Sunday, August 10, 2008

Oh hi, remember me?

Here's a quick dispatch inspired by Cameron's thorough musings on cloth diapering!

It's taken me nearly 2 years to get the changing table to the point where I really like it (for now...until the next rearranging, at least). While changing table are certainly not an essential piece of furniture, we have a gorgeous one that was in my husband's family and used 20-odd years ago for some of his siblings. We're proud to wipe our son's classy behind on it.

I'm not naturally a very organized person when it comes to stuff like this, so I'm rather pleased with what I've done to our cloth diaper stash:



On the top shelf, you'll see a bright orange bottle that was quite cheap and is more often than not filled with plain ole water. Next to the bottle, we have a plastic box (that once held disposable wipes long ago) in which I keep a stack of (again) plain ole baby wash cloths, which are - of course - are easy to tell apart from bath-time wash cloths. Behind that is a small basket of diaper covers.

The middle shelf is, uh, clothes. Guess you could tell.

The bottom shelf features a lovely blue basket chock full of mostly flat pre-folds, one treasured all-in-one and a handful of fitted diapers. I'm a big fan of that blue basket and am considering buying another one to take the place of the three smaller baskets, which contain odds-and-ends and a enormous supply of second-hand Fuzzi Bunz. We don't use the Fuzzi Bunz often; Tommy tends to get rashy with them, which is in direct contrast to most of the glowing reviews from customers. But they're good in a pinch, and I'm grateful to have scored them at such a good price.

Not pictured: the trash can in which we toss the occasional disposable diaper; a small pail in which we toss dirty diapers and use for clean transportation to the toilet; and a large diaper pail in which toss all the diapers, covers and wipes for washing. Like Cameron, we wash at home - and, also like Cameron, we're big fans of Charlie's Soap!

See, cloth diapering isn't just good for your baby and wallet and environment - it gives you a good excuse to accumulate fun baskets and stuff.

Friday, August 8, 2008

cameron's cloth diaper manifesto

For diapering, I knew I wanted to do cloth, but two concepts were stopping me 1) hassle and 2) poop. I'll address both and soon you'll be using cloth diapers yourself.
**Okay I want to preface this post with these facts: #1) I breastfeed, so I don't really know anything about formula fed baby poop so take that into consideration. Baby poop (until they eat solids) is very watery and similar to cottage cheese, only yellow *sorry.* It does NOT smell gross, in fact, it has a sweet smell, a baby poop smell. :) In any case, at first, it just splatters everywhere and absorbs into whatever will absorb it.
#2) when my baby reaches the solid poop phase, I'll post about how that works out with cloth...because I got this toilet sprayer thing that you can hose off the diapers and solid poop but I have no idea how it works.

If you are a first time mom and haven't used cloth diapers (or changed diapers since the babysitter days) you may be thinking to yourself, eeeewwwwwwww, nasty! How do I handle poopy diapers and wash them every day? Secret: YOU don't, the washing machine does. Really, you just throw those guys in there all dirty and nasty, put it on a soak cycle (or front loaders have a pre-wash) with no detergent and voila-- the are ready for the wash with detergent. After soaking (follow your diapers directions) you add some detergent. I use Charlie's Soap it doesn't leave any residue and cleans everything. Another secret, make diaper duty a habit. When I put the baby down to bed for the night, I just gather all the dirty diapers (stored in a dry pal) and toss them in the machine. After they are washed, I hang them to dry and they are ready by morning (alternatively if you don't live in the desert like me, then toss them in the dryer)

Does that sound horrible, hard and inconvenient? I didn't think so. Really, it's great AND you are not constantly buying diapers and smelling gnarly dirty ones.

I did a trial run with some different cloth diapers for the first 3 months as per a recommendation from Mom's at my baby shower. I had four systems. I'll explain each and tell you pros and cons. I chose one system in the end, Fuzzi Bunz, a pocket diaper.

1) gDiaper: love these, but at first when babies are small, the poop gets all over the liner and the diaper with frequency. I still liked them because it's less trash no matter how you shake it. If you get a whole set of these, I can see how they work awesome. I have four and we could make it at least one day. Problem with gDiapers is that their strength is that they are compostable when no poop is present. Paradoxically, you will find, though, that new babies poop A LOT. As they get older you will be able to compost more so I'd recommend these diapers as a support system for another diaper until baby is pooping solidly. Advantage: if you are camping or have a compost there is virtually no trash-- or if you can flush the pee ones. It's hard to flush new baby poop diapers because they are hard to touch since poop goes everywhere. Also they are a bit more "work" in snapping in the liner, unsnapping dirty liners, etc. If you are dedicated, you will like these, if you are looking for 100% easy solution, maybe it's not gDiapers.

