My Favorite Thing About Being a Mommy...Right Now

Really, what's not to like about being a mommy right now?!  Between all the mind-boggling things Rowan is doing everyday and Cid reminding us how cute a little baby is, we are seriously drowning in happy times.

But if I had to choose one...or maybe two {per kid, of course ;p} things, here's what's making me feel the most warm and fuzzy inside:

Cid's big smile.

I think what I love most about this smile, besides that its super cute, is how hard he has to work to make it happen and even so, he hands 'em out freely. Once, I even got a real laugh out of him. His whole face lights up and he gives us the ol' Tyra smize.  It's to die for!

Rowan's wink.

The other day, Rowan looked at his dad, paused, and made a long blink with both eyes.  Then a HUGE grin took over his face.  This came totally unprompted and took us by complete surprise.  We blinked back a few times, and he did it again.  Now we're giving him winks and he'll do his darndest, but it's still just a long two eyed blink, which I have to say, I think is even cuter than a wink.

Baby farts.

Is that weird?  They're just give me a giggle, especially after the 6th week struggle, where gas caused Cid so much discomfort.  I love to know that he's passing gas and I LOVE it when he can pass gas without pain.

Leg holds and head hugs.

I guess because Rowan's realized that I can't pick him up all the time anymore, he'll run to me and instead of reaching up, he'll wrap his arms around my leg and squeeze.  And instead of climbing in my lap for a hug, he'll come over and lay his head on me.  Soooo cute!

Brotherly love.

Ok, I know it was supposed to be one...or two...per kid, but this one is a bonus...and they're my rules to break anyway.  With two baby boys, there's always a tinge of guilt on my mind that I'm not giving enough to one or the other.  Always a feeling that Rowan might think I don't care about him anymore or that Cid will feel lonely because he's not in my arms as often.  No matter how much I try, I can't do everything for both of them all the time.  It seems like a "duh", but it's really enough to drive my feelings of inadequacy through the roof!  So the absolute BEST, is to see them love each other.  That's when I know that I'm doing okay at this mom thing.  Alright, Cid can't show it so much, but seeing Rowan gently rub Cid's back or hold his hand will bring me to {happy} tears.

Dear {16 moth} Rowan

Dear 16 Month Old Rowan,

You melt our hearts.

You don't talk much yet, even though your working on it.  But what you lack in words, you make up for in personality and awareness.

Every day you do something new that blows our minds.  Right now, you're putting everything away in it's proper place.  And sometimes we wonder where you got your organizational skills, because both of us are certainly lacking in that area.  We hope you keep it up though!

We love when you plop down in our laps to read a book or put on your shoes, {by the way, you can say "shoes" and you do often}.



You want to help with everything.  But sometimes you get frustrated when your body can't do what your brain wants it to. 

You let us know when you're hungry by leading us to the kitchen and making the "more" sign.  You eat like crazy and it's pretty incredible that your stomach can hold your meals.


You let us know you're ready for bed by leading us to your room and trying to climb into your crib.  But still, you cry a bit when we pick you up to say your "goodnight's".







 And speaking of "goodnight's", you always give your mom and dad a goodnight hug {and if we're lucky we get a kiss too}, you give Domino a hug, Buddy a wave, and your little brother, Cid always gets a kiss on the head.

We look at you now, and you're not a baby anymore.  You're a little boy.  Always changing.






 
At the end of the day, I reflect on the things you've done and I feel so proud to be your mom.  And I'm also a little sad that I can't keep you at this age forever, but I know that as you grow, there will be so many times to look forward to, so I try my best to hold on to the memories we're making right now and continue to enjoy every day with you.

Love,

Mom

Induction Pending

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY.

Unless Trouble decides to make his grand appearance between now and 7am tomorrow morning, we'll be calling Kaiser to find out what time we start inducing.

I have mixed feelings about this induction. I wish he had just come on his own terms and I suppose I could choose to let him go a little longer just to see. But there are reasons why we've chosen to induce tomorrow and without going into all the details, I'll just say I'm happy with our decision.  I won't say that I'm really ready for it though.  Still nervous.

