Silent Night

Tis' the season...

Our sweet little Rowan officially gave us one straight week of sleeping through the night!!!  I like to call it our Christmas miracle!!!  It was the most consistent rest that we've enjoyed since Rowan's arrival.  However, now that we're on the road traveling to Virginia for the holidays it appears as though we've interrupted this week-long trend.  We're hopeful that once we get him back to his regular routine he'll grace us with his marathon sleeping abilities again.  Only time will tell...

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!!

Ho, Ho, ugh...

We've been extremely busy lately, so yesterday's illness totally blindsided us.  Ryan started to feel poorly on Friday night when I got home from a girlfriend's baby shower and it continued thru Saturday. He was a trooper though - we had another baby shower Saturday and he even watched Rowan Saturday night, so I could attend my annual girls group Christmas gathering. So, yesterday when I woke up (he let me sleep in until 10:30am), I was really pleased to hear that Daddy was feeling better.  Then, around 1pm we both started to feel terrible and it only got worse from there!  Both parents running into separate bathrooms and taking care of a 10 week old little boy was not our idea of fun.  But, Rowan was a champion.  We weren't sure what got us sick (flu, food, etc.) and were worried about getting Rowan sick, so we called his pediatrician and they suggested that we refrain from holding him and kissing him to be on the safe side and to wash our hands a lot.  Rowan pretty much hung out in his bouncy seat all day which was really tough for us!  The silver lining in all of this is that after his nighttime feeding he slept for 7.5 hours!!!!  That was Rowan's longest sleep to date. 

2 Months Old...

This past week Rowan celebrated his 2 month birthday.  It's been an exciting month of milestones.  He's full of smiles and he is starting to discover his voice.  There are certain things that both Ryan and I can do now to get him smiling which has been a real joy for us.  He's got the best smile!!!  Rowan is unbelievably active as well.  He's constantly kicking his legs and moving his arms.  It's so funny to see him really get going in his bouncy seat.  And, he's really starting to exhibit some real control over his head and neck.  It's been fun for us to witness his growth.  

We went to visit his pediatrician this month as well.  Rowan is now weighing in at 12 lbs and 6 oz (75th percentile) and 24 1/2 inches in length (95th percentile).  He has the longest legs and fingers!  He received his first round of immunization shots.  Rowan and I both cried during our visit, but overall he did extraordinarily well.  I wasn't sure what to expect for the remainder of the afternoon as I've heard he could either be sleepy or fussy.  Well, Rowan was neither.  He was all smiles and maintained his typical schedule - wake up, eat, play, nap, repeat.  Oh, the life of an infant.  :-)  We've also started taking Rowan to the gym with us. I was extremely nervous leaving him at first, but our pediatrician is a huge advocate of family fitness and really encouraged us to get back to the gym.  This was certainly more of a milestone for us than it was for Rowan.  :-)

It's hard to believe that 2 months have already flown by.  It feels like just yesterday that Ryan and I were bringing Rowan home from the hospital.  We finally feel like we have established a rhythm with Rowan and his little personality is starting to emerge.  Our little guy is growing up before our eyes.  He's so adaptive and sweet.  We're unbelievably lucky. 

Thanksgiving in VA

Ryan, Rowan and I took our first road trip to Virginia last week to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.  We were really looking forward to seeing our family and friends during our week-long journey back home.  Rowan did surprisingly well considering it's such a long drive; he slept mostly.  We weren't sure how he would do since he'd been congested - both Mommy and Daddy had colds and apparently passed them along to the little man.  We timed our breaks for gas and food with his feeding schedule, so that we'd make the most of our time when we stopped.  

We pulled into Richmond first and stayed with Aunt Melissa and Uncle Courtney.  It was the first time that they'd met Rowan and that we were able to introduce Rowan to his sweet cousin, Landon.  They were super cute together!!!  Our goal was to find quality time to spend with our closest friends and family while we were home.  So, we spent an afternoon at Great Nannie and Pop Pop's house with the entire Hattan family. 

 It was the first time that many of them had the opportunity to meet Rowan in person.  There was lots of snuggling and picture taking!!!  

We were also fortunate to spend an evening with our close friends, Michelle and Woody.  They cooked us a great dinner and it was absolutely adorable introducing Madison to "Baby Row Row."  Michelle graciously offered to babysit the next day, so Ryan and I could enjoy a few hours of alone time.  Then, we took Rowan to see my Dad, Papa, and stepmom Tee, Grammy and his Aunt Ashley who was home on college break.  We all went out to dinner which was Rowan's first trip to a restaurant - he was excellent, of course!   We also met up with my childhood friend, Katie, for lunch so she could meet Rowan while we were in Richmond.  We stayed pretty busy and were thoroughly impressed with Rowan's adaptive nature.  

Finally, we made the trek up to Northern VA to see Ryan's family, Poppa, Granny and Uncle Scott.  Our great friends, Brent and Erica, came over and spent an evening with us eating pizza and catching up.  It was awesome spending time with them.   We were even able to skpe with Todd, Cate and our nephews Quinlin and Calyx in Taiwan a few times during our stay at Dad and Carol's.  We really missed them this year!!!  Thanksgiving Day, Carol cooked an amazing meal and we all stuffed our bellies. Rowan was no exception!  He sat in his bouncy seat at the table with us.  We were fortunate enough to get some more down time as Poppa and Granny offered to watch Rowan for us, so we went to the movies with Scott.  We rounded out our weekend at home watching the Hokies beat the Wahoos and clinch their spot in the ACC Championship game.  Rowan was all smiles that day in his cute VT warm-up suit.  Daddy and Mommy were pretty pumped too!!

Overall, our trip home was really wonderful.  We learned a lot about traveling with a baby. As Poppa would say "flexibility is the key to air power." Rowan seemed to adjust very well to his new surroundings.  He's our little road warrior.  We're looking forward to going back home to Virginia in a few weeks for the Christmas holiday!