Great is Thy Faithfulness

I had possibly the best moment of my entire life today...I'm not even sure how to put it into words.  I just know it was a gift meant just for me.

It started in the kitchen doing one of my least favorite chores---the dishes.  Rowan was happily playing in his bouncy seat while I was washing dishes.  It was just the two of us at home.  I had some music playing in the background too.  When I was done with dishes, I got down on the floor in front of him and started singing along with the song.  It was past the first verse of Chris Rice's version of Come Thou Fount...so needeless to say I didn't know the words.  Skip skip went the iPod and it came to Great is Thy Faithfulness.  This one I knew a bit better, so I started singing along.  The whole time, Rowan had one of my fingers in each of his hands and was happily moving his arms to the music.  What made it even better, is that he was smiling bigger and brighter than I have ever seen and it seemed as if he was wanting to sing along with me.  It was so very special and my heart exploded with happiness.  I know...because it spilled out of my eyes. 

For a moment, I wished someone was there to capture the moment with a video camera.  But afterwards, I was so glad that moment was mine...something that only Rowan and I got to share.  It was such a gift, and something I am so very very thankful for.

2 months!

2 Months Old!

Wow...I did not realize it's been a full month since I posted last about anything, let alone Rowan.  I'm struggling to get back into the 'real world', but each day I'm taking a few more steps in that direction.  It's just hard to do anything when I could just sit and cuddle or play with Rowan all day.  Why do dishes or laundry when you can play with a cute little baby?  But alas...time has come for me to get back into the swing of the real world.

I've started doing derby again...slowly but surely.  The first week back was incredibly painful for my legs, but they are starting to get some strength back.  Now I just need to learn how hard I can push myself to get back into shape.  Though I still have about 10 pounds to loose before I'm back at pre-pregnancy weight, I'm more concerned with rebuilding my strength and endurance.

I've also started back at work.  I'm soooooo glad I will be working part time for a few weeks before jumping back in full time.  It's been wonderful easing back into the working world. 

Alright, now onto Rowan...the awesome little boy he is!  We went for his two month check right at 8 weeks because we wanted to have a spot on his butt looked at again by our doctor (more on that in a minute).  He is doing perfectly.

-Rowan measured at 11 lb 4 oz (44th percentile) and 23 inches (62nd percentile)

-He got his first round of shots...his reaction was pretty much exactly this scene from Elf.  Poor guy screamed for a bit, but calmed down after some cuddles.  I used it as an excuse to keep cuddling with him for the rest of the day
-He is developing a predictable night time pattern of when he wants to eat and when he wants to go to bed for the night.  

Happy boy's play time



-He is consistantly sleeping 6-8 hours at night...and sometimes as long as 9.  Every now and then he'll have a night where he wakes up every 4 hours wanting to eat, but those are becoming the exception rather than the rule.  I LOVE being able to sleep through the night.

-He LOVES play time on his mat.  He'll tell story after story to his toys.  He's also become quite fascinated with his reflection.  Someone knows he's a handsome boy...

-He is not the biggest fan of tummy time on the floor.  He'll prop himself up and work to look around when we hold him up against our chest, but tummy time on the floor just makes him mad.

Now onto the spot on his butt.  About a week after we got him home, we noticed a spot on his butt.  It was a redish spot that we didn't notice before.  What made us nervous about this spot was that it bled a couple of times during diaper changes.  It didn't seem to bother him, but the bleeding was worrisome to us.  Went to the doctor and she didn't quite know what to make of it.  We tried a couple of topical remedies to see if it would go away, and it didn't.  Diagnosis...likely a birth mark we just didn't notice at first.  We were told to keep an eye on it and let her know if it changed.

About a week before our 2 month check, we noticed there seemed to be a lesion on the spot.  It still didn't seem like it was bothering him, but it was a bit scary to see.  We moved his appointment up to have our doctor look at it.  She referred us to a dermatologist to see what  the spot was.  At that appointment, Rowan as diagnosed with an ulcerated hemangioma.  It sounds worse that it really is. A hemangioma is a build up of blood vessels near the surface of the skin.  They can appear anywhere-face, limbs, back, chest, diaper area...anywhere.  It can become raised and is usually red in color.  It's really nothing to worry about as long as it's not interfering with a child's vision or movements.  Since his is on his butt, it was getting wiped and cleaned a lot during diaper changes...which caused it to open or ulcerate.  This could be problematic if it became infected or started to cause Rowan a lot of pain.  The dermatologist recommended we change our diapering routine-only water and wash cloths to clean him up (no wipes) and putting on vasaline at every diaper change.  She also prescribed a gel to put on there twice a day to prevent infection.  Plus we need to do a daily bath and additional baths when he has a big poop.  We scheduled a follow up appointment for the 15th to see how everything is looking.



Halloween PJs



Halloween Pumpkin



Here's where the story gets a little nerve racking...IF the ulceration gets infected and/or IF Rowan starts showing he's in a lot of pain when we change is diaper, there's an oral medication he can get that should help everything heal faster.  Bad news is he would have to be admitted into the hospital for two days when the start the medication so they could monitor his blood pressure and blood sugar.  Neither Ian nor I want him to have to go back into the hospital.  We've been there...done that...and feel no need to repeat that.  So...here's hoping that he heals and/or we can manage his ulcerated hemangioma with these measures until it can fully heal rather than having to admit him into the hospital for oral medication. Obviously we'll do what is best for Rowan...but we'd like to avoid another hospital stay.

But...besides that little hiccup, everything else is going so very well with Rowan.  We're going to take a road trip this weekend to visit my brother and his family in KC and then we'll head up to MN for Thanksgiving.  I'm super excited to introduce Rowan to my dad...it will be the first time dad's met him. 



Will keep you posted after our follow up appointment next week.  Here's hoping things look good and we can keep Rowan out of the hospital.



Meeting Grandpa Vesper for the first time



Meeting Grandma Vesper for the first time





Meeting cousin Kambria for the first time