Greetings from sunny Florida!

Rowan and I are having the best time in Florida at my parents' house. We've gotten to spend time with our family and friends. And, we've spent a lot of time outside. The weather has been a nice change from dreary Atlanta. 

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Fat Lip Freddie

Poor, Rowan. He slipped yesterday and hit his lip. It was a scary thing for him and me! It's the first time he's been really hurt, with blood - besides the time I nicked him with the nail clippers. It doesn't look too terrible, but I'm sure it hurts.

Merry Christmas!

We've been getting ready for Christmas around here. Jeremy's parents will be here Christmas Eve and we are looking forward to seeing them. We've been talking about Christmas dinner and man, am I hungry! I think we're going to go with a beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce. Mmmm... can't wait!

Rowan had his 10-month birthday on Friday. We didn't do much to celebrate - just the usual fun stuff.

He's been dancing and talking up a storm. He even said "Mama" yesterday. I don't think he gets it, but he can say it. Needless to say, I am thrilled!

That's the quick update. Have a merry Christmas everyone!

Rowan Stats Update... finally

Okay... I know I am way behind on my blogging. I've been busy with Thanksgiving company and recovering from a head cold. Thankfully, the guys are not sick and hopefully they will be spared the suffering I have endured the past three days. Enough of the crying! Here's the scoop on Rowan.

• Height: 28 inches
  
• Weight: 18 lb. 8 oz. (He's down about 2lbs. from last month, but this is ok according to the pediatrician. He's a very active boy!)
  
• New Skills: pincer grasping objects (Gerber puffs are wonderful.), babbling to his toys, pulling up on anything that won't fall over, crawling over obstacles (I call him the bulldozer.), mimicking noises you make - especially zorberts
  
• New foods: Rowan tried some Thanksgiving classics, including turkey and cranberry sauce. He couldn't quite chew the turkey completely and the cranberry sauce was a little too tart for my guy. He loved the sweet potatoes, but that's not surprising. I fed him some persimmon the other day with oatmeal and he ate it up like candy. He's also started eating cheese and loves it. Rowan is an excellent, adventurous eater.
• Favorite things: chewing on stuff, climbing on me, standing up and sitting down, reading Go, dog! Go!
• Dislikes: diaper changes, warm food or milk, teething, being told no

It's fun to watch Rowan play. You can tell that he is studying how things work. He likes to experiment with his toys to see what will happen. I am really impressed with his ingenuity and problem-solving skills. 

I think he is starting to teethe again. I do not look forward to the coming sleepless nights and runny nose that go with the new teeth. Maybe the next ones will be a little easier on him.

The grandparents are coming back to our house for Christmas. That will be a lot of fun. It's nice to have a lot of hubbub around the holidays. 

9 months

I wanted to write a brief happy birthday message to my sweet boy. Yesterday, Rowan turned 9 months old! As you can see, he's getting into all kinds of things. Wendy took this photo of him stalking her cat Earl. He seems so pleased with himself. :-)

x

I'll post some stats next week after we visit the pediatrician on Monday.

Just another week...

This week has been uneventful, thank goodness. Last week was plenty exciting enough for awhile. Rowan's top two teeth have completely emerged and he is feeling much better. Teething must be a terrible experience, especially if you have no earthly idea what is going on. 

I don't know what we have planned for the weekend. Probably not too much. It's probably good that we take it easy while we can. The holidays are sure to be hectic.

I've posted a few new photos. You can see Rowan's new teeth in one of them. 

Happy Friday, everyone! 

Vote!

The three of us took a lovely stroll down to our polling site today. Apparently 1:30 was the time to be there. We waltzed right through with no lines and no waiting. 

Cruisin'

We went trick-or-treating with the Carrolls on Friday night and had a fun time. Their neighborhood sponsored a children's parade on the next street over. We took turns pulling the boys in our new wagon so they could take in all the crazy Halloween sights and sounds. 

Not only did Rowan get a new wagon for Halloween, the Carrolls sent us home with their baby walker. (Shhh! Don't tell our pediatrician.) I didn't even know they still made those things. It's kind of cool. It's rectangular instead of round, like I remember from my childhood. Maybe it's more stable that way. At any rate, Rowan really likes it! He cruises around looking for stuff to get into. We are impressed with how skilled he is at negotiating turns already. He's also figured out how to take his socks off when he is in the walker. Such a stinker!

There's more exciting news... Rowan's top teeth are coming in! I felt the top left one this morning. 

Edit: Both top teeth are coming in!

I've posted photos from the last few days. Check 'em out.

Rowan's 8-month stats

As promised, here are the latest Rowan stats.

• Length: 28 in


• Weight: 20lbs


• Clothing size: 9 to 12 mos. depending on the brand


• Teeth: No new teeth have sprouted yet. I thought the next set were imminent, but he's still working on them.


• Mobility: He's crawling really well and covers a lot of distance quickly. He's also started to try to pull himself to a standing position. Last night he was able to stand up in his crib by pulling up on the rails.


• Sleeping: His sleep routine was really good up until last week. He used to go to bed around 9pm and stay asleep until 7:30am. Occasionally he would wake to wolf down an 8 ounce bottle, but he would go right back to sleep. The last few nights he has fought going to sleep. Once asleep, he'd wake up after about an hour wanting to play. Jeremy and I wish he would revert to his previous sleep cycle. It was so awesome!


