Photos galore!

Nothing but photos.  Enjoy!

It's all fun and games until we realize we can't sit up straight.  And yes...he put himself in there.

Cheese!

I love my puppies!

Weeee!

Swinging is the best!

Daddy's hilarious!

Funny daddy.

Standing tall 

Gamer in training

Preppy even looks cute on this kid

9 and 10 months-words

9 months old and NOT wanting to cooperate for this photo.

10 months old...not looking like a baby anymore

Wow...Rowan is 10 months old now.  Where did this 9th month go?

Since I skipped a month of updates, I may miss some...sorry about that!  This last month and a half has just been crazy.  Rowan got to drive across the state of South Dakota 4 times in 10 days.  Once for a vacation out to Gillette, WY to see his grandma, grandpa, uncle, and cousin.  The second time was out to Rapid City for my uncle's funeral.  He traveled like a champ.  The trip to Rapid City went quickly for Rowan because he had his cousin Derick in the car to keep him entertained.  On top of travels, we were finishing up derby season and found out we need to do some major home repairs (bathroom, roof, and basement).  So all in all, it's  been one busy summer so far and we're just about half way through!  But...enough of my excuses, here are some 'stats' on our no-so little man.

-At his 9 month check, Rowan weight 17lbs and measured 28.15 inches. His doctor wasn't concerned about his growth, but she wasn't happy with it either.  She asked up to step up the breast feeding.  We had been giving him milk 3 times a day and solids 3 times a day.  She asked us to start doing milk at least 4 times a day.  We have been trying...but frankly Rowan's just not that interested any more.  We can get 3 good feedings in no problem.  Getting a 4th good feeding in is hit or miss.  Not sure where he's at weight wise now, but I certainly feel like he's gotten bigger! He's still in 9 month clothes.
-We've added sooooo many new foods into his diet!  He's now eating squash, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, carrots, spinach (new), strawberries, blueberries (new), white potatoes (new), mangoes (new), huckleberries, apples, grapes, bananas (he'll eat a WHOLE banana in one sitting if we let him!), pears, peaches, nectarines, yogurt (new), egg yolk (new), chicken (new), hamburger (new), and cheese (new).  I'm sure there are some foods I'm forgetting, but there's so much he's eating now.  He still LOVES to eat everything we put in front of him.  He's a little hit and miss with meat.  He'll happily put it in his mouth.  Sometimes he eats it right away; other times he just lets it sit in his mouth and sucks out the flavor.
-Sleep is still good.  Nights are amazing...now sleeping 11-12 hours a night.  Naps are getting better.  He's starting to take a good afternoon nap.  Still super sleepy in the morning.
-We have six teeth.  Three on top and three on bottom.  A fourth one on top has looked like it's been wanting to come in for a while, but no luck yet.  With the six teeth in there I'm kind of glad that he's starting to self ween from the breast a little bit =)
-Rowan crawls really well and in starting to pull him self up to standing pretty steadily.  When he stands up he sometimes gets a look like "now what?" and then plops back down.  I'm sure it won't be too long before he's walking around though.
-Rowan's starting to babble with some more sounds.  He's not very conversational though he does talk a lot...it's just that most of his sounds are just loud vowel sounds.  Lately though we've started to hear more 'babababa' and 'dadadada' on top of 'nananana' and 'mamamamamama'.  We will hear a distinct "mom" every now and then that just makes me so very happy. (Ian is anxiously waiting to hear "dad") His hearing is fine and according to the audiologist we saw at our ENT appointment (had a meet and greet after our 3rd ear infection just in case we need to talk tubes down the road...nothing yet though!) said he didn't have much fluid there and his ear drums were vibrating.  Guess he's being an average boy and a little slower on the language development than his female counter parts.  
-Rowan is definitely showing preferences.  When he's playing, he definitely has certain books/toys he wants to play with at certain times-and he can get mad when he doesn't get what he wants.  His new favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?"  We have a version that is a 'slide and find' and he's now able to slide the tab over to see the next animal. He loves that book.  I kind of hate reading it to him because it never fails...we take it away to put it back on the shelf when it's time to be done and he SCREAMS because he wants to read it one more time.  He also loves musical toys, Ian's computer, and our cell phones.  (Un)Fortunately Rowan is a smart boy and knows when Ian locks his phone-and he does not like that either.
-Rowan still loves his puppies and really wants to play ball with Bishop. Bishop has yet to realize that when Rowan gets a little older he will play ball for hours on end.  I think once Bishop realizes that he will be the happiest dog in the world.

 That's all the words!  A mass uploading of pictures to follow in the next post!

8 months old

Well Rowan has hit the 8 month mark. Like all other months this one has flown by. The 7th of each month comes up so quickly. It's hard to believe we'll need to start actually planning a birthday party here soon.

This month was also full of milestones.

-Rowan has 3 teeth fully emerged. One other top tooth looks like it wants to cone in but it's been shy for about 2-3 weeks. Those chompers are sharp though. He bit me once hard enough to draw blood....while nursing. Thankfully it was just the one time.

-Rowan is a crawler! He started to crawl about a week or so ago. He's still a little robotic when he crawls, but he is certainly figuring out how to get around. It's great to see him exploring.

-Rowan said 'mama'. Well, kinda. He says 'mamamamamamama' a lot. He seems to say it when he's hungry, tired,or otherwise upset. I don't think he has connected me to 'mama' completely yet, but I still love hearing that sound.

-Rowan is probably a little over 17 pounds now. He loves his food. We've added squash, zucchini, green beans, and strawberries into his diet. Strawberries were an oops. We gave him some strawberry yogurt things and he really liked them, so we decided to do a strawberry/pear mix. He hasn't seemed to have an allergic reaction, but we're preceding with caution.

I'm quickly realizing my time with Rowan as a baby is coming to an end. He's looking more and more grown up as time goes by. I can't say I was the least bit sad when I got to hold him for an hour and a half while he napped today. It was sweet and something I won't get to do a whole lot more of with him.



Heart. Breaker.



Michief. Maker.

7 Months Old!

7 Months Old!

Daddy's Mini Me

Rowan turned 7 months old on Sunday.  Crazy to think we're more than 1/2 way to his 1st birthday.  This time last year we were about ready to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.  Now we have a happy little boy living in our house that is FULL of personality. 

Rowan's still growing like he should.  He's passed the 16 pound mark...we think.  He seems like he's A LOT heavier.  Either that or I'm getting weaker...  Next official measurements will be at 9 months. 

He loves food!  He's had a few puffs now and does pretty well with them.  Since they're crunchy (at least until they get wet) he's not quite sure what to do with them.  His face is pretty comical when he starts chewing them.  He had his first allergic reaction to food too.  We're not sure if it's pears or the other brand of oatmeal we tried.  Who knew changing brands could cause allergic reactions?  We eliminated both of them from his diet and we'll try to reintroduce them over the next few weeks to see what caused the reaction.  It wasn't anything major, just a little rash around his mouth.  A third tooth just broke through on his upper gum.  That toothy smile just melts my heart.

I. Want. That. Paper.

Got it!

Rowan started to take his pacifier more regularly too.  He's pretty good at putting it in his mouth when he wants it.  He isn't dependent on it to go to sleep, but he'll actually suck on it for a while.  Here's hoping he only stays moderately attached so when we take it away for good it's not traumatizing for him (or us!). 

He's QUITE determined when he wants something too.  He's good at getting what he wants, even if it's 'far' away.  He hasn't quite figured out crawling yet, but he's good at rolling to where he wants to go.  He's up on his hands and knees quite a bit now, so I think crawling will happen soon-ish.  Until that happens, he's content to roll, scoot backwards, and put his head down on the ground once on his knees for a minute.  Silly little boy.

