A Boy and His Blog

Archive for July, 2010

The top photo is a recent photo of me, and the bottom is the last photo I have of me pregnant with Owen. They were both taken at 39 weeks. I can’t really tell if my stomach is larger this time than last. I am over 10 pounds heavier this time in general so that may make me look bigger this time. I’ve actually gained less during this pregnancy than Owen’s, I just started out at a heavier weight. With Owen I gained a total of 26 pounds. This time, so far, I’ve gained 23 pounds. I guess I could still gain another 3 before the pregnancy is over though!

The baby will soon make its grand entrance into our family and things are mostly ready for our new little arrival.

Owen decided to buy the baby these cute little pants the other day. Now he wants to buy a pink t-shirt to go with them. He also tells me he doesn’t like “that light on my camera”

Here is a close up of the pants. One pair are brown and one pair have cute brown elephants on them.

Here is a super cute gown I got as a gift. I just love this design.

Here is the cradle that Daddy and Uncle Mike made when Owen was born. His name is even burned into it under the mattress. We will soon add a new name to the cradle when it gains a new occupant. It is freshly oiled and has a new sheet covering the mattress. I went with a nice green color this time.

This is another gift that I really love. It’s a blanket made with lambs wool. It is not a lambs skin though, so no animals had to die to make this blanket! These are supposed to be really good for babies to sleep on. They keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter and they wick away moisture as well.

We finally found a “coming home” outfit, though in our case it will hopefully just be a cute outfit to take photos of the baby in after a couple days. This is a simple white gown with a white hat, exactly what we’ve been looking for for months now. It’s amazing how hard this was to find. Every single newborn outfit either comes in pink or blue. If it’s yellow it has ducks on it, and if it’s white it will have some big applique on it, usually a teddy bear, as well as a pattern all over it of either blue or pink (or yellow with ducks). This gown also converts into pants and we thought it would work for a boy or a girl. Owen also had a simple gown as you can see here:

Owen’s was more cream colored and decorative, but it’s the same sort of look.

Here is the baby’s stuff in our bedroom. The dresser with the mirror at the end is part of Owen’s bedroom set, but Daddy is using it currently. Then the white dresser with the Moses Basket on top was Owen’s baby dresser. The wood dresser with the changing table on top we were just given by one of Owen’s friends who got a new dresser recently. It’s very nice and I’m thrilled to have more drawer space. The changing table part folds up once you don’t need it anymore and then it can be used as a normal dresser.

We found this shelf, the piggy bank, and the baby sign all at a thrift store.

And finally, on the changing table I laid out a diaper, a t-shirt, and a receiving blanket for the baby to wear the first time it gets dressed so no one has to go digging for anything.

So, everything is ready and we are just waiting for baby to make an appearance. We aren’t in any rush at all, and baby isn’t even due yet, but things are getting close and it feels good to have things all prepared.

Getting Ready For Little Baby Brother or Sister

Owen is growing and changing every day. He is extremely excited for the baby to come now and he hugs and talks to my belly all the time! Because of this, the baby now responds to him the most and will start to kick when he/she hears Owen. Owen still insists that the baby is a girl. After seeing a video of a mom in labor who has her kids helping her through the birth, Owen now has big plans of helping me through the birth. The other night we filled our birth tub and Owen and I got in it together. Owen started touching my back and holding onto me the same way the girl in the video does to her mom. Then he said, “it’s good I watchded that video so now I know what to do”. He really wants to be in the tub with me during the birth, and he isn’t deterred no matter how much I talk about the blood and things that might be in the water. I tell him if he wants to come in during the birth he will have to ask me first. I am not so sure he will want to do this in the actual moment though. I could see him doing it and being totally comfortable, but I could also see him shutting down and putting his lazer hands up. He has been very tender with me lately though and when I complain of a back ache he is right there to rub it for me. When I can’t get up, he runs over and offers me a hand. So it is possible he could end up being my little doula at the birth, but I’m not sure how he or I will feel in the moment, so I talk to him about all different scenarios.

