Happy 7th Birthday Owen!

My Owen turned 7 yesterday. How time is flying by. I remember the day we found out we were going to have another baby. It was a little surprising, but good. We were considering it anyway, it just happened a little sooner. My pregnancy was really enjoyable and I remember the day that I missed my pregnant belly. I actually cried. I only gained 27 pounds with him, opposed to the whopping 80 I gained with Andrew.


When Owen was about 1, he learned the skill of aggravating his older brother. As a baby, Andrew would always take toys away from Owen and replace the toy he took with a dumb toy. Aaron and I always said that one day...it will come back to haunt Andrew. Indeed, when Owen turned 1, it did. It didn't take much for Andrew to get irritated. Owen thoroughly enjoyed this new found skill.


Owen has always loved skin. He loved (and still loves) physical touch. When he was 1, I was unloading my groceries from the cart and Owen and Andrew were in the special carts with televisions in them. Well, as I was unloading the groceries, I noticed the cashier tapping my back and pointing down to Owen rubbing her legs. Skin is skin, no matter if it is Mom's or if it is the Cashier's at Kroger.




Owen loved any kind of bouncy ball when he was little. If he had a bouncy ball, he was happy. We would often put 7-8 toys in a pile to see what he would pick out. He always would pick out the ball. I am not kidding when I say this obsession began around the age of 9 months. I believe 1 Christmas, everyone knew that he loved balls...so guess what EVERYBODY got him? We had 13 balls bouncing around this house. He was in Heaven. To this day, he loves playing ball and looking at them in the stores.



Owen always liked the things the bigger kids liked. I think it is because the circle of friends we had, always had bigger kids. So, he never really took a liking to Thomas the Tank Engine or Barney. When most children his age were into these things, he was interested in skateboarding, learning to ride a bike, video games, or superheroes. I remember when he saw this skateboard around his 2nd Christmas. It was at a local Resale shop. He was very persistant about wanting it, but at the point of him screaming as I am dragging him out of the store, I was at my whits end and would not give in. I called the store and told them to put it aside. He got it that Christmas...a used, 3 dollar skateboard was his favorite gift and he says he remembers everything about it.


My buddy and I share the love of good coffee together. Every Friday, we would explore a new coffee shop here in the area. His favorite drink is a decaf Carmel Macchiato from Starbucks. When he was 4, he was ordering his own drinks. One particular day, we went to our local Starbucks and he placed his order "short, decaf Carmel Macchiato with whip cream". When walking away, he said "mom, this is not a Carmel Macchiato". I kind of blew him off. Then, he asked me to taste it. Well, he was kind of right, the barista forgot the syrup and it only tasted like espresso and milk. The boy knows his Carmel Macchiatos. I miss our frequent trips to the coffee shops. I did take him out of school a couple of times in the am so we can keep the tradition alive. shhh...

These days, Owen is into level X Pokemon cards, Skateboarding, snuggling, video games, giggles, aggravating his brother, soccer balls, basketballs, tennis balls, bouncy balls, baseballs, volleyballs...some things never change.







Happy Birthday Owen.
We love you buddy.