3 Months

This little boy just gets more awesome with each passing day. I love him so much and I try to soak in as much as I can. I am trying to record his many little milestones in my journal, which has been going okay, thank goodness for blogging, right.

Weight: 15 lbs

Length: 26 inches long

He has become a little chatterbox, especially on weekends. He will gab away and if we are not in the same room as him, he will gab louder until we return. He is also more aware of objects surrounding him. He has a mobile of bugs on his rocker/vibrater chair, a mobile of animals on his swing, a monkey and then an owl toy on his carrier. He talks and coos at them for minutes at a time and even laughs. Eventually he gets overwhelmed with their presence and gets fussy so we take them away.  We think he is a super smart kid as he has learned how to kick his feet to get his chair rocking like a swing. 

He still has a great imagination. When he is talking to his toys I imagine he is giving them orders or telling them about his day. He has just recently discovered his feet. I put his monkey outfit on and the pants have monkey socks. He would stare at his socks with the widest eyes and then slowly begin to touch them. He is slowly starting to grab things too. His favorite thing to grab onto is my hair and shirt.

he went to the beach the first time

Our husbands pushed them around in their strollers

He discovered grass

He has long eye lashes

He loves to laugh. I love to give him raspberries on his belly and he pulls on my hair when we play. One day we were watching Kunfu Panada 2 as a family I had Roan drapped over my propped up knees, it counts as tummy time. He was trying to prop his head up and I guess he was watching the tv. The monkey from the show was dancing around, and then (I kid you not) Roan started to laugh at the monkey. As soon the monkey left the screen he stopped laughing. It was hilarious and awesome. I realize that I might be seeing more than what is there but I am allowed to think my kid is the greatest kid in all the world because he just is. So naneeenana poo poo. He is also noticing who we are more. If Roan is asleep when Lars gets home he will wake up upon hearing his voice because he knows it is play time with Dad.

Still doesn't like tummy time that much but his head is rounding out. He loves to stand and look around and have his arms and feet played with. I think he has a short neck, like Lars, so lifting his head from the ground up is super hard. But we still do tummy time to make him stronger. 

Stomp on Mommy Time

He is sleeping really well. He gets up once in the night, sometimes twice. About 2-3 times he has slept the entire night. We stopped swaddling him too because he grew out of his swaddle pod and I guess it was just time. We have a sleeper outfit that he wears that leaves his hands free as most of the time he sleeps with his hands over his head. I still wrap him up but by morning he is broken free. Since we have stopped swaddling him I noticed that he only sleeps for 10 hours instead of 12. So we give him an extra nap, but sometimes I miss that extra few hours in bed.
When he sleeps in the chair his hands are often like this,

I think he will be a guitar player. 

Roan has discovered that other baby staring at me in the mirror. 

He stares at himself and sometimes smiles and laughs. He and his friend Dane have started making eye contact too. We are trying to get them to talk to eachother. I think they are sending messages with their minds but we want to hear what is happening. LOL

To review:
He likes:
to grab Mom's hair
play time with Dad
his reflection in the mirror
chatting with his friend Dane

He dislikes:
His toys when they do not follow his commands
Tummy time for too long

People are saying:
He is so strong
Oh look at that hair
How old is your girl, oh it is a boy, well I would have thought it was a girl with all that hair (despite the fact that he is wearing very masculine colors)

As for me, I am going back at work. I did surprisingly well the first day and only cried a little instead of a ton. Emotionally I will be taking it a day at a time. I bought Roan a "Going Back to Work" Toy. He loves it and grabs and chews on it. I like to think that he is thinking of me as he plays with it.

Healthwise I am feeling good. Still exercising but not as reigorusly as my tailbone is still bad and my wrist got messed up. Now I am wearing a wrist wrap to protect it from further damage. I hate it. It is difficult to care for Roan at times with it on, but then my wrist hurts when I don't wear it. I am hoping it will heal soon so I can keep on living my life. I hate it when my body falls apart. I am a quick fix it kind of person.

 I am also loosing some of my hair in the shower and when I brush my hair. Not in clusters or anything. I just have more loose strans that seem to be everywhere. I went through all my clothes and got them organized into piles of 1) what fits me now, 2) what will hopefully fit me later, 3) time to give this away. I bought a few pairs of jeans that actually fit and it boosted my confidence. I feel great and skinny in them sometimes. The rest of the time I can see my tummy buldge more easily, but whatever, it is a process. No more maternity clothes, at least for a while, ;) I also went to the temple recently and loved it. Everything was so quite and peaceful. Now I know why my Mom always loved going to the temple. It was a good break and helped me realize that I still need to take care of me first so I can be fit mentally, spiritually, and physically to care for my family. There ya have it. Between all the craziness we have a good old time.

Now enjoy more pics of my boy. 

