Shots From Yesterday

I hate to do the same theme two days in a row, but this is pretty much all Owen and I did yesterday that's blogworthy. Carrie and I don't have TV so we got all of our information the 21st century way, we streamed it. Everything was going fine till the actual inauguration, at which point everyone on Earth with a computer logged onto CNN and broke the internet. Oh well, there's always 19th century technology: the radio.

It was cool to have Owen around for this. All growing up the only president I knew was Reagan. I knew other people could be, and in fact had been, president, but I was freakin' 9 before I saw it happen. With any luck, that will be Owen's experience with Obama. I'm very jealous.


Clapping along with the crowd, Owen demonstrates baby-enthusiasm for the democratic process. I wonder who he's going to vote for in 2028.


It really does make decision making easier when you know exactly why you're making your decisions.

A New Era Is Upon Us

The Obama presidency ushers in an era of hope. Hope that America can move in a new direction and once again become a respected citizen of the world community. Hope that America’s troubled times can be resolved in a way which leaves the country healthier than it was when times seemed prosperous. Hope that Obama takes to heart the charge bestowed upon him, not only as the President of the United States of America, but also as a shepherd who leads this country past the mechanisms intended to divide us and towards the goal of unifying Americans as we face the challenges to come.


Artwork by Shepard Fairey

Are You Ready For Some Football?!

The Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. We're pretty pumped. You know who is especially pumped? - Owen. As the native Arizonian of the family, Owen is hoping to mirror the good-luck-charminess his Dad lent to the '79 Sonics (A.K.A. Your Oklahoma City Thunder!) during their championship season.


Rooting for the Cards from Dad's shoulders.


Dishin' out the high-fives.

New Food

Now that Owen is getting a little older, we can start giving him some new foods. We've done little bites of stuff here and there, but we've just come up with a new supplement that I think is going to get tossed in the rotation. Avocados are the perfect food for babies. Each half is about as much as a container of baby food, an avocado costs less than a pack of baby food and it comes in its own no mess container.


We're lovin' it and Owen seems to be pretty on board with the idea himself.


Plus, you can add a little lemon juice for fun.

Swing Life Away

We weren't sure if it was going to work out when we came up with the idea to try out the swings, but Owen may have had the best day of his life after all was said and done. We put him in the baby swing and it didn't really look like he was going to fall out right away so there was only one thing to do: give him a push. As it turns out, babies are swings' number one demographic. I have never seen Owen having such a good time, and this is a kid who likes to have a good time. It's not often we get to see glimpses of unadulterated joy, but here are some shots of pure human happiness.

Owen Dabbles In Irony

The Age Of Wonder

Babies, it would seem, start at square zero. I had always thought it was square one, but newborn babies aren't self aware enough to know what they're missing. It seems funny that it would take progress to get to the point where someone thinks bubbles are the craziest thing they've ever seen. But it has got to be fun, too. Could you imagine living in a world where your sole function was observation; living life without worrying about how or why anything around you was happening. Simply appreciating your environment for its own observable merits then moving on to something else, this is the stage Owen is at. Let's not forget, either, that he's just now moving onto touch as his primary sensory input. Up to this point, Owen's world view has been shaped almost entirely by taste.


Bubbles: put those on the list of craziest things I know about.


They pop. Yeah, put that on the list too.

Future Glimpse

Owen has started to enjoy being swung around, held upside down, or maybe held by an arm and a leg. One result of flipping him all around is that you occasionally have to set him down in random positions. I set him down like this (I believe after wearing him like a hat, we'll have to get a picture of baby hat up here) and he seemed content so we left him for a little bit. The thing that's funny is that I used to sit like this in chairs during my early teens and I could clearly see a glimpse of what Owen is going to look like when he's doing goofy crap like that.

