Rowan is 1 Month!

This first month has flown by so quickly!  I'm sure part of that is because of the holidays.  It has been so nice to have Mike home to help out with the kids.  Going from 1 kid to 2 adds a lot of work and often issues when they both need you at one time!  There are many things that Rowan does that reminds me of Liam, but she is definitely her own little person with her own personality!  She still has not taken to the binky which can be very difficult when she is fussy and we can't calm her.  She generally likes to be calmed by being held, which is nice most of the time, but can be difficult when we need to get something done, and also to get some sleep.  She does seem to be getting a little better about sleeping, but that varies night to night.  She does not really like being on her back, and really does not like her bassinet.  Unless she is deep asleep, she will wake up if we put her in her bed.  We have noticed that she is getting a little better about hanging out as her awake time gets longer during the day.  She has enjoyed her swing and bouncers a few times.  After her belly button healed up we were able to give her her first real bath, and we recorded it.  She seemed to like it for the most part.  She seems to be a very efficient eater.  She eats a meal in about 1/2 the recommended time to feed, and even then she sometimes eats too much and ends up spitting up!!  I was a little concerned at first that she wasn't eating enough, but she is gaining weight just fine, so no worries there.  We got her professional pictures, and they turned out so cute.  We are sending out the announcements now.  Rowan also had her first Christmas in her first month of life.  She got some cute gifts from family, thank you!  Sadly, she also has her 2nd cold, and she's just barely a month old!  One of the downsides of having a winter baby, poor thing.  Overall, this last month has been pretty good.  We are definitely sleep deprived, and stressed at times, but then one of them will do something so cute, and it makes it all worth it.

comment by Gaylene on 01/02/2010
Love that picture! She is darling. Time sure is flying by fast.

Rowan (2 week update)

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks already! Rowan is already growing so quickly. She had her 2 week check up this morning, and she has already gained nearly 1 pound, and grew an inch. So now she weighs 7 lbs. 14 oz. and is 20" long. The nurse says that they like to see the baby gain back what they lose after birth, so she is definitely on the right track. She is such a sweet baby, and loves to snuggle. Her favorite place to sleep is right on our chest. I think she likes it because she can hear our heart and perhaps is reminded of being in the womb. We were relieved that she started to nurse right away since it was a bit of a struggle with Liam because he was a preemie. Basically, she is your typical baby, loves to sleep during the day, and is up more at night. Her general waking hours are between 3 am and 5 am. Some nights are better than others, but we seem to be getting better. Sadly, she has had a bit of a cold, so her nose is stuffed up at times and makes it hard for her to breathe and nurse. The Dr. also checked her heart murmur today, and said it was completely gone, which is a huge relief.

Liam was not able to visit us in the hospital because of the H1N1 this year, so the first time Liam saw Rowan was at our house. He opened our bedroom door where I was holding her on the bed, and then immediately closed the door after seeing her. He has been a bit shy of her, but has slowly warmed up to her over the last couple of weeks. After several days he touched her foot. Then one evening he comforted her when she was crying. He stroked her cheek, and offered her the binky (which strangely she doesn't like as of yet). He will say 'Baby Sad' when she is crying, and he is surprisingly understanding when we need to attend to her. Recently I was able to put Rowan on his lap and took a quick picture. He pointed to her eyes, nose, mouth and ears. He really seems quite interested in her, and has been nothing but sweet with her....just wish that would last forever!! Anyway, we are enjoying our new bundle of joy, and still adjusting to little sleep, but it has all been worth it!

Liam is 2 years!

This last month has been quite eventful for the whole family...it started off with Liam's early birthday party in November.  Then shortly after that we had to say goodbye to our dear friend, Sequoia.  He calls her 'Carsi', and he surprised us with how aware he was that she was gone.  When we got back from the vets, he pointed to the car and said 'Carsi gone'. The next several times he was in the car he would say that too.  He recognizes her in her pictures, and we hope that he will always have a good memory of her.  The next big event in November was the arrival of Liam's little sister Rowan Kendall.  She was born on the 26th, Thanksgiving Day.  He's not quite sure what he thinks of her yet, but he has been slowly warming up to her.  His first reaction was kinda funny.  He was not allowed to visit her in the hospital because of the H1N1 flu this year, so the first time he saw her was at our house.  I was sitting on our bed, and he opened the door excited to see me...he saw her, and promptly shut the door.  It took him several days to touch her foot.  After a few weeks, he has comforted her, and pointed and touched her eyes, nose, mouth etc., but overall he really is rather ambivalent about her.  I'm sure with time, and her growing and becoming more playful, he will be more interested in her.  This month he has really decided he is not really interested in Elmo anymore, and he really likes Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine.  He can't get enough of 'Georgie', and always asks to watch him.  One cute word that he's been saying lately is 'Begeena'.  It is his word for blanket, and we have no idea where the word came from, but we thought it was cute.  He likes to have his 'Begeena' on him in the car.  He has also started to like to be tucked in with his blanket at nap time, and bed time.  A couple of frustrating habits he has acquired as of late has been ignoring us.  It is as if he is completely deaf.  He also has been spitting, which is a habit we'd like to kick real fast. Since I've been on maternity leave, I have been home with him all day, so I have started to give him 'time out'.  I am not sure he quite gets it yet, and I have to 'hold' him in place, but we are hopeful with time and consistency that it will start to work.  We froze some of Liam's birthday cake from his party, so today, his actual birthday he got some cake to enjoy.  He is growing into such a cute and smart little boy, and we hope to enjoy many more birthdays with him!  Happy 2 years 'Little Man'!