Sleeping so peacefully

He's still sleeping...a lot!  10ish hours per night is regular now.  My only complaint about that is now I no longer have a 5:30 alarm I have to wake up for.  Great on the weekends...bad during the week when I have to work. 

Other than that, we're loving seeing his different facial expressions.  He's so very expressive and happy.  We are laughing to much around him all the time.  He's really brightened our lives and we couldn't be more thankful for our sweet baby boy.

I love playing!

It's a duck!

Rowans Favorite Things

Right now Rowan's favorite things include laughing and blowing spit bubbles with his tongue.  We managed to get a video of both.  Though towards the end of the laughing at Bishop video he starts to get tired and a little less laughy and a little more fussy.  

6 months

Well, I think it's safe to say that I slacked BIG TIME in the picture department this last month.  I know there are some on the camera I just need to get uploaded, but there probably aren't that many.  Next month...we'll get some more. 

But...holyhannahbatmanrowanissixmonthsold!  I have a hard time believing that this little boy has been around for six months already.  Let's see...what has Rowan been up to.

-Rowan's 6 month check went really well.  He's 27 inches long (70th percentile) and 15lb 13oz (20th percentile) .  He's a little peanut and just super super sweet.
-He spouted his first teeth.  That's right, teeth not tooth.  The bottom two teeth came just a few days before he turned 6 months old.  Thankfully he handled teething very well.  He was a little fussy, but nothing too bad.  He loved sucking on wet wash cloths too.
-Rowan LOVES to eat food.  In addition to cereal, he's had avocado, banana, sweet potato, peas, carrots, and nectarines (mixed with banana).  He disliked carrots and peas at first...he physically gagged the first time trying them, but after trying them a few time he warmed up and eats them willingly.  I do believe green beans are next for this boy.
-Rowan has finally started to figure out naps.  He's started to take about 3 naps a day, each lasting 1-2 hours.  This is a HUGE change from the 5 or so 30 minute naps he used to take.  It's nice to know he's getting long stretches of sleep.  Helps us to get stuff done (or nap) while he's napping. Night time sleeping is still great.  He's sleeping 8-10 hours each night.  I couldn't ask for a better sleeper.
-Rowan thinks boys are hilarious.  Just about anything Ian does gets hugs laughs.  I do the same thing and I get a courtesy chuckle.  Guess laughs are going to be one of those special things Ian gets to share with Rowan more than me.  Papa got some really good laughs out of Rowan too when they came for a visit.  Nana...courtesy chuckles. 
-Rowan is  rolling machine!  He loves to roll back and forth whenever he's on the floor playing.  He's not really showing interest in crawling at this point, but man can that boy roll.  He's also starting to scoot along a little bit, so it will be interesting to see how he moves along once he decides he wants to be more mobile.
-Rowan has a temper.  He's started to throw baby tantrums when he doesn't get something he wants right away.  He can certainly scream, but he calms down fairly quick when he gets distracted by something else.  But boy oh boy, can that boy get mad.

Rowan also made his first trip back to South Dakota.  Nana and Papa came into Omaha for a few days and we decided to head up to SD so my dad could go to a doctor's appointment and Rowan could meet a few people.  It was a whirlwind trip seeing as we were in Rapid City for about 36 hours, so we certainly didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, but we got to see some very important people.  It was good to be back home even if it was for a short time.  I'm hopeful we'll get to head back later in the spring or early summer, but we'll just have to see how work is going at that point.  

Those are the big highlights.  Hopefully we'll have some more pictures to share soon.  =)

Hey mom! Did you know...

...that there are puppies in the house?!?!?!?  And they are hillarious??

Rowan recently discovered that we have dogs.  Not sure why this is a recent discovery, but it is.  He's absolutely fascinated by them and watches them whenever they are in sight.  He'll also reach out to 'pet' them and loves when Church licks his hands. 

He also randomly started laughing at Bishop last night.  He did it again tonight, and I managed to capture a video of it.  Enjoy!