Owen's Surgery

At just seven months of age our little Owen had to have his first surgery, on December 14th.  It was very routine and didn't seem to bother him too much, but a surgery none-the-less.  It was basically a circumcision with a little added twist.  When he was born we were told he had a shortened foreskin so he couldn't have the procedure done at the hospital like all the other baby boys.  What that meant was that the foreskin didn't go all the way around the tip.  He also had a ligament on the underneath part of his penis that kept it bent downwards instead of being straight.  We had to wait until he was at least six months to do the correction to allow all the hormones to settle down after birth but surgery was also required because otherwise once he hit puberty the penis would curve even more!  What the surgeon had to do was basically remove the foreskin, clip the ligament and add the skin to the base of the penis using disolvable stitches. 

The surgery was done at Children's in Minnetonka and it was a very nice place.  This was our first time being at a Children's hospital, and, while we had a good experience, I hope we never have to go back!  I think what I was most nervous for was keeping Owen with an empty stomach long enough.  We gave him a big dinner the night before, then I woke him to feed him 4oz of formula around 3 a.m. and then just an ounce of water at 7.  We arrived at Children's about 8:30 and were surprised that he wasn't screaming for food the entire way there.  He wasn't really even fussy while we were waiting!

Look at the cute little PJ's they gave Owen to change into!

 

 

And then, of course, plenty of time to play while we waited for the surgery to begin!

Around 9:30 or so a nurse took Owen from us.  We didn't get to be there during the start of the anesthesia which was probably a good idea.  The waiting room had this neat screen where the parents could track their child's progress through the surgery.  Owen's the fourth line down with the 5/8/2012 birth date!  We were surprised how fast the whole thing took.  I just finished addressing Christmas card envelopes and we were being called back that he was awake!

Owen was a little riled up coming out of surgery.  I got a bottle ready for him but didn't really want to drink much until he got some pain meds working.  He slept a bit in my arms and we finally left around 12:30.  We had to put an extra diaper on him to provide extra padding in the car seat.  We also were sent home a tube of bacitracin to apply at diaper changes to keep everything moist.

John and I were hungry so we stopped for lunch and shared a little with Owen for being such a good patient!  He absolutely loved both the pickle and the ice cream!

 

 

We did get a prescription for pain meds filled.  We gave it to him the first day but by the second day he was off because it really upset his tummy and he kept spitting up.  Tylenol did the trick and by the middle of the next week we were off that too!  He started army crawling again the day after surgery.  It's gonna take more than a little circumcision to keep this guy down!  Stitches appear to be dissolving nicely and everything looks healed!

Potty Progress: #1 Down - #2 To Go...

I've been so impressed with Megan's potty training progress the last month.  She's been in panties almost all days with the exceptions of nights and she's doing great!

I still ask Megan if she needs to go potty occasionally but most of the time she just goes on her own now.  She usually knows if she needs to go or not.  If we want her to go but she doesn't have to she'll either refuse to sit on the toilet or once she's there will say, "that doesn't work" or "see!"  And then of course, the more active she gets the more she has to go.  Megan could be sitting on the couch watching TV and not feel any urge to go but once she stands up she quickly realizes how full her bladder is and will dash to the bathroom!  She will yell "I'm peeing!" and run to the bathroom.  Generally she'll still be dry even though she just said she was peeing.  If Megan is really into a show she's watching I will move the potty chair into the living room so it doesn't seem like that inconvenient.

We have had good luck taking her out in public and car rides without diapers as well and no major accidents with the exception of once during Sunday school when we first switched to panties.  I am stressing the 2-sheet rule with Megan when it comes to wiping.  At first she was thinking it was funny to use a whole bunch of toilet paper (probably because it got Mommy upset) but she's doing a great job at just counting to two sheets now.  Even at Grandma Lewis's place on Christmas she was telling Alexa she was only allowed two sheets!

Most nights we still put Megan in a Pull-Up and she does surprisingly well considering all the water she drinks right before bed during storytime.  A couple times she had asked to wear panties to bed but we're not quite ready to make the permanent switch.  Naptimes get panties, however, and so far only one accident at Grandma Gennrich's.

