Gobble Gobble...

Well since Halloween, as shown in the last posting, Owen has adopted certain Spiderman-isms. He is constantly scaling walls and climbing over anything he can get himself on... it is so great to have such an active little boy who is so entertaining! I can sit for hours and watch him entertain himself. I wish I had a photo of Owen standing up, but every time I get my camera ready as he pulls himself up, he realizes that I have something new in my hands for him to put in his mouth and falls out of the stand to crawl over and attempt a chewing session, I wonder if saliva is covered in the Canon warranty...

The week before Thanksgiving, we attended a Renaissance party and here is a picture of the Royal Doerle's




For the Thanksgiving holiday, we traveled up to New York and Connecticut to visit family. It was such a nice surprise to fly into Stewart Airport and see a sea of fall color! We were not expecting the leaves to still be on the trees, it was absolutely breath-taking. There is something magical about New England in the fall. Here are some pictures we took on a stroll through Owen's great grandparents development...





Here are a few more images from the Thanksgiving holiday, Owen's first, including some pictures of him feeding himself for the first time - very fitting for the holiday I would say!






...and back in Fort Lauderdale in short sleeves...





Leave me some comments!!!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Here are some photos of Owen's first Halloween. Some of these images were from his Halloween party at school. Spiderman!





Owen is now crawling all over the place and has started to pull himself up to standing on anything he can get his little fingers on. Here he is waiting patiently for dinner...

Crawling and Teething

The constant transformation of Owen from an adorable and helpless little infant to an active and adventurous toddler continues. I need to replace all of the fluffy gingham baby items with trucks, bugs, baseball bats and mud...

These last two weeks have really been an exercise in parenting. I have been told that parenthood is more like a marathon than a sprint, naturally, but there are those few times when we feel like we need a recharge to keep up. In the last two weeks Owen reached two big milestones - crawling teeth!

Yes, he is officially crawling... and he is fast! Just this morning I left him playing on his play mat (thank you Quay and Lauren, those ABC foam mats are great!) and a split second later he was across the room heading towards the electrical outlet. Lets just say, we are heading out to Babies R Us this afternoon to invest in all the baby safety items available. We also have three new teeth! Two on the top and one on the bottom.

Month 7 and into ABSOLUTLY EVERYTHING!

Ok... I know I have done a pretty poor job of keeping this updated weekly, as promised... but better late than never :)

Owen has changed so much this month. Around mid-September, we said goodbye to Owen's cranial cap, which was definitely worth the expensive and minor inconvenience of driving down to south Miami every week. His head is now perfectly round and his symmetry has improved vastly. We are so pleased with the improvement to his head shape and would recommend it to anyone considering the treatment. I must admit that taking him out in public now is alot more tolerable than it was with the cap, or helmet, since people would stare and offer indirect looks of sympathy.

We enrolled Owen in swim classes which are every Sunday morning and he just loves the water and actually kicked once during the first class. I was just so proud! Michael Phelps watch out... Pictures of him in class to follow soon.

Here are some recent photos on the little man...

Half a Year Down - Owen is 6 Months!

Well this past month has been quite the busy one, hence why we haven't been able to update this site... Highlights from this past month include Owen's baptism, starting daycare or what I like to call "school", Mimi and B Pa moving down to the Fort Lauderdale area, Owen getting his cranial cap (curious... you will see below), Owen progressing with solid food and expanding his little wasitline as well as a recent trip up to New York and Connecticut to visit family.

Here are some pictures of Owen from this past month... Here he is sitting up like a big boy...



Owen with his godparents, Amy Provost and John Bradley, after his baptism...




Owen on his first hiking trip in beautiful Kent, Connecticut... Here is his with his great Uncle Chip, dad, and cousin Sara...




Owen with his great grandparents and cousins Sara and Eric...



More updates to come soon!!!

Owen is 5 months old!

Well I (Owen's mom) have had a recent revelation. I will no longer be writing this blog from Owen's perspective. As he continues to grow, his personality is really starting to be defined and it is not right to give him a voice that is not his own. This is a step for us, or me in particlular, in the learning process of parenthood - we have to let him be his own person.

Owen is growing up so fast, I know I keep saying that and am starting to feel like a broken record. Both Elliott and I continue to be amazed at the little things he has started to do. For instance, when we read to him he has started to turn the pages for us. It takes him a moment each time for his little fingers to successfully grab the page and move it over to the other side, but he does it and it is absolutly adorable. He has a strong determination to try things. Another thing he has started to do is grab the spoon when we are feeding him and brings it to his month. He is one strong little man, most of the food ends up in his hair or all over us. He loves bananas and pears! Since our last posting we had a friends, Lindsay and Phil, in town who flew in for a about a week from Pittsburgh to visit. Here are some recent photos:

Happy July 4th!

Since my last posting, a lot has happened... I have sporadically been rolling over, but just from my stomach to my back. So I am finally getting the hang of this rolling over thing. My B-Pa was in town for a week, here are some pictures of us together... He loves to kiss me...




For my first July 4th we went to a pool party at Mr. Courtney's pool and it was a blast! I went swimming and visited with a bunch of mommy and daddy's friends, including Ms. Lindsay and Mr. Phil who came down from Pittsburgh for the week.. Here are some pictures from the pool party...





I am growing up so fast. Since my last posting I started eating solid foods. I have a few teaspoons of rice cereal mixed with milk every evening and it is yummy...

