Friday, July 31, 2015

Happy Two Months, Wyatt!

Yesterday, our little “WyGuy”, turned a whole two months old!  This second month has been much easier and much more fun than the first!  He smiles all the time – especially after he eats, makes lots of funny noises, poops like a champ, loves blowing spit bubbles, and kicks his feet 24/7!



This morning Wyatt had his two month checkup!  He's a little on the small side weighing in at 11 lbs 5 ounces (25%) and is 22.25 inches long (16%), but the doctor said he's doing great!  He also had his first set of shots, which led to blood curdling screams.  Rowen would often times get high fevers after her shots, so I’m eager to see if Wyatt will do the same, fingers crossed he doesn’t!



As far as milestones go, the past couple of weeks he’s become so much more alert and has really started to track things with his eyes.  He LOVES laying on his activity mat, listening to the music and batting at the toys hanging in front of him. 





Best of all (and I really hope I don't jinx it by saying this), Wyatt has started sleeping through the night, 8pm to 5/6am, which is keeping Ryan and I very happy!  He’s been sleeping in his own room, in his Rock 'n Play sleeper since night one, and we hope to transition him to his crib in the next month or so.  He sleeps swaddled up tight (in these), which he loves! 



Since I’m now back in the office (part-time), a more defined schedule is a must!   During the day he eats 3.5 ounces every 2-3 hours, takes a 1-2 hour morning nap and a 2-3 hour afternoon nap!  He then gets a bottle and is put to bed around the same time every night.  I said it with Rowen and I’ll say it again with Wyatt, I think a constant, everyday routine is the key to good sleeping habits!  Next week he starts daycare and I pray that our schedule stays the same because this mama needs her sleep!



A few more pics...






Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Rowen Turns 3!

I promised last week that I’d have a re-cap of Rowen’s birthday on the blog, but that didn’t happen, sorry.  Finally getting around to it now though! 

Last year, we did one party with both family and a few friends, but this year we split it up and did two...a “friend party” and a “family party”, I’ll start with the “friend party”



Guests: Over the past year we’ve gotten to know a few of our neighbors really well - so well in fact, that the kids request to play with each other all the time!  So we thought what the heck, invite 15 kids and their parents and see what happens!  We busted out the inflatable pools, sprinkler, slip ‘n slide and water tables and had ourselves a big ol' backyard bash!  Thank goodness for the water because it was HOT, but the kids loved it!





Theme: Naturally, the theme of the party was "princesses".  Specifically, Ariel and Sofia, which are Rowen’s two most favorite princesses!  I even decided to dress the part.  When I walked downstairs that morning wearing THIS, Rowen’s jaw just about hit the floor.  “Mom, Ariel is on your shirt, Ariel is on your shirt!”, she yelled.  Totally worth it!

(for those of you asking, I found the tank here, and for the record, no I was NOT wearing the matching undies, ha!)

Confession: I took a bunch of décor pictures, but then accidentally deleted them when I was going through my iPhone later that night (whoops).  

Food: I don’t know about you, but every year around mid-July, Ryan and I get really barbecue-d out.  Not sure why, but for some reason we get to a point where a grilled hamburger or hot dog no longer sounds appetizing.  So instead of grilling, we decided to do walking tacos!  Talk about an easy, fairly inexpensive meal idea --- they were a hit as was the rest of the party!  A big thanks to all of our friends for celebrating with us!

**

The next morning we woke up early and headed to Panora where we met up with family.  We decided to do this party out at the lake to give everyone on my side of the family a day of boating and tubing!  There was no real theme, just a few balloons and some festive tableware, our view of the lake itself was decoration enough! 

We ate sandwiches and cake, boated, tubed, and opened gifts! It was relaxing and fun, a big thanks to my in-laws for hosting! 





The rest of the weekend was spent playing with all the new toys Rowen received (pretty sure we now own every single Ariel and Sofia toy known to man).  





Monday was Rowen's actual birthday!  It was rainy so we decided to travel north to Ames to check out the library (locals:  this place is awesome for kids) and have lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Hickory Park, where she got a free ice cream and a birthday song!  



What a fun-filled, party hardy weekend it was!


Thursday, July 16, 2015

Rowen's 3 Year Update

Our Rowie girl turns three years old this coming Monday, I can’t believe it!  We’ll be busy celebrating this weekend, can't wait!  In the meantime I wanted to post her 3 year update...

Age:  3

Stats:   I actually have no clue on this…she sees the doctor next week for her 3 year check-up!

Size:  Mostly 3T…can still fit into some 2T stuff though.

