Roweyn's Ramblings Wk. 71

Halfway through Summer and we are trying to enjoy every minute of it!

So far so good!

Evening Beach time.

A 5:30pm nap.

This is what happens when someone refuses to nap

the day before while Nana watched her & then refused 

to nap the next day until Mama got home from work.

Playing at a super fun indoor play place

while Mama makes money doing kids hair cuts.

Intentionally ignoring Mama.

Yay my new swim suit is here & it fits!

Taking a nice nap after a super fun day.

Work!

I was told by my Mom that I looked like an Easter Egg.

This Face!!!

Chasing Mama trying to soak me.

Super fun Renaissance Children's Fair.

So many fun kids crafts.

Roweyn loved it.

Roweyn's Ramblings Wk. 25 | Last Week

Our week started off last week with the fam going out of town so Roweyn and I had the house to ourselves for a few days. That means no work for me while Nana is gone and can't watch Rowe so somehow I end up planning something for every day off, which is great, but can be a little tiring!

Roweyn napping on Sunday the 24th.

All day Monday all Roweyn did was climb on EVERYTHING! I set her down, turn away for 2 seconds, turn back around and she is standing on a little table pushing her stroller back and forth! It was stinkin cute but I couldn't believe she did that.

Later we were watching a show, relaxing on the couch...or so I thought, till I turned around to see Roweyn on the keys of the piano playing with Nana's very nice collectables! I don't even think the piano made much of a noise when she climbed up there. Since then we've caught her doing it a few more times. :/

After she was done climbing it was off to waiting to be dragged around on a blanket. A favorite game she loves to play with Auntie Tayelor.

After we were all done playing inside, and when it was cool enough, we moved outside. There's really nothing cuter than a toddler in her cloth diaper! She loves strutting back and forth on that sidewalk. We built some fun sand castles and then she teared them down, which Roweyn thought was very fun.

Tuesday was a busy day and not many photos. We went to Auburn to do some light shopping and then visited an old friend who just had a darling second baby. She has a girl a couple months younger than Roweyn and just had a boy! He's so cute!

Wednesday we headed to Roseville, it mainly ended up being us doing birthday shopping for my sister Tayelor who turned 11 on the 31st! I wore my hair up because it was 100*. We went to Target and I found the CUTEST ankle boots for Roweyn. I put them on her when we got home and she refused to take them off until bed time. Can't wait for Roweyn to wear them in the fall. I think I want her to wear them for our outdoor photos at the beginning of October. How cute would that be?? Another photo of her below, still wearing them. haha

I bought new polish on Tuesday and Wednesday and gave my toesies and fingers some fresh paint on Thursday while Roweyn was napping.

Roweyn and did some cuddling on the couch after she woke up, apparently she thought I was a good chair. I love her snuggles even if I'm just the "chair" hehe

She then proceeded to sit next to me and chew on her toes. Guess shes still quite flexible! I have photos of her doing this in my belly! She would put her foot in her face all the time. I had to get a lot of ultrasounds and theres a few of them with her foot up. I had one of those 3D ultrasounds done and the ENTIRE time she had her foot over one of her eyes. Not joking. She wouldn't budge for anything!!
Friday I was back at work so the only photo I have is after bath time. Babies always look SO cute in hooded towels.
No photos for Saturday. We spent most of the day doing some cleaning. Then we headed down to the park to see a very old friend of mine that I grew up with that just moved back home after 4 years of being in another state. It was fun to see her and meet her little guy who's 3 and for them to meet Roweyn for the first time.
Sunday was Tayelor's 11th Birthday. We spent the morning watching her open presents and then she was off to the closing night of the play she was in. Afterwards they had a cast party and a little birthday party for her as well that we attended.
While we were getting ready to head over to the party, Roweyn once again found something new to climb on! 
Then I went to finish getting ready in my bathroom when Roweyn got very quiet in the other room, so I went to check on her. I found her in her room looking in her mirror, applying "make up" with one of my make up brushes and a lid that she found. Almost DIED! So for a week now she has been carrying around that make up brush and top every day and doing her make up. As soon as we get up, she heads straight to it, and carries it around for as long as I let her or she brings it back to my bed if I'm still in bed and she sits and puts make up on herself and Mommy. I have her leave it upstairs that way it doesn't get lost. It takes a few minutes before we can head downstairs to get her to actually put it down and leave it. ha


I swear, one of these days, things will start to calm down a bit and I will get back to posting these more on time. I'm thinking in September things will be slowing down.

