Slimey Comes to Town

Rowan found an inch worm the other day and became absolutely ecstatic, pointing and shouting, "Slimey! Slimey!" Slimey is the little worm on Sesame Street. Rowan had a blast watching "Slimey" crawl around on his arm. Then we finally convinced him that it was time for Slimey to go back home, so we put the little worm out on the deck. Priceless!

Pool Fun!

Rowan has been enjoying his little pool this summer. He loves to splash and say, "Raining! Raining!"


Any time he's outside and hears a plane, he immediately points to the sky and says "Airplane! Airplane! Up in da sky!"

It's oh so fun to watch little ones play and have a good time! I'll add a video to this post once it finishes uploading. Check back for that soon!

20 Month Snapshot

Rowan is 20 months old! I can hardly believe he's not a baby teenager anymore! Here's a little update on what Rowan is doing lately.

On the Language Front:
Rowan is talking like CRAZY. Heidi marvels at his new words every time she sees him (which is nearly every day!). He'll try to say almost anything he hears, including short phrases/sentences. When he gets excited about something, he exclaims, "Happy! Happy! Happy!" It's soooooooooo cute.

He says his favorite song is "ABCD" or "Hello Everybody" (from our Music Together class). If I sing the ABC's and stop at various points in the song, he can fill in the blanks. He also loves to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" with me.

On the motor front:
Not much big news here. Rowan is still walking and running around (and occasionally tackling us and his cousin Maddox). His fine motor skills are getting better all the time. He likes using a fork and spoon at mealtimes, but he's still a pretty messy eater. He loves going to the playground and going down the slide all by himself.

Other learning:
Rowan says "please" (peas) and "thank you" (anchoo) now, which is really cute! When he wants something he repeats, "Mama peas, mama peas, mama peas?" I'll post some videos soon so you can hear his little voice.

He's getting pretty good at colors. He consistently recognizes blue, red, pink and orange really well. He especially likes to point out red cars ("Red car! Mama, red car!")

I'm amazed every day at the new things he's accomplishing! I'll post more when I can think of more stuff. Things come so fast and furious now it's hard to remember everything!

Editing to Add: I almost forgot! Rowan can count to five! He's made it to ten once, but he can go to five more consistently. Thank you Sesame Street!

Rowan loves to make it "rain" in our yard ("Mama, raining!").

Mama's sweetie!

Daddy's fisesherboy (up north)

On the boat (he didn't even mind his life jacket!)

Fishing with "Bumpa"

Rowan Tackles Maddox

No babies were harmed in the filming of this video!

Buddies!

Rowan loves that Maddox can actually play a little now! Maddox loves watching Rowan run around and be crazy and Rowan loves tackling his "little" (ha ha) cousin. Now Rowan just has to learn how to hug Maddox without choking him!

Post-Bath Cuteness

Rowan loves loves LOVES to take baths! He also loves to get all wrapped up in a nice cozy towel after his baths. The part he hates? Putting on his pajamas! He loves running around the house bare-bummed and dancing (and singing dooooo dee dooooo dee dooooo)!



You can really see some of his new teeth in this one. He fianlly got his molars at around 18 months, along with a bunch of other new teeth! I'll post a 19-month update soon with more info about what our little buddy has been up to! It's been tooooo long!!

We Have Puppies!

Foxes, actually! A family of foxes took up residence under our shed again this year. They're very cute, but they leave some pretty disgusting food leftovers around the yard (Kyle found a partially buried rabbit in the mulch around one of our trees yesterday -- yuck!). We think they'll move out by early summer once this "den" is too small for them. In the meantime, we're enjoying watching the little ones grow up!

Pictures of Rowan are on the way later today!

Sand Shark

We brought Rowan to see the farm babies at the zoo last weekend. It was a glorious day! I'm so loving the spring weather!

Hmmm...what can I get into first?

I know! I'll free the baby chicks!

Then I'll feed and pet the mama and baby goats!

Next, I'll see a little hairy piglet up close!

And before we go, I'll say hi to the pretty white horse!

Meet Avery Elizabeth!

Avery Elizabeth was born today (Tuesday) at 9 a.m., weighing a healthy 8 lbs, 2 oz and measuring 20.5 inches. Avery is cute as can be with a full head of dark hair. Courtney looked great and is recovering well from the delivery.

