A whole different perspective on service.

This post is long and might be very boring to some. This blog acts as a journal for our family and this is something we want to remember. I just feel so grateful and blessed and want to share my feelings. So two weeks ago I blogged that I was 37 weeks and moving. Well that was a bit of a lie! We ended up not moving that week and in fact moved this past weekend. Wow was it stressful. I was expecting my water to break at any minute, but it didn't and I am in fact still pregnant. We have known for a while that we were going to be moving soon, but didn't know the exact date. I boxed everything up with help from my mom and Hayley, so when the moving time came we would be good to go. We found out on Thursday, and by Thursday night I had cleaned the apartment and had a load of boxes brought in. The next day Hayley came over and we unloaded the kitchen! That night Josh and John brought another load over and my mom, Hayley and I stayed there unpacking and ordered some pizza. At this point I was pretty overwhelmed, but able to stay calm. Well Saturday hit and I sort of had a mental breakdown. Ok, so I didn't sort of have one, I did have one! I think it was a mixture of stress, hormones, moving out of our house and ward, and being so grateful for all of the people that were helping us. It is really easy to serve other people, but receiving it is hard. I would rather do things on my own than feel that I am inconveniencing others. But, with us moving and me being a week away from having a baby, I didn't have a choice! I saw the other side of service and the way that a person feels when they receive it. I am so grateful for the good friends and family that were there to help. Here is what I am talking about......Wayne Dodd let us borrow his big trailer. The Elder's Quorum, my dad, John, Ted, Josh and Wayne loaded everything into the trailer and then unloaded it at our new place. All of that was done in 2 hours, it was awesome. Then my dad, John and Ted went back out to the house and got all of our clothes and food (something I thought I was going to have to do). When all of that was unloaded into our tiny apartment, the feelings of frustration just kept a comin. My body hurt, and the thought of unpacking this stuff was more than I could handle. So..... I went to my parents house to shower and take a break. While I was there Hayley, my mom, and my mother in-law unpacked all of our boxes, cleaned stuff and put clothes and food away. My father in-law and Josh put shelves up in our garage and in our laundry room for more storage. When I walked in a few hours later, it was a whole different place! If I hadn't already shed some tears I would have burst into tears right then and there. I couldn't believe all that had been done. Everything was organized and in its place, there were clean sheets on the bed and the shelves were done. Then when I thought enough had been done for me, my Aunt Holly called and invited everyone that had been moving all day to come to her house for dinner. It was so nice to have a good meal and for those that had been working all day to sit down and relax for a bit. Then we went back to our place and my dad, my father in-law and Josh put together the crib and changing table. After everyone had left, my sweet mom stayed until midnight helping me clean. I went to bed that night in a place that felt like home, and it is because of all those hard working people that were there to help. I want to thank all of you that helped with the move and have helped in other ways in the last few days. We appreciate it so much. It was a bad time for us to move, but something that had to be done and we couldn't have done it with out all of your help. One day we will return the favor I promise. Thanks for putting up with a hormonal pregnant girl that wasn't a lot of help. Josh, I love you and am so grateful for your support and the hard work that you put into this move. I am so happy we made this decision, so I can stay at home with Drake. I know we will be blessed and I get to be what I have always wanted to be when I grow up...... a mom!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Growing up, carving pumpkins was always something I looked forward to. The excitement started in about mid September and did not leave until we had finished this project, which always occurred the Sunday before Halloween. The hardest part about carving pumpkins was trying to decide what I was going to carve. With my dad's help, I always came out with a pretty cool pumpkin. This tradition still remains alive and last night our family carved pumpkins! Even at my age, I still get that same exciting feeling I have experienced since the age of 2. After convincing my dad to clean out my pumpkin (Which happens every year) and about an hour trying to decide what to do on my pumpkin, I finally made my decision.

Dad

Mom

Josh

James

Lauren

and......

Ashley

The Rohwer Family Pumpkins

Learn how to work car seat....CHECK!

It just hit me the other day that this baby's arrival is just around the corner and we are not ready!! So I put together a to-do list and started checking things off. One of the first items on the list was to take the car seat out of it's box, learn how to use it, put the base in the car, and practice taking it in and out of our car. After about 2 hours of both Josh and I trying to figure it all out, we got the hang of it and feel that we could teach a class on car seats and car seat safety. There is just one slight problem. The seat has to be in the middle of the back seat. Well... my car is really small and by the time you get the seat in the base (which is a process in itself) I can't see out of the back window! What am I supposed to do about that? The only thing I have come up with, is get a new car... ha ha yeah right!

This is the car seat cover I made. I absolutely love this fabric!

Josh putting the base in. After reading the whole car seat manual and our car manual, he is a pro at putting this base in and getting the car seat in and out.

My mother and father in law got us this car seat. You can't see much of it cause it is covered by my cover and the bundle me, but it is so nice! Not only is it one of the best car seats, but it is really cute too. Now we just need a baby to put in inside!

A Not So Sad Goodbye

These couches left our humble abode on Saturday.... and I couldn't be happier! As much as I love the thought of every one of Josh's roommates farting on the couch, some making out on the couch, and Jay eating a whole big can of Chili on the couch.... well let's just say it was an easy goodbye! I can't help but feel a little bad for the couches right now. I vacuumed, fluffed and sprayed febreeze on these beauties for 2 years!

37 weeks and moving!

I am 37 weeks! I never thought this day would come. I went to the Dr. today and I have not progressed at all! So... I am thinking I am going over due. Oh well, that means for a big healthy baby. Also I just can't have him come yet. We are moving this weekend and I would love nothing more than to be settled before he decides to come. We found a really cute town home in Logan and are excited to make it our home! Wish me luck that my water doesn't break in the middle of moving.

And this is how I feel....

One of the wonderful joys of pregnancy is having to go to the bathroom all the time. Even when I don't have to go, I still feel like I need to. I was sitting in the waiting room at the Dr.'s office this morning and came across this picture in a Reader's Digest. If this was appropriate, this is what I would look like 99% of the time.

I hope this dream never comes true....

I have crazy dreams every night. I have always had weird dreams, but since I have been pregnant they have gotten worse. I have very vivid dreams that seem so real. When I wake up, it takes a few minutes before I realize it was just a dream. A dream I had last night was so real I am still trying to convince myself that it was just a dream. I get very claustrophobic very easily, so this dream was not only bad cause I was pregnant, but because I was stuck! Where was I stuck? In a ride at Disneyland. I was there with my friend Errin. She had convinced me that this roller coaster was ok to go on being pregnant and it would make the baby more daring! The words "keep your arms, legs and all other objects in the cart at all times" kept racing through my head the whole ride as I held on as tight as I could to my belly. When it came time to get out of the ride, the safety restraint bar would not come up because it had got caught under my belly. Errin told me not to panic and she would help me get out. She then proceeded to hold on to the bar and put her feet on my stomach, pulling with all of her strength. I was not going to budge. I was stuck! The person in charge of the ride came over the intercom....."excuse me miss, you need to step back, there are people waiting to ride this ride." Errin tried to talk to the person and explain she was trying to help me cause I was stuck, but they didn't care. The next thing that happened was me looking at Errin down on the ground eating a churro and waving at me while I kept going around and around and around on that darn roller coaster! I woke up in a full body sweat! I have laughed about it all day, and had to write this down. Errin when you read this...... promise me you will never drag me to Disneyland when I am 8 months pregnant, and if you do.... please share your churro :)