6 years ago today…

6 years ago today, I was in the hospital playing endless games of Cinq-o and Yahtzee with Jeremy, trying to take my mind off of wanting to die through each horrendous contraction after my water broke in Wal-mart (3 weeks early),  and waiting for my little Sean to enter the world.  After 15 1/2 hours of excruciating labor and narrowly escaping a C-section, my little Seany was born at 10:41 a.m. the next day, March 12, 2006.

Shortly after, he was whisked away to the NICU when I noticed he was struggling to breathe.  Poor little guy had to go on a ventilator and then a CPAP.  At 6 lbs 11 oz, and 18 3/4” long, he looked like a giant next to those 1-2 pound babies.  After spending a few more days being monitored and hanging out under the fluorescent lights, I finally got to take him home on March 17.

That was then.

6 years later…..

Here is my Seany!  Super full of life!  (For anyone that knows him, that is an understatement…)

He wanted a Geotrax birthday.  As always, I did my best to comply.  Here are a couple more views of his cake:

I drew tracks on the “tablecloth” and gave each of the kids crayons to color a city around the track.  We had homemade personal pizzas.  Each kid got to put toppings on their own.  They thought it was pretty awesome.  Also, we had a contest to see which team could build the coolest track with all of Sean’s train tracks, complete with prizes for the winning team.  Naturally both teams got to take a turn winning.  They also watched the Geotrax movie and played outside in the beautiful 70 degree, sunny, non-windy weather.  (This is the one year I decided to abandon my usual plan of having the party at the park.  The last few years have been cold, nasty, windy, overcast and either threatening rain or starting to rain during the whole party.  This year, I assume it will be the same, and it is 70 degrees and sunny.  Cruel joke, really.)

And what would a party be without some cute party favors?  Addy helped me put these together.

Seany loved his party and has told me a few million times that I’m the best mom ever.  So it was worth it.

Happy Birthday, my little Sean-bear!  I’m so happy I’m your mom!  I love you!!!

Something I learned…

Dear Dad,

Happy Birthday!  I wanted to thank you for being a dad who cared.  I realized something recently.  As a mom of 4 kids that are starting to get older, I have felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of making sure I have done all I can to make sure these kids turn in to decent adults and know everything I want them to know.  Sometimes, this pressure causes me to act a little irrationally or react differently than I would to any other human being.  But everything I have done has been out of love and concern for the well being of my children.  Because I care.  At the end of every day, I wish I had acted or reacted differently during the day.  All I can do is try to do better the next day and hope I am being the best mom I can be to these children.

So then I started thinking about you.  I didn’t always appreciate the way you handled things, or reacted to things.  But I realize now that you probably experienced similar feelings as I do now!  How am I going to help these children become decent adults and know what they need to know!  I realize now that everything you did as we were growing up (both things I agree with and things I didn’t understand) were out of love and concern for us.  Because you cared.

I love you, Dad.  I appreciate you now more than I ever did before.

Happy Birthday!

Love, Amy

p.s.  Here is a little birthday greeting from your grandkids.

Happy Birthday!

It’s all about me… till 10 after 3…

Today I’m 30. (*gag*) There. I said it. I may or may not have almost cried when I thought of my life already being one third over. Today, I’m embracing it and I’m going to reflect on my life so far. Here it goes…

My first 10 years:

I learned how to play the piano, how to ride a bike, got baptized, played endless hours of Rose and Julie with my favorite sister, danced to countless Beatles records with my dad, made a best friend and had some close calls with bangs. All in all, I deem this decade a success.

My next 10 years…

I got a camera and discovered how much I loved photography,

learned to play the clarinet, broke my arm falling off my bunk bed, somehow survived junior high school, played in the marching band, concert band, orchestra, jazz band and drum line in high school,

played in the Beatlettes with my friend,

“played” soccer (I was sooo bad, but it was fun! We may or may not have only won one game… due to the other team forfeiting),

went to music camps at BYU,

taught piano lessons, graduated high school,

got accepted to BYU, moved away and somehow survived my freshman year of college,

(singing “Wide Open Spaces” at our ward talent show)

(don’t be jealous of my overalls)

worked at China Lake Naval Base installing computers,

worked for my dad and got to relax in Pat Boone’s office (don’t be jealous),

got accepted into the School of Music at BYU, marched in the BYU Cougar Marching Band, met Jeremy, got engaged and got accepted into Music Education.

The past 10 years… my 20s:

I got married,

had a baby,

learned to sew, graduated college,

moved to Washington, bought a house, had 3 more babies, tried to be the best mother and wife I could be,

taught about 30 kids to play piano, took up running, ran a 10k, 3 half marathons and a full marathon.

In the past 10 years, I have learned more about life and about myself than I ever knew. I have gone through so many hard things. But I am so blessed. Looking back on my life so far, I remember having struggled, but I don’t feel the pain of the things I struggled with. What stands out to me are my accomplishments, the good times I had, the things I have learned and the relationships I have formed. Nothing is more important in this life to me than my family. I love my husband and my kids and I couldn’t imagine life without them. My sister, who I was frenemies with all growing up, became my best friend. The most rewarding part of running my marathon besides finishing was that I did it with my sisters (Kristen and Kimmie, I mean you too!). Sometimes I forget that I even lived before these last 10 years. 20 or even 10 years ago, I couldn’t have guessed what the next 10 years would hold for me. So what now? Who knows! Bring it on!

Here’s to my next 30 years!