Owen's First Month

So tiny!

Owen's first month was full of visits with family and lots of drinking milk! He was born at 8 lbs, 13 oz, he dropped down to 8 lbs. even at the pediatrician's by day 3, and by day 5 he was at 8 lbs. 4 oz. At his two week appointment, he was 9 lbs., 14 oz. and by one month he was 12 lbs, 4 oz. and 23.75 inches long!

My favorite feature of Owen's is his hair. He has a weird hair growth pattern on the back of his head that causes his hair to stick straight up. No amount of slicking or combing will tame the hair! His eyes are a dark blue/gray and we think they will be either lighter brown, green or hazel.Compared to Landon, Owen is a little tank. His shoulders are really wide, and he has a thicker build. Along with that, he is incredibly strong and could lift his head up during tummy time much earlier than normal.

I love his hair!

Owen does not mind being on his tummy...

 It was a month of exhaustion and joy as we adjusted to being a family of four. Austin was able to take almost the whole month off, so it was nice for he and Landon to reconnect and spend lots of time together. We celebrated Austin's birthday and Thanksgiving. Austin visited Denver for a weekend to see his grandparents and I figured out how to fly solo for a few days.
 

Brothers!

Brothers doing tummy time... Landon looks like a giant!

Now let's get back to Owen. He is a pretty laid back baby! It was made abundantly clear within his first few days of life that he HATES dirty diapers. Even if there's a little pee in his diaper, it is unacceptable. He eats often, and eats a lot. Thankfully, he is a quick nurser, although he did have trouble at the beginning.  He was having difficulty sleeping in long stretches at night for the first few weeks. When Austin left to go to Denver, I knew I needed to get a good night's rest so that I could function and take care of both boys alone all day and night. Previously, we had just been covering Owen with a blanket because he hated having his arms swaddled when he was awake. As I prayed to know how to get through the weekend completely alone, I felt like I should try swaddling him again, but with a bigger, lighter blanket- and wait until Owen was asleep to swaddle him. He slept three hours, about twice as long as he was sleeping previously. It was such a blessing from heaven and helped me get the rest I needed that weekend.

First documented smile

All dressed up in a bow tie for church

Newborn photo shoot overload... coming right up!

This one to me says, "OK mom, that's enough pictures!"

We took Owen's newborn pictures when he was 11 days old. I fed him and he just laid there and let me take pictures for a long time! Comparing this with Landon- who let us take only a few photos before he started crying- I can see their differing personalities already! I'm also glad we got the pictures done before his newborn acne set in right before he turned a month old. 

Owen smiled and made eye contact very early on in his life. In his sleep, he does an adorable half smile, and pants like a dog while he's dreaming. Holding him, I would just wonder what he was dreaming about. He loves looking at lights and faces! He loves bath time and hates getting out of the bath. Once family left and I didn't have several people around to hold him all the time, Landon took advantage of the opportunity to do sneak attacks. He would run by, pinch or squeeze or hit Owen, and run away. Owen of course reacted by crying if it hurt. I finally had to start taking away Landon's favorite toys to get him to stop. I can foresee some epic wrestling matches in their future. Fortunately, Owen is an even bigger boy than Landon!

Austin is excited that Owen is a cuddlebug. Owen spent the first month of his life sleeping on everyone's chests. All of our family that came through loved the cuddling time, and Owen loved sleeping on people! The struggle was after everyone left, getting him to sleep in his bed for naps. When it's just me, I can't spend all day holding him! I really wish I could, and looking back I wish I had spent more time holding Landon during naps, but with my get-up-and-go personality, there were always tasks to be done while baby slept. Now, I take the opportunity to give Landon some one-on-one time, which is dramatically helping the jealousy issues.

Our little businessman- with a matching tie with big brother!

Matching Christmas sweaters!

With generous family members with impeccable taste, Owen has no shortage of adorable outfits! Thanks, family!

Thanks, Grandma Ev for the month stickers!

At 1 month, barely fitting into his 3 month skinny jeans!