Owen, the Traveler

New video of Owen--he is crawling:
http://www.putfile.com/3hudsons

Owen has been quite the traveler, lately! Last week he spent 2 1/2 days in Phillips with me and the Spiehs grandparents. On Sunday, Dave picked him up and continued west to Gothenburg so they could spend a few days with the Hudson grandparents.

Since returning home, Owen has mastered the art of crawling! He also, just today, figured out how to get to a sitting position from laying on his tummy!

The pictures were all taken in Gothenburg, with the exception of Owen in the Cadillac. Currently, the 1960 Sedan de Ville Cadillac is being stored in Grand Island. We are looking for interested buyers....

Sons of Tupelo Reunion

We had one crazy, hectic week! Dave and I had been looking forward to seeing old college friends May 30-31. To start the week, our family pictures were taken last Sunday, the 28th of May. Owen was a total ham, the more people that came into the office to see what was going on, the more sillier he got! Monday was the start of a very busy week.

To prepare for our venturing guests (Brother Memphis and the Colonel), on Monday we cleaned the house. Dave (Brother Cadillac) also made some homemade ice cream (banana-walnut); as well as putting together his ribs to cook Wed. We were supposed to get our first guest in the middle of the night on Monday, but when we woke on Tues morning to see if Santa had arrived, we were so sad to see that his bed (futon) had not been slept in. Chad had to do some extra stuff at work, so he would be arriving later that afternoon.

About noon on Tuesday, Bill and Amy Rinehart concluded their long journey from Ohio by meeting us at Valentino's. I have to say that Owen was much more interested in flirting with the waitresses and waving at complete strangers than conversing with our guests. We all (the Rineharts, Plambeck and the Hudsons) finally met up at our place for a fun afternoon of playing catch with Owen. Later on we hit an Omaha Royals game. After the game, the boys and Amy played video games, watched movies and in general stayed up way too late for their own good. I, of course, had to stay at home so someone could be there when Owen wakes up in the morning.

Wednesday, everybody's dragging their behinds, looking pretty ragged; especially Bill! Dave stays home to take a nap with Owen, while the rest of us hit the Old Market in search of nothing.

Wednesday afternoon was also Owen's 9-month check up! Here's his stats: weight: 24 pounds (93rd %), height: 31 1/2 inches (off the chart %), head circumference 47.9 cm (also off the chart %). So he's healthy as a horse and growing like a weed!

Family Pictures

We finally had a chance to get our family pictures taken.

Mustang Video

http://www.putfile.com/3hudsons

Above is the link to our video webpage. Dave took a short video of the latest work on the rear-quarter panel of his 1966 Mustang.

New Teeth!

Owen finally cut through one of his top teeth, the second top tooth will shortly be through. He got his first bottom teeth along time ago....around Valentine's Day, so we were wondering when the rest were ever going to pop through! Here they come!

Family Visit

Owen and his cousin, Hannah, had a good visit Friday and Saturday. Owen watched Hannah crawl circles around him and climb up stairs! It was so funny to watch him watch Hannah as she crawled and got closer, he'd reach out as if to say, "slow down and stop to play with me." But, the excellent crawler that she is, she wizzed on past to go investigate a toy on the other side of the room. In the pictures you can see they made some good sounding music at the piano, and Hannah "tagged along" for the ride behind Owen in his scooter.

New Video

Here's the link to our putfile.com account where you can view our home videos. The two new ones are "Bouncer" and "Barn Tipper."

http://www.putfile.com/3hudsons

A Trip to the Park

Today we walked down to Elmwood Park (about a mile each way). Owen had his first "swing" in a swing and trip down a few slides.

It's April, already?

Got diapers? Owen's new playpen....he likes to purposefully tip it over and squirm his way out!
This cute gal is Julia Dahlke. She's the daughter of Josh and Laura Dahlke...

I can't believe that it's April! We've had snow, thunderstorms and hail! The spring-like weather has definately altered our sleep. With longer periods of sunshine, I feel more like staying up and soaking in all the rays! However, since I'm never sure when my natural "little alarm clock" is going to sound, going to bed at a reasonable hour just doesn't seem like much fun.

Speaking of my "natural little alarm clock...." I think Owen is part rooster. Last week he decided he needed to start his day anywhere between 3 - 5 AM. His entire sleep schedule got off kilter when he was sick last month. (A cold turned into sinus infection, plus about 4 days of diarrhea). His sniffles are gone, but the icky wet sounding cough still hangs on. We're slowly getting back on the sleep schedule.

Another day, another diaper....