• Eating: This kid can put away the food! On a typical morning he will start with about 8 ounces of milk. By lunchtime he is ready for his first solid meal of the day. Sample brunch menu: 1 medium banana, 1.5oz of oatmeal, 1 4oz container of fruit puree, about 4 oz. of milk. He may drink another 4oz of milk in the afternoon. By dinner time, he's ready for more food. Sample dinner menu: 2 4 oz. containers of veggies and 4 oz. of fruit for dessert. Sometimes I mix rice with the veggies if they are watery. He might also drink about 3 to 4 oz. of milk. Before bed, he gobbles another 4 oz. of milk. I have no idea where he puts all this food.


• Communication: Still no "mama", but "dah", "dee", and "uh" reamin popular sounds. He's also learned to click his tongue. He likes to clap his hands when he sees someone or something he likes. We've been working on waving hello and goodbye. He gets the concept, but is inconsistent in the application. Of course we are delighted when he performs any of his new tricks. :-) Oh, I almost forgot to mention my favorite new gesture. He does this cheesy grin that I call the "cheese face".

We're going trick-or-treating tomorrow night with the Carrolls. I'll try to post some pics soon.

Family, Apples, and a Birthday

Happy 8-month birthday to my sweet boy! I'll post some stats later. I need to wait for Jeremy to get home so we can weigh and measure Rowan. Handling him is a two-person job these days.

This past month has gone by so fast. We've been on the road for most of the past few weekends. We should be close to home for awhile.

We had a great visit with my parents. We also had a surprise visit from my Aunt Beverly and Granny. They came over for dinner on Friday night. It was kind of nice having a house full of family.

Saturday morning we headed up to north Georgia in search of apples and pumpkins. The Ellijay Apple Festival had good food (fried apple pies - yum!) and great people watching. We also drove down the apple farm highway to pick out fresh crop apples. We ended up with a nice mix of Arkansas Black, Mutsu, Winesap, and Fuji. The ones I have tasted have been really good. Jeremy said he sees some apple pies in our future.

Gettin' old - But having fun doing it!

This past weekend I went on a girls' trip to Massachusetts to see my friend and former college roommate, Amy, get married. I met up with Ali and Leslie, also good friends and former roommates of Amy and me. I had such a nice time visiting with them. Even though we don't see each other often, we pick up right where we left off, as if it's only been a day or two since we last saw one another. That's one sign of a great friendship.

Pictured in the photo above (left to right): Ali, Amy, Me, Leslie, Lauren, Sarah, and Suzanne. We were all college roommates at one point, except for Lauren (Amy's sister-in-law) and Sarah (Amy's friend and Matron of Honor from Tampa). All hail the House of Women!

I learned a lot on this trip. One is that it is good to get away from your baby for a little while. I adore Rowan and would spend every minute with him that I could... and I do. While this is great and wonderful, it's also healthy for both of us to have a little bit of time apart.

Secondly, I learned about Facebook. I already knew it existed, but I had disdain for it and relegated it to the younger, hipper crowd. Leslie and Ali both informed me that it was for adults and that it is highly entertaining. So, I decided to check it out. I'll let you know what comes of my explorations, if anything.

Lastly, I came to the realization that I am old. I had a feeling that I was just around the corner from being "old'. I just didn't know how close I was. Here's how I found out.

Leslie, Ali, and I went to see "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist". It's a fun movie with a great soundtrack. And, I do like Michael Cera's boyish charm. But I digress... In the movie, these high school seniors who live in New Jersey go into NYC for a Friday night. Not only do they find parking spots in front of clubs all night, but they never call to check in with their parents. Could this be any more unrealistic? The three of us noted that we seemed to be the only ones incapbale of suspending our disbelief. The teenagers watching along with us seemed unaffected by these details.

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We are so old.

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I posted some new photos of Rowan for your viewing pleasure. They are from October 8 and 13. You will see that we finally bought him a "for real" crib to sleep in. The pack-n-play was too rickety and he was crawling around our bed too much. He's slept in it two nights now - not for the entire night, mind you, but a good 6 hours. Last night he needed a bottle at 3:00am. I couldn't believe he could be hungry but he downed 8oz. in about 20 minutes. I have no idea where he puts all the food he gobbles.
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My parents are coming up this weekend for a mini-visit. We plan to go to Ellijay and surrounding areas to check out the pumpkin farms and apple orchards. I'll let you know how it goes.

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P.S. I don't know why, but Blogspot likes to monkey with my formatting. Arghh! If you see wonky spacing, blame it on Blogspot's crazy computer voodoo.

Famous Fall Fling

We spent this past weekend in Wise visiting with Jeremy's parents and good friends I like to call "The Wise Guys". The Wise Guys are childhood friends of Jeremy with whom he has remained in contact over the years.

The gang visited a little bit on Saturday at the Famous Fall Fling. The Fling is a festival on the town square where you can buy crafts, eat trashy fair food, watch cloggers, and go on a fire truck ride around town. We ran into a lot of old family friends while we were there. It was nice to enjoy the simple pleasures of small town living.

A small group of us went to Annette's Dari-Barn for an afternoon snack. (I highly recommend the butterscotch milkshake.) We saw a funny sign posted on the community bulletin board inside. Abby took a photo of it with her phone. It turned out pretty good. Check it out below.