It was so fun to go shopping for Avery today before our visit to the hospital. I finally had a reason to buy frilly girly baby clothes! During our visit, I had the honor of being the first person Avery spit up on! Boy did that bring back memories of Rowan's super pukes.

Rowan can already say Avery (Avie or Avwie). He wasn't sure what to think of her at the hospital. He was a little overwhelmed by all of the people and attention. He said "baby" and "Avie" frequently after we left, though. Now he has two buddy cousins!

Here's sweet little Avery with her eyes open.

And here's the new family of three!

Congratulations Courtney and Joel! Avery is absolutely beautiful and so lucky to have you two for parents.

Waiting for Daddy

Life's a Zoo!

Wow, three new posts in one day! Can you believe it?!

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We've been using our zoo membership like crazy over the past couple of weeks. The weather has been so beautiful! Kyle, Rowan and I were at the zoo on Saturday and it was crazy -- parents, kids, babies and strollers everywhere! We tried to stay outside where we had a bit more breathing room.

We did, however, go inside long enough for Rowan to visit Discovery Bay! He loved seeing (and touching!) the fish in the low pond. Kyle had to keep him from jumping right in!

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Heidi, Maddox, Rowan and I went to the zoo AGAIN Today! It was even warmer and more beautiful outside! We lucked out because all of the outside animals were pretty close to the viewing areas.

Rowan enjoyed admiring the tiger from afar...

But he REALLY liked it when the tiger came up close to the glass!

We've had a great time enjoying this spring-like weather! The fresh air and sunshine have been the perfect cure for our cabin fever!!

Grandpa's Silly Face

Every time we visit my mom and dad's house, my dad reads Rowan a story in which a grandpa makes a goofy face for his granddaughter. Now Rowan makes that same goofy face all the time and says "Bumpa!" So cute!

Waking Up is Hard to Do

It can take Rowan a little while to fully wake up from his naps. Sometimes he needs to rest on the couch for a bit until he feels ready to play. Here's a photo progression to illustrate:

Ugh...I'm still a little groggy mama!

Maybe I'll just cuddle with my baby for a little bit.

I'm feeling much better now! Let's play!

Me and My Little Buddy

I've realized lately that because I'm always the one behind the camera, I have very few recent pictures of me with Rowan. We'll have to get better about that. I don't want Rowan thinking I was never around when he was growing up!


Here's a picture of the two of us that Kyle took during our trip to the zoo over the weekend.

Snow Baby

Rowan has been a little under the weather, but that hasn't stopped him from getting out on a few different occasions to enjoy the snow. On Saturday, Kyle was outside shoveling. When Rowan noticed him on the deck, he said, "Bood, bood! Mama! Bood!" Translation? "Get my boots on me, Mama!"

16+ Months

I’m way overdue to post about what Rowan’s been up to. It’s just soooooo hard to find the time. It’s also really hard to sum up what’s going on with him at this stage in a concise way. When he was a little baby, it was big news if he could touch his hands together. Now, he’s saying lots of words, and being silly and playing little pretend games. So here’s my best attempt!

On the Communication Front
I originally started working on this post when Rowan was just over 15 months old. At that time, I had a pretty good list of words he used on a regular basis. Just in the last few weeks, however, he’s started to pick up new words like crazy! I’ve created a very incomplete list below. He seems to pick up something new every day now, copying the words that we say. Often, only Kyle or I can understand his intentions, but we’ve become pretty good at deciphering his language. The sign language helps too.

AWESOME New Phrase:
I love you (Ilaauooh. He just started saying this two days ago!! He usually gives a kiss after saying it – just like mama!)

