Look Ma- I'm Flying

Rowen had his first airplane ride last night. As a kid- I remember this being one of my favorite things. The other was when I would swing by my arms between two standing adults. When I was really seasoned, I could even do a somersault in this position. But for baby Rowen, we started with the basic airplane. Although, he was able to advance to the hands free stage for a few moments. The only hazard of this was the drool that would periodically dangle from Rowen's mouth! Amie looked at Rowen's 2 mos pics and commented- "he is not a newborn anymore. " I went back and looked, she was so right. You can really begin to see a little baby Rowen, with developing features. I struggle sometimes to decide who he looks like. Sometimes very much like Dad and other times appears to have a hint of Mommy (see below). But overall, he looks like Rowen and I suspect will have a mix of both of us. Hopefully the best parts from each. For example, a winning sense of humor from Mommy and the patience of a saint from Daddy. If he gets Daddy's sense of humor, he would still be OK. But if he gets Mommy's patience....He is in trouble!

Hey- I look like Mommy

No wait.... I look just like Daddy.

Hmmm....Maybe I look like my brother Titan? Folks do say I have a lot of hair!!

Rowen would like to tell you all about it...

Rowen got his first round of vaccinations yesterday. He was a real tough guy. In fact, I think I cried more than he did! But the last 12-18 hrs he has not been feeling very good. He had a low grade temp this morning, but after a bit of Tylenol he was ready to tell everyone all about his day at the Dr. office yesterday. Check it out.

Bonus Material

Rowen is sooooo BIG

Mr. Rowen turned 2 months today and after a bath and change of clothes he was ready for his big photo shoot. Things went more smoothly than for his 1 month pics. We still did not achieve full smile capture. However we have "on the way to smile" successfully captured on film. He did grow weary of all the lights and flashes. So we called it a day.

We have continued to do well during the night with sleeping in the moses basket. However, he seems to be outgrowing it quickly and I worry about the transition to the crib. I may begin to work on this next week and see if he will sleep one segment in his crib. He has not taken to the crib for naps yet. He has managed a few 25-30 minute sessions in the crib and one 60 minute session. But overall he does not seem to like it much for sleeping. He LOVES the crib for playing. He will hang out in there and play, listen to stories, look around and contemplate without issue. But sleeping there- that does not seem to appeal to him.

Rowen has done much better with our new approach to feeding. I have been exclusively feeding him on one side every 3-4 hours. This has cut way back on his crying/gassy episodes. In fact he has not had a real crying at the boob episode since Wed. I think we may have discovered the problem, or he may have coincidentally outgrown the problem. Hard to say, but I am voting for the foremilk-hindmilk mismatch theory.

My new challenge is dressing Rowen. There appears to be a small window where any given outfit will fit him. Many friends have said they lost track of things and would pull out a never worn outfit only to learn that their child hand outgrown it. I have enlisted in the "outfit fitting challenge" and become obsessed with tracking Rowen's clothes. Every day I measure clothes against him and move clothes from drawer to drawer trying to create some sort of progressive dressing plan to ensure all things get worn. This has become almost overwhelming because the same friends mentioned above have given me more clothes! Which is both a blessing and a curse. Now I have more to measure, sort, and integrate into the wardrobe plan (curse). Simultaneously, however I have much less laundry to do (blessing). Now, some may say this is just an expression of my controlling personality in the face of a current state of existence that is out of control. However, I feel this is just my enviormentaly conscious, wast-not-want-not, approach to life! Al Gore would approve.

Here are some pics from the AM. Enjoy and keep an eye out for a new video I will try to upload later today.

Order in the chaos....

Bryan and I continue to look for order in the chaos of Rowen's routine. Here are the updates.

* Sleep- Rowen is now sleeping in his Moses basket (bassinet) at night next to our bed. This has worked for the past TWO nights! Bryan and I have really enjoyed having our bed back. However, my shoulder is somewhat sore from reaching over and replacing Rowen's pacifier continuously during the night. It is funny, after trying for 7.5 weeks to get him into this basket for sleep - I woke up at 5:30am the first morning and realized part of me had missed him and was a little sad Rowen had "outgrown" us for night-time sleeping.

* Dr. Visit- Rowen had his planned 2 month visit last week. Unfortunately we were too early and had to reschedule for his shots. Rowen was 50% for height (length) and 10% for weight. Because we have been having some breastfeeding issues- Dr. Maughn wants to keep an eye on this. However, Dr. Solenski (my co-worker) said he is "99% for cuteness". We have to agree. We are going back 2/26/09 for his first round of vaccinations and a follow-up on his weight progress.