"89 Jayco pop-up camper for sale. 92 Van for sale or will trade
for guns or four wheeler"

On Sunday we had a mini-reunion at a city park. It was nice to visit with the usuals and to meet some of the other characters who I have heard about. As the local paper, The Coalfield, would write, "...A good time was had by all."

Here's a photo of the whole gang. Pictured from left to right are: Pam - The rest of her tribe - Bill, Luke, and Lance - are at the top of the slides; Jeremy (aka, Big Goo), Rowan and Me; Jason H. (aka, Lump) and Abby; Chris, Josh, and Janet; April, Rachel, and Travis; and Drew, Cindy, Sarah, and Jason D. (aka, Gun).

I've posted more photos from this weekend on the Rowan album. We took some video, too, but it's going to take me a little bit to get those posted.

More videos and photos

Just wanted to let you know that I uploaded a few more videos and a couple of photos. Enjoy!

7 Months Old!

Rowan's 7-month birthday was last Friday. Yea! He is such a big boy. Here are some of the interesting things he has been working on lately.

• Teething - He's only sprouted his bottom two for now. I think he is working on his top set but it is taking awhile for them to peek through. 
• Mobility - Any day we expect him to take off crawling. He can raise up on his knees and elbows really well and has taken about 2 crawling steps in a row before falling over. Mostly he gets around by rolling or getting on his elbows and knees and then falling over until he gets where he wants to be. He's such a stinker. He has figured out that if he doesn't feel like moving he can pull the quilt to make the toys closer.
• Food - Rowan loves eating. The only thing he has rejected so far was a turkey-veggie-rice flavored jar of food. I've been making quite a bit of his food. That has been a lot of fun. I gave him mango the other day and he ate it up so fast it would make your head snap. 
• Talking - His favorite sounds to make are usually the "guh" or "gee" noises. Monday night, after his bath, he started saying "Ba ba ba ba ba" and "da da da da" mixed with a "guh" every so often. He also kind of makes "mmmm" noises when he eats. He hears me say it a lot during feedings. 
• Entertainment - He still likes the Boo! game quite a bit. The exersaucer and jumperoo are still pretty popular, too. It seems he discovers a new feature each time he uses them. He thinks the cats are really funny and calls out to them and laughs. They do not appear to experience the same delight with his presence, however. He still likes reading the caterpillar book but has added "Go, Dog. Go!" to his favorites. 
  
• Other stuff - Rowan taught himself to clap his hands. It took him less than a week to get it. This kid is one smart cookie! 

Each week gets more fun with him. Some days it takes all of my will-power to go to work. When I am there, I pine for him. Thank goodness I can look at photos or else I would be much more cranky during the day. 

New Photos and Videos

I finally added some new photos to the Rowan album. I have more to add and will try to get them up by tomorrow.

And... Ta da! I have also added four videos taken in July. (I've added a permanent link to the videos in the right side navigation.)

I must warn you that I am not the best videographer; definitely I need more practice! But, I think you'll get the gist. Also, you'll hear my mousy voice in the background. You have to work hard to keep a baby's attention, particularly if you're competing with toys.

Enjoy!

Cows and Concerts

I'm a terrible blogger. Shame on me for not writing updates sooner. What can I say? I've been busy. We all have, actually. Here's a brief re-cap of what we've been getting into for last week or so.

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Wisconsin for my cousin Emily's wedding. The flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul wasn't bad at all. Rowan was extremely well-behaved, the flight was smooth, and the airport was easy to navigate. We rented a car for the second leg of the journey. That went okay, too. I was a little stressed about traveling with Rowan's car seat, plus all of our other luggage, but there was really no need. Delta was most accommodating with our gear and we had no issues. Thank goodness!

Wisconsin was lovely. The weather was perfect, the countryside beautiful, and the residents friendly. I was told that they were in the middle of a drought but I couldn't tell. The rolling hills looked verdant and lush to me. And the few cows we saw looked happy and well-adjusted. Summers up there are really pleasant. Heaven knows those poor people need something to look forward to after all those months of icky snow and ice.

The wedding was a lot of fun. Emily had planned several events to keep out-of-towners entertained. We missed out on the canoe trip (From the stories we heard, I'm kind of glad we didn't make it. I prefer my canoe trips to take place in the canoe rather than swimming alongside it. I guess that's what happens when you mix Bloody Mary's and boating.) but were able to attend the rehearsal luau (Emily and Jake live in Hawaii so they wanted to inject a little island flair into their special weekend) and other festivities.

We thought we might run into a big mess back in MSP on Sunday because of the Republican National Convention. Amazingly, it was quite dead. Even the traffic around the city was tame. You would never have known that a major event was taking place there. Had it been Atlanta, there would have been much chaos.

Rowan was not so good on the flight back. I blame it all on the 1-year-old sitting in front of us. Every time Rowan tried to fall asleep, that other baby would cry or scream and wake him up! Arghh! I think he cried for the last 30 minutes of the flight. Poor thing. He was so exhausted. I know the little girl in front of us was ragged out, too. Her poor parents. They looked about as wrung out as I felt. Jeremy declared that we will not be flying with Rowan any time soon. It really wasn't that bad. At least he didn't holler the whole flight. Now that would have been a nightmare!

