The Sun-Dog

We haven't posted much lately, because things have been pretty eventful around here. This is going to be a long one, so hold on tight. On the sad side, we lost one of our family in early June when our 12-year old lab Sunny lost her battle with cancer. She was everything we could have wanted out of a friend - always happy (and always hungry). She is usually the ever-present rug of yellow fur in the background of all of our pictures, so we thought she deserved some face-time for once, doing her favorite thing - hanging out by the water. Dog was Owen's first real word, and if you can't tell, she was his best friend. We miss you Sunny.









On the happier side, Owen turned 1! It seems crazy to think about how he has changed from the tiny little guy we brought home from the hospital into the little boy he is becoming. He is almost running now, he climbs on everything, and he seems to learn something new every day. Owen was lucky enough to have 3 birthday parties - one on his birthday, one in Ft. Wayne, and one at home for the Deak side. A big thanks to my mom, who did 95% of the work on the coolest superhero cape a 1-year old could hope for.

Owen's birthday candle from Amy - Fire bad Owen...


Birthday cake #1 did not survive


Cake #2 in Ft. Wayne


My man (and Owen's friend) Isaac rocking the superhero mask


He was a pro by cake #3 - No hands!


Superdude


Owen is lucky to have some pretty cool cousins on both sides, and after getting to hang out with them lately he decided that he LOVES them. He has also gotten to spend some time with my mom (he even says something close to grandma) at the beach.

Hanging out with Rachel


Being goofy with Chelsea


Looking to catch a wave


Making mom do all the work


And finally, most of you know by now that Kristie just accepted a job offer at Duke, and we just bought a house! This has all happened pretty quickly, but the short version is that Kristie couldn't pass up this opportunity, I'll have more interesting research jobs to pick from, and we have a lot of great friends still in the area (many of whom have young kids themselves). It hurts leaving the Chicago area because of how much we get to see our families now, but we won't be living far from the airport... Anyway, we took a 3-day trip to look at houses, and we hope we found a winner. Here are some pics of the journey:

Preparing for takeoff

Walking!

Just before Mother's Day and Owen reaching 11 months, he has really started to take off with walking! He took his first steps several weeks ago, but has the confidence to walk across the room (when he wants to). I think he will be running everywhere he goes very soon.

Here is a video of Owen walking! He babbles in the beginning and the camera runs out of memory, but he gets a few good steps in.


Here is a brief update of our life with Owen at 11 months.
-He eats absolutely anything and always has. We are still making almost all of his baby food, but now he is eating vegetable soup, chicken with potatoes and cheese, and pasta. I do know how lucky we are with this and hope it continues.
-He continues to be well over the 50th percentile for both height and weight (see above). We will see if he starts dropping some weight with his walking like everyone says.
-He sleeps reasonably well, but wakes up at 6:00 every morning. I am still not a morning person...
-He talks all the time now. His favorite word by far is dog, which usually comes out "dogum". He will say "dada" all day, but still has not said "mama".

Cubs game # 2

Owen attended his second Cubs game on Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day in Chicago and perfect baseball weather. Owen wore his best Cubs gear (thanks, Amy) and his hat. He was a little harder to keep seated for the whole game, but he enjoyed being outstide with Mom, Dad, Uncle Terry, and "Aunt" Amy.


Owen was facinated by the Cubs logo on his shirt, on Daddy's shirt, and on Uncle Terry's hat!


And, like all games that Owen has attended (in utero or in person), the Cubs won! We got to use our W flag at the end of the game and sing Go Cubs Go.

Owen - Daddy time in Tampa

Owen and I tagged along with Kristie to Florida while she attended a conference, and we were able to do all kinds of fun stuff. The three of us visited with Kristie's college friend Becky, her husband Matt, and their one-year-old Jake in Venice (happy birthday Jake!). Owen took some pointers from Jake on scooting around, talking, and playing in Jake's wild toy explosion, and we took a quick trip to the beach. And because it was 85 the whole time, Owen wore shorts FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Owen deciding whether or not to go in


Mom and the beach baby


Two pairs of troublemakers


Owen's introduction to slides


Peeking at mom


We got to have lunch with Melissa and Russ (North Carolina transplants), and their sons Chip and Ben at the end of our trip, giving us a look at how much busier a home with 2 kids can be than a 1 kid house. No pictures, but Ben and Chip were super well behaved and let Owen crash their party and play with their toys.

The story for most of the week, though, was me watching the little guy while Kristie was at the convention. And as much time as I normally spend with him, I feel like I got to know him a whole lot better after hanging out all day every day for a week. We stayed right in downtown Tampa just along the water and across the street from where the Lightning play. It was beautiful down there, and Owen and I started every day doing what became his favorite thing - walking along the water and pointing at all of the Pelicans, seagulls, etc.





