first boo boo

Owen got his first boo boo this morning :( he was lying in his boppy pillow and I went to get a hat for him. Henrietta was terrorizing the house and ran across his forehead with claws engaged. He started screaming so loud that I knew something was "wrong" and he had a bit of blood pooled on his forehead. It was so sad.




This is Finley living the "Rough life" Doesn't life just suck?








Pretty fly for a white guy! I put Owen in this cute little yellow sleeper yesterday and the collar was flipped up and I thought he was too cute.

smiles? or gas?

Owen finley and I took a walk to Pier Park yesterday and hung out under the very large Douglas Firs. It was fun to watch Owen checking out the sun through the leaves of the trees. I think I got a picture of him at the beginning of a smile...but he did poop shortly after so it may have been gas! I think that he is really starting to smile though. We were in the bath this morning and he gave me a huge smile. We were having such a great time and I think it was a real display of emotion. (I was waiting for the explosion and messy bath from the smile but since it did not happen...it was real!)

It is such a hoot to be able to hang out with my son all day long and get to experience him fully. I really can not stop looking at him and how perfect he is. We have only had one really grumpy day so far. I was really happy when Mike got home from work so I could do the hand off and have a bit of "me time"

I am not exaggerating when I say that Henrietta loves this lil man. I missed the shot of her hanging out on the boppy with him but I am sure I will get it soon! I woke the other morning to Henrietta licking Owens head. Owen was totally fine with it too! I got a clip of it on my phone that I am going to try to figure out how to post on the blog. Once we get a digital video camera it will be so much more fun for all ya all to view the blog and actually see this boy in action. So...if anyone wants to pitch in for one...! That was very sly of me huh?!



This picture is just for fun! BIG YAWN!

We had a WIC appointment today and Owen was wonderful and peed on the nutrition specialist! I thought it was funny although I felt bad. Luckily she was well humored and probably gets it all the time! She did not believe at first that this was my first child because I was "too calm" for my first! I thought that was a great compliment. Owen now weighs 10lbs 11oz and is 22 inches long...can you believe he has gained 3 lbs in 4 weeks. I am going to cry. Next thing you know he will be 18!

Best Friends

So Henrietta absolutly loves Owen. She can not stand to hear him cry, whenever he does Henry is right by his side and wanting to comfort him. It is adorable. I do not know how many times I have had to push Henry away because she was just too close! She likes to snuggle right up with him in the car seat as you can see. When he is in his chair just chillin guess who is right next to him...Henrietta. Basically what is Owens is also hers. The stroller and the bassinet both have little mesh baskets under them for storage and they are Henriettas hammocks ! I gave in trying to keep her out and gave her a blanket to lay on! Is she spoiled or what? (no need to comment on that)

My friends Becky and Earl came over the other evening for dinner and we all collaberated on making "lasagna rolls" and a yummy salad. Becky brought a bunch of goods from her garden and gave Owen lots of good lovin' so he would sleep through dinner! (it was successful too. I do not make it thruogh many meals without him wanting to eat.) Thanks Becky I really enjoyed dinner. We should do it again soon!

I do not dress Owen in many clothes normally because babies are just too cute with no clothes on(until they make a mess all over you because of the no clothes thing...) But his Aunt Kelly gave him this really cute outfit and although the pants are still huge on him they are pretty cute. Unfortunatly the shirt is still huge on him but the outfit is adorable. It is from Gymborie and the print on the shirt and matching socks is a moose, pine trees and a tent. For now all he can wear are the pants and he just looks like a little man in them. What is really cute is when they are pulled up to his chest because they are so big then he definitly looks like a lil' man!
This guy has more cute clothes than I do. We were really fortunate when we inherited clothes because everything we got was boys clothes. Literally. After he was born I went through the clothes and discarded the girls clothes and it was seriously like 5 item of clothing. If I had a girl she would be wearing alot of blue! But thanks to all who contributed to his wardrobe! We have alot of clothes that range all the way up to a year. Although I am quickly learning how many blankets and items of clothing you go through a day. I think that maybe you can say that you never have enough. I do not know how some folks raise a baby without a washer and dryer. I do not think it could be feesible.

