"Leaving your Birth Place" Waxing Nostalgic...

I just read a beautiful blog post on leaving the birth place.... http://www.anktangle.com/2012/04/dear-daniel-on-leaving-your-birthplace.html?showComment=1335798097098#c4948304106715130888

With our still very recent move to a new home, and then celebrating Liam's 6th Birthday yesterday this was a very touching post for me.

 I have moved from my child's birth place on several occasions before... the first time was from Ft. Irwin, Calif.  Our beautiful Sariah was our first baby born at home.  There, we were supported by a couple of friends and we had her birth in our large laundry room on a double bed we borrowed from another dear friend Tandy (who missed our birth as she had gone 'home' to TX to be able to have her baby due the same day but born two weeks apart, with a MW at a Beautiful Birthing Center in Dallas http://birthcenter.net/).

Our sweet Hannah was born at our home at White Sands Missile Range, NM.  My dear friend Tandy was able to come (from Maryland this time) and be with us for this birth.  She was a wonderful help, along with the other friend and Midwives that we had to assist us during this birth on a bright Saturday morning as well.

I remember it being a bittersweet moment knowing that we have 'lived' with those memories of where our baby(s) was born, in the house with us that we'd reflect on as we went throughout our days.

Yesterday morning dad was talking to Liam.  He asked him if he knew where he was born... he had to 'think' about his answer for just a moment and then said, "in the Kitchen!"  and he sort of pointed his finger. Yes we agreed, but not 'this' kitchen, the kitchen in our old house... then dad asked him further, and he said in a tub!  Yes, son, you were born in a pool of warm water, to the welcoming arms of your parents and your sisters who were so excited to see you and to know 'who' you were!

I watched your birth slide show again last night and tears ran down my face at the memories of that beautiful Spring Saturday morning, surrounded by family and friends.  Their love and support for me in that moment were wonderful.

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1989/46946/liam_birth.zip 
(this is a large file, and it takes a bit to download.  The slide show with accompanying music were put together by Kristin at http://www.whispersphotography.com/ it is about 8 minutes long. For the more squeemish, it isn't very graphic at all.  What little you see, is under water, so very distorted, and a baby's head is covering most anything anyway in the pic's).

It's a bit hard, and like I said, bittersweet to move and leave the place that was so special to us. I somehow want to take just a bit of that place with us as a memory... of course, the beautiful pictures and of course YOU are wonderful reminders of that very special day! It's fun to remember, even if it brings tears to my eyes... they are mostly tears of joy at the memories. I LOVE you son and can not imagine what my life would be like without YOU in it!

Birthdays and other days...

We have had 2 birthdays since I last Blogged...
Liam turned 4 and we went to Chuck E. Cheese! He had lots of fun, other than the LOUD singing and cheering for him, and when he refused to have anything to do with Chuck E. and of course that was when all his friends were there. The birthday helper put the Birthday Crown on his head, (several times), and he kept pulling it off, with a GET this THING OFF of ME!!!!!! attitude!

Later he played and hugged Chuck E. and had a grand time. He did enjoy playing games with his tokens. He also loved opening presents. (Who doesn't?)

One of his favorite friends this year is a little girl named Elizabeth in his pre-school class. I think he's in love... she has been very influential on him this past year. When he comes home from school we will ask him what he did at school today, and he always says, that he played with Elizabeth. She loves pony's - My little pony, and that is what she always plays so that is also what he frequently plays. For Christmas we gave his classroom some dinosaurs, so now he usually reports that he played pony's and dinosaurs. ;-)

Liam's favorite color has been GREEN for a very long time! Recently however, when you ask him he will often tell you his favorite color is pink. Can you guess WHO'S favorite color is PINK?(Elizabeth)

