What Owen has to say...

In the last few days, Owen has really started "talking" a lot more. He's so engaging and entertaining...it just gets better every day! He laughs and opens his mouth really wide and just jabbers away, especially right after he eats :). Here's a cute video of him performing for his Daddy the other night...

This is my first attempt to post a video so I hope it works! I will try and get some more of these up soon :)

2 months old (!) and Mother's Day

Good grief, how time flies! I cannot believe that my baby is 2 months old...he'll be 10 weeks on Wednesday, he's getting so big!!! We had our 2 month check up last week at our new doctor's office--Brookstone Pediatrics. I LOVE them! We actually saw the nurse practitioner, and she was fabulous! She gave me as much time as I needed to ask questions (and there were a lot!) and she fed Owen his bottle while I wrote down all the answers. She was so good with him and so sweet. Owen had a GREAT checkup and her words were that he's "perfect"...and I do tend to agree ;)

Here are his 2 month stats for anyone who's interested...
11 lbs. 8oz. (50th percentile)
24 1/4 inches long (90th percentile)
30 cm head (50th percentile) My mom said my brother's measurements were very similar when he was a baby and I find that pretty interesting because Owen reminds me so much of how my brother looked when he was a baby. Not all the time, but occasionally I see such a strong resemblance. Here's a picture I took the other day that I think looks so much like Matt... I will try and upload a baby picture of Matt for comparisons sake soon so you can see what I mean :)

I had a FABULOUS Mother's Day!!! I feel so very INCREDIBLY blessed to be a mother. Each and every day is such a HUGE blessing from God and I am so in awe of His abundant blessings. Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of being a mommy one day and now that I am it is even better than anything I could have ever imagine. I have a fantastic husband too. He and Owen made me a very sweet card that had Owen's footprints on it. It was soo sweet! Tony also cooked me breakfast and gave me two knockout rose bushes that he planted in our yard the very same day. They look fabulous! We had our moms over to our house for brunch after church and had a very nice time. We gave them framed pictures that I took of Owen for presents. I absolutely love how the pictures turned out!!!
Geebee's picture

Noni's picture

and here are a few others that I just LOVED :)

Stone Mountain

Last Sunday (5/4) my dad had his company picnic for all of his employees at Stone Mountain. We decided to go along for a fun family outing. We had a BBQ lunch, walked around the park a little while, and then rode the tram to the top of the mountain. It was so nice and sunny, but a little warm so Owen wore his cute floppy sun hat and we tried our best to keep him in the shade.

With Nonnie at lunch

Precious face

Hanging out with Geebee

Big Smile :)

At the base of the mountain with James & Caitlin

On top of Stone Mountain...bright sunshine!

Lali and BG

This past weekend, my Aunt Alison and Uncle Berry (my mom's sister) came for a visit and to meet Owen for the first time. We grilled out several times and had a great time visiting with them. They even came to Stone Mountain with us (another blog entry to follow...) on Sunday for my dad's company picnic. They have 5 grandchildren themselves who call them Lali and BG. They absolutely love babies so needless to say, Owen was well loved on all weekend!
Owen hanging out with BG


Lali and BG


Owen loves his Lali and BG--and I love that smile!!!

The goings on of the past few weeks.

We've been very busy the last few weeks and had a lot of fun too! Last Thursday, Owen and I went to visit Daddy at work and take him lunch. He was so proud to show off his little boy to all his co-workers and we had a very nice time. Owen fell asleep on Daddy's chest while he was sitting at his desk and I just had to take a picture because they just looked so cute!I promise I'm not going to take a picture and document every trip to church, but Owen just looked so cute this past Sunday that I had to take a picture! He's wearing an adorable little Feltman Brothers day gown that my cousins Joe and Sandy and my brother all wore when they were babies. Such a handsome little guy :) Owen and I go on a walk just about every day and last week we had a little cold snap so I put him in this adorable little jacket. Again, I just had to take a picture of him. His expression was just too precious, but I know he was probably thinking, "mama, why do you dress me in these ridiculous clothes?!" haha!

Here's a picture of tummy time last week. He's getting so big and strong and holding his head up so well these days! He just coos and smiles and squirms all around when I put him down on his blanket. He's still rolling over occasionally too so I'm pretty sure he's mastered that trick and it's not an accident that he's doing it. We laugh and read a lot too and he just loves it.

Love those chubby cheeks!

Meeting More Dichiaras...

Several weeks ago (I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged...again!) Tony's grandmother, his aunt Lee, and uncles Ronald and Tommy came from Mississippi to visit and see Owen for the first time. Tony's parents took his grandmother to Savannah and we got to see them before and after their trip. John & Elisa as well as Chris's girlfriend, Ashley, came to meet him for the first time as well. Here are a few pictures of that visit. Unfortunatley, we didn't get any pictures with John &Elisa...maybe next time! Oh, and no picture with Lee either...she said she'd wait until he got a little bigger before she held him :)

Great Grandmother Dichiara

Great Uncle Ronald

Great Uncle Tommy

Ashley

Grandpa, Noni, and Owen enjoying the sunshine

Tony & Ronald

Beach Trip!!!