The only real problem we are having is going poop.  First, I don't think Megan is really drinking as much water as she should be so she's getting constipated and really making the poop hard to come out.  The first couple weeks after we made the panty switch she only went poop once or twice a week.  No wonder it hurt!  We even tried putting a diaper on her and told her it was ok to go but she was already too used to the potty.  We had a lot of poop stained underwear and red and sore butts for a while because even though the real poop didn't come out she still got out just a little streak in her panties.  We're getting better about the soiling and last week Megan went poop on the potty every day for 5 days in a row!  I think she mostly likes going with her Grandmas because she wouldn't go for me this weekend - she told me she wanted to go at Grandma Lewis's house...

I felt so bad for Megan on Christmas Eve because she was so blocked up she could hardly walk.  She was walking around so hunched over from having to poop that she looked like an old man.  It hurt to sit, it hurt to stand, and it hurt to try and push.  Eventually Grandma Gennrich was able to help her get it out and she felt so much better.  And then on Christmas she was almost as bad but took Grandma Lewis to cheer her on.  I guess we just have to push the liquids and just stick with it!

Best Buds and Cousins!!

I think it's safe to say that Megan views Owen as both her brother and one of her best friends.  Even though he gets into all of her stuff she still loves to hold him and gets a kick out of watching him play.  She especially likes watching him crawl around.  She'll squeal, "Look at him go, look at him go!"  Also, there aren't too many days that go by without her asking to either hold him or help feed him.  They hold hands in the car and if Owen isn't reaching his hand over far enough Megan has learned that she can usually get him there by offering him a couple puffs.

Here are a few pictures of the two buddies throughout the past month.  It's harder than I thought it would be to get a good one of two kids at once :)

 

 

Megan loves to stir up Owen's cereal and also feed him.  These pictures are from a few weeks ago but yesterday I actually let Megan have the bowl of baby food and feed him a few bites while I kept going on my housework.  She thought it was awesome!  Of course she can only give him a few bites until Owen gets frustrated that it's not going in fast enough.  

 

Of course it isn't always smooth sailing between Megan and Owen.  Plenty of times she'll make him cry by pulling his pacifier out and hiding it.  And especially recently she'll push him off her favorite toys.

Megan and Owen's other best buds are cousins Alexa, Lily and Ethan.  Here are a couple pictures of the five of them during our attempts to get a good Christmas card picture for John's parents.

 

These two are inseparable when they're at Grandma and Grandpa Lewis's place together.  And Grandma Lewis made them coordinating aprons for this year's Lewis cookie exchange!

Sound Asleep

Everyone is happy when these two little rascals are asleep.  If Owen isn't quite ready for sleep yet and Megan is in the room you might as well forget it and let him play.  Most of the time the room situation works great but bedtimes can get a little tricky.

Not only are they super cute when they are awake but there are little beauties when sleeping too.  I couldn't resist but snap a couple sleeping pictures last night after a full day of play for both kids.  It was a little tougher getting them to bed again last night.

I heard once that when a kid sleeps with his arms out like this it means they are completely relaxed.  Owen must be sleeping hard after a full day of walking, falling and exploring!  I was happy since he slept a full 12 hours in a row last night - no stirs whatsoever.  I honestly don't know if that's ever happened before!

This sleeping beauty didn't nap yesterday so was tuckered out too.  She was down for about 12 hours too but has been crawling into our bed in the early mornings lately.  This morning it was about 5 a.m.  Isn't she precious though?

While I'm thinking about sleep and bedtimes I wanted to record the little prayer that I had been doing with Megan.  Right now she is saying "No songs, no prayers" so I'm not getting to do it quite as often and will just say:

Mommy loves you. Daddy loves you.

Jesus loves you and Angels are watching you.

Our normal prayer had been:

Now I lay me down to sleep.  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.

God bless Mommy, Daddy, Megan, Alexa, Owen

Baby cousins Lily and Ethan as they grow

Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunties, Uncles

And everyone we know.

From here we would talk about what we did that day and add specific prayer requests.  Perhaps this is where "sing the Megan song" got started?

Standing & Stepping!

