Daycare Picture...

Rowan had her very 1st school picture taken! Turned out rather cute!

New color scheme...

I recently purchased some fabric for pillows, and my mother-in-law made them for me. Many pillows. I decided to try to find a print with lots of color so that my decorating wouldn't be limited to one or two colors. So this is what I came up with. Sue did an amazing job, they look great. I am thinking about adding a solid color, probably chocolate brown to finish up the look. I was hoping that by adding color in the pillows it would make the couches not blend into the walls so much being that the colors are very similar. So we will see how that works. I have much more decorating to do on the walls and what not, so we will see how it all comes together eventually. That all requires money, and it isn't the top priority right now, so it might be a bit before the room is finished.

Rain Rain go Away...

It is a good thing Rowan has been into some indoor activities lately since it has rained for the last 2 days straight! Rowan is a puzzle professional these days. She has mastered the ones she has, and is quickly mastering her newest ones. She is growing up so fast.

On another note, Rowan was 'helping' Ed make dinner tonight, and decided to eat a raw onion, and liked it. So she ate another one, and then had potent onion breathe afterwards. What almost 2 year old eats raw onions. Weirdo!
How cute is this 'R'! So my sister-in-law Molly saw these letters on Etsy.com and proceeded to inquire if Gail (Ed and Sue's neighbor aka Nani) would be able to make them because she does a lot of knitting. And sure enough, she did. So Rowan even got one. And she loves it. Once I get to more decorating in her room I am thinking I will display it on a shelf or something, but for now she likes to lay on it and carry it around the house!

March For BAbies 2010...

Rowan, Ed and I joined Team Amazing Amelia for the March of Dimes walk this morning. It was a wet walk, but we survived and got some exercise for a good cause! And I am sad to say that my camera battery died shortly after these pictures, so this is all I have to share right now. Once Cora updates her blog, I hope to borrow a group photo from her! So another March for BAbies post to come...

Holy bubbles...

Rowan took a bath in Nana and Papa's jet tub tonight, and boy did her bubbles multiply with the jets. Kind of funny that in the 9 months that we lived with them, she never took a bath in their tub, but you have to fill it so full in order for the jets to work, she was never big enough to do it I guess. She loved the bubbles though, but she kept getting them in her eyes!
We left home when Ed got home from work and headed to Delafield to stay with Nana and Papa so we were closer for the March of Dimes walk tomorrow morning. Hopefully the rain stays away!

Recap of last week...

I think this is the most random collage of pictures I have ever made, but it summarizes the last few days of this week. It was so nice Thursday that Rowan got to wear some capri pants. Super cute. I'm not so ready to pull out the shorts or skirts for her.

Her obsession this week, other than puzzles, have been her red dress shoes. The girl wants to wear them with anything and everything. She tries to put them on by herself, slipping her foot into them while standing, and then walking around with out them buckled. Crazy girl!

One of her art projects from 'school'. She got to play with glue, which I can say I wouldn't do at home with her. This project is from her first of second week at daycare, and I am following a fellow friends idea of photographing the projects so that I don't have to keep them all on the fridge or in a box somewhere, but I can still look back at them.

And lastly, Saturday late morning, Rowan decided she wanted to lay on the couch and watch cartoons, and a few minutes later I came to check on her and she had fallen asleep. I couldn't believe it. I ended up moving her to her crib because I was afraid she would fall off the couch if I wasn't right there. Precious! On that note, another obsession of hers this last week has been her blankets. We use them to cover her when she sleeps, but she has to take them out of the crib and drag them around the house. Rarely does she let anyone else use them, and her father likes to tick her off by stealing them, he gets a kick out of her whining 'no'. And saying 'nine' aka mine.

We found a park...

Since today was so beautiful, Rowan and I ventured out in Neenah to a play area. I have driven past this park a few times, so decided we would try it out today since we don't have a yard of our own to play in! Rowan had lots of fun! She met a few little kids while she played, learned a few bad tricks, and soaked up some sun. This bad mom hasn't bought sunscreen this year yet, so thankfully we were out in the late afternoon when the sun wasn't so high. I will put that sunscreen on my shopping list!

Low key weekend...

For a change, we didn't do too much this weekend. Ed woke up yesterday with a bad sore throat and cold, so he was sort of unmotivated. But we were in need of a laid back few days.

