TEN Terrific Months!

The months continue to cruise by and Rowan just keeps getting more and more fun. With his advancements there are obviously new challenges, but seeing his personality blossom and watching him learn new skills makes it all worth it :) 

I feel like just in the last few days/week he has started doing so many new (and adorable) things! 

This month he:

-Dances whenever music comes on! This is one of my favorite new things :) His favorite song to dance to right now is Happy by Pharrell

-Is becoming quite the climber, which is a little scary considering it usually just means a further distance to fall. He is able to climb up on our short couch already and climbs onto the bottom stair and holds on to the gate

-Stands on his own without holding on, especially when pulling things out of a drawer or bucket (like playing with legos) but still doesn't have perfect balance

-Babbles a LOT and makes some crazy throaty noises

-Some of his favorite foods include: bananas, yogurt, string cheese and anything cold (popsicles, slushies, etc)

-Still awesome about going to bed and pretty consistently sleeps through the night but thinks that 5:30 am is a good time to wake up! (Luckily Grant is awesome and a morning person :) 

-Still loves the beach and will eat sand, rocks, etc. but is getting lots better about finding one thing he likes and holding onto it (i.e. a piece of coral, etc)

And of course, this post would not be complete without an overload of pictures ;)

This is his super cheesy smile that he has perfected and does it about a million times a day. He makes this face when he's super happy, when he's doing something he knows he shouldn't be and we look over at him, etc. He's already such a little manipulator :) 

Loves riding his Vespa

He is the ultimate people watcher! The neighbors were having some work done and he just stood and watched them after our run one day.

Still not walking on his own but cruises with his new little Ikea cart. It is so cute to watch him walk around!

Doing great in the stroller now which has made it possible for me to finally get back into shape this month!

We love having a neighbor almost the same age. The love to play in the yard together!

He can't seem to stay seated anywhere! Shopping got so much easier when he learned how to sit in the cart but recently has become impossible again because he just wants to stand. We tried the car cart out at the commissary and he loved it. He turned the steering wheel the entire time. So cute.

And here he is exhibiting his climbing skills, I am truly in trouble!

Love this little guy and the energy he brings into our home. I love having him around and can't wait believe he's almost 1!

Tidepool Saturdays

The last few weekends we have been blessed with some gorgeous weather, which has been nice since we've had some rain and cooler days during the week. Low tide happened to be during the afternoon last Saturday, so we headed over to Maeda to walk around the tide pools and see what we would find. We hadn't really been tide pooling since we moved here, but had snorkeled here at pretty low tide and had a great time so knew there would be some fun stuff to see.

 We walked way out to where the waves break (which seems like a weird thing to say, but it is several hundred yards here). I'm used to waves breaking on the beach, but because of the reef structure, they break what seems like way out in the ocean!

 Most of the deeper pools are full of these amazing bright blue fish. The water is so clear that it feels like you're looking into an aquarium. So fun!

Our favorite find of the day was this red 6-legged starfish! It was such a bright color and Rowan was definitely intrigued by it.

 After we walked around for awhile, we just hung out and enjoyed our lunch and the sand.  Love our little family days at the beach :)

 We had so much fun that we decided to go again this past Saturday. Again, our favorite finds were the starfish...this time they were blue :)

 It was a gorgeous sunny day and gave us the chance to get out and walk around for awhile.

We decided to drive to another beach for sunset and on the drive over, Rowan had quite the blowout (his first one in a quite awhile and probably due to the fact that he ate handfuls of mud that morning)...
As to not miss the sunset, I stripped him down and washed his bum off in the water while Grant set up his camera, and then Grant held him while taking pics and I got a new diaper and clothes from the car. Having a kid makes things so much more interesting :) And we wouldn't change a thing!

Happy St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day is a fun holiday for me because it requires very little effort to feel festive. And even though Rowan is too small to remember or understand, it still makes holidays a little bit more fun with him around :) We started out the celebration by making him wear green PJs to bed last night so he couldn't be pinched this morning. I remember that being a big deal growing up!

