Owen Updates, Two Months Old

Since I know many people read our blog just to see Owen, here are lots of pictures for your enjoyment!

Owen turned 2 months on the 12th. Some of the things he does now:

-we have lots of tummy time. he doesn't always like it and often fusses and cries, but we try to do it at least once or twice a day. his head is getting stronger and can lift it almost 90 degrees
-he can hold his head up pretty good by himself
-he loves his toys, especially the blue octopus that plays music and his bright yellow stuffed "gato volador" (flying cat)
-he has discovered his hands. he looks at his fists when he's playing, and he's just started sucking on his fists. he's never been a thumb or finger sucker though.

-he has discovered his tongue. he'll stick out like a little snake, lick his lips, and click his tongue
-he is awake for longer periods and sleeps less, often skipping a nap. he still sleeps well at night, although all our traveling and running around has thrown him off and he no longer sleeps through the night. he wakes up every night around 2 or 3am. we're working to break that habit.
-he smiles all the time, and he seems so close to laughing. I'm sure it will happen soon.
-he's started blowing bubbles and gets all foamy at the mouth. it's pretty funny.
-he loves being rocked to sleep and always falls asleep when he's out and about in his Baby Bjorn.
-when it's time for his nap he loves being swaddled and has to have his Soothie pacifier. this combination always calms him right down. and he doesn't take any other brand of pacifier very well
-he loves going for walks in his stroller. he loves to look around at all the buildings and city sites

-he seems to be tolerating dairy better. I've slowly introduced cheese and yogurt and a tiny bit of milk (milk in Ecuador is gross) and he hasn't had any reactions!! yay!!!!!

He is such a happy baby and is so fun to have around. We are so blessed to have him a part of our family. We love him very much!!



Now the pictures:

first teddy-bear from Build-A-Bear


first time at a mall, he was enthrawled with all the lights!


at Harold Washington Library in Chicago, once again entrawled with the lights





2 months old


all smiles!



trying out the new sling



Sun Devil fan







we've learned he has to wear a hat anytime we go outside or he'll get sunburned.


tummy time. I love this outfit.



sporting his baby Air Jordan's (thanks Aunt Katy!)



bubbly bubbles!

(I tried so hard to post some videos on here but I guess the internet in my apartment in too slow. I'll have to figure something out.)

Our Apartment

In case any of you were curious as to where we are living....and so you can see we're not living in a hut (at least not yet--we will be living more "primitively" one week out of every month while we're in the jungle where Josh will be working at a medical clinic)

Outside of the building. We live right above a tiny cinema called Ocho y Media. They show mostly Spanish movies though.


inside the building





not a lot of space, but it's comfy for us.


our bedroom

Owen's bedroom

amazing views from the roof of our building

La Mitad del Mundo

We went to "la Mitad del Mundo" translated to the Middle of the World, also known as the equator. We had the great opportunity to straddle both hemispheres! We saw two equators. No, there aren´t really two equators, but there is the "official" one, with a big monument and where all the tourists go. But, about 15 years ago or so, with GPS technology, the actual equator was verified, just 200 meters to the north. We did lots of fun things on the real equator, including balancing a raw egg on the head of a nail. It´s easiest to do this on the equator. It´s also more difficult to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed on the equator due to forces from both hemispheres pulling at you. And we did confirm that yes, water does really spin in the opposite direction south of the equator! It spins counterclockwise north of the equator, and it spins clockwise south of it. What do you think it does right on the equator?? It indeed falls straight down, no spinning! And I have video proof. We want to go back on March 21st, the day of the equinnox. At noon on this day nothing casts a shadow! It also does this on September 21st.

The "official" equator


Owen even stood on the equator


The GPS verified real equator


egg balanced on the head of a nail


on the equator, no spinning at all


south of the equator- water spins clockwise


north of the equator- water spins counter-clockwise

Quito, Ecuador

After a whirlwind few weeks, our family has finally been reunited and we are officially living in Quito, Ecuador now! Owen and I arrived late last Wednesday. Owen has become quite the international traveler, and has done very very well on all six plane rides he's been on. Josh's mom Cathy came with us to help me out. Traveling with a baby, 4 suitcases, a pack n play, a carseat, a carseat base, and stroller by yourself is not easy!! She has been such a huge help!!

We are thoroughly enjoying Quito! We've had a few recent bumps in the road though: our laptop, ipod, and portable DVD player were stolen out of our apartment while Josh was gone at the rural clinic, I already got sick with some bug, likely e. coli, which caused me to lose the contest Josh and I were having of who could go the longest without throwing up (yes, I made it through pregnancy and labor without throwing up once), and now I have lost our camera. But don't worry, Cathy has taken lots of pictures I will post! Luckily our renters insurance will cover our stolen things. We essentially will have all new electronics now.