We had talked about Liam's cake and he had asked for months to have a GREEN birthday cake. I managed to incorporate that into the Super Hero Squad theme that we went with, since that is his favorite thing these days... I put colorful swirls inside the cake mix - mostly green until I ran out of green food color. I had worked on the cake the night before his party when he was asleep, so in the morning I asked if he wanted to see it? He looked at his cake all covered in Super Hero squad guys and everything on the green grass icing, and said, "I wanted a PINK cake"!When the Birthday Helper lit the candles, Liam refused to blow them out, and didn't WANT anyone else to blow them out either. Finally a couple of sly blows later by dad, myself and possible a kid or two... the candles were out! Then we began pulling some of hte guys off the cake in order to cut it and serve it. Liam got mad and tried to put them back ON the cake. Later... he decided that licking the icing off the guys feet was a pretty cool thing, and then he got to have his new Super hero guys... so he got right to work! In May we had Sariah's 14th Birthday and she moved up to the Mia Maid class in our Young Women's program at Church. She had asked me to make her a dress for her birthday present. I worked on it all week whenever I was home and not out doing other things. I had to add 6 inches to the patern length for the dress to fit her long legs... I worked on it saturday, late into the night so she'd have it for her birthday on Sunday. We got up on Sunday - mother's day she put on the dress and it fit... then as my luck would have it... the zipper broke. We had quite a time even getting her out of the dress! Then we had a few emotional moments.

The family went off to Church, and we came home afterward, picked up Sariah and the picnic lunch dad had put together and had a lovely lunch at the new greenway, and then the kids wanted to go see the new playground at the new elementary school... we obliged and everyone had a fun time playing on all the new playground equipment! After we went back home the kids and dad put together my mothers day dinner. They all pitched in and helped. Even Liam... We had a yummy dinner, and an over all really nice day together as a family (minus Rebekah who called me to wish me a Happy Mother's Day).

Other than that, Bill flew up to NY to pack Rebekah up and bring her home from College for the summer. We worked on the house a little bit the weekend before, and moved Liam and his Toddler bed back into our bedroom, and put the trundle bed in his room so Rebekah would have someplace to live for the summer months while she is home. the kids all have one more week of school - they would be out already but we actually had several snow days this winter so the kids have to go extra now to make up for it now. This summer we have some things going on, the big girls will be working, Sariah is taking a trip to Europe. There will also be EFY and Girls Camp, and Hannah will be going to a softball camp for a week and then a police camp for a week, through school. Marissa will continue on with karate. Liam will be getting surgery on his hip in the middle fo June, and that will make all of our lives interesting.

I'll try to do better at keeping up with all our lives and activities.

17 Years ago tonight...

(Random pictures of Amanda over the years, sprinkled throughout... not going along with the story.)

Bill and I were sitting watching t.v. We had put Rebekah down to bed, eaten a big dinner (of Fried foods - Steak Sandwiches and French fries deep fried in the Fry Daddy!).

I remember we watched the Dick Van Dyke Show. http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi2042691609/

It was the episode where Six-year-old Richie asks his parents the inevitable "Where did I come from?" question. They recall the days before his birth. We cracked up at all the crazy antics that go on as Rob practices what he will do when Laura goes into labor.

We had done a lot of walking that day, and I had a slight low back ache during the day after walking, but didn't think anything of it. I was just past 38 wks, and had no thoughts that I would actually go into labor early... Rebekah had been a full 41 weeks, and though I hoped to not go over, I certainly didn't think I'd be early. My OB Dr. was doing ultrasounds at every appointment, to check the baby's size to 'see if the baby was big enough', (he told me that there was some relationship to the 'measurement' about the circumference of the fetal head, and the lung maturity - I've never heard or read about this concept since) and then he wanted to induce me, because he "didn't want me walking around town and just dropping the baby out at the mall or something". At the time I believed him, and was going right along with his plan. He was going to do yet another ultrasound at my appointment on Monday, and then if the 'measurement' was just right, he'd plan to induce on Wednesday, when I was not quite 39 weeks. We were going to call Bill's mom to come stay with Rebekah after we found out for sure.

Knowing what I know now, I am so grateful that I never had to go through the experience of an induced labor, before my body and my baby were ready.

