Owen and Chris

Our little O-man is under the weather, fighting the same bug that Chris and I have been for the last two weeks. Two days ago it was a most impressive volume of vomit (only once, thank goodness!) and this morning, it was the runs. Yes, Mama would have run away if she could have...that must be where the name comes from. He's ok though, tired but never complaining. We put him on pedialyte for the duration of the day, and wait to see how things come out tomorrow. No elevation in temperature, and his doctor has already been consulted. For now, he sleeps well, and we are glad.

Christmas Pictures

Hello Everyone, and Merry Christmas!


Owen visits with Katie (left) and Gretchen (right) in Pittsburgh

Owen standing behind Grandma Crystal's chair

Hi Mama! I see you from behind Grandma's Chair

Grandma Jan holds Owen, with Great Grandpa Cork and Aunt Pattie looking on

Owen's favorite thing about Christmas...the paper!




Owen in his "Froggy" sleeper

A Christmas morning picture before presents

Owen ready with his "Baby's First Christmas Bib"

Before...

...After. You will notice the paper is a blur in every picture. Always in motion!

Owen inspecting Molly, while holding her new toy

Molly inspects Owen in kind

Aunt Jessie helps Owen practice his waving

Okay, that is all the time I have for pictures right now. More to follow maybe tomorrow. We spent Christmas Eve with all of the local Boone families, and had great fun. I will write about the 8 o'clock Coffee Bean soon...

Since we arrived in Ohio, Owen has cut two new teeth, and is a little under the weather from having a cold. He is still smiley and sweet, but not quite as "on" as we are used to. He has started reaching out for people for the first time too, and begun waving "Hi" since we have been practicing that a lot in the last few days. Chris and I got him a cell phone toy for Christmas, and each of the buttons has either a ring tone or says phrases like, "Hello!" or "I love you". Every time Owen hears the phone say, "Hi There!" he says "Hi" back. He also laughs at the phone when he hears the giggle sound.

Christmas Vacation starts tomorrow!

Sorry it has been a while since my last posting. We have just been swamped with Christmas shopping and preparations, and Chris has been in and out of town for the last two weeks for work. Owen has been doing all of the baking and I did cards, Phoebe wrapped all of the gifts, and quite frankly, Annabelle has just been lying around doing nothing!

We leave tomorrow, and drive to Pittsburgh for an overnight stay on our way to Ohio. On Saturday, we will drive directly to "Poling Christmas"(that's Chris's Grandparents)... a large family event, where I'm pretty sure the children under the age of 5 outnumber the adults nowadays! Owen will be in heaven! We are driving with baby, luggage, and two cats to our holiday destination. After Poling Christmas, we will continue on to Cincinnati for the rest of the week.

Owen is doing well these days. We are weaning him, and should be done in a couple weeks. I am delighted to have done it, and to soon be done with it! There has been some biting lately, which is chasing all sentimentality out the window as we come to this completion. I'm also having acne to rival when I was first pregnant (NO, I am not pregnant again!) so I am looking forward to my hormones finding their "new" normal once O-man is completely weaned. Owen is eating solids like a champ, and gaining weight steadily now that he is getting formula every day. Hurray!

and now, some delightful out-takes from recent pictures we had taken. I'll add a movie this evening...check back soon!

Sunday night

End of the weekend blues. Owen and I hung out in Bristol, Conn. while Chris was there for work this past week. We came home yesterday afternoon, and Chris just returned there this evening. He won't be home until Thursday. Our weekend went fast!

I don't have a lot to report, so I am just going to post some cute recent pictures!


This is what Owen looks like before we go out in the cold


"No matter how much they scrub me in my bath, they always say I have 'Pooh' on my head afterward...I think they are missing something!"


I honestly don't know what was happening in this moment. But he looks cute.

Daddy and Owen did a little swimming at the hotel in the evenings. The water was not terribly warm, and there were kids rough-housing at the deep end of the pool, creating a lot of noise around us. It has been over two months since Owen's last swimming adventure, and I think he had forgotten how much he liked it the first time.

Catching up

It has been a while since I posted much besides video. It has been a busy time, and I have fallen behind! We are getting ready for the holidays, which we will be spending in Cincinnati with friends and the Boones.