In our apartment. Josh's birthday was Oct. 1 so we missed it. We made up for it by throwing him a party when we got there. The big 29! (don't worry, Josh has since shaved his moustache off)


Our church building, a 15 min walk from our apartment


In the front of our apartment building. It was really windy.


A view of Quito, looking to the west. These mountains are beautiful and behind them is a volcano, Volcan Pichincha. It's usually always covered with clouds.


Checking out a local market in Mariscal


In old town Quito. This is the oldest church in South America, built in 1538. It was gorgeous inside.


A street in old town Quito. It rained all afternoon, as it tends to do here. It will be warm and sunny in the morning, then dark clouds quickly roll in! The rain doesn't stop our fun though.


We will be very comfortable here in Quito, with access to almost any American brand we want. Some of the American stores we've come across: TGIFridays, Papa Johns, Dominoes, Ruby Tuesdays, Pizza Hut, Radio Shack, Payless Shoes, Cinnabon, Baskin Robbins, a Mac store, all sorts of mall stores, and a cinemark movie theater is coming soon! Yes, we will be spoiled.

I'm back in Chicago

So I had no choice to take a trip out to Chicago. This birth certificate issue has been the worst nightmare of my life! Thinking back, I laugh how I thought it would be possible to get his birth certificate/passport/visa before we had moved to Arizona. Such a silly thought.


Condensed version of story:

After much pleeding, the supervisor at the vital records office agreed to mail me the birth certificate. It should have come in the mail last Monday, but I waited all week and it still didn't come. I assumed it got lost in the mail. The people at the office said they could do no more to help me. Arrrrgh! Now I'm down to the wire with time left to take care of this. Saturday I decided to take matters into my own hands and I bought a ticket to come to Chicago to get everything needed in one trip. Then Monday rolls around and what comes in the mail...yep, the birth certificate. A week late. But I still came to Chicago to get the passport and visa. I no longer had time to get the visa from LA through the mail, and I thought flying 3 1/2 hours to Chicago with an infant would be a lot easier than driving 7 hours to LA. Plus, I've gotten to visit some friends which is always fun! The cool fall weather has been a nice break from the Arizona heat.

So far I've gotten the passport (YAY!!!!), and tomorrow I'll go get the visa. Cross your fingers it all goes smoothly!!

So long, Dairy

Owen is a breastfed baby, has been exclusively breastfed, and eats very well. I am so happy for this and thought things were going great and motherhood was so easy. Then, starting about 2 weeks ago, Owen would go through these times where he'd eat a little bit, then start to get very fussy, to the point where he'd get this horrible scared look in his eyes, scream, and push away from he. But he'd still be hungry. He'd try to eat more, and it would just make him scream more. It was quite distressing for me. He also started breaking out in a blotchy red rash on his face and head. The nurse at the dr. office told me a few things to do to try to figure out the problem. Was it something I was eating? Reflux? Just a growth spurt? Something else? Well, after doing several things for a few days, including restricting my diet very poorly, we discovered he seems to have a sensitivity to dairy products. Well, this little knowledge is affecting my life tremedously! I have stopped eating all milk products...milk, yogurt, sour cream, all cheeses, whipped cream, ice cream (the hardest one of all). It really does seem to help Owen out a lot. His rash is much much bettter too. (His face was so red for a while, it was awful!) I'm just not quite sure how long I'll need to restrict my diet for, and how strict I have to be. (even a lot of bread has milk it it!) I've talked to a few people and got very different opinions, from being super strict and extreme to much more relaxed. I think I'll probably do what the dr. suggested: no dairy as long as I'm breastfeeding. I was planning on breastfeeding a year. I don't know if I'll be able to survive a year without milk and cheese. And icecream! I've started to try the soymilk thing, but it's just not the same. The dr. said I should also restrict chocolate. Boy, this is going to be a LONG year!!!

Owen's checkup

Owen had his two months checkup today, even though he's only 7 weeks. But we had to do it early since we'll be moving out of the country next week! He weighed in at a whopping 10lbs 8oz and 21.25 inches long. He's growing perfectly! The dr. said he looks great, and that he's "a good looking stud." I'd have to agree with that assessment.

