Creepy Crawler

 Owen hit the big 7 months today!  He is more than half-way to being one year old and continues to make us laugh.  He has been a crawling machine.  The whole crawling phenomena started a little over a month ago when he would scootch just ever so slightly on his activity mat.  Then he started to pick up steam and could make it to the other side of the living room in about 10 minutes.  Now, he can cruise.  He is still in army crawl mode, but if a shiny object (iphone or remote control namely) or Murphy's paw catches his eye - he will fly across the room.  Not sure what his fascination is with Murphy's paws, but am happy that Murphy has been tolerant of him grabbing them thus far - although he doesn't look to pleased in the picture above.

There is still a lot of love between these two.  I am pretty sure that Owen's second word is going to be Murphy or some mutation of the name (Moo Moo, maybe?).  I say second word not because I think his first word will be Mama (that will likely be number 10 or so), but because I am pretty sure he has already had his first word.  Even though Barret has been repeating "Dada" to Owen as much as he can for the past several months, that is also not his first utterance.  We believe his first word is "hi."  Yep, hi.  My mom and I heard him say it 2 weeks ago and were startled.  I kind of wrote it off as us both being slightly crazy.  Then, however, he said hi to Barret's dad's cousin - who confirmed he said "hi" as she approached and I place her outside the circle of crazy Owen infatuation.  Hopefully he says it again soon.  I have not heard of a baby's first word being "hi" but it kind of makes sense - people say hi to him all the time.

Back to my creepy crawler - like most babies, he seems to be a magnet for cords.  Much to my disdain, he likes to try to get to the wires for our internet and tv by crawling in that space in our tv stand.  I am hoping that he learns the meaning of "no" soon.

Crawling also brings the advantage of being able to get where Owen wants to go - like to help Alexander bang on the guitar while he plays.  Owen also likes to crawl into my lap, which I always find cute at first.  It is cute until he starts screaming in my face.  I am pretty sure that he just wants to be able to crawl through me or pull himself up on me but cannot and gets angry.  He certainly does not crawl into my lap to cuddle or be held - just to scream in my face.

This awesome turtle face  is becoming a thing of the past.  He was super into making this face for a solid two weeks - made me laugh.

I am kind of hoping that Owen's favorite past time of sucking on my chin and cheek becomes a thing of the past soon.  Again, it makes me laugh but his new teeth are sharp, little daggers and it's getting less cute.

Trouble maker.

Lastly, I feel the need to comment on Real Housewives of Orange County.  Historically, this is my favorite series of all the housewives so I was really excited for this season to begin.  However, it has been a snooze fest.  I get it - Tamra's got an attitude, Alexis thinks she is being bullied, nobody likes Brooks, and Lydia's mom smokes pot.  That is seriously everything that has happened in the last 10 episodes, plus the ladies discussing said topics- what is this, The Hills?  I am hoping that Princesses of Long Island does some redeeming for my beloved Bravo.

Half Birthday

 Owen's half birthday was actually a couple weeks ago - so I am a little behind.  I would like to say that I have been busy enjoying the weather or getting ready to go back to work, but that is not entirely true.  With the impending return to work, I have been using Owen's nap times to stay up to date on all of my shows.  I have amassed quite the collection of shows and am actually mildly embarrassed by my DVR.  I rediscovered Grey's Anatomy while pregnant and am not sure why I ever left it.  I am actually too embarrassed to DVR my 2 new favorite shows - Married to Medicine and Revenge but caught up on them via On Demand.  Revenge is filling the void that Desperate Housewives left behind and Married to Medicine makes me laugh - Quad should come out with her own book of sayings.  Anyway, that's a bit of what has been going on with me, but more important are the developments with Baby Owen.

We waited until Owen was six months old to start him on solid foods.  Avocado seems to be the in first food and we thought that sounded good, so avocado was his first time.  I think he ate some avocado - but mostly smeared it on his face.  I know that Murphy ate some avocado.

That bite of avocado really pushed Owen the edge - a few days later he was sitting up on his own and crawling around the house.  He is army crawling and it takes him a while to get anywhere, but it has opened up a new dimension of caring for baby.  It is especially fun when I am changing a poopy diaper and he wants to try out his new skill.  Owen can crawl pretty quickly if something intriguing catches his eye, namely my phone, remote control, or Murphy.  So far, Murphy has been very tolerant.  Owen loves to punch his paws and grab his tail. Murphy takes it or just walks away if he has had enough.  I like to call them the Gruesome Twosome and feel like they will be causing lots of trouble together in the near future.

