A little reminder:

Ugh.
Today was one of those days.
You know the type. The all over-horrible-not an ounce of patience left in your body-bad days. Morgan woke up at 5:30 and well, if you are a parent, you know the rest.
But in case you don't, here's a small overview:
Potty Accidents: 2
Time-Outs: About a Bajillion
Waking up the brother that is miserable cause he can barely get to sleep anyway: 5 or more
Random Screams: 738,982,415
And then there was the time I put her in the corner and scratched her arm up by accident on the "textured" wall which resulted in me feeling immediately guilty and her screaming about me hurting her.

We were just trying to get out of the house to get some groceries. That's it. And it took 2 hours, so I just called it quits and turned on a movie cause I was SO not doing this anymore.
After The Land Before Time, Morgan decided she was now ready to go shopping. I knew JD would complain if we didn't have milk for the morning, so even though I thought I was basically heading to my doom, we buckled up and went to the store.
I was so afraid Morgan was going to fall asleep at 6:00, which would mean another day like today in the works for tomorrow. So I sang pretty much any silly song I could think of with her in the car.

Giving her those 15 minutes of attention flipped our world around.

I was laughing, she was laughing, even Ian was laughing. And now, I kind of feel like crying.

I have been such a stress case lately and I have only been giving her attention when she acts out. So is it really any wonder that she's been rotten? Before our world got shook up, she was my entire world. And now she has to share that with this stupid move and a little brother that I know she loves, but she is just 3 years old and she needs her mommy. She needs HER mommy. The one who loved her more than anything else, and showed it all the time. I feel awful when I think of the heartbreak she must feel every time I tell her "Not now" and then when she starts to whine I tell her to knock it off...of course she's whining...she's lost her mommy.

What is it that brought about this avalanche of remorse? I had given her maybe a half hour of my time, real loving, happy time, and as I'm driving down the road she says, in the most sincere voice you've ever heard,
"Mommy, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused."
It broke my heart. And I am sure it came from some movie, but she still found it applicable to things right now.

So, I am writing this post just to remind myself of what a little angel she is. The next time I'm having a hard day, I might need to remember what it felt like to hear that.

And starting tomorrow, I'm going to try my darndest to give her back her Mommy.

18 Days!

In 18 days we will be boarding a plane to:

Chill under this:

Enjoy doing this:

Stuff our faces with this:

And maybe eventually spend a little time sleeping in this:

Thanks Judie,we are so excited!!!! Turks and Caicos here we come! (18 days, 18 days, 18 days)

Ian's Blessing

"The name that we have given him is Ian James Eddy"

When JD said those words today in Ian's baby blessing, I was reminded how much of an awesome opportunity and responsibility it is to be a parent.

"Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3)

I was reminded that these beautiful babies were given to JD and I, from our Heavenly Father and our first responsibility is to ensure they learn how to return to Him. I was reminded how much I love JD and his worthiness to bless our babies with sweet promises that they may "grow their own family someday within the ordinances of the temple" and "continue to share the gospel and bring joy to the lives of others."

I was reminded that generations have been preparing for each one of our children to come forth in this time. I was reminded, yet again, what a special spirit our little Ian is.

Today JD gave our baby a blessing and every single day the Lord blesses us with our babies. I'll do the very best I can with them, I promise.

In local news...

I still have to post on Easter and a few other tid bits, but I just thought I would do a quick post on a few little random things:

Ian is doing great. He is gaining a ton of weight and turning into quite the little chunk! We love having him in our family. The other day as we were pulling out of the driveway Morgan said, "Mom? Why we bring baby brother Ian?" and I said, "Because...do we ever leave Ian home?" She says, "Nooooooooooope. Cause he is part of our family and we loooooove him. Mommy, I don't want Ian to go back in yours belly."

Here are just a few pictures of his life so far:

I love this one!

I know the exposure is so off in the picture...but he still looks cute.

He is freakishly wiggly and flexible...sometimes I find him in positions I don't really like, AT ALL.

Morgan loves to read to Ian. She brings books in the car to read to him too. I find it to be so very sweet.

Ian has also lost ALL the hair on the top of his head so he is sporting the balding old man look. I'm not sure what to do with it....let it all grow back in or shave what's left off!

Morgan is being such a great big sister. She is helping out and doing all things "all by herself". She's even doing things she never did, all by herself. The other day she said she made her favorite blanket all by herself. (any ideas on how to explain what lying is to a 3 year old? I just can't seem to explain it to her)

Today was her very first actual haircut. I can't believe how slow her hair grows! But pieces of it were down to her shoulder blades (which would be awesome) except other pieces of it were still only to the bottom of her head! So she got a little trim, and in case you were unaware, apparently your hair is full of very sensitive nerves because it was a VERY painful ordeal for Morgan. (once again...how to explain a lie?)

This is the very first piece of hair that fell from my angel girl's head. (besides the times I've trimmed up her bangs) The best part about this piece of hair? I have no idea where it came from on her head because I left the bathroom long enough to pop Ian's binky back in his mouth and came back and what do you know...she'd cut her own hair.

