Standing

My big boy (8 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old, to be exact!) stood up on his own for the first time for longer than a couple of seconds tonight.

He was holding onto my leg with one hand, the other hand holding a toy... then let go of me to play two-handed with the toy - and stood there for at least ten seconds. I don't know if Rowan realised what he was doing, but afterwards he carefully squatted into a sitting position while still holding the toy in both hands. o_O



This Week in Scrapbooking

I've been working on more of the layouts in Rowan's Christmas album this week, Artscow (a printing website) have a 50% off sale on photobooks at the moment to be used before the 31st of December, so I'm attempting to get it all done. Besides, I don't want to be scrapping about Christmas in April, anyway! ;)

Here's a few of the layouts I've completed recently:

We Skyped on Christmas morning with my hubby's family so they could see their first grandchild open gifts. It was pretty cool connecting the laptop up to the TV so we could see their faces easily. :)

Credits
Merry & Bright Bundle - by Designs by Kat https://scraporchard.com/market/Merry-and-Bright-Digital-Scrapbook-Bundle.html
Fonts: Eight Fifteen [titlework] and Courier New [journalling]

Rowan (8 months old) has his first-ever picture with Santa. We'll ignore the fact that he cried immediately following the photo though. ;)

Credits
Kit: Christmas Blessings - by Captivated Visions & Litabells Designs https://scraporchard.com/market/Christmas-Blessings-Digital-Scrapbook-Kit.html
Template: Ianthine Templates - by Scrapping with Liz https://scraporchard.com/market/Ianthine-Digital-Scrapbook-Template.html
Scribbles Alpha - by Chelle's Creations https://scraporchard.com/market/Scribbles-Digital-Scrapbook-Alpha.html
Fonts: Howser [title] and The Great Escape [journalling]

Journalling reads: "When you started teething again during December, the race was on... what would come first: Christmas or your two top front teeth? Tooth #3 came down during early December and tooth #4 finally came in with 3 days to spare - phew!! You were so miserable cutting that fourth tooth, and are happy to see you back to your happy, smiling self!"

Credits
Kit + Alpha: Be Merry - by Secret Stash https://scraporchard.com/market/Be-Merry.html
Be Merry Overlays - by Secret Stash https://scraporchard.com/market/Be-Merry-Overlays-Digital-Scrapbook.html
Template: Chopped Paper Temps - by Scrapping with Liz https://scraporchard.com/market/Chopped-Paper-Template-Digital-Scrapbook.html
Font: CK Ali's Hand

Christmas Day itself was quite eventful, will be back shortly with a proper recap of what turned out to be a day to remember!



Christmas Eve



This time last year I sat in Hobart watching Carols by Candlelight with my prgnant, swollen feet up, nursing sunburn. And this year... I nursed my baby before watching the Carols. ;)

I've often wondered what Christmas with a child would be like. I remember it being a magical time from my own childhood, surrounded by family and doing things such as sneaking lollies and chips from the coffee table before lunch with my cousins, giggling at our secrecy (which of course, wasn't so secret!). While Rowan won't remember in future years what his first Christmas was like, we'll have plenty of pictures to show him when he's older.

For now, we'll enjoy the da-da-da-de-de's and ga-ga-ga's while our eight month old pulls up at everyone's legs and demands infinite solid foods and afterwards comes crawling back into the comfort of my arms for quiet milk feeds, before he's off again exploring the world.

To all my friends, thank you for being here and for supporting us in every facet of our lives. Merry Christmas to you all.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Christmas card for this year. Merry Christmas from Matt, Rowan and I from me to you. :)

This Week in Scrapbooking

Here are three of the pages I made this week, all credit linking is below each image (the Christmas pages are for Rowan's Getting Ready for Christmas book and the layout of the three of us is for our 2011 book.

Journalling reads: "It’s rare for the three of us to get into a photo together these days, as one of us always seems to be in front of the camera! Fortunately Auntie Marisa was over before your first Christmas Party and took a few photos of us as a family. I really like how this shot of us turned out, and how grown up you look in your “big boy” outfit!" (Dec 12th, 2011)

Credits
Kit: Crazy Little Thing - by Faith True & mLE Card [ link ]
Font: Nothing You Could Say

Journalling reads: "Growing up, the thing that got me excited about Christmas was the food - particularly mince pies and shortbreads. Every year, my Mum would make both treats and they weren’t allowed to be eaten before Christmas Eve. Somehow, waiting until then made them that much more special. Now, as an adult, I don’t wait until Christmas Eve to eat my favourite treats anymore... and neither does my Mum. In fact, it was late NOVEMBER when we were over at my Mum’s house for afternoon tea and she pulled out some mince pies from the bakery. I planned on eating mine myself, but with Rowan around there was very little chance of that happening! Mince pies in November... I guess that means that Christmas is definitely on the way!"

