~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....  

~Run Run Rudolph~

As I mentioned earlier this week, we have begun to listen to Christmas music in the Rivera Household. One of Rowen's teachers mentioned to us that he LOVES to dance, which we had never really seen.  So last week we put on the Pandora Christmas channel and Rowen quickly showed us his moves!  Here are two videos (sorry they are dark) of Rowen's 'dancing'...

Happy first day of November!!

~Pumpkin Patch 2012~

On Columbus Day we headed down to Fredericksburg for a little pumpkin patch visit.  Last year we visited this same patch and absolutely loved it.  While it was in the 80s last year, this year it was freezing!!! Thankfully we had an extra sweatshirt in the van for Rowen so he stayed pretty warm and despite the chill loved the freedom to roam the farm! 

Sorry for the picture overload...

 This child LOVES feeding goats.  Every farm we have been to this fall we have spent at least a half an hour feeding goats....

 Riding the zip line swing...

Down the slide!

And through the corn maze....

The tractor train was probably Rowen's favorite thing. At first he wasn't the biggest fan, but shortly there after he didn't want to get off! 

After the tractor train we took the hayride out to the pumpkin patch...

 Searching for the perfect pumpkin!

While the weather wasn't the greatest, the day was wonderful! I'm so happy we have had the time this fall to get out and enjoy little fall activities here and there, and I know this is only the start of one of many family traditions!!

~Frankenstorm~

Since FEMA is telling us we should update our social media outlets, I guess I should update my blog.  I have a few things I 'need' to blog for the ol' memory book, and maybe this surprise day off will be the day I tackle those.

The last few weeks have been great.  We have spent lots of time playing with Rowen,  and enjoying these last few slow weeks. I don't think I would trade this time for anything. We have visited the zoo, and a pumpkin patch or two, all things I need to blog.  We have spent time throwing the ball to these two crazies, which Rowen loves....

We carved pumpkins, or rather Rudy carved pumpkins.  I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkins, the guts, or the smell, so I was responsible for printing out the templates for the designs.  Its a good thing he decided to carve them early since it remains to be seen if we will actually have a Halloween this year....

I think Rudy is pretty talented with his pumpkin carvings!

We have started listening to Christmas music, and I may have a video or two of Rowen that I need to upload.  Rudy was pretty excited to see that Macy's already had their Christmas trees up last week, and we are already busy making plans for our home decor.  Come November 1st the tree is going up and hopefully by the end of this coming weekend my house will look like Christmas threw up on it.  

Rowen got another hair cut, which will hopefully last us until Christmas.  I think he looks soo old with his hair shorter...

And his model face, I have no idea what he is doing but it was pretty funny to find this amongst the pictures of him....

On Friday my cousin, who was due the same day as me, gave birth to her sweet 8lb little girl.  While I would LOVE to have Mr. Finn make an arrival before Thanksgiving, right about now I'm pretty grateful that he is still sitting safely in my belly during this hurricane.  We are expected to be hit pretty hard, and the last thing I would want right now is to be in labor or just home with a newborn.  Plus I have grown pretty fond of the November birthstone in the last few months, so hold out for a few more days (but not too long) Mr. Finn.  

Slow days can be the best days, and I'm grateful today for another one! 

~The Magic of Ordinary Days~

When I was in high school I read a book called the Magic of Ordinary Days.  Basically its the story of a woman who comes to realize that its not the big events but her day to day life that is truly special.  I have made almost no attempt to hide the fact that I would like October to fly by.  But if I'm being honest I would have to say that feeling is only controlling a part of my heart.  The other part wants days like today to go on for a while, the ordinary days - where nothing extraordinary happened, but the day was magical nonetheless.  

Now this isn't to say that once Finn joins us we won't have wonderful ordinary days.  In fact I know we will have many of them, and more often than I should I will wish for something exciting to happen.  But I do know that in a few short weeks, and likely for a few months, our days will be anything but ordinary.  They will be chaos.  Such is the life with a toddler who with lots of energy in the middle of winter and a newborn still adjusting to this side of the womb.  And I know that on some days I will question my sanity and why I thought I wanted another baby.  But this feeling will pass, I know it will.  

Our little trio is at such an amazing point of ease that when I let fear plant itself I wonder will it ever be this 'groovy' again.  And while I can worry from sun up to sun down, that isn't what I want to spend the next month doing.  Instead I want to absorb as much of this time with our first little boy so that I can always remember what it was like 'before Finn' and we just had our Row Row. 

