More Owen Adventures

Look what I got for Easter! I love it!


It wasn't really that warm the day Mama and Dada took me out to play with my truck in the driveway...but I didn't mind at all! I love walking with my truck, inside or outside.


Here I am in a movie with my truck!


Mama thinks this might be the best picture ever of the two of us.


Here I am, Standing all my myself!


Dada likes to flip me over when I tuck my head. I like it too...so I keep doing it over and over!

Greetings from Cincinnati!

Here's Owen, unpacking himself!

We have been living in our new house for almost a week now...and the move from New Jersey is becoming a distant memory already! Thank Goodness for that. We found a deal through a realtor friend of the Boones', but the house needed to have all of the carpets torn-out, and all of the ceilings and walls painted. We spent the first week living at Tim and Jan's, and coming over to work like busy bees during the daytime, and sometimes in the evenings after putting Owen to bed. It was such a gift to be able to stay with family while doing the work on the house...otherwise, we just couldn't have negotiated this particular deal. We have done a lot, and are now done with the majority of the unpacking. There are still items that were the previous owner's, and her niece has arranged to come and sort through those things next week. Once that sorting is done, we will have a huge basement (part finished, part unfinished) and a lovely huge enclosed porch to enjoy if this winter ever ends!

Owen was a trooper through the moving process. He was losing a lot of sleep last week while we were all discombobulated ourselves. Since he moved into his new bedroom, he has been consistently improving with regular napping during the daytime, and occasional sleepless patches at night. His teething started causing him pain in the last few days too...so we have all experienced some sleeplessness as a result.





My friend, Heidi, loaned us a baby excer-saucer. Owen likes it very much, and in a pinch, it is a great place to situate Owen when his parents need to complete a project that won't benefit from Owen "helping".



Other recent developments include Owen sampling Dewey's Pizza for the first time...and (no Surprise here) LOVING IT! He was genetically programmed to love the Green Lantern Pizza, just like his Mama and Dada.

Owen started Dancing several weeks ago. It is adorable, and we just haven't had the time to share it with the world. Until Now...


As for the business of walking...Owen is creeping around from furniture piece to furniture piece, but he really isn't braving many steps on his own. He is standing for periods of 20 seconds or more, mostly when distracted with holding a toy in his hands.

"Owen Boone, Rush Chairman, Damn glad to meet you!"

Happy February!

Hello All,
I am feeling a little wistful after watching the movie, "Sicko" this evening. I thought it was quite subdued for a Michael Moore film...not many trademark stunts...but extremely informative, and stirring my emotions. When I think of how hopeless or powerless people have to feel not to push for changes in this country, well I don't have to look far outside my own windows to see what that looks like. A mess, quite frankly.

Fortunately, I have a many blessings myself. I was out for several hours this afternoon, and Chris was home looking after Owen. When I got in the door and said Hi to Owen, he came right over, climbed into my arms, put his arms around my neck and gave me kisses for at least a minute. Kisses for Owen right now consist of biting the other person's chin or check, when he is not just licking it first. Owen kisses are not unlike puppy kisses...sloppy, toothy and absolutely wonderful. I was laughing hysterically to be greeted with such a welcome home. He likes me, he really likes me.

The word is out...We're Moving!

I have been falling behind with my blogosphere up-keep the last month, mainly because we have been busy planning a move back to Cincinnati, Ohio. Yesterday, Chris gave his notice at work...and tomorrow will be his last day. The two-minute outpouring of love from Chris' boss (that's the sum total of both yesterday's outpouring and today's outpouring) really made his time here worthwhile. And that's all I have to say about that. (I guess I don't really need to wonder why Retta sent me that website link about sarcasm...)

We will be traveling to Pittsburgh over the weekend of Feb. 16th, and then on to Cincinnati for apartment hunting at the start of that week. We are excited! Our official move date will be March 3rd. Anyone want to come pack or babysit? :)

Here's what you really came to see...Boo Boo pictures. You might not recognize him. He is the GIANT smiling child in the center.

Catching Up...as if!

I'll tell you right now, there aren't any cute pictures of Owen that will be following this posting. We simply haven't had the time in the last two weeks...so, if that is all you are here to find, you can move on now. (But do check back soon...Owen would hate to lose his fan base!)

Starting backwards from right now: We are waiting for plumbers to come and install a new hot water heater. Our landlady has been MIA up until a few days ago...not that she announced her return to us, or returned our phone calls about the leaking bathroom ceiling and the 20 tiles that have fallen off our bathroom wall as a result of a different leak on the roof...do date, we have about 4 phone numbers and 3 email addresses to contact her. You would think we could have constant contact with all of that information. Sadly, none of them seems to be capable of overcoming her own call/email screening process, rendering them all equally useless.

