My Brithday List

One of the reasons I love birthdays is that we as a culture choose to celebrate them...often times in grand fashions.  They are happy occasions.  (Oh yeah, and there's usually cake)  My family would always let the birthday person choose dinner that night, make them their favorite dessert, and of course give presents.  We usually got to bring treats to school too to celebrate with our friends and have a birthday party.

My birthday is next week (the 15th), and I'm super excited for it!  I usually celebrate a birthday month, but I'm a bit behind already so I'll settle for a week or a half month.  But I have to admit, as I've gotten older, it's been harder and harder for me to answer the question "what do you want for your birthday?"  I have always liked the surprise of gifts-not knowing what it could be and finding out what people think I would like and/or use.  Well this year, I have complied a list of things I want for my birthday.

I want people to do something good for another person or the world.  I want my friends and family to perform some service to help make the world a better place.  I would LOVE it if among all my friends and family (and whomever they share this list with), all of the 29 things (in honor of me turning 29) on this list are done sometime next week.  Most of them are pretty small.  Some are a bit bigger.  A lot don't require much (if any) money.  But I can promise even the smallest of gifts on this list can mean the world to some people.  So will you please help me get everything on my birthday list sometime between now and the 19th?

I am going to do all of these sometime between my 29th and 30th birthday.  I want to make sure I've done my part to help make the world better.  If anyone wants to check off all 29 with me, that would be the best birthday present ever! 

Now in the spirit of full disclosure, I can't say I came up with this idea all on my own.  It's been a compilation of quite a few different people and things in my life, but I would really love if my friends and family would help me give some of these gifts next week.  It's really all I want for my birthday.


Thank you, and happy giving!

1. Pay for the order of the car behind you in the drive through
2. Offer to babysit so new parents can have a night out
3. Send a real card or letter in the mail-not for an occasion, but just because
4. Donate blood
5. Call a friend or family member you haven't spoken to for a while
6. Volunteer to help out a neighbor (yard work, cleaning, cooking, running errands, etc)
7. Become a mentor to a youth
8. Donate clothes/house hold items
9. Recycle!
10. Plant a tree/flowers/garden
11. Bring dinner to someone who may need a night just to relax
12. Tip generously and/or leave a note of thanks
13. Thank uniformed personnel for their service
14. Say sorry to someone you've hurt, even if they don't deserve it or you didn't do anything wrong but because they were hurt
15. Donate toiletries to a homeless shelter, diapers to a women's shelter, food to a food bank, pet food to a humane society, and/or money to a charity you support
16. Do a chore someone in your household HATES to do
17. Go out to lunch/coffee with a friend to hear their story
18. Take public transit
19. Donate books to a school or daycare
20. Plan a date for your significant other around their favorites
21. Make something (yarn crafts, fabric crafts, art, etc) for someone
22. Visit a nursing home
23. Give someone flowers or a plant
24. Take your dog to the dog park (aka Doggie Disney Land)
25. Give someone who needs it a hug
26. Let someone jump in line ahead of you at the grocery store
27. Buy local
28. Frame some art done by your child to proudly display on the wall
29. Turn off devices for a night to really 'be with' your family

Old MacRowan had a farm

Guess Rowan has managed to pick up a few animal sounds along the way. No idea where the pig came from though...

Oh yeah...

...and then there's this:

Daddy duck, mommy duck, baby duck, baby duck!

Yup!  Rowan's going to be a big brother!  Again, this baby 'ruined' my plans for running a half marathon in Kansas City in April, but I guess I won't complain too much.

We're due towards the end of September, about 2 weeks after Rowan's birthday.  I guess when Ian and I had talked about having kids 2-3 years apart, we decided to shoot for almost exactly 2 years apart.

