February 2013!

2013 has started out great! It has been nice not being in school. I am studying for my licensure exam which I will take in April, but it is not nearly the same as currently being enrolled in school. It has been very nice.

To start off our year, Brian and I went to California for a little vacation. It was so nice to get a way for just a few days. We stayed in Anaheim, and our trip consisted of visiting Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego temple, and the first supercross of the 2013 season. I realize many of you will not know much about the Monster Energy Supercross series... however my hubby and I enjoy watching these! We have been to quite a few pro races, and I was trying to add up how many and we couldn't quite figure it out... but most of the time we go to the race in Salt Lake City... however that race is towards the end of the season and usually some riders have been hurt or there is a definite champion already.... by going to the first race of the year all of the riders were there, and it was SO exciting! We loved it... It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we were able to go. We decided we aren't much of California people... very nice place, but way to busy/ populated for us small town folk. :) Here are some pictures from that adventure!

 This is us at a Sea World show... my favorite was the Clyde, Seemore, and O.P. show...

 This is us at Anaheim 1 supercross

 That's O.P. how cute is he?!? He waved to all of us!

Here is Clyde

 Just a soaring dolphin

 This wildlife was encountered at the San Diego temple parking lot.... not sure how a raccoon survives in the city.... but he seemed to be doing just fine.

 Gorgeous temple! I am still learning on my camera, and for some reason when I had a picture of the top of the temple the details were blurred... I couldn't get my settings right... so this is the best I got.

Back to supercross.... I realize I'm not a "tech" person and that I understand some things about computers and programs but not a lot... however I am so tired of loading my pictures in a certain order then posting them here and them coming up in whatever random order they decide to... errrr makes me angry... anyways that is why we go back and forth...

Here is one of my favorite riders Chad Reed...

 This is the start of the race... obviously happened prior to the picture above... errr

 This is Davi Millsaps and he won! If you follow supercross it was a huge surprise and a great race to watch.

Now here we are at the zoo...

 I love otters... I think they could be my favorite.

 It's a panda bear... I believe it is a red panda... anyways I thought this bear deserved to be posted... as he is cute enough to be a poster child.

 Again the otter... love them.

Giraffes are just cool.

Moving onto February... I finally was able to meet my doctor who will perform the C-section! It has been a crazy pregnancy as far as going to my appointments and seeing a doctor. I was in WA for part of it... then got back to ND and decided I should switch and so now instead of going to Williston I travel 3 1/2 hours to Bismarck for my appointments... I know you are probably thinking I'm crazy and it would seem you have every reason to be right, but Brian and I felt we should go to a bigger less "Willistonized" hospital. I haven't regretted my choice yet. I love the PA who I have seen a few times and I am very happy with the MD who I met on Wednesday... Best news of all, I only have one more appointment! YAY! We scheduled the baby's birthday for 3-1-13 at 8:30 am.... I thought it had a great ring to it, I could have done it in February but decided I wanted a March baby! :) ha ha I love how I get to choose... plus it makes it so easy to keep track of how many months old this baby will be... I love the convenience of modern medicine.

I am very excited to be done with being pregnant. Some women I hear say they love it and have never felt better... props to them, but that isn't me. I realize this is a very sensitive subject as some women never are given the opportunity to be pregnant, and I am very grateful I am and haven't had any problems.... That being said here is my side of the story: I am short... that isn't a new thing to anyone who knows me... this baby as it grows has pushed all my innards up into my lungs and my bladder down to where it will hold about 2 TB of liquid. It is hard to breathe... I can't bend over without my stomach getting squished making lovely noises and presenting great feelings of needing to vomit. My pelvis is so loose that when I sleep on my side (which lets be honest there aren't many other options as on my stomach would produce a teeter totter effect and on my back produces a passed out mama) my SI joint shifts enough each time that to sit up produces excruciating pain and I have to do pelvic tilts until it pops back into place. I have acid reflux so bad when I sleep and I move a certain way it squishes the nasty liquid up and I wake up in a panic feeling like I am suffocating as it feels like it is coming out both my nose and my mouth. Because of pregnancy hormones I have an excess of mucous which drains down the back of my throat and constantly makes me feel as though I am sick with a cold... not to mention nauseous because of the drainage into my stomach... I could list lots of other things but I realize what a wuss I am and that complaining does very little.... okay it does nothing for solving the issue. Some people seemed baffled by my response of "no, I don't like being pregnant" and I guess now I can just say read my blog to find out why... :) Again I realize how blessed I am to be able to have a child... can't even really say bear children as they have to be surgically removed as I am incapable of pushing them out.... but you hopefully know what I mean. I am sorry for those that want children and can't have them, they would probably love to feel any of the above mentioned things, and I am sorry I don't enjoy it... but that is how I feel. I guess while I am on my rant I might as well finish off with my pet peeve about people feeling sorry for me having to have a c-section. If you go online and look at c-section a lot of times you will see failed delivery associated with a c-section. I'm sorry but why is a c-section a failed delivery? Did not the baby make it out safe and the mother is still alive? Shouldn't that be considered a success? I don't feel sorry that I have my babies through a procedure that lasts about 40 minutes rather than an unknown amount of labor time. And I'm so grateful for smart people who have figured out how to do it quickly with the least amount of impact. 

