2011, The Hardest & Best Year: December Edition

At the beginning of December, my mom, Jenni, and I got to visit the newly reopened Peabody Opera House to see the Nutcracker. It was a great way to kick off the Christmas season. I promise that's Jenni's head in the picture.

Jon's grandad came to stay with us for a few weeks. Here he is learning how to use the iPad.

Just before Christmas, my parents took us to Branson for a couple of days. Most of the attractions and shows were closed for the holidays but we were able to a few things and we had a great place to stay. The Titanic museum was actually a really cool attraction, although of course a little sad. And we had a good time being there for my parents' first trip to Lambert's, home of the throwed rolls.

Noa celebrated his first Christmas and was spoiled by everyone.

We had some I family photos taken by the talented Laura Sohn.

And we found out we are having a girl. Still getting used to that idea. We are pretty immersed in blue around here. Both grandmas have started shopping in the pink section so I try to sneak a peek at the ruffles and dresses already hanging in the closet whenever I can.

In the final moments of 2011, I felt Baby Girl move on the outside for the first time instead of just the internal flutters I'd been feeling occasionally. She kicked my hand!

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: November Edition

November started with a hugely generous gift from a very special friend. My dear Kelly made it possible for Noa and I to fly to Texas to spend the weekend with her and Sarah (it was Noa's first plane trip). While the three of us had seen each other individually over the past two years, it was the first time we were all together since our weekend in Tucson in January 2010. I also got to spend a little time catching up with Vernon and Amber.







We brought back a really fun souvenir from Texas - a stomach virus. Noa was sick for a total of about 12 hours but when it finally hit me, it took me a few days to start feeling better. A few days and a trip to the ER for IV fluids.


Later in the month, Jon and I got to have a real adult date night with a trip to the Fox to see Jim Gaffigan. Hi-lar-i-ous. For example...





On November 20, we celebrated our 3rd Rayiversary. Here he is picking out his treats. I'm so glad we brought you home with us three years ago, buddy! Can't imagine our little family without you.





Noa got off to a good start with Santa.





November ended with a very nice Thanksgiving (except for the part where Kim's face was broken), two family birthdays (Maverick & Papa), and a wedding.

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: October Edition

In October, we had a huge 25th anniversary and homecoming weekend at the church where I now work and where I attended from age 12 to about 30.





Robin Jones Gunn, one of my favorite authors of Christian chick lit, came to town for a women's conference and I got to meet her for the second time.


We traveled to Memphis for Brad (Jon's cousin) & Amanda's beautiful wedding. (Hope it's okay that I stole this picture from your Facebook profile, Amanda.)





There was a little event called the World Series which, in case you haven't heard, the Cardinals won!





On Halloween, we celebrated my mom's birthday with a petting zoo in her backyard. My dad outdid himself with this one.

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: September Edition

Oh, September. The day after Labor Day we were completely shocked to find out that we are pregnant again. Without going into awkward details, I will just say that this was highly unlikely. For one thing, it took us two years and a miscarriage to get pregnant with Noa. Well, whatever was broken seems to be fixed because I am now a baby factory. It took us a while to get used to the idea of another baby and we felt a little sheepish having to tell our families our news, but everyone has been very supportive and now I am really excited about having two kids so close in age (15 months apart). 


A few days later, we noticed Noa's first tooth (7 months old) and a day later, we saw number 2! (As of today, 1/1/2012, he has six.)


In the middle of the month, I attended my first birth as a doula. Thankfully, I had a wonderful experience doula to watch and be coached by. The whole experience was really amazing. The mom made labor look so easy and beautiful. It was hard work, yes, but this mom knew that the payoff at the end was getting to hold her beautiful baby. It was lovely and this is the birth that I hope will be my inspiration when it is time for me to give birth again in May. Oh, I forgot to mention, our due date is Mother's Day.


Noa because a stair climber in September, as in never paying any attention to them one day and scaling them from bottom to top the next.


I closed out September by attending a doula training workshop. This was a huge step towards becoming certified. I learned a ton and met a bunch of fantastic women.


Again, no pictures this month but here's a cute video from Labor Day weekend.

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: August Edition

August was quiet. I played Bunco for the first time. Noa made it to the six month mark and became really mobile. That's about it. I'll leave you with this cuteness.

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: July Edition

July included a lot of visitors and traveling. We had a visit from The MN Is at the beginning of the month. We were able to celebrate Irene's birthday with her and all of the I ladies (except for Rachel) went to The Muny for one very wet edition of The Little Mermaid.

Cousin Sarah also came to visit, and any visit from a Bowers isn't complete without a visit to Busch. It was Noa's first baseball game!

Noa also mastered sitting up while Sarah was here, right at about 5 months old.

In the middle of the month, we traveled to Memphis for Jon's grandma's funeral. Of course, we'd prefer to get together under different circumstances, but it was great to see and meet so many Duffys and Reeves. We were missing at least 5 grandkids and at least 12 greats. Also, since this photo was taken, another great has been born and there are at least two more on the way.

