Just being cute!

Big girl bed

A month ago we decided to convert Rowan's crib to the toddler bed; which means we basically removed the front rail from the crib. We wanted to give her a head start on trying out this "big girl bed" before her brother arrives...which is now only 3 short weeks away. Our plan is to move the new baby into the crib after he's a month or so old and move Rowan into a regular twin bed at that point. I think it might have been a little early to start this process (she was 17 months old) but a lot of other mom's I know have had to do it...and even earlier than us.

I'm proud to say that Rowan made the switch without any major issues. Her very 1st night in the new bed I woke up to find her crying at the back door...she was crying because it was locked (thankfully) and she couldn't get it open. I think she was still asleep though because when I scooped her up her eyes were closed and she went right back to bed. ? Then about a week later she did the same thing with the back door -- who knows! But that night she did not go back to bed quite as easy...that ended up being one of those loooong nights where all she wanted to do was play in the middle of the night. Thankfully, we only had two or three of those. One night I ended up sleeping (not really of course) out in the living room so I could stop her at her door in mid-escape. She would open her bedroom door and say "Cole" or "poo poo" or "owe" ...she was trying all different tactics to get out of bed. Eventually I was even laughing because she was getting so creative. Then after so many spanks and me saying "no Rowan...it's night night time", she would just open her door and say NO NI-NIGHT and then slam it shut and cry! I think she finally got tired of the routine at 3:30 and decided to stay in bed.

Anyway, we had a few nights here and there of her crying and getting out of bed...but she figured it out and isn't giving us any trouble anymore. I'm still considering putting a baby gate up at her bedroom door though to make it a little harder for her to get out if she decides to go on another nightly stroll.

Here's a video of her playing in her new bed...which she absolutely loves to play in by the way. She goes in her room to play by herself a lot now and we'll find her sitting in her bed playing baby dolls. So cute...

Oh and the chair is in front of her bed so she doesn't fall out at night...

Jumping Bean

A few weeks ago we got Rowan's Jump-n-Go out of the crawl space so that Baby Haley could play with it. Rowan ended up taking full advantage before handing it over to her little buddy...just see the video below.

Rowan spent probably about an hour in this thing each morning while I cleaned up the kitchen. She's obviously a little bit too big for it, but I think that's why she loved it so much. She's going to have a blast once the baby swing and bouncy seat make an appearance again for her baby brother :)

Random Rowee

Here I go again not keeping up with Rowan's blog...I've been busy and tired, you know the routine. There's work, the house and groceries and cooking and loads of laundry that live out their lives in baskets and on the floor, the new baby's nursery project, there's Rowan of course who loves to be held by momma and climb everything and empty cabinets and leave trails of toys and shoes all over, my hunk of a husband Derek who has achey joints and muscles that need rubbed from his new job, trying to keep up with Bible studies and our church groups, and then the whole being 9 months pregnant thing.

iy-yi-yiiii. Anyone want to trade lives? Actually the only part I want to trade away is the 1st item on the list...WORK. Oh how I'd love to concentrate all of my energy and heart on the more important parts of my life that seem somehow to get the least amount of my time...hmmmm.

On a lighter note...Rowan just had her 18 month appt with Dr. Lin and all is well. She's been stuck at the same weight since she turned one...about 26 lbs. Dr. Lin said she's following the growth curve just right however and that there is nothing to worry about. Rowan is a bit of picky eater though. She definitely has her favorites. I've found though that if I give her enough time, eventually she'll eat most of what is in front of her. I blame Derek -- he's a picky eater and passed his stubborn food eating antics on to his precious baby girl. I'm praying this next baby is a little more easy going when it comes to food!

Here are some random shots of Rowan over the past month...

Rowan with her favorite buddy Cousin Sydnee...their 1st sleepover together

Playing with her baby doll's mini pack-in-play

Still in love with shoes of course...but has moved on to heels

no more desitin!

Late last week I think we discovered that Rowan is allergic to Desitin -- or at least the more powerful "maximum" strength version. Rowan has been having a bout with diaper rash over the last month. I really think it hasn't healed up because she doesn't respond well to certain diaper rash creams. The one that works the best for Rowee is the Aveeno brand -- which has been sold out at both Target and BabysRus for awhile now. How annoying!

I've been using Butt Paste (what a fabulous name) over the last month during the Aveeno drought, but her little bottom doesn't really respond to it. So anyway, last week I went out and bought some high octane Desitin with like 40% zinc oxide. I lathered her up before bed and put her ni-night. No problems...or so I thought.

