Almost a year already

Next week, on Valentine's Day, Rowen will turn one year old.  One year old!  I follow a few other "Mommy blogs" and it seems like we all go through the same thought: "Too soon!"

That statement just begins to skim the surface.  What a year it has been.  So very much has happened in one year.  We've been on a crazy adventure, I've experienced more love, more pain and frustration, more fun and then even more love than I ever imagined possible.  It's been a very hard year but becoming a Mother has been the greatest, life changing and rewarding gift I could ever wish for.

It seems like in just the past week or two, Rowen has developed even more personality and grew up overnight.  She wore two-piece pyjamas to bed the other night and I couldn't believe how much of a little toddler she was!

This past week, we both suffered through a horrible stomach flu.  Lowell had "two puking girls" on his hands.  It was so terrible watching her be so ill, but it was also....incredibly heart-warming to see her calm, happy spirit shine through.  I really don't know how we got so lucky to have the most relaxed, zen Baby.  With that said, even though she's such a stoic little trooper, I wish I could keep her from being sick and just take all the sickness for her!

Right now, a week before her Birthday, she is on the brink of walking on her own but still hesitant to let go of our hands.  I'm so excited and also a little bit terrified of that moment that she walks without us for the first time...because that kind of just sums up what we're feeling here.  All the changes are thrilling and so rewarding but it's also crazy how scary fast it's happening!  Our little Baby is turning into a little Lady!

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas Friends!

We'll be back and sharing photos with you again shortly.  

(I will regroup and rebuild the broken entries as much as possible!)

As for now, we are excited to be celebrating Rowen's first Christmas. Wishing you a safe and lovely Holiday!

oh god

So it also appears that I may have killed the blog as well.

ALL MY PHOTOS HERE ARE GONE TOO.

I am so confused and depressed.

We're finally getting a fancy camera because I killed my Galaxy SII

Well, where shall we begin?

This Friday, Rowen will be 10 months old and I will be 29 years old!

10 months??  What, really?  And also, 29 years??  What, really?  One of the girls at work asked me today how old I was and it was my first time saying "29 on Friday" and I had such mixed feelings about it.  Mostly I'm pretty okay with it.  I feel like a have a lot to show for my 29 years of being alive!

Auntie Sara took this photo of Rowen with her fancy new camera!

We are thinking of getting a "fancy" camera and a new hard drive as our "Family" Christmas present.  Except we know nothing about cameras really.  Anyone have any advice?  Do you love your camera?  We are thinking some sort of point and shoot thing or maybe one of those new hybrid things with the fancy lens that we don't know how to use that can pop on and off?

So....related story, the other day, in a frenzy to catch up on laundry as soon as I got home from work, I tossed in a load of darks as soon as I walked through the door.  Then I remembered that my scrubs weren't too horrible nasty and could go in with the load, so I grabbed them and chucked them in.

About 5 minutes into the cycle,  while I was trying to get lunch together for Rowen, I hear a strange "thud-THUMP, thud-THUMP" from the machine.  

That would be the sound of my precious beautiful Samsung Galaxy S11 X slowly dying in the washing machine.  I pulled her out right away and Lowell got out some rice from the cupboard for her to go into...  but I knew in my heart that it was too late.  The worst thing about all this was that my photos somehow were no longer saving to my SD card and were saved to the drive on the phone... so, it seems that over 2000-something photos, 99% of which were photos of Rowen over the past almost 10 months are now GONE.  I totally suck.  :(

AND Telus won't offer my any upgrades or "offers" until next year.  So it was either buy the phone that I want (Galaxy S III, baby!) for like, a billion and three dollars...  or get a crappy pay as you go handset.  Since I don't have a billion and three dollars to spare, I am not using a stupid old school phone that I haaaate.  *Sigh*  I miss you, Galaxy.  

But alas, there are worse things that could happen.  It totally sucks that it took my phone dying for me to finally be motivated to get a proper camera to take proper photos of the Baby.  And it totally sucks that it took my wiping out ALL my Rowen photos for me to finally get a hard drive.  But there are worse things that could happen is what I keep reminding myself!  

And really, Rowen makes eveyrthing better.

The Rowen Baby is happy and healthy and we're getting ready to celebrate her first Christmas!  

I am happy and healthy and hilaaaaaarious when eating dinner naked.  

(I said I would never post nudey pics of the Baby online.  But this one was too awesome not to share.  Sorry, Rowen Baby!)

I'm sorry for being a blog-slacker!

Dear Bloggy:

I am so so so sorry for neglecting you!

I went back to work part-time and am quickly discovering that being a full-time Momma and part-time vet tech equals being ALL THE TIME TIRED and add to all this a newly crawling Rowen Baby there is just never enough time for anything!