Owen's Christmas present to Mommy was sleeping in on Christmas Eve morning.  But his Christmas present to himself was officially pulling up on furniture and taking steps around and between objects!!!  He had pulled up just a handful of times prior to last week but it was more or less just up and then back down.  It's here to stay now though since he's been working the entire last week to gain strength and confidence in his new skill.

It first happened last Saturday the 22nd when I was going to give Owen a bath.  I put him down on the bathmat and and sat down to go potty before starting his bath.  I took my eyes off of him for a second and that is when he pulled up and was waiting anxiously at the tub for the bath!  I couldn't believe how quickly he got up there and how great he stood once he made it up.  But I knew he was ready since most of the time we have to force him to sit - this kid just loves to stand!!!

The only problem was that we still hadn't lowered the crib mattress yet so I made sure that John lowered it all the way the very next day!

Christmas Eve is when Owen started taking steps around things.  The first was just simply rounding the corner of his crib.  He didn't do too much more than that until yesterday when he really started to take off.  I remembered that for Megan we arranged little obstacle courses in the living room so she could walk between things and I did the same thing for Owen.  I was surprised how far he would reach for things.  As long as he could touch a stable object he had no problem stretching for something even out of reach.  He was sure testing his limits!  You wouldn't believe it but Owen even let go with both hands a couple times!  I don't think it was intended on trying to stand or walk but instead trying to ease his way onto the floor.  Getting from standing to floor was practiced a lot yesterday too - one hand on the furniture and the other hand reaching to the floor until contact was made.  In order to walk you of course need to know how to fall; there sure were a lot of bumps and bruises but that's the only way to learn!

Owen is quickly learning now to stand up against the chairs that are underneath the table or he will get stuck!

Here are a few pictures of standing Owen.  Look at his proud little face!

12-23-12

 This one is from last night...  Not even Daddy's smelly feet will keep this little guy down!

Big sister loves that her little brother is growing up!  This is on Christmas Eve night and neither kid was ready to go to bed.  Owen wanted to try out his new skill and Megan just wanted to play!  A little more of a challenge at bedtime but we manage.

 

  

Proudly standing and playing in his birthday suit!

12-30-12

100 and 40!

I thought it was only fitting that my 100th post of 2012 should be another significant number milestone in the family.  John has officially lost 40+ pounds since August!  He weighed in at 229 pounds on Sunday and isn't stopping there.  He is on a mission to see if he can get below 200 pounds.  Even though the weight isn't coming off as quickly as it had in the very beginning, he is still running at Safari Island several times a week and tracking all the Calories he consumes every day with the exception of his weekly free day.  (Tonight he is at Wildfire with all the EP HD's management and eating porterhouse steak for free.  I think that's as good excuse as any to use the free day card!)  I have every ounce of faith in him that he will dip below the 200 pound mark.  It might take 5-6 more months but I know he can do it!

So far John has dropped from a 42" pant size to a 38" and we also need to start switching out shirts from XXL to XL.  John's not so used to tight fitting shirts but I know he will look good in something a little more form fitting.  The only downside to the weight loss is now his wedding ring is too big!  It's scary to think that it sometimes comes close to falling off just by washing his hands!  I still cannot get mine back on so maybe we'll just have to get ours re-sized at the same time...

BEFORE

(6-2-12)                                              (8-10-12)

  

AFTER!

(12-17-12)

 

And just so you don't think I'll get in trouble for posting before pictures - John specifically asked that I find good pictures to compare to.  We never officially took good before pictures so I did the best I could!

Owen at Seven Months!

Look who's clapping for joy that he's seven months old!  Owen turned seven months last Saturday and that same night he started clapping his hands.  We were at my brother's wedding reception and Owen was clapping the whole night long!

We definitely have a big boy on our hands.  And not only big, but strong and energetic.  Forget the instruction manual, I just want an off switch!  Owen is not only a wigglebutt but he is King Wigglebutt.  This last Sunday at church Owen was jumping or standing on my lap almost the entire service.  Thankfully we sat on the aisle and close enough to the back so he could make eye contact with the ushers as they waited to do offering and communion.  He is go, go, go right up until he crashes at bedtime.  The part that's even more fun is when I'm holding him and he sees something he wants because he literally nosedives right for it.  You'd better make sure you've got a good grip on him, for sure!  I almost hate changing Owen's clothes because he squirms sooo much that those little snaps are almost impossible!

