Rowan is 27 Months old! :)

WOW! It's so crazy how time flies!!!
Rowan is so much fun now, but has developed himself a temper! :) (I don't know where he gets that from!) ;) He is talking lots and lots and saying sentences and knows so much more than we realized! He plays angry birds on my cell phone and actually knows HOW to play!

Life has been very busy! We had a great Halloween and Thanksgiving and then traveled to Chattanooga for a little family weekend, which was great!

Christmas is going to be super exciting too! I get to see my girlfriends the next 3 weekends in a ROW!! YAY! This is awesome news to share because I miss them SO very much!

Here are some pictures from Rowan's 26th month of life! :)

Month 25! :)

Here are some pictures from Rowan's 25th month of life! :)

Month 24! :)

Here are some pictures from Rowan's 24th month of life! :) I didn't get to post, but, of course have some pictures! :)

Rowan is 2!! :)

Just wanted to post a few pictures from Rowan's 2nd birthday party! :) We just did a small party this year at FunZone in Cullman! The kiddos (and adults) loved it! :)

Almost 2...

I am actually writing this on Rowan's birthday, but I'm late, so the title is for last month. :) We have been very busy around here! Rowan is talking more and doing so much! He is just a blessing and I couldn't imagine my life without him! Don't get me wrong, he is wild at times...but, aren't we all? ;) He is doing okay sleeping in his big boy bed,but about 3 times a week he will wake and come get in bed with us.

I must talk about my friends in this blog. They are the BEST. I have had some personal issues and without them I have NO clue what I'd do! Thank you and I love you ALL!!

Here are some pictures of Rowan! :)

Rowan is 22 months old! :)

We have been SO very busy around here lately! :) And, I'm loving it! We all are in bed by 10-10:30 every night so that shows we are crazy busy during the day! Houston starts 3 grad school classes in July, so we've been doing a lot in June, especially these last few days that we have together!
Rowan really enjoys going to the splashpad in Hartselle, swimming, and just playing outside in general! He finished his swimming lessons last Thursday, but is not swimming. ;) They were fun, though! He did learn to kick, but is not sure what to do with his arms just yet...swimming lessons at 1 year old I guess aren't supposed to train them for the olympics. It was more like playtime, actually! Rowan really loved the slide and to go under a LOT!!
We converted Rowan's crib to the full size bed on his 22nd month birthday...he woke up 3 nights in a row around 3 a.m., but has done good since! I had a lot of friends on facebook tell me to get him a glow-worm...I did and he LOVES it! So, hopefully that will help him sleep better! He is starting to say a few words at a time and it's so stinking cute! He can pretty much make ALL animal sounds and is obsessed with cows and horses. He actually took one of his cows and a horse to Point Mallard on Friday with us. ;) There's nothing like it.
July is going to be very busy for us as well! I look forward to all of the fun events coming up! Oh, and I have Rowan's birthday venue reserved and have ordered his cake...we are going with Sesame Street theme! (When I was pregnant I found some cups and plates that were Sesame Street for 2.00 so I must use them!)

Here are a few pictures! :)

21 Months! :)

Rowan is now 21 months, going on 4 years old! ;) He's a ball of fun and always doing something new! He says uh oh, dog, cat, barn, barney, mama, dada, nana, mimi, names, and lots lots more! He is most of the time out-going, but occasionally he will be shy around stranger! He does have a temper, but hopefully we can get control of that soon! :0

I went to Kaydee's bachelorette party June 3-6 and missed him so much, but had so much fun with my friends! Kaydee is going to be a beautiful bride and I'm so lucky to be a part of it! :) (I'm an honorary bridesmaid!) I returned home on the 6th and then Houston and I left the night of the 7th for the Dominican Republic for our 5th Anniversary trip...our neighbors went at the same time for their daughters high school graduation gift too, so we had friends there as well!! :) It was AMAZING, but we were so ready to get home to our baby!

