Tate's new favorite word is uh-oh. He loves to sit in his highchair, drop things and say "uh-oh". He does this over and over again, making meal times a bit lengthy but also pretty adorable. He has a little cold this week that is keeping him up at night, so when I'm so tired all day, it's nice to be humored by my now 11-month old little guy.
Today we had a lengthy playdate with Lily, Ally, Brady and Georgia. Rowan had made Valentine's cards for all of the kids and was so excited to give them to her friends. When Lily came in, Rowan handed her the Valentine and Lily looked at it and threw it back at Rowan. I could just see the hurt in Rowan's eyes and I wanted to scoop her up and protect her from all of the many, many hurts she's going to have in her life. But, Rowan bounced back on her own, gave out the rest of her Valentine's cards and had fun with her friends.
This afternoon, after naps, I brought in a tub of snow and let the kids play in it. We made a little snowman and a snow "sandcastle", then we made snow ice cream. It was a lot of fun, but a huge mess, too. Tate thought the snowman was hysterical. I put it outside and he would run over to the window and start cracking up at the snowman. But, it didn't last long as the dogs knocked it over and ate the carrot and raisin embellishments.
Lance is back home and we're loving life!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The Past Few Weeks, In Pictures
The past few weeks have been emotionally draining for Lance and me and I haven't really had a desire to write about all of the details of Mary's cancer. The kids, however, are blissfully unaware. They miss their daddy who has been gone for almost 2 weeks now (first on business to Atlanta, then to Canton to take care of his parents), but we have tried to stay busy. So, I'm taking a break from writing and am just going to post pictures. In the photo montage are pics of Nathan's 1st birthday, the GR Children's Museum, the Kalamazoo Museum and fun around the house.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Much better!
Here at the Pellow home, we are all feeling so much better. Rowan seems to be giving up on the random, extremely long temper tantrums at bedtime (knock on wood), Tate is back to being the healthy, happy boy we're used to and I got out by myself for a few hours at book club. Though Lance is out of town, we've had three playdates and the kids have been sufficiently busy. Today we make the trek to Grandma Jackie's for a little family time and the great children's museum here.
Rowan continues her obsession with books and would probably sit and be read to all day if anyone had the time and patience for that. If only she enjoyed novels, I think I could curl up with her in bed and read aloud to her all day. When I was nursing Tate the other day, Rowan brought a book up to me, pointed to the word "cat" and said the phonetic sounds for cat "kah, a, t...kah, a, t...CAT!! Mommy, that word says cat!" Was it a fluke? Maybe, but then later in the day, she found another book that I'm relatively certain I haven't read to her since we lived in Charlotte. The title of the book is "Pets". She looked at it and said "pah-eh-t-s. pah-eh-t-s. PETS!" She's been sounding out words randomly for months, but has never blended the sounds into words. I'm thinking if I could teach her to read, she could quite possibly keep herself entertained for hours!!
Tate is now moving very quickly and falling quite a bit less. He gets excited about everything and makes the cutest squeal when he's happy. He loves to play with balls (that can be read two ways as that's where his hand immediately shoots as soon as the diaper comes off) and is very into the "I'm going to drop this over and over to see how many times you'll pick it up" game. He is also eschewing all baby food and much other food in general. My only sure-things are Kashi cereal bars and vanilla yogurt. Any ideas?
Not such happy news is that Grandma Mary does have cancer. She goes in for surgery tomorrow, which will likely be followed by radiation, chemotherapy or both. Chest scans look good, so all signs say that it's contained to the uterus and cervix. Monica is there now and I am guessing one or all of us will be there next week to help out post-op.
In the meantime, I will be taking lots of baths and doing lots of reading as a high of 7 just doesn't beckon me to the outdoors.
