Happy Birthday Kell Bell!

March 17th is special to me because it is the birthday of my dad and also Kelly. I really wanted her to be born on his birthday so after a big turkey dinner on the 16th ( a Sunday and we ate at Kelly's grandparents in Blue Lake), we decided to go for a long walk down to the fish hatchery. Mind you, I had done little or no exercising the entire pregnancy. So we walked down and back, 3-4 miles total. Then I had a "sliver " of all the pies we made (about six). We went home and I finished off a 1 lb. Nestle Crunch bar. Seriously! About an hour later I didn't feel very well and started having cramps. Was it the walk and food orgy or labor?? Finally when the cramping didn't quit, we headed to the hospital. I was so bummed because it looked like she would be born on the 16th. A couple of hours before midnight my contrations pretty much stopped. They started up again after midnight with the help of Pitocin and Kelly was born on the 17th after all. I did spend quite a bit of the labor over an emesis basin though. Moral: don't eat much if you think you might go into labor-it was horrible to be so sick during it!! We had thought we were going to have a boy and would have named him Nathan Patrick after my dad and had a girl's name of Summer but when she was born on St. Patrick's day we decided she needed an Irish name and so she became Kelly.
Kelly never thought she was younger than her Chris, Kasey or her cousins. She was always a step behind them, always independent and SOOO easy! I remember Kasey was only 6 months old when I found out I was pregnant with the 3rd child and remember bawling all the way home from the doctor's office. I called my mom and she told me that Heavenly Father really wanted me to have this baby now and that it would be a special child. And she was right. I now have a theory that 3rd babies are really special because Heavenly Father knows you are going to be busy. Kelly always was easy, right from the start. We used to say we could leave her at home without a babysitter and she'd do just fine. She's always been so independent and confident. We loved watching her play sports. She was so good - tiny but tough!
The best thing though has been having her live by me since she got married (Thanks Jody-you are wonderful for having come here for these past years). I've seen her almost every day. Every weekend we go to town, we share stories about the boys and hang out together. She's one of my best friends (Kasey, Lindsey and Alex are my other ones but they don't live near me). I guess that I will have to go out and find friends my own age now that she if moving. Happy Birthday Kelly-I love you so much and will miss our almost daily contact so much. You are a wonderful mother, wife and daughter and I love you to pieces!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me share these past few "extra" years with you!

p.s. sorry there are no cute pictures but I am posting from London where we are having a great time with Linds and family. Isobel is bsolutely adorable!!