H20 troubles

So, the water is out again. There is a massive waterline break in downtown Wheeling, AGAIN, that happened around noon yesterday. So, we haven't had water for almost 30 hours. This wouldn't be that big a deal, except it is a big deal. We have a baby here, who needs water in order to EAT. We have dishes in the kitchen that need washed. I can't cook. I can't wash vegetables. We have been giving Owen baths with jugs of water that we bought at the grocery store. And... we have one bathroom... and THIS SUCKS.

Erin was kind enough to host a play date today, where I washed baby bottles and filled up extra gallons of water. It was fun hanging out Laura and Erin, Andy and Alexander!

Then I took Owen shopping with me so I could buy new shoes for Iowa. He did not nap. He hadn't slept at all since he woke up from his mid-morning nap at 11am.

The good news is - I have been back on the Wellness Bridge for one week, and I have lost three pounds and 3.75 total inches. YES. Great success.

We had to get out for dinner, where Owen was awesome. He sat at the high chair and ate puffs and flirted with the waitresses, wearing his chick magnet bib. He was super pleasant all through dinner.

Driving home, we hear a loud pop and then I'm swerving in my little red bug. Tire blowout. We had to call Clint's brother to come and get me and Owen so I could get home and put him to bed, then Clint had to call a tow truck to come and take the car to the only tire place open in the Ohio Valley after 6pm. So, $140 and 30 minutes of screaming baby later, we are all home, wanting a shower, washing our hands with jugs of water, in a kitchen full of dirty dishes. I just pray that it's fixed by Friday, because if I have to go without water most of the week at home, I think I might gouge my eyes out if I have to go all weekend without water and air at work. FML.

I literally almost cried when Clint just told me he couldn't find my corkscrew.

But hey, 3lbs. Well-behaved baby in the restaurant. Found the corkscrew. Little things to celebrate...

Big news

Whenever Owen is particularly "chatty," Clint and I always try to say little words a lot that he may be able to pick up, like "hi," "dada," and "mama." He has been in the foulest mood today. He isn't napping like he should, fussy all the time, and gets bored with everything after five minutes. Today it felt like Clint and I were just taking turns dealing with his crabbiness. It's those teeth.

But. When I was getting dinner ready, Clint was changing a particularly poopy diaper and I heard them talking over the moniter. Clint called me into the room, and Owen was chatting away. So we start saying "Hi Dada," and then gave him a chance to respond. He was looking at us intently and we said it again, and then he totally repeated us! Me and Clint were so excited, we started jumping up and down, and we hugged and kissed, and Owen got scared and started making his pout face. So I got real close to him and said it's OK! And then we tried to get him to say it again - and HE DID. He said "Hi Dada," three times. It was so awesome. After that, he must have gotten shy, because he mouthed the words and smiled but didn't make any noise. <3

Then, during the bath, I decided to reward him by putting some new bath toys in the tub that squirt water. That scared him so much that he started crying, reached for me, and held onto my tank top strap for dear life.

You can't win them all, I guess.

A day in the country.

We went to Columbus yesterday to visit our friends Scott and Cristie and family. Scott is my mom's good friend's son who is about 9 years older than me, who I have known my entire life. His wife of nearly 11 years is Cristie, mom extraordinaire. They have four children: Andrew (10), Allie (7), Adam (4) and Abbie (nearly 2). They have a fantastic family and Clint and I really love spending time with them all! Scott is a pharmacist and Cristie is a stay at home super mom. All of their kids are always well behaved and polite. Andrew adores Clint. If I can be anywhere near as good a mom as Cristie, I will feel like a success.


Abbie and Allie, beautiful girls.

Owen and his curly hair, it was so humid.

This might be my favorite picture from his entire life, so far.

Owey and Pony

Allie swinging.

Cristie giving Owen his first sink bath. It was so hot, she stuck him in there to cool him. He barely napped at all, poor little bubba.

The cornhole twins. "Should we hug?" Ha! Clint said, "Thank God I didn't wear my camo cargo shorts. We would have matched."

Abbie.

Me pushing Adam on the swing. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Andrew this trip. Part of him is to the left.

Abbie adored Owey. She might give Lily Dilly a run for her money. Owen was surprised and confused about Abbie's public displays of affection all day, especially the many full on kisses on the lips!! Maybe she just wanted his bumbo seat...

It was an awesome trip. Clint and Scott want to go golfing sometime, so maybe we will see them again soon. We usually spend the night when we go up, but this time was too spur of the moment, and I was worried Owen was still a little too young to make that long a trip from home.

I got stung by something, and now have a little bite on my middle finger of all places.

On the way home, we passed silos, and Clint said:

"What's in those?"

"Corn," I said.

"That's it?"

"Well, in one there is corn, and then in the smaller ones is oil and butter. Then the popcorn comes out that top part."

"Then they bag it up and send it to movie theatres?"

"That's right."

"Shut up."

I love the hubs. Good times.

Big things.

May 24, first tooth.

