Happy 16 months Rowan!

 Another month down!! How is this happening so fast?!?! Anyway, this post is late, as usual. I miss Rowan's little baby stage, but right now she is getting to be so fun!


Age:16 months, 14.5 months adjusted age

Weight and clothing size: 
My tanker is 26.8 pounds, and  boy is that deliciously chubby girl  taking a toll on my body! My back and wrists ache with pain from holding her! We try to not overly hold her  (mainly to encourage walking) but holy heck when we do, everything hurts! She is now getting too big for 2T! We are headed in the 3T direction. Still size 4 in diapers though honestly I think we could move up to 5.

Eating:
Rowan is still a pretty decent eater. and eats in big quantities. She is very sensitive to textures and gets easily grossed out. She's starting to eat more meat, which is good! She recently tried popsicles and loves them!

Rowan can:
-sign "please" (in addition to more and all done)learning to say "mama" in sign too.

-Tries to dress herself. It is quite funny, but amazes me that she is trying to do this! She'll try to put shirts over head, pants/shorts on top of her legs.  Knows where to put her shoes and bows (of course can't put them on )


-She is crawling at lightening speed and cruises with such confidence. If she can't reach something, she gets on her tippy toes and tries to reach.

-doing some pretend playing. This is amazing! She recently got a play kitchen and will pull out pots and pans and stir them. She will then put things in the microwave, etc. I am LOVING all of this!

-Can identify where the lights, trees, moon are when asked.

-can now say "yeah", which cracks me up.

-When she wants something, she will point, look at you and say "kneeyah kneeyah?" LOL

-Sometimes in bath she will try and "bathe" herself which consists of rubbing her body wash all over

-can show you how old she is when asked

-If you ask her what the dinosaur says, she will growl at you!

-tries to put puzzles pieces back where they go. She can't put them back perfectly, but the fact she's trying is incredible.


Rowan loves:

-Sofia the first and Doc McStuffins. For my TV Nazis, don't worry, we don't do it all the time. We do it mainly when she needs breathing treatments because that's the only way she sits still. ANYWAY, she absolutely loves those 2 shows! She lights up when she sees the show come on! I have to admit, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Doc McStuffins, its so freaking cute!

-finally enjoying her stuffed animals. For a long time, she didn't really pay too much mind to her stuffed animals. Now she LOVES them! Her "squad" (sorry that word  makes me laugh!) consists of Goldie the sheep, Petunia the hippo, and "Fia" aka her stuffed Sofia.

-loves playing with her play kitchen! Her amazing cousin Abby gave Rowan her old kitchen. Rowan loves it and is thoroughly entertained. It's situated in the kitchen and has been a life saver when I cook!

Rowan doesn't like: 
 -hates when meal time is over. Girl likes to eat! She is truly her mother's daughter!

-STILL doesn't like cake with frosting. I thought we were over that fear, but she had a cupcake for a birthday celebration and she cried like she got a shot. WHO IS SHE!?!?!

-doctors and nurses. Sigh. We have seen the doc twice this month for different things and every time she is terrified. They took her temp under her arm and she dramatically screamed and was shaking. What a drama queen! I heard this can happen around this age. I hope she gets over it, it's going to be a long winter :(.

 Sleeping schedule:
Sleep has greatly improved this month! She sleeps well at night and takes good naps. She will occasionally fight a nap or two. Sleep is horrific if she is teething.


 New happenings this month:

-Holy traveling!! We did a HUGE trip down to So. California last month. I honestly didn't know how babe would do, but my gosh, she was a ROCKSTAR! She did beautifully in the 12 hours drive (f-you LA traffic) and melted down just once because she had poop. It helped we took lots of car breaks.

-Rowan visited the zoo while down south! We met up with hubby's dear friend Shannon and her littles! She and I connected through facebook so it was fun to meet in real life.

-ROWAN VISITED DISNEYLAND! It was so much fun!! You can read it here.

-This mama did her first weekend away! I have never been away from Rowan for more than a night, let alone by myself. The weekend before school was my dear friend's bachelorette. I drove up to San Jose on Friday, ate lunch by myself and had a pedicure! HOLY RELAXATION!!! I forgot what it is like to do things by myself and it was glorious! I met up with one of close friends, Kristen. We had dinner and drinks with another friend,  and went to a movie with some more friends. I embarrassingly slept through some of it :(, but that's #momlife for ya! The next day I went to Santa Cruz to meet up with the girls! Lots of fun, a little too much debauchery, but it was great! I sure missed my tribe though!!!

- Rowan started back up at Mom's preschool, and I started back at teaching at the end of July. She cried the first few days (despite she is in love with my mom) and I did too. I sometimes really HATE being a working mom. Thankfully, we are adjusting. I am so THANKFUL I have an amazing group of only 16 littles! They are a dream!




