Merry Christmas

Dear Owen,
We had a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I was able to come home early from work and spend the afternoon with you. I miss our afternoons together more than you can imagine. Then your Daddy and I had an early dinner so we could go to the evening service at church. It was really crowded and luckily you were asleep for most of the time. I have to admit that during the service, my thoughts often drifted to my family that was celebrating far away. It's always difficult for me to be away from my loved ones during the holidays. I hope that you and I are never apart for special days. After church, we put you to bed and stood over your crib for a while thinking about how lucky we are to finally have you in our lives. God has truly blessed us.
On Christmas morning, your Daddy and I woke up (well, you woke us up!) and then opened our presents. Your Grandparents in Illinois sent tons of gifts for you and we had lots of fun opening them all. You had the most presents under the tree!
Watching us open presents:
Then we headed off to your Grandma and Grandpa Beale's house for a late Christmas breakfast. Your Daddy's family has a tradition of eating oysters wrapped in bacon on Christmas morning and it's yummy! In the afternoon we all went over to your Uncle Geoff & Aunt Lisa's house to have dinner and open all the Beale Family gifts. It was absolutely insane, there were so many presents!
Your cousins Jacob and Joshua:
Elmo:

It was a long day of family fun and we are looking forward to next Christmas when you will be a toddler!

Love, Mom

Heart Swell

Dearest Owen,
As usual, I went in your room this morning to check on you before I got in the shower. I knew you were awake because I had been listening to you making some noise for a while before dragging myself out of bed. As I leaned over your crib, you greeted me with a gigantic grin and starting wiggling around in excitement. It literally took my breath away. Your smile makes my heart swell and all of my worries melt away. My whole world is brighter now and I can't imagine life before your smile. I love you so much.
Mom

2 Month Checkup

Dear Owen,
On Wednesday you had your two month checkup with Doctor Davis. I can't believe you are nine weeks old today! Everything went extremely well during the checkup and you are growing like a weed. Your weight is up to 10lbs 11.5oz, your height is 21.5 inches, and your head measures 39.5 cm. I forget what percentiles you are in, but I remember that they were all good. However, the entire visit was not all pleasant. You had your first set of shots. You drank the oral vaccine down like a champ and only cried for a short while after your shots. Your Daddy held you the entire time because I couldn't look. I didn't cry, but I couldn't watch them stick you. I know it's cheesy, but I think it hurt us more than it hurt you. Hopefully we won't have to see Doctor Davis again until you are four months old.
You have developed quite a few new skills in the last four weeks. The best one is your smile. We just started seeing it a few days ago and now you are smiling all the time. I hope that's an indication of how happy you are. You can see us pretty clearly now and track our movements when we aren't right in front of you. Your hands and feet are becoming increasingly interesting to you. You are also finding out how your voice works through grunts and groans. Yesterday, I came home from work and you were wearing one of your three month old outfits! I guess it's time to rearrange your drawers and put away some newborn clothes. I am glad you are getting bigger, but it's still sad to pack up those tiny outfits. I was just telling your Daddy that you already look like a different baby then the one that came home from the hospital. A lot has changed this past month and we are looking forward to seeing what month three holds in store for us.
I love you son,
Mommy

Traveling, Baby Jesus, First Smile, and Sleeping through the Night

Dear Owen,
I am so sorry it's been a long time since I have written you a letter. Once you read this one, you will see how busy we've been and how the last part of my maternity leave has flown by. A couple days after my last entry, we flew to Chicago to see all your Grandparents. I was a little nervous about flying since you were only six weeks old, but I decided to go for it. We even had to change planes in Charlotte! I am proud to say that you slept like a champ through every leg of the trip and were admired by many different folks along the way. It wasn't easy to get through the airport with all your gear, but it wasn't as hard as I imagined either. Lots of people told me to to feed you during takeoff and landings. But you were so sound asleep so I didn't bother and you were fine. You were held by a TSA worker, a baggage handler, and a stewardess during our airport adventure. It was really cold in Chicago and we were meet by Grandma Lumsden who picked up this snowsuit:

You looked like the kid in A Christmas Story. It was hil-lar-i-ous. But you were mighty warm and didn't feel the cold at all. Another shot of the snowsuit followed by some other pictures from the trip:

After hanging out with the Grandparents in Chicago for a few days, we came home to head for the mountains to spend Thanksgiving with your Great Grandma. Your Grandpa Wilkin came down for the holiday and we had a great time visiting. Since we had been gone the previous week, we were all anxious to get home and settled back into our routine. Here are some snapshots from your first Thanksgiving dinner:

On Wednesday, you played Baby Jesus in our church's Christmas pageant. We were so proud of your acting debut. You didn't cry or fuss the entire time. The pageant was so much fun for all the kids and parents alike. I even shed a tear during one of the hymns. Mary and Baby Jesus:

Friday was a big day in the Beale household. You smiled at us for the first time and slept through the night! Well, technically you slept from 11 PM-5 AM. Hopefully we can push you back a little bit and you can start sleeping from midnight to 6 AM. That would make my transition back to work oh-so-much-smoother. Let's work on that, shall we?
I love you very much son,
Mom