While we were gone, my mom kept Rowan until Friday and then my best friend, Aubrey came and kept him until Sunday! I am so thankful for them! And, that they help us out, but actually want to be with Rowan, too! He is a blessed little guy! :)

Today is my Mom's 53rd birthday and we celebrated tonight by grilling out! It was lots of fun! The whole family was able to come except for my older brother, Cody because he had to work. :( I love how close Rowan is with his cousins! I want them to always stay close...some people don't have that closeness with family and I feel it is truly a blessing! :)

Rowan will be 2 in just a little over 2 months...this excites me and saddens me. I just love him so much and can't imagine him growing older and older! :)

Here are some pics of the past month!

20 MONTHS! :)

It's hard to believe that in less than 4 months Rowan will be 2 years old! Wow, how time has flown,but becomes more fun everyday! :) He is so wild...I think he takes a lot after me! He still loves to read, run, talk a lot, play outside, play chase, dance every chance he gets, and continues to give more hugs and kisses! This is such a fun age!! We had a wonderful Easter this year! My family came over and we had a blast! Rowan didn't care too much for hunting Easter eggs, but he did want to eat the candy!

Some new things Rowan is now doing...telling me when he pees, telling me when he poops, pointing to his crib when he wants to go to bed, going to the door and saying "outside", breaking out some new dance moves, and saying more and more words!!

Mother's Day was GREAT! :) We went to church, had Red Lobster take out with my family, and then made breakfast for dinner with Houston's mom! It was a great day! :)This weekend we are going to the beach for 5 days and are SO excited! Oh, and I signed Rowan up for swimming lessons and am very excited about this! He LOVES pools so it should be a lot of fun! :)

This life is GREAT! :)

Rowan is now...

19 months old!! Ahh! I cannot believe it! He is now so close to 2! It's so much fun and I wouldn't trade this stage of his life for anything! :) He is saying more words now...Saus(sausage),Ball,Juice,Go,No,Yesssss,fish,boots,shoe,sock,and of course, the ones I have talked about before! He has almost all of his teeth...I believe he has 3 coming in right now and that should be all! YAY! :) Teething has not been bad, really. There was a month where I thought someone had exchanged my kid for a little gremlin, but that flew by. (I related that to teething, whether it was that or not.) Anywho, life is fabulous with our little man running around! :)

March has been SO busy! But, has been so fun, too! We took Rowan out on the boat for the first time and to the circus! :) Aubrey and I did the walk for Ella, which was such an uplifting experience! It was also so fun to get together with friends we had not seen in awhile! :) The following weekend was mine, Aubrey's, and Catherine's birthday celebration weekend! :) That Friday we celebrated my birthday. Saturday, Aubs and I took Rowan to the mall and played for awhile on the carousel and in the play place where the bouncy toys are! A lady I knew was there and asked if Aubrey was my sister because she (obviously) did so great and played like a kid with Rowan!! I told her she was my best friend and she told me I was lucky...this I know.:) Saturday night we had a girls night and celebrated everyone's birthday!! 3 more of my friends have children, so my, how times/girls nights have changed! :) There were 3 little ones under 18 1/2 months and Kaylee, who is 4! :) I must admit, I was looking forward to Rowan's bedtime, so I could have some girl time that was much needed! :) It was a lot of fun! :) I seriously am so blessed to have the great group of girlfriends that I do! They are amazing! :)

Oh, and Houston is in Grad school @ UNA! He is getting his Masters in Instructional Leadership, which means hopefully he can advance in the Education Field one day! :) I am very proud of him...he works SO hard and remains extremely active in Rowan's life and mine. We are lucky to have him, for sure! :)

I am ready for continuous warm weather...the beach, etc! :)

Please continue to pray for Ella...they hope to be discharged from the hospital within the next week or so! YAY God is good! :)

Ella's Walk

March 12th was the walk/run we had for Ella, Dustin and Kellie Parker's little girl! :) We had such an awesome time and thank everyone for all of your support! :)
We raised over $12,000 for them, which is totally awesome! :) Thanks again! Here are some pictures from the walk!

February 2011!!

