HILARY AND CHAD

Baby Norah

2012-01-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

I wasn't going to post the whole birth story, but before I delivered I found it helpful to read other birth stories on blogs just to calm myself down. If its too long for you to read, i'll post pictures along the way for the impatient people out there.

January 11, 2012

7:30am- Arrive at the hospital to be induced. Filled out some paperwork and then was escorted back into the labor and delivery room. I was told to put on a gown and then to be checked by the nurses. As soon as the gown was on I started to get nervous realizing that I would soon have a baby. Chad calmed me down by putting on background music to a playlist that we had picked out beforehand. Me being a violin teacher anything with music calms me down. The nurses checked me and told me I was dilated to a 5 and 70% effaced. "Great" lets get this ball rolling!

My Dr is probably the best Dr I have ever had! From the first appointment we really hit it off and he has always been so considerate of my needs and wishes throughout the whole pregnancy. We had previously discussed that I could either break my water or start pitocin, but it was my choice. Dr Guzman came in shortly after having been checked and broke my water. What a weird feeling that was. Did not hurt at all, but felt extremely warm and wet. I decided to break my water before any medication just to see if my body could naturally start contractions on their own. I gave myself 2 hours and if contractions wouldn't start getting hard I would go to Pitocin. So I started walking... and walking

9-11am
Walking around the hospital garden looking super classy!!
Bouncing a ball for another 45 min (sorry no picture!)

11:30am- Start Pitocin

I told Chad to go have lunch with his parents while I was still feeling pretty well. (Chad had a quesadilla fresh off the grill with guacamole and siracha sauce, not bad for hospital food. Because I know all of you wondered what he ate!)He left and came back around 12:30. As soon as he came back my contractions starting getting pretty bad. I remember seeing my mother in law look on the computer screen and watching as one contraction spiked way up high. They all looked at me concerned and asked if I felt that one. OF COURSE I DID!

12:45-1:45pm

Contractions were pretty brutal. I would be having them every few minutes. I tried all the breathing exercises and held off for as long as I could to get the epidural. My goal was to be a 7 before I got the epidural. It was getting pretty painful and I might have bitten Chad's ear in response to a painful contraction. Yep I Mike Tyson'd the guy, he was such a trooper throughout it all.

2:00 pm

Epidural! Everyone says that it was easy to get their epidural. For me it was the hardest part of the labor. I had to sit through 3 hard contractions while trying to stay still. It took about 20 minutes for the drug to kick in. After that they checked me and I was a 9 1/2. Because I was so relaxed they told me to hang out for a little bit and then they would check me again. I actually slept for about 30 minutes. That was amazing! They woke me up at 3pm and told me when I felt pressure I could start pushing.

3:00pm

My legs were in the sterups and thats when it went super fast. I did one push and the nurses rushed to go get the Dr. After only 20 minutes of pushing Miss Norah made her appearance into the world. Chad surprised me and watched the whole thing. He said beforehand that he didn't want to watch "ground zero", but in the end was fascinated by the whole thing.

Dr Guzman was amazing at keeping me and Chad calm while I was pushing.

3:36 Norah Nancy Bowman arrived. 7lbs 3 oz, 19 inches long. She was and is perfect in every way. She has her daddy's fingers and toes, and her mommy's eyes and nose!

We couldn't be more happy. She is a very calm baby and sleeps very very well. She is getting the hang of breastfeeding which is making mommy even happier! What a great way to start off 2012!!

She is Here!

2012-01-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

Norah Nancy Bowman was born on January 11, 2012 at 3:36pm. 7 lbs 3 oz! Delivery was excellent and all of us are getting the hang of our angel here with us. She is perfect. Details will come soon.

Patience is Virtue...Right?

2012-01-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

So today is my due date... and our baby is still in me. Awesome (saying that extremely sarcastically!). Last week at our Dr's appointment he checked me and I was a dilated to a 4 and 70% effaced. So what the heck? I have been walking, squatting and doing everything to start my labor on my own, but she is being stubborn. She might be just like her mom and not want to come out because its too cold outside!

Tomorrow at 7:30am we will go to the hospital to be induced. My hope is that because I am already pretty far along she can come soon! I have been very patient and time is up. Poor Chad has put up with lots of emotions this past week, but we are very excited to finally meet our baby girl!

So what do I do with my last day by myself while Chad is at school all day? Clean the house, do the laundry, have Dawsons Creek season 3 playing continuously on the tv. Exciting huh? Keeping busy is key for me get through this day! Ok, thats all. Next post we will hopefully have exciting be introducing a new addition to the Bowman Family. Wish us luck!!