We went to my grandparents' beach house with my parents a few weeks ago and had SUCH a nice time! Tony and I even got to go out to eat just the 2 of us on a real date...our first one since Owen came along and it was so much fun! We spent our time relaxing, sleeping, going on walks, and eating lots of yummy food. The house is right on the bay and it is so peaceful and relaxing. I even got to lay out in the sun a few times which was a really nice treat! Owen and my mom went down to the dock every morning to listen to the birds chirping while Tony and I got to sleep in a little while. While we were there, Owen rolled over from his stomach to his back for the very first time! At first we thought maybe he just did it on accident while he was squirming around, but I'd roll him back over to his tummy and then a few minutes later he'd roll right back onto his back. He ended up doing it about 5 or 6 times while we were there and I even caught it on camera...

Owen's ready for the beach!

Sitting on the beach with Geebee all covered up!

Family beach picture

Getting a bath from Geebee

Getting a bottle from Pops

On the deck with Daddy

Sunset with Daddy

Sunset with Mama

1 month checkup

Kinda late--sorry about that :) but things have been kinda crazy around our house for the past few weeks. We went for Owen's 1 month check up last Monday and the doctor said that he looked great, but she was a little concerned that he was gaining weight too slowly. He was only up to 9lbs. 6oz. and she wanted him at at least 9lbs. 10oz. She wanted me to stop breastfeeding him and go strictly to formula for 1 week and to pump & freeze my milk...

Well, that was SO NOT GOING TO HAPPEN so instead I decided on my own to increase his feedings to every 2 hours. It was a lot of work for both of us, but he gained 12 oz. last week and as of this past Monday he was up to 10lbs. 2oz. so his weight is MUCH better now, hooray! We're changing doctors as well. Owen was seeing my doctor, a family practitioner, because we hadn't found a pediatrician that we loved yet, but we've since found one and we're going to go see him for the first time for his 2 month check up in a few weeks so we're excited about that--but not excited about the shots he's going to have to get :(

We're back to 3 hour feedings now and feeling much more rested. He's almost fallen back into his regular routine which has been nice for me as I've been able to catch up a little on some of the housework that fell behind last week.

It amazes me how Owen is growing and changing every single day. He is much more alert and active during his awake times. He smiles a lot and "talks" to us all the time. He's so much fun and I love every minute that I get to spend with him. He also follows objects pretty well and has rolled over at least 5 or 6 times from his stomach to his back during his tummy time. (The first time he did this was at the beach--story and pictures to follow) The doctor claims that he's doing this on "accident" but Tony swears Owen knows what he's doing and does it on purpose...I'm inclined to agree with Tony since he's done it so many times, but who knows, I guess we'll just have to ask him when he gets older...haha! Owen just loves it when Tony comes home every day and holds him--he just smiles and smiles at Daddy and makes lots of sweet coos and noises at him. It is so precious :)

1 month measurements:
10lbs. 2 oz.--I'm not counting the 9lbs. 6 oz. since he gained more so quickly :)
22 1/2 inches long
15 inch head

my doctor doesn't give me percentiles for some reason (maybe because she's a family practitioner?) but I'm looking forward to getting them when we go to his pediatrician.

Playing with the camera

I'm still trying to figure out my camera (the Nikon D40 which I HIGHLY recommend!!!) so today Owen and I did a little photo shoot. He was pretty cooperative for the majority of the time, but got a little bit tired of all the pictures after a while. Tony says he's just like daddy and doesn't like to have his picture taken, haha :) I took a gazillion pictures, but here are a few of my favorites...He was looking at Tony for this one, so sweet :)

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Love this one!

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His adorable silver rattle

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Daddy holding Owen in his hands

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Mooommm!!! I am soooo sick of taking pictures!!!

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My favorite one :)

3 weeks old

I can hardly believe that Owen is 3 weeks old--time has flown by! He's been such a good eater and he's starting to fill out a little bit. His cheeks are so cute and starting to get a little chubby, I just love to kiss all over them :) He has started to have a "fussy period" after his 7pm feeding most days. He just can't seem to figure out what he wants so usually we give him a pacifier and then Tony just cuddles him for a while and he seems to calm down. It's really not too bad though, especially considering that he hardly cries at all throughout the rest of the day.

Tony has Spring Break next week so he'll be off all week and we're really excited! We're headed to Gulf Shores with my mom on Wednesday to my grandparents beach house and then my dad will join us on Friday. We're staying until Sunday and we're looking forward to taking Owen on his 1st vacation. There probably won't be too much time spent on the actual beach, but it will be a nice, relaxing getaway. I will be taking LOTS of pictures and hopefully some videos too so I'll post those when we get back.

A few nights ago, Tony went to check on Owen who was asleep in his cradle and he started laughing so I went in to see what was going on. We found Owen sleeping like this with his arms behind his head. He looked so cute we couldn't resist taking a picture--he looks like he's just chilling out and we thought it was so funny!Also, I'm a bit behind on these, but we had some more visitors on Easter Sunday afternoon--James, Caitlin, and Travis came to visit and we got a few pictures. Tony had me embroider a onesie that said "I'm the Champ" because apparently it's something that Ric Flair says and for some reason, Tony and James get a HUGE kick out of him (and if you have been reading my blog from the beginning, you'll remember that before we knew we were having a boy, we affectionately called the baby "Flair"). Anyways, if you look closely, you can see the lovely onesie in the picture with "Uncle James" :) Also, Marisa came and spent the day with Owen and me last Thursday. She brought lunch and we hung out all day and had a lot of fun. It was great getting to catch up with her--I hadn't seen her since the GA/GT game so it had been quite a while!

James

Caitlin

Travis

Marisa