The Best of the Rest of Summer

Better late than never... but here is the rest of our summer happenings!

We had such a fun 4th of July! The weekend before the 4th we celebrated on Main St. with Indian fry bread, kettle corn, and fireworks! Rowe slept right through them. 

On the actual 4th of July, we spent the night in the street helping my dad get rid of a giant box of fireworks. 

Rowe did NOT sleep through this one...

Then the weekend after the 4th we went up North for the Heber fireworks. I have yet to see a better show. I love spending the 4th up there. We are so lucky to be able to stay with our grandparents and spend time with them as well. We were spoiled with more Indian fry bread and pancakes! 

 Pit stop at Willow Lake

Hanging out at the cabin. 

The boys were pretty excited to find out there was a frolf course in Show Low. So we took another little drive and played in the pines. 

 Then that night we watched the most amazing fireworks while Rowe hung out with Great Grandma and Grandpa McKinnon.

Kaelin made this awesome video of our trip!

4th of July, 2012 from Kaelin Shaker on Vimeo.

On August 11th, Keaton came home from his mission in Idaho! My parents went up a couple days before to pick him up and meet the people he has been serving with. We all waited anxiously for his late flight home that got delayed to even later. 

Killing time while we wait to go to the airport. Rowe loves the sound when you blow your lips... hence my retarded face but his very cute one. 

 A lot changed since Keaton left 2 years ago! We added Kaelin and Rowe to the family and Jake got a lot taller!

 

Before & After

This is posted simply because it needs to be documented... not because it is going to be important to any of you. 

Lovin on Uncle Shake- We are so happy to have this kid home!

 We finally got our 5 generation picture! 

And this guy had a birthday! The big 26. We went to breakfast and then he got meatloaf and chocolate chip cookies. A dream come true. 

Since summer was coming to an end, and Karl was about to start another semester of school, he went on one last man trip with his friend JJ and of course, the dogs. He was gone for 3 whole days. That is longest we have been apart in over 2 years people. But I survived. Here are my favorites from all the awesome pictures he took. 

This will be framed in my house. So great.  

So aside from all these exciting events, Rowe has been doing a lot of great things these past 2 months. 

He finally got a double chin. Ya buddy.  

He thinks it's the funniest thing to look at himself in the mirror. 

 

He got to meet the Stocks! At last!

He is starting to hold his bottle. So cute. 

He is starting to wear big boy clothes. 

He got his first bath in Great Great Grandma McKinnon's sink. A tradition for countless babies. 

 We gave up on swaddling that long, wiggly worm. He happily sleeps on his tummy now and consequently sleeps through the night. It's the greatest thing ever. 

Still loves that TV... Don't judge. 

Roscoe can't wait any longer for Rowe to be big enough to play! I was blow drying my hair one day and looked over at Rowe to see this happening.


Still all smiles. 

And his latest trick.... he is starting to giggle. It makes me want to cry and crack up at the same time it's so cute. It's been a rare happening, but when it does happen I love it!

Rowe Laughs from Kacey Reed on Vimeo.

He is 4 months old as of yesterday and weighs a whopping 15 lbs. This week he gets to take his first ride on an airplane! San Francisco here we come!

(My goal for these months to come is  to get my real camera out more often because the camera phone isn't hackin it. My apologies.)

Month Two.

Happy 2 Months of being alive to this cool babe. 

(I spotted these sunglasses at Target for $1. Couldn't resist. Can't wait until they really fit!)

What can I say about month two with Rowe Taylor? It's been the best and things are only getting better. 

He is so smiley!! I love it. The best is when he smiles big and his eyes turn into little crescents. Just melts my heart.

 1- Smiling when he is pooping. 2- Smiling after getting 4 shots. What...

He loves his girlfriend Breklyn and she loves him!  Rowe (left) 5 weeks Breklyn (right) 5 months!

He is growing growing growing! At his 1 month appointment, he was in the 15th percentile for weight and today at his 2 month appointment he was in the 40th percentile! He gained 3 pounds and now weighs 11.5 pounds. He'll be out of those newborn size diapers in no time! On the other hand, he is in the 85th percentile for height! He grew 2 inches and according to the doctor he is the height of a 3 month old. What up baller!

On June 3rd, Rowe was blessed by his dad. It was so special to hear the man I love bless this sweet little spirit that has been given to us. I still think Rowe is so close to heaven. He is always smiling at 'nothing'. I know he sees things that we can't. One morning I was reading him a book that was filled with pictures of Jesus that was given to us by Karl's parents. I have read books to Rowe before, and he has starred at pictures, but this time was different. As soon as I opened up to the first page and he saw the picture of Jesus, he got the biggest smile on his face and started to coo (something he wasn't doing much of at the time). I continued through the book and he saw many other pictures of Jesus with children and other people. When I got to another page that was a picture of just Him, he got the biggest grin again. It was such a sweet moment.

 (Blessing day- First family picture)

I LOVE that he is getting more of a personality. You would think I was the funniest person in the world by how he smiles and 'talks' to me sometimes. He is also becoming more curious and interactive. He loves his play mat and he (usually) loves tummy time!

His favorite thing of all is still bath time. No matter what kind of a mood he is in... it all changes when I turn that water on. I think he would stay in there all day if I let him. He's quite mad when he has to get out.

We have got this baby on a pretty awesome schedule. Right now he eats every 4 hours. It's very nice having a good gap of time that we can go do things and not worry about him getting hungry. Thus Rowe has been on many adventures lately! 

He came with us when Roscoe was invited to Clark's first birthday BBQ. 

He came frolfing (frisbee golf) with us! I think being outside would be classified as Rowe's second favorite thing. He enjoys being warm and being able to look around. 

My favorite boys!

 He was also a hit at my brother Matt's 25th birthday bash! 

The Shaker Family (Can't wait for Keaton to join us again in August!!!)

 Roscoe loves playing with Matt & Kaelin's dog, Gracie. Gracie is a champion swimmer... Roscoe prefers to follow her around the edge of the pool or just hang out on the first step. Every once in a while he will get brave enough to jump in after us.

 Rowe even went swimming for the first time! He lasted about 10 seconds before he decided it wasn't as cozy as bath water.

 Some other fun facts about 2 month old Rowe...
-He loves his swing. I think he would rather be in his swing than be held a lot of times.
-He loves music. Sometimes it calms him and other times it makes him dance! He likes when I sing to him too. "Popcorn Popping" gets him every time.
-He is a wiggle worm! No matter how tight I swaddle that boy he can always manage to wiggle his way out of it. He also does 180's in his crib. I need to take a before and after picture of where he is when he goes to sleep and then where he is when he wakes up. It's ridiculous.
-He is getting more hair! It's hard to even see that he has hair. He has lots around the sides and on the back but hardly anything on top. So he looks like an old man. Especially when he wrinkles his forehead. The hair around the sides looks red, but the new hair coming in on top is like white-blonde! So we will see how it turns out.
-He is very ticklish. I can't wait until he starts laughing. It will probably kill me it will be so cute.

I am loving being a mom. Today at the doctor's office the doctor said, "You don't look very tired for having a newborn." It was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. haha Rowe usually sleeps 6 hours each night these days and it is fantastic! I've been going jogging with Kaelin early in the mornings to get rid of the rest of my baby weight and try to tone up my grossly loose skin. (Tips ladies?) I'm back to cooking dinner and I'm back to work taking pictures. Life is good. Even when it's not so good... it is still so good.