Happy 8 months Rowan!

Wait, didn't I just do a 7 month post? Time is flying faster than I can keep up. The past 8 months flew at the blink of an eye!
Parenthood is definitely not an easy job but at the same time I love it! Rowan keeps me on my toes and we love her with such intensity! It's so insane how fast time is flying!!!

Name: Rowan Decaris Potter

Rowan's age: 8 months old, 6.5 months adjusted age

Weight: My tank baby now weighs 20.2 pounds. Holy heavens. This girl is so dang heavy. She is so yummy!



Solids?  Yes! This girl loves to eat! We took a break from solids when she had bronchiolitis, but now we are back at it!


Clothing size: 12 month clothing for this girl! Still in size 3 diapers. We fit into SOME 9 months, but I am starting to pack it away :(. She wears 18m in pants, and we are even venturing into size 24m for pants. She is growing so much!

Rowan milestones (for her adjusted age, 6.5 months):

-Rowan is completely sitting up. She loves it, and it has opened a new world for her! She sits like a big girl, so fun!




-Rowan is pretty darn mobile, rolls all over wherever she can, and tries to slither on her belly, like a snake. She is super fast and VERY mischievous! She has been trying to play with our DVR and TV system, rolls into the tree and tries to eat the presents. Oh boy. So it begins! She seems so anxious to move! I wonder if we might see crawling soon. 

-Rowan is becoming more of an expert on grabbing! She reaches, throws really hard, starts to pick small objects, and passes toys from hand to hand. She is getting good at pulling things (her favorite is my hair, ouch!),pushing objects and buttons!


-Rowan cut her first 2 teeth at the same time! She has 2 cutie little teeth on the bottom, which caused her a lot of pain. However, it is so dang cute! 

-Rowan is very aware of people she sees often and will reach out to be held. If you say "where is mama" (for example), she will turn to find and look at me!

-Rowan FINALLY found her feet! I feel like she is such a late bloomer with this! She will also grab her thighs which makes me laugh!


Rowan loves: 

-her food! She is eating about 6 oz most bottles, 8 oz at bedtime.



-toys! She definitely has preferences!



- TISSUE PAPER. Holy crap, you put anything remotely tissue paper like, she will tear it up and scream with delight. I think the million doctors visits weren't so bad because she loved the paper on the table!


-Showers! We give her baths, but since she was so sick, we would steam up the bathroom and shower with her, as the steam would help her lungs. She is IN LOVE with water, loves when it runs down her face. She now gets so excited when she sees any sort of running water.


Rowan doesn't like: Being burped, breathing treatments, putting her arms through sleeves. The nose frida (the ONLY thing that will clear her nose). Oh Rowan.



New/fun things we did this month:

-Well, this isn't fun, but she caught bronchiolitis. Thanksgiving night was spent in the ER, and took her a little over a week to kick its butt.



-we celebrated her first Thanksgiving! It wasn't how I thought it would be, but regardless, it was a time to give thanks for the true blessings in our lives! 

-we took a road trip to Angel's Camp and it was so fun! She was a wonderful traveler but didn't want to nap!!

-We have tried to participate in Elk Grove's super cute Christmas activities! We attended the light parade and Rowan really seemed to enjoy  it!

How is Rowan's spit up?: Only happens if she is overly active after eating. No biggie.

Sleep:
We have kept the same nighttime routine of solids, bath, prayers/reading and her bottle. She has become a CRAZY mover in her sleep! She will tumble down her crib, move in all sorts of directions! She will sleep from about 7-7:30 to about 5:45/6.





Naps?
3 naps, a short AM nap (40 minutes), a mid morning nap that lasts about 2 hours, and 1 late afternoon nap (30 minutes-1 hour)

Rowan's personality so far: 
Rowan is super fun! She is so snuggly, happy, and LOVES people! She isn't shy and loves to smile at people! She also adores watching the big kids play at preschool! She is generally a super happy baby. However, if she gets upset, watch out! LOL!


Love you forever Rowan!

Bronchiolitis, you suck

HI friends,


A part 2 to our "awesome" thanksgiving adventure, lol!


After our ER visit, Rowan was "diagnosed" with croup. We were set up with a follow up appointment the next morning. Rowan was still not well. She was pale, pink around her eyes and just didn't seem like her cheerful self. We were drilled in the ER to check if she was turning blue/labored breathing, so then came the obsession of staring at her, making sure nothing was wrong. It was beyond stressful. The thing that frightened me so much was her little chest kept caving. Those are called retractions and they are bad. It means she isn't getting enough air in her airways so her body was working overtime to help to breathe. If no interventions take place, she could lose oxygen and go into distress. She kept doing that in the morning, despite our treatments, etc. The doctor checking her, Dr. Sanchez, was very concerned. I literally felt like I was going to barf and cry at the same time.

