Owen, 11 months

Owen turned 11 months on Saturday. It is unbelievable that his first year is almost over. And, while it feels like it's gone by quickly, it also feels like his birth was AGES ago. We just have a few more weeks to describe his birthday in terms of months instead of years...our baby is growing up!

I took a lot of notes this month on Owen and what he's up to!

• At the beginning of his 11th month, Owen was able to sit up from lying down and by the end of the month he is a professional at this task.
• He has perfected the Owen Scoot and is super duper fast. We don't think he'll ever actually crawl on all fours because he simply doesn't need to. 
• When Owen feels an urgency to get to his mommy, he throws things out of his way as he crawls over, even if the items aren't necessarily IN his way. It is really funny, cute and dramatic!
• A week or two ago Anna was throwing a major temper tantrum and could not calm down. She was lying on the floor at one point and Owen crawled over to her, touched her face and gave her two kisses on the forehead. The temper tantrum disappeared, it was just the medicine she needed, and we couldn't believe Owen did it - it was sooooo sweet.
• Owen is an excellent waver now. AND he waves when he just hears people saying hello or goodbye, he doesn't need to see waving first. What a genius! ;)
• On August 16 he was crawling around with a spoon. At one point we looked down at him to discover he was pretend eating. His first imaginary play!
• We've started using some basic sign language with him and it's official, Owen's first sign is "more," which is so stinking cute to see babies do.
• On August 14 two more teeth popped through - top teeth next to the center teeth. They came through the same night and, needless to say, he did not sleep well that night. I'll be honest, I always thought teething was a baby myth - we never even noticed when the girls grew teeth. I am here to attest it is NOT a myth. Owen is totally opposite of his sisters and is definitely letting us know that it hurts to grow teeth! His top two front teeth have been almost coming for like two weeks now...everyone cross fingers they come through soon!!
• When we were flying home from the east coast, we hit some pretty decent turbulence at a couple spots. Owen would just giggle whenever that happened. He likes to live on the edge! He also giggled his way through the landing. Must have been an adrenaline rush for his little body!
• This past month I was in New York City with Owen for work - I had a conference to go to and a big party to throw. The day before the party we were at the venue getting ready and one of the PR interns for one of our sponsors was there. He really liked Owen and kept playing and talking with him. At one point the intern said, "High five!" and held up his hand to Owen...and Owen gave him a high five! I had no idea he knew what that was or how to do it. Turns out Owen is an expert at high fives AND regular fives. 
• When we were at Grammy McCarthy's house in Massachusetts, she had a toy tractor out for the kids to play with. Owen started pushing it around and, since then, can be often found pushing around cars. I just love watching him learn and discover the world. It's amazing how FAST babies' brains develop!
• Owen LOVES the vacuum.
• Owen FINALLY likes real food and is a good little eater. Yay!
• One of our favorite things that Owen does right now is nose breathing. He purposely breathes through his nose really loudly, in and out in and out. Sometimes he also crunches up his face when he does it. He thinks it's really funny and, well, he's right!

Owen hates laying on his back...whether it's to get dressed, change his diaper, take a bath...or, apparently, when taking his monthly birthday photo. Little stinker...

We seriously could not get a good shot on the green blanket - he would not hold still, I couldn't get anything in focus, he was grumpy the whole time...this was the best I could get!

We love you, little 11 month old!