My hubby made a really good point and it made me laugh... I was talking to him about this very subject and he said giving birth all natural is like going to a car lot and saying I would like to buy a horse a buggy. ha ha :) I thought it was funny and said very well, granted I do realize there are studies that show benefits for all natural and no drugs and things like that, I'm not that naive but now you know my opinion about it. I give props to all those ladies out there that do it that way, I have quite a few good friends that have done home births, or all natural in a hospital, and I am so proud of them as I could never do that! But don't tell ladies that have their babies via c-section that its a failure... I'm just sayin'.... :) Hmmm I must be like almost due, I seem to have some hormonal opinions raging. ha ha ha well I'm officially off my soap box, I hope you enjoyed the post, I'm going to see if I can get one last belly picture posted for you... I'm betting the next time I blog our baby will be here! So excited to find out whether it is a boy or girl! Let the guesses start coming in as to what you think baby will be, and how big! 

Until next time.... Adios!

 

Now there is a bubble about to pop... yikes...

It's about time for an update!

Life has been busy and rushed the past few months, and my blog seems to have gone by the way side... But being it is January 1, 2013 seems like a great time to start with an update and try and do better... (Side note: This is not a new years resolution.... so don't expect much! ha ha)

To start off with updates, lets mention the most exciting one! I'm 30 weeks pregnant! YAY!! Baby Rowe #2 will be here sometime the beginning of March. We don't know if we are having a girl or a boy, we wanted a surprise baby! How exciting right? Fortunately for me I will have a C-section because I had one with Madi, and so this time around we will just show up to the hospital and the appointed day early in the morning and by not so early in the morning we will have baby #2 in our arms! I'm super excited! AND I won't have gone through hours of labor this time around.
Next exciting news: I have graduated from my PTA program! YAY! I still have to take my licensure exam, so I'm not completely finished... but I am completely done with San Juan College. Let's just say that makes me incredibly happy. I don't have any more trips to NM, and I don't have to register for classes or pay for tuition! Oh happy day... not even to mention text books... :) However, the exam I have left to take is expensive and only offered 4 times a year, and so I will take mine in April. After that.... if I pass... I will be a licensed PTA in North Dakota, and able to work should I choose to do so. The best part is I only have to take that test and pass it once. Lets hope that it is one time and that is the end of it... :) But it is a national test so should we move, I only need to re-license in the new state. I'll have to pay a fee, but I don't ever have to take the test again! So I'm okay with that... The location I did my first internship had offered me a job, but we will see what I decide to do when that time comes. I'm looking for something 1-2x/ week.... because I'm more interested in staying home and being a mom. So time will tell what I end up doing.
Exciting news: Madi had a birthday and turned 3! Craziness... Can't believe it's been 3 years. We had a pirate themed birthday party for her and she had a lot of fun. We had an awesome pirate ship cake, and she had a pirate dress that doubled as her Halloween costume.
Exciting news: Madison is potty trained! Oh happy day! Now... I could really rant and rave about this topic, but I am going to give the shortened version of what is most important for toddlers being potty trained. I have come to learn there is a HUGE difference between  being capable of being potty trained and being ready to be potty trained. My child was capable a year ago to be potty trained, and did it for a few months... however it became very frustrating because she would choose when to go on the toilet and when to just not care... It was then I decided to put it on hold until I didn't have school anymore... Came home from Washington and after a few weeks of being home, she came in my room one morning with a very wet diaper and told me she needed to go  potty on the potty... so I, like any reasonable parent would do, very calmly and whatever like told her "okay if you say so"... took off her diaper and she went on the toilet and then put on panties afterward and has been good to go since. She has had 2 wet accidents since, both of which she waited to long to go and was dancing at her potty as she tried to pull her underwear down, but couldn't get them down in time so just sat on the toilet and went pee through the underwear. The #2 was a little more difficult, but still was her idea and that made it an acceptable action to take. She still dances when she has to go, and waits until the very last second... often leaving little "skid marks" in her underwear... ha ha ha but still she is going in the potty, I don't have to remind her to go, she has decided to do it and that made 100% the difference. I'm also enjoying that this time around I don't have to worry when we go places or even when she is really enjoying a toy or a movie.... she knows when she has to go and she will make it, and I can trust her. SO AWESOME. My favorite part of this whole thing, no matter what part of the house she is in when she has to go she pulls her undies down to her ankles and then runs with them around her ankles to her potty!! SO HILARIOUS... we are going to need to fix this before school.... but until then it is super funny to watch. So a year later I can successfully say... my child is potty trained because now she was ready for it. And congrats to me I have 3 months off of diapers. ha ha ha
Exciting news?: I'm not sure what to call this, but Brian had his appendix removed.... During my internships that were in Washington, Brian stayed in ND to work, you know to pay the bills and my tuition... silly things like that... Anyways we had arranged 4 trips out to WA for him. He flew from Billings to Wenatchee and it had been working awesome. His last trip out he had driven to Billings, which is a 5 hour drive, and was staying in a motel that night as his flight was leaving at 6 am... He texted me around 2 in the morning telling me we needed to move his flight to later because he thought he had food poising. Well moving his flight would make his trip really long and it just wasn't going to work, so he continued to feel sick but decided to still go to the airport and make his flight. So it was 4:45 in the morning and he was checking in for his flight, he was pale and sweating and felt like he had been run over by a semi, but being the champ he is he still checked in and proceeded to wait to board his flight. About 45 mins later when they began boarding his flight he felt really sick and was starting to have serious pain, and called me and we decided he should go to the ER as he couldn't get on his flight like this, and he couldn't make it home... so going to the ER would at least give him something to make the food poisoning be less miserable. So he left the airport went and checked himself into the ER, and it didn't take the MD long to diagnose him with appendicitis. So here I am 700 miles away finding out in the wee hours of the morning my hubby is in a hospital far away from all family and any sort of support system, and he has to have his appendix removed. Sad day... not to mention I thought he was coming to visit and now he was in a hospital instead... :( So I got a flight from Wenatchee to Billings and went to him! Ha ha... ironic.... There are very few things as funny as my hubby on strong meds... He is pretty loopy when it comes to pain killers stronger than tylenol. I didn't make it there until after they had already performed the surgery, so he was feeling much better by the time I got there, which was awesome! Then he was told he couldn't work for 2 weeks... well awesomeness for me... I suggested he come to WA with me and spend his time recovering there! It was a great way to finish out my internships. :) And he is one appendage short now, but recovered great and felt better immediately following surgery. Awesome. 
Less exciting news: Baby Rowe's room is painted! Yay... When we bought this house, that room was the ugliest and we said that it would be the first to be painted. It was a bright teal color... Really bright... It is a pretty color, just not for a small room, or a room in my house... that's my own personal opinion though. :) If you have a bright teal room, props to you for being able to pull it off! :) Anyways the funny part of this story is we have painted every room but the kitchen, and teal room was the last to get painted. funny how it worked out.

