POWER

Pictures by Stevie

Trees in our yard...
Poor, weighted down trees...
Pretty though...

huh? Don't ask me, it's called BORDOM during an ice storm. :)

We like to call this...Ninja's saving the day...

*****

Today NH was in a 'state of emergency'.
We had a major ice storm last night.

400,000 homes lost power.

Ours included.

This is the worst power outage in NH history.

(so I'm told)

We were prepared in every way but one.

BEN.

He needs electricity.

No way around it.

We felt helpless.

Thank goodness for dear friends.

He's in a warm, safe home tonight.

Guess we'll be purchasing a generator,

and SOON.

It was hard to part with him

in time of emergency.

I'm like a mother hen.

I want all my chicks gathered 'round.

This was a good lesson learned.

We are lucky.

Tonight our power returned.

(prayers were answered)

We are defrosting as I type.

I am thankful for electricity.

FIRST BORN TAG

This is after 6 hours of hard labor,

I'm not thrilled Steve was taking pictures.

This was a fun tag because it brought back a lot of good memories.

Kayla

This is her newborn picture

One of my favorite pictures of Kayla

I loved her white hair and curly locks.

*****

1. Were you married at the time? YES! :)

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? We were thrilled. (we had lost the first pregnancy at 10 weeks so we were happy to be pregnant again)

3. How old were you? 21 yrs.

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I went to a local clinic to take a test because all three home pregnancy tests came back negative. They confirmed that I was.

5. Who did you tell first? My husband and then probably my mom.

6. Did you want to find out the sex? no, we wanted to be surprised. We went in for an ultrasound at 7 months, we told the tech. please don't tell us the sex. But we wanted to watch the ultrasound and who knew that a girl would be SO obvious to our virgin ultrasound eyes. My husband yelled out..."there's no STEM on THAT apple!" I couldn't help but laugh, we were having a girl. (I could have sworn I was having a boy, so much for mother's instinct. :))

7. What was your due date? August 29th

8. Did you deliver early or late? I was 10 days early. It was a HUGE blessing too because my mom was out visiting for a brief time and wasn't able to stay till my due date. I prayed that I would have the baby while she was there. It all worked out perfectly because the day I finished my LAST final of the semester, my water broke like 2 hours later when I had arrived back at my apartment. Talk about timing. :)

9. Did you have morning sickness? YES! I was on home IV therapy for dehydration. Thankfully Steve worked nearby because I had to call him once or twice a night to come home and empty my vomit bowl, (now that's true love) because I was too sick to do it myself.

10. What did you crave? Watermelon. I seriously would eat a whole watermelon daily. LOVED them.

11. Who irritated you the most? I don't think I was irritated by anyone. I was away from all family, so it was mostly just Steve and I...and how could I be irritated at the man that emptied my throw-up bowl? :)

12. What was your first child's sex? GIRL

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout your pregnancy? You'd think that being sick for half the pregnancy I wouldn't have gained as much as I did but after I could finally eat I pigged out - on everything! I gained 45 lbs. It wasn't pretty.

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Just the severe hyper-emisis (morning sickness).

15. Where did you give birth? The local hospital in Rexburg, Idaho

16. How many hours were you in labor? 13 long, painful hours...

17. Who drove you to the hospital? I believe it was Steve.

18. Who was in the delivery room? Just Steve and my nurse along with the doctor

19. natural or c-section? Natural

20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? No...but by the end I was wishing I had. It was long and painful. I pushed for over 3 hours.

21. How much did your child weigh? 8lbs. 5oz.

22. What did you name him/her? Kayla Grace Orton

23. How old is your first born today? 13 years old - can't believe it. ( I really have a teenager???)

(thanks Jess)

ROUND ONE

Ben and I had our Dartmourth date today.

While we were visiting doctors...

This cute little santa boy

helped me deliver these...

along with our Christmas cards.

Round two coming next week.
(lucky doctors) :)

JUST WONDERING...

This is how Stevie went to bed tonight.

Is this a clue that it's COLD outside?

My house can't keep up with the sub zero temperature!

I live in the North Pole people.

It's FRIGID up here.

I'm wondering if this is borderline abusive...

making my kids sleep in a 58 degree house.

Nah...didn't think so.

Okay, it's not really 58,

but it sure feels like it.

What happened to Global Warming?
NOT feeling it here.

Now I know why the birds fly south...

BRRRR!

FOR CHRISTMAS...

Are you wondering how you can make a difference this Christmas season? If so...you can donate to this wonderful cause. His name is Nicholas. He lived a very short 6 1/2 years. Cancer took him. He was my daughter's classmate and his mother is my good friend. She takes all the money donated and buys gifts for children with cancer. Then on Christmas day, she and her family delivers them to the cancer patients up at the hospital, in honor of Nick. Another great reminder to be thankful for what we have.

Remember the reason for the season.

REMEMBERING

Yesterday was one of those days.

It started with some much needed scheduling.

We have lots of appointments coming up.

(to Dartmouth that is...)

And I'm a little behind in my calendering.

I wanted to get caught up.

So NOW...

I am finally getting to December.

(5 days late)

I ripped off November's sheet,

and threw it away.

When I returned,

this caught my eye...

This is Stevie's handwriting.

She was SO excited for this baby.

I didn't even know that she knew the due date.

It makes my heart hurt.

This month will be the hardest one.

It's a reminder of what's not to be.

We miss her....

I'M ANNOYED!

We're friends, right?

We've been through a lot together.

So today, you won't mind if I grumble?

Thanks.

I have a love/hate relationship...

with my computer.

Most days I love it.

Some days I hate it.

Yesterday was a bad day.

My naiveté got the best of me.

I opened a virus.

My computer is fried.

The love is spreading.

People are texting, emailing and calling...

telling me I sent them a virus.

Great.

My apologies.

Really, I had no idea.

I've learned my lesson.

The hard way.

Just know this,

I DON'T want to see you naked,

I DON'T have any secret videos of you,

I DON'T have a crush on you,

(well maybe just a little) :)

And I DON'T use foul language.

If you get any emails or FB messages

containing these things...

DELETE them.

I AM thankful for smart

computer friends.

My computer is being worked on.

This will be it's 3rd resucitation.

(good grief)

Keep your fingers crossed

for quick healing.

Until then, I'm out of the blogging world.

DON'T GO

This picture makes me smile.

Last night I was helping Ben get ready for bed.

It was a busy time.

Others needed my help too.

Daddy was gone.

I would go back and forth

between Ben and my other children.

At one point when I was leaving his bedside,

he grabbed hold of my sweatshirt.

It made me smile.

It was as if he was saying,

'DON'T GO'.

Even though others were calling,

I stayed just a little bit longer.

TIME TO GET UP!

Today is Ben's day for Physical Therapy.

He's tired.

Doesn't want to get up.

Can you blame him?

PT is hard work.

He refuses to open his eyes...
Okay, just for a minute.
This is what he looked like through his PT.
Don't you wish you could work and sleep
at the same time?
(snore)
Yet he can manage to stick his tongue at me for making him get up.

(LOVE YOU TOO BEN!)

CHRISTMAS CARDS

It's that time of year again.
My favorite part of the holiday season.
CHRISTMAS CARDS/PICTURES
They're going in the mail this week.
If you would like some Christmas cheer let me know,
Leave a comment and I'll add you to my list.
(you just have to promise to add me back)
Tis the season my friends, tis the season...

Oh...and I PROMISE,

you won't see any of THESE pictures on the card either.

The End.