Plus, it seems kind of weird to me to have our baby's birthday predetermined, although, I guess that's how scheduled c-sections are.

When I told my doctor that Sunday was a good day, it had totally slipped my mind that this particular Sunday is Easter Sunday {there's a lot of things that slip my mind lately, including the horse's vet clinic today, which really sucks that we missed :(} So it looks like we'll have an Easter baby!

And since I'll {hopefully} be in the hospital tomorrow morning meeting our new little man, we celebrated Easter with Rowan today by sending him on an Easter egg hunt! So much fun!! We gave him his little basket and a Peeps chick to chew on, {he only took a couple bites of the Peeps and then got upset cuz it was sticking to his hand. Then we sent him out the door in search of colorful eggs, hidden in pretty plain sight, all over the back yard. Even as obvious as the eggs were, it took a little pointing in the right direction to keep Cubbie on track.  But he was excited with each one he found and carefully placed them in his basket one by one.  He's so organized!

At the end of the hunt, we gave Rowan his grand prize, an orange soccer ball, which we've been dying to give him ever since I picked it up from Target a week ago, but managed to keep out of his grubby little hands until today. OMG!  He LOVES that ball!

Happy {early}Easter, Rowan!

Did I mention that Grandma is here too?  My mom came down at the beginning of this week {we were hoping the new baby would be on time}, and Rowan's been having a blast with her as well as enjoying her cooking ;)

With three pairs of hands and no baby yet, we have been able to accomplish some much needed work on the house, so stay tuned for some updates there.

Thanks for helping us out Grandma!

On the Job

Rowan seems to be trying out all kinds of careers since his birth.  

He's certainly got plenty of aptitudes to choose from.  

Besides being an artist, musical prodigy, chef, diplomat, professional RC car driver, firefighter, and DJ, among other things, he's recently taken an interest in construction management.

"Let's see, according to these blueprints, you're not doing it right. 

Mom and Dad, you need to learn how to read instructions!  Good thing I'm here."

"First you have to make sure it's level."

"Then we can drill!"

Whew!  With Rowan driving this project, I'm sure we'll get finished on schedule....

then again, his crew is kind of a worthless bunch ;)

Pancakes a la Chef Rowan

In the last few months, I discovered how quick and easy it is to make pancakes!

Since I misplaced my mom's recipe {which is still my fave}, I've tried a few different recipes from the internet.  We're not big on the super fluffy pancakes, so so far, our favorite internet recipe is this one.  Only, we skip the butter in the batter {this happened by accident the first time and then we realized they didn't really need it}, and put a little less baking powder in the mix, because I hate that baking powder taste, and because we don't like super fluffy pancakes, remember?  We also use sugar instead of malted milk.  Still, I should just get my mom's recipe again.

This Sunday, Rowan decided he should make the pancakes.


He did a great job!  I must admit, I was a little surprised that he didn't make a mess at all.  He whisked that pancake batter like a pro.  What a chef! 

 No mess!

 looks about ready, Mom!

Rowan's First Haircut

{ New Haircut}

 

Last weekend, we gave Rowan his first haircut. His first REAL haircut.  We trimmed the side "wings" a while back, but weren't ready to tackle the whole head.

I always swore I would never let my kid have a mullet in the name of saving his baby curls.  But Rowan was morphing into a mini MacGyver right before our eyes, and we were too scared to do anything about it. 

{MacGyver}

Rightly so, because cutting his hair was about as difficult as we expected it to be {this might be some kind of lesson in predetermining outcomes with your attitude}.  Not so much emotionally, although the thought of totally butchering his hair did have me a little on edge.  But I mean physically...it was HARD!

Initially, I started with scissors, but that was super slow going.  So I moved up to a beard trimmer.  This also didn't work so well, as it was as intriguing to Rowan as it was slow.  He kept turning his head and trying to grab it.

{super-preggo Mom, weilding scissors}

We finally decided to go all out with the big clippers. 

Not having the slightest idea which length to go with, we opted for a 4.  The first buzz took out a HUGE chunk that prompted me to lengthen the blade with the built in adjusting lever....bad idea.  The next few strokes failed to cut any hair, but successfully tangled it, sending Cubbie into a wail. 

