Road Trip...

We had a surprisingly lovely drive from Chicago to Overland Park, KS yesterday. Mike originally intended to leave at 6am and then I asked if we could possibly leave at 7. In the end, we pulled out around 7:40 (really, not too shabby!) Owen cried for about the first hour. I fed him a little bottle and a little tylenol (he has had a bad cold all week and cut 2 new teeth, too.) He took a nice three hour nap.

He woke up just before Des Moines where we stopped at Wendy's. He ate some puffs, applesauce, and a little milk. When we got back into the car, he slept for another 2 hours and by then we were almost home. He gets the gold star for the trip! I hope we're so lucky on the way home! Everyone was very happy to see him. I think we're going to run to the mall later this afternoon (yikes!) It will be nice to run some quick errands with a babysitter!

Auntie Em is here!

This week we have been so lucky to have Auntie Em back in Chicago. I think she misses it a lot. I am trying really hard to convince her to move back in August. She hit a blizzard on the way up, so her trip was unfortunately shortened a bit. Sunday we mostly relaxed (because I worked Saturday and Sunday night.) Em put Owen to bed (so Mike could run into the lab for a bit) and he did great. Monday she caught up with some friends and we all went to the MatSci holiday party. It was so nice to see everyone. Today we did some power Christmas shopping and we have a little more to finish up tomorrow. We just love having her here! She makes Owen laugh so much and has almost got him clapping. We'll be so sad to have her leave. It is just like old times :o)

Drumroll please...

Owen is 9 months old today! He weighed in at 19lbs 6oz (32nd percentile) and was 30 inches long (90th percentile). The doctor thought he looked great.

A good knitting day, a bad knitting day...

I FINALLY finished Owen's Christmas stocking! It didn't even take that long. It just felt like it did! It was definitely the second hardest thing I've ever made (to the purple sweater.) I am so happy to have it done and that it turned out so nicely! It is really heavy yarn so I think it will hold up well throughout many years of being stuffed full of treats by Santa.
On a sad note, two hats I made for gifts are now 3-6 and 6-12 months sizes. They were supposed to be for adults. They felted up much smaller than I expected...Oh, well. Mike tried to console me by telling me I could just make more (if I get started right now...) Maybe we'll try again next year.

Our little helper...

Our Lola is a great little dog. She has dealt very well with all of the changes in her life this year. She is so good, but you can tell she misses being the princess! Whenever she is feeling a little neglected she lets you know it by jumping up in your lap, no matter what else you are doing!



Yesterday, she helped me fold some warm laundry. This explains why we are all covered in dog hair.

A big day...

Sunday, we got to go see Santa and go see the Zoolights at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a day packed full of all kinds of fun! For the last two years, we've taken Lola to see Santa at Petsmart. No line and they will take pictures with your camera. I would highly recommend it to anyone with kids... even if you don't have a pet! Owen was not too excited to meet Santa. We were hoping we would be able to get one nice picture but every time he calmed down, he turned around to look at Santa and lost it all over again! Don't worry, though. We managed to convince Santa that this is not typical Owen behavior and that he most definitely deserved to be on the nice list.

After our rather intense trip to Petsmart, we went over to my cousin Leah's for a delicious dinner and then on to the zoo with Leah, Aunt Phyllis, and Uncle Frank. It was so much fun! Because we paid for parking at the zoo, we received these trippy "3D" glasses that made all lights (except for the blue ones) look like snowmen. It added quite a lot to our experience. We all agreed that the glasses would be a lot more fun after a few drinks (or 1 drink if you've spent the past 18 months pregnant and then breastfeeding!) Owen slept through part of our zoo trip, but woke up in time to enjoy the giraffes, birds, fish, and puffins. My favorite exhibit was the ape house. Because it was 7:00, all of the apes were cuddled up and sleeping. It was very cute! It was also great to see everybody and the beautiful lights at the zoo.

Snow!!!

As you may have heard, we got hit with our first big snow of the year! Owen and I took Lola out for a little walk this afternoon and they both loved the snow. Lola loves to hop around like a little snow bunny. I'll try to get a little video of that tomorrow! Someone in the building next door built this snowman. Owen liked being outside and didn't mind sitting in the snow. Apparently, Mike didn't get to play in snow until he was 4 years old. Please no one show these pictures to Nana!!! I'm sure we'd be in big trouble!!! Actually, the weather was very nice when we went for our walk. The sun had just come out and we only stayed out for about 10 minutes. Hope everyone is staying safe and warm.

Owen's new favorite toy...

Last week we got an early Christmas present from my friend Laura. Isn't she on the ball! Owen has been playing with the box and packing paper for almost a week now. Mike asks if he can throw it out every morning. With the chilly weather we've been a little cooped up and it has given us hours of entertainment! I hope the actual present is as fun as the box! :o)

Omaha trip

Our family returned to Omaha at the beginning of December. It was a bittersweet trip due to the passing of my Great-Grandma Stangel (for those of you keeping track that is Owen's Great-Great-Grandma). Luckily we were able to get back earlier in the year and get a picture featuring 5 generations of Stangel/McCall/Walsh's. It was sad to say good bye to my Grandma, but I will always remember going to her house for Thanksgiving for many years as well as her delicious chicken noodle soup and sugar cookies.

It was great to see all our family, though, despite the sad circumstances. Everyone got to see (and try to keep up with) Owen's new found crawling ability. It was a quick trip, only about two and a half days but we managed to get some Pa and Nana pictures.

Fluffy hair

Owen fell asleep on our walk today. He had his hat on for about an hour and a half. When I took it off, this is what his hair looked like. Maybe his hair is going to get a little wavy...