Roweyn's Ramblings Wk.8

This was yet another busy week! The next day after our trip I worked 9 hours at the salon. Tuesday we had company all day. Wednesday we worked at our favorite  cloth diaper store P.Pants Cloth Diapers. Thursday we had more company. Friday and Saturday I worked. And today we went to a 1st Birthday party!


Roweyn has been having major sleeping issues lately. I think part of it might be that she's not feeling good for some reason but I think it's actually because she is overly tired to be honest. Ever since the time change, her schedule has been very messed up. (And yes, I'm blaming it on the time change) Naps are all wacko and she's been going to bed around 10 or later. A few nights it's been after midnight before I get in bed because she is fighting me with everything she's got. She just wants to be in bed with me but that means I can't get anything done after she's asleep because I have to be in bed with her. Tonight I got her into bed by 9 which I'm very happy about, so hopefully we will get some much needed sleep tonight!!


Roweyn is a climber!!!! Ahhhh! No one in my family has ever really been a climber. My Mom said my oldest brother (whom Roweyn shares a Birthday with) was a bit of a climber...so maybe she gets it from him. 
First it started with climbing onto the little wicker chair and then onto the wicker table, she finally got over that! Next, she figured out how to climb onto the couch! Then she figured out how to go from the couch, to the armrest, to the side table next to the couch! Ugh no joke, but it gets even better! 
So we took the cushion off the couch to make her lower, but that worked for like a day. On the backrest of the couch there is a wood base behind the fabric of the couch that would normally be hidden by the cushion but its not anymore. She has figured out, with her tiny little feet, that she can stand on the wood and push herself up onto the armrest and get almost up and over the back of the couch!!! I can't believe it...she's such a little monkey! 
But here comes the very best part....the other night she was having a really rough time getting to sleep, so I was letting her cry for a short period of time in her crib, next thing I know, she has her arms around the front rail and her chest/stomach on top of the rail and her feet are dangling above the mattress! I was shocked! I got her back down and then a few minutes later, I see her again, this time with one of her LEGS on top of the rail!! I freaked! I know she doesn't get that she can fall over it and I can just see her now, pulling herself up and over and landing right on her head. Off went the bumpers, I'm hoping it will help! I have no idea what to do if it doesn't though. Anyone else have climbers??? Any advice??


She is really starting to become my little helper. She wants to help with everything...and I mean EVERYTHING! The laundry, picking up toys, picking up bowls off the ground that we give the dog to lick (before she even gets to lick it), brushing my teeth, washing the soap on me in the shower, even HELPING ME PULL MY PANTS UP WHEN I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF PEEING! Yes, seriously! She will help me find things, like my phone or the remote, and if she was the one that got a hold of them, she will normally take me right to them. So happy about that one!


It seems like since we got back from our trip she has really been into Baby Stella, every time I turn around she is picking her up, kissing and hugging her. It's darling. Today she brought her over to the couch and next thing I know she has Baby Stella's diaper off and she is wiping her butt with a wipe! It was so funny! Every time I turn around she is doing something new that she learned from us. I am just shocked every time because my little baby is no longer a little baby, but a freakin little toddler person. It's nuts.


Oh by the way, this is my 101st post! AND I am like 7 followers short of having 100 followers! I'm pretty stoked and am thinking there might possibly be a GIVEAWAY if you help me get to 100 followers! So if you want a giveaway please, tweet, facebook, blog or whatever you want to get me there. I mean really, 7 new followers can't be that hard to do if even only a few of you help me out. :) Be sure to check out our new twitter button at the top of the page, and our Blog Button right there to the right if you haven't seen that yet.


I didn't take too many photos on my phone this week as it was just so busy but I did do a little photo shoot one day when it was one of our first nice days out! (And what's funny to me about these photos, is that the onsie she is in, is one of my least favorite onsies. ha) Here's what I've got!

This is on the back of one of our business cards at

P.Pants Cloth Diapers

Roweyn had just turned 8 months

Once Again

My computer is back home with me! I spent a couple hours in the Apple store today backing everything up onto my external hard drive and it worked! Thank you God! So now I am home and messing with it and so far everything seems to be working pretty well. *As I knock on wood* And in case you have no idea what I am talking about you can read all about it here and here and here oh and one more right here! *Yeah I really had that many issues...and some...with my dang computer!*


I had a color class today that most of the girls from my salon went to and then afterwards we all went our separate ways. I headed to the mall to go to the Apple store and did my thing there. While waiting for it all to back up I decided to do some retail therapy. The past 10 times or so that I've been there lately *insert sarcasm* I haven't really found anything. I went into Nordstroms where I almost never shop and found I think around 6 tops! It was a little more than I wanted to spend but....I think I deserved it! Plus all my shirts are looking so drab and are all just plain one or two color shirts. These are so darling! They are all floral or have some sort of pattern. And are way different than what I have now! So excited! It's like a whole new wardrobe!