We are going to Bristol, Connecticut this week while Chris has a load-in for ESPN. Owen and I will have afternoons to play in the swimming pool, and since Chris is being put up in a Residence Inn, we will have a living room and kitchen area to spend our evenings together in after Owen goes to bed...much nicer than when we usually stay in hotels; eating our dinners in the bathroom, and watching movies on a computer with headphones on!

Our Thanksgiving holiday was very pleasant. We spent it with Ena and Richard Pirchner; our friend, Ann Marie's parents. They live 40 minutes away in Red Bank, NJ. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Chris made a very unfortunate discovery....When our Annabelle was sick a few months ago, she spent a week at the animal hospital. She made a pretty strong recovery, but brought fleas home from her stay. -That is what Chris discovered last week. So, we have had two months of bug visitors multiplying and irritating our squirrelies, without recognizing any of the signs of a problem! Phoebe and Annabelle have been more irritable with one another, but not really itchy. Here is a picture of Annabelle after her bath. I think she decided that she was getting the "Owen" treatment, and that was a pretty good thing!



The most recent update is regarding Owen's tuesday morning visit to his pediatrician. He was due for a booster shot, and a well-visit inspection; two months have gone by since his last Dr. appointment. Our doctor is very pleased with how well Owen is developing...crawling, grasping, babbling in all the right ways...but we were all shocked to discover that he had not gained any weight in the last two months! He is still 16 lbs. and 10 oz. The nurse and Dr. reweighed him 3 times to be sure, because no one was expecting it. I found myself feeling like I had missed this critical detail about my baby, and how could I when I am with him nearly all of the time?? Dr. Rodriguez assumes the issue is no more than that my milk supply has dropped down, and just isn't sufficient for his needs. But for all of you that have spent any time with Owen, you know, he is a happy boy...didn't complain or ever act like he was still hungry after a feeding. Dr. has gave me a supplement plan with formula and more solid food meals each day, and next Friday, we return for another "weigh-in". She is concerned, but not worried...he looks like the model of well-being in every other way.

So far the extra feedings are going well. Owen likes the advantages of drinking from a bottle instead of nursing; he can still look around the room and see what is going on. He likes to be involved in his surroundings! He has also sampled nearly all of the "stage 1" foods...likes: peaches, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes. LOVES: apples, bananas and prunes (who knew!) and strongly dislikes Peas. No shocker there, folks. He likes to eat. Yesterday while Chris and I were waiting at a restaurant for lunch, we were playing with Owen in his high chair. Our drinks came, with wedges of Lemon on the rims of the glasses, and I said, "Maybe Owen should try lemon!" so Chris put the wedge to a very receptive and curious mouth, and what followed was absolutely priceless...the most scrunched-up, sour face a person could ever make that looked like it was going to burst into wailing. When Chris immediately took the offending flavor away, Owen quickly recovered, then started grunting with open mouth for more! We love that guy! Chris gave him more lemon wedge to knaw at, and Owen was perfectly content. -guess he just didn't like the initial shock.

Pulling up to Standing

More crawling...it is just so fun!

Owen cut his first tooth on October 31st, and also started eating cereal the same week. He is now eating one "snack" of oatmeal each lunchtime, since he has moved on already from rice cereal. Owen is very set on guiding the spoon himself...he is a hands-on kind of kid. And oh how the hands and face get messy. Me too!

Owen is crawling!

Back from our travels

Glad to say, we are home for a few weeks! Two weeks ago, Owen and I made our first duet trip (all of the others have been the Boone Trio) to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to visit Owen's Hamill Grandparents. We had beautiful weather, and a warm welcome from both Grandparents, and two excited miniature poodles! -They were mostly excited about claiming Owen's toys as their own, but they did enjoy giving Owen's little hands all the kisses he could ever want.

Granddad Bob and Owen


Grandmom Lee and Owen

We enjoyed some brisk walks to Beaver Park; seeing all the leaves changing colors, and having time to talk and catch-up on everyone's current activities.



Dad and Lee hosted a wonderful party to introduce me and Owen to many of their neighbors and friends. It seems funny to realize that they have had many of these friends for a number of years, but that I just had never had the opportunity to meet any of them. I think the main reason being that we usually come to visit at the Christmas holiday, or some other major family holiday like thanksgiving, and most folks are busy with just spending time with their own kids or relatives. Coming at a non-national holiday (I know, Dad, your birthday should be a national holiday!!) meant people were available for our gathering. It was great fun, and Owen was his usual social self. He has never met a smiling person he didn't like, really!

