Birthday Trifecta!

Because I have tremendous guilt about being so late in getting Owen's birthday post, I'm rounding it out with not two but three birthday posts. Its true. We have a first birthday Trifecta! So, here are the professional shots Jenn did for Owen's first birthday. Fair warning: there are lots of photos to follow, but he's so stink in' cute I couldn't part with very many of them. I think I did all right considering there were 200 photos from the whole shoot and only like 20 something here :)

12 months

Dear Owen-

You're now a year old. A whole year of happiness has eclipsed in such a brief moment, like a deep cleansing breath, you came into our lives and settled us into a contented family a year later. As we hang on to the last moments of this annual exhale, I finally feel we have found our rhythm as a family again. From 11 to 12 months you've made tremendous gains. Every facet of who you are changes every day and I struggle to hang on to the moments that seem like they've just arrived, only to watch them whisper by, like a soft swift wind, carrying you on to the next milestone.


Physically, you're making the most of the help from your brother. When I see you together it warms my heart. There are times that you are two peas in a pod, and he loves you so incredibly much. Collin impulse control is limited though and somethimes he steals toys and such from your tiny grasp and you often yell in protest. I wonder with amazement how his hand in your life is molding your persistence and personality. You seem to like to allow him to get you things and you love to use his room as a scaffold for your adventures. As you balance against the train table you navigate the room with your eyes, planning every movement and I can nearly see the wheels in your little brain turning. Reaching from the train table to the crib, shimmying along the crib to the footstool, rocking the footstool forward to kneel down and crawl to the closet, as its cracked open to reveal the toys you rarely get to see- Collin's noise maker train and abacus- like a secret vault of fun. You hurry, speed crawling at an incredibly quick pace to reach the toys before the door is shut, leaving you behind. Its incredible to watch you move yourself, physicallya and cognitive through spaces. Before having kids I never had a sense that we would actually be able to watch these transitions- the leaps from baby to knowledge-across cognitive gaps that happen once in a lifetime, in this brief and exciting window of early childhood.

 You're standing alone sporadically (but still not walking), you're talking-- lots of "uh oh!", "no no no", "mama", "hi" and an occasional intentional "dada!" here and there. You've found your own way to be exceptionally assertive by screaming, shrieking more or less. When you want more food, you shriek. When you are finished, you shriek. You refuse to sign "all done" or "more" when you are mad, and only do so begrudgingly when we are hand over hand helping you, or when you are happily carrying on your way. You are stubborn. Incredibly stubborn. You, dear little Owen, are EXACTLY like me. My heart aches that this might not just be because your genetically disposed to mirror me, but also because your are the second child and forever are battling for our attention with your brother, and sometimes this means to get the attention you have to be loudest. Its a hard pill to swallow as  a mother- but its true, and as hard as I try to reconcile that being our second child has many more exciting benefits I can't ever get over the fact that you'll always have to share in life. At this moment though, and for the rest of my life, you'll always have a tremendously important, and incredibly big part of my heart, reserved for you, all your own.

Your smile and bright eyes are infectious. When I take you to ECFE sibling classroom, staff swoon over you and your enormous hugs. You give intentional hugs now, and I suck them up. I know that this stage of hugs will be brief, and before I know it I will miss it dearly. So every chance I get I return the favor and I hang on for as long as you'll let me. I really can't get enough of your little arms around my neck. Every morning when you are standing along the side of your crib your bright eyes melt my heart. You are so happy to see me, and for a moment, I savor the genuine joy in being a momma. Its moments like these that remind me that being responsible for raising you is such a blessing.

You are very smart, and know just how to manipulate me when you want to. Recently we decided to sleep train you for naps because you have been throwing your body into a type of contorted rigamortis when we were holding you and trying to rock you to sleep. So, for two grueling and heart breaking weeks we worked through teaching you how to go to sleep by yourself. It really probably only took about 3 days for the morning nap, and 5 for the afternoon nap, but nevertheless, it was still so difficult because you are a baby that rarely cries, so when you do I come running as though the house is on fire. You rarely cry now, if ever, but sometimes you jump around in the crib so enthusiastically I think you are going to take a head over heels dive over the railing.  It is in those moments when I come walking in to lay you back down, I see your big toothy grin and two Nuk's lying on the carpet below me. Its often followed by a deep hearted chuckle and then you have me right where you want me. You might as well say "Pick me up Mama! I got you to come in and see me and I'm so stinkin' cute you can't resist!"- I do try to resist, but it would be a big fat lie if sometimes I didn't break out in a good laugh too.

Much like your brother, you are a water bug. Everytime we turn a facet on you make a beeline for the spigot. Everyday I have to make sure that the toilets are closed and the dog water is high on a counter because without our preventative efforts you'd be soaking wet five minutes into the day. When you get into the bathroom you head to the bathtub, lean over and try desperately hard to turn it on. You can't yet of course, but you want to and I dread the day when you figure it out. I can't wait to get you into the city pool to start lessons. At Grandma and Grandpa's you relax in your water like its your home, leaning back in your float and enjoying the gentle flow of the water along your tiny toes and fingers.

