Cowan Family Blog

Ok this is very late in coming but we would like to announce the new addition to our family. Elliot Lee Cowan was born 11/25/2006 at 11:58 AM. He was 8 pounds 4.5 Ounces and 20 inches long.  Our Doctor’s office has a policy that they will induce at 39 weeks for people who have other children to help out with alternate care for their children, as long as they are already Dilated. Well I went to my 37 week appointment and I was 2 centimeters dilated. The following Monday I started having contractions and we thought I was in Labor so we went to the hospital but the contractions were too weak so they sent us home. I basically had contractions for the next 2 weeks and finally the Saturday after Thanksgiving I went into the hospital to be induced.  We got there at 5:30 AM and they broke my water and started the Pitocen around 7:00 AM. My contractions started almost right away. I got my Epidural around 9 AM and by 11:30 I was ready to push. I pushed for about a half an hour and Elliot was born.

On October 26th we are scheduled to close on our first property in Chicago. We are very excited! Click on the picture above to see some pictures we took today during our home inspection. We are really hoping to close quickly because we want to be moved and seattled in before the baby is born. This Condo is actually in a condo building with 20+ other units. Today while we were waiting for the selling realtor we saw a babysitter come home with 2 kids so there are at least 2 kids in the building.   Chad’s mom made Zoe her Halloween costume this year. She is going to be a skunk. She looks really cute and she loves putting the costume on. This will be her first year going trick or treating. I think we are going to go around with our next door neighbor. We were told that the street right in front of our house is the best street for trick or treating.  I had my 32 week OB appointment today, even though I am at 32.5 weeks.  Everything checked out great. Baby is still measuring right on time and the heartbeat was great. We go back on the 19th for an Ultra Sound to make sure that my placenta has moved higher. I am hoping for a last minute verification that we are having a boy, just to be sure.

<div class="serendipity_imageComment_left" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0682.serendipityThumb.jpg" width="220" align="left" border="0" /></font></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">26 Weeks</font></div></div><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Well I am now 26 weeks along. The baby is really moving a lot these days and I wake up a couple of times through out the night to pee. We still have not decided on a name. Chad seems to dislike all the names I pick out. I still like Miles and Isaac but Chad doesn't like either of them. Our other issue now is where the baby will sleep and where his clothes will go. WE have some time but I know that everthing is going to start happening very fast. Friday marks the beginning of my 3rd trimester. I go back to the dr. on the 13th and I get to take the glucose test to test for Gestational diabetes. With Zoe I failed the one in the office and had to take a 3 hour fasting test which was HORRIBLE. So i hope I pass this time! </font></p><font face="Georgia"><p><br /><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Well now for the Zoe update. Zoe is Great! She has added more words to her vocabulary. She loves to say the word Shoe and is picky about what shoes she wears. She LOVES this pair of black and pink converse allstars my sister gave her for her birthday but they are 1.5 sizes to small. She loves getting her teeth brushed and mimicing Chad and I brushing our teeth. She will run to the bathroom point to her toothbrush and say &quot;Teeth. Teeth&quot;. She has 3 molars now and one more trying to poke through. Tonight during her bath I started naming body parts and she would wash each body part after I said the name. It was really cute! She even washed her ear and I didn't know she knew where her ear was. <img src="http://south/blog/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png" alt=":-)" style="display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;" class="emoticon" /></font></p><p /></font>

