It's Official.......Baby Rowan #2 is on the way!!!

Josh and I just found out that we are pregnant with #2!! We are very excited. The only proof I have at this point is the pregnancy test that I took. According to my calculations I will be due April 26th, 2009. Perfect timing for a teacher's baby! =) I just wanted to share the news with everyone!

Here's a little proof....

Lily is Walking!!!

Lily has 4 teeth now....they came in fast. She has the top two and the bottom two. She is starting to look less like a baby and more toddler.

This past week Lily has officially started walking. She can go about 10 steps before tumbling to the ground. I am so proud of her. She doesn't even get daunted or discouraged. Very determined and independent already! I have included a video of her walking below. I can't believe she will be a year old in a month. What a big girl.

Time sure does fly but Josh and I are loving "almost" every second of it. Lily is so funny and loving and it has been such a blessing to have her in our lives. If I am in a bad mood all she has to do is look at me and my frustration melts away and I start to laugh and smile myself. Thank goodness she is around, she lightens every situation.

So, I guess I should mention how the beach trip went.....let's just say it is harder to go to the beach with a 10 month old by myself than I thought. Lily was only down in Florida from Sunday to Monday and then my wonderful husband was kind enough to come and get her so that I could have a real "vacation." It was however the first time that I have been away from Lily overnight let alone a whole week......my heart was so homesick, but I tried to enjoy the beach and friends as much as I possibily could while missing Lily and Josh like crazy.

Here is a link to the pictures from our beach trip......not too many of Lily though =(

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=237690935/a=100740449/t_=100740449

I am planning Lily's 1st Birthday and am very excited about it. Her present from Josh and I is a playroom in our house. We converted our garage into a playroom so that she can have free reign and lots of room. I know she won't have a clue in terms of her present and her party, but I think it is a good reason to have a get together.

Here are some good pics of her and a video of her WALKING!!!

Lily's playroom (a work in progress)
LOTS of primary colors.......

Our Beach Baby

Lily's new experiences since the last post:

1.Officially went swimming (first in the baby pool, then at Nana and Papa's condo's pool, then at Grammy and Grampy's house, then at Lake Lanier)

2. Dunked totally under water by Daddy. Lily was not sure if she liked the experience the first time and has warmed up to it every time since. Mommy is too nervous to even try it though =(

3. First TOOTH!! Lily's first tooth appeared about 3 weeks ago. I don't have a picture of it yet but hopefully she will show it off soon. It is the middle bottom right tooth.

4. Standing and squatting unassisted. Within the past two weeks Lily has shown enough balance where she can stand without holding on and squat down without holding on to anything.

5. Has started pushing a walk-behind toy around the house. She has finally figured out that she can get around our house by walking behind a push toy and she doesn't have to crawl everywhere. Is she going to be walking soon???

6. She has FINALLY said the word mamamamama. I know that she doesn't say it and know she is referring to me, but I must say I am glad that she has the ability to actually say it since she has been saying dadadada for a few months now.

7. Transitioned almost solely to table food. Lily has always been a good eater and she has loved all the pureed foods that we have in jars and such, but recently she has been rejecting the spoon and wanted what is on our plate so most of her meals now come from our lunches and dinners. She LOVES self-feeding blueberries, peas, chicken, etc....You name it, she eats it. Definitely a daddy's girl when it comes to eating (she eats more variety than I do at 26 years old.)

I (CA) and Lily are leaving for the beach on Sunday with some of my girlfriends from our bible study. I am definitely looking forward to it but I am a bit nervous to have Lily for a solid week without Josh. He is such a big help at home that I am nervous about having to do everything for Lily for a full week. That's OK though. I haven't been to a real beach (minus Lake Lanier) in over 3 years so I am definitely looking forward to the ocean and beach atmosphere. Pray for us while we are gone because there are a couple of other babies going on the trip....should be interesting. It is a nice 6 hour drive to get there which might drive me nuts with Lily but hopefully all the activity in the car will keep her distracted.

Josh of course will have a whole week to himself here at home since not only are Lily and I gone but he is also not working. It should be fun. He is going to try and hang out with some guy friends and hopefully do some chores!! (maybe that is wishful thinking on my part).

Here are some new pictures of Lily from the past month or so, plus here are few of her professional shots that she got done this past month as well.

Lily's professional 9 month shots.....