Last pregnancy picture taken on Christmas

Blessings

2011-11-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

I dont really like doing pregnancy posts... wait i've only done one, HA! Anyways our baby girl is still cooking and doing well. Pregnancy is for the most part a exciting experience.

1st trimester was annoying with loosing more weight than gaining. Crackers and ginger ale were my best friends. I hardly threw up but was constantly nauseous. Rule #1 dont go to a Las Vegas buffet when your still in your 1st trimester. You sit there and eat a roll and some salad while you watch husband indulge in 4 heaping plates of food!

2nd Trimester was a breeze. I ate and ate and ate! This is my one opportunity to eat anything at anytime and not feel bad about it. My motto "Its good for the baby". Pastrami sandwichs, Del Taco at 10pm, and Sonic shakes were a must. If I could only go back to those awesome weeks.

3rd Trimester has been the hardest. Our little darling has wedged her butt under my right ribs and usually stays there most of the day. I am not complaining but the comfort part of pregnancy as gone right out the window. My mom warned me about my feet softening because that is what happened to her. Like mother like daughter! So i look awesome now walking around in slippers and wrapped feet trying to walk around like a normal person. Rule #2 dont take your shoes off at church because i promise they will not be able to come back on after 3 hours of sitting.

I have less than 7 weeks till we meet her. Room has been painted, baby shower has been done, now its just time for patience and trying to get some sleep before she comes. I sometimes walk into her room and wonder if this is for real. Is there really a baby thats gonna come out of my body? Is she really going to be living at our house? Do I really have to teach her everything about life? Maybe I've seen to many X Files and still dont believe there is anything happening. Come January the truth will be revealed!!

And just for kicks:

Baby Shower

Practicing being in Labor

Around 30 weeks

January 10th

2011-08-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

January 10th is a very special day in the Bowman house because this happened in 2009:

But come January 10th 2012 She will be here:

Perfect timing right??

We could not be more overjoyed by this baby girl coming. We feel so blessed and excited to start this new chapter of our lives.

Bring on the Bows and Color Pink, we are ready!!!

Summer Heat

2011-07-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

I am sick of looking at the stupid bird blog post so I guess its time for a new post.

June:

I now am an official graduate of ASU!! I am now passing my baton to Chad who will start his Masters there in the Fall

We took a fabulous trip to Hawaii with my fam

June 6th Chad had a birthday. We celebrated by eating, and eating, and eating!!!

and July 4th was spent having Chad look as Patriotic as possible:

and some Giant Hamburgers!!!

but probably the most important thing about the summer is spent doing this............

not much of a exciting post but I do know that people just crave knowing about our adoring lives. Give the people what they want.

Spring has sprung

2011-04-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Anyone whow knows me super well knows that I HATE BIRDS!! As in I should be a contestant on a talk show like Maury Povich and get over my phobia of birds along with other people who are scared of marshmallows, clowns, etc. So it would happen to me that this decided to happen in our backyard:

and then this:

Yes those are baby birds. Yes the Mamma bird DID fly right in my face as I tried to look at them.

Most people would be super excited to watch the "hatchlings" grow, but I am more worried about the bird poop and feathers getting all over my bakers rack. Maybe I should become a contestant on Maury Povich??

Disneyland and Laguna

2011-04-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

Over Spring Break we got to go on a " Bowman Family Vacation" this entails:

- In N Out Burger in Palm Springs

- 3 days at Disneyland

-2 days in Laguna Beach

It was so much fun and we wish we could have stayed longer. Here are the highlights!!!!

Disneyland:

Laguna Beach:

Fresh Coat Part 2

2011-03-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt like a month is more like a week? That how we feel! We have been super busy this month with house painting, Disneyland, Spring Break, Birthdays, etc..

First off

We have gone from this:

to this:

OOH LALA!!

It feels so good to come to a Home that looks like the best house on the block now!

We are so grateful and thankful to Chad's dad and brother at JD'S Maintenance Service for the hard work and great results. They are the best!

Dude Your Getting a Dell

2011-03-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

Iphones, Ipads and Mac computers are everywhere!!! I mean everywhere. Chad would put it as "They are so SEXY!!

But what happened to the simpler times? Where is Steven when you need him. I propose we bring Steve back and he can promote Apple.

All in favor say "I"

Snow

2011-02-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend is just what we needed.
-Payson cabin
- Fireplace
- Cozy blankets
- Good Movies
- FOOD
-Family
-Walks in the snow
- SNOW
-SNOW
-SNOW
- Wal

It snowed from the time we got there till we left. Good Weekend!!

