2 MONTH APPOINTMENT

We just left our 2 month well child appointment and all is looking great. Owen is 13 pounds (85th percentile) and 24 inches long (95th percentile). He is super strong, which seems to surprise the pediatrician considering his size as bigger babies meet their gross motor milestones later. He is showing great head control, is starting to do his baby push-ups and is also starting to bear weight on his legs for short intervals (longest I have counted is 7 seconds but still, he is only 2 months old).

We are all assuming that he truly does have an egg intolerance, although there is no way of knowing for sure. His eczema cleared up very quickly after I took it out of my diet. I also just learned that Owen's Great Uncle Tim has an egg allergy...so there may be a connection that I wasn't aware of. So, to be on the safe side, only vegan baked goods for Mommy and I still can't partake in my very missed smoked salmon eggs Benedict. Oh well, at least I can still eat cheese and ice cream :)

Steve was able to successfully give Owen a bottle last weekend, so now Daddy can sooth and Mommy can leave the house alone...
I am hoping for one of those things...what was it called...when two adults who care about each other go out and have a good time...oh yeah, a date. Dan and Mary are coming into town in a couple weeks and I am already checking out the movie listings.

We haven't been very good about taking pictures, but here are a few.

Dad, Beach and Owen

DAD

After battling ALS for the past year, my Dad is now at rest. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts, prayers, personal messages, cards, flowers, etc. I am amazed by all the love and support our family has received. So many people showed up to his service, several of which I don't think had even met my Father. For those of you who wanted to come but were not able to for whatever reason, I am hoping to post a video of the service as soon as I can get a copy. I have no idea about the sound quality, but I can email anyone the biography and my part of the eulogy if you are interested, just let me know.



BEACH

Following the service, we went as a family to Bella Beach (2 miles north of Depoe Bay) for a week. It was wonderful to be together to relax, mourn, heal and play an unimaginable amount of games. I have become quite the master at Bananagrams but the favorite was by far Apples to Apples. Owen did well with his first vacation but was obviously affected by all the commotion and change in routine. I am still not sure if he ever saw the ocean or sand but he was very pleased every time we brought him out on the porch or for a walk to feel the wind and hear the sounds.

The highlight of the trip was sadly only witnessed by Mom, Jarod, Heather and I since the rest of the family had to return early for work. We had a pod of whales hanging out right in front of the beach house. They were close enough in that we were able to see them without binoculars very clearly. Jarod identified them as grey whales with his binoculars and we were able to watch them for almost an hour. Jarod saw one roll and show his fin and we all saw one (or more) of them "spy hopping" where they bob up and down with their heads out of the water. It was an amazing sight.





OWEN UPDATE-7 WEEKS OLD TODAY

Owen is growing at an incredible rate. We have had to retire several of his onesies and pajamas. He is huge. He is starting to show interest in toys, in black and white flashcards his Uncle Jarod made him, and continues to enjoy music of all kinds. His favorite thing to do by far is to go for walks in the stroller or Moby. It is amazing to me that I haven't lost all my baby weight with all the walking, pacing and stationary bouncing I do on a daily basis.

Our big and healthy boy

Owen is gaining weight like a champ. He is now 8 lbs 0.5 oz at only 2.5 weeks. His average daily weight gain is double what they hope to see, which is a good thing according to our pediatrician. She was very impressed with how strong he is, which made his parents feel great. We do have to take Owen to have an ultrasound since hip dysplasia is a common problem with breech babies and it is important to correct it early in life to avoid hip surgery as an adult.

We are looking forward to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dan's visit this weekend! More pictures to come.

Introducing Daniel Owen Schroeder

Born 12:48pm on March 1, 2010. 7 lbs 11.4 oz. 21 inches long. Head 14.5 inches. 9, 9 APGAR Scores, which is amazing for a c-section baby. Lowest weight measured was 7 lbs 2 oz, and he was already gaining (7lbs 3 oz) by the time we left. he truly is a beautiful and healthy baby boy. He is breastfeeding well overall, with the occasional bad latch and pulling away without releasing first (ouch!). He has more alert time every day and is already starting to stare at himself in his mirror. Even he thinks he is cute :)

What an amazing week!

Waiting room








Baby Owen






I am still waiting for some pictures to come my way from people who were there or have stopped by. More to come.

As for Owen's parents, Mom is recovering well but tends to overdo it during the day when feeling well so nights have been a little rough. Dad is sleep deprived more so than Mom because he is taking the job of caring for Owen and Mom very seriously and wakes up throughout the night to walk with him so Mom can sleep. However, all three of us are doing fabulous and in good spirits.

Special thanks to my Mom and Margey for all the support during my pregnancy, Mary for making it out here for Owen's birth, for Bryan for yet again being there for my family, and for Amy's fabulous camera and photo skills! We love you all and couldn't be happier.

The big day

I just realized that I haven't posted about our upcoming big day yet! Sorry to those of you who we haven't already told!

After an unsuccessful and moderately terrifying attempt at the external version to turn our little man around, we now have a scheduled cesarean for Monday March 1st. This news has been hard for me to digest but I am growing more comfortable with it the closer we get. Steve is actually more excited now that we have a birthday and he was able to plan his FMLA with school to take a whole month off to help me recoup and be with Owen. We are both a little frantic right now, Steve trying to tie up things at work and me trying to tie up things around the house. But, all will be worth it in the end to be able to spend time together as a family.

As for visitors, which we have been getting a lot of questions about, all I can say is that I have no idea how we will be feeling, how long my recovery will be, etc. If you want to come over, just call Steve to check in or email either of us. I have heard from a variety of c-section Mama's and heard healing can be as quick as a week or as long a month so I cannot answer when we will be up for it yet. Just check in with us and we will let you know :)

Wish us luck on Monday!

Sample pics

Hello everyone. I am not sure if I let everyone know yet but the photographer from our wedding, Christina Gilchrist, came over last week to take some pregnant pictures of Steve and I. She did a great job! Steve and I had some corny smiles but it was a lot of fun to have her over taking our pictures.

I wanted to share some of the thumbnails with you all, if you want to see them all let me know and I can send you the password to view all 175 pics (lots I know!)






We are only one month away now! Little Daniel Owen is still in a frank breech position, which is causing his mother a large amount of anxiety. If he hasn't turned by our appointment this Thursday we will have to schedule an external version to move him manually. I am not looking forward to this procedure so Steve and I are doing everything we can, even some of the crazier ideas, to try and convince him that head down is the way to go. I am starting to come to terms with the fact that a cesarean may be eminent but I still plan on waiting him out and going into labor naturally so I can at least experience SOME part of a natural birth. Only time will tell so, I will keep you all posted.

Family Baby Shower

Last week, Margey and Heather threw me a baby shower for the family at the Veritable Quandary. It was so great to see everyone again and I am so thankful for all the gifts people gave to Owen.

Check out that belly!!!




Steve has made a comment of how confused Owen is going to be over college sports. We are presently set up with 2 OSU Beavers outfits and 1 WI Badgers bib, so OSU is in a strong lead.

We also had Christina, our wedding photographer, over today to take some pregnancy pictures with "flattering" angles. We will see how they turn out in a few weeks and I can post the link here.

Here are some before and after pics of Owen's room. We aren't big theme people but I guess you could say our theme is blue and green...

These before pictures aren't even the room at it's worst.



Kiddo has a lot of toys thanks to Lucas!