Mariann Stickley and Owen have a chat


Rose Milden finally met the love of her life; Owen!


Mama and Owen...ready for a bedtime story


Owen's first Halloween Costume. He was the tortoise, and I was the Hare.

The next day, after we had slept-in from our late night reveling (9pm bedtime for Owen...) Owen got to meet my friends, Xiao and Du, and their son, Adrian, who drove down from Decorah Iowa to see us. Xiao and Du and I were good friends during our time at CCM, and afterward, when we all moved to New York, one after the other. Du came to NY for Stony Brook, and I came to NYC for Steinway, and Xiao followed when she completed her Master's Degree in Cincinnati, and joined Du at Stony Brook. They now have their DMA degrees from Stony Brook, and are on the faculty at Luther College in Decorah, IA. Adrian, their son, is four years old as of last week, and the last time I got to see them, he was the exact same age Owen is now! We had a fun afternoon visit, romp in the park and journey to find a good Asian market in Cedar Rapids. It was so nice to see how our lives have all changed and matured.



This is what Adrian looked like as a baby at our last visit...

and this is Adrian in his 4-year-old glory now!

Adrian Huang in a rare Photographic appearance! (He's a bit camera shy)


Du, Xiao and Owen...I made sure to ask if they had their fingers insured before letting Owen knaw on them for teething comfort! Xiao didn't complain at all...

"Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting..."

The Latest Owen Film

The Benefits of having a Squirrel in the Basement

The benefits of having a squirrel (the real kind, not just one of our cats) in our basement is that once the squirrel has been liberated, just being left with rats isn't so bad.

As I was washing dishes in the kitchen this afternoon, I heard a rustle at our back door. (It leads from our kitchen, down stairs into the basement.) I slowly cracked the door open to inspect what was making the noise. I scanned the floor, and to my relief saw nothing. Then my eye level raised to the back window, and I was startled to see fluffy squirrel tail and one very agitated squirrel gripped tightly on the window screen. That window doesn't have any glass on the top portion, so I give our little guest credit for finding the one spot of fresh air that wasn't actually an exit...

After quickly closing the door again, one coaching from my mother on the phone, and arming myself with a broom...I opened the door to find him nestled behind some of our cleaning supplies on the back step. I shooed him down the stairs, until arriving at the back door of the house. The back door of the house leads to the backyard, which is where Flynn (one of our landlady's dogs) lives. I knew that opening that door was useless to liberate the squirrel unless Flynn was distracted and secured elsewhere. I walked over to the picnic table, pet my pal Flynn, and watched the squirrel stand in the doorway with only a foot's distance from freedom. Just standing there, staring at me and Flynn. (Come On, already...leave!) Well, of course, Flynn locked gazes with the squirrel and I thought that little rodent was just going to turn tail and head back down into the basement. So, I walked further away, with Flynn, and decided the best space to give the squirrel was to stop watching it altogether. -Much more comforting for the squirrel, not so helpful for determining when the squirrel has left the building for me.

After a few minutes, and about 10 bug bites from being in the backyard with the dog, I decided that squirrel had made a run for it back to the great outdoors. In considering going back upstairs to my door, I wondered if that animal had just decided to walk back upstairs. Fortunately, Flynn went running up our stairs to inspect, and returned completely nonplussed by his journey....good sign for me. I said my farewell to Flynn, scratched 3 or 4 of my new bug bites, then carefully walked up the steps.

When Owen and I went for our walk to the park an hour later, we passed many squirrels scurrying around next to the house...and I kept looking at them to see if one seemed particularly familiar, or relieved to be back to his usual routine. But, they all had that nervous, paranoid look... that just seems to run in this neighborhood...

A nice weekend

Hello Everyone!

it is Monday morning, and I am just having a pause from the morning activities. Owen was delayed from his morning nap by about a 1/2 hour...but he is sleeping now and Mom can relax a moment!

