Rough Duty

Well I am about at the end of my second tour of duty here at Melinda's...its really a rough life. I have to play with Benji and tickle his belly and read him stories and help him stack blocks!! I also have to put up with cute grins and sudden hugs. I don't know if I can handle all this hard work. I have been working on my hats that I make to give away and Benji loves playing with the balls of yarn. He has discovered which of them are especially soft and he will stop and rub it across his cheek before he tosses it. He decided it was great fun to try on the hats after grandma finished making them. Right now Benji is over at aunt michelles playing with Erin. FUN!! Since Benji has had a cold and cough since Sunday, it was decided to keep the boys apart as much as possible so he goes and plays with his cousins and has a great time. Then comes home for lunch and play time with mom and then a nap and more play time with mom and then back over to Chelle's house.



When Melinda is playing with Benji then I have to hold the new baby and watch him look at the world with those great big dark eyes... or watch him sleep so very peacefully. He is such a good baby - he is eating every 2-3 hours and then he lays and looks for a while (unless of course he simply goes to sleep while nursing, since that is such hard hard work). One thing he doesn't like is for mommy to unwrap him and change his diaper...that is sooo cold! We have gotten to see his smile a few times (mommy calls it gas, Grandma calls it talking to the angels!) and it is a beautiful smile. His lips remind me of Mauri's perfect lips. Beautifully shaped. Did you know that a dentist told me once that Mauri had a perfect smile! She was 3 years old then!

So I'll head home today and find out what they are doing with the property behind our house and where the hospital is going to be built. Thursday is Jill's play, Friday Ed and I are heading to St George to go to the temple with some other ward members and then Sunday I will come back to Lehi and work sooo hard.

Simon - day 2

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Actually this picture was taken on Thursday when Benji came to the hospital to meet his new brother Simon.

FRIDAY:
This morning poor Da was experiencing excruciating headaches from the anesthesia and was ready to have them do a patch on the previous epidural but before they could give her the shot, she started to feel better on her own. Simon has played favorites today it sounds like. One day old and he knows who he wants MAMA!! Forget Aunty Chelle or Aunt Nancy or even Grandma Marilyn...he wanted to be held by mama!!

Dirk came back home on Friday afternoon to spend a couple of hours with Benji. He was so excited to have his daddy here. They got his shoes and socks and jacket on and headed off to Cabella's to see the fish....and the deer, and the goats, and the bobcats...I think he drug his poor daddy all around that whole store four times!! Then when they got back home he went out in the backyard and enjoyed the sunshine and the slide and the dirt pile.

Dirk finally got ahold of a member of the Bishopric to follow up on a phone message he had left two days before to see if they could get permission to bless Simon before Dirk headed back. He finally got ahold of some one in the Bishopric and they told him yes, they would be at the hospital about 6:30 that evening so that Dirk could give Simon a blessing before he headed off to war. So we grabbed a hamburger and headed back to the hospital. There wasn't enough time for anyone to come except Grandma Susan and Aunt Kecia and Emma. So Simon Porter Willden is now official. Dirk gave a lovely prayer and blessing. This picture was taken just moments before their First Counselor showed up at the hospital. As you can see, both days Benji was very taken with Simon's snot snorter. :-)

Good work DA!!

AT 8:16 am this morning Simon Porter Willden made his entrance to this world. Dirk sounded great when he called me about ten minutes later - He said Da is doing great - so is Simon. He was 8 lbs 12 oz - good healthy boy. 20 inches long so he is already tall.

Da was supposed to be induced at 7 am but she went into normal labor herself and they went to the hospital at 3 am.

I will add pictures and more details as I learn them!!



Simon at four hours old!

Benji is walking around the house making the sign for baby and was so excited when I showed him this picture of his daddy and mommy and baby. I will take him up to the hospital this afternoon after he gets up from his nap.

I didn't want to put him down - he is such a softy little bundle. I asked them if I could just take him straight home but they said the hospital frowns on that. Dirk said that he let out a really good bellow when he was born and Da said that he is already latching on really well so it sounds like he was ready to come!!

What a precious family they have now. I had to get matching outfits for the boys (they'll fit in about a year - or a year and a half) but that is the fun of having two boys so close together. Good Friends and someone to practice being mean to! But also someone to stand up for you and protect you from the bullies.

Melinda is in room 225 on the second floor. If you don't know where the hospital is, take the American Fork exit and head East to 1000 East. Then turn left to 170 north. As you get within a block or so of the hospital you will be able to see it. You will need to call Dirk to get the code to be allowed on the floor. MapQuest says that it is at 1100 East but it is set well back off of 1000 E.

