15 Months And What Do You Get?

The cutest kid ever and deeper in debt.

I know the song is really "16 Tons" but go with it...Owen turned 15 months yesterday.  To celebrate, he decided to shout it from the rooftop.  Well, it was actually the coffee table.  I heard this whimpering coming from the living room - which is strange - because when he is hurt, he screams and when he is frustrated, he comes to find me.  So, I follow the sounds trying to imagine what I am about to walk in on.  I turn the corner, and there he is - standing on the coffee table - looking like a caged wild animal trying to think of a way out of the situation he just got himself into.

This was an example of a time where I thought to myself, "this is noteworthy - but where is the page in the baby book that asks for first dare devil maneuvers?  Blog it, Laura...Blog it.

So what else comes with turning 15 months?  Being cleared by the doc for peanut butter and fish sticks!  Not together, because that would be gross.  I can report, we ARE a fan of peanut butter and NOT allergic.  Stay tuned for the acception or rejection of the sticks.  Did I tell you this blog would be fascinating? 

On a final note, Owen and I had one of those nights I will remember forever.  I started putting up Christmas decorations and decided a little Christmas music was in order.  Owen got fired up and instead of dancing, he ran circles around the pool table (very similar to what our dog does when she gets fired up - but Owen is slower and a little unstable.)  I started running around the table in the opposite direction and diving to the floor in front of him when I got close.  He was laughing so hard each time I dove and the sound of his laugh melts my heart.  We played for about 15 minutes until I saw that his cheeks were bright red and he was panting from all the running.  We stopped for a water and Elmo break and I thanked the universe for giving me such an amazing boy.

Il Primo

I have been arguing with myself for over a year about whether or not to start a blog.  Do I write about myself?  My child?  My family?  All of the above?

My reason not to start one has been my feeling that many blogs are written by attention-seekers.  You are sort of standing on the street corner shouting to anyone who will listen and it's a one-way conversation.  I speak...you listen.  With the current online social media craze, the shouting comes in many forms.  Status updates, tweets, message boards, etc.

However, recently a few things have made me rethink my blog aversion and I have found three good reasons to start one.

1. As most of you know - I am an avid Facebook user.  I love seeing my true friends' and family's status updates.  I feel like I get more information from Facebook than I ever would have otherwise.  The far away family and friends who I may have only used to connect via Christmas letters, now I see daily funny little tidbits of information about their lives.  It's great!  Steve has a more of a love-hate relationship with it, but judging from the amount of times he checks his account everyday - I think the balance is leaning a little more toward "love."  I can't complain about people using blogs as a one-way conversation if I love the one-way status updates of Facebook.
2. I am "following" a few blogs now that I really enjoy reading.  I get excited when my Google Reader alerts me that there is something new to read.  Some are written by family: my brother's blog about my much too far away niece, Audrey and my Aunt's blog about training for the Breast Cancer 3Day and life experiences.  Some are written by friends and some are by professionals in areas that interest me.  I'm finding that blogs I connect with are a great read.
3. Owen's baby book was a great 1st year record of growth, milestones and new experiences.  But it is really only for the first year.  More and more, I am finding that he will do something new or funny or just something I want to remember and I don't know where to record it.  If my parents had done a blog or journal or something about my early years - I would love to look back and read it now.   I'm hoping that if I am good about using this blog as a record of sorts, it will be something we will appreciate later on.

The third reason was the final push that has convinced me to try this.  Like Michael said, there are no guarantees how long I will keep it up or if it will be enjoyable to anyone else.  But, life is about trying new things...so here goes nothing!