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...

New pics...

Just wanted to let you know that we had Owen's Christmas pictures taken on Tuesday. You can see them at www.sadiesonline.com. Click on the Northbrook, IL location and then order re-prints. The pictures are under Katie Walsh and the password is Owen. Hope you enjoy them!

Making Mike's life a little easier...

Owen has just thought of another way to make his Dad's life a little easier. I guess he has been helping Mike with his feedings for awhile. Saturday, he took the bottle from Mike and fed himself. Isn't that nice. Oh, to be Mike Walsh... Just kidding, honey! I love you!

Thanksgiving fun

A belated happy turkey day to everyone! Sorry it took us so long to post these pictures. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with the Lakofkas. Thanks for having us! Everything was delicious! Sorry we had to run back to Evanston. Here is a picture of Owen having fun with Uncle Frank.


Every Thanksgiving, I like to think back to my first year as a nurse on the postpartum unit at Creighton University Medical Center. On Thanksgiving eve, we delivered a 14lb 3oz baby girl (and she looked like a miniature sumo wrestler!) It made national news and there was a picture in Time magazine (really!) So happy 4th birthday to that giant baby! Owen had a delicious dinner of Gerber turkey and sweet potatoes, accompanied by applesauce with bananas and pears, and topped off with some milk.

Trouble...

Today I pulled Lola's beef flavored rawhide stick out of Owen's mouth...Sorry no picture. Mike was disappointed, but I'm sure you understand. Here are some pictures of him causing trouble in the bathroom. We'll have to remember to keep the door closed from now on! I also had to pick up Lola's food and water bowls today. Sorry, girl. Hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving. We'll try to post some pics of Owen enjoying his first turkey leg tomorrow night ;o)

Motoring along...

Today, I caught Owen pulling up on this basket (which is full of his toys!) Oh, life is getting more exciting by the day. Mike took this video this evening. It is a little long... Hope you enjoy :o)

8 months old

Owen, where have the last 8 months gone?! You are going to be one before we know it! You guys would not believe how much more he is crawling. If he sees something he want, he is going for it! He loves to pull the baskets off of the bottom bookshelves. Thank goodness I filled them with his books and toys. He is a very busy boy. His favorite toys right now are books, the new soft blocks from cousin Olivia, and learning puppy from Gram! To celebrate Owen being 8 months old, we introduced protein into his diet. Owen had chicken and apples for dinner (sounds yummy, huh?) and loved it. I think the is going to be a meat man like his dad and uncle Sam!

Visitors...

Sorry it's been so long since I posted on the blog. I'm going to try and catch up today. We'll see... Over the weekend we had company. Mike's Aunt Katie, Uncle Carl, and cousin Olivia came to visit. Olivia is 4 1/2 and very fun. We were blessed with beautiful weather and temperatures in the 50's. Who'd have thought?! We went to the Shedd Aquarium, the park, Church, and spent a lot of time at home playing with Owen and Lola. Olivia told me more than once that she would like to take them home with her.


Katie, Carl, and Olivia also made a trek into the city to go to the American Girl store where Olivia got Julie, the groovy 70's gal. We had so much fun and are really glad they came to visit!

Crawling...

Here it is...by popular demand! We'll try to get a better video soon. It is hard to catch him in the act :o) At the doctor today he weighed 18 lbs 8 oz. For an 8 month old, that puts him in about the 25th percentile for weight. He's still an armload!
Katie

Oh, my!

Today Owen peed in his eye in the bathtub twice!

Happy Halloween!

Owen had a very fun Halloween! He took advantage of several opportunities to wear his monkey costume. He wore it to our church's playgroup last Tuesday and all of the other kids loved it! Dominico is Owen's little buddy. He was born on Valentine's Day, so they are just one month a part. It is fun to watch Dominico to see what Owen will be doing next! After playgroup, we went to visit Mike and his friends at school. They loved seeing Owen all dressed up in his costume :o) I loved watching Mike show Owen off!


On Halloween, we got together with a couple of my work friends and their families. It was so nice to get everyone together. We realized that the last time we all got together with our husbands, was over 2 years ago! Time flies! The kids looked so cute and had a good time "playing" together. We had so much fun, we decided we have to make a better effort to get together more often.

As promised...

Here are a couple of pictures from the baby shower. We didn't get any at the party. I guess we were just too busy taking everything in. This was one birthday/ Halloween party that would have made Martha herself jealous! Beautiful decorations, a huge fancy cake, treat bags, popcorn balls, fancy food, booze, and kids treats, too. We were handed a jack 'o lantern bib for Owen when we walked in the door! It was a really classy affair! I hope this party didn't set Owen's expectations too high for his first birthday party. We were just thinking cake and grandparents!
I guess we'll just have to wait and see :o)

The "Breakfast Club" Maria, April and Donovan, Katie and Izzy, Julie and baby girl (to be) and Katie and Owen.