Owen has a new look all of a sudden and I have not caught it on camera fully yet but this is almost it. He has discovered the end of his nose and things that are in the same range as the end of his nose. In trying to view it he goes crosseyed. It almost looks painful when he goes full on crosseyed. But it is pretty damn cute! Enjoy.

the last week

Mike went back to work on Wednesday so Owen and I have been getting used to having the day to ourselves and I have been getting used to multitasking even more so than before. I went to the grocery store the other day and he was awesome until about 1 block from the house and he woke up screaming and hungry. Needless to say the groceries were left in the car for a bit until I was able to subdue him enough to get them and throw the parishables in the fridge (not on the correct shelves mind you...thought I would throw that one in for you mom and dad!) It was a bit tricky getting everything put away! I think it was about 3 hours later when Mike got home and the food to go in the cubbord was still strewn out all over the table and floor! There were little trails of our progress since we made it home. The carseat on the floor in the middle of the room. a pillow and burprag on the couch, dirty clothes on the changing table, groceries all over the place...Owen and I sacked out on the bed! What a day!



We also went to our first "mommy and me" day. The gilrs were absolutly adorable but quite a bit older. This is Indy and Olive. Olive was a total chunk, this picture does not show it troo well but her thighs were probably the size of my calf. Her cheeks were so tubby and sooo cute. I think I may try out another group that has at least 3 "newborns" so it may be a bit more fun for us and we can compare more closely what they are doing etc....

Yesterday I went out to Beaverton to hang out with Cory and went to the Farmers Market there. That was a blast. It is always nice to support the local farmers and enjoy the last bits of fall before the rain starts.

Back when Mom was in town there was a Pirate Festival and Mike took his daughter Betheny to check out the festivities. This is them in their garb! This photo was taken at Lily Toads which is the store that I will hopefully be working at. She just opened and sells locally made clothing and children/maternity paraphanelia (sp?) She has a play area, changing table and crib set up so it is very Owen friendly.

I currently hane a sleeping Owen in my arms and typing one handed is getting a bit annoying so later for now!

Gonna miss this!

It is very handy for your mother to be a photographer but I am definitly going to miss her being so close. It's kindof funny that the last few days I have not taken any pictures of Mr. Owen and all I could do before was take pictures of him...I promise not to let that become a habit(mother). Last night was the first night that lil man had me up every 2 hours. Today was a bit rough. I knew I was a bit spoiled with the whole sleeping 5 hours and all I was just hoping it would last a bit longer. Mike is going back to work in the a.m. so tomorrow is my first day all alone with Owen. I hope the weather holds out so I can walk to town or take Finley to the park for some sanity! Wish me well!

Are these wrinkles not the cutest thing ever? During this photo shoot I got peed on, pooped on and spit up on each at least one time. I just kept saying that it is a good thing that he came out of my body and I love him other wise I would be pretty grossed out by it.

Owen and Grandpa

Dads visit was way too short but we enjoyed every minute he was here. This was the little mans expression upon meeting his grandpa! (well not really...it is his "I am concentrating on taking a poop" look) But is was within the first few minutes of meeting his grandpa! We did not have alot of time to do much while dad was here but he did get to go fishing with Mike and Mom wanted to show him Last Thursday. The expressions on his face were great when the Naked Jousters on 6 foot bikes were throwing pies at eachother in the middle of the street! That is not something that happens EVER in Indiana! Most of the other time was spent hanging out on the front porch and staring at Owen. It is so easy to waste away a day just looking at him. He is so beautiful and it is amazing to ponder the thoughts that could be going through his mind. Mom and I have taken soo many pictures of the first 2 weeks of his life and we have still not been able to catch one of his "smiles". Although this is a pretty cute one. He sleeps with his hands over his heart....just makes your heart melt doesn't it?!? Well I am missing out on my sleep so I must go...just wanted to update a bit while I had a second. Now that mom and dad are gone we are going to try to get into a routine. (not that I am happy at all I miss them immensly already but I am am anxious to get into a routine) Hopefully that routine includes a few minutes a day to get online and catch up with some of you folks that have been sending us your love and very patient for a reply. Until next time...peace and love.