We had a good weekend, with a couple curve balls thrown in, just to make sure we were paying attention. Saturday morning, I went to my weekly yoga class. We found a Bikram yoga studio in Hoboken that we have been going to on a regular basis for the last 3 months. I have a favorite instuctor, Eddie, who is just the kind of teacher I imagine my friend Jeremy would be if he taught Bikram. Eddie has a wry sense of humor, but he is serious about order and discipline in the class. For people crazy enough to be committed to Bikram yoga in the first place, (90 minutes, 26 postures done in 2 sets in a 105 degree room) Eddie is the dream teacher. He pays attention to what people are doing, offers corrections when needed, and motivates students to push to their edge. He is a no-nonsense teacher for a no-nonsense yoga practice.

Our studio has decided to change their focus from being exclusively Bikram, to offering other types of yoga. But I believe that for a studio to call themselves a Bikram studio, they must practice it exclusively. So, now the Hoboken studio has changed their name, and the owner is encouraging the Bikram instructors to "mix it up" more, now that they are no longer officially a Bikram studio. Sigh. Eddie has a real issue with altering the routine, because he is trained to follow it...and any more would be excessive for the students to perform. Any less, an incomplete work-out. I don't think teachers like Eddie, who don't want to compromise the integrity of their instruction, will last much longer at that particular location...leaving committed Bikram enthusiast such as ourselves out in the cold. --ha, that made a good hot yoga joke, and I wasn't even trying for it--

Saturday afternoon, we met with our friends, Suzanne and Paul, for brunch in the Village. We sat outside and enjoyed the brisk air, and warm conversation. The four of us are discussing buying a two-family house together...because single family housing is just financially out of reach for all of us here in NYC, but a two family; we could make happen. Suzanne and Paul are looking for all of the same things that are important to us in a good home. We want a good neighborhood, close proximity to public transportation, and a washer and dryer in the basement. (Did I mention a rat-free basement yet?) Both Suzanne and Paul work in Manhattan, so a reasonable commute is a must. We all agreed to start looking in the Yonkers/Bronxville area, as the commute to Grand Central Station is just under 30 minutes! Chris's work offices are moving across to the east side of midtown Manhattan at the end of this year...so we are very interested in shortening his travel time when we move. From our current apartment, this office move is going to add another 20-25 minutes to Chris' hour-long trip from home to work.

On to the next rat story...

It was 9pm, and we were sitting watching a movie after Owen had gone to bed last night. We heard a most blood-curdling scream that sent both Chris and myself running to the back stairs. Our Landlady, Leslie, had just opened her back door to come face-to-face with a rat on the landing just above her door. When the motion light switched on, the rat went running past her, (over her feet) and down into the basement to take cover. Both were undoubtedly startled. When Chris went to see if Leslie was okay, she explained the event.

Chris and I were a little surprised by the story, since a contract had been left on our steps a week and a half ago, which seemed to indicate that an exterminator had been in to deal with the problem. Since I had volunteered to arrange the appointment with the pest control company while Leslie was out of town...she had left the paperwork upon her return, assuming that i was still going to schedule the appointment. Ahh...poor communication...so another 2 weeks have past, and our furry visitors have had more time to hunker down and get comfy...in our stuff. This morning, I put the call in, and I am glad to say that the problem is actually going to be taken care of by tomorrow afternoon. Or, starting tomorrow afternoon...

My piano beckons. I didn't even get to the story of Chris accidently running over a purse that was in the road outside our parked car...which punctured a hole right into one of our tires. Owen's nap this morning was delayed while I took our car to the tire service garage, and a kind employee drove us home so we wouldn't have to wait there while our car is being serviced for 2-3 hours. Owen and I are going to have to fend for ourselves to get back to the garage when the car is done...which may just require a cab ride. Our other option is taking a bus with Owen in the baby bjorn, while caring his carseat (so I can bring him home in our car!) but that sounds very cumbersome. We shall see. For now, the piano awaits.

Owen pictures of the week

Time for your weekly fix of Owen pictures. He is a cutie, and he knows to ham it up for the camera!



Owen did successfully put his toes into his mouth yesterday. (Not while seated in the Bumbo Chair...on the changing table...he was done with his toes by the time I grabbed the camera though. Next time!


Who says Owen won't take a pacifier anymore??




Some new pictures of Owen and Mom...who was complaining that all of the pictures from vacation were of Owen and Daddy. I like these two.

