Owen: Year 1.

Wow, I can hardly believe Owen will be turning one this weekend. I still feel like I just gave birth to him! It's amazing how much he has grown and changed over the past year.

In celebration of my favorite little dude's first birthday, I wrote him a letter, mostly so I don't forget the little things that make him special at this age.

Enjoy. :)

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Dear Owen,

Holy cow, you're ONE-YEAR-OLD!! The big 0-1, kiddo. You've come a long way, baby.

I remember when you were born - you had white blond hair and translucent grey eyes. Even though you were a fairly solid sleeper from the start (you know, for a newborn) those early days were rough. I was convinced that you would just cry, eat, sleep, poop and never smile forever at that point.

Just when I had about enough, after a month you FINALLY gave me the first of many, many, MANY gummy grins.  I'm not sure if you were just born happy and just wasn't able to express it at first, but you became the biggest ham ever. Seriously - it's gotten to the point where if I try to take any candid photos of you, you immediately turn to the camera and give me a big cheesy smile. Heck, you'd be crying and I'd put a camera in front of you and you'd bust out a grin.

You've accomplished so many milestones over this past year, including rolling over, sitting up, crawling and pulling yourself up and cruising around. You're also babbling up a storm - no actual words yet, but we're pretty sure that "BA-BA" means bottle and "MA-MA" means....well, I'm hoping it means me, but knowing you it might very well mean "MORE MORE!"

Speaking of BA-BA and MA-MA...did I mention you LOVE food?! Because you do! Starting solids was one of the highlights of your life so far. I guess with two parents who are foodies I shouldn't really be surprised. You'll eat pretty much anything - except for mashed potatoes, which puzzles the heck out of us. Considering you'll eat just about anything else without much of a fuss, we'll let it slide.

Some other highlights (good and bad):

• Teething - those teeth just keep on coming in, don't they?  Thank God for frozen teething rings and Infant Tylenol/Advil.
• Watching your eyes turn blue - I still cannot believe they didn't turn brown like mine. Dominant brown-eyed genes my pitootie! (fyi: I have brown eyes, my husband has blue eyes)
• "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" - I don't know why this song resonates with you so much, but for some odd reason it's one of the only things that calms you down when you're crabby. If I had a dollar for every time I sang this to you, I would be a very, very rich woman.

Did I mention how incredibly awesome your dad has been over this past year?! When I was so upset over you not sleeping and/or cluster feeding in the early days, along with other challenges you've presented us with so far, he's been a rock and a shining example of how to be a good parent. Me? I've still got some learning/adjusting to do (that's right, mommies aren't perfect, no matter what we lead you to believe!) but with him by my side I'm confident we can raise you up right.

So, on this most audacious of days that you probably won't remember, I wish you very happy birthday. I'm so, so, SO happy and proud to be your MA-MA.

Happy birthday kiddo. :)

Love,
Mom

Me and my mobile (almost) toddler

Up until recently, Owen has been relatively low maintenance. He adorably scooted around backwards and barrel-rolled across the floor toward us and his toys.

Now he's army crawling, pulling himself up the couch and coffee table, and getting into everything, most notably the cats' water dishes. Out of all of the toys that are strewn about our living room, he's always super-determined to get to the one thing he's not allowed to have. Not sure what's so exciting about playing with water that's tainted with cat saliva, but to each his own I guess.

He may look sweet and innocent, but in reality he's up to no good.

Needless to say, we've been baby-proofing up a storm. We already started months ago, but once he started getting more and more mobile we've been kicking it up a few notches. We were (and still are) adamant that we don't want to get too crazy with childproofing, since our parenting philosophy is to let "kids be kids" for the most part (as in, we don't need to pad and bumper every single surface to prevent our little angel from even getting a bruise). However, for important things like preventing a 14-foot drop and electrocution - yeah, we take those pretty darn seriously.

The biggest challenge for us in our childproofing adventures was how to cover the stair railing that leads to the basement. Although the railing widths are well within current safety standards, we don't want him getting stuck or somehow figure out a way to slide in-between them and fall to his doom.