Owens funny expressions

This little man makes so many funny faces and it seems that I can not take enough pictures. What did folks do before digital photography? Here are just a few of his expressions....enjoy.

In the homebirth kit there was an inkpad to do the footprints but the midwives did not do it...whether they were supposed to or not I am not sure but we took it upon ourselves to attempt it! It was successful but messy. We were both covered in ink by the time we were through.

new born comparison

We are looking for a newborn picture of Mike to fully compare but this is me the day I came home from the hospital.

3 minus 2 equals...

This is me when I was 3 years old.



My parents would ask what 3 minus 2 equals and this was my answer!

This is Owen at 3 days old!!!













Owen just did it naturally...There is no manipulation of the hand here...seriously!
I think there is a slight resemblence!!! He is definitly my child!

the labor story

I finally have enough time to sit down and put the story in writting for all you to read! Although I do not know if i will get all the way through it..we will see. I do not type that fast! So on Wednesday Mom and I were walking around 3:00 or so and I started having contractions but they were not consistant and I was not sure if they were actual contractions or if it was false labor so i did not say anything. We took it easy that day and when Mike got home from work I sugested very casually to watch to water birth video that came with the tub. Mom and I took a walk again later and ran into my neighbors (she is 5 months pregnant) they had asked if it was going to happen anytime soon and I again casually said I think he is pretty content in there and although I feel a bit of pressure I am not sure when still...! I did not want mom or mike to worry or ask me everytime I moved if i was okay and if I was in labor...etc...SO when mom went to bed I told mike that i had been having contrations during the day and not to worry. I was going to bed and I will wake him up if anything changes. I did not sleep a wink! I was up at about midnight trying to count my contractions but without luck. It was really hard to relax and breath through them and count (especially with no clock) so at about 2:00 I woke up MIke and asked him to help time the contractions. They were 2&3 minutes apart right off the bat. VERY intense and VERY quick right off the bat. Mike was like...should we call the midwives now? Yeah. While I was talking to the midwives and having contractions there was a miscommunication about the next step and when they were going to arrive. I thought she said that they would be here in a couple of hours and she actually said call in a couple of hours and update us. I took a hot shower and told mom the midwives should be here any moment it is probably about 4:30 by now right..? She said no Amy, it is 6:15! I was totally shocked, I had been laboring for 4 hours already and the time had flown by. So I was starting to have a pushing sensation come over me and told MIke that maybe he should call the midwives and see what the deal is. They were here a half hour later. By that time I had dialated to 6cm and was already in the tub. I got out shortly after to get some stretches and walk around. At this time I was in the "be thankful and rest" stage. The contractions had slowed down an bit and were not quite as intense for a bit of time. I had totally lost all concept of time by now. I labored a bit out of the water and by the time I had dialated to 8 they suggested that I get to the location where I want to birth him be it in the tub or what have you. SO i got in the tub and was not progressing much. I really like the tub for laboring and am only a bit dissapointed that he was not born in water. I was very aware of the fact that i had no idea what i would want while actually laboring so I did not have my heart set on a water birth. I just thought it would be really rad to do so. He was born on shore! There were several different positions that I tried to see if any worked better than the other. He did not really want to come out. I spent a good 2 hours pushing..talk about exhausting. The thing that kept me going through out the whole process was that i was not going to the hospital. This baby was not going to be born at a hospital. He was positioned posterior and everything that I read about that position was long painful back labor. Luckily that was not really the case. He was born in 9 hours and I didn ot have too horrible of back labor. Toward the end his heart rate began to drop a bit so they put an oxygen mask on me, it was amazing how instantly it affected him. I was so very much in a my zone that I all I could hear was his heart beat and not the midwives talking so at one time I remember asking MIke if his vitals were okay because they were checking them every minute and I could not hear their reportings only his heartrate on the doppler and to me they sounded okay but I needed confirmation. When he told me they were perfect I went back into my zone and inside of myself. There was not a chance we were going to give up now. The only time I opened my eyes or made eye contact with anyone was when I needed confirmation that we were both doing okay. Finally we changed positions again and that seemed to do the trick. A few more strong pushes and his head was finally out. It was such a huge cone head due to being in the birth canal sooo long. I though at first it was the whole body because it was so big and oblong...when I realized it was only the head I had to go back to work. Again a few more strong pushes and I saw instantly that it was a boy. I did not say anything until Mike got to see for himself as well. I fell back on the bed and my first words were..."holy f*#k" there was a round of chuckles from all in the room and the rest is routine. They got him all warmed up and breathing eventually Mike cut the umbilical cord and I delivered the placenta and the midwives left us to hang out for about an hour at least before coming to do the rest of the routine stuff. My best friend Cory showed up 45 minutes after the birth! We sent a text message out to him at the beginning of labor and he just showed up when he could...great timing! All in all it was a pretty smooth labor and a hell of alot of work! I would not change the way it unfolded for anything. We were both very fortunate and I would never want drugs to hinder the instinctual behaviors that came over me. I suggest everyone try it naturally before desciding to take advantage of medical intervention. Granted it may make it easier but I could not imagine not experencing those maternal emotions. Once again thankyou all for your support and great energy during this experience.

