Baby O isn't such a baby anymore...

He turned one today! Can you believe it?
A couple of Warnings: One: You are in for a long read. I just couldn't shorten this post. Sorry! Second: In the text of this post I will be using a lot of clichés. One of them being, I can't believe how time flies! It's true, this past year has gone by way too quickly. Another cliché... It seems like just yesterday he was a little seven pound peanut in our arms in the hospital. In the blink of an eye (yes, another), a year has gone by.
We didn't want to throw a huge party but if you know me at all you know Birthdays are a BIG DEAL! We wanted to make sure and incorporate both sets of family traditions so first thing this morning as soon as Owen woke up we went in to sing Happy Birthday to the little guy and give him a few of his presents. Then thanks to my cute, crafty sis-in-law, we put out the traditional Rhodes Birthday table runner (thanks Darcy!) and he got breakfast on his special red plate (again thanks to Darc).

We headed off to the beach for the afternoon with some friends (Is this more Owen's Birthday wish or mine? Let's be honest, probably mine). But we for sure had a good time in the sun.

For dinner, I decided to make Owen one of his favorite meals, spaghetti (ok, so he never actually said it was one of his favorites but you should see how he downs those noodles when they are in front of him, you'll see proof of that below).

I decided to make Owen his own person Elmo Birthday cake and it turned out to look nothing like Elmo. We had some friends over and one of the boys who was here asked me why the Elmo cake looked nothing like Elmo. So funny. I'm bummed I didn't get a picture so you could tell me if there was another Muppet that you know of that the cake looked more like so I could have acted as though I meant to make the cake look that way. Oh well... Anyway, we let him go to town on the Birthday cake and he was in heaven (Pictured below). As far as first birthdays go, I think it was a success. By the way, I'd like to give a shout out to those who called, sent gifts, cards, etc. Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness!

In honor of Owen's first Birthday, I wanted to write down some of our favorite things about the little guy and what he's doing at this stage in his life...

1. He dances every time he hears music. Whether it's a hymn at church or a song on my IPOD, he starts bouncing up and down and dances along or he reaches for you, grabs your thumb and starts bouncing on your hip until you dance along with him.
2. He sings along to music. He does this cute high pitched singing thing that sounds more like a dog howling than a song but nothing is better than that sound.
3. When you ask him what a fish does, he makes his own version of a fish face. He also makes a quacking sound when you ask what a duck says... cute.
4. He's walking everywhere. If he is walking to you, once he gets to you, he climbs up in your arms, looks around and starts clapping for himself.
5. I've already blogged about this but he loves to push anything he can around.
6. He loves unplugging things and plugging them back in. Dangerous right? Don't worry, if he goes to an actual electrical outlet to unplug something, we pull him away.
7. He is constantly making this face where he scrunches his nose. He does it to be funny, he does it when he fake cries and he does when he is laughing really hard. I can't get enough of it.
8. When Tyler fake laughs at him, he laughs back... really really hard. They can keep this going for seriously twenty minutes without ever getting sick of it.
9. He loves to be chased. He will crawl super fast in front of you and then look back to make sure you're chasing him. He loves even more being caught and tickled.
10. He loves being outside. He's been like this since he was a baby baby. Like if he was fussy when he was little and you couldn't get him to stop, walking outdoors worked immediately to calm him down. Now that he's older, he will go stand at the door and just wait for you to take him outside. Once outside, he wants to eat every rock that gets in his way.
11. We probably won't think this is funny for long but he shakes his head no when he knows he is doing something wrong. Like when he is trying to eat rocks, he knows he shouldn't so he'll put it in his mouth and then look at you and shake his head from side to side to let you know that it's a no no.
12. He loves nothing more than a soft blanket. If there is one anywhere in his vicinity, he will go over to it and roll around in it, mash his face into it or just cuddle with it. While he's cuddling in his soft blanket he loves to have his back tickled. One of my favorite things in the world right now is in the morning when he first wakes up, we go into the living room, get out our big soft blanket and he cuddles up in the blanket while I tickle his back.
My dad and I always joke back and forth about me thinking Owen is the smartest, best looking, most perfect child that has ever been born. I realize that he probably isn't really the smartest, best looking or most perfect child ever, but to me and Tyler, he is. I wish we could bottle up this time, or stop time just as it is right now, or... ok, enough clichés for now. Seriously though, I can't imagine that Owen could be more fun than he is right now. I'm sure I'll be saying this with every stage of his life but right now, this is my favorite stage. Oh, we love this kid... Happy Birthday baby boy!