Little Late But Better Than Never

I am so sorry that I haven't been keeping up on this. I am transitioning into a new job, a new internship, and just been plan busy lately.

A little catching up from the last time I wrote....

Pumpkin Patch
Owen, his Mom, his cousins (including grown up cousin Amy) and his Auntie M and Uncle J all went to the pumpkin patch. Amy as usual took on her role as the photojournalist and got some great pictures. He was more interested in eating the hay than choosing his pumpkin but we had a very long day and he did great.







Halloween
For Halloween, Owen and his Mom were invited to a Mama/Baby Harvest party just to get some cute pictures of our babies in costumes. That evening, Owen went "trick or treating," which basically involved Steve or I carrying him since his costume made him too big for the stroller and we walked around for an hour or so watching the kids in our neighborhood.



We have also been to the beach twice and will be going again over the Thanksgiving weekend. We went with all three of Owen's Grandparents, then Owen and his Mom went to a Mommy and kid weekend. Lots of fun but we didn't take too many pictures.

On the way home, we stopped by Great Grandma's and.... drum roll....Owen finally waved! He gave Great Grandma a very slow but intentional wave hello. Later, he waved to some random friendly woman at New Seasons. So, now we just need to wait for it to become on demand. Clapping however has become a bit of an obsession. He claps for everything! He is a very enthusiastic little guy.

Other news, he now has 4 teeth in; three on bottom and one on top. He has been drooling like a basset hound today...literally like a basset hound with that shoelace looking drool hanging from his mouth. So, I am assuming that the fifth is on it's way.

As for Steve, he said nothing has been going on with him worth me writing about (he is being shy). I however, have had a ton of changes. I have started a new job as a (Temporary) Regional Trainer for Clackamas and Hood River counties helping clinicians learn a new software system. It is so weird to be unsure of what I am doing. I have been in the same job for 7.5 years, and all of a sudden I am clueless. I also took on an internship as the Northwest Environmental Health Conference event coordinator. It is going to be A LOT of work but I think it will be a great learning experience and should lead into some great contacts in the field of environmental health, which is really where I want to be heading. I am staying with my Building Bridges clients on Mondays and plan to stay with the company for a while still until I can figure out what my career goals are. It is hard to prioritize my career goals when I have such an amazingly adorable distraction at home.

Anyway, I will try to make posting at least once a month a priority. Things will start to calm down for me in the next week or so, then get crazy until after February. Both my new positions will be fading out in the Spring and life will mellow out again.

But to tied you over....

Mommy's Big Day/Baby's Big Day

Great news! I got an internship as the NW Regional Environmental Health Conference Logistics/Event Coordinator. This event is co sponsored by several environmental health organizations in Oregon. Quite the title and quite the opportunity. I can do most of the work from home so it should be completely doable with Owen, considering he goes to be so early these days. It is going to be a lot of computer work and then a couple weeks of serious work but, I am so thrilled for this opportunity.

As for Owen's big day, we had an interesting experience trying out Art Babies with Portland Parks and Recreation. He stripped down into his diaper and got super messy with jello, pudding and finger paint. Sadly for Owen, his mother is kind of a freak about him eating sugar at a young age (which he had a ton of with the jello) so I think we will be doing "art" at home for a while. Margey had a great idea of putting down a shower curtain for a messy mat and I think we will stick to "healthy edible" art mediums for a while. Pumpkin guts is first on our agenda for Halloween, maybe some apple peels for a different texture. Anyway, even though it was a bit overpriced and not my favorite as far as him licking all the art supplies, I took lots of pictures.

owen chases cat and finds a shoe (with the hiccups)

Busy busy busy but not sure what we have been doing.

Life with Owen has definitely become more interesting now that he is mobile. He is a big fan of chasing the cats (see video above), pulling up the floor mats and sticking his hands in the cat food bowls. We have done some minor childproofing but haven't gone too overboard with it. Mostly, we just watch him a lot. Also, we now have a tooth. It is SHARP!

Miles is doing great and Lucas is adapting well and becoming quite the protective older brother. Owen LOVES him but I am not sure he realizes that he is a person yet, or something to pet and chase like the kitties. Which, will make my new role as Miles's Nanny 2 days a week interesting.



Owen is really into music these days. We borrowed some of Lucas's instruments from when he was a baby and O is playing with enthusiasm. The best is when he and Daddy rock out together, Steve on the guitar and O on his egg shaker.




We have started doing a lot more outings with Owen also since I am now working less. We go to book babies at the library, recently went to the zoo with friends and I am looking into swimming and Art babies with Portland Parks and Rec. He is really enjoying leaving the house and even is letting me know when he is ready to go...crawling between the door and the stroller while whining seems to be his way of communicating it is time to go do something fun.





With the increased outings and exposure to other babies, poor Owen also has now had his first cold. So far we have had 3 nights of extra fussy sleeping and a snotty nose but it could have been a lot worse. I am hoping Owen inherited his Mom and Dad's super immunity.

We are looking forward to another visit from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dan, his first pumpkin carving contest and another trip to the beach. I am also very excited for Halloween, I finally may start enjoying the holiday.