One would think that sitting up and crawling would be enough to tide over a baby for a month.  But no, Owen decided it was time to cut a tooth.  Last week I discovered a bottom tooth had broken through and this week the second bottom tooth is through.  They are basically little daggers and are still a bit small to get a picture of.  His love of sucking on my chin just got a whole lot less cute.  I am also worried that I am going to have that kid that bites other kids.

I swear Owen might be part dog.  The kid loves socks, shoes, and Murphy's bones.  A sock will keep him occupied for a good 20 minutes - which is significantly longer than any other toy that he possesses.

Owen has been keeping us pretty busy this past month with all of his developments.  He better not be walking by the time I write my next blog post.

Fake Housewife

Following in the footsteps of many other notable housewives, I am reentering the workforce next month.  I know what you are thinking - Kelly is finally coming out with her Kelly Coutoure line or perhaps Kelly Koated Nights or pursuing that promising singing career.  Alas, no - although with enough auto-tune I could make a mean remix to "Don't be Tardy for the Party."  Rather, I am following in my girl Phaedra's footsteps and got a real job as an attorney at a small firm in Madison.  I am excited to be going back to work - was told recently that I probably should be going back to work when I mentioned how I get sad when Owen sleeps in because I have nothing to do (valid point). 

Also - how awesome is this apron?  My friend, Alyssa got it for me around Christmas time and I wore it for the first time this week.  Although it is amazing, I typically don't need an apron because my shirt is already covered in spit up and drool - so a little splash of sauce is no big deal.  However, I will certainly put it to good use in the coming years.

 We had a special visitor from Thailand last week - Uncle David.  David brought us a bunch of great gifts.  One of those gifts, he thought was a mediocre gift of a coozie (his thoughts, not mine - I like a good coozie).  Little did he know, Owen loves coozies.  After plastic cups, they may be his favorite toy.  He has two others in his toy box but his Thailand coozie seems to be the favorite now.  It was great seeing David and he got a ton of giggles out of Owen.

Two men and a baby.

Owen experienced his first boat ride this past weekend when we went to Lake Geneva.  As depicted above, he was captivated by the experience.

Things livened up a bit once he awoke and found Barret's pamphlet on Lake Geneva.

There were also some high schoolers on a date who took this cruise.  I find high schoolers in love to be extremely entertaining.  Barret was the creeper who took this picture.  They were cute, but in that awkward high school romance sort of way.

I had never been to Lake Geneva but I do love seeing ridiculous homes and Lake Geneva did not disappoint.  There were homes for sale for $15 million and those appeared to be on the smaller end of the estates we saw.  Lake Geneva was built as a summer getaway for extremely wealthy Chicagoans after the Chicago Fire.  It is crazy to me that someone can build such a lavish home and only use it one month out of the year.  It was a fun city to see though and I am glad to say that I have now seen the "Newport of the Midwest."

Cone Dog

First off, my husband wrote a great article regarding a nursing mom's rights in the workplace.  Here is the link, if anyone is interested:  http://www.dewittross.com/news-education/posts/2013/04/09/accommodating-nursing-mothers-in-the-workplace.

Our beloved Murphy had to have surgery a few weeks ago.  He had a lump on his leg, which turned out to be a benign tumor.  Unfortunately, they cannot tell if it is benign or malignant until they remove the tumor and have it tested.  Although it was benign, it was still good to have it removed as it could have continued to grow and become problematic.  Nevertheless, Murphy had to wear the cone of shame for 10 days.

Day One was a bit rough, as the vet had to sedate Murphy when he woke up because he was really angry about not being able to get at his incision.  When he came home, he was super sappy and I realized that I had never heard him whimper until that day.  Murph is tough though, and he has now combated worms, a tapeworm, Lyme's disease, a truck, and a tumor and has come out on the winning end.

After the first day, Murphy was getting back to his normal self - except his damn cone.  I don't think he really noticed that he had this cone on, other than when he was drinking water from the rain drops that landed in his cone, but it drove me crazy.  He bopped his cone around constantly and could not figure out that he needed to wait to squeeze his conehead out the door.  He would also run upstairs after we put Owen to bed and bang his cone on each stair.  Owen also did not mind the cone and was happy that he was still able to get some daily kisses from Murph.

