding him dog food. He'd made this face like, how dare you ruin food, the most delicious substance there is, with this gross misrepresentation. Ish. So I would alternate dinner with a fruit and sneak through half a jar or so a meal, but now, he's take a turn for the better, and actually likes the meat dishes. Last night was split pea turkey, and he gobbled it up.

We also worked to get Owen out of his sleep wrap, entirely, and we're almost there. When I put him down I can do it without a wrap, but our nanny still has a hard time and sometimes drew still uses the wrap, but overall we're starting escape baby Houdini's efforts to break out of sleep wraps once he's settled in to his crib. For a  little while there I thought we would never get him out of the wrap because holding him was like wrestling an alligator to sleep. Not so easy. But as he's grown, he's eased into our routine and now usually goes to sleep rather well when I'm holding him.

Owen's naps are still rather un-regimented. I wish there was more I could do to make it more consistent and get him to take longer naps, but he's the king of the 1 hr nap, sometimes just 45 minutes. He still takes at least 3 naps a day and is up and down all day long. We work with it and he's along for the ride much of the time, but doesn't seem too worse for the wear. We still work to get his 15 hours of sleep in, with little naps here and there.

Speaking of sleep, we still haven't really sleep trained Owen. I don't know that we really will. He doesn't ever cry in his crib. You can just lay him in there and he'll just lay there, awake or asleep and look around or play with his Parsley lovey. Sometimes he'll lay there for quite awhile if we leave him to try to fall asleep on his own, but it rarely ever works, and then we just watch a wide-eyed baby quietly look around his crib for an hour becoming more and more tired.  So, I rock him and hold and walk with him, and hug and nuzzle him and really have no desire to put him down. I know they say you should sleep train your kids, but I've come to really believe that you can only hold on to them and rock them for such a short period of their lives that I'm hanging on to every moment of it. Before I know it he'll be 18 months, and too big to rock to sleep. So every night, after a day at work, I come home to my adorable boys, feed them dinner, play for a brief bit and begin our bedtime routine. For Owen and I this means nursing, burping, reading books and rocking in his rocking chair until we both fall asleep. I'm always so exhausted from getting up at 5:30 to have time to get ready before the boys wake up about 7, and not being able to get to bed until 11 or so, that I take a sort of power nap at his bedtime. So off we dream together, and without fail, after about 45 minutes of soundly sleeping my legs fall asleep on the footstool and I wake up to numb toes and watch the most adorable baby boy sleep soundly in my arms. I then place him in his crib and head out to face the dishes or work that awaits me. That hour or so, start to finish is such a precious time for me to be able to connect with Owen, and I don't plan to give it up anytime soon. So, sleep training- sheep snailing. Who needs it :)

These days Owen is the master of sitting and reaching, pulling anything toward him that he can. He looks around and collects toys like a little magnet. He's enjoying Collin more and more, and really starts to belly laugh when Collin entertains him.

He's also started to wave, which just melts my heart and makes me want to stay rather than say bye-bye when I have to go to work.
Mornings for Owen are ready for rising and shining at 6:30 am. Usually I'm up around 5:30, so this gives me about an hour to get my day started before Owen and Collin begin their mornings. Owen almost always will sleep until Collin wakes up, and upon the slightest sound from his brother, startles awake, confident that he will not sleep through a minute of the fun about to ensue.


After getting up and getting dressed, we make our way to the kitchen for breakfast, which has become more and more adventerous for Owen. He now enjoys puffs and stage 3 foods, a bit more chunky and flavorful as well as a host of small fruit pieces that are too slipery to pick up, and cause him to yell at the tray venting his frustration. It is only when I pick the pieces up and slide them onto his little tongue that he smiles with delight. He loves fruit, and is coming around to meats. At first he spit out all the meat dinners, but now is starting to like them a bit more and thankfully continues to be a good eater.

Post breakfast and clean up we take sometime to practice crawling and reading books, almost always nestled in between pillows and blankets in one of the boy's rooms. Before long we head downstairs to further our efforts to play, with Collin's requests for board games or books. At the same time I'm getting ready for work, so between stories and toys, Owen is usually playing on the floor while I rinse diapers and use the blow dryer to dry my hair.

By about 8:30, its time for morning nap, where Collin heads off to his room to play quietly and I sit down with Owen and relax for the first time of the day. Within about 15 minutes he is sound asleep in his crib and Collin and I are headed downstairs to be quiet so that Owen can get in the full hour that he so generously provides for morning nap (insert sarcasm here. I wish Owen would take nice 2 hour naps, but its just not in the cards for us. All his naps are short and sweet, with the morning nap coming in at the longest).

After he wakes up we tackle the day head-on, and head out of the house to the park, library, museums, whatever fits the schedule and weather that day. We head back home in time for lunch and afternoon nap, where both boys are usually tired and anxious for a bit of peace and quiet. They wander off to sleep and when rocking Owen I usually nod off too, for a quick power nap before heading out to all the tasks to be done: dishes and diapers, cleaning up toys and dog hair on furniture, making beds, doing laundry, thinking about what dinner will be, its a never ending collection of tasks, but it keeps me on my toes and I wouldn't have it any other way.

After nap, the boys play with Drew, try to get outside and continue to make mess after amazing mess, leaving a trail of paintings, colored pages, drool, spit up, smiles and grins in their wake. I can always tell how the day has progressed based on the messes I clean up at days end. Successful days are filled with many moments of fun and lots of excitement, burgeoning from paintings and stories that come barreling out of Collin's mouth as I get home from work.

And all too soon, its dinner, bath and bedtime again. Another day is over, and a new morning is headed our way. Another bit of time lost on the 8th month, pushing forward toward 9.

I can barely stand how adorable you are Owen, how loving and happy. I can't hold on to these precious moments long enough and I hope far in the future, I glimpse back at this post and remember just who you were at 8 months old, if only for the blink of an eye.

You're an amazing baby, and we're so lucky to be your parents.
Love,
Momma and Daddy