8 months.

What we Love about Ro at 8 Months:

• He is starting to dance. He loves to rock out (mildly) while standing at his music table. It is the cutest thing you ever did see. Imagine a little baby booty bounce! He got that move from his mama. :) We have tried in vain to catch the act on video...he does not perform for free!
• Ro still loves to be read to. We have started giving him two choices of books at night just to see what he does. If "Where is Baby's Belly Button" is a choice, he will pick that 100 % of the time!
• He stands supported very well and has started moving from object to object!
• Not a crawler yet! We do our little exercises everyday, but Ro just doesn't have the interest yet. He is very content playing with toys next to him and is not much of an explorer. I'm sure this will change once his muscles are working for him! Right now we are counting our blessings that the house proofing can be put off a little longer.
• He is back to eating really well! Nursing is still our fav. activity of all time, but he is really enjoying self feeding too! His pincher grasp is awesome and has recently added shredded cheese to his repertoire.
  
• Speaking of cheese...it has turned out to be the new fav. I give Ro his veg first, but will put a little cheese on his tray if he doesn't want to eat any more. He will attack that cheese like I never have fed him! He tries to shovel mouth full after mouth full in his happy little face! It is quite funny! The cheese also allows me to sneak in more bites of veg! With us as parents it's no wonder he is a cheese lover...it's in my genes. :)
• He also loves to eat bananas, pear, sweet potatoes, peas, avocados, "baby cheetos", baby puffs, and baby yogurt...and ANYTHING that Mommy or Daddy is eating.
• He has got wackadoo hair! His bed head is somethin' else and I haven't figured out how to tame it just yet. Gel or wax just seems to make the situation worse!
  
• He got a tooth! Finally one of his bottom teeth has popped up! I'm thinking the one next to it isn't close behind!
• He loves to open and close things! His baby lap top is his fav. He loves to hear the sounds it makes when you open/shut, open/shut, open/shut, open/shut...you get the idea!
• He has started to clap...well...his version of clapping. It involves clapping his fingers together in a horizontal fashion...hmmm...see if you can even imagine that!
  
• He still loves to give kisses and hugs, and is a big snuggler.
• He loves to talk. His favorite consonant/vowel combo is DA DADADADADADA DADADA DADADA DA. All day long!! We've been working on MAMAMamama too, but the closest we have got is na na NANA. :) He also says something remarkably close to "Hey Dad!". It's pretty funny. Danny always responds, "Hey Ro!".
• He loves to pat and scratch EVERYTHING!
• He loves bath time and all the bath toys he got for Xmas!
• His nap time schedule has become much more flexible. I am still BIG on the schedule, but if we are late or if there is something we really want to attend, nap time is able to wait for a bit!
• He is a big people watcher. He loves to watch other babies and will sometimes try to get their attention with high pitched sounds...I mean really high...ear piercing high... He sure has a great range!
• He has started reaching out for a person he wants (mostly momma. *insert heart pitter patter*) and it is truly the sweetest thing. It makes me feel so good especially because Daddy is certainly a favorite around here!
• He loves to reach his toys up to the sky.
• He loves knobs, switches, buckles, zippers, nipples (oops did I say that!? Daddy had an unfortunate run in with a curious boy and a deadly pincher grasp. :D hehe! It was quite funny and let's just say Daddy has a new found respect for breastfeeding...)
• He loves to rough house. He will squeal with delight if he is twisted, thrown, tickled or wrestled!
• He gets really proud of himself when he does something special. He gets especially excited and happy if he successfully puts a bite of food in his mouth. We go crazy each time he works hard to do something...gotta get him on the self esteem train now (Mommy and Daddy's biggest parenting goal!).
  
• He has got the sweetest demeanor. This little boy sure has a light to shine and we know he is going to be an incredible person!
• Looking up to his cousin. We hope Ro is as sweet as Tristan!

• Getting in to position!
  

While Daddies were away snowboarding, Owen and Kim came over and we took the opportunity to bathe the boys! We tried to keep Owen modest! ;)

• Momma and baby.
  
  

Booty.

My baby.

I just couldn't do it. I could NOT put away Rowey's swing. When he was itsy bitsy he spent hours in it sleeping. Putting it away would mean that my baby isn't itsy bitsy anymore, and I just couldn't face it. So...I transformed the swing into something new, cool, and perfect for a big boy! We can still have a piece of the swing out (so I won't have an emotional breakdown), but it can be purposeful and fun for our boy! Perfect, perfect. Oh, and Rowey LOVES it too!

A reading, playing, chillin' baby fort!
Reading (well mostly eating) Winnie the Pooh and having a blast.

Thoughts.

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”
-Anna Quindlen

I love the quote above and feeling that it gives me. I also love being a mother. I am convinced it is what I was put here on this Earth to do. It is the duty that is meant to teach me the most, to cause me to grow the greatest distance on my journey.
I love my son. No matter how pessimistic, negative, or sad I feel about our world or bad people or unfortunate circumstances, I can look into the eyes of my boy and see a light from the Heavens above and feel complete joy.
He gives me purpose; to strive to be a better human being, to treat others more sweetly, and to scatter sunshine as I walk about our sometimes darkened world.
I have never felt such happiness as during my time as the mother of Rowan David or as the wife to Daniel James. I am grateful beyond words. And of course I struggle everyday, but by nothing that cannot be crushed by the weight of my blessed existence.

