Ireland!

It seems that I never get around to doing a birthday post for Ireland because I'm always too busy trying to get the newsletter out, but she turned 4 a couple days ago & I just want to say how much I LOVE this little girl. Honestly - she is the sunshine in our home - always running around. Always so full of life & energy. Her imagination has really taken off lately & she will come up with such creative stories. I LOVE to hear them. I love her little drawings of stick people. I love the way she loves her sisters. I love how she says to me "Mom - you know I love you so much."

She was born BARELY on July 5th - at 12:33 in the morning. I don't know that I could have named her Ireland if she was born on the 4th, so I was glad she waited a 1/2 hour :) She was a week late & I had been in labor for over a day before I really thought maybe we should go in. I wasn't sure because with McKinley I was induced & I wasn't really sure these labor pains were the "real deal." I even had Jason call the hospital & ask what they thought & they said they had had a lot of false labor because of dehydration - so I wasn't sure, but I called my neighbor to take the girls so I could work through the pain & finally - at about 10pm, I told Jason we should probably just go in to make sure. The way to the hospital was surreal. Fireworks going off all over the valley. Jason pointing them out. Me screaming "Just GO!" When we were almost to the hospital "Sweet Child of Mine" comes on the radio, and I am crying. Walking up that huge hill to get to the women's unit in St. Marks Hospital. It was a l o n g walk up, having to stop for contractions. When I was finally checked, the nurse said she thought I was either a 4 or an 8, but she couldn't tell, so she went to get another nurse. I am praying "PLEASE GOD - let it be an 8!" The other nurse came in - and sure enough - I was an 8. It was a flurry after that - people getting tables with instruments, a nurse asking me questions, the midwife on-call coming (mine was out of town). PAIN. I knew I didn't want an epidural, but after they had broke my bag of waters & those transition pains started coming, I was just screaming "I can't do this!!" & all I wanted was a 15 minute time-out. Well, I didn't get a time-out & little Ireland came out screaming about an hour after we got there.

So - it's no wonder that she gathered all that momentum and energy from the 4th & is still our little firecracker.

She is named after my dad's mom - she migrated from Ireland in her 30's, and Jason's dad's mom - Anita.

WE LOVE YOU MISS IRELAND!!