Lazer Hands and The Wizard of Oz

Speaking of lazer hands, Owen likes to pretend he is a robot. The reason is likely because Owen sometimes has a difficult time admitting to and expressing emotions. If someone says hi to him, he might blurt out “WALL•E” in a robot voice, because he is nervous to meet someone new and he knows they will be asking “what is your name?” He will act like a robot a lot, when we are home or out and about. The more stressed he gets, the more he likes to act like a robot. He has lazer hands now, where he takes his right hand and points it forward with all his fingers (his lazer), and his left hand he just points forward with one finger (his pointer). He usually puts these up near his face and he uses them for a variety of purposes. He often uses his pointer for helping us find our way when we get lost driving, or he turns it into a hook to carry things. He uses his lazer for protection, or to help out characters in a movie he is watching. When we watch a new movie with him, if his lazer hands go up we know he is really enjoying it. We showed him The Wizard of Oz the other day for the first time and he really liked it! He was afraid of the tornado, but didn’t seem overly distressed by it, and he handled everything else just fine. Of course, his favorite character was the Tin Man, because it’s not too much of a stretch to think of the Tin Man as a robot. Owen’s lazers went up during the movie, so we are pretty sure he thoroughly enjoyed it.

TV Free Summer

Ever since Owen got out of preschool we haven’t watched any TV. We have watched a handful of movies at night as a family, but there are days, and even weeks that go by without Owen getting to watch anything. It is going really well. I think in the long run it is so much better for him and for me, but it is certainly not easier. It takes a lot of work for the parent to remain TV free. It means that I can’t just do my own thing while he is being babysat by the television set. This is good of course, but it is so much easier to have that babysitter around whenever you want it. It also means that Owen is slightly different acting. He is more physically active, more likely to challenge requests or fight with me, and just more like a little boy should be I guess. He is also playing pretend more. He is more socially engaged with his peers, and is willing to play alone for much longer stretches of time than he used to. I really see now that TV had a sedating effect on him and was causing his entire personality to be more suppressed then it should be. He really seems predisposed to being addicted to TV and video games, which is very much like me. I think it will be something we will really need to regulate for him until he is older and we can teach him to regulate himself. He still does play on my computer or my iPhone often and that is the next step of things we will need to pull back on. But for now, not allowing TV shows has done a lot for him.

Language

Owen is outgrowing saying his “L’s” as “W’s” but he has to try really hard and really over emphasizes the “L” sound in the word. He says some words very cute. When he wants to say “except” he says “pasept”. When he wants to say “supposed to” he says “unsposedto”. For the restaurant “Chipotle” he says, “apotesway”. When he tries saying “iron” he says, “eye-Ron”. He thinks “know what” is one word and he will say things like “Knowwhat what?” He’s trying to say, “do you know what?” but ends up repeating the ‘what’ because he thinks it is part of the word “knowwhat”. He likes to add an extra ‘d’ into ‘ed’ words. Like he says, “watchded” or “surprisded”. He also adds an “ed” to words that don’t need it, like “put-ed”. He often says the phrase, “that why” instead of “that’s why”.

Owen also makes up his own words. For example, ‘doopy’ can mean either crater type holes or small raised round things. For example, the Moon has a lot of doopies on it, but so do lego pieces. ‘Pavy’ means a flat plain such a paved street, or a table, or a book. Whereas ‘gangly’ means that something is twisted such as a screw.

He also uses a couple words incorrectly. He thinks that ‘freezing’ means ‘extremely’ and will say things like, “it’s freezing hot” or “I’m freezing hungry”. He thinks ‘hilarious’ means ‘a lot’ and will say “isn’t that hilarious big Mama?” or “I’m freezing hilarious hot!”

A Couple Cute Stories

A few weeks ago Owen was telling me about Horton Hears a Who and how they have a whole world that just lives on a speck. He thought that was just crazy that they all live on a tiny speck and Horton has to carry it around in a flower to protect it. Then I asked him, “what if the earth was just a tiny speck?” He kind of looked up for a moment and then he said, “the earth is a tiny speck”. I thought that was an amazing conclusion for a five year to make. But then again, he does know more about astronomy than I do.

Also, a few weeks ago, Owen and Daddy were watching the lava lamp in Owen’s room. He said to Daddy, “how can those things float in there, isn’t there any gravity in the lava lamp?”

