None But Shining Hours

Hello everyone! I don't know if I am thinking in lists because of Hannah's Eucharisteo, but this popped in my head as I laid down for a nap on this rainy day (huzzah!). I think this will give a pretty good picture of my days...

Most Memorable Moments on Any Given Day

6. Owen setting up all his favorite toys for a "birthday party."
5. After getting both kids down for a nap, pausing, taking a deep breath and thinking, "I can go pee now."
4. Owen getting up from his nap and delivering a monologue, "Owl's in my crib. I hear dat. And the coyotes sleeping. Horsies wake up and eat oatmeal. Baby Caelum's awake too! Mommy hold Caelum."
3. Ichatting with my mom with two kids being very rowdy in the background; Gramma = totally unphased2. Owen singing Rock-A-Bye Baby to Caelum and Caelum beaming back at him
1. Zach getting home.

Lately

Here are some of my favorite Owenisms right now.

1. "All done diaper, nakey."
I think he's getting close to potty training, which we weren't even considering. He'll go potty before bath time and is quite verbal about it. Yesterday he insisted on no diaper, so I stuck him in a bathing suit and he actually went potty successfully. A couple hours later he peed himself, much to his horror, and then finished going on the potty. So, we'll see. Also, never in my life did I think I would write potty so much in one paragraph.

2. "This is my story, this is my song." - sung, of course.
Our friends the Lotts gave Owen a hymnal for his birthday and our family worship time has improved. Owen loves to hold "his red hymnal" and really belts out classic hymns throughout the day. How I love hearing him sing, "Gloria. In excelsis Deo." His favorite song is "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord," which he requests every night.

3. "Hulloooooo!"
As a result of my frequent nursing, Owen's TV intake has increased. This was distressing to me at first, but became a matter of survival quickly. His current favorites are a Fireman Sam DVD from the East Coast Mannings and a Winnie the Pooh VHS from the library. In the Pooh video, Tigger yells, "Hulloooo," over and over again and Owen does it in this voice that just kills me.

4. "Hi Baby Caelum. Pound it out?"
I like to peek in at Owen when I know he's interacting with Caelum and thinks I'm out of the room. At first it was to see if he was going to smother the baby or something like that, but now it's for the pure joy. Usually he's putting his face right in front of Caelum and just looking at him, or he's giving him little fist bumps while saying, "Pound it out?"

5. "Goodnight Mommy. Goodnight Daddy. Goodnight Baby Caelum. Sleep good. Sleepy tired, Mommy? Daddy, light."
This is a nightly routine as we put him to bed. Apparently I've been looking a little ragged because he asks if I'm tired and then rubs my back. Thanks kid. One night he didn't go right to sleep and was just yelling and crying in his crib. We were confused and dismayed by this regression, so I finally went up to check on him, then I saw that his light was left on by an overworked, sleepy tired Daddy. As soon as I turned it off he went to sleep, and the next few nights Owen reminded Zach to turn it off as Zach left the room. Hilarious.

6. "Hold you, Mommy/Daddy."
We're still working on personal pronouns.

7."Five, Daddy! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!"
Owen likes to hop on Zach's back and demand pushups. He'll count them out for Zach. It's a good workout, especially when Owen makes this request multiple times a day.

8. "My digger's right there. Digger's working. Digger's back home!"
Owen's really into diggers, cranes, backhoes etc. He plays with his big yellow digger all the time and has worn holes into his pants from pushing it around.

9. "All the pretty girls on a Saturday night." - sung
This is a song by fun. that we've all been listening to a lot. It's both weird and adorable to hear Owen singing this, particularly since his "night" sounds more like "knife."

BONUS: Caelumism
How do you spell the loudest baby grunt? Eerghhehhchheh? This is one loud baby. Also, is it too early for him to be socially smiling? Caelum thinks not.

Did I Make You Cry on Christmas? (Well You Deserved It!)

