I'm sorry for being a blog-slacker!

Dear Bloggy:

I am so so so sorry for neglecting you!

I went back to work part-time and am quickly discovering that being a full-time Momma and part-time vet tech equals being ALL THE TIME TIRED and add to all this a newly crawling Rowen Baby there is just never enough time for anything!

I shall be back shortly with really, really adorable photos and such soon, I promise!

-Z

Photos: Kitty Cat Clean-up Crew, Evergreen Brickworks, Z eats more doughnuts

Well!  I think I officially give up trying to do one of these "photo updates" every week.

Rowen has become a little bit obsessed with our devices.  Mainly the computer, the iPad and our phones.  I had this theory that if we withheld them from her, it would make them elusive and therefore more appealing.  But letting her handle them every day has made them non-elusive and really appealing.  She knows how to scroll through photos of herself using the touchscreen on my phone!    Hmmm.  

The Baby with One Legwarmer

The other day, I turned around for a minute and she pulled the computer onto her blanket and typed a message to Annie.  She even managed to sent it and everything!

Both Cats have been chipping in and doing their part to help out with taking care of Rowen...

Kitty clean-up crew at work under the highchair.

With cats like these, who needs a dog?

The cats have been more than  happy to clean up Rowen's avocado scraps and salmon spills (no interest in broccoli though).   It's kinda gross but it helps me with my clean up...so I allow it.

Ha!  Speaking of "kinda gross".  Oh IKEA, your $4.99 meatball plate is simultaneously so very unattractive but so appealing at the same time.  

I had my "night out" last night while Lowell stayed home with the sleeping Baby.  Annie and I went to IKEA to pick up her surprisingly compact yet shockingly heavy bedframe and lugged it home.  (We really know how to party!)  In related new,  I also discovered that I'm frighteningly out of shape....

I wonder why? 

Krispy Kremes!  

I've been kinda off cupcakes lately and my on again off again affair with doughnuts is in full on googley-eyed Honeymoon phase.  

Apple Beignet and waffle combo with whipped cream, apple compote and caramel sauce from the Farmer's Market at Evergreen Brickworks.  

We went to the market this past Saturday.  Have you been to the Evergreen Brickworks lately?  I hadn't been down there in years!  It's neat being down in the valley underneath the highway.  We picked up some organic maple syrup and ate lunch and watched and danced to music.  It was a lovely outing.  Chilly but lovely.

My new favourite onesie and tights on Rowen.  

Grey and white polka dots and hot pink legs?  

Oh my!

Rowen eats!

About a week or so before Rowen was officially 6 months old, I started offering her one small meal a day of rice cereal and milk.  She had been very fascinated by watching us eat for quite a while before that.  Ever since that first week of cereal, she has been super excited about and receptive to every new food that she's been offered!  We have been so lucky that she is by no means a picky eat so far.  So we've kept introducing new foods.

I haven't subscribed to an particular "method" of introducing foods.  Obviously I've stayed away from the "no nos" and she does not have any salt, sugar or oily/greasy/artificial foods.  We try to make sure almost all of her foods are organically sourced.   I have a couple of books as resources and then mostly we've just been letting Rowen eat what we eat, minus seasonings and then pureed (I wasn't comfortable with just letting her eat everything we eat, ala baby led weaning).  The surprising result of this has also been the fact that I'm eating more vegetables.  But alas, I am still probably eating too many doughnuts and cupcakes every day.  Bahaha!

So far, Rowen's clear favourites are:

• avocados
• bananas
• pears
• carrots
• sweet potatoes (technically yams too, she likes both)
• dried apricots (unsulphured of course)
• broccoli 
• salmon (poached with apples, onions, carrots and pureed)
• rice rusk cookies or plain rice crackers

Rowen also enjoys eating:

• apples
• papaya
• prunes
• oatmeal
• bagels
• lentils
• squash
• pumpkin
• potato
• purple hawaiian sweet potatoes
• eggs
• chicken (usually pureed with squash or sweet potato)
• plain greek yogurt mixed with fruit puree

She will willingly eat but is clearly indifferent to:

• peas
• cauliflower
• beef
• tofu
• zucchini 

Rowen does not like:

• lemons
• that's it for this list.

Technically zucchini is a brand new introduction, so who knows if she might wind up liking it.  And technically I think she liked the lemon, but I felt bad letting her eat it after watching babies eat lemons on YouTube.  Broccoli was surprising because I kinda hate broccoli but now that Rowen is around and enjoying it, I've probably had more of it in the past month than I have in the past 10 years!

Rowen Air Drums Wipeout For You

Ick, another chilly gloomy Monday!

Rowen will play Wipeout on her invisible Daddy lap drums for you now!  Please note her beautiful squeal-singing as well.

(p.s. We were trying to "hide" Lowell and well, failed miserably.  Looks like he's wearing a Snuggie right?  Ha!)

Rowen Baby's First Halloween

Holy man, dressing up a Baby is really fun.  They're just so stinkin' cute... and watching them react to the strange outfit is just another unexpectedly awesome perk!  Initial hesitation turned into delighted giggles very quickly.  I think she loved the attention too.

Are you ready to see some photos from Rowen's first Halloween?

It was a pretty gloomy chilly day, so we mostly wore our costumes around the house.    Costumes, plural.  Uncle Gram and Grandma Meme got her costumes before she was even born!  We skipped Trick or Treating this year since she'd be too young to know what was happening... plus, it was raining.

We did venture out for a walk in the afternoon dressed as Simba.  It was pretty funny strapping her into the stroller with a big belly.

After her nap, Rowen put on her next costume.

I think she knew she was a pretty Tinkerbell

Naptime Bedhead

Happy First Halloween Rowen Baby!

I always enjoyed dressing up but I didn't even care that I didn't have a costume this year!  Having a Baby to dress up is like, 800 x more fun.

(Sidenote: I had THE BEST costume idea for Lowell and I for the Halloween party that we were invited to last year when I was pregnant.  Asian Beyonce and white Jay-Z!  But alas Lowell had a gig and I was too lazy to go alone and commit to being solo asian Beyonce, so I stayed home and ate mini-Twix bars in bed)

If Simba still fits next year, Lowell and I will get ourselves some Timon and Pumbaa costumes for trick or treating, You read it here first!

Happy November & Rowen Drumming

Rowen is learning to be a drummer like her Daddy.

Looks like it might very well be in her genes!