RainFall

Well we officially survived our very first winter storm!

Mom successfully went through the storm without turning completely nutty! Rain is just about my favorite mother nature show, but with a new little one it is a little more inconvenient than usual. Loading the car, avoiding the puddles, covering the car seat and screaming at every idiot who can't drive in the rain - don't you KNOW I have a baby in the car-! All in all it was fabulous. One whole week of wind and rain, oh I love that sound. And the best part of all is that first burst of sunshine that makes everything glow and smell oh-so-delicious! As you can imagine things have been fairly uneventful. We did have a family dinner at Shannon's brothers house for his girlfriends birthday which was fun! Her brother cooked one fancy 3 course meal. I tried dairy for the first time in 3 months. Quinten seemed to be sensitive to it around 4 weeks old, so I eliminated it from my diet (oh not fun). We're still unsure if it was that, the tomato sauce, the tangerines or what but he was a little fussier. Cut it all back out and now we're a happy camper again. We will be re-introducing it all ONE at a time here soon.

**BIG NEWS ALERT** It was mid-afternoon one stormy stormy day. Mama placed Quinten on the much dreaded tummy time...and... BAM he rolled over! Just like that! No practice, no getting stuck, nothing, just woop we rolled over. And now one week later we have not done it sense! I know we will do it again... but daddy missed it and I feel horrible! I can't wait for him to do it again (and hopefully in front of dad!)

Quinten is also officially 100% in his very own crib!! Its been a week and a half and he loves it! Our packandplay is broken down and our room is back in order. So nice to have a night stand again. I do miss having him next to me, but I'm so proud and so relieved that he is transitioned. He wakes up in just the best mood. Shannon and I will lay in bed and just listen to him talking and cooing until we race in there to be the first to peak over the crib! Bliss I tell you, just bliss!

The Cowan household is enjoying the sunshine, and looking forward to this weekend. We have a date-night and a birthday party, and mommy is going to make a cake after a very long break! Super excited!!

Mommy also discovered a new baby off switch... the fish tank! We noticed him cranking his neck on his play gym trying to look at it, so I laid him on the bank of the chase lounge and wala! Baby off switch....

A little play time with daddy always makes us smile...

And then we relax with a good book :)

Growing Growing Growing

Mr Quinten had his 4 month doctors visit today! He is doing fabulous growing like a little weed! He is now 16lbs 5 1/2 oz (75th %) and 25" long (50th %). I am just loving our pediatrician. You can tell that she is doing her job because she loves kids, not for some form of status or financial gain. Shannon and I decided that we were going to steer from the CDC schedule of vaccines and she was more than happy to comply. Mommy and son will have to make more frequent visits to the doc to keep somewhat current but I am more than willing to do that so that he isn't getting 4 shots at one time!! So today we only had to get 1 and he was a strong little trooper! He hardly fussed at all. In other baby news, he has now spent the last 4 nights in his crib!! I can't believe it. It was for sure strange not having him next to us, daddy took it harder than mommy. The first night he got up several times to check on him (while mommy only got up once or twice) :). Shannon and I have stayed strong with our goal of keeping our bed our bed. We have felt that in keeping our marriage strong that our bed needs to be our escape. And we just know that would be one habit too hard to break and before we know it there would be a 3 year old in our bed :) haha! So far so good, he adjusted very well to sleeping on his own in the crib and continues to sleep through the night! Woohoo! He is really in his observant phase which makes feeding a little more tricky and time consuming. Daddy is the biggest distraction, he (Quinten) just loves to talk to him (daddy). It is more than adorable, but like I said before a 20 minute feeding quickly becomes 45 minutes when he wants to talk to dad every 2! He is getting his motor skills down well! Loves grabbing at all his toys and is starting to try and find his feet! The doc after watching him says he is for sure in the beginning stages of teething so we'll see when that first tooth decides to pop through! Our next investment is his high chair and around about 6 months we're going to try our first real food feeding. At his weight... no need to rush :)

Sleepy time with daddy

Waking up in a wonderful mood the first morning in his big boy crib!!

Bath, bottle, and out we go!

