Mother's Day

Brendan got the girls dressed and took them to church in the morning, and I was able to sleep in and get some rest with Niels.  Later Brendan made a delicious brunch for me.  He made crepes with lots of different fillings, a french baguette with brie cheese, and yogurt made from milk from grass fed cows.  It was wonderful!  

Most days are hard and challenging being a mother, but I do love my children and realize what a blessing it is to have them.  Being a mother has made me appreciate my own mother more than ever.   

Earlier than expected

Niels Christopher Rowland 

was born on Friday, May 3rd.  He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and measured 21 inches long.

 Hattie was peeking in his diaper and telling me he went poo poo.

 These were the best pictures I could get of Hattie.  She was just being silly the whole time.

Niels was born 16 days early, so I was a little surprised when I woke up feeling contractions around 2:30 am.  I arrived at the birthing center around 4:15 a.m. and Niels was born at 7:39 a.m.  I have had all of my babies naturally, so when the pushing is over and they place the baby on my chest, it is such a relief to be done.    Everything went really well, and we came home later that afternoon.

It took us a few days to decide on a name.  We had it narrowed down to two, but couldn't decide what we liked best.  Brendan liked the name Niels from a ski movie he watched.  When I looked it up online, it said it was a Danish name that was popular in Denmark.  When I told my Mom about that name she reminded me that was my great great grandpa's name, Niels Rasmussen, who immigrated from Denmark when he was 12 years old and his mom died crossing the plains.  I liked the idea of using a family name, so Niels it was.  Christopher is Brendan's brother's name.

Hazel and Hattie love having a brother.  When they came in and saw him for the first time Hazel said, "Look at his hands they are so small.  Oh and his feet are so cute, but my favorite are his hands because they are small like my doll's."  Hattie can be a little rough with him, but she loves to hold him.  It's crazy we have three kids, but we love them all!

Spring Break - California

Just 2 days after Easter, I packed up the van and went to visit my family in California for 8 days.  I was kind of sick of the cold Utah weather and just wanted a little break where it looked like Spring.  Brendan stayed home and worked, so it was nice having Holly drive with me and help out with the kids.  I was really worried about the drive back to Utah by myself.  Even driving around town with Hazel and Hattie can be difficult when one of them drops their stuffed animal or sippy cup and screams for me to pick it up, but it was actually a great drive.  The kids watched movies and sang songs, and we took a few breaks along the way.  Hazel even slept the last four hours of the drive.  I think the Lord blessed me.

One day when we were there we went and visited Whitney in San Francisco.  She works downtown in the financial district as an accountant for Deloitte.  We went to lunch with her and she showed us around her work.  When she had to go back to work, I took the kids to Golden Gate Park to play for a few hours until Whitney got off.  When Whit got off work I picked her up and took her back home to our parents for the weekend.  

 Whit took us to The Toaster Oven for lunch.  It was really good.  They had a bunch of cool old toasters on the wall.  After lunch, we went and got some really tasty cookies from a nearby bakery.

 We walked around the conservatory of flowers for a little while.  It was beautiful, but I couldn't get the kids to look at me for any pictures.  Then we headed to the carousel and children's playground.

 Hattie and Hazel love carousels and since I had told them about this carousel in the park, they couldn't wait to take a ride. (And yes Hattie is sporting a mullet these days, but we're just grateful for any kind of growth.)

 There was a really cool cement slide that you had to use cardboard to sit on for a smooth ride down.  There were a lot of big kids going on it and a line at the top and I think Hazel let 20 people go ahead of her before I had to yell for her to step up in the line or we'd be there all day.

Hazel's favorite toy at the playground was this little bowl that would spin around with your body weight, and of course Hattie loved the swings.

 Back at my parent's house, Hattie just loved her fudgesicle.  She was licking every last drip from the wrapper.  Whitney also put pigtails in her hair for the first time.  Hattie loved my brother Blake.  She took all of her naps in his room without a complaint.

The girls were excited to have Holly paint their toenails for them.  Their favorite toys at the house were all the dollhouses and accessories.

Besides going to San Francisco and me going shopping, we didn't really do very much but hang out at the house, which was fine for me.  Being almost 8 months pregnant it was nice just not to have to clean up a house and make dinner every night.

Easter + Family in town = Fun

My 16 year old sister, Holly, came and visited for a week.  She hung out with Breeze a lot and went to some of her college classes with her, and she was able to hang out with the kids and I.

Hazel and Holly reading the Friend together.

My friend invited us to an Easter egg hunt and party at a restaurant just down the block from us called The Awful Waffle.  It was hosted by some local bloggers and was a lot of fun.  They had free meals for all of us and then some Easter crafts and a little egg hunt of course.

My sister-in-law, Jessica, was in the play Chitty Chitty Bang Bang up in Salt Lake at the Hale Center Theater.  Breeze and Holly came and saw it with us and Bruce of course came too, and also Brendan's brother Christopher and his wife Brianna because they have been in town for a few weeks.  So it was a big meet up and the play was great!  (Terrible quality picture I know.)  

Later in the week, my sister Dawn came into town with her husband and 5 kids for Spring Break and Easter.  

The day before Easter when we were filling the eggs with candy for the hunt, Hattie got a hold of some chocolate eggs and decided to feed them to Dane.  He had chocolate handprints on his face.  It was pretty cute!

