Hailee Turns 11

 Hailee is 11 today. I have been flooded with memories of her birth and her as a baby. Although I get a little sad to look at pictures of her as a baby and miss that baby girl, I am more happy for the person she is now. She is an absolutely amazing young woman. She is a beautiful person on the inside and out. She is a great example to all of her family and friends. She has a clear sense of right and wrong and works very hard to always choose right.

Sadly, I lost about a year's worth of letters to Hailee when our first computer died and I hadn't backed up the files. I told her I would record the memories of her birth so they wouldn't be lost forever. So, here it is...

My baby girl was due on March 16th. I was sure I would have the baby at least 3 or 4 weeks early because that's what happened to my mom. I was sure there was never anyone as big and uncomfortable as I was. There was no way I could possibly get any bigger, right? I was sad to learn at each Dr. appointment that last month that my body just wasn't ready. I went in on March 12th for a check-up. My blood pressure had started going up so my Dr. asked if I could come back that night to get induced. YES!!!!!!! I went home and started cleaning and getting the house ready. My friend, Carrie Tolman brought me lunch and told me to take a nap. I called Dane and told him the good news. He came home from work and we tried to sleep a little bit. It didn't work.

We headed to the hospital at 9:00 PM. I got checked in and hooked up to all the machines. My dad and Dane gave me a blessing. All of my siblings were there. They were just as excited as I was because this was the first baby we would have been around since Allie was a baby. The nurse told everyone that they were going to wait to start Pitosin until about 5:00 AM so everyone should get some sleep and we would probably see the baby the next afternoon. Everyone left and I tried to go to sleep. Around midnight I started to get really uncomfortable. The nurse came in and gave me some Demoral to help with the pain and told me to go to sleep. I was so uncomfortable I just cried and felt so loopy from the drugs. I remember I kept telling Dane that I had to go to the bathroom. So he would help me get unhooked from all the machines and help me and then I would cry because nothing would happen.

Dane kept telling the nurse that I was really miserable. The nurses said I just needed to sleep and I could get an epidural after they start the Pitosin...that's when I would be in labor. FINALLY at 4 AM Dane insisted that they check me because I could barely breathe from the pain I was in...I was dilated to an 8 and moving quickly. They rushed the anaesthesiologist (who couldn't get there fast enough for me). The nurse tried to make me focus and breathe with her and I felt like punching her in the face because she let me go so long into labor that I didn't know if I would even be able to get an epidural in time. He got there and I got that wonderful epidural. My Dr. arrived at about 5 AM, clearly, fresh out of bed and a little grumpy looking. He got there in time for me to push 3 times and there she was.

Dane was a sobbing puddle of mush. So was I. She was truly the most beautiful thing my eyes had ever seen. She had a lot of brown hair and looked like her daddy. I had never felt so close to Heaven. I just wanted her in my arms at all times. I didn't want to sleep or eat. I just wanted to stare at my sweet little baby. Dane called all the grandparents and they all felt the same way. She was perfect. I couldn't look at her without bursting into tears thinking of what a miracle she was. I hated every nurse or Dr. that took her away from me to do any test or anything. I don't think I slept for more than an hour at a time because I missed her. She would be laying in her little bed next to me and I would miss her. She has been pure joy from the moment she was born. I still. eleven years later, get that feeling...I MISS her when she is away from me.

I can't imagine my life without her. She is JUST like me sometimes. It is good because I know how she feels a lot of the time. It is bad sometimes because she shares some of the insecurities that I have and a lot of those don't go away just because you get older. I love this little girl more than I can say. I love spending time with her and watching her grow and learn. I am so blessed that she feels comfortable talking to me about anything and everything and I can talk to her openly about anything. She is kind, compassionate, caring, loving, patient, thoughtful, sweet, and many more things like that. Love you, Hailee!

My Day Today

Okay, I just have to vent today. I really don't want to be a big complainer. Normally I really LOVE my job of being a stay-at-home-mom. But like every job, there are moments that are not pretty or enjoyable. I guess I just feel the need to record days like this so when my kids are grown and I am old and bored, I can remember these crazy days!!!

Background: kids have been off-track for a week. We are on week 2 of 3.

It all starts with a printer cartridge. Our printer takes the most expensive ink cartridges so I came up with a fantastic alternative...a store that refills them. Long story short, I returned to the refill store for the 4th time in a week to find out that I am just out of luck. I decide to buy a new printer that takes cheaper cartridges. On the way home, Braden says he is sick. I figure he is car sick so I tell him to rest his eyes and he can lay down when we get home. He vomits into the only thing available at the time...a Goldfish Cracker bag.

Okay, I've dealt with worse. I get him home and bribe Hailee to sit with him while I run to Walmart to buy our new printer. Walmart is so crazy because it is the day before Valentines (which I have not shopped for yet). The printer situation turns into a big ordeal because no one knows what printer I am talking about even though the website says there are printers in the store. Again, long story short...I get a $29 printer, get a few items, and try to keep Kole under control. Oh yeah, he has peed through his clothes and is hungry...I have nothing to remedy either problem.

We get home and Braden is full-blown sick. He is throwing up everything. I am trying to get a nice dinner put together because my husband is FINALLY home on a Monday night. (He normally closes on Monday nights). While trying to make potatoes, breadsticks, and a salad, Hailee is upset because I can't set up the new printer right this very second and she has a FHE to print off. I send Dane out to grill the steaks. Kole pulls out all of the plates and sivlerware from the dishwasher all over the floor. Braden is still puking. Hailee is reminding me that I PROMISED that we would make Valentine cookies for FHE. Dane is trying to schedule his surgery.

