Working Nine to Five....

Dolly Parton sang it, and now I'm working it! Well, it's more like six thirty to five but oh well!! Christmas is here, and it's time to relax and catch up on some blogging. I'll try anyways!

Like I said it, our fall has been about work, work and work - but not for Rowan. She has way too much fun every day with Nana. Going to school (Strongstart), going to Pitter Patter Play group, shopping, walks, playing outside... What a wonderful caregiver Nana is! It's so wonderful to see how happy she is! Although I miss her terribly! Most days lately, I have been picking up Rowan on my way home from work. She usually falls asleep on the way home and then wakes up again for some dinner time fun with mom and papa. Not on this day though - totally worn out!


Somedays, I have to work late or have meetings and I will come home to this:

Papa and Rowan making dinner! I couldn't resist taking a photo. I totally snuck up on them. So sweet!


Rowan loves helping in the kitchen. So I would like to invent a stool for her to stand on so that she can be at the counter height to help, but safe so she doesn't fall off sideways or backwards. Anyone know how to create such a thing? Let me know.


Our latest addition in the baby gear department is the addition of skis for Rowan's chariot stroller. We went out skiing last weekend and this weekend and it was great! We are so glad that Rowan likes it 'cause we really love it!


Rowan had her friend Aubrey hang out with her for a couple of skis! Fun for two!


This Christmas break will continue to include many more skis, hopefully we will get to a groomed trail and try out the chariot there.

Rowan is teething.... again... what else is new! It has been awhile since she got any new teeth but off and on has been teething still. Well, today I felt two top molars popping through. Poor girl - she says it hurts A LOT! So now she has four front top teeth, and three bottom front teeth, and now 2 molars. When is she going to get the fourth one on the bottom front? Kinda strange, but oh well. Gonna make chewing easier!

Rowan is talking up a storm and trying to say so many words now. She tries so hard to repeat words that we say. She can now say Piper (in a high pitch voice), O (Odin), banana, more, light (loves the Christmas lights), fire, ball, hat, hot (although those 2 sound the same), hi, ho ho ho, no, ut oh, milk, cheese... although these words aren't coming out that clearly yet, it is so exciting to hear her voice communicating with words. Rowan still does the sign for more and all done, which is so handy! I wish we taught her more. She has been showing us some signs on her own - like pointing to a chair that she wants to sit on, or putting her hands together like a bowl - which we think means she's hungry?

Rowan eats on her own with a spoon or her fingers and drinks from a cup very well. She loves her independance in this department, and usually won't let you help her. She eats really well and is growing, although mostly in length.

Rowan is 16 months and 1 day old! Time is flying by!

Total sweetness!

A post written November 8th, 09 but for some reason was never posted! Whooops!

Our Rowan girl is so SWEET! Of course we say that all the time, but she really, really is!


She has started to learn some new things these days that just add to her sweetness! Such as singing! I have to try to get it on video! She sings the same 'lyrics' over and over and it goes something like this: ya ya, ya ya, ya ya, ya!! Rowan is also trying her hardest to say words and this weekend we think we heard: Mama, Papa, thank you, more, Piper, yup, apple, banana and all the animal sounds too. She loves helping! Help cook, put away the dishes, laundry, loves feeding the dogs, sweeping the floor, you name it. If I am baking and then she needs to have a chair right up to the counter. It's so much fun to hang out with this girl!

We love you SWEETIE!

PS - I think I never posted this because I wanted to attach a video of Rowan's singing. Well, I am still trying to get that video. Rowan always clams up when I get the camera out.

Ready for winter! Thanksgiving in Okotoks!

I'm so glad I found something for Rowan to wear this winter! We went to Okotoks for Thanksgiving and had to use it. It was well below zero with snow! Brrrr... We had tons of fun with the Penner's! And we got to meet beautiful Avery Lilly!

Ready for winter fun!

Corn maze with Papa!

Dad's racing with their babies!

Everett and Rowan at Thanksgiving dinner!

She's starting to look more like a little girl and less like a baby.

Auntie Anita with Avery! Only 3 weeks old!

Everett and Rowan had hours of fun on these little cars. There's little Avery hanging with Grandma too!

Hanging out at Shelter Bay waiting for the ferry!

Catch up on birthday party, school starting, so much!

Officially updated with more pics and video! Now to work on a new post!

We are SO behind on the blog! Yikes! Time is really getting away on us!

Pool Party!