All in all it was a pretty great day! Fingers crossed that tomorrow when I go to turn my computer back on it will work! Now I leave you with a photo of how happy I was tonight! Oh and I have straight hair! Something you will rarely see on me anymore.

Happy New Year! | Top Resolutions

It's so weird to think that it's 1/1/11! But it's even weirder to think that Roweyn has lived in 3 different years even though she is only a year old! Born in 2009, we celebrated new years only 4 days after she was born, we had all of 2010 together and now we have all of 2011 and every year after together!

Roweyn celebrating her 2nd New Years

Here are a few of my top resolutions for this year in no particular order. I usually never have resolutions because I've never been good at sticking to them, but I feel like since I am a mom there are things that I need to work on, such as:


Making myself more of a priority.
           I need to take care of my body better, by remembering to eat even when I don't feel hungry (which seems to be all the time). I need to try to gain some weight so I can continue to breastfeed Roweyn.


Having my priorities straight.
         I'm pretty good about this but I want to be even better. Making sure I do what needs to be done first before sitting down to something less important.


Being more assertive with certain people and with my job.
        Making sure that everything I need to say gets said, so I can make sure I'm doing the best I can for myself and for Roweyn even though I'm afraid of it backfiring (although it probably won't). Try to put more effort into furthering my career, start really taking clients and really learning what I'm still unsure of.


Getting Roweyn on a better schedule, mostly at night.
           (She was doing pretty well with going to bed at a good time, sleeping in her crib most of the night and not waking up often. But since about November she has been going to bed later and later and I haven't done much to fix it, probably because I've been so busy preparing for all the holidays and birthdays and have been too tired.)
            So I'm going to work with her to get her to bed earlier, sleeping more in her own crib again and be better about sticking to it.


That's about it for me. Do you have any resolutions? If so, what are they? And do you have any suggestions to help me with mine?

11/10/09

One year ago today I graduated from Cosmetology School at 8 Months Pregnant! It's crazy to think how fast this year has gone. It was one of the best and most accomplished days I will ever have. Besides of course having Roweyn.


I was the first in my class out of around 17 to graduate. Not only that, I was 8 months pregnant, driving three hours a day, four days a week, being gone a total of 11 hours a day. I was determined to finish, knowing that as a soon to be single Mom, I needed this career more than anyone. I knew that if I didn't finish before the baby was born, I wouldn't want to go back and I might never have a way to make the money I needed for both my daughter and me to survive in the years to come. When I started school, I never knew I would be finishing it the way I did. I didn't know I would be preparing myself for a career that would be so important to my life from the very beginning. I was determined from the start, but when I found out I was pregnant, I became more determined than I could have ever been. 


This year went by so incredibly fast. It's hard to believe that it has been a whole year since I got through some of the toughest 13 months of my life. They were also some of the best. I made some amazing friends and I also had some of the best support I could ever ask for while pregnant. My class was my family and I miss them dearly. Its definitely a bummer to me that most of them haven't even met Roweyn, even though they were with me for all but the last month and a half of my pregnancy. Hopefully someday soon, we'll all be able to get together for a little reunion.


I'm so proud of myself for all that I did. 8 months out of those 13 months of school I was pregnant. I never missed a day for the 5 months of morning sickness I had or no matter how tired I was, maybe for other reasons but not because of my pregnancy. But I couldn't have done it without the help of my family. I can never thank them enough for all that they did.


So thank you to my amazing family and my Federico family. You all were and still are the best. And you helped me get through something that could have been really rough, but because of all of you I came out of it better than I could have ever imagined.

Happy 1 Year Graduation to me!

Halloween Nightmare Week

Due to my not knowing what Roweyn should be for Halloween and finally figuring it out a week ago, only to be way too late to buy anything, I now have to make her costume by Friday. *Takes deep breath* Woo that was a mouthful. I REALLY want her to be an owl.