Yes. Surgery. He has one working hand right now - it was injured while playing church basketball. I found this information out while trying to talk to printer guy at Walmart. His surgery will be on Thursday. I now have to farm my kids out so I can take him to the hospital. Back to making dinner. While trying to roll out dough for breadsticks, I hear a splashing noise in the bathroom. Kole is playing in the toilet. Lovely. I have to strip him of his gross clothes and wash him off. I finally put the breadsticks in the oven. Braden makes a run for the bathroom and doesn't quite make it. Barf hits the floor and splatters 50 feet in each direction. Dane goes to grab a towel and I try to help Braden get to the toilet. Kole immediately makes a mad dash for the puke on the floor. Again, I sanitize his body and get Braden cleaned up and settled back on the couch.

I am almost done with dinner. I open the fridge to get something and Kole crawls over and instantly grabs a glass bottle of sauce and throws it on the floor...it shatters into a hundred pieces and sticky sauce is all over the floor and under the fridge. I clean it up. We FINALLY sit down to eat at 7:15. Halfway through the meal we try to get Bennett to eat a bite - that's right ONE bite- of a baked potato. It hits his mouth and he gags and throws up all of his dinner. Hailee has lost her appetite so she can't eat. I hardly eat half of my food because Kole had a poopy diaper that I had to change, I got a phone call from the library saying the DVD that we returned didn't have the disc in it and we need to return it tonight. Super!

I still need to make Valentine cookies because my sweet daughter has so thoughtfully prepared a Family Home Evening lesson for all of us and has helped me with whatever I have needed today. So we start making the cookies. Long story short, it all got done in the end and I am exhausted. And it all starts over again tomorrow.

New Year

Obviously I have let the blog slip away from me. I have so much guilt over it that I am losing sleep. I feel like I am letting memories slip through my fingers and I will have no way to remember them. I made a decision as I was making my New Years Resolutions. I will post when I can and if it is only one line for the day, that is fine. I have this warped idea that I need to be all "caught up" with the past 3 years before I can blog about today. I am making a hard decision to just LET IT GO. If I happen to go back and put my pictures in, great. If not, I can still have the memories from here on out. I probably won't put a lot of pictures but I will have something at least.

Introducing Kole Morgan Sanford

We were so blessed to have a wonderful, healthy baby boy enter into our family on April 25, 2011. I had to get some pictures up. More on the crazy birth story which ended up in a C-Section (on baby #4!!!). Here is our sweet little boy.

KOLE MORGAN SANFORD
8 lb 13 oz
21 1/2 inches
born April 25, 2011 8:10 PM

Spectacular Spiderman

Bennett has definitely found his personality. I guess I thought he would be like his brother and be super athletic and into sports and cars and trains. But he has found his own thing...SUPERHEROES!

Right now he loves Spiderman. He IS Spiderman. He wants to wear this costume every day!
We borrowed the costume from our friends, the Kjars, for Halloween and he became obsessed. I called her to tell her I would have to buy it from her because he had worn it so much. She was so sweet and insisted that we keep it because it came from another little boy who also loved Spiderman and wore it everyday. I explained how it was a battle for me to get him to take it off to leave the house. She said something that meant a lot to me. She told me to just embrace it...this phase would only last a little while and I would miss the days when he just wanted to wear his favorite costume all the time. She was right. I have embraced the Superhero phase fully and I will enjoy every second of it while I can. I don't care about the looks we get, he can wear his cute Spiderman costume or whatever other Superhero he wants to be that day as long as he will!
This is his face underneath the costume. He is truly happy. How can I deny him this happiness to save me some weird looks? I love this little Spiderman Boy!

Arizona Trip Part 1

We took a trip to Arizona in February to get away from the winter yuckiness. On the way down, we stopped in Las Vegas and stayed at Circus Circus. The kids had so much fun riding the rides (ok, I should say RIDE...they only got to go on one because we got a free ride ticket with our room and we are too cheap to spend $8 per kid to ride ONE ride). They still loved it!!




We also got to play some fun arcade games. One of our favorite moments of the trip was when Hailee won a race against several people and she got a star fish stuffed animal - which she carried with her the entire trip. Her face was priceless when she won!

The boys HAD to win an animal too. So we had to play more games until we all won something. We also got to see some circus acts that were fun.

Arizona Trip Part 2

We had a great time going to an aquarium on Saturday with Nancy, Angie, Preston, Callie, Amy, Ray, Noah, Heath, Ethan and Ivy. The kids bonded right away with their second cousins.

Hailee and Callie were inseparable from the moment they met!
Noah and Bennett were fast buddies. Bennett liked having an older "brother" that didn't beat up on him.
Touching the starfish and shrimp.

We got to go to an outdoor mall with Amy and Ashley and their kids. We actually walked outside without jackets in the middle of February!!! The kids went in a hurricane simulator that got up to 80 mph. They got a kick out of it! The boys enjoyed some golf in the perfect weather.


If you ask the kids, they will say the best part of the trip was when we went to an outside restaurant where they had fire pits to roast marshmallows. Amy took us to the best place! There was a big stage where the kids could go and dance and there were fire pits everywhere so they could roast marshmallows. We all had a blast!


Braden's highlight of the trip was when he shoveled wood pieces into boxes and someone noticed his hard work and gave him a dollar. He hasn't stopped talking about his dollar ever since.
Ashley and her sweet Ivy.
Amy and cute little Heath with Ethan in the background.
Dane, Bennett, Noah, and Braden.
Hailee - The Master Roaster. She loved doing the roasting and sharing her perfect creations with everyone!
The girls - Ashley, Ivy, Amy, Hailee, Natalie
The Boys - Ray, Noah, Dane, Braden, Bennett, Joe, Ethan.