Rowan continues her obsession with books and would probably sit and be read to all day if anyone had the time and patience for that. If only she enjoyed novels, I think I could curl up with her in bed and read aloud to her all day. When I was nursing Tate the other day, Rowan brought a book up to me, pointed to the word "cat" and said the phonetic sounds for cat "kah, a, t...kah, a, t...CAT!! Mommy, that word says cat!" Was it a fluke? Maybe, but then later in the day, she found another book that I'm relatively certain I haven't read to her since we lived in Charlotte. The title of the book is "Pets". She looked at it and said "pah-eh-t-s. pah-eh-t-s. PETS!" She's been sounding out words randomly for months, but has never blended the sounds into words. I'm thinking if I could teach her to read, she could quite possibly keep herself entertained for hours!!
Tate is now moving very quickly and falling quite a bit less. He gets excited about everything and makes the cutest squeal when he's happy. He loves to play with balls (that can be read two ways as that's where his hand immediately shoots as soon as the diaper comes off) and is very into the "I'm going to drop this over and over to see how many times you'll pick it up" game. He is also eschewing all baby food and much other food in general. My only sure-things are Kashi cereal bars and vanilla yogurt. Any ideas?
Not such happy news is that Grandma Mary does have cancer. She goes in for surgery tomorrow, which will likely be followed by radiation, chemotherapy or both. Chest scans look good, so all signs say that it's contained to the uterus and cervix. Monica is there now and I am guessing one or all of us will be there next week to help out post-op.
In the meantime, I will be taking lots of baths and doing lots of reading as a high of 7 just doesn't beckon me to the outdoors.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Broken Resolutions
I suppose there is a reason I don't usually make New Year's resolutions. I break them. Almost immediately upon making them. Does it help if I say I have an excuse? No, I haven't been leadng a busy, very fulfilling social life or accomplishing all kinds of tasks. But, I have taken both children to the doctor as well as going myself this week. I have taken Tate's temperature countless times. I have stayed up all night with a very hot, crying baby. And I have allowed Rowan more TV than she's had in a long, long time. (In my defense, though, it was probably still less than many of her 2-year-old counterparts).
On Monday, I got to make the ever-pleasant trek to the doctor to have an abscess drained. Oh, MRSA, please, please go away and never come back. Also on Monday, Tate had a very high fever which his doctor told me to watch for the day. Monday night, Lance discovered a suspicious bump on Rowan and, in light of my new MRSA outbreak, we decided Tuesday would be a great day to take both of the kids to their doctor. Cancel playdate with Susan and the girls, take kids to the doctor, hold a crying baby rest of day.
But, now that it's Saturday, Tate's fever has gone down, though he has a rash everywhere (roseola, we're told), Rowan's bump is gone (thank God) and we're all ready to get out, we are in the midst of yet another winter storm. So, I'm going to take Rowan outside for the 10 minutes I would imagine she'll last before begging for hot chocolate. And, for yet another day, I will hang out at home.
Hoping for a much, much better week next week!
On Monday, I got to make the ever-pleasant trek to the doctor to have an abscess drained. Oh, MRSA, please, please go away and never come back. Also on Monday, Tate had a very high fever which his doctor told me to watch for the day. Monday night, Lance discovered a suspicious bump on Rowan and, in light of my new MRSA outbreak, we decided Tuesday would be a great day to take both of the kids to their doctor. Cancel playdate with Susan and the girls, take kids to the doctor, hold a crying baby rest of day.
But, now that it's Saturday, Tate's fever has gone down, though he has a rash everywhere (roseola, we're told), Rowan's bump is gone (thank God) and we're all ready to get out, we are in the midst of yet another winter storm. So, I'm going to take Rowan outside for the 10 minutes I would imagine she'll last before begging for hot chocolate. And, for yet another day, I will hang out at home.
