Happy 20 months Rowan!

I am in serious denial that in 4 short months my little muggle will be two years old. I don't even want say it out loud! I'm already planning her 2nd birthday and I am kinda sad about it.
 This month has been so unbelievably fun because...the holidays. I knew this year would be different because my girl baby was older, and sure enough it has been great!

Age: 20 months, (18.5 months adjusted age)

Weight and clothing size: 

Rowan is about 30 pounds. Wearing size 5 diapers, size 5 shoes, and 3T in clothing.

Eating:

Rowan enjoys my turkey sausage and egg scramble. She is getting better at eating her foods, though texture can really weird her out. She tasted mushrooms which she hated! She also isn't enjoying eggs (besides my scramble) like she used to. She is still eating her meats as long as its flavorful (makes sense!)

Rowan can:

-run. GULP.
-say "minnie". It is the darnest cutest thing ever! Sounds like "mah-nin-knee", Also says my nephew's name, Sam. Sounds like "nimi-nam" LOL.
-Start to really follow simple commands. For example, I will ask her to go get me her shoes, she will do it. Amazing how much they can do!
-Likes to help me with laundry, LOL! She will hand me clothes to put in the wash.
-Rowan loves to eat with her forks and spoons, though the food doesn't always make into her mouth!

-If Rowan is sitting in a taller-ish chair, couch, etc. she is learning how to carefully lower herself without falling.

Rowan loves:

-Minnie Mouse. She loves the show "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and has taken a major shine to Minnie. She says her name now (as mentioned earlier) and her face lights up when she sees her!

- loves to brush her teeth. She will squeal, sit still and open her mouth, ready to go. I love her!

-Her Melissa and Doug animal puzzle book. This book was a hand me down, and she is OBSESSED with the animal magnets! We have magnets EVERYWHERE in the house!

-the Christmas tree. We had a tree with all the trimmings. I still wanted to decorate my tree. I know a lot of people forgo trees or do the bare minimum but I just didn't want to. Rowan thankfully never messed with the tree. However, she LOVED it! Every morning we had a routine where I would countdown and turn on the tree lights. Everyday she would gasp and have a look on her face that would make me want to cry. SO friggin' precious!!!!!!!

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Rowan doesn't like: 

-being in the stroller or the shopping cart. She would much rather prefer to run everywhere. It can make being in public difficult at times. Most of the time its okay if she's distracted or eating snacks, LOL!
-Getting her "hair done". Rowan has beautiful, goldish brown hair. She also can master the most perfect bedhead. However, I like to put it up in a pony or piggies, and BOY does she hate it! SHe will fight and scream!

-when doors or gates are shut! Sis just doesn't like being shut in! She will get upset and then go knock on the door. It's pretty funny!

 Sleeping schedule:

Sleep is still decent. She was doing two naps until recently. She is now down to one, and I am sad! I don't want to complain as I know some toddlers who barely nap at all!


 New happenings this month:
 Holy crap, where do I start?

-We had a great Thanksgiving with NO health drama! 

-We had Breakfast with Santa. Our does this event where you pay $5 for a pancake breakfast and visit with Santa! It's a brilliant idea, and I am foreseeing this being a part of our Christmas traditions. To my shock, she wasn't afraid of Santa! We also continued with our tradition of making Christmas cookies with our Finney cousins. 

-We also crazily went to Disneyland, right in the peak of madness. However, it WASN'T that bad. I will post on this later. I was a bit stressed about this trip, primarily because of the grapevine and potential closures. For my non California peeps, the grapevine is a major freeway connecting us Northerners to LA. When it closes, basically all hell breaks loose. We ended up leaving a day early due to potential bad weather. However, it was still very much fun and amazing!

-Oh lawdy, Christmas! It was great!!! We celebrated with my family on the 23rd and Rowan weirdly had a bad fever, which royally sucked. She was miserable! Thankfully the day after she recovered and it was great! Christmas is much different with a toddler, she enjoyed it so much!