He quickly checked her out, asked us questions, and immediately started the breathing treatment of abuterol and she also drank an oral steroid as well. Rowan HATED the breathing treatment. It was basically a machine with a mask hooked up, which one of us had to hold to her face. She screamed, cried, howled, kicked, you name it. I literally felt my heart ripped in 2 seeing her that way. After the treatment, she was much better. Dr. Sanchez said it DEFINITELY wasn't croup, but  bronchiolitis. Basically, its a cold gone very bad. It constricts their airways so babies struggle with breathing. There isn't any medications, since its a virus. Its treated with breathing treatments and time (UGH). What is very scary is breathing distress, and a small percentage are hospitalized. It can also turn into pneumonia. Preemies are extra succeptible to getting it, because their lungs not being fully developed at birth. This is where it was VERY apparent of Rowan's premature birth. SHe was having  much harder time because of her preemie lungs. We were sent home with that machine, oral meds, etc. We came home and we were so sick with worry over our little girl.

The next few days and week turned into daily doctors appointments, treatments, chest retractions and crying. Rowan hated her treatments so  much. Could you blame her? It was horribly loud, scary machine and we were trying to shove a mask of steam/medicine in her face. ONe afternoon, I happened to be by myself and  I had to do the treatment on my own. Her cries were breaking my heart. I couldn't stand seeing her this way, and I felt like we have all been through enough. I broke down in hysterical tears, my tears falling all over her head. I cradled her in my arms and spoke to her between sobs, basically saying how much I loved her. That  I wasn't trying to hurt her, this was for her own good. I basically poured out my heart to my 7 month old, which was kind of funny/crazy now that I think about it. HOWEVER....she actually stopped crying, calmed down, and intensely stared at me in such a way that it almost freaked me out. I thought I was imagining it till my mom quietly walked in and witnessed the whole thing. She said it was though Rowan completely understood what I  was saying. My mom even cried because she felt like it was such a powerful moment between mother and baby. What was crazy was Rowan stopped her tears and finished out her last 15 minutes of treatment with no fuss. From that point on, she tolerated her treatments and no longer put up such a fight.

As the days went on, Rowan started to improve. We tried to be "normal" and took her to our town's light parade! The night air definitely helped and it was so fun to be part of the town's Christmas festivities! Hubby took the whole week off so he could be with her, as I have very little sick leave left. Rowan handled this dumb bronchiolitis like a boss. Despite being sick, she had NO fever the entire time , and was trying her darndest to be the happiest baby on the block. She was dealing with it much better than me. She was sick for a week and 2 days to be exact, which is great because this type of sickie can even last a month!

What did we learn:

-My daughter is my hero. She always has been, but man, this girl proved once again she is STRONG and MIGHTY. She is one tough chubby cookie!

-Bronchiolitis is ONLY managed through home care and breathing treatments (albuterol and saline water). No medicine will take it away, and goes away in TIME, which sucks because I am impatient.

-You have to become very aware of their breathing and color. This is where I felt like I was about to die from stress.

-Hot steamy showers and cold air also helps. This is a must for croup. Rowan is now addicted to showers, LOL!

-I can handle her being sick now. This bout of sickie HAD to toughen me up. Sure I cried, overly worried, let my mind get carried away to awful places, etc. But at the end of the day, I had to toughen up, and take care of my daughter. We came out of it just fine, and now I feel like I can definitely handle her getting a cold. Thank God for my hubby, my rock. He never once lost his cool and was a  HUGE support for me.

-Not every cold will turn into bronchiolitis. It just happened that this time it did. However, it can happen again. Now we have a full blown arsenal of tools if does strike.

-My faith grew stronger. I had to majorly lean on God more than ever. Through this experience I had to majorly put everything in God's hands.

Thank you Jesus my little human is better! And of course, this post isn't complete with my crazy documentation of this whole experience. Just so thankful she is better:

From left to right: my exhausted babe//wow, those thighs!//pensive daddy and baby//my little girl trying to be happy//daddy and daughter snuggles//trying to reach my phone

 

 

From left to right: Getting ready for the Elk Grove light parade!//Daddy showing Rowan a metal horse lol//Rowan got a pair of Minnie Ears from a shop owner because she thought Ro was so cute!//Drinking a bottle with daddy, starting to feel better//selfies with mama!// Ro at millionth appointment, holding tight to Molly the Dolly!

Happy 7 months Rowan!!!

