Our Little Sam

I was going back and forth about getting Sam's picture taken in his blessing outfit. Why, you ask? Well, we need to give back the outfit to my great friend who lent it to me and I kept thinking about scrapbooking pictures of him a whole lot bigger than he really was when he was blessed. I finally decided, "who cares if he is 3 months and was blessed two months ago...", and had my neighbor take some (I know, I know...the drama of a scrapbooker! Like it really matters, I am years behind as is!). I am SO glad that I went for it.
First, thank you Angie, you did an amazing job. Second, thank you Emily, for the cute outfit. And last, thank you Nate, for those wonderful McArthur genes that I am cashing in on. Here are a few things that our little guy does at 3 months, followed by the pictures.

• Sleeps through the night (5 nights out of 7)


• Smiles irresistibly cute smiles


• Scoots, scoots, scoots.


• Has rolled over twice


• Gets the hiccups every time we make him laugh (it is so worth it!)


• Sucks his thumb (we really aren't too excited about this one)


• Loves his mom, sister Bailey, Grandma, and Angie (one of my best friend neighbors)

My Daughters

I feel like my thoughts have been consumed by the new baby and the new house, so I thought I should do a little post about my girls. Just their names, and some words to describe them, but it will be fun.

Bailey:

• Girly


• Princess


• Sassy


• Too smart


• Social


• In Charge


• Silly


• Emotions, emotions, emotions


• Beautiful

Brinlee:

• Hungry


• Sweet


• Wild


• Emotions, emotions, emotions


• Sneaky


• Wild


• Adorable


• Naked


• Wild


• Oh, lets not forget wild.

I have the most amazing daughers, and I hope that I can live to be the mom they need and deserve. I love this picture of them, because I can say all I want about them, but only they can show you.

Confession

I would just like to preface this little announcement by stating "yes, I am a dork".

Okay, now that that is out of the way I will move on. I have to say that when I heard that the next Harry Potter movie was being moved from November 21st, to a whole year from today, July 17th, 2009, I was very bummed. However, I was soon after comforted by the announcement that "Twilight" has moved up its movie release to November 21st, instead of December 12th. I have now decided that I am okay with the whole situation.

Told you I was a dork.

Brooklyn

Hello everyone. It has been quite the past 2 weeks. I had a new cousin born on July 15 down in Hurricaine. My uncle and his wife are almost the same ages as Nate and I, and were having their third child. When Brooklyn was born everything seemed normal, but they found out the following day that there were problems that she needed to be looked at for. It turned out that she has a rare heart defect that required her to be flown to Primary Childrens and undergo a heart surgery that had only been done twice before. Once successfully, and the other one was not. Brooklyn survived last Saturday, and the surgeon said it was a miracle. The next step was to close her chest the following Tuesday, and with minor reactions to the stress, she once again fought through. We pray for her everyday.

They own a business, and have to put it on hold for however long it takes. They are staying at the Ronald McDonald house (which, by the way, I think is amazing!) while they can, and their two older children are staying with Angeline's mom and dad in their camper outside the hospital so that they can be near their parents. Their oldest boy is going to miss his first few weeks of kindergarden while he is up here. And I just found out about an hour ago that Angeline is in the hospital herself with complications.

I am watching this family go through this and just amazed that they are keeping it all together. Not only are they dealing with this trial, they are growing from this experience. I sat down with my uncle in the NICU, and listened to him tell me about how he knows that Brooklyn has a purpose and a plan, and his job is to do everything while she is in his care to keep her safe. But, ultimately it is up to her Father in heaven. The best doctors and the best hospital will not make a difference if it is not what her Heavenly Father has planned for her. As a parent, I know that would one of the hardest things to say. As Brad said these things to me I felt a testimony of it in my heart, and I knew that it was the truth. I am grateful that he shared that with me. That they are opening their lives for everyone to learn from.

Also, by them sharing this with us, it is allowing us to serve them. I want to ask everyone who reads this to pray for the Bailey family. Brad, Angeline, Austin, Kaitlyn, and Brooklyn. If you go to the temple, remember them. Maybe even put their names on the prayer roll. You may not know them, but you know me, and it would mean the world to me to know that they are being thought of by so many people. Thank you all so much, JoAnn.