There isn't much in this world that you love as much as food. We really haven't found anything you don't like except for birthday cake/sugar. You haven't had much sugar in your life, really less than five times in your little life can I think of you getting things with sugar in them. We are pretty strict about what our boys eat, and its  no surprise to us that you always choose fruit and vegetables over sweets. On your birthday you had three separate opportunities to each/destroy your cake, and not during any instance did you willingly ingest any of it. Instead you picked the kiwi and the raspberries. I love this about you and it makes me smile to know you are such a willing eclectic eater. We always give you a version of what we are eating for dinner and don't really make anything special for your unless you are sick. You're a healthy little guy, coming in around the 50th percentile across the board. Its a satisfying feeling knowing you are so healthy, and we count our blessings to know that it shouldn't be overlooked that so many other families in this world struggle through so much even before their child turns one.

This last month has produced lots of toil in our lives because of the many teeth that have made their way into your mouth. Before one year you had one little tooth. We wondered when you'd actually be able to chew things, but then they came. All at once, fast and furious and now you have six teeth a month later. A handful of restless nights, crabby days, and achy gums made for an unhappy baby, but we're glad its on a lull for now.


I don't know that I've ever seen a baby as adventurous as you are. You will climb and slide, leap over the side of beds,  cram whole crackers in your mouth, steal milk cups and plates, launch yourself off of the changing table, and the list goes on. You don't have the same timid sense as your brother, instead you take nearly everything head on. Where he plugs his ears and evades the vacuum, you approach it and try to use it yourself. Where he avoids noise toys and loud things that move themselves (remote control cars and such) you chase them down with reckless abandon. It amazes me how much you want to do at such a young age. When you first saw the playground equipment at the park you wanted to dive right in, even though nearly three quarters of it was two feet taller than you are. When you first figured out how to go down the stairs and quickly slid down 8 or so in quick succession without looking back I knew we were in trouble. Its going to be a rough road keeping you out of the doctor's office as you get older. I'm happy to say this first year was accident free. I'm really hoping against hope the same is true for the second year.


As you've aged  you grown an appreciation for books that took quite a while to develop. At first, maybe for the first seven months or so, you would sit through maybe a short book, but then quickly took off toward better toys and mischief. You didn't like sitting and listening and were even less enthused with books in general. But, because Collin loves books so much, you definitely heard his share of text, like it or not. We read very often at our house, probably no less than a half dozen books a day. It wasn't until a month or so ago that you finally developed your own love for books. You now loves books and every day you head to the book shelf and pull out books to look at. First you take dozens out and then finally decide on one that deserves your full attention. It was fantastic to watch this transition as your love of books began to grow. Now you have favorite books, especially those with lift the flap pages and the Sandra Magsamen books that you look at until they nearly fall apart (so far we've had to throw away one because it was so well loved).


Rounding out the first year are the transitions you've made in learning to sleep and sleep well. For the first 11 or so months I thought I was losing my mind. Sometimes we thought you had finally developed a schedule, and then a week later you would throw us for a loop. It wasn't until 11 months that you dropped the third nap because you had become an expert random cat-napper. I tried, desperately, to get you on a schedule, but failed misserably. Part of this was due to the fact that your world existed within the midst of so many others-- you couldn't nap properly on Friday mornings because Collin had class, you couldn't nap properly on Saturday mornings because you had  Music Together, you went to bed late on Tuesdays because you had an ECFE class....well, you get the idea.  So, we did the best we could with what we had, and eventually sleep trained you during nap time (as I previously mentioned) that ended up with two glorious naps. Each about 1.5 hours or more. 
I'm in a temporary state of glee because of these naps. They've made life so much better for us as a family.  We (the parents that is) don't seem to be existing between the naps with a half-attentive lull of tiredness any longer-- when you rest, we get down time and that makes us trememdously better at what we do. So overall, we are all much happier. At nighttime you've never really had an issue, I've rocked you from the very beginning, and up until I stopped nursing at the end of this 12th month I rocked you to sleep. Because that was part of our routine and now I had made some significant changes I decided to put you down to sleep just like at nap, and you were totally fine with it. You just lay down and go to sleep. Its like heaven on earth. These days all in all its about 15 hours to sleep, 1.5 for each nap and a good 12 hours stretch or longer at night.  
Every night before you lay down we read various books, but always end with the Going to Bed Book, a hug and a kiss. Just the other day I was about to lay you in your crib and you grabbed on a bit tighter to my neck and nuzzled in for one more hug. To my surprise you pulled back and planted an addorable Nuk in mouth kiss right on me. It was as if you were saying, this year has been great momma, don't worry. I love you too. In that moment, my heart melted, and I knew that even though it was hard, this first year of you life has been the most rewarding of mine, without a doubt.

So, as hard as it is to anticipate what will come next- the walking and talking in the near future, the hurdles to be cleared, trees to be climbed, I'm excited for you Owen. I can't wait to hold your hand along the way. But please go easy on Momma, I want to embrace and savor every moment to remember who you are at each stage, to capture forever in my heart the sweetness you embody. So lead us on your way, we promise to be there, always.

All our love,
Momma and Daddy.

 

P.S. For Christmas I got some new lenses- including a 50 mm wide angle and a fisheye lens and these were taken with the wide angle. Doesn't Owen's leg look about 4 feet long in these photos? I think its so funny!