~We are alive and doing oh so well~

I certainly didn't plan to take a month off from blogging.  In fact I probably had a lot of things I wanted to blog. But instead we lived, prepped, celebrated, and grew (both in size and in number).  November has been an amazing month, a month I will probably look back on as one of the fondest of this time in our life.  While there are some BIG things I need to blog over this week for the memory book, here is a little recap of the month.

We started the month being full term with Finnegan.  Not knowing when he would arrive, we planned a little vacation for Rowen to grandma and grandpa's in Massachusetts when I hit 38 weeks. Being away from our families, this made things a little easier logistically.  Grandpa came down on November 8th, and introduced Rowen to a love of Trains, and we now have a Christmas train that is currently a work in progress!

On Sunday, November 11th, we sent Rowen on his way, and for the first time since he was born we said goodbye to him for more than two nights.  At times throughout the week we were lost without him, but I know it was good for him to spend time with his grandparents and aunts and uncle!

Without our little man, Rudy and I saw our first movie together since December 2010, it was magical.  We saw Flight, which was sooo good!  It definitely wasn't what we expected, but a great movie nonetheless!  It definitely was an odd week for us, but it reminded me so much of the calm before Rowen was born, simply waiting and watching for signs of labor starting.  The difference this time was we knew what having a baby was like, and at least for me there was soo much anticipation of meeting our new little man!

The same day we said goodbye to Rowen, I began to suspect that I was 'leaking', which is what also happened with Rowen.  I didn't want to just go to the hospital so I waited for my normal appointment on Tuesday, at which point they sent us to the hospital.  After a simple test, which did not show a leak, the ob/gyn sent us on our way, but told me if I still thought I was leaking she was on call again on Thursday and would be happy to check again.  Flash forward to Thursday, the 15th, and I still was concerned so Rudy and I headed to the hospital once again, and this time we did not leave without a baby!

Finnegan James Rivera joined us at 8:41 pm!  I will save the details for his birth story, but we are absolutely smitten with him and fall more and more in love with him and his big brother each day!  We went home on Saturday, and on Sunday Grandma brought Rowen back.  So far he is in love with his brother and has been very gentle and is curious about him!

our first attempt at a family of four photo

Since then we have been enjoying our time as a family of four.  Today Finn is 12 days old, and yesterday Rudy and Rowen returned to our 'normal' routine, and it was my first day of just Finn and me.  

Right now, my heart is incredibly full.  Words cannot describe the love I feel for my little family and it continues to grow.  

Right now, I feel complete, whole, and loved far too much by my family and friends.  

Right now, our life is magical....  

~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.