motorcycle momma

I was not actually able to add anything today due to the unforseen busy day that I had. So here is just a quick update that I think ya all will greatly appreciate! I have been joking about getting a motorcycle with a sidecar for owen and I since his carseat doesn't fit well in Maggie! We were walking the other day on the way to the park and just happened to find a 1967 BMW with a sidecar (1953) and the owner was willing to let me have some fun on it! That's my boy, looks good huh?! I think he is a natural on the bike, 8 days old and just chillin' in the side car!

Enjoy this one for now and hopefully I will be able to update more tomorrow! It's amazing how little time you have to do anything more than change diapers, feed and start at the handsom young fella. It is also amazing that everything takes about 20 minutes longer than it did before.

love you all...once again signing off to feed owen.

Ping Pong the day before

Yesterday was a pretty lax day. Not much of anything eventful during the day but walking! After Mike got home we went to the Mock Crest Tavern, where I used to work, for dinner. Mom got to ride on the motorcycle with Mike and I met them there in the Pinto! After that we went to a tavern called Skyline. It has an amazing view of either Hillsboro or Beaverton not too sure. It is a scenic windy curvy road up to the tavern (great fun on a motorcycle) then when you get there it has a great patio with horse shoes and ping pong! What more could you ask for? Here are a couple shots of the evening. We sat around and did the crossword puzzle wathced the sun set and played ping pong!

I have an appointment with the midwives tomorrow so I will let ya all know how it goes. Thanks for all your calls and support. Sorry there is no action yet! I keep saying that you can not rush perfection! :~} I mean, if you were totally comfy in this space that you molded to completely conform to your body would you want to come out to a totally foreign place that you have to adjust to?

carseat installation

wow, yesterday a was a fun and eventful day...kept me busy and on my toes all day! I had an appointment yesterday with the midwives and finally came to an agreement on my due date!! From the very get go I questioned my midwife and OHSU and her calculations on the EDD but sinse they are the trained pros I gave up and put my trust into them. Since changing to the homebirth midwives from Gentle Beginnings they did some recalculationg and changed the due date from the 30th back to the 3rd. Though they have still not recieved all of my records from OHSU they were just going by what they had. At the appointment yesterday I informed them that I had been questioning the date from the get go and since the EDD had come and gone and I was not feeling like my body was ready and in tune for the baby to come I wanted to know their opinion. Nora did some recalculation and agreed with me that the due date should be moved back a week farther. So instead of being 4 days over due I still have 4 days left till my due date. Unfortunatly the due date is noe 9/11 but that is still only a due date. Hopefully this little critter will not come on that day! I hope for the 12th...once again a number thing. I feel much more confident in this date due to the fact that my body was not giving me signs that it was ready. I am dialated to 2cm and things are comming along it just gives me more time before we have to consider natural induction. Smiles all around.
This is my little Henrietta kitty helping at the appointment! She was so intrigued by the sounds of the heartbeat comming out of the doppler...the poor kitty has no idea what is really is and how much it will change her little spoiled life!
After the appointment I had a massage with my friend Maddeline (it was wonderful) and went to the sheriffs office to check on getting the carseat installed in Maggie(my Pinto). The car seats were not a big and bulky back then as they are now and the seats are just tiny little bucket seats. It does not fit! I just wanted to have someone who knows what they are doing take a look at it. I have to have it installed in the front seat. (which will make Finley sad but she has the whole back of the wagon now...compromises) The sheriff was so nice but he was one big fella and I am surprised he could even fit in Maggie and not get stuck! It was also his first install in a "79 Ford Pinto Wagon so there had to be some research done! Though these were funny! ENJOY!