Not a fan that Rowan is 7 months! I am not okay with time flying this fast! I am trying to hang on to every second and absorb it, but it still goes by too fast. This past Monday was world prematurity week . It made me reflect on our journey and I just felt so insanely thankful for my healthy, wonderful girl. Rowan has brought so much light in to our lives and we couldn't be happier.


Name: Rowan Decaris Potter

Rowan's age: 7 months old, 5.5 months adjusted age

Weight: We weighed yesterday, she weighs 18.14 pounds. Holy heavens. We always joke about what happened to our tiny NICU baby, LOL! This girl sure flourished in the weight department! This girl has rolls for days. Poor babe, she gets gently squeezed and kissed like every 2 seconds. I can't help it! I love my chunkette!


Solids?  Yes! We started about 2 weeks ago, because I was getting impatient! She has excellent head control like her termie friends and is so much more independent. She went through major constipation issues, so we did prunes and oatmeal, despite I wanted to do veggies first. And oh boy, this baby loves to eat! She gets annoyed when we don't move fast enough! This week we will start veggies.

Clothing size: Well, 9 months are getting TOO small, yikes! She is still in size 3 diapers, and totally wears 12 month clothing. She can wear 9 month dresses still. However...when it comes to pants she has to wear at least 18 months, because she has really huge thighs!18 is the way to go! Still has the tiniest feet in the world. I am dying to replenish her shoe collection, but its a lost cause because they just fall off!

Rowan milestones (for her adjusted age, 5.5 months):

-Rowan is sitting with MUCH more confidence. She can't sit up for a long time, but can easily sit for a few minutes before doing a "timber" fall. She is learning to put her hands on the floor to steady herself as well.

-Rowan is now starting to bring her knees up while on her tummy. Maybe crawling is in the near future? I am trying to not worry about crawling. I have heard some babies skip crawling altogether, and that's okay. 

-Rowan is into throwing now! Not fun when she throws her prized paci on the grocery store floor. Yuck!   

-Rowan is a pro at grabbing, passing toys from hand to hand, and putting her paci in her mouth. She grabs EVERYTHING now. Even faces and it hurts!

- I think we officially have a teether. She is beyond drooly, gums are super swollen and bumpy. She has been a bit of a fussy butt, so I think something may sprout in the near future! 
 

Rowan loves: 

 

-her food! She is eating about 6 oz most bottles, 8 oz at bedtime.

-our house alarm. Yes, that's weird. However, we walk by the hallway and she will throw herself to try and touch the buttons, flick the alarm cover, etc. She will scream with delight. I guess we didn't need to buy toys since the alarm does the trick!

-Loves to scream! She was loud already, but now joyfully screams at the top of her lungs. She is SUPER into blowing raspberries, which is hysterical and so cute.

-music and books. She LOVES music and for you to sing to her. She also is loving her books! This makes my teacher heart so happy!

Rowan doesn't like: Being burped


New/fun things we did this month:

- A huge thing this month was her baby dedication! We dedicated her in front of the church and it was so special! Our friend Kevin Brown who is one of the pastors dedicated her. This was extremely important to us as our faith is our world. We are committed to raising her in the church, and that she can grow to be a woman of faith! Truly a special day for all!

-We have gone to some newer places, like Old Town Sac, Apple hill, and various pumpkin patches. It is so fun to expose her to our world and see her reactions

-Halloween was a success! We got together with some of our friends and their littles. Rowan's costume was a DIY and as a HUGE NOD to our obession with Star Wars, she was Princess Leia!

-We finally got around to our first playdate, with my dear friend Vanessa and her sweet baby Elyse! So much fun! Vanessa is one of my college sisters, and we were both pregnant at the same time! It was so fun! We are currently trying to set up more playdates, they are so fun for baby and mom too, lol!

- We did kind of a crazy thing, and purchased a "big kid" camera, lol! We purchased a really nice one for a good price. With that, we have been able to take some super nice pictures of Rowan. Now that we have it, do we plan on being photographers? LOL no! However, with this investment, we are hoping to not have to use a photographer anymore and just do it ourselves. Hubby is hoping to take a class or two so he can better learn how to use the camera.  Here's some of my favorites:

How is Rowan's spit up?: Pretty much going away now. Amazing how a growing, maturing baby makes a world of a difference

Sleep:
Knocking on wood as I type....Rowan is in bed by 7-7:15ish. Beforehand she eats some solids, bathes, and has a bottle. She will sleep till about 5 am, will sometimes play and fall back asleep. She then will sometimes wake up closer to 6. Lately she has been more squeaky at night, but I think that has been due to her teeth. Even then, she is still asleep. We are feeling slightly more rested, which is great! And yes I know, their sleep changes at a drop of a hat!

