One Year and a Moment

Oh how poor little Mother-Heart is aching!  My sweet baby Owen turns ONE tomorrow, and I am smiling and happy....and aching an ache that only a mother knows.  The ache that comes when a child joyfully reaches a milestone and a mother has to let one more piece....go.  So on the eve of my second baby's first birthday, I will allow myself a moment or two of bittersweet reminiscing, and awake tomorrow with fresh excitement and celebration to share.  I rendez-vous-ed with the breast pump one final time tonight, and while it's a sigh of relief, it's another 'last' in the Owen-category. 

I remember last year like it was yesterday!  What a day, and what a beautiful baby we welcomed into the world and our family at the end of it.  Here's our little boy, just moments out of the womb...8 pounds, 5 oz, 21 inches long and perfectly healthy.  A perfect, complication free delivery that I wouldn't change for *anything*.

 New big sister, Marin.  Oh, how she has proven herself as an amazing big sister!

 A very proud grandpa.  I think he *still* likes little Owen!

 7 weeks and sitting in a Bumbo.

 4 months and chub-a-lub!

 6 months and just MR. HAPPY!

 8 months and looking more and more like a little BOY.

 10 months and just as sweet as ever.

 And, a few days shy of one year old...my handsome boy!



Owen is all about fun.  He is absolutely *everywhere* and wherever he goes, he gets there FAST.  In fact, he crawls even faster when he hears you coming and starts to giggle.  I would try to be mad, but by the time I actually pick him up, he's laughing, and it's so darned cute.  He is really a mama's boy at heart.  He *loves* his mama, and it makes me melt.  He does love his daddy, especially when daddy throws him into the air when he gets home from work.  He likes daddy-time when he gets his bottle at bedtime, it's a special thing they can share.  He thinks big sis is about the coolest cat in town, and wants to do whatever she happens to be doing at the time...sometimes, much to her chagrin.  He loves finding the stairs...and the toilet paper, the plunger, the bookshelf in the bedroom, my cookbooks (a favorite), the trash, electronic wires.  Mommy can be seen chasing after Owen ALL day, thus decreasing her household productivity. 

Owen still LOVES to eat and on most days, will out-eat his big sister.  He like his banana and scrambled eggs peppered with spinach for breakfast, and for lunch he likes rice, beans, cheese, PB&J and fruit.  Dinner is whatever we have and most of what he eats will be inhaled in the first 5 minutes...he then likes to smear his hands on his ears and sweep his hand rapidly across his tray, scattering his dinner to the four corners of mommy's kitchen.  He LOVES his little froggy/blanket for naps and bedtime and likes to rub it all over his face and feel its softness, and then he likes to bite it. 

We are so, so happy Owen is with us and he brings so much joy to our family!!  So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our sweet little Owen!  We can't wait to see what the future has in store for you!