See what I mean? It's like a baby death trap. Heck, I feel like it's an anyone death trap if you happened to trip and fall in that general direction. Admiral Ackbar agrees.

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We debated and debated what to do. We found some options, but they weren't ideal (and, quite frankly, overpriced). As with most things, I figured if I wanted it done right I'd have to do it myself.

So, we went to JoAnn Fabrics and picked up some mesh fabric to cover the railing. We connected it to the railing via zip-ties - as for how we'll snip it off without the ends getting too sharp, well we're still working on how to solve that....any suggestions? ;)

To keep it in place while I zip-tied away, I taped up the ends to the top of the railings so it wouldn't move too much.

And here's the (almost) finished product. We're working on finding a solution for the two ends, which kind of stick out like a sore thumb. For the right side, we'll likely attach a block of wood to prevent little hands and/or limbs from getting through. The left side....yeah, I'm not quite sure what I'll do with that end yet. Stay tuned for the finished product when I have more energy and time. ;)

To finish off the bottom, I dug up one of the crib bumpers we were gifted awhile back. This is more of a temporary solution until I find/create something that's a bit more our style. Perhaps something like this might suffice, since I have a Pottery Barn rewards check coming in the mail soon from our steal we brought home from there last week....

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Total cost? It was about $9 for two yards of the mesh, and the crib bumper I got for free, and the zip ties and thread/needles we already had, and the new and improved crib bumper I'll eventually get with my PB rewards, so yeah....$9!

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Moms/Dads/Etc. - what were/are your biggest childproofing challenges? Any additional tips/tricks to share?

Why is it....

....you ALWAYS find the one thing you're looking for when you least expect it?!

Seriously, am I the only one this happens to? Like when we bought our couch. We searched for months for the perfect one and failed. Miserably. Then, one day at the mall we happened upon a Pottery Barn and fell exhausted onto the first couch we could find and it was like God Himself smiled down and said "THIS IS THE COUCH FOR YOU!!"

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Well, it happened yet again last Saturday when we happened upon a floor sample sale at our local Pottery Barn. We wandered in with Owen in the stroller and stumbled across a glorious console table that would look perfect behind our couch (or in our dining room, or as a media center...let's just say it has possibilities!).

The price at the store was $479. My smart, wonderful, handsome husband asked the saleslady if we could get it for $400. She checked and I think she was going to refuse us the discount until....

She saw THIS face.

And melted. We didn't get it for $400, but she did mark it down to $440! The lesson here folks? If you want an extra discount, bring something cute with you for the salespeople to gush all over, like a happy baby or a puppy (okay, maybe not the puppy...but you get the gist).

For those of you wondering how we were able to use our child's cuteness to score a decent discount, here’s a step-by-step guide:

• Before entering the store, make sure your child is fed and content, otherwise instead of getting a discount you could get kicked out and have no chance in hell at getting your dream piece of furniture. And we don't want that.
• Be polite and friendly – say hello to the salespeople, exchange pleasantries, talk about the weather, etc. But let’s be real – the true purpose of this is to let them get a gander at your adorable munchkin. Bonus points if you’re able to convince your kid to smile and wave.
• Wander around the store, peeking at price tags while simultaneously tickling/making goofy faces at your offspring. This will continue their good mood (see bullet #1).
• When you find the one you want, have one parent grab a salesperson while the other takes off with the baby. Again, going back to bullet #1 – you gotta keep the kid amused. You can also use this as an opportunity to change his/her diaper, further enhancing their mood and lessening any potential stinkiness.
• Go back to said piece of furniture while the other parent is in the heat of negotiations. Introduce yourself and your child.
• Watch your child work his/her magic on the salespeople.
• Achieve additional discount.
• Give your child a cookie and a toy with the money you saved from the discount.

Once we figure out where the heck we want to put it - and whether or not we want to remove the wheels - I'll post some update pics.

 In the meantime, any suggestions on where it should go?