{Guest Post} I love being a Mother.

One of my most sacred moments of motherhood happened seconds after my precious Evette was born. My labor was a long grueling process, roughly 39 hours of hard labor – I was quite ready for our Little Girl to join us.

Just after Evette entered this world our midwife checked her breathing and then immediately put her on my chest. I was in complete awe- She was here! This was my daughter. I cried and laughed and cried some more. The very moment that she was placed in my arms something changed in me, it was so powerful, almost painful. I knew from that moment forward I would do absolutely anything to help and protect that Sweet Spirit that was entrusted to my care. I would gladly give my life for this child. The overwhelming love and responsibility that swept over me was a very humbling experience. I thought I knew what loves was, but when I held Evette for the first time my understanding of love got about a billion times deeper.

I repeated “This is my baby girl….. This is my daughter….. This is my Evette….. ” over and over and over, introducing her to myself, my husband, and all the helping midwives. I couldn’t believe that she was finally here and how perfect she was.

Evette is an angel and has drastically changed our lives for the better! She has the sweetest demeanor and teaches me daily how to be a better person. As I am typing this one handed and holding my precious sleeping baby I am reminded to treasure every second we share together. I love being a Mother.

–Heidi

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{Guest Post} Dear sweet baby girl…

How I anxiously await your arrival. I already love you and can’t wait to tell you in person. I have watched your mother and father fall in love with you. It has been sweet to watch them prepare themselves for parenthood and to see the great desire they have to be good parents.

I remember the day I delivered your father, T. J. It was a difficult day for me as it was the day they were laying to rest my mother who had passed away only six weeks after giving birth to my little brother Allen. I was afraid and sad and missing my mom. But your dad came into my life bringing me great joy and comfort…a gift from Heaven. Your dad is my only child with blue eyes and while young, blonde hair just like my mother. I believe she sent a piece of her with him as they passed each other through the veil.

T. J. was a calm, happy baby which was such a blessing as I was struggling emotionally and physically trying to recover from having a c-section. I wouldn’t have my dear mother coming to be with me after his birth and T. J. made it easy to move forward.

There is no greater joy than that of being a mother. I rejoice that the opportunity has been mine. It is the most wonderful of callings. Little one…you are so loved by many. You are a child of God and a gift from Heaven to us here who await your arrival. We shall meet soon and it will be a joyful day.

Till we meet and with all my love, your Grandmother,

Kelly Derrick

{Kelly with Holly, who will be our baby’s cousin}

{Last Thanksgiving with T.J.’s family}

 

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A Couple Days Late

I didn’t bring my laptop with me this weekend, so I didn’t get to write a “Thankful” post on Thanksgiving day. So, I figured I’d do it now.

  1. My amazing husband who makes me laugh and smile everyday
  2. All of my family… my parents, siblings, in-laws, and all the extended family
  3. The gospel, the Book of Mormon, and the temple
  4. My many friends who care about me
  5. My healthy and easy pregnancy
  6. Our little baby girl who will be here in a matter of DAYS (my due date is in less than a week, guys!)
  7. My education and being finished with my undergrad
  8. My blog… silly, but true! I’m proud to be a crazy blogger!
  9. All the comforts in my home including a hot shower, a down comforter, and a washer and dryer
  10. My favorite TV shows including The Office, Parks and Rec, and Modern Family
  11. Utah scenery… the mountains always take my breath away!
  12. Hot Chocolate and eggnog
  13. Our car
  14. Technology, especially the internet, my iPhone, and MacBook
  15. Pinterest
  16. Music (dare I mention JB on this blog again?… I better not…)
  17. Animals, especially baby elephants and puppies
  18. Health Insurance
  19. Our country… it has its problems, but we are still so blessed!
  20. The Christmas season… it truly is the best time of the year!
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Tradition… Tradition!

Every year in the Swainhart household for Thanksgiving, my mom would break out the ol’ flannelboard and read this Thanksgiving poem. We all made hated it and would make fun of my mom (in the nicest way) when she couldn’t get through the thing without crying. As we got older though, it just became a fun tradition. This year, my parents spent Thanksgiving at my brother’s home in Texas and, of course, my mom brought it all with her and my dad had to record it. I think my favorite part of the video is my Uncle Tim laughing through the whole thing,my mom’s Kentucky accent that comes out every once in a while, or all the background sounds my dad added.

http://youtu.be/qzzw1hEkMJ8

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‘Tis the Season

Since I majored in Advertising, I can’t help but to notice all the great campaigns that come out during the Christmas season. So, I’m sure I’ll continue to keep posting more of my favorite YouTube videos. Enjoy these two… they’re quite different, but I love both of them!

http://youtu.be/PaUrujAfBVI

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Mahna Mahna

We spent our Thanksgiving just up in Alpine and American Fork with T.J.’s family. For Thanksgiving dinner, we ate with T.J.’s aunt’s family and parents. Everything was absolutely delicious and I even had enough room in my big belly for seconds. After the dinner, we all went to see Arthur Christmas, which was awesome. Seriously. I didn’t think I’d like it but I laughed so hard and even cried. It was such a cute Christmas movie, had a tender message, and will be added to my must-watch Christmas movie list from now on.

