Baptism Day for Hayden

The family hold the baptism candle together.
Hayden with his Godmother.
Hayden being fed by his Godmother
He has just been kissed by angels!
Doesn't that face just have trouble written all over it!

A child is a precious gift from God

And baptism is God's gift wrapping

~Traditional

“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”


Hayden was baptized this last Sunday. We are so fortunate to have so many friends and family join us in celebrating his new birth. The baptism was held at our new church. He was the first baptism since the church was dedicated on the 8th of June. Hayden was the only one being baptized and so the atmosphere was very intimate with all that attended. We are honored to have Joe’s sister Eileen as Hayden’s godmother. She held him during the baptism on the blanket that my Dad bought for Hannah’s baptism. It is a frilly blanket, but we wanted to use it so he was represented.
A baptism is a wonderful event. Renewing your own baptism vows is powerful. I felt the overwhelming love that God has for all his children and I feel there is a strong purpose for Hayden.
Our little Elainea was full of energy (as usual). She has a hard time sitting down for Mass that lasts for one hour. To expect her to sit for an additional half hour after is too much. She started running around the periphery of the church and fell and got a huge rug burn on her head. She knew that she was not supposed to be running and so she stood up and put on the bravest face she could, but you could tell that she wanted to break out in tears. I love my brave girl.
Hannah continues to grow up and her wisdom amazes me. She has a way of understanding things that most six-year-olds do not. She was so excited for Hayden to have his big day. Instead of being jealous, she was very gracious and simply stated, “this is a day that will only happen once for Hayden and so we need to make it special”.
After the baptism friends and family joined us for a reception at our house. It was such a good time for all. It was an honor to have my Uncle Ken and Aunt Lorraine there to represent my Dad’s family. Eileen took the day off work to be there for her God-son. Pam’s sister LeAnn (and family) drove up from Sandy. It is times like this that you really find out how much family and friends mean to you. They remind you that life is full of these moments that you should never take for granted. You should never just go through the motions, make every moment and encounter mean something. Everyone should notice who and what blessings they have in their life, and if the relationships are not life-giving or you are not able to see the blessings that God has given you, then change something. My life is so full. I can not imagine changing anything. I hope this feeling of rejuvenation that I received today from renewing my baptism promises lasts throughout my lifetime. Moreover, I hope to give my children the example so they can feel it as well.

Father's Day in Torrey

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!
~ Lydia M. Child

It matters not that Time has shed
His thawless snow upon your head,
For he maintains, with wondrous art,
Perpetual summer in your heart.
~ William Hamilton Hayne

As a celebration of Father’s Day we took a spontaneous trip to Torrey to visit Joe’s Dad. It is the first time we have been able to get to visit since Hayden was born. It was important that he be able to see his newest grandchild and not be alone on Father’s Day. The trip was short and sweet. It was so nice to see Dad Rockwell and he really enjoyed seeing his grandchildren. This posting will be short as we are busy getting ready for Hayden’s baptism on Sunday. We will be sure to post again

Where Does the Time Go?

Elainea loves her brother "Too Much"

Impromptu performance before the graduation ceremony.

Hannah during the performance with friends Kylie and McKenna.

The tassel's worth the hassle!
Hannah and her teacher Miss Shelley.

Hannah and her little brother.

The future lies before you Like a field of driven snow,
Be careful how you tread it, For every step will show.~Author Unknown

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.~Dr. Seuss

It is really pathetic when you look at how much faster time goes by as you get older. Wow Hayden is two months old and Hannah graduated from Kindergarten. Do not get me wrong. Life is so wonderful, but it is just going by too fast.
I remember when I was a young girl how Christmas would take forever to come again. Now it is the exact opposite, before you know it you are knee deep in snow and holiday commitments and you look around and the only testament for the year going by is the children are visibly larger and mature.
Hannah had a little Kindergarten graduation program on Wednesday, May 31, 2008. The program was very well put together and Hannah was so excited to get the chance to perform for everyone. We went to celebrate by going out to dinner after her program. She was so happy and excited until after the last day of school on the 30th. She came home very sad as she realized that things would change, she would never spend her days with Miss Shelley. She was very distraught at the thought of it. She felt much better after I told her that she has Miss Shelley’s contact information so it is not a permanent good-bye.
Hayden is two-months old and growing like a weed. He is over 11 pounds. We tease him that if he were a turkey he would be sweating it out right now. He started experiencing some feeding problems at about six weeks. I could not sustain my milk supply so he is exclusively on formula now. He started showing signs of a milk allergy with a horrible rash all over his face, chest, back and arms. I remembered what it looked like when Hannah went through the same allergy so we immediately put him on a soy-based formula, and that is when the colic symptoms started. For two days he would cry for hours on end with no consolation. On the third day when he refused to eat is when I realized it was a reaction to the soy formula that was causing the distress. Long story short we now have to feed him the most expensive formula available. It is a good thing he is so cute!
Elainea is doing really well. Her speech improves with each passing day. She loves being like her big sister Hannah. She loves dressing fancy, watching Barbie movies and figuring out how things work. We have to be cautious about what we leave placed around the house, because if she gets to it she will immediately try taking it apart. She is still very affectionate and tells me “I love Hayden too much!” She loves being a big sister and is flourishing.
The FBI called me the other day and need to set an appointment to serve me a summons to appear as a witness. This goes back to October of 2006 when Hannah and I were in a bank when a man fired a gun and proceeded to rob the bank at gun-point. I really did not get a good look at him and would not make a very good witness. My biggest concern was keeping Hannah safe. The entire time we were looking into each other’s eyes. So much time has passed since the event that I really take offense to reliving it again now. It is kicking up dust that settled long ago. Court was supposed to begin the second week of June, but has been postponed until September. Go figure!
Joe is doing really well at work. He comes home and works really hard trying to get the swing set installed. After he comes in from that he is busy helping me bathe and put the kids to bed. What an awesome husband I have!I returned back to work and to no surprise my job waited for me. Now instead of being two-weeks behind I am five weeks behind. It is all good. I would rather have too much to do than not enough. That is all the time I have to write for now. We love you all and take care!

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.