She's been doing really awesome at getting ready to leave the house and helping clean up. She FINALLY filled a part of her sticker chart so she could get something out of the treasure box.

And now I wonder to myself what in the world I was thinking when I decided a recorder was a good idea...

How To Catch A Leprechaun:

How To Catch A Leprechaun:

Step 1:

Leprechauns are most likely to approach a trap when comfortable with their surroundings. To attain this, spend copious amounts of time painting very realistic grass with a sponge brush.

Make sure to take your time.

Concentrate.

Step 2:

If you're going to actually catch a leprechaun, you'll need some luck. Apply 4 leaf clovers.

Step 3:
Be sure to keep any onlookers happy and content with a binky.






Don't get too frustrated. Remember that leprechauns are tricky. And that's okay. Have some comfort food if necessary. We suggest marshmallows.


Step 4:
Give the trap a natural ambience, add floral decorations as needed.

Step 5:

Prepare the shiny bait.

Step 6:

This last part takes some finesse, so we have not included pictures that may cause some distraction. Stick those shiny things in your trap. We've included a live action tutorial later in this post on how your trap will actually work.

Step 7:

Smile big and be proud of the 2 hours you spent building such an amazing contraption.

Video Tutorial:

The Next Morning:

As we said, sometimes those Leprechauns can sure be tricky. They dug a hole out the side of that trap to get out. Sneaky Sneaky. Guess we'll have to build a better trap next St. Patty's Day!

Our Little Gift From God :)

Ian James Eddy

Born March 8, 2010 at 8:50 am

7 lbs 2 ounces

19 1/2 inches

While JD and I were struggling to decide a name for our little boy, I came across the name Ian, and didn't immediately fall in love with it. But then I saw this:

Ian- Meaning: Gift from God.

At that moment, I knew it was THE name.

So far, I don't think it nearly describes how we feel about the little guy.

Here's the story (the long version) for anyone who wants to know:

Sunday during church, I was feeling the same old way I had for weeks. That this kid was not coming on his own, he would be here by induction on Wednesday, and that there was nothing anybody could do to change that. For the sacrament hymn, we sang hymn 169, "As Now We Take the Sacrament" and the last verse touched my heart and bore testimony to me that the Lord knows me, and my struggles with this. Everything would be just fine, that everything was going according to plan, not mine, but His. I finally accepted I couldn't control the situation and was willing to put it into His hands.

That night, at 2 in the morning after JD had been up with a restless Morgan for an hour, I took my shift. Right as she fell back asleep, my water broke. Contractions hadn't started yet, so we took our time getting everything we needed and loading up Morgan.

By the time we got to the designated place to hand off Morgan to my Dad, my contractions were hard and strong...and only 3 minutes apart. (JD was especially happy because this meant he had a reason to drive fast)

When we got to the hospital though, I was still only a 3 and 70% effaced. The first 2 hours of labor were contractions 2 minutes apart or less, and they were just getting me fully effaced. I wanted to do it without an epidural, but 5 hours in and still only dilated to a 4 and with contractions now less than a minute apart...I totally broke!

Once I had the epidural, which I gotta say, I am never ever saying I am doing it without one of those suckers again. I love the magic. Anyhow, we had baby Ian within an hour of the epidural, and I only had to push twice. The whole process from when my water broke till 8:50 when he joined our family took 7 hours...for which I am SO thankful!



He has been nothing but a little bundle of joy for us. Morgan has done so well, I feel like she was waiting for him more than any of the rest of us were. All day long we are having to keep an eye on her, all she wants to do is HUG HUG HUG "baby brother Ian".


And to Ian:

I am so glad you came to us. I feel more strongly about your potential for big things than anything else I have ever felt in my life. I know our family has been blessed by you, and I know that at some point in our lives (probably many different ones) you will be the one who keeps our family strong. I love you, my sweet baby boy.

It's That Time of Year Again!

Well, it happens to be that time of year again! The time when I will be posting about a BAJILLION times because it happens to be all of our birthdays (and the new baby's too!) It's just a crazy time of year for us! So I guess if I'm going to be posting like crazy, I better get on with it huh? Well, here is how we celebrated Morgan's big day:

"Hmmm, what could be in this super tall present?"
"MOM! It's my butterfly kite from Daddy's work!!!!!!"

So, with the kite out of the bag (hahaha I couldn't resist) we packed up and headed out to go get in some quality kite flying time.

Dad had to help her get it up and going a little bit...

But she wasn't going to let him have it for long!

She wrestled it away from Dad and was lovin it! By the way, does anyone know a cuter kid than mine? Okay Okay, so I'm biased...

After the kite flying got old (actually what happened was Morgan tripped, let go of the kite, and I got to run about 2 blocks to chase it down...at 39 weeks pregnant!) Anyhow, after that little escapade, we headed down to the dock of the lake we were flying the kite at:

Morgan was cracking me up, she kept saying the geese were "Monster Ducks" and going to "eat her cause they is monsters"

Did I mention this was her 3rd birthday? Well, apparently she thought it was her 16th, because in the empty parking lot she climbed right up into JD's lap and had the best time EVER driving us around.

It was her birthday, I let her do what she wanted...