<p align="center" /><center><div class="serendipity_imageComment_center" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/24weeks.JPG"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/24weeks.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" border="0" /></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">24 weeks</font></div></div></center><div align="left"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">As of 8/11/2006 I will be officially 24 weeks along. The baby is really moving a lot now. I am still really tired but for the most part everything is going great. We still have not picked a name. I have come up with a first name that I really like and a possible middle name that I like with it, but Chad doesn't seem to like it. Miles Cowan. The more I hear it the more I like it. But Chad is stuck on the name Joshua. I like Joshua but it is too common for me. I want a name that is not unheard of but it is not very common either. Miles Cowan. Please feel free to leave any comments you might have about this name! I would love to hear peoples opinion. We go back to the doctor on monday but I am thinking I will pee in a cup, get weighed, have my blood pressure taken and be on my way. </font></div><div align="left"><font face="Georgia"></font></div><br /><div align="left"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/diaperhead.JPG"></a></div><center><center><center><div class="serendipity_imageComment_center" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/diaperhead.JPG"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/diaperhead.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" border="0" /></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Zoe with a diaper on her head</font></div></div></center><div align="left"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">On August 8th Zoe turned 17 months old. She is getting so old so quickly. She looks more and more like a little girl and less and less like my little baby. This morning daddy was getting dressed and we said Zoe say Shoe say shoe and sure enough she said Shoe. We got so excited and said &quot;YAY!!&quot; so Zoe then clapped her hands and said &quot;YAY!&quot;. Then I asked her to give daddy his shoe and she said &quot;AAAAH NO&quot; and shook her head no. Little attitude girl. It was really funny. Our friend Karen came over for dinner tonight with her son Liam. Zoe got soo excited to see him that she start going crazy and running around the house. After dinner she took the diaper off of her bear and put it on her head as if it were a hat. She did not take it off for a good 15/20 minutes. She is soo silly. It hasn't been all fun and games though. She definitly has learned how to throw a temper trantrum! Also, she isn't very good at sharing. We found this out tonight when Liam was playing with her toys and she kept grabbing whatever he had. SHE IS A BULLY! I wish I knew how to curb this new bullyness but I don't. She finally started holding her own sippy cup. She woke up Saturday morning and didn't want mommy to hold her sippy cup anymore. I was relieved. Now if I could just get her to stop intentially dropping her sippy cup on the floor when she is in the highchair.</font></div><div align="left"><font face="Georgia"></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Georgia">Well it is 10:15 now and I am sleepy. Don't forget to leave comments! <img src="http://south/blog/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png" alt=":-)" style="display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;" class="emoticon" /></font></div></center></center>

<center><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0559.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"></font></a></div><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"></font></p><div class="serendipity_imageComment_center" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0559.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0559.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" border="0" /></font></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">22 weeks</font></div></div></center><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Ok a bunch of people have brought to my attention that the latest blog was really old so I have decided to stop being lazy and start blogging again. Most, if not all, of the people who will read this already know this but I am now 22 weeks pregnant. We just found out that we are having a little baby boy. I have posted a posted a picture of my 22 week pregnant belly. Everything is going great so far but I am just really tired all the time. It is definitily hard work running after active Zoe's while being pregnant. </font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #faffff" face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"></font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #faffff" face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"></font></p><br /><center><div class="serendipity_imageComment_center" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0520.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0520.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" border="0" /></font></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">July 4th 2006</font></div></div></center><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #faffff" face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Zoe has really gotton a personality. She is very happy most of the time. Whenever she sees a camera or a camera phone she puts on this cheesy grin and usually says cheese (this is the same sound she makes for keys, please, and squeeze). She went from barely walking to walking non-stop. In fact she loves being chased and loves chasing other people. On July 12th our new nanny, Karla started. The first day Zoe was giving her hugs and kisses. She has been going over to another house with a bunch of kids. On Wednesdays she goes over to her boyfriend Liam's house where his nanny Anapaula watches the both of them. </font></p><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"></font></p><center><div class="serendipity_imageComment_center" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0521.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0521.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" border="0" /></font></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Zoe and Daddy in the John Hancock building</font></div></div></center><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"></font></p><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">If you were to look up Daddy's little Girl in the dictionary it would have this picture. Zoe LOVES her daddy. She loves snuggling with him on the couch. She crys when he leaves in the morning and gets excited when he comes home. She loves giving him hugs, kisses and squeezees. When Chad is at work I am not sure if he misses her more or if she misses him more. </font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">List of cute things Zoe has done recently:</font></p><ol><li><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">She walks around with keys in her hands trying to unlock all closed doors. We have skeleton locks on all of our internal doors so she will take 1 key at a time and try it in the skeleton key hole.</font></li><li><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">She tried to diaper her bear today.</font></li><li><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">She dances and sings alot and tries to sing her ABCs. She almost has the tune down but the letters come out E I E I E I.</font></li><li><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Walks around the house hugging stuffed animals and putting them on her little rocking chair or in her high chair. Feeds them from her sippy cup and wipes their nose with tissue.</font></li><li><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">She is such a girlie girl. She loves putting her purse on her arm, or any bag, and walk around the house. She also loves shoes. She tries to put her shoes on you and your shoes on her.</font></li></ol><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Well I can't think of anything else to write right now so hopefully I will get better at keeping this more up-to-date. I know I have said that before but I am really going to try. </font></p>

