We just found out this week that you have to have four teeth pulled. *sigh* Hopefully this will not continue, but for some reason you seem to attract issues of the medical sort. We have had our share of small things, as any family with 5 kids would. We have had ear infections and the flu, busted lips (Taylor takes first in that category) but with you it has always been the big stuff. It seems like you have taken in the task of breaking us into this parenting thing as any good first born would do. Goodness. So far you have been the only one with stitches, you got the bog bite to the face, you had to have your tonsils out, had to have the baby root canals (whatever those are called), the broken nose, and now these teeth that are coming in just wherever they feel like it... The one in the roof of your mouth is actually pretty impressive. Daddy is now calling you his little shark. My goose, you take it all in stride with your determined logical personality and I am so proud of you. I feel like the air has left my lungs when I think about you tuning 7 next month . Has it been that long already? Have I soaked it all in enough? There are so many moments I wish I could just freeze somehow and take them out to enjoy again whenever I need them. I love you so much. You are smart and beautiful and so strong. The Bible says that children are a blessing and it is so true you are. I have no words to tell you how much we love you.
I have wanted to write your story for a while now. You and Taylor beg me to tell your stories all the time. Usually you ask at night, right after I get you all tucked into bed and am about to leave your room. I know you are partially just stalling - not wanting to go to sleep, but I love those quite moments with my girls. I love when you ask me about when you were born, because I like to tell you how much you were wanted. I want you to know how much we prayed for you and what an amazing day it was when we got to meet you. This is for you. I'm sorry it took me almost 7 years to write it down.
I guess to tell it right I have to start at the beginning with Me and Daddy. When we first got married we moved from Oregon (where our story began) to Homer. We wanted to take a year off of school and just be married before we dove back into everything. We lived in a little apartment most of that year and Uncle Joshua and Uncle Devion used to come over all the time and I called them "my kids" because I kinda fed and mothered everyone. It was a fun crazy, busy, wonderful few months being "us" for the first time, but we knew our family was supposed to be more than us. And, your daddy and I are not the most patient people. We knew we wanted kids and it seemed kinda silly for us to wait to have them when we couldn't think up any reason to. Daddy took a job working on a charter fishing boat that summer so we could save money to go back to school and we started thinking and dreaming about you. We were overcome with curiosity about what you would be and what you would look like; a little of both of us and a whole new person at the same time... It helped a lot that daddy was looking so nice and buff and tan after a summer of crazy hard work (someday you'll understand), but it didnt take long before we found out I was pregnant. We were so excited and nervous and happy... I think its the first time I ever experienced the enormous jumble of emotions that you get as a parent. You were Gods first answer to our prayers for a family.
We found out you were coming right as we were getting ready to go back to Portland for school. We announced that you were on the way right before we left and the whole family was super excited. Your Grandparents and Aunts and uncles couldn't wait to meet you. But it would be a while. We left Alaska for Oregon - what a trip through Canada! I was sick the whole time and the slight differences between American and Canadian food became HUGE to me. There was a the meatloaf- like "burger" disaster in one place, and there was that store where I got laughed at when I asked if they had bagels... But, we made it eventually and we got settled back into school. Daddy got a job as a valet and juggled that with his full-time load of classes. We were involved at church and hung out quite a bit with aunt Lainey and Uncle Jeffrey. Honestly, now that I have all of you, I cannot remember what I did all day at that point. I remember your daddy working his tail off coming home from school, changing into his uniform and running out the door again while I handed him a plate of food and sobbed that I missed him... But, mostly I remember waiting for you. I remembered being enraptured when I first started to feel you move inside of me. I still laugh at the day we were over at Aunt Lainey and Uncle Jeffrey's and I had a cup of coffee resting on my belly which you weren't to happy about. You kicked it so hard, I almost lost my mug and Aunt Lainey screamed and we all started laughing.