My obligatory Rowan dump:

Holidays with a toddler: A quick Thanksgiving recap

Yep, recapping Thanksgiving WEEKS after it happened. Yep, it is what it is! October-December are my absolute favorite months of the year. The holidays are like magic to me, and now that  Rowan is older, I can't wait to pass on our traditions and see her joy for the holidays.

I also wanted to recap this holiday, because it was worlds different compared to last year. As some of you remember, Rowan got very, very sick and ended up in the ER. She was struggling to breathe, I thought she was going to die, an all around nightmare! This is where we met her best friend, the nebulizer, which we still use to this day. We also learned that day that for the rest of the year, every time she would get a cold it would turn to bronchiolitis, which can turn very scary. All around that Thanksgiving sucked royally!

I was looking forward to a stress and drama free holiday and thankfully I got it! While Rowan did end up getting a cold after, it was still a great holiday! We spent Thanksgiving with my sister and her in law family, and they are like family to us! My sister and brother in law started dating at 15, so we have basically become a huge family because of it! It was fun to celebrate with them!  I was put in charge of stuffing, and thankfully it turned out great! I made it from scratch!

Our morning started off with breakfast with the girl. She then went down for her morning nap. Usually I am scrambling to do chores but instead, we got back into bed, hubby slept while I watched the Thanksgiving parade drinking coffee. IT. WAS. GLORIOUS:

After girl baby woke up, we continued to lounge around and slowly got ourselves ready. I LOVED Rowan's outfit (yes, the vest isn't super practical) and I had to do a mini shoot:

We gathered at my sister's, and ate to our hearts content!

::Quick disclaimer:: I am not including too many pictures of everyone, mainly because my blog is public and I want to respect the other moms and their kids' privacy. Unless you tell me otherwise, I NEVER show other kids' faces on my blog unless you give me permission. It bugs me how many bloggers just upload their friends' kids without permission! Okay disclaimer over::

Anyway, I was stoked for Rowan to try our Thanksgiving feast, and sure enough, she loved it! Especially the cranberry sauce! She also tried pumpkin and pecan pie, and LOVED it. Of course, she is a girl after my own heart!

                                                                                                        Thanksgiving was wonderful and relaxing. So much better than last year, that's for sure! We had/have a lot to be thankful for!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Happy 19 months Rowan!

Haha, this post is well over two weeks late! Like super crazy, embarrassing late! The lazy part of me just wanted to forgo it, EXCEPT I personally LOVE going back and reading through these posts! We don't officially have a physical baby  book for Rowan, but I use this blog as her virtual baby book. It would seem wrong to skip!

We had a HUGE month, as Rowan FINALLY started walking!As many of you know, it was a massive source of worry and stress for me. Nothing was ever medically wrong with her, she just felt like taking her sweet old time! More on this later, maybe a possible post...

Life with a toddler is worlds different than life with a baby. I miss her babyhood quite often, but I am also super loving this stage of her life.

Age:19 months, 17.5 months (adjusted age)

Weight and clothing size: 

Rowan is 29 pounds, but sadly is starting to thin out! I knew this day would come, I'm so sad!!!!! Moving up to size 5 diapers. Wearing size 3 clothing, size 4 in shoes.

Eating:

Rowan now seems to like most foods. However, she is showing her true toddler colors because she may like something one day, then spit it out the next day, sigh. She is absolutely loving honey strawberry Greek yogurt, cuties, ground turkey as long as its seasoned. She absolutely loves her carbs and screams joyfully if she gets something sweet (we try to not give sugar often). Sigh, she is truly her mother's child! We try to stay away from apple products as it makes her have explosive poo :(

Rowan can:

-learned how to sign train and listen. If you ask her where "God is" she throws up her hands in the air, and makes opens her hands (like twinkle twinkle little star). The thing that throws me is that NO ONE in our family has taught her the sign. Its super weird in an awesome way!

-finally mastered walking, thank you Lord Jesus! It is still surreal to see her toddle around. I will admit I have gotten teary eyed a few times!

-Does hand motions to certain songs, for example the song  "Apple tree, Apple Tree". There are parts where the song says "I won't cry" and she pretends to cry. There's another part where it says "I won't shout" and she will throw up her hands and let out a tiny, squeaky yell. I literally die from the cuteness!

