Happy Halloween

Here is the dude's Halloween costume:

Our little lion cub

Close-up of the cub staring down his next prey

Mom & Cub

Even a pumpkin outfit for the dude



Pumpkin Patch

It's that time again.....no, not Halloween.  It's the time where Em drags me to a pumpkin patch.  Just kidding.  She really didn't drag me. 

We joined some friends of ours and their little 10 month old daughter to a place called "The Elegant Farmer" to do some fall activities.  This place has apple picking, pumpkin picking, fresh home made donuts (this is the reason Em wanted to go if the truth be told), hayrides, pony rides and just about anything else you can think of that a farmer can charge $5 for.

Here are some pics:

The dude staying warm in the Bjorn

On the hayride heading to the apple orchards

Apple picking consisted of picking apples out of crates

He Likes It! He Really Likes It!

If you look back and check out the post I wrote about Owen's 1st bath you will be reminded of the tramatic experience it was for him (and probably more so for Em). 

Well, things have changed on the homefront when it comes to bathtime.  It is a delightful time for both mom and child.  Here are some pictures as proof:

Being placed in his personal bathtub getting ready for his bath

Doesn't get much more "comfortable" and "at ease" than this picture

Mom is washing his face and a big smile happens

Even washing his hair is no problem now

The only disappointment is when it's over



More Random Pics of "The Dude"

Owen loves his swing (he's much more of a daredevil than his mom)  ;o)

He is a champ at "tummy time"

Another pic of Owen in front of his favorite backdrop

Owen just saw an episode of "America's Got Talent" and tried his asymetrical pose

It seems like this is the way we see him the most

The t-shirt says it all

Owen tends to fall asleep during his bottle feedings (but he still moves those jaw muscles and swallows.)  He's a pro.

As soon as he's done feeding and his tummy is full...he's the happiest baby ever.

3 Months

Here are a few pics of Owen at 3 months old.  Notice in about 5 minutes he goes through about 14 different emotions on his face.  (Luckily not one of those emotions was anger....or any other crying face.)

The Snowsuit

Living in Wisconsin, we knew we were going to have to get "The Dude" some warmer clothes.  Emily thought it best to get him a snowsuit that we could put him in easily and get maximum warmth for him. 

Here's a picture of "The Dude" in his brand new snowsuit:

I have a couple of points about this suit.

1) Does it look familiar?

2) Do you think he will ever grow into it?  (We might be using this snowsuit for "The Dude" next year.)  Here's a picture of The Dude in the same pose as above sans snowsuit:



Notice how you can barely see Em behind the snowsuit in the 1st pic.  She all of a sudden reappears when The Dude is without the snowsuit......it's magic. 





Birthday Part-y or -ies?

At dinner a couple days ago, Emily announced that she had a couple ideas for Owen's 1st birthday party.  (Mind you....he's still only 3 months old.)

She couldn't decide between 2 different party themes.

1) Monkey party (since he's our little monkey).

2) Baseball party (since she's convinced - given both of our genetic backgrounds - that he will be a baseball player)

She was having such a dilemma with this all-important (and pressing) decision....she blurted out why don't we either have 2 parties (which seems a bit much for a 1-year old b-day party)....or maybe a "monkey baseball" theme!!!

I think we have a winner......until she changes her mind.

1st Week of Many

We made it through the week that Emily was dreading the most. 

Ever since Owen was born it seemed like last week was highlighted on the calendar with a big red oval around it (even though no mark was on it at all).  Without being able to speak of it, we both knew that this week would soon arrive.  And it did.

What was so special (or not so special) about last week?

1) Emily returned to work, so Owen would have to go to daycare. 
2) Emily, tragically, had to travel for work for 2 days to Houston.
3) Owen was stuck with his dad for 2 days.....without his mom.

You can see why it was a very tramatic week for us.

To her credit, Emily was pretty brave throughout the week.  I expected her to burst into tears as soon as Owen was put into his car carrier seat to go to daycare for the 1st time.  She didn't.  (However, she did tell me later that she did cry a little the night before just thinking about it.  Who can blame her?)

Then......as luck would have it....not only would Emily have to deal with not seeing Owen (for the 1st time) during the days......she almost immediately (the next day) had to travel and be away from him for 2 solid days.  (As aluded to above, the real hero/victim of this portion of the story is Owen.....having to deal with his dad for such a long time.  But he got through it.)

Emily was a real trooper when she was in Houston.  She did call/text a lot, but who can blame her.  I found it cute that she would text me asking for pictures of Owen....which I obliged.  (I won't post them here because they weren't that great of photos.....but they got Emily through the days.)

We made it through last week ok....and we will the next week too.  This is just the start of our journey as a family, and we have to cherish every bit of it.  The good & the bad.

Butterfly Theory

In the last couple weeks southeastern Wisconsin has been inundated with boxelder bugs.  They seemed to be everywhere.  Emily couldn't stand it.  She would freak out if she saw them.  We sprayed the house and outside with bug spray....to no avail.  I even saw 3 of them inside a gas pump while I was pumping gas.  They found their way INSIDE the glass screen where you can tell how much gas you are putting into your car.  These things could get their way ANYWHERE.

These bugs got me thinking about something else.  I asked myself why women (Emily specifically) hated bugs so much.  For the most part they are pretty harmless and extremely easy to kill.  Then I asked myself why women loved butterflies so much.  (It has to be the most popular tattoo that women put on themselves...except for maybe flowers.)  Aren't butterflies just bugs with beautiful wings? 

This is what a butterfly looks like without its wings.

Then I started to think.....aren't we (as men) lucky that women see things like this.  It seems to me that they only need to fall in love with 1 aspect of something (or see 1 attribute that is beautiful) and are able to ignore the rest.  

I know when I was dating (before I met Em).  I went out with several girls who never got a 2nd date for some very off the wall reasons.  It didn't matter how good looking they were, if there was a "deal breaker" then it was over.  Some of those such deal breakers included:  a girl owned too many Precious Moments figurines, a girl owned a quilt rack, and one whose mother liked Antonio Banderas just a little too much.  I definitely had the opposite of the Butterfly Theory (probably because I'm a dude).

No matter how much The Dude cries and keeps Emily up at night, or how smelly his diaper gets (and it gets pretty smelly), or how many "blow-outs" he has in a row.....Emily smiles the entire time and thinks he is the cutest thing ever.  (I'd go so far to say that she thinks his "blow-outs" are the cutest blow-outs of all time.)

Thank goodness for that outlook on life.  I don't think many men share that same outlook.

(But don't be too afraid of the regular bugs.....they aren't THAT bad.)

Mom-arazzi

I believe I can say with nearly 100% certainty that I have deleted more pictures of Owen in his 2.5 months of existence than were ever taken of me in my entire life.  This kid has pictures taken of him every day.  Em is trying to get every expression, every mood, and every outfit on film....seriously. 

Just about every day Emily sends me a text of a picture of Owen on my phone.  I love it. 

Here are a few of the pictures that she sent me in the last couple weeks:

Smiley

Happy Boy

He's getting into his "3-point stance".  He's going to be a football player.  (Sorry, Nance.)

I was a little anxious to get him in his Browns apparal before he actually fit into it.

Is it just me or does he have a little naughty expression on his face here?

He may look like me, but some of the things he does is 100% Emily.

This photo shows one of those things...sleeping sprawled out taking up as much of the bed/crib as possible.



If you are sick of pictures of Owen....sorry....but they aren't going to stop.  We think he's too cute.