Recent Owen Movies

Teething is No Fun

Our poor champ is having a hard time with teething pain. It is waking him up from sleeping at night, and keeping him from napping during the day too. Owen purses his lips, and has started making the Mmmmm sound in the last two days, which has quickly turned into "Ma Ma Ma" when he opens his mouth. I would be flattered that he is saying "Mama" so early, except that he is always doing it in a plaintive cry, as if to say, "Mama...I hurt; fix this!" Thank goodness for children's tylenol; it is the only remedy that makes any difference these days.

I am very excited about two trips we have coming up. The first one is at the end of October, where Owen and I will be making his first journey to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to visit my Dad and Stepmom. I am especially looking forward to the time of year we will be visiting Iowa, since I have usually visited around the Christmas holiday in years past. At the end of October, I expect the temperature will be brisk but pleasant for walks with Owen in his stroller and Coco and Pierre on their leashes. Owen might even be sampling some of the local cuisine, since he will be starting cereals at 6 months, and Quaker Oats is based in C.R.! For those of you who have never traveled to Cedar Rapids, you should know that the nickname for "The City of 5 Seasons" is, "The City of 5 Smells." Fortunately, not like the smells in our neighborhood...you can smell roasted oats when you step out your door in the mornings from Quaker Oats plant downtown. Owen will have complete smell/taste experience there. His Grandparents are really looking forward to introducing him around town.

The second trip we are taking is the following week to Savannah, GA. Chris' sister, Jessie, is having her graduate showing to complete her MFA in painting, and all of the Boone family is coming to see the show. We promise to take some pictures of her paintings...they are wonderful!

This Weekend in Jersey City

Greetings from Jersey City, where it is a comfortable 70 degree, partly sunny day. We just got back from a stroll in the park. This past week, we took Owen to see the pediatrician for a check-up. He has doubled his birth weight, now weighing in at a healthy 16 pounds! He is in the 50th percentile of weight for his age. Our Dr. said he looked great, other than having more teething pain and discomfort. His gums are white, but there aren't any sharp spots poking through. Just an unending pool of drool drool drool...

Owen's latest tricks are rolling over in every direction. He can scoot himself around on his tummy, although that is somewhat up for debate between Chris and myself. You see, I have laid him down at one end of Owen's crib, only to come in and find him at the opposite end, completely turned around. Chris thinks he is scooting himself, but I am not willing to rule out levitation, since I haven't witnessed how he is changing position. Could be the scooting thing too, I guess.

Owen reaches out for things with both hands now...like Mommy's necklace, HAIR, oh and another favorite...Daddy's nose. He giggles if you make any funny sounds near his belly. Doesn't have to touch. And, his Daddy just taught him how to stick out his tongue. When Daddy was playing Peek-a-boo with him the other day, Owen stuck out his tongue every time his Daddy reappeared...the universal symbol for Daddy now??

We called him "Scar" that day

here's a funny picture following Owen's afternoon nap this past week. He looks tough, no?

Editor's Note: One of the readers of Boonesandsquirrels notified us that the picture of Owen with the crease on his face from a bedsheet during a nap was too graphically misleading to remain posted on the page. Owen is a beautiful child, and should be displayed as such. We chose to offer this compromise.

Happy Grandma?

Back from North Carolina

Back from our trip to North Carolina, where we spent a week vacationing in New Bern, with the Moms, then a weekend visit with our friend, Amir, in Durham. While we were there, we celebrated Chris's 30th Birthday. Here are some photo highlights:





Thanks to all of you who sent pictures and movies for Chris to view on his big day. He was really surprised, and had such a laugh from all of the submissions!

We had a special visitor, Chris's sister, Jessie, came to see us from Savannah, Georgia. Jessie got to meet Owen for the first time. They definitely hit it off from the start!





We toured the small town of New Bern one day, and drove about 45 minutes to the beach on another afternoon. Chris was really looking forward to introducing Owen to the Ocean...one of his favorite places to be. In the pictures, it looks cloudy...but the sun came through a few minutes later, and we got to play in the water for a little while.

Owen was so exhausted from the excitement, that he promptly fell asleep on Grandma Crystal's shoulder before she even made it back to her beach chair.

Chris and I had a little time to swim with the fishies. The water was pretty warm!

We went on to see Amir in Durham. We ate falafel, and he made us homemade chocolate lava cake at his lovely home. Yum! I like Durham!





now we have to get back to life at home. Chris said he needed to get back to the office, so he could rest from all of our travels!