My First Mother's Day

I have been meaning to post about what Mike and Emsley did for my very first Mother's Day. This day meant so much to me...I have had so many Mother's Days dreaming about what it will be like to be a mom. But Mike, being the amazing husband he is, made me feel like so special. We went to church and they asked any new moms of a month or less to stand up...I was the only one. Then the woman who had been a mom the longest stood up and it was something cool to thing that one day I will be there. When Emsley is older and I have parented her with as much ability as God has given me, I will be there. Then we went home to feed Emmy and then went to lunch at Johnny Rocket's at the Block in Orange. Emsley was a little fussy but let us enjoy our meals and reminiscing over past years as we waited for God to bless us with a child. Then Mike handed me a card that said "To my mommy" on the envelope. "Emsley" got me a card and wrote some sweet things about how much she loves me and is glad that I am her mommy. Then "she" got me a frame that says I heart mom and Mike printed pics to put a picture of her and me in it.

Then Mike got me a card and it brought me to tears. We have been through so much together over the years and he told me that he loves me more each day as he sees me being a mother to Emsley. That man...my goodness he is wonderful. Then he hands me a bag and before I open it, he says that he was going to get me a cliche gift of jewelry or something but wanted to get me something a little more special. He got me the perfume I have been wanting forever (Stella McCartney Nude)...and said that he wants Emsley to have a scent to recognize me by. So sweet and thoughtful...again, brought me to tears.

It was by far the best day ever. I felt so loved and cherished by the two people who mean the most to me in the world. Mike is an amazing husband and he and Emsley made me feel so special. I cannot wait till Father's Day to show Mike how much he is totally, completely, and unconditionally loved by his girls!

1 month old

Today Emsley is one month old. I would love to tell you that the time flew by and that I'm sad that my little girl is growing so fast but truthfully...I'm not. The time didn't fly, it actually felt a little slow up to this point (I mean, not a bad slow just a nice pace!) and I love watching her grow. I even look forward to the steps she will take...sleeping through the night, holding her head up regularly, staying awake more during the day, cooing. I don't want Emsley to stay a newborn...I long to watch her grow into a beautiful little girl and see her story unfold.

Here are some stats on Emsley as she turns 1 month:

--Still in newborn size diapers (but not for long!)
--Wears either 0-3 month or 3 month clothes now
--Eats about 4-5 oz every 3-4 hours during the day
--Eats about 4-5 oz every 4-4.5 hours during the night
--Makes the cutest pouty lips face ever (she will be hard for us to say no to!)
--Her tears finally started coming a few days ago
--Her eyebrows are darkening (I know it may seem silly to mention but whatever!)
--Grabs mommy's hair every chance she can get
--Will hear her daddy and me when someone else is holding her and look for us
--Makes the best sleeping noises, like grunts
--Loves to be held close to our chests and be patted continually
--Enjoys her chairs that vibrate, bounce, or swing
--Hates being naked but loves bath time when she can just sit and relax in the tub
--Sleeps SOOO good in the car

But most of all, the best thing she has done is stolen the hearts of so many people. Her life is already so rich with family and friends...she is so lucky.

Also, here is a link to the blog post (click here) from our adoption coordinator on how she met Amy and her view of our special relationship. We love Miss Amy!

Well, we love Emsley so much and can't wait to see what this month holds for us!

Emsley's 2 week check up

Today we went for her 2 week check up (well its actually 3 weeks!) today with Dr. Huckaby and everything went WONDERFULLY! Here are her stats:

Weight: 10 lbs (our little chunker!) and in the 95th percentile
Height: 21 1/2 and in the 90th percentile

She is also starting to stare at her daddy and I and listens for our voices. She is sooo close to holding up her own head and her legs are really starting to get stronger. She will push herself up now while we hold her. I also would like to think she is about ready to sleep longer at night and the Dr agrees. Because she is properly gaining and growing she is pretty stinkin' close!

Dr. H said she is doing great and we don't go in until her 2 month check up. Then she gets shots...boo!

I will be posting a picture of Emsley soon because she is getting so big...so quick!!! Love it!

Just some pics...

Our little girl is getting so big already so I thought I would post some pics of her from the last couple weeks. She is such a great baby and I'm looking to celebrating my first Mother's Day with her and Mike tomorrow.

She's so cute it hurts!

Our friend Christina said this when she came over to visit Emsley! And boy is it true. Our little girl gets cuter every day and we fall more in love with her. We have had so many visitors and been absolutely loved on. We now know what her cues are for wanting to eat, going poo, and when she wants to be held. She has already started eating 1 more ounce of formula...our girl is growing so much. She has fuller cheeks and even stays awake without being fussy so we enjoy her beautiful eyes more.