I left a note on her door last night that the basement was flooding from an overflowing water heater (?) and the hot water was gone. Chris turned off the water flowing into the heater to stop the flooding...and that worked. This morning, she called us "on her way to the Bahamas" (that's where her boss does his best work, apparently, so his whole entourage travels with him there for weeks at a time.) She gave Chris a credit card number and permission to replace the heater. Which is great, except that, as Chris puts it, "I am so sick of the responsibilities of home ownership, with none of the perks of actually owning a home." He spent the greater part of the day on the phone, going to Lowes to sign a contract, and now overseeing the installation.

That's today. So far.

In the last week and a half since our return from Cincinnati, we have hosted wonderful company (last weekend). My friend, Jeremy, and his friend, Michael, came for a few days visit. We had a great time catching-up, and Owen was simply crazy about both of them. I had never met Michael before...but as soon as I learned that he had two cats and a pug named, Muggle, I instantly liked him!

Chris has done 4 days at ESPN over the last week...last Friday, Saturday, Tuesday and Yesterday...each driving up and back on the same day. These days are hard for all of us, mostly because they are long work days with a lot of driving on top for him, for Owen because Owen doesn't see him at all. For me, because I pulled a muscle in my back lifting Owen in his stroller up some stairs. Twice. The first time, I just had the injury and didn't know what had caused it earlier in the week, and then yesterday, while lifting the stroller...I swear I heard the "ping" just as I felt the painful jolt in my lower back. With my being the only one at home, there has been no avoidance of lifting, twisting, reaching and pulling to keep up with "Spudly Do-Right" Boone!

Owen has had his own set of spills and knocks this week. The more adventuresome he gets with testing his balance and walking abilities, the more he has slipped, tripped and thunked into what little furniture we have in our dining room. He even pulled over one of the dining room chairs while I was in the kitchen collecting his food for lunch the other day. Fortunately, it is a light-weight chair that fell forward and completely away from where he was sitting on the floor. This time!

We are all just barely keeping our wits about us. There has been NO SNOW, and that is truly a gift as far as I am concerned. I am glad my skiing friends in Boston are having lots of snow this year for their sake, but I don't regret having cold wet rain in New Jersey for our sakes!

I will definitely get some pictures up again soon.

Probably.


Soon-ish.



Right after I get a long, hot bath!

love,
one greasy grimy Mama



p.s. I lied, here's a cute movie...

First Words, Waves, and Super-modeling Without too Much Lead Paint in It

I chose this particular video carefully, as it is the only one of the bunch that doesn't show Owen licking the radiator...no doubt getting his full daily requirement of lead. "This radiator is delicious and nutritious; lots of iron in it!"



First words are tricky...there isn't some parent handbook that explains which words count as "first words" versus the words where you know what your child is trying to say, even if he doesn't used the diction of 'enry 'iggins. Owen says "Hi"...he has been for a couple weeks now. It sounds across between Hi and Hey, but we know what he means. Yesterday morning, Chris went in to greet Owen when he woke up. Chris said, "Hi Owen" and Owen replied, "Hi Da" just as casually as if he had been talking for the last 20 years. I mean Owen there. Chris and I have been trying to teach Owen to wave and say "hi" to each of us, so we devised a little game where I say, "Hi Dada" and Chris responds, "Hi Mama" and we do that back and forth a couple times, then include Owen, with "Hi Owen." Right now, Owen only says "Hi Dada" (sigh)...I can firmly state, "MAMA" and he will reply with an equal tone of "DADA". It is true that he is getting the sequencing correct, since Dada usually follows Mama when we play our game.

On to waving. Owen waves...but not on command. He actually uses waves as they are meant to be used; when greeting someone he wasn't seen in a little while, or when recognizing a newcomer. If I am sitting playing with him for a while, he will generally not wave when I try to prompt him. But, if I have been driving us somewhere, and am coming around the car to get him out of his carseat, he will wave hello as he sees me approaching. He waves at the cats when they honor him with their presence on the radiator in the dining room, and he also waves at pictures of his Dada when he is at work during the day. Oh, and he always waves (and laughs) at the big faces in Jessie's paintings hanging in our living room, as well as all of the face paintings hanging in Jessie's old bedroom and Tim and Jan's kitchen and basement.




These were two of my favorites as I was sorting holiday pictures off the camera today. I have a feeling there will be years to come of these two Hams (but these are Boones, not Hamills...) yukking it up together.

Owen Boone, Male Model. Let me show you my versatility...

"You've nominated me for the Nobel Peace Prize? But I didn't get you anything..."
(Hey Dad, it's like the Colbert Report...see the picture of Owen in the background?)

that's right, "Brrrr!" you're "cool" but happy in this shot

Now you're a TIGER...bite that zipper, get that zipper!