 Today we kept the celebration to a minimum, but we broke in Rowan's new cute green pants and my new green Toms. Talk about perfect timing for them to arrive!

Rowan helped me make our corned beef and cabbage for dinner and when I set him down next to my green mixer and he picked up an avocado, I just had to take a picture of all the green :)

 He enjoyed a delicious dinner of baby food garden vegetables and then peas, edemame and kiwi...I resisted putting green food coloring in his bottle, but I won't say I didn't think about it ;)

 Happy St. Patrick's Day to you! Be safe and enjoy the green!!!

Mustache March baby shower

 Apparently "mustache March" is a thing. Luckily, Grant realizes that I hate him having a mustache and that he looks ridiculous enough that having one in November is plenty for the year. However, it does make for a fun baby shower theme, so Brea and I set out to throw a little man mustache shower for our friend Brittany. We were planning to have it out on my balcony, but the weather wasn't looking very promising, so we did it at Brea's house and it turned out beautifully!

Here are a few of the projects I worked on the night before...

Pretty proud of this one! The idea of the head I saw online, but it was stuck into a diaper cake, which I was originally planning to do, but I saw this cute onesie and though I could make a diaper man! So you saw it here first, one of the only things I've done in awhile that I didn't see on Pinterest first :)

I was also in charge of vinyl mustaches, cupcakes and a banner. I got a Silhouette cutter a couple of months ago and have been having some fun with it. Things like this are SO much easier now. I had it cut out the scalloped circles of cardstock, then I cut the mustaches and vinyl out of vinyl and stuck them on and taped them to a toothpick. Easy way to decorate the cupcakes :)

And I remember debating when we moved here if I should bring my cupcake stand or not...it's already been used 4 times in the 7 months we've lived here, so I'm glad I brought it!

Brea and I collaborated on this cute sign for Brittany's new little man. I remember seeing things with Rowan's name on them before he was born and making it seem so much more real that he was going to be joining our family. She loved the sign, I think it turned out so cute.

Brea did an outstanding job with the rest of the food, some delicious little quiches, a veggie plate, and doughnut and strawberry skewers...we ate well!

 

Played some low key fun games...

Rowan wanted in on the mustache action...the cup looks a bit like a unibrow and his sippy cup chicken grew a cute little 'stache ;)

We had a great time, a good turnout and I think Brittany felt love for her and a little guy...I'd call that a successful baby shower!

Can't wait for baby Desmond to make his appearance!

Torii beach BBQ

The boy scout troop from church was having a fundraiser for scout camp and had a BBQ at the beach. We arrived a little early so we could walk around the beach for awhile, unfortunately it was one of the coldest days we've had here in Okinawa. It was 57 degrees (I know, eye roll...) but it was crazy windy which made it feel really cold! However, as we pulled into our parking spot, this was the view. Can't complain about that (especially from the warmth of our car ;)

 Our chilly walk down the beach as the sun poked through the clouds

 Poor Rowan was getting pretty chilly, so we wrapped him up in his blanket. He never complained even though his cheeks were red and he had snot running all over his face. He's a good little guy! I took over the camera for a little while and got some adorable pics of my boys...

 I love living somewhere that we can have every event at the beach...I know it's not for everyone, but I sure do love it. Had this event been at a park, I would have been much less likely to go (mediocre food without the scenery just doesn't do it for me), but the beach will get me every time :)

 After our little walk, we huddled by the ever growing fire...you can see the toll the wind took on Rowan's face...and my hair :)

 Rowan was mesmerized by the fire...and kept trying to crawl closer to it. We obviously had to keep a very watchful eye (and hand) on him! When we were holding him, he would just stare at it. I think he loved the look of it but also the amazing heat it was letting off.

 All in all, it was a fun Friday night with some gorgeous views...trying to enjoy the chilly nights because I know that in the not too distant future, it's going to get way to hot and humid and I'll be wishing I could put on a coat again :)