Updates

I talked to Dirk tonight and he said that Benji was so excited to see his daddy. That is so fun to think about. He has really started talking lately since Dirk has been gone (he has discovered he can make NOISE!!) and I guess he just kept jabbering 'daddy, daddy, daddy". I think that is so cute.

Dirk sounded really good and I am excited to see him. I am going to Lehi tomorrow to stay with Benji until Saturday afternoon. I will see Dirk whenever it works out best. I would imagine that after Simon is here and Da has a chance to rest they will call me and I will take Benji up to the hospital to meet his new brother.

Dirk said that they have an appointment at 7 am to start things rolling tomorrow. And I am sure that as soon as Dirk can, he will download pictures to the blog or wherever.

Heads up on Kris - keep her in your prayers. Her doctor is really concerned about her kidney functions ... she will have an ultrasound on Monday so they can 'look' at it. Plus other tests.

Kecia still has Glenn's family visiting. I haven't heard yet what Debbie thinks about Emma and/or Eden. I am sure she has given them both a thumbs up.

I haven't talked to Mauri for some time now and I miss her... especially your blogs...are you blogging on facebook? How would I read them? Like I said I know nothing about that program and get frustrated trying to find my way around.

I haven't talked to Kelly lately either. Not since he called me all excited about the Neti Pot. But it sounds like Jamie is taking good care of him.

Krista's Shower

Kristanne and I headed South yesterday about 11 am to go to Krista's wedding shower. Since neither of our families could make it to the wedding on April 18th we decided we needed to go to her wedding shower. The sun was shining the sky was blue and the roads were clear. We got down to Grandma Bea's house with a couple of hours to spare so we visited with her and helped her find her glasses - thanks to Kristanne. We all hunted and hunted and finally Kris got the idea to go and look under her pillow - that's where they were hiding. Grandma was soooo glad to be able to see again!

About five pm we headed up to the shower and got to visit with lots of special people. Krista is a cute quiet red head with lots of freckles and a big smile. I don't know how anyone with Willden blood in them can be so quiet!! She had lots and lots of people show up during the two hours of the shower and got lots and lots of presents.

She will graduate from Beaver High in May but has been attending school in Cedar City all year . She is taking CNA classes right now and is aiming for an EMT license.

Paula, Malena, Sharla and Kristy were all there. As was Shirlene, Jodi, and Sheina. Just before we left at 7 pm Bonnie and Natalie and Macey all showed up. She had lots and lots of friends from school and church plus lots of family from the Fails and Bradshaw sides too.

I wished I had brought my camera as she opened one present which was a bra made out of candy necklaces. I need to talk to Shirlene as it sounds like this is one of her talents too. She was comparing notes with the gal who made it - sounded like Shirlene said that she had made a nightie out of them!! Jamie and Kecia and Da aren't you glad Aunt Shirlene didn't make it to YOUR showers? Poor Krista turned as red as her hair!! But she was a good sport about it and even put it on over her clothes.

About 7 pm we headed back home - again - dry roads and not too much traffic. We got home by 10:15 and that was with a ten minute delay as they closed down the freeway by Lagoon and shunted everyone off onto Hwy 89.

Kris and I had a great visit all the way down and back. I drove to Nephi and then needed to lean back more so she drove the rest of the way. After sitting up right at the party for two hours I let her drive from Beaver to Nephi again and then we switched places and I drove the rest of the way home.

If you are planning on going to the reception itself on Friday the 18th you need to RSVP so they will know how many people to plan for the dinner. I have email addresses for Malena and/or Paula.

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Blog spot versus Facebook

I have tried - really tried to get into facebook. I've been given cute pets and fun toys and lots of friends... but I simply can't get excited about it. I finally decided that it is tooooo much and my brain turns off.

I have loved blogging and I quickly found myself watching for blogging opportunities. Although you wouldn't be able to tell it by the frequency of my blogs this last two weeks :-( But it is so fun to read each other's thoughts and share each others excitements. It is easy enough for me to do and other than checking everyone's blogs daily to see if they have added something new, or another fun comment, it doesn't take alot of my time.

I know that I get uncomfortable with new things and any time I have to start joining this or that to even move around in a onsite spot I quickly quit. I click out and off. I am too paranoid to move through alot of unknown territory.

So - all my friends out there on face book - this is where you will find me...sitting cozily in my chair with my computer on my lap writing another blog.

I love you all - I will let today's world pick up steam and move right past me. That's okay - I'm getting to be an old woman and very set in my ways.