Busy, Busy, Busy Boy!

Owen has become quite the busy boy in the past month or so. I last blogged about our surprise trip home for Mother's Day. Well, not long after we made another trip home-this time just Mommy and Owen. Owen was an angel in the car! I was so very nervous about driving with him in the back. He has never, ever, ever enjoyed riding in his car seat. He is very hot natured and he just gets so hot and sticky! So we invested in a portable DVD player to strap to the back headrest for him to watch as we cruise around town. (Yes, I know...TV isn't recommended for kids until they're like 2....these people clearly do not have children.)

Owen enjoying his DVD player in his car seat...I think he approves!

Owen visited Uncle Will at school on our trip home. :)

Our main reason for travelling home was for Marlee's (my mom) 50th birthday! My Dad wanted to do something special for her and with the help of some dear friends, we pulled it off! She had NO idea. :)

The "new" 50!

Owen was pretty worn out by the time Marlee's party started. We had been busy visiting with Michael's family and he was all off schedule for napping. Those of you that know Owen well, you know that he must have his long afternoon nap! When I say long, I mean 2-3 hours! The boy loves to sleep! And you know what? I'm going to enjoy the time while I can! I know all too soon he's going to be bouncing off the walls with energy and I'm going to be longing for a nice, quite afternoon!

This was Owen during Marlee's party. Please excuse the unbuttoned outfit. It was a "bad mommy" moment. The poor kid had never worn the outfit and he was stuffed in it so tight he finally busted out!



We have recently started a new "technique" in our approach to speech therapy. Food Play. This is possibly one of Owen's most favorite times of day! Owen is still not taking anything by mouth. It's nothing surprising, as most kidney babies do not eat by mouth. They have a lack of appetite, mixed with food tasting differently because of the toxins in their body and also coupled with severe reflux. Poor Owen's reflux tends to slow down and then spike back up. He is such a trooper. There are many days in which he spits up after every meal, but once he's finished, he flashes that sweet little grin! BUT unfortunately, he does not associate putting things in his mouth with positive feelings.

We have introduced food play to allow Owen to choose when food is going in his mouth. We set him in his highchair or his big boy chair ( a toddler booster seat that he loves) and just dump food out on the tray! We give him spoons to play with as well as his Z Vibe (vibrating teether recommended by his therapist) and let him have at it! I'll let the pictures fill you in on how it's going....

We are so happy to see Owen enjoy putting things in his mouth and learning to explore with his hands! He is growing up SO fast...I think I've shed some tears at least a few times the past couple of weeks just watching him grow before my eyes! His development is really coming along and he is progressing much faster than his therapists thought he would upon first meeting him 6 months ago. :)

For those that don't follow on Facebook we had another little bout of sickness that landed us in the hospital over Memorial Day Weekend. (We were last there over Easter weekend with RSV-for some reason Owen picks holiday weekends to be sick!)

Owen's immune system is not quite as hearty as other babies his age and unfortunately being around a lot of new people means being around a lot of new germs. :( After our trip home for my Mom's birthday Owen got pneumonia. Praise God, it wasn't super severe, but enough that he needed oxygen support and a few days in the hospital. We were there from Friday to Tuesday.

Waiting in the ER...obviously pneumonia can't slow this boy down!

What Owen did our first couple of days...get some well deserved R&R!

By Tuesday Owen was back to feeling great and we made it home to enjoy some of the wonderful weather! ( Well, Mommy does while Owen's napping....he is truly his Father's son and would much rather enjoy some air conditioning than hot sunshine!)

Thanks for all your love and support. We appreciate each prayer that has been said for our little miracle. As we are nearing celebrating his first year of life we understand more and more the grace of our wonderful God. Praise Him for His faithfulness to our family and for the blessing of this sweet baby boy!