Tuesday, September 23 entry Sorry for the break in updating. I feel like my free time has been reduced to zero now that I am exercising after work. I have fewer hours to spend with Owen, so I am trying to pour all of my free time into him. He is asleep now, so I can steal a few moments to update.
We had a fun weekend. Laura came to visit. She arrived Thursday night, and we went out Friday and Saturday. Keith was able to leave work a few hours early each night, so we were all together. Saturday morning we spent a couple of hours at the downtown Farmer's Market. We ate lunch at my favorite taco cart, and bought the obligatory Asian Pocky. We also took some cute pictures of Owen (see below). Saturday night she and I went to Miss Marple's Mystery Dinner Theatre. What a place! The food was really great, on top of the entertainment. We did not guess the correct murderer, so we didn't win a prize, but we had a really good time. She left early Sunday morning. Keith was off Sunday, so we hung around and watched the Titans game. It was my favorite kind of game, a Titans blowout. Sorry, Saints.
While Laura was here, we took Owen to Stride-Rite and had his little feet measured for his first pair of shoes. It is amazing that he made it eleven entire months without wearing any shoes! He wears a size 5, double wide. She bought him an adorable pair of brown suede tennis shoes at Stride-Rite. I have been waiting to put him in shoes until we could get him a really nice pair, made just for walking babies. It took him a while to warm up to walking in shoes, but he is an old pro now. Keith and I took him to the neighborhood park on Sunday afternoon, and in the rain no less, and he loved every minute of it. He walked in the grass, and had to plop down to feel its texture. He also stomped through the woodchips, savoring the feeling of them under his feet. All of these are new experiences for him, since we never put him down outside before. We swung on the tire swing, and we went down all of the slides. Then we held his hands and he walked all over the place. Shoes are opening a whole new world to him.
This Thursday is the night I've been waiting for. No, not a night of reality television, although the VCR will be running. It is the Elms concert! They are playing again at the Exit/In. I requested our sitter months ago, and she is confirmed and ready to show up for Owen. I am ready to blow my eardrums out again. Last time I attended an Elms concert at the Exit/In, I heard ringing for two days. Bring it on! They come around so rarely, I have to take every opportunity to see them.
Birthday party planning is in full swing. Every family member we have is invited, and the guest list is well over 40 people for Owen's first birthday party. We are actually having two parties for him, so he will be the star for his entire birthday weekend. I need to order the invitations and get them mailed out. So much to do! So many people to call! So many presents to buy! Oh well, he only turns one once.
My friend Mary Ann has invited us to go trick-or-treating with her family. Her daughter Samantha is 6, and will have her 7th birthday on the same day as Owen's, October 12. Instead of going around the neighborhood, which can't be assumed safe anymore, and is weather-dependent, we are going to the Cool Springs Galleria, a huge mall in the ritzy part of town. They decorate the entire mall to be kid-friendly (nothing spooky or scary), and kids trick-or-treat from store to store. We have a little costume for him, and it is the most adorable thing I have ever laid eyes on. You thought he was cute last Halloween as a carrot, just wait until this year!
Here are the pictures from the Farmer's Market this past Saturday.
9.23.02 so time is actually passing, and not standing still, as i had feared.
Friday, September 12 entry Happy Eleven Months, Owen!
Dear Owen,
I cannot believe you are rounding the corner to an entire year old. Surely not my little skinny newborn! Surely not a whole year old! But it’s approaching quickly, and I have the sensation of trying to hold sand between clenched fingers. The minutes are flying by like stars at warp speed. I am constantly amazed at your growth and development, the things you learn every day.