(Some of my thoughts that arose due to the tragic shooting in Tucson on January 8, 2011.)

Book worm.

I just love this little boy. He has such a gentle, fun, loving spirit...and he LOVES books, Jamberry being his current novel of choice.

xoxo to the moon. Love you Baby Boy.

T.G.I.S.

Rowey and Mommy couldn't be more excited because we have officially stolen our Daddy back for Saturdays this semester! Danny has worked Saturdays for our whole marriage which was a real bummer when I was in school...and when we lived in Hawaii...and when we had a baby...heck it's ALWAYS been a bummer! Since Sundays are always filled up with Church activities we've never really had a whole day to spend as a fam that wasn't a precious vacay day! Anywho, we are super excited and had a wonderful first Daddy Saturday. We did whatever we wanted. We woke up late, cuddled skin to skin, ate cereal in bed, took naps, went out to lunch*, went to the mall, and even rode the kiddy train. It was a big hit!! Rowey and I crammed into our very own train car and rode the "Mini Express" chooo chooooo all around the mall. I of course tried to get Rowey to say CHoooo CHooooo the whole time and made him wave to every mall patron and cell phone salesman (since it is Uncle Quint's old stomping grounds I felt like we needed to be extra friendly!). We had a blast.

Don't worry there were some clothes involved here! ;) Daddy just got back from the gym and had a very sweaty shirt.


Here's to many more lovely Saturdays!

* Rowey made me cry while we were out to lunch. I put him in a little highchair, put crunchies, cheese, and sweet potato in front of him and he proceeded to eat his whole lunch by himself. He has a stellar pincher grasp and did an awesome job getting his food in his mouth...that part made me super happy...seeing my little baby being such a big boy made me shed a tear right there in a booth at Wingers. :)

Withdrawals.

Poor Rowey is going through serious Daddy withdrawals. I had a feeling this would happen as we had 2 blissful weeks to spend as a family; no school, work, or homework to steal our precious Daddy. Now when it is just Mommy home during the day we have lots of crying, refusing to eat...it is quite dramatic! I chalked it up to teething today, but then Daddy comes home and all is well in the world again! I laugh and sing and play all day, but nothing makes up for the simple presence of Dad. It's very interesting indeed and I've decided not to take it personally. Rowey is just a darn Daddy's boy, and I know he loves me too...I have the milk after all. :)

A New Year.

Good-bye 2010, Hello 2011. Although I am very excited for our future I would like to take a moment to thank 2010 because you were a freakin' awesome year!

January
We moved to good 'ol snowy Provo from sunny Hawaii. I think I was a little disappointed by the weather at first but as the year torn on, I grew to love it more and more!
We also celebrated our first year anniversary.
(Eating and drinking our Mocktails at Spark in downtown Provo. Yum.)


February
We had a blast preparing for the arrival of our sweet bundle of joy and sight seeing around Utah before we knew we would be house bound for a while!

(not taken by us! ;) )

March
I traveled to Tucson for a beautiful baby shower. Intimate and relaxing, just what I wanted!


April
We celebrated Danny's Bday, and watched the belly grow! Looking back we also got to watch my FACE grow!! Holy swollen! :p


May
This was the best month of the year! We welcomed Rowan David Lamoreaux on May 4th weighing 8 lbs. 11oz. at 10:53 am. Our lives got so much more exciting, and we fell in love...big time.
(Fresh from the oven! It was a very undramatic birth for both of us...thank goodness!)

(Showing Ro off one Skype date at a time! I think Grammy must have been wanting to hold Rowey! ;P)



June
We watched Rowey grow, visited the Farm, got a few Lam visitors, and blessed Ro.







July
We listened to first giggles, celebrated the 4th, took a trip to the lake, and took many summer walks.







August
Rowey took his first airplane ride to Tucson to meet lots of important people and celebrate Grandma's big bday. Daddy also started another semester at school!






September
We took our first road trip to California to attend a friend's wedding, Ro started solids, mom celebrated a birthday, and we gained a new family member, Eli!


(Fresh Eli)





October
The weather cooled and Rowey got even cuter. We said good bye to summer and hello to beautiful fall. We thoroughly enjoyed a visit from Grammy and Poppa Collignon, and celebrated Halloween.

(thanks to the photog Poppa!)





November
We continued to enjoy the beauty of fall, made a surprise trip to Tucson for Thanksgiving, and had fun with bath time and new hairdo's!






December
We continued to get cold in Provo so we snuggled, snuggled some more and then snuggled with people in Tucson where it was much warmer! We danced, laughed, cried, and loved our time spent as a family over Christmas break. I sure love these boys and am so grateful I have an eternity to spend with them!




(Sorry for picture overload. I just had so much fun recounting our memories!)