Happy 22-month Birthday, Rowan!

Yeah, this post is a little late. But, better late than never, right? So, without further ado, here's the update on our little man. As usual, he keeps us laughing and marveling at his cleverness all the time.

• Likes: Doing things for himself; Being the boss, especially to the cats, and sometimes to Mommy and Daddy; talking - we have quite the chatterbox on our hands; singing Jingle Bells; scratching others when he gets excited (the good and bad kind)
• Dislikes: Going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning. In the mornings, he'll grab his rag ("Guy"), squint his eyes shut and pull the covers up to "get cozy". Or, he'll claim that it's too cold and scrunch under the blanket.
• Vocab: I think he's on the verge of a language explosion. In the past couple of weeks, even having been sick, he's progressed from 2-word phrases to complete sentences. Some of his favorites are: "I'll get it." "Whatchu doing?" "Go away!" and "More please." I can tell that he sometimes struggles to think of the right words to say, but he definitely knows what he wants to communicate. He also has some new vocab words that are funny: itchy, jingle bells (kee-koo-buhs), timber (like a lumberjack yells), and pickle. There are tons of other new words, but they aren't as interesting.
• New Skills: He's getting a lot better at coloring. He can control his hand movements much better and he likes to use several different colors. He's also cutting back on eating the crayons. He also like to "read" books by himself. He points out various things on the pages and then says "All done" at the end. He's also getting really good at identifying letters and singing a more complete version of the A,B,C Song. And, he can count to 10 with some assistance.

We've been trying to get him used to the fact that a baby will be coming to live with us soon. I don't think the news has sunk in yet, as he keeps referring to himself as "Baby". It will be interesting to see how he copes with being the big brother.

Down with the sickness

Yep, the cooties have returned to our house. Maybe they never left. They just go into hiding for a week and then pop out and infect us all over again. That's my germ theory (conspiracy?). For those of you who want the gory details, here they are. Rowan just recovered from an RSV-induced bout of bronchiolitis. That was fun. I got to give him albuterol via inhaler. He took it like a champ, though. I think the novelty of the contraption made it fun. You want to know something weird? Our health insurance, which is pretty awesome, paid for the medication but not the spacer thingy. It only cost around $20, but still. That sort of seems like charging for the eye dropper dispenser that comes with liquid medicine for kids. Is it remotely realistic to think that a 22-month-old could use an inhaler without the spacer doodad? Really people.

Anyway, Rowan has kicked the bronchiolitis and now has his first ear infection. We went to the doctor yesterday and she said that some kids develop ear infections following bronchiolitis. What? That would have been good information to know beforehand. Then we could have been on the lookout for it. Aiyeee.

While all this was going on with Rowan, Jeremy, my mom, my dad, and myself all got sick with some version of the bronchiolitis crud. Hopefully we will all be healthy for Christmas.

Now that you know what I've been up to I hope you can forgive my negligence in posting. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to try to get some work done. And, I need to blow my nose.

Baby 2 Update

I had my 20-week check up yesterday and am very happy to report that everything looks great. The baby is exactly 1lb. and all of her organs are developing as they should. Did you catch that? I wrote "her". You got it... We also found out that our sweet baby 2 is a GIRL!

It's been a long time since we have had a little girl in our family circle. Let the adventure begin!

Slacker Wednesday

I'm at work today, but I wouldn't say that I'm working very hard. I did accomplish a few tasks this morning, but ever since lunch I've just been in a brain fog. Maybe it was the chocolate milk. Maybe it's because Rowan has been a terrible sleeper the last few nights and has kept me awake, too. (Last night that naughty imp was awake until 12:50am! He kept demanding to go "out there" in the living room with Jeremy. Arghhh...) But I digress. There are things I could/should be doing whilst here, but I just can't get it together. I thought if I confessed my slackerness here, the catharsis would improve my productivity. So, here goes...

Things I Could Be Doing Instead of Slacking Off

• Reading a white paper on developing effective social media policies
• Working on the script for a tutorial about our Network
• Learning more about Adobe Captivate
• Practicing my Spanish with Rosetta Stone
• Brainstorming ideas for success stories from my states

Do you see why I am so unmotivated? I mean really, doesn't my job sound terrible?

Yeah, I know. It's pretty cool and I do like what I do most days. Maybe I'll listen to a few songs on my iPhone to get me pumped up. Then I will try to at least read the white paper before I head out for a nice long holiday weekend.

Happy 21-month Birthday, Rowan!

Yesterday was Rowan's 21-month birthday! In honor of this most awesome milestone, here are a few updates on his skills and personality. We're so lucky to have a healthy, smart, funny, loving boy.

• Likes: giving kisses and hugs; reading; The Good Night Show with Nina and Star; being outside; watching himself in the mirror whilst crying or having his hair combed
• Dislikes: getting help from Mommy or Daddy (when this happens is inconsistent) and getting out of the bathtub - the tears flow nightly
• New Vocab: I'm certain there are a ton of new words he's using now, but some standouts include "I touched it!" (after touching something off-limits, like TV), burp, and toot (awesome). He's also getting a lot better with his pronunciation of existing vocab words. He can say the names of his classmates really well now, but will not say his own name.
• New Skills: Rowan tries to take his shirt off, but usually ends up in a tangled mess. He's also started trying to help pull up his pants. Sometimes he will mess with the diaper fasteners, but thankfully he has not started taking it off himself... yet. He's getting better using a fork or spoon to eat, but still prefers to use his hands, especially for pasta.

A town called Wise

Two posts in one day?! Yeah, it's crazy, but so is this handmade advertisement from Jeremy's home town of Wise, VA. I had to share it with you. Jeremy said I should thank my lucky stars every day that he made it out of the Wise County School District with any sense. He overcame incredible odds.

A little background on the sign... Jeremy's dad's friend took this sign from a phone pole. I hope he doesn't call to report himself. I find it is best to avoid "whopins" of any variety.


It's been over a year since the last interesting ad from the Wise community. I find comfort in knowing that some things will never change.

Philly Recap

I had to take a little break from posting. Traveling messes up my routine and it's taken me awhile to get back into the swing of things. Sorry to keep you all hanging.

My trip to Philadelphia was okay. The conference was productive, but very tiring. Those of you who have not had the pleasure of "working the booth" at a conference/meeting/trade show/etc. might find it hard to understand how standing around and talking to people can be exhausting. It's draining, let me tell you. Thank goodness the Market was next door to provide fuel and distraction.

I was disappointed to see that the Amish-owned businesses are only open Thursday through Saturday. No pumpkin rolls for me. But, somehow I overcame this small setback and ended up sampling a variety of yummy delights instead. The Original Turkey served up a most excellent lunch for me on Monday. I went for the platter with 2 sides, but the sandwich options looked mighty tasty as well. Lunch on Tuesday consisted of a most awesome roast beef sandwich from DiNic's. For snacks, I bought two decadent cookies (peanut butter chocolate chip and a dipped chocolate chip) from The Famous 4th Street Cookie Company and a few locally-grown organic apples from the Fair Food Farm Stand. I was very excited to try the Macoun variety. I had heard about them on TV, but never seen them in Atlanta. While it had a crisp, tart skin and nice flavor, the flesh was way too mealy for my taste. Wikipedia claims it has firm flesh. Perhaps I just got an old one?