Latest Obsessions

Owen is obsessed with time lately. He has two clocks in his room and insists that I draw clocks on his chalkboard showing him what time Daddy will be home, and what time any other people are due to arrive when we are expecting guests. He asks me about time all of the time. He is obsessed with calendars, hours, days, months and years. When we park somewhere that has a time limit, he will continuously ask me how many hours have gone by to make sure that we don’t exceed the time limit.

Owen is still obsessed with robots and astronomy, but is also getting into the Egyptians. He loves mummies and is starting to get interested in pyramids and Egyptian culture too. We are planning to take him to the Science museum one of these days to show him the mummy there.

He is also quite taken by the old 1974 soundtrack and movie Free to Be You and Me. This is a good sign that he is becoming more comfortable with his emotions. It also validates for him that our societies tightly constrictive gender roles are stupid. He likes the songs, “It’s All Right to Cry” and “William’s Doll” the best. He also likes “Parents are People” and “Sisters and Brothers” a whole lot too. He has the DVD, the CD, and the vinyl record album. We’ve been listening to the record mostly, because we’ve been trying to be TV free, and Daddy mixed all his kids songs together and burned them on a few CD’s, so the Free to Be You and Me songs are scattered throughout those. For a long time we had the DVD and he hated it, but suddenly this is one of his favorite things to watch and listen to. I think that shows some social progress!

Owen found this leaf within a leaf the other day and made me take a picture of it.

And here’s a picture of a robot that Owen drew and photographed. I found it on my iPhone when I was uploading some pictures. He never draws people, only robots.

Owen has been obsessed with hugging my belly lately. It’s actually becoming annoying. Here he is showing the baby lots of affection.

How sweet is that? The baby responds to Owen the most and will start kicking around when he comes up and talks to him/her. He will even play peek-a-boo with the baby and then insist that the baby can see him through my stomach.

And here I am with a growing belly. Owen took this picture of me a couple days ago.

I saved the cutest for last! Every night Emmaline begs to be put on Owen’s bed (you would think a cat would just jump, but not our lazy feline). On this night Owen was already asleep and Emmaline crept right up to him and in his sleep he put his arm around her which she did not mind one bit. I had to get the tripod out to get this shot because his room was so dark, so I am glad neither one moved during the time it took me to do that.

I am now in the ninth month (37th week) of pregnancy. During the next 5 weeks (37 to 42) a baby is considered full-term and ready to be born if the mother goes into labor. When baby’s lungs are ready to breath air, it will release a protein that puts the mother into labor. Owen was born on his due date, and my guess is that this baby will also be born within a few days, give or take, of the due date. Of course, there is no telling when the baby will be born over these next few weeks, so we are trying to get all prepared for the big event.

As for the birth, we needed to order an assembled birth kit online, assemble or gather together another list of items, and rent a birth tub. I now have the birth kit and the assembled items all together in a convenient location. There are a few items I still need to add, such as the towels, but for the most part I got everything ready and set out today. The birth tub was supposed to be delivered today, but it will now be delayed until Saturday morning. We have a corner of the living room that we are planning to set it up in. This is the best location because it will minimize any noise that neighbors could possibly hear by placing the tub so there are rooms and walls and stairwells between them and me. Since I’m expecting a fast labor, we will eventually start filling the tub and keeping the water heated and then dumping and refilling it every three days. This way we won’t have to worry about filling the tub in time for the birth and I won’t have to climb into a half filled tub if things go quickly.

I also have some items of my own assembled for the birth. These are things from candles to necklaces to stones that I plan to use in different ways to cope with the pain.

We took Birthing From Within classes once a week for six weeks. The classes went really well and are now complete. The instructor asked me if I would like to meet with her privately once since it is difficult to mix bran new parents with parents who are trying to move past a previous traumatic birth experience. I took her up on the offer and we will meet next week. I was really pleased with the class and the pain coping techniques I learned. At the last class we did an exercise where we dip our entire hand into ice water several times and go through all the coping techniques we have learned. I felt really good about my ability to cope with pain after that exercise. I’ve learned ways of dealing with pain that I didn’t know about before, and I really hope they keep me more calm and more relaxed during this labor. Also at the last class, the partners left the room at the end and returned with a foot bath and chocolate covered strawberries. Now that is my kind of birthing class! James had bought some lavender scent to put in my foot bath so it was extra nice

We have all the baby’s things and clothes ready. I was recently offered a very nice changing table/dresser and so will be getting that soon as well. I also bought some nursing nightgowns and bras for after baby is born. I also have about four freezer meals made up so far and will soon have one more. I want to make 10 meals total, so I have to get busy with that soon!