This Is Going To Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Different types of messiness affect Carrie and me. There's clutter, which I have little problem with until it impedes quality of life, e.g. you can no longer navigate your living room, there's no chance of finding your keys, you momentarily lose the baby because he blends in with all of his toys. Then there's dirtiness, which, I have to say, bothers me significantly more than Carrie. I'm talking about crumbs in the bed, a spot where some wine spilled and dried, and, of course, everything associated with a baby eating.

Up to this point, it's been Carrie who has had to have her nerves grated with all of Owen's stuff everywhere. The feeding Owen part was fine for me because there was seldom a situation that couldn't be resolved with a wet wipe. Well, we're starting to get into semi-solid foods that grind into clothes and dry. Owen is also getting more dexterous, so dodging grabby little hands is less successful. Here are some shots illustrating my point.


Spaghetti noodles and Cheerios are Owen's new thing. Spaghetti is messier.


At lease he's having a good time.


Owen decided he'd help direct traffic. This is why babies make terrible traffic cops.

Glass In The Garden

Carrie, Owen and I went to the Botanical Gardens yesterday (thanks Dad and Carol) so we could snap a few photos of the Chihuly exhibit they have set up. We got some daytime shots that we are happy with and now that I have a tripod (thanks Mom and Jack), I can hopefully get some good night photos and get a little collection going. We got some pictures that we're really happy with, to the point where we might want to do something with them. I'm kind of getting into this photography thing, especially after yesterday when I had my new camera bag (thanks Ron and Debby) with all of my gear and lenses accessible. I think I'm working on being able to call myself a bit of an amateur photographer. Note: that's amateur, not immature, which I am also a bit of, but don't generally advertise myself as.


This is the sight that greets you when you walk into the gardens. It took a very long time to get this shot without 35 people in it, but I'm happy I took the time. It looks even more amazing at night with all of those floodlights shining on it.


In addition to sculptures, which tend to dominate their surroundings, they also have a few areas where the art is integrated into the landscape. These are the shots that probably look better during the daytime because the surrounding plant life is visible.

And of course what trip to the gardens would be complete without a couple shots of the kid?


Masonry is in the blood.


Helping Mom push the stroller and pretty tickled about it.

A Glimpse Behind The Scenes

This holiday season, in an effort to save a little scratch and create something somewhat unique, we decided on the prints route. We made footprint reindeer for the grandparents and handprint CDs for a more diverse audience.


We acknowledge that the reindeer have practically no value other than the sentimental variety, but at least they have a fair degree of that.


The CD, on the other hand, is cute and all, but has the added bonus of containing some arguably good tunes on it. Note: Some people have asked about the playlist of the CD, but we sent out 4 different versions, so if you want to know who's singing what the discs are encoded with text. A computer or newer car CD player will display songs and artists.

So, we're pretty confident that we've sent out some gifts that are fun and original as well as things people enjoy being the posessers of. That being said, here's a shot of what it took to get those adorable little feet.


Owen was stoked about this project.

Owen's First Christmas

It's a little late for a Christmas post, I know, but I can't let this one slip by. Rumor has it that a baby's first Christmas is kind of a big deal. We celebrated Christmas morning at Georgia's house before heading over to great grandma and grandpa Cooper's for the Cooper Christmas gathering. Though Owen had no clue what was going on, it was still fun celebrating Christmas with the two babies together.


Getting babies ready for a group photo is hard work. Luckily Ed was up to the challenge.


Not sure who liked the toys more - Ed or Owen.


Owen, in his excitement over having a never ending supply of paper to chew on, lost a sock.


Even though she can kick his butt, Owen adores Bella. In fact, he said his third official word while in Montana and it was "Bella."


The babies were tuckered out after all the excitement.
Not pictured: Tuckered out parents. Pictured: Very content grandparents.

When Puppy Rides End In Tragedy

Carrie's grandparents have a bunch of stuff around for the kids when they come over. Some of their stuff goes way back. They had Lincoln Logs that Ron used to play with. There was also a puppy that Carrie and CJ used to ride when they were young and it was cool to have some fun with it until everything went horribly wrong.


