Our Playful Penguin

Sophie has had a love for all sorts of birds for as long as we can remember. I think we first realized it while we were visiting Australia and she was enamored by the chickens at the Collingwood Farm when she was about 5 months old. She has a deep appreciation for penguins in particular these days. When she was about 15 months old she picked out a stuffed penguin that we got while visiting the Jacksonville Zoo. We aptly named him Jax and he hasn't left her side ever since. We've since added Pinky from the Shedd Aquarium to the mix. Pinky and Jax are her buddies. Shedd has a pretty cool Penguin Exhibit that we've been to a few times. Sophie loves to dress up as a penguin at the exhibit and waddle around like 'Jax'. I'd love to figure out how to make one of these costumes for her as they were apparently custom made for the aquarium and they don't sell them. If only I knew how to sew or had a sewing machine.

Sophie's Secret Language Revealed

Any parents of toddlers know and love when their little one's language starts developing and, if like Rich and I, they hang on every new word their LO adds to their vocalb. Sophie has had a fairly extensive vocalbuarly since her first few words of mama, dada, baba, nana, pop, pumpkin and button back when she was 10 months old. It's since grown exponetially. I wrote down a list of her vocalb back before her 16 month doctors appointment.  It was easier than to keep tabs on her developments.

For the past week or so her brain is working overtime and she's been adding a few new words a day... yesterday they were 'orange, pizza, beer

Ice pop, please!

goat'. Sophie's always been into music and associates certain things with specific songs, ie. she sings 'twinkle twinkle little star' tune when she sees a star, or 'trot ol' joe' (a song about a horse from her merry music makers class) when she sees a horse. She calls any recognizable Disney character she says 'Hot Dog' (one of her new favorite shows is Micky Mouse Clubhouse and the Hot Dog song/dance is her ultimate fav. atm). She says 'backpack, backpack' for anyone/thing resembling Dora the Explorer (a program she has only watched a handful of times). It's so fun and a bit of a mystery at times figuring out what she associates certain things with. For a while now she's been oinking like a pig anytime she sees coins which she associates with her piggy bank. She's been known to look through purses for coins and puts them in her bank. Our little saver :) On our evening walks we've been so lucky to see puppetbike (who she calls 'meow' because of her favorite cat puppets that star in the puppet bike shows). Puppetbike fans put dollar bills in his house, some older folk try to give Sophie their bills to put in the house, though she doesn't get that concept just yet. The other night we had some dollar bills on the table, she points and says 'meow, meow' associating the dollar bills with puppetbike, of course! So cute, and fun. I love this guessing game and it all makes total sense to me, it's like our secret family language. Addendum- this post is nearly a month old. I didn't get to posting til now. Since drafting this Sophie has started with sentences... her first 'I hit head' which she now says everytime she hurts her self or is afraid, I want milk, ice pop please, thanks mama (or dada), I love mama and I love bread have since been added. She now knows all of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters by name and repeats everything we say. Super inquisitive, she is already asking questions like 'what's that' and 'why'. Every day is such a fun adventure at this age.

Spongy Weed

Where has the time gone since our last BOG post 18 months ago? Sophie just turned 20 months. It's been the best 20 months of our lives but has flown by. We are so blessed. Many of her firsts have come and gone and she is now especially developing in spades and we want to document it all on here in lieu of our constant facebook posts. Our intention for this blog is to serve as an online babybook for us to look back at with Soph in years to come as well as share our experiences with you. For now we'll look back at a few of our spongy weed's firsts. There are so many it's tough to keep tabs on them all... Sophie's been pretty consistent with her weight/height growth remaining at around the 25% for weight and 75-90% for height. Firsts: - Rolled over tummy to back 3.5 months/back to tummy 4 months. - First teeth came in at 5 months (two bottom same day). No fuss. - First plane ride was at 2 months to visit Nana and Pop in Florida, followed by the big trip to Australia when I was 5 months. - Started crawling at around 7 months - Standing at 8 months - Took first steps at 9 months - Spoke first words besides Mama, Dada, Nana, Popa which were pumpkin and button at 10 months - Started singing at 11 months and hasn't stopped since - Started waving at 7 months - Baptism on May 29, 7 months. First birthday was at the Brunk Children's Museum of Immigration on Clark Street. It was a cupcake and button themed party. We'll look to keep up with this blog on a more consistent basis and look forward to documenting our little one's special moments and milestones here as well as take a look back and reminiscence about special moments that have passed.

Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone, It's me, Sophie, again. It's been almost a month since my last blog posting and I have grown so much since then! Mom and Dad say I am changing everyday, we are all having lots of fun together. It's so nice to have both of my parents around during the day to take care of me. Some of my favorite things to do are to play on my playmat, I love trying to swipe the bugs and look at all of the pretty lights above me; having fun in my bouncy chair  esp. pulling the little rings and birdie hanging above me on the chair as well as chilling in my swing and just hanging w. Mom and Dad. I still love my sleep and milk. Mom and Dad are very proud of me, since I've been sleeping through the night without any problems for the past few weeks. I'm pretty hungry lately and think I may be going through a growth spurt. I am almost 2 whole months old and have my 2 month Drs. check up on Jan. 13. Even though it is cold here in Chicago, I don't know any other weather and enjoy our walks outside, going to friends houses and out for lunch and dinner. We try to go out every other day. I am excited for my first plane ride later this month when we go to visit Nan and Pop in Florida and meet my Auntie Jen, Uncle Freddie and cousin Jakey for the first time. I may even try to go for a swim. I am still not a fan of baths but I think I'll get used to them in the coming months and think swimming in the pool may be fun. I went to my first party on New Years Eve, it was fun and lots of new friends wanted to have cuddles with me. My first Christmas was also great, I got so many fun new toys and pretty clothes.