Kit & Alpha: Holiday Traditions - by Designs by Kat [ link ]
Fonts: Eight Fifteen [titlework] and Courier New [journalling]

Journalling reads: "Since Matt’s family lives in Hobart and mine in Melbourne, it’s difficult to get all of us in one place at any one time. On Matt’s 30th birthday, his family came to visit and although we were missing my brother & Matt’s sister Jess, this was as close to a full family portrait as we were going to get. THREE generations in one picture!"

Credits
Kit & Alpha: A Christmas Village - Designs by Kat & Ziggle Designs [ link ]
Template: Fuss Free Holiday Memories - Fiddle Dee Dee Designs [ link ]
Fonts: Guess What. [titlework], CK Jot [journalling]



Wordless Not-So-Wednesday

8 Months Old & a Video

This week Rowan turned eight months old and with it has come an explosion in the sounds that will one day become speech. For the last couple of weeks he has been making tiger-like gutteral growls which seems to attract a lot of attention when we're out and about (he does them most gleefully, of course!). Then came 'heh', and this morning begun the full-on 'dededede'. The teacher in me is so happy to hear sounds, and Rowan's little voice is so cute.

Have a listen to it here:


(8 months and 2 days old)

Other musings and favourites of Rowan at 8 months (noted down partially to remind me for his scrapbook pages) include -

• Pulling up to standing
• Sitting on the floor of the kitchen watching Matt and I cooking
• His 'First Words' books and 'Hello Little Chick' book
• Making choices (between two objects, mainly toys, books or foods; we say their name and hold the two in front of him. You see his eyes dart back and forth a few times before he erupts in a huge smile and grabs his chosen object)
• LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem (strangely...)
• Getting into my jewellery stand (now babyproofed)
• Everything and anything that Nana (my Mum) says illicits a smile or laugh
• Favourite toys are coloured stacking rings, TV remote controls; and of course...
• Soft bunny (comfort toy, already bedraggled-looking!)
• Teething was not fun this month - tooth #3 is now through with #4 not far behind, plenty of near-sleepless nights with these. :(

And a few recent photos to finish:

Standing at Nana's house

(and on me too)

This is 'soft bunny', a very common sight around here lately!

Getting into mischief with one of my necklaces...

This all seems so long ago now (Rowan was seven days old here and I can't believe how BIG that hat was on him then, it was my favourite of his newborn hats)

Blog Re-design

I've been fiddling with layotus over the last day or so, and think I've decided on this. Let me know if it displays funny on your computers and/or other devices, and if the font is readable (I think it is, but that's all subjective!).

Our Christmas Tree

Despite having a mobile baby in the house, we decided to put up our Christmas tree this year. It feels great to have such an outwardly sign of Christmas in the house, and is filling me with relaxation in the evening when the lights are on (mainly after Rowan's gone to bed, as to not be too tempting for him!).

The first day he tried everything in his power to get to the tree, since then he's been looking at it but not too focused (thankfully). That all might change soon when there's a few presents underneath, but we'll see!

Journalling reads: "Rowan has been so very interested in the changes to the loungeroom for Christmas, from helping Daddy with the lights to touching the decorations. Since he is getting so mobile now, we have had to put the coffee table in front of the tree as to form a barrier. Hopefully by another couple of years we’ll be able to move it away again!..."

Credits:
Kit & Alpha: Glad Tidings
Template: Photo Blends Templates - Scrapping with Liz
Font: Segoe Print

I'm loving the idea of celebrating Christmas with a baby for the first time. <3



Rowan at 7.5 Months

Rowan has reached an age where he’s beginning to really express his preferences – the yells and laughs are both aplenty, and it’s quite amusing to see what he finds funny (mainly strange sounds, being gently ‘thrown’ onto the big bed, taking a toy out of our hands, banging his hands on the high chair and, most recently breastfeeding...?)

