Hayden is One Month Already!

Hannah and her brother.
Hayden at one month.

Our American Idol.

Grandma and Hayden.

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

~Erma Bombeck

It is official. Hayden is a month old and we could not be happier. The girls are getting adjusted to having "Master Hayden" controlling our family schedule. This consists of feedings every two hours day and night. He does have one five-hour stretch in the late afternoon and wakes up during dinner. Joe and I have decided that sleep deprivation is bad for the temperment as you get older. It is amazing how obsessed you can become with sleep when you do not get enough of it. We take turns on the weekend, but even then we are only getting four hours of continuous sleep each. This is all good and it goes with the territory, but I feel that I have turned stupid. A cognitive thought can not be found in my brain if my life depended on it right now. Joe is working hard on getting a swing set put together for the kids. It is quite the project as we need to pull up grass and then assemble the swing set. The swing set is sitting in a wooden crate in the driveway. The girls are going crazy with anticipation. It has a climbing wall, slide, cargo net, club house and swings. It will be nice to have something for them to do outside to get the wiggles out.

I am going stir crazy in the house, but at the same time I am dreading going back to work on the 12th. This time with baby has gone by so fast. I can not believe that I will be leaving him for someone else to take care of. When they are older it is easier as they can do so much for themselves. When Elainea joined our family taking her to daycare was not as traumatic as she enjoyed playing with the other kids.

Hannah is graduating from Kindergarten on the 28th of May. She is so excited and her class is putting together a program for the parents. She is so excited as they are showing off their newly acquired Spanish skills. We will have to post pictures when we take them.

Elainea is continuing to do well. She had her first play date yesterday and went to the next-door neighbors house to play with her friend Jackie. She was so excited to do an activity that she has continually been told that she is "too young" to do. Hannah has at least two a week and Elainea has always felt left out. We have to watch her close now as she is consistently trying to go visit her friends next door. We have definitely created a monster. We recently had her tested for diabetes and are relieved to report that all the tests came back favorable. She and her liver and doing just fine.

The girls have started a new hobby of collecting and then pressing flowers. They love the idea of being able to create different crafts with the blooms they have collected. The trouble is that they are constantly trying to pick the neighbors flowers. They have realized that they need to ask before they pick, so now they are constantly knocking on the doors in the neighborhood. We are going to have to take them to a park and collect a whole bunch to help take the pressure of the neighborhood flower gardens.

Both girls needed to go to the dentist. Hannah needed to get two teeth pulled and Elainea needed to get some cavities filled. This was kind of an interesting afternoon for Mom. They were in adjacent rooms and Mom was running in between them to keep them calm. The girls were very brave and came out of the experience relatively unscathed. Hannah was excited for the two dollars she got from the tooth-fairy.

Mother's day is next week and we are going to try to get together with family at a park. I can not believe that I am the mother of three beautiful children. We are so blessed and each one is such a miracle. We certainly live a charmed life.

Just When You Think You Know it All.

Hannah & Hayden

Elainea's Birthday Ding Dong (Cake).

This is a cute picture of Elainea.

Look at the expression on this little handsome guy's face!

Holding his own bottle at two weeks!

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.

Paulo Coelho

There are times when you think you have everything under control and everything that you had dreamed and aspired had become a reality and you think your life is just they way you want it. It is complete and fulfilling. That is how I felt after we came home with Elainea. I felt that our family was complete and we were settling into our lives together.

Then we found out that we were pregnant and all that security and certainly dissipated again. For nine months I was worried about whether I could do it. I hate to think that I feel so inadequate as a parent, but I did not think that I could handle three children. Now that Hayden is born, that has been confirmed for me, but I realize that it wasn't meant to be the same. He is just what God knew we needed. I am so hung up on what I want, that I sometimes forget that He knows exactly what we need and what we can handle.

Hayden is growing so quickly. He is now nine pounds and is starting to fill out. I can not believe how fast he is growing. The thought that I will be returning to work shortly breaks my heart. The girls love him to pieces and he has three mothers to ensure that no cry goes unanswered. He is still feeding every two hours so sleep is a valuable commodity right now. He has the most amazing blue eyes and it will be neat to see if they end up being blue like PaPa McCoy.

Elainea is trying to work through the insecurities of being the instant middle child. All the progress we had made towards potty training seems to have vanished. The progress on her speech has stopped and she has started to studder. However she never fails to amaze me with how observant and smart she is. She has a great sense of humor and keeps our house lively and fun. She is going through a huge growth spurt. She is finally wearing size 3 pants and size 4 in tops. She can wear size 9 in shoes. She is almost in the same size as Hannah.

Hannah is a proud big sister. She is doing really well in school and her reading is improving with each day. She graduates from Kindergarten in May which totally blows our minds. She started a summer gymnastics program and so far she loves the class. It will be fun to see where her interests take her. She is still the same lovable, precocious and fun girl that she has always been.

Well baby is crying so I have got to go. Enjoy the pictures. More to come!

Welcome to the Family Hayden!

