September

So, what has kept the Rowden Family so busy that there has been only one post in the month of September? Lots and lots! Here are a few highlights:

**Max's 1st Birthday**
Our little munchkin is 1! We had a nice little celebration with family at my in-laws' house (to save most everyone a long drive to our place), and enjoyed the usual birthday festivities...cake, ice cream, presents and lots of family fellowship. Max had fun opening the first few presents but didn't put up too much fuss when Cole insisted on "helping" with the rest. For the first few, we restrained Cole, obviously to let Max have his fun. But when it became apparent that Max was done with the tedious task of unwrapping, we let Cole lose, and he had a blast. After a fierce battle with screws, wires and weird plastic connectors, the toys were set free from the packaging and some serious play time began. Fun times!



**More Birthdays**
September is a big month for birthdays on Derek's side of the family. Besides Max, there is our nephew, my father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and grandfather-in-law. That's a lot of partying!

**Family Pictures**
We decided to have an annual family portrait and take care of all our pictures at one time instead of taking the boys at different times during the year. There is good and bad to this...good because there's only one picture day a year, bad because it's a long time to be taking pictures with 2 little boys! Over all they did great. Well, let me rephrase...Cole did great. We got lots of great shots of him. Max, well, not so much. Our normally smiley little baby (I should say toddler, sigh, he's growing up), didn't want to have anything to do with the camera. We finally got one really great shot (see right) of him smiling, but that was it!! Of course, there were lots of other cute ones, because, really, Max can't take a bad picture (ahem, no biased mom-talk here). Our family picture is ok, but when the adults have to sit smiling at the camera for an unknown amount of time waiting for the goofy assistant to pull faces and toss stuffed animals up in the air trying to get the kids to smile, it's hard to keep it fresh, you know? Anyway, over all it went well.

**Bathroom Renovations**
We added a second sink in our bathroom, and with that came a new counter top, sinks and faucets. While we were at it, we changed the cabinets for more storage, and hopefully soon, I'll paint. I won't post a before and after picture because, well, I completely forgot to take the before pic, and it's not quite finished, so we don't have the after. So, I guess you'll just have to imagine that it's a big improvement!

**Morning Sickness**
Yes, you read that right. We are expecting baby #3! I'm 11 1/2 weeks pregant, due mid-April. We are thrilled! And, to answer the two questions that seem to be the most popular with this announcement, no, it wasn't a surprise, and yes, we would love a girl, but we would also love another boy, so we'll take what we get! It would be very fun to have a little girl to help balance out all the testosterone in the family, but I love my boys and they are so very sweet that I'd be thrilled with another. And, we have all the boy stuff. So, either way, we just pray for healthy!

Well, I guess that about sums it up. Lots going on in the Rowden household these days. Now that I'm almost out of the first trimester, I'm feeling LOTS better (the fatigue just about did me in), so hopefully I'll be able to post a little more regulalry. Then again, maybe not. Only time will tell!