-She has a an elephant toy where you are supposed to match the shapes with the color and put them in. She is getting pretty good at matching!

-starting to say auntie  and Ben (my brother in law). Its super funny!

Rowan loves:

-Rowan is straight obsessed with her elephant shape sorter. She loves it so much and is getting good at where the shapes go! It is also a great toy for learning colors!

-Rowan loves any toy that lights up and plays music! She constantly will turn on her music toys, which is fun for her, and kind of repetitive for us! 

-Todd Parr books.
Omg, I might be in love with them too. Todd Parr makes super colorful, bright books for kids with powerful messages. I love them as she clearly does too. Our favorites are The Okay Book and The Feelings Book. Rowan is already such a lover of books, which makes this mama heart so happy!

Rowan doesn't like: 

 Ha, at this point, if you redirect her or take something away, plan on a fit. Luckily they don't last too long  (we distract her) but holy smokes. I truly and sincerely hate tantrums, so I am learning myself to remain calm and patient. I know it only gets more crazy as she gets older :(

 Sleeping schedule:

Sleep has gotten back on track thank GOD! Rowan is still taking 2 naps, but she is slowly starting to drop the afternoon one. I am kinda sad! However, she has been a decent sleeper, so I will not complain!

 New happenings this month:
 We had a fantastic Halloween where Rowan was an Ewok! Her costume was a DIY project and she looked DARLING! I dressed up as Princess Leia in her Endor costume, and Daddy did a very quick makeshift Hans Solo costume. She also super enjoyed trick or treating, believe it or not! For baby gymnastics, she dressed up as Boo! So fun! Besides Halloween it was a quiet month. This  post is obviously so late, so her 20 month post will be a lot more exciting with Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities!

My obligatory Rowan dump:

unstoppable

I like to keep this thing nice and light on this blog. However, I'm struggling with that.
My heart has been heavy with our world. I look at Rowan, and I worry for her future. In my personal life, there are loved ones around me battling cancer (not immediate family) that has broken my heart completely.

I remember hearing of the Paris attacks. I thought it was a joke. I felt a lot of the emotions towards Paris that I felt about 9/11. Like everyone else, my heart was heavy, almost like a weight that I couldn't remove. I felt anger towards those responsible. That anger turned into insane fear of the unknown, and I thought some thoughts towards certain issues that are embarrassing to admit. However, the fear I felt in my heart was plaguing me, almost paralyzing me.

With that being said, I'm about to admit some stuff about me that's embarrassing, so here we go. It will make sense in a minute, as it will explain why I was so scared. I deal with myriad of different issues that cropped up when my father passed 10 years ago.. First of all, I am a germaphobe, so badly that when someone shakes my hand, I am literally sprinting to go wash my hands. Currently my hands are completely raw because I wash them so much. I make everyone who steps in my house remove their shoes, etc. I could go on  and on. Basically, I am  germaphobe to fullest extent. I have OCD about locking doors and turning off things. I have had to work so hard on this, but there was points in my life where it would take me an extra half an hour to leave because I kept checking things around the house. Hubby has made improvements in our home that I have improved ten fold, but it can be a struggle at times. Another thing is that  I also deal with some anxiety and have a TON of irrational fears. I feel super embarrassed to admit this. Being a mom has forced me to deal with these issues head on and force myself to be better, as well as praying for healing.  I am doing better, but this is still a work in progress.Why I shared this raw part of myself is because all of these things I deal with have been heightened times 1,000 thanks to these attacks.

Going back to the attacks, we have seen the terrorists make threat after threat, going after more European and countries and us. Disgusting threats and how they will come after us with no mercy. As we have been seeing in the news, we have dealt with school shootings, movie theater shootings, etc. I was listening to CNN everyday in the car, getting more and more terrified and scared. A few days ago, I came home and told hubby we need to cancel all of our vacations. We have about 5 trips planned between now and March, and I was terrified to go to any of them. All of the news and threats were causing so much anxiety to the point I felt like I couldn't move.  Hubby sat me down and said by letting these fears run my life I was letting the terrorists win , which is what they want. He continued that we had to keep living, and not live in fear.