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. ~Leo J. Burke

Yes he is finally here! Will post more details later but here are the general statistics:

Date Born: 03/31/2008

Time Born: 11:46 am

Weight: 7 lbs 1 ounce

Length: 19.5 inches

Place: Ogden, Utah

Life in the Fast Lane

Here is trouble times three!

Elainea and Joe on the boat.

Our niece Megan hunting eggs.

Megan and Elainea waiting to fetch eggs.




This picture is just too cute.

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to the stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear on cheerfully, do all bravely, awaiting occasions, worry never; in a word to, like the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

William Ellery Channing

It has been a while since I have posted. So many things have occurred. We just found out today that Hayden will be born on Monday or Tuesday. I check into the hospital on Monday evening at 6:00 and they will induce labor. My blood pressure is not going down, but it has remained elevated. In the mean time I will be counting down the last six days.

Hannah's birthday is in 2 days and she will be a big 6-yr-old! I can not believe that she is growing up so fast. At least we know that Hayden will not be born on her birthday as well. She is doing really well in school and has expressed a great deal of interest in learning how to ice skate and to continue with her swimming lessons. Well I guess Mom had just better get on top of things.

We had Easter at our house and it was so much fun. I admit that I was unable to put much effort into the holiday and Joe did the majority of the work. I really appreciate him and all he has done for our family lately. I will post a couple of pictures that we have from Easter. My nephew and niece managed to catch ten snakes and transported them to Centerville. Hopefully if we keep moving them out we can eventually get rid of the snakes in our yard.

Christmas, New Years, Birthday and Gotcha Day!

Our Little China Doll.
The Rockwell Family

Well another month has flown by and I failed to post. Christmas was wonderful and we were able to spend time with friends and family. Elainea has now decided that she likes Santa Claus and will probably be excited for Christmas next year. The girls were so excited to get their handheld game systems. I was excited that I could still fit into a new pair of pajamas. I now weigh my pre-pregnancy weight. I guess that is the advantage of getting cryptosporidium when you are pregnant.

New Years was a fun celebration. We went to a party to compete for the Sequence tournament trophy. The girls had fun until we had to play the tie-breaking match after midnight. Hannah was begging to go night-night, but Elainea was content to just keep partying. We did not win back-to-back championships, but we gave it our best shot.

January was somewhat stressful. We went to give our depositions to the attorneys for the contractor and sub-contractor that built our home. Little did we know that the builder's insurance company would not cover his workmanship, but they do cover his legal expenses. Long story short this lawyer decided on the "I am gonna bury 'em tactic". In the deposition he announced his intention to depose every contractor that worked on our home as well as every doctor that Hannah has ever seen. This would put the cost of the builder's defense at over $150,000.00 which was three times what we were suing for. The attitude of the insurance company is that they would rather pay a lawyer whom they have a business agreement with than some unknown homeowner. Nice news for us! If we went to court and lost we could stand to lose our house. This is a social outrage! I can not believe that in the United States the average family can not afford justice. We decided that rather than risk the stress of trial on the baby and the risk of losing our house forced us to settle out of court for only a small fraction of the cost to repair our house. On the upside we still have our house and it has a brand new outfit and we are glad that we can make it our home.

Elainea celebrated her 3rd birthday quietly at home. We were at church and they asked if anyone had a birthday and we nominated her. The whole congregation sang happy birthday to her and she started screaming and crying in anger. She could not handle the attention. We decided to tone down the actual birthday celebration. We put three candles in a ding dong for her birthday cake, gave her a balloon on her chair and sang quietly as a family. She was much more acceptable of this approach. We gave her a Chinese doll to play with, and she threw it on the floor and expressed her displeasure with the doll. She ran to the toy room and started playing with Hannah's old dolls. So much for thinking you understand someone.

Gotcha Day proved to be another interesting day. She started off with a low-grade fever and a cough, which quickly progressed into labored breathing and a high fever by the end of the day. Today we took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. It is odd to see her laying down, totally lethargic and begging for medicine. She has been sick before, but even with a fever of 105 she was still running around. She is on medication and we expect that she will start feeling better tomorrow.

Hannah is doing really well. She is a straight A student and loves school. She and Elainea are starting to get along better. Hannah is funny and is a total delight to be around.

Elainea's speech has improved drastically in the last month. She is no longer considered with a disability. The speech therapists and social workers have been amazed with her progress since July. Except for speech she is advanced for her age. We are very proud of her.

Hayden is small for a baby at this stage, but our midwife says to not worry that he is not dangerously small. This makes us feel better, but we still are concerned and pray that he will be safe and born healthy.

If the past year has taught us anything it is this "As a family we can endure anything". We have been so blessed to have everything that we do, but most of all because we have each other.

What a Month!

Snow? Good reason for Elainea to ride her trike.
Elainea not looking too happy in the show.

Hannah our little Snow Princess!

The first fall of snow is not only an event, but it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, then where is it to be found? J.B. Pristly

It is almost embarrassing that I have taken so long to post again. So many things have happened and I do not know where to begin.