The poor kid must've wondered why the hell his parents, who he loves and trusts, would do this to him.

That's when Dad stepped in to get the job done right.

{Dad saving the day!  Someone still looks  a little worried}

With a just a few more swift hand motions and some switches back and forth between 4, 6, and 8, we stood back and admired our work. 

Not too bad.

{whoooaaaa, I'm handsome!}

The little man looks pretty dang handsome...and he also looks like he's two!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,....and two Dogs?

Rowan was born in 2010, the year of the Tiger.  I was told by a friend that this is a very lucky thing, as the Tiger is a strong, independent and powerful animal.  If I wasn't feeling proud enough to have my little Tiger, I was told that our next baby {we affectionately call him "Trouble"} will be a Dragon.  This, my friend said, was very good.  He said that I was extremely lucky to have {or be having} two boys, a Tiger and a Dragon - the two most powerful animals.  He also said, that Dragons and Tigers get along.  NICE!

Now, the Chinese zodiac calendar is not necessarily part of our culture or personal beliefs.  I find this kind of information very fun and interesting, and I love to hear about it!  That said, I wouldn't, say, make any important decisions or judgements based on these beliefs, or put too much emphasis behind them.

But....it got our curiosity burning a little.  So we looked up compatibility amongst the animals of the Chinese calendar, and based on this website, it looks like Dragons and Tigers do, in fact, get along very well.  And so do Dogs {Rogér and I are both Dogs} and Tigers.  For the Dog parent/Tiger child, it said "Easy Parenting".  Wahoo!  So true, right? 

What a roll we're on!

Until we got to the Dog parent/Dragon child relationship.....

"Problems will arise" 

That's what it says.  Looks like "Trouble" has been aptly nicknamed!  Ha!

We'll have to try not to hold his personality against him....he is a Dragon after all. ;)

*shrug*

What fun our little Tiger and Dragon are going to be!  Lots of adventures ahead of us with these two!

image source: www.peoplequiz.com

Rowan turns 1

Now that the holiday and birthday craziness is over, I can finally get to my post on Rowan's first year!

A year ago, we brought our little guy home.

We can hardly call him "little" anymore, even though we do.  He's HUGE!  Partly because he's an eating machine!  He's moved on from his bananas only phase, and now he mows through almost anything you put in front of him....then asks for more.  Especially if its grapes or cake!

This year has been amazing.  It hasn't all been easy, although, we think we lucked out as far as Rowan's temperament so far.  He is pretty easy. 

But then, we kinda get a kick out of his tantrums anyway!  {maybe I'll eat those words later, but for now, I'll just admit it...his face gets so grumpy and cute!}

It really doesn't seem like it went that fast.  To me, anyway.  I know that's what everyone says and everyone expects me to say, but the time didn't fly any faster than any other year.  But now, he's doing so many new things and sprouting UP so fast, that I think the days and years are going to whip by.

Happy Birthday, Rowan!!

We love you and we're so proud of you :)

New Camera Lens = Love

We've had a really nice, Nikon D60 SLR camera for quite a while now,{long enough for many people not to recognize the model number}.  The pictures were crystal clear, but to be honest, I wasn't very happy with them.   I guess we had kind of neglected how important a good lens is.  The camera itself was a hefty purchase, let alone the cost of some fancy lens, so we passed.


I guess semi-okay photos were acceptable until Cubbie came along. In our low-light house, the Nikon stock lens just wasn't cutting it. Rogér began looking into lenses, and although we dreamed about this one, it's a little over our budget, so we chose this, Nikon 35mm lens.


Unfortunately, our new lens doesn't completely take skill out of the equation, which is really what I need.  There are a few things that I've had a hard time getting used to as well.  The lens doesn't zoom.  You have to back up quite a bit in order to take a larger view shot.  And I'm so trained on the old lens that I try to zoom, by adjusting the lens, which switches the mode to manual! Manual doesn't work for me.  I'm no photog.
But all in all, I'm so happy that we bought this lens!  I mean, how can I complain with results like these?

