Recent Rowanisms, 2 month and 2 year Stats

Rowan's Rendition of the Alphabet Song-- "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY and Z. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep."

Rowan's Personal Philosophy--"My mommy IS my mommy."

Some other interesting words of wisdom from Rowan--Anytime Rowan is more than 5 feet away from me, she will say "Mommy's so sad." Then she'll run up next to me and say "Mommy's happy now." Tonight Lance saw Rowan chewing on something and asked her what she was eating. She handed it to him and said "Finger bones". We're assuming that must mean finger nails. She says something that amazes us and something that cracks us up every day.

Now for the stats. After a not so fun-filled doctor appointment which included shots for both kids and an incident including Rowan grabbing the syringe and scraping the needle down her leg, I though it would be fun to compare the 2-month stats of my very different children.

Today Tate, at two-months, weighs 13 pounds, 5.5 ounces (90-95th %ile) and measures 22.75 inches (50th %ile). In comparison Rowan, at two months, weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces and measured 22 inches. That's 5 ounces larger than Tate at birth.

Rowan, at two years, is actually not as petite as she once was! I'd like to say that's due to a varied, healthy diet, but we're still kind of working on that one. She is now 24 pounds, 7 ounces (50th %ile) and 34.5 inches (75th %ile). How any child of mine and Lance's is above the average height I'll never know. I'd say she should enjoy it while it lasts.

Fat and Balding

Yes, this is what I think of the man in my life. Tate, that is. I've been noticing his hair is getting thinner and thinner. Today I looked in his carseat at the head support and saw a thin layer of hair around the inside. Poor little guy. He's still quite darling, however, though he's already outgrowing some clothes and is into size 2 diapers. His 2-month checkup is Monday, as is Rowan's 2-year checkup. And, interestingly, though the appointments were scheduled so Lance could come with me on his lunch break, he now has a meeting, so I get to take 2 children to the doctor for shots. Then I get to bring them home, attempt to make lunch and feed the kids and hope they'll take naps.

Tate actually slept for almost 5 hours straight last night. I finished nursing him around 5:30, couldn't fall back to sleep and was annoyed with Lance's alarm at 6. Then again at 6:05, 6:10 and 6:15. Finally I told him he needed to get up and quit pressing snooze. He said "okay", rolled back over, fell asleep and the alarm went off again at 6:20. I finally got back to sleep sometime after he left for work and probably slept about 15 minutes before Rowan got up. So, here's to a weekend with no alarms (assuming, that is, that he turned his off) and hopefully a good amount of sleep.

Naptime Entertainment

Rowan has been in bed "napping" for almost an hour and I love listening to her little conversations with herself. She spent the first part of the nap talking about her family and named all of the members of her family over and over. (Lately she has named two of her Little People "Grandma Jackie" and "Grandma Mary" and likes them to accompany her during meals. Grandma Jackie is a blond-haired paramedic. Grandma Mary is a dog in a postal worker uniform. We'll be keeping that one to ourselves...) After hearing about family members, I have been listening to interesting renditions of "Where is Thumbkin", "Jesus Loves Me", the ABCs and a song my mom taught Rowan about a Dutch girl and Sambo. She has also been saying "wild, wild, wild little girl".

After yet another pooping in bed incident, Lance had the brilliant idea to put her sleepsack on backwards so she can't unzip it herself. It's working wonderfully, however, this sleepsack is fleece and as the weather gets warmer, I'm afraid it will be too hot for her to wear. I may have to get online and see if they make extra large sleep sacks in a lightweight material. If not, I might just have to learn how to use my sewing machine which is still sitting in it's never opened box. And, on the subject of sleep, Tate has been sleeping much better at night for the past few days. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but these 4-hour stretches are almost tolerable!

On another note, I got my haircut today for the first time since January and I feel so much better! If I can just make it look the same without the help of a professional...

Butterflies and BMs

On Monday I took Rowan and Tate to Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies. I was so excited to take Rowan and see her reaction to the butterflies. We met Susan, Lily and Ally there. I'm not sure why I thought that Rowan should get out of her stroller and walk around, but I did. And she was wild. She decided the pathway was her own little track and decided to run in circles and squeal. Lily was upset because Rowan was running away from her, Tate was upset and screaming in the Baby Bjorn (which he generally loves) and I was trying to control them. Susan was a huge help, but I'll admit, I was ready to leave pretty quickly. I'm sure Rowan saw a few butterflies, but she wasn't all that excited by them. Not quite the perfect little field trip I had hoped for.

Later that day, Rowan wouldn't nap. I heard her upstairs playing and playing in her bed and decided to just let her hang out while I met with our mortgage broker and searched for houses. Little did I know she had gotten out of her sleep sack (which we make her wear to avoid such incidences) and her onesie and her diaper and, yes, she pooped in her bed. And played in it. A lot. When I finally went to get her, I opened the door and knew by the smell that I was in for a long afternoon. She was covered. Her bed was covered. Her stuffed animals were covered. She took the longest shower of her life, I did tons of laundry and poor Tate was stuck in his bouncy seat. Needless to say, I was more than ready for Lance to come home.