Jeremy and I went to see Chris Isaak in concert this past weekend. Rowan stayed with Wendy for the evening. It was nice to get out by ourselves and not have to be on high alert for a few hours. Throw Chris Isaak into the mix and you've got one heck of a night out. :-)

The concert was at an interesting venue down in Peachtree City. It's called The Fred (there's a longer, more formal name that I won't bore you with.) and it's an amphitheater in the woods. It's in a park, along with a skateboard park, BMX, ramps, picnic tables, etc. Very cool.

PC is an interesting place overall. It's planned community and part of that plan includes miles of golf cart trails. You can zip from your house to the Publix, to school, and then back home again - all from the comfort of your family-sized golf cart. We had noticed a lot of carts as soon as we turned on the main road to the Fred. We got the scoop from the couple sitting next to us.

When we went to pick up Rowan at about 11:45 that night we saw Wendy and Rowan standing in the driveway. "This can't be good," we said in unison.

True to form, Rowan was throwing his nightly tantrum about going to bed for the night. Wendy had rocked, and soothed, and petted, and jiggled him for quite awhile. Her husband, Alex, even took a turn while she readied her kids for bed. I had given Wendy the head's up about Rowan's extreme crankiness so she wasn't too worried about him. She said she would have felt terrible had she not known this was business as usual. I was really hoping that she would have some kind of mama voodoo that would cure Rowan of his nocturnal madness - but no. We will continue to experiment with different methods until we find the right one - or, until he grows out of this, or we all end up in the loony bin.

Speaking of Rowan and sleeping, I better go get him up. That dog has been snoozing since midnight. Lucky! (said with a Napoleon Dynamite accent.)

P.S. I've been taking photos and will try to post them asap.

Top 10 Surprises

I've been thinking about how much my life has changed in the past year and thought I share a few of the things that have surprised me about pregnancy and motherhood. These are in no particular order.

1. I would have never thought that 6 hours of sleep would be so luxurious.
2. Being spit up, peed, and pooped on isn't that bad - provided it comes from your baby. 
3. Time flies by so fast when you're taking care of a baby. (Why can't work go by that fast?)
4. If you are not a social or gregarious person, don't leave the house with your baby. I've had neighbors who I have waved to for years that only started waving back once I started walking with Rowan.
5. Doctors don't know everything. Trust your instincts when it comes to your body or your baby and be firm with them. Either that, or lie. :-)
6. Just when you think you can't love your baby any more, another day passes and your love expands even further. 
7. One of the most magical sounds on earth is your baby's laughter - especially those deep belly laughs!
8. Breastfeeding is more difficult than you think it will be. It's also pretty cool to make your own baby food.
9. Some days you won't recognize your own body.
10. Single parents must be superhuman. Jeremy and I have a hard time sometimes. I cannot imagine doing this by myself.

Edit: I thought of one more thing... How gratifying it is for your baby to burp.

Happy 6-month birthday!

Jeremy and I were talking about how quickly the past three months have passed compared to the first three.  It is still a little unreal that we have a baby, yet it is hard to remember what we did before Rowan arrived on the scene. It seems like there was a lot more sleeping. :-)

Rowan continues to amaze and entertain us. His latest endeavor is learning to crawl. Each day he gets more proficient. It is fascinating to watch him experiment with different poses and to figure things out. He makes the funniest faces when he's concentrating. He'll also let out a hoot and a holler if he doesn't think he's making good progress. I fear that he has inherited my impatient streak. 

One of the coolest things Rowan does is try to snap his fingers. He'll watch Jeremy do it a few times and then you'll see his little hand open and close and his fingers wiggle. Our boy is so smart! 

I have added carrots to his list of solid foods. Now we're up to rice cereal, banana, green beans, pumpkin, and carrots. He has been agreeable to everything that I have offered him so far. Jeremy and I have always been good eaters so we are not surprised that Rowan likes to chow down, too. He even gobbles up oral vaccines (for rotavirus) and baby Advil. 

He has been keenly interested in cups for awhile. Now that he has figured out how to grab everything he insists on going for your glass. We're thinking of giving him his own sippy cup with water so he can practice. I have this feeling that he will still prefer our cups instead of his, but we'll see. 

Rowan's 6-month check-up was Monday. The pediatrician said he is doing great. Although I am not surprised by this news, it is still good to hear. Here are his stats:

• Height:  26.75"
• Weight: 17.5 lbs
• Likes: food, cups, trying to crawl, grabbing everything - especially Mama's hair, being thrown in the air (adrenaline junkie), and peek-a-boo
• Dislikes: the usual - nail clipping, having his hands restrained, bedtime

All in all, these past 6 months have been incredible. Those first 3 were rough, but once he started sleeping better (i.e., longer) and becoming more aware things became much easier. Of course it helps that I am feeling better physically. It took a lot longer to fully recover from the c-section than I had thought - especially with an appendectomy thrown in the mix. I would say I am about 95% back to my old self, at least physically. Sometimes I still struggle with having a disorganized house - babies have a lot of stuff! But, I think I have come to accept that this is how things will be for awhile (the next 17.5 years?). At the end of the day I would rather have spent quality time with Rowan than to have a spotless house. 

Fun stuff

A couple of fun things going on in our world...

