11 months

O my goodness! I am going to have a one year old in less than a month! Where did the time go?
The last 11 months have been the best of my life, and I know its only going to get better from here.

Rowen is about 20lbs 11oz. She has 6 teeth and is practically running. She has such a little sense of humor already and is definitely Ms. Personality.














She says "mama", "ada (dada)", and "banana".
She can wave and clap. She knows who Douglas is and can retrieve him when asked.
I love watching her learn new skills, it is such a rewarding feeling.

10 Months!

I just realized that I never posted this!

So..better late than never :)

At 10 months Rowen was 19lbs 2 oz. She had 4 teeth and was walking in her own :)

Slow and (Almost) Steady Saturday

Not So Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday

9 Month Stats, Llamas, and Cupcakes

Rowen had her 9 month appointment today. She is 18 lbs 2 oz, 27 3/4in long, and has a 17 3/4in head!
We were also given the go ahead to start feeding her real people food! Pasta, mac and cheese, all kinds of yummy stuff!

Looking at the mirror baby at the doctors office

We took Rowen to her first fair today! As many know, she has a stuffed llama named Douglas who she looooooves. As soon as I found out about the fair, I pretty much decided that we were going for the sole purpose of Rowen getting to see a real llama.

We walked around forever. She saw goats and sheep, cows and horses. We took her to the rabbit barn and the poultry barn. But we had yet to see a llama.

Finally as we were about to give up and go home, we walked past the feeding/petting zoo. There were llamas! Yay!!

She was unimpressed with the pony.. maybe this means she wont ask us for one later ;P

There were also pot bellied pigs and pygmy goats! She loved them all! We had such a great time!

She loved the pygmy goats! She kept laughing at them.

O! And there was a camel!

Lastly, Daddy got his birthday present today! A few of our friends all pitched in to get him a cupcake tattoo. For those of you that don't know, we called Rowen "Cupcake" in utero. We decided that we were going to get cupcake tattoos for her :)
Colin finally got his. I love it <3

9 months

I can not believe that my little baby is 9 months old already! What the heck happened?!

In the last month Rowen has been getting into everything! The second we put her down, she is off messing with something. She loves to pull the kitchen towels off of the oven handle. Playing with the remotes, Daddy's Xbox controller, laptops, and just about anything on the coffee table keeps her pretty busy.

She is now a pro crawler, and my goodness she is FAST.  You look away for half of a second and she is gone! And much to the dogs dismay, she loves to go after them. She is also a pro at pulling herself up to the couch, so they cant even seek refuge there anymore. No where is safe!















As of yesterday, she has decided that its cool to stand on her own. This terrifies me. Between that, and her dragging/pushing around a walker toy her Auntie Erin gave her, Im beginning to think that walking is in the near future...and I am not ready for that!

We have been trying to transition completely away from pureed food. She now gets pear slices, sweet potato slices,  broccoli, among other things.








Also this week, she is  now the proud owner of not one, but TWO teeth!

I am just in shock. I can not believe how fast she is growing up. Its so awesome to watch her explore and learn new things.

She has her 9 month wellness appointment tomorrow morning. I will update with stats after :)

Wordless Wednesday

8 months

Rowen is 8 months... where has the time gone?

Since our last blog post, a lot of VERY important life events have happened.








Rowen got her first boy band CD, which we all know is a very crucial moment in a young girls life.









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Yea, Im eating pears. What of it?!

Rowen is eating real food. She loves broccoli (yes broccoli), pears, apples, and sweet potatoes. She is not really a fan of peas though






We spent time with friends. This is Sage and her mommy Amanda. We met through my January 2012 mommy group. We like them :)

Sick Snuggles

Rowen got her first cold :(. Everyone in our house got it. It has not been fun.








And most exciting... Rowen got her first TOOTH!! Its not much of a tooth yet, but its there...she doesnt let us look at it though. She covers it up with her tongue when we try. Silly girl.

7 months and First word!

Hi everyone!!



It has been so difficult to keep up with this lately! Planning a wedding, work, and trying to keep up with a mobile 7 month old doesnt leave very much time for blogging!

We officially have a crawler! Rowen is crawling, pulling herself up on stuff, and getting into stuff she shouldn't be! It has definitely been hectic.
She is "talking" more and more. She has been saying "mama" all day!

Rowen had her 6 month appointment last week. She was already technically 7 months.

She is weighing in at 16 pounds 7 ounces and is 26.25in tall! She is growing so fast!

Here are some pictures and a couple videos :)

After a bath

Colin has been taking Rowen jogging every morning. This is her jogging suit!

                                 

First time seeing rain.

Silliness in the kitchen while mom cooks.

Why I Do the Things I Do

This is going to be a different kind of blog than I normally write.

I feel like I am constantly having to explain why I parent the way I do. Which I am fine with. The things I do now, definitely are not the norm of when I was growing up, and I realize that its odd for other people too. People always look at me like I have a third eye when I mention cloth diapering, exclusively pumping, and now making baby food from scratch. I always get the "But isn't that more work" questions... yes... but its worth it and I'm going to explain why.

Im not going to cover cloth diapers again :) I have 2 other posts dedicated to why I cloth diaper. You can find them here ...and here...

Exclusive pumping....

