Wednesday, July 27, 2011

seven months: having a blast!


 Well here we are at SEVEN months. Of course, time is flying, and we are having a blast. July has been mostly gloomy here in Seattle, but we tried to capture some good shots on our few good days. I've been planning the 'Wade Family Pictures at the Beach'.. meant to capture O at 6 months. After several necessary  reschedules, we finally captured them last night! If you have a facebook account, I would highly recommend that you check out the 'teasers' by Yee Feng, the photog. They are fantastic!


You can tell he likes his solid foods.. LOOK AT THAT BELLY! We may turn him in to a chunk yet.

Owen loves to play with balls already.. this soccer ball is his favorite, and he really likes the beach ball at the church nursery. I suppose we may have a little athlete on our hands here... hope his coordination potential comes from his daddy. 

We've taken the opportunity to turn gloomy July into a month of nap training. You all know the drama of my sleepless first born, but as he began to do better at night, he started to take only 30 minute naps.
30min x3 a day = 90 minutes of nap time daily.
= not enough down time for mom or baby
I think I finally realized that the baby can't keep up with my schedule. He won't sleep anywhere (like some babies), and a schedule could be really good for him. I don't know why it took me 6 months to figure this out, but I suppose that is the price of being a first time parent. It's interesting the sacrifices you need to make that never crossed your mind while pregnant. Yes, I need to amend my social calendar around the baby's nap time. He comes first. It seems so simple when I write it out, but it's definitely been a learning process for me. (Thanks for with holding your judgement =) )

We are on week 3 of nap training, and at times he has slept up to 3 hrs and 40 minutes a day. 2.5- 3 hrs is the average. It's been great for both of us!

He really is rolling everywhere, and I've been baby proofing like crazy.
(it's also a great way to finally make better use of the storage space we do have in this 900 sq ft condo)
He hasn't figured out getting up on his knees or advancing forward, but he can sure roll to accomplish his goals, and I think he's content with that for now! 

Mustache mania. Here we are at my friend Lam's baby shower. She is a co-worker from the school of nursing (as you can see by the trach mannequin in the background!). She's also having a baby boy (due Aug 20), so we thought we would wear mustaches to "masculine-ize" the girly baby shower! I think O looks hilarious here!

July 5th: The temp reached 75, so we trialed a wading pool with my friend Stephanie from high school and her 4 yo daughter, Sophia (whom I love).
It really was just an excuse for me to put him in his swim trunks. He wasn't a huge fan of the water (though very warm). There were lots of big kids splashing, and I'm sure it was loud to him. We'll have to try again with Grandma Cooper's swim pool in STL!
Here he is rolling under his crib. Looks like he picked up a diaper along the way! I love waiting to see where he will end up!
We had a nice second weekend of July, and so we travelled up north a bit to strawberry pick and go to an air show. I got to hold the baby while Mike did the picking.
I learned something about Mike that day.. he is very particular about the strawberries he picks. They must be the quintessential strawberry shape, and of course perfectly red. I knelt down to pick a few (and I don't mind the crazy shapes).. and I quickly realized that my strawberries 'didn't belong' amongst the beautifully similar berries in Mike's box.
This is what he calls a picture perfect berry!

Here they are in all of their glory. $15 worth of strawberries.. that we downed in about a week! I made a strawberry pie. Actually.. I attempted my first homemade pie crust with this pie. It tasted delicious but sort of melted down in the pie pan (ie.. was not pretty). Any tips?
Mike practicing his airplane photog skills.. pretty good!
We dressed O in a 'little aviator' shirt that day, but we couldn't get a good picture of him in that shirt. I have a feeling, though, that he will be a little aviator. Likely in more ways than one!
Mike has great timing!
I really like this Mizzou Tigers shirt, so I had to take a picture. I took it off by the time Mike got home (just kidding).

Additional highlights of the month:
  • We were blessed by a week long visit by Dr. Steve Schuster who had a medical conference here in Seattle. It was awesome catching up and hearing his stories about Delaney (4) and Will (2). We hope they can play together soon. We're hoping to take a trip to Phoenix in April 2012.. fingers crossed!
  • Owen continues to love his solid foods. We now have a variety of delights to choose from: peas, carrots, avocado, pears, bananas, apricots, squash. I'm having a blast 'scheduling' out what to try next.
  • Owen has conquered the 'B' sound, frequently exclaiming 'BABABABABABA' when Mike feeds him dinner. 
  • He loves to rub his own head/have his head rubbed (just like his daddy)
  • We are getting little glimpses of his temper. They come out when I change his diaper and read a book. He knows this symbolizes nap time. As of yesterday he also clinches his fist and expresses frustration when I am not quick enough with the spoonfuls of food. It's so hilarious, I delay just a bit longer...
  • Owen has new cousins! My cousin Will and his wife Amy had twin Cooper boys on July 18. Kipton and Coleson. Mike's cousin Emily and her husband Tony welcomed baby Eliza on July 21! What an exciting week!
  • We are baptizing Owen in STL on Sunday. Kurt Stone, the pastor that married us, will be doing the honors. We can't wait to attempt another plane ride tomorrow (though we are both a but worried as he is much more squirmy now)...
Of course we love all of you, and we treasure your interest in the lives of our precious Owen. We are so grateful to God for the blessing of this baby BOY! Love, M, H, O, and O

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Going Private

Hi friends and family! I'm currently working on a '7 MONTHS' post for Owen, but I thought I should separate this info out. Tiny Treasures will be going private on Sept 1. I've been thinking about this for some time and for several reasons. Today was the last straw. The UW School of Nursing found my post about graduation and they want to use it on their facebook page. Though flattering, I'm just not comfortable with that! Actually.. it totally creeped me out. What else can you 'google' and have my little blog pop up?