My oldest sister Dawn and her husband McRay.

The kids before our little hunt in the backyard.  Hazel had just received a new apron for Easter and didn't want to take it off.

 Hazel found a dollar in one of her eggs and was very excited! 

Jon and Hattie were just excited about chocolate. 

 My sisters Holly and Breeze came over for the egg hunt and Easter dinner.

 Cousins playing the duck game and eating together.

 I caught Hattie giving a kiss to Dane and thought it was the cutest thing.  She is such a sweetie!  Unfortunately, we didn't get a family picture of us in our Easter clothes after church.   

Never a Dull Moment....

I'm always busy with Hazel and Hattie around.  Hattie is just hilarious.  She is 20 months old now, and I can't believe how verbal she is.  At her 18 month old appointment the doctor was asking if she could put 2 words together to make a phrase, uh yeah try 5 word phrases.  She LOVES to talk and sing.  Hazel was really verbal too when she was young, but I think having an older sibling helps.  She says the cutest little phrases.  As I was just writing this Hattie came up to me and pushed her sleeves up and said, "Tickle arm Mama."  In the morning Hattie usually asks, "Where's Daddy?"  Today I told her at work.  Then she asked, "Where's Hazel?"  When I told her Hazel had gone to work with Daddy she started to cry.  She usually cries when Hazel goes to Preschool too.  

Hattie can open the fridge by herself, which usually means trouble.  One time in the night she woke up and wanted her sippy cup of milk and I didn't want to get up.  A few minutes later I saw a light coming from the kitchen.  When I got up to see, Hattie had gotten out her sippy cup on her own and left the fridge wide open.    

One day Hazel and and Hattie had taken off the couch cushions and were jumping on them and Brendan came home and caught them.  He got mad at them and Hattie came running into me yelling, "Daddy's mean! Daddy's mean!" over and over again.  Then she went back to Hazel who was crying and said, "He's mean Hazel" as if she was trying to comfort or understand her.  Brendan and I couldn't help but laugh.   

 Hattie started climbing out of her crib about 2 months ago.  I used to lay her down in the crib with her pacifier and she would go right to sleep.  I then started just putting her in the room and she would pull out all the toys and books until she fell asleep.  One day I found her on the ground, and another day she had fallen asleep on the chair.  Now she usually just climbs into Hazel's bed and puts herself to sleep.

Hazel started going to a co-op preschool in January with some kids in our ward, and she loves it.  She loves to play school at home with Hattie too.  They even pack up their lunches with fake food. 

One day when the weather was nice we took a walk around the corner to JDawgs and Spoon It Up with Aunt Breeze.  Hattie loves "Ice keem"

 They love playing princesses together.  Hattie dances around and sings, "I'm a princess" and twirls around.

Hattie kept saying she had to go potty and would have me take her into the bathroom, so I decided to get out the potty chair for her if she wanted to sit on it.  I don't really want to potty train her right now though.  She did go in it once, but usually she just sits with her clothes on and then takes toilet paper and acts like she's wiping herself and throws it in the toilet.  The first day I got it out she sat down on it and said, "Weave me awone" (leave me alone).  That's what Hazel always says when she has to go to the bathroom, so of course Hattie was copying her.  Today I gave the girls a bath and Hazel didn't want to get out yet, so I got Hattie out and dressed her.  I went back into the bathroom and was curling my eyelashes for a minute and when I looked back Hattie was back in the tub fully dressed.  I was about to get mad and then I just looked at her and laughed.  She was a little confused at what she had just done.  I let her sit there for a minute and then she started crying and wanted out.

Eden, UT.....again

Just three weeks later we went back to the condo in Eden, but with Brendan's family this time.  The first time we were there it was cold and snowy, but this time it was 60 degrees and sunny.  Brendan, Christopher, and Brianna all went skiing at Snowbasin, and Brendan's parents and I rode up in the gondola with the kids and met them in the lodge for lunch at the top of the mountain.

The lodge at the top was really nice and big with good food.  Hazel and Hattie loved running around the fireplace together.

The next day we all went out to eat and on the way back we fed some horses.  Hazel and Hattie loved it.  Hazel was a little more timid than Hattie though.  Hattie was running around with the bag of carrots trying to get someone to pick her back up and let her feed them again.

 Back at the condo Hazel enjoyed staying up and playing Candyland with Grandpa and Grandma Rowland.  It was so cute to watch her get excited.

The last day when we were leaving, Brendan, Christopher, and Brianna all went skiing again.  I went down to Ogden and met up with Jessica at the Treehouse museum.  The girls had SO much fun!  I wish they had one in Provo.  We would be there all the time.  They have dress ups in every room.  Hazel and Hattie played there for three hours straight without any complaints and could have stayed longer if they weren't closing.

 Their favorite exhibit was the baby hospital.  They got to dress up as doctors and weigh and measure the babies.

After the Treehouse museum we went back to Bruce and Jessica's house and hung out until Bruce came home from work.  Hazel and Hattie love uncle Bruce.  One day Hazel asked me, "Why did Bruce move to Ogden?"  I told her that's where he got a job.  She responded, "But doesn't Bruce love us."  I told her yes but that's where he got his job.  She then asked, "But doesn't Bruce know we love him?"  I thought it was so cute.