• Rowan has eaten rice cereal, pumpkin, and banana. I am happy to report that he is an adventurous eater and has not had any problems so far!
• The music experiment continues. I played Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon over the weekend. He liked it so much he fell asleep during Us and Them. Go figure. We heard one of our neighbors playing disco music while on a walk a few weeks ago. He was captivated by Ring My Bell. Jeremy and I also sing him the Ma Na Ma Na song from the Muppets. He thinks it's pretty hilarious, especially if you whisper it in his ear and then sing it louder (away from his ear, of course). Thankfully, his taste continues to be eclectic and free from annoying kiddie songs. I hope to shelter him from those as long as possible.
• I've tried carrying Rowan on my hip a little this morning. He doesn't hang on with his legs yet but I think he liked the new perspective. 

Tooth #2

Rowan's second tooth has sprouted! It's the lower middle tooth on the right. His first set will be complete soon. What an exciting time!

What's shakin'

We've been busy this past week. It's amazing how much can happen in just a few days. 

I'll start with last weekend. I call it the night the lights went out in Georgia. A terrible storm blew in and knocked out power for about 7 hours. Into the third hour without electricity, Jeremy went in search of ice. It turns out that it was pretty much just our neighborhood who didn't have juice. Man. We lit candles and tried to stay cool. The lights came back on around 12:30am. What a relief! The next day we found out that the wind had blown a few of our shingles loose. Some of our neighbors had tree limbs in their yards. Thankfully, no one had any serious damage. I guess that storm was more intense than we thought.

I was very busy with work this past week. The conference that I lead the planning for was Tuesday through Thursday. One of the perks of being the meeting planner is having a sleeping room at the hotel. It makes it easier to get to the meeting space by 6:30am each morning. The downside is that I didn't get to spend much time with Rowan or Jeremy. My mom came up for a few days to help with babysitting. Thanks, Mom!

Rowan's tooth has erupted more. You can see it easier and it doesn't seem to bother him as much. He is working on tooth #2 now. 

Rowan's been eating a little bit of rice cereal for a while. Tonight I gave him a little dab of pumpkin. When I gave him his first bite of pumpkin he made a funny face - kind of puzzled mixed with a yuck face. The next few bites I mixed with cereal. He seemed to like it better as a mixture. In four days I can add a new food item. I think we might try green beans or avocado. 

I've been messing around with the video editing tool on my computer. I hope to upload a few clips soon - maybe this weekend if I can free up an hour or so to get them finished. I did add some photos to the Rowan gallery. Check 'em out!

First Tooth

Rowan has been teething for a few weeks now. After many days of rubbing toys, spit rags, fingers (his and ours), and teethers on his gums, a tiny tooth shard has emerged! I felt it tonight when he was chewing on my finger whilst trying to get him to sleep for the night. It's on the bottom row, but I couldn't tell for sure if it was the right or the left side. I felt around on his gums and it feels like his gums are inflamed where the next door tooth resides. I'm betting that the second tooth's debut is not too far behind.

So long, day care

Today was Rowan's last day at day care. Actually, yesterday was his last day staying all day. He and I went this afternoon to say goodbye to his teachers and classmates. I got to hang out for about an hour with the babies. It was pretty fun! Could it be that I have missed my calling as a pre-school teacher? I'm betting that it's a much different experience when you stay longer than an hour. :-)

Instead of going to day care (you have to pay for a full week whether you use it everyday or not), Rowan will be staying with my friend, Wendy. She has a two-year-old who will also be there with her. Wendy's five-year-old will also keep them company when she's out of kindergarten. It's really a good set up for all of us.

My mom and dad will be here this weekend. They are looking for a place up here so they can be closer to Rowan. They said they did not want to be "holiday" grandparents. It will be nice to have them close by.

5 months old, already?!

Rowan's fifth-month birthday is tomorrow. He has changed so much in such a short time. Here are some stats:

• Height: ~25 inches
• Likes: jumping, standing, and trying to crawl; chewing on his toes; taking baths
• Dislikes: having his nose suctioned; going to sleep at night; getting his nails trimmed

He's getting better about sleeping at night. The hard part now is getting him to go to sleep. He can really fight it! You can tell that he is so very tired but he will not succumb to sleep. Once he falls asleep, he stays asleep for several hours. Rarely does he wake. When he does, he usually has a bite of food and then settles back in for the night.

Last night he woke us up to do some proto-crawling. He is getting really adept at it. He can now prop himself up on his knees and lift his butt in the air. He's almost got the arm motions down. I bet he'll be truly crawling in the next couple of weeks. Watch out!

I've been offering him some cereal every now again. He's been receptive to it so far. Sometimes he gets frustrated with it and just wants his bottle. The past few nights he has eagerly eaten it. I made it a little thicker than I had been. Perhaps he likes the texture better. The thicker stuff is less like spit up. :-)

I've switched my work schedule to 20 hours per week. It's so awesome to be at home with Rowan. We have a good time playing and learning. I can even sneak in some chores when he naps. I think we're just going keep having more fun as he gets older. Even though I get to spend 2.5 days with him I could easily do more. He's so addictive!

Florida fun

We've been having such a good time here at G-Ma and G-Daddy's house. They think everything Rowan does is magical. It's true, so you can't fault them. :-)

The plane ride down here was not too bad. I was worried about security but it was relatively painless. The people behind me even offered to help me put the stroller on the x-ray belt. It is always nice to be reminded how kind people really are. Rowan was great throughout the whole process.

