First Flights

Our first air travel with Owen was on Dec 12th, to visit Gramps and Granma in Orange, France (in Provence, near Nice. Yes, it was nice.)  We traveled on Air France, LAX to Marseille via Paris Charles De Gaulle.  We were able to travel light without a car seat and stroller thanks to G&G having invested in some new grandparent equipment.  We heavily overpacked the diaper bag with many changes of clothes for Owen and one for me and Noah, put Owen in the Baby Bjorn and set off from LAX. 

I wasn't too worried about the outbound trip, because Air France has the infant bassinet for babies and we were taking off at bedtime.  I was pretty sure Owen would like the white noise and vibration from the jet and get a good nights' sleep en route to Paris.  He nursed during takeoff and didn't fuss about the pressure change at all.  The flight crew didn't give me any trouble about using the Boppy pillow during takeoff or landing (on any of the flights).  Owen passed out right after takeoff and slept through until we were descending into Paris airport.  Changing planes was easy, we went through customs in Paris, and the small flight from Paris to Marseille went smoothly as well.  This time he looked out the window of the plane.  Other babies on these flights (especially one on the Paris-Marseille leg) helpfully demonstrated how loud and miserable a lap child can be in order to highlight Owen's early aptitude for air travel.  The gentlemen sitting near us on the way to Marseille suggested that he will become a pilot. 

After having such an easy time of it on the way out, it stands to reason that the return trip just had to be harder.  I mean, there's literally no way it could have been easier. 

On the return voyage, Owen slept from Marseille to Paris.  We got lost in CDG airport and found our way to the gate in time to find all 308 passengers shoving and pushing their way towards the most disorderly and angry boarding line-up I have ever seen.  It was like feeding time at the fish pond.  We couldn't even figure out where the gate itself was in order to queue up for early boarding.  While we milled around trying to figure it out, I saw a diagram of our plane's seating arrangement on the info screen and noticed that Row 40 was definitely NOT a bulkhead, which meant no baby bassinet for us...  12 hours with squirming Owen on our laps looked imminent. 

One of the ground crewmembers spotted us and let us through the double ropes protecting the two ladies in charge from the rabble.  Noah asked the attendant to check our seating assignment.  She told him, very very curtly, that there were 5 babies on this plane and only 3 bassinets, so tough luck.  The attendant went on to inform us that she had just given away the last bassinet to this gentlemen and his baby (gesturing at the person standing right beside us, so... that was awkward), and that our lack of a bassinet was not her fault so what did we want her to do?  She was unbelievably rude about it, and also utterly unhelpful.  Finally we decided to just suck it up and get on the plane.  We sat down in our aisle and center seats and prepared for the longest 12 hours of our lives.  Then an old lady came along and said "hey you're in my seat."  Turned out they had assigned us to two center seats.  It is physically not possible to feed a baby in a center seat on a plane.  This was the point at which I started to cry and Noah pitched a fit. 

Fortunately this was also when our luck changed.  The flight crew was truly excellent.  They started immediately asking people to swap seats with us.  A quick survey of the plane showed that in fact, all but two of the baby bassinets were not being used.  Somehow they had assigned nearly all the people with babies to regular seats and people without babies to the bassinet seats.  Two people in the bulkhead agreed to change seats with us.  Perhaps they thought they'd be better off in our center seats when they saw their neighbors in the bulkhead feeding their 1-year-old lap child cheetoes and chocolate.  Not kidding.  In any case, we were very very happy.  I would have bought them some champagne but of course, champagne is free on Air France flights.  We owe the gods of air travel a big favor. 

Once everyone was finally boarded, it became clear that the ground crew had also boarded more people than there were seats on the plane.  Two people actually had to get off.  Other problems this flight crew had to cope with included an unexplained electrical burning smell which resulted in having to move a handicapped lady to the jump seat, take apart a section of the cabin's floor and ultimately shut off the inflight entertainment, air, and lighting system; at least four new members of the "mile-high club" making out in the aft restrooms; a man who peed himself.  It was a long 12 hours.   

For our part, the flight was a little tougher than the LA to Paris trip because Owen was awake most of the time and were sharing the 4 bulkhead seats between 6 people, and let's just say the other couple and their child were using more than their 50%.  The child was rowdy, the parents were very fat.  Overall Owen was the easiest part of the trip.  He only fussed a little about having to sit in once place for all those hours.  He fell asleep around 9PM France time in the bassinet and stayed asleep more or less until we got home. 

Jet lag has been a little challenging but we'll get back to our regular schedule soon enough.  Overall I'd say Owen is an A++ world traveler.  I wouldn't hesitate for a second to do the trip again!  

4.5 Months: rocking and rolling

Owen weighed 17lbs 1oz at 4 months of age. He seems to outgrow another pair of pajamas every few days. 

Little by little, he's developing motor skills and reacting to his environment differently, and with more intention.  As a newborn, his movements were jerky and random - but over the past few weeks, we've watched him discover his hands as tools.  While not fully articulate, he is developing dexterity that allows him to accomplish simple things - like stuffing a fuzzy toy into his mouth.  A month ago, he'd be pleased to have the toy in his mouth, but didn't show any inclination or understanding of how he might arrange for that to happen, outside of registering his complaint with the management, of course. 

His mouth has also changed.  A few weeks ago, he really enjoyed feeling different things with his mouth.  That seemed to be a precursor to the early stages of teething.  His mouth still is one of his primary sources of information, but it has developed demands of it's own.  His efforts to ease the discomfort in his gums, he's developed a new skill  He's begun to chew things now. Sophie the Giraffe is a favorite. 

