Oden's New Discovery

Oden has recently discovered his feet. This video shows a typical 'foot session': Oden removes his sock, slobbers on his foot, gets distracted by his hand or Levi, slobbers some more, and then eventually moves onto his other foot.

We hope you enjoy watching Oden move through all the exciting development stages of infancy.

Infectious Laugh

Tickle me Elmo has nothing on Oden!!!

Mommy Makes Oden Squeal

Mommy is tickling Oden with her hair, making him Squeal.....

Failed Experiment

It likely takes 4-6 (or more) video shots to lead to one good video to upload. This video is one of the ones that wasn't going to make the cut... but it is a fun video so we decided to post it. We were trying to get Oden to sit up - but he wasn't having a good balance day.

Getting Ready for Our First Christmas

We are all set for Christmas. The tree has been up since Thanksgiving, the halls have been decked, and travel plans are set (Kalamazoo for Christmas Day, and Aurora the next day). You can see that we have lots of gifts under the tree from one another, and to/from family and friends. We consider ourselves lucky to have such a wonderful family and network of friends both near and far.

Happy Holidays to everyone, and we wish you a festive New Year!!!

Oden's 5 month haircut

As many of you know, Oden had LOTS of hair at birth. So much that he needed his first haircut at 2 months old. Well, he REALLY needed another haircut, so we asked Senate (who cuts Jon's hair) to do it, as he has a 9 month old and knows how to handle babies. Oden did good with Senate and the clippers as he sat on Daddy's lap.

However, after the first minute or so, Oden started to get unhappy.

Then he really started to WAIL!

However, in the end, Oden ended up just fine, and he is now pals with Senate.

Rollover Oden

Oden has had 24 hours to practice his rolling over, and now he is a true pro. Note his technique and how he first gets his leg over, then lifts his left shoulder, and finaly twists his big head in concert with his shoulder in order to get his upper body over his arm on the other side. A mastery of skill and grace that transcends both space and time...... That's my boy!

Oden Rolled Over All By Himself!!!

Today, we are proud to announce, that Oden rolled over all by himself - no intervention by Mommy or Daddy. He was at his Baby & Me class, and was watching the baby next to him, and he just had to roll over and get a little closer look. All the Moms in the class applauded Oden's big accomplishment, and his parents are very proud. Next thing you know he will be graduating from college... so we are savoring this moment.

As soon as we can get this on video, we will surely post.

Oden's first breakfast!!!

Oden is sitting up!

Oden is really getting his balancing muscles in tune, and he can sit up really well all on his own.

Next is the roll-over. I predict by Jan 1, 2007.

Oden Moans Himself to Sleep...

Oden's assisted rollover

Oden is ALMOST rolling over. He is wiggling his body and trying to do it on his own, but he can't seem to get his upper body started. With a little help from daddy, Oden can complete the move with no problem.

Christmas Wishes from the Rowley Family

Easily Startled

Funny funny stuff...

Side Effects of Baby Vitamins

Scrunched up face and funny noises...
Oden's Pediatrician wants him to take Vitamin D during the winter because he won't get as much sun... but our poor baby doesn't quite like the taste...

Squeal!!!

Oden has found his inner squeal monster.....

All that Hair?!?!

Our baby Oden was born with a full head of black hair. It was so dark and thick that Daddy wasn't sure Oden was really his son. He's gotten over it, although he's still not sure, and now we're trying to figure out how to deal with Oden's dark locks. At the age of 2 months, we completely buzzed his hair. And since then... it's grown back, and with a vengeance!! We love it, but we're not sure what to do with it next... Do we buzz it again? Or do we just let it grow out and HOPE that it will eventually lay flat? Decisions, decisions....

Play by Play of the Roll Over

Almost 5 months old, and our baby Oden is not even close to rolling over on his own yet. You'd think that his rolly polly belly would make it easier to roll, but in fact, it actually gets in the way!! So with Daddy's determination and assistance, Oden can roll over! And when he does, Daddy rewards him with a kiss!!

Two Dollar Coins

The other day Oden got his first letter in the mail! It was from his Great Grandpa Feder who lives in Southern California. Great Gpa Feder wrote...


The other day I got two brand new dollar coins and said to myself now what can I do with them. I thought that if I send them to you, you could put them away for your college fund.

So that's what we did! We added Oden's two dollar coins to his piggy bank, which will then be deposited into his college fund.

Thank you Great Gpa Feder for thinking of Oden. His college savings are very important to us and we really appreciate your contribution.

Big Hugs to Great Gpa Feder and Great Gma Ruth!!!

Thumb Time

Our baby Oden is learning how to self soothe. This is great for Mommy, cause it gives her a break every now and then!!