Generally I've been feeling good.  All the pregnancy symptoms I had with Rowan are nowhere to be found.  A whole new host of them are.  I am SUPER crabby about 14 hours of the day (thankfully that's getting better...I don't know how Ian would deal with 25 more weeks of a crab-a-potamos living in our house).  If I don't eat, I start to get some major gagging and dry heaves going on.  I was ex.haus.ted. during the first trimester.  My energy is coming back now that we're about 15 weeks long, but it's still not 100%. I am also feeling way bigger way faster than I did with Rowan.  I looked at my profile today and saw a definite belly.  Looking back at 15 weeks with Rowan and I BARELY had a belly.  At this rate, I'll be the size of Texas when we're due.  Oh well.  Give me reason to break out the maternity clothes a bit earlier I guess.

Ian and I are really excited to see Rowan become a big brother.  He loves little babies though he does have a hard time sharing mom.  He had a hard time waiting to be held when I was feeding my newborn niece or nephew, but I can't say I blame him.  He'll adjust as we all will when another little one joins our house.  And who knows, maybe by 2 it will be a little bit better.  It may be worse, but at this point we'll just have to take it day by day and see what the sibling relationship develops into.

18 months

Oh, that mess?  Yeah...I did that.

Well, Rowan is 18...ok almost 19 months old.  He's quite a busy little boy, though his favorite games are to dump toys out of buckets and spread them around the room.  Then you do the same with books.  Then the same with the trains in our bins.  Then you pull things off the couch or table.  In other words, we like to make a mess.  He's pretty good about cleaning them up when you direct him to...some of the time.  Ok,  he's better about it for me than he is for Ian, and he really only listens if I help him clean up...but I'll take what we can get.

He is breaking into toddler hood quite well-including the hesitation to share his toys, shaking he head no, screaming when he doesn't like something, and hitting when he doesn't get his way.  He's definitely testing his boundaries, but responds well to redirection.  That or if we take something away for a few moments he gets mad, but then behaves when he gets it back.  Guess this is where the 'real' challenge of parenting begins huh? 

Goofy little boy

Rowan's still a peanut-weighed in at 21 lb 3 oz at 18 months.  He's pushing 22 pounds now, but he's just a little guy.  Skinny as a rail, but generally eats well.  He'll go in spurts where he eats a lot, and then go in spurts where he boycotts food.  We can usually get him to eat cheese and popcorn during his boycotts though. Well balanced I know, but on a day where he boycotts food we figure calories are calories.  We know in the next day or so he'll be back on track eating and he'll get a good balance of food in. 

Walking at the zoo

He has JUST started to walk.  He's a real stubborn little boy when it comes to walking.  He'll happily walk along with you holding one or both of your hands, but he's real hesitant to walk on his own.  This week (a week before he turns 19 months) he has started to walk on his own for more than 3 steps at a time.  We still have to walk near him or give him something to carry as a distraction, but he's taking a lot more independent steps.  I'm sure we'll have a runner on our hands soon though.  Then it will be time for park days and playing outside...come on spring!!!!!

His words are coming too.  He says please, up, out, mama, dada, nana, banana, cheese, eye, hi, and help.  There are a few other words he 'says' that don't sound right at all.  His word for 'cookie' is WAY off base, but he knows what he's saying and kind of makes the sign along with his word (thanks Rena!).  Most of his words are mostly vowels or soft consonants. But my goodness does that boy jibber-jabber.  We have NO idea what he's saying, but he certainly tells stories.  He tells jokes too.  Ian says he'll be jabbering along and then start to laugh...so whatever he said had to have been hilarious.

Rowan loves Church.  Church...tolerates Rowan.

We did make the decision to get tubes put in his ears this week.  He had back to back double ear infections in February.  That, paired with his struggle learning to walk, limited vocabulary, and constant fluid in his ears-we figured tubes wouldn't be a bad thing.  He handled the surgery well, but was MAD AT THE WORLD when he woke up.  He managed to calm down fairly quickly, once we got back to the room with mom, dad, and a little Elmo on TV.  It's only been a couple of days, but we're looking forward to seeing the changes in his balance and talking. 

So that's that!  We're still pretty amazed by our little boy.  Cannot wait for the nicer weather so we can play outside more!

Christmas Whirlwind

Santa came!