17 Weeks and 17 Pounds

This past week was great! I officially started giggling and am progressing on the rolling over thing. I have heard that I am the cutest little baby in the world when I start giggling and that I can light up any room... I made it to the beach this past week, check out my beach hat!

One of the highlights of this past week included a trip Mom, Mimi and I went on to Babies R Us. We went there a few days ago to pick me up some more formula since, according to Mom, is the least expensive place to purchase it in the area. She has become quite thrifty since I was born and has been paying close attention to prices of formula, diapers, baby wipes, etc. at the various stores that she drags me to. So, we drove all the way out to Babies R Us in Lauderhill so she could picked up the least expansive pack of Similac Organic formula and accidentally put 130 dollars of toys for me in her shopping cart. She said she just couldn't resist all the neat toys that are out there and that toys are beneficial for my development. So much for trying to save money mom, but I did get some great new toys out of the trip! She picked me up a piano that lights up as I play it. The five brightly colored keys light up when I touch them. Mom and dad are so proud of me because I have figured out how to play it and the box says it is for 6 month old babies and I am only 4 months old! I am such a genius... We also picked up some new books (i love reading), a v-tech ball that plays music and rolls around by itself to stimulate crawling (one step at a time guys), and the classic rainbow stacking donuts. Later in the week, Mom, Dad and I went our storage facility and we picked up some items that they received from friends and family when I was born that I haven't been able to use yet. Well let me just tell you, I have even more things to play with and sit in, now that I am sitting - a rocking chair that vibrates, a new high chair so I can start eating solid foods, a bouncing seat that sits in a doorway and my cool exersaucer! Oh I have been having so much fun with all my new toys!!! All of these things are helping me become more independent and imaginative! Thank you to everyone out there who has given them to me...



Another big thing that happened this past week is that I started sleeping in my very own room in my big boy crib! I do miss sleeping next to mommy and daddy, but I have also enjoyed having some privacy. Mom got up seventeen times to check up on me that first night, silly girl! I love my new bed and not hearing my parents snoring anymore!

Well I almost have this rolling over thing down. I still need a little helping remembering to put my arm up by my head so I don't roll over on it. I think I will have it down soon. So stay tuned...

4 Months and a Father's Day down... many more to go!

This past Monday marked my fourth month! I have been very busy this past week learning how to sit up on my own and learning how to successfully roll over on my own. I can sit up if I am propped up with pillows, but most of the time I end up doing a face plant into the carpet after a few seconds. This always makes my mom and dad laugh. I can also roll over half way. Most of the time if I roll over to one of my sides, I end up falling right asleep! These activities are exhausting!

Today Mom and Dad took me to the doctor and I weighed in at 16 lbs. 12 oz. and a whooping 26" - I am over 2 feet tall! The doctor told us that I am in the 90th percentile for my height and the 75th percentile for my weight. Pretty soon I will be towering over my mom and dad! No one knows where my height has come from, but maybe...just maybe, I can play professional basketball one day and help my parents with an early retirement.



Mom has been busy at work and I have been so fortunate to have my Mimi watch me during the days. We are looking forward to my B-Pa's visit on Friday. Have I mentioned that my Mimi and B-Pa Mandras are moving down to sunny Fort Lauderdale? Well they are, just to be closer to me... I am such a lucky boy!


This past weekend was father's day. I went down to Walgreens and picked out the best card to give my dad on his very first valid father's day. We spent the day relaxing at home, listening to music and playing with all my toys. It was a great day!

Week 15, Almost 4 Months

I am almost 4 months old, well 15 weeks to be exact. Mom went back to work last week, she is working in the mornings and comes home in the afternoons so we can play and read books together. I have been so lucky to have Mimi, my mom's mom, watch me in the mornings. She takes good care of me... My mom's friend Julie came into town last week. She flew into Miami from Madrid Spain to visit me! I have ladies coming from all directions and foreign countries to visit me...



I am almost ready to roll over! I can make from my back to my side, but haven't mastered getting on my stomach yet, which should come soon. I have also been sitting up and grabbing things including my mom's hair, which she doesn't like too much.

Welcome to Owen's World

Welcome to my new web page! My parents decided that it would be ideal to set up this "blog" site (thanks for the lesson Miss Julie) since I am growing sooooo fast and since our family resides all over the country! This way all of my family, friends and adoring fans can keep current with my adventures and milestones. I am 13 weeks old already! I can now successfully grab things and put them in my mouth, lift my head when I am on my stomach and talk up a storm. My favorite things to say are "grrrrr" "ah-boo" and "Ohhhh." My mom and dad agree that I am a genius because I can say "Ohhh," which is what they have been calling me.

Here are some highlights from my first three months:

(Feb.23.2007) Mom and Dad three days before I was born. My mom was a bridesmaid and was overly concerned that her water was going to break walking down the aisle. Yikes!



(Feb.26.2007)WATCH OUT WORLD, I have arrived...



(April.2007) Mom and I spent almost two weeks in her hometown. We visited so many people including my great grandparents in Connecticut. I loved my great granny's singing! Here are some pictures from our trip...






(May.12.2007) I love the beach... In mid May we traveled over to the west coast of Florida, to Fort Myers, to visit my Mimi and B-Pa Mandras who were vacationing there with friends. It my first time to the beach! Here are some pictures...





(May.2007) The week before Memorial Day, we traveled to Texas and Louisiana to visit my daddy's family and friends! We spent the first three days in Austin and then drove over to cajun country to spend the remaining week with my family. I loved meeting my three first cousins; Kristin, Charlie and Jake; as well as everyone else! I was showered in kisses and hugs. Here are some pictures: