Cruise time babay!!!!!!

Ok ya'll.... after much deliberation, I've decided, since I have um-teen hundred pictures, I would separate our trip into days.

You know how if you're gonna do something out of the ordinary, for instance, like leave your kids behind and go on a cruise.... you wanna have all your ducks in a row before you leave, that way the caretaker of the kids... say it was your mom... wouldn't have any "strange" things to have to deal with. Well... if you're anything like me, not having your ducks in a row before you leave could potentially cause you to worry and not enjoy yourself. Well.... as life goes, the night before we were due to leave, we had just got through having Madelynn's birthday cake, and getting everything ready to go when Nat noticed (at 10 o'clock at night, mind you) that Aussie's face was swollen..... not just a little swollen, but eyes swollen shut, jowls 10x their normal size.. and honestly, it looked like her face could explode at any given second. It was sad... and we really had no clue what was gonna come of it.

Nat being the awesome guy that he is, went out on the hunt for whatever could have caused this, and I, being the pessimistic person that I am just thought to myself.... Really, how on earth do you think you'll find what did this when you have 60 acres of land to cover, and its dark outside?? But I just kept my mouth shut... and when Nat came racing inside to get his gun, I'm glad I kept my mouth shut about my doubts. He found a rattlesnake.... and it made me wanna vomit cuz we were all just outside in the vicinity of the rattlesnake. Blech.. makes me sick to think about it again.

Much to Nat's dismay, I made the decision when we were getting the puppies vaccinated, to go ahead and pay a little extra and get them rattlesnake vaccinated.... and boy were we grateful that I did cuz it made everything so minor.

**PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. IF YOU LIVE ANYWHERE REMOTELY CLOSE TO WHERE A RATTLESNAKE COULD BE.... PAY TO GET YOUR DOGS VACCINATED AGAINST RATTLESNAKE BITES!!!!! IT CAN SAVE THEIR LIFE!!!!!!

Ok, now that I got that out.. Our poor Aussie girl. She was such a trooper and she came through like nothing had ever happened.

oh... and speaking of ducks not being in a row. Remember the cow I told you about that wandered into our yard a few days before we left?? Well while we were away, that cow brought all her other little cow friends to our yard... and my mom had a fun time with cows, along with a dog recovering from a bite. The Cow Dog breed in both the pups came out and they rounded those cows up and chased them back to their home several times.. then they'd come back, and so on and so forth.

Anyways... the cruise.

Days 1-2.

I squeezed my babies, kissed their little foreheads, told them I loved them and walked out the door... and... I didn't even cry!! I was shocked at myself. I was pretty sure I was gonna be a basket-case. It was a nice, pleasant drive to Angelo... and if you've ever traveled with young children, you know traveling is never nice or pleasant so that was definitely a nice start to our vacation. We got to Angelo and (I) went straight out to get some manicures and pedicures with my girl-in-laws. That was just so unpleasant. ;) Not really. It was pretty amazing. After awhile, we all headed out to Mertzon, went to sleep, woke up and the day that we had all awaited for sooooo long was FINALLY here!!

10 hours in the truck with all the In-laws was pretty entertaining. I don't think I can say that there was ever a dull moment. Lots of laughter, thats for sure. It made the long trip seem much shorter.

After we got to our hotel and realized that Nat and I had forgot our bag that had ALL of our toiletries in it, we made a quick trip to the Wal Mart, re-loaded on toiletries, went to dinner, and then back to our hotel for a little swimmin time.

Then... we woke up and drove till we saw some water.

and palm trees.

and beach houses.

and Sheriff's pulling over people on golf carts

(not that we were expecting that... but it was entertaining anyways.)

and my cute honey.

and a pink flamingo.

and then.... we saw THIS:

Oh yes, we made it!

Our cruise ship awaited us. After we got all checked in and junk, my dear husband had a hernia cuz he thought I had forgot to get him the "Bottomless Bubbles" (free soft drinks for a low rate) So Nat's first stop.... first stop of MANY stops at the bar ;) was to get him a dadgum Dr. Pepper.

Nat was pretty in-awe of the off shore Oil rigs. They were pretty neat.

WERE HERE!!!

