Happy Birthday Papa!

Today Sal turned 25 and to celebrate we spent the morning with a few friends off-roading in Hollister Hills. We brought Owen and as predicted he was just in awe of all the giant trucks and fast bikes. He really is just like his Papa. After trekking through bumpy, sandy hills, and splashing through giant mud puddles we headed back home. Sal's parents were kind enough to babysit Owen for the night while we went to a party to celebrate Sal's birthday. We had a great night with friends. Although by the end of the night I did get to missing my lil' bug and by morning I was longing to hold my baby boy. For Sal's birthday gift he got a new truck for off-roading, and I'm not exactly sure who was more excited about the gift, Owen or Papa?? Oh how I love my two boys!

18 months - a milestone

My baby boy is now 18 months old. A whole year and a half has now passed since he was welcomed into this world. And with this special milestone I have taken time to sift through photos of him as a newborn and time to think back to how we used to spend our days together. So much has changed over the last year and a half. It's hard to even remember clearly holding in my arms my tiny newborn. Now he is a racing toddler, and growing more and more each day. Friends and family all warned me of the changes to come at 18 months, and the changes have indeed come.

Both Sal and I have noticed great difference and growth in him. He is showing so much more connection with the world now, showing more interest in communication and in turn we are watching our son's personality become more whole. He has also become a lot more attached or rather clingy in the last few weeks. He literally will cling on to my legs as I walk or repeatedly will race after me exclaiming "Up! Up! Up!". And don't get me wrong I am all about babies being in arms and I still wear Owen in the Ergo or my wrap often but this is him wanting to be in arms 24/7 and he sure ain't 8 lbs anymore! He's a lot more like 30 lbs! Other than wanting more in arms time, he has been wanting to nurse constantly. And the most heart aching of all is that he's been crying when I leave the house for work and proceeding to ask for me all day long, looking for me all around the house. Of course now that is all I can think about when at work. This does not help me at all, seeing as I don't even want to be working in the first place. I want to be home raising my son, but the work issue is a whole other post in itself that could go on for days. Anyway I'm not too sure what is causing the increased separation anxiety but as all things, this too shall pass.

A new trick Owen has picked up lately is climbing. It all started at my parents house, climbing a chair at the kitchen table and now its just about everything! As for interests he is still crazy for tucks and well just about anything powered with large wheels. Buses, wheel loaders, cranes, monster trucks, you name it! Other than trucks he is obsessed with pushing things around, especially wagons, he could do this all day long. His other big interest is animals. He never fails to point out any dog, cat or bird that comes our way, or that is seen in a book, painting, whatever, anywhere you see an animal you'll hear about it form Owen! And he simply can't give enough hugs to our dear doggie Bella and could just sit and stare all day, feeding carots to our bunnies.

18 months, its been a great ride so far and although a part of me is sad to see my baby grow up so fast, leaving behind him the precious first days we shared together. I also look forward to all we have yet to experience together. What a beautiful thing it is to mother a child.

travels

For the last couple weeks we have been visiting with family and friends. We first traveled to New Kensington, Pennsylvania to celebrate my Grandmothers 100th birthday. Yes, I did say 100th. It was absolutely amazing to see my Granny, as it had been about 5 years since I had last seen her and of course amazing to share with someone their 100th birthday. She is doing fabulously for 100, although she would tell you otherwise as she'd still like to be working away, hauling around bags of flour and sugar for my Aunt's cookie business. Since in the last two years she's had to cut it back to only taking care of the paper work for the bussiness, yes that's right she still does the paper work for my Aunt's business! Also she could beat just about anyone at poker, so watch out!!

After spending a few days at my Aunt's house in PA we headed up to Canada with my parents in their VW camper. We made it home in a record time of 12 hours, (usually takes my parents 13!) Owen did amazingly the whole way. I took this as a HUGE hint that its about time we get our own VW van. hehe. Once at my parents house he was simply all smiles, he seemed right at home and I really felt that he truly remembered being there from our last visit. While there Owen didn't seem to mind the cold one bit and had lots of fun playing outside, with you guessed it, a wagon! Oh does this boy ever love wagons!! Other than pushing wagons all over the place Owen experienced his first sweets on this trip. We hadn't yet introduced refined sugars into his diet, only a couple of times had people offered him sweets with him only to turn them down, making his Mama proud! But at my Aunt's house he surprisingly, after being there for a few days, helped himself to a cookie, and after that he just had to have more! So now we've actually got to start watching what it is we eat in front of him because he most certainly seems to be a fan of cookies. However he does seem to have a preference toward coconut macaroons, so maybe we will be safe as long as we stay clear from coconut!

Also on our trip Owen turned 18 months old and as many friends had advised me this was a time of great change. I have definitely noticed a lot of change in him, more so than any other month as of late, climbing all over, a greater desire to communicate, developing a sense of humor, etc. I will be sure to write more about all this in a later post specifically about this milestone. As for now enjoy some photos from our trip!

Here's lil O sleeping away on one of our many car rides.

Picking out his pumpkin for Halloween.

Our lil kai is absolutely obsessed with pushing around wagons and had a blast pushing this one around my Aunt's front yard.

He was all smiles at Grandma and Grandpa's house, I really do think he remembered being there from last time!

Shopping downtown Almonte

Our little artiste at work in the Musee des Civilisations in Quebec

Having fun at Lisa and Jon's celebrating Dave's birthday