Happy birthday to my happy toddler! I learned today that Owen is not an ignored 3rd child when I was asked to text pictures of Zachary and Kate to a friend for a slideshow. Sorting through hundreds of Owen to find a few of my older kids reminded me that Owen is a treasured little dude.
We used every scrap of remaining birthday paper in our house.
Brady took the afternoon off and we planned to hike, so we decided Owen could open gifts that morning so he could play with them before we left. Kate spent her own money on this light-up fish bathtub toy.
Zac paid for a fun fruit-cutting set.
Owen also received more bath toys, a dump truck for the beach, and play dough.
We took our camera with us up the canyon that afternoon, hoping for a beautiful day. It rained the entire time and it was a mud fest on the trail. The kids loved it but we only made it 2 miles and called it quits. Owen hiked for 1/4 of it, carefully trying to avoid mud and failing. "Ugh. Mud. Ew. Mommy. Ew." He showed me every new mud spot and asked me to remove it before we continued another step. He's the same way with sand. He loves to play in sand but when he's done, he wants it all off.
We looked for hiking sticks longer than we hiked. Joking, but only mostly.
We dared Zachary to put his hand inside the creepy, hollowed-out tree. He did, and even put his head in.
Kate didn't want to be shown up.
Sigh, these pictures! I love the relationships my kids share with their little brother. Every Sunday, it is a BIG deal who gets to pick him up from nursery.
Nic and Heidi's family came over to celebrate after the hike, and we all sang to him. He held this precious smile on his face the entire time and was so excited to blow out the candles. We are not sure when he learned to blow out candles and it was so endearing and eye-opening. He is still so little--21 pounds of love--but he's growing up fast. He repeats words and phrases constantly, and hearing him say, "Thank-you, Mom," is my favorite thing all day. He tries to squeeze milk from his own nipples, he takes off his diaper if I wait to long to change it (groan), and he tries to dress himself and his stuffed animals. He mimics Zachary's motions for prayer, church and reading. He loves to sit on Zachary's back while Zac reads or does homework. He still loves his binkies and lately makes a game of deciding which one he likes the most and rotating them by his pillow. Bath time with Kate, playing cars with Zac, falling to the bed (1-2-3!) in Dad's arms, and racing around the house to play peekaboo with me are his favorite ways to bond. He sleeps one hour a day, he never makes it to bed before 8pm, and he often sleeps until 7am. He has his finger in his belly button 90% of the time, and can't run without squealing, and he loves to play in cars--toy or real.
Letting go of calling you, "Baby Owen," is the hardest part yet, but it's time. Goodbye, Baby O!
Happy, happy, happy birthday, you treasure. We can't imagine life without you.
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