And good grief, everything is about standing lately. Pull over box of toys? Great to stand up against. Couch? Got it covered. Pull runner off the coffee table? Ten times a day, thankyouverymuch. Little mister adventure, anything that should and shouldn’t be pulled on suddenly is. He’s exhausting work, though I feel guilty admitting it because he does it all with a gleeful look on his face. Daytime naps are still okay (although I’m listening to Rowan gleefully banging his feet against the side of the wall through the cot slats instead of napping; it’s the point of no return now – no napping and he’ll be up until bedtime *le sigh*). Nighttimes are a bit hit and miss though, alternating through sleeping through and waking every 2 hours or so – exhausting work when your body doesn’t get the chance to get through one or the other. We both had colds last week, and at the tail end of his, Rowan started teething again – he’s got an ulcer spot on one of his top front teeth so I’m expecting that through within the next couple of weeks (unless it goes back up into the gum, hope not though). One of the girls in mother’s group said that when baby’s re-learning to breastfeed with a top tooth it makes for interesting times and feeding is never quite the same again, comfort-wise. I’m not sure what to think about that, I know that we’ll get through it just like every other feeding challenge we’ve faced. Those of you who have breastfed children with a mouthful of teeth, reassure me will you?

(more on feeding, I’m supposed to be updating my first aid certification tomorrow morning – getting ready for working next year - and with Rowan up early today and refusing an afternoon nap I haven’t had the chance to pump... unless I can get more than the 20ml I have so far, doesn’t look as though I’ll be going :/)

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful... incredibly grateful. It's just that sometimes when you haven't had much sleep it can get on top of you - I'm only human after all, and we've all been there whether through babies, children, insomnia or a combination or the three!

I must remember this face, and how quickly it's changing - with its bumps and scratches, lumps and dribble/citrus rashes, blue-grey eyes becoming brown - on the path from baby to impending toddlerhood.

 

o_O

Another week and another milestone, so it seems.

Rowan was satisfied with simply crawling for a couple of weeks. And then he sat (I know, reverse order!). And now this:

That was fast o_O
(7 months & 1 week old)

Wordless Wednesday

Okay... so maybe not so wordless.

A few of my fellow bloggers have been participating in this lately and I thought since I'm starting to use this blog a bit more again, time to jump on board (I take a lot of photos as it is; friends will attest to this! :P).

Also thinking of a bit of a redesign around here, not quite sure what yet but if you see some strange layouts things happening, you'll know why! ;)

What's that? Wordless Wednesday involves a picture? Okay then, here you go:

7 Months Old

I love playful morning faces <3

Rowan is seven months old today.

It's been one heck of a busy month for him, learning to crawl and in the last couple of days, sit up on his own (I always thought sitting happened before crawling, but I've been proven wrong!).

Food is becoming less of a plaything and more about gimmee-gimmee-gimmee!! (current favourites are strawberries - still! - lamb, bananas, Vegemite on toast, shepherd's pie, chicken rissoles, Weetbix and couscous) Rowan eats two solid meals a day (lunch and dinner) and has 5-6 milk feeds also.

His sleep is going really consistantly again at the moment, napping twice a day for 1.5-2hrs apiece, and sleeping through the night. I'm incredibly thankful for this and don't know whether it's tied to food intake throughout the day or just the developmental stage he's at currently. Either way, I'm not complaining. ;)

Rowan is discovering more about picking things up with his fingers rather than the whole hand (think like a 'claw' arcade machine; no way near a pincer grip of course but definitely more fingers are involved than palm these days).

What else? Miss Polly Had a Dolly is a current favourite song (taking over from 5 Little Ducks), household objects are WAY more fun to play with than toys - especially washing on the clothes rack! - and hubby and I are thinking that Rowan's beginning to reach out with his arms a little in preparation for being picked up. He's a real Mummy's boy at the moment, Mummy makes everything better apparently (but Daddy is the one who gets the belly laughs :D).

Eating lunch at the showgrounds during a warm Melbourne day.

'Helping' Daddy in the garden over the weekend. Dirt is good for the immune system. ;)



Wedding Anniversary

On November 1st, Matt and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary, and our first as parents. We didn't do anything flashy, just cooked together and reminisced a little. It was a nice cosy evening (even better that Rowan went down to sleep first time around without any hassle - or as we call it - theatrics).

How things change in the space of a year...

I was 19 weeks pregnant here.

We were trying to take a photo of the three of us with the remote shutter and Rowan immediately started fussing with hunger, so we went with it. ;)



Crawling

Rowan surprised us all last weekend by learning to crawl.

