Rich or Healthy?

Would I rather be rich or healthy? That's what Day 13 asks.

While I'm a fairly healthy person (Notice I didn't say health-conscious, which I'm not not much of...lol), I know I could always be healthier. I've seen some people answer that they'd rather be rich because then they could afford all the treatments to stay healthy. While I would love to be rich, I think being healthy is more important for me right now. We don't make much money at all, but we live just fine. If I could have perfect health - a straight back, perfect vision, and a body that works well, I think I would be very happy. I'm not saying AT ALL that I'm not happy now, but it would be nice to just feel great every day. I know this is attainable through healthy eating and exercise, and I'm hoping I can do this soon. I'm very grateful for the health I have now, though. =)

How can it not?

Day 12's task is to "write about one of your biggest accomplishment in life"

Rowyn and I on my first Mother's Day (May 13th, 2012)

How can it not be being a mother? It's still a new thing to me, and it's all I think about. My life has changed so much just because of her. We are only 4 1/2 months into this, but I just feel so complete. (not ruling out other children, though...lol) I can't think of any other time in my life that I've been so happy. I've been a working mother for the last 2 1/2 months, and now I'm going to be a student mother (okay, I couldn't think of what to call it...lol). It's not going to be easy, but it's going to be so worth it.

Ouch...

Day 11 is wondering about the worst injury I've ever had.

I was pretty accident prone growing up, so I've had a few good ones. LOL One broken wrist, three broken fingers, one dog bite, one torn ligament, one contusion in my head, 9 stitches in my knee, dislocating that same knee, hairline fracture in my foot (although the dr didn't think it was fractured, so he didn't x-ray it. I could tell you it was when it was still hurting over a month later!), and I'm sure there are more, I just can't remember. (do 2nd degree sunburns count as injuries? I've had a couple of those...lol)

Probably the worst one, though, was the stitches in my knee. It was right at the beginning of 7th grade. I was taking some dishes out of my room, and tripped and fell right on my glass aquarium lid. (Why was it on the floor? Why did I trip? Because I was 12 and my room was messy! Haha!) I yelled out to my parents and they took me to the hospital. The doctor gave me 9 stitches, and I got to go to school with crutches. (I think it was within the first week of a new school, too. So you can only imagine how I was known that year...)

I'd say the worst pain I've ever experienced (other than contractions...) is my back seizing up. I have scoliosis (my spine is crooked). This happens regularly, but one night when I was in high school, it seized up so bad, I was crying and almost numb from the pain. I felt like I actually had no muscle in my back. It wasn't any fun.

You're the inspiration!

The question for Day 10 (um... five days ago...) is "Who inspires you?"

After her first feeding of sweet potatoes. She loved them. =)

I know it's the obvious answer, but it's Rowyn. How could I not be inspired by her? She makes me strive to be such a better person, so that I can be a better mother. From the day she was born to today (19 weeks!), seeing her learn something new, figure out what she's doing, hearing her babble, and the best - smile at me, my heart just fills more and more for her.

Date night last weekend!

Kelly also inspires me though, he's such a good person, with such a good heart. He lets me know when I'm being mean, helps me with hard things, and makes me a better person. He's so fun to be around and makes me laugh. He's a really great father to Rowyn and a perfect husband to me. He makes me feel beautiful even when I'm not feeling well, or thinking I don't look that great. He works hard at making sure we are always active and out doing things.

I'm so lucky to be able to call both of them mine. =)

Yum?

Uhh, day 9 is asking me what my food philosophy is. I've got nothin'. I'm not even sure what a food philosophy is exactly. LOL I can tell you that I like junk food. Soda is my weakness. I've read about how soda is bad for you, but I still drink it. I have a major life change coming up in the next couple weeks, though, and I plan on a whole lot more than just my employement status changing. I'm going to start eating a lot more healthy, and trying to work out so I can lose the baby weight. I have already stopped eating fast food so much, so that's a start. I know that Kelly and I plan on making a lot of meals at home and those will be fairly healthy meals. I'm actually kind of excited about it. I may be 27 years old, but I kind of feel like it's just one more step to being a REAL adult! (haha!)

Sorry...

Yes, I'm aware it has a watermark over it. I typed "uncertain" into google images and this was my favorite. LOL

Day 8 is "How do you invision your life in 5 years?" I have an irrational fear of trying to predict the future. I'm even nervous about making plans for the next weekend because they probably wont work out. With school, I'm just taking it one semester at a time. I guess I'm always afraid of jinxing things, and I know that's not a way to be, but it's just how it always happens with me.

Swingin'!

Day seven of the challenge asks: "If you could live in any time period of the past when would it be and why?"

Well, my immediate answer is the 1940s. I think the answer should be what decade we would want to live in, because I could technically say that I would love to have been a teenager anywhere between 1900-1950. LOL There is SO much variance in that time period, I need to choose one. 

While I love all the pretty dresses of the 1910s (think Downton Abbey - This is a great article on the clothing for the show.), I love the era of the 1940s. The fashion was great, the music was excellent, the movies were awesome and the swing dancing was fun! I was a swing dancer in high school, and although I didn't compete or anything, I had a blast doing it. I love listening to Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, ect. The movies! I can't even pick one! Meet Me in St. Louis, Singing in the Rain (okay, I know, that's from 1952, but still! LOL), Wizard of Oz (again, that's from 1939...lol), Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, ect - see! I can't pick one. I just love it. LOL I used to always say, I should have been born when my grandparents were born - 1925 and 1927 so that I could have been a teenager in the 40s. =)

Frank =)

Judy Garland

Look at that swing move!

And the most important -

My grandparents on their wedding day June 1st, 1948. =)



Fame!

For day six, the challenge asks - If you could spend 15 minutes with any celebrity, who would it be and why?

I think I would probably choose Jennifer Garner. She just seems so down to earth and I've loved her since 13 Going on 30. (One of my favorite movies!) It's like she's not even a celebrity.

Sorry, I couldn't decide which picture to post of that movie... LOL

(If I could choose a 2nd person, and it could be at any age, I'd have to say Newsies era Chirstian Bale... hehe!)



Oh, and to add a note - I met Jodie Foster last week! She stayed at the hotel I work at and I checked her in. I never acknowleged to her that I knew she was Jodie Foster, becuase it was 1am, she seemed tired and stressed from traveling with her two boys, (And hardly looked like the Jodie Foster I know from Hollywood.) and she was checking in under her given name (thank you wikipedia!), so I just let her go. I wish I could have been like "Hey! You're Jodie Foster, let's take a picture together!" At least I can say I've kind of met her, though... LOL

Obviously!

Day five is to post a picture of something or someone that made my day special. This is an obvious one for me.

Rowyn is getting so big and learning new things every day! We were grocery shopping at Rosauers on Sunday and as she was being carried by Kelly, she was blowing raspberries, spit bubbles and grabbing her toes. She cracks me up and I love it. Kelly is also in the picture and he makes my day special, too. He's such a good husband and father, I'm so lucky to have him. =)

Get it out of here!

Okay, the weekend is over and now I need to get back into the challenge!

Day four's question is: If you could rid the world of one thing, what would it be?

There are so many things the world could do without. I personally hate scorpions. Can we get rid of them? (and I don't even have to deal with them in Idaho!) I would normally post a picture of one, but I dislike them so much, I don't want a picture of one on my blog.

Okay, but really, to get serious, I think hate would be nice to get rid of, but I would love to get rid of school debt. (Thanks Michelle! She gave me the idea when she wanted to get rid of Sallie Mae) I know it's a silly answer, but why do we have to go into debt for bettering ourselves? I really don't have a lot to go into with this answer, but I think anyone who has ever had to deal with paying off school loans, like I have (and mine weren't even that bad!) would love to just get rid of them, too!

You sunk my Battleship!

Day Three: "What was the last movie you saw in the theatre?"

Since we have a new (ish) baby at home, it's been a while since we've gone to the theatre. The night before my water broke (before I actually went into labor!), we saw The Hunger Games because we knew it'd be awhile before we would be able to see a movie again.