Fresh Coat

2011-02-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

We are so excited!!! We have the opportunity to paint our house. Which will be a huge improvement from living in a pink and white house. Not that living in a strawberry shortcake isn't great.

(not our house, but looks very similar)

Yes we do live in a cookie cutter neighborhood, and we wanted something that makes our house stand out a bit. So we are so excited to have Chad's dad and his crew at JD Home Improvement Services come help us out.

Here is what we are thinking:

-Brown for the house

-Off White for the Eves

- Red for the front door ( not this color, we want something darker and bolder)

Finish with new lamp shades

What do you think??

2011

2011-01-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

January flew by. Of course I tried to make an effort to blog, but life gets in the way. On the 10th this month we celebrated our 2 Year Anniversary. Time has flown by!!! I love Chad so much and am so excited for eternity with him. Since money is scare we celebrated by eating Sushi and going on a Gondola Ride. Even though it was only about 15 min on the boat, it was super fun and a great memory we created.

( dont hate on the lighting, i messed it up with Picasa)

Other things we look forward to in 2011:

- Disneyland

- Hawaii

- Graduation (H)

-Masters Program (C)

- Netflix

- Iphone on Verizon

- Painting our house

- Learning the banjo and ukulele

Be nice to us 2011, we are looking forward to you

Christmas Spirit

2010-12-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

I am officially done with the semester and only one more to go until graduation. Which means I can breath for a little while and enjoy Christmas festivities. Which include what I think is a unique tradition that me and Chad have started.

Its called "Throw you Christmas Tree in the Pool"

Step one: Find the perfect tree

Step Two: Throw it in Nancy's pool for a few days. Bless my mother in law's heart for allowing us to "water" our tree and get as many pine needles into her pool filter as we can

Step Three: Decorate!!!!!

* Apparently there was a news report about how throwing your tree in the pool makes it last longer, I have yet to see this report. This is probably a total myth, but I love the tradition non the less.

Other festivites that should be included:

Dress up your kitten in a snowflake collar ( he looks overjoyed)

Merry Xmas!!!

P.s. Can this post count as our Christmas card? I think Yes!

No Shame

2010-11-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for this moment. The American Music Awards must have heard my prayers.

I will never turn my back. Go ahead and judge.

Halloween

2010-11-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

This is about as Halloweenish as we got this year:

This Guy:

and Pumpkins:

We will try to better next year (maybe)

What I do when I should be studying STATS

2010-10-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing that I believe in life is that:

"Everything goes back to Dawson."

It started back like 6 plus years ago when they aired it on TBS ALL THE TIME. Some people were revolted (Morgan), but I couldn't get enough of the gossipy, teenage romp. I am not afraid to admit that I have seen every episode of Dawson's Creek and I can make any situation, event, relationship, problem relate back to this show. Plus every teenage soap opera since then has been based of this masterpiece of a show. You think Gossip Girl would be as good without Dawson? I don't think so! Maybe thats why I want and need this for Christmas.

Crafties

2010-09-10T15:18:00.001-07:00

So I recently had the knack for creating something. Maybe its just a girl thing, but I wanted to be you know like crafty.. yet I realized that I cannot paint, glue, draw, decorate, i.e. anything else crafty. But I did take a sowing class in high school so:

Sowing+ Cleaning out Husbands Closet+ Super easy to make= T-Shirt Blanket

Morgan may or may not be getting one for her birthday

Senior Year!

2010-08-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

So I started my Senior Year at ASU this semester, which means there is a light at the end of the tunnel that I can FINALLY see. I feel that the first week of every semester there are more gem like stories to tell then the rest of the 3 months put together.

Fall 2010 Gem Story:

- 2nd Day of class my building catches on fire. Yeah there was smoke coming from the windows and 5 fire trucks surrounding the building. Which means hundreds of students standing around praying that their class gets canceled. In mid prayer I see my teacher gather his students around and declare that we will have class in the grass..... in 110 degree weather. Not only was that bad enough, but the State Press ran this headline:

NEXT BEST THING: After being evacuated because of smoke from the Stauffer Communication Arts building on Thursday afternoon, one teacher decides to keep class going on the lawn right outside.

I'm the one with the yellow backpack... which pretty much means I am now a famous sun devil. What a great way to start the semester!

A Tail

2010-08-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Yes its been a few months since I posted. For a newlywed life im not about to post how our day at work or school was (thats boring!), and we dont have any little ones that I can post pictures of... so this is as good as it gets. BUT we do have an addition to the Bowman clan and I can finally say that I have accepted and love him.