So breastfeeding did not work for us. We had a very very hard time from the start. Rowen would not latch at the hospital. The hospital nurses were...well... we did not have a good experience at all with them trying to help. It was very traumatic and really made me scared to even try again.. But.. when we got home we tried. We got shields and it was going well for a while. Then, I had to go back to work and school when Rowen was 2 weeks old. She was getting bottles practically all day. She developed a preference for bottles and decided that she hated boobs. After many many nights of crying meltdowns on both of our parts, I decided it wasn't worth it. She wasn't happy, I wasn't happy, and we stopped.

So what exactly is exclusive pumping? Well, instead of nursing Rowen, I spend about 20 minutes, 5 times a day, hooked up to a breast pump. I'm a lucky that we do not have to supplement with formula and she gets only breast milk.

So, basically we do the work of both breastfeeding moms and formula feeding moms.  Its a lot of work. But, its what works best for my family.

When we first found out about Rowen, we were terrified. How were we going to afford to feed a baby? Breast feeding is free. I knew that we had to make it work. When it didn't, we had to figure something else out.
I also didnt want to lose the benefits of breastfeeding. I had already planned on pumping while I was at school anyway, so it just became a full-time thing and still is.

Why do I do it? I feel this overwhelming sense of guilt for not being able to make breast feeding work for us. Its silly, because she still gets only breast milk, and we bond other ways. There is such a negativity towards exclusively pumping. I dont know how many doctors, including Rowen's pediatrician, told me that this wasnt going to work and that nursing was the only acceptable way to feed her. Its so ridiculous to me that the doctors would try to make me feel bad for feeding my child. Whatever. The pediatrician thinks I nurse Rowen. Rowen is gaining weight and is healthy and exclusive pumping works. If it means that my freezer looks like this for the next 6 months, so be it :)

Home-made baby food

Its cheaper than jar food and is better for her too. Simple as that. I enjoy making her baby food and knowing exactly what is in the food I am feeding her. Also I can make 3 months worth of food at once and not have to worry about it.

I hope that this post helps other moms be confident in their decisions. Just because its not what everyone else is doing, and just because other people dont understand the things you do, does not mean that it is wrong. You are a mom. Whether you formula feed, breast feed, use disposable diapers, cloth diapers, whatever, you know whats best for your child. Be confident in your parenting and dont let other people make you second guess yourself. As long as you are happy, and your baby is happy, you are doing this parenting thing right <3

Happy Half Birthday!

Rowen is six months old today! What?! When did that happen?

About this time last year was when we found out about her. We we were worried, scared, and wondering if we were ready to be her parents.
Today, I could not imagine life without her! She has made me such a better person already and teaches me something new everyday.
I love watching her meet her milestones and grow a little more each day.

I know its been a month since I posted.. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to :)






Hanging out with the puppies

Looking crazy after her bath   

Rowen got a new blanket and a bib! She also got a new cupcake book and some cupcake refrigerator magnets.

All of this came from ladies in my January 2012 mommy group.

Thanks guys!! We love you!

 Her new favorite place to play is under her swing. She rolls under there, then makes it swing by hitting it.

Rowen has been a lot more cuddly the past few weeks, and I am loving it!
 She speaks "parsletounge" ;P

Happy 6 months Ro-D!!!

Sunday Funday

Happy Sunday all <3

12 days...

...Since my last post. I thought with being out of school I would be better at updating.. obviously not!

So many things have happened!


I celebrated my first mothers day . The day was spent cuddling on the couch, watching Harry Potter movies, and Colin making dinner. It may not have been considered much by others, but it was absolutely perfect..

We announced our engagement...finally... We have techically been engaged since December. I dont know why we dont just tell people when things happen.. It must be our style or something. But yes, we are planning a wedding for September 2013, and I am so excited and already in planning mode.



Rowen went swimming for the first time. It was so much fun and Rowen did so good. I was terrified that she was going to freak out when we got in the pool but she didnt. She loved it and was very upset when we took her out. Hopefully we will go again this weekend :)

I started a new job. I work 20 hours in my old office, and 20 hours upstairs in a new office. Its not the most exciting, but it pays the bills. I have had nothing to do the past week, so I have been wedding planning :). Maybe I will start writing my blogs instead of wasting time haha.

We are still in the process of unpacking... I dont know if we will ever finish.. nor do I really care haha.

When I get off I would much rather spend time with my family than unpacking... Monday is a holiday, maybe I will get something productive accomplished. But probably not.




Colin and I went on a date :) We went to watch the Avengers. It was awesome. Thanks again to Sarah for babysitting! I am still planning on baking you cookies :)
























 This is what I wake up to most mornings... How Rowen is a morning person, I do not know, but this sure does make it easier to get up :)

I love these two so so much <3

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I am also in the process of typing my first, actual post for my other blog! So keep an eye out for that :)

4 Month Stats

Hey guys!
This is going to be a short post. Just wanted to give an update from Rowens appointment yesterday!

At 4 months, she is 13lbs 4oz, 25in long and has a 16in head circumference! My baby has doubled in size!

Her pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start her on solids. We tried some sweet potatoes, but she didnt seem to interested in them. Thats ok, we will wait a month or 2 :)

She also got shots yesterday, so she has been a crabby monster, but I did manage to get some snuggles out of her this morning :)










On another note, I will be starting a new blog! I have learned so much from my mom group about how to be save money, stretch your budget further, and even be more environmentally friendly. I want to share all of the info I have with everyone, but dont want to take away from this blog. This blog is about Rowen, which is why I chose to start a new one :) Here is the link for anyone interested :)