We had a fantastic night (along with the rest of St. Louis) at the U2 show at Busch Stadium. 

We enjoyed a visit from the Brian Duffys. This a picture of cousins big Noah and little Noa.





We closed out the month with the annual I family picnic in Chicago, and a bonus: a chance to see Chrissy and Senade!

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: June Edition

June started with a sad goodbye. My parents' 16-year-old cat, Kitty, had to be put down after a short illness. I blogged about this in detail here.





We celebrated our 4th anniversary. We hosted our small group for a BBQ that night which I thought was an excellent way to commemorate the day.


Noa learned to roll over at 4 1/2 months old.





Jon celebrated his first Father's Day.


We had a surprise visit from the Armstrongs and got this great shot of the cousins.

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: May Edition

We started May off with a little birthday celebration for Ray. We don't know his exact birthday, but our vet thinks he was born sometime in April or May 2008 so we designated May 1 as his special day. May Day = Lei Day = Ray Day.





This was also the month that my maternity leave was coming to an end. I went back for my first day and told them that it would also be my last (I don't think they were surprised). That same day, I took a (very) part time job as the office administrator at the church where I grew up. We are now extremely poor, but I can't imagine not having this time with Noa.


I celebrated my first Mother's Day.





We won another trivia night. This was a repeat win as we won our church youth group's trivia night last year, too. Our table theme was Family Tree. (We let Greg in as our bad apple.)





We closed out the month with a short but very sweet visit with the Michel family. Donovan was a natural with Noa, but I guess he would be with two younger siblings.





And the next morning, Jon had all four wisdom teeth extracted, plus a root canal, plus a boatload of fillings. Good times. And yes, he was fully asleep for the whole thing.

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: April Edition

April had some highs and lows. 

First up, we welcomed another nephew, sweet baby Viktor! 

Noa made his television debut on Show Me St. Louis, courtesy of Director Papa.

We had a super fun time winning a trivia night with Robbie and Jenni and some of Robbie's work friends. I am obsessed with trivia nights and have an overall record of four wins, two 2nd place finishes, and a middle of the pack finish but a win in the bonus round.

Borders 492 closed.

Our dear friend Rodger passed away unexpectedly. (photo from 6/8/2008)

We had an early morning royal wedding party at my mom's house complete with English food and Union Jack bunting.

We were part of another winning trivia night team. Pheasant Point Baptist Church always puts together a fun evening and our prize was fantastic: a free meal at Christy's.

We started cloth diapering.

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: March Edition

In March, we mostly just focused on getting to know Noa and captured this great photo. Ray snuggled up like that all on his own.

And then my photographer-extraordinaire friend Cindy captured this.

I turned 34. My friends and family know me well because once again, we celebrated with Dunkin' Donuts instead of cake.


We took Noa to his first Hawaiian event, an awesome night of ono food and beautiful dancing put on by my halau.





And at the very end of the month, my bestie Kim and I tackled something really brave: the two of us took all three of our babies to visit two other besties (this one and this one) in TX. Everybody thought we were crazy but the kids were seriously so well-behaved. I'm so glad we didn't let ourselves be talked out of this - we made so many good memories and I love that this was Noa's first road trip. It was special in so many ways, including my introduction to Pappasito's!

2011, The Hardest & Best Year: February Edition

February arrived with a flourish. We celebrated Jon's 35th birthday on the 3rd by being told that my doctor wanted to start thinking about inducing (since I was just a few days from my due date with very few signs of impending labor). I was not at all in favor of that idea so off I went to eat spicy food, bounce on the birth ball, use the breast pump, drink red raspberry leaf tea, etc., etc. And twelve hours later...my water broke! I just have to say that I love that my labor started that way since in only happens about 10% of the time. 

Noa Clark Iwaszkowiec
9:57 pm on 2/4/2011
8 lbs 6 oz
21 inches

2011, The Hardest and Best Year: January Edition

Since I've only blogged twice in the past year, I have a little catching up to do. Here's a month-by-month recap of 2011. 


January was full of waiting, anticipation, and preparation. 


I was almost 9 months pregnant and couldn't find my ankles. 


Jon started student teaching. 


Our small group surprised us with a super fun baby shower. And it really was a surprise because I never would have gone without makeup had I known. These people must really love us to be willing to drive 20+ miles ONE WAY to get Dunkin' Donuts for our celebration.





We had a beautiful afternoon tea where the women in our family and some very special friends spoiled our baby...and me! 





We had our first book club meeting, and I never expected then how much I would come to anticipate my evening with those ladies each month. 


My halau blessed us with a shower and some beautiful gifts, some of them handmade and many of them ocean and Hawaiian themed.

Some of my favorite women (and my mom's besties) spoiled us AGAIN with a fantastic tropical/surfing themed shower which helped us forget the ice and snow outside that day.