Two of my coworkers and I took a cab to the famous Geno's Steaks. It was mighty tasty. I had "one whiz with" (delicious!) with a birch beer (refreshing) and cheese fries (too soggy). The couple who snagged our cab told us to go to both Geno's and Pat's King of Steaks, which is across the street. They had split a cheese steak at each place. The man preferred Pat's. The woman didn't favor one place over the other, but did reinforce my decision to order the cheese whiz instead of the provolone.

The food was great, but I was glad to get home Tuesday night. You may recall that Hurricane Ida was moving through the southeast that day. My flight home was delayed, but I was able to get a seat on an earlier flight that had been delayed. That had to be the bumpiest (like plane-falling-out-of-the-sky bumpy) flight I have ever experienced. I'll spare you the gory details, but know that pregnancy and turbulence do NOT mix. I'd like to give a big shout out to my favorite black cardigan for taking one for the team and to Gain detergent for getting us all back to normal.

New neighbors... sort of

It's official! My parents are in the process of moving their belongings into their new house in Covington. (No, they didn't choose the location because of its ties to the Dukes of Hazzard, but that would have made an interesting story. Hmm... definitely tickles my creative writing bone.) YAY! I am terribly excited to have them closer, though they are still a solid 40 minutes away in good traffic.

They won't be completely moved up here until the week before Thanksgiving, which they plan to host this year. Awesome. You should stop by if you're going to be in town. I'm sure they won't mind.

In other news, I will be in Philadelphia for a conference tomorrow night through Tuesday. Any suggestions for restaurants or must-see sites? I was in Philly back in 2006 and saw most of the major attractions, but I'm sure I've missed something cool. I can say one thing for certain, the vendors at the Reading Terminal Market will be seeing me at least once daily. I've been thinking about Amish baked goods since August. Hello, pumpkin rolls! It goes without saying that I will also be devouring at least one cheese steak hoagie and that I will miss my guys very much.

Trials and tribulations

Poor Jeremy is sick with some kind of throat cootie. His weekend was neither fun-filled, nor restful. He went to the doctor yesterday and, after starting an antibiotic, is feeling a tad better this morning.

Sparky, my beloved companion of 11 years, just can't get with family living. It's been 3.5 years since Jeremy and I combined households and he still has not adjusted. The vet prescribed an antidepressant for him and it doesn't seem to be working. I'm sad that he is so unhappy and have decided to try to find him a new home. Anybody out there want an awesome cat?

Okay, so maybe the title of this post is a bit dramatic. I guess I'm just feeling a bad because two of my favorite guys are feeling bad.

Looking on the bright side, Rowan and I are feeling okay so far (praise be) and we've got lots of good leftover Halloween candy. As Darryl Worley (a Savannah, TN native) would sing,

Sounds like life to me.
It ain’t no fantasy.
It’s just a common case of everyday reality.
Man I know it’s tough but you gotta suck it up.
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy.
It sounds like life to me.

More food for thought

Okay, so food occupies a lot of my brain power these days. I like cooking it, eating it, reading and talking about it, watching others prepare it... Basically, food is awesome!

I think I've been a little more obsessed with it lately since our kitchen has been non-functional. All of the major components (counter tops, sink) were put back in order yesterday so now all I have to do is a little cleaning and re-shelving of all the displaced pots, pans, and generic Tupperware. I've been fantasizing about the first thing I'm going to cook. It's definitely going to be some sort of soup or stew. I'm still deciding on the final menu. If you have suggestions, let me know.

You would think that because I like food so much that I would make better food choices. Sadly, I make some rather questionable selections at times. Take today's lunch for example. I had three bean salad and gumbo from the cafeteria. And, I had an irresistible urge to get a slice of red velvet cake. I haven't tasted it yet, but it looks decent for cafeteria fare. It's like the cooks down there have been reading my blog... except for the gumbo part. But that totally hit the spot today. Thank you, cafeteria!

On a completely unrelated note, I posted new photos of Rowan. Some were taken yesterday afternoon while we were waiting on Jeremy to join us for dinner. The Happy Meal ones were taken on our trip home from the Fall Fling. The box was of more interest to him than the food contents. Can you blame him? Although, I will say that the chicken nuggets looked more like pieces of chicken rather than a boot/Italy, as they did when I was a kid.

The big 2-0

Rowan turned 20 months old today! As usual, I have included some highlights about his skills and such. Enjoy!

• Likes: Firetrucks and other vehicles with sirens and lights (He yells, "honk, honk!" when he sees one.); Fig Newtons (aka New-toos, aka New-News); music, singing, and dancing; reading; doing things by himself; taking off his shoes and socks in the car and at school;
  
• Dislikes: Getting out the bathtub and drying off (Almost every night there are tears.); having his face washed (Yes, I do use a warm washcloth.); having his food cut/broken into pieces if he's already seen that it was a larger piece - this is especially true with Fig Newtons, waffles, and bananas - but it's okay if he does it on his own. So complicated!
  
• New Vocab: He's starting to put 2 and 3 words together in semi-sentence form. He's very good at repeating short sentences. Two of his favorites are "I'll get you!" and "I did it!". He also likes to name objects and their owner - e.g., Mommy's pillow, Daddy's truck, baby's shirt. Other new words: two (said when he has or sees two of something!); shower; helicopter (kellicot-ter); pillow; and a bunch of others I'm sure I am forgetting.
  
• New Skills: He's still working on jumping, but he's getting a lot better. The potty is still a hit and a miss; some days he's more into it than others. His singing is getting so good! The tune has always been recognizable, but now he's starting to sing more of the words. I tell you, the A,B,C song never sounded so sweet.

Happiest birthday wishes to my sweet boy! I'll try to take some new photos and post them this week.

Cravings?

I just discovered that I like three bean salad. I've seen this option on salad bars and church supper buffets my whole life but have never been tempted to try it. The idea of cold green beans sounded unappealing, as did the whole concept of a wax bean. Couldn't they have come up with a better name than that? So I am wondering if this is a pregnancy-related food craving or if I truly like three bean salad. The stuff they serve in our cafeteria is really good. The beans still have some give and the dressing is the perfect balance of sweet and sour. YUM!

Am I wrong to love this salad? I'm looking for good recipes so let me know if you have one. Maybe I'll try my hand at making my own once our kitchen gets put back together. All we wanted to do was get new countertops. We've been without a kitchen sink and countertops for at least 2 of the last 4 weeks. Hopefully we will have things back in order by Saturday. I've missed cooking!

I've also been jonesing for a massive cupcake. I vacillate between chocolate with chocolate icing and something more exotic like red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting (as seen on Food Network last night) or pumpkin spice with maple frosting...

Oh, baby!

Great news! We're having another baby! Our new addition is scheduled to arrive sometime around April 10.

This pregnancy is a little different than the first. I suspected something was up when I started getting really bad heartburn. The only other time I had experienced it was when I pregnant with Rowan. Always trust your body! I am also showing a lot sooner than last time. I'm heading to the storage unit and to a friend's house to pick up some maternity clothes. Hello, stretch waistband!

Besides the heartburn, some mild nausea, and feeling tired, the first trimester went by pretty well. Hopefully the next 6 months will go as smoothly. I'll keep you all updated along the way.