2) Organic Caboose snap-able cotton diapers size newborn with Organic Caboose wool covers. I got these as a gift from my baby registry at Zen Baby in town. I found these diapers to work great if you don't mind your baby being WET and you don't want to use pre-folds. Owen didn't care about being wet, but it bothered me a bit. You have to use a cover with these. The wool Organic Caboose covers that I used worked great to keep the wetness in. Drawbacks include IT TOOK FOREVER for both the diapers and the covers to dry and I mean like ALL DAY in the AZ sun and you have to time your washing just perfectly to get the covers washed and dried with the diapers washed and dried. You only have to wash the wool covers once a week, but you also have to buy special wool wash and lanolin wool cure to keep them absorbing well. As a result of the drying issue, I found myself supplementing often with our disposable diapers. I don't think they will fit your baby long unless you have a skinny butt like Owen or a preemie. Also I couldn't fit baby, diaper and a doubler (liner to absorb more liquid) into these diapers. Maybe I just didn't have the right size, but the organic caboose super soakers didn't fit. I see on their site they have newborn size, which probably would've worked.

3) Nature Care Baby (buy at Target stores or Diapers.com) These are so called "biodegradable" disposable diapers created by some mother in Sweden. We also buy their wipes for backup (yes I use cloth wipes too). They work almost as well as the Pampers, which makes me suspicious but they are a bit kinder to the planet (not by much). Owen wears one when he goes to bed or if we are caught out without a cloth diaper. If he sleeps through the night, these will hold it all. I don't feel AS BAD throwing these away because they breakdown eventually but alas, it's still trash and I hate TRASH and landfills don't biodegrade anything as is discussed at LENGTH in this article.

We are down to one Nature Care Baby diaper per day.

4) pre-folds with cover. I tried these and didn't really like folding them all the time. I have about 6 friends who LOVE their pre-folds and use them exclusively but for now they were more hassle on the changing table then I was willing to battle 8-12 times a day. I will say, when I did use them, they worked and they are easy to clean and they dry fast and are easy to pack in a diaper bag.

5) Fuzzi-Bunz (pocket diapers) You put an absorbent soaker (foldable insert) inside the diapers and take it out for washing. I might also like an "all in one" type cloth diaper but I bet they take forever to dry. I ended up choosing to purchase a set of Fuzzi-bunz (I bought two to test run). I got a set of 10 and got the "second quality" because they were $13.99 rather than $19.99. In the future, I'll buy the first quality ones because you get a micro-terry insert in the 1st quality but not the seconds, plus a warranty. I like these diapers A LOT. They are easy to wash, easy to use, they WORK, they fit and they dry super fast. They wouldn't have fit Owen until 3 months because he had a skinny butt and legs but now he's in the tightest snap on the size small so I think these will fit awhile. Their website has tons of info regarding diapers and how to wash them, etc etc. Follow the directions because I'm told if you don't wash these properly they will stink and lose their absorbency. I have heard that bamboozle diapers are also great. I might buy two of them to check them out. I hear they take a long time to dry (huge issue if it take longer than 8 hours or 1 hour in the dryer).

Seventh Generation: work well, at least you are supporting a company who strives to do the right thing but they still have a fair amount of that plastic like absorbant substance (so do gDiapers).

Pampers: I admit on vacation for a week I used Pampers. I hated them. They stink funny with urine and give the baby a rash and you are constantly throwing them away. I couldn't WAIT to get home to my Fuzzi Bunz.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Nursing Clothes; dressing the part.. how to find something cute to wear

um, okay, so you thought dressing for pregnancy was hard? HA! At least for pregnant gals you can roll into Target and pick up a half dozen outfits for $100.00 or even drop $175.00 on fabulous designer pregnancy jeans. Nursing? Now that's a real problem. Let me count the ways...

