6 months already!

It's true... our little peanut is 6 months old already!  Although, I can't remember exactly what happened in the days after he was born (sleep deprived), it seems like it was just yesterday.  And though, we may seem like we have it a little more figured out, Nick and I are still pretty clueless!  Fake it 'til you make it!

So what is our little man up to now that he is 6 months old:

New skills:

• Sitting (he can't get there himself, but if you put him in a seated position, he'll play like that he 20-30 minutes)
• Getting up on hands and knees (but then he is stuck and frustrated)
• Trying to learn to eat solids (not really good at this yet, but the Dr says we should do it every day and he'll figure it out)
• Having a blow out every day at daycare (oh how I wish this wasn't true... he pooped on the floor there last week.  At least Ms. Megan thought it was funny)

Stats:

• 14 lb 2.6 oz (2.7%)
• 25 inches (2.4 %)

Favorite toys:

• Monkey rattle
• Monkey on ball toy
• Baby Einstein music player 
• Bath toys
• AMOS!!!  No joke, the cat is by far Owen's favorite thing in the entire world!

Here's his 6 month picture:

6 months!

5 months!

4 months!

3 months!

2 months!

1 month!

Here are some other pics from our 6 month photo shoot (he's a man on the move):

 

And a few more pics... since that's why you read anyways:

Thanksgiving!

Okay... so I had been meaning to post for about 3 weeks, but then work, travel, work, baby life got in the way.. so here we are!

Thanksgiving was great!  Very exhausting, but great!

We meant to leave early on Thursday morning for my parents' house, then all of a sudden it was 9:30 and Nick wouldn't let me put anything else in the car, so we left.  It was the first time we were traveling since Owen really has been into playing with toys... I was ready to bring everything. 

We got to Onalaska just in time to start eating (overarching theme of the weekend)!  There were 4 pies for 6 adults, 1 child, and a baby!

Luckily, my friend Kati and her family Marcus and baby Reese (12 days younger than Owen) were able to come over for a visit!  Reese is adorable, and we loved meeting her and catching up with Kati and Marcus!

A few hours later, we managed to set the turkey on fire.  The oven's temperature probe was malfunctioning, and the broiler kicked on, igniting the top of the turkey.  Luckily, the turkey was moved to the roaster to finish cooking, and the oven recovered in time to cook the sides.  (Note that the pies were already done... thank goodness!)



Well, we thought that the turkey was cooking... it never got to temperature, so we nuked it!

Every year, my mom makes us say what we are thankful for and every year we all moan and groan like this is going to kill us.  We're not big on sentimental... But I do have a lot to be thankful for this year, and I am super aware of that.  My happy and healthy family.  Parents and in-laws who are sooo excited to be involved in Owen's life.  My brother living so close and letting us share in so much (marathon, meeting his gf).  My job.  Nick's job.  Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  My target red card.  Sometimes I feel so blessed that I think it just can't continue to be so good!

My cousin Wendy and her daughter, Victoria, came up for Thanksgiving again this year, and Owen was in love with Victoria!  Here are some of the cute pictures! 

We had a great trip, but we were happy to come home and sleep in our own beds/rooms (babies make a lot of noise in their sleep...)! 

Here's hoping that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is having a great start to their holiday season!  Also hoping the Indiana folks are feeling better after being hit with a tummy bug just after Thanksgiving! 

Hey Nick, did you know that Thanksgiving is next week?

"Yeah, but I just realized that this morning..." -Nick

Where did the time go?  I feel like we lost about 3 weeks somewhere.

So what has happened in the past three weeks...

We went trick-or-treating at the zoo with the Kandikos (best buddy Mason)!

Mason was a hot dog, and Owen was a giraffe!

Momma and her giraffe!

I tried to make some new recipes... Pumpkin rice krispy treats!

We celebrated Owen's first Halloween!  We left our candy unattended and went to the Storcks!

Even Amos dressed up (and hated every minute of it!)

My little giraffe with the Slinger Giraffes...

Henry was a gnome!

Joe was a skeleton!

Owen tried his first "solid" food- oatmeal cereal!  He didn't hate it!  He opened his mouth up for the spoon but then didn't really know what to do with the food once it was in his mouth.  He has a fairly strong tongue thrust reflex still.  So the oatmeal was all over his chin.  We'll keep trying every once in a while... it's all for fun still!

 We went to a Packer Birthday party and played with Ms. Harper!

We played with the Twieg's!

