Good bye June, hello summer…
Well it looks like I am just barely getting in one post this month… so now it is photo overload. The summer is a busy one and we are gearing up to head up north to Bucknbear and Tuckabuckaway – shared theme but one is based on deer and the other money. Big news is that Owen is now 18 months old today, June 30th.
Earlier in the month we got down to the shore but I did not get to take too many photos at the beach since I forgot my memory card, oh well. Owen is really not a fan of the beach, he would much rather play with a bucket of water.
Got to meet up with Brett and his family and caught a Phillies game, too bad it was super hot in section 303 – we had to duck into the bar to enjoy the air as no one wanted to stay and get burnt (much like the Phillies did that day by losing in extra innings).
Best part of the month was celebrating my second Father’s day and I enjoyed a wonderful time with Owen and Emily. Early morning breakfast at the diner, then a quick stop to play some hockey and run around the playground, then it was off to the woods to enjoy the dirt and peacefulness of the water on a hot day.
Summer and life is going by quick, there is always work to be done… time to sit back and relax and be thankful of all the good things we have around us.
Sound Machine - for some reason the conversion on this video to flash made it look like a Beastie Boys video, enjoy the babbling creek
Giggle Machine
Snow Day Part III
Getting a bit repetitive… right? More snow, more fun, more pictures and more video. Spring will be extra nice this year, but will it ever show up?
Sled Test Video
Sledneck Video
Ally Sled Video
Snow Day Part II
The last time it snowed in a large way was December 19th while we were at the hockey game. We usually get storms like that once every few years and it looks like we are on track to have a similar storm in this area on Saturday. I will believe it once I see it but I know the little guy will love it since he can now walk.
There are some videos below, the large sized one I can’t reduce for some reason – it was the video that was shown on the fan-o-vision at the game on December 19th. Owen was a good fan that day.
Videos from the snow storm
Big Boy
Here is a quick update to show you how Owen is getting around these days. I need to catch up on the older pictures, there have been some bumps and bruises with the walking learning curve but Owen is getting steadier and faster as each day goes by. Looking forward to the spring weather but for now he enjoys just being outside and bundled up, just like me.
Owen is even mowing the lawn and he enjoys driving in his new car that Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave got him. As you can see in the hockey video, he is developing his personality and enjoys laughing and testing our limits of what we let him get away with.
Crazy Boy!
Hockey Laughs
Happy Birthday!
Owen Goin’
It is amazing the changes that happen with each week and even day to day. Just a few days ago Owen could barely crawl, struggling, grunting, and log rolling to get to his next unexplored area. Now he is scooting around army style while working up a sweat and enjoying every minute of it.
He can even sit up with ease as I found out when I checked on him in his crib after a nap. Expecting to just see the back of his blonde head playing with his crib toy, I was unexpectedly (and happily) greeted with a toothy, devilish smile. What I found was a little boy sitting up in his crib just playing with his toys to pass the time.
15 minutes later we lowered the crib to try to stay one step ahead of the boy… we are trying. This weekend’s agenda will be an adventure in baby proofing, that is for sure. Enjoy the two videos below, the videos will need some time to load on slower internet connections.
Technical Difficulties
Well the end of August seemed to go by quick and with it, brought some unexpected changes. The picture was taken from my computer which reverses the image. I have a broken left wrist and separated/fractured right elbow. It could have been a lot worse, but you should always listen to your instincts and quit while ahead.
Emily has been more than wonderful, picking up the slack and I mean that literally. I can basically hold a 1/2 gallon of milk as of today, progress! To make matters worse, Owen (and now Emily) has been very sick and teething, so he now has his top two teeth coming in and crawling better and faster each day.
Getting stuck under the table, no problem! Wedging myself under the rocking chair, no problem! Pulling and pushing tables out of the way, no problem!
Owen… you are lucky you are cute!
Looks like this Labor Day weekend is going to be nice and I am looking forward to spending a somewhat relaxing weekend with the family.
Here is a random picture of the place that bit me…. I owe Emily some major spa time, she deserves all the praise I can give her!
Four Months
It has been four months since the video below and it is crazy how quick it goes. One minute Owen can barely sit up, the next minute he is pool side sitting up and wondering when he will be able to go into his swing.
