Christmas tree adventure

On Monday night Logan got off a bit early so we decided to take advantage of his availability and go cut down a Christmas tree! I've been trying to get some pictures on here but our wireless router has been acting up :P But I've got them on here now! So here you go. A taste of our damp, kinda cold, kinda dark tree safari.

da boys

Mommy and Rowan in front of the "one"

As Logan was tying the tree down Rowan was trying his best to climb into the driver's seat.

Through rain and cold and dark of evening we made it!
Here is our tree all set up and beautiful!

Rowan likes it too. Even if it is a bit... leany.

hanging out with dad

Here are a few shots of Rowan playing with Logan. Outside on his bike then inside enjoying SpongeBob SquarePants.

Gotta love that grin.

fall fun and drama

My apple tree needs to take a few lessons from my parents' maple trees on how to look in the fall. It seems like leaves sporadically turn yellow or brown and then fall down while there are still half a dozen green leaves right next to them! It looks scraggly.

Luckily Rowan doesn't care. He just wanted to be outside. This is the smile he's been giving me a lot lately. It makes me laugh :)

I love watching him play and explore.

He really liked playing in this bucket. Unfortunately he got pretty excited and started getting water in his sleeves. It was really cold water so I had to be a mean mama and take him away from the bucket. That triggered an amazing display of unhappiness which told me we'd been having so much fun playing outside we were late for naptime.


This is what happened when we came inside to change clothes. Right after I took this photo I scooped him up, took off his wet sweater, pants, and shoes and plopped him into his crib with blankie and donkey. He fussed a bit more but I turned the heat on and about ten minutes later he was sleeping soundly. Silly baby. We have been having more and more dramas like this lately, I don't know if I need to change his diet or if it's because we've changed his nap schedule or what.

The good news is I found some snowpants on sale today so this afternoon Rowan is going to get to play outside for much longer :D

Rockin' new bike!

Recently Rowan got a hold of one of Logan's guitar hero guitars and, well, long story short it doesn't work now so it's officially Rowan's guitar. He really enjoys holding it and dancing while Logan or I plays a song. It's really cute. This night he wasn't wearing pants.... I can't remember why but apparently he liked it better that way.



Today Brandon and Lindsey (Rowan's godparents) came to spend the night with their little puppy Harvey. The most exciting part of them coming was what they brought. For Rowan's first birthday Brandon built him a bike! It's really really cool. Rowan's a bit small for it yet but it won't be too long until he's scooting around everywhere! (And not too long after that that Logan will undoubtedly introduce him to the fun of going down hills)

He rode it in the house...

and in the yard!
Even though he looks a bit concerned in this shot he really does love it :D

Sparkling birthday night!

My birthday was last Wednesday but Logan had a busy week so I didn't get my gift from him until last night. For my birthday Logan arranged for Rowan to sleepover at Grampa and Gramma's house while he and I went out to dinner and stayed at a hotel in downtown Portland. I forgot my camera so this post is a bit description heavy (i.e. longer) for lack of pictures.

It was the perfect night :D

We stayed after church for a bit of shared meal then went back to my parents' house to put Rowan down for his afternoon nap. After that we packed up and headed out to our hotel. It's called Hotel Fifty and I thought it was swanky and fun. After checking in, relaxing a while in the room, then getting semi-dressed up we headed out to dinner. Logan made reservations at a restaurant called Salty's near the Columbia river. The drive was so pretty! I love Portland at night, specifically downtown from I-5 along the Willamette. The lights reflecting on the river are so pretty and the trees everywhere make the city lights look like they're sparkling. It was so beautiful.

At Salty's we got to sit on the second floor room overlooking the river. They had icicle lights up which reflected on all the windows and combined with the lights from across the river and the reflections on the water. They weren't blinking but the overall atmosphere was sparkling. *sigh* I was so great. My face actually started to get sore because I was smiling so much. Logan had salmon and I had a lobster :) it was great. It was the perfect dinner. It was fabulous, beautiful, sparkling, delicious, and because I had a lobster I could rip, tear, and smash and it was all-right, even expected! I felt special, fancy, and comfortable. I loved it.

After dinner we stopped for some "movie snacks" and after another stop by my parents' house to get Rowan in his jammies, fed, and down for the night we went back to the swanky Hotel Fifty. I was glad that I got to cuddle and hug my bubby before spending a night without him. It was just a bit tough but I knew his Gramma could more than handle him and he would be just fine :)

Back at the hotel I took a lovely hot bath (which I haven't done since before Rowan was born) then Logan and I enjoyed the big comfy bed and our movie snacks while we watched the new Get Smart on demand. It was a really good movie, I think we may be getting that on DVD from Santa this year ;) This morning we got up slowly and after checking out we went on a walk to Pioneer Courthouse square and then down to the river. We enjoyed a couple breakfast sandwiches from a bakery and after getting the car from the hotel we picked up Rowan and headed back home.


I feel like Eliza Dolittle after the ball... I could have danced all night I could have danced all night... :) It was the best birthday present anyone's given me :D Logan is the BEST!

A new look

I was inspired by Rowan's godmom to change up the look of my blog. I also wanted to find something that would look better next to this cool new birthday ticker.

So in honor of Rowan's first year and because Lindsey's blog is really cool and I wanted to be also I give you my fancy new blog!

FIRST BIRTHDAY!! :D

Today Rowan Charles Newton Godsiff is ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Yesterday was his first halloween. I carved him a pumpkin with an R and a star :) Then we put a little blinking light inside. He liked it a lot.

Later on he wore his first halloween costume, an ewok from star wars. We played at home for a while then went to our church's trunk-or-treat event where people volunteer to park their cars and hand out candy from their decorated trunks.

While we were there we met another slightly larger star wars hero, Chewbacca!

And here is the smiley birthday boy enjoying a breakfast of blueberry pancakes with bananas on his BIRTHDAY! Hooray Rowan! Way to be ONE!!

Our first family pumpkin picking

My boys are feeling much better :) Rowan had a tough time with naps today but nevertheless we decided it was a good day to take him to the pumpkin patch for the first time. And it was :D I took a LOT of pictures. Here is a rather condensed version of our pumpkin patch fun, enjoy!

Before heading out we read one of Rowan's favorite books, "Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin" along with Peter the tiger (named for the little tiger in the book)

As I said it was a beautiful day.

Rowan was kinda sleepy when we got there so I don't think I got any pictures of him looking at the camera. But he's still cute!
His dad isn't bad looking either ;)

I don't know if you can tell but Rowan is pointing here. Almost like he's encouraging Logan, "That way Dad! Let's go over there!"

Rowan approves Logan's choice of pumpkin.

We each got a big one then found a little baby one for our little big guy :)

The pumpkin patch we went to is only maaaybe two miles from our house but by the time we got home Rowan was out like a light.

I kinda wish Rowan would've been more awake but I think he had a fun time. There were a lot of things to see and point at, not to mention he got a couple tastes of the fine pumpkin patch dirt :) yummy... and he just loves being outside. All in all I think it was a good first pumpkin patch experience.
Pumpkin carving will have to wait for another day but I'll be sure to post a couple pictures of that adventure too.

sicky update

Rowan is getting much better. As long as I don't try to give him too much too fast he is keeping things down great. Logan on the other hand called me from work yesterday to let me know that he was now throwing up. So now I've got two boys operating at less than 100% :P Logan slept from 6pm until about 7:15am so he's feeling alright. Breakfast this morning is toast, marmite, and ginger ale for Logan and apple juice, cheerios, and a bit of banana for Rowan. I think we'll be just fine :)

No more baths!

At least not for a couple days I hope.

Last night just before bed Logan, Rowan, and I were hanging out and reading books in the living room when Rowan came down with something of a stomach bug and puked everything he'd had since breakfast. It was really weird for us because he's never been sick like this and we weren't quite sure what to do except wait 'till he was done and clean him up. He threw up a few times last night and kept retching and dry heaving almost all night. We gave him a couple baths last night and one this morning after he threw up in our bed and we've changed his clothes (and our own) Then we went out and bought a car! No really, we bought a car for Logan so he wouldn't have to drive the gas-guzzling beast of a bronco that he had. As much as he loved having a big burly vehicle I think he's going to like his forester even better. Hooray good gas millage!

