Hayden Robert

My sweet Hayden Robert was born 8 years ago on April 7th. I can't believe he is already 8 years old. I am amazed at how quickly the days go by and before I know it, my little ones are grown. I had an amnio to determine whether or not his lungs were mature for delivery. It came back that he wasn't quite ready. Close, but not quite. So we pushed the c-section to April 11th and we came home to wait out the week. You always hear about the best laid plans... a couple of days went by and I started having labor pains. I really tried to ignore them since I knew we already had the date set, but those pains weren't letting up. It didn't matter that we were a 4 1/2 hour drive from the doctor. I finally broke down and called and they told us to GET OVER there immediately. Well... getting packed for 10 kids, a husband and everything ready for the baby and loaded in the van was no small accomplishment. We finally got loaded and I took some Tylenol 3 and we drove. Thayne asked a couple of times if I needed to stop but I told him just to drive! By the time we got there, dropped the kids off at my mom's house and got to the hospital the nurses were frantic. They had actually called all of the hospitals between here and there to find out where I was. I told them to talk to Moses... that moving a small nation across the desert isn't easy! They got me set up and soon my sweet little man was born. 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches long and simply amazing! He was the sweet boy I had known I would have at least 2 years earlier. We had just had Wyatt, we were driving home from Wyatt's 2 week check up and I was reading some family history Thayne's aunt had given us. I was reading about some great great grandfathers, Robert Robbins and Haden Wells... and suddenly I felt like this person was in the van with us. Chills ran up my arms and I KNEW, I absolutely KNEW that we were going to have another son and his name was supposed to be Hayden Robert, named after 2 other great men. I looked over at Thayne and said, "We are going to have another son." He said, "I know." I said, "And his name is Hayden Robert!" He said, "I know!" I knew he was ours, I knew he was supposed to be part of our family. He was the most beautiful baby. He's still amazing. He is such a boy. He loves cowboy boots. He loves cowboy hats. He would sneaks Thayne's cowboy hats and literally wore them out. He loves outside. He loves all things boy!! He is so sweet, loves to give us hugs and kisses. He can't go to bed without kissing us goodnight. He is such an amazing part of our family. Sometimes I sit back and am amazed... I wonder what my life would be like if I would have quit having kids when others told me I should. I can't imagine life without this sweet boy in it. He is such an important part of our family. And 8 is such a great birthday. He will be baptized in less than a month. What an awesome time that will be for our family!!! And Hayden LOVES his family. He had a name for everybody, all of his siblings. One year we took a gift basket to a family that had lost their home to fire right before Christmas. We included a card that had our family picture on it. The man was having Hayden tell him all of the names. The man was teasing him, asking which one was the fastest, "Oh, probably Jace, he plays soccer." Who is the oldest, "oh Garrett is the oldest." Then he asked, "Who do you love the most?" Hayden looked at him like he had grown two heads. WHAT? You don't love one the most. You love them all. The man kept trying to trip him up, and finally Hayden broke... "Well, Kailee is my buddy, Kami is my precious....." and on and on. The man just started laughing and said, "Boy, he doesn't like his family at all does he?" Family is everything to Hayden!

I love you buddy!

Hayden wanted a 'dirt cake' with worms and bugs so that's what he got!!! The last pictures are of the kids during Family Home Evening. It was an object lesson and they all willingly got on the 'plane' with Hyrum as the pilot! :-) They loved it and even the big kids joined in. I thought it was hillarious and of course took pictures!!!