It wasn't till this weekend, that I fully understood we can't live in fear. I attended the Women of Faith conference with family and friends. We sang Chris Tomlin's fabulous song "Our God is Greater" which is song I have sang a billion times. However, the lyric "And if our God is with us, what can stand against" popped in mind, and spoke to my heart. I bawled my way through the rest of the song, because it felt like at that moment, God spoke to my heart. That he is here, he loves us, and will protect us. The thing that makes us unstoppable is knowing we have Jesus on our side. He will be our protector and our mighty hand. Realizing all that was being exposed to me lifted this weight that was suffocating me. By giving into the fear, I wasn't letting God be the Lord of my life. While I don't understand at all why this is happening, I know that God will never leave us, nor forsake us.
I encourage you to read Romans 8 and bind it to your heart. Pray for our nation, pray for our world.

Happy 18 months Rowan! The year and a half year recap...

We have made it to 18 months! Holy cow! 

 In the last week and a half, I have been reminded to be thankful for this precious child of mine. As I wrote in my previous post, I lost a beautiful, young friend to a horrific cancer over a week ago. While my sweet friend Emily knew Jesus and is in heaven, I can't help but mourn her loss. I often think and pray for her parents, who had to bury their child. That right there makes my heart ache. 

I look at my firecracker of a child, and can't believe what we have been through. The crazy hospital stay, NICU, and now a healthy baby girl is a reminder of what we have overcome. I'll be honest, it sometimes isn't easy to be her mom. Rowan is a sweet and great baby, but she can be a handful sometimes. She can be VERY stubborn, can be fussy about things, and is becoming a professional at throwing fits. I often get frustrated, like most parents. However, Emily's death was a smack in the face. While parts of being a mom isn't always fun, I see Rowan and I reminded that she is my miracle. So many things could have happened and gone wrong, but God always prevails. I look at those beautiful almond eyes, those chubby hands, and hear that precious laugh, and feel thankful for my baby girl. The sometimes fits and sassy personality can be tough, but this time of her life is fleeting. I don't ever want to take her for granted. She truly has changed my life for the better and is my biggest blessing! Okay, I am crying now and this NEEDS to be lightened up, STAT! So here we go....

Age:18 months, 16.5 months (ADJUSTED AGE)

Weight and clothing size: 

Rowan is a sturdy 28 pounds, and still has her yummy rolls. About to bust through size 4 diapers (I'm thinking we maybe have a month before we should move). Depending on the brand she can be between  18/24 months (Gap and Old Navy), or 3T in other brands (Target and Carters, instagram shops). Pants FOR SURE have to be at the very least 3T, she has some very big glutes!

Eating:

Rowan is starting to get more pickier, but for the most part eats decently well and with good portions. She really has been enjoying meatballs, pretzels and fruit pouches.

Rowan can:

-can sign mama, thank you, more, please, mama, deer, wind, rain and milk. It helps her father is fluent in ASL, but she legitimately picks it up quickly!

-If you ask her if she has a "poopy diaper" she will frantically look around and pull up her shirt, LOL!

-knows parts of her body when asked

-trying to say "yes" when you ask her something. It starts off as a "hmm" and then sounds more like an "uh huh"

-is good at climbing things (much to my dismay), but also is good at carefully lowering herself down.Thanks MyGym!

- learning to say "manzana" (apple) which sounds more like "manana". She also is getting better at saying "agua" (water) which sounds like "aaaaaaawaaahhh". She doesn't say a ton of words, which sometimes worries me. However, she babbles CONSTANTLY and says strings of sounds together, which leads me to believe she may be working on some stuff. I know I will regret this worry when she is 3 and won't stop talking, LOL!

-If I am in another room and I call to her, she will come over to where I am.

Rowan loves:

-to color! Seriously, she screams with joy if you give her a crayon or marker. She loves to make long scribbles, doodles, and small lines when given paper. We have to watch that she doesn't eat them!

-loves fruit pouches, but boy, we have to be careful. They cause MAJOR crazy poo, especially anything apple! We learned the hard way while we were driving down to Disneyland.