I thought it was about time to share her birth story...

On Saturday the 16th, Amy called me at like 11:45 pm and let me know that she was headed to the hospital because she was having signs of preeclampsia (headache, blurry vision, and high blood pressure). After texting through the night and letting us know she was waiting most the night, we got a text from her at like 7 in the morning saying that they decided to admit her to the hospital and they were going to induce her. We got ready (didn't even feel rushed!) and headed to Loma Linda to watch our daughter be born.

We were at the hospital in her room for over 12 hours before the baby was born. During that time, we just hung out with her, played cards, talked, shared funny stories. All the while, Amy was having pretty regular contractions but didn't even feel them. She is the toughest woman I have ever known. It wasn't until about 6pm that she started hard labor. She was feeling the contractions and was definitely feeling this little girl moving into position. She got her epidural and her water finally broke and then the pushing started. Mike and I were able to be in the room for the birth. Mike took a place in the room that where he couldn't really see much but I got the full view. At around 11 pm, the doctors realized that the baby was sunny side up and was having a hard time coming down the canal and with each push, her heart rate was dropping. They decided that they would need to suction her out so that she didn't have any complications. Once they brought the whole team in, they let Amy do one more big push and it was at 11:59 pm that Emsley Breanne made her grand entrance into the world! They looked at the group of us with Amy and asked who would cut the cord...Amy looked at me and told me to go for it. It was such a beautiful experience getting to not only be there as my daughter was born but to also be such an important part of it as well.

They wisked Emsley over so the NICU team could look at her...her color wasn't great and was a little floppy but within a couple minutes she perked up and gave her a bath. That night feels like a blur but yet I cannot forgot the emotions and events that transpired. We took Emsley to the nursery and finally got to our own room to rest at 4:30am. It was a rough night, Emsley probably had a headache...birth is an absolutely traumatizing time for a baby. People always assume that it is hard for the mother but I saw it all from a different perspective this time. I had an emotional morning (I will write about my experience with adoption post partum another time).

On the 18th we were able to visit Amy and just hang out. She held her daughter and we just hung out. Like friends, which is exactly how I would describe our relationship with this amazing woman. After a great time with her and her mom that afternoon, we took a nap with little Emsley and came back later. We left the baby with Amy and our adoption coordinator Michelle and grabbed everyone Claim Jumper (Amy's request!) and brought it back to enjoy together. It was a celebration dinner. We gave Amy the gifts we got her...a recipe book for her culinary aspirations, some bath goodies for relaxing, and an engraved jewelry box with a bracelet. The bracelet had a heart pendant that we engraved Emsley Breanne on one side and "a gift from above" on the other (that is what Emsley means). Amy cried and hopefully she got a tiny glimpse of how much we love and appreciate her for what a gift she gave to us. Amy went around the room and shared how she was feeling and how God just has given her such a sense of peace and led her to this decision. It was AMAZING!

We left the next morning and let Amy hold her one more time and we all left the hospital together. It was so hard to leave Amy...I told her we are not saying goodbye but merely saying see you later (which now seems cliche but oh well!) We miss her often and love that. It means that God worked something absolutely beautiful in this relationship and will continue to bless it in the future.

Now Emsley is 10 days old and as of this past Monday at 5pm, Amy's rights were officially terminated and she is ours. No one will come and take her away from us. Our daughter. Wow...

Introducing Emsley Breanne

Well, after what felt like a long wait for us, the time finally came for our daughter to make her grand entrance into the world!! After Amy (birthmom) had a tough and somewhat long labor, she finally arrived on April 17th at 11:59 p.m. She weighed 7lbs 10 oz and is 20 inches. I want to do a longer post with some of the details of her birth and our time with Amy in the hospital but that will have to be for another time (because it is an amazing story!)...I have a beautiful little girl I would rather stare at!

First Family Photo

Here she is!

Our Daughter's Room!!!

Finally!!! I took some pictures of the baby's room today and decided it was about time to show off this room. There are still a couple little things that we have to decorate the room but one of them is a thing with her name (which we can't put up till after she is born!) and the other a good friend is helping us design. It is definitely a room that we are so happy about. We have worked hard at making this room comfortable and beautiful for our child to be in (well, maybe more for us to be in!). Mike worked hard at painting the cabinet a year ago with my dad and then painted the bookcase (which we both LOVE LOVE LOVE!).

This is the view of the room from the door. The colors are neutral so we were ready for a boy or a girl. We have tried to make it more girlie since finding out we are having a girl.

This is the crib, cabinet and bookcase that Mike painted.