When we got to the gate we learned that the flight was going to be delayed by 20 minutes or so. A potentially boring wait turned out to be quite fun. Two sweet little girls came over to talk to their grandma who was sitting next to me. They looked to be around 5 years old. Rowan loved those girls. He wouldn't stop smiling and laughing. I think he liked their high-pitched voices and smiling faces.

The time on the airplane wasn't too bad. Rowan fussed two times but neither lasted longer than 5 minutes. I'm sure the woman sitting next to us was as happy about that as I was!

We didn't get back to my parents' house until close to midnight. It was a long day but worth the trip!

We've been having a great time. We had a cookout on the 4th and enjoyed the neighbors' fireworks from the back patio. The next day we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast (blueberry pancakes - yum!) and then strolled around the mall for some exercise. Dad and Rowan trolled around while mom and I looked at sales.

Today has been pretty relaxed. We may go out for dinner later and entertain company this evening.

Leaving on a jet plane

Rowan and I are heading down to my parents' for the Fourth of July weekend tonight. I'm a little nervous about flying with him. It's not the plane ride that stresses me - it's the check-in and security hassles that I dread. This will be good practice for our trip to Wisconsin for my cousin Emily's wedding. I'll let you all know how it goes. I love an adventure!

All night long

I had no idea how momentous last night was going to be. Isn't that usually how it goes, though? 

I've started a nighttime routine with Rowan. For the past few nights I've fed him around 7:30 or so. Then at 8:00-ish we take a bath and hop into some PJs. Next, we've done a couple of things. We've read books a couple of nights and he's had a little bite to eat on others. By 9:00, he's usually ready to go to sleep in his bed. Last night, we opted for reading since he had eaten a good amount at dinner. (Side note about reading - It seems like his favorite book right now is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. I wonder if it's the bright colors or the subject matter?) 

Jeremy and I watched the movie Jumpers after Rowan went to bed. It was tolerably and mildly entertaining. It seemed like there was a lot of stuff missing. Though it wasn't a great movie, the cool thing is that we got the watch the entire thing without interruption. Oh yeah, and we both ate dinner at the same time and didn't feel like we had to inhale our food! Whoa!

I went to bed around 1:00ish. I don't know when Jeremy came to bed. The next thing I know, it's 6:30am. I went to pump and came back to the bedroom to check on Rowan. Guess who was still sleeping. I could hardly believe it. I just knew that Jeremy had gotten up with Rowan at some point in the night. Nope. I could barely contain my disbelief. Could it be...? Has Rowan slept through the night?! 

Indeed! I will proclaim it once more, "Rowan has slept through the night!" 

I know that one night does not necessarily indicate a pattern, but I'll take it. I feel like singing and none other than Lionel Richie will do. Mama say mama sah ma ma moo sah... 

Happy four-month birthday, Rowan!

Yesterday was Rowan's four-month birthday! He now weighs 15.4 pounds and is 24.5 inches tall. This puts him in the 50th percentile for both. The pediatrician said he is nicely proportioned and I have to agree with her. :-)

Our crying-it-out experiment continues. Rowan has no problem falling asleep on his own the first time. The agony begins when he wakes up after a couple hours and can't (won't?) drift back to sleep on his own. Jeremy found him an awesome mobile that he hooked up last night. It matches his rainforest themed jumperoo and it plays a selection of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and rainforest sounds. It put him right to sleep last night. I don't know how it worked for getting him back to sleep, though.

Rowan was showing great interest in the banana that Jeremy was eating yesterday. He would open his mouth each time Jeremy took a bite. So, I picked up some rice cereal on my way home. The experts say that you shouldn't introduce solid foods until 6 months if you are breastfeeding. But, if the baby is showing interest I say why not. Last night I mixed a teaspoon of cereal with breastmilk; it was pretty watery. He ate all of it and would start fussing if I didn't move fast enough with the spoon. We haven't decided if he liked the cereal that much or if he liked gnawing on the spoon.

Life with Rowan just keeps getting better and better. I am excited to see what the coming month will bring.

For crying out loud

Crying it out. Have you heard of this? For those of you who don't know, it's a sleep training method and it SUCKS! We tried it with Rowan last night.

Basically, what you do is ignore your baby when he or she starts crying when you put him or her down to sleep or if he or she wakes up in the middle of the night. The idea is that the baby will eventually cry him or herself to sleep. After a few nights of this torture everyone is supposed to be happier and better adjusted to the new sleep routine.

Our first night of the experiment went something like this.

• 11:00pm - I put Rowan to sleep in his bed with no problems. Yea!
• 11:30pm - I go to bed and Jeremy stays awake.
• 2:30am - Rowan wakes up. I wake up. Jeremy comes in the bedroom to talk about whether we are going to rescue Rowan or not. We decide to let him cry it out. Jeremy and I watch an episode of "Cold Case". (Not the one based on real events, the fictional one with the really pale woman. I really dig this show so it's not too unbearable hearing Rowan wail. We just turn up the TV.)
• 3:30am - Rowan is still yelling, coughing, sputtering, etc. but taking breaks for a few minutes every now again. We think he must be wearing out.
• 4:00am - The crying continues. I finish pumping and decide to go to sleep upstairs. I can hear Rowan's agony faintly through the door. I eventually fall asleep and have terrible nightmares about stabbing myself. Jeremy is still awake, possibly cat napping on the couch.
• 5:45am - My alarm goes off and evidently I silence it and fall right back asleep.
• 7:15am - Jeremy and Rowan come in to wake me up. Jeremy tells me that Rowan finally fell asleep around 5:30am.