Rowan doesn't like: 

 -loud, shrill noises

-being dropped off in nursery. However, if there is a male nursery worker, she calms down almost immediately. Oh Rowan.

-doesn't like it when mommy cooks. This is when she magically becomes clingy and whiny. I usually will almost always pick her up, since I love the cuddles. But man, it takes me forever to cook! I am learning how to make my lille carrier into a back pack! Hopefully that helps.

-hates when meal time is over, or when she's done with her favorite foods. She will scream and throw  a fit. 

 Sleeping schedule:

Her sleep got majorly disrupted thanks to Disneyland this month. However, this girl takes her sleep with stride and is pretty flexible. We were so fortunate she easily slipped back into her routine once she was home. I am sure she was glad to, it was tiring! Girl does love her sleep! I know we are so lucky in this department. I am certain if we have another baby someday, it may definitely not be like this! I am savoring it while we can!

 New happenings this month:

-We went to Disneyland!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went with two friends of ours and with my friend's little son. It was pretty packed, and the heat was horrific. LA was going through a freak of nature heat wave, with VERY HIGH humidity. It was awful. Despite all that, we did our best to have fun anyway. ROwan was much fussier this trip, but mainly because she was so hot. Don't blame her!

-We took our 2nd annual Potter family trip to Fog Willow pumpkin patch! It was so much fun, and they even have animals! Rowan joyfully screamed at those poor animals and was livid when we had to leave.

-To piggy back off the first two, we spent 2 glorious weeks together thanks to our fall break. I loved getting a change to play "stay at home" mama. The working mom guilt is unreal and awful, so I treasure these breaks so much!

Crazy a year and half has gone by! Love you forever Rowan! 

Emily

I met Emily back in late summer of 2001. I was a freshman at Fresno Pacific University. When I first met her I wasn't in the best place. I was struggling to see where I belonged. I wasn't having much fun and at that point, I considered going back home.  Emily was one of those cool girls that was full of life. She was vibrant, hilarious, and definitely outgoing. She was definitely one of the more popular girls. I remember feeling quite intimidated by her, and at first I don't know that she super liked me either. As time went on, Emily and I became fast friends. She loved to call me by my childhood nickname, "Karlita". She was the kind of girl that would cheer you up, encourage you, and make you laugh even when you were at your saddest point. She was an incredibly strong Christian woman and was definitely an inspiration to me in my own faith. Emily was two years older than me so I only had two years with her in college. But in those two short years we had built lots of memories with our incredible group of girlfriends. Dance parties, pranking our favorite group of boys, acting silly, our inside jokes... I could go on and on.

      After she graduated college we lost touch. She went back to Southern California. I saw her a few times after she graduated but we mostly would have some contact on social media. When I was pregnant  with Rowan, I found out that she was fighting a rare form of adrenal cancer. I was stunned. Emily was in her very early 30s, healthy and full of life. How could this happen to her? I felt sort of shame that I had just found out but Emily reassured me that she wasn't making it very known and was slowly starting to tell people. Since I was so far away from her, I felt helpless as to what to do. However the one thing I knew I could do was pray and pray with fervor. 

Every day for over a year, as I would take Rowan to my moms house, we would pray for Emily. I have a list of people that I pray for every single day and she was at the first person we prayed for. 

Throughout her battle with cancer Emily fought the good fight. Her faith in the Lord never wavered and that was what was so amazing to me. She had an incredible group of friends and family that rallied behind her every second of the way. A mantra was adopted in honor of Emily which was "Choose Joy". A Facebook page was dedicated to her and this beautiful saying. Watching people post how they chose joy for Emily was moving. I often think about choosing joy in everything I do. I have often thought about it when I would get upset over the stupidest things or get anxious about minor things. I would think about how Emily would choose joy rather then wallow in her sorrows. Not to say that I'm sure she had her days, but the way that she persevered  can be a great lesson to all of us. 

