Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We headed to Denver for Christmas, to visit Nate's brother Dan and his family (Aunt Molly, Cousin Kate - nearly 8 mo.- and dog Lucia) and Nate's parents, who flew in from the UP. I had visions of hot cocoa with the family at a mountain ski lodge, sightseeing along the Front Range, and maybe even a date night out for Nate and I with all the extra babysitters on hand! Alas, Santa (or the Grinch?) had other ideas....the theme of our 2010 Christmas was illness, and it all started with Owen, who's gift to the household was a fever and a cold virus. Within a few days, Grandma Pam, Nate, and baby cousin Kate were also victims. Today, a full 10 days after getting sick, Owen still has a veritable waterfall of mucus streaming from his nose (can you picture it? and me chasing after him with a Kleenex or burp cloth every 2 minutes?), and Nate is a weakened, nauseous, headachy, bed-riden man. Somehow, I was spared the disease (and for the most part, so were Dan, Molly, and Papa Dusty). Someone has to play nursemaid I suppose....

Needless to say, during our time in Colorado we didn't get out of the house much at all, but holidays are for reconnecting with family, right? In that regard, ours was a huge success. We ate delicious meals (complete with roasted chestnuts), enjoyed each others company, had fun watching the kids with their gifts, and Papa Dusty and Dan even put their free time to good use and started building a beautiful cherry wood mantle for their family room fireplace. Owen especially enjoyed playing with his favorite relative of all, Lucia (their yellow lab) and we have numerous witnesses that baby Kate's first word might have been 'doggie'!

Depending on the status of my sick boys, we may venture out of the house later this evening for a little bit of New Years Eve festivities with some nearby friends. Hopefully 2011 will bring renewed good health and continued happiness , to our house and to yours....HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Parting shot: a (sick) boy and his new walker toy

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The house is decked out for the holidays with wreaths, mantle decorations, and banister greenery, all of which is fascinating for Owen. We're cautiously excited to see what he does when we set up our tree tomorrow.




Recent favorites:

Playing with Christmas bowsWatching out the front door
Sitting in his deck chairHangin' with Dad in the garage

Happy Birthday Nannie!

Owen wants to send out special birthday wishes today to his beloved Nannie - we love you!!!

Here's a little photo montage of Owen and Nannie over the past 14 months...

Just born: little head, big hat, long toes, skeptical lookStaring down the camera at Christmas
Chubby in Florida in February
Chipmunk cheeks and a mohawk in August
Inspecting tissue paper for quality assurance at Thanksgiving

Watch out world

Toys, books, playthings? No, Owen would rather head straight for extension cords, hammers, outlets, etc. The dangerous stuff. All kidding aside, it is great to watch him cruising around the house - he's quite the proficient crawler after just a week or two of practice. Here's a video to prove it.



Aunt Stef sent us a cute house warming gift and a handmade card (which can be purchased on Etsy at http://goodstufflestef.etsy.com!) - Owen read it carefully.


A couple of weekends back we had a great dinner hosted by our friends Brian and Jacqui - nearly all of our old clan was in attendance (we missed you, Sue!). Owen showed Porter how to pull off his socks, while Lincoln looked on, thinking "this is pure child's play..."

Tonight, Nate had Owen belly-laughing at his attempts to get a Maori warrior bellow out of his son (sorry, it's a little dark). Enjoy ~ and a Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Crawling

What a week! Owen started crawling a couple of days ago - admittedly, at this point, it's not more than a move or two and then he's down again, plop, on his belly. But in 2 days time, he's working up to maybe three or four moves when he's feeling energetic, and the legs are starting to catch on to the coordination, too. We're proud parents, for sure. AND, today we realized that all the drooling as of late was indeed more teething - Owen cut all four of his first primary molars (top, bottom, left and right). He'll be eating venison jerky in no time.

(photo caption: "Yeah for cloth diapers!")