* Feeding (spoiler warning- this will be more about breastfeeding than you may have ever wanted to know). Rowen has had crying issues with feeding. We have remained uncertain of the specific cause and have come to think it is multi-factorial. It appears to be partly due to my "let-down" (lots of milk at once) and some gassiness. Interestingly, Rowen has been having some green poops (this is not the interesting part) and I learned this could be due to a foremilk/hindmilk mismatch (this is the interesting part). This occurs in Mom's with over-production, marked by fast/plentiful let down (which I have). This results in baby getting a lot of foremilk and less hindmilk. Foremilk is higher in lactose and causes increased gassiness. This is very interesting- since many of these crying episodes happen 2-5 minutes into a feeding. Fortunately, it appears that he is outgrowing this little by little. He is having less episodes and now has them after 7-10 minutes of feeding. Dr. Maughn recommended also not changing breasts during feeding, which also reduces the amount of foremilk he gets and this seems to help. Our new mission is to track the color of his poop in our notebook that has been tracking Rowen's routine.

* Development milestones- Rowen continues to have wakeful states. He is best in the morning. Below are two pics of reading and talking. Also, a video from this AM with Rowen talking and smiling. This is our favorite time. He has been having improved head control and coooing more. You can see that he is still somewhat of a weeble wobble, but he is doing better. He continues to try to mimic us with sticking out his tongue. We have tried, per Uncle Don's recommendations, to do pursed lips and raised eyebrows. This makes Rowen smile, but he does not appear to be able to mimic us. He is very good at tracking objects and faces and has had good conjugate eye control.

You be the judge.....

So- I am lovin' this video thang. It is like 15 pictures in with only one posting. Anyway- I read in my book that in the second month you can start playing a mimick game with your little one. You make a face and they will make a face. I decided to start simple with sticking out my tongue. And can you believe it... that is exactly what Rowen did right after I made my face. Now some nay-sayers may argue he would have stuck out his tongue anyway! But I think he is copying my face.


What do you think?

Grandma and Papa and Lucie, Oh My!

In a quite moment after the hustle and bustle of many visitors, Rowen contemplates the many new memories he has formed.

We had an exciting week from 12/28 to 1/5 with Grandma Benz, Papa, Amie, David and Lucie visiting "Baby Rowen" (as Lucie likes to call him). Grandma could not believe how big Rowen had gotten in the three weeks she had been away. And it was wonderful for everyone else to meet Rowen for the first time. Papa appeared to have cast a spell on Rowen. Whenever he held him, Rowen just went right to sleep (see below). It was amazing..... I don't know if he was whispering sweet nothings in is ear or saying "Hey kid, you better settle down or you'll have Papa to deal with". Either way, it worked like a charm.

Grandma had to resort to the same methods and Mommy and Daddy. She took her turn with the carrier and the good old shhhhhing method.

Everyone stayed at the Wintergreen Resort. We had lots of wonderful dinners that Grandma and Amie cooked up. It was great for Bryan and I to have a night of good food and company without any clean-up. We just got in our car and drove back down the mountain :)New years day we took lots of family pictures and Rowen was a champ for most of this. He did however get weary of all the flashes and attention like any star would (see below). The one with Rowen screaming turns out to be one of my favorite pictures, because it captures the reality of the situation. I think it is just perfect!!
We opened Christmas presents with the family and got many great gifts for Baby Rowen. One of our favorites and most dear gifts was the cross-stitch from Aunt Amie. Who knew boys were made of puppy dog tails??? I thought Titan's bottom looked a little different.

Every day Cousin Lucie got to hold Rowen. It was so great to see them together. She did such a good job holding him and helping Aunt Myla whenever she could. She helped hold Rowen's pacifier and shhhh him in the car on long trips to town. She was a natural! I know she will continue to teach Rowen all sorts of important things as he grows under her loving and watchful eyes.
We were also able to get some important house things done. Papa was able to replace the dinning room light that mysteriously dropped from the ceiling one day when Aunt Nini was visiting. Grandma helped to hang Rowen's Nursery Letters under the supervision of Aunt Amie and Mommy Myla. They turned out perfect!!! I especially love them because Bryan painted them every so carefully while I was pregnant with Rowen. He did a great job!

We were so sad to see everyone head home, but thankful for the time that we were able to spend with our family. This concluded the first round of visits beginning with Grandma Benz, followed by Bubbe and Zaide, then Whitney and Lisa. Our neighbor, who walks Titan everyday was amazed to learn we had STILL MORE family in town over the New Year. She said, "You are really lucky to have such a big and loving family. It is amazing that they all came to see Rowen" She was right! We are lucky!

We look forward to the next round of visitors and can't wait for the rest of the Craig clan to meet our little dude.

Love to everyone,

Myla, Bryan and Rowen.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Minor technical difficulties...but CUTE

Here is one more video. I had some technical difficulties with this one. But Rowen is talking and smiling- so we will use it!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

So things here have been moving along. I have not had time to get the pics together from our last visit with Grandma Benz, Papa, David, Amie, and cousin Lucie. Monday I had to work 1/2 day, Tuesday we had Dr's appointment, Wed Bryan was working, Thursday we had to go grocery shopping, and today Bryan is working again. Amazing how long it takes to do the smallest things these days. I will try to work on this today.

In the meantime- I am going to tide you over with a little video we made last night.

About Me

Name: Bryan Craig & Myla Goldman

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