Fried what?

I saw this sign at the Hardee's in Savannah, TN when we were there over Labor Day weekend for the family reunion. I have not seen fried bologna advertised here in Atlanta. But I don't see too many Hardee's anyway. I thought maybe this was something that the Savannah store initiated but there was an official sign in the window with an Oscar Mayer logo. Anyone else seen this at your local Hardee's?
I have to admit that if I were forced to eat bologna, I prefer it fried. Grease makes everything taste better, right?

100th Post/Happy 19-month Birthday Rowan!

I knew my 100th post was coming up so I was waiting for something good to write about. I figured since Rowan just turned 19 months old that was good enough of a topic. He just gets smarter and more fun every day.

• New Vocab: caterpillar; butterfly; peach; pear; plum; strawberry; Ma (for G-Ma); his classmates' names (Alex, Mitchell, Bailey, Mya); eat; play; Go Gators! (he learned that this past Saturday); Cookie (for Cookie Monster); bird; squirrel (kerl); up; bright; hot; cold
• New Skills: He's trying to jump/hop and it's really funny to watch. Mostly he raises up his arms and one leg and then slams them all down.
• Miscellaneous: We've been talking about the concepts of hot and cold and Rowan has really caught on quickly though he still confuses the two sometimes. Lately, he can't get enough reading time. When he wakes up his first word is "book". Mwoohaha... my plan to turn him into a bookworm is working! We're still casually working on the potty. Some days are better than others, but we're not worried or in any hurry. Rowan is getting better at using utensils although he likes to use his hands when he's eating something really yummy, like mac-n-cheese. It's gross. And, he's pretty decent at using a regular cup (no lid or straw) but sometimes he gets possessed and dumps his drink out instead of drinking it. Arghhh.

In other news, we are getting new kitchen countertops and a new tile floor. The workers came to make the countertop template this morning. My mom has been in town looking at houses. She saw one promising property yesterday and plans to look at a few more today. We really haven't been up to much, just trying to stay safe and dry during all the rain storms this past and coming week.

Here's to my first 100 posts. I hope to make the next 100 even better!

Big News and Little News

Big news first. My parents are moving! And, no, it's not to the backyard again. After 40 years+ (a little less for Dad since he grew up on the other side of town, like 2 miles away) of living in the same 1-mile radius, the parental units are temporarily relocating to *gasp* a retirement community in a small hamlet north of the Big Potato. For those of you not from those parts, I'm talking about Zellwood Station. Believe it. It's true.

Don't bother calling their home phone number after today. They won't answer. In fact, I don't even know that the number would go through. Don't send them mail. Don't stop by. They won't be there. Man! It's so weird to type that!

So, what gives? Why the big move? Why in the world are they staying at Z.S.? How temporary is "temporary"? The facts as I know them are thus: Their ultimate plan is to relocate to the Atlanta area to be closer to the Wilson-Miller Fam (i.e., Rowan). They have a real estate agent scouring the eastern outskirts of Atlanta and hope to find something dreamy in the next couple of months. The Z.S. gig worked well 'cause the owner will let them rent by the month and it's furnished (with taste and a contemporary feel - no doilies, dusty knick-knacks, and senior class photos of people now in their 50s). Neither of them are thrilled to be moving to Old People Town, but are trying to view this phase of their life as an adventure.

You can still reach them by cell phone and e-mail (I assume there's some kind of Internet hookup where they are going. Maybe not, though.). I'm also thinking of interviewing them for the blog, too, if they consent. Stay tuned as the story develops!

And for the little news... Even if I had the best news, how could I compete with the above? Really though, not much is new with us. We went to Tennessee over the long weekend for the Love family (my paternal grandmother's family) reuinion. Pretty uneventful that was. There was much potential for high drama, but everyone behaved themselves. Bummer. (Total side note: I was reading a blog entry today about how Southern writers aren't inherently more gifted, they just have more fodder for stories and it really hit home - and my funny bone. Like my co-worker's mom says, "It ain't worth going to if there ain't a story.")

On the health front, one of Rowan's day care teachers was hospitalized with H1N1 over the weekend. We kept him home 2 days because of that and the fact that he has a deep chest cough. He's back in action today, along with the rest of his coughing, hacking classmates. So far, the school has not reported any other infected teachers or kids. As with my parents' move, I'm sure the H1N1 saga will unfold in the coming weeks.

Photo update

I was looking at my camera last night and realized that there were several photos that I had not uploaded yet. What a slacker! So, I've added them to the Volume 2 album. Enjoy!

You call this work?

I just got the best work e-mail. Have I mentioned that I love my job?

Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 2:34 PM
To: Wilson, Holly R. (CDC/CCEHIP/NCEH)
Subject: Thursday afternoon

Thursday there will be cake.

Good Reading

Maybe you've noticed the "Good Reading" section of my blog, maybe you haven't. For those of you who haven't seen these or visited any of the sites, here's a brief intro to some of the blogs I follow.

• Abigail (Mamatouille): Abigail and I went to elementary school together and reconnected via Facebook. She lives in Japan with her husband and two sons and writes about their lives and food. She actually has a couple of blogs. You can access them all from one page, though.
• Ali & Dan: Ali and I were roommates in college at UF (Go Gators!). She writes about her and her family's daily happenings and is a whiz at producing videos. Dan is her husband and a friend from UF, too.
• Erin in the Real World: I have no personal connection to Erin. I happened upon her site when she was a guest blogger for Queen of Quirky (see below). Erin is smart and hilarious. I especially loved her collection of blog entries chronicling her romance with Mr. Perfect. See: You Shook Me All Night Long.
• Queen of Quirky: As with Erin, I have no direct personal connection to the Queen of Quirky. Abigail was a guest blogger for her, which is how I stumbled on to her site. She writes about food, especially wine, and her daily adventures.
• Sam: Sam is not quite 3 years old so I have a pretty good feeling that his mom, Jamie, has been posting photos and writing journal entries for him. Jamie and I go waaaayyy back to middle school.
• Small Notebook: Ahhh... simplicity. I like to read this blog and fantasize about what my house would be like if I could just be more like Rachel. Seriously, she has great tips for eliminating some of the craziness from your life. I usually feel refreshed after reading.
• Voodoo Lily: I found Heather's blog by snooping around some of my friends' blog lists. I've mentioned her site before, but thought she deserved a second spotlight. Her posts have not been as frequent lately, but they are still informative and entertaining. I usually get really really hungry reading her posts. Her photos don't hurt either.

Let me know if there are any other good blogs I should explore. I'm always looking for good reading material for at-desk lunches.

Happy 18-month Birthday, Rowan!

Yesterday was Rowan's 18-month birthday! Here's a little update on some of his recent activities.

