Dear Lola,

You were born Thursday April 7, 2005 at 4:33 in the morning! I had been in labor for a LONG time-28 hours! You weighed a perfect 7 pounds, 10 ounces.

You had to spend a week in the NICU for an infection, due to my long labor. It was the longest seven days of my life and most of the time that I wasn't with you in the NICU, I was crying. I wanted to take you home with me SO badly.

You finally came home on April 14, 2005 and have been a little ball of fire ever since! You have always amazed your Daddy and I, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends with your intelligence and your vocabulary - it is beyond your years!
You are becoming a great big sister already. You are always showing Deacon, Daddy and I how much you love us. We love to hear you sing, and watch you dance around and play dress-up.

You are such a special little girl. Today, on your Fourth birthday, you have reminded me to enjoy every moment, because this time is going by so fast.

We love you Lola Grace!

Happy Birthday!

"So I will dance with Cinderella,

while she is here in my arms

Cause I know something

the Prince never knew
I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
Cause all too soon
the clock will strike midnight..."

Birthday Party, Part One

I only have a few pictures of the party. I was busy. Sorry. Family is supposed to be emailing me their pics and I will put them on here ASAP. I can hardly get anything done right now, Deacon is sick and clingy and won't let me out of his sight. He is asleep right now and I have a billion things to do in the next 4 hours before I go to work............so not much time for blogging. Enjoy these pics. It was a great party......so I have been told. To me it felt like complete chaos!

Party day outfits

Lola's cake

Deacon's cake


Sweet girl, waiting for her swing set to be ready!

This boy was not feeling good at ALL Saturday, especially at the party. He had a cupcake later that night and seemed to enjoy it.

More to come later.

CAKE

I started baking cakes today for tomorrow's party, which I now believe is going to be a much longer process than I originally thought. My sister, the REAL cake decorator, told me I was overly ambitious.

However, I will prevail. This time tomorrow I will be putting the finishing touches on two awesomely decorated, cute as a button birthday cakes.

Stay tuned.

Can you guess why these cakes are green????

Dear Deacon,

You were born on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 at 6:20 in the evening. Your dad and I went to the hospital that morning very early. My labor with you only lasted about 10 hours - that was short compared to your sister! You weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces. You had the biggest baby feet and hands we had ever seen. The footprints on your birth certificate were enormous!

You were and still are precious in every way. You had fuzzy blonde hair that has now turned into sweet little blonde curls. You are such a happy baby. Everyone is always commenting on how happy you seem and how you are always smiling.

Since you were born, I have been able to be at home with you and your sister more than I was before you came. I have enjoyed all of the time I had with you in your first year and I will never stop thanking God for giving us such a precious gift - a son.

"For this child I have prayed, and God gave me what I asked of Him."

1 Samuel 1:27

Happy Birthday Deacon!

We Love You SO much!

The Meaning of March

This time of year, I am very sentimental. Almost everyday my thoughts go back to what I was doing four years ago and one year ago to get ready for the birth of my kids.
Lola was born on a Thursday morning. I had spent since the Tuesday night before laboring.......28 hours total. The Sunday before, I couldn't sleep because I was very uncomfortable. I thought maybe I was having contractions. Dean stayed home from work the next morning, and went with me since I already had a doctors appointment scheduled. To my dismay, I was not in labor and had made no "progress." We scheduled induction for Thursday night, April 7th. The doctor said she would probably be born April 8th. (That would put me at 40 weeks, 2 days, with PIH and Gestational Diabetes on insulin, for all my OB nurse friends!!) I will save the rest of the story for later. I will say that what they say about "nesting" is true, because the night that we went into the hospital I had been scrubbing my stove with a toothbrush. Haven't so much done that since.

We spent A LOT of time getting her room ready! Dean built the canopy over her bed!

Dean and I in front of our sweet little house in Levelland. We had just gotten all moved in. I miss it.

Deacon was born on a Tuesday. The weekend before, we took Lola to Chuck E Cheese and to see "Horton Hears a Who." I was VERY anxious about having another baby, because Lola and I were pretty much BFF, attached at the hip. And I was afraid of losing that. She was very excited to be a sister though, and as we all know it was a little rocky at first but we have settled into life with 2 kids. We spent the rest of those few days cleaning the house and getting all the baby clothes washed, and baby equipment out of the garage and set up in the house. We knew we would be going in on Tuesday, April 1st for induction. Dean and I, and a few people at work (for scheduling purposes) were the only ones who knew...........it seems a little selfish to do it that way, but we wanted it to be just us and the new baby, and we wanted it to be a surprise. Most people thought it was an April fool's joke!

Lola and I at Chuch E Cheese The 3 of us on Easter last year.

Look for Birthday posts very soon!

Are You Wondering........

What we have been doing? Well, lots of things.

Playing outside,

Growing our curls, Dressing up,

Vaccuming,

Learning to Share,

Picking flowers,

Making messes,

And Streaking.

That's about it. Have a nice weekend!

March for Babies!

Lola and I will be participating in March for Babies this year, also known as March of Dimes. Because I work on a high-risk OB unit, many of our patients deliver their babies quite early. Some need only a few weeks in NICU, while others stay for months, and a small few never make it home.

Here's a fact sheet on prematurity:

http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/21191.asp

Please consider sponsoring us and the Antepartum Angels team this year!

Click here to help me reach my goal!