Owen at Ten Months.

Yikes, I have fallen behind in my monthly Owen posts! He just turned 11 months, but here is a little bit about our sweet boy in month 10.

Owen is on the brink of toddler-hood and it breaks my heart just a little bit. How are we already at this point? I feel like I just had Owen, and now he's always on the move. This month has been a little more challenging than previous months... he has definitely become more whiny and irritable at times, but he is still sweet and happy most of the time. When Owen wants my attention he wants my attention, and he will definitely let me know when he doesn't like something (such as me walking by him when he wants to be picked up). But when he's happy? It's so adorable- his sweet smile and dimples are always on display, and he loves to play and laugh. 

  Owen loves, loves, loves Dylan and always wants to be around him, especially first thing in the morning. After having his diaper changed and nursing, he crawls to Dylan's door and wants to push it open. Owen prefers to play alongside his brother, and Dylan usually enjoys it too. Owen absolutely adores his daddy and sometimes calls for him in the morning when he wakes up saying, "Da-da-da-da." While I am still the mommy and security blanket, there are times when Ben is holding him and I walk up to take Owen in my arms, Owen will lean away from me and snuggle closer to Ben. Owen is very affectionate and is always giving kisses, attacking our noses, or putting his face next to mine for a quick little love.

Owen is getting more confident about cruising around on the furniture and seems closer to being a real stander, rather than just standing for a few seconds. To be honest, since Owen was such an early crawler I totally thought he would be walking by now, but right now he doesn't have much interest. Why walk when he can crawl everywhere at lightening speed? Owen is constantly climbing all over me and likes to grab the neckline of my shirts for stability. This has definitely resulted in indecent exposure more than a few times.

Owen is still nursing about 4-5 times each day. Some days he's all about it, and others he only nurses for a minute before being on the go again. It has been my plan to nurse until he was a year and then introduce cow's milk. I'm not sure how well this will be received, because the few times I have tried to give Owen a bottle he was not a happy baby. Owen still doesn't have any teeth (hooray!), so nursing hasn't gotten complicated by that yet. Owen loves solids and eats just about everything that I've given him. Fruits, vegetables, cheese, yogurt, shredded chicken, rice, pasta... he'll try it all. Unfortunately, that also means that he's tried some disgusting things too- including dirt and dog poop. We were at the park and he picked up what I thought was a piece of tree bark. As usual, he put it right in his mouth. When I went to take the bark away, I realized that it was actually dog poop. Yuck! I wiped off his hands, mouth, and tongue was careful not to kiss his mouth until after he received a more thorough cleaning at home. 

Winter has not been easy for Owen, and he came down with a double ear infection this month. Poor baby just can't catch a break! Luckily, I knew exactly what to watch out for with Owen's ear infection (since he just had one a few months ago), so I got him into the doctor and on antibiotics as soon as I recognized his discomfort and fussiness. 

We love our sweet Owen Maverick and are so blessed to have him in our family! Here are a few pictures of Owen from the past month: