Owen The Saints Go Marching In

"Ling, it's like 'Oh when the saints go marching in..."
- Becky Belbis to Manny Belbis trying to explain how to correctly pronouce Owen's name (They originally thought his name was OwenS. Silly, silly Filipinos :) )

So, Owen Arthur Belbis is finally here!

Here is the Tale of the Tape:

He was born on August 23rd at 5:51AM. He weighed 8lbs exactly and measured 21.5" long. (Shouldn't that be 21.5" tall?)

Here are a few pictures. I'll write more in detail when I have a little more time. I'm on my way out of the house to take the girls to breakfast and to buy them a toy at Toys R Us for being so good with Aunt Michelle all night when Mom and Dad were at the hospital. They both met their brother and are excited to show Owen his room.

Mia and Owen


Daddy and Owen

Chillin' in da crib, yo

Get that effing camera out of my face

"Yahtzee!": Yaya (a.k.a. Lara) and Dawn pass the time by playing Yahtzee

Chloe's picture for mom

Owen's very 1st Picture!

Chloe and her baby brother

"Are you having twins?!"

You mean we don't have to pay tuition?!

This morning, I registered Chloe in Kidergarten at the public school. A part of me likes the idea of public school. Why not use the school system that we fund year-in-year-out? On the other hand, it's kind of sad that my children won't experience the same type of education I received as a kid. Waiting lists and cost are the main cluprits. If you think about it, if you add taxes to what you'd pay in tuition, you'd essentially be paying 9-10K per year on education. That's too rich for my blood.

Though bittersweet, I'm excited for the opportunties she will have. She'll have access to plenty of more programs and myriad amenities that Catholic Schools could only dream of, especially the ones I attended. My grammar school, at the time, didn't have a cafeteria nor a gym. We had to brown-bag it every day and play made-up games such as "Garbageball". Yup, you guessed it: Basketball with garbage cans. (I doubt MJ was exposed to such a game).

"Owen! You lazy poop!"

After a short 3 years break, I'm finally back with a new post. Since then, the major news is that Dawn & I are expecting our 3rd child. This time, we will have a boy. After back-and-forth heated "discussions" on what we'll name our new lad, we finally decided on "Owen Arthur".

August 17th was Dawn's due date, but here we are, 3 days later, and still no baby. To quote Dawn: "He's on Filipino Time", referring to Filipino people's perpetual tardiness :) Needless to say, she's pretty uncomfortable and wants the baby out NOW! if he doesn't come on his own by this Wednesday, she'll be induced.

So, in the upcoming weeks, in addition to whatever pops into my head, I'll use this blog to give updates on 'all things baby'. How's mom doing? How's baby doing? More importantly, how's dad holding up? I'll also post plent of pictures of the expanded Belbis family.

Wish us luck!


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