Oden loving his new toy

Well, Oden is all over his cold and jet lag from the European trip. He has been sitting up so well that Mommy decided to pull out a couple of toys that she had bought on Craigslist several months back.... and he is loving them.

Oden at 6.5 months

We are still noticing almost daily new things that Oden is doing. It is so great to see the little changes and developments.

During the Barcelona trip, he began to:
- do raspberries with his mouth, which is very cute. He loves it when you do it back at him.
- purposefully bang his toy on a table to make a noise.
- grab more precisely - he went for Patricia's wine glass and grabbed the stem before we could get to him. Before, he would have swiped at it and it would have gone everywhere....now he actually aimed for and got the stem. Go Oden!

Since we have gotten home, he has:
- gotten much more active in his activity center. His reach has expanded and he can now reach and pull down the toys above, even from on his belly.
- Daddy has been challenging him by putting a toy he wants on the coffee table, and letting him try to get it. He now will stand and play with it on top of the coffee table with Dad providing balance (but Oden standing).

Oden's diet is expanding, but we are still introducing one food at a time. So far he has tried: rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado (yuck), carrots, sweet potato (not yams, Dad was admittedly wrong and they are different), winter squash, apples, and pears (so far his favorite). The next few things will be banana, peas, broccoli, zucchini, and then he will be old enough to try some meats and egg yolks.

Daddy gave Oden a cold, and Oden is now suffering with congestion, but is otherwise in good spirits. Mommy is taking very good care of both Oden and Daddy. A Mother's job is never done...

Foods from the Barcelona Trip

Our European feast began at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam during our 4 hour layover with some simple sandwiches.... that were soooooo good. The one on the left is a fresh salmon sandwhich on olive bread, and Patricia had a ham sandwich.... good eatin.
We hit a seafood restaurant on our first night in Barcelona (after a nap of course). We started out with olives and manchego cheese with spanish almonds......Patricia then had prawns.....


....while Jon enjoyed seafood Paella while Oden excitely watched.
Another really excellent meal was at the restaurant Mi Burrito y Yo (my donkey and me), where we started out with Escalivada (eggplant and peppers.... not pictured) with fresh bread with tomato, Patricia had lambchops.....
while Jon got a nice juicy T-bone steak (although it looks different than an American T-bone, eh?). This restaurant had a great ambiance, which i tried to capture in this short video clip.....


On our final night, we decided to go for seafood again. We started out with a king-prawn appetizer that was kinda salty (not shown), Jon had a big mixed grill with 2 different fish, prawns, crawfish, clams and mussels (so good)...

...while Patricia had roast duck with pears which she thoroughly enjoyed.

She finally saved room for dessert and got an appricot yogurt cake-like thing that was really good and not too sweet.
Our last meal was breakfast at the appartment. We had picked up eggs, jamon (ham), tomatoes and peppers at the farmer's market and made scrambled eggs most mornings. This last day Jon went to the cafe down the block and picked up a couple chocolate croissants, for old times sake....

Bye bye, Barcelona, we will miss your food :(

Barcelona Trip - Saturday - Park Guell

On Saturday we visited Park Guell, also designed by the Spanish architect Gaudi. The park is in the northern part of the city, and we needed to take a bus. We got there and bought some sandwiches for a picnic, but we couldn't find any nice grassy areas to eat at. The park is more of a 'garden' than a park..... so we spread out a blanket on the dirt and had lunch with Oden.

Park Guell had a lot of the Gaudi 'no straight lines' theme, which looked more in place outdoors. You can see the columns and bridges he designed below.

The most famous landmark of the park is the mosaic gecko that is on the steps near the entrance. Oden got to ride on the gecko, if only for a few minutes as there was a line of people waiting to take pictures......

Afterwards, Oden was pooped and slept on momma all the way home on the bus. Look at how long Oden is getting!!!

Later on that night we were heading out to dinner and stopped to get a picture in front of the bakery that we went to near our apartment. They made lots of yummy pastries and chocolates......

Southern Part of Barcelona - Friday January 19

Today we took a stroll down to Port Vell.

Here we saw a statue of Columbus.

Then we took a tour bus through the southern parts of Barcelona where we could see a lot more of the city highlights such as the Olympic Stadium, Parc Montjuic, Parc de la Ciutadella, and the National Palace.

Oden in Barcelona - Thursday January 18

Today Oden went on a city tour of Antoni Gaudi's architectural work...

The first stop was at Casa Batllo. This building was remodeled by Gaudi in 1906 and is considered his ultimate masterpiece.


Here we are on the terrace...



The second stop was at La Pedrera (the Quarry) named for its rippling grey stone facade.


