Six Years

Sweet Poodle girl,

Six years ago, you began your journey in this world and in our hearts.  And this past year has been so many things for you!

You finished kindergarten at home and you have begun first grade.  Although, if you were in "outside school", you would have started kindergarten this year.  Which is mind-boggling to me and your daddy.  It's hard for us to believe that so much time has passed already!  You're reading now, and always asking how to spell this word and that word.

You went into the garage a few months back, got some of your daddy's tools and took your training wheels off of your bike yourself.  And you are riding that little bike like a pro!  It's actually time for us to go and get you a slightly bigger bike because you've gotten so tall.

You love to "cook" and you are always wanting to help in the kitchen.  You can make pancakes from scratch all by yourself, as long as you have help with the hard things like cracking eggs and pouring milk into a measuring cup.

You've made some wonderful new friends over the past year, and your BFF Spencer is just as precious as she can be.  Watching you two together is like watching peas in a pod.  We are excited that she can be at your party that's coming up!  Yep, you're getting a "real" party this year because you've turned six.  It's a big-deal birthday, so you're getting to celebrate in a big-deal way.

You've started taking ballet, just once a week right now, and you are enjoying it so much!

You are still very, very much into Princesses and Barbies.  Pink is still your favorite color and Lollypop and Tooter are still your favorite playtime partners.  You love to draw and create things, and you are always busy.  And, of course, you can still talk to a brick wall and make it talk back to you.  You still say "kittnens" and "mittnens" and I don't care to fix it yet.  You've lost two teeth now, and are busy growing up entirely too fast for the comfort of your mom and dad.  You love going to church and your favorite song is Amazing Grace.

You and Tooter both think that a meal at CiCi's is the greatest food ever, and you love getting to go "piddle" at stores.  (Going shopping, for the rest of us).

You can pick the healthiest foods when you get to choose whatever you want to eat.  "Brown" bread, cheese, and olives - for example.  But you love your chocolate cake and ice cream and bubble gum too!

You're still a girly girl through and through.  But you can hit a baseball in the backyard hard enough to make your Daddy duck.  You can rough and tumble play with Tooter one minute, then come in and put on a princess outfit the next minute.

Your laugh - your deep belly laugh - can make literally anyone laugh along with you.  And the sound of it is better than any symphony.

Most importantly, you love the Lord.  And you are learning more about Him every day.

We love you so much, Bear.  And we love watching you grow and learn and become the person that the Lord wants you to be.  You are our Precious Poodle and the day you were born was the day we became parents.  You changed our lives forever!

We love you-
Mommy and Daddy

Four Weeks

Sweet Lollypop,

You are 4 weeks old today, and already you are a how-did-we-live-without-you fixture in our lives. You have started lifting your head up already and can even turn it from side to side at times. You love to eat and you love to be held, but you do *not* love the hiccups which you get all the time.

Your older sister and brother ask to hold you all the time and will even argue about who you "belong" to. Tooter is so gentle with you and when he rubs your head, he treats you as if you were made out of the most delicate china in the world. Poodle can not seem to get enough of hugging you and kissing you and wants to see your eyes all the time.

You've been to church two times already, because Poodle just could not wait to introduce you to everyone at church. But, your MooMoo has made it possible for me to keep you at home pretty much the rest of the time by taking the other kids to all the this-n-thats that they have going on.

You smiled for the first time about a week ago, and of course, it was for Daddy! And that will be one of many gazillion smiles that he will get out of you. But just a couple of days later, I got a smile of my own, and it was as glorious as the morning sunrise.

You've had your two week checkup with your pediatrician, which went quite well and we discovered just how well you really were eating. We are still amazed at your dark hair, even though your eyelashes are so blond, as your eyebrows seem to be. We're still not 100% sure what color those beautiful eyes of yours will be, although we are seeing some light blue from time to time.

Sweet Sparkie/Lollypop, we have lived a lifetime in the past four weeks. And yet, it's hard to believe the time has passed by as quickly as it has. It is like we've been in a dream-state, yet the hour to hour of daily life seems really quite normal. I was overwhelmed for a moment today when I looked at you. To know that you are really, truly our baby daughter - our baby girl forever and ever - choked me up just a bit. The journey to meet you was so unlike what we ever had imagined. But God's blessings have been rich along the way. His love has been unfaltering. And you are the bundle of sweetness that I will tuck in beside me tonight as your precious Daddy and I retire for the evening.

We love you sweetheart.

Three Weeks

Thanks to my mom taking Tooter with her when she picked up Poodle for ballet, I had a few quiet minutes to organize pictures this afternoon.  Here is our Lollypop at  one week and three weeks and still sweet as sugar.  And why no two week photos?  Photos were taken, of course.  But just not with the picture quilt.  (Thanks to Susan Pilgrim for this beautiful quilt!!!)

And, story about the teddy bear in the 3 week picture.  His name is Fuzzy Wuzzy, and Jmk's dad bought that when he found out that Jmk's mom was pregnant with Jmk.  They gave Fuzzy Wuzzy to us when we were pregnant with Poodle, and he is a very special bear!

And, here are some other photos:

One Week

Three Weeks

One Week

Three Weeks

Neighbor visit

Our sweet next door neighbor came by to see Miss Sparkie yesterday after church and lunch, and she took the cutest picture of Sparks and Poodle.  Thought I'd share since I've been so remiss about putting up new pictures of the wee'est one!

She also got one of our resident hambone who totally posed for this picture.  He's such a poser.
;-)

Website update with Labor Story

The website has been updated! See the previous post for the address, if you don't remember it.

But, here's the very condensed version of the labor story, for those who don't want to read the whole thing:
Water broke Friday afternoon.
Contractions never stayed in a productive and consistent pattern.
Twelve hours into labor, I finally decided to get an epidural so they could turn up the pitocin "full blast" with the hopes that I could finish dilating and avoid a c-section.
Shortly thereafter, Miss Sparkie entered the world!

The biggest problem, according to the OB and the labor nurse, was Sparkie's position. She was posterior and didn't turn during pushing at all. She was born "sunny-side up". ::shrug:: Oh well! I am actually very glad to be able to understand labor from both sides of the field. Epidural and no-epidural. I can pro and con both ways of giving birth, and I'm grateful for that. I hope it will help me to be more understanding and helpful to others who are making the decision as to whether or not to have a completely natural birth.

Here's a little picture for you. Tooter took this one! I didn't crop it at all. I let him play with the good camera, and you could see how pleased he was with this one when he got finished. Good job, little man.

Happy Two Week Birthday Little Miss Sparkie!