Rowan is now 17.5 months old!! I cannot believe it!! Houston and I were talking today and it won't be too long before we begin transitioning Rowan to his big boy bed! (6 months, I think!) This is exciting, but sad at the same time! :) He is running everywhere, talking constantly...not too clear, though! The only words I really understand are: ball, hot, mama, dada, fish, no, nana (for my mom), nana (for banana), yesssss, bye bye, and Hi. There may be more, but those are the most common. Rowan is very observant. He can point to people on the fridge when I say there name and does really well identifying his animals, etc. (I'm sure most children do this around this time, but I just think it is so cool!) He is so SWEET! Seriously, he loves to hug and give kisses. Houston has started putting him to bed at night and he will give me a kiss and tell me bye bye! (PRECIOUS!) Houston is so great with him! I am so thankful for such a good husband! :) Rowan even hugs his Elmo and Mickey. While hugging he will pat them on the back. He loves to play with his tools...the hammer is his favorite, probably because it is the loudest. :) He isn't scared of anything. This is good and bad. Hopefully we won't have any injuries from this. These days it is SO hard to go to work. Rowan is just so much fun!!! I hate leaving him, but know that's what we have to do right now. :)

January was SO much fun! :) Some of my girlfriends and I had a slumber party/birthday celebration in Florence at Kaydee's soon to be house!! We went to dinner at Ricatoni's and then went home to play the Wii. We dressed up in 80's outfits and rocked out!FUN TIMES!! I think I burned more calories than I consumed! Wahoo! ;) We plan on having another girls night in March!! YAY! Cannot wait! :)
Kaydee is getting married in July, so we have some busy months ahead of us getting ready for that!! Wahoo!! I love weddings and looooove when it's a friends wedding, of course!! I have the best group of girlfriends and I am so thankful for that! :)

Baby Ella is doing better...still has a way to go, but doing well for everything she has gone through! She is so tough!! Her walk is March 12th and we have had such a good response!! Thank you all for everything...Aubrey and I really appreciate it!! :)

Life has been very busy! And, life has been good!! Of course, there are some things going on in my life right now that are hard, but I try not to dwell on those. So, I will just ask you to pray for me and pray God continues to take care of everything, which He will! :)

Life lately...

Well, I am super excited about 2011...I think it's going to be a lot of fun! Rowan and I rang in the new year with my friends Danny and Tabbetha and their children. :) Houston was at the Bama game and this was our first New Years apart for 7 years! :( I still had fun, but it definitely wasn't the same. This weekend, my friends and I had our annual Christmas party! :) We were missing Kaydee and Kandice, which was sad, but nonetheless, we had a good time! I must say I have the best friends. I really, really do!

I write this post to say a couple of things I have had on my mind lately.

1. Kellie Parker Ray (one of my friends from college and my sorority sister) and her husband, Dustin Ray have been going through what NO parent can imagine or should have to imagine. Their daughter Ella had a bone marrow transplant on December 9th and since then has been in Children's Hospital recovering. She did fine for several days and after those days, some complications began. Ella has been in the ICU at Children's hospital for a little over 2 weeks now. She has been having problems with her liver, kidneys, and lungs. During this entire process, Kellie, Dustin, and especially little Ella have been so strong!! I, along with many others, admire them more than they will ever know! We all need to hug our children more and not take anything for granted. Please follow Ella's story and pray for them daily!!! www.caringbridge.org/visit/ellaray1

2. One of my greatest friends, Summer Shelton Welch, passed away on January 4th due to complications with a lifelong disease, Cystic Fibrosis. She fought this disease to the very end!! Summer and I had been friends since we were 6 years old. Summer was AMAZING...to say the least! There was never a day of complaining even though she was suffering and struggling to breath so very often!! Summer was a Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Fighter, and Friend to so many!! She loved the Lord and because of her many many lives have been touched! Please pray for her family and please learn more about her disease by going to www.cff.org. If you are able, please make a donation in her memory! There are so many people who are suffering from this disease! A cure is needed!!!


While life has its ups and downs, I still know that God has a plan and a reason for it all. There will be good days and bad days, but we must lean on Him!!