May 25, sat up by himself for a good 30 seconds.

Wow. He's only four and a half months old, and he has a tooth. It's still mostly under the gum, but I can feel it, and if he opens his mouth wide enough you can see the little top of it sticking up. He had been drooling and slobbering and sticking EVERYTHING in his mouth for a few weeks now, and boom. Yesterday morning, I stuck my finger in his mouth, and there it was. My mom said I got my first tooth when I was five and a half months old, and I was under the impression that was early. He had been so crabby last week, totally skipping naps, crying way more than he usually does. One day I even gave him a tiny bit of baby tylenol, because he seemed so uncomfortable. Even his teething rings didn't seem to help. He would chew on them for a few minutes and then just continue to whine. But now that the tooth has shown up, he seems much happier.

He also is so smiley these days, it makes me laugh! He loves having his cheeks kissed loudly. His armpits and neck are extremely ticklish, and he discovered a new favorite thing:

I can't wait to put him in a swimming pool. Before I do that, I need to get him a sun hat to match his crab swim trunks and surf shirt (!), I need to get swimming diapers and baby sunblock.

He is also getting really good at sitting up. He was holding on to my fingers sitting up today and I let go and he didn't topple over. He actually sat up for about 30 seconds. The trouble is he leans forward to get to his feet. In the tub as you can see, he will sit and splash for as long as we let him.

We have also started eating solid foods. His doctor said two weeks of one serving of cereal, and then two weeks of two servings of cereal and then start introducing solids, starting with yellow and orange veggies and then green veggies. I kind of broke the rules. After a few days of plain cereal, he never seemed really interested. After consulting with mom-extraordinaire, Cristie Kimmins, I decided to start mixing veggies in with the cereal, and that, he adores. So far, he loves sweet potatoes and squash, and he isn't sure about carrots or green beans. I'm going to try peas next. I'm going to hold off on fruit for as long as possible, because I heard that once they start fruit, they don't want veggies anymore... He's such a good eater! I thought he was big for his age, but after his 4-month appointment, I guess he is only average size. His BFF Alexander was born 4 days before him, is long and skinny and outweighs Owen by a pound and a half!

Squishy face!

My little blondie.

And, I got a promotion. After two years of being a legal proofreader and document processor, I got promoted to a supervisor. It's not what I thought I would be doing - because it's actually midnights, but it's on the weekend. I work Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8pm to 8am. I trained this past weekend and will start on my own next Friday. I am off Monday at 8am and don't have to be back to work until Friday at 8pm. Clint does his bedtime routine for three nights, and I take a couple naps throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. My mom will watch him only on Mondays, from 8-5, Clint will take him and bring him back, so I can sleep.

I'm ecstatic. As soon as Clint gets back to work full time, things are going to be so fantastic.

Owen's future girlfriend, Lily Dilly, future daughter of Virginia, is being super stubborn and won't turn head down. If she doesn't flip around, Virginia's going to have a c-section on Tuesday, June 2. I'm thinking and praying for you guys! I can't wait to come see you and baby Lily, even if I have major anxiety about driving in Morgantown!!

And Clint and I have decided that Jon and Kate are totally getting divorced.

Ok, Clint is tired, and wants to go to bed, so it's lights out.

Goodnight!

Drum roll, please.

Owen slept through the night last night!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back story: We have been doing a bedtime routine for less than one week. We have been trying to keep him up a little more throughout the day, as long as he stands it and doesn't get too fussy. Just sort of prolonging things. For example, if he wakes up at 1pm after a nap, we will play for a little while before we feed him lunch.

The routine consists of me getting home from work at 9pm. Loving on him for a few minutes. Having a nice calm bath with Johnsons bedtime bath. (We only wash his hair twice a week because that's his least favorite part, and his hair stays magically clean). Then, he gets rubbed down with Huggies Soft Skin lotion. Gets a fresh diapey and a nice terrycloth or fleece sleeper put on. Then he has a warm bottle and is rocked until he falls asleep.

The first night he slept five hours, and we were thrilled. Even after he woke up after 5 hours, I changed his diaper, fed him another bottle and then he went back to sleep within a half an hour. He woke up about an hour later, but we thought he was getting better at telling day from night.

The second night, he slept something like 6 and a half hours!! That was even better!! But, the downside was that he went to sleep a little earlier because I came home from work earlier, so he got up earlier. That was a hard day that started at 4:45am.

Night before last, we thought the past two nights had been a fluke. He woke up at 12:30 after going to sleep at 9:30. We were so sad. But, he still was only up for about a half an hour, and went right back to sleep and slept for like 4 hours. We think he may have had a tummy ache because it had been more than 2 days since he pooed. (His usual is once every two days).

