100 yard dash



Mikael and Livi - 4th of July 2012

There is a story told in my family.  My Mom still wants to cry when she recalls that day.  It was spring 1983, my Mom left her 4 little girls in a running van and with heavy steps made her way inside her Dad's house.  She was 9 months pregnant with #5, who would later be known as Addie.  Back in that world of no car seats, 2 year old Lindsay made her way to the front seat, and somehow managed to take the van out of park.  The van that was now in reverse was headed for a nearby ditch or beyond.  When my Mom noticed the now moving van - She ran for her life.  The van beat her to the ditch and stopped.  I have heard her describe the terror she felt many times.  I can only imagine.  Her girls survived, without a scratch but my Mom was in bad shape.  She had to be picked up and hauled into her Dad's house.  She could not walk.  Her pregnant hips had given out on her after her 100 yard dash.  Two grown men hauled her to the bathroom and sat her on the toilet.  My Mom was on the brink of hyperventilation, extreme humiliation, and imminent labor.

Labor did not come that day.  Or the next.  Addie would arrive on her due date a couple weeks later and my Mom's hips and pride would eventually heal.  I would assume that my Mom caught a glimpse that terrifying day of how much her life could and would change with the birth of her 5th child.  I'm sure she contemplated her predicament.  I'm sure she wanted to take me out and beat me.  I'm sure she cried to my Dad that night.  5 babies would be a lot of work and worry.  And maybe, just maybe running after that van that day would not be the only time as a mother that she would feel like she was in the sprint of her life.

And so now, here I am, 9 months pregnant with my 5th child.  I'm at times terrified.  Hyperventalating.  Eating humble pie.  And sprinting toward the finish line.  (The finish line less than 3 weeks away)

So please excuse my long absence? 

And please excuse the following photos.  They have nothing to do with this post.  Here is just a glimpse of what we have been up to:



Mikael - Milwakee airport June 2012

Noah - Lake Powell July 2012 - Was quite the wakeboarder this year!

Mikael's "baby" - That cat has a special place in heaven for putting up with her

Family Pic on Pioneer Day 2012 (some of us in costume)

Mikael and Ezra bike riding on the newly poured concrete

1st day of school 2012 and a house still under major renovation

Mikael has a slight obsession with books right now

Jace's favorite past time - breeding.  Anything.  Me.  The llamas.

I do not like sheep.  Jace does.  They get out of their pen every time Jace leaves town.

Jace buried the trampoline this summer.  That baby can help herself to a few jumps whenever she feels the need.  It's fantastic.