Zach and I always really, really look forward to listening to Christmas music each year. We make ourselves wait until the day after Thanksgiving and then we indulge almost non-stop until Christmas is over. Nevertheless, I always forget that there are a few songs that I loathe. I'd list the ones I love, but there are far too many. Let me just whine about these. And I'm not putting artists' names because any version is terrible.

Least Favorite Christmas Songs:

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Feliz Navidad
Wonderful Christmas Time
Happy X-Mas (War is Over)
Christmas Shoes

Bah-humbug.

Boss DJ

Zach and I pride ourselves on being music connoisseurs. Whether or not this is true, we almost always have music playing in the house from a wide variety of sources. Owen, dear boy, has rhythm that can't be beat, and he loves to shake his tailfeather to almost any song. But he definitely has his favorites.

Owen's Top Ten Songs

1. Geico Ringtone Commercial - Super annoying. Many thanks to my neighbor who played this for us, leaving Owen to desperately sign "more" after it ended. He now asks for it ("ning ning?") and really gets down whenever its playing.



2. Little Bit - Lykke Li - Aunt Rachel first introduced this song to me, and now whenever Owen hears the beginning percussion, he gets ready to boogie.
3. Single Ladies - Beyonce - Why do babies love this song? I don't know, but Owen certainly does. I find it hilarious that I can sing it in my own peculiar and out of tune manner and he'll still start dancing.
4. I Love You Lord - Classic song. This is one that helps calm down the baby when he's pissed that his face is getting wiped (heaven forbid!) or right before bedtime.
5. You Really Got A Hold On Me - She & Him - Slow dance time. Owen will sway to it, and he looks so darn cute I just gotta pick him up and get a dance in there.
6. Old MacDonald - Another classic that Owen is just getting into. This really helped us on our drive up to San Francisco. It might not be a dancing song, but he really enjoys it.
7. Lisztomania - Phoenix - Maybe it's just because Zach and I always start dancing when we hear it, but Owen starts doing "fast feet" when it comes on.
8. The Arsonist - The Extraordinaires - This one's a holdover from our cross-country trip. Zach used to sing it all the time to Owen and he would right away pay attention and seem to be really listening. I think I heard Zach sing this song 100 times before I ever heard the actual band's version.
9. Ring Around the Rosie - Yep, we're there. He's old enough to do this and loves it. Owen asks for this by signing "more" and then spinning in a circle. But he likes to have his Lion with him.
10. Owen's Medley - This involves starting the demo song on his keyboard, hitting the music button on this caterpillar toy which results in a samba-esque rhythm, and then sprinting to the kitchen to play the music on his Jumperoo and hit the fridge magnet that plays music. This cacophony brings the boy much happiness.

So, what are you guys listening to?

Happy Birthday Beautiful

You have to love how self-indulgent a blog can be. That being said...

Owen is now two months old. So rather than writing the semi-planned post venting about vacuuming, vaccines, pertussis, pacifiers, etc., I'm going to make a list of my 64 favorite things about my son. Well, I'll try to cut back a little, but no promises.

In no particular order:

1. His fatty goodness- He's doubled his birthweight and is busting out of 3 month clothing. There's so much chubbiness in even his little hands, that when he makes a fist, they become perfectly spherical, fat globes. That's pretty good considering the long, skinny fingers and wrinkly old man hands he had at birth. Fatty goodness includes the obligatory chubby cheeks, plus delightful double to triple chins and the disappearance of his neck. While this makes bathtime a bit harder, it's dang cute. That boy's got more rolls than a bakery.

2. All-time eating champion - Obviously related to the above, Owen is a fantastic eater. I enjoy how frantic he gets as he tries to root and think it's hilarious how I can't cradle hold him unless he's getting some food. Even the Bjorn is too much of tease for him sometimes. He's also a very efficient eater...chug chug chug....straight for five minutes and then cry until I put him on the other side....chug chug chug....and he's spent. I will say, today he actually paused while eating to look up and smile at me. Then it was right back to business. Since one of his arms is draped around me as he nurses, Owen will rub my side with his hand. It's like a little, "Gee, thanks for being my only source of sustenance, Mom." I appreciate that.