Our gorgeous dresser! I love the window treatments...so sheer and light but adds a little something.

This the bookcase that Mike painted. He did such a great job and I love that he is wanting to do these projects and take on his dad role! Mike took such time and care in painting this cabinet and picking the colors just right...I think it looks amazing.

This is the recliner and closet...lots of space for this little girl!

My parents bought this baby bedding for us over a year ago. We love it and I personally think it is very girlie with that print on it. And the colors are so neutral and calming...which is what we wanted in our baby's room.

Mike also painted these canvas for the room...we like the stars and moons. We also have a moon nightlight by the door so it keeps with the theme.

We have bought and gotten so many bows for this little girl. She is gonna be such a girlie girl!

Even though the room was blue, brown and yellow...we had to do some pink somewhere. She has some cute outfits...which I cannot wait to put on her!

Last is the cabinet...I know you can't see the outside but this is all the diapers, wipes, formula and bottles we have so far. I know we will need so much more but this is a good start.

Well, glad I could show off our little girl's room for you all! We are so happy and have LOVED preparing this room for her. It has been waiting for her a year and a half and know that it has been totally worth the wait. We have taken our time getting this room together and now we will actually get to meet her and welcome her home with her own beautiful room!

Blog Redesign and Update...

Welcome to my new blog. I updated the page and I love how it turned out. It's about the growth in our family and the little girl that will soon be home with us. So instead of this blog being about the journey, it's about the life we live as a family. A family of THREE!

I also added a baby countdown to my page...I wish I would have added it earlier. Now it says that we are 10 days away from the baby's due date. Mike and I keep saying it feels like just yesterday we said we have 50 days, then 30 days and so on. Tomorrow we are in single digits. Kinda feels like that day was never gonna come. Ok...enough about that!

Little update...baby is doing good. Birthmom is having one contractions every day now so she is progressing. The baby is growing and our next appointment is next Wednesday. We found out that our homestudy is no longer valid. So 11 days before our daughter is born, we have had to get physicals, paperwork from the DMV, CPR class for Mike, and meet one more time with our social worker. No big deal, right!?! Well, we have been jamming through it and working hard to get it all done. So be praying that we work hard and diligently to get things done. And also that our paperwork is processed quickly so that it doesn't hold things up. We do know that not having it done (in case our little one decides to enter this world early!) will not hold us up from bringing our daughter home after she is born. Praise the Lord!!!

Well, I always think that each post will be the last one that I will have before we bring the baby home. So you never know...

Our vacation recap!

Well we have been home a couple weeks now from Hawaii and are trying to hold onto our bronze glow that we got! Our trip was fun and completely memorable. Between ziplining, snorkeling, going to a luau, and a tsunami warning in the middle of the night...this will be a trip we will NEVER forget! Our time together was so sweet and conversation about this next chapter in our lives was amazing. We are so in sync with our thoughts and feelings about becoming parents it is wonderful. The picture to the right is the view we enjoyed for 8 glorious days. Here are some highlight pictures of what we did.

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing a few pictures of our trip. Hopefully I can take some pics of our now finished nursery to show off. I know that my sis reads this sometimes and I want her to see her niece's room!

Almost there

This Sunday marks week 37...we are just a mere few weeks away from meeting our daughter. We are starting to get our bags for the baby packed and the car seat in the car. We now sleep with a phone in our bedroom and know that anytime we could get a call saying that Amy is going into labor. I went to a Dr's appointment with Amy today and the baby is doing well. She let me feel her move but I only could feel her tiny little booty pushing up the side. Still...precious.

The real purpose of this post...how are we feeling as we near full term and the soon-to-be arrival of our daughter? We are trying to enjoy our time together and soak up these last few weeks (or days!). We know that this arrival will completely change our lives and relationship and for a while it was making me nervous but something happened last night that changed my heart. I was imagining our family and friends coming over to see our daughter and introducing them to her. How excited they will be to see her and how happy we will be (even if we are extremely tired). It was these little daydreams that got me absolutely giddy for the birth to finally get here. I just wish it would happen right now...I know that might sound crazy but seriously I just can't wait!

I truly think that she is going to make our relationship so much better. She is going to be a huge part of our love and life. She will be a reminder of how much we love each other and also of the time we should still take to have dates and alone time. I want her to know that we are still madly in love and that our marriage is a top priority (right after our relationship with God). That way she will grow up to have this same love for someone one day.

Well, coming soon will be letters written from both of us to our daughter. I asked Mike to write one of these and I am going to as well. We want to write her to let her know the way we are feeling and about how we have prayed for her and loved her for so long. Something for you all to look forward to!