Happy 3 Month Roan!!

This last pic is so cool cuz it looks like they were jumping in mid air. 

Easter

We have ourselves an Easter Bunny. :) 

Easter weekend was so much fun. 

Roan went to his first birthday party, his friend Claire Bear turned 1. 

He played with the other kids and discovered grass and some bugs.  

  Then in the evening we made Easter eggs with our friends Aaron, Marly, and Baby Dane. 

 Our Creations

The eggs I made. It was my first time blowing out eggs, it was so much fun.  

 Lars made Roan a special eff that said, "Roan is my buddy"

 

Then Lars made a cool egg for himself that said, "Lars Rules"

Marly made some beautiful eggs that are good enough to sell. 

It was a blast. We need to paint eggs more often. 

Sunday was a fun day, Roan and I both wore yellow and of course we didn't get any pictures of it. 

Next time.

I love going to church on Easter and Christmas because most of the talks and hymns are all about the Savior and His sacrifice and undeniable love for each of us. I love the spirit and how strong it is around this time.  I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and that He Lives and loves us. Plus Easter is a time to be with family. We live far away from them so we called them instead. We also went on a walk around the park near our home and it was packed with people. I tried to count how many gatherings there were and I stopped at about 24 groups.What a perfect time of year to remember how awesome life really is as spring is upon us. Between General Conference, Easter, and  the spring weather I feel more renewed and refreshed around this time of year.

Roan's Family Story

Hello,

My name is Roan

This is my Dad

I look forward to playing with him when he gets home from work

he is way cool and makes me laugh a lot

 This is my Mom

 she is super silly 

 she likes to talk and sing

 she makes me smile

I am her little her little rock star

 I sure do love my family!'s

Work Blahs

Many years ago I used to say to myself, "When I have kids I am gonna work and be a Mom because I am "ALL THAT" and a box of candy. Hear me roar!" Well dear friends the day of my return to work is nearing and I have been nothing but a basket case. :( I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to return to work and quite frankly I would rather not! However, our circumstances will not allow that to happen at this time. It is what it is and though we are working towards me being a homemaker, it is still sometime away. Hopefully not too soon off though. We are out of debt and I have been saving and will also be taking a crack at couponing to save even more. I seriously have been praying everyday for it to happen and have promised God that if he puts us on that path then I will go out of my way to serve someone everyday that I am a homemaker. Lars is having a lot of changes at work as well, the big change being that they are shutting down in September and laying EVERYONE off! EEK! Scary but maybe a blessing in disguise. We love his work place and coworkers, it is super sad for the change. But now Lars is looking for a higher paying job anywhere, and I mean anywhere. We decided to not limit our search to just California. Who knows we may have a new adventure on our hands. Anyway, he is specifically looking for IT stuff so if you know of a place let us know.

Okay, now back to me. My maternity leave has gone by so slow, a good way slow. I have loved every minute of it, even the baby blue parts. I guess it is like a hard working vacation. I think I will be a kick-A homemaker too. So I have been avoiding anything related to the "work" topic. But reality had to set in when we went over our finance's and because of my pretty good recovery I am medically fit to go back to work and therefore not eligible for long term disability. So I took California States Bond with your Baby $ for the rest of my leave, which unfortunately was shortened by a few weeks, but it was still a full 12 weeks and then some. So I am going back to work about April 23rd. I was gonna start out part time to take it slow but have now decided to jump in all the way. The day I emailed my boss I cried every other hour of the day or anytime I looked at Roan, which was pretty much an entire day of endless tears. OH MAN. The next day was better but I was still very blue. Then I met with the boss man to discuss options about working from home and well the position doesn't really exist within my company, so it is "a day at a time" sorta thing. I was so hoping for something more definite but nothing is cut and dry when you are in my business. Time will still tell as I have another boss man to talk to by the end of the week.

But I was still very very bummed out and in tears over this. Then my darling husband gave me the best pep talk I needed about being positive. He told me he loved me because I could always make a bad situation happy and fun. I know that I have been slowly getting myself back together since my new hormones have been taking me for a ride. He was right and he couldn't have had that talk with me at a better time. Soon after the "hear me roar" woman in me was born again. It totally sucks that I am going back to work, it really does, but I am not gonna let it ruin me or my last few full weeks with my child. I am gonna throw these lemons back at life and life can suck it because there is no way I am gonna let it get me down. Lots of women go back to work all the time and they are fine and their kids are fine so whose to say I can't do the same. Yep, it will be tough and I will most likely cry again and probably more than once, but I will not let my doom and gloom attitude own me. I am gonna have fun with it. I am very blessed to have a good job and my company has been and hopefully will be very flexible with me. We have a really awesome babysitter to watch Roan and he adores her. Things really aren't that bad. I have to just keep my head up and enjoy all the fun little things.