Really, I shouldn't have been all that surprised as he's been doing a scooting kind of action for about a month now - but he figured out how to co-ordinate his arms and legs together, and now with the speed of his movements you'd have thought he'd been crawling for ages (not just a week!!).

Yes, baby-proofing has officially started (of course, Rowan gives us a fairly good guide as to what needs further work; he's into everything).

See Exhibit A:

Yep, just a small snippet of Rowan "helping" me clean. ;)

On Breastfeeding

click image to enlarge

I’ve been doing some thinking recently, looking back over Rowan’s pictures of him as a newborn as I’ve scrapbooked his life so far. To some, parenting seems to come fairly easily – I thought it would for me because of my background as a preschool teacher... but I was wrong. The first three months were bloody hard, I’ll admit now. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation that I didn’t cope with very well, or the fact that Rowan and I had such trouble getting the hang of breastfeeding. I don’t know. But what I do know is that things got better.

I reached out when I found myself falling into a bottomless pit of dread and anxiety (especially about daytime sleep times and post-3pm when I’d find myself clock-watching until Matt got home from work). I got busy with my Mother’s Group, I started talking to my own Mum about my experiences, I tried to get back into my hobbies again. Life was being consumed by all things baby, baby, baby!

Forming a positive breastfeeding relationship with Rowan was one of the turning points for me. Sure, we’d been breastfeeding up until that point but because of the pain associated with his poor latch (it was discovered this was due to head/jaw/neck issues resulting from positioning in the womb and at birth by an osteopath and was treated accordingly... oh the difference it made over a  two-month period!!) it wasn’t all that enjoyable for me. Simply put, I remember turning up to a maternal health check-up with Rowan early because I couldn’t bear to be at home alone in my house anymore while he made mincemeat out of my left nipple! I was almost begging for permission from the health nurse to stop breastfeeding. Yes, I said it – I wanted to stop nourishing my baby.

But things got better. The sores and cracks healed, the sensitivity lessened. Rowan relaxed and so did I. He got into a pattern of daytime sleeping (and slept for longer periods during the night) and life became more predictable.

Six and-a-half months later, it has gotten easier. Three naps have become two (but are longer), he’s getting mobile and playing together is more interactive than it has ever been. Sure, there are difficult parts – teeth and breastfeeding aren’t always a good mix, but Rowan only tends to bite when he’s distracted and latching on poorly (with his tongue going above the nipple instead of below). All in all, he’s very gentle when feeding and is absolutely relishing his milk... he drinks it so fast these days too!

Breastfeeding for six months is not only a milestone for us, but also a wonderful act too. I’ve come to enjoy it, and the relaxing hormones that it sends throughout both our bodies.

Newborn Rowan

2 months

6 months.

6 Months Old

Happy half-birthday to you, Rowan... six months old today!
Seriously, the time has flown, though at the same time it's difficult to imagine life without you in it (spare time? What's that?!). In the past month your face has changed considerably, and you're looking like a much older baby now. You're super-long (we'll be getting you weighed and measured next week, so not really sure where you're at; people try to guess your age and we've recently been told 'around eight months' o_O).

See exhibit A:

Rowan with Nana (my Mum) at the Tulip Festival this week.

It's funny though, you have SUCH a long body but a tiny head. I've been looking for a Summer hat for you recently and the only ones that actually fit are 0-3 month sized! As it turns out, tiny hats are only purely cosmetic, they don't protect heads from the sun like they should, so I'm not sure what we'll be doing this Summer (sorry Rowan, you take after your Mum in the tiny head department!).

You're also on the move, rolling and scooting around with the greatest of ease - you're beginning to get on all fours and rock back and forth! We think you'll be crawling soon, scarily enough. Independence is your middle name at the moment, you'd much rather be playing on the floor - preferably on your tummy - than cuddling your Mum or Dad. Sure, you're cuddly sometimes, but that's usually when you're sleepy or wanting to chill out.

You are very interested in people's faces and will reach out to touch their mouths and/or noses when they're holding you. Being sung to is pretty cool in your world, you currently love Five Little Ducks.

