We made it!

Owen turned one on February 9th. It was a wonderful and exhausting year and while I've only been a Mom for a short time one thing is abundantly clear, I am not in control. Especially of the weather. A blizzard may have thrown a wrench in our party plans but spirits were still high. Looking on the bright side of the situation, Owen was able to go sledding for the first time.

As you can see, he had a blast. Just kidding. Misery is probably a more accurate description. This brings me to another thing I've learned during the past year; I can't expect Owen to be as excited about or enjoy something as much I'd like him to. I sound very wise, don't I? Please remind me of this in the future if (or more likely when) Owen is not interested in taking piano lessons with me. But I digress....the party! 

Grandma B's flight from Chicago was cancelled and the locals were stuck at home. Our skeleton party crew included Aunt Amy, Grandpa Stan (who arrived on the last train from New York City) and Bubbe, intermittently via FaceTime. Here are some pictures of the fiesta. The homemade hats are courtesy of Aunt Amy. Those Linkers are so crafty!

 A toast to the Birthday boy! 

One-year old's still tolerate kisses from Mom - Phew!

In case you were wondering, Owen enjoyed being sung to and was a big fan of birthday cake. In fact, having a blizzard worked out in his favor. In addition to getting cake on his actual birthday, Grandma B made him cupcakes when she came to visit last weekend. 

Here's the birthday boy showing off his loot;  a new sweater, hat, blocks and a soccer ball.  Doesn't he look like a budding young fisherman?

Next stop, lobster trawler...

XOXO

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Owen

I swear, this kid could melt a heart of steel. Speaking of which, the balmy weather we've been having has helped to melt a lot of the snow that fell during last week's blizzard. Grandma arrives tonight for birthday, take two. I'll post pictures soon.

Nemo Found Us!

Here are some pictures from Owen's Blizzard. This is probably the most snow I've ever seen.

Crawling Quickly Toward ONE!

Today is T-minus three days until Owen's first birthday. After our wedding and Owen's birth, this is the biggest event in our family history. There has been a flurry of preparation for the big day and Steve has been a great sport. He has endured my anal retentive tendencies with grace.

Number one on the agenda was baby-proofing the house. Ultimately we ended up totally rearranging our first floor and were able to make an odd shaped space kid friendly while not looking like a nursery school. These shelves used to house books, etc. Now they've been converted to toy central.

Owen has also been preparing for the exciting transition to toddler-hood. On a recent outing to Kidz Wurld, essentially an indoor playground, Owen spent a lot of time crawling away from the sanctioned baby-area to watch the older kids run around.

He was also keyed into an essential rite of passage last weekend at his buddy's first birthday party - CAKE!  Ever observant, Owen watched Micah tentatively play with his birthday cake. Maybe he was confused but I think he was taking it all in, planning his approach. We'll see...

Owen's party is scheduled for Saturday and we're keeping our fingers crossed that our out-of-town guests are able make it to Providence. As I type, a winter storm is headed for New England. It has the potential to be so bad that it's been named. Nemo. Unfortunately, I don't think it'll be this cute.