1) trying to access your breasts in the middle of the night with a squawking newborn after you woke up wondering why in god's name did you sign up for this?
2) trying to access your breasts 12 + times a day-- period.
3) trying to cover your fat gut while access your breasts 12+ times a day...with 10+ visitors a day.
4) having much larger than normal breasts that seem to take up too much room in your cute t-shirts that used to fit fine, which when and if you find one that still fits, you pull it up to nurse, your entire belly shows...beautiful!!
5) attempting to wear a dress because dresses are cool and comfy in summer time-- but seriously you have to pull the whole thing off to access those breasts I was talking about...

You see where I'm going with this? It's hard and let's face it, historically nursing clothes have been, in a word, matronly.

So I struggled through the first 4 months with renewed optimism that I could simply find the things in my closet AKA my *REAL* clothes that fit and wear them nursing. Sounds reasonable, right? I even drew inspiration from my lovely and very accomplished nursing friends who wear regular clothes. I never see their nipples, so why should it be a problem for me?

Despite my enthusiasm for re-discovering clothing that hadn't fit in months, I had the brilliant idea to supplement with a few nursing tank tops and voila all my outfits would be magically turned into ready-to-flop-a-boob-at-any-moment-outfits! Right? Wrong. How many ways can you wear two nursing tank tops? Let me answer that. Many, many, many, ways but eventually, you just want to wear something else... like something that doesn't include the need to wear pants (dreaded waist-ridden garments that dig into your still pooching belly).

I swear if I try on my real jeans ONE MORE time and they don't fit, I'm going to freak.

Answer to my prayers?

Two fold.
1) Get online and order some nursing wear.
2) lose the gut

I mean surely there HAS to be a company out there that services the poor slobs like myself who are trying to give their kid free nourishment while running a photography business. In my hours of pouring over the world wide web I found two decent sites. count them, ONE-TWO. Luckily both were pretty good and I like what I got.

Items I think EVERY nursing mother should own
1) 2 great nursing night gowns
2) 2-4 great nursing tank tops (seriously, they do turn those cardigans into an outfit)
3) a couple nursing dresses. They make these. *hooray* They are wonderful in the summer
4) a few interesting, cute nursing tops... for those times when you HAVE to be in public and you would prefer not to get pulled for indecent exposure.
5) last but NOT least. An arsenal of AWESOME nursing bras. You'll need one larger one to wear at night (these boobs are too heavy to go bare), and a few others. My favorite one is a strapless nursing bra by La Leche League. It allows me some freedom to wear some fun summer tank tops and dresses. Thank you, La Leche League.

Solution #1 Expresssiva and Boob, which I got at Baby Center.com
(I also like my Target nursing tank top for $14.95. I have two Glamour Mom tank tops and well, there are all sorts of internal structure issues that are annoying, but I still wear them).
Solution #2: hit the gym: HARD. Matt and I have been going to the gym first thing in the mornings and Owen enjoys the "nursery" and kids club. I was freaked out at first that he would contract some horrible flu virus, but hey, it's summer. I'm playing the odds.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Newborn Sleep Schedule Part V, four months old

Owen is now 17 weeks and will be 4 months on July 1. His sleep has developed so well over the last four months. He is down to two night wakings and two long day naps and one shorter early evening nap. He sleeps a total of 4-5 hours over 3 naps during the day and 11 hours with two interruptions at night. We settled on a bedtime of 8:00 or 8:30 for him because if we go later, he gets REAL cranky no matter how much sleep he's had. He wakes up at around midnight and also 3AM-4AM. We are trying to cut out one of those awakenings by not nursing him but comforting him other ways. He doesn't eat that much at one or the other feeding so I know he's not that hungry. If I do two feedings then he's not hungry when he wakes up... so we're gently trying to shape his night sleep... keep reading

Things that have worked really well for us thus far:
1) a routine: I give him a massage (simple one) every night around the same time and then Dad gets into the bath with him (we have this huge garden tub so it's hard to use the baby bath unit) and plays. When he started using his hands to grab things (last 2 weeks) we put some ducks in the bath and it's really fun.
2) I nurse him before bed to make sure he's got a full belly and try to unlatch him before he's snoozing too hard. If he falls asleep I don't worry about it too much because he puts himself to sleep during the day all the time, so I know he's got that skill filed.
3) the sleep sheep by Cloud 9 or the sound machine. Sleep sheep goes off after 45 minutes which is good and Owen doesn't wake up when it goes off so it's not a sleep crutch. The sound machine stays on all night with some white noise but much softer than it was when he was younger. We live downtown so it can be a tad noisy with the train and dogs, people, music, etc.
4) protect his daytime sleep. I do whatever necessary to allow him AT LEAST 4 hours of daytime CRIB non-motion sleep each day. I put him down about 2 hours after he wakes up every morning and he goes down really easy, if I wait too long it can be a struggle.
5) keeping his bedtime consistent within 30 minutes.
We are hoping to get more serious about dropping one more feeding/awakening at night. The suggestions in the Sleep Lady book are REALLY helpful.

