Scotland 2009

To say we had a great trip, is an understatement! I'm not even sure where to begin...I'll start with Hazel. SHE IS A ROCK STAR!!! I can't even believe how great she did. She traveled brilliantly and she didn't have much jet leg there and so far she hasn't had much here either. (She slept all night last night, without a feeding)! She blows my mind. She was so great there.

Airplane Bassinet

Kellie finally got to meet Hazel. It was love at first sight!


The trip was totally different than our other trips there, both because we had a child, and because they had a car this time. We didn't take a single train, and we got to see new places.


We brought over a new camera for Brian, so him and Dan had fun taking pictures, while Kellie, Hazel, Owen and I would walk and talk and wait for them to catch up.


We went to Saint Andrews for the first time. The weather wasn't good, but the rain held off for a bit.


We had so much fun with the kids. They were excited to meet Hazel too.


We got to see Andy and Julie quite a bit, and we got to meet little Miss Mollie, (Hazel's best friend).



All in all, totally worth traveling with a 4 month old. We had such a wonderful time and we just love them all so dearly. We've felt a bit empty since being home and already miss them so much. We've been blessed to be able to go out there every year for the past few years. And Brian and Kellie will be home at Christmas, which is only 6 months away. I know there's so much more to say, but I'm still processing the whole trip.




I'll leave you with two of Hazel's new facial expressions:

4 Months Old

Click on the picture to enlarge

Hazel turns four months old tomorrow. She had her check up today and all was good! She's 26 inches long which puts her in the 95th percentile in height, but she's only a little over 13 pounds, which makes her about the 30th percentile in weight. Out of the last 6 nights she's gone 3 of them with no nighttime feed...sleeping about 10 hours straight! I can't believe how big she is, and all the new things she can do, but I've heard that between 4 and 6 months they change so much more!

This is one of our favorite faces that Hazel has made since she was born.

We had afternoon tea with Hazel's Great Grandpa and Grandma Roundhill yesterday. And we had dinner with Great Grandpa and Grandma Irwin last week. It's such a blessing to have so much family. (Hazel has all 8 of her Great Grandparents)!!!

Roundhill's

Irwin's (from awhile ago)

We leave for Scotland in 2 days...I can't even believe it. I have mixed emotions. SOOOOOOOOOOO excited to see everyone there and for Kellie to meet Hazel, but still quite nervous about Hazel dealing with jet leg of an 8 hour time difference. I also have yet to start packing, Yikes!!! Please pray for health, safety, and easy time transition.

Dress from Bridget

A post of nothingness...

Feeding is going better, which is a huge blessing.

15 weeks old

Hazel has the cold I got last week, but hopefully it will be gone before we leave next Wednesday.


We stayed pretty low key this month, not venturing out much due to sickness and Hazel not eating well, but we're starting to socialize again! It's good to be with friends.


I find Church to be kinda difficult. It's two hours long, so I have to feed Hazel right before if she's gonna make it through, and I've become that person, who say "the music is too loud!" Plus, sometimes Hazel just doesn't want to be quiet and listen to Mark preach, which is weird I know. But it's good to go. It's just getting motivated to go that's the problem.


The nicer weather has been fun. Hazel now fits in her Ergo, so we go on walks together. Well, she barely fits. As you can see, just her little eyes peep out.


I can't wait to see Hazel and Sadie grow up together. They're already pretty cute. They nap and hold hands together!


Last random tidbit for the day: Something I no longer do since having a baby...wear jewelry. I rarely get earrings in, and I don't think I've worn a necklaces since Hazel was born!

In Two Weeks...

In two weeks we get to love on these kiddos! And boy do we love them so much!

ETHAN

EMMA

OWEN

We have 7 nephews, 5 neices, and one more on the way. We love them all so dearly, and only wish they all lived a bit closer to us!

Being a Mom

A year ago from tomorrow, April 23, 2008, Dan and I found out we were pregnant. What a crazy year it's been.

