My Baby's Birthday Feb. 10, 2009

20 years ago on Feb 9th, we went to the hospital to have our baby boy. I'd been in labor all day and went in that night. Kevin slept in the chair next to me and snored all night and I was told to "sleep, you'll need it" which was impossible. Early in the morning, I was awoken to a room full of people, and I was being prepped for a c-section. Apparently, the cord was tied around his neck and every time I had a contraction, he was being deprived of oxygen. They soon realized there wasn't time for a c-section, so the next thing I knew they were delivering him. Sometime during all of that confusion, I DID get an epideral - probably before the c-section prep. He was tiny 6 lb. 10 oz. (for me that was small). He wasn't breathing and was blue, I didn't get to see him. The dr. immediately began breathing into him through a small tube, and all I could hear was "breathe kid, breathe kid". There were so many people in there and Kevin was shoved to a corner somewhere and I remember feeling so scared. I also remember feeling "I'm going to be so mad if I go through all of this and leave without my baby".

Michael was rushed into the NICU where he immediately began to thrive. He was covered in tubes which he preceeded to pull out on his own. My first look at my new baby was a polaroid of him in the NICU. It wasn't until later that they wheeled me in to see him. He was so dang tiny!!! I never can nurse so I had to try to feed him with these tiny little bottles. But, he always threw up so he didn't keep much down. He later became one of those babies who projectile vomits across the room, down my nightgown, everywhere!!!!!

It was fun to see his brother come to see him in the NICU. Michael looked huge compared to the other babies there. One baby celebrated his 1st birthday while we were there. Ours was a monster in comparison! He was able to go home after a few days and everything was fine! No long term damage at all. Dr. Johnson saved his life and later told me how scared I made him. He also told me to never do that to him again!!!

We didn't get pictures during the delivery obviously since everything happened so quickly. I was so grateful Michael was safe and we've been able to enjoy him for these 20 years. Each of my boys has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. We love all of them. Happy Birthday Michael. I love you! Mom

A Winter Day at the Park and Table Rock

Night Out - Bowling

Christmas

Christmas was wonderful and I hope all of you had a great one too! First of all, Santa came to visit and to give Toby some love. Toby's favorite gift was his new friend "Squirrel". They are color coordinated which is so important when finding a new friend.

Of course without little children for Christmas, I tend to forget the camera and didn't get any pictures of Christmas day. The day after, we headed to Utah. Naively, we (or at least me)thought that since the weather here was sunny and clear and the weather in Utah was sunny (at least in the am) we would have an easy, safe journey to Utah. WRONG!!! It was one of the most knuckle-biting trips I've ever made. Roads were clear to Burley then they got very hazardous. Snow packed and ice for most of the remainder of the trip. Kevin did a great job driving but I can't say neither of us saw our lives pass before us. From Tremonton on it was very slow going and I was so happy to finally get to Ogden only to see the roads just as bad.

Anyway, on the 27th, we had a huge family party - including all of my family and all of Kevin's family. JoAnn reserved her rec room and Rod's family brought pizza and we ate, laughed, played and ate. We played the 'white elephant' gift exchange game which some hadn't played before. The ultimate gift was the statue of the lady in the thong. Ultimately, my mom ended up with it (the jury's still out on how she got it) and she knew how much I wanted it and gave it to me!!! Next year, I will finally have the PERFECT gift for our friend's annual Christmas party.

We played games at the hotel after and played a game called Curses. It was pretty funny and I would recommend it - especially for teenagers. We old timers have a harder time concentrating (you know you relate). It was a great weekend and now we look forward to New Year's and struggling to stay awake until midnight. Have a safe, prosperous and wonderful new year everyone!

Wintertime - BRRRRRRRRRR

Just to show you how cold it is here in Eagle.....I have "real" icicles on my "decorative" icicles!!! We usually don't get this cold until January. We don't even get icicles on our house. I've never seen this and thought it was interesting. I was happy to find something beautiful from the cold because I really, really don't enjoy it at all!

We're not normally fancy folks but we thought Mr. Tobers needed a little dressing up for the holidays! He loves it!!! (well, not really but it was worth a picture!)

100 Dresses

Last night, the women of our Relief Society had their annual Christmas Party. The theme was "100 Dresses". There was a little book we all read about a poor girl who pretended to have 100 dresses - which were really pictures she'd drawn. Anyway, we had a goal of collecting 100 dresses - new and used to give to various charities and women's shelters. After the dinner was over, we collected just under 200 dresses. It was really cool. One lady told a story of when she was 13 and there was a girl in her class who was very poor, etc. just like the book we read. She and her friends collected an older/still nice dress that didn't fit her anymore, shoes, socks, underwear and a coat. They secretly gave them to her for Christmas. At school after that, she saw this girl standing in front of a mirror in her new clothes admiring herself. She said "I got this dress for Christmas".....it was the sweetest true story from a woman I know and it was very touching. It helped me to feel more of the Christmas Spirit which I hadn't been feeling too much.

I hope in these tough economic times, we will still try to find ways to help those less fortunate than us even if it is just in service to someone. Also, if any of you have to plan events for Relief Society or Young Women's - this was a GREAT success and made us all feel warm and fuzzy!!!