Happy 23-month Birthday, Rowan!

Yesterday was Rowan's 23-month birthday. It's hard to believe that his 2nd birthday is only a month away. This past year has really flown by!

Poor Rowan had a rough day yesterday. Apparently he was running in the classroom, tripped, and collided with the bookcase. Ouch! He has a bruise across his cheekbone and a little mark above his eyebrow. And, he had a little cut on his favorite thumb (the left one). Jeremy and I felt so bad for him. It really is upsetting to see your child hurt or sick. I try not to think about all the accidents he is sure to have rough-housing and playing sports.

When he's not getting hurt, here are some of the things he's been doing this past month.

• Likes: Singing - His repertoire expands daily. Some of his favorites are "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Old MacDonald". "Happy Birthday" and "Jingle Bells" are in the top 5 as well. Just please don't sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider". He does not like that one lately. He's really into his Legos lately, too. It's fun to see him make airplanes, buses, and towers. I am amazed at the depth of his imagination. He has also taken more interest in coloring. He can do dots, make vertical lines, and he's getting much better at coloring in specific items. His hand control improves all the time. Pancakes (the mini ones in the freezer dept.) are his favorite breakfast-on-the-go. We usually heat up a few for him to munch on during the car ride to school.
• Dislikes: His top dislike right now is not being able to do what he wants when he wants. Isn't this a life-long struggle for a lot of people, though?
• Communication: He's still chatting up a storm! He really likes to repeat what you say, especially if it is something new for him. He can identify all of the alphabet, but sometimes gets tricked by T and I, or other similar looking letters. He likes pointing out letters he knows in signs in stores, labels, T-shirts, wherever.
• New Skills: Lately he's been practicing standing on one foot. He can last about 1.5 seconds and then has to put his leg down. It is fun to watch - you can tell he is proud of himself. Another skill he has been working on is sorting. He likes to sort by color mostly but he can also sort shapes. When we're cleaning up his toys he is excellent at putting them where they belong.

It's hard to imagine life before Rowan. He occupies so much of our attention and mental energy, I wonder what I used that brain power for in the before-time. Parenthood really is the toughest job you will ever love.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

Cake Update

The cake was a disaster! Not only did part of it refuse to leave the pan, it tasted weird. Jeremy took a sample bite of the half-formed mess and immediately spit it out in the garbage. The recipe called for 1 cup of Sprite but all we had was grapefruit Sierra Mist. Not a good substitute, obviously. I thought it would be ok. People like lemon pound cake, right? Gack.

I am off to hunt down a pre-made cake this morning. I'm thinking to try Piece of Cake. They have several pound cake options and they are pretty close by. The strawberries turned out beautiful (because they are the best fruit ever) and I still have heavy cream to whip up later.

It's not a total loss yet. Keep your fingers crossed that the bakery has whole cakes in stock!

Look out weekend 'cause here I come

Jumping music, slick DJs, fog machines, and laser rays...
So my weekend plans don't include any of the above. Does that make me less cool than Debbie Deb? If I wore a metal-studded bustier, would that give me more cred? Do they even make maternity bustiers? Never mind, please don't tell me.

I know I've not posted recently, but you haven't missed much. We've been slowly getting back into the routine of life after the holidays. And, we are definitely looking forward to the three-day weekend.

The awesomeness starts with a birthday party for my Granny. She will be staying with my parents for a few days and the party is tomorrow. I'm making a pound cake - my first from scratch. I'll let you know how it turns out. There will be strawberries and vanilla whipped cream on the side in case the cake is a flop.

Also on Saturday, my beloved book club is conducting the annual book selection event. This will be the first time in 9 years that I will not be able to make it. What we do is have each member nominate a few books (some just have 1, some have none, some go hog wild and nominate 7). Then we compile the list and everyone gets to vote on their top 10. The 10 books with the most votes are the books we read for the year. I am always impressed at the variety of books that are nominated and the diversity of our final selections. There is usually something for everyone during the year. Here's the list I submitted: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; Reasons to Live (short stories); and This is Where I Leave You.

What have you been reading and loving? Let me know if you have any good books to recommend or if you have any personal reviews of the books I mentioned above.

I know I've blown your mind with the extreme hipness of weekend activities so far. But wait, there's more.

Our search for a comfy chair continues this weekend as well. I know it seems a tad geriatric, but I am contemplating a recliner. I know! But, they are sooo comfortable. Imagine snuggling with a newborn in a cozy chair, just steps away from the kitchen and parked in front of the TV at 3:00am. It sounds pretty dreamy to me - much more inviting than our couch or existing chair. I should have known that I was starting down a slippery slope when we bought Penelope, my awesome Honda Odyssey, two years ago.

Don't be hating on us for being so cutting edge. Create a good weekend for yourself. ...because weekends were made for fun.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year... five days late. Sorry about that. I usually try to blog on my lunch break at work but I haven't been at work. (That's fun to type.) But, as you can tell, my schedule has returned to normal for the most part.

While I was off from work last week, we did some fun family stuff. We went to the aquarium with my parents. That was an adventure. Rowan liked the first exhibit because of the scuba dude cleaning the glass. He also liked the display of stuffed Deepo fish and the floor lights. But, things started to fall apart when he saw the orange plastic chairs in the snack area. From that point on, all he wanted to do was mess with those chairs. We tried to distract him by looking at the exhibits and that worked for about a minute. He threw several tantrums complete with screaming, crying, stomping, squirming on the floor, and head shaking. No amount of cajoling or reasoning would straighten him out - even from the grandparents! So, we finally strapped him into his stroller and let him "vent" for a few minutes while we looked at some of the displays. He calmed down a bit after that. I think it was hard for my parents to watch him meltdown like that as they do not like to see him "suffering". I totally agree that it really is tough to not get your way all the time.

My mom and I took Rowan to the children's museum last Tuesday. It had some really neat things for young kids (it's geared toward the under 8 crowd) to see and do. I would definitely like to go back sometime when it is less crowded. By the time we left it was starting to look like a technicolor Thunderdome.

Jeremy and I also did some shopping for our home improvement project over the break. We're converting our dining room into a big boy room for Rowan. It could also be an office/study type room at some point, too. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

New Year's Eve, Jeremy and I went to Athens for lunch and to look at furniture. Lunch was great, but the shopping was a bust. Oh well... the search continues for a comfy, affordable, non-fabric covered, reclining and/or gliding chair.

I had my 24-week check-up last week. (The holidays pushed me off schedule by a couple of days.) Everything looks good - my weight gain and blood pressure are great; Baby 2's heart rate is spot on; and my belly (Uterus actually. Is that TMI?) measures right on target.

In other baby news... our good friends Abby and Jason welcomed their new daughter, Amelit, on January 3. She's a precious doll and I can't wait to meet her in person. Congratulations guys!