Every child seems to love Sophie the Giraffe and Owen is no exception.  My mom got him one for Christmas, which mysteriously went missing a few days later.  I had brought it in the diaper bag to yoga and i was never seen again.  My first instinct was Murphy took it outside and buried it in the snow, along with some of his other treasures.  Once the snow melted, I scoured the yard but no Sophie.  So I figured I had wrongly accused Murphy.  Until we got replacement Sophie a few days ago.  The instant Murphy was left alone with Sophie, he took it through his doggy door and was playing with it in the yard.  Thankfully, I was walking downstairs and spotted my misbehaving dog and was able to save Sophie.  I am still not sure what Murph did to Sophie 1 (chewed up and swallowed?) but he was definitely the culprit and not my mommy brain.  Now, we have to keep Sophie tucked away or up high when not in use.

I love free stuff!  I will never turn down a free sample at the grocery store or a stupid t-shirt that is being given away.  So I of course love free kids stuff.  Storytime at libraries are great.  The past two weekends, however, we went to Kids in the Rotunda.  Owen is a bit young to really care about the shows, but the ones we went to involved singing kids songs and the singers were really good.  Best of all, it was free.  It is a nice thing to have in town and Owen was interested in looking around at other kids - plus it will be awesome next year for him.

Although Owen does love Sophie the Giraffe, his favorite toy is his bath cup.  It is the only toy that he has started crying over when taken away.  Not sure what it is about this cup, but he loves it.

Another Owen favorite are his socks and toes.  No need to buy this baby toys.  Also - holy thunder thighs!

Mommy Boots

Am I turning into a mom who is only able to talk about poop and puke?  Perhaps...  However, that is really all that consumed the past week of our lives.  I came down with a bout of what was thought to be food poisoning.  The culprit?  Sushi purchased from Sentry.  Barret chided me for buying such a product, but the shrimp was cooked and Sentry is a classy place.  It was not like I got it from the gas station.  Nevertheless, I paid a hefty price - 4 days of emptying my stomach and only being able to eat a few saltines.  We discovered a few days after my bout ensued that it was not food poisoning, but actually the stomach flu.  How did we discover this?  Well Barret came home early to help with Owen, only to realize that he was extremely sick as well.  Thankfully, Owen did not get sick nor did he get the memo that Mom and Dad were sick (monster baby pictured above).  However, he did have the runs for a day or two, which was pretty horrific to change those diapers when you are nauseous yourself.  Thankfully, we all survived the bootage and are doing much better this week.

Owen is not yet crawling, but that is not for lack of determination.  He has, however, figured out that he can move if he rolls around.  He started out on his play mat and I came back from grabbing some toast to see that he rolled across the living room.  Mobile baby is a bit scary.

This baby loves to be on his stomach.  We have zero issues with tummy time.  He is now insisting on getting dressed while on his tummy, getting his diaper changed on his tummy (it's super fun), and taking a bath on his tummy.  The bath on his stomach is a bit disconcerting and I am pretty sure he was drinking some bath water the other day - but he has a mind of his own now.

Barret and I are not what you would call "religious."  Neither of us knew what Easter was the celebration of, but we do like brunch, dying eggs, and chocolate - so pretty good holiday in my book.  Owen was thrilled to wear bunny ears for Easter.  We did not hide an Easter basket for him this year, but next year it will likely be a bit more exciting for him.  I also did not take him to get his picture taken with the Easter bunny, because I did not realize that was a thing and had the flu.  Low maintenance holiday for this clan!

Baby Boots

 So this may look like an angel face... but he is earning his nickname of "Monster Baby."  On Saturday, I had Owen lying on my chest and he did the grossest thing ever.  This baby booted in my mouth.  In SSP, we always referred to puking as booting and apparently Ron Swanson uses the same terminology, so decided to bring it back.  It is in the top 10 worst experiences of my life.  First, it was not spit up - it was vomit.  Second, I had given him his Vitamin D supplement about an hour earlier and got a taste of that cherry goodness mixed the vomit.  Third, I was laying on my back when this happened, so it was inevitable that I was swallowing some of the bootage.  Monster Baby got me good.