His hair has now come in fully, and even the bald spot on the back of his head isn't truly bald.  I miss his soft infant scalp, as it was particularly nice to nuzzle him on the top of his head.  Now you get hairs up your nose.  He's getting a little bit of cradle-cap too, which means we should probably start bathing him more often.  The daily bath routine at bedtime was giving him dry skin, so we dropped back to two baths a week.  That resolved the skin issues, so hopefully we can strike a balance that will keep the cradle-cap to a minimum.

As he's getting bigger, he's getting stronger.  He can lift and hold his head up for extended tummy-time - and has started to push up on his arms too.  Gramps and Granma think he'll be crawling in another month.  He's also able to hold himself in an upright seated position for a few seconds and can hold his weight on his legs, if you hold him under the arms for balance.  All of that combined strength-training means that for increasing lengths of time, Owen now has a visible neck.  It's like being beamed right in the eye with a ray of cute.  His cheeks, no longer supported by his chest, wobble slightly as his smile cracks through his usual pensive expression.  He's laughing a lot more now.  And not just the strange Kraken noise of excitement, but peals of laughter, shrieks of joy and sly chuckles.

Preparations for a big adventure were also on the forefront.  We decided to take Owen to France for his first Christmas, to visit the Jones grandparents in the ancient Roman town of Orange de Valcluse.  On the plus side, infants fly for free until they are 2 years old.  On the down side, infants now require passports in order to travel internationally. Mom managed to gather all of the pertinent information and forms while simultaneously taking care of Owen full-time and working part-time too.  We all went for an in-person visit to the Post Office, where we filled out additional paperwork and supplied them with photos that showed Owen giving his best thug-life pose.  We triple checked the documents, and crossed our fingers that the government would process the application in time for our trip.  Two weeks later, the freshly minted passport arrived. Unfortunately, it arrived with a typo.  "Owen Nataniel Makoa Jones".  So, Mom got to make an in-person trip to the Federal building in order to get the correct spelling in place.  Passport in hand, Owen was equipped to be a world-traveler.

And travel we did!  Owen's first flight was a redeye flight from LAX to Paris on Air France.  We lucked out and got the bulkhead seat, complete with a bassinet.  The crew sized him up as a potential long-term client, and showered him with gifts, including a teething cloth a plush toy cat.  He snacked quietly on the ascent after a bit of fussing with the seatbelts (he hates all forms of restraint).  Then we tucked him into his bassinet and he slept for the duration of the flight.  Not a peep.  He had breakfast while we landed, and was equally well behaved on the short jaunt from Paris to Marseilles.  We were on the receiving end of a lot of impressed looks from other passengers, as not all of the children on the trip showed such a natural aptitude for the jet-set lifestyle.

Hello, Secret Pig

Owen tries and tries to roll over (16 1/2 weeks)

16 Weeks: Laughing, squealing, grabbing, sitting, etc!

It has been a while since I wrote about what Owen is up to!  In the last three weeks, he's been doing a lot of practice LAUGHING.  Low giggles and very high pitched squeals abound as his face lights up with big, gummy, drooly grins.  It is ultra cute.  Whenever he sees Mom, Owen acts as if a sparkling rainbow of laughter and fun has appeared around my head like a halo.  This is a fun phase for me.  It gives me a whole new perspective on what an asshole I was as a teenager.  I am not looking forward to a day when Owen looks at me and all he sees is The Man, trying to keep him down.  In addition to giggles and squeals, he's started to make some babbling noises including a low ooooohhh and a lot of aaahs.  There are also some aaah-goos and plain goos.

He is starting to grab onto stuff.  He's getting very attached to his giraffe nunu (aka, lovey, blankie).  Especially its ears.  He can spot the ears on that giraffe from about a mile away, and uses all his concentration to get one into his mouth.  Then he sucks on it with wet slurping noises.  I can tell this is going to be the bad habit we're going to struggle with later.  He's probably going to take that giraffe to camp with him when he's 12, hiding it in his sleeping bag.  And it will have no ears left.  

About a week ago, Owen slept from 7pm to 5:20am--over 10 hours.  I finally woke him up at that point, in part because I was worried about him and in part because it's faster if he nurses (rather than having to pump).  It was a one-time event but we will take the good nights.  He's been a little inconsistent with sleeping, sometimes going just 3 hours and sometimes up to 8 hours.  But he still sleeps from about 7 to about 7 or 8am, with a few wake-up calls to eat, and we're just fine with that.

The sleep-related difficulty over the past month has been with napping.  Owen does not take a good nap these days.  It's frustrating for everyone because I don't ever get a break to do chores, work out, etc, and Owen ends up so overtired that he is just miserable.  We attended a sleep techniques class last week to learn more about how to take a good nap, and the guidance was to 1. stay home and not try to nap on the road and 2. do whatever it takes to get a good nap in.  For Owen, this means I have to get in bed with him and stay there with my hand on him to make sure he stays asleep.  This past week has been weird due to the holiday, but in the coming week we will try out the new advice and see how it goes. 

Owen weighs over 16 lbs.  He is really steady holding his head up in any position, and he gets a big kick out of tummy time now that he's in control.  He likes to look at the classic book "Squishy Turtle and Friends" while he props himself up on his elbows.  When he gets tired, he enjoys gumming the play mat he's laying on.  He's also getting good at sitting up with assistance.

He got to meet his Uncle Dan this week.  Dan and Meg came out for Thanksgiving!  One of the cutest moments of them together was when Dan put Owen on his knee and bounced him around.  This made Owen positively squeal with delight. 

Grown-up life also marches on.  Owen's room is finally complete.  We got new curtains, a small rug/play mat, and a new floor-bed for him.  The bed is a little bigger than is truly necessary (it is a queen), but we really like it.  It makes it so easy to lay down next to him and give him a pat as he nods off to sleep.  I was skeptical of the whole floor-bed concept but so far it's really great. 