At 11 months, you are:
I think I could go on and on! So much growth, so many changes. Your Nanny and I were discussing the other day how much a human changes in their first year on Earth. Can you imagine if we learned the amount of knowledge every year that a baby takes in his first year? We’d be geniuses by now! It’s astonishing to me. You are so smart, and so handsome, and not hardly my little baby anymore! You are almost toddling, making you an official toddler! Luckily for me, you are still in your Mama stage, where you like when I hold you and smooch all over you and call you goofy little names like Bonkus or Monkey. Time is slipping by us, though, so before we know it, you will be a little 8 year old boy, too embarrassed of his old mom to give her proper attention. But I’m treasuring these moments we have together, especially our evening times when it is you and me, alone in your room in the dark, as I lull you to sleep with my mediocre lullabies and endless swaying and kisses. You wrap your little fingers into the back of my hair and make little squeaks and sighs which are your last-ditch efforts at staying awake. Sometimes you shake off the drowsy, lean your head back to look into my face, pull your binky out, and start babbling away with nonsensical vowels and consonants, almost like you just remembered something really important to tell me before you drift off to sleep. I love these moments. I kiss your face and lay you in your bed, and I check on you twenty times before I can sleep myself. What did I do to deserve you, little boy? You are the best part of me.
Happy 11 months, buddy, and next month is the big One!
Love,
Mommy (Click here for pictures of Owen at 11 months.) 9.12.02 i feel disgusting. no pregnant woman glow here. dark circles under eyes, swollen appendages, hairy legs, fat nose, those i have. glow, not so much.
Thursday, September 11 entry The biggest and the best news today is that football season is here! We watched our first Titans game Sunday against the evil Oakland Raiders. Sweet, sweet victory. Those Raiders were long overdue for a spanking from the Titans. Raiders and their fans disgust me (except old buddy old pal Stephen, of course). Any team that would allow Another new change for us is our recent membership to the local YMCA. I have been to a Kickboxing Combo class and a Glutes & Abs class. I have also used the walking track. I am so out of shape. But I really like the classes, so maybe that will motivate me. Every muscle and bone and joint hurts today. The only downside is leaving Owen in the little daycare there, but it is only for one hour at a time, and because of the way the workout rooms are lined up, and because every room is glass walls, I can actually watch him the entire time I’m working out. He doesn’t like it there yet. I think that’s because he’s in the baby room with a bunch of little babies that just lay there, can’t crawl-slash-walk or jabber with him. I’m going to request that he be moved on to the toddler room, even though he can’t quite toddle with the best of them yet. He is so used to being around older kids that I’m sure babies bore him. Our regular sitter offered to keep him later while I’m working out if he just really hates the YMCA, so we may go that route if he doesn’t adjust. I hate the thought of putting him in someone else’s care for another hour each day, but I guess I hate the thought of dying of a heart attack at age 30 more, so I choose working out. He’ll appreciate it some day when he doesn’t get teased in kindergarten for having the fat mommy.
Another year passing us by brings us back around to 9/11. My company took a huge hit that day, losing so many in their New York office, which was located in the Towers. What an astounding loss of life. I’m amazed by it even to this day, to think of everyone who was lost. Father, mothers, sisters, brothers, daughters and sons, best friends, husbands, wives, the rich, the poor, all different and individual and special. All lost to us forever. Death is such a foreign concept to me. I don’t have anything new to say that has not been said about 9/11, except to honor the memory of the dead. It strikes me that my son, who was not yet conceived on 09/11/01, will not have memory of the actual event of the planes crashing into the Towers. He will only see it in pictures, videos, hear me speak of it. But to him, it will be history. Like the death of JFK or Vietnam to my generation. What will happen to him, in his lifetime, that will cause him fear and terror, and make him hug his own children a little closer, long for days when times were easier? Seems that each generation has its own horror.
Tomorrow is someone’s eleventh month! It’s official, Owen has been outside of my body one full month longer than he was inside. I will detail more of his latest accomplishments in his eleven-month letter, but he is “this close” to walking! He has added several new words to his vocabulary. He is such a happy baby, totally the light of my life. I wish the world could know him like I do. More on that tomorrow.