Christmas this year was amazing. And exhausting.  I'm so thankful that we got the opportunity to visit so much of our family and see Rowan experience Christmas this year.  He was such a trooper on the long travel to and from MN.  Just like us, he got sick and tired of being in the car, but his mental breakdowns only lasted a little bit when compared to the hours he spent in the car.  Our biggest struggle those days in MN was sleeping at night.  Rowan, Ian, and I were all in the same room.  Only problem is that's a real rare occurrence for us...and Rowan didn't like it all that much.  Rowan didn't sleep that well while in MN, which means we didn't sleep that well.  We survived, but we were all relieved and happy to get back to our house and in our own beds.  Santa came and brought Rowan some awesome goods he'll enjoy time and time again. 

Sledding rules!

While in MN, Rowan got to have his first experience with snow.   He absolutely loved sledding in the 3+ feet of snow we had at my Nana's house.  He definitely did not like sitting in the snow, but sledding was awesome.  He got mad when we took him out of his sled to adjust his sitting posture or to go inside.  Too bad he didn't understand at the time that staying outside-in 10 degree weather, even when bundled up for too long isn't a good idea for a little boy.  Oh well.  Chalk it up to another traumatizing experience we put our son through and fodder for his therapy sessions later in life. 

The start of Vesper Family Christmas

After we got back to NE, we got to have a second Christmas with Ian's side of the family.  We enjoyed the time in Lincoln with all of Ian's family.  Traveling back and forth between Lincoln and Omaha had it's own set of challenges, but we all got to sleep in our own beds and Rowan and mostly normal bed times. 

Christmas Eve

Despite the lack of sleep and miles in the car, I wouldn't change anything about Christmas this year.  Rowan was spoiled by his family and has all sorts of new toys and books to play with.  We got to make some wonderful memories with our parents.  I feel like this year we got to really sit back and soak in the miracle of Christmas.  It's not every day that we have a Holiday that celebrates family and sacrificial giving as much as Christmas.  I'm thankful we got a chance to really celebrate.  I hope you all had a good holiday season as well and 2014 brings you immeasurable amounts of hope.

Walking walking

Santa present #2

Puppy!

Drumming fool

No Christmas would be complete without a cameo from Spiderman and Iron Man

15+ months

Oh wow...so much that I haven't written about lately.  We've had a few things happen in the last four months.  Rowan turned 1 (O-N-E!!!!!!).  Rowan enjoyed a couple of weeks with both mom and dad home while I was furloughed.  We've done a trip up to Minnesota and two to Kansas City.  Rowan got to go trick or treating with his cousin Hudson.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  And now w'ere getting ready to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas is still my favorite time of year. I'm so glad that we get to celebrate with our friends and family.  Plus I feel like this is Rowan's 'real' first Christmas.  I know we had Christmas with him last year, but he was still so little.  This year Rowan is starting to get Christmas.  He loves reading our Christmas books and doing our advent calendar each night (though I suppose the fact that our advent calendar comes with a daily dose of chocolate has nothing to do with it...)  Plus this year for Christmas we'll get to see both sets of grandparents.  Bonus!

Alright, that's enough talking for now.  Here are some vital stats and pictures!

-Rowan has grown quite a bit.  I honestly can't remember what he was at a year (and I somehow managed to NOT write it down somewhere) but he was 19lb 7oz at his first 15 month check.  He was super sick at his 15 month check.  He hadn't eaten much the couple of days before so we're guessing he had lost a little weight.  Since he was sick, our doctor didn't want to do shots that day.  So we ended up going back just shy of 2 weeks later for shots and a weight check.  He's now 20lb 7oz.  So yeah...not eating for a few days takes a toll on a baby's weight.  He's about 32 inches long too.
-Rowan now has 13 teeth.  Almost has a full set of chompers!  He loves to brush his teeth each night.
-Rowan has a few more words now (banana, uh-oh, mom, dad, woof).  He also tells the dogs to sit (kind of...it's more of a short "eh", but he only says it when we tell the dogs to sit).  He has a few signs too (milk, eat, please and we're working on bath and water).  He has also learned to shake his head no...and he does that one a lot.
-No walking yet, he's content to crawl and be carried.  He's willing to stand unassisted for a bit now. Yesterday he even took a small step towards Ian after standing unassisted for about 20 seconds.  Walking is on the horizon, just not sure how far away that horizon is yet.