I shall be back shortly with really, really adorable photos and such soon, I promise!

-Z

Photos: Kitty Cat Clean-up Crew, Evergreen Brickworks, Z eats more doughnuts

Well!  I think I officially give up trying to do one of these "photo updates" every week.

Rowen has become a little bit obsessed with our devices.  Mainly the computer, the iPad and our phones.  I had this theory that if we withheld them from her, it would make them elusive and therefore more appealing.  But letting her handle them every day has made them non-elusive and really appealing.  She knows how to scroll through photos of herself using the touchscreen on my phone!    Hmmm.  

The Baby with One Legwarmer

The other day, I turned around for a minute and she pulled the computer onto her blanket and typed a message to Annie.  She even managed to sent it and everything!

Both Cats have been chipping in and doing their part to help out with taking care of Rowen...

Kitty clean-up crew at work under the highchair.

With cats like these, who needs a dog?

The cats have been more than  happy to clean up Rowen's avocado scraps and salmon spills (no interest in broccoli though).   It's kinda gross but it helps me with my clean up...so I allow it.

Ha!  Speaking of "kinda gross".  Oh IKEA, your $4.99 meatball plate is simultaneously so very unattractive but so appealing at the same time.  

I had my "night out" last night while Lowell stayed home with the sleeping Baby.  Annie and I went to IKEA to pick up her surprisingly compact yet shockingly heavy bedframe and lugged it home.  (We really know how to party!)  In related new,  I also discovered that I'm frighteningly out of shape....

I wonder why? 

Krispy Kremes!  

I've been kinda off cupcakes lately and my on again off again affair with doughnuts is in full on googley-eyed Honeymoon phase.  

Apple Beignet and waffle combo with whipped cream, apple compote and caramel sauce from the Farmer's Market at Evergreen Brickworks.  

We went to the market this past Saturday.  Have you been to the Evergreen Brickworks lately?  I hadn't been down there in years!  It's neat being down in the valley underneath the highway.  We picked up some organic maple syrup and ate lunch and watched and danced to music.  It was a lovely outing.  Chilly but lovely.

My new favourite onesie and tights on Rowen.  

Grey and white polka dots and hot pink legs?  

Oh my!

Rowen eats!

About a week or so before Rowen was officially 6 months old, I started offering her one small meal a day of rice cereal and milk.  She had been very fascinated by watching us eat for quite a while before that.  Ever since that first week of cereal, she has been super excited about and receptive to every new food that she's been offered!  We have been so lucky that she is by no means a picky eat so far.  So we've kept introducing new foods.

I haven't subscribed to an particular "method" of introducing foods.  Obviously I've stayed away from the "no nos" and she does not have any salt, sugar or oily/greasy/artificial foods.  We try to make sure almost all of her foods are organically sourced.   I have a couple of books as resources and then mostly we've just been letting Rowen eat what we eat, minus seasonings and then pureed (I wasn't comfortable with just letting her eat everything we eat, ala baby led weaning).  The surprising result of this has also been the fact that I'm eating more vegetables.  But alas, I am still probably eating too many doughnuts and cupcakes every day.  Bahaha!

So far, Rowen's clear favourites are:

• avocados
• bananas
• pears
• carrots
• sweet potatoes (technically yams too, she likes both)
• dried apricots (unsulphured of course)
• broccoli 
• salmon (poached with apples, onions, carrots and pureed)
• rice rusk cookies or plain rice crackers

Rowen also enjoys eating:

• apples
• papaya
• prunes
• oatmeal
• bagels
• lentils
• squash
• pumpkin
• potato
• purple hawaiian sweet potatoes
• eggs
• chicken (usually pureed with squash or sweet potato)
• plain greek yogurt mixed with fruit puree

She will willingly eat but is clearly indifferent to:

• peas
• cauliflower
• beef
• tofu
• zucchini 

Rowen does not like:

• lemons
• that's it for this list.

Technically zucchini is a brand new introduction, so who knows if she might wind up liking it.  And technically I think she liked the lemon, but I felt bad letting her eat it after watching babies eat lemons on YouTube.  Broccoli was surprising because I kinda hate broccoli but now that Rowen is around and enjoying it, I've probably had more of it in the past month than I have in the past 10 years!

Rowen Air Drums Wipeout For You

Ick, another chilly gloomy Monday!

Rowen will play Wipeout on her invisible Daddy lap drums for you now!  Please note her beautiful squeal-singing as well.

(p.s. We were trying to "hide" Lowell and well, failed miserably.  Looks like he's wearing a Snuggie right?  Ha!)

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!

Happy November & Rowen Drumming

Rowen is learning to be a drummer like her Daddy.

Looks like it might very well be in her genes!