from the heart-land : Feels like the first time

Happy Friday! It's raining outside, I'm snuggled up under the covers, the boys are napping & life is good!

The last few weeks have held a lot of "firsts" for our little family. We celebrated Owen's 1st Birthday! We partied down with our wonderful family and friends and had a great time! He loved his cake, I loved the homemade sangria, and we were so happy to share such a fun day with all the great people in our lives. You know the saying..."enjoy it, because the time flies by...", and it certainly does. During the last 12 months, this little baby has turned into a little boy. He is full of laughter, love, curiosity and affection. Daddy can get the best giggles out of him, and he's a sucker for snuggles with Mom. Definitely a ladies' man, he can turn on the charm and also be quite the ham. He has Grandma wrapped around his finger, and brings so much fun and laughter to family gatherings. We remind ourselves how blessed we are--every single day.

We also had the pleasurable experience of dealing with our first sick little boy. He caught the 24 hr stomach bug. It was not pretty. Puke in the crib, puke on the blankets, puke on the couch, puke on his clothes. 2am puke also means sacrificing a towel or two to the trash & hoping it's not going to be a repeat performance (luckily, it wasn't!). One entire year without more than a sniffle is pretty darn lucky, so we were bound to catch something eventually. It was a pretty sad sight, and those big blue eyes sure pull on your heartstrings when your arsenal of mommy cuddles, kisses, milk and silly songs just don't do the trick. Luckily he was a trooper & we are on the mend, going full steam ahead! Here's hoping there's another full year before we have to deal with that again.

Another fancy first--Owen FINALLY said "Mama!" We've only been working on that for the last 12 months! I couldn't believe my ears, and then the waterworks started. Geesh, I'm such a softie these days. He's also saying "juice" which means sippy cup, "dog"--of course that would not be decipherable to the average ear, "dada" was a first, and has been practicing a few signs.