So my plan is to somehow knit a hat, glue ears, eyes and a beak onto it, then buy a long sleeved onsie and buy multi colored fabric, cut it out into feathers and glue it to the onsie. HOPING I am going to have time to do this cause the rest of my week looks like this:


Tomorrow, cutting a friends hair, unpacking from trip and doing laundry. Wed, driving to Truckee to meet my brother to pick up my dog who has been with him for a week now, Imisshersomuch! Thurs go to play group or skip and go to diaper shop then color a client's hair at the salon. Then somehow miraculously have time in between all of that to get Roweyn's costume done by Friday morning so I can take her to the kiddy trick or treating in Downtown GV.


Am I crazy or what? Oh and then if I can't go to the diaper shop Thurs, then I have to go Fri after trick or treating, then Sat I am working there, Sun finally a day off, and then Mon back to the diaper shop to work!


Hence the name Nightmare Week. No sleep for me anytime soon! Have I mentioned that my daughter is trying to get over a cold? Yeah, its nuts. My sister is now coming down with it. If I get sick this week, I will FREAK!


So if this whole making a costume thing actually works I will post how i did it. Hmm, really should be going to bed now, but gotta catch up on emails and comp. stuff! Boo!

To Sleep or Not to Sleep?

I used to talk about Roweyn's sleep habits quite a lot, but honestly there is only so much I can say about them. Ha! But now that she is going to be 7 months old tomorrow, it seems like there is a lot more to think about when it comes to her sleeping habits.


Lately Roweyn goes to bed between 10 and 11 at night. I know right?! Far too late! But if she goes to sleep before that she usually wakes up by 9 and then won't fall back to sleep till then. When I finally get her down, she usually sleeps around 4 to 5 hours then fusses till I pick her up and feed her. She then wakes up about every 2 to 3 hours and does the same thing till she is ready to be up for the day. 


She naps anywhere from 2 to 4 times a day, anywhere from 15 mins to an hour usually. But the past couple days she WILL NOT nap unless I am holding her. Every time I have put her down in her crib when she falls asleep after breastfeeding or while holding her, she wakes up! I'll pick her back up to make sure she doesn't have a burp, then usually she falls back to sleep in my arms. I then put her back into her crib in hopes that she will stay asleep or fall asleep. I think she has only fallen back to sleep in her crib a couple times but its rare and this is the first week that she has ever done this!


I feel like there are numerous reasons as to why all this is happening. The first being, she is majorly teething. She just got her 2nd lower tooth in and I can tell she is having issues with it. I've been giving her some all natural teething tablets but when that doesn't work I give her some tylenol. I try not to do that too often because I'm really not a fan of pain killers. Second, I think she is overly tired. She's not getting enough sleep during the day therefore she is waking up constantly at night. Which studies say is very common when babies are overly tired. Third, I just moved her into her crib. She is still in my room, but not right next to my bed. Fourth, I am working now and she may be having some separation anxiety. I have been working for over a month now and only two times a week, but she was used to always being around me for the first 5.5 months of her life and now there are times when I am not there.


Even though I'm sure all of this plays a part in why she is having issues sleeping, I don't want them to get any worse. So what advice do you have for me that is helping or has helped you get your little ones down for a nap or to bed for the night? I would love to hear your stories!

Working Mom

So it's official. I am now a working Mom.


While I was pregnant I always had it in my head that I would start working towards the end of spring or beginning of summer. Which surprisingly actually happened! I wanted to try to wait till Rowe was around 6 months and eating solids. I figured it might be easier that way so we wouldn't be relying on just me pumping at work and having enough milk in the freezer. Although she is only eating rice cereal once or twice a day right now, I think its a start in the right direction.


I was unsure of how it would be going back to work after having Roweyn. The transition has been a little easier than expected. Of course I miss her like crazy when I am gone and I would love to just stay home with her all the time but Mama's gotta make some chedder. haha


This week was my first big week of being gone. We're still trying to make schedule adjustments but I'm working 5 hours on Mondays, Thursdays and possibly Wednesdays and Saturdays.


Rowe does pretty well with my Mom when I am gone but the past few nights after I get home she has been pretty fussy and I am assuming it's from me being gone.


I am trying to figure out ways to make it easier on her and help her adjust. If any of you working Moms have any suggestions I would love to hear them!


It feels great to be back in the hair world! I have missed it! Right now I am mainly assisting so I can get some "real world" salon training but will hopefully soon have a day of taking clients. :) 


By the way I am working at BonBon Salon Spa in downtown Grass Valley. (If you click on the name it will take you to their facebook page. Make sure you click "Like"!) It's a wonderful salon and I am so excited to be working there. Hope you all can make it in sometime!

