Happy one year Lainie K!

What a difference a year makes!

I realized that I never posted my birth story for Elaine, so here it is- you are under no obligation to read this, but I needed to write it out before I forget it!

May 31, 2008, I awoke around 3 am shocked by the pains I was having- could these really be contractions?  I was a week away from my due date!  I fell back to sleep only to be awakened again by the same intensity.  Having prepared myself for natural childbirth by reading the Bradley Method (HIGHLY recommend this read for any pregnant woman!), I decided to just relax and sleep as much as possible between the contractions.  Around 6:00, I realized that today was going to be the day, so I jumped (as much jumping as any 9 month prego woman can d0) into the shower.  I made it through blow drying my hair with minimal interruptions from the contractions, and then laid back in bed to continue dealing with the contractions.  By about 7:30, things were heating up, so I decided to wake up Justin (he is quite the heavy sleeper!).  His loving response was, "Oh, you're ok baby."  Once I really woke him up, he said he wanted to time a contraction to see where we were.  I do not remember how long it was, but long enough for him to realize I was serious, and we needed to get going!  Due to some crazy circumstances,  we couldn't get a hold of my parents to come stay with Lizzie and had to call a neighbor to go tell them!  They finally arrived around 8:30, and we were out the door.  I had a contraction or two in the car, but I was able to walk when we arrived at the hospital.  I calmly informed the nurse at the nurses station that I was in labor, and she began to direct me into a room.  I quickly collapsed onto the bed to have a contraction, while she decided she wanted to move me to a bigger room- that was NOT going to happen!   A nurse came in and said something about me getting into a gown, but my contractions were so on top of each other that it took quite awhile for me to get it on- she was annoyed and asked Justin if I was sleeping when she came in during a contraction!  Justin was a great advocate for me through the whole thing and explained that I was just trying to make it through a contraction:)  When they finally checked me, I believe I was at a 7.  They offered drugs, I declined and continued to worship Jesus and thank Him for the privilege of giving birth through each contraction.  The stupid fetal monitor kept messing up because I was laboring on my side, and again the nurses were annoyed, and again Justin came to the rescue and rigged up some pillows to make everyone happy:)  The Dr on call came in and checked me and said to let him know when I felt like I needed to push.  Soon after he left, I told Justin I needed to go to the bathroom.  He, being a VERY smart husband went and got the nurse.  She returned and informed me that I did not need to go to the bathroom, but instead needed to have a baby!  Dr Ryan returned, I pushed twice and Elaine arrived at 9:36 am, less than an hour after I was admitted!  The nurses went crazy, because I guess they see very few natural births where the mom actually stays in control and does it well.  Overall- a great experience!

Elaine was VERY allert and immediately nursed.  She weighed 7lb 5 oz and was 21" long with a perfectly round head- not much pushing makes for a pretty baby:) Meanwhile, Justin called family and shocked them that Elaine had already arrived:)  What a great day!

Fastforward a year, and we have a very tenacious one year old beauty!  Elaine is so funny!  She has incredible personality and determination- she is going to challenge me as a mommy!  Her vocabluary is emerging; here is a list of the words she says, momma, dada, no, uh oh, all done, more, dog, diaper, that, milk, mmmmm, hi, bye bye, thank you, patches... and I am sure there are others she is attempting but we just have no clue what she is saying:)  Elaine took her first unassisted step just two days before her first birthday, and on Monday she took 5 consecutive steps and continues to walk more and more.  I have a feeling it won't be long until she is all out running everywhere she goes!  Her hand eye coordination is excellent; she will seriously throw a ball to you with great accuracy.  In the past couple of weeks, she has decided that fruit isn't so bad, and she will now eat strawberries, grapes, and occasionally dices apples.  Otherwise, she is eating pretty much whatever we eat. For example, Breakfast: multigrain cheerios and yogurt or an eggo waffle and applesauce, Snack: graham cracker, cheese, maybe some fruit, Lunch: turkey or ham with cheese and some bread or pasta or spaghettios, or grilled cheese, Dinner: whatever we are having with a big girl cup of whole milk (she still nurses at breakfast and lunch time).   Sleeping lately has been about 9 hours, wake up to nurse, and then go back down for another 2-3 hours, not quite as good a Lizzie was, but not terrible either.  I think the girl just has a mighty high metabolism!  We went for her 1 yr well check yesterday, and she weighs 18 lb 9 oz and is 28.5" long.  That puts her in the  14th and 43rd percentile repectively!  Dr. Scroggie says he is not at all concerned though, because she is "as strong as an ox!" in his words; yes, she gave it to him during her exam!  So, Elaine Karis is going to be our little fireball!  Our prayer is that God would teach us how to harness her personality into something beautiful for His glory- that Lainie would be a passionate woman on fire for the things that burden her great God's heart!

We were able to celebrate Elaine's big day in a very special way!  Since her birthday fell on a Sunday, we did her baby dedication at CityView on her birthday.  It was really special, and we feel so blessed that we will not raise Elaine on our own, but we have the support of the precious body of Christ at CityView- it is so good to have these people to run with through life!  We were also joined by all of Elaine's grandparents and great grandparents which was especially great.  After church, we had a group of friends and family over and enjoyed lunch together.  Elaine did not like the stickiness of her homemade strawberry cupcake, but the taste made up for it, and she ended up with cake icing behind her ear!!  Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!  A year later, I say the same thing, What a great day!

A birhtday cinnamon roll to start the day!

Dedication and Charge to Justin and me as parents

Our sweet girl!

I think I like this!

Grammy and Pop

Nana and PawPaw

Mamaw

Granny

Aunt Haley

Clip Clop- a new Fave!!!

Elaine, meet Patches (We began a tradition with Lizzie. Once we find out if we are having a boy or a girl, we make a build a bear, and then give it to them for their first birthday!) It is really fun, and I think Elaine really likes Patches- she has been saying "Puh-es"

All done partying!