It's hard to find sample infant sleep schedules anywhere and the hardest thing for me was to figure out daytime sleep. Sleep Lady says babies don't have predictable daytime sleep until 4-5 months so just roll with it on a daily basis...

I have NOT opted for a strict Babywise schedule and I don't do a strict attachment parenting style either. I'm somewhere in the middle. He doesn't sleep with us at all anymore (since about 8-9 weeks) and takes all his naps in his crib and *GASP* he occasionally falls asleep in his car seat!! So, I do let him cry it out (he hardly EVER has to do this now) when if I know he needs sleep based on time, behavior, etc. Pretty soon I'm hoping a regular nap schedule will surface. It will be nice to have a predictable nap... until then our day looks something like this

7AM awake / nurse
9-9:30AM 1st nap, can last as long as 3 hours but usually more like 90 minutes
11:30AM-12:30 (depends on his 1st nap) playtime, walk, talk, play
1:30-2PM 2nd nap (usually he's up for 3 hours before 2nd nap)
3:30 playtime -- go out for a walk
5:00-5:30 3rd nap, can be as short as 30 minute or as long as an hour
7:30 bedtime routine
8:-8:30 Sleeps
12AM nurse 20 minutes
3-4AM nurse 20 minutes
7AM awake

When we've dropped the 3-4AM feeding --just this past week-- (he wakes up, I don't feed him) he cries and we get him back to sleep. I try to get him to make the stretch until at least 6AM. The first night we did this he cried on and off for an hour with me comforting him but not nursing... now he's doing better. I think he's adapting and eating more at night and in the morning. We are going to try this for 2 weeks straight and be consistent and see what happens...

The best thing is that he can go down during the day drowsy but awake at each nap and put himself to sleep, especially if you hit the magical sleep window. You can also pat his little butt back to sleep if he wakes up early from a nap or at night. Tonight we cut the routine out because we went to a party, but put him down around 8:30 still and he is sleeping great. I believe in being flexible when your schedule has been interrupted or else you end up a slave to your child's schedule; however, it's nice to have a routine to bounce back to for yours and your baby's sanity :)

I still have not slept more than 5 hours straight since March 1. I am just crossing my fingers each night that this is the night he sleeps 8 hours. I know he can do it :)

Camping in Hart Prairie | Flagstaff, AZ

erin-kate and owen


los tres vans

approximately 6AM


I know this looks fake, but it's real

It seems a tradition that each year we go out to the spot where we got married here in Flagstaff at Hart Prairie and camp out. This year we brought out the vans. D.Kish brought her gimpy arm (went boom boom on a climbing photo shoot), Gomez and Erin-Kate brought their Westy (hello envious) and we brought the red stripe (our van). Have I mentioned that Matt is OBSESSED with the GoWesty.com site? He has given up his sports car addition (on ebay) and traded it for VW vanagon obsession. If Go Westy got a dime for every click Matt clicks on that site, they'd be LOADED. Keep in mind an average GoWesty Vanagon costs like $35,000. Yes, I know. I know.

Anyway, Owen was chillin' in his bear costume coupled with a cute hat that our friend Anne made for him. We hope Anne will make him another one as he outgrows this one and maybe a matching one for Mommy.

