Do you have tickets...

to the gun show!?

(guns = muscles for those of you who are completely lost!)

9 Months Old!

Owen is 9 months old today! He goes to the doctor next week for his check-up. He's finally started crawling everywhere. I think he finally realized that crawling could be used to his advantage. He pulls up on EVERYTHING and has consequently hit his head on just about EVERYTHING. He still loves to walk with help but has put the walking by himself plans on hold while he enjoys crawling for a while longer. Any way you look at it, he's certainly wearing me out!

All I can get these days are pictures of him crawling away from me or climbing me trying to grab the camera out of my hands!

Crib Gym

Owen gets a big grin on his face when I put him in his crib to play. It's like a jungle gym as far as he is concerned! In this video he's already pulled himself up and is being chatty. At the end he is eyeing the other end of the crib and is about to walk over there. I had to put down the camera for that in case I needed to catch him before he knocked what few teeth he has out.

Toys! Toys!

We had to clear some room in Owen's bedroom for toy central. Now if only we could get him more interested in playing with the toys instead of trying to scale every piece of furniture!

Top Teeth

Click to enlarge and you can see at least one of his top teeth poking through.

Happy New Year!

Owen wishes everyone a very happy 2008! There's even more to report about the little one since yesterday. First, he's cut at least 1 more tooth - one on the top - but the other one is most likely about to break the surface. Teething seems to be going very smoothly for him (despite the buckets of drool). And he can now climb an entire flight of stairs on his own ... in record time (less than a minute). We can hardly keep up!

Rock with Owen

Whenever Owen hears music he bops his head! He has a hand-me-down Elmo radio that gets him a groovin'!

New Toys

Ok, the basket it neither new nor a toy.

Thanks G & G Johnson for the bounce and spin zebra!

Little Rascal

We've been busy trying to keep up with our crawler AND walker! We've had to completely stop using the changing table to change diapers because Owen immediately rolls over and starts crawling towards the edge of the table. So now we use the good ol' floor, on which he also likes to quickly roll over and crawl away. Below are some pictures of his antics after I was able to at least wrestle a diaper on him (I'm getting pretty good at diapering a baby from the crawling position, I must say). Often times he'll be crawling around with a shirt half on. Diapering and dressing time seem to be pretty much the only times he's actually interested in crawling though (anything to escape!). The rest of the time he is frantically grasping for hands to help him stand and walk or pulling himself up on something.

We made the observation that despite all of the things Owen has figured out how to do lately he can't sit himself up. Of course later that day when I went in to get him from a nap he was sitting up in his crib!

Here he crawled away towards the bathroom but I shut the door on him to keep him from climbing into the toilet! I know, I'm so mean!

The following picture is of Owen in his new board shorts that he got for Christmas so he can go swimming in the indoor pool. He's already been twice since Christmas!

Post-Christmas Update

Here I am in a new outfit I got for Christmas. Even the socks are new!! Don't bother me though ... I'm eatin'.

Here I am with my Costco box of diapers. I pulled myself up on it and then walked across the room before collapsing in dad's arms.

Here I am walking on my own. Shortly after this shot I would have fallen flat on my face but my stunt team was nearby and saved me!

Here I am walking with help. Honestly, that whole crawling thing is completely over-rated!

Live Christmas Day Update #2

This afternoon it snowed. ... a little. It didn't stick.

Owen opened up lots more presents.

It was a fun and eventful first Christmas and Owen made a good haul.

Live Christmas Day Update #1

Owen opened one present on Christmas Eve. The wrapping paper tasted good.

Christmas morning he got all dressed up as Baby Santa!

Christmas morning he opened his stocking. Check out these! Thanks Grandma for making me a stocking.

Christmas morning Owen opened his presents from Santa, Grandma and pa Irving, and Aunt Stephanie! Good presents all around!

This afternoon we will open more presents from mom and dad, Grandma and pa Johnson, and the Davenports. We're just waiting for the other half of our 16-person crew to show up.

Merry Christmas to All!

Oh Yeah...

I can crawl too! ... Sometimes. If I REALLY want to.

Grrrr....

Crawling is tiring. I have to stop and take a break.

Oh Christmas Tree

We're now up in Issaquah waiting for Santa to arrive!  Owen is enjoying the Christmas tree and all of the presents underneath.  He is also having fun showing off his emerging standing and walking skills!

First Steps

There is no more denying it, Owen has taken his first steps. Of course he never does his best work in front of the camera, but here's the best footage we can get right now. Ready or not ...

Gimme!

I tried to take Owen's picture in his santa hat today but he would not sit still. He wanted to eat the camera.

Tomorrow we are off to Issaquah for Christmas. Happy holidays!

Itty Bitty Messy Art

Climbing, Crawling, Walking and Flying

As you may have seen in video footage, Owen has started crawling ... well, a little ... kinda. He can take a few 'steps' in the proper hands-and-knees position but then he collapses in a heap or puts his head down and drags that along with him. So he's still working on true crawling. But it's only a matter of time now.

He's also a pretty good stander and walker already. He stands on his own for a while until he realizes it and then he sits down or dives forward (and luckily we are there to catch him when he does that!). He loves to walk around everywhere with our help and it scares me a little how close he probably is to walking already!

And to top it all off he is also working on flying. He is constantly putting his arms straight out in front of him or up above his head like he is ready to take off like Superman. (We think he is trying to reach things that are very, very far away but his go-go-gadget arms aren't cooperating.)