That night I awoke from sleep, and had the vague feeling that my water might have broken. I lay there trying to decide, and my mind started racing... I realized I might like to know what time/day/month it was? I rolled over and saw the clock, it was just after midnight, March 1st.

I got up to go to the bathroom, and confirm that yes, my water had indeed broken. I called out to Bill who was sound asleep in the bed. By this time I was fully awake and my mind was whirling through the list of things I needed to do to get out of the house! First, was to get something I could wear to get out of the bathroom... ;-) I told him I needed underwear, and sweatpants. He awoke with a startle, and heard something about sweats. He thought perhaps he was late for P.T.! He quickly awoke, but for a moment I almost felt like perhaps I would be living in the Dick Van Dyke show with the mishaps and antics of trying to get out of the house while in labor...

We called a neighbor a few houses down the street to come stay with Rebekah, contractions started, and we finally managed to get a call through to Labor and Delivery and told them we were coming in and to call our Dr. They said, sure, fine, Bill told them NO, You don't understand, I was in labor and they needed to be ready for us. They seemed to get it a little bit, (although I'm sure they still might not have called the Dr until we arrived and they could check me to "see if I was really actually IN Labor!") and then we headed out. As we were racing down 565, the contractions were intense, and all that greasy food I'd eaten earlier, for dinner, was not making me happy. I had to ask Bill to pull over and I left my dinner on the side of the road. Then we were off again.

When we arrived at what was then Huntsville, Humana Hospital, went in the emergency room doors, and were rushed up to L&D. The nurses were rushing around trying to get things ready, and meanwhile all I really cared about was getting to the sink and washing out my mouth! Then as they wanted me to change into their lovely gown, I grabbed the end of the bed and began squatting. I'm sure I was beginning to grunt and bear down... the nurses were in a panic! Once they were finally able to get me changed into the hospital gown, and in the bed, I began asking if I could have a drink of water or something. I still had the awful taste in my mouth, and wanted to deal with that! I was most uncomfortable being in the bed, and rolled onto my side to try to deal with the contractions. The nurse was trying to get an i.v. into my arm (as if I was going to dehydrate or something...) and finally while still rolled onto my side, I threw my arm backward toward her, and she put the i.v. in at an interesting location which ended up bruising quite a bit.

By the time Dr. T arrived the nurses had gotten my legs up in the stirrups, and the Dr. asked if he had time to change into scrubs, they said hurry!, since they could see the baby's head without me actually pushing as I was still holding back, not knowing what I was 'allowed' to do. I fought back the urges to push as the Dr. got himself ready, then he came over to me and I was still asking for a drink. He finally told the nurses, "For G*d's sake, get the woman some ice!" Then he told the nurses to raise the bed up to his level (since he's a tall guy), and so I was raised up what felt like 6 feet in the air, and then he switched a lever on the bed and tilted the head of the bed down backward so that my hips were higher than my backbone, and then they commenced with the counting and telling me to "PUSH!!!!! 1,2,3,4---8,9,10!" I did as I was told, but it was a horrible position. I actually reached over my head and grabbed the pillow behind my head and held onto it, that helped, but they didn't like it and they told me to curl up and "PUSH with gravity"... (do you remember the bed that was tilted backward, and I was literally pushing her out UP HILL!!!, Gravity certainly wasn't helping in the position they had me in in that bed!) I pushed through a couple of contractions and out she came, at 1:30 am. Dr. T called her "a little peanut", as she was only 5 lbs 9 oz. She came 11 days before her due date, but... she came when she wanted to, not on someone else's schedule.