I foresee another pool party this weekend, maybe Uncle Tim will jump in?
** Video below, click the arrow to play
Seven Months
Well it has gone by quick, especially when you look at the first video and then the second video. Owen is growing and each day it is something new, this weekend it was him sticking his tongue out feeling his teeth like his buddy Ben.
The video player should work. If the videos by chance do not work, you need to install Adobe Flash. The files are smaller and seem to work better than the Quicktime format, so we shall see. If you want to see some neat things done in Flash, check out my friend’s site to pass some time – small sample of his work.
Belated congrats to Margo and Tom on their new baby boy, as well to Kathy and George with their bouncing baby boy as well. Owen’s posse is growing monthly and hopefully the post count should be going up as well.
p.s. Owen really enjoys his mom’s cooking, can’t you tell!
Big Boy
It is a big weekend for chunk as he will be making his first trip up to the mountains at Tuckabuckaway – well at least the first time not in mommy’s tummy. The trips are always a treat, so many thanks to the Hansen family. I will try not to eat too many sunfish! Maybe Owen will go swimming in the pond, we shall see… his first swimming experience was a little shaky at first, but he got the hang of it and was splashing around in no time.
** I took the movie off since it is just timing out in loading
Ridley Creek State Park
Last Sunday was a great day to be outside and we were lucky enough to have perfect weather at Ridley Creek State Park. Memom came down for the day and we all enjoyed our time since there were no clouds and the wind was keeping us cool in the shade. Owen was staying in the shade with his new hat from Aunt Michelle, luckily it fits him and he does not have Daddy’s melon just yet. After the park, Owen and Memom took a nap and I did some yard work, then it was time to relax outside again while Owen commanded from a new position… a perfect Sunday.
fyi – Owen made this post, as shown in the video.
Back in Action
Memorial Day Weekend was the start of summer and the start of a new open road for Owen. The road was a bit congested with construction on the way up, which lead to us stopping three times to let the little guy feed and stretch his legs. The destination for the trip was here for Tricia and Chris’s wedding in New York – congrats to the newlyweds.
The ceremony was in a picturesque setting with an Irish band playing background music. The grounds of the inn were really scenic, a truly amazing area to be at (at least for the short time we were there) – luckily I had my fair share of the beef since it was very tasty, I think Owen wanted to try some.
At the hotel, Owen got his first bath in a tub and it was basically the equivalent of washing a greased watermelon on ice, very funny to watch.
The ride home was much nicer but a little cramped due to the hand-me-down command center that rode shotgun with me… it was well worth the tight fit to see the smile on his face once he was in control shown below. Thanks again Cara, Owen loves it! Hopefully we can get back up into FBM territory for a longer extended vacation as there are a lot of neat sites to see.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day V2
Happy St. Patrick’s day once again… we are celebrating again since Owen still fits in the outfit. If you look back here you will see that Owen did not really fit into his outfit, but we needed to get some green on him that day. One and half months later, the boy is filling it out really well.
The video was from last weekend when cousin Jason had his first holy communion. Samantha and Owen were battling it out on the ground, Owen was more interested in having his older cousin use him as a toy to roll around. It is amazing how quick and cute she is – he will be there soon enough.
Also have some pictures of his new fascination with water during the “rinse cycle” when his tubby is coming to an end. The focus he has can be seen on the Bebe pod as he will just block everything out and focus on the task at hand. He can be serious but he knows how to laugh and have fun… kind of like his dad.
p.s. The ham head in the mirror shot is not grease, it was water since I had his hair spiked up prior to playing.
p.p.s. Please let me know if the video is working for you or not. Seems there are emails stating the last video did not work and it is due to the new mp4 format… you can try “right click, save as” on that link with your mouse to save it directly to your desktop.
Quick Update
Quick little update just to show Owen’s new seat that he has been having fun in. The video was the aftermath of a nap gone wrong where he broke out of his swaddle blanket and got stuck in the slats of the crib… only four months old and he is showing us who is boss.