Teeth:  Had her third dentist appointment this past Spring.  Everything looked good!  She’s still waiting on a couple of molars to come in.  She is learning to brush her teeth by herself, but still gets help from us.  

Milestones:

Vocabulary: She’s using full sentences now, basically speaks like an adult.  Has even been caught using a curse word once at daycare…that was probably my fault.  #momfail 

Potty-training:  100%.  We are in underwear full time, even at night!  I cannot even remember the last time she had an accident.  She’s also graduated to using the “big potty”, which means no more potty seat! 

Alphabet/Numbers:  Recognizes a handful of letters and numbers.  We’ve been working with her to trace her letters and numbers, too!  Ryan says he’s going to have her reading by Christmas…I don’t think it’ll happen though.  He says he could read by age 3 (I personally think he was just memorizing books, which is what Rowen does), but I guess we’ll see!

Days of the Week:  Officially knows her days of the week thanks to a catchy tune she learned at daycare.  Without fail, she always asks what day it is, and what the plan is for that day!  I love it. 

Favorites:

Food:  Mac N Cheese.  She would eat it all day, everyday if we let her, which we don't!  Other foods she likes…chicken nuggets, oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, stir fry, rice, spaghetti, bananas, PB&J, broccoli, yogurt, & cereal! 

Book:  Loving Pete the Cat books, Llama Llama Books, and our weekly trips to the library!

Toy:   Still loving her Disney Magiclip Princess set, her Ariel doll, and her Palace Pets.  Also loves puzzles, Magna-tiles, and easy board games!

TV Show:  We let her watch TV in the morning (on the weekends) and for 30-40 minutes before bedtime.  The only show she’s really into watching anymore is Daniel Tiger.  I think we’ve seen every episode 10 times…no joke!

Movie:  Still Little Mermaid, but she also loves Tangled, Cinderella and the Disney Princess Sing-A-Long videos we check out from the library on occasion.

Song:  The girl sings CONSTANTLY!  Her favorite songs to sing are those from Daniel Tiger.  She also loves singing any Disney song.  Thank goodness for the Disney Princess radio station on iTunes!

Sleep: 

Bedtime: She usually goes to bed (8pm) without complaining and always waits for us to come get her in the morning.  I have no clue how we lucked out with such a good sleeper!  She still loves hoarding all of her animals, princesses and books in her bed at night, which we're fine with as they entertain her until she falls asleep and then again in the morning when she wakes up!  Each night one of us crawls into bed with her and together we read a book, say prayers, sing a song and then “chat” about our day…I love it! 

Naps:   Still taking one, but I have a feeling it might not be for much longer.  When they do end, we plan to make her have “quiet time” playing with a few designated toys in her room with the door shut.  This will be especially important when we get a more established nap routine going for Wyatt. 

Social:

In her normal, everyday environment (aka daycare and at home), she generally thrives socially.  However, the past couple months, we’ve started to notice that when we take her out of her “normal environment” and into a setting like gymnastics class, a birthday party, or even the play place at the mall, she retreats.  Instead of playing with other kids, she prefers to hang back with Ryan and I.  She would much rather watch the other kids then play alongside of them.  She will participate in the activity if we are doing it with her, but if we try to get her to do it alone, she wont.  In the end this frustrates me A LOT!.  Ryan keeps telling me to stop worrying about it, but for some reason I do.  I guess I worry because she starts preschool this Fall and I want her to be ready!  Eeek! 

Attitude:  She definitely has one!  There is really only one way to describe her attitude right now and it’s stubborn as all heck!  I’ve been told she gets her stubbornness from me (ha), so luckily I feel like I know how to deal with it, but sometimes it’s hard! 

To sum it up, Rowie is a very good kid.  She's sweet, smart, funny, silly, extremely clumsy, and stubborn all in one, and we love her soooo very much! 

Here are a few recent pics:







I hope to have a recap of her birthday on the blog early next week!  Stay tuned!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Scenes from July 4th 2015

So basically my blog schedule is nowhere near a "schedule".  Instead, it's more like a "blog when you have a free moment schedule", sorry.   Anyway, I guess this post is better late then never!

We had the best 4th of July weekend...complete with a parade and sparklers, a trip to the lake for some boating and tubing with Ryan's family, followed by a BBQ and fireworks with my family!

This year I learned that 2T 4th of July dresses are sold by the plethora...



...however, newborn 4th of July onesies are not.  HA, poor kid.


Friday night parade with good friends...







Soooo much candy...


Sparklers in the back yard after...


Fun on the lake...








Time to celebrate!



Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th!  It always goes by way too fast, doesn't it?  *sigh*