3 day Heaven.

We were so happy to have Daddy home with us for 3 days to celebrate President's Day. I am now convinced God created 3-day weekends for stay -at- home mommas! We had so much fun just being together.

We played.
(Rowey will only ride his truck in this fashion. It's pretty cute!)


Hung out at the mall.

(This is Rowey's Justin Bieber hair. We tried to use this hair-do to convince Daddy to take us to see Justin's new movie put he just wouldn't do it! ;P)


Surfed.



Rode the carousel at Provo Beach Resort. Played a lot of arcade games.
(The little boy chose a big elephant to ride!)

The spoils.


xo Love this little fam! xo

Valentine Shmalentine ;)

Usually I am not that into Valentine's Day. I usually save the "let's be romantic" energy for birthdays and anniversary. With that being said, we had an awesome Valentine's Day this year thanks to some special people. We decided to go out for a Lover's Lunch on Saturday because Danny had a full day to spend with us and we could avoid the war-zone madness that is Valentine's Day in Provo. We went to P.F. Chang's thanks to an unexpected donation from a very special someone (xo love you sis!). We stuffed ourselves silly, like about to keel over silly, and forced ourselves to take a walk to help the digesting efforts along. It was a super fun day and we loved having little Rowey along for the ride (He loved being fed rice with chopsticks. He turned into my cute baby bird!)
We got to go out again, sans Rowey, on the 14th. Our awesome neighbor friends (Summer and Sean) suggested we exchange babysitting services (BRILLIANT and THANK YOU!!) so we could each enjoy a little date with just our hunnies. Danny and I didn't quite know what to do with ourselves so we decided to do what we do best, bargain shopping. We ventured to a thrift store that we have heard magical stories about and wandered around to our hearts' content. One vintage pyrex, one hanging lamp, and two lawn chairs later we made our way to Heaven on Earth, Cafe Rio, to grab some dinner. You bet I called ahead and you bet I fought off "hundreds" of swooning co-eds for my carnitas salad. Oh yes, it was the perfect end to our date. Rowey had tons of fun playing with Oliver and didn't even care when I burst through the door saying "Mommy's here Rowey!". Oh well, I know he loves me! The next night we got to babysit Oliver, which was a blast! He is such a fun little guy! He kept us in stitches the whole night. Rowey had a hard time keeping up with him, but was so happy whenever he got to be near big boy O. I had to keep moving R, like a little whirling dervish, to wherever O moved to next because he just wanted to play with his bud.
Anyway, we had a blast. Thank you to all who made it possible!!

Happy day Lover boy, I LOVER you!

Sweetie Faces.

Sweet Ro's personality is really coming out these days. He is still pretty shy and quiet in public until he feels comfortable then he'll really let his crazies out! For example, in Church he will stare blankly and everybody interacting with him for the first hour, but during the second and third hours (yes we go to 3 hours of Church...) he goes wakadooooo. At home, he is a sweetie pie all the time talking, laughing and squealing. Sometimes D and I look at him and then each other and ask ourselves how we got so lucky.

Here are some sweetie faces. Love staring at this mug all day...









* On a side note, Ro is still not crawling and mom is trying not to stress :) I guess it fits in with his kinda chill, somewhat lackadaisical personality!

Rowan at the Movies.

Thought it would be fun to switch things up and incorporate some home videos! I love video recording, but am not a professional yet so sorry if you get motion sick! :)

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.)