Our 2012 ended great, we are all back together in ND and very happy to be home. We had a really fun Christmas at our house, and Brian's parents came up to join us. It was really nice being home and playing Santa for Madi. She really got into Christmas this year. I'm a big fan of nativity sets, and so I have a few. Madi has a fisher price one perfect for her as well. It was fun taking them out and setting them up, and Madi would ask me to tell her the story again and again as she played with the figures. She also learned about Rudolph and Santa and had quite a bit of fun reading stories about them. She would tell us, "Do you know my friend Rudolph?" They became good friends apparently over this Christmas season.

This is like 14 weeks ish....

Murphy and Madi became good friends over our stay in Washington

One of our first weekends we went up to Shari's in Winthrop to enjoy some yummy homemade ice cream.

The weird ice cream statue man...

Some of Madi's other friends..... There was Max, Paisley, Bernadette, Milo, Crazy and It... just to name a few. :)

Other friends that don't belong to Auntie Alyssa

Chocolate brownie mix! So yummy!!

At the state fair to see Alyssa and her bunnies, we found a monkey! She loved him!!

Pappy and Madison were pals, and became super buddies!!

The carousel was a HUGE hit.... I only had to ride it a few times and then gram and pappy took turns for me. Worked out well because it made me really nauseous.

Ice cream is always yummy!

You can't have a toddler without the boo-boo's. She was running and tripped right into a stair.. owie...

But she was a trooper and let me put a cold rag on her head.

Black baby was another favorite friend

It was always fun when daddy came to visit!!

A new way to bathe in WA.... No not every night... just once, but it was fun.

Cute little cowgirl

Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween from Grandma!

Doesn't she look so grown up!!

Getting bigger! I think this was around 22 weeks ish...

'

Going to pick out pumpkins! This was the pumpkin she choose.. It was just "sooo tute!!"

Carving pumpkins.... she wasn't a very big fan of how slimy they were... Which surprised me...

Happy Halloween! Isn't she the cutest pirate ever?!?

Another day out in the orchard!!

Painting to make Happy Thanksgiving turkeys!

The library adventure! We have also started going to the library more often and she loves it!

The road trip home we stopped at a hotel with a waterpark.. So much fun for Madi, she loved it and I loved it and Brian loved it! It was a huge hit! They had one just her size, it was perfect!

Hands up!

She was so happy!

Our little Reindeer!

Little Rowe #2.... I know ultrasound pic are kinda scary.... but I decided to share it still.

The little princess playing with a remote control monster truck.... Funny combo right?

Merry Christmas to you!!

So funny!

Now that is a cowgirl... in dora pj's. hmmmmm haha

Sorry the pics aren't really in order or organized, the way they upload is funky and I don't desire to take the time and rearrange them... So I apologize... but it's a great thing this blog is just to keep you posted and not to show off my computer skills right? :)

Oh and I'm sorry there is no current belly picture.... Just imagine me with a beach ball under my shirt. That about sums it up. Ha ha ha

Wish you all a very happy start to 2013! May you all have a very Happy New Year!!

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