Her birth definitely made me want to do some things differently in my life, and has helped me to become who I am today. She has been such a little mother over the years with her younger siblings, she has been a big supporter to me with so many of my interests. She mostly had such a wonderful happy personality, it was hard for me, at times. When she was little, if she got in trouble or was throwing a fit, I'd send her to her room and she was supposed to stay there until she settled down and stopped crying. Well, she would literally walk through her door, turn around and come out no longer crying and try to smile and be happy, and honestly I wasn't done being angry at her yet! It was so annoying! ;-)

Amanda was a pretty weird kid! She potty trained herself, she would often disappear, and I'd go to find her, and she had put herself to bed for a nap or at night time. She liked to go to the dentist (as a little child), and she liked to get shots! All of that is just plain WEIRD!!! It has been fun watching her grow into a wonderful young woman, and she has a sweet testimony. I enjoy spending time with her, she is a lot of fun, and I look forward to who she will become as she continues to grow and mature in her life. (though I am not looking forward to her growing up and leaving too soon!) I hope that she will continue to plan for a big future, and that she will stay close to our Heavenly Father.

I Love You Amanda! My #2 girl!!! Happy 17th Birthday!!!!!!!

19 years ago today...

I was marveling over the new sweet little baby that had just come into my life (the night before). My sweet little girl and I were getting to know one another. Now, all these years later she is technically an Adult! Where did the time go? I am proud of the woman she is becoming. I really enjoyed the time she spent home with me (us) over Christmas Break. Happy Happy Birthday to my beautiful Rebekah! (yesterday)

Marissa is 9 years old today!

Nine years ago today, Marissa Naomi came into our lives.

So, in honor of her birthday, I'll tell you NINE things about Marissa:

1. She likes to sing and dance!

2. She is a Fashionista!3. Marissa KICKS! She is now a 2nd degree Blue belt in karate!

4. She is "Beautiful" and "my best friend" by: Liam

5. She is a social Butterfly and usually has many BFF's.

6. She likes to write special songs for her sister.

7. She is very giving - and for presents at birthdays and Hollidays, she will offer up her favorite toys, or any money she might have as gifts.

8. She is Spunky!

9. She is our Little Japanese child.

It has been a lot of fun watching this energetic, fun loving, spirit grow up! She has kept us on our toes, made us laugh, and we look forward to watching as she grows into a beautiful young woman!

Happy Birthday Marissa!

http://wendyrful.blogspot.com/2008/09/happy-happy-birthday-to-my-sweet.html

Happy Birthday to my newest teenager...

Yesterday, Sat. May 9th was Sariah's birthday. It is official now, she is a teenager. Thirteen years ago, this amazing bundle of joy that has helped me grow so much, came into our lives.

You can read her birth story if you'd like, by following this link. http://wendyrful.blogspot.com/2008/05/birth-story.html

Sariah is growing into a beautiful young woman, inside and out. It is a joy to see the person she is becoming. She has grown so much. She has overcome a lot to be able to stand in front of others, and lead things she is asked to do in Young Women's.

She has been reaching out and trying new things this past year.

She attended a Volley Ball Camp during spring break, at UAH. She has also been on a soccer team this spring. She hasn't played as much as she might otherwise have, due to swine flu scares, and closing of schools and public parks, etc... and then there has been so much rain, that even on the days when it was not raining, the fields have been so wet, that she was unable to play... I have been proud of her for stretching herself outside of her comfort zone.

She is a very compassionate person. Particularly when it comes to young children, and to others in need. She was always willing to help with the younger Primary Children and even today, a year later, felt a little sad that she wasn't able to go up and help the young primary children when they went up to sing in Sacrament meeting. She just spent the past several days helping out a new mother with her children, and was even willing to forgo a birthday party/time for herself to help another. (So now we are trying to figure out when we can have her birthday party...) :-)

She has grown physically as well over the past year. Not that she hasn't always been tall. As a baby, she was in the 5% in weight, and 95% in Height. They were always so worried about her, and wanted me to force feed her. It was a long first year! Even then, I said, she was just going to be tall... well, I was correct. She is 5 ft. 7 now, and only her dad is taller at our house. Obviously her dad is tall, but my side of the family was tall as well. My mother was 5 ft. 9 in tall, and her family was tall. My dad himself wasn't all that tall at 5 ft. 10 in., but his dad and several of his brothers were over 6 ft. his mother however, was a somewhat short person. I don't know how tall, but even as a kid I didn't feel like she was very tall. I think I got my height, or lack thereof, from her. :-)

Today being Mother's Day, also give me a chance to think back and remember her birth, just before the day that celebrates mothers. Sariah actually attended Sacrament mtg. as a new 2 day old baby girl, so that we could be there to hear the primary children sing.