It took us 3 1/2 months to leave Rowyn with a sitter (Kelly's mom) and go see a movie. We ended up just going to the dollar theatre to see Battleship, but it was still something we were able to do, and do with Rowyn. We went to Olive Garden beforehand, just because we like to go, and we hadn't been since April, which wasn't a great experience. (It was our one year wedding anniversary and we had an 11 day old baby with us who screamed and cried the whole time we were there!)

Battleship was okay. I'd call it a renter so you can watch it in your pajamas and maybe even do something else while watching. LOL

*I wrote this Thursday morning, and scheduled it to post on Friday just after midnight. I probably wont do days 4 and 5 until Monday night when I'm at work...Just so you know, because, I know that you are really looking forward to all of my posts. ;)

Advice for a Newborn.

Day two of the challenge is "If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?"

I honestly don't know. LOL I just had a baby four months ago and I can't think of one thing I would tell her to take with her through life.

But really, I think that I would tell her not to worry about what other people think. I know it's not easy, and especially when you are a teenager, it's what everyone seems to worry about, but it doesn't matter. I might be almost 28 years old, but going back to school is making this hard. I'm going to be in classes with 18 year olds and here I am worrying about how my back pack looks, and if I'm too old to wear skinny jeans. Do you really think everyone is going to notice my back pack or think I'm too old for those skinny jeans? No, probably not. And if they do, they more than likely wont let me know.

In the end, you need to be your own person. This is something I learned in my mid-twenties, and would have loved to learn it when I was 13. I may have looked like I didn't care what people thought in my sparkly jeans, fire red hair and jelly bracelets all up my arms, but I did. (I sure had fun dressing like that, though!) I really hope Rowyn can be who she wants to be, and enjoy it.

Here are a few of my senior pictures for fun. (yep, I'm a nerd.)

Let's attempt a challenge!

So, my wonderful group of friends that were all due in April like I was decided to do a blog challenge. I've seen a few of you do them, but I didn't think I'd have the time or motivation to do one. Well, I can't promise much, but I'll sure try! Here's the challenge. (Yeah, yeah - we are doing a July one, but who cares!)

Today (Well, technically yesterday) we needed to write our goals for the month. August 2012 is turning out to be a big month for me, so I have a few important goals. The big news is that I'm quitting my job in the hotel industry that I've had for over 5 years to go back to school!  I have been anxious to go back to school for a couple years, and it's actually one of the things that helped Kelly and I decide to do other things, like get married and have a baby first. So, I'd say the original decision was a good one. =) It's weird to leave a job after over 5 1/2 years with the company, but I gave them about 5 weeks of notice because I was able to. I have two more weeks left, or technically 6 shifts. =)

Rowyn helping me announce me going back to school. =)

This gives me many goals to work on this month:

School Goals

• Make sure I have everything I need for going back to school - notebooks, binders, back pack, a working computer (haha - I think I'll be spending a lot of time in a library until we can get one, probably on Black Friday)
• Get ready to focus and work really hard. - I wasn't the best student, but I need to work really hard and get really good grades because I'm hoping I can get my bachelors in Early Childhood Studies and then get my masters in Speech Pathology. It's not going to be an easy program to get in to, but it's want I ultimately want to do.
• Work on a schedule that will help Rowyn. - I've already scheduled my classes so I can go to school after Kelly is off work. I can be with Rowyn in the mornings, and then go to school in the afternoons, and then we can spend time as a family in the evenings. (Then I can do my homework!)

Non-school goals

• Get Rowyn sleeping in her own room by herself! - Rowyn has been in her crib in her own room for a month now. But, we sleep with her on a mattress in the room. Whoops. She still wakes up a couple times a night, but a quick insertion of the pacifier helps her to go back to sleep. It's such a quick fix, it's going to be hard to have to get up and go down the hallway when she starts to fuss in the middle of the night, but we are going to start working on it soon!
• Really work on saving money. - We have been saving money, but when I quit my job, it's going to be a lifestyle change for us, so we are going to have to do some adjusting. (not eating out so much!)
• Learn to cook more! - This goes along with saving money. We are really working on learning to cook more meals at home, and we are enjoying the things we can come up with. =)
• Lose some weight. - I'm not one who loves to work out or even eat healthy, but I've noticed some weight loss since we've been eating at home more, and I'm hoping that I can get myself into an exercise routine very soon.