Four Months
The little man is four months old today and it is pretty crazy to think how much Owen has changed along with our daily routine. You can view a spy video of Owen taking a “nap” back on April 4th – more like him just trying to roll his legs around. 17 days later and he is almost rolling over when we play as he is grabbing and holding his feet as if they were food and/or toys. He has also been telling us stories in his on little way… video to come.
Mr. Man
Older video of crazy hands Owen… not so crazy when they are locked by his side.
Mommy’s Little Monster
Well the day has come, the little monster is going to daycare… the time has gone fast.
Out Like a Lion…
March came in like a lamb (as a snow storm) and now it is leaving like a lion with a random hail storm that caught us off guard today enjoying the nice weather. Either way the weekends are great with Owen as he is really interacting with us more and more… though as shown in these pictures, he was not in a happy mood knowing that mom goes back to work tomorrow – boo!
I went with him to REI today and we were talking back and forth and shaking our arms while going through the store. The laughs and smiles are so amazing, he is a funny little man and since he was so good, I bought him Curious George rides a bike . The chubby cheeks are loved by all who see him and I am sure we will start to lose the extra chins since he is holding his head up more and more each day, as shown in the video.
Soon enough he will be able to get in the backpack and watch me play in the dirt. Next weekend we shall see if we can find some trout – can’t wait for the summer trips and being able to sit in the creek.
Here is a message that the boy gave me this morning: “I miss you mom, good luck at work today, I will be thinking of you every 2-2.5 hours”- love Owen.
Back in Action
The internet is a wonderful, yet scary place. Information is everywhere, just a point and a click away and you never know who is watching or reading your posts. Based on my last post about Comcast, there was a comment that came in from their operations team which is shown below. I am sure they just have a robot program that searches tags and indexes throughout the internet, or they just love watching updates on Owen and seeing if he farted or barfed on his mom or dad.
I apologize for the intermittent connection. Provided that you have an alternate access to the internet, please contact our team at the email address below. We will make sure that the appropriate persons are involved to resolve the problem.
Thank you in advance for allowing us to assist!
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
The connection seems to be back on track so whatever Mark Casem did, I thank you. Now see if you can fix my Paypal fiasco and nail that dude in the far east who is trying to bilk me out of $10K.
Enough of that mumbo jumbo, back to the good stuff… Owen and Samantha dancing! His cousin is two months older than him and I am sure they will have many more video moments in the upcoming years. Some more pictures below and as of Tuesday, February 24th, Owen is 8 weeks old and tipping the scales at 12lbs.
grOWEN
Almost six weeks now and the boy is growing and into 3 month old clothing, we shall see if he challenges his cousin David for big baby award… I doubt it by looking at this picture of young David taken over 12 years ago.
The video is of Owen meeting Kirby finally and from the looks of it, she could care less about the new toy. It will be a whole different story when he is chasing her around next year I bet.
Time to go out and enjoy the weather, so more updates later in the week.
Happy Birthday Sarah
February 2nd is mainly know as Ground Hogs Day, but it is also the “blonde one’s” birthday. Sarah, the Wood Chuck Princess is now three years old. I have two videos and two pictures that show how much she has changed in that time.
The first video above showcases her roll over ability and hair trigger stomach she had 2 1/2 years ago. The second video below (*which does not have a preview image / working on a bug*) showcases her love of being a princess while trying to make me look pretty, which she quickly points out that I am not.
Happy Birthday Sarah
Cleaning
Going back to some old video, well old for him since Tuesday he will be four weeks old. The video below was Owen catching some sun on his fifth day of fun. Seems like he is putting on some pounds and it makes sense for how much he is eating.
He also had another first, an actual bath in his blue tub. Things did not go so well and video will be up later in the week as he had some choice words for us. He managed to do his business in there… and on mom. At the end of it all I was using the sink sprayer to hose him off (the guy way of doing things) while mom held him over the sink – we all learned on this round. Looking forward to the next one, boy.
Hungry Man
Three weeks old today and already causing trouble by eating anything that comes his way. Sleep all day, party all night… we will see if get gets out of this one tonight.
Low light picture, not the best quality.
Seal of Approval
The boy is official, he has a birth certificate and we had him stamped as shown in the video. Just five minutes out of the oven and straight to the fry lights, rough entry into the world to say the least.
I see you.