We got his passport on Saturday, but unfortunately they got the spelling on Nathaniel wrong... so a visit to the Federal Building is in our near future.  We had a good trial day with nanny Tricia, and Owen will have his first day solo with her this week.  He is doing great with the bottle now, provided that the milk is an appropriate temperature, so I don't have any concerns about how he will do with a more regular nanny situation.  Tricia even knows sign language so maybe we will learn something from her. 

And, since my last post, we got the news that our beloved cat Cleo is dying of cancer.  This has been difficult news to accept and it's really cast a shadow on our lives. We are trying to make her as comfortable as possible in her few remaining weeks.  I let her eat most of a chicken breast off my Thanksgiving dinner plate.  We're watching her carefully and she seems quite happy for now... in fact today she demanded seconds of her ultra-fancy canned cat food and then chased her feather toy around the living room until she crunched its neck until it was dead.  Our only wish for her is that she remains comfortable until her final hour.  I think this is what we all want for our loved ones.

Thanksgiving was a time to reflect on everything we have.  We feel very lucky to have had Cleo in our lives for 11 wonderful years and I know she feels the same way.  We also have the cutest little boy we could hope for, not to mention we are healthy and usually happy, and we have good food and a good house, two cars and two jobs.  Life is good.  Even though it is sometimes hard to do.  

100th Day in Office: Owen makes a speech

3 months: Another S Bites the Dust

Owen is three months old today!  He's outgrown all his 3-6 month sized clothing.  We received a big box of hand-me-downs from the sister of our friend Amy, and now he has tons of new adorable 6-9 month things that are fitting him beautifully.

Owen is still following the same sleep pattern that he established a few weeks ago.  He is starting to smile for longer stretches, and he just lights up when he catches sight of me or his Dad (especially me).  He'll go on smiling for a couple of minutes if I get in close to his face and talk to him.  It is super cute.  Tummy time has started to produce smiles too, as he looks at himself in the mirror and lifts his head to gaze around the room.  Noah even got a few smiles and laughs in the bathtub last night.

He's also starting to grab onto things--especially the edge of his toy mirror and his nunu.  There have been a few times when he grabbed his plastic keyring and shook it around.  Anything that approaches his mouth is greeted with an inquisitive lick and sometimes a much more thorough gumming.  Squirming is becoming a full on sport and he can hold his head steady and turn back and forth when he's propped upright. He can stay propped up in a sitting position on the couch or on my lap. 

The big breakthroughs this week have been the leaving-behind of two of the 5 "S's".  Dr. Harvey Karp's Happiest Baby On the Block technique for soothing fussy babies involves swaddling, swinging/shaking (gently), shushing, sucking, and side-lying.  Owen has required 4 of the 5 to get to sleep (side-lying never did him much good) since we learned about the 5 S's when he was 5 weeks old.  In the last two weeks, he gradually stopped needing to be shimmied and rocked to sleep.  Then this week, he quite suddenly stopped napping in the swing.  He just wold not go to sleep while swinging one day, and ever since then he's been napping on his bed.

This past week saw the end of swaddling as well.  Although he still occasionally startles himself out of a light sleep by jerking his arms, he is very very resistant to being swaddled now, and can fall asleep easily without the wrap.  I just sit nearby and hold his hands gently down until he has passed into a light sleep, and he's fine for the rest of the night.

However, he still absolutely needs his pacifier and the loud white noise to calm down when he is overtired at the end of the day.  The white noise has advantages besides calming him down.  It prevents him from hearing outside noises that might wake him up.  And, they say going to sleep with a pacifier is actually good for preventing SIDS.  We won't push for the abandonment of the last two S's any time soon. 

This week has been a very busy one for all of us.  Fitting our work schedules in with our baby's schedule has been getting the best of us.  Noah is at work 5 days per week, and although this is mostly a good thing, he misses Owen terribly.  I am doing my best to squeeze in 10-12 hours of work each week as well.  Our friend Chris has become our occasional nanny for days that I need to be on campus for meetings, and Noah is at home with Owen all day on Sundays while I try to do a full week's worth of work.  This is a full schedule already, but with exponentially increased administrative duties (read: how many f*%!ing times am I going to have to call the insurance company about this?!?!), increased chores around the house, and the usual social calendar of people wanting to see/meet Owen and we're spreading ourselves pretty thin indeed.  We're doing our best to adapt. 

Owen stares down the camera while Malia makes a fool of herself trying to get him to talk for you

More tummy time

Owen has tummy time (12 1/2 weeks)

2 months pediatrician visit

We finally had our 2-month checkup, almost a month late.  Our pediatrician's office is way too busy and cannot give us well-baby visits on time, so we're going to switch to a new office starting at the 4 month visit (at 5 months). 

Owen weighed 14.5 lbs (75th percentile for age) and was 24 inches (60th percentile for age).  His head measured 15 5/8", which is about the 40th percentile.  The nurse who saw him said his cheeks were not even on the charts.

Everything else was fine.  Owen got his first round of vaccines--three shots and one by mouth.  He only cried for a couple of minutes after the shots themselves, but about 4 hours later when he started to mount that immune response, things got pretty ugly.  Poor little guy did not feel good and he wanted the world to know about it.  He slept well once he finally got to sleep, and he was OK by Saturday morning. 

The new sleep regime

Last night, Owen slept over 7 hour straight--setting a record by far.  If only we could get him to do this between 11PM and 6AM!  Alas, his longest sleep cycle has always been the first one, so we were still up at 2:30 in the morning.  I'm going to renew my efforts to feed him one last time before I go to bed.  We now have a video monitor, so I can see when he reaches a lighter sleep state and is moving around.  Maybe if I go in then, he will be willing to wake up enough to eat. 

As we approach the 3 month mark, I think Owen is ready to begin forming sleep habits, and I want to do what I can to make sure they are good habits.  