Other Words He Uses:
All gone (gah gone)
Apple/pineappole (papoh)
Ball (bough)
Baseball (ba bough)
Bath (ba, with his tongue sticking out)
Blueberry (bloobleoobleoobleoobleooble – he will keep going until he gets a blueberry!)
Book (buh)
Boost (boo, to get a boost onto the bed or the couch)
Bubble (buboh)
Car (cah)
Cheese (cheece, he also uses this for cheeks)
Chocolate chips (cheecey peecey)
Cold (code)
Corey (coh)
Cracker (Kahkuh)
Dada
Eggs (Ehs)
Elmo! (uh oh, someone has been watching some Sesame Street! We’ve also heard Big Bird and Oscar)
Football (fuh bough or buh bough)
Grandma (maaama)
Grandpa (bumpa)
Heidi (Highdle in a really high voice)
Jason (Jitso)
Juice
Maddox (Maaah)
Mama
More (muh)
Pasta (pata)
Poo poo
Scott (Cott)
Uh oh
Up
Water (bah bah)
Yeah

That’s all I can think of right now. He’ll pretty much try to repeat any word you say (not always clearly) but the above are the ones he uses most frequently. He’s also starting to put some words together. For example, if his cup is empty he’ll say, “Bah bah gah gun” (water all gone). So that’s cool! He still makes lots of animal noises when he sees animals that he recognizes. He’ll bark if he sees a dog or moo if he sees a cow. He also shakes his head yes and no say “yeah” or “nuh” after you ask him a question, which I don’t think he really did at 12 months.

Signs:
All done
Milk (which we use for nurse)
Help
Eat
Drink
Diaper change
I don’t think we’ll add many more signs at this point. The ones above are the most useful and he seems to be picking up words and learning other ways to communicate now as well. We’ll see…

On the Motor Front
Rowan continues to run faster and faster. He also loves to shake his booty and dance -- especially in his diaper! He started doing "sort of" summersaults about a month ago. I'll say, "Can you do a summersault?" and he'll bend over with his head on the floor. Sometimes he'll flip over by himself and other times I'll help him. It's all around pretty cute! He loves to climb, which is getting a little scary. I think we need to do a new level of toddler proofing around here! He also still loves spinning in circles and kicking and throwing balls.

On the Eating Front
Rowan's eating more and more different types of solids. He LOVES spices! He dips little pieces of fruit in pumpkin pie spice or little pieces of veggies or meats in cumin. I tried this one day in a desperate attempt to get him interested in sitting still to eat for more than 10 seconds. The novelty worked! Dipping in general is enjoyable to him. He dips crackers and thin apple slices in yogurt, and fish and meat in sauces. Sitting still is still tough for him, but as long as we keep things fresh and new, he's pretty good to go. He also loves "on the go" foods like raisens and cheerios that don't require table sitting.

Other Stuff
Rowan is just overall such a cool, funny and cute little person now! I loved him as a baby, but now I feel like I have this interesting little buddy to hang out with every day. We play games and read books. He pretends to feed his baby and change its diaper (baby is becoming a pretty important friend around here). He pretends to be a dog or a cat. He hides from me and then jumps out and says "peekaboo" in a really excited voice. He's just SO FUN! I love him to pieces and I hope he never forgets that!

I thought this picture looked a lot like pictures of my dad when he was a little boy.

Here's a cute one of Rowan with his baby. He looooooves his little baby!

Here's Rowan with one of his favorite toys -- books!


And a sweet one of Rowan with baby and Teddy.

My little sweetie! How did we get so lucky?!

Just Ducky!

Rowan got some sweet Valentine duckies from Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Connie. He just loves them and has quite a bit of company in the bath now!

Not for the Squeamish!

I'm posting this video against Kyle's orders! He thinks it's just too gross. BUT I think it's also pretty hilarious (possibly in that "only a mother would laugh" sort of way). The setup? Well, let's just say Rowan likes to "fake" sneeze, but sometimes still produces results.

Enjoy...or not...hmmmmm...not sure what's appropriate here...

-Angie

Will You Support My Mama?

You know what they say about babies and puppies: CUTE SELLS! So here's a little shameless (and ADORABLE) exploitation to encourage you to support me in raising funds to participate in The Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. I need to raise $2,200 to participate in the event in late August.

I'm walking with and in honor of my mom, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2006. In the months since her diagnosis and treatment, our family faced the additional tragedies of losing both of my mom's parents to cancer and stroke. This walk is not only a way to support a noble cause, but also a way to prove that the past five months haven't crushed our spirits!

I'm documenting my journey along with my mom, her sister Kris and my sister Heidi on a new blog! Check it out and consider supporting me with a financial contribution today.

Love,
Angie

*Coming soon: Rowan's long-overdue 15-month post (well, maybe it should technically be a nearly 16-month post!)