We went into today knowing it was going to be a lazy indoors kind of day.  The 80% chance of rain and high of 55 degrees pretty much guaranteed there wouldn't be any fun family outings going on today.  I decided early in the day that  I would accomplish a few household things, finish the laundry, wash the bed linens, and hopefully get us a little ahead for the week.  Rudy made his weekend pancakes, with the help of his little Chef Rowen.  During nap time I went to the grocery store, cursing myself for going so late in the day, but I enjoyed watching the Sunday Crazies as I strolled the store.  

Rowen played and played with his best buddy Jack.  Those two can sit on the floor for hours, and all we usually here out of Rowen is lots and lots of giggles.  I only wish I knew what they were talking about.  

When dinner time rolled around, I got to work making meatballs.  I made extra in hopes of freezing some sauce, and made homemade garlic bread to go with our spaghetti.  I could eat spaghetti every single day of the week so when Rudy agrees to it for dinner its like Christmas around here! Rowen wanted to wear an apron too, and I think an apron his size (and a lot less feminine) may be on order from Santa...

Lola making an appearance...

While we waited for the meatballs to cook, we had a little couch fun taking pictures with the iPad...

At dinner we stripped Rowen down to a diaper and let him go to town on his spaghetti, which he loved!  He couldn't get the spoon into his mouth fast enough! Once dinner was over I cleaned things up while Rudy took care of Rowen's nightly bath.  After bath came books, and before I knew it we were saying goodnight to our little beep beep ( I have been calling Rowen this for the past week because of Little Blue Truck).  

Tonight Rudy and I sat down to a movie on demand, and watched Chimpanzee.  While it was a little sad, it was a cute story.  Rudy has been perfecting his stovetop pop corn recipe, and thankfully tonight I was the primary taste tester!  He hasn't gotten it exactly right yet, but I am more than willing to keep trying all of the 'failures'.  

This was an ordinary day.  And yet at the same time it was so wonderful that I'm going to bed with a smile on my face and happiness in my heart.  

Have a good week everyone, and may your days be magically ordinary.  

~Finger Licking Good~

The other day I was craving ribs, which doesn't normally happen.  In fact Rudy couldn't recall a time he had ever seen me willingly eat ribs.  Be that as it may, my dear husband gave into my craving and procured me some delicious ribs.  We decided to give Mr. Rowen a rib to see if he was a fan, and lets just say he loved it....

 He may not have many teeth but he makes do with those that he does have....

So delicious....

~Tidbits~

I'm home alone while the Mr. is busy taking a test at school and Rowen is fast asleep.  Here are a few randoms for this week:

~I said I would try to wait for Rudy to get home, but I had to watch Homeland.  And it didn't disappoint, I'm hooked yet again.  I only hope that this time it doesn't consume my life like last season did.  It was bad, and I may of watched the whole season in a weekend, and then felt for about two weeks that something was missing in my life.

~Many of the blogs I read are doing the 31 Days Link Up.  This sounds great, but the only thing I plan to do for all 31 days of this month is remain pregnant and reach full term on November 1st.  Ahem, at that point Mr. Finnegan you are welcome to make your appearance.

~And on that same note my BFF is coming home for Thanksgiving.  Which according to her mom means I will go into labor the night of November 24, after Kelley and Bobby have departed to go home to Texas.  No thanks. 

~Now that October is here, I would like the weather to make up its mind.  On Sunday I thought it was cold and was one of the few crazy people walking around town in jeans and a scarf while some people were still wearing tank tops and short shorts.  It also makes dressing Rowen difficult and having two seasons worth of clothes in his itty bitty closet is no bueno.

~We are slowly but surely making progress on Rowen's room, and all I really need at this point is a few of the wall hangings I am waiting on, so here is a sneak peak...

And apparently Lego play is hard work...

~Behind the Music is back on, and right now I'm watching Carrie Underwood which is pretty interesting since I didn't watch American Idol.  I miss the days of Behind the Music marathons, so hopefully this season catches on with the American public again....

~I am waddling, and the worst part of it is I know I'm waddling and despite my best efforts to reign it in I can still feel myself swaying while I walk.  These seven weeks can't go fast enough....

Well thats enough randomness for now, have a great night!