Here We Go

Rowan is officially crawling. He has been inching around for a few weeks but last night and this morning he is mobile. We had a party this past weekend and our friends Bo and Elizabeth brought their son, Isom, who is well on his way to walking. Rowan LOVED him and told him that by screaming in his ear, pulling his hair, and poking his eyes. He really thought that Isom was a super fun toy. Needless to say I'm looking for a playdate for Rowan very soon. He should know that he is not the ONLY baby in the world, right? I think Rowan picked up a few new moves from him too, like crawling.



We took Ro to Fredericksburg a few weeks ago to swim. We were keeping our fingers crossed that he would enjoy the pool since he cried about his baby pool we bought him. Fortunately for all of us, he enjoyed every second of his swimming. He splashes until he is choking on the water, catches his breath and resumes splashing all while kicking his little legs under the water.



Esten and I have a wine barrel that we planted some strawberries in this year. They were doing really well until this sweltering heat came upon us. We would have a few strawberries at a time and they were really sweet. Rowan took interest in them when Esten was picking them while holding him. Esten let him try the berry and he took a few "pecks" at it and made the decision that he liked it. He then continued to suck on it until he was practically gone. Then when we went to Fredericksburg, Esten was picking some blackberries and Ro loved those too. He's a berry baby.






For Father's Day this year Rowan and I made Esten a tie. Rowan helped by letting me work on the tie while he napped or played. I found the pattern on one of the blogs I read. It turned out really nice and he says he likes it. I know, I know a tie is the one of the worst gifts ever, but it's a tradition to give dads ties. So we did. A lot of love went into that tie. This picture is not the best but you'll get the idea.



We had some family photos taken this past week so stay tuned, they should be finished in a few weeks.

Half a Year Old

Here are some recent pictures of Rowan. He is still not crawling but determined he will. No matter how many times he face plants it, he'll get up again and continue to try. These pictures are from our front yard yesterday at lunch. He was picking and eating grass, a big step considering a few months ago he would cry if you put his feet down in the grass. And I suppose eating grass is better than the post it note he ate last week. Oops!



We've been trying to get Rowan to start eating solids, with little success. Somedays he'll eat and somedays he won't have anything to do with it. I don't force him to eat if doesn't want to but try to offer something to him everyday. Last night he was attacking the spoon for carrots. They were so good that he thought it was essential to smear them all over his face. Ian was taking advantage of this and getting in a few licks of carrots off of his hands. Rowan loves dog attention so I see him feeding his food to the dogs in the months to come.

And these beauties are from our garden. I made stuffed bell peppers last night. This is the first year that Esten and I have actually had enough peppers to make a meal. There are more to come too along with the eggplant.

Rowan's sitting up skills are much better now. He will sit up for long periods and play with his toys. Here he is playing with his favorite flower chime. That toy is a hand me down from Mara and I have to say it has been put to great use. Maybe someday he will be into the trucks, trains and dinosaurs...

These two are best buds. Pablo surprisingly tolerates all of the pinches, pulls and pokes from Ro. And if you leave Rowan alone for a few minutes, you'll come back to Pablo sitting beside him keeping a close eye. Pablo is Rowan's keeper in his little chihuahua world. Their relationship may change when Rowan can chase him, we'll see. Oh and the poor cat, Rowan sees him and screams at the top of his lungs. I suspect Rowan will be chasing him too. The cat is beginning to realize that the screams are screams of interest and scurries away at the sound. Rowan is more and more fun everyday and it is so hard to believe that he has already been here for six months. Time is racing by.