We then came home for a while after sending messages to all the family and friends about the due date change....and went downtown for the First Thurday art exhibits. Totally different than Last Thurday on Alberta as mom witnessed. Last thursday is all about local artists and the freaks comming out to play and First Thursday is big time! It is high dollar galleries in the Pearl District displaying serious artists work and trying to sell their over eager work for an over eager price! It is fun none the less. We took the MAX downtown, our lightrail, which is always a good time! By the time we got home I was quick to bed while Mom and Mike enjoyed a glass of vino and conversation... I have been sleeping rather well, the baby has moved a bit off of my bladder so I am actually sleeping mostly through the night!! More big smiles! Nothing planned for the day yet today...maybe some park exploration. Finley has not been out much since mom has been here.

the vision

I had a vision the other night while lying in bed of this whole transition in life that women go through from remaining true to herself while growing into a new being, a mother. It is a balancing act that seems to be a bit tricky and not fully mastered on my part. But the vision was of me on a teeter totter balancing an apple on my head while sitting indian style and totally in harmony with nature. I had mom take these photos this morning at Pier Park down the street from my house. I think that they do justice to my vision. It is really funny the things that your brain conjures up in the middle of the night while being awake or somewhat in between sleep realms. Most of the thoughts are quite personal and sometimes bring a flood of emotions along with them. But when they are creatively inspirational I think it is important to act upon them. (As with most things in life)
Today was fairly uneventful other than that. We went grocery shopping and I believe we are going to see some music tonight. There is a great music venue called Mississippi Station that has live music on their patio from 6-8 on wednesdays and Tony Furtatdo is playing who we have gone to see quite frequently in the past.

nothing of importance

today has been pretty uneventful so far. I got up and about pretty late so the days activities were limited as far as where to go out to sight see. So we have not done a thing! Mom has been doing laundry for me and little tidying up here and there. I feel a bit lazy! Last evening was relaxing and quite pleasant. I lit all the lanterns on the porch and had a the neighbors over for a glass of wine and conversation. They ride their bikes by daily to see if there is any action at the house so mom bought some balloons and gave the explanation...1 balloon is for labor and multiple is for delivery. Until then...? There is construction going on right across the street and if I go into labor through the week I have been joking about going out there and giving them all the day off! "Labor in progress damn it! Shut up!" Think it will work? That would have been one good thing about going into labor on labor day. Would have been a bit less activity over there.

Saturday Market....On sunday!

The ice cream was not even my idea! I have to thank my mother for that one! She has an even bigger sweet tooth than her 9 month pregnant daughter!

Yesterday was my official due date! Sorry I did not post anything...were you worried? We had a pretty eventful day that kept us busy and away from the house. Mike, momma and I took his boat for a ride down the river to downtown and walked around the Saturday Market. Although it was a long day and I was extremely exhausted after it felt grand to be out and about. It was funny when folks would ask when my baby was due and to see their reaction when I would say "today"!!

Finley had had enough as well!

I have still been feeling really good. I have noticed a bit more strain and exhaustion over the last couple of days, but I would be surprised if I went into labor before the weekend. I have an appointment tomorrow so I will post a report from the midwives after that. Thanks for all your concerns and support.

Mom and I have been running errands today and doing last minute organizational things. Mike is as well doing last minute tasks. All in all is was a productive labor day in the sense of projects and such..physical labor but not baby labor!