Another Birthday Tribute

My kids birthdays are spaced about every 3 months so it feels like I have been doing these birthday tributes often.


So Saturday the 20th was Haley's 10th birthday. I was thinking back to her birth and it had me chuckling for my poor moms sake. I had invited my mom to be there for her birth but she lives almost 3 hours away so we wanted to make sure we gave her enough time to get there. 3 days before Haley was born, I started to have contractions that were pretty regular for about 2 hours. I thought "ok this is it" and I called my mom to let her know. She dropped everything and headed up, so OF COURSE the contractions stopped.
She stayed there waiting with me for 3 days with the hope that my labor would begin again. The downfall is that this was at the peak of her canning season and she had corn and beans in her garden at home that needed to be put up before they went bad, so Saturday morning she left to head home and get the things canned. Saturday afternoon I was at Albertsons. I reached up for something on the top shelf and felt...leaking. I thought "I sure hope that wasn't my bladder. It happened a few more times pretty quickly so I was sure it wasn't just my inability to control myself. I went home to tell Jason and we headed to the hospital to make sure it was my water that had ruptured.
When we got to the hospital we were walking down the hall toward maternity when Haley moved around and whatever hole she had been pressing down on to only leave me with a small trickle...suddenly became a HUGE gush of water...right on the floor with some teenage kid standing right next to me. He jumps back with this disgusted look on his face. At that point they checked me in and we called my mom again. Mind you she had only left that morning to drive the 3 hours home and this was around 3 pm. So she hopped in the car and headed back up AGAIN! Luckily she had had enough time to can all the beans and corn. Haley was born at 12:20 a.m. weighing in at 6lbs 8oz. She had no hair but the sweetest disposition ever. She was such an easy baby so in tribute to my sweet 10 year old girl, here is the 10 things that I love best about her.

1. She has a very soft heart and is so willing to help me when she notices that I am getting a bit to stressed out. She is always offering to help in the kitchen. If only I could get her to want to do that in her other chores as well :-)

2. She is going to be a phenomenal mother someday. She has loved being with babies and little kids for as long as I can remember. She is so good with kids that they just naturally go to her. She already has a little babysitting gig 3 days a week and she absolutely loves it.

3. She is very responsible with school. I never have to worry about her not getting something done or handed in. She does her homework at school so she never really has to bring anything home. She is very bright and excells at academics. She is doing both math and spelling that is beyond her grade level and it comes naturally to her. She sure didn't get that from her mother.

4. She is an excellent big sister. She is good about keeping her 2 younger sisters included in whatever she is doing. Every night after family prayer she takes them upstairs and reads them stories and tucks them into bed. She has kind of taken over what is generally a mothers role there.

5. She has a wonderful sense of humor. She is silly and fun to be around. She has the funniest yuk yuk laugh. I love when Jason gets her laughing because then I get to laugh at her laugh.

6. She loves animals. I think she takes after her 2 aunts. She loves animals and animals love her. Powder wont even consider sleeping in anyone elses room but hers. She has a hamster that she takes really great care of. I think that goes back to her tender heart.

7. She is confident in who she is. I am so glad that she has had her braces to straiten out her teeth, but even before she had them put on, she never complained about her crooked teeth. She was happy just being her.

8. She is so well behaved at church. Jason is her primary teacher and I have also subbed for her class and she is reverent and answers the questions. She is diligent about reading her scriptures and saying her personal prayers. She tries hard to be a good girl.

9. She can be extremely bull headed. This isn't always something that I love but I think it could help her in the future. If she puts her mind to something, nothing anyone does can sway her and that could really be to her benefit if it's developed in the right way. Good luck to me hu?

10. She isn't shy about showing her affection to her mom. She is still so willing to let me hug and kiss all over her and she doesn't act all embarrassed. She is such a fun and happy person to be around and we are so grateful for the 10 wonderful years we have had. Happy Birthday Sweet Haley. We love you!