Happy Little Bugger

We noticed that Owen started smiling a little yesterday and it took a couple tries for us to get it on camera, but here is a small sample of what he's up to.  Oddly, he mostly smiles after he's been changed and is still going commando.  In fact, in this clip he's not wearing anything south of the equator.  Ah, to have no shame again.  

Ed's Not As Stupid As He Looks

This is another photo from the Gardens.  This artist created these spherical huts that closely resemble birds nests.  You could kind of see from one into another through the windows.  I wanted to take a picture inside, but instead of standing next to Carrie I went into the other one and acted goofy for the sake of a fun photo.  Some within our party felt I was acting foolishly, but as it turns out, a fun little shot came out of it. 

This is what they look like from a little further back.

A Day At The Gardens

We went to the Desert Botanical Gardens with Ron and Debby this weekend and got to have a nice little family outing.  It was cool and overcast (bad news for the Seattleites, good news for us) so we were okay having Owen out for a few hours.  It was a really fun trip; we got out of the house, which is always a good thing, and I guess the lighting was good for photography because every third person had a nice camera. 

This is a shot that I was particularly happy with.  I had already made up my mind that I liked our new camera, but now that I know that it can catch a hummingbird's wing mid-flap, I'm in love with it.  I have since taken pictures of other fast moving objects (I'm looking at you ceiling fan) and the camera laughs in the face of my stupid little tests.  

We're working on baby announcements and I put a little work into a few photos to see which one we want to use.  This little gem is one that didn't make the cut, but/so I wanted everyone to see it because 1) I put like an hour into it and 2) I like it a lot.  

What's This Kid Made Of?

Well, technically, it's these people.

Grandma and Grandpa Bennett and Great Grandma Miller

Grandma Wilhelme

Grandpa Wilhelme

Great Grandma Wilhelme

Grandma and Grandpa Cooper

(We're just missing Great Grandma and Grandpa Cooper.  Hint, hint)

For the Folks in Montana

Owen got to meet his final grandparent this week - Grandpa Cooper.  My mom and dad came into town for a week and it has been so nice and relaxing.  Our days pretty much consist of a walk to Starbucks for coffee and bagels, an afternoon nap (or two) and dinner. My dad is a natural with Owen.  It's so sweet to see him with a baby.  It turns out my dad is a big softie (shhh - don't tell anyone).  

Creatively Inducing Sleep

We've sort of started a mentality that we can use any means necessary to get this guy to sleep.  Owen is 4 weeks old today and at first we were treating him so delicately.  These days, in the interest of preserving sanity, we're taking delicacy down a notch and putting a premium on quiet.  We figure that if he doesn't like something, he'll just continue screaming.  By stopping he's actually reverse voicing consent.  So we have putting him by the washer and dryer, over the shoulder, and my personal favorite knock him out in the sling, keep him out in the bouncer 1-2 combo.  I don't know how single mothers do it.  We have three reasonably intelligent, full grown adults (Debby is back in town) taking shifts and all of us are showing signs of wear.  Props to single mothers everywhere.  

More First Day Photos

Cat

Kid

Bush

Cactus

These were pretty much everything in sight and I was taking pictures of everything in sight.  Like I said, nothing too earth shattering, but I'm looking forward to learning the art. 

New Camera

We got our new camera yesterday and I went a little ape on taking pictures.  I think I took like 200.  But it was cool because it's all digital so you can take like 10 photos of the same thing and you can throw away the ones that you don't like.  This was one of him on my lap.  I put this one in because I've also been messing around with photoshop and this is the first picture that I've somewhat heavily edited in the program.  It's nothing major, just a lot of little stuff like cropping and removing lint (or crusted milk from the corner of his mouth) and changing the hue.  It's fun and I think I'm going to enjoy it.  I'll post more of the first (and I'm sure very run of the mill) day photos that I like.  

P.S. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before but that is one of five onesies that our friend Miranda made for Owen.  At first we didn't realize that she made them despite the fact that on multiple occasions she told us that she was making him some onesies because they look so good.  So from here on out, if you see him in anything that looks like it cost $100 dollars at Neiman Marcus, yeah Miranda made it.  

Looks Like I Pulled A Homer Simpson Of My Own

This is a little something something that I've wanted to put onto here for a little while, but it required a little photochopping.  After 4 days in a tiny room, you look for little ways of being creative.  This is one little tidbit that I came up with that Carrie and all the nurses thought was pretty cute.  It was a little thing that induced smiles and was something from nothing.  I like things like that.  

How Many Dads Get To Do This?

How many dads get to pull off a Heisman pose (with their two week old son acting as the football) on the 20 yard line of their alma madder?  I don't know either, but I'm guessing it's not a lot.  I am one of the lucky few to have pulled off this magnitude of goof-offery, and I gotta say - it feels pretty damn good.  I may be new to this, but I recognize once in a lifetime chances when I see them.  