Rowan's Birth Story

The week Rowan was born I had been feeling contractions, and was already dilated to 3 cm. Wednesday night I was feeling some pretty strong contractions, and thought maybe it was time. Later that evening the contractions lightened up, so we just figured it was pre-term contractions. The next morning around 9am I felt my water 'break'. Since Liam's water technically broke 2 days prior to being born, we were unsure how much time we had. I wasn't feeling any strong contractions like the night before, but we knew if the water had broke we should get to the hospital to have it looked at. I was 98% sure this was the real thing, so we spent the morning packing up and finishing up some last minute things. We dropped off Liam at Grandma's house, and then headed over to the hospital around noon. They confirmed that the fluid was amniotic and since I was only at 3.5 cm, and not contracting, they offered to give me some pitocin. We decided to wait to see if I progressed on my own. Mike ran to get a bite to eat since he hadn't had any food that day...when he returned they checked me again and I was the same so we decided to get started on the pitocin. They kept checking me, and I was progressing very slowly. Shortly after I started to feel some pain in my back, and told them I would want my epidural soon. 20 minutes or so went by and the anesthesiologist was not there. I guess I just figured the Dr. was already at the hospital, but he had to be called in. And since it was Thanksgiving, people were busy with their family dinners...They said he was on his way, but another 20 or so minutes went by and he still was not there. I was going to just wait till I really needed it to ask for it, but I am glad I didn't because it was close to 2 hours before he showed up, and I had progressed to 6 cm. He had to go in twice because the first one was going into a blood vessel. After I got the epidural both our heart rates had dipped, and they had to keep adjusting my position to make sure we stayed normal. They also turned off the pitocin until the Dr. could get to the hospital. My normal OB was not available that day, so his partner filled in. I didn't know anything about him, so I was sad that my OB wasn't going to be there. After they turned off the pitocin I didn't progress any on my own, so when the Dr. showed up around 7pm, they turned the pitocin back up. Finally about an hour or so after I was finally at 10 cm. The nurse adjusted the bed and told the Dr. we were ready. She was going to have me push a little, but her head was already crowning!! The doctor came in, and they had me push about 3 1/2 times and she was born at 8:34 pm! They took her over to the prep cart, and wiped her down. The nurse said she was the stickiest baby she had ever seen....I joked that it was all the creamed honey I ate! They let us hang out for 2 hours in the delivery room, which was nice since I had been rushed out with Liam, and ended up passing out in the bathroom. I was able to let the medicine wear off and take in the experience. She started nursing right away, she was a natural!! Then we moved to my room around 11pm. They took her to give her a bath, and check her out. After she was returned Mike was able to say goodbye. He needed to get home to let the dogs out and feed them after being inside for 13 plus hours. Rowan and I spent the night and next 2 days eating, sleeping (me only cat naps) and bonding. She loves being held and wasn't too happy if I put her down. One of the nurses told me that Rowan was the ONLY baby born in that hospital on Thanksgiving. And also one of only a few there the whole time we were there...which is quite remarkable considering we live in Utah county, probably the #1 county of births in the U.S. Before we left they told us that she had a heart murmur, and the Dr. checking her out wanted to see her the next day to see if it was going to be an issue. We took her to be checked out on Sunday, and the Dr. said it appeared to be fixing itself, and to follow up on her 2 week visit to be sure. We are slowly getting used to having a new born again, and no sleep, but are just loving our new addition to our family.

Welcome Thanksgiving Baby!

I will post the birth story soon, but just wanted to announce that our little girl came one week early in the evening of Thanksgiving day, November 26th 2009. Her name is Rowan Kendall, coming in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and is 19 inches long. She has a lot of beautiful hazelnut brown hair, and we are already smitten by her!

