The Cleanliness of a Bachelorette

In June, Chris posted a blog entitled "The Filth of a Bachelor." How different it is when the woman is the one left at home! The house is immaculate, laundry is done and put away, and things are generally in order. I had a great weekend. On Sunday, Chris and Gianna headed off to Napa for grandma Rowles funeral. Shannon was in town so we did the single girl thing. We went to Sam Moon, out to lunch and dinner, rented chick flicks, and basically didnt have a care in the world! But when all is said and done, I don't want Chris and Gianna to leave ever again! I missed both of them so much and cannot wait to see themtomorrow. It is going to be the longest day ever!

PS.....

I can't believe I forgot some of the most important news...We're having another GIRL!!! Two little rowles girls I thought one was cute enough....how can I handle two... I admit I was hoping for a boy...only because I need something to offset the cuteness factor of G...a little punk boy I can slap around...but two little cuties running around the house is going to be a complete delight....it will be cuteness to the max for now..and in 20 years when they have boyfriends....I'm dead meat...we're working on names right now.... The only part of it that we have set is Francesca.... it's my great grandma's name and is only fitting considering the circumstances.

No more crying

Wow. I really let myself go over the last month and now we have a month plus to catch up on. Where to start. Well i guess we have to rewind a month. It was one month ago that G and Moe left me all alone to go celebrate the engagement of "Aunt Shanny" and "Uncle Tom", at that point g was just saying Shanny and Tom...but more on that later. And two weeks later it was back to St. Louis for Christmas. G and "CO-liin" had a great time together...especially with each other's toys. G loved the trains and Colin loved G's dolls....j/k, but he did love her puzzles. I think i may have had more fun with their toys than they did. There was a wooden train set. I seriously built like 15 different tracks trying to utilize all the pieces. One time I spent a good 45 minutes on it while they were sleeping..you know how long it lasted after they woke up? 5 minutes, but it ROCKED! Grandma and Grandpa got webcams for everyone which has been great we've been able to video chat with everyone, it's been a blast. (it's been especially great cause we're able to talk to my great grandma..more on that later also). WE had a visit from Santa...to which there were opposite reactions. Colin...the schemer..new immediately Santa had presents...if I stay on Santa's lap I get presents... G...saw a crazy man with a beard and thought AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Next year though she'll dig him for sure.

Next year I think we need to put a limit on Christmas presents at Christmas cause trying to transport two suitcases full of presents is not fun...especially after Christmas........soooo on a funny/annoying note...my flight was Monday after Christmas so that I could get to work at 9ish...well I showed up to the airport a full hour and half early...and was late boarding my flight...there were seriously like 300+people in the terminal waiting to check/get through security INSANE... Moe came back a few days later which was alot easier.

We're officially lame. 2nd year in a row that we didn't do anything on new years. Next year though we're going CRAZY...that's my resolution.

Okay post holiday wrap up. We gave ourselves/ my mom helped too in lieu of sending us something....revamp some rooms. After two trips to Ikea (They didn't have the shelves we wanted...but got them overnight) we put together an awesome bookcase. The bookshelf is virtually all cubbies that we were able to use to organize G's toys and finally give her a room to play in. Our new playroom is AWESOME....I have pics and video somewhere....

G is now starting to put words together to form mini sentences!!! It's fantastic. One of her favorites is No more Crying. It's so darn cute to hear her say it after she's been crying (heartbreaking if she does it in timeout). But she will consistently use words in pairs and as modifiers, which is really making it easier to understand her wants and desires.



G, you're too young to understand what a delight you are to everyone you meet and how you can truly brighten someone's day. Thanks to Gma and Gpa Mchugh we have been able to see and talk to my grandma, "Grea Grama" who doesn't have much time left. It's been really tough on everyone especially Grandma Rowles . We were able to have a brief video chat and my mom tells me it was the most she's spoken in days and really pepped her up. I know it wasn't my ugly mug that did the trick but it was all you, Gianna. G, I know you are going to read this one day and not understand what it means until you are much older but you absolutely touched my grandma's heart and soul during a time when so many of us can be scared and alone.
Grandma told us a little later that she wants you to have one of her sets of pearls, a small gift really, but it means so much. In 28 years from now when you get married and you're wearing your Great Grandmother's pearls...there will be more than one person in the room who has to say to themselves....No more crying....

The latest addition

Thats right! Moe is pregnant with baby Rowles #2. We are due May 24th, which is coincidentally Gianna's second birthday! Moe is doing great, and the baby bump is just beginning to show! We will keep you updated!

Apologies.