I am putting him down in his bed before he is totally asleep in my arms and then just sitting nearby and patting him until he nods off.  I just don't have the knack for getting him rocked to sleep like Noah has, and now that I am flying solo at bedtime this works better for me anyway.  I find that rocking him agitates him as much as it soothes him, and he drifts off faster with out the rocking routine. 

Our "Mommy and Me" class leader really encourages the use of a transitional object or a "nunu" as we are calling it.  This is little soft blankie that Owen can hold in bed to help him snuggle in for sleep.  We are keeping his plush giraffe nunu around whenever he sleeps or nurses to allow him to form a bond with it. 

We are also starting to form a bedtime routine that will hopefully someday cue Owen that it's time to settle down for the night. Bathtime, then pajamas, then nursing, then singing the alphabet song and reading the bedtime book.  Then lights off and into bed.  Right now this involves a lot of whining and fussing because Owen is pretty grumpy by the time 7PM rolls around. 

And finally--the napping issue.  Yesterday Owen once again refused to nap save the 30 minutes that I was doing laps in the pool and he was under Olivia's care.  It was great timing for a nap, but not nearly enough sleep for him!  By the end of the day he was so fussy and tired that he didn't know what to do with himself.  And it's not just Owen's problem.  I get cranky when Owen doesn't take a nap too--I need a break.  This kid is giving me a run for my money. 

The new nap regime involves 2 or 3 naps per day, no excuses!!  I have read that consistency helps, so we'll try to get up around the same time every day and I'm going to put him to sleep for naps--in his bed or his swing--around the same time every day.  I'll keep you posted on how this works out.

11 1/2 Weeks

Yesterday Owen weighed in at a whopping 14lbs, 10oz.  I looked at the growth chart and this is around the 70th percentile for age.  I can't wait to find out his length, because he seems hugely longer than before.  His swaddle blankets barely fold over his toes.  Owen's hair is starting to come in, and so far it looks like it will be brown.  He started producing copious amounts of drool this week. 

He has gotten really good at getting his thumb into his mouth now.  He's also great at lifting his head up--check out his latest tummy time videos!  He can hold his head very steady when he's leaning forward about 15 degrees from vertical, and he's not slumping in the car seat at all.  On his 11 week birthday, he rolled over from his tummy to his back!  He hasn't done this again though, and doesn't seem like he's trying to, so maybe it was just an accident. 

Although his favorite activity is still watching the mobile swing around, it is beginning to lose its charm.  It only entertains for a couple of minutes, and then only when he is in a happy mood to begin with.  He is getting into rattles and things that jingle.  He still has not made the connection that those things on the ends of his arms are good for grabbing, but I bet it's coming soon.  He loves getting his cheeks and chin tickled--this almost always produces a big smile.

Last Friday, Owen got to see President Obama!  We walked over to the nearby USC campus, which is about a mile away, and attended a rally for Senator Boxer and other democratic candidates in the upcoming election.  We did not arrive anywhere near early enough to get into the rally itself, but I found a rise to stand on where we could see the proceedings.  When we saw the President, I was pretty sure I could tell which guy was him, but it was hard because they were so far away.  His speech was excellent.  We also got to hear Senator Boxer, Jerry Brown, Mayor Villarigosa, and several other political candidates speak before Obama came on.  I carried Owen in the Baby Bjorn which is my new favorite carrier (so much more comfortable than the Ergo--for both of us).  We stopped in at the Natural History Museum on the way to the rally and visited the live spider exhibit they have set up for Halloween.  It was creepy--there were some really big spiders.

In the next few weeks we are going to see big changes.  Owen is nearing the end of the "missing trimester" and we expect to see him waking up to the world, making sounds, grabbing things, and generally acting more and more cute!  And also more and more challenging as he starts to really become a little person.  Noah is currently working 5 days a week, and this past week was my first one flying solo with Owen.  It was a challenge.  I find myself bored and frustrated to be around the house yet unable to DO anything around the house.  Owen doesn't really interact much yet requires constant attention.  Even eating lunch is usually a production involving several stops and starts.  I found it helps (both of us) feel better when we get out of the house, so we're trying to do something every day--Mommy & Me classes, walks, etc.  I hope to get him on a better nap schedule so that he's less fussy as the day wears on, and so I can get some breaks!

Owen tracks jingle toy

tummy time (almost 11 weeks)

10 Weeks

Well I guess I am having a hard time getting behind this 10 weeks blog post, because I can't really pick out a theme or a new milestone for the week.  We just had more (and more and more) of the same stuff as before!  Owen is getting more and more into sucking on his hand and now is able to use his gums to crack open his fist and get his thumb into his mouth, sometimes.  He's still way into his mobiles and is following people's faces and voices around the room.  His head control is getting really good, but he still needs some assistance.  His attention span is getting longer and now he can pay attention and be happy and entertained and awake for much longer--45 minutes to an hour and sometimes longer.  We are seeing less and less crying. 

He is still growing at a fantastic rate, and was 13 lbs 12 oz on Sunday.  All his footie pajamas are too short for him. 

Owen's 10th week included his Daddy's 34th birthday, and to help us celebrate, he was a model child.  Over the course of the day, I was able to make 9 racks of ribs and accompanying side dishes while he played quietly with his mobile and napped.  I even took a conference call.  He was SOO good all day that I fear we used up some serious baby karma.  We will try to remember this someday when he's winning blue ribbons in screaming the loudest on an airplane or something like that. 

Maybe instead of Week 10 milestones, I'll talk about some of Owen's first experiences of the world.

I have already mentioned that he was lucky enough to experience the hottest day EVER in Los Angeles, when it reached 113 degrees.  He slept through it all, setting his own record with an all-day nap as we strolled around the La Brea Tar Pits museum and then the mall with Amani.   Then, that night, he set his yet-unbroken record of 6 hours of nighttime sleep. 

