Happy FIRST Birthday Owen Elijah!!!

I thought it appropriate to begin this post with a Thank You.

Thank You Lord for blessing us with this precious boy! Thank you for giving us an incredible first year with him. I marvel at the blessings you bestow. Thank you!

November 3rd, 2006 6:47pm Owen Elijah Valiant entered the world weighing just 2 pounds 13 ounces and 14 1/4 inches long!

Wow, what a difference a year makes! He has his 1 year check up soon but from his recent appt with the geneticist, I know he is weighing somewhere around 16 pounds and has surpassed 25 inches! Wow, how Owen is growin'!

I took his picture this morning while he was still sleeping. I really can't believe my baby is 1!!!!



And the things he can do! He is quite the dancer. He breaks out in some hip movement when you say "Dance, Owen"....it is sooooo cute! Please check out his first ever you tube video set to a bautiful song called "My Beloved" by Kari Jobe. He has come so far-cruising along furniture, laughing, babbling-and he is the Peek-a-boo champion of the World! He is really right on schedule and we have no concerns that he won't catch up in all cognitive areas.

We surprised all the kids today with a trip to Buccaneer Bay, which is an indoor water park here locally. We swam the day away and snacked on goodies including Owen's very own cupcake! Yum!
Obviously, it set all around this cool pirate theme. And, believe it or not, a day pass is very affordable!
Yes, I entered this hole (what was I thinking?)....

...and I squeezed out of, er, uh-I mean, exited thru this one;-) Whew, the jaws of life were not needed to get me out;-)

The kiddos at the start of the day.

Am I having a bad hair day?

See the big trunk at the top of the picture above? Every so often, you'd hear this loud fog horn and ....
Kur-splat! You'd get drenched if you were ANYWHERE near the tsunami!
Thanks to the boys for this great photo capture! (the tall dark haired boy in the back was just some pool guest-geesh, like you'd think we were in a public place;-)

Here, I'm beaming them from this water cannon-notice I'm clutching the camera with my death grip to avoid myself being in ANY photos!

Uncle Lee being a goof ball.

Owen applauding mommy and Aunt Heather's surprise party!
The view from the mezzanine overlooking the "bay".

Owen as his cupcake is served.
ummmmm...not bad.
I think I'll inhale it.
No, I never inhaled;-)
Wraaahhhhh....I'm king of the WORLD! Yea!

This is a blast!
Thank you, thank you!


And finally, here is how the day ended. I put Owen to bed shortly after his official birth time struck after cuddling him for a few rare moments (all he'll really give me;-( and saying a prayer of praise to the Lord for entrusting me with this child.

Lastly, thank you to my faithful 3 readers (just kidding, see guest book for my sarcasm), no-ALL the readers who have taken interest in our experience with Owen. I'm sure we'll have many more stories to share as Owen grows and develops... I'd love to keep sharing!

Happy FIRST Birthday Owen!

November 2nd, 2006

I can't believe it was a year go today that I was admitted to the hospital with out of control blood pressure, vision problems and concerns for Owen. I hardly remember the day-I had forgotten that I was at the hospital for over 24 hours before they decided Owen needed to be delivered.

The reason was my 24 hour urine which is a test that they did to see how much protein I was producing. My number was over 6K which is waaaayyyyyy tooo much. We often induce for just 4K so I was hurting. Well actually my kidneys and liver were.

Anyway, it was a very sad and challenging time-which now seems like forever ago especially since on a lighter note, Owen is in a phase I like to lovingly refer to as "birth control" (he, he).

I'm headed out to get his one year pictures here shortly and while I have visions of smiles, peek-a-boo, him standing for a pix, etc. I'll probably get tears and screaming. He's already injured himself 3 times today. He has 2 scratches and 1 bruise on his face-but in light of the last year, I wouldn't change a thing! I'm so blessed to have a baby crawling around, into everything, and driving me bonkers. I long to love on him, cuddle, etc. He wants no part of it. He thinks he's a big boy. And really, he is. He's a really little BIG BOY! He's even starting to cruise along the furniture some!

Well, about these bad couple of days. I'm going to go ahead and write about the abridged version as it's therapeutic for me to type it out-way cheaper than therapy;-)

So on Wednesday Owen had his appt in Indy and while I was trying to get us out the door for it, I stupidly answered the phone d/t a call from his MD's office. A nurse was calling to find out why I scheduled Owen for his $1,000 (yes, I meant to type one thousand dollars!!!!) RSV (deathly respiratory viral infection) immunization since he was denied approval.

Hmmmm...that's funny. I just rec'vd a letter stating he was approved-thank you very much arnett hmo. Now for the real challenge: can I locate the stinkin' approval letter? Ureeka! Found it. Ok, so now what.

So, I called the ARNETT HMO office on my way to the appt in Indy and the lady was like, sorry-he's been denied. I'm like, I don't get it-I have a letter saying he's approved. So, she said, can you get me the letter. Hmmmm...does it matter lady?

So, I requested an emergency appeal. He was denied based on insufficient need. Hmmmm....insufficient need-what a load of....think Christian thoughts-think what is right, what is true what is lovely-I'd love to show her.....I digress...

Ok, so the plot thickens -fast forward past one of the World's worst appts (more on that later) to me getting home and getting the mail. I open a letter from HMO and a doctor decided that while Owen may NEED the immunization so he oesn't get the dreaded thousands of kids die a year due to RSV infection, HMO doesn't have to cover it as it won't sustain life-hmm...I hope Owen doesn't prove them wrong. Thanks for nothin' Dr Beardmore (the MD who signed it and I really believe doesn't even know Owen's history. UGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, well this venting session took longer than I planned so more later-better get to the picture appt!

not-so-Happy Halloween

What a day...oh where do I begin?

I think I'd just be venting and negative if I start so I will just post photos for now and then I will pray some more about my not-so happy day and post about it when I'm more level headed-by then, maybe it will be funny;-)

So here you go in not so chronological order...our Halloween:-)

Cousin Lindsey (almost 9 yrs)

L to R -Jonah 6, Jake 4, Lindsey 9, TJ 8 And no, we did not plan the super hero theme;-)

Jacob in his WNKOF (wednesday night kids of faith) Harvest Party Bible Character or theme costume: he was Jonah, caught in the belly of the big fish;-)
ok , so 2 big fish;-)

TJ in his WNKOF Harvest party costume- the fiery furnace
He was Meshach-yes there were two others plus Jesus in the furnace, but give me a break, the furnace I could make was only so big.

Owen in his cute Halloween jammie-Thanks Gramma Becca!

TJ's pumpkin on the left, Jake's on the right. TJ did his all alone;-)

Here's what Owen did during pumpkin carving;-)

Oh, that's just a neighbor kid, which I can't believe aren't in more of our pics as we always have some unrelated kid at our house;-)
The seeds were sprouting inside the pumkin.
Jake was not-so fond of the scooping.




Hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween, even if mine was GRUELING, Ghoulish, and creepy!