The next morning I put some more on her before sending her off to the babysitter and then Jill called me in the morning asking if Rowan was sick or allergic to anything. She ended up getting a rash on her bottom, back of her legs, her feet and a little on her face. I was so worried! I wanted to leave work immediately but Jill put her down for a nap...which lasted 3 whole hours! Anyway, she woke up completely healed. Whew. Below is the photo Jill text'd me as "proof of life" afterwards.

Poor baby! No more Desitin for us that's for sure.

Rowan loves Cole

One of Rowan's first words was Cole (and it's still one of her favorite things to say). She loves him so much! Cole is our cat by the way... "catdog" as Derek calls him.

Everyone morning when Rowan wakes up the first thing she says is "Hi Cole". She's always trying to hug and cuddle him or pick him up, feed him treats, and sometimes she even swats him around! Cole is such a good boy though. He cries when she cries and absolutely loves it when she comes over to watch him eat. For some odd reason, Cole really wants us to stand at his food bowl and watch him chow. That's probably why he is so fond of Rowan...she's only one who takes the time to indulge him :)

Rowan and Cole hugging


Rowan trying to teach Cole to color

Baby talk

Rowan has been talking a lot more and I wanted to make sure to keep track of all the funny and cute things she's saying. A few of her favorite words at the moment are...

baby (a big favorite of hers at the moment)
belly
ball
mine
hi
uh oh
owwww (when she hurts herself)
Cole (she probably says the cats name the most)
poopoo (whenever she has to "go" or lets a little fart -- haha)
momma
cookie
me (whenever she looks in the mirror or sometimes when she wants something)
more
yellow
baba (bottle)

She's also thrown a few mini phrases together like "brush teeth" and "ready to go". She's been doing some sign language when she wants certain things...like please, drink, milk, baby, ball, all done, etc. It's cute that she does her little signs, but honestly, I would rather have say those words! We weren't even trying to teach her sign language, well except for the word please. But one of her favorite little baby videos has sign language in it and then all of the sudden one day I noticed her doing all the signs while she watched it. Obviously she caught on, which is cute. But I would still rather have her SAY the words. Oh well. I guess in her own time :)

More from Christmas....

I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I wanted to make sure that I uploaded a few pictures of Rowan opening presents on Christmas morning. Christmas was fun this year now that Rowan understands a little more about presents. She actually unwrapped most of her own this year - which was so cute.

Since money is tight, we decided to only buy one gift this year for Christmas, and we decided it would be a kitchen set for Rowan. She's always pulling all of the dishes and tupperware out of our cabinets and wants to be held while I'm cooking so she can see whats going on on the stove. She's so interested...it's sweet. She's always says "hot" "hot" because she knows she can't touch whatever is on the stovetop.

So anyway, Derek bargain shopped online and found this particle board type kitchen set that we ended up putting together on Christmas Eve. Derek decided he wanted to get a head start so we started while Rowan was still awake...we figured she wouldn't really understand what was going on anyway. So much for that idea! She's a smart little cookie and was all over that thing. In fact, she was up until 10:30 at night and refused to go to sleep. She usually goes to bed around 7-7:30ish... We, on the other hand, were exhausted because it was so much work trying to keep her off of it while Derek was putting it together. Iyyi yiii that little stinker! What a night that was...

unwrapping her kitchen...


testing out the play food


unwrapping the stroller Grandma Gora got her


strolling...


Little "martha stewart" in training...she's a little sloppy but seems to know exactly what she wants to do. And I realize Rowee falls in this video -- but you have to know Rowan. She ALWAYS falls so we're used to it.

Christmas 2009

Opening presents at Grandma Gora's


Opening presents at Grandma Mimi's


Break time for a cookie!


Rowan with her Mimi


Rowan with her Grandma Gora

What a sweet face...

Red cheeks and snow

Derek took Rowan out to play in the snow last week and she absolutely loved it. I followed them around for a few minutes to take some pics and video but quickly retreated to the warm house. Rowan of course had no problem following her Daddy around in the freezing cold though. She wobbled about in her snow pants and chattered baby talk the entire time. After a little while I wanted Derek to bring her in because her little hands were getting cold and wet since the gloves weren't water proof (knit). But she threw a fit and got to go back out for 10 more minutes and watch Daddy shovel the driveway. No harm done...except some red rosey cheeks and a snotty nose. She did manage to take a super long nap afterwards though...which was great! Here are some pics and a video...


getting ready to play outside in cousin Lorelei's old snow gear...so cute


i love being cold


derek's gigantic snow angel


laughing and trying to mimic daddy


video of rowan's 1st snow adventure