We have now discovered out tongue! And my how we love to play with it. He gets it from daddy's side of the family :)

When You're Having a Bad Day

Yesterday was what I like to call a "rougher day" Quinten we believe is in the early stages of teething. He has mastered the skill of fist munching and has attempted several times to fit both in his mouth (unsuccessfully)! He was much more clingy and fussy which means mom doesn't get a whole lot done. Really its no big deal and I love spending the time with him I know wont last forever. With how fast time is going before we know it he'll be asking for the car keys and telling me to butt out! With all that we are hearing of the devastation in Haiti, and the story I heard this morning its got me thinking about how lucky I really am. There really never is a day that goes by that I don't think I'm the luckiest girl. I have a loving, wonderful husband, and beautiful healthy baby boy, and wonderful family that- in fact- the biggest problem is that they don't get to see us enough! But as I sat in tears this morning reading this website I was once again reminded of how truly blessed we are, and how fast everything can change! I was checking up on Facebook and an old friend had a link to a site on his update prayforkate.com really I wouldn't read it unless you want a good cry! In short its about a little 5 year old girl who is sick. I couldn't even finish reading it without picking my little guy up and smothering him with love! We all have bad days, and it is our human nature to dwell in it for a moment. But its how long we dwell in it that says a lot about who we are. Learning to pick yourself up and be thankful for what is going right is a battle we'll all fight until the end I'm sure. But knowing that, at any moment SLO county could have 'the big one' or that our health is no guarantee really makes you appreciate what you have. So next time you're having a bad day, sulk for a moment (only a moment) take a deep breath, and look around at all you have, all the blessings you've been gifted. The more you do it the easier it will become. I'm going to work on it, I'll let you know how it all goes :)

The face that makes us smile every day!

The Cowan's First Road Trip...

Was a success!! What a joy it was to get out of town- with a happy baby! We ventured out to Bakersfield for our very first road trip to meet our good friends and their new baby boy. I have to admit mama was a little nervous, call it flashbacks to his first month of life when the second his little behind touched the car seat he would FLIP out, cry uncontrollably in the car until we A. reached our destination or B. He would conk out. So as you can imagine it was a complete relief to see this in our rear mirror... one sleepy little munchkin...

We arrived in Bako land around 10:30am, did I mention that Quinten slept the whole way!! Mommy was so happy you have no idea! Aedan was just adorable, healthy little guy. Now I use the words little loosely, he was born about as long as Quinten was when he was 2 months old, and was nearly 3lbs heavier! Healthy little man! It was so crazy to see Shannon holding him and realizing that it was only a few months ago that Quinten was a newborn... awwww memories...
The Chappells last saw Quinten when he was about 5 or 6 weeks old, so as you can imagine he has changed a bit!
Shannon and Josh have been friends for YEARS and have been through a lot together. Its so exciting to see them share in this crazy journey that is parenthood together. It was so fun to see the boys, with their boys...
Sleepy baby and dad :)
I wish I could have gotten a few more shots of the boys together, but little Aedan was ready to eat and Quinten wasn't so sure about another baby crying in his ear, we were ok here...
But within a matter of seconds we ended here... gotta laugh :)
Quinten did so good, was happy and talking and laughing and all. His little personality is really shinning through lately and I love it! The kids seemed to have similar schedules except little A slept a little more than Q. They ate at the same time and slept at the same time :)

The ride home went smooth. He slept the first 45 minutes or so and then woke up bored as could be. I think the lack of things to keep his attention was enough to tick him off. Mom ended up riding in the back to entertain him for the remainder of the trip. He's just lucky between the winding road, and wizzing lights that he didn't wear my dinner. I usually don't have much problems with motion sickness but something about riding in the backseat gets me a little queezy. All in all, it was a great day, so nice to get out of town and see friends we haven't seen in a while. And it was so nice to know that we can start doing more ventures with our little guy and he'll enjoy it! :)

Jumping into the 20-10!

Well the cootie bug has officially taken the entire Cowan household! Poor little Quinten got a mild case last weekend, but it seems to finally be leaving. Just in time for mama to feel like hers is coming back... dum dum dum! Please God NO! Mama can't take much more of this sickness stuff! Other than that we have had a wonderful start to the new decade! As I figured we were in bed by 10:45 new years eve. I wasn't too upset about not watching the ball drop at midnight, but awakening the following day sans hangover and feeling rested felt little like new years :) Honestly thought the lack of headache and greasy hangover cravings felt pretty darn good. Technically we did see the ball drop... at 10:00pm stupid MTV was looping their show once it was 2010 on the East Coast, but its just not the same!

Life as a parent in 2010 has been going grand! Quinten is now learning to grab and play and really interact. We're starting to see his personality and its fantastic. We can see little bits of ourself in him already (some good...some well... sorry kid)! Its so exciting to see all the new little things he does and says :) I just can't wait for this cold to be gone 100% so we get our little happy man back!

Grandma Carrie got me this cool driving toy! He loves it!

Reaching for my toys in my play gym

We have discovered that he may be getting a little small for his tub sling, but he loves it! Sits like a King while we bathe him. He has gotten to the point where about 10-15 minutes before our nightly routine (which begins @ 8:00) he starts to get cranky and stays that way till we plop him in the tub :) Bath, Bottle, Bed, night night!

And lastly we were playing in mom and dads comforter while the bedding was being washed and I guess when he's done, he lets you know it...

Son, we're going to have to talk about this...