So I haven't blogged in a while....sorry! Here's a quick update: Owen's had a cold, then a few days of diarrhea, and then back to recuperating from his cold. I've been on a quest for size 12-month PJ's and there's none to be found. Haven't checked around on E-bay yet, but that's my next stop. Even though tomorrow is officially Spring, it decided to snow here in Omaha, and the nights are still cold; therefore warm pj's that fit are a must.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to take him outside for a little walk in the snow...maybe a picture or two!

Another day, another diaper....

So I haven't blogged in a while....sorry! Here's a quick update: Owen's had a cold, then a few days of diarrhea, and then back to recuperating from his cold. I've been on a quest for size 12-month PJ's and there's none to be found. Haven't checked around on E-bay yet, but that's my next stop. Even though tomorrow is officially Spring, it decided to snow here in Omaha, and the nights are still cold; therefore warm pj's that fit are a must.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to take him outside for a little walk in the snow...maybe a picture or two!

6 months!

Here are Owen's 6-month stats: weight: 20 pounds, 8 ounces (95%) height: 28 3/4 inches (97%) head circumference: 46 cm (97%) As you can see, he's the image of health. Dave and I reflect upon Owen's changes almost daily. We are truly amazed at the changes in him over the past 6 months. We marvel at each new thing he discovers or attempts to do himself.

Grandparents visit!

This weekend Owen had a wonderful time visiting with his grandparents from Gothenburg. Dan and Karen were in Omaha late Sunday afternoon and most of Monday. Owen had fun showingoff his tongue and babbling skills! Dan and Dave adjusted the rear differential spacer with a hammer and put in a new rear differential pinnion seal. Tough job without a hoist, but they got it done. Karen helped out by taking care of Owen so I could make calls and check out different Day Care places. One would think it wouldn't be too difficult to find a respectful place with loving people to take care of your child (which also doesn't cost an arm and a leg), but it turned out to be much more difficult than we thought. I think I found a more suitable place for Owen to spend his Fridays and then continue on next year when I go back to work fulltime.

Yeah for Grandparents!

Two monkies

Two little monkies picking their teeth and scratching their heads.

Owen the Tiger Tamer!

Today, our living room was under attack by Moo Goo Gai Pan, our pet tiger, who was at one point tame. As you can see, Owen was very brave in his efforts to wrestle him! The tiger is now back under control!

Acid Reflux...

Owen seems to be going through some pretty major changes....he's working on another tooth, sitting up better and better everyday, and also his acid reflux seems to be worse. Let me tell you about Sunday night....he "normally" goes to sleep right after his last bottle. We've been blessed with his ability to get himself to sleep. (One week of training him in the put him to bed and let him cry a little philosophy). I fed him and put him to bed like normal. And then he cried. I didn't think anything about it, since sometimes he cries a little, and then falls right to sleep. Well, he didn't fall alseep and kept crying and we kept going in and soothing him and putting him back down and then going back in. The only way he would sleep was with his head on my shoulder. So that's how we slept (I really mean he, since I couldn't sleep sitting up with him on me). It took until about 2 AM until I could put him back in his crib. Then he was up at 3 and then 4 (luckily he went back to sleep) and then up for good at 5.

Thank goodness for Grandparents! Grandma Spiehs was able to come over Tuesday so I could finally get some sleep! What a great Valentine's Day gift!

His pediatrician did increase his dose of Zantac and Owen woke up only once last night and was able to go back to sleep. Yeah!

For anyone else whose child has acid refluz, I empathize and sympathize. Thank goodness for Zantac! (And naps!)

Owen Laughing Link

For those of you who were unable to open the video file of Owen laughing, this should work.

http://media.putfile.com/Owen-Laughing

TEETH!

Owen FINALLY cut his first tooth! He's been working on this tooth since Thanksgiving, it seems, and the tip of it finally came through! He has a bottom front-left tooth. It's not real noticeable, however if you stick your finger right on his gum you can feel the tip of it just on the outside of his gum. Maybe his "fountain" of spitting up lately is related. In previous months he was like a fountain after milk or cereal. Then spitting up slowed down and today he was like a stone cupid with his mouth pursed and emitting an arc of stomach fluids. Hopefully tomorrow his stomach will slow down a bit.

First blog entry!

Our first blog entry! Today, Owen is nearly 5 months old. He's met all of his major milestones: smiling, laughing, grabbing objects, eating solid food, going to bed still awake, sleeping through the night, and rolling over! Owen's latest thrill is grabbing everything he can get his hands on, including his feet! (and then usually putting them in his mouth!)