Miles Hyde Langslet Gerlt

Miles Hyde, 8 pounds 10 ounces, a little shy of 22 inches long. Apgar of 8,9.
Another win for the red head "recessive" gene.

Margey was doing fantastic last I heard. She even called me while Jason was out getting food and Miles was asleep, talking about her job of course. No rest for the real estate agent Margey.

Here are some of Amy's pictures. I will post more once I get some from other people. I had my camera but was too busy with O to take any.

And more firsts....

This evening Owen went to bed really early so when he woke up an hour later crying I wasn't too surprised. However, when I found him sitting up in his crib, I was shocked. Evidently he is now able to pull himself to sitting now as well. He is changing so fast. I can't keep up! He is eating so well, has only had issue with corn so far and has 13 foods in his rotation now.

Even more exciting news, tomorrow is a big day for the Portland family as we are about to welcome Owen's first "younger" cousin into the world. Miles Hyde (or Hyde Miles, they have been debating it for a while) is expected to arrive tomorrow between 8:30 and 9 am. I will try to post pictures and updates as soon as I can since I am assuming Margaret and Jason will be busy. Big weekend around here!

Owen wants to play the guitar

We have an army crawler

That looks fun.


Here I go...


Lunge for it.


Almost there!



CRASH!!!


Margey is going to call him "GI O."

He is presently showing me how many electrical cords we have that I need to do a better job hiding so, no time for the mother of a crawler. I will add more when I can.

Camping

Owen did great and had a fabulous time on his first camping trip. His mom and dad, however, are feeling very old and tired after the weekend. We had so much fun but man, I need a vacation to recover from the vacation. Granted, I did have a marathon house cleaning day after we got home which was unnecessary but camping is officially put away until next summer.


Jason is hoping to start a club called "the Wilderness Scouts" to teach the kids about the outdoors, respecting the environment, etc. He started this weekend by bringing supplies to make bird feeders and teaching the kids how to roll up their own sleeping bags.

Owen really liked having his diaper changed outdoors!


Bryan doesn't like to be caught being cute with kids, so how could I resist a picture of him reading Jangie her Fairy book.


Owen going for a ride on Daddy's shoulders

Uncle Jason and Super Owen hanging out in the woods.


We have also been working hard on food. He was on a bit of a fast over the weekend, could he have been a bit distracted??? I think so. Since we have been home he has been eating much better. He is eager to be able to feed himself so I am having to let go of my need to have things clean. He is messy but so stinking cute!

6 month checkup

18 pounds (65%), 27 inches (75%), and head circumference 44 cm (60%). We need to start him on fluoride now but only a couple times a week.

I love, love, love our pediatrician. She has an amazing talent of making me feel so confident while still giving me suggestions on how to keep my boy healthy. The new thing for us to work on is getting him to sleep through the night. He basically has been the past few nights, only waking up for one feeding at 2ish and another early morning between 5 and 6. But, Dr Pritchard thinks we can fade the 2ish feeding, which will be nice considering that I haven't slept more than 6 hours straight in SO LONG!

Feeding him solids is going well. We now have rice cereal, avocado, carrots, and bananas on the menu. I am going to stop at these 4 until after our camping trip this weekend but I am having so much fun trying and making new food for him.

Doing great, having fun and trying to figure out scheduling now that Steve is going back to work but we have faith it will all work out.

Pictures of Owen's first camping trip to follow!

Eating "solid" foods

After a long, but worth it, road to August 21st, Amy and Charlie are now married. The wedding was beautiful. Short and sweet with a lot of partying into the night. Owen and Steve hung out at the barn the whole day. Owen still managed to be a crowd pleaser even with being a tired baby. Now, I am adjusting to having "free time" and wondering which of my gazillion projects to address first.

As for the latest Owen developments, his new favorite thing to do is throw toys and lean over his exersaucer/bathtub/bumbo to see where they land. It is quite adorable. He also had been showing all the signs of being ready to eat so Mommy had to let go of her stern 6 month mark and we let him try some avocado today (5 months, 3 weeks so I wasn't that far off).





Next on the list of Owen's firsts will be camping over Labor Day with a big group of our friends. I am nervous and excited so we will see how it goes. Owen definitely loves nature but, sleeping outdoors may be interesting.

Adventures in July

Oh boy have we had a busy month...

Weekend in SunRiver for the 4th of July,



First weekend away from parents. Mom went to the beach with some ladies and Dad had a soccer tournament in WA. Owen stayed with Grandma T and did very well, only being fussy at night which isn't unique to Grandma's house by any means.

Then, off to Chicago and WI to meet the rest of the family.







We went to 2 museums, hiking (TONS of mosquito this year), out to eat at several restaurant.





Owen loved playing with his cousins, listening to his Dad play music and just hanging out.







Owen's parents ended up having a lot of date time as well thanks to grandparents who were eager to babysit. We got to go to a Brewers game, a movie, and out with Steve's high school friends for his 20th reunion. What a busy, fun and well needed vacation for all of us.