Funny man!

Well, 11 weeks into motherhood and it's more fun, more exciting (and often more tiring) than I could have ever imagined! Owen is laughing out loud and it's so funny! I am glad he thinks I am so amusing. He loves it when I talk with something in my mouth (like my glasses, the burp cloth or his pacifier). He loves when I play peek-a-boo with my sunglasses and when I kiss his belly and sing the "naked baby" song (yes, the naked baby song). He loves his tongue and is so entertained by it and by watching it in the mirror that hangs from his play gym...hours of entertainment!! He is still sleeping through the night from about 10pm to 7am, so he's rested and FULL of energy and so happy first thing in the morning. We have lots of fun then! He smiles so much, but I still can't resist his sad face. Owen has the cutest pouty lip!!! Now while the fun times are really fun, this kid does have a set of lungs on him! When he screams, he screams and I am surprised my family and friends in NC haven't heard it from down here:) He hates to be burped! He has started spitting up more so we burp more frequently. He does not like his meals interrupted! He's just too funny - he has me in stitches most of the time!

Staying well....

Staying well brings on a whole new meaning after this past week! Baker and I both got some sort of stomach bug AT THE SAME TIME!! We survived, but man it's hard to take care of a 1o week old when mom and dad are BOTH feeling horrible! We both had it all - the upset stomach, nausea, fever, aches , etc. Thank GOD Owen didn't get it! It was surely a test in what you can tolerate. I decided you pretty much can't get sick if you are a mom. Our neighbor, Lisa was a LIFESAVER! She was to the rescue for us and we really appreciate her! I had to summon her help twice this past week! She came and took Owen for a while so Baker and I could get some sleep when we were both sick - thank goodness we each had our own bathrooms! THEN she helped out in another HUGE way yesterday when our lab, Brogen was sick. I came home from errands and Owen crying and needed to be changed- I walked in to our house to one of the worse smells EVER! Brogen had pooped and peed ALL OVER THE KITCHEN! Bless his heart, he had been to the vet after getting accidentally hit in the eye playing ball, and was given pain meds and I guess the medicine didn't agree with his stomach too well. I guess the theme for this week in our house has been POOP!! Time to double up on the vitamins! Thank goodness we are on the mend and thank goodness for LISA!!

Time is flying by!

On Monday, Owen was 10 weeks old - time is really flying by! With each day he grows and changes and continues to bless our lives in ways we could never imagine! The last few weeks have been busy! Baker's sister, Mary Margaret came for a visit and we had a ball! We took Owen to his first FSU tailgate - one of our favorite pastimes! He had so much fun! Bradford spent the day with us last week and he and Owen had so much fun "playing." Just this past weekend, My grandmother, Aunt and two of my cousins came down from North Carolina. We had such a good time! (I regret that I didn't take pictures, but they did and we will get them soon:) We took Owen to St. Marks (where Baker proposed and where we love to go fishing) and saw lots of gators! Slowly but surely, Owen is getting to spend time with his big, wonderful family from all around!

Is there room for Owen??

We win the Traveling Family Rookie of the Year award! Tuesday we hit the road for Montgomery, AL. Baker has to travel over here about once a month but he hasn't been since Owen was born - he wasn't ready for an over-night trip without us, so we decided to join him. I never imagined how A: long it would take to pack and get ready for a trip with a baby and B: how much stuff we would (potentially) need!!! I am sure that many of you are laughing and hopefully saying to yourself "I have been there before!" The trip was for 2 nights ...it took a day to get ready for it!! I packed our stuff and the car while Baker was at work. Here is what I had to include for a 2-night stay: My clothes, Baker's Clothes, and Owen's clothes (plenty of extra outfits -sometimes we go thru 2-3 a day!), LOTS of diapers, wipes, changing stuff, stroller, my computer, Baker's computer, Diaper bag, breast pump, bouncy seat ( a MUST), pack-n-play, and lots of other random bags of things. I really did wonder if we had room for Owen! The other thing was that we had to transfer ALL of this to a rental car (No need to put the miles on our car!)

Well the trip has been a success so far! It's about a 4-hour drive from Tally to Montgomery. The first 2 hours of the drive up were pretty good - he did scream a bit right before we stopped for dinner, but he was hungry and poopy! He slept the 2nd half of the drive. He has been great at night...still sleeping like a champ! Yesterday while Dad worked, we had breakfast here at the hotel, lounged around, went to lunch with dad, then hung out by the pool. Last night we took Owen to Bass Pro Shops - the biggest one!! They have a really nice restaurant there which we had dinner at, then we did some shopping!! We took lots of pictures and Owen even wore his Bass Pro Onesie that Baker got him on his last trip over here. Today we are bumming around the hotel for now. Owen and I are going to go out and do some more shopping until Baker finishes working, then it's back to Tallahassee!