 

Halloween in November

So...we are a little behind.

But  I wanted to share Rowan's first Halloween. 

Most babies dress up as bugs, or peas, or furry animals....not our little Cubbie Cub.  We've always thought that Rowan looks just like Toon Link, from the Zelda video games (I promise, we are not video game geeks...well, Rogér may or may not be.  However, we do play some video games.  I keep mostly to the cute ones, and the Toon Zeldas are pretty cute:))

But look!  I mean, he pretty much is Little Toon Link re-incarnate.  Especially with his crazy eyebrows, (which are hard to see because they're so blonde, but if they were black, I mean, c'mon, it doesn't get any closer than this).

So, there was no question in our minds.  Rowan HAD to be Toon Link for Halloween.

I grew up where moms made their kids' costumes.  Maybe this was out of necessity, but I've always felt like making home-made costumes was a standard that I have to live up to as a mom.  It was hard to find the time, given ALL the things moms have to do, but I swore I'd do it for as long as I can, so I set out to make a Toon Link costume.

Okay, Green Tunic, White Pants, Belt, Hat.  How hard could this be?

THANK GOODNESS, Rowan already had a pair of white pants!  This costume may never have manifested if I had to make the pants. Kinda cheating, but I'm no seamstress, ya know.

I found the perfect green jersey material for the Tunic and hat.  (Note: never worked with jersey before and never want to again).

The belt was super easy and fun to make from felt.

I made the little bootie covers out of some faux seude I just happened to have (sometimes I'm glad that I save EVERYTHING).  They weren't too hard.  I just pinned the fabric using some of Rowan's real boots as a model and then sewed them up.  I attached them to the pants so that they would stay in place and Rowan just wore dark socks underneath.

The bright green undershirt was too daunting of a task to make, so I went to Kohl's in search of a pre-made shirt.  Of course, I found the perfect color...in the girls' section.  So, yes, that's a girl's shirt.  It's got some girlie stuff on the front, but it's covered by his tunic ;)

Got the sword at Target for $1, and put dark blue carstock over the handle to make it blue like the true Master Sword (that's Links sword, for those of us who aren't Zelda savvy).

I'm not one to bragg, but I was thrilled with the way it turned out!  He really is the perfect little Link.

Our costumes (Linebeck and Tetra, from the same video game) suffered from my focus on Rowan's outfit, but I was OK with that.

OH!  And I can't forget the thrilling end to the pumkin portrait saga....The Good, The Bad, and...

The Ugly!

The Ugly - by Rogér Balyon

A Day of Fun in Moss Landing, a Little Reflection, and What's to Come

This last Sunday, we went down to Moss Landing (near Monterey, CA), to visit Rogér's dad and to see a ship from the Disney movie, The Pirates of the Caribbean.  Unfortuneately, the ship was only open for viewing for a couple of hours and the line was really long, so by the time we got there, we didn't think we would get the chance to get on, so we left.

No biggie.

I doubt Rowan really cared to see the boat anyway. 

Instead, we grabbed lunch at the famous Phil's Fish Market & Eatery. YUM!  And spent some time on the beach.

It was Rowan's first beach experience. He loved digging his little toes in the sand.  And he was thrilled when Opa took off his shoes, rolled up his pant legs, and took Rowan down to the waves to play in the foam!

On the way home, Rowan couldn't stop "talking" about all the things he'd seen and done that day.  And when I put him to bed, he refused his bottle, popped his speenje (pacifier) in his mouth, rolled over on his side and was fast asleep.  Dreaming of fishes, and lobsters, and the ocean. 

The next day, he could hardly stand, his legs were so wobbly!  He must've been sore from all that running around on the beach!  (oh yeah, did I mention he's walking now?? So much to say and not much time to blog ;)  He took his first steps at 10 mos old...little man....I still have to post his Halloween costume!)

I can't even begin to describe how much fun this little guy is.  It's crazy how quickly he learns. I wish I could capture all his little facial expressions somewhere other than just my memory, but that's kinda hard since babies don't exactly hold it long enough for you to grab a camera and click.

