Joyful Liberation

Monday, June 17, 2013

Chalk Art Festival

The evening of Rowan's birthday David, Becca and I headed down to the Chalk Art Festival. We left the camera :(...so I snapped a few with my phone.

Had to capture Totoro!

We got there just as they were giving out the awards. As soon as they were done this group of people started dancing, then more joined in..then more. Suddenly there was this crazy guy in a banana suit dragging this girl out to dance. But in reality, she was being dragged out to her fiancé who proposed. It was very sweet :) Well, except for the creepy banana guy! The crowd went crazy!

Rowan rode a bull...sort of :)

It was a fun evening. Then we were off to Red Iguana for dinner.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

And, He's Mobile

One

Mr. Rowan is one today! He is 17 lbs. and 28 1/2 inches long. We celebrated big with a trip to the zoo, lunch out with family, a cake smash and then an afternoon at the sidewalk chalk festival and dinner with Gam Gam! Of course there were presents in there too :)

Rowan LOVES balloons. I went a little overboard and got him a huge balloon bouquet! I was a little worried because apparently there is a helium shortage? I had to put the balloons on hold and wait and see if they were able to get a shipment of helium in and luckily they did! He loved them.

David made his awesome cake! He had to have an elephant cake because he loves elephants. His elephant was holding 2 balloons and one of the balloons was his smash cake. David did an amazing job!

What a year it has been. In one way it seems like the NICU was sooo long ago, but in another way it does not seem possible that my little Roo is one. How far he has come and all that he has accomplished is amazing.

Little man at 3 lbs 1 oz, 16.5 in long

Exactly a year ago I was faced with a very scary reality. I had done everything in my power to hold on to my pregnancy. In the end, preeclampsia won and I was terrified of what a 29 week preemie would face. Honestly, nothing can prepare you for the experience of a preemie. It is a miraculous time but also a very frightening time.

I look at him now and all of that scary stuff is a blur. He is a talking, yelling ball of energy crawling everywhere, walking around the furniture, eating everything and loving all the new things he can see and do. People are drawn to him, his amazing blue eyes and that contagious smile. He is such a love. He is definitely his own little man and we wouldn't have it any other way. He is a small guy, smaller than my other kids, but most people are shocked when they find out he was born so early. His preemie days are fading fast.

Rowan's favorites at the moment...music, his block, nursing, books, the chicka show and the goodnight show, nursing, going to the park, seeing the ducks, nursing, the dogs, of course his siblings!, nursing, food (everything, and I mean everything except green beans and peas ;)) Yesterday he had strawberry smoothie, goat cheese on toast with tomatoes, shrimp, pizza, avocado, corn, black beans, tortilla, apple, banana, chicken and a taste of ice cream...he devoured it all! Of course we are talking tiny amounts here but still he loves the taste of everything. He is crawling everywhere and likes to crawl while holding something in one hand. He pulls up on furniture and walks all over the place.