Hoping for a much, much better week next week!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Year in Review
To sum it all up, 2008 was a year of change--and I'm not just talking about the Presidential race. We, in the Pellow household, had a baby and moved twice in just the first half of the year. Thankfully the second half was a bit more relaxing. Here is a month-by-month account of the major events in our lives:
January--We officially moved to Holland. Lance started his job at Hope. Our sweet nephew, Nathan, was born. Rowan moved into a "big girl" bed and learned her ABCs (singing them, recongnizing them and knowing which letters make each sound)
Febuary--TATE WAS BORN!!! Rowan learned to spell her name. Lance and I celebrated our 10th Valentine's Day together
March--A very snowy Easter, Tate's first smile, an accepted offer on our house in Charlotte
April--Rowan turned 2! A family trip to Charlotte to see friends and officially move out of our first home
May--lots of house hunting and my first Mother's Day with two children
June--Lance turns 31, we moved into our new house in Byron Center, Rowan's poop escapades that will haunt me the rest of the year begin
July--Tate rolled over, Lance and I celebrated our 8th anniversary with a trip to Chicago
August--Tate's first teeth, a much-needed break at the annual Girls' Weekend
September--Tate starts crawling, making life a bit more interesting.
October--I turn 31, the Livingston clan moves to Chicago
November--a few unseasonably warm days made for our last trip to the beach, Tate's first steps, a family trip to Chicago, Thanksgiving at my mom's
December--Tate officially walking, Rowan's first Christmas program, Christmas at my mom's, then at the Pellow's
Now that 2008 is over and 2009 is here, I have made a few resolutions. I'm not really big into resolutions, but there are a few things I really need to do. One is to read the Bible in a year. Since I'm a voracious reader, anyway, I thought it ridiculous, and even a little embarrassing that I haven't read the whole Bible. My other one will be a bit harder to keep up. That is to do a better job documenting my kids' lives. Somehow Christmas came and went and I took around 10 pictures. And no video. This means I missed out on Rowan singing "Rudu the red-nosed reindeer" with her handprint reindeer named Rudu and Olive. I also missed her singing to the Christmas tree and the ornaments. I missed Tate trying to rip open presents and Rowan "helping" every single person open their presents, I missed Tate and Nathan following each other around. Really, I always say I need to get better about this, so my New Year's resolution is to try. Hopefully this will mean I will blog more and maybe even write in my children's baby books!
January--We officially moved to Holland. Lance started his job at Hope. Our sweet nephew, Nathan, was born. Rowan moved into a "big girl" bed and learned her ABCs (singing them, recongnizing them and knowing which letters make each sound)
Febuary--TATE WAS BORN!!! Rowan learned to spell her name. Lance and I celebrated our 10th Valentine's Day together
March--A very snowy Easter, Tate's first smile, an accepted offer on our house in Charlotte
April--Rowan turned 2! A family trip to Charlotte to see friends and officially move out of our first home
May--lots of house hunting and my first Mother's Day with two children
June--Lance turns 31, we moved into our new house in Byron Center, Rowan's poop escapades that will haunt me the rest of the year begin
July--Tate rolled over, Lance and I celebrated our 8th anniversary with a trip to Chicago
August--Tate's first teeth, a much-needed break at the annual Girls' Weekend
September--Tate starts crawling, making life a bit more interesting.
October--I turn 31, the Livingston clan moves to Chicago
November--a few unseasonably warm days made for our last trip to the beach, Tate's first steps, a family trip to Chicago, Thanksgiving at my mom's
December--Tate officially walking, Rowan's first Christmas program, Christmas at my mom's, then at the Pellow's
Now that 2008 is over and 2009 is here, I have made a few resolutions. I'm not really big into resolutions, but there are a few things I really need to do. One is to read the Bible in a year. Since I'm a voracious reader, anyway, I thought it ridiculous, and even a little embarrassing that I haven't read the whole Bible. My other one will be a bit harder to keep up. That is to do a better job documenting my kids' lives. Somehow Christmas came and went and I took around 10 pictures. And no video. This means I missed out on Rowan singing "Rudu the red-nosed reindeer" with her handprint reindeer named Rudu and Olive. I also missed her singing to the Christmas tree and the ornaments. I missed Tate trying to rip open presents and Rowan "helping" every single person open their presents, I missed Tate and Nathan following each other around. Really, I always say I need to get better about this, so my New Year's resolution is to try. Hopefully this will mean I will blog more and maybe even write in my children's baby books!
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