<p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">I know that it has been WAY to long since I wrote but we have been pretty darn busy around here. Zoe has been crawling around the house like she owns the place. May 8th we finalized the sale of our house in Columbus and are starting to get serious about finding a new place in Chicago. We like were we are living but the apartment is a little cramped. Plus, we want to own a place intead of rent.</font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Thursday night Emily came into town and stayed at our house. Zoe woke up and was so excited to see Emily that she wouldn't go back to sleep. We had a great time hanging out. </font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">We have made friends with a family down the street who have an 19 month old boy Liam. Yesterday, Zoe and I spend a couple of hours with Liam and his mommy at the park and had a GREAT time. But, before we went to the park, Chad got Zoe to take a couple of steps! I was in the shower so I actually missed the first 2 steps but after I got out she continued to take a couple of steps. She would take 2 steps and then lunge forward so she never really took anymore than 2 steps at a time. Then today she didn't want to take any </font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">This morning we met Rania and Sophie for brunch and had a great time. Zoe really likes hanging out with other kids. I am hoping to start having Zoe have regular playdates with other kids since she likes being around them so much.</font></p>

<p>Well it has been a longtime since I blogged. Zoe is now almost 13 months old. She had a great birthday and is really getting around now. She crawls around, pulls herself up on everything and loves taking out every one of her books and throwing them all over the floor. Last night marked the beginning of us reducing Zoe's nursings down to 1 a day. We still had 3 bags of frozen milk so last night and tonight we fed her a bottle. Then Thursday night will be her first night without any breastmilk. I hope she does ok, I am sure she will.<br /><br />Well she has started doing pat-a-cake by herself. When we start singing she will clap and then roll her hands. It is way cute. She has 5 teeth now and the 6th one is almost poking through. We had to lower her crib down to the lowest setting because she could stand up in her crib and turn the light and the fan on full blast. She still says Hi and Hiyah when the phone rings and she makes her self laugh alot. <br /><br />She is such a big girl now that we have put away the baby tub and she takes baths in the big tub. She loves crawling around and pulling herself up in the tub. Her carseat is turned around which makes it great for us because we can easily turn around and see her and help calm her down when she gets upset. She is still trying to get the hang of the sippy cup. She drinks from it great but she doesn't really hold it herself yet. <br /><br />We finally got an offer on our house and are now officially in contract YAY! We don't have a closing date yet but we hope it is fairly soon. We started going to open houses and looking at houses but we ran inot a slight issue. My income can't be taken into consideration for a loan because I have been self-employed for less than 2 years. <img src="http://south/blog/templates/default/img/emoticons/sad.png" alt=":-(" style="display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;" class="emoticon" /> This was big blow since hte cost of housing here is so much higher than Columbus. We are hoping to save up a lot of money over the next 2 months so we can afford a bit more of a house. we have to put 20% down so the more we save up the more of a place we can afford. <br /><br />That pretty much wraps up what has been going on with us over hte last month or so. It is late and I am tired.<br /><br />Good night for now!</p>

<div class="serendipity_imageComment_left" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/IMG_3732.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/IMG_3732.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" align="left" border="0" /></font></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Yummy in my Tummy</font></div></div><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Today is Zoe's Birthday. A lot has been happening since the last blog entry. We went to Cleveland on Friday and had a birthday party at my parents house on Saturday. Zoe got to see a lot of friends on Saturday and got some wonderful gifts. She also got to eat cake for the first time. She definately liked it. <br /><br />On Sunday we flew back to Chicago but our flight was 2 hours delayed. There was another family on our plane with a little baby girl. Their daughter, Rania, is 11 months and was much more moblie then Zoe. We talked to them the entire time we were waiting for the plane. It turns out that the mom of the little girl was from North Canton and went to the same High School as Chad. We exchanged contact information when we got off the plane. It was great seeing Zoe playing with other kids.<br /><br />After watching Rania crawl around Zoe must have thought it looked really fun because she has been on the move ever since. She is now officially a crawler <br /><br />Tonight Zoe had a little party at our house. We had a few friends come over and hang out with us and have some birthday cake. I emailed Sophie, Rania's mother, and invited them over. They came over tonight to celebrate Zoe's birthday. It was really nice. They invited us to Rania's birthday in April. They rented out a coffee shop and they are bringing in Elmo. Unfortunately it is on a day we thought we were going to be in Cleveland so we might have to re-think our passover/easter Cleveland trip.<br /><br />Zoe went to see the Dr. today. She lost a half an ounce since her last appointment a month ago. She is still in the &gt; 95% in weight and height. Zoe showed off her new trick of nodding her head yes and no everytime the nurse practitioner said yes or no. It was very cute.<br /><br />I still can't believe how fast this year has gone!</font></p>