First Snow: During our first snow of the season Joe took the girl's outside to build a snowfort. Hannah had a blast but as for Elainea, she tried to have a blast. Our poor little Island girl did not like the cold of snow. Her eyes would not stop watering and she clearly would rather be inside.

Thanksgiving: We celebrated Thanksgiving at Pam's sister's house. We celebrated with Pam's Mom, Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Arlen, LeAnn's Family, The Fuelner's and some of KayDawn's kids (KayDawn was sick). The day was wonderful from the food the the kid's behavior. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins. I was finally recovered enough from the Crypto to eat myself stupid. The day was almost magical.

The Baby (a.k.a Hayden): Yes it is official! We had the big ultrasound and found out that we are having a boy! We are naming him Hayden Patrick Rockwell. Hayden is Joe's Dad's middle name, and Patrick is Joe's middle name. This way he is named after both of them without using the name Joe. Baby is doing really well. He is very active and can make Mom nauseated from moving around so much. His due date is still in April, but has been moved to the middle of April. The girls are very excited about getting a baby brother. Something tells me he will able to keep up with both of them. What a miracle we have in our unexpected child. God is good.

Hannah: Hannah is doing really well at school. She is getting more proficient with her reading every day. She is so excited to be able to be part of the world around her by being able to understand through reading. She was watching PBS kids the other day and read a word on the TV. She was so excited she started jumping up and down. She still likes everything fancy. She is more willing to wear pants (even jeans) now that the weather is cold. She dreams of growing up and become an engineer princess. I told her to "Go for it!". Her eyesight is becoming more of an issue now that she is in school. We will set an appointment to get her eyes checked again. I do not know what I would do without my precious Hannah. She is becoming such a special young lady. She is vibrant and fun to be around. I thank God for her everyday.

Elainea: Elainea has been going through a tough time lately. She has been down right defiant at times. This is a new side to her personality that we have never seen before. We are still working with Early Intervention on her speech and she is making some progress, but I do not know if that is the root of her defiance or not. She is being tested to see if she qualifies for the Head Start program for additional speech therapy after she turns 3. A speech therapist came to evaluate her and she was less than cooperative. I think when she left everyone was more than a little frustrated. The other day I told her she better be good because Santa was coming. She gave me her sign for scared. I asked her why she was scared of Santa. She replied "Love Mama, Stay Here". I believe she thought Santa was going to take her away! Poor thing. She processes so many things that we are not aware of. I assured her that she is part of our family and that this is her home and she belongs here. She gave me a big kiss and hug and gave her three of four back. What a precious gift we have been given.

Joe: Joe is really enjoying his new job with the State of Utah. He works four tens Tuesday through Friday. This makes the family schedule less hectic because Pam is able to work four days a week and can reduce her hours to eight each day. Joe enjoys his time with the girls on Mondays. He loves to take them sledding and staying active with them. They all look forward to Mondays each week. Joe is my rock. He is a strong, compassionate and loving. I can not imagine life without him.

Pam: I am the room Mom for Hannah's Kindergarten class. On Friday I hosted the Christmas Party. I have a new found respect for teacher's and the stress they go through before the Christmas break. The kids could not stay on task. Overall it was great fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. The Mom's in the area are awesome and are always willing to help in anyway with the festivities. The other Mom's brought snacks, drinks, stories and bingo. All I had to do was organize it and plan an art project. Elainea was able to sit next to her sister and she was trying to participate in all the activities with her sister. She felt like a big girl.

The Christmas Concert: Hannah and Elainea participated in a Christmas Program at their day care. The program is great fun. Hannah was excited to perform for everyone, while our little spitfire Elainea just retreated inside and cried. Having over two hundred people focused on her was a little too overwhelming for her. She eventually ran from the stage area and onto her daddy's lap. Santa was there to visit all of the kids. Hannah was so excited to tell him that she wants a billiards table. Yes, you heard that right, a billiards table. Where does she get this stuff? Elainea was not so happy about the prospect of sitting in his lap. She eventually sat long enough for us to get a picture by bribing her with a candy cane.

We look forward to Christmas and experiencing the magic of the season as a family. We wish all of you a wonderful Holiday Season and a New Year of prosperity.

Hannah's Next Milestone -- The first lost tooth!

Joy is the feeling of grinning on the inside.

Dr. Melba Colgroue

We are so proud of Hannah. In August she went to the dentist for a dental exam. She allowed them to clean her teeth and take some x-rays. The dentist then told me that she had two bottom teeth coming in and that she would soon lose her two bottom teeth. Well as of November 2nd 2007 she lost her first tooth! It had been loose for several weeks and she was scared that she was going swallow it. We were walking out to the car and she looked at me and said, "Mommy look how loose it is!". I looked over and the tooth was completely sideways and it fell out into the front of her mouth. She was very releived to know that most people do not swallow their teeth, and maybe now she will believe me!

She was equally excited to know that the tooth fairy is real and she does leave compensation for her teeth under her pillow. We are so proud of our big Hannah and look forward to the many more major milestones we get to share with her.