I remember my friend Nicole came over to my apartment almost every night and kept me company while Daddy worked. We watched almost every chick flick known to mankind and consumed massive quantities of Ben and Jerry's. I remember when Aunt Joelene and her dad came to visit us. I was huge and Randy said I was beautiful. And, we spent a night playing Settlers of Catan and talking about you. So much waiting. That part is unique to you. With the first baby, the waiting seems so long. I worked a job for a few months around the holidays, but aside from that, it was just waiting. Daddy took me on walks every day. We walked to the bipartisan cafe for coffee and we went up and down the stairs of Mount Tabor so many times it was ridiculous. When I got closer to my due date we would go to Lainey and Jeffs and go on walks where all of us would squat every few steps. It was supposed to help me go into labor, but we didn't know at that time that your mommy never goes into labor on her own on time.
Two weeks before your due date Grandma Jill came down with Aunt Melissa and Hannah to wait for you and together we walked more... and more and more. You were due on April 15th and, though everyone thought you would come early, you made us wait almost a week past that. On the 19th I started having timeable contractions and we went to the hospital full of anticipation. Nothing was happening very quickly though, so the doctor advised (of course) more walking. I bet altogether I must have walked 500 miles to bring you into the world... Maybe that should be your song... "500 miles"
We went to the Target that was in front of the Hospital and I clearly remember that. Rows of clothes and groceries and camping supplies with red advertisements and having to stop and breathe through contractions at the end of just about every one of them. I remember your daddy pointing out a sale on sleeping bags at one point... ha! Eventually we went back to the hospital and they tried to help me sleep because we were pretty sure you would be coming within a few hours. It was a long night. It gets kinda blurry for me at about this point because labor wears you out and that night I had an allergic reaction to the drug they gave me to help me sleep. By the next day I was worn out and fully feeling the pain of my body trying to get you out. Everyone told daddy I would be mean, that I would say things out of pain that I didn't really mean, but I remember being in a world all by myself. I wasn't angry or mean I was just in my own place and my only link to the rest of the room was your daddy. I remember his eyes close to mine through every bit of it and everything else just fading away except the pain. Daddy said I didn't say a single word for 8 hours straight. Then a miracle happened. A while back my mom (Grandma Barbara) and Grandpa Rick told us that they were moving from Michigan to Oregon right around the time you were supposed to be born. They had started driving with their car all loaded up the long way across the country just a few days before I went into labor and they thought they were going to miss your birth. But, they drove into Oregon on the 20th. They came straight to the hospital and I saw Grandma walk in the door almost exactly one hour before you were born. The trailer and car were still all loaded up with their things in the hospital parking lot. I still marvel at that. That feeling you have, when you are hurt or sick and you just want your mama... that doesn't go away with age. And, I was at that point. Dilated to 10 and about to start the hard work of pushing you out and there she came walking in the door. I can't even write it without crying. God knew I needed her and there she was. You were born that night, after 36 hours of labor, with your Grandma Jill on one side and your Grandma Barbara on the other, Aunt Lainey and Daddy. 7 pounds 12 ounces and absolutely gorgeous. I will never forget how we all cried and loved you when you were born. We had no idea what it would be like because you were the first, but you took our breath away. So beautiful and wide eyed. You were calm about it all then as you are about things now. No crying, just staring with those giant beautiful blue eyes. Daddy took his shirt off and held you against his chest and fell head over heels. What a room full of love. You were worth every second of waiting and walking and labor.
We took you home and spent the next few weeks soaking in every bit of you. Before classes were over for the semester we took you to Multnomah to show you to everyone and everyone was so excited to see you. Daddy's C.S. Lewis class had prayed for you all during my pregnancy and when they met you they decided we should do a baby dedication right then and there. As far as I know you are still the only baby that was ever dedicated in one of Dr. G's classes. It was a special moment that I will always treasure. When classes were over and you were 6 weeks old we packed up our little family and moved back to Alaska. Not long after that we found out that your little sister was coming, but I remember when it was just the three of us, though it was brief. It was so sweet - our first taste of family. We have been hooked ever since. I love you baby girl.
Love, Mama