Videos Added

We just figured out how to add videos to our Blog! We haven't yet figured out how to post text as well as the video, and it hasn't been working.... minor problem.

Remember, you can add comments to the different posts by running your mouse over the 'comment' word at the bottom of each post. Click on that and you can read others comments, and post a comment yourself.

Enjoy!!!

Sing and Dance Oden

Tastes Like Chicken

Oden's Seal Move

Anniversary Dinner

We left Oden with a babysitter for the FIRST TIME EVER!!!! Our friend Annette Reyes gave us a wonderful anniversary gift by babysitting while we went to dinner at Eve, one of our favorite Ann Arbor restaurants. We were gone almost 1 hour and 45 minutes.... had a nice relaxing time, and talked about Oden nonstop.



We survived, Oden survived, and most importantly the babysitter survived!! So that gives us the courage to do this again sometime...

Picture: All dressed up and baby wondering what is going on......

P.S. Isn't Patricia beautiful???

Big Day

Lots of great things happening today. Oden has officially gotten the hang of sucking his thumb. It is very cute. He still switches between his fingers and thumb, but it is starting to become a favorite past time of his......



Today, I took the plunge and cut a whole hole into the roof of my house to vent a new bathroom fan. I was hesitant to start, but once I got going, I was fine. I got lots of roof cement onto the interface of the shingles and the vent housing, so hopefully no leaks.

And Patricia took the plunge and chopped off all her hair. She donated 10 inches of it to Locks Of Love. It was good for her, since she doesn't have time to volunteer anymore.

Grandma Rowley's Thanksgiving Visit

We had a great time over Thanksgiving weekend with Grandma Rowley. Grandma Rowley got a lot of quality time holding Oden.

Picture: Look how big Oden looks sitting on Grandma's lap!!!



We had a lot of fun cooking all day on Thanksgiving Day. We had Turkey, stuffing, broccoli, crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, devilled eggs, gravy, and homemade cranberry sauce! Good stuff. We even got a picture of the Turkey (he's the one with the knife).







Oden has had a challenging time with the bottle. We were afraid he had a drinking problem, even at such a young age (kids grow up sooooo quickly today!). But, alas, as Oden got to around 4 months he was able to figure the bottle out, and he has drained the last 4 or 5 that we have given him. In an experiment, we had Grandma feed him... and a well executed experiment it was (Oden's parents are both scientists). However, during the feeding a ferocious chihuahua came out of nowhere and attacked Grandma Rowley's ankles! This is all captured on film in the pic.

One exciting thing going on in our lives is that we are planning a trip to Barcelona! Jon is going there for work, and needs to be at some clinical trial surgeries on December 18 and 19. Being so close to Christmas, we decided to make a family trip out of it - yes, Oden's first trip greater than 15 miles from home will be Barcelona, Spain (via Amsterdam). He will travel internationally before he ever gets out of state! Funny stuff. Hopefully, this is a foreshadowing of Oden's future adventures. Our international trip means that Oden needs a passport! Patricia got Oden's passport photo last week (Patricia hates the photo, it looks like a baby mugshot), and we went and filled out the application Friday afternoon. With the expedited service, we will have Oden's passport in 2 weeks... now THAT is some government efficiency.

Friday, before Grandma Lynda's departure, we decided to put up the Christmas tree. Since we will be gone an entire week before Christmas (our trip is from Dec 16-23), we wanted to have as much Christmas time in our house as possible... We got a nice family photo in front of the tree.

Family Photos

This is a photo from a free sitting that we had with Amy, a photographer who runs Lil Sweet Pea Photography.
http://www.lilsweetpeaphotography.com/
Patricia found her on Craig's list, we just had to give her permission to use Oden's pics in her portfolio. She has posted photos of little Oden in several of her galleries on her website.
Wee Peas
http://home.comcast.net/~lilsweetpeaphotography/weepeas.html
Pea Pods
http://home.comcast.net/~lilsweetpeaphotography/peapods.html
and Pea Soup
http://home.comcast.net/~lilsweetpeaphotography/peasoup.html
Anyway, we had a great experience with her, and would definitely recommend her to anyone. The shoot went well (at our house), the photos turned out great, and the prints were reasonably priced.

Rowley World

Welcome to Rowley World - everything happening in the Rowley household of Jon, Patricia, and our bouncing baby boy, Oden.

Oden is now 4 1/2 months old and is the center of our life. He is a smiling, squealing, and grabbing bundle of joy. Patricia is a stay at home mom that is dreading going back to work at the EPA, even part time, in January. She is secretly hoping that the EPA finds some way not to renew her position as a Toxicologist, where she works on incorporating air pollution research into public policy. Jon is having the time of his life being a dad, and working at Aastrom Biosciences, an adult stem cell company in Ann Arbor, MI.