We'll Sing and We'll Shout

We've been taking periodic pictures of the temple's progress with our boys in the same place.  For a long time I thought it was special, and then I realized one day that a third child would join in this family tradition before the temple was erected and I would get choked up imagining what our pictures would look like with our 3rd kid.  Honestly, I didn't envision the car seat, but he was way too little for my other kids to hold him in this shot, so here it is, our 1st picture with all 3 boys as our family anticipates the completion of the Gilbert Temple.  Miles is only 2 weeks old.  

 I also heard months ago that the Angel Moroni would be going up after all the other outside panels were done, and that it wouldn't be a publicly announced event, but if I kept my eyes and ears open I might be able to realize when it was going up.  The visitor's center guide said there would probably be a leak of the information somehow.  When I heard that the outside panels were schedule to be finished sometime in May, I just knew that having a baby at the beginning of May would make me miss it, and I didn't want that to happen.  My heart would sink when I would drive by after I had the baby and then I would get hopeful again when I would realize the Angel Moroni was NOT up, yet.

 On Monday night around 9pm,  I got a text from my friend Cheri.  She told me Angel Moroni was on display, so I knew it was close.  I figured the next day I would take my boys to the Visitor's Center and look at it, and I prayed that night that we would be able to see the Angel Moroni go up whenever it was going to happen this month.  Well, the next morning I just happened to tell my mom on the phone that I heard Angel Moroni was on display, and she said, "Oh, yeah, Heber's Seminary teacher said Angel Moroni was going up today."  I was like, "WHAT?!"  It was 8am and I IMMEDIATELY started getting my kids ready.  I had no idea when it was going up, but I knew the temple workers started early and I was NOT going to miss it in case it went up in the morning.  It took me 30 minutes to get ready with all 3 kids and I packed water, gatorade, snacks, scooters, helmets, and the diaper bag and I loaded everyone in the car.  The kids were watching Chronicles of Narnia and I told them we were going to turn it off so we could see the Angel Moroni go up, and they said, "But we don't want to see Angel Moroni going up," and I was like, "Oh, YES YOU DO!" 

I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 1pm and when I heard rumor the Angel Moroni would be up by 2pm, I called my dentist office to cancel the appointment.  Before I did that, I called my mother in law who was supposed to watch my kids to tell her I wasn't coming IN CASE the Angel Moroni was going to go up that day.  She asked, "Are you going to have to pay a fee for canceling your appointment last minute?"  and I told her I didn't care if they charged me, I was not showing up.  Luckily, the office was very nice and because I haven't canceled before, they didn't charge me anything.  And then lucky for me, my sweet mother in law dropped her plans and came to the park to help out her CRAZY daughter-in-law with a newborn.  Thank goodness she showed up, too, because my children were all over the place and I simply could not keep them reigned in by myself, especially when I had to sit down and nurse the baby.  Thanks to Myrna, my other boys didn't get lost chasing baby ducks and the like.

 The morning was actually quite beautiful.  There was a STRONG summer breeze, but it made the time at the park in the morning bearable.  The hard part about being at the park for so long was that it was hard to know if we should stay or not.  Around 10:30 a bunch of people started showing up and walking across the street and then about an hour later they all left.  There were so many rumors of when it was going to happen, it was hard to know what was true.  I heard it was possibly going up at 10:30, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00 and possibly even THE NEXT DAY.  I heard it was canceled because of the wind.  I heard it would go up whenever there was a break in the wind.  By lunch time I had no idea if we should stay or go, but that's when my father-in-law, Dale showed up with lunch, and so did my friend Jenny, and my mom came, and my dad and Mitch came, and Brian showed up and there was a little excitement with the crane moving, so we all stayed put.  Well, 2 hours later, it finally happened.

 Before the Angel went up, I was talking to my dad and he was humming the Spirit of God hymn.  When the angel was actually in place, we all cheered.  It was so special.  My heart just caught in my throat to see the angel being lifted up.  It was such a beautiful sight.  Where I was standing, we didn't actually sing the hymn the Spirit of God, but it was going through my head for DAYS afterward, and I guess across the street they were singing. I wish I could have heard them, because we would have sang it with them and then maybe that song would have helped my kids remember the experience.  Tyson was the only one of my kids still awake by the time Moroni was completely in place.  Emmett saw it starting, but zonked out before it was done.  I'm so glad that Mitchell made it--we thought he was going to be in Phoenix, and all my cell phone updates seemed to persuade Mitch and my dad to just drop what they were doing and come see the once in a life-time experience.

 I'm so glad that Jenny made it, too.  It was crazy with the crowd, but it was worth it, and we hope that our little guys will remember this experience.  If nothing else, at least we have pictures and they know that we want them to be a part of this temple being erected.  That we know that temples unite families for eternity and that it is our deepest desire to have an eternal family.  I hope my children will feel the power of the temple and never forget it as they grow up and that their children will feel it, too.

 My mom decided to pull Heber out of school.  She made it back about 15 minutes before the Angel went up.  I'm so glad he got to come.  Some of his friends actually tried to get him to ditch school and go, and he kind of thought about it, but he was rewarded anyway for his goodness, and my mom pulled him out of school.  It was neat that Jodi had the day off and that Taylor got to see this before his mission.  We just missed having Erin here.

 I'm so glad that Heavenly Father answered my prayer and that we didn't miss seeing the Angel Moroni go up, even though is was an all day process for me since I wasn't one of the people "in the know" about the exact timing.  After Angel Moroni went up, Tyson and I were holding hands and walking back to the shade and I told him how neat it is that he got to see this.  I told him--"I'm 27, and you're 4, and we BOTH got to see the Angel Moroni get put on the temple FOR THE FIRST TIME in our lives today."  As I've driven by the temple in the last few days I've felt the power of being able to be there, and the memory is just as strong, if not stronger than what it felt like to be there.  It's so special.  I love this temple.  I feel like it is "my" Gilbert temple.  It's such a blessing to have it built in my home-town.  I can't wait until next year when it opens, and I hope and pray that my children will remember this experience.  I hope that one of their earliest memories is seeing this temple being built--it's a once in a life time kind of experience. 

