In western New York

We are in NY state visiting family for about 3 weeks! It's great sharing my little boy with my family. Can't wait for the cousins, aunts and uncles to arrive next week. Here he is on his first boat ride, with Grams.


And with his grandpa ("Pops"), who is trying to come up with "the" nickname for Owen. So far he calls him the Little Monster, and RumpleChubbskin most often.

And charming the socks off his Great Aunt Gwen (not pictured).


He has changed so much in just the last two weeks. He's started to try to pull himself up! He is totally unsuccessful at this point, but we give him lots of help. He loves it...all of a sudden he wants to be upright as much as possible. He doesn't show any interest in rolling over, though. Here's a little montage of Grams helping him sit up. He really braces for it and tenses all his arm and core muscles...very good for him!



Other recent changes:

he has a full-on BELLY laugh, which is so adorable it's hard to even describe. It is still very selectively deployed.

he has more hair

he has really become aware of his surroundings. He follows voices and people as they come and go. he has also noticed the t.v., which isn't such a great thing.

he is sleeping GREAT. Usually from about 8 at night until between 5 and 6 in the a.m. (Now his mom has to go to bed earlier to get more sleep). He is also taking 2 and sometimes 2-1/2 hour morning naps and long afternoon naps as well.

he is getting better at finding his mouth with toys, hands, whatever

he has a new sound. I call it the mmm mmm sound (well, that's what it is...). He exercises it often!

he has started to notice FOOD. I have a feeling he will be wanting to eat solids sooner than 6 months.

He's laughing!

I'm still figuring the ins and outs of my new camera (this photo is too blurry). But I think you can see Owen's pure joy---this is a laugh! He mostly laughs at his mom nowadays, who will do almost any silly and bizarre facial expression to provoke him. I guess we're all born with a penchant for slapstick humor.

We went to the doctor today and Owen weighed in at 14 lbs 11 oz! That's a gain of 2 lbs in just 4 weeks! Owen's tummy is doing much better since his mom stopped drinking caffeine and the doctor is very pleased with his progress. He's perfect and healthy! He also got another shot today (HiB).
Here we are---mom (sans caffeine) looking a bit haggard. I have successfully gotten Owen to sleep through the night, not without some labor on my part. He goes to bed now at about 8 and semi-wakes at 3 or 4. Instead of feeding him I just soothe him, and he goes back to sleep (some nights more easily than others). Then he wakes up for good between 6 and 7 and gets his breakfast. He's doing really well! Pretty soon, maybe mom will get to sleep through the night, too (fingers crossed).