It doesn't really seem like the time is going that fast, but when I look back on the months that Rowan has been in our lives, it's a blur.  I don't know what happened to the swim lessons I was going to sign him up for at six months, or all the jogging I was going to do with our snazzy baby jogger, or baby sign language, but those flew out the window along with blogging and a lot of other things.  Oh well.  Honestly, I don't think those things matter too much.

And now, Rowan's going to be a big brother!  Yep, we're expecting another baby boy on April 2nd, 2012!! It doesn't seem real yet, even though my belly is growing and we've seen all the ultrasounds.  I'm both excited and scared for two. I wonder how we'll dole out our time.  I wonder how our next kid could possibly be as cute as Rowan (although, I'm sure we'll think he's is equally as adorable), I wonder how we'll ever pick a name for the new wiggle worm. But I also can't wait for two little boys to be running around making mischief ;)

Maybe it's the season, but I'm feeling especially blessed, and grateful for everything that we have and all the things we have to look forward to.

Our Kid Only Eats Bananas!

Somewhere between Room #1 and Room #2, our avid eater decided {or learned....} to be VERY picky.  He refuses all food in puree form, and scoffs at soft foods like peaches, nectarines, cooked green beans & carrots, noodles, and cheese.

But one look at that banana and he goes ape!  He'll eat a whole banana at home at 7:45 am, then scarf another half when he gets to school at 8:15 am.  And even if he refuses a bottle, if you peel a banana in front of him, forget being able to eat it yourself.  He's all over it.  And it gets all over him.  Super messy stuff!

Okay, so there are like three other things he'll eat too; crackers/puffs, toast, and yogurt.  WOW, what a balanced diet!

I guess I should be happy that he eats {somewhat} healthy foods, as opposed to mac & cheese or something like that, but sheesh! You'd think he'd get tired of eating the same thing over and over.  I'm bored.

Do you have a picky, or suddenly picky eater? What do your kids like to eat?

Pumpkins & Corn Mazes

I can't tell you how happy we are that summer is finally giving way to fall.  Not that we don't love summer after a long winter, but now we're ready for the super hot days {and nights} to be over...Okay, we've been ready for a while.

Okay, so I admit I didn't bust out the fall decor {I don't have any and don't have the time to decorate anyway}, but we kicked off the harvest season with a trip to Swank Farms, in Hollister, CA for some corn maze fun with a few friends. 

o

The farm itself is free to visit.  Then you buy tickets for each of the activities. They've got some farm animals that you can feed, a little tractor ride with cow cabs for the kiddos, pumpkin launching, a corn cabin, go karts, a pumpkin patch, the corn maze, the Haunted Conover Mystery Ranch, food, and a little shop. They've also got a nice picnic area.

 
 This time, we stuck to the corn maze {$10 pp}.  It was a lot of fun, with a little word game to play along the way, and about the right size. Not big enough to get truly lost in!

The Haunted Conover Mystery Ranch looked super creepy, even in the daytime!  YIKES!  You won't catch me visiting at night cuz I'm a scaredy cat! I bet Rogér would love it though!

I wanted soooo bad to get some pumpkins, but it was too early still. I figured they'd rot in the 90 Degree weather we were having in San Jose....bleh.
 

Oh well.  Even sans pumpkins, we had a good time :)

Eten! Eten! Eten

Cubbie LOVES to eat.

Pretty much anything {except carrots}

He's grubbin' it up!

I was really looking forward to making Rowan's food from scratch {not knocking the prepackaged stuff.  We rely on it sometimes as well, but I really really thought making baby food would be fun}

*not cupcakes*

I use our Mini Cuisinart Chopper to puree all kinds of goodness, including:

-Zucchini

-Beets

-Lentils

-Peas

-Squash

-Yams

-Spinach

-Apricots

Almost anything goes!  And it is fun.  But kinda messy.

I pour it into silicone baking cups,

 Freeze,

Then  store in double Ziplock freezer bags.

Ready to warm up and eat whenever someone's tummy needs a fillin' 

 Yumm-may!