So things are getting close, and it will only be a few weeks or less now until baby arrives!

On June 8th, Owen graduated from his therapeutic preschool. Out of respect for the children’s issues, their ceremony was held in the classroom and not with the other preschoolers in the school. There were four children who attended the graduation, with two absentees. All of us parents attended, as well as one of the kid’s big brother, and three of Owen’s grandmothers.

The ceremony was very adorable. The children entered the room one by one and one with music playing. Owen was smiling and happy the whole time. They sang a few songs that they had prepared while doing hand motions to them. Owen did not sing, but did most of the motions while laughing during certain portions of the songs. The teacher spoke about how much she enjoyed working with our children. Owen was called to receive his diploma first and he took the diploma and then hugged both teachers before returning to his seat. After each child had their diploma, the other three boys took their seat while Owen remained standing. The teacher prompted Owen, “and now lets… lets… lets…” and a suddenly shy Owen eventually said, “eat”.

And so we ate cookies and drank juice as we spilled over with pride for our boys!

Owen poses with his teachers in his cap and gown.

He also poses with Mama and Daddy.

And finally his three grandmothers, his great-grandma GiGi, his Grammy and his Grandma who came all the way from Colorado to watch Owen graduate.

Here is the proud boy himself. He was so happy the entire day.

We all celebrated by going out to eat. Owen got some gifts from the grandmas and then the waitress brought him a sunday to eat for graduating. In fact, she brought us two so we could all share! Owen was very proud and totally loving all the attention that having three grandmothers around at once can bring.

And below, here is Owen back at home after the big event. He got two gifts from his teachers, and is wearing another gift he got the week earlier, an “I’m going to kindergarten” t-shirt. His teacher even made sure to get Owen and one of his classmates a pink basket because their favorite color is pink.

On June 19th, the mom of one Owen’s classmates had a graduation party for the kids. Unfortunately one of the boys was sick, and the other invitees (there were six students in the class total) did not attend, so we were left with three. The party was filled out though with some older siblings of the other boys. The three little graduates had a great time at their graduation party!

The preschool program they were in was called “Little Flyers” so the party’s theme was rockets, since the Little Flyers are blasting off to Kindergarten! We were greeted by this adorable sign when we arrived.

We also enjoyed the decorated camper. The party was held at their camper where they rent camper park space. They had a great spot with tons of privacy and an awesome view.

The kids all went swimming in the parks pool. Owen used a noodle for the first time and loved it. He is getting really good and comfortable in the water. I am thinking he needs some swim lessons soon.

We all grilled and brought food to share and the boys sat at their little table together and ate their dinner. Then we had cake! It was a super good cake and each of the boys names were on the cake (plus the one who was sick and couldn’t make it). (I erased their names though for the photos since some people are touchy about that sort of thing.)

We sang “Happy Graduation to You” to the boys and then dug in and ate the cake.

Then it was time to break the pinata! Of course, the pinata was a rocket, which was the theme of the day. There were other rocket toys too, not shown. All the little kids attempted to break the pinata several times, but in the end it took an older sibling to deliver the final blow. Turns out they don’t make pinatas like they used to – out of paper mache – these days they are made out of heavy duty impossible for kids under 16 to penetrate cardboard.

All the kids dug into the booty, including the siblings. Each kid got plenty of stuff.

James bought some silly string which was a big hit. After that, a bonfire was built and smores were made. I stuffed down some more cake, and it was after dark before we were off for home. Owen had a fantastic time and we also had a great time with the parents of the boys. We have gotten them together for a play date since this party, and intend to get them together for more throughout the summer. The teacher wrote on the graduation program that she hopes our boys will be lifelong friends, and I am really hoping they will be too! These kids have come a long way together and have bonded with each other so well, though it took quite a while for them to accomplish this, they are now extremely comfortable with each other and just love playing together.