While we're on the subject of poop, Tate has recently started pooping approximately every 3 days. And when he goes, it literally shoots out of his diaper and up to his armpits. I called the doctor when he first went over a day and there were still no signs of poop. They, of course, inquired about his "BMs" (I feel so old referring to it as a "BM") and told me not to worry. Evidentally it's typical to go 6 times a day and just randomly start going every 3 days.

In the meantime, we can't begin to come to a decision on a house and I can picture the hours of evenings and weekends adding up until we finally settle on a house--and hopefully don't regret our decision!

Delinquent Blogger

When I actually have things to write about, I have no time to write. So, I'll be trying to sum up the past few weeks in one blog--then maybe later I'll write in more detail.

First smile--Just before Easter, Tate started smiling. I thought it was just a fluke, but soon realized he really is social smiling. It's quite fun and, considering he is still not a great sleeper, it's a nice thing to wake up to a smiling baby! He's just so adorable. Too bad today Rowan told me she was going to "pee and poo poo on Baby Tate". So ladylike...

Our trip to Charlotte--Though we tried to think of it as a vacation ahead of time, it surely was not. Poor Lance was stuck packing pretty much constantly and I left with the kids every day so that he could pack. Fortunately everything got packed and we decided to part with our dining room set, our kitchen table and benches, our washer and dryer and our lawn mower. So, when we do find a house it will undoubtedly be empty for quite a while. We sold our couch, loveseat and a bedroom set before we initially left Charlotte, so we'll be spending lots of time playing on the floor! I was able to see a lot of friends--playdates at Stacy, Patricia and Trang's house, Nathan's birthday party and dinner group. Jenni, Toni, Jared and Betsy came over, too. Rowan was in her element, having a great time and being social with her friends. And she was a trooper on the plane--even coming home when delays and cancellations put our arrival time at 5am. We could have driven home as quickly as it took us to fly. It was nice to be back in Charlotte, even with the stress of packing, and very sad to leave our first home.

No More Mortgage--Our house in Charlotte closed last Thursday. A bit of drama regarding our fence (it encroaches three neighboring properties), but we closed on time and are just awaiting some signatures regarding an easement to get some of our money which is being held in escrow. I'm so happy to have a month without double payments. We're now on the hunt for a house. We've pretty much settled on the Grandville area and are looking there for now. Things could change, but it's a good middle ground for us--very close to the highway making it easy for Lance to get to Holland and easy for me to get to Grand Rapids. The schools are good, too, which is huge. There are several nice neighborhoods and we're just hoping to find a house that will work for us. We went out with our realtor on Sunday, but are pretty sure we haven't found our house yet. I'm going again Friday and am hoping for better luck.

Medical Malady Part II--A quick trip to the doctor revealed severe wrist tendonitis (possibly carpel tunnel) as well as the flu. Yuck!

Rowan Turns Two--I can't believe Rowan is already two. Lance took her to Captain Sundae for her first ever ice cream. She chose a Dora shaped ice cream on a stick. I was home with the flu and was so sad to miss it! She had lots of fun sitting on Tommy Turtle and eating Dora. She's still talking about it. We also had a small party on Saturday with mostly family and a few friends. Rowan was squealing and running around, loving every minute of it. We had a blast.

Lost License--Lance is gone this week on a business trip. He called on his layover in Cleveland saying that he couldn't find his driver's license. He had enough documentation to fly so he wasn't too worried until I told him there was no way they'd let him rent a car. So, after finding the license (in my purse--it had been there since we went to Charlotte), I was off to FedEx to spend $60 to overnight it to him. But, he has it, has his car and was able to keep all of his appointments.

Spring is Here--We have actually had a few days in a row of sunny weather. We're spending part of the week at my mom's which is perfect. One of us is always ready to play with Rowan and we've had a lot of fun outside already. It's amazing what a little sunshine will do for my mood! I may even feel adventurous enough to give the dogs a bath outside!

Happy Birthday, Rowan!

Rowan,

I can't believe you're already 2 years old! You are growing up and doing new things every day. You are energetic, smart and adorable and I can't begin to imagine life without you. At this time last year, you had just started walking and were very proud of yourself. You said a few words and were not at all interested in birthday cake. This year you are running, "jumping", dancing, kicking a soccer ball and trying to ride the new tricycle Grandma Jackie got you. You are talking up a storm and loved singing yourself "Happy Birthday" today. You love to pick out your own clothes and are currently obsessed with pink and blue. And I'm quite certain you'll be a bit more excited about birthday cake this year. I love to watch you grow and change and listen to all of the new things you say. Nothing could be better than when you give me hugs and say "I love you, Mommy" and having you cuddle with me when we sing "Sunshine" before bed. I love you more than you'll ever know and I am such a lucky mom to have you as my daughter, Sweet Bean.