Vacation time for us sleep deprived, child ran parents.

Our first lunch. You found the food of your choice, got all the food your heart desired, ate and ate and ate some more.

Im pretty sure I gained at least 8 lbs on this trip. No joke. Not to mention ice cream at your service 24/7. Sin is what it is.

and were off!!!!!!!!

... and just in case you don't know,

this is my mother and father-in law

Sharon & Jim

Nat's parents.

Get it??

Good cuz you're gonna be seein a lot of them.

and these 2 too.

This is Karl and Crystal.

Nat's brother, and his wife.

Brother and sister in-law.

Get it??

... and these 2.. I can't remember their names.

;)

Nat and I got a room with a balcony, and boy were we glad we did. Although we didn't spend quite as much time out there as we'd liked to have, it was sooo pleasant. Even to just look out the door and see the beautiful view.

mmm... isn't he cute??

Next stop was solely enjoyable by Sharon. A few tried... and lost, and gave up... but, well, she was just in her element and she enjoyed it more than any of us did. Maybe has something to do with winning?!?

Walkin around outside as the sun went down.

So beautiful.

So perfect.

At the end of the day, you are greeted by a clean room, a towel buddy, and a schedule of tomorrows happenings.

Puppy dog.

Soooo....

I had every intention of blogging about the Birthday girl before we left to go on our cruise..... but, as life would have it, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off from the time we woke up till the time we left and it just never happened. So, before I tell you all about our vacay....

I have to admit this year was sooo much fun cuz she actually had a grasp of what was happening.... and that she had this special day all to herself. The girls have been into the show "Bubble Guppies" if you've never watched it, you should check it out sometime... its a pretty cute little show. I got this wild idea to try and make Madelynn a cake with Oona on it (her fav. character) Although I am entirly to hard on myself on how horrible it turned out... she loved it and it made all the mistakes and frustration worth it in the end.. .and when all was said and done I was so gld to have made her so happy.

We laid everything out in the living room the night before and had everything wrapped up ready for her to open... Well when I awoke at 8 and there was no Madelynn in bed with me, I first thought it was a miracle that she had stayed in bed all night... until I got out of bed and realized she had had her special Birthday Party all by herself. It was pretty funny.

and of course, Bubba had to be a Princess too.

and Im not sure how many gallons of lipgloss 2 little girls can go through in a matter of hours... but I'm pretty sure my girls set some kind of record. You are not a Princess until you're putting lipgloss on.... Therefore, all us girls in the house had beatiful glossed lips ALLLL day long.

... and I'm pretty sure our little tomboy liked the bike more than the Princess did.

Once we took her out and worked with her a bit, she just kept saying: "I wanna go be a princess, mama"

So naturally, I sent her in to get her princess stuff after awhile of giving it a go on the bike... and when she finally came out, she was blue.

and.....

well....

She enjoyed he cake for a little while while we were all outside.

And cuz the icing wasn't sugar rush enough, we came in and had some cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

It was a pretty awesome day filled with fun things Madelynn wanted to do.

I can't believe I have a 3 year old!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simply because....

Birth stories are such an amazing thing to read about.... and if you've been around awhile you've probably already read this, maybe even twice!

Without further ado.....

(sorry its so long)

Today, 3 years ago, It was a Saturday and we didnt have much on our agenda. We were having a get together with all the Roses around lunch time and then after that. we HAD to go to town so Nat could get fitted for a tux for a wedding he was in. He had put it off way to long. We had talked about not going to the family get together and just going to town but Sharon REALLY wanted us to go for some odd reason so we just went ahead and went.

So we get to the cabin and walk in (we walked in with Nats mom, dad, and brother and his brothers famiy) and we hear SURPRISE!! What?? surprise ..who in the heck would need a surprise party right now... thats weird.. oh well....

WAIT!! there is baby stuff everywhere, there is a baby cake, baby gifts... this is a surprise for us!! I was soooooo surprised.. I am a pretty sneaky person and it is very hard to surprise me but they got me! So after I realized this party was for Us and our baby, I was rather relieved because my other shower was not till Aug 2 (i think) and I was quite nervous cuz we had absolutely nothing ready for this baby and I was due Aug. 12. So we did the shower thing, played a few games, ate cake, and opened gifts... and hallelujah!! We got a crib, dresser and changing table set. We were sooo happy! We got lots of other great stuff but that was one thing that we desperately needed and I was so relieved.