Happy Birthday Sariah! Keep learning and growing in the Gospel. You have a wonderful spirit, if you will only continue to listen and learn. We love you!

Happy Birthday...

Liam turned 3 years old today!

Rebekah had told him she would take him on a little field trip today (to go visit the snakes in her teachers classroom at the High School). She had gotten in the shower, and I was doing my hair and makeup upstairs in my bathroom. I had the doors open to my bathroom adn bedroom and could hear him downstaris watching a show, and making noises playing with this or that... Then I did my hair (turned on the blow dryer), I came imediately downstairs, and the front door was open... Liam (who has been trying to run away lately...), was comming back from the neighbors house on his little bike. YIKES!!!!!

I tried to get him to come home, but he had to go out and cross the street, and drag the bike up the driveway, and then take the 'ride' down teh sort of steep driveway! He loved it! Meanwhile... he had opened the door, and left the house!! At least he hadn't run off! He was just at the neighbors house, and I found him pretty quickly!

He has really gotten into his dinosaurs lately. He also has a favorite color - Green.
Rebekah had said we should get him new birthday clothes. I remember I had a few things in my closet that had been too big for him when I bought them. It just so happened that the one that fits him now, had his favoite thing on it... A GREEN Sharptooth!!!

Sometimes when you call him by some little extra name, son, or just a silly thing, he'll say, "No! I'm not son!" (or whatever other cutsey nick name you may have used) "I'm Liam boy!"

He loves to watch dinosaur movies - his favorite, The Land Before Time. (all 8 million versions..., no really there are only about 8 different one's. we rent them at the Library so we can swap out periodically, and I don't get so completely sick of them). He watches the movie's and has started imitating some of the scenes in the movies... particularly the 'fight' scenes. He has picked up that Long Necks (bracheosaurus, or something now-a-days, that used to be a Brontasaurus), fight off other dino's like sharp tooth, aka - Tyranasaurus Rex, with their long tail. So, he has been using his 'long neck' and using the tail to 'fight' off many other toys... we've been talking a lot about not 'hitting' with our toys, or using them as a bat or something like that.

The last couple of days, he'll stand with one dinosaur in his hand and hold them and fight in the air, as the 'fight' scenes are taking place on the movie... he really gets into his shows! sadly... (don't judge my parenting please ;-)

The girls had some cute little presents for Liam.
Hannah had a trip to Sci-Quest last week, and she had bought Liam two little Dino eggs. You put the egg in water, and it soaks up the water, and the Dino grows over a couple of days, and cracks the egg open and comes out of the egg. He thought the eggs were really cool, but I'm not sure he quite gets that it is going to take several days... before he sees the results of the dinosaur growing...





Marissa had this cute little Dino (dragon?) webkins type animal. She thougt Liam might ike it so she gave it to him (all wrapped with tissue paper in a gift bag). Very sweet and thoughtful!Bill had asked him what kind of cake he wanted: Chocolate :-)
Hannah and Marissa asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said, Dinosaurs, flowers, and trains...
Well, today Rebekah stayed home and wanted to make the birthday cake (from scrath, so keep milk products out of it...). She made him cupcakes we were going to have tonight, but the girls had YW, and Marissa had Karate. So... Liam fell asleep before we could do cupcakes.
Shealso made this adorable Choo, Choo Train cake. We are saving it until tomorrow. (We had planned and now hope to go to Chuck E. Cheese. Liam loves that place, and f that makes him happy (if they havn'et closed it along with all the schools in the entire county, because they have two small children sick with something... and even though they were seen at outpatient clinics, and sent home to gt over whatever flu virus they have... we ar shutting down all the schools).

Happy Birthday Liam Boy!!! 3 years has just flown by!!!!