The Square Root Anniversary

Neil and I have been married for 8 years, as of today. It's been a nice day so far. 64 degrees and Sunny. We went to the Fredrik Meijer Gardens with the kids and saw the butterflies then we went to lunch at the Melting Pot.

I read that traditional 8 year gifts are pottery or bronze. Too bad we don't buy eachother gifts because this would be the year I would love (as far as gifts go). I beautiful African vase or a modern bronze statuette for my shelf would be awesome. No worries though, they are just things and we have never been ones to give eachother gifts. Although I did request a very specific $15 gift for my 30th birthday this year so I sure hope he remembers :)

I love this little statuette because 8 looks like the infinity symbol. Unfortunately it is $64.99. It's still pretty!

Spring Break is not Relaxing

But we are having so much fun. I set up a playdate for every single day of our break from school. It hasn't been warm but we have kept busy.

Saturday is our 8th anniversary. That is the square root of 64 which makes it pretty awesome. We're going to see the butterflies with the kids at Meijer Gardens - one of my favorite annual events.

Time flies - Rowyn now has 4 teeth and is crawling and cruising on the furniture. Raene and Ruby just had school conferences and are doing fantastic. Both are reading well above their grade level.

Ruby is still having bladder control issues and I finally took her to the doctor for it to be sure it wasn't a physical problem. She was cleared there and we were recommended to have some psychological testing done. There are so many possibilities out there. Hopefully we will get it all worked out soon since she is immensely intelligent and first grade will be upon us before we know it.

Raene has been having heartburn for months and we didnt get much help from our doctor on this so I started keeping a food log and it seems that milk may be a trigger. After putting her on almond milk she hasnt had any more complaints. We are keeping an eye on it.

Neil is excited because is first gig with the new band is coming up. Both his original progressive rock band and hos Tool cover band are performing at tbe end of this month.

All caught up I think

Blizzard 2011

Snowed in - LOVE IT!!

Chompers

Rowyn finally cut her first tooth. Then she bit my finger. I forgot how sharp little baby teeth can be.

Ear Piercing

The last few mornings I have woken up to screaming. Happy screaming. Rowyn has discovered that it is fun to scream at the top of her little lungs. It's actually pretty funny during the day. Waking up to it is a bit much although it's a great alarm.

Rowyn had her 6 month check up yesterday. She is a TINY! She's only 14.8lbs - which puts her in the 15% of normal babies and she's only 25.5" long which puts her in the 25% in length. Originally she was very long for her age but she has really plateaued on her growth. She's saving me money on clothes though.

So Big So Fast

Rowyn is growing like crazy! She's already 6 months old. I started making fresh homemade organic baby food for her and I actually find it a lot of fun. She loves sweet potatoes. I never really enjoyed spoon feeding the other girls because it can be enormously time consuming. I'm sure the nostalgia will wear off soon but for now I'm going to soak it all in. She has started babbling a lot more instead of just cooing or squealing and Raene and Ruby are always telling us the fun words they think she is saying. It's hard to believe that we are already half way through her first year of life.

Did I mention we had a baby?

Okay, I've been a little busy with our new addition and the kids in school. Whoops.

Life Updates:

July 14th - Rowyn AriaMarie was born. Healthy and beautiful. My nephew, Jude, was born 9 days later. Very exciting month full of babies.

September - Raene started 2nd grade and Ruby started Kindergarten. We also took a family vacation to Chicago for Raene's 7th birthday. Raene started singing at a choral academy once a week.

October - My grandpa, whom I was very close with and loved deeply, passed away.

November - Ruby turned 5. Aly gave birth to her daughter, Gabriella, on Ruby's birthday.

December - Wowza, my cousin, Raechel, gave birth to her twins, Charlie and Grace. Raene had her first choir concert. Neil accepted a new job downtown.

Yes, I have been bad about updating since Rowyn was born. But I will do better in 2011. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us.