Sandpoint, Idaho

Besides camping, this was our first vacation this summer. We drove 12 hours to visit my sister Dawn and her family. They live a block away from Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint, Idaho. It is so beautiful up there. Sandpoint is about 45 minutes from Coeur D' Alene.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great while we were in town, so we only spent one day out on the lake. The rest of the time we spent hanging out with Dawn and her kids. The kids just loved holding Hazel. My favorite quote from the trip came from Brinlee. We were at a BBQ and she was holding Hazel while talking with me. She said, "Brendan is so much fun. Dana, I just never knew how much fun Brendan was. I think Hazel is really going to like him when she gets older".

One day we drove to Liberty Lake, Washington which is near Spokane, to visit Dawn's sister in law and her family. They live right on the lake, so it was very beautiful.

On our way back home, we stopped in Coeur D' Alene to go to lunch with my cousin and his wife. It was a great time!

Brendan, Hazel, and I in Liberty Lake, Washington.


Brinlee holding Hazel, and Sicily is on the couch with her.


Having a campfire on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint.


Brendan taught the kids origami, and they loved it! Here is Brinlee with her hat, Sicily with her bow, and Reed with his beak.

Dawn with her four kids on the boat. From left to right: Jonathan, Sicily, Brinlee, and Reed in front.

Me wakeboarding. I'm not doing anything special but staying up.


Brendan wakeboarding.



Brendan on the boat holding Hazel.

Lunch with my cousin Justin and his wife Letesia.

Carribean of the Rockies

Camping, sailing, and fresh raspberry shakes were all part of our fun up at Bear Lake over pioneer day weekend.

Hazel's Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago we took Hazel to get some pictures taken in her blessing dress. I actually didn't even post that picture because it looked really bad. She looked like she was asleep in a casket. She was kind of in an in between age. She isn't a small newborn that is asleep in all of the pictures and she isn't old enough to be smiley and sit up by herself.

Camping Trip

Friday was our ward camp out up at Aspen Grove. It was Hazel's first camping experience and she did great. The ward had a lot planned. We ate dinner, and after dinner their were pinatas and a kickball game. Then we had skits and a fireside in the amphitheater. The last part of the evening was card games and music around the campfire. Brendan played his cajon drum while people played the guitar and sang. We stayed warm in the tent, and Hazel slept about the same in the tent as she does at home. She still wakes up a few times to feed.

Sailing

For some reason Brendan has been really excited about sailing lately. His dad has an old dinghy sailboat that Brendan took out with one of his coworkers last week. I guess it was miserable. The boat was so small that the two of them could hardly fit in it together, and it weighed a ton. So Brendan found a Hobie Cat to purchase with his dad and brother. We went to Utah Lake on Monday for our exciting sailing adventure, but Brendan and his dad didn't even get out of the marina. Brendan's dad hasn't sailed in over 20 years and is trying to teach Brendan. Hopefully they will improve soon so we can enjoy sailing this summer.

4th of July

On the 4th of July we went to the Provo parade, and it's a pretty big event here. People start camping out on the side of the road two days in advance, but we had some friends save us some spots. After the parade we walked around to all of the booths at the Freedom Festival. Later that evening we went to dinner with Brendan's parents in Salt Lake and then we watched the firework show at Sugarhouse Park.

Brendan and Hazel.


My brother Bruce came with us to the parade.


Brendan, Hazel, and I.

6 Weeks

Tomorrow Hazel will be 6 weeks old. She still has her cute little newborn cry, but she is starting to coo and make a lot more noises. She is starting to kick her legs and play with her hanging toys in her bouncer. We bought a video camera, but she is still too young to really film anything exciting yet. She is starting to smile a lot more, but we haven't been able to catch it on camera.

Hazel after her bath.

Sleeping in her bassinet after church.


Hazel always sleeps with her hands up like this. It's so cute!

Hazel is swaddled and sleeping.

We really like our baby bjorn carrier.

Swine Flu?

