Last week, I found out that my Aunt Linda has had a bad stroke. It's so horrible and sudden and sad; hopefully she will make a full recovery, but she was still unconscious the last time I talked to my dad. I'm sending all my warmest thoughts out to everybody in NB, especially my cousin and her brand new baby girl. I will probably be taking Rowan on a trip to NB very soon to see my family; hopefully I can offer some support to Tracey and her new baby.
Here is Rowan sleeping in her crib, snuggled in the beautiful quilt my Aunt Linda made for her.
This past Saturday, we went to Shawville for a little visit with Rowan's grandparents. The weather wasn't super, but we got to socialize, eat lots of great food, and Nigel got a chance to work on Val's raku kiln.
Of course Rowan got held and carried around like a little queen the whole weekend! She really enjoys it when people read magazines or flyers with her; Nigel likes to read the Busy Bee machine catalog and the Canadian Tire flyers with her. Val shared the Greenpeace newsletter with Rowan, which resulted in excited flailing and drool.
Our little environmentalist-in-trainingWhile in Val's creative company, I tried to focus on making Artist Trading Cards, but my brain didn't cooperate. I was, however, starting to feel inspired by the end of the visit, so that's a good start. Spring is helping too.
Rowan has begun to be a bit crankier than usual, and is sometimes a bit more difficult to get down to sleep, especially if she is overtired or overstimulated. She is still sleeping really well - sometimes going a full 12 hours at night.
Rowan seems to have a bit of separation anxiety now if we leave the room, mostly using her "complaining" voice but sometimes crying full out. Perhaps it is just that she likes continuous stimulation like her daddy?
Doctor's appointment and solids
Yesterday, Rowan had her 5-month doctor's appointment. She now weighs 14 lb 14 oz, more than double her birth-weight. She continues to be in the 95th percentile for length and around the 55th percentile for weight. This means she is a long and lean baby.
Dr. Oldfield was impressed with Rowan's motor control and strength, especially with her sitting up and hand-eye coordination skills. The doctor concluded that Rowan was ready to continue experimenting with solids now that she has proven herself with the rice cereal. Now we can proceed with green and orange veggies - peas, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Apparently it's good to start with the green veggies first because they aren't as sweet as the orange veggies. Also, we should switch between green and orange veggies every couple of days to avoid Rowan turning orange (apparently some babies do)!
So, with that green light, we decided to let Rowan try peas last night. I cooked them and processed them with some of the cooking water, then strained them to omit the skins and other potential gag-inducing textures. Boy, did she ever like the peas! We mixed the peas with a bit of rice cereal because they were a bit too liquid. We'll be trying those again tonight.
mmm. green baby-slime.Oh. Nigel raised funds for the MDS 10K run - proceeds for cancer research - by selling tickets to shave off his hair. It looked very silly for a couple of days, but we tidied it up on Friday night. Now Rowan and her Daddy look VERY related!
Awww. Aren't they just like two bald little peas in a pod?
