Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful day celebrating. Rowan, as if he knew today was a special day, woke up laughing. From the moment I switched on his light this morning he was laughing and babbling to himself.

Thank you to everyone who made Rowan's first Christmas special. As you can see this child is dearly loved and will be spoiled rotten by grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. Rowan loved exploring his new toys, but mostly enjoyed eating the paper they were wrapped in. My dad also made him a special gift, a beautiful wooden train. While Rowan is too little to play with it now I look forward to the day he can drive it around.

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Time

6 months old

Gram's Visit with Rowan

So my mom finally got to see Rowan this weekend for the first time since the beginning of July. This visit was for my mom to be there for my (Josh's) ordination...but if we are honest, the real point of the visit was to see Rowan! They had a great time together, and although the weekend was quite busy, Rowan did great...and my mom looked like she had a wonderful time with the newest Hayden family member. Thanks a lot to The Winklers for having my parents at their house for a few days, and making them feel so welcome. It was great to see so many friends and family at my ordination, thanks for all your support...and more importantly, thanks for loving on Rowan! Here are a couple of pics from Gram's time with Rowan. And a video of them playing too!

Laughing

Rowan is laughing more and more these days. Sometimes we hear him making these weird coughing noises to try to make sounds...I think that he sounds like a cat sometimes, but it is really funny. He has caught himself a few times making noises and he makes himself laugh. It really is fun to watch. In the first video we finally catch Rowan laughing on tape with me. And on the second video, while eating rice cereal last night, Rowan started laughing, then he got the hiccups, which made him laugh more, all the while Shey is just cracking up!

Swimming

Rowan and Maggie (with Shey and Kristen of course), are getting some swim lessons from Kathy (Shey's mom) over at the new aquatic center in Warrenton. It is fun to hear their stories from the day, and last week I was able to go with Shey one afternoon to see Rowan get in the pool for the second time. It is a lot of fun to watch...to see him kick his little feet and take in his surroundings. Here is a video from our trip last week during Thanksgiving break. I'm sure in the near future we will see some more pics and/or videos of Rowan and Maggie's swimming adventures! Enjoy!