The World According to Owen

Owen is a demonstrative child. At 2 1/2 months, he shows many of the characteristics that he did in utero. He kicks, punches, and squirms. As such, we have learned that we shouldn't try to confine Owen, not to a car seat or a swaddled blanket or in general anywhere he isn't getting attention.

Wide-eyed is the normal mode of operation for him. He stays up during the day while brother sleeps and makes sure Mom stays up with him. He is dramatic with his outbursts, but he is becoming more predictable in his remedies. Usually a pacifier calms him down, and sometimes relaxes him to sleep. If not, holding him is often a fix. And when all else fails, get him outside for a walk around the block with Tucker -- a guarantee to calm him down.

Alert little Owen. This picture sums him up at this stage.

Mall walking

Well... it's official. I joined the masses of other women (and some men) and walked the mall with the baby stroller today. It's the hang out for minivan moms that need to get out of the house. Owen didn't miss a thing. He took in the sights, sounds and smells (he liked the fresh pretzels best) and only fussed for his pacifier twice. Gus never knew we left the house. I must say it was a successful outing.

Banana boats & duck socks

Gus wasn't exactly thrilled to learn from Dan that a special forces trek in the Army would not entail bright yellow pants or socks with ducks on them. But hey, the kid is ten weeks old -- he's got a lot of time to get over his disappointment.

BTW, Gus wants to assure everyone that he is quite the little tough guy despite the fact that his parents get their sense of color coordination from here.

Dan the Man

This weekend we got to spend some quality time with our dear friend Dan Wilkerson. Dan was the best man in our wedding, and just returned in April from a four-month stint in Iraq helping out with the elections there. I picked Dan up from the airport on Thursday where he was returning to the states from Istanbul, Turkey where he had been visiting his brother the past ten days.

Dan was a trooper stepping into an environment with two ten-week olds who are going through quite a fussy stage right now. Despite the noise from the boys and a bizarre early Saturday morning waking from the Orkin man, we managed to veg with some guitar, movies, and a Bulgarian beer with a name we couldn't pronounce.

Owen up close and personal

A Roar with the Sunrise

It's 7:00am on Thursday and I find myself sitting here with the breast pump and the Thinkpad. I'm feeling like $1M this morning. Derek and I got just shy of 5 hours of sleep over night. That's compared to about 3 hours on an average night. I told the boys that babies 3 months old should sleep 8 hours during the night. They don't seem to be listening but we'll see what happens when the time comes.

The little guys will be waking anytime. It's an entertaining process. I think of Owen as a little monster. I imagine standing outside a cave hearing a rumble from the deep, dark opening. Suddenly the ground begins to shake, a roar pierces the air and a tiny little boy emerges. It's Owen and he's HUNGRY. Gus, on the other hand, is like the sun rising. Slow and steady. It's a gradual process but eventually it'll come full circle.

It's amazing how life has changed the last 6 months. I've gone from preparing outlooks, contract reviews and strategic planning to cleaning 'mud butt', calming fussing babies (at times this requires all 4 appendages), making gallons of breastmilk and holding in the 'Nuk' which is Owen's pacifier. To quote one of our favorite bands, 'Ain't life grand'. Yes, yes it is!

Sleep is good

"Because pondering can take a lot of energy for a little man."

Owen Frank Rutledge, age 2 months

Brothers - Gus & Owen

The inaugural post

The last two months have brought many changes into our lives -- most notably the arrival of Owen and Gus of course. And with that monumental change comes lifestyle changes, including the choice for Amy to stay home with the boys for the foreseeable future, the gnawing need for a minivan, and the adjustment of living life without sleep. Naturally, our lives have also changed in the areas of communication, conversation, eating, exercising and personal hygiene (average time of shower for the parents is 4:00pm daily). Regarding communication, many of you have likely discovered that we aren't available as frequently as we would like to talk to you about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. So we decided to add another change into the mix....

Introducing The Rutledge Farm, Derek and Amy's personal blog where we will be posting happenings, ideas, random thoughts, opinions (look out world), and pictures of anything and everything that makes up our lives these days.

So if we never seem to make it to the phone, stop by the blog which we are going to try diligently to keep up-to-date so we can keep in touch with family and friends. Cheers!