stats | 17lbs(?), 27″

sleep | you still sleep all night long, from 7pm to 7am. We dream feed you around 10:30pm and I love the extra cuddle time. :) You did go through a period (and are just coming out of it still) where you woke up at 4am and talked to yourself for a good two hours! Loud, loud talking. You are a lot more vocal than I’d like you to be in the wee hours of the morning but usually a binky quiets you down for a bit until it’s time to eat at 7am. Naps…eh, we’re getting there. You still prefer 45-minute naps most days, and I prefer 2-hour naps. So we’re meeting in the middle somewhere. On the days when you actually take solid 2-hour naps, you only take one morning and one afternoon nap. On the days when you catnap, it’s a little crazy. Working on it!

eat | HOLY GROWTH SPURT! You are 27″, did we mention that? You’re in 12 month clothes, and they aren’t baggy on you. But I still call you “little Owen”. We’ve tried to feed you some solids. The first night you couldn’t quite get the hang of the rice cereal, but still wanted more and more. And every time we’ve tried since then you aren’t interested. Your body is too big to sleep soundly without the help of solids, but it’s also not ready developmentally. We’re excited for when you can see better because maybe then you’ll want real foods like avocado and banana. We spaced your feedings out to 4 hours apart during the day, with a 6-oz bottle. (This is especially exciting because Jack never, ever went 4 hours no matter how hard I tried.)

play | you still love kisses. You love being gently tossed in the air, and snuggled on our shoulder. Holding hands with you never gets old. You are barely starting to see things – the lights on your play gym, the zig-zags on the rug, and maybe the toys dangling from your play gym. But definitely not people yet, although you always smile when you hear your brother Jack close by. I’m kind of in a rough spot right now because I don’t know what you want to do – you’re getting bored of the play gym but don’t seem ready for anything else because of your low vision. You try to escape from the bumbo, and you can’t see toys when we put them in your hands. We have a vision specialist named Meryl that will come regularly starting this next week, and so we will see what toys she brings and how she helps you play. This is so new for us and I’m trying to treat you like a normal baby, but we are also finding there are areas where you are definitely an exception to the rule!

Owen, you are the most easy-going baby. Grammy thought we were lucky because Jack was a piece of cake, but you are even more easy-going than he was! You are a delight to be around and are generally very well behaved, even if it’s a little past feeding time and I need to run just one more errand.

It brings tears to my eyes to see you get so excited over little things like seeing lights. It puts the warmest smile on my face when I see you smile when I kiss your cheeks. I hope you understand that even with your albinism, I am doing the best I can to help you grow and develop just like every other kid. You’re different, and have so many challenges already. But you’ll be stronger for it. Love you, little Owen.