So all I can say I accomplished this weekend was a little bit of craft work. I painted Rowan's stool and some letters to hang on the wall in her room. I think they turned out pretty good considering I am not the most crafty person in the world. I plan to add some more detail to the stool eventually, but for now it is just pink!

She's Back...

Our smiley happy girl is finally back! She is back to playing by herself on occassion, and just playing period is an improvement. Don't get me wrong, she still has her whiney moments, but nothing compared to the last week and a half. Yesterday and today we were outside for a bit playing and walking. Not sure why she found it necessary to push her 4 wheeler when the battery is fully charged, but whatever makes her happy! The nose is still a bit runny, and a few more days of antibiotics to go, but she is finally back to herself!

Now her daddy is sick! He is more tolerable when he is sick, although he is pushing his limits! Love you honey!

Row Row's baby...

This weekend Rowan has been playing with her 'baby' like never before. And of all the babies she has interest in, it is the cheapest one she owns I bet, and she likes it without it's clothes! She covers it up with her blankets, and kisses it too! Super cute. Excuse the chocolate on her face, our Easter candy is finally almost gone!

Playdough...

Despite the rough week Rowan has had, she had no problem playing with playdough. She doesn't really understand what to do with it, but she squeezed it a bit and only tried a taste test once.

Sickly girl...

So...I have been meaning to find Rowan a pediatrician since we moved up here, but her last week made me find one yesterday morning.

Here is re-cap from the last week:

She has woken up every night in the middle of the night, or super early in the morning. She hasn't slept past 6am for the last 4 or 5 nights. She has had a faucet of a runny nose, and on friday and saturday had some super yellow eye drainage. OH and don't forget the sore butt rash too. Saturday her temperature registered 101, and has since come back to normal. She has been super whiney and crabby and clingy.

The only thing that has changed since all of this started was attending daycare. She hasn't had sleeping issues since we moved here, so that is new too. At daycare she naps usually 50-70 minutes, which is less than she had been napping at home prior to attending daycare.

So Sunday night was the straw that broke the camels back. We decided that we had to get her into the doctor because this was going on too long. So I called in sick to work, and got her into a pediatrician first thing yesteday morning. The only other thing that was new that I noticed MOnday morning was a few blister like things on her hand and near her mouth.

Diagnosis: Left ear infection and Hand Foot Mouth disease (virus most likely picked up at daycare)

So we are now on Amoxicillin for the ear infection for the next 10 days. There is no treatment for the hand foot mouth disease, time will tell. I asked the Director at daycare if they see HFM there, and she said yes they have had it there, but not recently. So now she will alert the families that it is present so they can exercise caution. Rowan is allowed to resume daycare attending as long as she doesn't have a fever. So she went back today, and had a great day. They tell me that she is always happy and pleasant when she is there. Wish they could see how she can be at home. Not always so happy and pleasant. But hopefully this will all get better soon!

Who would have thought that one week at daycare could turn a little girls life upside down! Ours too!

Easter at Aunt Karen's...

For lunch we spent some time at Karen and Doug's house. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Blodgett were in town, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Bremberger! So we got to see just about everyone this weekend! Everyone got together here and put out some treats for Rowan to find as well. So she was in heaven when she got to find more eggs and bunnies! Not only that but she had baskets from all of them as well! Spoiled girl!

By lunchtime Rowan was starting to back pedal and even managed to fall asleep on the couch by herself, wasn't forever, but it was a nap! There wasn't much posing for pictures this afternoon either. She was down for the count by 1pm. So we were in the car on our way home by 2pm. She slept most of the way home!

Easter at Knutson's...

Easter morning we spent with Grandma and Grandpa Knutson, Amanda and Mitchell...

They had given Rowan her basket when Rowan and I were down a couple weeks ago because at the time we didn't know for sure if we were going to be in town. But of course they supplemented her basket with a few more goodies and an Easter egg hunt too...

She did awesome and loved it! She was even armed with an Easter bag to hold all of her finds!
I think her favorites were the eggs with money in them. Smart girl!

Easter at Smith's...

When we planned to be in town for Easter, we didn't think we would get to see Nana and Papa because they were in IL and IA visiting family. But they managed to make it home Saturday evening to see us. And of course, the Easter bunny left something there for Rowan as well; a soft doggy backpack full of goodies. Well that was the intention, but the goodies didn't all fit in the backpack, so there was a bucket too. Rowan loves chocolate, and I think we can blame her Nana for that after living there for 9 months with M&M's constantly at our disposal!