Here is my obligatory Rowan dump:

How we survived taking a baby to Disneyland

 

This post is SUPER long over due, and I am so excited to post!!

Back in the day when we were baby-less, I scoffed at the idea of taking a baby/toddler to Disneyland. I saw the beleaguered parents, dealing with screaming, angry kids. Wasn't this supposed to be the happiest place on earth?  I vowed that we wouldn't take our future children till they were at the VERY LEAST 7 years old...

2 years after that vow, here  I was preparing my first trip with my then 15 month old, HA! Talk about eating your words!!!

Hubby and I had been planning this trip for months. We were supposed to go in March, but postponed thanks to the stupid, preventable (oops did I say that?) measles outbreak. We decided to rebook our trip for July.

We got a lot of wide eyes, snorts and kinda rude comments when we would tell people we were taking Rowan. A lot would say we were crazy, she's too young, she won't remember, make sure we take an entourage, etc.

On the flip side, my Disney loving friends were beyond encouraging, and all have taken their children young.

I pored over different mommy blogs who wrote about Disneyland with babies and toddlers. I picked my friends' brains over their experiences. I felt prepared.

The one glaring difference between all of these experiences and ours was that we WEREN'T taking an entourage of family. My family wasn't able to go, plus I wasn't about to ask them to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a trip they didn't plan for. Plus, I wanted to be able to experience Disneyland just us and see if we could do it.

I will admit, I had VERY LOW expectations for our trip. I imagined it would be super stressful, hotter than hades and packed to the gills. Turns out I was right, except for one...

it actually wasn't stressful

Yep you heard me right. So, here are some things and tips I learned...

1. You can do it on your own- 

I was so afraid that we weren't taking family, but honestly, I think this is the easiest it will ever be! It was 2-1 ratio, and plus since she wasn't walking, she wasn't dying to get out and run. It was doable! Having patience and low expectations was key. That was huge!

2. Rider switch pass is your best friend-

Holy best invention! I was certain I wouldn't ride anything big. Um, not true!  Rider switch pass is basically like a fast pass for those waiting behind. You simply jump in the fast pass line and boom you are on! What we did was grab fast passes first thing. Hubby would wait a MAX of 20 minutes and get a rider switch pass. At this time, I would feed Rowan a snack or shop. He and I would trade once he was done! I rode pretty much all the big stuff, and it was great!

3. BRING EXTRA EVERYTHING -

We learned that we went through wipes like no one's business! This is common sense but pack extra everything, ESPECIALLY snacks ( we ran out day 1)! Water bottles especially since its so dang hot! However if you do run out, the baby care center is legit, which brings me to my next point..

4. the baby care center will be your best friend-

I had heard of this magical place, and it was everything! It has every baby supply you can imagine (of course for a price) and it is CLEAN! Every time Rowan pooped, I insisted we go there to change. I am a GERMAPHOBE so the center was my new bestie. If you are nursing/bottle feeding or want a calm place to feed their lunch, this IS the spot!

5. Have low expectations and have PATIENCE. Seriously- 

I have a tendency to be a perfectionist, which isn't a good thing most times. I let go of any notion I had in my head, kept very low expectations of the trip. I told myself to simply go with the flow (sometimes hard for me) and it lended itself well for our trip. We had the best time, and did so many fun things. Also this is obvious, but be patient. I am not a patient person (LOL) and I had to really prep myself that there were be lots of people, lines, and some people who are stupid (i.e. not paying attention, pushy, etc). I only lost my cool once when we were walking through a massive crowd. Someone pushed me while I was wearing Rowan and I may or may not have said "touch me again and I will break your nose". I know, tacky and ridiculous, but don't mess with mama bear. They wisely kept quiet and moved away.

6. Parades and shows are a great distraction-

We didn't see many shows, but managed to catch a tail end of a parade. We also got to see of World of Color, which Rowan loved! They serve as great distractions and good time to take a break.

7. Be prepared for your baby to be loved on!

This is a fun one. Rowan gets complimented (like every other baby) when we are out and about. However, she was a hit at Disneyland! Workers and other people were so sweet and kind over her. My heart wanted to burst!

8. Baby wearing and stroller naps are a life saver

There were times Rowan could hardly stand a single second in the stroller! Cue in my moby (which wasn't that bad)! She enjoyed the closeness while still being able to be out of the stroller! Oh and stroller naps are a lifesaver! Rowan would NEVER nap in the stroller but she did in Disneyland! Holy miracle! 

9. Knowing how your baby is, know when to stop-

 I feel "lucky" that Rowan is a decent traveler. However, I do know my child and her breaking points. One of the days we left early to rest, etc. Don't try to over do it, take breaks! Everyone is much happier and things going even more smoothly.

I was so happy with how our trip turned out. We got annual passes and plan on going multiple times this year! If you are a newbie like me and are hesitant to go, don't be! It will be better than you can imagine!

Some of my favorites: