~Rowen Right Now~

Dear Rowen,

Time for another post about you.  Your personality changes so fast right now, and I want to make sure I write down all of your little funny quirks before I forget them.  Here goes:

1. You love green beans and blueberries, and will even eat beets.  You dislike cheese.  On some days I wonder if you are my child, but you eat an amazing variety of food and hopefully this will continue as you grow.

2. You love to help feed the dogs.  After dinner I will tell you its time to feed the dog and you come and fetch the two bowls and carry them to the dog food.  You love Jack and Lola, and they love you too.  They have been very tolerant of the hours spent with you jumping and lunging on them.

3. You are a child of routine.  After dinner we play for a bit, take a bath, put on pjs, brush your teeth, read your books, and put you to bed.  While we have tried to read you a variety of books, you only want to read two books, Little Blue Truck and Its Time to Sleep My Love.  Same books, every night.  After we finish reading you happily hop off the couch and run down the hall to your room and climb into bed.  Usually you are tired, but you get so excited about going to bed that it winds you up a bit and you end up babbling for a bit before you fall to sleep.

4.  We are brainwashing you into loving Disney characters, and first on the list is Mickey.  Your favorite song is the Hot Dog song from Mickey's Clubhouse, and whenever it comes on you start to dance.  We try to listen to it in the morning right before I drop you off for the day.

5. You can not keep your shoes on.  It is a guarantee that if we put you in the car with two shoes on, when we go to get you out, you will only have one shoe on.  You think wearing shoes is a game.

6.  You would rather blow a kiss over waving good bye.  This has resulted in many trips down the hall of your school with you blowing kisses to all of the misses you see. And they love it.  I think we may have a flirt on our hands.

7.  You are starting to talk, which I discussed here.

8.  Every time I go to the bathroom you think its time to brush your teeth, and if I don't let you in you whine at the door.

9.  You love dump trucks.  One of the main characters in Little Blue Truck is a dump truck and that may be your favorite part of the book.  We picked you up your own yellow dump truck just the other day, and right now it is definitely your favorite toy.

10.  You have slept out of your crib for almost two months at this point.  We didn't have the toddler rail for your bed, but you have only fallen out once (onto soft pillows).  And because you take your nap on a cot a school, you know not to get out of bed until we come get you.  On the very rare occasions that you have decided to be bold, you always quickly scurry back onto your bed like we didn't see you get out.

When I look at pictures of you, its amazing how much you change just between weeks.  Your daddy and I love how much of a big boy you are coming, but we still miss our little baby some times.  You are the sweetest happiest little guy I have ever met (yes I'm biased, I'm your mother I'm supposed to be) and we are so happy and proud to be your parents.  Love you Row Row.  

~Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Life for Me~

We are currently in the full swing of operation "switch rooms + redo two rooms" around here.  With Rowen's baby room, I felt like I had left a lot to be desired.  While it was soft, and I liked it, I don't think I put in as much effort as I should. Whether thats the result of Pinterest ruining things, or just my general opinion, I can't be entirely sure.  Be that as it may, when we found out we were expecting a second boy, I was determined to make the most of Rowen's toddler room that will eventually transition into the Brothers' room once little brother grows up a bit.  

Rowen transitioned easily to the toddler bed, and since we are changing rooms, we figured it would be easiest to keep him in the bed he is comfortable with, so his current nursery furniture will be going with him.  But down the line, this room will get new furniture, and the concept is going to generally stay the same, so I wanted to make sure it was something Rowen could grow with, but wouldn't be too big for little brother.  

For as long as I have known him, Rudy has had a thing for pirates.  It could be pirate mickey mouse and he is over the moon.  So when we started talking about Rowen's big kid room, we quickly decided that the theme throughout would be pirates.  

Now trying to find pirates that weren't tacky, scary, or over the top has been a challenge. While we want pirates to be the theme throughout, I don't want the room to look like pirates threw up all over the place.  A balance, I must find a balance.  Thank god for places like Etsy, and Spoon Flower which have helped immensely in this department.  

This is my inspiration.  Slowly but surely, all of the ideas I have for this room are coming together.  The top right is the fabric I am using for the quilt, as well as the red dots.  All of the golden retrievers in Rowen's current room may end up with red dot bandanas before I am done with them.  The name sign I had initially selected for the new nursery, but we have since decided to get one for both boys.  The other three pictures are some of the prints that will be featured on his walls infused with wall hangings from his current nursery.   

I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to have both Rowen's room and the baby's room finished by October 1st.  I've taken my time on this project, and tried my hardest to be patient, which I hope will pay off in the long run.  I look forward to sharing the finished product!!

~Lub You~

Growing up, I was rather obsessed with milestones, particularly in the academic world. I can remember being in the sixth grade and taking a reading level test, and being pleased as pie with myself that this test told me I was reading at an 11th grade level.  

In college, milestones were measured in days. Everyday the freshmen would shout out different annual milestones, "There are now 121 days to go until the class of 2008 graduates", and I knew for four years how many days away that milestone  was.  

But now that I have had a child, I have grown to despise milestones.  From the moment a baby is born, there are constant milestones that they should be reaching-eating, sleeping, etc.  As they grow, they become a little more spread out, but as parents we are constantly reminded of what they should be 'achieving'.  Each time I take Rowen to the doctor the first thing I am handed is a sheet of what milestones he should be achieving at a certain age.  Most times I move through the list pretty quickly, mentally checking most of the blocks for Rowen.

One block I haven't been able to check yet is speech.  At his one year appointment, the sheet told me he should be saying 5-10 words by now.  Excuse me?  We think Rowen is pretty smart, as all parents do about their child, but 5-10 words, that hadn't happened. At this point the panic began to set in.  What were we doing wrong? 

What we do know is that Rowen wants to communicate with us.  While our preference as parents would be him using sign, at school they point to what they want, and in this case we are going to have to defer to what he does at school simply because they don't use sign there.  And it works, to an extent. There have been many moments of frustration on both our part and Rowen's when he can't tell us exactly what he wants.  But we are making progress.

And while he can't say 10 words yet, he can say somethings.  He may not call Rudy and I mom and dad, but he calls his best friends, Jack and Lola, by name.  Rowen loves them, and I love that they come when he calls them.  He also says thank you, for almost every thing, which makes me believe we are raising a well mannered little gentleman.

But my favorite thing he says, which I'm sure he doesn't know the meaning of just yet, speaks volumes to me.  Each night as we tuck him into bed, Rudy and I both take a moment to kiss him goodnight.  After I kiss him I say goodnight Rowen, I love you. And in his small little bedtime voice he looks up at me and says lub you and smiles.  

Lub you, two little words from my sweet little boy.  I may worry that he hasn't reached the talking milestone, and isn't reciting the Constitution's Preamble just yet, but those two little words reassure me that we will get there.  In our own sweet time. And right now a few names, some good manners, and a little lub is enough of a milestone for me. 

~Tid Bits~

I am home today, and it has been kind of an odd week, as in I have spent way too much time watching the olympics, and lots of time indoors avoiding the excessive heat.  It was nice to wake up this morning to a downpour, but I'm not looking forward to the after rain excessive humidity that is sure to be here this afternoon. And while it has been a relatively lazy week of summer (isn't all of August that way?) I do have a few things to mention:

~ On Tuesday afternoon we took Rowen to get his stitches out.  A quick, painless, two minute procedure, which was thankfully much easier than him getting the stitches.  After the doctor's visit, we decided it was time to cut his unruly locks, for the fourth time I might add.  I know that if I ever have a girl she will end up being bald until she is two given the hair my boy child has.  We usually take him to a salon in the mall, but they had a two hour wait so we ended up at the JC Penny salon, which in case you didn't know is doing free haircuts for school aged children for the month of August.  Rowen got a great haircut, but it is definitely a little shorter than I would normally like to keep his hair.  Mainly because it makes him look like he is three years old and not 16 months old. 

post haircut and stitches removal

~ Remember when I said we thought we had decided on a name? Well after a month of using it, accidentally calling the dog and Rowen it, and trying to get used to it, I have decided that this name is simply not meant to be.  It is just too close to Rowen, and I can't imagine BR2 as it.  While this doesn't exactly excite Rudy, it wasn't his #1 name so he is ok with letting it go.  On a similar note, Parade Magazine last week announced the top ten boy and girl names of 2012 so far....

Girls

1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Sophia 4. Ava 5. Isabella 6. Ella 7. Mia 8. Emily 9. Chloe 10. Lily 


Boys

1. Liam 2. Mason 3. Ethan 4. Noah 5. Jacob 6. Jack 7. Aiden 8. Logan 9. Jackson 10. Lucas 

None of my names are on this list, but I found it interesting that the twilight names are finally losing their reign. 