Rowan's birthday party was a great success! It was fun to have other babies come out and play. It started out as a pool party in 'birthday suits.' The playing continued inside while more visitors arrived. Then we all went outside and planted a birthday tree for Rowan. It's a tulip tree and will have beautiful tulip flowers every spring (can't wait!) Everyone enjoyed birthday cupcakes, except for Rowan, she tried some but didn't like it. We all watched her open gifts with much enthusiasm. Everyone commented that they had never seen a one year old rip open gifts this way before. It was pretty cute. She was spoiled with many new things and now has a wonderful new wardrobe to fit into and tons more toys to play with. One lucky birthday girl!

Rowan tried to convince her auntie Eileen to let her play in the mud pit!

Planting Rowan's birthday Tulip tree.

Rowan desperately wanted to play in the mud. And dirty her fancy birthday dress from great aunt Bodil.

A quick family shot!

Rowan's surprised look! It kinda looks like she's blowing out the candle.

"Not a fan mom!"

The lucky one year old ripping open her gifts.

Just before school started, we went for a hike up to Shannon Lake. It was very difficult to find the trailhead, but the hike proved itself to be worthy. We spent a couple of hours at the lake, picnicking and exploring. It's so much fun for us to hike as a family, although we are wondering how much hiking we will be able to do next summer with a 2 year old. We'll see!

Happy Hikers!

Coming up to the Shannon lake, the views and colors were amazing. Here's my attempt at being artsy with my camera.

Such a sweet bumblebee! Must be drunk on pollen! Why does he have an orange bum?

Last weekend, we did another amazing hike called Alps Alturas. The weather was beautiful (at times too sunny - we all got a bit sunburnt even with sunscreen) and the views were breath taking. This hike will probably go on the list of yearly hikes. A great day hike with options for going further and exploring some ridges.

Chillaxin at the Garlic Festival.

There was lots of garlic this year! Although I heard that one vendor sold 350 lbs of garlic in 3 hours. WOW! There's more to see at the garlic fest than garlic though.

Rowan took her first steps one evening out of the blue about 3 weeks ago. It was SO AMAZING to see. It was almost as if she didn't know that she had done it. And perhaps she didn't because it wasn't until this past week that she was fully walking. For the 2 weeks following her first steps, she hardly took any steps. Then Tuesday evening, she practiced walking from Poppa and me (about 5 feet apart.) Thursday - only 2 days later, she was walking all over the place. From the front door to the back and all around. It was incredible! Her face was beaming with smiles showing off her pride. Now, she is almost running. We can't believe how quickly her walking mobility came to her.

And finally, the big reason why this post has taken so long to be written, I'm back to work. It is so hard to go back to work after spending cozy, fun days playing all day with my munchkin. It's brutal actually. A shock to the whole system. I have to get up at 5:30 now, leave my sweetie around 6:20, try to teach 22 kids from grade 4 to 7, drive the hour commute both ways, and then wrap up the day with some family time. It has been a transition to say the least. Thankfully, Nana is looking after Rowan everyday. Nana has been coming to our house before we leave for work and has kept Rowan very busy with tons of fun all day. The first few days went well as Rowan hadn't figured out what was going on yet. However, by the second week, Rowan was showing her understanding and her disagreement with the situation. She expressed herself most in the middle of the night and woke me up for comfort sometimes every half hour. By the end of the second week, either she was exhausted or she started to settle into the new routine. (Hopefully the latter!) I know she is having great days with Nana and isn't unhappy all day. It is a relief to know how much she enjoys her days with her Nana. They are going to have so much more fun this year.

This is Nana introducing Rowan to TV for the first time. Cartoons too! She was hooked! Rowan is so lucky. Her Nana and Dada not only have TV but she gets to watch all her cartoons in high definition! Pretty cool! (btw- Rowan spends her days playing outside mostly and not watching cartoons. She really is lucky!)

Special this year, my school has adopted a four day school week which means that we have longer days but there is no school on Fridays. Hallelujah! It's awesome! I'm so happy to spend another day with Rowan, and be refreshed for the weekend to actually have fun and not just catch up on sleep.

camper gymnastics!

There is so much going on lately! Summer is wrapping itself up quickly and soon the leaves will start to change colours. The snow has landed on the mountains around us (melted again, and snowed again.) Hopefully I can keep up with our blog a bit better - even with the busyness.

A stop along Mosquito river from kayaking for some play time in the mud, Rowan couldn't resist! She loves water, loves mud and loves to be naked!