This was one of the most difficult things I have had to do. Every cell in my body wanted to rush into the bedroom and comfort my baby. I had to choke back tears a few times.

I spoke to Jeremy on the phone once I had gotten to work. He said he had just put Rowan down for his morning nap. We talked about last night and have our fingers crossed that we are not turning him into a future sociopath.

You're probably wondering, "Can't you do something else to get him to sleep?" The answer is, yeah, there are other methods. This one was recommended by our pediatrician and I'm pretty sure we were both subjected to this baby torture (along with millions of others). I figured we'd give it a try. Many parents have assured us that once you get past the few days of misery life gets so much better. All I have to say about that is they had better be right or else a lot of folks are going to end up on my naughty list. :-)

TGIF!

I am so glad it's Friday. I had to work four days in a row this week and it was much harder than I thought. (last week I was off on Wednesday.) Jeremy has been working from home this week and watching Rowan so at least I did not have to worry about juggling day care, too.

Rowan's sleeping (or lack thereof) habits have made this week seem even longer. He's been waking up around midnight and partying until 3:00am or so. He's not hungry; he just wants to stand up, practice rolling over and "crawling", and work out in the jumperoo. When he gets tired he can't roll over as easy and then he gets mad. He'll start yelling in frustration. It is so interesting how much of a personality he has already. Last night was better, but still not ideal. Our big plan for the weekend is to see if we can tire him out more in the day and early evening so that he will go to sleep and then stay asleep at night. Wish us luck!

I posted some more photos last night. They are from the past couple of weeks.

Jumperoo!

Rowan loves his jumperoo. Check out photos of him in action and completely worn out from hopping around. Last night (actually early this morning) he jumped for an hour and a half. Poor Jeremy! He was falling asleep in the chair waiting for Rowan to conk out. Finally, at 4:00am he took Rowan out of the thing in the hopes that he would fall asleep. Luckily it worked. He's still a little too small for the jumperoo but we've improvised a little platform for him to stand on. During his bath tonight we discovered that he is wearing out the skin on his big toes from jumping. Have we created a monster?

Other good news to jump about... Jeremy's FTE finally came through! Yea! This means that he will be a full-fledged Federal employee with all the benefits and perks that go along with it. This will give us a little more flexibility in planning our childcare situation. We've only been to day care one day but are seriously considering other options. Day care would be so much fun for an older toddler/preschooler, but it's not our first choice for a baby. We'll see what the next couple of weeks bring.

We're still working on making and posting some videos online. The photos of Rowan are pretty good, but nothing compares to seeing him in person. Stay tuned!

Back to Work Blues

Yesterday was my first day back at work and Rowan's first day at day care. Much to my amazement, the world did not stop turning.

As predicted, Rowan was totally fine. He didn't make a peep when I handed him over to Ms. Carol, his teacher. He was curious about his new environment - especially the mirrors and other babies. I, however, was on the verge of tears the whole time. I know in the deepest parts of my logical brain that he will be safe and generally well cared for at school but my heart tells me (rather loudly, actually) that no one can care for him better than me. It's a good thing that we saw Lynn, Lisa, and Ansel that morning as we were leaving. Seeing them so well-adjusted helped me keep it together a little better. I didn't break down until my building's security guard greeted me and asked about Rowan.

Mercifully, the day went by quickly. It helped that Jeremy and I went to see Rowan at lunchtime. It was nice to have a brief cuddle break with my sweet boy and tough to leave him for the second time.

I knew yesterday was going to be difficult but I never thought I would miss him as much as I did. Last night I could not put him down. As tired as I was, I didn't want to go to bed and leave him awake with Jeremy.

Overall I think day care went okay. My concern is that Rowan will not get as much snuggling as some of the other babies since he's laid back and content to quietly observe the classroom from his bouncy chair. It could be my imagination, but I don't think he was as bubbly last night as he usually is. Maybe he was just exhausted. I could make up scenarios all day long, but who's to really know?

My body may be physically at work this week but my mind and heart are with my baby boy.

Life at 3 months

May 19 was Rowan's three-month birthday! What an eventful three months they have been. Rowan has changed so much. It has been fun watching him grow, gain new skills, and seeing his personality emerge. Sometimes I am in such awe of him and feel very thankful that he is ours. Happy birthday to my sweet boy!

Rowan Stats

• Weight: 14 pounds
  
• Height: 24 inches
• Favorite Things: holding his own burp rag, Mr. Sunshine from the tummy time mat, his new jumperoo, and looking at himself in the bathroom mirror
• Dislikes: being put down to sleep before he's ready, having his neck cleaned, and having his hands covered or restricted

Appendix Update

I am feeling much better but still not 100%. Hopefully I will be back to normal by next week. I would really like my last week home with Rowan to be as fun as possible. 

Quit yer bellyachin'!

I was discharged from the hospital yesterday following a successful appendectomy. Just when I was starting to feel back to normal after the c-section. Yar! At least this surgery was not as invasive, nor as painful. I am most thankful that everything went well and that my recovery is going smoothly thus far. So I'll never be an abdominal model; not a big deal. :-)

How it all started...