So it turns out I have a lot to do this month.... Maybe one of these goals should be not to be so wordy and work on shorter blog posts. Haha.

 

The last four months have been so fun with Rowyn! I don't have a lot of time to go into details, but I will post a few of my favorite pictures. =)

Rowyn was two months here. I love this shirt and hope it'll still fit when it finally cools off!

A collage I made of her first three months. I'll be taking her four month picture this weekend!

Rowyn's nursery. We have the changing table in the corner under the mobile now. I need to take an updated picture!

Four generations! Rowyn finally got her meet her Great Grandma when she was just over three months old. =)

My beautiful girl. Love her. =)

She's Here!

It's a little late, and everyone knows I had my baby, but I need to put it on the blog, so I have my birth story recorded! It's long, but so was the labor! =)

Rowyn Olivia Kilgore 

was born on April 5th, 2012. She weighed 7lbs 9.5oz and was 19 1/4 inches long.

My due date, April 1st, came and went. I wasn't showing any signs of labor and was not progressed at all. At my appointment on Monday April 2nd, we tentatively scheduled an induction for Monday, April 9th. I was scheduled to go in for one more appointment that Friday, April 6th to see if I have made any progress, and if I hadn't, we would go through with the induction. So, starting that Monday, Operation Induce Labor began! (I had already been on maternity leave for a week!)

I started walking a lot, and I read that eating things like eggplant and pineapple could induce labor. Of course, also eating spicy food. On Tuesday, we had the carpets cleaned, and went and saw The Hunger Games. We aren't really into The Hunger Games, but since it was such a huge movie, and we knew we wouldn't be able to see it anytime soon, we figured we'd go. After the movie, we went to the store and got some eggplant and pineapple and some Sriracha hot chili sauce. (This stuff) Kelly made me an eggplant pineapple smoothie and I drank it. It actually wasn't too bad. LOL I wasn't feeling like this was all very promising, but I played along. After that, Kelly made me some ramen noodles and put the Sriracha sauce in it to make it spicy. (I don't like a lot of spice, so it was spicy for me! I'm a total baby...haha) We headed to bed, just like every other night.

I got up to go to the bathroom about 5am Wednesday morning and got back into bed. I was laying there, and actually felt her jump, then I started leaking. She had actually broken my water! Since my water was broken, we had to go straight to the hospital. I didn't get to labor at home at all. I was admitted to the hospital about 6am, and when they checked me I still wasn't dilated or anything. They gave me some Cytotec, which is used to help soften the cervix. I started feeling some minor contractions, but I knew it was going to be awhile, so I sent Kelly to work. (He works 5 minutes away from the hospital, so I knew we were okay. My Mom was on her way from Mtn Home (45 minutes away), so I wasn't going to be alone for very long.) By lunch time, I ordered a turkey sandwich, and when it came,  I took one bite and suddenly started feeling stronger contractions. It was the food that helped! (lol) They checked me after I ate, but I still wasn't progressed enough. They wanted to start Pitocin, but I asked them to wait a little bit. Finally they gave me the Pitocin at 3pm and things started happening! Contractions got very strong and I was finally dilated to a 4.5 by 5pm, so they let me have the epidural! I LOVE that thing! haha!  Since I have scoliosis, it took them almost an hour and three tries to get it in, but it was so worth it!

