T(wo) Minus Two Months

On Monday Owen was 22 months old. It doesn't take a math whiz to figure out what that means... my baby will be 2 in just 2 short months. Little Man is almost two! I really don't know how this has happened. I am always talking about how time flies, especially when it comes to my kids growing up, but seriously? This is crazy.

It should come as no surprise that Owen continues to amaze us each and every day. He continues to grow, thrive and show us more and more of his unique personality. One thing that I find very cool and different about watching Owen grow up compared to watching Carter at this same age is that it is well, different. For Father's Day I made Wes two photo books chronicling Owen's first year of life, just like the two books I made for him chronicling Carter's first year of life. I made the books on shutterfly.com. There are two ways to compose the books. The first is to choose your photos and let the site "auto-fill" the pages for you. The second option (which is the one I used for all of the books) is to upload the photos and place them manually in the book. This method is much more time consuming, but also allows for much more personalization. In this case, the more personal the better. My point, and I do have one, is that making the books took me FOREVER. The great part about the project was that in order to complete it I had to go through all of the photos that I have taken since Owen's birth, which has literally got to be close to a thousand photos. What better way to remember the journey that our family has been on since the Little Man's birth?

People are constantly telling us how much Owen looks like Carter. He has even been referred to as mini-Carter quite a few times. It is true they do look a lot alike. Almost like they are brothers or something. While compiling photos of Owen and our family during Owen's first year of life, Carter became very interested in looking at photos on my computer. He began to ask, "Mama, is that me or Owen." Besides the fact that Owen was born with a cleft lip and Carter was not, there are many ways that I, as their mother, can tell them apart. Ways that I am not sure would be obvious to the average Joe. The differences don't stop with their physical appearances. As Owen continues to show us his wonderful personality, I just love the unique qualities that he possesses. Both of my boys are so funny, but each has their own sense of humor. I love that Owen loves to make people smile. Both of my boys are caring. Owen shows empathy in a way that I believe is uncanny for an almost-two-year-old. I was reminded of how caring he is once again tonight. Carter is sick with a very bad ear infection and most likely also a virus that has been going around. It came on suddenly (just this afternoon when he spiked a fever of 103 degrees) and Owen picked up on the fact that his big brother wasn't feeling well very quickly. Once he had that figured out he made it his business to check on Carter's well-being for the rest of the night. All evening it was: "You ok Carta?" and "It ok Carta". He is always this way. He is very intuitive when it comes to the feelings of others. He is always inquiring as to peoples' well-being and reassuring that "It ok". I love it. It cracks me up and also makes my heart happy.

As usual, the passage of time and watching my children grow and change is bittersweet. It always feels like time is flying and I often feel the urge to freeze time. On the other hand it is wonderful to watch them grow and change. In order to find a balance between these two feelings I try to remind myself to cherish each moment. After all, before I know it Owen is going to be two! My babies aren't quite babies anymore, but they sure are two of the most wonderful boys that I know.