Found it!

The First Ear Infection

It finally happened. Owen has suffered his first ear infection. The infection has only effected the left ear and leaving the right ear to do all the work.
For those who may be unaware, the fact that he has made it to almost 2 years old without being afflicted with any sort of ear troubles is pretty phenomenal.

Ear Infections are common in children with the average toddler getting two to three a year. Children with achondroplasia are even more prone because of abnormal drainage due to their irregular cranial structure and narrowed nasal passages. If not treated, an ear infection could lead to hearing loss.

The bad part about avoiding an infection for so long is that it apparently wanted to make up for lost time. This one was a doozy! Our Dr. said his eardrum had ruptured and was oozing puss....eeewwww....
Poor guy. Owen was an amazing trooper through it all. He was miserable, don't get me wrong, but he could have been a nightmare and wasn't. After about 18 hours of Augmenten and eardrops he was almost totally back to normal...er...average.
Unfortuntately I lost my charger for my camera battery - hence - no pictures. I have 2 days off to search for it though so hopefully it will turn up!

Insert sad face here...

I'm very sad to say that it doesn't look like we are going to be able to pull off the New York LPA Convention this summer.

I'm really disappointed but it's a decision Dan and I made together. We would like to either move from our house or refinish our basement both of which would leave very little in the way of vacation funds.
We did vow to go to 2010's conference (Tennessee?) and we will probably be going to Grand Rapids for the Spring Regional in April (pending the Pistons playoff schedule). We figured if we had to opt out of one, it might as well be this year, when Owen really doesn't know what is going on.

I'm so bummed I won't get to meet Kim or Katie or see Mike and Cherylle again. I wish you could all see me right now. I have a really big sad face :(. Boo!

Anne's Wedding Video

This is the video I made for my sister & her husband. The song is their first dance song. I wanted everyone to enjoy their beautiful story. Hope you Enjoy!

Dog ate my homework???

Uuhh...ok, well, how about this one...I've fallen and I can't get up? No? Not good enough. Ok, this is should do it...I was trapped under something heavy for a month and couldn't update my blog! Still not good enough? Hmmmm...tough crowd. How about the truth? Sounds like and idea huh? OK, here it goes....

I was working alot and that combined with the holiday season, my sister visiting and a new obsession with vampire novels put the blog on the back burner. AAAAHHHHHH!!! And the truth shall set you free!

It's true. It's all true. I've been working a lot lately and come home too exhausted to blog. On my days off, I worked on a few Christmas projects for my family - photo gifts for my parents and a wedding video for my sister (which I will post with her permission). Anne came to visit at the end of the month and I spent every availble minute with her and Drew. Most embarrasingly, I was bitten (pun intended) by the Twilight bug and have been torn through 3 1/2 novels in 2 weeks. And even that was restraining myself. Katie, I know you are with me! Please come to my defense on this one!

Oh yeah! I found facebook too so I've been getting my blogging fix that way. However, I did realized that substituting a blog fix for facebook is like substituting a Sex in the City craving with the Golden Girls. So I'm back!

OK, enough with my flimsy excuses. On to the important stuff...Owen!

Owen has been great! I'm pretty sure he received the entire inventory of Toys 'R Us for Christmas but I suppose that's what grandparents are for.
He got a Fischer Price kitchen, a "laptop", a little people farm, a crash 'em up car game, a Tonka racing track, puzzles, books, a dinosaur that walks and growls, clothes, a ride on car, and a bunch of other stuff. He was really into it this year. Everytime we brought another present over to him, he would say "Ho Ho Ho!". It was hysterical! He loves all of his gifts but he's partial to the laptop.

Even apart from the gluttonous Christmas he had, he's going great! He's talking a lot more and picking up new signs. I don't know if everyone knows this but Owen is quite the little signer. He has about 30 signs and uses 10 to 15 of them regularly. Between his words and signs he expresses himself quite well. I can see however, how the terrible twos start though. His needs become more complicated and his language skills aren't quite as progressed. I can see when he starts to get frustrated. Usually, I just start wildly pointing to anything in his eye range and asking him if that's what he wants. It usually works. Hey...if it ain't broke...
My favorite sign he does is "salon". Make a gun with both of your hands and wave them next to your ears and that's the sign for "salon" (hey, don't look at me, I don't make the signs!). It's just such a random sign and it's hilarious to watch him wave his fingers around just to say "salon".

Owen is growing out of his clothes left and right and he's in some 24 month shirts! Can you believe it!? He's solidly in 12 month pants and may be moving to 18 months in a couple months. Hmmmm...gee...what else. Honestly nothing else has been that exciting. We are clicking along, working & playing when we can. I suppose I'll just get right to what everyone really wants which are the PICTURES!!!

But before that, accept my humble apologies for keeping everyone in the lurch for so long. I will update more often!

PS - Owen was a litte...er...constipated during the holiday season. Not a lot of smiles from the kid!