6 Hours!

Owen slept for six hours last night!  This is a vast improvement over his typical 3-4 hours. Hopefully it is not just a fluke!  Unfortunately, it didn't lead to much extra sleep for me, as I was paranoid the whole time.  I woke up at 3:30am and thought, "Oh, good, he's still asleep!" and slept for another hour.  At 4:30am I thought, "He's still not up...that's unusual" and by 4:45am I was paranoid that he might not be breathing. I'm telling you, the information about SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome, or "crib death") is meant to be informative, but it just makes me worry. So, I decided that the risk of waking him was trumped by the need to make sure he was alive, and I snuck in to check on him. Now keep in mind, if he was asleep I really didn't want to wake him. So I tiptoed over the the crib and tried to discern whether or not his chest was moving up and down but it was hard to tell with only the glow of a night light. Just when I was getting ready to poke him (to see if he moved!) he turned his head towards me, so I ducked down behind the crib bumper so he wouldn't see me. He stirred but didn't wake up, so I crawled across the floor back into the hallway and shut the door. And then I thought about how ridiculous it was that I was stalking my own child!

In other improvements, Dave and I went out for our first "date night" without Owen yesterday. We left him home with our wonderful neighbors, Jennifer and Mackenzie. It all went well except we came home and he was wearing a Canada hoodie. He loves them and had a fun time, although he looks a little terrified in this photo.

Anyway, we went to the Heritage Grill and had a nice dinner. We were hoping to catch a movie afterwards, but dinner ran long. We knew Jennifer would give us a hard time if we went home right away so we went to a neighborhood pub for a nightcap (is it a nightcap if it's 8pm? Ahh, parenthood...). Or at least that was the plan. When we walked in we were both immediately asked for two forms of identification, which was a bit unusual. We almost never get carded in BC. When she saw that we had out of province IDs, she told us she would have to verify them in the back room. At this point we were a little annoyed, since we'd been there for 10 minutes and hadn't gotten a drink yet, but what can you do? But, she came back another 10 minutes later and rudely told us that their "system" didn't recognize our IDs so we would have to leave. We were really annoyed by this, and Dave decided to take it up with the manager. He was pretty nice about it, saying that the liquor laws were being heavily enforced right now and he could be fined just for serving us without a "proper" ID even if we were of age. He suggested we come back with our passports and our social insurance cards. Anyway, we thought this was really poor business for a city that is hosting the Olympics next week and claims to be "welcoming the world." So we took our business elsewhere and brought a bottle of wine home to enjoy!

Where Did This Smiley, Giggly Baby Come From?!

It comes as no surprise to us that Owen is a very active baby, given his genes (Dave's, not mine. I'm lazy.).  He has been wriggling and squirming around since day one- his pediatrician called him the most active one month old he'd ever seen.  We really believe Owen is very frustrated because he is an active person stuck in an uncoordinated, immobile baby body. As he's gotten a little older and more coordinated, he's only become more active.  He has been rolling over from tummy to back since one month, and can sometimes roll back on to his tummy. He can hold his head up 90 degrees while laying down and hold himself up with his arms. He can support the weight of his body on his feet, and would be able to stand if only he had a little more balance. He is constantly flapping his arms and kicking his legs and twisting his head to see everything around him. Owen's very favorite thing in the world is bath time, where he can float in the water (supported by my hands, don't worry!) and move his limbs freely. I think if I let go of him, he could take off across the tub!  Unfortunately, his very active nature means he doesn't like to sleep! I think he's afraid he will miss something.  He will stay awake for 16+ hours at a time, until he is absolutely exhausted and fighting to keep his eyes open.  By that time, I'm pretty exhausted too!

I have been reading up on infant development, and one of the suggestions was to post high-contrast black and white images for your baby to look at. I put a few around the house in places where Owen could see them, and he absolutely loves them!  I put this one on the bathroom cabinet and it kept him entertained for 30 minutes while I showered and dressed!  Genius!

My "What to Expect the First Year" book called the three-six month period the "golden age" of babyhood, and I'd say Owen is definitely moving in to that stage.  He has been offering us lots of smiles and giggles, "goos" and "ohhs", and even a few attempts at sticking out his tongue.  I'm loving every minute of his adorable-ness!

Speaking of getting older, Owen had his two month check up on January 15 and weighed in at 10.4 lbs. I measured him on our scale at home yesterday and he was 11.2 lbs. He is still on the small side for his age, but starting to show a little chub in those cheeks and thighs!  He still wants to eat every two hours, so he had better be growing!

Owen has also progressed into sleeping in his crib for naps and most nights, at least until his 4am feeding. Indiana curls up on the rocker while Owen naps in the crib, which is pretty darn cute.  What a great "big brother"!

I will post more pictures soon, and hopefully some video. I'm working through some "technical difficulties" at the moment.  In the meantime, Happy Valentine's Day!  By the way, Dave and I (and Owen) will be celebrating at a bed and breakfast in Kelowna next weekend, taking in the beaches and the wine country and escaping the Olympic madness!  I'm very much looking forward to getting away for a couple days and spending some quality time with my amazing husband who has been working very hard and very late all week.