3. Love/Hate relationship with swaddling - Like many newborns, Owen loved to be our little enchilada, safely tucked into a receiving blanket. A few weeks ago, he rose against the tyranny of swaddling and now insists on wiggling out at least one, if not both, of his arms. Strangely enough, if I swaddle him incredibly tightly when he's overtired, and prevent him from getting his arms out, he will still fall asleep.

4. Diaper changing hilarity - I know it's terrible but I think its comedic gold when he pees on his face as I'm changing him. There's a bit of shock, a little smacking, and then he cries and cries. Hilarious. Also, to keep him entertained during the many diaper changes throughout the day, I jimmy-rigged a pull-toy to hang above his head. That sounds dangerous, but he loves it. As I'm picking up his legs to wipe him he'll try to kick at it, then watch and smile as it swings back and forth.

5. John J. Ceiling Fan - Owen's best friend in the world is the ceiling fan: preferably the one in the living room, but the one in his bedroom is growing in his favor as well. At a very young age (comparatively), Owen became mesmerized with the ceiling fan. This happened during the first month, when allegedly he could only see a foot in front of him. Mind you, we have vaulted ceilings. Since that time, his love has only grown. In the morning, I'll lay him on his blanket ("playmat" as we call it) and he'll stare at John J. and start smiling. Then laughing. He flings up his arms and kicks his feet in ecstatic joy at the sight of his buddy. If we turn the fan on, forget about it, it's like Christmas. Or at least how he'll feel about Christmas once he gets to experience it. Sure, Owen will smile at me and has laughed a few times, but the ceiling fan holds the key to his heart. I'm okay with this, as John J. has been a wonderful balm during Owen's recent sickness. I have an adorable video of Owen pathetically coughing until he catches a sight of his best friend. Soon he's smiling and flailing about. I guess the ceiling fan's just really comforting in times of need.

6. Crying face - Speaking of times of need, I'm pretty sure our baby has colic. He freaks out between 7-9 p.m. almost every night. Does that mean colic? I don't know. I always thought colic was a cop-out excuse for a cantankerous kid, but Owen really is a happy baby most times. But the witching hour(s) hits him hard and it becomes very difficult to soothe him. I've found that giving him a bath at this time helps, since he adores a bit of splashing about, and Daddy doing bicep curls with the baby works great. In any case, we can almost guarantee a crying spurt each evening. The problem is his crying face is so dang cute. I mean, it's hard to become stressed or angry when your baby looks precious when he's wailing. It seems borderline cruel, but yes, I enjoy how he looks when he cries. Sure, I feel bad for him, and I try to allay any discomforts. But the fact remains, that little frown just melts my heart.

7. Morning Routine - We have a nice system where he has his morning feeding and then settles down for a quick nap with mama and sometimes papa. I don't generally condone the "family bed"- at least in our house - but in the mornings, Owen usually gets to hang out with us. We're careful with blankets, pillows, etc., but it's sweet to have him there. Then we get out of bed and take adorable pictures of him. Subset to morning routine, I love how he wakes up: the slow blinks, the eye rub, the huge stretch and amazing back arch. Love it. Owen is totally a morning person. Once he is up after his cat-nap, he's all-star baby. That's when he is most smiley and interactive.



Woah guys, this is getting long for only seven items thus far. No one is still reading most likely. Well then...

8. How he rubs his hair as he sucks his thumb
9. The crazy noises he makes
10. How he laughs when Zach rubs his face with a hat
11. How he sleeps best on my chest
12. When he quiets down when we sing "Shiny Happy People" obnoxiously loud
13. How he would much rather go without a diaper
14. When he sleeps with one hand over his face
15. When he sleeps with both arms in the air
16. When he sleeps
17. How he dislikes for the top of his stroller to be closed
18. When he sucks on his whole fist/tries really hard to find his thumb
19. When he nuzzles hard and purposefully until he burrows into just the right spot on my neck
20. When he's been fussing and fussing, and I take him in my arms, cuddle him close, and look at his big eyes. And he poops the loudest, wettest, biggest poop yet.

Happy Birthday Poopie.