Owen is 5 months old today!

His newest trick - sitting up with support from the boppy.

Murray is home! He's looking sad and pathetic but he's home. We're not really sure what the deal was/is. Maybe the butter? Maybe he ate a chipmunk? Who knows. But, I'm really glad we avoided surgery.

Let me count the ways the last few days have sucked.

1) Oreo barfed all over and then demanded more food. I had the pleasure of cleaning that up.
2) Murray ate a stick of butter (plus wrapper) that was softening in preparation for some cookie making.
3) Murray puked (very large amounts) around the house. Both Mike and I got to clean that up.
4) Mike's guitar fell and hit the hardwood floor, breaking the neck.
5) Murray kept getting sick and refused to eat (that has never happened - Murray will always eat).
6) Murray can't keep anything down and is puking water back up - we are worried about pancreatitis, so I take him to the emergency vet last night at 2 am. They did tests and it's not pancreatitis. They decide to wait on x-rays and send us home (5am) with special food.
7) Owen and I get up to check on Murray (Mike went to work) around 7 - Murray looks awful and I had a hard time waking him. I end up yelling his name to wake him, after seeing that his eyes were rolled back and he wasn't waking. I really thought he was dead for a minute. He can barely get up. I call the vet and Mike in a panic. Then I call Mike's parents to see if they can come watch O while I take Murray to the hospital.
8) The vet takes x-rays and there is a "suspicious" area in Murray's intestines. We talk over our options and review estimates (OUCH). He's now at the vet's on an IV and under observation and they will take more x-rays this afternoon. Surgery is still a possibility.
9) We'll definitely be eating Ramen for a few months now.

Please keep Murray in your thoughts. *sigh*

Owen and I have "Moovin' & Groovin'" class on Fridays. It's a fun time - with lots of singing and music. The instructor is great and sings almost the entire class. Owen seems to enjoy the sounds and loves watching the other kids. There is one other 5 month old in the class but otherwise it's mostly kids between the ages of 1 and 3. The only downside to the class is that I always seem to have a kid's song stuck in my head. It's driving me a little crazy. I put on some Lily Allen today and yet I'm still singing in my head... "bumping up and and down in my little red wagon [our alternate... "Chariot"], bumping up and down in my little red wagon, bumping up and down in my little red wagon....

We're going to dinner with the Haights tonight which could be interesting. We'll be out past Owen's bedtime and thus we will likely have a meltdown. Poor Owen - we expect too much from him sometimes.

So much has happened in the past day - I don't know where to begin!

- Owen has learned to blow raspberries. As if the drool running out of his mouth wasn't enough, now it comes spraying out! I have one word to describe this development - EW.

Here's the proof:




- Since Owen has started rolling, he rolls over when we put him to bed. As everyone knows, you are supposed to put babies to bed on their backs to prevent SIDS. I did some quick googling and I read the handout from our doctor (the one they gave us at the 4 month visit) and it says that once they start rolling, you don't need to flip them to their backs when they are sleeping. It still makes me nervous. Last night, Owen ended up sleeping, on his tummy, one 3.5 hour stretch, followed by a 4 hour stretch - both in his pack n play! Then he slept two more hours in bed next to me. WOOHOO! I know that tonight may be completely different but this is a huge change. I think he may like tummy sleeping - his Mom and Dad does, so why wouldn't he?

- Owen is grabbing everything which means I can't sit with him on my lap and do something else. For example, I can't type on the computer while he's on my lap because he grabs for the computer cord, the keyboard, etc. Multi-tasking is getting more difficult.

- Owen now joins us for most of our meals by sitting in his high chair. He looks so small in the chair but I think he really enjoys being up near the action. Pretty soon, he'll be eating with us! We're thinking of starting solids sometime after 6 months. There are several schools of thought on how to introduce solids so we're figuring that out. One thing we have decided is that we'll be making our own baby food. It should be especially easy with our crop share - since we'll be getting an abundant supply of fresh veggies and some fruit, too.

Here's his concentration face:





- Mike got a backpack carrier for his birthday and Owen seems to like being in it. We hope to take him on a hike sometime soon. You can use this carrier for quite awhile. Mike carried our friends' child, Lane, in the same style carrier when he was 3.



Today (Wednesday), we go to an Early Childhood Education Class in the prestigious suburb of Edina. I have mixed feelings about the class but overall I think it's worth it just to get out and for Owen to see some other kids. There's one super annoying Mom in the class and I try not to let her drive me crazy. Last week, she informed her class that her 5.5 month old said his first words, "Thank You" and "Bye". HELLO PRODIGY CHILD. Yah right, Lady.

Last night, we went to wedding #3 of the season. It was a beautiful wedding - the nicest I've ever been to. Lots of champagne and great food. We took Owen with us and it was a rough night for him. We were wishing we had a sitter for the night and I think Owen was, too. He was not a happy camper. We stayed through dinner and cake (can't leave before the cake is served!) - which lasted until 9. On the way home, we talked about how we wished he would sleep well and that it could be his birthday present to Mike - a restful night. Then we laughed it off.

We got home and put Owen down for bed at 10:15. He didn't wake back up until 4:05... that's almost 6 hours! It was heavenly! I saw Mike have an "where's the baby?!" moment around 3:30 - neither of us could believe it. But, the sad news is that we know it won't last and that anything goes tonight. The good news is that we're going out for Mike's birthday tonight and Grandma and Grandpa are watching Owen. So, at least we get some alone time before another potentially rough night. I just keep telling myself that when he's 13, I'll be waking HIM up and telling him that he's sleeping too much.

Here's Owen in action! He rolls so quickly now it's hard to catch it on tape!

What started off as a rough morning (Owen was not feeling the need to stay asleep last night) turned out to be a really exciting morning. Owen was on his playmat as usual and I was checking my email. When I looked over to check on him, he had rolled over - from back to tummy! He has only done this twice before and I had yet to witness it. I rolled him to his back and went to warm up my coffee. I came back to find him on his tummy! This time I was determined to see the roll in action! I got out the video camera and of course he wouldn't roll for the camera. But I was patient and finally got a roll on camera. Now if he'd just roll from tummy to back, he could really get going!