 And for his daycare snacks, I just fill up cleaned and reused baby food jars.

Of course, this kind of food won't last like the stuff you buy in the stores {no preservatives and no canning process}...so I keep track by writing the date on the inner ziplock bags.

Oh, His Eyes are Blue...Grey...Green...Brown!

Rowan, July 2011

Like many parents-to-be, {I think}, we spent a lot of time during our pregnancy wondering what our little guy was gonna look like when he finally showed up.  Who's nose will he have?  Will he have hair?  What color are his eyes going to be?  These are fun surprises to anticipate, because, really, there's not a lot of chances for disappointment!

Little did we know that he was going to make us wait a little longer until he answers many of our long awaited questions!

He's cute as a button, but his features are not exactly prominent in one direction or the other.  Some people say he has my cheeks.  Others say he looks just like his dad. We, ourselves go back and forth on this topic{Rogér and I are *fairly* similar in our features as well, so it can be hard to guess who he's looking more like}.

In the end, who really cares?! Right?

But.....we {and by we, I mean mostly I} are having a little trouble when it comes to Rowan's eye color.  I have {very light} hazel eyes and Rogér has {dark} blue eyes.  Can you tell we were in for trouble in the eye color classification category??

 

When Rowan was born, he had blue-ISH, grey-ISH eyes.  Okay, we thought, guess we're gonna have to wait and see which way they end up. 

Well....we're still waiting. 

At Rowan's 6 mo appointment, his doctor said that his eye color had probably set.  But Rowan's now 7 months old and my brother nailed it last weekend {his first introduction to Cubbie}, when he announced "Oh, his eyes are blue..........grey...green...brown!"

Rowan's Revolving Art Gallery

Rogér's dad's side of the family has a pretty exhaustive resume of art.  I mean look at his dad's work! Rogér picked up some fairly amazing skills himself, and, {to toot my own horn a little} I'm not too bad with a pen/pencil/paintbrush either, which I totally learned from my queen-of-all-trades mom. 

So I think it's safe to say that artistic genes run in the family.

And we obviously  have a little protogé on our hands.  check out these masterpieces!  Move over Monet, Picasso, and Rembrandt!  I bet 8 other moms didn't bring home anything like these when they picked up their kids from daycare!

Rowan's "Tropical Week" art and "Father's Day" and "Mother's Day" cards, proudly displayed on our wall with Dynamic FRAMES

{nevermind the lack of moulding on our window...it's on our list, okay?}

Okay, but the real point of my post is to talk about these super frames that I bought online at Dynamic FRAMES.  A little latch on the side opens them up for easy artwork changes.  So, as Rowan brings home new masterpieces, we can do a quick switch-o-change-o, and VOILA! We'll always be able to display his latest and greatest work!

This one would NOT load right!  What the heck?

And did I mention that each frame will store up to 1" of material?!  The back is spring-loaded, so they're perfect for displaying thicker items {like, say, an autographed sports magazine, or a special t-shirt}, OR, you can use it to store the older pages of artwork....just keep putting the new one on top and pushing the rest back!

Can you tell I'm really excited about these frames {maybe more than I should be}?  The mechanisms are actually pretty easy.  And if I think about it, I really shouldn't have had to pay what I paid.  But I'm still glad I did, because they're going to make collecting Rowan's work a breeze!

If You're Happy and You Know It..

Clap your hands!

I usually spend my work day humming some kind of tune that's stuck in my head.  Typically, it's something along the lines of a rock ballad (eg. Muse, Foo Fighters, and the like...with a Taylor Swift number thrown in the mix every now and again). 

But today, it's "If you're happy and you know it".

Guess this is the beginning of what I've seen happen to so many other parents.  Okay, well, maybe it started a while ago, when I acidentally left a NIN Rockabye Baby! lullaby CD in the car and listened to it on repeat for a week, but I'm not really going to count that. 

