Hockey Girl...

Rowan and I got to attend 2 hockey games in a row! It was a bit weird going to this one as it is warmer outside this weekend that I think it was in the rink! Oh well. Ed's team did win, but it was a non-eventful game in my mind. Papa Ed and G-mom Sue came for a little bit, so I was able to take a few pictures!

We Love #42!

Rowan's Happenings...

A few new pictures of Rowan and her new accomplishments.

And another visit with Bully Breyson!

So first of all, we bought Rowan some Gerber puffs to try out. She can grab them in her palm, but not between her fingers, so she has issues getting them in her mouth, her fingers get in the way. But within the last few days, if we put one in her mouth, she naws on it and sometimes even chews. It is rather cute.

We have also found a new sippy cup that she is very interested in. Most of them you have to tip up and suck on to get something to come out, and she isn't quite talented enough to tip and suck at the same time, so we have to hold it for her. But we found one with a straw that doesn't need to be tipped, so she does much better with that. Minus the fact that she hasn't quite mastered the swallowing entirely, so the water tend to drool down her front!

We took a trip to Mukwonago today to visit Andrea and Breyson. The two of them played pretty nicely today. Breyson seemed to want/take every toy that Rowan would play with, but no biggie, sharing isn't in either of their vocabularies quite yet! But Rowan hung out in the exersaucer and Breyson showed off his skills by standing and playing outside of it. Of course when picture time came, Breyson couldn't keep his hands off her, or her bow!

G-Mom Sue made Rowan this adorable outfit for Valentine's day, it includes pants, a jacket, a bib, and a hat! (We are trying to come up with a name other than Grandma as Sue isn't a big fan of that title, anyone have any ideas?) We found G-Mom online, but she feels like she needs to wear her pants lower with that name!

Gizmo...

Gizmo is finally well! We took him to the vet almost 2 weeks ago finally to have his scratching/scabbing by his eye looked at. Turns out he had yeast in his ear that was probably causing him to itch, which produced a scab that he kept scratching off constantly! So we treated his ear and eye and now the scab is gone and he is no longer scratching! Rowan really wears him out, he is tired all the time! Wait until she is getting around and chases him! She really loves him, tonight she was just staring and laughing at him while he was eating a treat! They are silly!

29 Weeks and 3 days...

Here are some new photos of Rowan, sporting a new bow and some new baby legs! Sort of a new onesie too, I have decided to retire the 3-6 month clothes officially. She could sneak by in some of them still, but when she has plenty of bigger sized clothes waiting to be worn, why keep wearing the same old things!

Not too much new with her these days. Still spits up a bunch, some days it seems better and then the next day it is just as bad again. So who knows. We are up to about half regular formula and half soy bottles. So maybe by the end of this week we will be on all regular formula. The only change I have really noticed in her so far is that her poop is looser, but not diarrhea like, so we are okay so far. She isn't fussier than normal, no rashes, no projectile vomitting, etc, etc.

No crawling yet, today it almost looked like she was moving forward somehow, but not really. She will definitely crawl before sitting up or rolling over. She has been sleeping better at night without the swaddling. We have subjected to the tummy sleeping, but she does full out pushups, so I think she is safe. Last night she just woke up at 530am, I gave her her pacifier (she couldn't find it because she had rolled onto her back) and she went back to sleep until almost 8am. Ed was late for work because he was counting on her as his alarm clock since she is normally up by 7am. But not today! And she took a 2 hour nap this morning!

As far as eating goes, she is doing pretty good. Refuses the green vegetables. So we will stick to the orange ones, sweet potatoes, squash, and she is okay with carrots, but doesn't love them. We have some mixed veggies to try, and turkey/chicken dinners to try soon too. And a few fruits left to try out, mangos and peaches! I had been giving her oatmeal, which she likes okay, but her spit up stunk really bad, so we are back to just rice cereal!

New fun...

Finally last week I spent the money I received for my birthday, and bought a 50 mm lense for our camera. I say our camera, but I am the one that uses it regularly. It is very fun! It doesn't have a zoom on it, but the aperature is way lower than on our other lense, and I can get closer up as well. Here are a few pictures that I have taken, of course of Rowan.
This is usually what Rowan looks like these days, spit up everywhere! Just happened to get an action photo, as you can see you don't get any warning when it is coming!