The Schuett's...

I didn't do a very good job with the picture taking at Andi and Aaron's house this time. As you can see. I did get a couple of Rowan and Breyson sharing very nicely. Rowan was sharing her Goldfish! And perhaps I managed to get one of them after Rowan getting taken down, but I don't really remember what they were doing at the time.

Excuse Rowan not having any pants on in one of the photos. She was warm and refusing to put them back on, and it was a battle that just wasn't worth fighting. Not to mention, she had a fever of 101 at the time. Didn't realize that until I decided to take her temperature while we were there. But she played pretty nicely despite!

Anyway, we spent the later afternoon and evening playing at Breyson's house. Us adults got to visit and catch up, we had some dinner and then headed back to Nana and Papa's house to sleep. Rowan didn't have the best nap and clearly was a bit under the weather, so it was time for her to go to bed!

Easter at home...

The Easter bunny decided to deliver Rowan's basket on Saturday morning this year, due to our plans to be out of town on Easter. Instead of a basket this year, Rowan got a backpack! Inside the backpack were some M&M's, that had to be opened immediately, bubbles, chalk, some gummies, and a couple stuffed animals (gotta be honest, the Easter bunny re-gifted the stuffed animals, found them in basement when going through baby stuff, worked perfect, and were very affordable!) The Easter bunny forgot about Gizmo this year, but we had plenty of treats to makeup for it! He say by and watched contently!

The garage...

Here is the shelving that has started to organize our garage, as well as the hanging apparatus used to organize our handled items. We need a bit more shelving to create a bit more space, but it is a start!

Garage project...

Ed's wish finally came true today, sort of...he has been wanting to buy shelving and get our garage organized since we moved in. Finally today we decided to buy some and get things organized! Of course I didn't manage to get a picture of the final product before it got dark, so I will work on that tomorrow! We still have some more to buy, but it is a start!
Rowan enjoyed her time outside today too. We didn't fill the watertable today, were too busy with garage stuff. She entertained herself with her wagon, and strollers and whatever else she can get into. She was a bit happier today than most of her days have been this week, but she also took a 3 hour nap this morning, and at daycare she usually only sleeps 1 hour. So I think that is part of her problem this week, lack of sleep, which is causing her to wake up in the middle of the night, although this morning she just decided to get up for the day at 540am! Not cool! But we all survived!

Best investment...

Rowan's watertable is the best thing we have ever bought her. We have almost had it a year, and she still loves it. This year she actually tries to pour the water into the funnels and watch the wheels spin. After she drinks the water out of the table of course. She had lots of fun with it tonight.

It even brought out the neighbors. Not really, but yes, after a month of living here we have finally met our immediate neighbors! They seem very nice, and they have a little girl that is just 2 months younger than Rowan. I didn't find it appropriate to be taking pictures of their daughter the first time we met them. But she enjoyed the watertable too!

You would never believe that this is the same girl smiling in the pictures above, but yes our fun time outside didn't end so happily! Rowan was walking in the in the rocky yard and tripped right near the sidewalk that goes to the side garage door and scraped her arm pretty good. And she hasn't been having the best days as it is, so the whining, crabby girl with snot running everywhere we are getting used to this week. The poor girl has been very upset. We hope next week is better! Maybe this 3 day break from daycare will get her back to normal?

Daycare update...

Well, our week hasn't exactly been ideal! Rowan has woken up in the middle of the night the last 4 nights. The first two she managed to go back to sleep on her own no problem, but the other two nights we had to intervene. She has had a runny nose all week, and been super whiney and crabby! We can't seem to pinpoint the reason behind all of this, other than daycare.

She does great when she is at daycare. They consider her gentle and love to have her there. But her napping isn't ideal, for us anyway. She naps usually 50-70 minutes only. At home she usually naps at least 1 1/2 hours or more. And I'm not sure if she is sick or teething, which is the runny nose issue. All of this has lead to a rough week around here.

I have 2 more weeks of working 4-5 days a week, then I will be back to working 3 shifts a week, so she won't have to be at daycare quite as often, hoping the extra days home will help her. Then when I am off orientation I will be working only 2 days a week. So that will be even better yet! I guess that is enough venting for now!