We've started introducing you to food in the past six weeks and have adopted a babyled weaning approach, meaning that instead of purees and mashes, you're learning to feed yourself real table food. This was a little scary at first - I was worried you'd choke! - but you're learning about what the right amount of food to put in your mouth is, and getting better at not gagging. In fact, you're practicing chewing motions lately and it's really fun to see! Some of your favourite foods so far have been toast, strawberries, green beans, sweet corn (on the cob), yoghurt, cucumber and cheddar cheese. You seem to prefer red meat over white meat currently too. There hasn't been a huge amount of food that you haven't liked as you put everything into your mouth with such excitement! We're having fun introducing you to food, and you enjoy having lunch and dinner 'at the table' like a big boy.

All in all, the past month has been a time of firsts: first foods, first cold, first tooth (!), first plane trip and more.

We love you Rowan. :)

Peeking out of your cot after a nap

Attitude faces... already?!

This was when you were feeling unwell with a cold :(

Enjoying tomato and bacon gnocchi

You have interesting approaches to eating food sometimes. ;)

You love the 'Jolly Jumper'

With your extended family (Dad's side) in Tasmania in September - this was where we got married in 2008!

 Learning to crawl is serious business!

Rowan and Mummy in the tulips



5 Months Old

At five months old, you are:

* Rolling onto your tummy, shuffling your bottom in the air and getting up on one knee before becoming frustrated – you don’t have the concept of using your arms yet, when you do we suspect that crawling won’t be far off...!

* Playing on larger blankets on the floor because you were getting tangled in and collapsing your playmat. You’re also chaining rolls and have figured out how to roll tummy to back.

* Laughing (finally!). Daddy coaxes the big belly laughs out of you, usually after bath time

* Having your first tastes of water and rice cereal, you seem to devour anything that is put in front of you!

* You have made the transition from three naps down to two naps during the day – going from 3 x 1hr naps to 2 x 2hr ones. Mummy is appreciating the extra blocks of time very much!

* Starting to copy the shape our mouths make, in particular open mouths in the shape of an O, raspberries and lip-smacking sounds

* Escaping your swaddle when you wake after sleep

* Waking more in the night for feeds than you were in previous months

4 Months Old Today

Rowan turned 4 months old today, and I think that it's safe to assume that teething is imminent....

Drooling? Check.

Irritability? Check.

Chewing and biting on everything? Check.

Look out world!

Rowan's Rolling!

My son Rowan learnt how to roll onto his tummy this week, and now there's no stopping him - he's officially on the move!

Here's a video of his latest efforts:

One Year Ago

It was a year ago tomorrow that I found out we were expecting our first child. Having gone through endometriosis surgery, chemically-induced menopause for six months, trying to conceive unsucessfully for nearly two years, discovering that my fallopian tubes were in fact blocked and ultimately going through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), we were due some good news... and that particularly piece of news was due on April 7th, 2011.

I remember the day before I tested, only 7 days post-embryo transfer and being out shopping with my best friend, having to empty my bladder seemingly every half hour, and not putting two and two together until the evening, when a feeling of what I can only describe as 'oddness' coming over me. Waking cautiously (and nerviously) at 5.30am that following morning, I saw this:

Feint, but definitely a second line!

Hubby didn't really believe the result of the test (this was an 'internet cheapie' test strip, part of a bundle I brought on eBay several months earlier), and wanted me to test using a "real" test. So I did the following day...

No doubt about it, we were pregnant!

I cried seeing a heartbeat (and briefly breathed a sigh of relief at there being only one!) at our 7 week ultrasound, and then again at 13 weeks when it showed a baby-shaped foetus instead of a blob.

7 weeks

13 weeks

At 20 weeks, we found out that we were expecting a boy (much to our surprise; I'd been having major GIRL vibes!), and started planning the bedroom, buying cute clothing and all of the excitement that goes along with pregnancy.

20 weeks

As the months passed, my body changed shape and expanded to accomodate a tiny human, and with every kick, thump and wobble I would be thankful for the opportunity to carry a child (yes, even when the sore back and constant heartburn kicked in).

It was on my birthday (exactly a month before you were born, as it turns out) we settled on the name Rowan, hubby signing my birthday card from both him and the baby, and we kept this a secret from everyone until the big day.

And so I continued to grow the not-so-tiny human we had affectionately dubbed "Manatee"...

Oh boy....

Before we knew it, I was 39 weeks pregnant and I went into labour, waking at 1.30am one morning with cramps and a sore back. 34 hours later, you were here (you can read the full birth story on this page).

Minutes old, our little Mr Serious.

What a year it has been, now I watch you at 3.5 months sleeping in hubby's arms contently, tired out from a day of play and discovery. Thank you Rowan for letting us be your parents.