Finally. I'm "Mom"!

Owen started saying "dad" and "dada" at NINE MONTHS. (I checked in his baby book this morning) I waited patiently for him to say my name...I waited...and waited...and waited. Nothing. His one year birthday came and went...the summer passed and the fall...no "moms". Many people ask me what he did when he wanted me. Well..nothing really. He would put his arms up or come up to me and physically get me. No made up words or anything. Just silence on the "mom" end.
And then....About a week before Christmas he started saying something that sounded a BIT like mom. A bit. Just a bit. And then it got clearer and clearer until it was evident that he was saying MOM and connecting me with it! YAY! Merry Christmas to me! He now walks around the house saying mom mom mom mom mom...I think he just likes to say it :-) But the best is when he says my name and he really wants me. Like last night. When I handed him off to a friend who wanted a hug, but Owen was tired and not really in the hugging mood and he reached his arms out for me with a desperate..."Mooomm!" Heart melting stuff I tell ya! I love this kid like I never knew love was possible. I try and play it cool like its not that big of a deal and I don't spend most of my time missing him when we are apart...but pretty much I am obsessed with my child and to further illustrate this let me tell you that I fell asleep snuggling with his giant teddy bear then other night when he was spending the night at Jeff and Anita's because I had to work in the morning! Sometimes the enormity of being responsible for another human life overwhelms me. Do I let him watch too much tv, does he eat enough vegetables, am I teaching him what he needs to know, do I bathe him enough ( or too much? :-), is he well behaved, will he play well with other children...can I actually raise him to have a passion for Jesus and the desire to know and follow Him!? Aaah! Seriously. Its enough to make me want to throw my hands up in exasperation! I just can't do it all. Most of the time I can calm down and feel ok with knowing that I'm doing the best I can every day, and God is covering the rest. Sure, sometimes we watch tv and stay in our jammies all day. Sometimes I can't remember the last time he ate a vegetable. Sometimes he throws a tantrum and I'm confident that I'm not handling it the right way....but something must be going right, because he's alive, healthy and a sweet and bright kid.
All this to say...Owen has changed my life in such a way that I can't ever imagine going back to pre-Owen days...nor do I want to. Josh and I used to talk about what our life would hold for us if we couldn't have children. We entertained the idea of buying a boat and moving downtown into a townhouse (because we thought that sounded cool and retro :-)) I'm so glad we got Owen....and not a boat. I'm more than confident that he is WAY WAY better. End of story.