Caution! Extremely mushy content below.

I have been thinking about motherhood lately - about being a mom, about having a mom and what all this means to me.

The love that a mother has for her child is boundless. Every mother will tell you that. It is a feeling of warmth, joy and gratitude all rolled into one ever expanding emotion. This is an emotion I am blessed to experience every time that I greet Rowan in the morning. Today, however, all of a sudden, I was struck by the thought that my mother must LOVE me as much as I LOVE Rowan. This might seem like common sense to you but to me the implications are profound. You see, as parents we tell our children that we love them all the time. We show them that we love them through our care, concern and patience yet there is no way that any child will ever really grasp the love that a parent has for that child until that child experiences that same kind of love for their child.

So what does this mean to me? It means the world to me for even though my parents have told me often enough that they love me, I never really understood the depth of that love until today. So I am eternally grateful for the privilege of being a mom and I am humbled by the LOVE that comes from having a mom.

This post is dedicated to my mother. I LOVE you Mom!

It is a big day for us. You see, Rowan has grown into quite a big boy now and doesn't need his bottle before bedtime anymore.

The transition from soy based formula to regular cow's milk was quite tricky. Since Rowan didn't initially like cow's milk we ended up substituting more and more of the formula with milk over a period of time. For a while it seemed to work quite well but by the time that we got to filling his bottle with milk only, he didn't really want the bottle anymore. He was however keen on drinking milk from a tiny little glass and since we still want him to drink some milk during the evening we decided to go with that idea. So now our night time routine includes a session of us pouring a little bit of milk into a tiny little glass and Rowan drinking it one sip at a time. It takes a while to get through five little cups but Rowan keeps us entertained along the way.

No more bottles to be washed and sterilised. No more having to pack water and formula on a long trip away from home. No more having to buy formula. What a good day.

Special Sunday Surprises

A quick little project for a Sunday afternoon is making hand prints in clay. They're easy and fun and make great gifts for grandparents as Anke would say :) I enjoyed making these as much as Rowan did. I love watching him copy everything we do.

In the late afternoon the boys took a trip out to the hardware store. I received a report back of a fun filled adventure of hiding between boxes in the store while Dad was picking out his CHAINSAW! Yes, they got a chainsaw!

I think it must have been our visit "way down the valley" with our friendly friends that inspired the prompt acquisition of a chainsaw. Don't worry Andy, Richard will not be cutting wood using a handsaw anymore :)

Rowan and I went shopping today. It was a beautiful day. The air was warm and the excitement of spring was all around. People were out walking their dogs. Playing in parks. Riding their bicycles. But, Rowan and I needed to get some things from the store and decided to make the most of such a beautiful day by parking the car a great distance away from the entrance to the shop. And to get even more mileage out of our new shoes we also decided to walk from one end of the strip mall to the other :) I smile because some of you might not know that here in America's Midwest most people, including us, drive our cars from one end of the strip mall to the other - mainly because it is either too hot or too cold to walk from store to store. And sometimes we are just too lazy.

We really enjoyed all the walking. It was so nice to finally be able to breathe in the fresh air.

Somehow the shopping experience was altered by the walking, the fresh air and the ever curious little boy. As we were making our way to our car I was paying attention to Rowan and what he was doing as he really seemed to enjoy it. He was living in the moment. Taking it ALL in. I would never have noticed the birds nesting behind the massive store signage boards if it weren't for Rowan suddenly stopping in his tracks and pointing upwards with a gasp. There they were. Ten of them. Flying in, out and about. We stayed for a while and watched the birds go about their day.

As we reached the car I thought, because of Rowan's keen interest in the birds, that we should pay a visit to the pet store. Of course Rowan loved looking at all the animals but he seemed to pay particular interest to the fish and I thought to myself "Perhaps it is time for a gold fish!". One phone call to the house and just like that we welcomed a new member to our family. Allow me to introduce "Little Fish."

We named it Little Fish because it is non-gender specific, it is tiny and because Rowan really says "fish" in such a cute way. Rowan helped me with decorating and filling up Little Fish's new home. We had a great time.

Salute to the Sun

What a beautiful day! The sun is out. The air is actually kind of warm. Aah! Just what we have been waiting for. Even the earth is smiling today.


We headed outside for a ride on Rowan's new tricycle but ended up as usual at the great big mound of dirt outside the garage. This time, however, Rowan decided to do what his Mom and Dad were supposed to do for quite some time now which was to spread all that dirt around so that our property didn't look quite so untidy.


Now that Rowan is a whole two years old I guess I thought that he was big enough o handle the big shovel. This boy is not afraid of a challenge.


After a while he must have realised just how little difference his shovelling made to the shape and size of Mount Dirt and it was time to climb! The wind was strong and the climb was difficult, but the more times you do it, the better you get at it. Our boy truly conquered that mountain today.

Happy Birthday Rowan!

Today is Rowan's 2nd birthday.

Breakfast was somewhat different than usual. There were balloons, gifts and a telephone call from Ouma. Richard stayed home and Rowan's Gran and Grandad joined us at the table via the internet. Rowan enjoyed opening all the gifts - tearing the paper off tiny bits at a time. After a while he got the hang of it and ripped through the last couple of gifts very effectively. Even Mia (our cat) joined in the celebration in her own little way.

He was also fortunate enough to have some of his friends come over for a lunchtime birthday celebration. I am so amazed at just how much children love cake!!! Seriously! It could get dangerous if you were to stand between a toddler and a colourful frosting covered cake.

It was great fun and I would like to thank all that contributed to Rowan's big day.

We are ready and excited for Rowan's big day tomorrow!!!