Happy Baby

Owen has been "talking" for a few weeks now and he is starting to become more and more expressive each day. He is making parenting so much fun. I was able to catch a little video today:

Oh....one more thing....I think we have a thumb-sucker...

We'll see if he sticks to the paci or if he switches to his thumb in the coming months.

Sleep Is Good

Go Gators!

Owen did it again! We have slept through the night 2 nights in a row! Our nightly routine seems to be working so far. My next goal is to start gradually moving his bedtime to an earlier time, but the 10pm-6:30am schedule is a great start!

Brag Moment

I am so proud to say that Owen slept through the night again last night! He has done this a few times before and every time it happens, I have to check the clock twice to make sure I'm not dreaming!

We're trying to establish a more consistent nightly routine since I'll be returning to work in 2 weeks. Last night, I bathed Owen, fed him and then laid him down at 10pm. He didn't wake up until 6:15am this morning! And the best part when he woke up: He had a huge smile on his face!

I'm going to try this routine again tonight and hope for the same results. :) I am finding that a swaddle blanket is the key to keeping him asleep....sometimes he wakes himself up when he is dreaming, however he is really good at putting himself back to sleep. 

It's amazing what a full night of sleep will do to a mama. Owen typically only wakes up once around 4am in the night, but that still takes a toll after awhile. But I can't really complain. He has done so well in his first 6 weeks of life. :)

Keep up the good work/sleep Owen!

Check-Up Time

Owen had his One-Month check-up this morning and he was a good little patient. My mom and I have been trying to guess his weight for awhile now and I was excited to see just how much he is weighing now. My mom guessed over 11 pounds and I was thinking more like 10.5 pounds.

I moved his arm 3 times and he kept putting it back on his face...silly boy.

We had an 8am appointment so luckily we were in and out fairly quickly. His stats for this visit were:

weight: 9 lbs. 14.5 oz. (55th percentile)
height: 21.5 inches (50th percentile)

I was surprised he wasn't over the 10 pound mark, but he is certainly growing! His doctor said he is "growing beautifully" so that's all I needed to hear. Basically he is an average sized baby for his age but of course we think he's perfectly sized (I know, I know.... I'm a cheesy, proud mom).

Anyway, this visit was easy. The next one won't be. Owen will get 4 shots and I'm not looking forward to it. Hopefully he'll do better than I do with shots...we shall see.

"O" Happy Day

Happy One Month to my sweet baby!

I love this baby more and more every single day. I'm a very proud mama. :)

4 Weeks?!

It can't be possible that our baby boy is 4 weeks old tomorrow.

Time is going by WAY too fast. I have to go back to work in a month and it literally makes me sick to my stomach when I think about leaving him for extended periods of time. I've only left him for a total of 30 minutes since he was born and even that was hard to do.

Ok, enough about the depressing stuff...

Owen is still a really good baby. He is stretching his sleeping at night out to 5 hours at a time but still likes to eat every 3 hours during the day. I'm totally fine with this!

He's still wearing newborn-sized clothes and diapers but I feel like we are on the verge of transitioning to 0-3 months in the clothing department soon. The way they size baby clothing is crazy to me...some newborn things are still baggy on him and other things are tight. Weird, I tell ya. I think we'll still be in newborn diapers a bit longer, mainly because he likes to pee out of his diapers all the time and the smaller diapers seem to work better at keeping the urine contained. Some days it seems we change clothes as many times as we change diapers...and that's a lot of changing!

And can I just say that this child is the king of pooping in a freshly changed diaper. We sure go through the diapers in this house. Thankfully we were blessed with so many packs/boxes of diapers at all of our baby showers that we haven't had to buy any yet and probably won't have to for awhile. Holla!

We have kept our outings to a minimum this first month, but some of the places we've taken Owen so far are:
-the doctor
-Nonna's volleyball game
-big sister Peyton's softball game
-Mama Dips for Uncle Matt's birthday
-big sister Raegan's soccer practice
-Uncle John's football game tonight (GO COMETS!!)

I'll try to venture out more this next month but I honestly have really enjoyed having an excuse to stay at home. Somedays I feel a little more stir crazy than others, but overall I've enjoyed being at home with Owen.

Oh, I think Owen has decided he likes bath time now. He screamed through his first bath but lately he seems to enjoy laying in the warm water and creating his own waterworks. :)

That's all the updating I can think of right now. I still can't believe 4 weeks have passed. He'll be going to college before I know it...

Oh Boy!

I'm officially a mommy. It's still sinking in and I'm loving it.

On August 13th at 12:23 am, Kris and I welcomed a beautiful 7 pound, 1 ounce baby boy into the world.

Meet Owen Daniel LeRoy:

Hat too big = cone-looking head

He is a week old today and I already feel like he's growing too fast. He is a perfect baby. The only times we hear him cry is when he's hungry or when his diaper is being changed. It seems like he is sleeping around the clock but he doesn't appear to have his days and nights mixed up. He will usually give us a good 4-5 hour stretch at night before waking up for a feeding. We put him in his cradle between 10 and 11 each night and then he will usually wake up once in the middle of the night and then again anywhere between 6 and 8. The interrupted sleep has been a little hard to get used to, but I know we're very fortunate to have a baby that will let us sleep as much as Owen is letting us sleep so far. I also know anything can change when it comes to babies, so I keep reminding myself that this may not last long.

The moment I laid eyes on this sweet baby, I was overcome with emotion. Even now when I look at him, I can't believe he was growing inside of me for 9 months. It was always hard to imagine him being here but now that he is here, I don't know how I got through the days without him. He has stolen our hearts and we are so thankful that God chose us to raise him. We are the luckiest parents.

 The Monday after Owen was born (the 15th), we had to take him to the doctor for the first time. The pediatrician on call while we were in the hospital wanted us to take him in for a weight check and to have his bilirubin checked. When we saw our pediatrician, she said his color looked great and that she didn't want to have him pricked that day. He had lost weight since his birth (6 pounds, 11 ounces) and she wanted us to come back on Thursday (the 18th) for another weight check. She said if he started to look yellow by then, they would prick him but that he didn't seem to have any issues with jaundice at all. I know lots of babies go through this and I had pretty much expected to have to deal with it, but I'm so happy that it wasn't an issue for Owen.

I'm so in love with this baby boy.

Oh, and when we went back to the doctor on the 18th for his weight check, he was back up over his birth weight! He weighed in at 7 pounds, 2.5 ounces. I was just hoping for some weight gain. I wasn't expecting him to be over his birth weight in just 3 days. It confirmed that he is getting everything he needs from my milk, which is a good feeling because it's so hard to tell how much exactly he is getting. I guess he would let me know if he wasn't getting enough though. :)

And the verdict is still out on the color of his eyes. In some light I can see a hint of blue and then in other light I see more of a brown tint. I think they will end up being brown like mine, but I have no problem with them being blue like his daddy's either. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. :)

I'm a sucker for baby feet and I can't get enough of these.

That's pretty much the latest in our lives right now. The first week of motherhood has been emotional, wonderful, amazing, perfect. I wish I could freeze time, but I'm so looking forward to this crazy adventure and raising this baby with my best friend. 

We are so blessed.