Bully Breyson comes to visit...

Okay, he really isn't a bully, but he just loves to grab Rowan's face and clothes and hand, you name it, he gets his hands on it. And Rowan just sits back and takes it, not once did she cry or anything! Obviously we don't let him hurt her, but she would actually laugh sometimes.

We met Andrea and Breyson for lunch today and then they came over to play and take some photos. It is nearly impossible to get pictures of them together because they don't sit still. Mostly Breyson, he is all over the place. I can't wait until Rowan can give him a run for his money. She will be able to run away from him at some point!

We thought this was a cute idea, but Breyson kept trying to escape, so we didn't get any good pictures in the buckets! Awwww.....

6 Month MD visit...

Rowan was back to the Pediatrician yesterday for her 6 month check up, and things went just fine.

Statistics:
Weight: 16# 6 oz. (60th percentile)
Height: 27 inches (90th percentile)

The only major things we discussed were regarding: spitting up, sleeping, and changing from soy to regular formula.

Rowan does tend to spit up a lot, more than we would like anyway. I was hoping it would get better when she started eating rice and baby food, but not so much, at least yet. If anything, it is worse because it is colored depending on what fruit/veg she ate that day. For example, we are eating carrots now, so it is all orange, so I am afraid things will stain, so far we are safe! Her spitting up doesn't appear to hurt her in any way, therefore we aren't going to try any medication, it is more a nuisance to us and the things around her that get showered in it frequently!

Sleeping: During the night has been nothing to really complain about, but we are still also swaddling her. But she does tend to sleep through the night. Napping is another story. She still cat naps, 30-40 minutes 3-4 times a day. We have had a few random days where she has napped 1 1/2-2 hours, but nothing consistent.

Back to the during the night. The doctor wasn't a fan of the swaddling idea still at 6 months, which neither have we been, but it has worked. So last night, we didn't swaddle, and man was it a rough one. She went to bed at 7pm like usual, and was up at 9:30pm, 10:40pm, 12:30am, 4:40am, 5:30am, 6:30am and finally we got up at 7am. My plan was to let her cry herself back to sleep, but Ed had to be up early for his internship and couldn't sleep through the crying, so he got up and gave her her pacifier more than I would have liked. So let's just say we didn't get much sleep. She did go back to sleep once you gave her her pacifier and put her back on her side. but that is still very interrupted sleep! On the up side, today she napped 2 times for 1 1/2-1 3/4 hours! And another 30 minutes while in the car!

Next week we are going to start the attempt to gradually switch her from soy to milk based formula. We wanted to do it over a few days when I am off, so we are waiting until monday. It will take a week or two until she is actually fully on regular formula, provided we get there, but it will be a very slow process so we can maybe determine if it is a milk protein allergy she has or a lactose allergy. I never tried lactose free formula in the beginning, just went right to soy. But my pediatrician says it isn't ideal to be on soy, so we are going to try the switch. Not to mention soy isn't the cheapest either! We will keep you posted next week as things move along.

Rowan is doing well with Rice cereal and fruits/veggies. She eats about 1/4 cup of rice cereal in the morning and evening, and a tablespoon or two of a fruit or vegetable. I have been doing one fruit/veg at a time for several days, until we determine we aren't allergic to any of the ones we want to feed her. So far so good. She has had applesauce, bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, squash, and is currently on carrots. I think green beans are next! Trying to get more veggies in the mix, the pediatrician says she might spit up more with fruits, not sure why, but we will see.

Otherwise, developmentally she is doing fine. Not behind or ahead on really anything. She should be doing is all by 9 months. (sitting up, crawling, rolling over, etc...) I guess we should consider ourselves lucky and take advantage of the last several weeks of her not moving far from where we put her. She can only move backwards when she gets up on all 4's and rocks. Hasn't figured out forward yet!

Still just has her 2 bottom teeth!

I think that is about all for now. If I think of something else, I will add it later.