I don't mind listening to kid songs, or even having them stuck in my head all day {although I'm not sure how my coworkers feel about this}.  Actually, I'm glad that I can conjure up a song or two.  When we first brought Rowan home from the hospital, I was all o'sudden strapped to think of any songs from my early childhood past that would be appropriate for playtime or sleepytime.  I resorted to the only song I could think of, Sweet Baby James, by James Taylor.  And I'm sorry to say that that's still pretty much the only song that I "sing" when trying to rock Rowan to sleep.  But at least I've got a few others under my belt for other parts of the day.

A morning favorite is:
"It's ___day, it's ___day,
I like the shirt you've got on. 
In fact, I like it so much I'm gonna put it in a song. 
In a song, in a song. 
In a song, in a song. 
I like you and your shirt so much I'm gonna put it in a song"

A beauty, isn't it?

"Head, shoulders, knees, and toes"  {or hoofd, schouders, knieën en tenen} is another winner"

"The Hokey Pokey"  is our getting dressed theme song.

"Eca Moda" {sp?} is a nice little distraction, and "Baby Beluga" gets a line or two in on the way home from school.

Since my mom was a preschool teacher, you'd think I'd have more than that in my bag of tricks, but apparently I didn't retain that information.  I think it's safe to say we're getting there, though...slowly.

What songs do you remember singing to your babies, or having sung to you? 

Go SF Giants!

First of all, it's been over two years since we went to a Giants game.  This isn't on purpose.  I don't know how those two years slipped through our fingers.  Especially last year, when the Giants won the World Series.  I mean, talk about lame.  What kind of fans are we anyway?!

We've been REALLY excited to take Rowan to his first game for a while, so for Father's Day, me and Little Ro got the best daddy in the world tickets to the SF Giants vs. Cleveland Indians game. We chose what was supposed to be a 1pm game on a Sunday, in order to not screw with Rowan's nighttime schedule too much, but the game ended up being moved to 5pm...oh well.  We opted to drive instead of taking CalTrain, although, I think now that Rogér has seen how close CalTrain is to the ballpark, next time we may take the train.  Then again, it was nice for Rowan to be able to sleep in the car on the way up and back. 

On the way into the park, we got our promo Madisson Bumgarner tees and the guy handing them out asked if we had a first-timer with us, and directed us to pick up a first-timer gift at Section 119.  So Rowan got a little poster with Lou Seal on it and a printed paper that says something like "Welcome to your first game, Rowan Balyon...bla bla bla."  I have to admit, the printout is kinda lame.  But I think we'll keep it anyway for the little guy to decide what he wants to do with.

It was a perfect day to be at a ballgame in San Francisco, and Rowan did really great.  Something tells me he wasn't that interested in the game, and I can't really say that we got to watch the game that well either, but it was a fun family outing and Rogér got to show off his daddy skills {which is really what makes him happy anyway}.
Oh yea, and the Giants won!

A Half Birthday

Yesterday, (June 22nd), Rowan turned 6 months old!  Can you believe it?  He looks a lot older though because he's so fricking tall, and a little beefcake too.  

Although we talk about giving Rowan a fun half birthday celebration {since his real birthday is so close to Christmas}, we didn't celebrate this 6 month milestone with anything particularly special.  To be honest, we were pretty pooped yesterday.

But.....the day before, was a pretty awesome day for the Bear Cub.

He had his first swim!

omg, he's like a LITTLE FISH. 

Just like his daddy :)

The Favorite Toy {Four Months}

Now that Rowan is reaching out for things and actually able to hold on to them, he's finally interested in some of the {many} toys that we've accumulated in the last few months.

Despite our efforts to force Rowan into an emotional attachment to the most adorable stuffed giraffe that his dad picked out especially for him {before we even knew we were pregnant}, he's taken a particular interest in his froggy rattle.

{Pay no attention to that cloth diaper insert under his head!}

As soon as he sees that green thing coming his way, his eyes get wide and so does his mouth!  He knows this is something he likes to chew on.

 I think it also is familiar to him because we've kept it on the changing table, and long before he could recognize it or reach for it, I rattled it for him.

It's fun to see him have a favorite, even if it's not the favorite that we wanted him to have.  Haha!  I guess this is the beginning of a long line of differences in opinion between us and him!

What a rebel!