Clayton John Strickland

Clayton John Strickland is our newest miracle baby. We are so grateful to have this little guy in our home. Clayton was born on February 10 weighing in at a woppin' 7 lbs. 12 oz. Our biggest baby yet. I went into the hospital around 9 am that morning due to throwing up so much the night before. I never imagined that I would stay there. I just thought that they would hook me up to an IV and things would be good from there...Well things just got great from there. I was able to stay and I was so grateful. This pregnancy has been such a blessing, but it definetly was my hardest. By this point I was ready to have this little guy. Labor was so much longer this time around. Clayton was born at 11:37 that night. Around 2 am the next day, he was taken to the NICU. At this time I was unaware, but around 6 am. the nurse came in and explained that he was in the NICU. As you can imagine, I was so afraid. I had never experienced this with my other two. They tested him for an infection and for fluid on the lungs. It turned out there was no infection and Clayton would spend another 4 days in the NICU until his oxygen saturation level was back up. We were so grateful to bring this little guy home on Valentines Day. (The best Valentines present ever) He is doing great and is an angel baby. We are so grateful for our three little miracles!!

Christmas Pictures of the Kids

I thought I would post the new pictures of my beautiful children. Time is drawing nigh...Baby boy is on his way...3 weeks remaining. We shall see if he will come on his due date February 14!!!

The Miracles and Happenings of Our Wonderful Summer

It has been soooooo.....long since I last posted. I was feeling that I needed to update a bit since so many wonderful things have been going on. The biggest miracle for our family is that we our having our third baby. This was one of the Lord's tender mercies in our lives. I was scheduled for surgery in July and found out 2 weeks before that I was pregnant. You can only imagine the joy and gratitude that I feel. Our kids have been praying for another baby, we have been praying and many others. I walked into my doctor's office and he gave me a big hug and said this is one of the joys of his job is seeing these miracles happen. The expected date of arrival is February 19, 2010.
We have been hoppin' busy this summer. We went with the Strickland Family to Lake Winnepausakee in New Hampshire. It was a chance in a lifetime opportunity to stay in his uncle's beautiful home and to enjoy all the things that Dave loves...WATERSKIING, WATERSKIING AND MORE WATERSKIING! Dave was up at 6 am. every morning skiing with his sister Bridgette and all others that would come along. Stephanie enjoyed every bit of it! She is the little athlete of our family. She learns so easily. She was up on that water sled...she will skiing next year I am sure. Will loved canoeing and he wasn't as big of a fun of the water sled, but we will keep on trying. Dave and his brothers decided to be stupid and try going 40 miles an hour on double skiis. Dave crashed and hurt a rib or two. Jonny on the other hand jumped the wake and woke up the next morning with a few aches and pains. It was something else.
We just got back yesterday from Daytona Beach, Florida. This was the Bone Family Reunion. We had a great time. We stayed on the beach so every morning at 6 am. Dave was out the door. I got up around 10 or so...I am experiencing the morning woes of pregnancy (It is all worth it, every bit of it!) We loved jumping the waves, Will boogie boarding with Dave and Steph loving the time with the cousins. We have been really fortunate to create some great memories with our families. It has been a huge blessing in our lives! We love being together!
Stephanie graduated Kindergarten from Tony Alamo Elementary. It's hard to believe that my little girl is growing up so fast. Steph has had the great opportunity of being a great example in her class. Her class is very diverse. Her ethnicity is definetly the minority. I am grateful for the experiences we are having to grow as we live her in Las Vegas. This is home and we love the people that we have met. She starts first grade in 2 weeks and I think Will is definetly going to go through some trauma without having his sissy around all day long. Well, now that my novel is written I am going back to bed with great hopes that the nausea will pass....

Family

Today has been a very enlightening day. I am always grateful for the little moments that I have in the day to ponder about those things that really matter. I was reading a friend's blog today that I found really inspiring. It was about motherhood. I decided to look more into the topic and I found a wonderful quote by Camilla Kimball..."Throughout history, nations have been able to survive a multiplicity of disasters, invasions, famines, earthquakes, epidemics, depressions, but they have never been able to survive the disintegration of the family. If things go well with the family, life is worth living; when the family falters, life falls apart." I am grateful to be a wife and a mother and I am grateful for a loving mother who continues to be the glue that holds our family together.

Oh the Joys of Being a Mom

We have had a lot of fun this week!! With Halloween coming up we have taken every chance to party it up!! The kids and I made sugar cookies yesterday, and oh boy, was there flour everywhere. From carving pumpkins to eating candy 24/7 who can ask for more?

What the Heck???

Okay this is driving my crazy...I am about ready to throw my computer out the window right now as I am feeling a bit of rage...this is why I sometimes get frustrated with blogging. I am so computer illiterate. I will figure out how in the world to have the picture going the right direction. All's Well!!!:)

My apologies

You know I have realized something about myself, sometimes it takes me a while to get with the program. You know I have all intent of keeping in touch with people, but sometimes I let life overwhelm me. I have had some experiences recently that have made me remember all the dear friends I have had and that Dave and I have made. You all mean so much to me and also to Dave. I want to be so much better about keeping in touch and this truly is a great way...so if you are out there, please send me a line or two so we can reconnect and once again thank you for your friendship! These are some pics of some things that have been going on lately. Steph's first day of school as a Kindergartener and of course Will...who will be turning two in a month. That's another thing...whenever I start writing about my kids I get teary-eyed. They have enriched my life and taught me more about the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. Each day is an adventure. Some days are happier ones and others, well...we won't go there but I am sure many of you understand, but I am truly grateful for my children and for my wonderful husband.

P.S. I will be better about updating my blog:)