Another first! We finally got the right part to attached the bike trailer to our bikes! What a hit!

Family pic under a Rowan tree at Nana and Dada's

Look who's walking!

Yup! Rowan took her first steps tonight! Step, step, step, fall! And then step, step, step grab the wheelbarrow. It was so cool! We are so proud of her! I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

PS- Birthday letter and party post will be posted soon.

Cheese Crackers

My friend Laurie at LkMNutrition is having a contest for a cookbook, and I'd love to win it! You can check out her contest on her blog Baby Bites and Toddler Tapas. Her blog is full of useful information and it often seems like she is writing it just for me. Since Rowan has been eating solids, I have been following Laurie's blog and learning all about when and what to feed Rowan. I learned how to make my own cereal which Rowan always enjoyed more than the box stuff, I learned when to start Rowan on yogurt, cheese and milk products and so much more! Check out her website if you need some nutrition info for your young children (or grandchildren!)

So, about a month ago, I tested out one of Laurie's recipes on her blog. I made her cheese diamonds which I made with coconut oil, spelt flour and cheddar cheese. I don't have a food processor and they still turned out great. They were so good! I had to stop myself from eating them all since I made them for Rowan. When Rowan woke up from her nap that day I let her try one. Then two and three because she loved them too. When Rowan's friend Everett came for a visit, the two of them polished the rest off. Now, I have to make more. And I will!

Letter to Rowan and First Year Memories

Happy Birthday Rowan! You have brought so much into our lives in this past year (and nine months!) We celebrated you entering this world a year ago when you were so small and fragile. You have grown so much this year! You are almost walking on your own and you love walking with our hands or showing off with your push toy. You have 5 teeth, and they look so huge in your mouth right now (#6 will be cutting any time now.) Rowan, you are the sunshine of our days! We love watching you learn and grow everyday. We really look forward to what the next year will bring us. Happy Birthday Ro-ro!

Things we especially love about you Rowan:
* The way you hug us! You have just recently figured out how to wrap your arms around our necks and we LOVE it!
* When you flirt or play shy with new people. It's adorable!
* How you speak in full sentences without any words. You have intonation and use various syllables when you talk. We can tell you are trying to say so many things.
* You bark when you see dogs, and not like one would teach you which is 'Ruff', but you say 'Woof' and that came right from your head! You also meow at our cat and it is so cute! Last week you 'moo'ed and you just pursed your lips together to make a 'm' sound.
* You love playing peekaboo! We sometimes play with monkey sounds which adds more fun to the game!
* How well you use the potty! Hallelujah! It is wonderful! There have been times when you've pooped in your diaper and it was such a great reminder to us of how lucky we are that you usually don't do that. I'm not sure how you figured it out but we LOVE it!
* You are a great helper! You like to pick up clothes from the laundry basket and hand them to us to hang up to dry or fold. The best part is that you think it is a game!
* You are ticklish under your chin and you laugh the best giggle laugh when you're tickled. Sometimes you even tickle yourself.

Happy Birthday Rowan!

Happy 1st Birthday Rowan!

We love you so much!

Love Momma and Poppa

August is so much fun!

It is so much fun to see these two sitting together! It's my best friend Erin's 18 month old Everett and Rowan walking near Summit lake.

So cute!

At the 'Bahamas', Rowan decided on her own to go right into the lake, even up to her neck! We've taken her for quick dips to cool off from the heat but she has always been pretty hesitant and usually gives us the death grip. Not this time! And it wasn't even that hot out!

Everett went swimming too! It is so cute to see these little blondies running around!

A friend took this one! So cute!

Baby Jorgen! So cute! Already 6 weeks old! (And he's gained 4 pounds already! wow!)

Hiking up Saddle Mountain on the weekend.

Odin taking a break in the beautiful wildflowers!

We made it! And old fire lookout at the top!

So happy for a break! (Oh yeah, on a side note - I cut my hair!)

I think she looks like her momma here!?

Trying to take a picture of Rowan and the dogs! I tried! She is SOOO fast!

Yup, she's a goof nugget!

Poppa was on dinner duty this particular night. This was Rowan's dinner! Bbq'd turkey with onions and zuchinni! Wow!

What to caption here... Leave me a comment!

"Yummy corn mom!" And we are so proud of our corn! It's the first time we've ever been able to grow it.

Look at my teeth!

Beautiful Smile!