It's late now. Rowan is asleep. I think he's doing okay... but I'm overall I'm pretty unsure of myself and how I can help my baby get better. I am fairly certain I could handle such an illness in a toddler and sure that I'd be fine if he were school aged but a little baby is such a bundle of mystery with no language to speak of (get it? to speak of! :D ... maybe not) I'm tired. At least tonight he is not retching.

Here are a few bath pictures. Because he's sooooooooooooo cute in his birthday suit!
(11 days almost to the minute until his birth MOMENT!)








And one picture not in the bath but from today when he was feeling better :)

he wasn't really that squinty, it was the flash's fault, but he was smiley, giggling and having a lot of fun hiding and popping out from behind the bathroom curtain.

Guess what

That's right! He's walking!



He doesn't go terribly far and he falls down a bit but in the last couple days he's just taken off! Four days ago he would only go maaaybe four steps between me and the couch or whatever. I guess something just clicked :)

Rowan is 11 months and 1 day old!

Hooray 11 months baby! :D For any of you unfamiliar with the tradition I'll explain. In my family the day a baby turns 11 months you take them to get professional pictures done. 11 months is sort of a "just right" age when the kid is big but still under a year so still "officially" a baby. So yesterday accompanied by his gramma and cousins Wyatt, Genevieve, and Danika I took my still "officially baby" boy to a photographer for fancy pictures. He did really really well and smiled adorably for so many I had the worst time trying to choose between them. Luckily the thought of Logan's probable reaction to coming home to stacks upon stacks of photos costing several hundred dollars kept my purse strings tight ;) I finally did narrow it down though, I chose three poses to mark this special day in my little bubby's life. My mom took some pictures of the pictures so everyone could get to see. The color and quality aren't spectacular but that's the way it goes. I don't think it matters that much. Nothing could diminish his cuteness and charm :D

The top one is my favorite

(the other two are also favorites also but that one is just a bit more favorite)

my sister the soon to be sailor

Rowan and I made an impromptu visit to Portland on Monday to hang out with Krystle on her last day as a civilian. We abandoned Logan for a night but I'm glad we got to do it :)

Here we are outside her recruiters' office

The day before Logan went off to basic training mom, Cherise and I took him to starbucks and hung out then took him to his hotel. I thought it would be fun to create a tradition so here we are in the Barnes and Noble starbucks with Cameron. Below is a silly moment in front of her hotel, one of the last silly moments Krystle will have... for a few weeks at least.

The morning of her swearing in Rowan and I went with Mom and Dad to spend some time with her at MEPS. Rowan liked the game room best. He's was sitting at the only game that didn't have to do with shooting. Who would've thought that a military processing station would have so many first person shooters eh? nutty.

Green for visitor, white for enlistee.

It was interesting to sit in the waiting room and observe the soon to be sailors, soldiers, and airmen knowing a bit of the world they're going into. I had to just shake my head at a few of them, they seemed to be the type that were the bees knees in high school and I suspected may be in for a rude awakening once they got to boot camp or basic training. I think that's probably what happens to most kids when the first join the military. Especially the younger ones.

I think Krystle will do absolutely wonderful. I'm glad she's finally there and doing it :) I can't wait to hear how she's doing. I hope I get a chance to write to her soon.

Poor little guy

This is Rowan this morning in his new kung fu panda jammies. The night before last he had a bit of a high temperature (about 100-101) not too bad so I just gave him some watered down juice and put him to bed. Yesterday morning he still felt warm and he was acting a bit fussier and tired than normal. I took his temperature at lunchtime and it was 102.2 under his arm which is actually about 103.

I called the advice nurse at madigan and she directed me to a walk-in clinic in Lacey because there weren't any walk-in appointments at our regular doctor. The clinic was nice, everyone was helpful and we were seen quickly. Rowan had a temp of 102 when we got there and when the doctor looked in his ears she discovered that he has a double ear infection. So now he's on a low dose amoxocilin for the next ten days which he likes :) I think it's berry flavored.


He's doing pretty well considering his ailment. He's playing toys and crawling around. The only signs today that he isn't 100% are a warm forehead and a bit more fussiness and sleepiness than normal. He woke up at 7 this morning then took a nap at 8:30 until about 10:40 (normally his morning nap is about 45 minutes) I'm glad that he isn't totally miserable. I hope he's all better soon.