Salinda spent the weekend playing Ultimate Frisbee with her local team at the tournament they host every year. It was a fun (and tiring) two days. Owen and Nate spent the weekend together at home, watching football and working on the locomotion skills. They stopped by the fields to watch the Ultimate play action for a little while on Saturday. We also hosted our friends Tim, Kerry, their baby girl Willa, and dog Finn - family Lupo came down for the tournament from Raleigh. We hadn't seen them in over 2 years, so it was a fun reunion, with new babies to get acquainted with and lots to catch up on. Clearly, the babies like each other!


Video action of crawling (in frustration over not being allowed to hold the camera):

Happy Halloween

Our tall, gentle giant was a giraffe for Halloween this year, and oh what a giraffe he was!...he was even picking up leaves, just as the real animal would have (luckily, I don't think any were ingested by my giraffe). The local towns designed Saturday as the night to trick-or-treat. So after an afternoon spent running (or speed walking with a stroller on our case) for a Hash House Harriers-style benefit run, Owen donned his costume and I threw together a semi-plausible "Safari Guide - Giraffe specialty" outfit and we headed over to a friend's house to help pass out candy and see all the other local kids in their costumes. Here's a play by play:

Sebastian the Bee greets Owen the Giraffe
The Safari Guide and the Giraffe (who has a runny nose)A tired Giraffe lounges in a chair and eats a pizza crust

(for more photos, check out the album I just posted on Facebook)

Moving week

We successfully made the move to our new house last weekend and we're starting to settle in. Still no artwork on walls, and we have lots of fragile stuff still in boxes until we get cabinets and shelves on which to put them, but all the essentials are unpacked. Owen has been enjoying the ample carpeting and the spacious play areas. Here's a quick tour:

Living room, looking into dining room
Dining room, which we painted a coppery/adobe color Kitchen, looking toward the family room (yellow color was already there; we intend to change it when we get around to messing with the kitchen)Owen's bedroom, which Papa Dusty painted for him - the wall color I picked is called Iceberg, and it's the prettiest shade of pale blue. Nate took off on Thursday for an annual deer hunt at Pungo National Wildlife Refuge (2.5 hours north of here) that he's missed the past two years. I joked to him, "Don't come back unless you get a deer" - but he made good on the promise and shot a 91 lb. doe, so we have fresh venison in the freezer!

Owen is attempting to master the fork these days - he can get food into his mouth no problem if you help him stab it, but it may be some time still before he can acquire the food on the fork by himself....



Here is a video of some recent standing practice:

Busy on the home front

It has been a busy few weeks. Nate left for his last research cruise of the year on Oct 12 and will return to us on Saturday. His parents came to town just before his departure so that they could see their son for a brief spell, bringing with them some furniture and books that belong to Nate. For the rest of their visit, they were wonderful company for Owen and me. Papa Dusty kept himself busy with all sorts of stuff around the new house: painting, rerouting the dryer vent, replacing deck screws, trimming trees and shrubs, etc. He also got to get in a couple of fishing trips - offshore for wahoo (rough seas made for a long day, but the fish was delicious!) and in the estuary for red drum. Grandma Pam and I kept Owen entertained and occupied. Owen and I had a few days to ourselves and then yesterday, my good friend Emma flew in for a visit. We are enjoying her company immensely. Nate returns on Saturday, and we'll rent a truck and move on Sunday (with the help of friends). I can't wait for the quieter days of winter...

Here are pictures of our young reader with his books, and his buddy Aaron.Lastly, Owen wanted to make sure that his upcoming Halloween costume fits - we think it's the perfect costume for our gentle giant. I'm sure Aunt Rosie will agree, he, he, he....

Busy week

It's been a busy week around here. Aunt Rosie and Rachel came for a quick visit this past weekend. We had a fish taco feast on Sun. night, and they taught Owen some rugby moves with his new rugby ball. We loved having you here, R & R - thanks for making the out-of-the-way trip!

On Wed., Jacqui and Porter (now 2.5 months old) and Jenny came over for lunch - here is Owen inspecting his newest little buddy while "Aunt Jenny" holds him. Soon, Porter will get to meet his Newfoundland grandparents - safe travels, Ed and Ada.