Not long after that, Owen saw his first sunset.  I took him outside on a nice cloudy evening when the sky was lit up pink and orange, and he was enchanted by the sight, staring up at the sky from our backyard.  The backyard in the evening is reliably one of his favorite places, because he loves to see the branches of our tree moving against the dusky sky.  Trees make excellent mobiles.  

In the past two weeks, he has also experienced some unseasonably wet weather.  It's been raining here since Saturday evening.  On Saturday morning we woke up to a very grumpy baby.  Owen was just in a bad mood.  I took him out for a hike, hoping he would fall asleep in the front carrier.  We were seeing the leading edge of this rainy weather system, and it was very cool and breezy and wet, but not really raining yet.  Owen just hated it.  Every time that cold wet breeze blew in our direction, he made a face that was simultaneously pouty and angry and annoyed.  Like you just told him birthdays had been canceled or something.  A true SoCal boy.

Owen shakes a rattle!

Paranormal amateur video

More mobile fun!

What's he so excited about, anyway??

9 weeks: mobiles are cool

Even though he looks about the same to us this week, Owen packed on another half pound and is now 13lbs 2oz.  The kid can grow, that's for sure. 

Just for comparison, here are two pictures of Owen wearing two different onsies from the same package--they are the exact same size.  Above was taken yesterday; below was taken 4 weeks ago. Look how loose the sleeves and shoulders were!  And the sleeves were rolled up. 

 This week's most fun new activity is watching the mobiles.  We received a really fancy mobile as a gift--it spins around and lights up and plays music and even has a remote control.  Its main features are a series of four colorful creatures that spin slowly around in one direction, and some stars that spin around in the other direction.  Since we don't have a crib, it took a little creative thinking to get it mounted above Owen's bed.  I figured it out early this week.  The moment I turned the mobile on, Owen was completely enchanted.  It has a 10-minute cycle and he will smile and coo and delightedly kick his legs for a full 10 minutes and sometimes for another 10 minutes after that.

This afternoon he woke up from a nap, grumpy as usual, and started to throw a little fit.  He had his full-face pout on and was beginning to cry a little.  Noah went in and turned on the mobile and he instantly transformed, smiling and I swear even giggling.  It is amazing.


After the great success of this mobile, we attached his other mobile to a chair in the living room above his favorite spot on the couch.  Although this one is much more simple--just some graphics on little plastic cards that dangle down--he is almost as enchanted with it.  It's really great fun.  Plans are in the works for a solar system mobile. 

This week we had a little reprise of the colicky Owen, probably related to a nap strike that lasted about 3 days.  Refusing to nap leads to major tiredness and that is a recipe for fussiness.  Yesterday and today were a lot better, so I think we're beyond this little bump in the road.  We have been walking a lot in the new stroller.  And, I think we finally found a pacifier that sort of works for Owen (after buying just about every single one on the market).  Although it won't help with a major throwdown, it does seem to help him calm down when he's just a little too worked up.   

Owen's sleep has become more consistent, although no easier for Mama and Papa.  He goes to sleep at about 7, wakes up hungry around 11 (or is willing to wake up if I wake him to feed him), sleeps again until 3 and wakes up hungry, sleeps again until 5 or 6, and at that point is ready to roll for the day.  No matter how we explain it to him, he does not seem to  understand or care that we don't like to get up before dawn.  Sometimes we can convince him to sleep a couple more hours, sometimes not.  We are still swaddling him tightly but he's getting increasingly good at getting out of his mummy outfit.  Now that he can suck on his hand, he's very motivated to work his arms out.

Owen sucks on his hand, yum!

Scout wants some attention

Owen loves his mobile

A buggy for every occasion

Happy 2-month birthday, Owen!  To celebrate, we got you your first fifth stroller!

When we first started looking at Baby Gear, I was immediately overwhelmed by the question of wheels.  Strollers come in an infinite variety of shapes, sizes, purposes, and price ranges.  It is a lot like buying a bike, except imagine if bikes were highly specific in terms of age-appropriateness and weight minimums and maximums.  Where seeking advice from experienced parents ought to have narrowed the field, instead it made things more complicated.  "We never used a stroller--just get a good carrier," claimed some.  "Get the cheapest thing you can," said some.  "You have to get something simple," said some.  "OMG you have to get a Bob," said some.  "OMG Bobs are such a waste of money," countered others. 

And unlike a bike, it seemed that we would need a stroller for lots of different purposes.  Walking, shopping, traveling, jogging, to name a few.  I was convinced that the right stroller could meet all our needs.  I even made a spreadsheet of our needs and looked at every stroller on the market to try to find one that met them all. 

We like to jog, so at a minimum, our perfect stroller had to be a jogging stroller.  I found a very decent jogging stroller on Craigslist and snapped it up.  But it quickly became clear that a jogging stroller is not the sort of beast you might take into Trader Joe's for a quickie trip, and certainly would not be allowed as carry-on luggage.  In fact, this thing does not even fit in the trunk of my car when completely folded.  True story. 

So the second stroller was selected for simplicity.  We got a Snap n' Go, which is like a stroller base for the car seat.  You just snap the car seat onto it, and voila!  Stroller!  Unfortunately the Snap n' Go requires that Owen sit in the car seat all the time, and we didn't anticipate how hot and uncomfortable that was going to be for him.  It's also really hard to steer, so although it is great for restaurants and quickie shopping trips, it's really not great for walking at all. 

More and more, I have been wanting to walk with Owen.  I need the exercise and he takes a great nap when he's being bounced around on a walk.  We needed something more appropriate.  Enter the third stroller.  I was at Babies R Us one day and I saw a nice buggy with a fully reclining seat.  It looked so shady and cool inside, I just knew Owen would be more comfortable in it.  So I bought it.  But when I brought it home, I realized the buckle was broken and I started to have doubts.  Is it cheap?  Do people like them?  I didn't even read any reviews.  Is the color too trendy?  Ack!