Hi, I'm Sophie

Me in my cool shirt Daddy made especially for me.

Hi Everyone, My name is Sophie Grace Owen and I can't wait to meet you all! I know Mom and Dad have been in contact w. lots of you but for those that don't know I came into this great big world on November 12 at 5:49pm after a long, long day. I was a bit bigger than anyone really expected weighing in at 8lbs 1oz and 21 inches long. Mom says her contractions started at around midnight, just a few hours after she had asked me to hold off coming until the morning so she could get a good nights sleep after having a delicious dinner at Terragusto, but I just couldn't wait any longer to get the party started. She woke Daddy and they made their way to the hospital at around 2 a.m. Mom received an epidural after waiting it out for a couple of hours at the hospital, which she was very thankful for and calls a godsend. Mom,  Dad and I spent most of the day just chilling out and resting while Mom contracted and continued to dilate naturally. At about 2pm the pushing started. I was so close to coming out, I could hear the conversations happening around me. Daddy, the midwife, nurses and Dr. McNair could see the top of my head and my brown hair. Mom pushed and pushed very hard for three hours but I was just too comfy where I was and wasn't budging. Mom was also dealing with a fever and my heartrate dropped a bit, that's when everyone decided it was time I meet the world and an emergency c-section was quickly arranged. In a matter of minutes, I was welcomed into the world. Mom says it was a great big birthday party for me as at least 20 people from the hospital were in the room to greet me and we were both very carefully looked after. I was pretty proud when I was told my apgar score was a 9.5 out of 10, with all things considered the Peds seemed impressed. They were also surprised by my neck strength. I've been holding my head up high on my own since birth. Dr. McNair's first reaction once she pulled me out of Mom was "She's all CHEEKS!!". I've been told I get my gorgeous cheeks from Dad and he's warned me that a life of cheek squeezes and kisses could be in store. Nana and Pop brought pictures of Mom when she was just born and I have to say that we do look so much alike too. I am a very healthy baby, a great eater from the start. I rarely spit up, I've inherited my mom's champion burping skills and, like my parents, I really enjoy my sleep. I've already had a few great adventures out of the house even though it's been freezing cold. I especially love car rides and going for walks.

Where is Weezie?

Hi Everyone.

Well today is the Official Due Date, but as of yet Weezie has not appeared!

Kristin has had a few contractions this past week, and is holding up great. Her belly frequently makes all sorts of weird shapes, hard to tell if lil Weezie is trying to get comfortable or trying to get out.

Kristin's folks arrived yesterday to help out, it is great having them around to support our venture into the unknown.

Out next appointment in on the 10th.

We have our bags packed and in the car, we are all set go and getting excited. Lots of Love to All.

Weezie is 38 Weeks and 2 days - 95.7% Baked!

We are officially down to the wire. Only 12 days left til we reach lil' Weezie's November 7th due date. Our www.bebepool.com/kawowen closes in 2 days so get your votes in if you haven't already!

The 37 week check up last Monday went well, we met with another OB practitioner at NMPG and he, like the others we've met with, was great. At that stage I was a surprising 1 1/2 cm dilated, the baby's head was at 0 station and engaged meaning I could go into official labor at any moment, could be hours, days, weeks no one knows. After the appointment I treated myself to a Bliss 'Mama to Be' massage and bikini wax, nice but probably not the best idea after the appointment. Once we got home that's evening I was having some intense pelvic and groin pain where at one stage I couldn't move my legs, poor Rich had to come over to my side of the bed each time I needed to roll over to help move. Thankfully, that pain went away by morning and I know it's just my body prepping itself for the big "D" Day. I've been having some occasional cramping lately and get really winded quickly these days but nothing too intense. I've been able to get some frequent rest and am just taking it easy getting as much done as possible before the lil' one gets here- from shopping, errands and cleaning to hanging out with friends and getting some pampering (mani/pedi, massage, haircut). Rich has been a great help with everything.

Coincidentally, we've been spending a lot of time with friends with young kids lately. This past weekend we had our friend's Jen and Randall's little Weston's 1st birthday party which was chock-full of kids of all ages; last weekend we visited with our friend's LP and Sonia who just had a baby girl, Samira- a prelude into what we can expect of our lives and how it will change in just a few short days. We also caught up with our friends Jon and Kate and their twin girls on the same weekend.

Our next appointment is on Friday where we hope to get more exciting news about the progression of the pregnancy. Here's to hoping I continue to progress smoothly, Weezie is still ready to go and we get to hold her in our arms sooner rather than later. I know this time will fly by!