6 of the Labor and Deliveries born this year: Evan (2 months), Matteo (3 months), Hannah (5 1/2 months), Owen (7 1/2 months), Izzy (2 months), and Donovan (5 months).

*Special thanks to Julie Sipe. I stole these pictures off of her blog. Hope you don't mind :o) *

New Pics!

Just wanted to let you know we had some new pics taken of Owen and Lola. You can view them online at www.sadiesonline.com. Choose "Order Reprints" from the Northbrook, IL location. Search for Katie Walsh. The password is "Owen."
It was quite a feat to get them both to the mall and looking their best. I was lucky to have my Mom here to help out! I attended a nursing conference on Thursday and Friday, so Owen got to spend two days with Grammy. They had lots of fun going on walks to the park and grocery store, playing, and singing. Mom and Owen cooked dinner, cleaned, and did laundry both days, too! Talk about making me look bad...I hope Mike doesn't start expecting fancy dinners like that every night :o) They had so much fun! I just wish I wouldn't have had to go to the conference, so I could have spent more time with Mom!

Later today, Owen is going to his first birthday party. It is for our neighbor Asher, who is turning 1. It is a costume party, so Owen is looking forward to getting a little more use out of his monkey suit! It should be lots of fun! Tomorrow we are going to a baby shower. There will be a few other babies there, so I'm sure they'll all have lots of fun! I'll put up some pics tomorrow night!
Katie

Owen's New Trick

Hello Family and Friends,

This is Mike's first official addition to the blog. I plan on continually contributions to the technological and artistic directions of the blog so enjoy this first clip of Owen's exciting new trick. In other news Owen also now is make big boy #2's, so really life's changing a lot for us and him right now. Enjoy the video and take care.

Mike

7 months old!!!

Can you believe it? We can't! Owen was 7 months old on Saturday! I ended up with a weekend off of work, so we celebrated by going out on a date, watching Northwestern beat Minnesota, hosting some company, and apple picking. It was so nice to be home and awake this weekend! Poor Mike didn't get to much relaxing done, but a fun time was had by all. Owen was well behaved at the football game, but in a bit of a crabby mood! Even Willie the Wildcat couldn't make him smile. He also got a little nervous about all of the yelling and cheering. Lesson learned. Maybe we'll try again next year. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera. Saturday night, our friends from Creighton, Nick and Sarah, came to visit. On Sunday we took them to Apple Holler. The weather was a little less than perfect, but we picked a half peck of Rome Beauty apples. Owen stayed warm and dry bundled up in the baby bjorn and zipped up in Mike's jacket.
So far, we made apple pancakes and apple cake. Tomorrow, we are going to try to make applesauce and baby applesauce.


Today, Owen managed to escape while I was changing his diaper. He was pretty proud of himself and since the camera was close, I couldn't resist!!!

Owen Swinging

Katie is yet again demonstrating her excellent parenting skills by videoing Owen's various outings. In this case it was Owen's first time on a swing. His joy is evident on the video and we continue to take him swinging at the park. Katie is already excited about next year when Owen is running around the park and riding the teeter totter with her. Anyway enjoy the video and hopefully now that we know how to post them there will be more scenes of Owen in motion.

Labor Day Fun!

Today Owen and I took Mike to the beach! Owen just loved the water....
Last time Em and I took him he enjoyed splashing around but the water must have been cooler this time :o) I think we'll try again later in the week.
Last week, we put him in the swing at the park for the first time and he had so much fun!!! I've never heard him giggle so much! I'll try to take a video this week and see if I can get it to show up on the blog. We finally decided on a paint color for or hallway and kitchen. We plan to start painting tomorrow night. We'll keep you updated on our progress! I also added a picture of my new haircut for Mom and Em :o) It is great to have short hair again!
Katie

Our Blog!

Hello Everyone! I have been thinking about setting one of these up for awhile. I thought it may be a good way to keep everyone updated on Owen (and of course us, too!) We'll try to post often (if Mike ever gets our internet up and running (hint, hint honey...) We hope you are all doing well! Our most recent excitement has been Owen's two bottom teeth breaking through on Tuesday. I wish we had a picture, but we haven't been able to get a good one yet. I'll keep trying. This picture was taken last week when Owen ate rice cereal for the first time. He really liked it, much to our surprise!
Katie