Owen is 15 weeks old - lots of "firsts" and a visit from grandparents

It's been a big few weeks since my last "Owen update".  Our little guy is now 15.5 weeks old - I can't believe it!

Travis's parents came up for a long visit a few weeks ago.  It was so much fun to see them - Owen especially enjoyed it!  We spent a lot of time playing with the little one, and Travis and I even got to go on a date!  Thaaaaaank you, Grandparents, for the night off!

Owen is becoming a very active little guy!  A few weeks ago, he rolled over from his belly to his back.  Well...now he's able to flip from his back to his belly too!  He'll just roll and roll if we let him - he's so proud of himself!

He's enjoying sitting up in our laps, and he "found" his feet this weekend.  He's spending a lot of time curled up tugging at his toes.  Owen's also getting pretty good at grabbing toys with both hands.  He moves slowly and carefully until he's close to the toy, and then BAM...he's got it!

We've also had a fun few weeks of "firsts":

First time in his Bumbo Chair!  He did great!  We're just doing short stints for now, but he loves it.

First time sitting in an exersaucer - we made another trip to Children's Orchard on Friday and decided to see what Owen would think about one of these fun contraptions.  I think the picture says it all - it blew. his. mind.  He loved it.  I'm so excited for him to be sturdy enough to play in one!

Owen also had his first visit to our church here in Boston, Park Street Church.  He loved meeting all our friends, and he did SO well during the service.  We sat on a pew against the back wall in case things got loud, but thankfully he didn't need to be whisked away!  He loved the music, and the choir's anthem put him to sleep.  Since he was snoozing, I laid a blanked on the floor and he slept at my feet for most of the sermon (hahaha...).  Eventually he woke up and played with his friend Hannah (10 months old) and his lion toy.  I'm so relieved things went smoothly!

While Trav's parents were in town, we let Owen have his first "splash bath".  Until now, we'd been using the little hammock that came with his bath tub.  He has officially graduated to a tub of water...and thought it was SO much fun!  This little baby loves the water.  He splashed, and splashed, and laughed, and splashed...and sent water all over our dining room.  It was awesome.  He especially liked watching water drip on his belly from a washcloth above.

I just can't get enough of this baby!

Owen is 3 months old - likes, dislikes, and my thoughts

Well, we officially have a 3 month old baby!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since we welcomed this little guy into our lives.  It's been the most exciting, exhausting, wonderful, trying, fulfilling, and frustrating time that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

People have asked me several times if it's true that you don't know what love is until you have a baby.  I think it is true, but not for the reasons you'd think.  I love this baby to the moon and back, and having a baby has made my heart double in size...but not just for him.  It's made me love my husband more as I watch him care for our little one, our families as we see their excitement about their first grandchild/niece/nephew, and our friends as they help care for us as we learned to care for Owen.  Sure, my love for Owen is different...but part of the reason it's different is because it's something special I share with my husband, who I love so much.

Owen's growing and changing like crazy!  He's now over 15 pounds and is still in the 98th percentile for length AND head circumference!  He's a long little guy!

He's becoming a champ at holding his head up and loves to be upright now.  He either wants to be walked around, sit up in your lap, or stand (more like river dance) on your legs.

Owen and his friend Luke doing tummy time on their boppies...supervised by Toby

3 month babies...just chillin...

He's definitely a mover and a shaker. I can honestly recognize some of his favorite "moves" from his days in my belly.  I'll see him throw his arm in the air and kick like crazy and think, "that sure does look familiar...".  So cool.  Yesterday, he rolled over for the first time!  SO exciting!  See a video here.

Owen loves his puppy.  We've joked since before he was born that Toby was the "baby sitter", when he would try to sit on my belly.  That tradition has continued, and Toby loves sitting, cuddling, licking, and playing with his new friend.  Thankfully Owen is a big fan of his puppy too.  When Toby curls up next to him, Owen reaches out and pets him!  Best friends already!

Owen loves baths (especially getting his hair washed) and playing with his toys (rings, giraffe, blue puppy, play mat, or the foot keyboard in his crib).  He's happiest being cuddled or sitting in his vibrating chair, but also likes to just hang out on the couch beside us.

