Rowen Baby's First Halloween

Holy man, dressing up a Baby is really fun.  They're just so stinkin' cute... and watching them react to the strange outfit is just another unexpectedly awesome perk!  Initial hesitation turned into delighted giggles very quickly.  I think she loved the attention too.

Are you ready to see some photos from Rowen's first Halloween?

It was a pretty gloomy chilly day, so we mostly wore our costumes around the house.    Costumes, plural.  Uncle Gram and Grandma Meme got her costumes before she was even born!  We skipped Trick or Treating this year since she'd be too young to know what was happening... plus, it was raining.

We did venture out for a walk in the afternoon dressed as Simba.  It was pretty funny strapping her into the stroller with a big belly.

After her nap, Rowen put on her next costume.

I think she knew she was a pretty Tinkerbell

Naptime Bedhead

Happy First Halloween Rowen Baby!

I always enjoyed dressing up but I didn't even care that I didn't have a costume this year!  Having a Baby to dress up is like, 800 x more fun.

(Sidenote: I had THE BEST costume idea for Lowell and I for the Halloween party that we were invited to last year when I was pregnant.  Asian Beyonce and white Jay-Z!  But alas Lowell had a gig and I was too lazy to go alone and commit to being solo asian Beyonce, so I stayed home and ate mini-Twix bars in bed)

If Simba still fits next year, Lowell and I will get ourselves some Timon and Pumbaa costumes for trick or treating, You read it here first!

Rowen, Momma et Bax

Rowen looked particularly happy and was  adorably dressed one day last week.  So we had to take some pictures!

Excuse me, but why does she look like a toddler in that first photo?  

Let's pause with the growing up too fast for just a little bit, Baby!

Bax wanted in on the photoshoot

Rowen love her Baxter-Meow

Between a wiggly Rowen, squirmy Baxter-cat and blinking Momma (and blurry photo taking Daddy) it's pretty much impossible to get a perfect shot!

My Babies!

Hmm, pretty much perfect actually.  

8 months and 5 days

Rowen is 8 months and 5 days!  

(A few days late with the posting this month, oops)

Proud owner of the ugliest little scarf ever and two brand new teeth!  

I knitted this scarf a few nights ago after finding that everything in the stores right now were tacky and/or ugly! (Or overpriced for this Momma's budget)

She now has two tiny little half-teeth on their way out...  I think they were bugging her a bit since they showed up at the same time.  Her poor little gums looked really sore, but she was a superstar!!  She was extra cuddly and drooling for a few days, but she was also sick with her first cold :( around the same time so the cuddliness may have been due to that...

Very intently studying the button on my coat the other day...

Fascinated and kinda solemn about this whole button business...

She's pretty much the sweetest, smartest little thing ever.  I love watching her study and analyze everything these days, figuring things out and watching her thought process amazes and amuses me to no end.  I love you, Rowen Baby!  

Mi mi mi mi mi mi....

Being Momma means not being embarrassed at all to be caught making ridiculously silly faces and goofy sounds....because Baby's mad giggles makes it all okay!  More than okay, really!

Rowen at the playground

A couple of mornings ago (the same day that I lost Bandit the Raccoon), we went to the park and tried out the swings.

We've swung together on the big swings before but this was Rowen's first time solo in the baby swings... and it is safe to say that she LOVED it!

Rowen'sNewFavouriteExpression"Stank Face" was in full effect:

Is the volume on your computer turned up?  Okay good, because you don't want to miss the best giggles in the world at the very start of the video!

Photos: This week....Ladies Brunch, Kimchi Fries, sneak peak zoo pics

Guess what, Friends?

Annie has officially moved back to Toronto!  Yay!  So to celebrate, a Ladies Brunch was in order!  

Rowen came along and of course, she demands her own seat at the table now.  (Remember her first brunch? ) And of course, she was very well-behaved.  No fussing or crying, but she did have a few fits of loud giggling and squeals!  (And one bout of biting Auntie Angela's face.)