I returned it for the broken buckle and decided to do some more research before taking the third stroller plunge.  Amani and others highly recommended the MacLaren Triumph strollers as being lightweight and sturdy.  Amazon users give it great reviews.  We made our decision and spent our gift certificates on one.  But as soon as I took it outside I saw its fatal flaw--the sun shade was clearly designed by a Londoner, who doesn't know the first thing about sun.  It was completely in the wrong place, didn't shade from the sides, and wasn't even compatible with draping a blanket over the gaps.  Back to Babies R Us.

Further review brought us to the Combi we got on Friday.  This thing is sweet.  It reclines completely so Owen can lie down and nap comfortably.  It has a nice sun shade, which comes forward enough to allow a blanket to drape over the front, providing 360 degree shade if necessary.  Today I put a raincoat over it to keep him dry.  It has shocks, it folds up, it weighs just 13 lbs. It even has a cup holder.  And Owen loves it!

Week 8: hand, meet mouth

Yesterday Owen was 8 weeks old!  This week's big development was indeed a big one: Owen started getting his hand into his mouth.  He doesn't have a lot of control over which part of his hand--sometimes his thumb, sometimes a couple of fingers, sometimes the fleshy back curve of his palm.  But he can get some part of his hand into his mouth whenever he wants to.  He makes big, wet slurping noises.  It's a whole new world, and he is in control of it.

Another big development this week is that Owen slept for 6 hours for the first time on Monday night, and he did it again on several other nights.  This long stretch of sleep happens in the first cycle after bedtime, between 7pm and 1am or so.  This means our sleep doesn't really benefit, because we can't realistically go to bed so early.  But, Owen is easier to wake up these days, so we're going to try waking him for an 11pm feeding before we go to bed, and see if we can push his long sleep back into the overnight hours.  Could 40 winks be in our future?  Stay tuned for the thrilling resolution to this plotline. 

Michelin Man arms

Amani was here for a visit early this week!  Owen really showed off for her.  He napped all day long when we went to the beach on Sunday, and then he slept his longest-ever stretch that night .  Then, exhausted from all that hard work, he napped all day long again when we went to the La Brea Tar Pits museum and the mall on Monday.  Monday was the hottest day in Los Angeles' history.  The temperature outside was 113.  The temperature in Nordstroms at the Grove was about 67.

Owen weighs 12lbs, 9oz today.  He is getting seriously fat.  We periodically discover a new deep skin crease which hasn't been cleaned in a few days, because a few days ago it wasn't there.  His recent feeding frenzy is over and he's back to eating only every two hours or so.  I read somewhere that he will continue growing at the rate he established in his early weeks.  Does this mean he will double in weight in another 8 weeks?  Or that he will gain about 6 lbs in 8 weeks?  In either case, Noah and I have started weight lifting to get our backs ready. 

Owen's eyelashes seem to get longer every day.  He has almost no hair and a widow's peak hairline, which sometimes give him the appearance of a crew-cut gangsta.  When you look at his peach-fuzz in the light, it does look gingery red.  

We're seeing less and less fussing and the intensity of the fussing is dropping as well.  He still loves to bounce a LOT.  He also loves to be in the stroller and the car and his swing.  He has a hard time getting a good nap during the day if he isn't in one of these devices.  For his two-month birthday present, Uncle Dan and Meg got him a new stroller that is nice and cool and has a great sun shade.  He totally loves it.  I have to say, it's pretty swanky. We look forward to lots of walks and better naps now that we have a more comfortable arrangement for Owen! 

Owen drools on couch

Owen has sucks on his hand, then drools on the couch, in artsy color-tilt

I don't know what the color thing is all about...  I must have set the camera to do that somehow by accident. 

Owen bounces with loud noise in background

Papa Bear is hammering on something in the background if you are wondering what that noise is. 

Owen is not happy

Week 7: Bouncing baby Owen

 In week 7, Owen got to meet his other grandfather, Pops!  And honorary grandma Helen!  They arrived on Monday and stayed through the week.

While they were here, they got to see Owen do some new things.  He is not just staring at one thing anymore, but looking all around the room with interest and curiosity.  He turns his head and follows moving people with his eyes--especially me!  He also started doing this really cute thing where if I am holding him facing out to see the world, and I start speaking, he turns to look up at me like "Wow!  Mom is up there, amazing!"

Pops and Helen also got to witness first-hand the new favorite activity: bouncing.  Owen loves to bounce in his bouncing chair.  A lot of times he likes it much better than being held.  He waves his arms and legs around, looks around the room, looks out the window, looks at the people, and occasionally he nods off for a nap, all while bouncing.  We have our friend Jackie to thank for giving us the fancy chair we have--I don't think a flimsier model could stand up to the ongoing perpetual bounce machine that is Owen.  He doesn't bounce himself yet, but it's easy to put one foot on the chair and keep it moving for him.  If the bouncing stops, the fussing begins.

I like to sing him a little song when he's fussing and squirming, to the tune of David Bowie's "Let's Dance":
Let's bounce!
Put on your bounce pants and bounce the bounce
Let's bounce to the bounce in the bouncing chair!
etc.

He also occasionally likes to be in the Moby carrier which is elastic so it has a fair amount of bounce, especially if Mom dances to Michael Jackson songs.  This works well when he's overtired and can't get to sleep on his own. 

Speaking of fussing, there has been plenty of fussing but very little inconsolable and unexplainable crying.  He still cries, especially when he gets overtired in the afternoon, but the colicky period seems to have come to a close already.  We are thankful for every day that goes by without that nonsense.  We're trying hard to get him to bed before he turns into a gremlin at 8:00 pm, and sometimes he goes to bed as early as 6.  This means he has some really early mornings (this morning he was ready to roll for the day at about 4 am), but we prefer the schedule disruption to another two or three hours of crying at night.  Plus it makes it easier to fix dinner and eat if he's already asleep.    

