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...