Christmas!

We were able to spend Christmas with Dave's family in Maryland. Owen loved playing with cousins and showing off his new tricks for a bigger audience. Dave loved having a break from his rotations, and we all loved seeing family and eating treats! Owen grew a Christmas molar (which was not actually as festive as it sounds), and we stayed up late watching movies, eating treats, and playing the Wii. So we didn't exactly catch up on sleep, but we had so much fun and are, once again, amazed and grateful to have such wonderful family!

After I got home I realized pretty much every picture I took was of Owen, or maybe Owen and some cousins. But I guess I'm not actually that surprised.

Cousins Christmas PJ picture on Christmas Eve. Eli was happy to finally have another boy to "match" with. I was on video camera duty for the nativity, but this was taken right after. It's pretty much the same idea, but the kids had more towels on their heads for the real thing. Owen played the part of baby Jesus, which involved sitting in the laundry basket eating a cookie while Alex read the Christmas story.

Part of the Christmas molar festivity was that Owen woke up at least 2 hours earlier than usual most mornings. Luckily, cousin Ingrid also woke up early on Christmas morning. It was hard to be patient and wait so long for everyone else to get up.

Sitting on his new cow with wild Christmas Morning eyes.
He found candy in his stocking all by himself. He was halfway through the first piece of chocolate before we got the foil wrapper off. This discovery made him frantic over every little foil wrapped item he could find.
We hope you all had a very happy Christmas too!!

New York

Earlier this month Owen and I got to visit my sister and her family in New York! I LOVE New York at Christmas time!! Well, I guess to be fair... I have only ever been to New York at Christmas time (except for my first trip over spring break in the 8th grade... that was in March). But there is something wonderful about seeing all the decorations and the lights! The beautiful tree at Rockefeller Center and the Christmas windows on 5th Ave. Even the cold weather is kind of fun when combined with Christmas. Besides, carrying heavy babies in their strollers up and down stairs to the Subway does not sound awesome in the heat and humidity. This trip could not have been more perfect. The weather was beautiful, the babies were darling, the city was fabulous, and the food was delicious (Magnolia's cupcakes and banana pudding, Shake Shack burgers, Cafe Lalo brownie, Little Italy pizza and gelato...all incredible- not to mention Erin's tasty cooking, I will be attempting to recreate most of the things she made for us, hopefully soon.) We got to see beautiful art at the Metropolitian Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Cloisters. We took the babies to FAO Shwarz and Owen was in little baby heaven. We went to see the Christmas windows and the Rockefeller tree, walked through Central Park, and visited many hip neighborhoods and cool shops. We saw a man walking down the street with a cat sitting on top of his head. There was a live (shirtless) male model in the Abercrombie store whose only job was to stand there while teenage girls lined up to get awkward photos taken with him. They also had women dressed in formal gowns modeling suuuuper fancy diamond necklaces in one of the ultra ritzy jewelery stores. On our way to the Met we saw a beautiful old building with darling Christmas decorations and a flag announcing that it was the Marymount School. This was in a very expensive neighborhood, and directly across from the Met...not to mention all the other amazing museums nearby. Erin and I were trying to make guesses at how much yearly tuition would be at that school. My best guess was "more than my entire college education". I admit, we were morbidly fascinated and googled it when we got home. $34,000 a year for a K-12 school. And that is why we love New York... because some people wear their cats on their heads when they go for a walk, and other people pay $30,000 for their kid to go to kindergarten. You have to admit, the dynamics are interesting.

Macy's Christmas windows. Owen was dazzled, although he looks a little stunned in this picture.

That is a hazelnut-nutella brownie with ice cream from Cafe Lalo (the place where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are supposed to meet for the first time in You've Got Mail). This dessert was heaven on a plate. Don't you worry, I most definitely finished the whole thing.

Owen running free in the Met, which he absolutely adored. When I held him up to look at the busts of ancient Greek philosophers, he gave each one a great big smile. He also liked the acoustics in there and chirped, squealed and grunted his way through the museum. I pretended everyone else there thought it was great that I was exposing my child to art at a young age, and that they weren't annoyed at all with his noises. The picture is blurry because I already got in trouble for using my flash, and Owen is pretty quick on his feet these days.

Some arches at the amazing Cloisters! A museum filled with medeival art that happens to be just up the hill from my sisters apartment.

Sisters in Little Italy! We have lots of pictures like this, because usually it was just us four (grown up sisters, and baby cousins)

Central Park. We happened to walk over this bridge at the exact moment a couple got married on it.

The big piano at FAO Schwarz. Owen was too light to make the keys light up.

Owen kind of has a thing for stuffed animals. When we walked in the door (at FAO Schwarz) greeted by a mountain of plush, he almost exploded with happiness. I have never seen him quite so hyper. Every time I tried to pick him up, his entire body was stiff he was so excited. He also yelled and cried whenever I attempted to interfere with his personal little heaven there. (You may (or may not) recognize these puppies from Owen's birthday post.)

The boys!! Owen and Jonah! They were SO darling together! I can't emphasize that enough. It was so fun to watch them play and teach each other new tricks (some good, some naughty). One of my favorite things was trying to herd the two of them around the house. It would usually include me saying something like like "baaaabies...come here babies!" And they would toddle along together, kind of like herding cats. These two happen to have several matching outfits. And yes, when I saw that Jonah was wearing this, I promptly dressed Owen in the same thing. Herding cats was even more fun in a sea of stripes.

A Lot Can Change in a Year...Or Two

Yesterday my baby turned one. I am one who likes to reminisce, so naturally, I've been reminiscing a lot about "this time last year" lately. I am amazed at how much can change in just a year.

A year ago Owen looked like this

And I looked like this. I know, right? This was the night before my scheduled c-section. Are we surprised that the doctor recommended an ultrasound to check his size at my last appointment? (They discovered that he was in fact, quite large, especially his head and shoulders...hence the scheduled c-section). And no, I couldn't bend over far enough to load the dishwasher.

I also had to include a picture from when pregnancy was still kind of fun and cute...I could still put dishes in the dishwasher at this point.

And only two short years ago babies weren't in the picture at all. Dave and I were still enjoying the benefits of one (small) income and the adventures that are much less complicated when "grownups only" are involved.

I already can't imagine life without our little Owie-Bug! He is so good natured and has this budding little sense of humor. He is still big, and can eat A LOT! He loves softness (like piles of laundry or stuffed animals), loves to carry things around the house (he's always got something...diaper, toy, sock, piece of paper) loves to laugh and make crazy faces, loves his bed (he cries if he sees me pull it apart to change the sheets), and he loves to play, sing songs, and read books! He is such a joy and we are so happy that he is in our family! Happy Birthday little (big) Owen!

Owen's "Birthday Morning". A Dahl family tradition. We would wake up on our birthday morning and the table would be decorated with presents and those little curly things on the light. We got to open our presents before school! Owen had to wait, since Dave left early for work.

Singing "Happy Birthday" at his party later that night. How cute are all the kids on the floor? I don't think anyone even told them to sit there like that. I think maybe they have been to a few birthday parties before.

Group shot of Owen's little friends

Opening presents... it took him awhile to figure out this first one

See? Softness...

He soon got the hang of it