It's funny but I kinda miss being pregnant...well second trimester pregnant. (First trimester I was horribly sick, and the 9th month was not so fun either). Pregnancy has to be one of the weirdest seasons of life. You just have no way of knowing whats gonna happen next; how you'll feel tomorrow, what the delivery will be like, what it will be like to be a parent. You could have any symptom and it's somehow caused by pregnancy hormones. I felt I was so huge at times, but looking back, I was not nearly as big as I thought I was. All of December was spent waiting for baby girl to come, not knowing what to expect at all; excited, scared, and everything in between. There's no way to truly know what to expect because it is so different for everyone. You spend everyday waiting to see what will happen the next day. I wish I would have enjoyed it a little more, not that I didn't, but it's just such a crazy time of life!

I never really wrote about my delivery, so if you know the details, click here. (I made it a link for all those who don't wanna know ;)

I only really cried about three things during the 21 hours of labor...I cried about my IV, (I HATE IV's and become a bit of a baby when I have to get them), I cried when I had to decide if I was gonna get an epidural or not, and I cried when they put Hazel on my chest right after she was born. Three completely different kinds of tears, but the third one was a glorious moment.

My life since becoming a mom...Again, you just can't know what to expect, every child is different. Hazel just so happens to be pretty perfect :) The first week was hell! All I could think was, "What have we done! Our lives were so wonderful before!" I've never been so tired in my life. And you just don't know anything, in spite of how many books I'd read. But my Mom came to the rescue for week two! She would take Hazie after her 7am feeding and let Dan and I sleep for another 2 hours. It was so wonderful to have an extra set of hands there to feed us and keep the house in some sort of order. Sadly she was only there a week, but after a few days of her being gone, we started to handle life again on our own.

Those first weeks I had such evening anxiety...not knowing what the night will hold. As soon as it started getting dark (which was early in January), I'd start to get really nervous. "Should I go to bed now since she is sleeping, even though it's only 7pm? What if she's up all night?" Hazel has always been a great sleeper (except when sick), never really confusing day vs night. But there was still the fear that tonight could be a bad one. Also during those first weeks, I would only watch "Happy" TV, as I called it. I wasn't emotionally ready for any sort of drama. I think it was like February when I finally started getting caught up on Lost. It took me awhile to really get back on to the internet too. For some reason I didn't want to sit at the computer. I felt like there was a million other things I should be doing...cleaning, reading baby books, cooking, sleeping, etc. But all seemed to go back to "normal", a new normal, when Hazel was around 4 weeks old.

One of my big fears about having a kid was that my relationship with Dan would suffer and change. I can safely say it hasn't. We love each other just as much as before and together we love and cherish our little girl. We like being 3 instead of 2 and we enjoy one another the same as before. We go out to eat, we hang out at home, we IM all day long...our relationship hasn't changed at all. Our life has changed, but not our relationship.

My struggles so far have been breastfeeding, and less patience with Dan. I haven't had any major issues with feeding, I just didn't realize how time demanding it would be, and I have yet to really do it with ease, like outside of the house. (Plus there's the new thing of Hazel not eating that I blogged about last week). As for my shorter fuse...I think I'm a bit more tired and worn out, so I end up taking it out on Dan a bit. It's strange how I can be so patient with Hazel all day, even when she's crazy, and then Dan comes home and I suddenly have no more patience. I hate it, and he doesn't deserve it, but with God's help I'm working on it. All in all, I enjoy Hazel so much and I'm learning daily about this whole "mom" thing. By far the hardest thing I've done, but worth it for sure.

Roller Derby

On Saturday Dan, Hazel and I went to our first roller derby bout. It was at the Key Arena, and it was the Rat City Rollergirls. Dan works with a girl who's on the Throttle Rockets, named "Darth Skater." It was really fun, but probably a bit too loud for Hazel. But she sported a mohawk (which you can't really see in the pics) and a Rat City Rollergirls onesie. The Rockets ended up losing, but it was still a great bout to watch!

"Darth Skater"

Three Weeks From Today

In three weeks, I will arrive here:


To be with these people:


And to go here:


I'm so excited to go, and a wee bit stressed about taking Hazel!