Spring is actually my least favorite season, but I am so ready for it to come.  I dislike Spring because there are so many teasers of nice days and then it snows or rains and is gross out all over again.  However, I am sick of bundling Owen up to go outside or being unable to take him on walks for fear of the frigid temps - that I am ready for Spring to get here.  Nevertheless, I will miss seeing Owen in his snowsuit.

Another reason I am ready for Spring, I took Murphy out Sunday and slipped on the ice not once, but twice.  Not only did I fall twice, but I fell forward one time and backward the other.  So I now have a bump on my knee, scraped elbow, bump on my back and head.  Oh and we only walked 3 blocks.  Owen's vomit was a nice precursor for my tumbles.

Another downside of Winter/Spring - Owen and his buddy Mason got all ready to go for a walk and then we stepped outside and there was freezing rain.  At least we got this pic...

Even though the Badgers had this adorable fan, it was not enough for them to pull it together and make it past the first round of NCAA.  Badger gear will go into storage until September.

Owen's new skill is screaming and making bird-like noises.  It was cute at first but am totally ready for him to move on to some new sounds.  Sometimes when he gets too wound up, I take off his clothes and seems to mellow him out.  Mother of the year?

Diane is making sure that Owen stays up to date with current events.  He learned that Miley and Liam are on the rock but thinks they are just young and will likely work it out.

I love Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  It is one of my favorite of the franchise.  Last season, I felt it got a little too real with Russell, but this season has been pretty good.  I have grown to love Brandi and think Yolanda is great.  Taylor is kind of tragic to me and I would like to refer to her as a hot mess, but really I just think she is a sad mess.  Dana is the true hot mess.  She may actually be the definition of hot mess.  She made a little cameo the other week and I really hope Bravo brings her back for the next season.  She is apparently going through a break up and decided to smoke at a clothing store, was drunk mid-day, and talking smack about the other ladies.  Isn't this what Housewives is made for?  I am also wondering if she still rocks her $25,000 sunglasses.  I would be super happy if Dana becomes Adrienne's replacement.  I would be pissed if Faye got the spot.  I would threaten to stop watching the show if they put her on there, but we all  know that would be an empty threat.

First Vacation

We decided to escape the snow and cold for a few days and headed to Florida this past weekend.  Also, Owen needed to meet his great-grandma who has an amazing condo on the beach.  So, we embarked on our first vacation with Owen.

We flew from Madison to Chicago to Tampa.  The first flight was great and I thought I was so awesome and had such a great baby.  Not sure why I was so proud of myself for getting through a twenty minute flight, but I was.  Owen fell asleep before take off and woke up after we landed (he flies like me).  But then we got to the second flight and it was awful.  As soon as we sat in our seats, Owen started wailing and was inconsolable.  The flight attendant tried to help by bringing a cup - not sure what the point of that was but it did not help and really just kind of pissed me off more.  Owen spent a good 20 minutes screaming and it was terrible.  Thankfully, he got all of it out in those 20 minutes and slept for the rest of the flight.  The people around us were pretty nice (albeit likely annoyed).  However, I will say that it was 20 times worse to be the parents of the crying baby than to just be a passenger on a flight with a crying baby.  I will never shoot the Glienke Glare at another parent with a crying baby on a plane again.

Our friends Amanda and Roger met us to vacation in Florida together.  You know you have a good friend when she agrees to take a vacation to visit your husband's grandma and hang out with your 4 month old.  This wasn't your typical Spring Break in Cancun - I think Roger and Barret cashed a six pack over 4 days - but we had a good time hanging out on the beach and near the pool.

There were no diapers allowed in the main pool, so Owen was relegated to the kiddy pool.  We were uncertain if the "no diapers" policy was put in place to keep the babies or the super old timers out.  Regardless, we abided by the rule and Owen took his swimming very seriously.

Here is Owen with his great-grandma Gucci.  He enjoyed living the high life in Florida.  We determined that his first foods ought to be lobster and Godiva chocolates.  No mashed bananas for Prince Van Sicklen.  Thankfully, he did not get us kicked out of any restaurants - we did some one lady get booted for having a crying baby.  However, I learned my lesson and did not glare at her.

Now, instead of seeing palm trees and sun - I have a lovely view of snow and grey skies.  I usually do not like spring, but am totally ready for it to come.