~Right now, and for the past week, I have been burning a new candle combination that I am in love with.

Beach Party + Raspberry Lime = Heavenly.  I found the Raspberry Lime to be a little overwhelming on its own and adding the more muted Beach Party seems to lessen the sweet strength just a bit.  Now if only Yankee Candle would bottle this combination so I don't have to buy two candles every time I burn the combo out!

We don't have any big plans for the weekend, other than hopefully watching the Mexican national soccer team win gold at the Olympics.  They are the only non American team we cheer for, and since the US men's team didn't even qualify for the Olympics I think its justified to have an alternative to support.  I still need to blog about last weekend when we decided to take Rowen to the aquarium, and he was not exactly happy about it.  Combined with the beach the current score in the Rivera household is: Rowen : 2  Mom and Dad : 0.  Although we are thinking of tackling the beach again in late September when it isn't oppressively hot.  Hopefully the weekend brings a break from the heat, but we shall see....

~Mexican Harry Potter~

He may not go to Hogwarts, or be able to cast spells.  Or ride on a broom.  But he is going to have a pretty cute little scar on his forehead.  

Yesterday at around 830 in the morning I got a phone call saying we needed to pick up Rowen.  Apparently Rowen fought a toddler chair and lost.  Or is just a klutz like his mother and tripped and hit his head perfectly on a chair, creating a nice big and deep gash on his forehead.  When I arrived he was safely being cuddled by his favorite teacher, with all the teachers worried about their Row Row.  Have I mentioned my child is like the Ferris Bueller of his daycare? Hopefully they like his brother just as much or he may develop a complex seeing how much love his older brother is showered with.  

Shortly thereafter we arrived at Urgent Care to get this battle wound checked out.  Part of me thought that if it had happened on his leg I might of just taped it together and let him enjoy the glory of a scar as only little boys can.  But then I thought about a few flaws in this line of thinking:

 1. He will never remember acquiring this scar so I would have to tell him the story.

 2.  While it looks big now, it probably will be an itty bitty scar by the time he is old enough to enjoy the scar glory.

3. It isn't a cool story, like 'I got this scar sliding into third base' but rather ' I got this scar when I tripped over my own feet when I was a year old'.  

After waiting for what seemed like forever, and trying to keep Rowen's head from bleeding, the doctor arrived and decided he needed four stitches to close his wound.  With the assistance of a nursing student, he and I diligently held Rowen down while the doctor worked her magic.  He screamed his head off, and in an attempt to make eye contact with him, I inadvertently caught a glimpse of the doctor sticking her little hook into my sweet little boy's forehead.  At that point I quickly sat down and looked at the table of pap smear parts that was left in our room (tmi?) for the duration of the procedure.  

Little Rowen was a champ and aside from taking his bandaid off every five minutes he doesn't seem to mind having the stitches.  One week and his head should be back to normal.  While this was my first emergency room trip with one of my boys, I know this will not be my last.  Just one of the joys of being a boy mom.  

~ShanBrad Wedding~

This past Friday Rudy and I traveled north to Loon Mountain, New Hampshire to celebrate the wedding of one of my best friends, Shannon.  Shannon and I quickly became friends when we freshmen in college, were roommates at one point, and have remained best friends over the years.  Two years ago around this time she was a bridesmaid in my wedding.  And when several months ago she asked if I would stand up as a bridesmaid for her, I absolutely couldn't say no!

Shannon and Brad's romance blossomed on the ski slopes of New England so when she told me the wedding would be on top of a mountain, I wasn't really surprised.  Shannon was an absolutely stunning bride, and the wedding fit them as a couple perfectly.  Her mother made almost everything for the wedding, and I'm pretty sure she needs to open a wedding business because it was amazing! 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of the most memorable facts about the wedding, it rained!  Shannon and Brad had planned an amazing mountain top wedding, and about 20 minutes before the wedding started the rain started to creep in.  Thankfully some Dollar Store umbrellas saved the day, and all the guests huddled together in the rain to watch the happy couple take their vows!

I don't have many pictures at this point, but I hope to post more once they come in that capture all of the adorable details.  Congrats and many happy years to Mr. and Mrs. Peifer!!