• New Vocab: hat, hot, cold, blueberry (blue-blue), blue, green (geen), red, purple, "Go Dog, Go!", cake, Elmo, Big Bird, truck, car, apple, Cheetos, diaper (kind of sounds like Pamper), boo-boo, pool, balloon (boon), Chica (from Sprout's Good Morning Show), bean, Papaw (Papoo), corn, and the childhood essentials: poop and booger
• New Skills: A couple of Rowan's classmates are starting to potty train and he's been showing a lot of interest. He's used the toilet at least once a day for the past two weeks. He tells us "Pee pee" and points to his diaper. So we ask him, "Do you want to use the potty?" If he says yes, we hurry to the bathroom and he goes. He even kept up his interest while he was sick with a cold last week. I'm very impressed with him, but we're not going to try to rush him in any way.
• Miscellaneous: Rowan can make the noises for quite a few animals and point to them in a book. The animals include: duck, donkey, horse, dog, kitty, owl, chick, hen, rooster, sheep, cow, and monkey. He can also point to other animals: butterfly, ladybug, zebra, elephant, giraffe, lion, bear, frog, pig, worm, and bird. He can pick out all of the "O"s on a page. He knows the letters "G" and "E" by sight. He can also pick out colors: blue, red, green, yellow, purple, and pink.

We are so proud of our little man!

Sooo... tired...

I can barely keep my eyes open. This is terrible! I still have an hour left here at work, then I have about a 30 minute drive home! Those red lights are going to be tough. Rowan has been getting terrible sleep lately because of his cold and that has affected mine and Jeremy's sleep, too. It's like we've taken a trip in a time machine to last summer when Rowan's sleep patterns were still wonky. Ugh...

It seems like every couple of weeks I am blogging about Rowan being sick. Why do toddlers seem to float from one illness to another? Oh yeah, I know. They put everything in the world in their mouths, they don't respect others' personal space, and their immune systems aren't as hearty as ours. Yep. I'd say any one of those factors would be a good bet. I'm dreading the fall and winter when colds and other infections abound. Bleh.

If any of you have extra sleep dust from the Sandman, waft some over to our house, won't you?

Work and family

I was in Portland, Oregon last week for work. I left Monday morning and returned Thursday evening. This was the longest time I have been away from Rowan and I was really missing him by Tuesday evening. The trip would have been better if he and Jeremy were with me but I would not have wanted to endure a 5 hour flight with a toddler in tow. Yowza!

Portland was okay. Of the Pacific Northwest cities I've been to, I still prefer San Francisco and Seattle. I did visit two fun places in my off time. The first was Powell's City of Books. I could have spent hours at Powell's, but limited myself to just one. I picked up some literary treats for Rowan, including The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, Portland denizen. If I had had more time I would have visited Klickitat Street (home to Ramona Quimby and related characters) and the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden in Grant Park.

The second most interesting place I visited was Voodoo Doughnut. We stopped by after dinner one night. The options were a tad overwhelming so I left my treat selection to the pierced blond behind the counter, my only requirement that the doughnut be bacon-free. (Yes, I wrote bacon-free. They have a maple glazed doughnut topped with bacon. One of the guys in line ahead of me ordered one and snarfed it down with much zeal.) She selected a peanut butter Oreo, a Butter Fingering, and a Miami Vice (aqua blue icing with hot pink sprinkles). I don't think I could have chosen anything better. Check out their menu. It was funny just to hear people place their orders.

Speaking of interesting menu items, Jeremy got a taste of single parenthood and didn't really care for it. He said that they got into a routine by Tuesday night, but I imagine it was exhausting. To my surprise, the house wasn't totally wrecked when I got back. Way to go, Miller men! Yay!

I took off work last Friday to have a togetherness day with Rowan. We went to feed the ducks and geese at Lake Avondale and then had a nice lunch at Panera. Rowan ate his grilled cheese sandwich like a big boy and charmed the other patrons in our area. An older grandmother stopped by the table to tell Rowan he was such a well-behaved young man. As a parent, you always appreciate hearing those kinds of compliments.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much the usual. My parents were in town on a whirlwind search for property. They didn't have any luck this time, but will continue the search via Internet. What did we do before the World Wide Web?

Odds and ends

Two posts in one day?! It's true. I've had some random thoughts floating "in my brain inside my head", as our 8-year-old neighbor girl would say, and decided to share them with you.

Why is Brooke Shields hawking so many health and beauty aids? It's a little weird to me and apparently to Jezebel, too. It's good to know I'm not alone.

Speaking of weird... Check out this latest report from CDC. And you thought we only dealt with infectious diseases.

I've been watching more cartoons and children's programming lately and have to admit that there are a couple of shows I really like. One is "The Mr. Men Show" on Cartoon Network. My favorite character is Mr. Rude, mostly beacuse his showmates yell out "Mr. Rude" when he makes rude noises. If you watch the video (there's a link from Mr. Rude's page), you can hear it, too. I also like "Yo Gabba Gabba" on Nick, Jr. It's oddly retro-modern and drops some funky beats. Here's a look at 'Party in My Tummy'. The breakfast version is my favorite because it features all of the characters, but I couldn't find it for you. And, in case you were wondering, yes, I still like The Powerpuff Girls. My all-time favorite episodes are Bubblevicious (the one where Bubbles is "hard core") and Birthday Bash (the one where Him gives the girls the most insidious gift of all).

One of my hobbies has been embroidery and I've been thinking to get back into it. I found a neat site called Sublime Stitching, which really rekindled my interest in the sewing arts. Reasons embroidery rocks: You can be creative; it's cheap entertainment; and you can make something useful from it. For my welcome back project, I ordered the pre-printed eco tote. I'll give you an update on how it comes along.

If you're looking for an interesting site to peruse (besides this one), look no further than Awful Library Books. Two really fun librarians from Michigan started the blog to poke fun at and encourage the updating of out-of-touch holdings in public libraries. How cool are they? Check it out (pun intended).

Q&A with Jeremy

You probably recall that Jeremy started a new job earlier this month. He was kind enough to let me interview him about it. Here's what he had to say.

H: Where do you work now and what will you be doing there?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: The Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion...used to be called "Hospital Infections Program." JLG used to be the boss here...almost ruined it with her "re-org" mentality.


H: Are you happy that you made the move?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: Without a doubt. It always sucks starting a new job because you don't know anything and you want to "do stuff," but, you just don't have the knowledge.


H: Has your new job impacted other parts of your life?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: Heck yeah! I have to get up real early now--before 6 if I can go to bed at an early hour. In order to get a good parking spot (i.e., "large" with empty space on one side), I have to get to headquarters ("Clifton") before 8 am. Additionally, any errands I used to do during lunch (i.e., go buy stuff, go to the movies), I can't do anymore because of the First Rule of Clifton, or I'll loose my sweet parking slot. It's all kind of sad really. But, now I pick up Rowan (I used to drop him off) and have about an hour and half with him before Holly gets home. So far, I'm finding this frustrating because he just does bad stuff when we get home...like opening all the cabinet doors, putting cat food in the water dish, putting cat litter (used no less) in his mouth, crying, whining, and throwing tantrums. According to one of my new co-workers, I'm a bad parent; I should recognize these episodes as boredom and do something to distract him. (Sounds like someone has a stay-at-home wife and doesn't have to do a lot of chores when he gets there.)


H: What is the 'First Rule of Clifton'?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: Don't leave Clifton.


H: What are your first impressions of your new coworkers?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: They're OK. I haven't met any personalities yet. There's this one chick who will eat your food if you sit next to her...I don't. My boss and I are cut from the same cloth...we're both conservative and keep low profiles.