My brunch plate and fresh scone from  l'ouvrier.  

The food was delicious and the setting was of a mild to medium level of fanciness.  Rowen was the only child there the entire time but they did have a fancy little highchair on hand, so it wasn't a totally "no kids allowed" sort of setting... but it definitely was not a "rowdy kids running around with no shoes/crying baby/mamas nursing openly" setting. Situations like this make me so grateful that my Baby is awesome, calm and cooool.

Kitty cat shopkeeper at the little boutqiue next to l'ouvrier.  I love her.

Calm cool Baby fell asleep after Ladies Brunch.  Our chatting got toooo boring for her.  I love her!

Went to Banh Mi Boys with Annie the night before.  Her first kimchi fries!

Banh Mi Boys is so good and if I could eat there every single day, I would!  

We went to the High Park Zoo earlier that day.  A longer High Park Zoo blog entry is on the way!  (I just need to get some of Lowell's photos.)

BABY STANK FACE!!

She loves making this face!

Rowen & Her Owl Hat: Pt. 1

The weather's changing... slowly turning into Fall!  The best time of year in my opinion! 

 Sweater weather and...

HATS!

 All of a sudden, just today, Rowen learned to make "raspberries" (and would giggle at herself afterwards) and  instead of her usual smile, she was really into making this face:

Oh man.  The cuteness!  

A Very Sappy Lovenote

Dear Rowen Baby,

WHY ARE YOU SOOOO STINKIN' CUTE?  

And while we're at it, why are you soooo stinkin' well behaved and always, always smiling?

Smiling when Momma forces you to take photos while the bathtub is filling. Standing and striking poses like a little teeny person!

Sometimes, I wish you could stay this squishy and little forever...but then I remember how exciting it will be to have real chats and walk around and learn new things with you!  

We'll have so much fun and I can't wait!

Love (and thoroughly infatuated, really),

Momma

...

.....

...

Out takes!! 

Oh man I love this Baby.

7 Months!!!

Today Rowen is SEVEN MONTHS OLD!  7!  She is now closer to being a year old than being a newborn, what?

Um, I don't know if I've mentioned this before ever...but HOLY MOLY TIME IS FLYING BY!

A year ago today, I posted this video and blog entry about hearing her "Kitten Heart" beating at the Doctor's office.  The Doc was still in the old dingy building at Women's College and now we're over in the swanky brand new building.  A year ago today I was tired and pukey and starting to get a little bump belly.  It was only a year ago!  Sometimes that feels like so long ago but most days, most days just fly by too quickly.  Some hours can feel long, like when Rowen won't nap and wants me to dance around with her (no sitting allowed, Momma!)  or when she gets fiesty and knocks an entire dish of butternut squash onto the floor and it hits the cat on the way down (and then the butternutcat of course immediately heads for the couch, eugh).

Lowell and I were looking at old videos of Rowen from the first few weeks and months at home.  It's just astounding how much she grows up week after week.  They do so much growing up within even just one week sometimes, all the changes just build up and sneak up on you.  We almost forget that wait a minute, she couldn't hold up her head a few months ago!  Now she happily does Yoga while riding around on Daddy's shoulders (while Momma has a nervous heart attack).   She didn't know how to giggle at one point.  Now she's always giggling and it's just the best thing ever.   I love watching her figure things out and I love being goofy, making up songs and showing her new cool things to achieve that hilarious squeal of delight from her!

Rowen at 4 months, watching us at Lelend's Birthday Brunch.

Rowen dancing with Daddy.  She squealed every time we spun around together, so it's a blurry blurry video.  

(I posted it the other day but had to share it again since it so perfectly demonstrates her delightful squeeeeaaaal!)

HAPPY SEVEN MONTHS ROWEN BABY!

Photos: Rowen shots this week

A few random Rowen shots from this past week!!

Lowell and I challenged ourselves to not eat out for an entire week... which has apparently resulted in a lack of food photos.  We definitely eat out too much.  A coffee here and there is the exception to the rule.  Oh and Yogurty's for me!