Miles Mitchell

 Our 3rd little boy was finally born on the last day of April.  He was 21 inches and 9 pounds 1.5 ounces (just a half ounce smaller than Tyson when he was born).  We named him Miles Mitchell Borden and he's so adorable!  Grandma Borden brought the boys to the hospital to meet their brother.  It made my cry that they got to come see him there.  I remember going to the hospital as a kid to meet my siblings when they were born and to hold them for the first time.  I specifically remember holding my brother Taylor in the hospital for the first time and being so glad that I finally had a brother!  So when my kids came in and I got to see their excitement as we got to be together as a family for the first time with Baby Miles it filled my heart with happiness.

 I wish I caught it on camera, but a minute or so after the boys came into the room, Miles began to fuss and Emmett immediately walked over to console him and said, "Here's my thumb!"  My cute little thumb-sucker was trying to share already so his baby brother could be happy.  We all laughed and Emmett was slightly confused as we were explaining that we didn't want Miles to suck on Emmett's thumb.

 Miles was sleeping mostly and so he didn't do much while the boys were there, but when there was the slightest movement of his hands or feet, Tyson grinned and gasped and said, "He just moved his fingers!"  I love this picture of Tyson holding Miles. He looks so happy.  As Tyson continued to hold his new baby brother he started singing a lullaby to him--it was loud enough I could tell he was singing, but it was soft enough that only Miles could really hear.  I'm pretty sure it was a lullaby Tyson was making up on the spot, too, because a few days after we were home I heard him singing to Miles again.  So sweet!

 I just love all of my Borden boys!

 Mitchell was very supportive in the hospital, and I thought this pic of father and son sleeping was cute, so I snapped it. Honest to goodness, though, during the 24 hours after giving birth, I'm pretty sure Mitch slept more than I did--there were moments that bystanders may have supposed HE was the one who had just undergone labor.  That's why he started catching up on sleep while we were still in the L & D room after guests left but I didn't get to snooze until 2 am when I was situated in the post-partum room.  That's okay, though.  It's hard work to be a dad. : )

 Newborn babies are so sweet and so fresh from Heaven.  My friend Merri sent me a text a few hours before I had him to check up on me and she imagined he was probably just saying good-bye to Heavenly Father and that he'd be in my arms soon.  It made me tear up, because I believe it's true.  Being born is such a huge monumental step in our eternal progression and I know that Heavenly Father watches closely over the details.  I felt like we were being watched over and protected during labor and delivery and the hours after.  I know the Lord was blessing us, and most of all the biggest blessing was getting to meet our little Miles. 

I know the baby is screaming in this picture, but I still think it's cute, and Mitchell looks happy.  It's so funny how full of joy you can be even when the baby is crying his head off.  It's such a blessing to have a new baby in our home and to be able to take care of him and meet his needs and keep him happy.

It's been Raining Diapers...

These are pictures from my Diaper Shower last month. It was mostly a shower with friends from my ward family.  Holy cow, it felt like everyone I knew showed up!  It meant so much to me.  I couldn't believe people's kindness--there were so many people who couldn't make it and they still dropped off a gift beforehand--or the next day at church even.  It meant a lot to me to have something to look forward to with all the emotions I was experiencing with my ante-partum depression issues.  I was fairly open about what I was going through, but that didn't mean everyone was aware of my pregnancy struggles.  So it meant a lot to me that Ann and Carol would reach out to me in this way and that they would give me something to look forward to by throwing a party.  It also meant a lot to me that so many people took time to come celebrate with me.

 Here's a picture with Ann and Carol.  They are wonderful people and I love them.  They insisted that I needed to have a party to celebrate my 3rd baby boy, and so they went through all the effort and threw one for me; it was so much fun!   

Also, another thing that people didn't know was that this baby was our most expensive baby, yet.  A long story cut short is that my insurance covered "complications of maternity only", so our costs for the baby were cash-pay and very expensive.  We were totally focussed on saving money for the OB & hospital packages for delivery that I hadn't really even planned for expenses after the baby.  SO, you can imagine how overwhelmed I was when I went home from the shower with approx. 1,546+ diapers and 1,400+ wipes.  I've used a 36 pack of diapers each week so far.  With my rough estimates, I've got about 10 months worth of diapers.  It's amazing to me.  I feel everyone's love each time I need a new pack of diapers and get them from my stock pile.  I also got several new outfits for the baby and was able to do a guilt-free purge of my boy clothes that were faded and stained.  I really appreciated the support from so many wonderful people.

 This is my friend Lauren--she was due 3 weeks after me.  When she walked in, I thought, "Wow!  She's SO MUCH SMALLER!"  Then after a while I thought, "No, we're not that much different in our belly size."  So then we took a picture and I saw it after and it just made me giggle!  My baby bump is TWICE her size!  It cracks me up.  It's just the way I carry, though.  I hope for her that her baby is not 9 pounds...hopefully her smaller baby bump means she will birth a smaller baby.  Haha!

 And let's not forget to mention the shower food.  Kris is amazingly talented and I was impressed with his contributions to the shower--he hung the puff balls AND designed this awesome vegetable flower. 

 

Life is good.  I am so blessed that I had diapers raining down on me in April...now that I've had Baby Miles, the diapers are still raining down, but now they're dirty.  And that's a blessing in and of itself.