H: What's your favorite thing about your new job?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: Not having to be at/listen to/put up with DVH/DVH chatter/DVH people. I got mad almost everyday working there...I usually save that hate for the drive home when I call people two cusswords at once using the first as a verb form adjective to describe the next. For example: "GD! You eff'ing eff!" It has been shown recently that cussing lowers stress. Also, I get to start with a clean slate. People there have no pre-conceived notions about me...they hear "statistician" and think "ooooo, he must be smart." Knowledge here at CDC is very relative. You don't really have to be smart, you just have to know more than the others around you.


H: What's your least favorite thing about your new job?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: Two things actually: The first, obviously, is having to stay here at lunch. I'm a big fan of leaving the place of employment during lunch. It breaks the day up and allows you to think of something else. The second is the lack of space. Right now, I'm in someone else's office while they're away on a "detail." His stuff is still in here and now, so is mine. It looks like Mickey Rourke came by looking for something he misplaced. "Hey Marlboro, have you seen my Sharpie marker...the one with the blood on it?"


H: How does working at Headquarters compare to working at the satellite campuses?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: It's a lot more formal here as far a people's dress and their demeanor. You can tell someone is serious when they wear a tie and talk about work in the stairwell, instead of a Hawaiian shirt and the last time I'd been fishing. Fooled you, I'm the one in the tie talking about work...I'm actually interested in my new job and care about other's view of me. Not so much at DVH...and that was from day one. I don't know why this is...maybe because I'm an FTE now and my promotions depend on being part kiss-a$$. In any event, it's like that Patti LaBelle song..."Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh, I’ve got a new attitude."


H: Do you think you will stay with this group a long time?
[Miller, Jeremy T.]: Yes. The subject matter is interesting, the people are OK (so far), and they have lots of taxpayer money. I guess I must explain this as I am the first person to not want to spend taxpayer money (I-Libertarian). At DVH, they never had any money and it was always brought up and people incessantly whined that they couldn't do their job because there wasn't any money. Really, they couldn't do their job because they didn't know what they were doing. (Pssst… don't get a research job if you can't do data management or stats.) So, here, if they want to do a study, they work out a plan and get busy. Oh yeah, and I don't have to get pens out of the supply closest that have bite marks or ear wax on one end.

Thanks, Jeremy. Hope your new job stays enjoyable and fulfilling!

Mini-break to Flowery Branch

If you've looked at the photo album, you've probably seen some photos of us at a hotel and at a lake. Those were taken on our mini-break to Flowery Branch this past weekend. Jeremy's kayak fishing club had a tournament at Lake Lanier on Saturday so we decided to go on a little family getaway to Hall County.

Rowan and I had a fun time splashing around the Hampton Inn swimming pool Friday night. (Their website claims that the pool is heated but it was pretty darn chilly to me! I suppose they turn off the heater during the summer.) We went to the Publix next door to grab a sub and some trash food - Pringles, tirmisu from the bakery... Mmmmm - while Jeremy went to his club meeting.

Saturday morning we headed to Lake Lanier. The tournament location was really nice. (Side note: Lake Lanier is ginormous. And, the water is really clean. Not like most of the Florida lakes I grew up on.) It had a beach area and a great playground. It's hard to find good playgrounds that are good for Rowan's size and this one was perfect. I can see us heading back there in the future.

Being there reminded of all the good times I spent with my family and friends on the water. Now, it's our turn to share the love of water with Rowan. Oh, boat fairy (and boat-cleaner fairy, boat-storage fairy... and house-cleaning fairy [why not?]) where are you?

New photos are up!

Check 'em out.

17-month Update

Seventeen months and 1 day ago, Rowan arrived. I could never have imagined the interesting person he has turned into these past months. We've had some challenges along the way, but what an adventure it has been!

Enough of the sentimental stuff, here's the update on Rowan's vital stats.

• Height: 32"
• Weight: 23 lbs.
• His hair is filling in and he's had two haircuts with Jeremy's clippers. His hair is light blond and doesn't show up in photos very well.
• Mobility: He loves to run as much as he can. He'll also experiment with walking backwards, either with or without his shopping cart or truck. He still loves to climb. He's been practicing the stairs at day care on the really cool indoor play area they call "The Piazza". He's also been trying out the tricycle (sans pedals) at school and has only fallen once that I know about. I've shown him how to march and he does an okay job with it. Most of the time he looks like a Sumo wrestler entering the ring.
• Communication: Wow! His vocabulary expands weekly. New words he's added to his lexicon include: door, chair (churr), cracker, more (with sign language), hello (el-LOW) and pee pee (while pointing to his diaper). His pronunciation of other words has improved, too. His memory is amazing. He said "brocka" (broccoli) a while ago but we haven't had it for a couple of weeks. Early last week, I put some on his highchair tray and he picked it up and said "brocka" without any prompting. He also understands a lot of what you say. He seems to get the concepts of under, up, and down. He's also getting better at singing. He can hum a bit of "Frere Jacques" (We sing, "Where is Rowan?" or "Where is Daddy?"); he knows the "E-I-E-I-O" part for "Old MacDonald"; he likes "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas and will sing "Boom, Boom"; and he can do the hand motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider".
• Miscellaneous: For the past two weeks Rowan has been really clingy. I don't know if it is late-onset stranger anxiety, or what. We met the Carrolls and the Yangs for play dates over the weekend and he freaked out both times when the Mommies said hello to him. So crazy - especially since the Yangs were his second family until the end of March. He really didn't like the backpack man at REI. But, the salesman was very understanding. Jeremy says he hates this phase.
  Rowan likes to pretend that all kinds of things are telephones. He'll talk to his play TV remote, his socks, a book, his banana. I asked him yesterday if he was talking to G-Ma and he threw down his remote and started pointing at the laptop. He knows that we talk to G-Ma on Skype. What a smarty pants.

I've taken some more photos but haven't uploaded them yet. I'll try to get to it tonight.

Jekyll Island

A good time was had by all at Jekyll Island this past weekend. Our only complaint was that the three day weekend went by way too fast. We're already scheming to get back down there for a few more days.

Rowan loves the beach. He liked digging in the sand, playing in the shallow tide pool, and letting the waves crash into him. He would say "Ohhhh" every time a wave splashed him. It was very cute. He had such a good time messing around that he didn't seem to mind wearing his sun hat. On any other occasion he would have yanked it off his head in disgust and thrown it on the ground.

Jeremy fished for a little bit on Saturday. He didn't catch anything but did, by chance, run into one of his fellow online fishermen friends that lives in that part of the state. Kinda cool.

I'm sure I am leaving out a bunch of details and funny stories. I must be suffering from a case of the Mondays because I am finding it difficult to think and write creatively today.

We'll try to post some photos tonight.

Busy Bees

We've been our usual busy selves these past few days. Work has been really hectic for me. The launch of the Network creeps ever closer. Once we go live I may write a special post about it. I know you are all dying to know what it is that I do. But I digress...

Last week was pretty rough. I had to be at a conference downtown to manage a training session and to do a presentation. Rowan was set to start back at his old day care on Monday but vomited all over his carseat, the back of Jeremy's truck seat, and the floorboard during the morning ride there. Ugh. So, J. and I took turns staying home with Rowan the rest of the week while he recouperated from his gastrointestinal cooties. It wasn't pretty, but thankfully J. and I dodged that bullet ourselves.