Owen has been in a little bit of a feeding frenzy lately, eating a more frequently and waking up more at night.  On Friday afternoon Owen weighed TWELVE POUNDS!  Holy moly gauacamole!  I know they are supposed to grow up fast but this is ridiculous!  His cheeks are wider than the rest of his head, and his formerly muscular thighs are now sporting a double roll at mid-quadriceps.  Everyone who sees him comments on his cheeks.  They are very pinchable. 

Last but certainly not least, Owen is smiling a lot more.  He is happiest right after he wakes up for the day, but he can be a real charmer at any time of the day.  He particularly likes to give a big adorable grin to a person who is looking right at him and talking to him.  It's pretty awesome.  It just makes you want to squeeze him. Yesterday we attended the wedding of a close friend from UCLA, and shortly after we arrived a group of my colleagues from school were crowded around to meet him.  He smiled and you could have heard them all squeal from the next block.

 

Keep it up, Owen!

Owen smiles a little bit

Week 6: becoming baby Owen

To celebrate his 6 week birthday, Owen was a perfect angel all day.  He spent the whole morning smiling and cooing and happily waving his arms about and looking around.  Then he took a short nap, and spent some more time hanging out while we had friends visiting, most of the afternoon and evening.  He fell directly asleep the moment they left at 7pm.  As I was doing the dishes shortly after, I told Noah that I felt like we cheated, it wasn't even hard today. 

Two minutes later, Owen woke up screaming bloody murder.  He was also clammy and his temperature was a little low.  This crying session was so sudden and intense that for the first time we called the doctor in a panic.  I was happy to learn that our doctor's office actually has a doctor on call, who you can speak with right away.  She told us not to worry, that his temperature was within the normal range and he is just colicky.  Then he went to sleep, and slept for 5 1/2 hours!  Wow!! 


In his 6th week, lots of little things changed a little bit, and it adds up to Owen leaving newborn-hood behind and becoming a baby. 

Owen was 10 lbs, 7oz and 23 inches long at his checkup this week.  He has rolls of fat on his chin and dimples on his elbows and fingers.  He was born with downy white newborn "fur" all over his body, and it is almost completely gone.  I'm pretty sad about this because it made him SO SOFT.  He is still soft, but now it's his soft skin, not the soft fur.  His newborn hair has also fallen out a little bit.  Noah swears that he saw Owen's hair in the sunlight and that it is red.  I haven't seen the inner ginger yet but I don't doubt that it's coming.  His eyes have gone from that newborn gray-blue color to dark, dark blue. 

His personality is also starting to emerge more and more, and he's starting to show opinions and emotions rather than just reactions.  We have had a lot more smiles!  Big gummy grins and sly little half-smiles.  He's especially happy in the morning after a good nights' sleep.  10am is his golden hour.

Now when he's alert, he's interacting with the world more.  He is wheeling his arms and legs and he gets excited about things he's looking at.  He continues to love being in the car, and he loves to go shopping.  He sits in his car seat in the shopping cart or the stroller and merrily looks around at the ceiling, the lights, and the shelves.

He is showing some signs of rejecting the bottle, which has me very concerned since I decided that I will go back to working my 12 hours per week, as long as Noah can be at home with Owen.  And also because he still wakes up at least twice, and sometimes three times, between 10pm and 7am.  We're persevering to make the bottle OK with him.


As for the colic, this week has been much, much better.  We made a lot of changes after Week 5, so it's hard to know what made the difference--or if maybe we're just having a little break and the colicky behavior will return.  The doctor told us that the problem is that he only knows how to get MORE upset--he does not know how to get LESS upset, so you have to do it for him.  Like cows, who can go up stairs, but not down them.  It is helpful to think about it this way.  The trick is to interrupt the crying for long enough to give him time to calm down.

We started using the Happiest Baby on the Block techniques, and they really do work.  Especially shushing.  When he gets worked up, we wrap him up tight in the swaddle blanket and then SHHHHH!! loudly! right in his ear.  Or sometimes we turn the HEPA filter on high and sit right next to it.  I have a real knack for swaddling, but Noah is the master of shushing.  This shushing stops him in his tracks.  It doesn't exactly calm him down, but it gives him pause for long enough that his heart rate can come down and he has a good chance of staying settled.

Grandpa Paul and Helen will be here this week, and Amani will be here next weekend, and I know they are all excited to meet him!

Owen looks around

Belated 1-month checkup at the doctor's office

Owen went to the doctor today for his 1-month checkup.  Thanks to our lazy attitude toward scheduling and a snafu with our last appointment, this visit was almost two weeks overdue.  But, all is well.

He weighs 10lbs 7oz, and is 23 inches long.  He's right at the 50th percentile for both weight and height for 6 weeks of age.  He was at the 20th percentile for weight at birth so it is confirmed--he is growing fast. But not too fast.  She said his growth and eating behavior sound normal. 

The doctor also said his health is perfect, and there is no health reason for all the crying.  He exhibits classic colic symptoms.  She recommended a few things to try--anti-gas drops, chamomile tea, etc--but suggested that the real secret is to wait it out.  That said, we have had 3 days in a row that were totally fine.  Maybe we are over the hump already.  Or maybe we are just getting a break.  In either case we're glad he's been happier.

Owen has tummy time part 2 (4 1/2 weeks)

Owen has tummy time! (4 1/2 weeks)

I've been trying to get this one posted for a few days--parenting involves many new technological challenges! 