SO.. if you want to continue to read about O's rockin', rollin', and solid food eatin'.. please comment or send me your email address and I will add you to the special 'list'. You will then have to log on to view the blog. It's all in an effort to protect our family's privacy. Hope you understand! xo, Heather

Friday, July 8, 2011

faire la cuisine

Well the end of grad school has sparked the beginning of my quest to become a more "domestic" wife. I want to increase the variety in our meals, and learn to make some things from scratch (ie: pie crusts, etc). I've also embarked on the make-your-own-baby-food mission, and so far O is pretty excited about it. Last week we had a baby food making party with Lucy and her mom Wendy. Lucy and Owen (OWCY reunited!) are about 10 days apart, and boy were they fun to get together!

The last time we took their pictures, they had symmetric fencer poses. Now they rival each other in the height at which they can hold their heads. Both kiddos got a kick out of each other. Lucy's a "shrieker" and she didn't hold back in her communication with O!

I imagine this face to be his way of saying "She's so pretty, mom, and I am having SO much fun!"
Wendy had a very fancy baby food maker which retails for about $150. Needless to say, we used that instead of my food 'mill' which retails for about $10. I will say, though, that the mill will likely come in quite handy once O has progressed beyond stage 2 foods. These peas featured above were a bit to chunky for his preferences thus far, so we just threw them in the freezer.

The finished products of our baby food making day. We made carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, and apples. I've since made some pears in the food processor, and I think they turned out well. Owen hasn't started on fruits yet, but I am sure he will love them. We're still making our way through the list of veggies: green beans (dislike), peas (like), carrots (love), sweet potatoes (like). Next up is avocado!

............................................................................................

The same day as the baby food party, I got to redeem part of my graduation present from Mike.. a Julia Childs cooking class at Sur la Table. I've been telling him how I want to learn to be a better cook, rather than a strict recipe follower (I am so inspired by Chef Uncle Ryan.. I am convinced he knows EVERYTHING about cooking).. so Mike gave me this great gift! I was a little nervous to go at first because I lack confidence in my kitchen skills, but it turned out to be a BLAST!
In true Julia style, we made Chicken in a Cream of Mushroom sauce (made with Port and heavy cream). This recipe was my favorite by far, and I will be reattempting it on my own soon! We also make steamed artichokes and hollandaise (I've been wanting to learn to make hollandaise for my eggs Benny). We devoured that dish, however, before I got to take a picture.
Next up was Beef Bourguignon: braised beef in red wine served with carrots, pearl onions, and mushrooms. Also delicious, and a great 'wintery' meal to make for company! As we only have 2 months of summer here in Seattle, we will stick to using our grill in the short future, but I will let you know when I attempt this one on my own as well!
Apple Tart Tatin

I have to be honest, this recipe was actually a bit 'tart' for my taste which I found interesting because there aren't very many desserts I've met that I haven't liked. I don't know that I would attempt this one on my own, but I love that we learned to make our own caramel and pie crust. Yum!

Later today, I am headed to IKEA to get cute fabrics for the Lotta Jansdotter baby sewing projects on my list to attempt. I think between now and the end of January we know 15 babies coming along (7 in August alone). I want to add a special touch to my gifts.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE BEING DONE WITH GRADUATE SCHOOL!?!?!?

Love you too! xoxox, an aspiring homemaker

Monday, July 4, 2011

our little firecracker

Well Happy 4th of July from our little firecracker! We dressed him all up in his Cardinal red.. I mean, what is more patriotic than Cardinal baseball?

We spent the day visiting with some friends who live about 45 minutes north of Bellevue. They have a 3 year old girl, and twin 20 month old girls. Having a 6 month old Owen seems like a piece of cake.. except that he won't nap anywhere but his crib and had a minor meltdown during lunch. At least it was in some one's home! (Just a side note: I am SO over being in restaurants with him. It's like paying for cold food, fragmented conversation, and increased anxiety/blood pressure). Not worth it in my opinion!

 
 I put this blanket down, but it's not like he stays on or near the blanket, now that he has mad rolling skills!

 Yay! Cards Win!

 Since Owen missed a 'crib' afternoon nap, I was trying to help him relax. Instead, he wanted to play with his favorite toy: a handful of mommy's hair. You can spend a lot of money on real toys, but sometimes the best things in life are free, right?

Here we are with a good pose. I love his sweet angel face!

Enjoy a video of him at dinner tonight. I was trying to catch his 'excited' face where he blinks and says 'AH!'. The blink is the funniest part to me... it's like he's gearing up for a big sentence or something really important!

Happy 4th from Seattle! We love you!

Friday, July 1, 2011

my real life 'is this poop or chocolate' moment....

apparently the transition to solids is increasing the 'bulk' of his stool. i'm so glad i'm a nurse....