So, this morning we both dropped off Rowan at day care. He's in the Holly Room, which is totally awesome in my book. His new teachers seem okay, too. I think he is going to have a good time and learn all sorts of new things. Please keep your fingers crossed that he does not pick up any additional day care nasties for at least a couple of weeks!

This week is Jeremy's last week with hepatitis. Woohoo! He starts his new job on the 6th and is very much looking forward to it. I'll try to interview him next week about his experiences and share them with you here.

We have a fun adventure for the July 4th weekend. My parents are meeting us in Jekyll Island. I am soooo ready for a mini-break.

Speaking of breaks, mine is over for now. Bzzz, bzzz - Back to work!

New photos are up

I posted some new pics of Rowan. I'll try to write more later today.

Photo Album Update

You may have noticed that the Rowan photo album requires a password now. We decided to clamp down on security to prevent ne'er-do-wells from viewing our photos. If you are reading this after the password has been omitted, e-mail me and I will send it to you.

Wish I Was Here

How did it get to be Monday already? I need a vacation.

Smarty Pants

I haven't really bragged about Rowan's development in awhile, so here you go. I'm sure I am forgetting something or another. I'll try to be more comprehensive with the 16-month update post. Can you tell that I think he's pretty awesome?

• Likes: sand and water, preferably together; testing our limits; going for walks (stroller rides); helping to read books and counting; stealing the TV remote; dancing and singing; climbing; getting attention from strangers in stores, restaurants, etc.; playgrounds
• Dislikes: having his toothbrush or spoon taken away; taking naps at daycare; getting out of the bathtub
• Communication Skills: Rowan is talking up a storm. See vocab below. He also points to things he would like. He shakes his head yes and no. He can point to all kinds of things when asked (belly, nose, fan, light, Mommy, G-Ma, G-Daddy, Daddy, kitty, duck, puppy, shoes, socks, ear... I could go on and on!). When we read books he can point to things when asked, or he will tell you the object's name if he knows it. He also loves to imitate noises (coughs, sneezes, animal sounds, car alarms, coffee makers...). He can hum a little bit of "This Old Man". He definitely understands the things you say.
• Vocab: Daddy/Dad, Mommy/Mama, Socks, Shoes, Truck, Choo-choo, Duck, Kitty, Puppy/Pup, Hi, Bye-bye, Bot/Bottie (bottle or any drink), Yes (Jess), Cheese (jeez), No-no/No, Teeth, This (dis), That (dat), Boo/Peekaboo, Thank you (dankyou boy), Out, Bear, Tickle-tickle (tiku-tiku), Anya, Aria
• Motor Skills: Daycare and I have been working on sign language with Rowan. When I sing the "A,B,C Song" I sign the letters and Rowan "signs" along with me. He's also working on "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Happy and You Know It", and "Twinkle, Twinkle" gestures. Rowan is walking great and getting better at climbing on things he's not supposed to. Sometimes he likes to hold my hand while he walks and I love it. He can blow kisses (sort of) and make a kiss sound. He waves bye-bye. He can comb his hair. He tries to put on shoes (his and ours) and socks and will also try to put them on Jeremy and me. Very cute! He helps undress himself for baths. He can also wash his hands pretty well. He can throw and bounce a ball - we're still working on rolling it. Rowan has incredible balance and can squat and stand in one fluid motion without wobbling; bend over to look between his legs; and do some amazing yoga poses. He also figured out how to slide without falling over.

Other news... Rowan's first molars have started to come in. All of them have erupted but only 2 are completely showing. That will make 12 teeth in all! This should make eating a lot easier. How nice to be able to grind food instead of mushing everything with your front teeth. :-)

Son of the Beach

Saturday, we went on a little excursion to the nearest "beach" to celebrate the unoffical start of summer. We had visited the little beach at Buford Dam Park on Lake Lanier over Memorial Day weekend when my parents were here. It was overcast that first visit and not very crowded. We figured that there wouldn't be many people there on Saturday since it wasn't a holiday, kids just got out of school, etc. Silly us. It was packed, though you wouldn't know it from the photos.

Rowan had a blast in the water and the sand. He would have totally walked out to the middle of the lake had I let him. He had no fear about the water at all, even when some frisky primary school-aged kids accidentally splashed him in the face. As you can imagine, he was none too pleased when I steered him away from the water so we could head home.

We are definitely going to buy a small plastic pool for the backyard. Not only for Rowan's enjoyment, but for our sanity. I don't know if it's because Jeremy and I are getting older, or if society has changed, but I find that my tolerance for large crowds seems to decrease with each passing year. It seems that people in general are getting ruder all the time. Parents allow their children to do all kinds of stuff that would have gotten swift remediation back in my day. And, most parents would not win a citzenship award for their actions either. If you've been to a movie theater lately, I think you know what I'm talking about.

It's like folks don't feel a sense of community responsibilty anymore. Groups do their own thing without thought for how their behavior may impact others. What happened to the Golden Rule, y'all?

New toy

If this doesn't make you smile, then I don't even know what to tell you. Who knew a bouncy ball could be so thrilling?

Weekend Fun

What a lovely long weekend we had! My parents came up on Thursday night to visit and help babysit Rowan while Jeremy and I had an evening out on the town. More on that in a bit.

I took off work on Friday to hang out with my parents and to redeem the spa gift certificate I had gotten for Christmas. Man oh man. A 60-minute massage is a great way to spend a vacation day on! I also got a pedicure. Needless to say, I was quite spoiled by the time I got back home.

Jeremy and I had tickets to see the jazz trumpeter, Chris Botti, play with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as a thank you gift for contributing to Georgia Public Broadcasting. As a surprise, Jeremy booked us a room at the Georgian Terrace so we could stay out as late as we wanted, drink alcohol, and sleep in the next morning as late as we desired. It was a nice evening, but I was feeling a bit out of practice with the whole "painting the town red" thing. By 10:30 I was yawning in my seat at Symphony Hall. I think we made it to midnight before drifting off into unconsciousness. We were up and ready to leave by 8:30 the next morning. We both admitted to missing our little man.

Rowan and the grandparents had a good time together. Rowan got to boss around two adults and they got to have the full Rowan experience. He was acting a little unruly on Monday. I think he missed his adoring fan club. Who wouldn't? :-)

I guess we have a routine week coming up. I sure am glad it's a short one.

Strawberry Yum Yum

I recently reconnected with an elemetary school friend that I had not been in touch with since graduating from 5th grade. (Thank you, Facebook!) I've been catching up on her life by reading her blog and must admit that I am totally hooked. I can't stop reading about her adventures in life and food. While snooping around her blog, I found a list of food-realted blogs that she follows. One blogger in particular, VoodooLily, completely captivated me. Her musings on strawberries, and produce in general, made me laugh out loud.

Here's an excerpt:

I can't seem to get enough strawberries these days. I cruised through 4 lbs of them in about a week, just eating them raw (stemmed and halved, with my fingers), and then had to pick up another flat of them over the weekend. It's insidious. I never was a real big fruit eater until recently. I guess I always felt like fruit was a little too on-the-nose. "Oh, you're so sweet and delicious, fruit." It's like, we get it. I usually opted instead for vegetables, which are under-appreciated and therefore have way more street cred.