I took Owen into the doctor on the 5th for a pre-op (nothing major - I promise) and he weighed in at 20 lbs 4 oz and was 28 3/4 inches long.  We are in the very last end of the 6-9 month clothes and I will start integrating 12 month clothes into his wardrobe very soon.  I think we're only averaging 2 months and a week on each size of clothes so far!

Owen is getting really, really good at his army crawl.  He is picking up speed and increasing his upper body strength as he pulls himself along.  A couple times I'll catch him on his hands and knees but then he flops onto his belly.  It won't be soon though!  My favorite part about his crawl is when he stops and poses on his side like in the below picture.  (It's even cuter when he does that on the bed just in his diaper but I don't have any pictures of that.)

  

Along with crawling comes the want of pulling himself up.  Owen has only done this a handful of times in the last few weeks but as much as he likes to stand it won't be too long and he'll be pulling himself up next to everything!  He's even tugging on my pant legs trying to get up.  I'm glad I waited until tonight to write this post because Owen went from laying on his tummy to sitting up twice this morning while I was getting Megan ready for the day!  Speaking of the above, I think it's time to move the crib mattress down a notch or two or we might have a little baby ready to make a leap!

 

  

I love having a happy Owen in the morning.  It's so nice to have Owen greet me with a loving smile and him playing in his bed rather than crying.  This has not been an easy last month for me because of how much he had been waking at night.  I thought it might have been teeth, then a cold, then not enough solids but looking back I think the main reason I was giving him 1+ bottles during the night was a growth spurt.  He just seems so much bigger lately and with the whole clapping/crawling/sitting up on his own thing there was just a lot of development going on.  The last few nights he's actually been sleeping great!

Owen is still a great eater.  Solids three times/day with some snacks - he loves his puffs!  I'm starting to make his cereal thicker and also starting in on baby food with meat in it - I'm hoping to bulk him up for bedtimes.  One thing that's noticeably changing with feedings is Owen's desire to feed himself.  We're doing a lot of small banana chunks but I'm leery to give him too much stuff since he doesn't have any teeth yet.  It will come and I just need to keep experimenting with tastes and textures of non-baby food.  Owen's finally drinking more formula at a time too now.  Before 4 oz was about all he would do at a single feeding but now it seems 6 oz is no problem.

Here are a few more cute pictures of Owen from the wedding reception.  I think I must have fed him right before these pictures because his face looks kind of messy...

 

 

And, finally, a picture of Owen and Mommy.  Owen is a huge Mommy's boy.  It's not necessarily such a bad thing and is kind of flattering when he lights up whenever I get close.  The only thing is that if I'm around it's me that needs to hold him as he jumps, plays, and wants to walk around holding my hands!  (No, it's not a great picture and yes, I am in my bathrobe.  But compliments of the pic go out to Megan.  Lately she's had a fascination with my camera and took this one for me!)

Friday Funnies: It's the Holiday Season

Megan has been making me laugh almost the entire week long.  She has really gotten into the Christmas spirit as she tries to figure what this holiday is all about. 

Last Saturday after we got home Home Depot's Kid's Workshop we decorated the tree.  Megan helped pull out decoration after decoration.  After everyone I got the reaction of, "This is awesome!" She loved all the decorations going on the tree - even the real candy canes that we hung.  She's never really had candy canes (at least that she can remember) so she said, "Is this what Santa eats?"

We had fun decorating but I could tell Megan was getting tired.  The night before we had gone to see the place in town whose house and yard is completely lit up and the lights go along with the music playing.  I told Megan that if she went to take a nap we could go see the dancing lights again or else she could stay up and continue helping with the decorations.  That was a tough decision for her.  "Hmmm, think, think, think.... (tapping her head just like Pooh Bear) I'll stay up!"  Oh, how I wish she'd have napped but that was her decision.

Sunday we bought an Advent calendar so we could count down to Christmas with Megan.  We opened it as soon as we got home from Target and Megan said she wanted to play the game again.  I turned the calendar box over and there were some activities on the back I said we could do.  She said, "No, Mom.  The candy game." and held out her hand out towards the calendar!