He had to endure his first round of vaccines, and he did really well. He got some combo shots so he only had two pokes, one in each thigh. He let out a long scream or two, but I had a bottle standing by which calmed him down pretty quickly. The only bad part was the dr. had just run out of the pneumoccocal vaccine, and he doesn't carry the rotavirus vaccine since it's not on the required list but recommended it since we'll be in Ecuador. So he sent us up the street to the a county clinic where they give out free shots. It wasn't bad. I just felt bad having to wake Owen up again to get poked again! He didn't cry as hard this time, just one poke. The rotavirus vaccine he just had to swallow. Then he slept most of the day. That was nice because I was able to get a lot of needed shopping done! I hope he'll sleep throught the night too! A few nights ago he surprised me by sleeping 8 hours straight! I am so proud of the little guy. :)

Updates

I meant to write this post last week, but things have been busy around here. Here's some of what we've been up to:

*Two weekends ago we took a trip up to Payson so Owen could meet his great-great-grandma. There were 5 generations there: great great grandma Helen, great grandma Jean, grandma Cathy, daddy Josh, and Owen. We felt so lucky to be able to have 5 generations together all at one time! And great great grandma Helen was just in LOVE with Owen. Seeing them interact was just precious.

*Two Sundays ago was Owen's baby blessing. It was such a special day. Owen was so cute dressed in his white outfit, and it was great to be surrounded by our families.

*Last weekend we went to a surprise party/music concert for my dad's 50th birthday party. He was completely surprised, which made it more fun. He writes and arranges church music, so everything performed were his pieces. I even got out the old rusty violin and played something! (And I did sound quite rusty, too.)

*Owen has been growing and growing, and has become much more aware of his surrounding and more playful too. He looks around at things all the time, and constantly has his head arched back because his favorite things to look at are lights and ceiling fans. He wiggles a lot, he smiles more, he's started becoming more familiar with his voice and he'll coo, and every once in a while he'll make a sound in his sleep that sounds like a laugh. He can still fit into most of his newborn clothes, but some of them are starting to get tight. He made me really really happy a few nights in a row because he slept for 5-6 hours straight! We'll see how much that persists. I don't want to get too excited though because two nights ago he was up every 2-3 hours.

*Josh finally made it to Ecuador safely on Tuesday. He was supposed to leave last Friday but his flight was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike (his flight went through Houston). He's just happy to be there now.

*Much of my time the past week has been occupied with trying to get Owen's birth certificate. It's been quite stressful and frustrating!! It's a long long long story, but it's been hard because the only way to get it is through either a mail in request to have them mail it back to you, but that will take 3 months we've been told, or a parent has to go pick it up in person. Luckily, the supervisor at the vital records has tried to be nice and help us as much as she can, so we just might get it next week. Then I'll have to mail the birth certificate back to Chicago (yes, it's silly) to a company that can get Owen's passport in a day or two. The good thing is I won't have to fly to LA to get his Visa because they are going to let us do it through the mail. Hooray!! Basically, getting the birth cert/passport/visa would be 1000 times easier if we were still in Chicago, but we are thoroughly enjoying our time with family and friends in sunny Arizona, and we are so grateful to Josh's parents who are letting us take over their house and eat their food. Thank you!

One Month Old

Owen is 1 month old today!!!

Here's a vidoe clip from earlier in the week.

Just a warning: it might seem a bit long and boring, unless you're the parent or relative. :) But it gives you a picture of how much more alert and wiggly he is now.

I'll try to post more later.

Three Weeks Old

Owen has had a pretty busy third week of life! Last Thursday he took his first plane ride, and he did really well. We had to take two planes to Arizona with a stop in Denver, but I fed him before each plane took off and then he slept the whole way.

It's been fun being back in Arizona with friends and family. That also means that we have been very busy having Owen meet all of his family. We've had some fun get-togethers over the weekend. Here he is with one of his great-grandmas and Aunt Cassie.

He also was busy getting professional pictures taken. My friend Janelle took them and they turned out great! He was cooperative most of the time, and we even got a few smiles out of him. He just didn't enjoy being placed on his tummy. Here is a link to a slideshow of them.

http://bigshow.bigfolio.com/?s=000011485&t=780ae37a586f7853a5c545ae38599ae3

With all the traveling and running around we've been doing, poor Owen has been thrown off his sleeping and eating schedule. He still ends up eating about every 3 hours on average, but he's had a bit of a harder time falling asleep. He gets really fussy and fights going to sleep. Here he his in his new bed, a pack and play. He sill loves to wiggle his arms out of his swaddle.

When he is awake he is lots of fun and is still increasingly becoming more and more alert. He fixes his eyes on things, like faces, lights, ceiling fans. He's more vocal and sometime makes cooing sounds. And he's growing cute little fat rolls. :) He still loves bath time and loves the water.

I, of course, have fun dressing him up to look like a little man. We had to get him some cool shades for the bright Arizona sun! He still needs to grow into them though.

Check out his new shoes, thanks to Aunt Katy! We're trying to teach him how to walk early. :)