Owen, lookin' good on the puppy, buddy. Hey, this is fun. We should get Bella on this thing. That would be very cute and she could probably do a little better than Owen.


Bella, wow, you are doing even better. Look at you go. You're so strong. This is so much fun. I think I see someone else who wants to give riding the puppy a try.


Not you CJ, not you! I was talking about Marlee. Get off the puppy and for the love of God, what did that doll ever do to you?


We eventually got everything settled down, but let me tell you, we all gave CJ a pretty wide berth for the rest of the night.

Let Me Tell You A Story About Montana

Hello all. Well, we made it back from Montana and it's been slow going here because both Owen and I have been sick like dog. Luckily, we're both feeling a little better and Carrie can finally stop shouldering sick baby night shifts by herself (huge thanks to Carrie, by the way).

So, we gave a bit of an update of the trip the other day, but here's how it all went down:

We flew into Great Falls Sunday the 21st. Owen was a handful on the plane, but we survived and were in good spirits when we were greeted at the airport by Ron and Debby who were accompanied by -20 degree weather.

We made our way to Carrie's aunt Georgia's house where we stayed the whole trip.


Owen met his great-aunt Georgia (Debby's sister) for the first time and I have to say, those two were bosom buddies from the get go.

We made the 3 block journey (you have to love Montana) from Georgia's to Ron's parents' place where we were greeted by a welcoming party.


Carrie's uncle Scott and his wife Kelly have five girls and this is the first time they met Owen. He was a little overwhelmed by all the attention at first, but he decided rather quickly that having the attention of a bunch of girls isn't such a bad thing.


Owen got to meet great grandpa and grandma Cooper for the first time. It was unfortunate that everyone on this trip was sick at one point or another (except Carrie, oddly enough), even these guys, so they felt compelled to keep their distance. This photo was on Christmas day (more on that later) and Jerry & Billie Jo couldn't help but to sneak in a squeeze.


Needless to say, Ron was in heaven with the two grandkids at his side for a week. I'm really happy that we got to spend a week with both Carrie's immediate and extended family. That's the type of thing that really doesn't happen on its own and I'm thankful for everyone who put in the effort to make it work out.

Ron and Debby, along with CJ, Alexis and Bella, drove for 15 and 14 hours respectively coming and going on this trip. They beat exceptionally nasty weather both ways by a matter of hours and I'm going to have to nominate Bella as the surprise rock star of the trip. She was sick pretty much the whole time she was in Montana, but she was great for these long drives and, under the circumstances, pretty darned good over there.

All-in-all, we had a wonderful time getting to see familiar faces and familiarizing ourselves with new ones. We're very happy that just about all of Owen's relatives have met him in person at such a young age so now people can say, "I met you when you were just a baby." To which Owen will be able to reply, "Uh-huh, how are we related again?"

So, we're back, we're on the mend, and we're going to be back at this as regular. We're kicking around a little formatting chang-a-roonie, so that may or may not be happening sometime soon.

It's good to be back.

Contest Winner:

Thank you for all the entries we recieved, but there was a clear winner to our annual contest. Kevin, in a somewhat unlikely turn of events, wins this holiday season's Sexiest Person Eating A Summer Sausage award. I think it's the heroin-shiek look, which, as we all know, is so tough to pull off without actually doing heroin.

Back To Home Sweet Home

After two chilly yet wonderful weeks in Montana, we are finally back home. Though it was sad to leave, it feels nice to be back. This could be because of the 70 degree weather that was waiting for us. Right when we hopped off the plane we had to shed a few layers. Owen was happy to finally kick off his pants. The kid is not a fan of pants. And don't even get him started on mittens.


Taking a walk in the crisp zero degree weather.


Owen blended in nicely with the snow.


The great falls of Great Falls, Montana.