       On Wednesday, October 14 Emily lost her battle to cancer. We had just gotten back from a long, hot day at Disneyland. I was tired, grumpy, and snippy with my husband. I got on to Facebook and saw the news. It was like a slap in the face. I was stunned and centered me back to reality. While in some ways I was happy she wasn't suffering, I was just stunned that she had left so soon. Memories of us flooded my mind and the tears just flowed. My heart ached for her family, especially her parents. No one should dare have to bury their baby. I held Rowan even closer that night. My heart hurts for them. 

 Emily is truly a hero in my book and she left such a powerful legacy that no one will never, ever forget her. She was an inspiration to many. I know we can all honor Emily by continually "choosing joy". Emily, I know you were at rest and you are in the arms of our heavenly father. I will miss you and your beautiful soul. I'm thankful for the memories that we have, and I'm so grateful that I was able to call you my friend.

Happy 17 months Rowan1

Annnnnddddddd as usual, I am basically so unbelievably late with this post. Along with this post, I have about 3-4 blog posts that need to be finished and published. SIGH...thank God this isn't my regular job. I'd probably be fired  :(

Back to Rowan....17 months. Holy cow. Honestly, I feel like I was just pregnant with her, now we are on the brink of having a 1.5 year old. This month has been another great one for our little babe. I am learning more about her and her very funny personality. I am so thankful she is mine!

Age:17 months, 15.5 months (ADJUSTED AGE)

Weight and clothing size: 
My pretty babe is 27 pounds. I am loving and savoring all those chubby rolls!!! She is wearing 3T but can still wear 18-24 months in Old Navy and Gap clothes, since they ACTUALLY size their clothes to the age that they state, lol.

Eating:
My baby will now eat meat as long as it's tasty, LOL!!! Don't blame her! Now likes pasta, but starting to not love veggies as much, UGH! From time to time we make homemade pizza and calzones, and she SCREAMS for joy as she eats it. Its hilarious!

Rowan can:
-can sign "mama" in sign language, mastering how to say thank you. Also does more, please, all done.

-Has about 12 teeth, holy cow!!!!

-tries to open door knobs....oh boy.

-Starting to put puzzles together, likes to stack blocks on this stick thing she has. Not to be braggy but she is very good at her fine motor skills and picks up on things of that nature pretty quickly.

-does a lot of pretend playing like "cooking", stirring pots and pans, and pretending to taste what she is "making"

-Starting to feed herself with a spoon and fork. She's getting good at it! I think it helps that she does that a lot when she plays in her kitchen.

-likes to help by handing us things we need (like shoes, clothes)

-NO walking as of  now. However, no one Doctor wise is concerned. She does have some low muscle tone, which can make walking harder. I can't help but feel worried, but if they aren't, I suppose I shouldn't be either. She is starting to walk more comfortably only holding one of our hands. I'm feeling she is so close. A lot of the issue is that she is stubborn and doesn't seem very interested. Good grief.

-Can identify cow, sheep, pig, bees, and dogs when asked.

Rowan loves:

-OBSESSED with books. She will sit for chunks at a time going through her books. Of course, we read as much as we possibly can with her.

-loves playing with remotes and pressing every button imaginable.

-loves to hug and kiss her "babies" (aka stuffed toys).
 

Rowan doesn't like: 
 -when I take her away from daddy (like when I need to take her to my mom's). She is SUCH a daddy's girl. I get jealous, LOL!!

-gets angry if you take one of her remotes away 

-Rowan is getting into the lovely stage of toddler tantrums. If you take things from her that she shouldn't have, she loses her mind. 

-Still doesn't like loud, shrill noises. 



 Sleeping schedule:
Sleep is still decent, thank God. From time to time she will cry in her sleep but most of the time she is fine. 


 New happenings this month:
Since school started back up, we haven't had an eventful month. She caught bronchiolitis BAD this month and almost was sent to the hospital. Good GRIEF! Thankfully she bounced back quicker but still, my heart was a hot freaking mess!

We are one day away from a 2 week break! Thank you JESUS! I look forward to cuddles and time with my girl. We are also going to Disneyland in a week and half, YAY!!!! I also am super looking forward to the holidays with the girl. I think now that she's a little older it will be even more fun!

Obligatory Rowan dump: