This is 42

Last weekend we celebrated Steve's birthday. What does a 42nd birthday look like? For Steve, at least, it was a trifecta of food, food and football. On Saturday night we made some tasty clam chowder. What can I say, we live in New England. When in Rome...  

Steve's actual birthday was on Sunday and Owen was so excited to get the party started that he sang his rendition of "Happy Birthday" at 5:30 am. Wasn't that thoughtful? So what do you do when you're up at the crack of dawn? Go out to breakfast, of course. And if you know Steve you know that this man loves his breakfast.

Sharing the most important meal of the day with our little man makes things messier but also a lot more fun. Here is Owen plotting the attack of his placemat and anything else within reach.

Now for football. Thanks to Steve's cousin we can scratch attending a NFL playoff game off that bucket list. On Sunday night we went to Patriots vs. Ravens in Foxboro, MA. You weren't expecting that, were you?

Since moving to Providence we've become die hard New England Patriot fans and we couldn't pass up a chance to see Tom Brady carry his team to the Super Bowl 47.  Go Pats!

I kid, I kid. Steve actually wore a NY Giants shirt to the game cleverly noted that Gisele showed up to play instead of her husband. It was cold and the Patriots lost but we still had fun. I'm a sucker for a good accent so I enjoyed hearing the crazy New Englanders in the throws of football trash-talk, "It's gonna to be a looong night, Ravens!"

Like good scotch and Daniel Craig, Steve is definitely getting better with age. It probably doesn't hurt that he's still a kid at heart. 

Tick tock

The clock is ticking. Our baby boy is almost a toddler which sadly means the days of naked pictures are coming to an end. As we prepare to begin this new chapter of Owen's life, check out these epic thighs and cute dimpled baby butt. Amazing.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

It's SuperOwen. He may be cute but SuperOwen is a fierce and kind-hearted defender of Savoy Street. Owen spends his days refining his super powers which include feeding his canine companion peas and Cheerios at warp speed and the ability to communicate hunger without speaking.

Ah, that's better.  

With a full belly, SuperOwen can concentrate on his grueling training regimen. After taking a spin around the house in his walker and an intense crawling workout, it's time to work on hand-eye coordination. Here he is wielding his weapons, a rattle and sock.

"Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, 

and able to leap tall buildings (and climb high chairs) in a single bound."

Ho Ho Ho!

Now that Owen is 10 months old we figure it's about time to work on his vocabulary. In keeping with the holiday spirit, we've been working on "ho, ho, ho." To be honest it sounds a lot like "uh-oh," but we'll take it. Here are a few pictures from Owen's first Christmas.

The guys looking festive in plaid

Owen got a lot of books for his growing library and some cute clothes but what really stole the show were the toys. A new ball from his cousins and a flashy and loud remote control from Uncle David. Hmm, I wonder if it's payback for being an annoying little sister? Ho, ho, ho.

Cloud Baby

All I want for Christmas is my two top teeth...and a brand new wagon. Luckily for Owen, Christmas came early to Rhode Island. Grandma sent a walker wagon that Owen will love once he's fully on the hoof. For now he's content being wagon cargo, a useful skill for our road trip to Chicago.

The Linker clan, minus Sydney (the cat), survived our 16 hour car ride from Providence to Chicago. Owen should get an award for being such a trooper. I'm pretty sure that I whined more than he did. I'm not kidding. 

As a reward for being such a good baby, we paraded Owen all over the Loop to take in some holiday cheer. Now that we're officially tourists, I wanted to get the obligatory picture of Owen at Cloud Gate, aka the Bean. I was definitely more enthused about the photo-op than Owen. He just looks confused, a little annoyed and very, very tired.

The Holla Daze - Act 1, California

Opening Scene: Three weary travelers, a husband, wife and their infant son, arrive in Orange County, California. It's 12:30 pm, the parents have already been up for over twelve hours and the baby just lost his favorite teething toy, Sophie Giraffe. And so begins the Holla Daze.

I'm not clever enough to keep up my faux-playwriting but you get the point. Being in California for Thanksgiving was great. The travel, not so much. Owen was not interested in sitting calmly for two flights and a layover. I can't blame him but a four hour flight feels especially long when your kid is on a sleep-protest.

Once in California, a good time was had by all. Let me rephrase that, Owen had a blast. We stayed on the beach and Owen spent an entire week with his Bubbe and Aunt Amy.  Here's the crew snuggling up on the couch for story time.

We took advantage of the nice weather by getting outside as much as possible. Steve and Owen have been taking swimming lessons and were able to show off their new skills in the pool. I was a nervous wreck watching my baby "jump" into the pool but the guys had great fun.

Owen also came to cheer me on at the Dana Point Turkey Trot. He was very impressed with my finishers medal and I was just happy to have finished the race.  Here we are at a post-race Thanksgiving day brunch.

Seeing as this was Owen's first Thanksgiving we tried to teach him a lesson about gratitude. I told him that I was thankful for him and being able to spend time with our loving family. He looked at me with his big blue eyes and sucked on his pacifier. He didn't have to say a word but I knew exactly what he was thinking. Owen was grateful that he just learned to crawl...watch out world!

Act 1 of the Holla Daze ended with a whirlwind trip to New York and a Lehrman family reunion. Owen met the rest of his cousins including the littlest Lehrman, Mable.

 
After a quick intermission, we drive to Chicago for Act 2.

Nine Month Matzo Ball

It's almost impossible to believe that Owen is already nine months old.  This has literally been the fastest year of my life. Summer was a blur and it's almost time to gear up for the holidays. In fact, in preparation for the great schlep to California to visit Bubbe and Aunt Amy for Thanksgiving we took Owen to a Jewish deli in Brookline, Mass. Here is his first taste of matzo ball and pastrami goodness.

Owen takes his eating, and pretty much everything else, very seriously.  Unfortunately these pictures don't accurately portray how enthusiastically he gobbled up (no pun intended) these yummy morsels.