On Thursday Brendan told me our next door neighbor had the swine flu and he wanted to move Hazel and I up to his parent's house for a few days. I told him we would be fine as long as we didn't come in contact with the neighbor. Later Thursday night while I was sleeping I started to get the chills. I had them for an hour and a half and could not get warm. Brendan tried to put lots of blankets on me, but my whole body was shaking. I had a fever of 102 and my body ached. Brendan was worried I had the swine flu and wanted to take me to the emergency room. He called the emergency room and asked if the baby could get the swine flu from me. Someone told him she could get it through my breast milk. This really concerned me because I needed to feed my baby. I called my mom (it was 4 a.m. in California so I'm sure she was a little concerned to hear the phone ringing) and asked about feeding Hazel. She said she had never heard of such a thing. Brendan called his mom and she called a nurse who said it was fine to breast feed, but I should cover my mouth so I didn't breathe on her. The rest of the night Brendan and Hazel slept in the living room. Whenever I needed to feed Hazel I washed my hands a put a face mask on and Brendan brought her to me. Then Brendan would take her back. It was terrible.

The next day Brendan took me to urgent care to have a flu test. I tested negative for both A and B, so he said it was viral. He gave me a prescription for something strong, but Tylenol works fine for me. I've never been to the doctor for the flu, but I was worried because Hazel is only three weeks old. I kind of felt dumb because I'm sure they get lots of people who have the flu and freak out and think it's the swine flu. I wouldn't have normally gone in but I needed peace of mind. I guess I only had the 24 hour flu because luckily I feel fine now.

Baby Blessing

Even though Hazel is only 2 weeks old we did her baby blessing on Sunday. It was the best time for all of our families to be here together. It was also Brendan's mom's 60th birthday. Brendan's sister flew in from Seattle with her two kids, and Brendan's brother flew in from Dallas. Both my parents came and out of all 11 kids in my family 8 of us were in town for the blessing. Brendan planned a fun weekend. On Friday everyone went kayaking down the Provo river. On Saturday we went up to Brendan's grandparent's cabin and had a big BBQ. The nieces and nephews had a great time. On Sunday after the blessing we had a BBQ up at Brendan's parent's house. It was a fun filled weekend.


Hazel Mae Rowland.

Up at the cabin Brendan took the nieces and nephews for a ride in the mule.


My mom and dad at the cabin.

Brendan's dad and brother cooking at the BBQ.

Our nieces and nephews after the blessing.

Brendan's mom with our nephew Montgomery.

My aunt Jolene, my mom, my sister Breeze, and I at the BBQ.

Brendan, Hazel, and I.

Brendan and Hazel.

Birth Story

Some people wanted to know how my birth went, so I'll briefly share. I took the day off of work on Thursday, May 28, because it was field day and I didn't want to be out in the hot sun. I also had a doctor's appointment because I was a week overdue. At my doctor's appointment they did a non stress test and then an ultra sound. Everything looked fine. They said I had plenty of amniotic fluid, in fact I had so much they said my baby was swimming. As they did my non stress test I was having a few small contractions. I was dilated to a 4 and was 70% effaced.

When I got home from my appointment I noticed I was having contractions every 5 minutes, but they weren't very strong. This was around 5 p.m. I called my instructional assistant and made sure she could sub for me at work the next day. I was kind of sad because it was the last day of school. I also called my doula and gave her the heads up that I was going into labor. I labored the whole night which made me exhausted. I tried to sleep between contractions, but it was only 5 minutes. At 5:15 a.m. I was laying in bed having a contraction when my water broke. I woke Brendan and we went to the hospital. I got to the hospital around 5:30 a.m. I was dilated between 6 and 7 cm and was 90% effaced when I arrived. I then had Hazel at 10:30 a.m.

I did everything naturally. The hardest part was pushing. I pushed for 50 minutes, and it seemed like forever. I was very pleased with how everything went. I really liked my midwife, and it was great to have Brendan and the doula helping me while I labored.