Happy after the epidural! =)

I continued to progress, and they took me off the Pitocin to see if I would keep progressing on my own, and I did. Hooray! By the time I knew it, it was after midnight, so I wasn't going to have my baby on April 4th, she was going to be an April 5th baby. I really didn't feel like I had been in labor for 18 hours, but I had. I had kept sending Kelly home since it was taking so long and we live so close to the hospital, but around midnight, I had him come back. Then the nurse then had some scary news - I had developed a fever and probably an infection since my water had been broken for so long. If I couldn't get my fever down, they were going to have to take my baby to the NICU and treat her for what was called Chorioamnionitis. This was pretty upsetting, but there wasn't really anything I could do. Finally I was dilated to a 9.5 by about 2:30am, and even though I wasn't at a full 10, they had me start pushing at 3am because of the infection. All of this is pretty fuzzy in my head, because I was pretty out of it while pushing, but I pushed for three hours and she got stuck! The doctor told me I had two options - they could try the vacuum, or do a c-section. I wanted to avoid a c-section as much as I could, so I chose to try the vacuum. Finally, at 6:47am on April 5th, I had a baby! I had labored for 25 hours! Kelly cut the cord, and I got to hold her for a quick minute and they cleaned her up, then gave her back to me for a couple more minutes before taking her to the NICU. 

Kelly got to take her to the NICU, but I had to stay until the epidural wore off and I had eaten something. I sent Kelly to work again since there wasn't a whole lot we could do, and he only needed to work for about 3 hours anyway.  After a couple hours, I finally got to go see her and hold her and it was so nice!

My pretty girl with all her wires! This was before she was hooked up to the IV, too!

Proud Daddy!

A very tired, but happy mama!

Rowyn (Who actually didn't have a name for the first 36 hours of her life!) was tested for the Chorio, but we wouldn't know if she had it for 24 hours, so she had to stay in the NICU until we knew. It was rough to have her in there, not knowing if she was going to test positive and spend 10 days there. The NICU is upstairs from Labor and Delivery, so I had to go up there, hold her and feed her, then go back to my room and rest. I know it could have been much worse, though. She ended up not having it, so that was a huge relief! We got her in our room with us the second night, after 36 hours in the NICU, so it was great!

 Hanging out. 

We got to go home on Saturday, but ended up spending most of the day there anyway because there so many people coming in and out of our room. Nurses for me, nurses for Rowyn, the lactation consultant, and other people. Finally, we got her in her car seat for the first time and headed home!

Our first family photo!

Once we got home, we moved her stuff around, trying to figure out the best way to do things. It's been just over three weeks since we've been home and things have been going great! She is a little colicky, so we have some pretty good crying sessions, but we are figuring things out. I love my little girl!

 Maggie wanting to give Rowyn kisses when she first met her.

 Clyde checking out Rowyn.

Clyde saying "Please don't forget about me, Mom!"

Maggie and Clyde have done pretty well with her. For the first couple days, when Rowyn would cry, though, Maggie would get upset! (Then she got used to it and it does phase her anymore...LOL) Poor Clyde has had to get used to not seeing me as much, but we have started to get them together more and they seem to like her. We have already gone to a Pug Meet when she was 2 weeks old, too! We love our life with Rowyn! =)

If you can help...

I know, I never post, but my local Pug Rescue group, Pug Pals, has a Pug named Thor who needs his little leg amputated! They are taking donations, and I thought I'd put it out there into the blog world and if anyone has the means to donate even a couple dollars, you could help Thor out! Here is the facebook post and x-ray picture :

 His broken right leg is so sad, but he has adjusted to the pain and puts on a brave little face. Sweet boy! Thanks to the kindness of generous Thor Fans, we now have $457 in the Thor surgery fund (for his amputation), YEAH! We need to raise around $1,500 more before we can schedule his surgery. If you are interested in helping Thor, whether it's $1 or $1,000, please go here http://pugpals.org/help-thor/ and click "Donate." THANK YOU from Thor! ♥

If you are able to donate, please click here! Thank you!

About me:

I'm about 4 weeks (1 month from today!) from my due date (April 1st), and we are very anxious to meet our little girl! Here is my most recent bump picture, with Maggie included. =)

Also, just for fun, I'll show the nursery! We have painted and set a few things up, but it isn't finished. we still need to get some crib bedding (she will be in a cute cradle in our room first), decorate the walls and put curtains up. (Pink things, of course!) Here's the progress so far. =)

Maybe I'll have something super exciting to post about soon! =) (but not too soon, of course, we want our baby as cooked as possible, hehe!)