8 is Great

Row has almost been out of the womb longer than he was in it. Rowan is a ball of baby sunshine. He has me in hysterics on a daily basis; hysterical laughter and hysterical anxiety. If he wasn't my child, I would be a little concerned with how obsessed with him I am. 

heres a little snapshot of what month eight has been like. 

We went to Frakenmuth, MI on a fun trip with Sel's parents. 

Wearing his Grandpa's hat

Today I took Rowan on a little shopping trip. Since he can't sit still for longer than a nanosecond I had to try and throw clothes over my head with one hand and hold onto his pants with the other. I finally tried to corral him in the corner of the dress room so I could zip up the dress I had finally managed to get almost entirely on my body. Rowan accidentally bonked his head in his frenzied calorie burning. Instead of crying, he decided it was delightful to hear his baby skull echo inthe dressing room. So what does my crazy 8-month old do? Bang his head over and over against the wall and laugh every time. Want to know what I did? Nothing. The bad mom that I am just stood there laughing. When I finally pulled him away from his head banging he started to cry and strain against my arms for his beloved wall. True to his typical tantrum pattern he started to kick me while a few of my spinal discs slipped out as I lurched forward preventing him from flying onto the floor. The clerk took this moment to unlock the dressing room to see me standing there in my underwear with the dress mid-calf, my child sobbing uncontrollably with a huge goose egg on his head, and a little bit of nip for good show because Rowan had hooked his foot in my bra while using my chest as a launching pad. She apologized profusely while new mom me just sighed and told her it wasn't a big deal at all. And it wasn't it. Old me would have been at least a smidgen embarrassed, but Rowan has helped me organize my priorities in a more logical manner. 

Rowan actually sleeps with a foam nerd sword in his crib. When I go in the mornings and he is happily babbling, the sword will just be waving back and forth out of the crib. It's a sight I have yet to capture on camera. 

I had no idea I would love matching them so much

Row is also allllmost crawling. My sister described it as a cute version of the of the Insidious girl. Haven't seen the movie, but I can imagine where she is coming from. Rowan will pike his hips and then get his arms stuck underneath himself and have to flap around a bit like a newborn baby turtle. We use a bottle of pills to motivate him to crawl across the room. Who knew a bottle of Tylenol was the best toy that has ever been invented? Food, toys, new objects have yet to motivate Rowan to huff across the room. Maybe he'll be a pharmacist someday. 

Row loves suckers. A lot. A lot a lot. We discovered this brand of suckers on our trip that Rowan can actually suck the inside out through the wrapper if you give him long enough. Grandma Warden sent a package of them after the trip and Row couldn't be a happier kiddo. 

Trying on Amish hats


Man, I love this kiddo of mine. He sort of loves me. I used the analogy to Sel the other day that Rowan loves me the way you love your legs. You are pretty sure you need them with you 24-7. If your legs got up and left the room without you, you'd probably be distressed enough to sob hysterically. You're grateful for your legs, but they aren't really entertaining. Dads on the other hand are hilarious people worthy of a constant flow of laughter. I decided to prove my point to Sel this morning in the following manner. Sel has a new game with Row where he pokes him in the belly with a magnetic pointer (Pillsbury doughboy style). Rowan will just gush and giggle. I had Sel do it a few times then I borrowed the pointer and did the same thing to Row. He just sort of stared blankly at me likely thinking, "WTF, I think my legs just tried to tickle me". I passed the pointer back to Sel and Row became animated once more. I think Sel is pretty hilarious too so I suppose can't blame Row for finding me boring. 

Did I mention his love for suckers yet? It's sort of an addiction right now. 

Rowan has become such a cuddler this month. He loves to stand in my lap (or mountin goat me by standing on my sides or chest) and squish his cheek against mine or suck on my shoulders and cheeks. He sometimes sucks on my cheek then accidentally rubs his head against the now dampened cheek and viola! He now has hair styled to slobbery perfection. 

Rowan adores his Grandpa. All he did this whole trip was laugh at grandpa. 

And pick at his luscious locks

Somebody asked me the other day if Rowan is good eater and I drew a blank. Rowan is an extremist. When he is sweet, he is the sweetest human being that has ever graced the planet. When he isn't getting exactly what wants, watch freaking out. This applies to his current eating habits. When he's in the mood to eat , he will delightedly eat his green beans with a plethora of heartwarming smiles . When he is not in the mood, you better come prepared with a hazmat suit because you are the only person in that room who will have an ounce of green beans anywhere near them. He also has such an attitude. He recently has started to not only wrench the spoon out of my hand and drop it, but look me in the eye and defiantly chuck it to the floor with gusto. 

Rowan has horrible circulation like me. He also refuses to wear mittens and pulls off his socks every chance he can. Sel and I have started to put two pairs of socks on his feet so when he pulls of his usual pair, his toes don't get frostbite. I've also started to put socks on his hands which he hates, but at least he still has hands. Right? He'll thank me someday

This one was my bad. I was cleaning out his room and let him play with this expired formula that we never had to use. Can't blame him for the mess since I enabled him.  

There are his beloved pills and pointer

The kid can also be such a charmer. He is so intent on forcing people to interact with them. He will stare down helpless shoppers at the grocery store until they look at him and then that's it. He will just smile and coo until they near forget what they were doing in Aisle 5. The other day Sel and I were snarfing down a pizza in the parking lot of the grocery store (It was a bad day for both of us, okay?) and Row starts slapping the window as these two girls get in their car next to us. They both get smacked silly with a few Rowan smiles. One of them started exclaiming "That's a real life Gerber baby there! Look at him. You get him in some commercials, you hear? Real life gerber baby!" I tried to smile and wave but a huge chunk of gooey pizza cheese slipped onto my chin while doing it. I bet she thought Row was adopted or that we had kidnapped him. 

Month 8 really has been great!

You can kind of see his little head popping up in the bed. We stayed in this adorable little cottage in Amish country that I want to own someday. 

Davie is the cutest cousin. Rowan was petrified of him for awhile even though Davie mostly just wanted to hug and hold Rowan. Now Rowan mostly just smiles at him. Poor Macy got mauled by Row during this trip and was goodnatured about the whole thing. Cousin love. 

I know you won't believe me, but of all the bajillion cards in my wallet, Rowan is notoriously attracted to my credit card. Probably trying to buy more bottles of tylenol.