HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!

Today is Amanda's 6th birthday. She was really cute last night as we were putting them to bed. After a long weekend, it's hard sometimes to want to go back to real life and real schedules. Clay told her that she needed to go to bed because she had school tomorrow. She replied, "But it's my birthday!" She had a hard time understanding that we still have to get up and do things even on our birthdays. Just wait until you're a mom dear.

She still didn't want to get up this morning until I reminded her of the cupcakes we got to share with her classmates. That helped a little.

After school, I had parent teacher conferences for Daniel and Amanda so we had to stay after a bit. When Christina got home, I took just Amanda out to get a few groceries and buy a cake. She had a ball with it just the two of us.
We had her requested dinner--hot dogs and cheetos. We're so healthy. I did make her pick out a veggie and fruit though to go along with her elaborate meal. Then cake and ice cream. I guess I should have had her wash her face first and she's still in her school clothes because of the craziness of the day.
6 years ago was President's Day. Christina was the only one in school so we had fun fingerpainting after mom went on her major nesting cleaning spill. I had an appointment that day and mentioned that she wasn't moving much that day. They did a NST and there were little contractions but I wasn't excited about it. After that we went to the grocery store so I could pick up a few things. I remember having to stop once or twice because I was starting to feel a few contractions. Clay asked if I was okay but I needed to get home and fix dinner for my kids and husband.

I remember fixing spaghetti and peas for dinner. Nothing too fancy but it seemed to take a little more effort that night and I really didn't feel like eating much but I remember insisting that I feed the kids and clean it up so no one else would have to do my job. Rather silly now that I think about it but I guess that's the fun of hormones.

We got it cleaned up and I finally called the midwife. Clay called some friends to see if we could drop the kids off and packed a bag for them. I remember feeling kind of useless at this point. It was of course Monday, so we had a REALLY short Family Home Evening as Clay loaded everything and everyone into the car.

We drove about 10 minutes to the friend's house, Clay ran the kids up. I remember when he got back to the van I told him that I thought maybe I had waited too long. He since has told me that wasn't the best thing to say at the moment as we still had 20 minutes of driving to the hospital. He dropped me off at the ER entrance because it was after hours and went to park the car. They refused to let me walk up to the maternity ward and got me a wheel chair. Clay had unloaded EVERYTHING from the car and so he ended up pushing me in a wheel chair and I pushed the suitcase. I'm sure it was quite the sight for everyone.

I had the best midwife who had the room completely ready for me when we got there. I got to soak in the tub for about 15 minutes and then within an hour of getting to the hospital, Amanda was here. I still remember looking at my stomach while I was pushing and watching her little feet kick like crazy to speed up the process and get out. Never had that with any of our others. Clay delivered her and immediately she held her arms out towards me. I loved that!
I love having Amanda in our family. She is so inquisitive and adds so much life to our family. I love her happiness, perseverance, friendliness, and how willing she is to love everyone. She's such a blessing in our family. We love you Amanda!