To end the night, we headed over to Walmart to try to get a Kinect Bundle, but we were about 30 people too late. We were disappointed but it’s not a huge deal… one day we’ll get one, hopefully.

On Friday, we got up at eight so we wouldn’t waste away our weekend. Turns out, that just made us really sleepy and so we had to take a couple of naps throughout the day. But we had fun going to a couple of stores and enjoying the crazy Black Friday rush. For Christmas this year, I told T.J. I just want clothes and I want to pick them out because I haven’t been able to shop at my favorite stores since I’ve been pregnant. But, I want to buy them after the baby comes considering I’m the size of a whale right now. So, most of the things we got were for T.J. and other family members. We scored a lot of great deals and enjoyed looking at all the Christmas displays.

Friday night, T.J.’s parents treated us again to another movie… The Muppets! It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but it was still really funny and cute. Some of the songs won’t get out of my head and I’m perfectly okay with it!

We slept over at T.J.’s parents’ house last night because this morning Holly was having her baby blessing. It was so special and sweet to see T.J.’s brother give the blessing and to think that in three weeks, T.J. will be blessing our little one.

And finally, tonight T.J., Mark (T.J.’s dad), and I went to the Gateway in Salt Lake to walk around and see the lights. We had a nice evening together… it was the perfect ending to the holiday weekend! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!

 

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Is it just me?

I hate how everyone laughs during Kevin’s solo because of stupid Buzz’s prank in Home Alone 2. How rude!

(Sorry this is in Spanish, but it still works…)

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Must Watch Commercials

http://youtu.be/CpqBmt8yWfs

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“Turkey day is the most fun day!” -Martha Stewart

  1. I can’t sleep very much anymore. I sleep for like four or five hours then wake up. That of course makes me extremely tired and so then after a couple of hours, I’m ready for another round of sleep. It’s awful and each cycle is filled with vivid dreams of the baby. Yesterday I dreamt that the baby finally started to breast-feed, she fell out of her cradle (that was awful), and then was old enough within a couple of days to play in the bathtub with those bath marker things. Bizarre stuff.
  2. Everyday I hope there will be snow. I think it’s because we have our tree up now and I feel like, if there’s snow out there, it doesn’t make me as crazy for putting the tree up before Thanksgiving. So, this 50 degree weather is really out of place.
  3. T.J. and I are contemplating so hard about getting an Xbox with Kinect for Christmas. It will be really inexpensive at Walmart on Black Friday. We never buy big things like that though, heck I won’t even buy jeans that are more than $30. BUT I LOVE THE KINECT! It is so much fun, a great workout, and could be our gift to each other for Christmas. On the other hand, it still is a lot of money. And we have a baby on the way that will cost a lot. Tell me what to do!
  4. My cold is almost gone! It only took three weeks.
  5. My doctor said no progress still down there with the baby stuff. So, I said, “Well, at least it won’t come on Thanksgiving.” And then he replied, “You can say that on Friday.” Being a ticking time bomb is kind of crazy.
  6. I get to make my pies today for Thanksgiving! Can’t wait! Which reminds me, how do YOU say “pecan”?
  7. The news is on in the background and it’s showing all the holiday traffic and snowy roads through the country. It’s making me kind of happy that we are staying here and not dealing with it. But I sure am missing my family!
  8. Did I buy eggnog at the store yesterday? You better believe it. (Don’t worry Mom, it’s lowfat).
  9. Yesterday I got a check in the mail from Winder Farms. I only worked there for a couple of weeks back in March and I already got paid for that time. So, it was completely out of the blue and so random. Seriously, it was so awesome that I started crying immediately. hahaha, oh I’m ridiculous.
  10. Random story: Last week I tried to wake T.J. up for work at 7 but he was up until 5 am working on projects for school. So, he told me to text his boss for him to tell her she’d be late. I asked what I should say and he replied, “Fun house mirrors.” I said, “T.J. that doesn’t make sense.” He said, “They always make sense.”
  11. Martha Stewart is on the Today show. Some of the reporters went to her house for a Thanksgiving dinner and to see her farm. How many people do you think help Martha? Does she even help anymore? She just said she is grateful for her grandchild… she has kids? Do you think she always was amazing at crafts? Why is she wearing leggings on the show? SO MANY QUESTIONS!
  12. I can’t wait to see The Muppets! I laughed so hard when I first saw this clip…
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Who is Justice Beaver?

My friend just posted this quote on his Facebook wall. I completely forgot about it. Enjoy.

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