Also after church on Sunday it seemed the moment we got home my phone started ringing nonstop and I was getting a little flustered trying to talk, look up information as well as get lunch ready for the kiddos.  I think Megan could sense it because she kept telling me to "count to four".  That was taken right out of an episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood where they say "If you feel real mad that you want to roar. Take a deep breath and count to four."  I love that she knows when to use things in context!

Putting Megan to bed is getting easier and easier as she gets older.  Maybe it's because she can sense that she's tired and just plain knows the routine.  We still read a book or two, have a snack and some water but lately she's also saying, "no songs, no prayers".  That's usually fine with me but what she does want to do is sing the Megan song.  It's not a real song, we basically just freestyle sing everything he did that day!  (And when the Megan song is over we do the Mommy song....)

Megan and Owen were at John's parents' place during the day on Tuesday and Kristin, Alexa and Ethan stopped by to play.  Megan was happy to see her cousin and best friend but all of a sudden it got waaay to quiet.  Kristin went into the nursery room to find Alexa "changing" Megan's "diaper".  I guess Megan was laying on the changing table with no bottoms on and Alexa had Megan belly button on down full of diaper rash cream!  I am so glad I wasn't there for that one!!!

I mentioned a while ago that Megan had some imaginary pet animals.  Well, her most recent one is a bunny.  One Wednesday she woke up from her nap and I was already done with work waiting at my parents' house.  She looked so sad and my mom quickly said they needed to go get the bunny from upstairs.  I hadn't met the bunny yet so was a little surprised when Megan came downstairs with him in her hands.  Then this last week, my mom was going to bring Megan into work for a little bit and I told Megan that morning that she needed to bring her pet bunny in to show everyone.  Well, Megan knew they didn't bring him along and when my coworkers asked to see the bunny her response was "I forgot him at home."  So cute that even though the bunny is imaginary she still remembers exactly where she left him!

You know I'm training my daughter right when I hand her a couple mini banana bar cupcakes for breakfast and her reply is, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Megan is quickly becoming Daddy's little cheerleader.  We just have to work on her saying the right things at the right time.  While the Vikings were on Sunday, Megan out of the blue yelled "Touch Down"!  Well, they hadn't scored yet but right after that Adrian Peterson did run the ball for a touchdown.  At least that was the right sport.... Last night watching the sports on the news Megan saw that they were talking about hockey.  She looks at me, "Mom, touchdown?"  John just rolled his eyes...

Owen doesn't have too much in the funnies this week since he's mostly been driving me nuts with not sleeping.  It is at least one extra bottle every night and then very whiney during the day.  I'm hoping it's just teeth and that it will pass soon but who knows.  While at John's Home Depot on Saturday he put Owen on the big pile of area rugs to let him crawl around.  Daddy's store phone worked great both as an incentive to get Owen to crawl and also doubled as a teether!  Silly Owen!

Santa! Santa?

Our trip to see Santa happened a little sooner than I expected it would.  John called yesterday morning to remind me that Santa was at Home Depot that morning.  So the kids and I packed up right away to see him. Megan wanted to bring a picture along for Santa so I quickly drew an outline of a Christmas tree on a piece of paper and let her color it in the car.  She was so excited to visit Santa but especially wanted to see the reindeer.  No reindeer this time though!

Of course once we got to Home Depot Megan didn't even want to get out of the shopping cart or take her coat off.  I even had to give the picture she colored to Mrs. Claus!  We were able to get a family picture with Santa - even if it meant John holding Megan as far away from Santa as he possibly could!

Owen, on the other hand, adored Santa!  I think Santa liked Owen too since he sat so nice and still and didn't make a peep!  I wonder who Santa's bring the most toys to this year!!

 

 

At least the trip wasn't a total loss on Megan.  Home Depot had another Kid's Workshop so she was able to  construct a picture frame with Daddy!  And after we got home Megan helped me put up and decorate the tree for Christmas!  She was so excited to help and we only had one decoration fatality this year.  And it is Megan's job to run the power strip which turns on all the lights!