Are due for the gap in posts and length of this impending post. Alot has changed in the last month and it's been quite busy.
Thanksgiving- we went to CA to visit the family, it was a bittersweet visit that kinda kept me postless for a little while. "Gre-Grama" (adorable when she says it) was in the hospital most of the week with what at first was pneumonia but later was discovered to be lung cancer and a softball sized tumor on her left lung that was putting pressure on her heart. We went and visited her every day in the hospital. G was the life of the hospital, it's absolutely wonderful the reactions an 18 month kid running through the halls and laughing will illicit in a hospital. Typically we like to get out and about during our stays in CA but this trip was much different. We found out about the cancer on Wed, and had hoped that "Gre-grama" would come home for Thanksgiving dinner, unfortunately she couldn't, but we were fortunate to see her come home on Friday. Everyone was there Sally (my aunt flew in when she found out it was bad),my great aunt Viola and her family Tommy and Betsy. It was wonderful to sit down and talk and laugh even if it's the last time. It's heartbreaking having to say goodbye to your grandma, not knowing if you will see her again, a little easier for her I'm sure (she has some dementia right now which may make things easier for her). G again was absolutely adorable. First time around she got everyone's name down. She had all her aunt's and uncles down the first day we were there, so i wasn't surprised to see her rattle off the new names like it was nothing (Ain't nothin but a G thang Baby?!?!) I have pics and video, moe has most on facebook. One of the cutest moments on the trip was her new favorite friend "Mar-leeee", my sisters dog. Well after a couple of days of being scared of the dogs it was good to see her get to like them, but kinda gross....she learned that you could kiss the dog....and they taught each other....yes each other, that you could kiss on the lips. G would chase Marley around the house saying "Marleeeeee kissss?" and every once in a while she would get Marley to lick her on the lips. Jen tells me that now Marley won't stop till she gets some lip action, and randomly G will ask " Marley kiss?" even though she hasn't seen her for a couple weeks now.

Back on the homefront, G is a riot. She had started to just grunt and whine whenever she was trying to express herself, so we have been teaching her alot of new words to help her get what she wants. We learned Please, Help, Stuck, Thank you all kinds of good words, but she still reverts to the grunting. So we tell her "G, use your words". Well alot of times we throw her a lifeline and tell her what to say, well she's gotten in the habit of repeating the words we say....so now when we tell her to use her words we get "words" in return...with a head bob that says "okay i got it right now give me what i want". Hilarious. Her vocab is growing exponentially, it's crazy. She knows all the shapes, an entire zoo and farm full of animals and a ton of words, well assuming you say them first. My favorite thing we do now is be tigers!
I'm the "poppa tiger" and she's the baby tiger, we get on hands and knees and crawl around growling looking for a momma to pounce on. I also taught her how to be a dog and a cat...and the one i am working on now is the duck we squat down and waddle while we quack. I have more stories I'm sure, but this is getting too long and i need to work.

Oh girl.....

So as I am driving to the store in a semi-frantic pace in the onslaught of rain I'm thinking to myself..
"When you turn 14 and are staring at yourself in the mirror, wondering if you really could be on the cover of Teen magazine....don't hate me?"

And as I am running into the store soaking wet I think again..
"God i hope it's not going to scar....But she's a kid right? They heal really well...I mean like kids are indestructible...right?"

As I am dressing her wound....pinning her down so I can clean it and get a better look
"At least its in her hair line....At least she can cover it up if it does get bad...Am i bad parent? "

Right after she fell from the ottoman I thought...
"That monkey child when will she learn....just the other day she fell from her chair thank god she fell like a professional stuntman and didn't hurt anything, thank goodness she's on the carpet where......."

HOLY CRAP THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE....

It's okay...a little painful for her I'm sure but it wasn't stitch worthy....and she seems to be over it, except when we changed her band-aid this morning...

Cutest thing in the whole world (At least to me it is)

G's vocabulary is pretty extensive at this point, her teachers tell us she is the most vocal and the most talkative one in her class. Last week i went to drop her off a little later than normal and most of the kids were there, well she starts rifling off their names as if she's the one running the class!!! I think we may have a little napoleon complex here, but if your the smartest one in the class wouldn't you?!?

Some of her new words are so nice to hear. She is finally able to start rationally communicating her needs and issues. She became a big fan of Help over the weekend. I may get tired of that one soon but it's great for now. We've been working on PLease and she now uses it in context! Well after some goading she'll use it but she knows she hass to use to get the things she wants. Thank you isn't quite there yet but we're getting there. She also knows her diaper issues!!! I guess that's the first step towards potty training. We'll ask her if she's poopy (she's been really tooty lately), "NOPE" with a head shake and sure enough she's right, come to think of it i don't think she's given us a wrong answer...

She's got some new animal noises...probably the cutest is the pig...she knows two different sounds the typical "oink" and then the nasal snoring sounding one. She loves to call it by name too..."PI(g)" the g is kinda silent. Lately she's been more concerned with identifying the animal by name and not the sound it makes.

But the cutest thing in the whole wide world (and moe has agreed with me here) is when she calls me "Poppa". Yep Moe taught her that and she agrees that it's unbelievably adorable. She calls me Dad, and Daddy, but Poppa is my favorite.
"Seriously, CUTEST thing ever! Especially when she just woke up and she is all snuggly from sleep and she says it. Freaking adorable."-Moe.
I thought we would use Poppa or Pops for grandpa's but it's mine now and i'm not giving it up!!!

