olivia, one of my best friends from home, just had her second little one. so she's got two boys - wyatt & boone. i love this pic of boone - i stole it from her blog. anyway, she sent this thing, which i think is like the old chain letter idea - which entails writing some info on your site. she calls is being 'tagged.' her request was 6 things that not many people know, random or whatever.
so...here is #1. if i had every flavor of ice cream in the world available, i would still choose vanilla. #2. i've seen almost every james bond in history, thanks dad. #3. i'm not too keen on bees, bugs, anything with more than 4 legs, horses as well. #4. i love love love peace like a river, it is just the most gorgeous book. #5. i still feel like i'm in high school, hopefully that will keep me youthful at heart. #6. last, but not least, i'm a cheap date. maybe 2 beers. thanks liv, for wanting to know my heart.
hopefully this won't come back to haunt rowe - making an appearance at his first date, or graduation, or worse
i'm such a sucker for blurry shots. i just love 'em.
this is my mom's grandmother's rocking chair. it has been a faithful friend during nighttime feedings. thanks for passing it on, mom.
also one of our friends thinks this outfit looks like something hugh hephner would wear, i'm not sure how to spell his name.
rowe has been a bit under the weather for the past couple of days, first ear infection. he hasn't been eating well & so andy thought a little 'messy' eating might help. well, what do you know. worked wonders. we even had some smiles which haven't been around either.
rowe has been totally fascinated with andy from the get-go. here he is watching andy shave this morning. total concentration. he loves sitting in the sink by the way.
one of our best 'baby' investments has been rowe's stroller. robin & aaron have one just like it and when i was the nanny i totally loved it. it was a bit expensive, but we found a used one on craig's list that was in great shape. i bet i have used it almost every day, especially during the season. the mosquitos have been horrible this summer so the cover has saved baby rowe's little skin. anyway...rowe is getting a lot more mobile so i'm not sure how much longer we have in this thing because there aren't any "restraining devices" :-) so here is rowe attempting to break through the mosquito net.
there is an awesome kiddo thrift shop in alamosa & i have become a frequent shopper. bets has totally hooked up with all of her boys' stuff so there isn't much we need, but it is fun just to look. i found these little jeans with soccer patches on them a couple trips ago. they are so darn cute.
here is rowe reading some c.s. lewis and then hanging out in his dad's shoes. big day for rowe.
this is one of andy's favorites. this is all rowe...just messing around.
andy's mom is a killer garage sale shopper. she found this costume at a sale right after rowe was born. i just wanted to make sure it still fit. thought you all might like a halloween preview. i know you can't really see him, but you can see his 'paci' coming out of the fish's mouth.
rowe has the funniest toys, as the above shows. he loves his spatula, his calculator, his whisk. here he is doing some business calculations.
just hangin' out by the door.
seven months in, we are finally sleeping through the night. the last couple months i have been waking up with him to nurse, and waking up a lot. since he is pretty big i just assumed that he was legitimately hungry. we had one night last week that was rough, not enough sleeping for me or for rowe. i had been trying soft, kind methods for encouraging sleep and they just had not been fruitful. so, the next night i turned my monitor down a bit again to see if he could be "encouraged" to self-soothe. what do you know, he slept from 9 until 7. next night, same thing. i feel like it was so vital for my heart to realize that rowe might need to learn some things the hard way. here i am taking the credit when it could have been his sweet giraffe cribmate:-)
another aunt bets toy. it is sort of like a baby popsicle. you put little pieces of whatver, apple for today, and they can get the tasty juice without having to work on the chewing.
rowe & i had such a fun night tonight. he had the funniest faces, some cute ones in there , too.
another busy day for rowe. poor charlie hasn't got a chance. where ever she is, rowe is a-comin'. she is amazingly patient for a dog that is not too big on being messed with. other than char, rowe's 2nd favorite activity is checking out what is going on outside our front door.
rowe is pulling up all over the place.
thanks aunt b for the 'crawling tunnel.' rowe loves it.
just wanted to show you some more time with momma lee
we have had the best time with momma lee. we have had all kinds of firsts, too. Rowe had some cheerios, always fun - had his first hike in the back pack - responded to a "no" when pulling hair, finally - he is pulling himself to a sitting postition & momma lee thinks he has put on some more pounds since she has been here. so...we have had a great, full week.
on your mark, get set, go.
rowe is becoming such a little babbler. his latest and greatest is "da, da, da, da." genuis, i know. andy was off yesterday so had a huge family day. we went to the pool, went fishing, and then went "brushing." this is rowe's first tooth brushing experience. he was digging the electric toothbrush, thanks mom and dad.
we are so excited - only one more day until momma lee arrives.
rowe found a new toy tonight. whatever works.
andy is always saying, "man, he is getting so big." so, this helps us remember how small he started out.
it is so funny almost every picture we take this kiddo has red hair. if you look at him, you can sort of see it, but our camera sees it for sure. andy and i have been waiting for the blond invasion because we both were blond as babies. it is slowly coming in.
my grandmother's dad always wanted a red-headed grandbaby. he said he would pay any of his children $50 to see some auburn highlights. i think rowe has got that covered. better late than never, right granddaddy chapain :-)
my aunt ree gave rowe this little jacket. the whole outfit has little bear footies and the above little bear hoodie. it might be my most favorite article of clothing we have. we have a sleepy bear tonight.
we just had our staff picture for the summer. the sole requirement for the pic is for all of the christensen kiddos to be looking at the camera. i guess we have one more kiddo to add in there. all of the departments are dressed in their gear - white for housekeeping & kitchen staff, green for fishing guides, blue for waitstaff, plaid for ranch hands, and cowboy attire for the wranglers.
we had an exciting phone call from momma lee & bets yesterday. momma lee is going to try and come up next week, b maybe in august (or rowe & i might travel to texas), and dandaddy and aunt suz for labor day. just when i was missing family, here they come:-) perfect timing.
rowe loves his jumper, thanks momma lee.
elk hunting is a pretty big deal out here. there is a lottery system for what you can shoot, where you can shoot, when you can shoot, etc. so...a gentleman from tennessee that my dad somehow ran into had drawn a cow elk last season. he made his way to the 4ur, the ranch allowed him to hunt on the property & this was his thank you. he sent three crates of tennessee tomatoes. i haven't had a home-grown tomato in six summers. i can't tell you how good that tomato tasted, but i will show you how beautiful it was.
well, he is trying for sure. we haven't had any official crawling, but he is sure getting close.
the 4th is a really fun day at the ranch. there is a major, major at least in creede terms, parade down main street, the staff has a volleyball tourney in the afternoon, & then fireworks in creede to round it off. again, major fireworks for the likes of creede. growing up the 4th was second only to christmas so it is perfectly planned for my heart to be able to have such a big day colorado style. it is so funny to have been here this long and to still get a bit teary eyed over the tennessee style 4th of my youth. i love that b is starting a 4th tradition texas style. rowe is gonna have all kinds of choices for tradition on the 4th.
i love this shot of rowe and andy. that is the kid's heart right there, just hanging on and loving it, a thrill-seeker for sure. it is also his heart for andy. he is so smitten. i'm not sure who is more smitten though, rowe for andy or andy for rowe.
this is for my dad. he wanted to see that camo in color.