Here's a video of Owen and his keyboard...composing just like his dad!



Thankfully he's still sleeping like a champ.  He has slept through the night since 3 weeks (please don't hate me...), and is now going to bed at 10 and sleeping until 7:30-8am!

Owen also enjoys making NOISE!  This baby loves to jabber. Here's a video of Owen "chatting" with me when he was 3 weeks old.




Recently, jabbering is turning into squeals and laughs!  His first "real" laugh was a few weeks ago...and super adorable.  He also loves sputtering and blowing bubbles, and has started drooling all the time, so we've always got a burp cloth ready to wipe his little mouth.

The "don't likes" are a shorter list!

When Owen's hungry, he's HUNGRY!  There's no warm-up phase...he goes from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds, so we've got to be ready with a bottle.  He hates burping (or gas in general) and isn't a fan of baby mittens - he wants to use those fingers!

He's also a tummy-time-hater, so we spend most of the time strengthening his neck on his boppy or in our laps (like you saw above).

And that's about it.  He's generally a happy-go-lucky baby.

We love this little bug!

Owen rolls over!

Today was a big milestone for little Owen...he rolled over for the first time!

The last few days, I've been rolling him back and forth (tummy to back) and helping him prop up on his arms, hoping he'd get the picture in a few weeks.  Apparently it "took" faster than I expected, because when I put him on his tummy today, he flipped right over!



Poor Travis missed it, as he was at the Boston Saint Patrick's Day Parade with his Italian marching band (yep...that's a thing).  Thankfully Owen put on quite a show for him when he got home.  I was happy to be able to share the excitement with my parents, who happened to facetime 15 seconds before our little bug flipped over!

This wasn't a fluke either.  He thinks it's a lot of fun!

I'm sure it'll be next to impossible to do tummy time now (which he hates) since he can get out of it.

I've never been more proud!

Owen's Room

I had a lot of fun getting Owen's room ready for his arrival!  I love painting and making things anyway, so "nesting" went into overdrive.  We needed to turn our guest room into Owen's room...but it still had to function for visitors.  That meant we had to move everything except for the bed out of the room.  DVD towers went in the basement and the other furniture landed in our office (bookshelf, antique desk, and lamp).

First the finished product...then the how!

The first thing I picked out was the bedding (from Pottery Barn).  It was more than I'd ever want to spend on bedding (but I love it soooo much), so Travis and I decided to make it our anniversary present to ourselves.  The quilt has elephants, giraffes, rhinos and pandas on it - too cute.  I decided Owen needed funky giraffes for his wall, so I found a really fun picture on pinterest to paint!  We went to Michaels to get a canvas, I printed out my guide, and got to work.  I drew the giraffes using patterns that were found elsewhere in the room - stripes from the baskets and bed, chevron on the rug, circles on the fitted sheet.  Turned out pretty cute, huh?

Next up - the bookshelf!  We bought an 8-cubby "Expidit" from IKEA and 4 accompanying baskets.  I like the white, but thought it needed a little something else, so we spiced it up with blue and green stripes.  Since these baskets have a nice weave, it's really easy to do - just paint along the weaves as you go and you're golden.  Even better...you only have to paint the stripes on the front since the sides are hidden.  Much better!

Poor Travis had to put together all of the furniture by himself, since I was completely immobilized with a broken leg.  The Expidit was a piece of cake to assemble. The crib was a little more difficult, and the dresser/changing table took foreverrrrrrr.  Before the dresser was assembled, we had our neighbor help us cut a few inches from the legs so it would be the appropriate height for changing a baby.

It was fun bargain hunting for everything in the room, and I'm proud to say that almost everything in that room was found at a discount (either from a store like TJ Maxx/IKEA or on sale).

Only thing sweeter is the baby in the room!

Home from the hospital & the worst Christmas ever

Our story left off at the hospital - 36 hours of labor, a close call, c section and TV appearance.  Read more (and see pictures) here.

After 4 days in the hospital, we were SO ready to go home.  We packed up our baby and bags (including several bags of free gear the nurses gave us!), and made our way home.  We were greeted by my parents and one excited puppy!