Lake Lanier......Lily's first sandy experience

Dad cooking hotdogs at the campsite.

Lily's bouncing Zebra!

Toilet Paper Caper- Lily figured out how to unroll toilet paper and we forgot to shut the bathroom door and this is what we found after a few seconds.....
It just keeps coming......caught red handed.
Uncle Jay's new wheel barrow that he got for Father's day.
Lily and Nana at the beach.
Swimming in Lake Lanier

Lily's personal pool on our back deck......she didn't want to stay sitting, she was crawling all over the place and wanted to stand up on the edge.


Let me in!!
Timber and Lily behind bars!

Summertime, Summertime, Summ, Summ, Summertime.

Josh is home now for the summer and we have been having a lot of fun as a family. The weekend that school let out we went to Tennessee (near Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg) with several of our couple friends from church. We had a great time and Lily really did much better than I thought she would. One of the days we were there we went on a hike at Cade's Cove. We hiked to some waterfalls on some very hilly terrain. It is quite the hike when you are toting a 20+ lbs infant on your back let me tell you. My legs were sore for several days after the hike. But it was worth it.

Lily is now officially 9 months and is crawling and cruising all over the place. She has had a few accidents since she has been mobile. Her most intense injury was just the other day when she was cruising (for those that don't know, that means walking around while assisted by furniture). She was standing up on our microwave cart that we have in the kitchen and she fell and busted her lip. It was bleeding everywhere and I was not being a very calm mom. Once Josh got me to snap out of my shock I was able to stop the bleeding and she was fine with the exception of the swollen bloody lip. Her spirits were not damaged though that is for sure.

This week she is actually a little sick with a cold and a mouth infection called thrush. We took her to the doctor and they prescribed her some medicine to get rid of it. We go back to the Dr. for her 9 month appointment tomorrow. =)

Lily met her Great grandfather this past week and we affectionately call him G-Pops. She wasn't scared of him and in fact she crawled over to him, pulled up on his leg and sat in his lap for a little bit, all without shedding a tear.

Some of Lily's new feats: climbing stairs, raising arms when you say, "so big, " giving a high-five (sometimes), saying dadadadadadadada in response to everything, cruising and crawling everywhere, over and under everything, eating real solid foods (she likes to self feed things like peaches, bananas, peas, etc). She is always bigger than all the other little babies her age. She is very tall and not to mention heavy.

Lily has some best buddies that she hangs out with a lot: her cousin Liam (6 days older than her), the Clinansmith twins Lannon and Kayden who just turned 1 this week, Mason who is almost 2 years old and Parker who is 3 1/2 months old. So far no girls for her to hang out with.

Here are some great pictures of her:

Sooooo sleepy.
Lily and her G-Pops (short for great grandfather)
9 months old and a big girl

She is already ready for school.

Josh, Carrie Anne and Lily at the waterfalls at Cade's Cove
I love the look on her face as I try to put her feet in the COLD water.....she was very mad at me but I was all smiles.
First bath with other babies (Lannon and Kayden)
These sunglasses were on her face for maybe 30 seconds which is why I didn't bother buying them.....but they sure were cute.
Look carefully and you can see my busted lip..... (left side) I had blood all down my shirt, but I was a tough girl.

This is how we got Lily to the waterfalls and back. She was no light load though.
Andy, Brenna, Lannon and Kayden, Carrie Anne and Lily.
The Rowan family

Lily was not enjoying the noise of the waterfall, but when mommy was holding her she atleast stopped crying for a picture.

That's all for now, more to come soon.

~The Rowans

Baby Dedication....First Mother's Day

Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy First Mother's Day. It really was a great day.

Mother's Day also was Lily's Baby Dedication at our church. We attend Grace Fellowship Church and they have a Baby Dedication every Mother's Day. Both sets of grandparents were there to support our family in our decision to dedicate Lily. It was a great day and Lily looked beautiful as always. Included are a few pictures from the dedication.

Since my last post which honestly was only a few days ago, Lily has been pulling herself up on her knees and occassionally to her feet. She is not terribly steady on her feet but she seems to like to be higher up to be able to see everything going on around her. She also loves crawling all over Timber. It's funny, but I think he secretly enjoys it because he is getting attention. I think Lily is climbing on him as a means to pulling up, but it is cute none the less.

I hope all the mother's out there had a Happy Mother's day as well. I am already excited about Josh's first Father's Day.