Here is the JET Tale:

Back in June right after Chad's Bday he called me from work and stated, " You know how I love Mickey ( his families cat) and my birthday was just a few days ago?" "Yes" I answered hesitantly (I am figuring out exaclty how my husbands mind works at this point). " Well.... my co worker found a stray kitten and will give it to me..I mean us for free"

I am a DOG person, I always have been always will be. So when Chad asked for a CAT my answer was an almost NO. But in all marriages there has to be give and take so we went over and looked at the kitten and of course brought it home.. I mean we adopted.

My mom and sister are deathy allergic to cats and have put me into a mindset that all cats are evil. So against all odds I am here with a kitten in our home.

Here is JET the kitten (Im told he will turn into a cat)

And if you know Chad well enough then you will know that we named him after those guys

So JET is part of our clan. The only other thing I think we need for the boy is

ps: JET is well loved in this home

Maui

2010-06-18T18:37:00.001-07:00

We just got back off of sebatical from Maui. It was amazing! Here are a few highlights:

1. Front Street

2. Finding Mamma's Fish House

3. Morgan lovin being serenaded by Chad's Uke

4. Todd and Morgan's bantering relationship. Yes my dad did get toooo much sun... He would just say "Thank You"

5. Scuba Diving

It was an awesome way to start our Summer. We cant wait until we can go back next time. Aloha Oi'

V DAY

2010-02-13T22:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

I have two CD's in my car that are always there. They have been there since I was 16. They never leave the car and I randomly find them and throw in the CD player. After all these years I can still listen to the CD's and never get sick of them. The popularity of the songs are long gone but I still love them. So as Valentines approaching here are a few other things that I LOVE which will never die, just like my cds:

Happy Valentines Day to everyone! Here are a few things that we are happy for this Valentines:

1. Sharing the day with these critters

2. Still working on Wedding Cake

3. Looking forward to this...

4. Most Important* Spending the day with each other.

Christmas

2010-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

*Side Note- I realize Christmas was a month ago, but for the sake of the blog world I am going to pretend it was just yesterday. Play Along.

Update time! Christmas this year was very very fun! We started it off by attempting to throw our own Christmas Party/House Warming Party/ Come see our house if you haven't yet seen it Party. It was a huge success and most everyone invited came, which meant our little house was busting at the seams with so many people. I wouldnt have it any other way. Here are some from the Gift Exchange highlights:

(People getting really cozy in our small room)

Thanks to everyone who came we love all of you and value your friendship

Christmas Eve: Morgan unexpectedly gets a call from our cousin Michelle Baer asking her to play the violin on Christmas Eve night at the temple lights for their family. After being super nervous she did a fabolus job with the help of a great page turner by her side!

Christmas weekend was spent up at a Cabin with Chad's family. It was full of SNOW, family and good laughs. I loved being up their with his family it was just picture perfect.

(Don't mind how tired we look, we didnt get any sleep up there)

For our first Christmas together being married it was filled with a Real Christmas Tree, family traditions and the start of our own traditions together. I feel so blessed and can't wait for 2010!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-11-28T20:22:00.000-08:00

This weekend was probably the first weekend that we have had a chance to breathe and not stress about school and work. We actually got to sleep in for a few days and didn't realize how good it felt to sleep in till 8 am! We are grateful and blessed with many things, over this past weekend we can add a few more thanks:

1. Eating 2 thanksgiving dinners! The Bowmans at 2pm and my fam at 5pm. We paced ourselves and were able to still save room for popcorn for The Blind Side.

*Side Note:* C- " I thought Sandra WAS the football coach?"

C- " When is Tim Mcgraw gonna be in the movie?"

H- " What trailer did You see for this movie?" *

2. Hanging out with great friends and family at the Jet Concert.

(Don't mind the creeper look Chad is giving)

3. Not knowing what to do Friday so we saw the movie 2012 at a 12:20pm showing. Ironic? I think not!

4. Having the best families in the World that love and support us through everything we do!

Aside from being movie junkies for 2 days straight, we had a great weekend.

Happy Be-lated Thanksgiving!

Life's Little Enjoyments

2009-11-09T18:54:00.001-08:00

Since we are so busy with school and work its hard to spend a moment of time together, but when we do spare some time you can usually find us doing this:

- Finding the cheapest place for a Dr Pepper ( preferably with a styrofoam cup and good ice)

- Going to Mint.com to see if we can spend less than $15 bucks on take out

- Coupon cutting

- Fixing things around the house i.e. tying branches together with yarn to make them grow tall, putting our velcro couch back together after our home teachers leave and the cushions have separated

- Feeding our primary kids cupcakes and getting it all over their Sunday dresses and white shirts and then letting them loose outside to play tag.(You wish you were in our Primary class don't ya?)

