Happy at last...

Nothing makes this girl more happy than being naked and in the tub! Rowan woke up very unhappy after her afternoon nap today, thinking she might have a bit of an ear infection, but not entirely sure. Needless to say after a couple hours of whining and crying, some Ibuprofen and dinner, she was happy as a lark in the bathtub! She pretends to swim, drinks the water, and splashes everyone in sight! Oh well, she is now clean, happy and sleeping for the night!

The Rocker...

Rowan's new thing in the last week or so has been climbing! She must have grown just enough that she can get up onto chairs and couches without assistance. So she will climb onto every chair at the kitchen table, and even at her own table get onto the chair and then the table!

Here she is at Karen and Doug's house rocking in the chair she climbed into! She is getting so big! She is very close to being big enough to open doors too! Yikes!

Welcome Grady Decker Smith...

Our new nephew was born today at 11:22am via repeat c-section. Mom and Baby are doing well. We were sort of used to calling him baby since the poor child went nameless for almost 10 hours of life due to the inability of his mother and father to make a decision. But he is now known as Grady Decker Smith! He was 7 pounds 2 ounces and 20.5 inches long! He has a proud big brother, Kieran! Haven't heard how Kieran took to the sharing of his mom and dad! We will see! Rowan can't wait to see the baby and squeeze him!

Congratulations Blayne, Molly and KB!

Rowan's long lost friend...

This weekend we took a trip to Moline for Ben's Surprise 30th Birthday party. So we got to catch up with much of the Smith Family. We left Saturday morning to make it just in time for the surprise, Rowan got to run around with the kids and play video games with Papa and Uncle Dusty, she even got to share some cake with Uncle Ted!

Sydney was there too, her long lost cousin/friend. They were super cute together, they are only a couple months apart, Sydney was born in September! Rowan started to show some signs of misbehaving when Sydney had that really cool snack cup that Rowan wanted in her possession at all times. We are officially in the starting to learn how to share stage! There were no major scuffles. All the kids got to run around and play at Papa and Grandma Jan's house after the party. Rowan had a rough night because she only had one nap and went to bed late, so she woke up a few times during the night and was up for the day on Sunday before 6am! But we all survived. It was worth it!

Our New Home...

A few pictures of the living room, bathroom and fireplace...

The Master Bedroom and Master Bath...

The Kitchen

Accepted Offer...

Well we made an offer on the house we like on Tuesday, they counter offered on Wednesday, we counter offered back later on Wednesday, and they accepted it this morning!

So it is official, we will be first time home owners by the end of February! Our projected closing date is February 25th, so we hope to be moving in on the 26th.

We will be taking a trip to Neenah on Saturday morning for the inspection, and to do some measuring and picture taking. So expect photos after this weekend. We are very excited to be moving on with our life! We are very thankful for Ed and Sue letting us live with them, and putting up with us for many more months than we had planned, but we (and they, I am sure) are ready to live our life again in our own home!

18 Months Old...

Rowan was at the doctor today for her 18 Month check-up! Everything looked good, she did great, and there were no complaints by anyone.

Height: 33 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 23 pounds 7 ounces (40th percentile)

Rowan was very social and interactive during the appointment. The only change from now on, is we are throwing away the bottles. Rowan has continued to use a bottle 2 times a day because she won't drink milk out of a cup, for some reason it tastes different according to her. So now we will keep trying milk out of a cup, but otherwise we will be eating lots of cheese and yogurt in order to get her calcium and vitamin D. He says her vocabulary will take off in the next 6 months. So watch out!

Fox Valley area it is!

An update on our living status and future...

...OshKosh Corporation finally got back to us with Ed's job offer on January 6th! And on Thursday the 7th....after much discussion, he accepted it, and called the Menomonee Falls company to rescind his acceptance of their offer.

Therefore, we will be moving to the Fox Valley area!

Today we took our first trip to look at houses in Appleton and Neenah! It was a long, cold, but productive day. We have found a subdivision we like, as well as a home, but are awaiting answers to a few questions before making any offers.

I have started looking for jobs, but haven't been very successful so far. I am picky and would really like to stay within an NICU, so if I don't find a position, I plan to commute for awhile if necessary, but probably/hopefully only part-time vs full-time. We will see.

We are sorry to leave our friends and family in the area, but we feel we need to do what is in the best interest for our family at this time.

Papa is in trouble...

Perhaps we should blame the Baby Signing Time DVD obsession these days...

...but Rowan has learned the sign for 'Hat' in the last week or two, and Papa found it funny to get her to sign 'Hat' while she was eating last week, therefore rubbing food in her hair.

So, this morning, she was eating a banana for breakfast, and decided she would mash it up and touch her head, several times. Therefore, needing a bath, stat! Papa isn't even home this weekend, so he wasn't telling her to sign 'Hat', but I am still blaming him!

Mukwonago, here we come...

Yes, today is my 28th Birthday...

...but that isn't what this post is about...

...Rowan and I went to Mukwonago to play with Andi and the boys and have some lunch too. Things are going well with the happy little family in Mukwonago, I still can't believe she had 2 children. I couldn't imagine throwing that into our chaos these days.

Rowan and Breyson played well for the most part, despite the number of times Breyson tackled her. And she usually wasn't happy with it. He is used to playing rough with his older cousins, so he doesn't realize that Rowan won't tackle back. She didn't really get hurt, just mad!

I was able to hold Sawyer for a while too, and luckily Rowan didn't really care. She at times woudl come sit on my lap and help me hold him, but she didn't get mad! So hopefully when baby 2 does come in our house, she will be okay with it.

The Last Christmases of 2009...

This weekend we took a trip to Lyndon Station to celebrate Christmas with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill on Friday, and then celebrated with the Blodgett's on Saturday.

We encouraged a low key dinner for Friday night since we knew there would be a bigger meal on Saturday, so we ordered pizza from Uno's. It was delightful, we don't get Uno's at home much because it is too far away to order out! Then we opened presents and played with the train under the tree. Rowan seriously has been a crazy present opener this year, she has absolutely no patience or understanding of the word 'wait'!

As usual, we got way too many wonderful gifts, and barely had room to get all our things home with us on Sunday.

Saturday we had breakfast with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill, and the rest of the clan came over just before lunchtime. We had some appetizers and huge meal for lunch, therefore there wasn't much had for dinner. We all got some more gifts, despite not participating in the exchange, and did some relaxing.
Karen and Doug, and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa stayed at a hotel for the weekend, so Sunday morning after breakfast, we headed over by them to swim. The water wasn't very warm so it wasn't a long swim, but Rowan loved it. She didn't care about the goose bumps and purple shade she was sporting. Details, right!
Overall, it was a wonderful weekend, weather was fine to travel, it was very cold, but no snow. Rowan slept pretty well at night and for naps, although when she sleeps in a pack n play in our room, she wakes up too early. She barely made it until 6am. Oh well, she was excited I guess.

Hard to believe that Christmas 2009 is over, hope everyone had a joyous holiday!