In one week our baby will be ONE!!!! No way. This year has flown. I vow to never again move during the first yr of a child’s life. It makes time go even faster.

Owen has blessed our family far more than I could have anticipated. I knew having another child would be wonderful but I really can’t imagine our little family without him.  I have to think hard to remember times before him.  He is a sweet-tempered little guy but has enough fiesty-ness (wonder where he gets that) to stand up to his brother and let his opinions be heard.

Owen is a great little sleeper and loves cuddling. He often dives towards his bed when he is tired. When he wakes up and gets rescued from his bed we tell him to get rid of his pacifier. He energetically yanks his pacifier out and tosses it into his crib with a laugh.

I think I expected Owen to hold out on talking a little longer just because he’s the second child and well, even if he wasn’t, it’s hard to get a word in edge wise. But Owen makes every attempt to outshout Jackson and has a great little repertoire of words these days! So far he says, “Dada, “mama-sometimes mommy”, “JackJack”, “cracu” for cracker, “nana” for all fruits, “milk”,  “bye bye”, “more”, “all done”, and his latest word is “touch” which he learned from Seth when I was out of town and Seth had to keep saying “no touch” with the Christmas tree.

Owen appears to have a very particular palate. He is a good eater but is particular about textures and tastes. He wants to be independent so often resists being spoon fed. Resistance from Owen is often a tight-lipped grin! No amount of coaxing opens those jaws so we move on. When he is done eating he cheerfully tosses piece by piece onto the kitchen floor.

For those of you that worry whether or not we have photographed Owen or taken any videos of him, rest assured we have captured this first yr! Although we have worse than slacked on the blog the documentation continues!  We are hoping to get up a video before his birthday!

Owen is quite the comic. There are some in our family that are banned from telling jokes in any language they may speak (we won’t name any names but he is the only one in the family to speak German, Spanish and English and gets paid for it) but Owen is going to be our naturally funny guy. He has a hysterical laugh and when he and Jackson get going he just can’t stop himself.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from his first yr!

We love you little guy and we can’t wait to celebrate your 1st birthday!

Swiss lost and found…as in you lost it, you find it where you left it.

explorers..pictures don’t do the mountains justice..or our photo-taking doesn’t do them justice, either way you have to see them to get the full grasp on how amazing they are!

feet off the ground.

my view from pushing the stroller…jackson now avoids the “jump seat” and asks Owen if he can ride up front too

Jackson and our neighbor boy riding bikes in our dungeon hallway. We share the bomb shelter and basement hallway so it is a perfect place for the boys to meet up on rainy days!

Jackson with his new buddy Amelia. She and her family are moving down the road from us! Jackson is enjoying getting to know new friends

cuties.

watching  big brother…cracking up. Wouldn’t you if you saw this….

Jackson, all geared up but somehow missing his pants!

“all done” Not a great picture but you get the idea!

Owen supervising the take-down efforts for the clubhouse

Pretend like I actually published this when I wrote it back on May 10th.

This is how we usually refer to Owen. He has lots of nicknames like Jackson did. Owen is one happy little dude. He has had a cold for what seems like a month now but he keeps trekking along. We went for his 4 month appt last week (actually 2 months ago!!!) and he is HUGE! He is 17 lbs and 27 1/4 inches long! He is in the 90% or above with all of his stats. Where on earth do these big boys come from? Seth was 9 lbs something so he gets all of the credit for those genes.

Owen continues to amaze me with his laid back go with the flow personality…another thing Seth gets credit for. He is enjoying his play mat these days although he doesn’t last long on it because he is obsessed with rolling these days. This is only fun when he is awake. When he is sleeping he makes himself so upset when he wakes up to find himself on his tummy. I suspect he will be crawling sooner rather than later!

first time in the bumbo…reminds me of Jackson’s first time…this next picture is of Jackson at almost the same age. I never think they look alike but they for sure do in this picture!

“these people are crazy!”

You know how you can tell by their voice in the morning if your child isn’t feeling well? After 3 + weeks of not really getting together with friends because of snow and sick kids we had a fun playdate with a little buddy planned today. Jackson overheard me on the phone and reported that he was going to Micah’s house…so much for surprises anymore.

That was the plan until this morning when Jackson called out with that congested, yucky nose call. I knew right away that my plans were no longer relevant.   I have had plenty of playdates with moms that bring sick kids, but isn’t that how it all keeps spreading?! The nursery on Sunday was out of control when we picked Jackson up. I just knew there was no way they were washing hands or aware of all of the snot sharing! All that to say, it’s like clockwork. When Jackson goes to nursery just about every other time he comes home with the crud.

Jackson is bummed that I said we can’t play at his friend’s house. To be honest I am probably more bummed. It helps me stay sane to be with friends and to let Jackson have some time to play without needing my constant interaction. Looks like I need to think of something new and exciting for today to ease the runny nose blues!

So for those of you that also got that sick call this morning we feel for you! And for those of you that got a healthy call get out of the house and enjoy the world for us!! 🙂

On a side note, I tried dairy again yesterday to see if Owen would react better. Turns out he is still super sensitive! We had a rough night of him in extreme discomfort while trying to sleep! Back to dairy free!