Sunday, February 22, 2015

Three Week Old Rowly!

Knock on wood, this baby is by far the best newborn I've had.  He's making the idea of future children adding our mix much more possible in my mind.  He's still quite a sleepy eater - though he starts out determined to stay awake, but we lose him to la-la land after 5 minutes of eating.  




Cute little bear - always asleep!



He LOVES his legs all folded up all the time!  If you pull them straight - they rubberband right back . ;)

He's becoming much more alert and as of late is trying really hard to focus and make eye contact.  I LOVE when we finally get to the eyes focusing and smiling stage - I cannot WAIT for it.  We had his two week appointment and had packed on a whopping 10 oz, hitting 7 lbs!  I still can't believe he hasn't even touched Ross or Ruby's birth weights.  He HAS grown an inch though - 20 1/2 inches long.  We're working our way up.
Actually awake!

He's got the cutest little wrinkly forehead - and receding hairline. ;)
Brother and sis wanting to play. :)

This is how you play with Rowland currently - lay on your back and look around.

Or coach on some tummy time.


My doctor told me since he's had plenty of wet and dirty diapers and he's growing, it would be fine to let him go 4, 5, even 6 hours at night.  I decided I really liked her when she told me this.  My other pediatricians always stress me out with the "don't let them sleep too long" at night stuff.  Of course, when I've attempted to let Rowland catch as many zzz's as he wants in the night - he's decided 4 hours is the longest he'll go at the moment.  I'm not complaining though - he's great at going right back to sleep.  Beautiful boy. :)


Ross and Ruby both had caught colds a couple weeks ago, and poor Rowly has gotten it too.  I think his little stuffy nose is what wakes him up in the night more than the need to eat.  He doesn't really enjoy having his nose sucked out, but likes being able to breathe afterwards though.  

His umbilical cord hung on for QUITE a while.  It finally fell off on his 2 week birthday, and we gave him a nice bath, which he didn't mind for the most part.  Though for his second one, he reminded me how untrustworthy little boys our with their little pee fountains when they are naked and peed all over me right before his bath.  BOO.  

He also has got me stumped with how he managed to have his pee leak up his back.  I didn't know pee could go that direction.  

We thoroughly enjoyed my mom being here and were so sad to see her go.  They kept asking where Grammy Joanne was.  Ruby says her name SO stinkin' cute.  It's Gwammy Jo - en - and sounds hilarious when she's mad and demanding Grammy to fix the problem - such as being put down for a nap.  They sure kept Grammy busy playing trains, hide and seek, playing outside, going on walks - the works! We also got on a Planes Fire and Rescue kick.  Grammy gave in to Ross's cuteness and outfitted him with a whole slew of planes and characters from the movie to play with.
"Saw it. Liked it.  Asked Grandma. Got it!"  Who can say no to that face?  Seriously.

Swingin' outside in some of our crazy Colorado weather - it was nice and toasty that day!

We were also very excited to get Grandma Claudia to come.  She brought a magical fairy door with her that Ross especially loved - mostly because of the surprises every morning.  :)  They've also been busy making fruit loop necklaces, swinging outside, playing hide and seek, playing with play dough, and more.  Mommy's been especially glad to get lots of naps in and some dates with Daddy thanks to Grammy Joanne and Grandma Claudia. :)

I am very proud to say I even have already taken all three kids out by myself (I know - WOW - seriously).  I took the kids to Romp Around since it correlated perfect with feeding Rowland - he just slept the whole time.  Though it goes from 9-11 and we didn't get there until 10:15. :)  The point is - we got there - and I even got to play more with my kids than I have in the last month!  It took it out of me for the rest of the day though.  It was when Steve was dropping my mom off at the airport and picking up Claudia - so I corralled the kids by myself that day.

