My One Year Old

An entire year of looking at this sweet boy's face...it's hard to believe that it's all ready been a year. My little Owey-O had a rough start. The first four months were not easy ones for him, or for us. But by God's grace, a year later this little buddy is one seriously happy dude. Definitely God's kindness. We are grateful for the way that you've stood by us and prayed for this guy.

Owen has such a fun personality. He loves to hide behind things and then say, "BOO!" He cracks up at random things that he thinks are hillarious-usually sounds like "whoo-whoo" or other noises Tali will make. Every morning when I get him out of bed he says, "Sss! Ssss!" because he wants his "Sissy." He loves Tali a ton and wants to do absolutely whatever she is doing. He also loves to suck his thumb and to snuggle. He's so much fun.

So, some stats so that I don't forget (and for the family members who like the numbers!):

Weight: 21 pounds (he's bumped up to the 25th percentile which is a huge leap from the 10th.) Now that he's about 13 months old, he's finally started wearing 12 month clothes a bit. Up until now, he's been in 9 months or 6-12. Little guy.

Height: Oops, I don't remember but he's really short. I think he was at 10th percentile for height.

Mobility: Walking!!!!! He is unsteady, but he can take 5-10 steps now. He is sooo determined and never cries when he falls, just shoves himself back up to try again.

Foods: Loves pretty much everything he gets, especially Chex and crackers. He's still on a bit of a restricted diet. We're working with an allerigist to try and figure out what was going on with his little digestive system earlier in life. So far, all the foods that we've tried have worked well except tomatoes (bothered his reflux). Maybe we'll get to try dairy soon! Sure hope it works because he doesn't want to drink soy and I'm not excited about nursing him for an endless amount of time!

Reflux: It's still there but so much better. About a month ago we noticed a significant change. He still has "bad days" where lots of liquid will come up but it's nothing like the large puddles that he was leaving everywhere. Those of you who think your child spits up a lot don't know what spit up really is until you've had PUDDLES of it all over everywhere. I'm talking at least a cup, often MORE out all over clothes, floor, etc. A little drip, a couple blobs...those are nothing, folks. Count your blessings.

Words: Yep, it's true. My kids just like to talk. It's sort of inevitable, I mean...look at their parents! Owey's not quite up there with where Tali was at a year, but he's close:

Mama
Da-da
Papa
La-la (Tali)
Ssssss (Sissy)
Bah (Ball)
Bayyh (Bear)
By (Bite)
Byee (Bye)
Ny-ny (good night)
Zee-uh (see ya)
Rah-ry (all right)
Noooo (no)
Eh-mo (Elmo)
Be-Beanz (Green Beans)
Da-doe (cereal)
Wah-wah (water)
Peee (please)
Jew (shoe)
zah (sock)
bih-boyuh (big boy)
dee (tree)
no (snow)
muh (milk)
ly (light)
rah (rock)
bugh (book)
nana (banana)
ah-ah ah-ah (all done)
hah (hat)
oh (coat)
a-uh (pants)

Signs:
grandma
please
hot
flower
more
banana
all done
light
tree
snow

And for the record, his favorite person is his Papa Red. He loves his parents but to be honest, no one compares with Papa. He talks about the guy ALL THE TIME!

We love you so much, Owey. You are a blessing to our family!