It turns out that Tampa has a pretty awesome aquarium, and Owen loved it. He was completely enthralled being just a couple of inches from all of the animals. Kristie and I enjoyed it too, we even got to touch our first sting ray. Here are a few pictures:







Finally, while the water at the beach (which we visited again) was a little too cold for Owen, he did take a dip in the hotel pool, and he seemed to love it. He should be all set up for the lake at Grandma Carol's by the time summer rolls around in Chicago!

Owen splashing around


Searching for seashells


The jetsetter

The 22 lb. weight class and St. Patty's Day

We've been pretty busy these days with crazy times at Kristie's and my work added onto all of Owen's happenings, so I'll be doing some catching up in these posts. First off, Owen made his wrestling debut at a meet grandpa Barney helped run, and got to spend time with his uncles and cousin Zack as well. He's obviously not trying to cut weight yet, but his form looks pretty good!




Zack also squared off against my dad, which I can attest never ends well.


St. Patricks Day is a pretty big deal in Chicago, and our neighborhood does it up pretty big with a parade and plenty of green beer, so Owen got to attend his first parade (side note: we found out that our nextdoor neighbors are all the way Irish and moved to the U. S. 15 years ago - they like Owen's name but think it should be spelled the traditional way of Eoin). By this time Owen started pointing at new things, so he found plenty to occupy his pointer finger. Here is Owen watching the requisite firetrucks and bagpipers.





A later picture of Owen on his first swing!

Speed Racer

Owen decided that it was time to cause a little more havoc when he began to crawl on Thursday! He started off a little shaky (see video), but he has picked it up pretty quickly in the five days since. This does mean, of course, that we will have to stop storing our broken glass and scissors on the floor (just kidding grandmas).



The animals will figure out fairly soon that the little pink thing that has been stuck to the floor for the past eight months can actually chase after them, and that he "pets" with a super-strong iron grip made for holding onto whiskers. This might be made worse by the fact that his mom already bought him a car! Here are the requisite cute pictures:

Training for yard work


Owen showing off his new ride


Our little happy guy

Random Awesomeness

Disclaimer: The following does not reflect the opinions of Owen's mother...

It's been awhile since our last post, and so much has happened during this long winter that I thought I would update everyone on how Owen has been doing. Just before Christmas, Owen took up karate and has since become a ninja. This makes life difficult for our cats, on whom he practices his round-house kicks and sneak attacks.



Once he mastered his martial arts skills, Owen was approached by a secret branch of the army and was asked to become the next Captain America. After receiving a dose of the Super Soldier Serum, Owen developed incredible strength and the ability to regenerate. He also picked up an indestructible shield (which makes an awesome sled) to aid in his crime-fighting, but they haven't found a mask quite big enough to fit his head, so he hasn't developed a secret identity as of yet.



With his newfound physical abilities, NASA decided to train Owen to be an astronaut so that he could lead their newly formed division of Alien fighters. The zero gravity environment actually enhanced Owen's abilities (seeing as how he hasn't mastered the whole "walking" thing), because he can simply jump from place to place.



After saving the Earth from certain doom, however, Owen started to show his immaturity. He decided to team up with his cousin Ethan, and after going through waaaay too many fruit snacks and sippy cups of apple juice, the two of them bought a car and got caught going 15 mph in a 65 mph zone. When the cops pulled them over, Ethan just kept yelling "I'm a Rock Star!, I'm a Rock Star!", while Owen repeatedly tried to chew on the officers faces. They have been arrested and await trial in Los Angeles. They are being held in a romper room.

Random Cuteness!

Owen will be 7 months old tomorrow and just wanted to use it as an excuse to post a bunch of random pictures that I thought were cute. Just a couple of updates to let everyone know how well he is doing.

He's now over 21 pounds (90th percentile) and 27 inches (75th percentile). I can't believe how big he has gotten. Other than being well fed and having chubby cheeks (like his mom), he is also incredibly long! He is an excellent eater, which is no surprise! We are feeding him cereal, veggies, bananas, and applesauce. He absolutely loves the fruit and his daddy is trying to turn him into a vegetable lover. We even made our own baby food by pureeing steamed carrots and baked sweet potato. He seems to love all carrots, but isn't too sure yet about the texture of the potatoes. We also give him water and apple juice in a sippy cup. He is still trying to figure out how to tip it high enough, but its still fun to watch him try.

Owen is also doing great with all of the developmental milestones. He is a champ at sitting up and keeping his balance. He doesn't love to be on his stomach, but I think he will be crawing any day now. He rocks on his hands and knees and acts like he might just take off! He is also pulling to a stand from sitting. He loves to do this by grabbing onto his crib rails. We even had to lower his crib mattress! The day before Mike's birthday, he repeated "dada". He still says "da" and "ba", usually only once, but still no progress with "mama". I think is all so adorable....he's becoming this sweet little person!


Owen in his carseat on New Year's Day.


What a cutie in his overalls!


Bath time. Big duck, little duck.


Owen's new high chair and his sippy cup!


Owen loves his "dada".