When we got home, we were all excited to hear how Mark's trip to Atlanta went to buy an engagement ring for his now-fiance Megan.  The ring was burning a hole in his pocket - once he had it, there was no waiting to pop the question!  He proposed the next day on one of their walks through Umstead Park.  A baby and proposal in 5 days - the Colbert family had a good week!!!

Didn't Mark do a great job?  (With his lady AND the ring!)

The first few days home were how I'd expect all first days home are - exhausting but amazing.  Owen wasn't such a good sleeper the first few weeks - his nights and days were completely backward, and he hardly slept!  Owen is one alert little baby - that makes for a lot of fun play time, but many sleepless nights.  I spent most of my time in our rocker/recliner due to the c section, as I wasn't able to lay down in the bed.  Mom and dad were an enormous help, and we were so sad to see them leave.  The good news was that Travis' family would be coming up in a few days, and my parents would be back that next week!

Here are a few pictures from the first weeks home!

Burp burp burp

Hangin with his friend, Vivienne

The next week, Travis' family came back up to celebrate Christmas here in Boston.  This was also the first time Sarah and Michael (Travis' sister and her boyfriend) would meet Owen, so we couldn't wait to see them!  

On Christmas Eve, Travis, Terry and Michael went to Park Street for the Christmas Eve service, where Travis was playing trumpet. Sarah and Jenny stayed home with Owen and me (I was in no shape to leave the house, and Owen was barely more than a week old at this point!).  When they got home, we all had dinner together...and that's when things turned sour.  

Terry went to bed shortly after dinner (before opening any presents), which was strange to us.  We brushed it off as leftover exhaustion from the long drive the day before, until I awoke to the sound of someone throwing up.  Things got worse throughout the night, and we finally ended up calling an ambulance Christmas morning to take him to the hospital.  He was admitted with NOROVIRUS, but was thankfully released after a day of fluids.

Travis' mom and dad decided to check into a hotel, since it wouldn't be wise to bring someone with norovirus back into the house with a 1 week old baby.  As they were checking into the hotel, Sarah started to feel bad...and then the throw-ups hit her.  On the way to pick Sarah up (she was to be banished to the hotel, too), Jenny got sick.  We were dropping like flies!  Owen and I sat in my rocker/ germ-free bubble zone in the living room while Michael and Travis tried to clean things up, and then all the NC Alfords went to their hotel.  

Travis and I sat quietly in our house, sad his family was sick...sad we all missed Christmas...and terrified we were next.  

Then, 3 hours later, it happened.  Travis got the bug.  Then Michael threw up.  

Owen and I were the last ones standing, and I freaked out.  Throwing up 1 week after having major abdominal surgery sounded like it would kill me.  And worse would be a 1 week old baby getting norovirus.  I. Freaked. Out.

First I called my parents.  Then I called every doctor I've ever seen.  The advice was "don't use the bathroom everyone threw up in" (we only have one bathroom...we were doomed), "wash your hands" (my hands were bleeding, I'd washed them so many times), and "call us if either of you get sick". 

My parents got in the car to drive up earlier than planned, since I was still barely able to stand up with Owen and was officially on my own.  While they were on their way, the Boston reinforcements came in: my nextdoor neighbor Ali, and the most fantastic cleaning lady ever, Maria.  Thankfully, I'd called Maria the night before, when 3 of the 7 were sick, to see if she could come bleach our entire apartment.  As she was coming in, Ali came back over, realized I was about to lose it, helped me with Owen, washed everything porous in our apartment, and helped me stay sane.   

Ali, the angel

That evening, my parents pulled in and relieved Ali.  The next day, Travis was feeling some better and was released from his prison (bedroom), and we started to put everything back together again.

Three days after Christmas, we opened presents.

Travis was allowed out of the bedroom if (and only if) he wore gloves, a mask, and sat on a blanket.  NO GERMS!!!

Here is our attempt to look like we'd had a normal Christmas.  Still a happy family, even through the giant mess of Christmas 2014.  Thankfully, Owen was none the wiser.  

New Years Eve