Owen swings and dreams

Owen stares at fireplace (5 weeks)

Week 5: smiles and tears

Sleepy smile

Owen smiled for real for the first time this week!  (Sleeping smiles have been happening for a while--above photo is a near-miss capture of one of those).  His first smile even came with a little laugh, like an aaaahhh sound.  This morning he smiled again at Granma and Gramps on Skype.  He must have heard how much they missed him.  
Another new development this week is that Owen is starting to use his vocal cords, so there are a lot of new sounds--a few mmmm's and ahhh's, and a lot of new noises when he cries, most pitiful.  He is holding his head up better and moving his arms with more purpose.  When he's awake and happy, he is really attending to faces and turning his head to follow sounds and sights.

On Friday we went to UCLA for some errands, and had a really nice lunch sitting out in the shade on one of the lawns.  Owen seemed to enjoy the fresh air and breezy outdoor time, so we're going to try being outside some more.  Yesterday I took him for a short hike at a park in Culver City that I had never been to before.  I felt great getting a little exercise and sunshine, and the view from the trail was wonderful.  Owen seemed to like being in the Ergo carrier and had a nice snooze.  I only made it up a little bit to what promised to be a 360 degree view of the city.  I'll make it my goal to eventually see the top!   

We started swaddling Owen tightly at night, and it has helped him sleep longer.  We are now swaddling him for naps, too. Otherwise he startles himself awake just as he is falling into a deep sleep, and ends up overtired.

Baby hand imprint stamped on face from sleeping in Ergo

We have had several occasions when he went 4 hours between his tasty buckets of chum at night.  This means that Noah's giving him a nighttime bottle has fallen apart a little, because I can't wait 8 hours between feedings.  We will continue to give him a bottle of breast milk at least once a day so he stays used to the bottle.  He is taking it with no problem, and even drank a bottle I gave him once this week.

He weighs about 10 lbs and is noticeably chubbier.  He has a double roll under his armpits.  Footie pajamas that looked huge when we brought him home now fit perfectly.

And last but certainly not least, the crying continued this week.  Endless, loud, inconsolable crying.  It seems that Owen is colicky.  For the uninitiated, "colicky" is a word that means your baby cries for no reason, for hours on end, every day.  Our baby book indicates that the most serious problem with colic is its effect on the parents' mental health.  Noah and I have been at our wits' ends more than once.  Even big sister cat Cleo has been at her wits end this week.

It seems that he gets tired in the afternoon, and then he gets a little cranky, and then something upsets him like he has to burp or milk comes out too fast when he's eating or he poops.  Then it sort of spirals out of control and it is very, very hard to calm him down.  Going in the Ergo and walking (sometimes on the treadmill) sometimes works, and going in the car works great although it is not always practical and/or safe to go for a drive at 2 am when we're half asleep. 

We are learning to trade off when it gets to be too much and trying our best to be patient.  We are thankful that Noah is home with us. (I am, anyway.  Noah might wish otherwise at times.)  We watched the Happiest Baby on the Block video last night which is all about how to calm a baby who won't stop crying.  We learned a few tricks and, more than anything, had our confidence restored that there is nothing seriously wrong with him, or with us.  Lots of people tell us that there is a critical turning point where things improve around 6 weeks.  The books tell us that colic usually goes away quite suddenly by 4 months.  I'm not sure we can wait another 2 1/2 months, so here's hoping for the 6 week milestone to come through for us.  

Hanging in there...

Owen is fussy

Owen looks at the world... some more (8 days old)

Owen looks at the world (8 days old)

Owen reads a book (8 days old)

Day in the life of Owen

What's it like being Owen? Where do the hours go?  Here's a sample day.  A good day.You'll have to use your imagination to insert ~10-12 diaper changes and a couple of spit-ups/wardrobe changes.  And of course, I don't mean to imply that we really have what you'd call a routine.  It is pretty hit or miss. 

7:00 am: make lots of noises in sleep, grunt grunt, mmmmm, mmmaaaaa, ggrraaaaaa....   
9:00: wake up, time to eat!  Mornings are a leisurely mix of mini naps and mini breakfasts, with a sprinkling of diaper changes and getting daytime clothes on. (Mom & Dad: try to eat breakfast, check email, shower, pump milk for later, etc. in between) 
11:30: Time to eat again!! 
12:00 pm: awake time.  Maybe do some yelling and/or looking around at the world.  Look at Mom & Dad.  
12:30: early nap.  Get help from Mom or Dad to get to sleep, or get really fussy if help not provided adequately.  Walk in Ergo works well if it's not too hot. 
2:30: Lunch time!   
3:00: play time, look around.  Read black and white book. Cry.  Work on pacifier.   
3:30: late nap.  Get more help to get to sleep again.  Maybe get in car to run errands.
5:30: wake up, hungry! Begin fussy time.  Arch back, make Mom crazy during feeding.  Act like farts are made of terrible burning acid, and like burping is the Worst. Thing. Ever. 
6:30: fussy time.  Cry, groan, squeal.  Arch back and wail, etc.  (On bath days: take a bath.  Baths are so confusing that its impossible to fuss through them.  We may start making every day a bath day.) 
7:30: dinner
8:00: bed time begins.  Get in PJ's, fall asleep on Dad.  Get wrapped in swaddle blanket.  
8:15: wake up, complain of hunger.  Eat even though not really hungry.  Dad bounces and sings the alphabet song until he falls asleep.   
8:30-?: repeat cycle until really asleep.  
11:00: hungry!  and usually, not very sleepy after eating.  Look at nursery decals, work on pacifier.  Maybe cry some.  Listen to Mom's audiobook. 
1:00 am: finally asleep again. 
2:30: hungry!  after eating, go to the nursery for the rest of the night so Mom can sleep without listening to grunting and huffing noises. 
6:00: hungry!  Bottle from Dad.  Get resettled, or Dad stays up with him until its time to wake up mom for the day!