Rowen's "jeans" fit now!  OMG she's a little person.

Baby set-up at Jason and Lindsay's Wedding Banquet

 Learning to use a sippy cup now!

Outtake from last week's visit to Grandma and Grampa's...  Dhani totally caught in the act of stealing food off the table!

Random Momma things

Random weird things about me as a Momma:

I've never shared this stuff with anyone!

• I trim Rowen's nail almost every other day.  I kinda love it.  I'm obsessed with trying to keep them filed and neat.  I find it so rewarding that at almost 7 months, she's finally able to deal with having her nails done when she is awake!  I've taught her to accept having (most of) her nails done in one sitting, just like I did my kittehs!  Yeah!

• I'm afraid of her soft spot.  I love my Baby more than anything in the World.  Her cuteness blows my mind and I'm pretty sure she is the best baby in the Universe... but MAN OH MAN the soft spot still grosses me out.  Baby's soft spots have ALWAYS grossed me out over the years, ever since I was shown what they are when my baby cousins were born.  I thought with my Baby it would change, but nope.  Nope!  The soft spot?  Freaks me out!  I just can't look at it.

• I have forgotten to give Rowen her Baby D (vitamin D) drops on some days.  I feel bad about this...

• I've held the Baby when I've had to pee.  Don't judge me.  99% of the time, if I have to go when she is awake, I'll bring her chair or carseat or stroller and park it outside of the bathroom.  This is fine if she's happy.  But if she's feeling fussy of clingy?  Then I have to fiddle around and try to strap a wiggling Baby in, find her a toy to amuse herself with and then by that time, I've peed my pants.  So yes,  I just hold her "koala style" onto me and hang onto her with my left arm which leaves my right arm free.  Yeah.

• I stopped wearing my rings after Rowen was born, because I was all paranoid about scratching or hurting her with them.  I wore them up until the day she was born, luckily I didn't have to deal with swollen fingers or anything like that while pregnant.  Then someone pointed out to me the other day that married ladies don't take off their engagement rings and wedding bands.  But now I've gotten to not having them on.  Oh well.

Nerd alert!  Matching shoes!  I used to let me Mom buy us matching stuff too until it wasn't "cool" anymore.  So I gotta start early right?

Rowen Swims!

My amazing Momma friend Jenn gave Rowen a little inflatable wading pool.  Seeing that our apartment has about 30 square feet of concrete outdoor space (three stories up, with no plumbing and overlooking a busy city street and train tracks, no less!), we brought it to Lowell's parents house.  They have a beautiful and very, very large house with alovely  backyard, front yard and hot tub in the side yard, etc.  In short, it's much more wading pool friendly!

This is what we did today.  We took a lot of photos (these are just a few of the ones on my phone) :

Time to apply the hat and sunscreen!

Rowen picked out her own bathing suit early in the summer and now in September, we are finally getting it wet!

The pool!  It came with an indoor "ball pool" option, so we added a few of those in as well.

We're still not sure what creature he's supposed to be.  Some sorta fanged frog or toothless alligator or a nightmare inducing snake is my best guess....

Naturally, Rowen is unfazed!  

Honing in on her target... the elusive yellow ball!

 

Those things are tricky for little hands to grab!!

Chillaxin', no biggie.  Her little body kept floating up when she'd sit back, it was freakin' adorable.

Starting to get a bit frustrated at how difficult it was to hold onto those slippery plastic balls....  We fished her out and wrapped her in her cuddly shark towel before she got upset.

Seriously, how awesome is that suit? I wish I could pull off neon hearts on white!

Rowen had a great time splashing around and floating.  At one point she was she laying back, her legs would float up up up and she'd throw feet over her head.  I'm sure this goes without saying, but yeah, it was pretty cute.  She was pretty pooped and took a good snooze when it was all over and she was cleaned, dried, lotioned and dressed.  Thank-you Uncle Leland and Auntie Kellie for working hard to inflate and fill the frogator for the Rowen Baby!