<div class="serendipity_imageComment_left" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/IMG_3709.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/IMG_3709.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" align="left" border="0" /></font></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Zoe hanging out with her grandparents.</font></div></div><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">My parents came in town on Saturday and left Monday. We had a great visit. Unfortunately their flight coming to Chicago was an hour delayed but they finally got here. We drove them around downtown and got stuck on lower wacker drive which is completely under upper wacker drive and therefore you can't see any part of downtown. But we stopped and had dinner. Sunday Chad had to go into work so we all went to Schaumberg for some shopping and then out to Evanston for dinner. Chad took the train from downtown to Evanston and met us at the restaurant. Earlier in the day we went to this cute kids boutique and my mom made the mistake of handing Zoe a stuffed cat and Zoe refused to let go of it so she had to buy it for Zoe. Zoe loves that cat!!!</font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif" size="2">This morning Zoe woke up early and we let her make some noise and the she was quiet. I finally went into her room 50 minutes later and there she was sitting up in her crib looking at me. Chad and Zoe hung out this morning a bit because Chad left for Denver straight from work today. Tonight was myfirst night alone in Chicago. </font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif" size="2"></font></p><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif" size="2"></font></p><div class="serendipity_imageComment_right" style="WIDTH: 220px"><div class="serendipity_imageComment_img"><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/IMG_3708.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/IMG_3708.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" align="right" border="0" /></font></a></div><div class="serendipity_imageComment_txt"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Zoe and Bubbe</font></div></div><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">The plans have started for Zoe's birthday party. We are having it in Cleveland on Saturday March 4th at myparents house. We are flying into Cleveland so I am not sure how we are going to get any gifts back to Chicago. Hopefully most people who are buying gifts will either buy clothes or a smaller toy. If not we can always ship any thing that is too big. I can't believe she is going to be 1 year soon.</font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif" size="2">After the nanny left today Zoe was really cranky. I tried everything to calm her down and nothing was working. I even fed her a bit early but after she was done eating she was back to being cranky. So I put on the They Might Be Giants DVD and she was happy and in a trance for awhile. I sat on the couch and read a magazine while Zoe enjoyed the video. I ended up putting her to bed a little early and she was asleep in no time. My dad is really sick right now with a fever so I HOPE he didn't pass anything on to Zoe.</font></p>

<p><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0170.JPG"><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif"><img height="165" hspace="5" src="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0170.serendipityThumb.JPG" width="220" align="left" border="0" /></font></a></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Zoe had a great time on teh flight home. she laughed for a good portion of it because I was playing keep away with her pacifier. She then sat in her own seat most of the plane trip playing with the peanut bags they gave us. Don't She did not eat any peanuts. She discovered that she could put a bag of peanutes into a plastic cup and take it out again. This entertained her for awhile. We didn't get home until 9:00PM and I think she is still trying to catch up on Sleep she lost while we were away. </font></p><br /><p><font face="Georgia">While I was at work on Monday Zoe had a great time hanging out with Daddy. He took her to her old daycare and they really missed her. That told Chad that she is welcome back anytime because she was the best baby they had ever had. I got to show her off to all of my co-workers which was nice. Everyone was really happy to see her.</font></p><br /><p><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">Today Zoe discovered the word Uh Oh. She just repeats it over and over again. We went to Microcenter and the entire car ride there she was saying Uh Oh. It was way cute! We removed her mobile from her crib. I thought that she would wake up crying because it wasn't there, but that wasn't the case. She didn't seem to mind. Chad was hesitant ab</font><a href="http://www.bassislands.com/blog/uploads/CIMG0170.JPG"></a><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif">out removing it until I showed him that it says from ages 0 to 5 months. </font></p><br /><p><font face="Georgia">The people who came to look at our house in Columbus were not interested We really need to sell that house soon!</font></p><br /><p><font face="Georgia">Chad and I did not do anything for Valentine's day, but tomorrow night we are going to have dinner and a movie date night. The Nanny is going to stay and watch Zoe while we have a night out alone. We have not decided what movie we are going to go see but I am hoping for Curious George.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"></font></p>