So you hear that work and life

Stephanie is back and happy and jolly and fun

 you can suck it!!!!

2 Months

My little boy is 2 months old

Time is flying by and this little boy is not so little anymore

 
 Weight: 13 lbs and 9 oz=75th percentile

Height: 24.75"=95th percentile

Head Circumference: 40 cm=50th percentile

Blue Blue Eyes

I look back at his very newborn pictures and I cannot believe he is the same baby. Sometimes I forget how young he is and try to treat him like a toddler. Not only has his size changed but his noises have changed too. I had to go back and listen to a recording of his cry after birth to remember what that was like. 

His personality is developing and we can already tell that he is a little social bug. He loves to smile and coo and any friendly face. I had him in a full elevator the other day and he smiled at everyone as they talked to him. My favorite thing about his smile is that he smiles with his entire face, especially his eyes and eyebrows, smize's if you will. They move up and sparkle. He is absolutely charming and sometimes he tries to use it to his advantage. After we get him swaddled for bedtime he lays down the smiles. I think he does it so I will let him out and play some more, which I sometimes do (he has his Mom wrapped around his finger, good thing Daddy helps keep me in line even though Dad is eating out of his hand too at times). When we have more than two people in the room he prefers to face forward when being held so he can look at the person talking and move his head around the room. He also has a hard time going to sleep when he knows people other than his parents are in the room or a party is happening. He is afraid he will miss out on something. 

 

He hasn't been as picky about needing an immediate diaper change the moment he pees. His farts are very loud and one time he screamed upon farting and then laughed. Yes! My child laughs. It is mixed in with a scream/coo but the more he does it the more I am able to distinguish his laughs from coos. It pulls on my heart strings each time he does it. 

He is a little chatter box when he wants to be. Most often he is found talking in the morning just after eating, in his sleep, if he has someone to talk too, or if he has something to say and demands your attention. He still doesn't care for a pacifier but he does find it soothing to suck and chew on his hands. Maybe one day he will put his fist in his mouth. 

 

I think he has an imagination too. I had him sitting in his bouncy chair in the kitchen while I was cooking one morning and I could hear him playing with his hands. He started moving them around actively and laughing and as soon as I looked over at him he stopped and stared at me like I was interrupting his secret meeting and then he continued once I looked away. I guess he didn't want me in on it. LOL such a nut. 

He is almost sleeping through the night. The most I got to sleep at once was 7 hours, Yikes! It is averaging to 4-5 hours of sleep and he will only get up 1-2 times for feeding. Sometimes he will even fall asleep on his own, but most of the time he needs convincing. We are constantly telling him that everybody needs to sleep.

Pondering in his sleep

He is very strong. He can stand and sit up on his own with little to some assistance. He also can turn his head alot. He loves to fly (we hold him by his belly over our heads). He gets pretty fussy being on his belly for too long. But as one side of the back of his head is flatter than the other we are working on becoming a fan of tummy time and we are going to try and lean him on the non flat side more often. I am right handed so I found it easier to change his diaper and favored holding him on the one side. Per the doctor we will be giving the opposite side more time and his head will round out in no time. 

Roan with his sleepy friend Dane

Roan is such a talker he talked his friend to sleep ;)

Well that is pretty much what our little man has been up to.

To review.....
He likes:
-People
-Smiling
-Flying
-His hands
-Talking
-Taking walks in the park with his friend Dane
-Exercising with Mommy
-Getting rocked and sung to sleep by Daddy

 

He dislikes:
-Too much tummy time
-Sleeping when there are people around

Funny things he is doing:
-Playing imagination with his hands

-Funny high pitched coos while he sleeps
-Screaming while farting

 

Comments from other people:
-Look at ALL that hair
-He is so strong
-Oh those eyes
-Someone looks happy

 

As for me:
-I have begun to regularly exercise WOOT WOOT! I hit the gym twice a week without the boy and it feels weird without him, but I love how fast I can go and how I feel afterwards. The other days I run in the park or do a workout video
-I have lost a few more pounds, but just a few, I am seeing the results around my waist more
-I feel amazing when I exercise
-Oreo shakes are my reward for good exercise and eating habits
-I can do lots of things in the dark during our night time feedings, like feeding, changing him and other fun stuff. Keeping it dark helps him go back to sleep easier.
-My tailbone is still sore but has healed some
-I am trying to use any down time I have to better myself spiritually. I am trying to read and listen to uplifting music and I am seeking for opportunities to serve.
-I have built up a tolerance for not sleeping and no longer need to take naps during the day. On average I get about 7-8 hours of sleep a night, granted it is broken up but sleep nonetheless.
-At the beginning of April I will make contact with my boss to discuss my options for returning to work (I hope to work from home but we will see, wish me luck)