Bucks Lake

Last summer, our trip to the cabin at Bucks Lake was Owen's first family vacation. Owen was too young (only 3 months old) to really appreciate it, but this year he had a blast. He loved playing with Oisin and Jakodi, jumping on the bed, climbing on the deck chairs, and going inside/outside/inside/outside through the cabin door. Here he is playing peekaboo with Jakodi behind our beach towels.


He also learned a bunch of new words: blanket ("mum-baht"), yes, ready, more, and bucket ("buh-bit") as you can see here.

Spaghetti Hat

Sandbeck Family Reunion

Jeremy's Norwegian great-grandparents, Bert and Bertina Sandbeck, had thirteen children including Jeremy's grandma, Donna, the youngest of the bunch. At today's family reunion at May Nissen Park we saw about 150 family members, and this wasn't even close to the total number of relatives. There are so many people in the family that we've randomly met people in Livermore to later on find out that they're related. This was a fun day for Grammy Nancy to show off Owen to family members who hadn't met him yet, including his great-great-aunts. Of course, Owen was just stoked to be at the park all day.

Grandma Donna would have been proud.


Owen and his Dada

Slammy, Grammy, and Owen

Sizing up some of the little girls in the family

"Whee!" (That's what he says. He's still learning the word "slide.")


Owen=1/8 Norwegian

Fun Weekend

Oakland Zoo
Finally, summer school is over (and only 1 more week for Jeremy)! We kicked off the summer vacation by visiting the Oakland Zoo. This zoo trip was much more fun for Owen than the last one, when he was only 7 months old. He knew a lot of the animals this time (elephants, zebras, monkeys, birds) and he liked making their sounds. His favorite part was the petting zoo, where he learned a new animal/word: goat.

Owen was very VERY eager to pet the goats

This was right before Owen poked the goat in the eye

Walking walking walking all the time now!

Berkeley Kite Festival
The next day we went to the Berkeley Kite Festival. Owen was a little underwhelmed with the kites, but he did do a couple "oooh"s here and there. But it's pretty clear that anywhere Owen can find sticks and rocks and a place to roam, he'll have fun.

Not to brag...

...but I've got a pretty cute kid!

Here you can see he's a little boy now, not a little baby.

My little boy- 14 months old


Owen and Grandpa


Contemplating the meaning of life? Or just looking at a bush?


Reading a book. In a box.

And now a couple pictures we can use to embarrass Owen sometime later. You know, pull them out and show his prom date, stuff like that.

Fun with tampons

Snuggling up with the TP (like he does with anything soft- thumb in the mouth, rubbing the softie on his forehead)

Disneyland

We were already there for a wedding at the Disneyland Hotel, so we HAD to take Owen on his first visit to Disneyland. He loved it! His first ride was the teacups, and after that he went on It's a Small World, the Disneyland Railroad, the Jungle Cruise, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Tiki Room. He also met Mickey Mouse at Mickey's House. One of his favorites was the Jungle Cruise, of course, with all those animals, but his absolute favorite was the Tiki Room. He loved dancing to the singing birds and music (while I ate my pineapple hwhip). I was worried that Pirates of the Caribbean would be too scary for him with the dark plunges down the waterfalls. But he only tensed up a little, said "Uh oh" when he saw the first pirate skeleton, and then he fell asleep. With naptime, etc. we didn't get to do as much as I wanted, so we'll just have to take him back again sometime soon :)

At Kelly & Bryan's wedding


First ride of the day

Meeting Mickey (right before Owen grabbed Mickey's nose)

Jeremy & Owen on the Jungle Cruise

Long car ride with Disney pals Mickey and Dale

Owen Turns 1!

"Owen" has been slacking on his blog because "Owen" has had a busy few months. Now it's finally summer vacation (for the next 4 weeks) so the blog may just get some TLC.


Now, catching up on May...

What do cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, peaches, and strawberries have in common? They are all among the things Owen is allergic to. Poor Owen had to have 6 vials of blood taken so he could be tested for the allergies we suspected, and some others too. So now the challenge is finding things he can (and will) eat, and I am now a chronic food label reader. I see lots of nut-free tables and no more trips to Yogurtland in our future, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Owen will get tested again in 2 years, and hopefully he'll grow out of some or all of his allergies.

A case of the sillies at dinner time

Owen's first birthday was spent at Alamo Creek Park with his friends and family. He had his own cake to dig into, but he wasn't very interested in it. He mostly liked being held by the people in his family and opening presents. It was unseasonably freezing, but luckily the hail held off until the next day.

Owen's very own (egg-and-milk-free) birthday cake


Owen and Grammy

Owen's personality is coming out pretty clearly. He's sweet and cuddly, but independent, too. He loves reading his books, and he definitely has his favorites, most of which are about animals. He wasn't walking yet, but crawling like crazy, and getting into everything.

Not walking yet, but getting into everything (like our bedroom closet)

My Little Easter Bunny

I was trying to take a picture of Owen with his Easter Bunny ears, but he wanted to chew on them instead.

Owen is quite the talker lately! Here is his list of words, some of them more frequent than others:
-da (dog)
-di-dee (kitty)
-Mama
-Dada
-dih-dih (Sydney)
-he-roh (hello, said while holding a phone or remote control behind his neck)
-Dih-du (R2D2)
-Dada (Yoda)
-and of course, uh-oh!

Trying to Stand

9 Months Old

Owen's 9-month doctor visit was pretty uneventful. He has definitely leveled out in growth. Remember when his percentiles used to be in the high 90s? Now he's in the 42nd percentile for weight (20 pounds, but I assure you he's still eating like a champ) and 74th percentile for height (29 inches).

He's crawling, clapping, high-fiving, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, and is graduating from his infant car seat into a convertible one. He loves music-- he likes to bounce whenever he hears a beat. A little bit of stranger anxiety and separation anxiety are setting in, but hopefully that will pass.

My Valentines

Good news- Owen is well on the road to recovery. He's fever-free, energetic, and eating again. Happy Valentine's Day!

My two main men

Sydney, my other valentine

Rough Week

Here's the update:
Owen was supposed to have hernia surgery last Friday, but they decided to postpone because of a runny nose. On Saturday he woke up in the middle of the night having a lot of trouble breathing. After a scary phone call to Kaiser (and way too many minutes waiting on hold), we were told it was croup. Then on Tuesday after I picked him up after work, his fever was 102-- now he has pneumonia. The poor little guy has had it tough this week. Oh yeah, and he's got another tooth coming in. He seems to be getting better, and we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Pre-croup and pre-pneumonia, splish splashing in the tub

Busy Week

This week was huge for Owen's development. He learned how to clap, he sat in a shopping cart seat for the first time (and LOVED feeling like he was in the captain's seat), and now he's saying, "Uh oh!"

This is how Owen fell asleep for his nap today: butt sticking way up in the air. See, even when he's asleep he's practicing crawling.

Two More Teeth

...just like the snake! Owen loved this toy, which his grandpa got for the haunted house he does at Halloween. The body is coiled at the bottom, and the head moves around in a circular motion.

If you look closely, you can see Owen's newest teeth-- top row, right in front.

Play Time

Owen's favorite page of his animal book- he gets excited whenever he turns to it

Toys, toys, everywhere

No crawling yet, but he gets himself to where he needs to go

Happy with Daddy

...and just like that, he's asleep

Owen's New Quilt

Owen got a surprise visit from his grandma today, who brought him his finished handmade puppy quilt. This is Owen playing/almost-crawling on it.