Our little girl, Rowan Sage, returned to Heaven this past Monday. She was stillborn at 32 weeks old. The heart-ache is more than we can bear at times. Everything is a memory of her.
We need all the love and support you can give at this time. Whether it be in a phone call, text, letter, or email. We may not respond. But please understand that it means something to us to know that you care.
We will be having a graveside service for her tomorrow at 2pm at the Orem Cemetery. You are welcome to attend.
I thought I'd write down some of the things that Finn has been doing lately. He doesn't say many words (which I'm kind of worried about). But here are some of the words/sounds that he does/has rambled off: ball, moon, dada, mama, up, slug, book, baby, Eddie, Emma, cow, moo, quack, snort, hssss, hop, baaa, and ah-o. Yeah, not much. I'm still waiting for the day that he's just going to let it all out. Does anyone else's kid not say much? He knows a lot of signs, which I thought might be hindering his speech, but they say that it doesn't. Signs that he knows are: up, down, all done, more, drink, food, hungry, peas, blueberries, popcorn, chips, chocolate, caterpillar, poop, potty, please, and thank you.
If you ask him if he has a joke to tell you, he'll start laughing. It's pretty cute! He's very coordinated and will balance on the cement strip that goes around the wood chips at the playground. Speaking of playground... I asked him if he wanted to go to the playground the other day and he started jumping up and down (I guess that means yes). I said, "go get your hat and coat." He ran into the other room and got them and was already headed out the door. He's pretty good at following directions too.
My parents went to Yuma, AZ this last weekend to visit my grandparents that live down there during the winters. They brought Finn back a bubble gun that he thinks is soooo cool! It makes sounds and lights up. Plus you don't have to get light-headed from blowing bubbles.
All of the women in my family are major quilters. I really like making quilts, although it can be so expensive! But I guess you have more of an heirloom if you make it yourself versus buying one that has been manufactured in China.
I made this baby quilt for Rowan with the help of my mom, aunt, and grandma during Christmas time. I love how it turned out! I used Robert Kaufman fabric that was made to look like it was from the 1930's. I think I'll probably make a couple of sheets for her crib out of some of the same fabrics in the quilt.
I tend to go overboard sometimes when it comes to nesting. I really enjoy making things, but often times I do too much and get overwhelmed (obviously my own fault). Example: felt baby shoes. I started cranking them out and selling them on my etsy site. Now I don't really have any left for Rowan, so of course I have to make more for her. I'm going to try and tone it down and not do more than 2 more little projects. Especially since we'll be moving fairly soon.
Many things on the internet can be time-wasters if you let them be. One thing that I have really liked though, has been Pinterest. I have actually done quite a few of the things I have found on there. One in particular that I recently did was this. I think many of you have actually pinned it as well.
I finally made us some blog books. I used to be an avid journal writer (I filled up 8 while growing up). As soon as Dennen and I got married I stopped writing in my journal. I have no idea why. Having a blog has made me feel less guilty about this. The program is free to download and is called blurb. It's an easy program to use and gives you options of many different layouts. I made 2 books in 2 days. They are compiled of the last 6 years of our lives. I got the smallest, most inexpensive books made. They are 7" x 7".
Here are some pictures of our blog books.
They are very nice quality. Word of advice. Make sure that whenever you do a blog post, you make your pictures the extra large option. Some of the pictures from our earliest blog posts had to be pretty small so the quality would look okay printed, because when we did the blog post the pictures were saved so small.
Overall, I am way happy with how they turned out! It also gives me more incentive to do better, more meaningful blog posts (always with pictures of course).
Dennen and I actually celebrated Valentine's Day the day before because we didn't want to deal with all the craziness. We went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill and Dennen got me some flowers (some people don't like flowers, I do). I miss how Valentine's Day used to be when I was a kid... I loved making my own Valentine's mailbox and picking out just the right Valentine card for all my friends (and crushes)!
Although, now we start to get to enjoy holidays with kids. What could be more enjoyable?! Grandparents and cousins gave Finn little gifts and candy for Valentine's. He was sooo excited! It was really cute to watch.
Grandma Marci even made us one of her traditional giant pink heart sugar cookies. They are my absolute favorite! She even made Finn one, but then decided to take a bite out of it... Bad idea.
Valentine's Day dinner with the fam, and my parent's friend Steve Chambers from Alabama
Grandma Marci taking a tasty bite of Finn's cookie
Look at that face! Just kidding. This was the face he made when we tried to get him to take a bite of his cookie. He'll learn to love them soon enough :)
I'm pretty sure Finn doesn't get the concept that he's going to have a new baby sister in a couple of months. But we have gotten him to say baby and point at my stomach :) He also points at my belly button (or the lack thereof) and laughs.
After what seems like forever without snow, we finally got a storm on Sunday! We definitely took advantage of it. Dennen and Finn made a snowman on Sunday night. And yesterday we drove to Daniel's Summit to go snowshoeing. It was a blast! I'm a believer that anyone can enjoy the snow/cold if they dress appropriately. But when it's hot outside you can only strip down so much... I feel like I can never cool down enough. And that's why I detest extremely hot weather!
Has anyone else taken their kiddos to the Gateway Children's Museum? It is awesome! My mom and I took Finn there last Friday and he had a ball. He's still not quiet sure what to think of lot of kids and seems to get kind of nervous sometimes... So it was good for him to go and start to get used to it.
Lately Finn has been giving a lot more hugs and kisses, which I love! He wasn't a snuggly baby at all, so I'm glad I can get some in now :) He likes puzzles and is pretty good at them once we help him do them a few times. His stuffed animals are still his favorite and he loves snuggling with them. The last time I changed a poopy diaper was a week ago (hopefully this continues and I didn't just curse myself). Every morning right when he wakes up I go and put him on the toilet and he poops and pees like clockwork. It's pretty nice. He's getting the hang of the whole thing. Basically I started awhile back doing EC (elimination communication). There's a lot of information on the web about it. Oh, and another priceless item when it comes to him sittin' on the pot? An ipad. Yep, I just let him watch movies. This one is pretty funny and he really likes it.
Dennen and I also went hiking with Finn on Saturday at Big Springs. We brought our snowshoes but didn't end up needing them because there was pretty much no snow. It was fun nonetheless though!
Last but not least, Dennen's mom watched Finn and we went to Park City to visit our buddies the Koehlers. They treated us to a tasty homemade meal, followed by the World Cup Mogul Competition at Deer Valley. It was crazy to see the skiers rip down the mogul field! I'd say their knees probably go bad pretty quickly... And once again, being at a ski resort and seeing other people skiing made me a little sad that I'm not able to this winter. Oh well, better safe that have a detached placenta and go into premature labor.
We had some family pictures taken awhile back. I love how they turned out! Brynn did a great job. If you're looking for a photographer in the Utah Valley area, she's your gal! You can check out the rest of her work here.
In other news, I'm now 28 weeks along (these pictures were taken when I was 26 weeks). I can really tell a difference from this pregnancy and when I was pregnant with Finn. I am just as big right now, as when I went into labor with Finn at 36 weeks. Yep, I don't think we'll be having another 4 pounder. It's great, keep growing baby girl! I'll be getting a fetal non-stress test at 32 weeks just to make sure everything is a-okay, as well as another ultrasound to check on my placenta and amniotic fluid levels. Here's hoping this time around goes a bit more smoothly... But if not, we're still happy to have her!
