Merritt Memories

I spen a lot of my day looking at this cute face! It's fun! I can already see his cute personality starting to show. He is a very particular child. He hates wet diapers, but won't even squawk if it's diry. He smiles in his sleep and I think he will be a happy kid. When he's awake he wants to be close to me. I'm convinced he's a cuddler!! I love being with him....         1 Week old   10 days old         I love doing his hair!   

Ryan woke me up on January 19th because he had a church basketball game. It was a little before 8 and we jumped in the car to go to the church. On the way I felt a little gush of fluid. All I could think was, "Great. I just peed my pants!"     I got back home and tried to go back to sleep. It was no use. One I'm up, I'm up. I started cleaning the house and then ate breakfast. When I was done picking up, I figured I'd jump in the shower. After my shower, I felt great! then I felt another gush. Can I tell you how tired I was of peeing my pants uncontrollably?! Then it hit me! I'm only 6 days from my due date. This might not be urine. It could be the real thing!   I called the hospital, told them what was happening and they wanted to see me. Dustin was in the baby's room, painting the crib. I told him to stay and finish. I was going to run down to the hospital. I was sure it was just urine. I told him I'd be back in a couple hours.   I got ...

Often when it is your 6th baby, you are not thrown baby showers. I am a blessed woman! I have had two. The first was a surprise shower thrown by my work and then my dear friend, Rachael, threw me one. They were such kind gestures and I appreciate it so much. The first part of December was our work Christmas party. When I walked in, I was surprised to find baby gifts on a separate table. I really hadn't worked there long, only 7 months. The daycare is a large daycare and I hadn't even met all the people who work there. I was humbled that all these woman would think of me, especially at a time when money is tight for everyone!!  Before I was allowed to open the gift, I had to guess who it was from. If I guessed right, then I got to draw on their face. If I was wrong, they drew on  mine! Can you guess who was wrong more? I was so worried about this because I didn't know everyone! These women were so sweet though! I can say I now know everyone though!! ...

I don't know how many schools do the Reflections program, but our does. Every year they give a theme and the kids choose from photography, visual arts, dance & theatre, music, film, and literature. They create their own project based on the category they chose. My kids do it every year. They usually either draw a picture or write something. I'm always grateful they take the challenge because it's good for them. They need to use those creative juices that usually sit in their brains. The theme this year was: The Magic of a Moment... Grace came home and said, "Mom, I know what moment I want to write about." "You do?!" i was surprised because it never happens this way. We have to take a while to think of something. "Yes. I want to write about when Kate was born, when I became a sister!" We talked about what she was going to write. That is where what she knew she wanted ended. I remember from parent teacher confer...

Because of the new change this year- aka: baby- I thought the word Survive would be fitting. I realize that's not very positive. So after lots of consideration, I settled on:     BEAUTY     I figure this will cover everything. This year I hope to learn to be able to find the beauty in everything. I consider myself a pretty positive and happy person. I do know I have my moments. And with new changes coming, I'm sure I'll be reciting this in my head a little more often.     I wish everyone a wonderful New Year. I hope you are blessed with your heart's desire and that your loved ones are watched and cared for. 

We had such a nice Christmas this year. The kids were all very excited for gifts. Every Christmas Eve we open our Christmas jamies and give a gift to Jesus. Our gift to Jesus this year was making sure we are doing REGULAR family scripture study. We have been doing really well. I'm so proud that my kids have extended it to their personal scripture study. Especially Aaron. In the month of December, he read the entire D&C and Pearl of Great Price. He told me with pride last night that he has officially read his entire triple-combination. Now, he's moving onto the Bible. All the other kids have started The Book of Mormon for a second time!   For Christmas Eve dinner, our friends offerd to smoke our pork loin in their giant smoker. Oh, was it ever good!! We had homemade mashed potatoes, sugar snap peas, and rolls on the side. It was yummy!!           We made it an early bedtime. And woke up to see that Santa had come! E...

I don't know what it is about Sundays in our house, but they always seem to go wrong! Maybe it's the 1:00 church. There's more idle time. Anyway, yesterday was one of those days.   It started out with a laugh. Dusitn was helping Becca get ready for church after her bath. Becca told him how she was so sad for the little baby turtle that she watched get eaten by a baby herring the night before. We love to watch the Discovery channel and sometimes forget that our little ones might not really understand.    He asked her a simple question. "Honey, who would you rather die, the turtle or the bird?" He said he saw the dots connect and she smiled and replied, "Oh! It's the circle of life!"   This little girl makes us laugh everyday! She is crazy, but in a cute way.   After this, it all went down hill.   We have been deciding what to do about bedrooms. Normally this is probably not a big issue, but when you have eight people who need to...