8-week stats: 9lbs 12 oz and 21.5 inches (that was actually at 7 weeks...he is gaining at least an 1oz each day so he's well over 10lbs today:)

A dream come true!

I can't find the right words to explain how much I love Owen! Being his mother is my dream come true! Here are so photos of him that a friend/photographer took last week. I cry every time I look at them!!

Your Prayers Are Needed!!

Please keep a very special little boy and his family in your prayers please. Zach Bradsher, a family friend, who is 8 years old, was hit by a car while riding his bike about a week ago. Zach live in my hometown, Roxboro, NC. He was flown from Roxboro to Duke via life-flight. He ventured into the road where a car stuck him in a curve. Please read his story...I have included a website about him and his progress. He is still at Duke. Among many of his injuries is a broken neck - surgery was performed an so far seems to be successful. Zach is doing much better now, but needs continued prayer. You never want to hear stories about children being hurt and involved in accidents, but for me, it seems now that I have a son - it just hurts even more. Zach has a very strong support system. Please add him to your daily prayers and include him on as many prayer lists as you can. He has already shown that PRAYER WORKS!

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zacharybradsher

Week 7 - Things are FANTASTIC!

Yesterday Owen was 7 weeks old...time flies! He continues to bless our lives tremendously and amaze us daily with his progress and growth. He is so much fun! Depending on what you consider "the night" - you could say Owen is sleeping through it! Let's just say he can go 6 hours straight! He still gets up once from the time we put him down until sunrise, but I don't mind - he goes "down" around 10 and is up around 8am. Baker has been (usually) feeding him for me when he wakes each day and when he gets home from work each day. He also gets up for the middle-of-the-night feeding on the weekends so that I can get longer stretches of sleep, then he can sleep in...we trade. This weekend was a milestone for us. I got almost 8 HOURS STRAIGHT of SLEEP!!!! That hasn't happened since I was about 6months pregnant! It was PRICELESS! Owen went to bed around 9, I nursed him around 11:30pm then was in bed by midnight. He woke around 5:30am and Baker fed him, then I woke up about 8am...Owen & Baker still sleeping! I couldn't believe it! I had to wake Owen around 9am Saturday morning! It was a GREAT DAY! Baker was able to sleep late...since he is up early each day. I felt like a new person!

We had a great weekend. Baker has been working long hours and really working hard (As usual) so Owen and I spent most of Saturday away, and he was able to relax then go fishing! Owen and I went to a baby shower brunch Saturday morning for a former co-worker, Emilie, who is having a girl soon:) Then we went downtown to Springtime Tallahassee - a great annual festival. It was HOT!!! We got lots of exercise, took in the great sunshine and enjoyed the shopping, food, music. Saturday night, our neighbors came over for TACO NIGHT. Then, we stayed up to watch my TARHEELS make it to the Final Four...GO HEELS!!!

Sunday Owen went to his first birthday party for Bryson, the son of our friends Jason and Sheila. Owen also had his first professional photo shoot here at El Destino Sunday late afternoon. My friend Amanda, who is also a photographer, came out and took AMAZING photos of Owen. The afternoon sun was great and she shot some unbelievable photos of him...they made us all cry! I can't wait to share them when we get them. She as able to get him along with the great scenery here on the farm. After that we took her out to dinner at a a great new Mexican place!

Each day I am still in awe at how great motherhood is. God has blessed our lives with Owen. Being a mom brings me more joy than I can explain...any of you who are mothers know exactly what I am talking about. Sunday night, I had one of those evenings (which I have often) where I just didn't want to let him go or put him down. I went to put him to bed and just couldn't leave the room. I just stared at him and cried tears of joy. He is just perfect! I couldn't leave the room...I just wanted to watch him and hold him. I found myself just standing by his crib for the longest time thinking of how lucky and blessed Baker and I are that he's in our lives now.

One final (random) note.... Why didn't anyone (until today) tell me that I misspelled the word "family" on this web page title??!!! Baker brought it to my attention today. For weeks, the "l" in "family" was missing!! Guess that's baby brain for you.