9.11.02 there were no entries on this date. Friday, September 05 entry My baby boy is almost a year old. You know what one of the best things is about his first birthday? Less worry. I love Owen so much that it sometimes scares me, because what would I do if anything ever happened to him? So I worry. And worry, and worry, and worry. What else is there to do at night, with Owen asleep and Keith at work? But with his first birthday comes a dramatic drop in at least one deadly disease – SIDS. Around 10 months is when most babies become less at risk for SIDS, and it is virtually unheard of in a child over a year old. So that’s at least one worry I can push to the back burner. Not a night has gone by in the life of my child when I didn’t lay him down with a prayer that he would wake up in the morning. Not only does his sex make him more at risk, but he also sleeps on his stomach (less now that he is older – he’s more of a side sleeper now), another high risk factor. We’ve taken every preventative step possible to protect him, but the whole mystery of SIDS is that it is impossible to predict or pre-diagnose. I hate it, I hate the thought of it. But now, until next time, the highest risk of SIDS has passed us. I can sleep easier at nights – literally.
On a different note, today on his way to work, my car left Keith stranded on the interstate during morning rush hour. Some strange guy picked him up and took him downtown to his work. He was stuck on the inside shoulder, so he couldn’t even cross to get to an exit because of the morning traffic jam. He didn’t have Owen with him, luckily, but we did end up having to get the car towed. We have no idea what is wrong with it, which is weird because Keith is quite good with cars and can usually diagnose the problem right away. I am sort of (not-so)secretly hoping that it is permanently dead and I can get something new(er) and dependable. I mean, we don’t even have cell phones, so what if it had been Owen and I stranded? I am rooting for the Nissan Quest.
On another different note, I have decided that we will either erect a fence around our backyard, or we will get rid of our dog Gabriel. And this time, I’m serious. I love my dogs dearly, we all know this is true. But Gabriel is back up to his old tricks from Florida, pooping in the floor when he gets mad at us. This is now quite often, as we are trying to break him from sleeping in our bed. His spot is in the living room, in front of the television, and it is becoming more and more frequently that we wake up in the mornings to his little piles of greetings in the living room floor. I hated it in Florida, but it is even worse now that my son spends the majority of his day in said floor. I can’t have it anymore. Gabe is a great dog, but I won’t put Owen at risk. So it’s a fence, or it’s the dog, and I’ve made my decision. And since we don’t have money or time for a fence, now what?
I took a few pictures of Owen tonight when he woke up from his evening nap. The purpose of the pictures was to showcase his wild hairdo, which had run seriously amok during his nap. However, the shots don’t really highlight his hair. They still look so cute, though, so I had to post them.
9.05.02 there were no entries on this date. Thursday, September 04 entry Click here for some pictures from our visit to Longview. 9.03.02 (…)fat mo's occupies an old taco bell - with booths to fit the old lifestyle of a non-obese america. i have never seen such tiny booths. i couldn't fit in any of them. i tried the full-size ones and the two-seaters, and even the ones that are booths on one side and swivel chairs on the other. you know the type? finally i gave in and sat in one of the swivel chairs, turned sideways with owen thrust out in front so that i could eat. seems that with today's super-sized meals have come super-sized booths, because i have never had this problem at a new fast food restaurant. anyway - i enjoyed eating with keith tremendously. we talked of work and all things owen. wednesday, september 03 entry time, time, there's never any time. i can't believe i haven't updated in so long, but i seriously have not touched our home PC in weeks. evenings are owen time, and then sleep... there's just never any time! no time to practice, no time to study, i'm so excited... i'm so excited... i'm so... scared -
wow, i do a great saved by the bell.
we got back late monday night from a visit to my parents' new house in longview. kyle flew in from osu, so we were all there together. it was nice to relax and pass over some of my owen duties. he was nice and sick while we were there, with congestion and runny nose, cough and diarrhea. i took him to the doctor yesterday and she wrote out three prescriptions for him, poor little guy. but i could tell as soon as i got a good dose of the meds in him, he was already acting better. so that's the good news.
i took lots of great pictures at my parents', so i will post them here as soon as i get the chance. i am updating from work right now, sneaking a second to myself, but i have to get back. i promise pictures soon! 9.03.02 probably one of the neatest things we got on our trip home was a load of keith's baby pictures. i haven't ever seen pictures of him as a newborn, and i've seen only a handful of him as a toddler. in fact, he said that he had never seen pictures of himself as a newborn! but we visited his mom on monday, and she gave us some pictures. i can't wait to compare them to owen, see who he looks like.