We left and headed for town and hurried back so we could get all of our goodies set up and ready. Nat went in "the babies room" (as we called it, cuz remember, we didnt know what we were having) and shut the door and informed me not to come in till he said. So I stayed out and kinda cleaned and straightened up, there was stuff EVERYWHERE. Our house was a disaster just from all the goodies everywhere and kinda startin to get stuff ready to go the hospital. I had sat down and made a list of stuff I would need to pack and stuff Nat would need and of course, all the stuff for the baby for the hospital.... after all, I still had pretty much 4 weeks to go. But I planned to pack it all up the next day (sunday) We had also planned to go to church on Sunday and then go to the hospital to register so that when I actually did go into labor, I didnt have to sit and register everything while in labor.

This is what the babies room looked like at this point

Around 11:30 pm, Nat finally comes out and tells me to close my eyes and come in the room. ....

It looked so wonderful!!

and I pretty much looked like this...

humongous... swollen and swollen and not so wonderful...

So we eventually head to bed, house still a crazy mess. We had a small argument about whether or not we would go to church the next day (I know, I know). Nat was very tired and wanted to sleep in. I on the other hand wanted to go to church. We settled with if we wake up in time to go we will go, if not , we would just stay home and head to town later to register at the hospital.

....2:00 in the mornin, were sleepin and I am rudly awakened by a strange feeling. I was wetting the bed!! So I sat up and tried to hold it so I could make it to the bathroom but I couldnt hold it in... Im thinkin ok... what is my problem this is so weird. So I run to the bathroom and I think that I am peeing all over the place, at this point it was gushing out and I am thinking that my bladder exploded and Im gonna die. Once I get to the bathroom and fluid does not stop flowing Im like OMG... what if my water broke?? No way. I still had 4 weeks.. Im not even ready!! At this point, I am standing on a towel trying to figure out how to walk back to the bedroom to wake Nat up without making a horrible mess. I stayed on the towel and kinda slid walked my way to the bedroom. Here is how our conversation went:

Me: Nathaniel.

Nat: *snoring away*

Me: Babe... I need you to wake up...... NATHANIEL!!!

Nat: huh??

Me. I think my water broke (looking back now I laugh at the fact that I said I THOUGHT my water broke)

Nat: huh??

Me: I THINK MY WATER BROKE... CAN YOU WAKE UP AND HELP ME???

Nat: huh..

At this point I walk back to the bathroom a little frustrated and eventually back to try to wake him again

Me: (yelling) BABE. MY WATER BROKE. I NEED YOU TO WAKE UP SO WE CAN GET READY AND HEAD TO THE HOSPITAL

Nat sits up and stares at me with a look on his face like why on earth are you waking me up???

Nat: I told you I didnt want to go to church. Why are you waking me up?

Me: MY WATER BROKE. I DONT WANNA GO TO CHURCH. I WANNA GO TO THE HOSPITAL

Nat sits there staring at me with a blank stare for about 2 more minutes I then inform him that he needs to wake up and hear what I am saying.

Nat: (20 minutes later... not even kidding) Your water broke???

Me: YES!! I NEED YOU TO GET UP AND GET OUR STUFF PACKED CUZ I CANT MOVE OFF THIS TOWEL.

Nat got a big grin on his face then went into freak out mode (which I had already been in) Gets outta bed throws his clothes on and yells to me "Are you sure your water broke" " Ya Im pretty sure... either that or my bladder exploded" At this point we are both so super excited and freaking out. I am standing in the bathroom on this towel, packing a few toiletries for us and yelling at Nat what to pack. He is running back and forth from our room to the babies room to the dryer to the babies room as I am thinking of stuff yelling it to him. That is teamwork!! :) I will have everyone know that he packed everything we needed!! He did a great job!

ok so Im in full blown labor. Water is broke, contractions have started and are getting stronger and closer and it does not feel pleasant. Nat grabbed all of our bags and grabbed the car seat throws it all in the car and comes back in to help me out the door and into the car. An hour after my water broke, we were on our way to the hospital. Nat drove 90-100 MPH all the way to and through town. Ran a few stop sigs and red lights. In the mean time, he is timing my contractions and letting me squeeze the blood outta his hand and in between contractions, I am trying to call my mom and let her know it was time and then we called his mom to tell her we were on our way to the hospital (she works in the Nursery at shannon and just so happened to be working that night) We get to the hospital (I am STILL leaking fluids at this point) and we still have to go by registration. That took an eternity.