We used the Graco pack n' play on the first floor of the van and Owen slept well. We draped the pack n' play with blankets so it would stay warmer for the little dude. It's fun and Owen loves the scenery outdoors.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Owen Laughs Video

Owen is laughing a lot now and it's really cute, of course, I think everything he does is cute. He's a pretty happy little guy, especially when he gets his 4-5 hours of daytime naps and 10-11 hours of night time sleep. He gets that most days. A sleep update is coming soon. We are working on the night waking -- trying to get him to wake one time instead of two.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Owen in Studio with Aïda



cuteness abound... that is Owen wearing his vanilla gDiaper and Mom in black. Mom wears a lot of black lately. This was a photo shoot at the studio of KDI, on May 10 (10 weeks old) but with an apprentice shooting, Aïda Photography. Some really cute shots. Thanks Aïda!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Baby Bike Trailer and car seat: Chariot vs. Burley

Owen is 16 weeks (3.5 months) and so alert and happy! We got a Burley bike trailer (it also becomes a ski trailer and baby jogger) a little premature, but we are so excited to get on the bikes, we couldn't help ourselves. We picked Burley over the Chariot trailer because we could buy locally from Bike Trailer Shop.com --located in Flagstaff, not to mention Chariot is a serious investment. Chariot is having a busy season and are tough to get a hold of. Burley just added the "We Ski Kit" which will allow us to cross country ski with Owen (Mom will pull on flats) which is initally why we wanted the Chariot, which boasts a ski adapter as well.

We don't plan on toting Owen on roads, or bumpy trails (yet) but Flagstaff has some really nice paved Urban trails that will be fun to ride on. Owen has extremely great head control (benefit to sleeping on belly) and loves to get outdoors (ah a child after my own heart). We have considered putting his car seat into the baby trailer and securing it down but haven't figured that out, until then, we are using the Burley snuggly which holds him in there quite nicely. Bike trailers have a "universal joint" so you can lay the bike down or crash yourself without the trailer flipping. Now, I'm sure you can flip a baby bike trailer if you are going fast and furious and hit a curb or something but we'll save that for our mountain bike rides without the dude or the trailer. Right now, it's just fun to transport the dude short distances on back roads powered by Mom, who can stand to lose about 5-10 more pounds. With gas prices on their way up, we are proud to be cyclists and will have a lot of fun in the coming years living in a small town that supports our decision to commute by bicycle. We hope to teach our child the value of alternative transportation when he's old enough to understand AND we cross our fingers that Owen will love biking as much as we do!
the dude would crawl if he could figure out the legs thing...
the dude asleep in the trailer

Mom pulling the rig...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Summer Swimming lessons for infants and toddlers

Tuesday I gave a talk at the local MOM's club here in Flagstaff (MOM's club is for stay-at-home Mom's to have playgroups, support and other fun activities throughout the year). I am a Red Cross certified Water Safety Instructor and have taught many of 3-4 year olds to swim in private lessons. I also used to coach a neighborhood summer swim team way back in high school and college. I am confidant that I can teach any adult or child to swim, no matter how scared they are of the water. Swimming is really the ONLY thing I really know about kids. So here are Coach Cameron's tips:

First (and this is obvious) NEVER EVER take your mind, eyes or hands off your child in a swimming pool (or bath for that matter) If an infant submerges (or falls into the pool) by mistake, jump in and pull them out. Do it even if you are fully clothes. I've done it plenty of times as a guard, it's more traumatic for the adult. That having been said... your child is safest in the water with you by their side...

TIPS:
1) Get the the pool with your kids. I can't stress this enough. Sending them to swim lessons isn't going to the trick. If you want your kids to swim, take them to the pool, pull that bathing suit on and get wet. Often, you CAN get wet without getting your hair wet, but Mom & Dad it's way COOLER if you swim underwater.
2) If your 3 year old is doing great this summer, make sure to keep his skills up during the winter months too-- I've seen plenty of 4 year olds who "loved it last summer" but are completely afraid to put their face in the next year, so don't forget to go to the indoor pool in the winter -- young kids only last 30 minutes in the pool anyway.
3) make bath time fun and pour water on your baby's head at LEAST once each bath, starting at 2-3 months old (we do this when the water doesn't have soap, eliminating the whole irritated eye issue). Start showering with them if possible, when you feel they are ready.
4) Introduce your child to all parts of the pool, walking them around the perimeter and identifying the pool parts, which parts are off-limits and what each *thing* does... ie: "this is the pool drain, where the pool sucks up leaves, etc... this is the lifeguard chair...etc."
5) When you go to the pool, focus on playtime, don't make the entire trip about swim skills. Attempt 2-3 skills each time you go to the pool and play a game between each skill. Never attempt to teach a 3-4 year old anything for more than a couple of minutes... Ex: a 30 minute pool visit should include 15 minutes of playtime. If you can make it "educational" playtime without them knowing, do it. If they last longer, consider yourself lucky.