And yesterday, we became homeowners!!!! We bought a white Cape Cod style house in Morehead City. I baked a celebratory apple pie and packed up a picnic dinner last night and we all spent a few hours hanging out in our new abode. We are eager to move in, but with Nate departing next week on his last research cruise of the year, it probably won't happen for a few more weeks. Until then, we'll be heading over regularly (and can receive mail, etc). Our new address is 2003 Jersey Street, Morehead City NC 28557. And you can write it in pen, we plan to stay a while!



We look forward to the arrival of Grandma Pam and Papa Dusty on Sunday - they'll be our first official new house guests.

Parting shot: a brief standing-on-his-own moment on the futon

Crawling practice

Owen continues his daily workout routine of rocking back and forth on hands and knees, to try and figure out how to coordinate his extra long torso into some forward motion....Here is some video action (we think he's getting close!):

Aunt Stef

Aunt Stef came down this past week for another visit, while Nate was on a research cruise. She did her very best to entertain Owen while he's still in his "Don't-leave-me-Mommy" stage. We had some fun get-togethers with Jenny and Lincoln. Lincoln showed Owen a few advanced techniques on the music table (a great hand-me-down toy from Owen's buddies Elliot and Emerson):

Here's some video action from Stef's visit. First, a "Velociraptor" attack:



And next, more fun with the music table:

Birthdays and Oregon

We're slowly getting back into the swing of things now that Nate and Owen and I are returned from our trip to Oregon, and finally acclimated back on 'east coast' time. We had a fantastic visit - highlights included many reunions with great friends, beautiful scenery, a gorgeous wedding on the McKenzie River, and celebrating Owen's first birthday. Here are some photos from our trip.


Owen turned 1 on Sept. 10, and Kelly's family presented him with his very own cake to eat (err, destroy!) all by himself - the clean up was an adventure, but the photos were worth it! I, too, celebrated a birthday this week - #34 on Sept. 15. Nate made me a tasty scamp dinner and got a delicious cheesecake for dessert. We've been enjoying it for many days since....

Parting shot: standing practice!

The final days of year 1

Owen turns 1 on Friday. I can hardly believe that an entire year has passed since he was born...Here's how he looked shortly after arrival:and today he's at least 22 lbs heavier and more than a foot taller. He's been busy growing! We're working on self-feeding these days (see video at the bottom of the post).

We depart for Oregon on Wed., so we'll celebrate Owen's first birthday out there. Our dear friends Kelly and Jack (pictured below during a mule deer hunt we had on Kelly's family ranch in central OR) are getting married on the McKenzie River, east of Eugene. We're looking forward to cool nights, beautiful scenery, good beer (Jack's brewed up 10 varieties for the big event!), and reunions with many close friends.

Yesterday we had a delicious get-together with some local friends, where we feasted on a variety of smoked meats and fishes, tasty sides, and good drinks (Dad, I made the watermelon limeade and it was a hit!). Here are some of Owen's many new friends: (l to r) Brian with baby Porter (1.5 mo), Jenny with Lincoln (22 mo), Kathy with Allie (3 mo) and Christina with Aaron (9 mo).

Hurricane Earl

Here it is, baby's-first-hurricane! We've "battened down the hatches" and readied the supplies. The winds have been steadily increasing throughout the day and we've seen a few bands of showers, though the full impact of the hurricane won't start for another few hours. The eye of the storm is passing to the east of us, so we're lucky in that regard - we'll have driving rain and winds out of the N/NE all night, but by morning it should clear (and then I'll be checking in with family in New England to see how they're faring!).

Here is a little video action to show the conditions around 4:30pm this afternoon-

Family visit

We just said 'goodbye' to Nannie, Grandpa and Aunt Stef, who came down for a visit this past week. They were a welcome addition to the quiet house while Nate was away on his first NOAA research cruise. And Nate returned to dry land in time to get in a couple of days with the family, too.

While they were here, we ate a lot of great food, opened some early-birthday presents, went to the beach, played in the baby pool in the backyard, had Owen christened at the Unitarian church, toured Fort Macon, and enjoyed the charm of historic Beaufort. I'll have to add photos as I acquire them (many are on other people's cameras) but here are a few to show the fun we had all week: