A visit from the Aunts

Owen's Aunt Rosie and Aunt Stef came to visit him this week, so needless to say, he got plenty of good cuddle and lap time. We ventured out to the Green Bay Farmers Market, took a walk around the UW-GB campus, and made our first shopping outings to the grocery store and Target with great success.

Owen will be three weeks old tomorrow - hard for me to believe. We'll get another weigh-in at his doctor's appointment on Friday. I suspect, judging from his chipmunk-like-cheeks, that he's doing pretty well putting on the pounds (well, ounces).

The first two weeks

Hard to believe that our little man is now 15 days old - the days seems to be flying by (though the nights when he's up every couple of hours to feed, not so much...). Owen has steadily become more and more alert during the day, much to the delight of his Aunt Rosie, who's been visiting us for a couple of days. Aunt Stef is due into town tomorrow. I'm sure we'll have more to post about their visit soon....

Yesterday, Owen peed through his clothes twice (and on me, since I was holding him), all while wearing his diaper. Apparently we need to get better about "aiming" him down when we put on a fresh diaper. We've also had a few episodes of peeing during the diaper change. I had to mop some pee out of Owen's ear the first time this happened - he nearly got it in his own mouth! Since then, we've learned to put something over the "danger zone" to try and control the free-flow.

Here's Owen looking particularly alert after a feeding today....

And an afternoon nap on Daddy's lap... And last, another video to show the grandparents how alert and talkative the little guy is getting!

It's a Boy!

Sorry for the delay in postings, but Nate and I have been busy learning the ropes of parenthood! Owen Joseph Bacheler was born on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009, at 5:24am, after a fairly long labor (two sleepless nights in a row for Mommy Salinda). He came out a whopping 8lbs 12oz., and 21.5" long, with long toes and fingers, and brown hair. We stayed at the hospital until Saturday, and Owen came home in the very same outfit that his dad wore home from the hospital (see photo below).
Since then we have enjoyed plenty of time at home to bond with our new baby boy, while our parents, who have been visiting from RI and MI, have been taking care of all the other household items. We are so thankful to Grandma and Papa Bacheler, and Nannie and Grandpa Daley for all the help! We also celebrated my 33rd birthday on Sept. 15. It's been many, many years since I celebrated a birthday with my parents in person - we feasted on lobster pasta salad, pad Thai noodles, and a delicious raspberry-almond cheesecake.

I almost hesitate to say what a dream baby Owen has been so far, for fear that by writing it down, I'll change the future. But for the past two nights, he's slept for 5 or 6 hours at a time, and has taken to feeding like a champ - been putting on 2.5 oz every two days for the past week. The only "issue" we've had to deal with so far is that he was on a bilirubin light treatment blanket for 5 days, which meant keeping him connected to a light pad all hours of the day. During this time, he earned the nickname "Owey-Joey, the Green Bay glo-bug", which I have already shortened to just "glo-bug". But his levels were down enough yesterday that he was able to end the treatment and we are glad to have him back w/o the green glow of the light pad (though the nickname may just stick!).

Owen makes all sorts of funny facial expressions, when he's not sleeping (which is most of the time). He's already far too long for a lot of the newborn clothes we've acquired as hand-me-downs. I suspect we'll be pushing the age-limits on clothes for many years to come!

(many more photos on our Facebook pages for those interested....)