Time Flys When You're Having Fun!

So I told myself I was going to write more often on here, and yet here I am almost a month later posting again. :| oops! Well what can I say? We've been busy!


Between the last post and now not a whole lot has happened. Just been having fun with Rowe and keeping busy.


But last week we were gone all week. We went to Humboldt County to visit family. Rowe and I drove up with my Dad. It was the first time we were really on our own without my Mom for more than a day. We're not around her much during the day anyway but not having her there just in case was interesting. It gave me a chance to see how I can do on my own. And we did great! :)


We saw most of our family and some great friends! We were very excited to see Jen with Asa and her new baby Cain. So adorable by the way! Rowe wanted to play with him so badly!

We went to the Kinetic Sculpture Races while we were there which was a lot of fun. For those of you who don't know what the Kinetic Sculpture Races are...it was created by a man who wanted to show kids that you can still have fun even when you're old. Even though there was all different ages in the race. But basically people build a sculpture on top of bikes and then its a 3 day race starting in Arcata and ending in Fortuna. They have to not only ride on streets but also through sand dunes, and in the water and possibly some other obstacles I don't know about. They have to transform their bikes into basically paddle bikes. It's pretty cool. We got to watch most of them launch into the bay in Eureka. While most of them succeeded there were a few that didn't quite make it. It was a lot of fun anticipating which ones would float and move once they were in the water. Most of the time when we go up there its all about visiting family so this was a nice change. 

Rowe learned to pant like a dog when she got excited while we were there. haha It's pretty stinkin cute. She also learned how to stick her toes in her mouth and suck on them! Probably even cuter!

I used disposable diapers while we were there because I would have had to spend time washing our cloth diapers and I wanted to focus on the fam. Not that washing cloth diapers takes a long time it just takes more time than disposables. They are so worth the extra time though. After using sposies for the week I pretty much hated that decision! ha They made Roweyn's bum irritated, they stink, there were blowouts (we've never had one in our cloth dipes), and you have to change them way more often than cloth! We're going to Reno this next weekend and I will definitely be using our Fuzzibunz cloth dipes!


We haven't seen any pink in Rowe's diapers for a few weeks now so yay for that!


I haven't gotten a job yet but I'm not too worried about it. When the time is right one will pop up. And I have something in August that I can do if I don't have a job in a salon. And it's actually pretty cool. So whatever comes up first I'll be pretty excited.


Now that we're all caught up on whats been going on the past few weeks I'll try to have another post up shortly thats mainly all about the new things Rowe can do!

Not Enough Time!

Lately I have felt like I just don't have enough time for anything. Time has just flown by since I had Roweyn. 4.5 months already?! Really?! Yeah, I really can't believe it either. With everything that has been going on with Roweyn health wise, I really just haven't had time for anything else. She, of course, is my first priority and lately my only priority. I feel like I have never seen days, weeks and even months go by as fast as they have been. 

I've been putting together my resume, because it is definitely time for me to find a job. Not really because I'm getting antsy of being home all the time, cause well really, I'm rarely home. Monday and Tuesday were the first weekdays in weeks that I didn't have to go anywhere. The real reason I'm ready for a job is because I unfortunately am running out of the small amount of money I have. Ha no surprise there though, right? So my resume is put together, but I've had absolutely no time to take it into any salons, the last couple weeks I was hoping to take it to a few places but going to the Dr one to three times a week for 6 weeks has pretty much killed any chance I've had. Plus I've been going to track meets, having play dates and going to play group.


Now that we've finally gotten this health scare with Roweyn under control I might actually have some free time soon. By the way, Friday was her last urine re-check and there was no blood in it. The Dr is pretty convinced that it's just uric crystal acid in her urine, besides the one time she had blood.


I was able to get my hair done today, got my roots touched up and put some more blonde in it! Now I just need to make a trip up to Reno soon for a hair cut...and possibly some more blonde. :) Hoping that I'll be able to make it up there the beginning of June.


Roweyn has decided to change up her sleep schedule. I'm thinking she might be going through a growth spurt, or she just decided to switch things up. She is going to bed earlier but then she wakes up 2 or more times between 4 and 8 am. And now she's not taking any long naps. Just a few 15 to 30 min naps throughout the day. So I'm pretty much exhausted right now and not getting much of a break from her. But I'm sure she will change it up again soon.