Baby Bump #2 (38 Weeks)

So I have to admit that I'm a little surprised that I've made it to 38 weeks. Unlike a lot of women out there, I am not in any hurry for her to come. I actually love being pregnant...and it's kinda a bitter sweet moment now because we are fairly sure (not 100%, but close) that she will be our last kid. I started to pack some things last night for the hospital, but still need to do some last minute things before I'm ready-ready. Not a whole lot else to report. I've been going weekly now to the Dr's to be checked and measured and all seems well and normal. I have had some small contractions here and there, and I can tell my body is getting ready for her to come.

Liam is 23 Months

Liam has such a cute personality.  He is very smart, and very stubborn, both traits he inherited from his dad.  He really is starting to take command of languange and takes every opportunity to practice his words.  The most often ones he's been using this month have been his numbers and colors.  And he is actually starting to get the colors right!  He will combine the word 'Boo-geen-lellow-red' for Blue,green,yellow,red'...it's pretty cute!  He did start saying the word 'Wow' , and 'Oh-no!' and he'll put his hands up to his face and say it...He will say 'again' if he wants you to repeat something.  And he also has taken a liking to picking up trash and wanting to put in in the trash can.  When we are in the play room he likes to 'steal' our spots on the couch.  If we get up, he will run to our spot on the couch and yell 'mama's spot' or daddy's spot'  He will also do something that makes us get up, so he can take our spot!  He's quite mischeivious that way.  He is also really good at puzzles.  He is also still obsessed with lights.  He used to want them on all the time, but lately he wants them off.  He loves to turn the switches on and off too.  If I'm having a difficult time with him, I will distract him with the option of helping me with the lights...it generally seems to work.  He had a bit of a transition issue with starting to wear his winter clothes.  He did not want to wear long sleeves, pants or jackets...but after a few weeks it seems he is getting better about putting these clothes on.  A couple of weeks ago we moved him to his new room.  We ended up keeping his bed a crib for now.  He hasn't shown much of an interest in climbing out of his crib even though we know he is capable of it.  We figure it will be good to adjust to his new room and mature a little more before we move him to the toddler bed.  He still does not understand not to touch the plugs or mess with his furniture, so we feel its safer to keep him in his crib until he's a little older. 

 

This month we had Halloween, and he went trick-or-treating for the first time.  We started Halloween evening off with carving pumpkins. Liam is too young still to participate with the actual carving part, but we had him watch us cut them open and take the guts out. He kept saying 'Ewe' when we showed him the insides. The way he says 'punkin' is soo cute too!  We gave him his pumpkin to play with, and then gave him a glow stick since he just LOVES lights, and we figured he would get a kick out of a glow stick.  Then we got him dressed in his Elmo costume so that he could go trick-or-treating...The trick-or-treater's had already started to show up while we were taking his picture. He wasn't too sure what to make of everything. He seemed a bit shell shocked, so we were able to capture a few pictures with him being cute and calm. I took him out first, and we ran into some neighbors just outside our house. He was talking up a storm about his Elmo costume and how he had shoes on. The first house we went to he was hesitant to say 'trick or treat' , but he grabbed a piece of candy out of the bowl. I was fairly surprised that he knew just what to do.  We just went to a few houses, then dad wanted a chance to take him out, so he took him to a few more...he did end up saying 'Trick-or-treat' at least once, and 'Thank you' too.  When he got home he did NOT want to let go of his Elmo basket. We had to pry his hand open to take his costume off and wash his hands...then we let him carry his stash around the house. He really seemed to enjoy this Halloween...although I think next year he will have a much better understanding what all the fuss is about.

 

For Liam's 2nd birthday party we decided to host it at The Living Planet Aquarium. We also had his party one month early because Rowan is due right around his real birthday which is Dec. 7th. We had the party room for 1.5 hrs. so it was a bit rushed, but overall I think everyone had a good time. We first had a light brunch with bagels and fruit, then we had a treasure hunt with the kids. Liam did not like the activity at all, he just wanted to run around the aquarium and do his own thing...after the treasure hunt, we had to quickly have cake and open presents. Again, Liam didn't want much to do with this, he just wanted to run around and play...guessing this is normal for his age.  I think his favorite part of the whole party was his balloons. He held onto those things and punched them all over the place, it was pretty funny!  After the party, all the guests were free to explore the aquarium...Liam loved splashing in the stingray tank, and crawling around in the ocean caves. Overall I think the party went well. It felt a little hectic and rushed to me, but that is probably because I was the host. It was fun, and the best part of all was I didn't have to clean our house at nine months pregnant : )