Daddy was much more impressed with Gaudi's work than either Mommy or Oden...

Oden Sightseeing in Barcelona - Wednesday Jan 17

Who knew? Barcelona has an Arc de Triomf, kinda like Paris - just spelled differently. Either way, Oden was obviously excited to see this national monument. However, for the life of us, we cannot figure out what Spain ever won to justify the building of a Triomf Arc...

Oden very much enjoyed his stroll down the Passeig de Luis on this very beautiful day...

Barcelona is full of very interesting sights, and every street and alley seems to be filled with a vibrant crowd and lots of shopping and restaurants.

Barcelona Travels

Oden is really enjoying seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of a foreign country. He has learned how to say 'Hola!' to all the people that give him attention. This is Oden on the street in the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic) outside the Capella d' en Marcus Cathedral which is right by our apartment.

Our apartment has a kitchen, so we had to go find a market to stock up!

Jon is really excited with all the meats and cheeses that he has to choose from. We make sure to choose some nice Jamon (ham) to eat with breakfast..... We found lots of fresh fruits and veggies, as well as some farm fresh eggs, to buy for breakfast.

All the fruits and veggies were beautifully displayed, making you want to buy even more. Keep an eye out for a full Barcelona picture album to ge the full picture story...

Jon has one more day of work, and then it is on to more sight seeing... Stay tuned!

Quick Note from Barcelona

Well, we got here in one piece! We didn't get much sleep on the plane (Oden: 4hrs, Jon: 2hrs, Mommy: ZipZeroZilch) during the overnight flight, but grabbed a quick nap on Sunday, went for dinner, and then had a very very good night of sleep.

Monday was used to find our way around our neighborhood.... we are right at the edge of the Gothic Quarter. We have already had some really good food right outside of our door.... we will be exploring more Thursday - Sunday, as Jon is working Tuesday and Wednesday.

We will be posting a few pictures of our explorations in the next day or two. Be sure to check back!

Buenos Noches!

Tastes Like Chicken - The Sequel

Oden did the funniest thing today..... luckily we had just given him a bath, and the camera was handy.

Oden is 6 Months Old

Oden is 6 Months old!!! We really can't believe that it has been 6 months already...... some of the things that Oden does:
- Oden is now rolling over to his left and his right side (from back to belly - the 'hard' way)
- Oden is NOT rolling over from belly to back yet..... he likes being on his belly so much that he just doesn't have any interest!
- Oden has been eating solids for a few weeks now. We just graduated him from 'beginners' rice cereal to the more advanced sweet potato and avocado. This week he will get more complex and try banana, pear, winter squash, and carrot. As you can imagine, there is a big difference in the 'output', but a welcome advance it is!
- Now that Oden is eating some solids, he is sleeping MUCH better. More often than not, Oden wakes up only once during the night to feed, sometimes sleeping 7+ hours a stretch. Mommy is very thankful. .
- Oden has had 2 haircuts already, and Daddy will be giving him his third very shortly
- Oden can hold his own bottle or sippy cup.... big boy!
- No teeth yet.... but we are pretty sure that he will sprout any day now (he has been fussy lately).
- Even though Oden is mainly breastfeeding, he will take a bottle of Mommy's milk from Dad. Daddy has even put Oden to sleep once or twice when Mommy got out for the evening..... it wasn't easy, but Dad eventually succeeded. That Oden is a momma's boy - and Patricia will try to keep it like that as long as possible.
- Oden loves being read to, and often participates by reading along with you and trying to take the book. He will also sing along while being sung to......
- We have just started introducing signs to Oden: eat, more, drink, book, and milk are the ones we are starting with.
- Oden will be taking his first international trip to Barcelona, Spain, from January 13-22. We are hoping to make it to Florida in late February for a conference that Daddy is talking at, and then California in late March to meet more Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins.
- Oden really likes hanging out with his buddies from the Mom & Baby group - he goes to see movies, plays at Urban Toddler, and is learning to socialize with a bunch of babies his age.
-Oden keeps on getting bigger..... we visit the doctor next week to see if he is maintaining his 84 percentile in weight. He has easily tripled in weight from his 6 lb. entrance into the world on July 4 of 2006.

Happy 6 month milestone, little one!

Oden's First Christmas!

Oden made the long car ride (first time ever!!) to visit all his relatives for Christmas. First it was off to Kalamazoo to see the Rowley Family and then on to Chicago to see the Phousongphouang Family. Everyone showered him with lots of gifts, love, and attention...

Thank you everyone, far and near, for all the thoughtful gifts and kindness and for making Oden's first Christmas that much more memorable!!


Check out the rest of Oden's Christmas pictures at the link to Oden's First Christmas album on the right...