Naps?
She is GREAT with my mom. When she is home on the weekend, she fights on naps. I think she knows she at home with her parents and just wants to play! Thankfully she eventually does take them!

Rowan's personality so far: 
I feel the best word to describe her is joyful. She is such a happy, cuddly, sweet baby girl. I couldn't be more happier having her in our lives. She is super funny and very silly! She has a STRONG personality, and it will show when she gets upset

 We love you forever  sweet Rowan!!!

The Thanksgiving that landed us in the ER...

Wow, this blog has been big time neglected. It is about time I got back into it. Let's start with Thanksgiving, despite that it was well over 2 weeks ago, LOL!


I absolutely love the holidays, and I especially love Thanksgiving. The holidays take on a whole new  special meaning when there is a precious little human involved.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we spent an AMAZING weekend with my family in the gold country, Angel's Camp. We stayed in our timeshare, and it was a cozy cabin feel. The whole weekend was awesome. However, I noticed that Rowan was doing a funky honk of a cough, which reminded me of geese honking. Nothing else was wrong, so we moved on.

Monday and Tuesday came and went, with the honking cough. On Tuesday, mom noticed she was the tiniest bit wheezy. However, due to no temp, and a cheerful baby, I let it go.
Wednesday, the honking cough was MUCH persistent and a little more barky. Then I got worried. We booked an appointment for that day.

Sure enough, the doctor was not a fan of that cough. She checked her lungs, oxygen, temp, that all checked out fine. She did notice wheezing. She told us croup may be coming. Gulp. So, she gave Rowan a breathing treatment, and a steroid shot.

Then the next day she got worse. She didn't have a fever, but the cough was super persistent. She seemed much fussier, which really isn't like her. I had already texted my sister in law that we may not come if she isn't well. She was concerned and was sad that Rowan possibly would not come. We let Rowan rest for as long as she wanted, and she didn't have a fever. So we took her.

By the time we got to my in-law family's home, she was wheezy again. I was on edge. Dinner had already started and everything just felt out of sorts. After awhile, we were able to relax and enjoy time with our family. However, that dang wheeziness wouldn't stop. And that's when I noticed something was wrong about 2 hours later. Her breathing got heavier, and through her shirt, I could see her chest working hard. I grabbed her and hubby, went into my nephew's room, and lifted up her onesie. Her chest was caving. Then she completely fell into hysterics and was starting to turn gray. With my entire in law family watching in horror, hubby and I tried to give her  abuterol to help, but it wasn't working. We grabbed our stuff and ran out the door. We jumped in the car and decided we couldn't drive back home to our ER, which was 40 minutes away. So we ended up going to Dameron, which is notorious for being a ghetto hospital. At this point, I didn't care.

We got checked in and got seen right away. Thankfully her oxygen was at 100%! The doctor did notice her chest, breathing treatments were given, a chest x-ray done (all clear, no pneumonia!). She was diagnosed with croup, and after 4 hours in the ER, Rowan was well enough to go home. The doctors and nurses were beyond incredible, kind and wonderful. It made me feel bad I had such a lousy attitude about that hospital. OF COURSE Rowan was the belle of ER. The staff couldn't get over her yummy chubbiness and kept saying how pretty she was. Of course this mama's heart felt so much pride!


We were completely shaken and traumatized. Hands down the worst Thanksgiving ever. It made me feel so grateful and thankful for my little family and modern medicine. Around 2 am, Rowan had an AWFUL coughing fit. It didn't sound human. We spent about 30 minutes bundled up outside. It was heartbreaking. That was just the start of our wild ride and it turns out she didn't have croup (more on that later). I think we will look back and laugh at this experience. I am disappointed it wasn't the Thanksgiving I wanted it to be. I have a tendency to build things up in my head. Especially with the holidays and now having a little human, I have this "Hallmark idea" of how everything should go and be. However, this experience taught me to not set up such crazy expectations and  to really remember the true meaning of the holidays.


More of this story to be continued. For now, let's enjoy some pictures:

Pics from left to right: Our first Thanksgiving!//Cuddles with my beauty!//she loves her cousin Kailynn//picture with her uncles and daddy//pic with uncles and cousins!!

And the drama...

From left to right: selfie with my worn out princess, before we noticed her breathing//receiving her treatment. One of many, this picture is hard for me to look at// trying to sleep in daddy's arms//finally got her to sleep for a little bit//after a successful breathing treatment, Rowan's trying to play with the bed (my germaphobe self is freaking out, lol)//daddy giving a thumbs up because we are clear to go

More on this story, to be continued!