Finally get up to L & D and get in a room and I am already 4 cm. YA! That was quick and easy.. gimme an epidural and I'll have this baby out in no time!

....Uh sorry... your baby is breech... we'll have to do a c section. So im thinkin ok. Thats fine. Just please give me some medicine. An hour and a half passes as they get stuff ready and get the Dr ready to go. At one time the Dr. comes in and tells me what I can expect and what he will be doing. Then the Anesthesiologist comes in and tells me all that he is gonna do and I can tell you NOTHING as to what they told me. I remember at one point telling my mom I thought she was stupid for doing this 5 times all natural.

Finally, at about 4 somethin I guess (I really have no earthly idea... thats a guess) they come in and wheel me back. Give me that spinal and man... the world was a wonderful place! I layed there and my mind is going a million miles an hour. I remember laying there thinking. I am sooo tired and Its 4 In the morning and this baby is coming. I am going to start this out being super tired and stay super tired cuz newborns dont sleep, I had a little moment of sadness. Then Nat came in so excited and so nervous and he sat there by me. I was shaking like a leaf (just a symptom of the spinal I heard) and I couldnt stop. He was very worried about me and the anesthesiologist told him that I was ok. and that it was normal. After that, I just remember a bunch of pulling and I felt like I was movin all over the place.

Then I heard it. That first cry. mmmh that is the best sound on the face of the earth. I thought to myself... that is my baby! I couldnt believe it! IT was here... oh ya... it... what is it??

So I asked Nat if it was a boy or a girl and he just watched everything they did to her and totally ignored my question. Some time passed and Im like waiting for someone to say ITS A BOY... or ITS A GIRL! Then Finally like 8 hours later the anesthesiologist leaned over and told me it was a girl. He had heard me ask Nat. I later learned that Nat wanted to bring her over to me and tell me it was a girl as I got to see her for the first time.

There she was. 6lb. 1 oz. 18 in long. Born at 5:01 in the mornin. Oh she was so beautiful. Then they took her away and Nat left with her and I was all alone. Finally They wheeled me back to a room and I got to hold her for the first time. She was so peaceful and beautiful and best of all, she was mine. She was goin home with me and was gonna be my daughter forever. We stayed in the hospital for 5 days with her cuz she had jaundice. I was dis- charged 2 days after she was born so at one point, we left her in the nursery and went shopping. Yes, 4 days after I had a c- section, I was at target. But we needed a few things for when we got home and I really wanted to get out of that hospital room. I walked around with such pride. I had a baby. My lifetime dream has come true! I look back now and I love the feeling that I felt while in the hospital and walking around target. What a great memory!

Now, she is 3 years old and she is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us. This time with her has been the most wonderful years of our lives. From our battle with brestfeeding, and then our battle with formulas and vomiting, it seemed like it would never end. Then the fact that she was so terribly tongue tied. Ill never forget the day we got her tongue clipped. It was the most terrifying horrible day of my life. Then there was the flu, ear infections, RSV, pneumonia, torticollis. Then the small milestones like sitting up and crawling and waving, seeing her smile for the first time, and hearing her coos for the first time, feeding her baby food, then feeding her real food. Seeing how much she enjoys food. Starting to pull up and take steps around the couch To the fun memories we will always have with our little girl. Our trips to Austin, our trip to the zoo, swimming with her for the first time, Our trip to Abilene, Our trip to New Mexico.... uhh I could go on forever, but I wont cuz Im sure Its plenty long enough.

We love you Madelynn!

Happy Birthday!

Cant wait to see you grow up into a beautiful little girl!

Thank you God for blessing us with a perfect, healthy little girl. May she grow up and love you with all of her heart and seek you all the days of her life! Bless her.