But last night!!!! He was in a good mood when I got home (most times he is so sleepy that he is a little cranky), but he was in an awesome mood, smiling for 10 minutes at us, and carrying on a conversation! We talked and he made little cooing noises back at us!! He had his bath, and even tolerated having his hair washed without crying! He had his lotion rubbed on, which made him fuss a tad, but once we got to the bottle, he was fine. He fell asleep around 9:45pm and didn't wake up until a few minutes before 6am!!!!!!!! I attribute this success to routine, staying up longer during the day, gentle sounds and lights around and after bathtime, and of course, the thumb. When he woke up, he fussed for a second, and then I heard him start sucking his thumb and then silence for another half hour. When I looked at him right before 6, he was still sucking his thumb. Shortly after that he woke up for good. Thank God for thumbs!!!!!

Here are some pictures that Clint has taken with his cell phone and sent to me at work, so I don't miss him too too much.

Adorable, right?

We have also definitely decided on April 26 for his baptism! Yes! My Aunt is coming from North Carolina, and it's good with both of the God-parents. In other church news, we are working in the nursery this weekend for a little extra $$ and because the new girl can't do it this weekend. I told our minister that if she ever can't do it, we can come back to it.

Speaking of money, I am turning into quite a bargain shopper!!!! It gives me such a thrill!! I got a one day pass to Sam's Club thanks to our Allstate Insurance and my friend and fellow bargain shopper, Erin. They had our brand of formula, Similac Advance Early Shield, in 33.4 ounce containers for $27!!!!!! Usually it is $23 dollars for 23 ounces! I bought two for a total of $54 which will probably last about two weeks! Also at Sam's I bought an enormous package of chicken for $11, and an enormous package of western style pork ribs for $8. Since I am still on my mandarin orange and canned pineapple kick, I bought a case of each (8 and 6 cans, respectively), for a total of $15. Along with a couple other little things, I spent $108. (Considering half of that was formula, and I got at least 6 meals worth of meat, I feel excellent about it.

Then today, I went to Kroger for other essential things. I had a list of about 15 things, but came home with much much more. I got some veggies, english muffins, potatoes, etc... Then I realized that Kroger was still doing their promotion on certain brands, where if you bought 10 participating items, you got five dollars off your grocery bill. Just so happens, tons of the participating items were things I usually buy anyway! Including 4 Powerades for Clint at $1 each. Also, I don't usually buy frozen meals for myself, but Clint takes them for lunch a lot, and there a couple that I enjoy and will occasionally buy. Well, Stouffers frozen meals were on sale for $2 each, AND I had two separate coupons for Stouffers, saving over $2. So, with me back to work and Clint home with the baby, sometimes all he has time for is a frozen dinner. So, I bought like 12 of them!! ALSO they were a part of the promotion where if you bought 10 items you got $5 off!!! I also had a $5 coupon for complaining about Cottonelle toilet paper, so I bought a 12 pack of mega roll toilet paper for $1.49 after a sale and my coupon! I got a roll of paper towels for $.59, and Huggies were on sale for $10, and I had a $2 off coupon that expires in May, so I bought some in the next size, because I still haven't had to buy diapers yet!! So I got 40 size 2 diapers for $8!!!

So, I was excited to see the total. I put all my stuff on the conveyor belt, and the total was $138. Then, I used my Kroger plus card, saved a total of $10 because of the promotions, and used my coupons and the total was.......... $74!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's almost half!!!!! Clint was so proud of me. We also have been finagling our bills around so that our payments are manageable while Clint is laid off, and once he goes back to work and is at full salary, we will be able to pay off his car by the end of summer!!! Then, we want to put all that extra money towards other bills! We have a good plan.

Ok, this is like the longest post ever.
Today is a good day.

uh oh...

The other night when I was sitting at the computer, I heard this loud sucking sound coming from Owen's bassinet. I got up and turned on the light. What I saw was hilarious. Then I managed to get this picture yesterday.

He's 5 and a half weeks old. My mom said I started sucking my thumb when I was 6 weeks old. She said that's also when I started sleeping through the night, so... YEAH THUMB SUCKING. Anything to get a decent night's sleep.

He also tolerated nearly an entire bath. I always wash his hair last, and it's either that part that he hates, or the fact that it's nearly the end of bath time and his patience has worn thin. Either way, during the bath yesterday, he made a sound that I can only assume was the early beginnings of a laugh. He still doesn't smile TOO much, but there are times when his eyes look happy. He looked like he was on the verge of a smile while I was washing his arms, and he let out a little half shriek/half ahhhh. I think he's really going to enjoy bath time when he's a little bit older.

I think he has also grown an attachment to a stuffed animal. My friend Katie brought a little blue stuffed beanie baby monkey to us in the hospital when he was born. I put the monkey in the bars on his changing table, right at his head level. Whenever he is getting changed, he stares at the monkey the entire time. I make the monkey act like he is kissing Owen's nose and cheeks, and Owen smiles. Everything I have read said that babies react first to human faces and then objects. He must love the monkey.

It's 7:52 a.m., and although there are many things I could do right now, like eat breakfast... Owen just went back to sleep after what seems like 15 middle of the night feedings. So... I am going to take a nap. Breakfast and everything else can wait.