Owen, Baden, and Nolan (From left to right)

And we turned 5 months old!!!

5 months!

4 months!

3 months!

2 months!

1 month!

And Owen wants you to have a great week and a good Thanksgiving!

4 Month Stats

Here we are at 4 months!

• Owen takes a bottle like a champ now a days... eating >20 ounces from a bottle on days that Momma works!
• Owen is sleeping through the night most nights (7 pm to 6:30 am)!  Sweet!  (knock on wood!)
• First ear infection under our belts!  I see plenty of those in our future... boo!
• Weight: 12 lb 10.8 oz (7%)
• Height: 23.75 in (7.75%)
• New tricks: 
• rolling both from back to belly and belly to back
• sleeping on my tummy
• sitting in my high chair while Momma and Dad eat

4 months!

3 months!

2 months!

1 month!

Rough week!

It's been a rough week/week-and-a-half in the Gnadt household.  Probably the toughest week with a child so far!  It all started two Fridays ago, when my mom was here.  She was nice enough to send Nick and me on a date.  We went to Sushi Muramoto and ate until we were stuffed!  We put Owen to bed before we left since he goes to bed ~6:45-7 pm and didn't think he would be any trouble for my mom.  We were so wrong.  Apparently, he was up at 8... needed to be rocked and back to bed he went.  Then, he was up again at 10:30 when we got home.  Rinse and repeat every 1-2 hours throughout the night.  Ugh!  Saturday night was the same.  Come Sunday, we were exhausted!  Then Sunday, he slept!  And thank goodness because we needed the sleep!  Then on Monday, he had shots.  And his ear looked a little funny, so the pediatrician said to come back later in the week if he wasn't sleeping better again.  So, after a long week of no sleep, we went back to the doctor's on Thursday.  Bilateral Acute Otitis Media aka double ear infection.  And my response to the doctor?  "But I'm breastfeeding."  Funny what you say when you are really, really tired!  So amoxicillin at 90 mg/kg/day it was.  And it seemed to be working by the weekend.  Then on Saturday, he had blood in his diaper.  We called the nurse line, and they wanted Owen checked out within 24 hours.  So on Sunday, we went to the peds after hours clinic (before Mason's baptism).  The doctor there wasn't sure if it was the amoxicillin, or the rotovirus vaccine, or a cow milk allergy (insert Sarah panic here- for why see my previous post on my milk stock pile), or maybe a small fissure that we couldn't see.  But he said that his ears were still infected and that we should hold the amoxicillin and see the doctor again on Monday.  So on Monday, we went back to the pediatrician.  The blood in the diaper had been there on Sunday, but of course (and luckily) there was none on Monday.  The pediatrician saw a healing fissure and all was good in the world.  Owen got an injection of an antibiotic since his ears still looked bad and the amoxicillin had been held.  Through all of this, Owen has been a rock star!  No fevers.  Mostly the same happy smiley baby.  Every doctor was amazed at how his ears looked given his demeanor.  He had been sleeping better... okay I take that back.  Now he is not sleeping for a different reason.  Owen is not sleeping as well now, because HE IS ROLLING!!!  And he is determined to be a belly sleeper- he just scares himself when he rolls to his belly in the middle of the night, screams for a few minutes, and then settles back down.  Repeat this cycle ~5 times each night.  At least Nick can help settle him now :) 

In addition to all of this... we did a lot of really fun stuff this week! 

On Saturday, Uncle Aaron completed his very first marathon with a time of 5:07!  Way to go Aaron!  Good job to Megan who also ran the 10k in the rain!

Also on Saturday, we walked with our neighbors in the Madison Area Down Syndrome Society walk!  Harper raised over $2000... probably because she bribed people with high-fives and kisses!  Sorry that I don't have any pictures of the whole group... we were quite the site, all dressed in pink!

Owen at the beginning of the walk

Owen containing his excitement at the end of the walk...

Madison Fire Rescue!!!

On Sunday, best buddy Mason was baptized.  And Heather bought the yummiest cake to celebrate!

On Tuesday, Amos had 5 teeth removed.  A vet in Verona recently diagnosed him with autoimmune stomatitis and recommended removing the teeth behind his canines as the first line treatment.  So to Dr. Loof's we went.  Already, he seems to be happier and has just now realized that there is a baby in the house.  Owen received a lot of head rubs this morning...

Okay and this week's reward for listening to me ramble on and on... a great video of Owen and his new favorite word "zebra!"