Speaking of strawberries, my pal Lisa is picking up a gallon of fresh-picked berries for me today from the farm out in Loganville. I could easily eat them all on my own, but it would be much more loving of me to share them with my guys. I can't decide if I want to make a small batch of freezer jam or not. I guess it depends on how many berries are left after my initial pig-out and if I have time. Rest assured, there will be no scurvy in our household any time soon.

Happy news for a change

I'm tired of writing about our woes and you're probably tired of reading about them. I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some of the happy stuff going on with the Wilson~Miller Fam for a change.

First of all, I posted a few new photos from the past couple of weeks. Rowan looks more like a little boy and less like my tiny baby with each passing week. What fun we have maturing together! I can sit for hours watching him take in the world around him. Mundane things like pouring water out of a cup turn into interesting experiments in the physics of water.

Rowan's skill set expands almost daily.

• Mobility: He is so good at walking now. Sometimes he will rub his hands together or clap whilst walking just to add another level of difficulty to the task. His interest in climbing (the couch, the baby gate, toys, etc.) remains quite keen. His ability to safely get down is another matter, but we're working on it. So far, no major wipeouts. He still loves to boogie, too.
• Communication: He is also a terrific imitator of sounds. On a walk earlier in the week he copied a car alarm and a barking dog. Very funny! His vocabulary is great, too. He's added Anya (one of his teachers), Aria, and truck (I think) to his vocab list. He can also hum a little bit of "This Old Man". He likes making zorbert (pfbfttt) noises - either only with his mouth, or using his arm or the arm of the couch for assistance. Not too shabby for a not-quite-15-month-old.
• Other Skills: Rowan's learning to throw a ball. We started with rolling it, but he doesn't seem to like that as much as hurling it into the air. He can stack blocks, Legos, Cheerios, etc. He gets to about 3 and then knocks them down (sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose). By far he prefers dismantling our Lego creations to assembling them. Two weeks ago he learned to make a sound with his recorder and even got a few notes out of the harmonica! That was really fun to watch.

I still really like my new job. The work is interesting (but not too taxing) and the people are fun, yet professional. The new roof for our house should be finished today. Woohoo! That has been a long process and I will be glad to have it out of the way. Then we can move on to other house projects (repairing the wall where we had the leak, fixing up the yard, etc.) There is always something to be done with a house, I tell ya!

My parents will be up here next week for a visit. It will be nice to have them here just for fun, not because someone is ill and we need help with child care.

I think that's about it. I hope to have more good things to report soon.

...and the sickness continues

Poor Rowan. Just when we thought he was getting better, I get a call from day care telling me that he has a fever. This was last Wednesday. So, I pick him up and make an afternoon appointment with the pediatrician. She tells us that he probably has some kind of viral infection (since he's been taking antibiotics for a supposed sinus infection she diagnosed him with the previous week) of unknown origin. She advised us to keep him comfortable and to call if his symptoms worsen. At this point, he was fine except for the fever.

I stayed home with Rowan on Thursday since he still had a fever. It went as high as 103 and some change. Friday, I stayed with him that morning and Jeremy took the afternoon shift. His fever was lower, like 101-ish, and imperceptible by late afternoon. Hooray! He was better... or so we thought.

Friday night at bathtime I noticed patches of faint red bumps on his legs and trunk. Since he has sensitive skin, we didn't think too much of it. We rubbed lotion over his skin and put him to bed with no problems. Saturday morning Rowan had dark red polka dots all over his sweet little body. Talk about alarming!

We scarfed down some breakfast and headed to the children's ER again. They diagnosed him as having roseola, a viral infection that is very common during early childhood. Once the fever goes away and the rash appears, all is good. Yay!

He is not contagious but looks afright. We're keeping him home from day care for the next couple of days. Hopefully the rash will have faded away by then. My mom is back in town to help out. Thanks, Mom! This allows Jeremy and me to save some of our sick leave and vacation time. Lord knows we are probably going to need it again to stay home with Rowan. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is later, rather than sooner.

Oy-vey... I am so over this sick business. My plan is to post something more cheerful next time along with some new photos. Stay tuned!

Sickos

Last time I wrote, the guys were sick. Well, they are still ill. This has not been a healthy spring for the Wilson~Miller Fam. I hope we shake off the shroud of infirmity in the next couple of weeks. I mean, who wants to be sick during the summer? Or any time really.

Here's the story.

Rowan vomited off and on all day Saturday. After he woke himself at midnight for a puke fest, we decided to take him to the children's ER. It was not crowded so we were seen fairly quickly for an emergency department. Our entire visit lasted only 5 hours.

They did chest x-rays to make sure he didn't have pneumonia that had spread to his intestines or an intestinal blockage. Thankfully he was free and clear. Then they gave him an anti-vomiting pill and sent us on our way with instructions to follow up with the pediatrician on Monday. That visit went ok. The doctor gave us a prescription for an antibiotic. She thought Rowan might have a sinus infection since his respiratory symptoms have lingered two weeks. Side thought: Why does amoxicilin smell like bubble gum?

To make the weekend even more interesting, Jeremy started vomiting Sunday night around 10:00. He kept going all night long and spent the next few days recuperating. He said he felt like he had done 100 million situps. Today he went to work for a meeting, but is still feeling queasy.

I don't think that Rowan picked up something from day care. No other kids have been sick. I suppose we will never know what happened, but I think the guys might have encountered the virus on their frozen custard outing. So far, I have dodged this bullet. Keep your fingers crossed that I stay healthy and that the Miller men continue to get well.

I would like to give a big hug of thanks to my mom who came up Sunday night to help out with child care and housework. Mom, you rock! I can't imagine what the house would look like by now without your assistance.

Quick update

We had a nice weekend. Poor Jeremy is ill with whatever crud Rowan had, but a little worse. That didn't stop us from meeting our friends for breakfast on Saturday morning. Breakfast was tasty and I learned something: it is impossible to eat when Rowan is not in a high chair. His pal, Ansel, will be 2 in July and he handled the whole free-seating thing really well. I suppose our expectations were just too high for Rowan. It's not that he was being intentionally naughty, he was just trying to grab everything and climb all over the place. Thank goodness we were in a booth.

Next, we headed to the zoo. The boys seemed to have a good time. The weather was perfect - not too hot - and a lot of the animals were out and about. It wasn't crowded yet, either. We took the guys to the playground for a little bit and rode the carousel. Rowan remembered what that was all about. He started bucking on his carousel tiger, trying to get it to start moving. Then we all had a slice of trashy, outrageously expenisve pizza. We vowed to always pack snacks for the zoo, even if we have a big breakfast beforehand.

Aria, the daughter of Rowan's former caregiver (babysitter just isn't the right term), turned 6 on Sunday. She had invited us to her birthday tea party but Jeremy elected to stay home with his cooties. He didn't think it would be very nice to give a head cold to children, or their parents. Rowan and I had a great time visiting with our good friends and eating some tasty snacks. We did not join the gang for dinner at Aria's favorite restaurant, Ikea. That cracks me up!

We should have a fairly routine week. I have a few photos from the weekend that I will try to post this evening.