SKILLS:
1)prone glide: hold them side to side position and help them to the edge, hold them under their belly and help them glide to you, hold them side to side and pass them to Dad)
2) back float: start with them floating on your shoulder gradually move to holding their back and shoulders and finally just a palm under their back. With a four year old, you can TELL THEM that you are going to remove your hand for the count of "one-one thousand" or make it "one teenage mutant ninja turtle" -- then work up to two, etc. If they crunch up and don't allow it, keep your hand there until they are ready.
3) pool side jumps (assisted): Start seated with 2 hands, move to 1 hand, then standing with 2 hands, transition to 1 hand and then no hands. Child should submerge in this skill but only to their comfort, ie: quickly bring them up, and PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE. If the water is in their eyes and they are crying, simply DISTRACT them and say "nod, nod, nod, shake shake, blink blink, water's gone" and MOVE on. DO NOT fuss over the water in their eyes and bring out a towel to wipe it away. They have to learn at some point that water will eventually roll off their face without a towel.
4) scoop: point nose and forehead down towards water and scoop the child under a bit...good to do with a partner. Again, PRAISE PRAISE.
5) blowing bubbles out our mouth and eventually nose...without sucking the pool down... I blow out birthday candles with noses! Hold fingers up above water to make birthday candles... then lower under little noses are underwater. Remind them EACH time not to INHALE or sniff up the water. Also to get little faces in the water, I have them put their ear in to listen to the mermaids (who sing in all my pools).
6) underwater retrieval. Throw sticks and if possible quarters or pennies (harder to pick up and therefore requires more skill) on the stairs and start on the first step and work your way lower and lower.

DO NOT:
In my swim instructor opinion, these things hinder more then help your child swim
1) swimmies (arm floaties) I HATE them. They keep your toddler's feet under them and show them how NOT to kick for swimming. The bicycle kick is something you want to avoid like the plague. Get that child in a prone position, even if they lift their face out of the water all day long.
2) Make a huge deal about how unsafe the deep end is or how they could drown... in fact, leave out the drowning all together. Tell them they can only get in the pool if holding mommy's or daddy's hand. Discipline if they do otherwise calmly and normally, remind them that they need your hand to enter the water.
3) Do not SCREAM around the pool unless a DIRE EMERGENCY ARISES and you require the assistance of a lifeguard. Nothing will make a child more scared then a parent screeching from their lounge chair. If your child cannot follow your calm simple guideline, re-visit your discipline methods.
3) DO NOT only allow them to play in the kiddie pool. This makes the big pool scarier! Get in that big pool WITH THEM and bring toys if necessary.

Remember to make it fun! Play games, and smile a lot. Don't expect too much until age 3 or 4. I have seen some really coordinated 3 year-olds swim but 4 is the big year. If your child is afraid of putting their face in at age 3, 4 or 5 -- GET HELP-- private swim lessons with a friendly instructor will help and be committed to those lessons! Consider it your duty to teach your child to swim, it should be a "must have" like potty training. Sometimes it's best to learn from an instructor. Some kids cannot learn from their parents, but it's a skill they need for survival. Expect to pay $15-50 per lesson with a private instructor and attend lessons twice a week, for at least 6 lessons.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Owen and more Grandparents: Grammie & Pop








Matt's Dad, Bob and his wife Vicki (Pop & Grammie) were here for a week last week. They showered Owen with lots of love and kisses. Owen had a surprise visit from Aunt Susan and cousin Brody. Brody was especially fond of his cousin and kept talking about that while he was visiting. Kaibee didn't know what to make of a 3 year old in her house, but she thought she'd better scarf down her food just in case. On a Kaibee/Owen note, she is licking the drool off Owen and Owen seems to be quite intrigued by the doggie. They will be pals for sure. I have a feeling that "dog" could be his first word, if it isn't his name... ie: 'OHHHHHwen". For all you grandparents out there: please send me a photo request order by Tuesday. I'm placing a personal photo order of Owen photos and just need the image described to me. Perhaps give me the blog posting date and the size you want. I am also burning a DVD of all the little snapshot videos I've taken of the little guy, so that will come to you in the mail soon.