- Listening to Bee Gee's on our way to and from school

- Hanging out with Take Cover or The Dorsets

But our latest obsession and you can know what we do every

night from 10-11pm is this:

= Pure Enjoyment

Its been a Hards Day Night

2009-10-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

You know those expectations you have for the weekend? I find myself sitting in class dreaming of the 2 days of no school, no work, and catch up time to do things you really want to do. Yeah that was gonna be this weekend, but with all expectations they most always don't reach the potential you want them too.

Friday night was good though: Chad had a gig at MadCap theater with The Dorsets it was filled with Mill Ave, good food, and awesome music!

Saturday was gonna be spent away up in Payson, yet the flu got the best of someone's husband and I spent most of Sunday trying to make him feel better.

So I found myself eating a half bag of old Easter Candy M&M's and crocheting while watching Conference as my poor Chad slept on the couch all day with the chills and a horrible cough, poor boy! Thats ok because it gave me time to reflect on last year when we were up at Conference together. That was one of the best memories I have had with Chad not only b/c we got to get away but that was the trip I knew I wanted to marry him. Good Times Great Oldies! Get better Boy!

2009-09-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

So this last week our camera took a little trip to Illinois b/c apparently when I went to take a picture it decided to take a dump on us. According to Jim from "Geek Squad" the Kodak Easy Share Camera likes to shut down on alot of people. So off went our camera back east to get fixed. Why am I telling you this story.. because there will soon be more updated pictures of us. Until then I will leave you with the most recent pictures we have through our summer which are these:

June in Hawaii: Scuba Diving, Volcanoes, jumping off Black Rock, and lots of Dramamine to pass out a boy who remains nameless.

July in AZ: Worked in the heat to make our yard look better. Adopted 3 trees and 5 plus bushes that will bloom soon..we hope. Thanks "Moom bye ay"!

It did come with some consequences though, which was one of the worst blisters I've ever seen that took 3 weeks to heal.

August in Cali: 36 hour trip for a concert and beach trip with these boys:

And this one:

Who we saw: JET; Drunk Aussies, Crowd Surfing, and Chad's little bro almost getting rammed in the face by a mosh pit. Which means it was perfect to introduce the boys to their first concert. Enjoy!

Ode to transportation

2009-08-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

School has started for the both of us...again. Luckily Chad is a Senior and will be graduating in the spring and I am a Senior starting in the spring. Which basically means that we trudge down to ASU in the freakin' heat everyday. Here are the highs and lows:

Highs:

- Chegg.com

- We go to school together Mon, Wed, Fri.

- We are taking a class together called " The Baby Class" A.K.A. another method of great birth control

-We ride the light rail with all the other loonies

- We met Steve at Circle K who will tell anyone about his CTR ring and who he is related to

- We dont go to the gym on these days because we sweat it off by just walking across campus

- We smell delicious by noon

Lows:

- We ride the light rail

- Chad gets to stay home tues/thurs while Hil gets to get more exersize down at ASU

- I saw a girl on a bike get run over by a car, saw a drug deal take place, and saw a black man gigalo pick a poor young sap.. all on the same day, all on the light rail.

So it should be a pretty interesting semester. I guess this blog is a tribute to the light rail. For all you bloggers out there who put up cutie little pics of your kids on the light rail or myspace pics of yourself on the rail remember there are peeps out there who use the dang thing just to not have to pay$500 for parking a semester. Be kind, and if you ever see something risky on the rail perk your ears up because you might have a great story to tell later.

Start the Stalking

2009-08-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is our first post. But most importantly is why we are posting... right? Here are some reasons that we have started our own blog

Things we will do:

1. Blog Stalk Others (B/c we might have been doing it for awhile and now want to get noticed also)

2. Keep in contact with fam and friends AKA Blog Stalk

3. Take more pictures. I have noticed since we've been married is that I don't take many picutres and this will be a good excuse to take more

4. Share our randomness to others

5. We will try to always share the most distugisting pictures of us. We are normal and don't ever look like supermodels, and we want to share the love with you!

Things we WILL NOT DO to our blog:

1. There will never be a "cutest blog on the block" logo in the corner of our screen. It just screams scrapbookie and I will never be one.

2. Even though we both love music more than anything. There will be no annoying music box playing in at the bottom of our page. B/C be honest.. don't you just go mute the music right away anyways?

3. There will never be a blog post WITHOUT a picture. That is what a blog is for. Who actually reads the text you write anyways. Its all about the pictures

Enjoy! (Most recent picutre taken in Hawaii)