Halloweeny

What culminated in an overly energetic G bouncing round the room, was the untimely discovery of Chocolate and Candy. We have seriously tried on a number of occasions to lure her to the dark side of the sweet tooth range of flavors with bits of chocolate here and there....but she would have nothing to do with it. Untill the discovery of the "ORANGE" wrapper.(one of her favorite colors next to "yewlowred" which i guess is orange..) It started with a Reese's stick which is a peanut butter kit-kat and there has been no looking back. She of course loves one of my favorites Dots, which isn't that far from her little gummies she gets. The chocolate discovery was precluded by a round of trick or treating that was uneventful to say the least. She enjoyed being dressed up, but was too shy to go up to the doors. We got her to say "treat" but her stage fright came through and she refused to perform despite our goading. She seemed to enjoy watching the other kids coming to our door, but really could care less for going to other peoples doors...why go to them when they can come to you.....seems to be her mantra as of late, as she knows how to get what she wants. It had all started with an entertaining pumpkin carving session that her rfusing to even look inside the pumpkin. We tried to get her to scoop out the guts and put them in the bowl but she just wanted to put her tinkerbell outfit on... she absolutely loved the wings and refused to wait any longer....why waste time on this thing...when you could be dressed up?!?! Already has the mentality of pretty girl...is that her nature or is it learned?

Words, what are they worth?

If a picture is a worth a 1000 words, what's a word worth? And what would be the value of a video in respect to words? I am of the opinion that some words are priceless, and timeless. That being said can a picture have value if a word is priceless? We have great speeches, and lines from important people that will continue on long after their legacy, but first words are even more important, and even more valuable to the ones who speak them.

G's vocabulary expands on a daily basis and yet it doesn't seem to be enough. This is when it gets tough. She loves to talk, loves learning new words and yet it still is hard for her to communicate, she just doesn't know enough, poor thing. I just wanted to share some of her favorite words and songs...
Colors-she knows almost all the standards ones red, blue, green, orange, yellow,pink, purple, black,
Numbers-she loves 2 4 and five...has problems with 3 and 1 is just boring...who wants just one anyway.
Body parts- only a couple she doesn't know....and that's okay she can wait on those.
More yes and no are standards and she uses them well, hello goodbye blow kisses are all favorites as well.
Songs are by far one of her favorite things to do. Her new favorite is "IF all the raindrops were.." she loves the "ahhh ahh" part. Twinkle twinkle is another of her faves she puts her hands in the air and gives some twinkle fingers. Wheels on the bus has been a staple for a long time and never gets old, she knows all the little hand parts. Hokey Pokey, this one is hilarious she now has it down pat, every part of the dance, and always wants "more". Her "more" is hilarious she puts 1 finger up in front of her mouth and says "more" and moves her hand up and down. Usually she means she just wants another song. We probably need to get some Barney, Raffi/ other children's song cd's cause I'm a little rusty on them and getting a little tired of the ones i know. We'll get a video of the song cycle up soon.

3 days at a time.

Last week was pretty rough for G..even though it was very short. Our 3 day weekend last week was great but for the rest of the week she was having some intestinal issues and teething issues that made her week a little rough. After 3 days at school she got a break when Grandma and Uncle Ryan made the drive down from St. Louis and stayed with her on Friday....giving her another 3 day weekend...srb.(yes i am jealous)
Sidenote...Mom is uber-trusting of Ryan... I don't know many parents that would have let their 15 year old drive 90 miles an hour with them in the passenger seat...but it's good that he learn to speed the right way! i.e. not getting caught)
She had a blast with Ryan and Grandma all weekend. At first she started with the generic "Mat" for uncle ryan (my brother which she also uses for Tim) but i think we managed a "Ry" a couple times this weekend.
I am not sure who had more fun this weekend, G or Ryan. I've never seen a 15 year old who was more interested in playing with baby toys than the Wii...It's true i think i caught him playing with the toys while g was in the other room reading!

Not only did we get some free labor (i wish mom didn't feel obligated to clean something, but i won't turn it down!) but we also got our carpets cleaned, a new dining room table (grandpa's table from the farm...it's beautiful) and we also managed to rearrange some furniture and snazz up three rooms at once! It was amazing how one piece of furniture allowed us to do so much to our house. It was great that they were there friday and saturday, but a shame that we really only got to hang out for friday night and saturday. They left first thing on Sunday, and G waived and blew kisses as they drove away. We have some great videos and pictures that will be up soon.

In the spirit of our new dining room set, we went to Hobby Lobby last night and got some picture frames for our Wine Valley Maps, that go great with our table. I have to pat myself on the back a little here...i matted them too...A little harder than i thought it would be. They don't look professional, but it's hard to tell!