Avid reader.  We have to read each day, and he knows which books  he wants to read on any given day.

I'm ONE and awesome!

Halloween 2013

We loved pumpkins, before cutting them up

And then we cut them up...dis.like.

But carving with mom was fun.

Daddy's boy

Cheese!

Ready for our next adventure!

Lounging in his big boy car seat

Bath time.  True story: Mom spelled out Rowan, and Rowan added the V onto the wall.  We know, we know...genius child 

MacLeod family-December 2013

11 Months

Holy crap...that means in 4 weeks from today my baby boy will be O-N-E.  That's just crazy!  It's so bizarre to think of all that he's been through this year.  He started not being able to do much of anything...just eat, sleep, and poop pretty much.  Now he's crawling, standing, eating solid food (and real solid food...not mushed up food), laughing, having temper tantrums, and showing some definite preferences. I'm constantly amazed at how we are created.  Life truly is a miracle and I'm so thankful that We were entrusted with Rowan.  We're pretty darn lucky.

Alright...enough sappy talk.  Rowan...11 months.  What's going on in his life?  Well, not much new.  He's eating solid food almost exclusively.  I'm still breastfeeding about 3 times a day.  He nurses first thing in the morning and before bed.  He'll usually nurse once more during the day-either around lunch time or mid afternoon.  He'll get milk in sippy cups too and does really well with that.  He loves fruit, dairy, and MEAT!  This boy is definitely a meat eater at heart.  He shows his preferences at meal time every day.  We'll put a variety of foods on his high chair, and he'll immidiately go for his favorites.  One of our new favorite meal time games is feed the puppies.  If the dogs are inside, Rowan loves to throw his left over food on the floor and watch the dogs eat it.  Thankfully he's good about eating for himself first before feeding the dogs, but feeding the dogs is hil-arious.  It's even better when the dogs come up and lick his hands.  Belly laughs.  Every. Time.

We're sure he's put on weight, but we're not sure how much.  He definitely had a good growth spurt and is much longer now.  He also looks quite a bit chunkier in the thighs and belly.  Anxious to see where he's at at his next check.  Even though he's gained weight, he's still a peanut.  Just growing out of size 2 diapers (using disposables at night time) and still in 9 month clothes.  The 6-9 month clothes are a bit tight now and not quite long enough.  I'm guessing we'll have to pull out the 12 month clothes either just before or shortly after his birthday.

Rowan is also very good at throwing temper tantrums when we take something away from him.  He loves our phones, but does not like when we have to take them away.  You would think we were hurting the baby by taking the phone away.  But thankfully he does calm down relatively quickly.  Unless he's tired.  Then it's a rough go for a few minutes.

He has nine teeth popped through now.  Eight teeth in the front and one molar.  The molar was a bit rough for him.  We just picked up some teething tablets the other day-wish we had done that sooner.  They seem to work well for him. Before then we were getting by with tylenol or ibuprofen. 

We had our first scary fever incident earlier this month.  Rowan came down with a fever quick and hard.  Got all the way up to 104.7.  We didn't have to take him into the hospital because he was staying hydrated and we could get the fever down with meds, a cool bath, munching on ice chips, and a cool wash cloth on the back of his neck.  The fever lasted for about 71 hours.  The last time we took his temp, we were going to take him into the doctor if he still had  fever and it was 97 something.  Poor guy just wanted to cuddle, nurse, and sleep. 

While he's pulling himself to standing all the time, he's not seeming all that interested in walking.  He's scooted along the table once, but that's it.  He's perfectly content to crawl.  Ian's betting that he'll go from standing to walking in about a day-once he decides he wants to that is.  =)

That's about it for our little boy.  Next month-his birthday.  Crazy and so very exciting all at the same time!