Easter Weekend

We went to General Coffee State Park outside Douglas, GA to spend the weekend. My parents and my godmother, Patty, and her beaux, Carl were there too. We had a really good time. The park has nice cabins with a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms with their own baths, screened porch, and satellite TV. Now that's my kind of camping! There was even a small playground across the street from our place. Rowan knew right where it was. He would point to it and say "Dat!". I think we have a slide addict on our hands.

My good friend from graduate school, Anna, and her family came to visit for the day on Saturday. She has a son that is 10 days younger than Rowan. His name is Zakary. We had fun looking at the pioneer village and checking out the farm animals and the pond. It was funny to see the boys together. They would play around each other but not really together. Maybe next time we get together they will interact more.

Saturday night, the adults played Cranium. The guys won all three games. I was surprised by and impressed with their puppetry and charade skills. Who would have guessed it? And, I am very impressed with my mom for guessing "Rock the Casbah" correctly after listening to me hum the tune. I would never have predicted that.

Rowan didn't sleep very well Saturday night. I don't think we got him back to sleep until 3:00am. He was cranky the next day for our drive home. Later that night he was still out of sorts. It turns out he had a mild fever (101 F) so I stayed home with him Monday. Monday night his fever went up to 103 F so I stayed home with him again on Tuesday. Poor thing. He had a runny nose and is cutting at least one tooth. There could possibly be another on its way. All of that, plus being exhausted from lack of sleep, made for one clingy boy. He was definitely not his usual self. He would get so upset at the slightest thing.

He's feeling much better today. I won't say he's back to 100%, but he's close. Hopefully day care won't tire him out too much. I would hate for him to experience a relapse.

We've got some fun things planned for the weekend. We're meeting the Carrolls for breakfast and the zoo on Saturday and attending Aria's birthday party on Sunday afternoon. Sometime in there we'll have to sneak in some house work, too. There is never a dull moment at our house. If any of you are feeling bored, feel free to stop by. I know I can find something for you to do. Besides, isn't cleaning more fun when you have a buddy?

Giggle Bug

Jeremy posted two videos of Rowan last night in which he is belly-laughing and cackling. Jeremy was tickling him with the fuzzy hair part of a stuffed creature - an anthropomorphized ear of corn named (you guessed it) Corny. Both of us were laughing nearly as hard as Rowan but were trying to be quiet for the video.

Be sure to turn your sound up when you view them. His laughter is infectious!

Day Care: Take 2

Today is Rowan's first day at day care, again. As you may recall, we started Rowan at the CDC/Emory/Children's Healthcare of Atlanta day care back in June 2008. At the time, we weren't thrilled with the idea of day care and I switched to part-time work so my good friend Wendy volunteered to help us with childcare. What a good time we all had with that arrangement!

But, like sands through the hourglass... so are the days of our lives. I have started back to work full-time and Wendy and her family will be leaving for a long vacation this summer. It was time to look for alternative childcare for Rowan. We had a few failed attempts at securing a nanny and have found ourselves back at day care.

Now that Rowan is older we don't mind the day care setup as much as when he was a baby. This does not mean that Jeremy and I are free from worry. We've both been fretting all morning about his well-being. Paranoid, irrational questions plague our minds, like "Would the day care lady kidnap Rowan and ship him off to eastern Europe?". How could they possibly take care of him as well as me???

Oh, the joys of parenthood.

Incidentally, Rowan was perfectly fine when we left him this morning. He was happily checking out the toys and looking forward to eating breakfast with his new friends.

The Zoo

Today was the first day of nice weather that we've had for awhile and Jeremy suggested we go to the zoo. What a great idea that was! It was crowded, but not too bad. We snagged an awesome parking spot, had a lovely stroll through the park, and took in the sights (and smells) of the zoo. I don't think Rowan gave much thought to the animals. The people, especially the children, were more to his liking.

Before we left, Rowan and I took a ride on the carousel. Rowan had such a good time. He said "Ohhhh!" when the carousel starting spinning. He chattered for the duration of the ride and clapped his hands a couple of times. I was laughing so much. It's a lot of fun to rediscover the world with your baby.

I posted a few pictures of our adventures, along with a video. We bought a family membership to the zoo so we will definitely be back. Now all we need is the for the good weather to stick around. 

Goofin'

We were goofing around with sunglasses after dinner. Maybe raspberries make you silly. At any rate, I've posted more photos of our after-dinner antics. Good times!

New photos and video

I've posted some new photos from the past week. Jeremy posted some video of Rowan walking. They're all really cute, if I do say so myself. :-) Check the links to the right. 

13 Month Update

I know I'm a week late with Rowan's monthly update. Since I've started back to work full-time it has been hard to find time to blog. So, without further delay, here's what's what with Rowan.

• I don't have the usual height and weight measurements yet. I'll try to get those posted soon.
• Likes: He's still loving cheese. He has a shirt that has a list of favorite things: hugs, kisses, mommy. I said I should probably cross off one of those and write in "cheese". He also likes doing things for himself, like feeding himself, holding his own bottle or cup (especially the cup with the straw), trying to unbuckle his seatbelts, and helping putting on and taking off his clothes. We've been going on wagon rides in the afternoons since the weather has been nice. He really likes that. Books are more interesting to him, too. His favorites right now are two picture books about animals, a Bob the Builder book, and Go Dog, Go!, of course. He can look at those over and over and over (and over...) again. He also loves to look at dogs, either in person or on TV. He points them out to us.
• Dislikes: He really dislikes having to be still for a diaper change. There is typically copious amounts of protests at every changing. He hasn't been a fan of rice lately. I'm not sure why, maybe the texture is weird to him? On occasion he will squawk about taking a bath or getting out of the bath, but nothing consistent.
• Communication: Rowan is getting really good at imitating us. Even if he can't get the exact words, he'll match our cadence perfectly. It's hilarious! His list of vocabulary words gets longer each week. Here are the words he knows and uses often: Hi, Hi Dad, Dada, Mama, This (dis), That (dat); Uh-oh; Puppy; Bottle (bot); Button (butt); Book (booht); Baby; Tickle (tiku, tiku); and Duck. He used to say kitty (kee) and bear (bee-uh) a lot, but those words have dropped off in the last couple of weeks. He can also shake his head "no" and "yes". Both of these moves have been very handy.
• Skills: He's getting braver about walking. He will take as many as 5 or 6 steps before he sits down or grabs on to something. He can climb onto the couch with assistance, but he gets down (the proper, safe way) all by himself. We all clap and say "Yay!" when he does. He can drink from a straw now. The funniest thing he does is use Jeremy's owl call. You're supposed to blow into like a whistle to make the "hoo" sounds, but he puts it in his mouth and makes the "hoo" sounds himself. He has added some more dance moves to his repertoire. He can do the baby bounce, the twist (while seated), the floor spin (he sits on the floor and turns around in a circle using his feet), and he picks up his feet every now and then. Finally, I have someone to dance with! We've shown Rowan the Sesame Street website a couple of times and he got a big charge out of it. It's got a lot of cool things to look at and changes every day. I figure it's only a matter of time before he is showing us how to use electronics. Another fun (and sweet) thing that he does is love on one of his stuffed animals or rag. If you hug his little bear (Blueberry) and say "Awww", he'll do the same thing. Or, you can lightly rub his rag on his cheek and say "Awww", he'll do it, too. Then he'll try to do your cheek. Such a sweet boy!