Somebody Get Some Pants on that Kid

Okay, so now we're experimenting with video.  It's a little rough around the edges, but you get the point.  We were getting Owen all clean for the pediatrician tomorrow.  We don't want her thinking that we're raising a stinky baby.  Do you see that tub?  I love that thing.  I'm trying to talk Carrie into getting a hammock for our tub, but she's not biting.  We've kind of gotten into this blog thing and so tonight we went and bought a Nikon D40 SLR camera.  My mom and Jack had wanted to get us a video camera, but after playing with our digital camera's video function, we decided that clips like this would probably serve our purpose for a little while.  So we got an entry level SLR so that we could start doing some really fun photos and writing about them on here (in addition to all the other reasons it's fun to have cool pictures of you kid).  In order to give a little idea of goals with this thing, check out a baby blog that Carrie likes: http://blog.lifeinmotionphotography.com/

You Know the Guys at the Oscars Who Sit in People's Chairs While They Pee?

This picture is like that.  Fillers is what they're called.  Consider Carrie and me up peeing.  We'll be back soon.  

Ed Is So Smart. S-M-R-T.

Well he did it.  He is officially a college graduate.  This past Thursday Ed graduated from Arizona State University with honors - Summa Cum Laude.   I am beyond proud of him as are all his friends and family.   It's weird this time has come.  We moved from San Diego 2.5 years ago so Ed could get his degree and the time has gone by so quickly.   Ed powered it out.  He took a full load every semester and never took a semester off, including summer, in order to get this done.  He did it all the while working and towards the end taking care of his newborn son and wife.  And he still go straight A's.  The guy is amazing. 

We have had a crazy week with the family coming into town to see Ed graduate and meet Owen. Once it slows down, we will do a re-cap and post more photos.

Congratulations Eddy!!!

And so it Begins

I've had my two weeks with these guys, which went by way too fast, so this is what I leave behind when  go to work.  Carrie has been great over the last few days while I've been finishing up school, shouldering the majority of the work.  She was up twice with him last night and will be up with him when the crook of Mom's arm no longer appeases him.  As I've said before, she's doing an amazing job at being a parent.  

P.S. Don't tell Carrie that I took this picture, she doesn't like it when I take pictures of her asleep.  

Do You Ever Get the Feeling that Your Kid Looks Like Peter Falk?

I sometimes do.

Are You Talking To Me?

Having my mom around has been so nice and it's pretty neat seeing Owen with one of his grandparents.  It is weird having the roles change; me being a mom and my mom being a grandmother.  My mom and I took Owen to get some blood work done and the nurse would ask the questions like "Mom, when was the baby born?"  I wouldn't answer right away because I was waiting for my mom to answer the question.  Then it would click that the mom the nurse was referring to was me.  Crazy but wonderful. 

On a different note, and because I can't get enough of his chubby little face, here is yet another cheek photo.  I cannot stop kissing those things.  

Bringing Out the Big Guns

Having a baby is a big deal and with my wrapping up school and Carrie having had a C-section we decided to bring in a ringer.  We picked up Debby from the airport this morning and this is the first time that she held her grandson.  She is being so sweet, but she really wants to slather him with baby oil.  Apparently Carrie was greased up every day of her life till she was 2.  It's really good to have the extra help and I know that Debby is absolutely loving life right about now.

It Was Only a Matter of Time

I think that pictures like this were bound to crop up sooner or later.  We are definitely having fun with this kid.  The only problem is that he's such a lightweight.  I mean one beer and he's a slobbering, drooling mess.  Babies, what are you gonna do?

Cue Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely

For this photo we were actually trying to get Owen holding his bottle for himself, which he had kind of accidentally done right before this.  As it turns out, we ended up with a really great picture of Carrie.  This is one of those pictures where you get someone actually smiling and not posing a smile.  These are my favorite, and it’s kind of cool to have one of her looking lovely holding him.  

We've Got an Ace in the Hole

We've heard washing machines, bouncers and car rides, but our sure-fire method of getting this guy to quiet down is our sling.  It's actually pretty cool.  We have a baby book (by Dr. Sears) that suggests keeping your baby in a sling as often as you can.  It's suggested that this helps with bonding, not to mention a convenient way of keeping both hands free.  Best of all, it knocks him out in 10 seconds flat.  Every time.  Right now I'm the only parent on sling duty because it's not really ideal for Carrie because it puts a strain on her abs, but it's okay, I really enjoy having him close to me.  I'm taking a parenting class at ASU (which I just finished last night) and the books are totally geared towards mothers in pretty much every regard.  Fathers are mentioned pretty much only when discussing their absence, strain from work spilling over into the home life, and custody in divorce.  This was a little off-putting because it made me realize how conditioned society is to consider parenthood a maternal responsibility.  After reading that fathers spend an average of 60 minutes a week interacting with their children, I have become determined to continue to share in the responsibility and joy of parenthood.

Rollin' With the Homies

Carrie and I took Owen on his first stroller ride today.  It was at about 9:30 and the temp was a forgiving 70 degrees.  I have to admit that it's days like these that Carrie and I say to each other that Arizona isn't that bad.  In fact, if you had a pool, it would be a downright pleasant place to live.  There is a greenbelt by our place that Carrie and I used to have a couple of drinks and ride our bikes through the sprinklers to cool down.  This is not quite the same, but nice none the less.  

On a different note, we walked down to a little mexican joint that we like, which is about a half a mile away from where we parked.  We walked it down and back, which means that Carrie walked a mile a week after having a C-section.  That girl is a machine.  I'm in awe of her.