Rowland:
  • Continues to melt all of our hearts.  
  • He has the sweetest face
  • He's becoming more observant when he's awake.
  • He also still is loving to be snuggled.  
  • He still folds his little legs up in a little ball and makes himself nice and comfortable on you while you hold him.
  • He likes to have his arms up by his head - which has made for a problem when swaddling - but he WILL like swaddling eventually - for sleeping's sake.
  • He loves to be sung to.
  • Ross is his best buddy.  Ross is always wondering how "my baby" is doing and wants to hold him.  You can tell Ross has so much love in his heart for his new little brother.
  • He's started a growth spurt - wanting to eat more.
  • He's sporting what he'll look like when he's an old man - with losing some hair on top resulting in a major receding hairline.
  • Likes to sneak attack mom or dad or whoever is changing him with pee or poo - shooting either one out like a firehose shoots water.
He's definitely getting situated in this little family!  We are loving it!  I decided I wanted to get A (as in just one simple one ) family picture of the five of us.  I went in to it calm with low expectations.  Stephen has admitted that family pictures stress him out - poor guy.  I am a perfectionist with family pictures usually - so it's all thanks to me.  I'm a work in progress.  :)
 
Trying for family pictures is getting more and more difficult!


Fail!

Fail!

This is the closest to a win we could get. :)  I think it's pretty good - we're all smiling (the ones who know how to) and Rowland isn't screaming. :) 

Monday, February 16, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day 2015!

We had a nice Valentine's.  We spent it making muffins, wearing Valentine's clothes, and Daddy taking Mommy out for a date!  Woot woot!

It was a nice date for me and Stephen to remember we were married since we've been in parent/work mode nonstop with this cute little guy joining the group.  

Stephen has a patient who owns a steakhouse down near where he works, so we decided to go and check it out.  I will say - we were not disappointed.  The steaks were delicious and it was so nice to just be together and talk uninterrupted.  

The kids had fun eating candy and wearing Valentine glasses their Grammy Joanne had  left for them.  Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Everyone making a silly face - Rowland decided to do the turtle in the shell face.

These babies are practically glued to her feet.  She LOVES them!



My favorite picture!

Sweet face.

Heart Breaker


Some sister love.

Ruby's cute Valentine outfit - compliments of Grammy Joanne!  Candy in mouth also compliments of Grammy.


A cute Ross Heart Breaker

 
The beautiful bouquet Stephen brought home for me.  My favorite - Roses - with a touch of unique from Steve - daisies.

Daddy gave Ruby a daisy too. :)


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

One Week Old Rowland

Well, aside from the slap in the face it is to not get consistent sleep, we have an adorable week old Rowland with us, and a few observations to report about this cute guy:



  • He's finally sorted out his nights for the most part, and I consistently have to wake him up to eat (which is depressing on my part) - though last night I somehow didn't hear my alarm, and we all got away with 5 hours of sleep...a beautiful accident.
  • He detests any sort of chill and throws a fit until he's been snuggled and warmed up.  We finally had some sun and I laid him in it unwrapped and he took a decent nap like a cat all happy sunning himself.
  • He is mostly a fan of his binky - we will definitely get him to love it.
  • Being held and snuggled by his dad may just be his favorite.
  • Sometimes he wakes up grumpy until he's finally completely awake and then he lays there in awe of his surroundings just looking around.
  • He's found his hand a few times in his mouth and happily sucks on it.
  • He furrows his forehead which turns into a raisin.
  • He also has a V shaped birthmark showing up on his forehead which I'm told is an angel kiss.  Stephen thinks it means he's Vulcan. ;)
 
See that V showing up?
  •  Just like Ruby, he has a birthmark on the back of his head near his neck - which is a stork bite. :)  
  • His cries range from a bit of a whimper to squealing like a little piggie.  
  • I can't get over how tiny he is - I have a total of 4 newborn outfits that work for him - the 0-3 always seemed to work for my other two kiddos.  So funny.  He weighed in for his one week appt at 6lbs 6.5oz which is 6 oz heavier than when we left the hospital.  We're working hard on fattening him up. :)  He's a VERY sleepy eater.

We are beginning to get situated here.  My wonderful mother is a superstar entertaining my kids and making delicious meals.  It's so nice being able to just worry about the baby when I need to and am slowly easing in to the idea of taking care of three kids by myself during the day (still terrifying actually).

I took a shot at doing Rowland's newborn pictures.  He tried really hard to not be compliant unfortunately, but we managed a few good pictures.  All my kids prefer to be awake for pictures I guess.  We sure love this boy though.  Nothing like a new baby. :)






I love feet pictures!













Sun Bathing :)






Happy Love Month from this little guy :)