I went to work Thursday to straighten out a glitch with my time sheet and to meet with the lactation nurse for a back-to-work consult. (I'm not saying that work threw my system out of whack, but I am not ruling it out as a possibility either.) Afterward, Rowan and I went to lunch with Jeremy. I wasn't feeling too great after eating my BBQ chicken sandwich from Sonny's but didn't think much of it. I did consume a large amount of pink lemonade. 

Later that night I was feeling a bit worse. I thought I had gotten a mild case of food poisoning. I didn't sleep much at all that night - maybe a half hour. My abdomen hurt all night. I vomited several times. It wasn't good. By Friday morning I was starting to suspect that maybe something else was going on besides food funk. Jeremy took me to the ER around noon. 

Fun in the ER

I had to submit to the usual diagnostic tests - urine, blood, temperature. The results from these tests prompted more tests including a cat scan. The worst part about that was drinking a liter of nasty lemonade flavored barium drink. Gack! I think I'll be taking a break from lemon flavored beverages for a while. 

Midway through my lemonade drinking they moved me out into the hallway of the ER. Apparently they were very busy and needed my room. This is a most humbling and slightly scary experience. I did not enjoy being gawked at by the more mobile ER patients and their guests. Nor did I like hearing moaning and crying drifting from the surrounding exam rooms. But, the people watching was pretty good (I saw a male patient trying to pick up a much younger female patient. Who does that?) and I could sort of see the TV. Why is it that public waiting room TVs seem to always be showing Jerry Springer? Thankfully, Jeremy had left to take Rowan to Lynn and LIsa's house. I did not want him to spend any more time in that looney bin.

Jeremy returned with my breast pump and some clean socks. By this time, things in the ER had settled down and they were able to put me into a room so I could pump. I have the most caring nurse tech, Virginia, to thank for that. She was awesome throughout my ER visit. She checked on me often, always with a pleasant smile on her face, and made me feel at ease. I noticed that she treated all her patients with the same respect and gentleness. I cannot say the same for the rude be-atch that barged into the room where I was pumping, unplugged my pump from the wall without even a how-do -you-do and injected antibiotics into my IV line. Jeremy and I both pointed out to her what she had done but she showed no remorse and offered no apology. This was totally unacceptable in my book. Unfortunately, it would not be the only incident to royally tick me off during my stay at the hospital. 

Checking In

They finally admitted me and moved me to the third floor around 8:00pm. I suppose that 8 hours is a pretty average length of stay for the ER. It turns out that one of the hold ups was that they had misplaced my chart for about a half-hour. Grrr....

I had a private room, praise be. At this point, I still did not know if I would be having my surgery that night or on Saturday.

The surgeon showed up around 9:30 to tell me that I would have my surgery on Saturday sometime in the late morning or that afternoon. He said that he could not be more specific than that because Saturdays are hard to call. So, Jeremy went to collect Rowan and to try to get some rest at home. I watched TV and drifted in and out of sleep. Of course I was poked and prodded all night long. The tech came every four hours to check my vital signs. A nurse came by at 3:30am to move my IV from the crook of my arm to my hand. I had to pump at 4:00am. (I was dumping the milk but had to pump to keep my milk supply up.)

Farewell, appendix

By 2:00pm on Saturday I still had not heard when I would be going to surgery. Jeremy and Rowan came to see me and I was immediately cheered up. It's no good hanging in limbo for all that time. At least I was not in any pain. But, I was starting to get ravenous. I had not eaten anything since lunch on Thursday. 

They came to get me for surgery at 5:00pm. That was pretty uneventful. Thank goodness! I remember moving from my gurney to the extremely narrow OR table and being strapped in. I sort of recall having a mask put over my face and being asked to breathe in. The next thing I know, I was in the recovery room. I was back in my regular room by 8:00pm. They told me that everything had gone well. Yea!

Going Home

That night's stay was pretty uneventful. I had the usual interruptions and had to pump, but nothing too crazy happened. The surgeon came by around 9:00am and said I could go home! By 11:00-ish, I was ready to be rolled down to the van. 

While Jeremy went to pull the van around front and I waited on the transporter to arrive, my nurse and another nurse came by and asked me for my prescription. I told them that Jeremy had taken it with him to put in the van. They told me that the man in the room next door to me had had the same procedure and that he had called them saying that he had my prescription. Sure enough, I had his. The crazy nurse wanted me to wait for my neighbor to come back to the hospital and swap scripts. Obviously she had been using narcotics. I told her no way was I waiting, that they needed to call in my prescription or figure something else out because I was leaving. Something in my tone or facial expression must have alarmed my nurse because she told the lunatic nurse to be quiet and came over to me to pat my hand and tell me she would take care of the situation. I was so livid. Then I started getting paranoid that they had screwed up other things of mine. Did they give me the proper meds, had they removed something besides my appendix!? Unbelievable!!! The hospital will most certainly receive a strongly worded letter from me. 

Home Sweet Home

I am so glad to be home! My mom is here to help with Rowan and me. I am not allowed to lift anything or drive for the next week. I'm feeling okay for now. An appendectomy is much easier than a c-section. I hate that one of my last weeks of maternity leave will be so crummy. I was just getting to enjoy my time off. We were supposed to meet up with Jeremy's parents in Asheville, NC this coming weekend but we're going to postpone. Dang it! 

Despite these minor inconveniences, I am very happy that all went well with my surgery and that it was something easily treatable and routine.