A montage of Hailey Hope

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Hailey Hope

Now you get to meet the last of my 3 Musketeers. Ms. Hailey Hope was born Aug. 21st, 2009 at 1:34p.m. She weighed in at a small 6lbs 15oz and 19in long. My labour was only 4 hours long, and I pushed 1 time. Her birth was so amazing.

This was the first one of our children's birth to have their Uncle B present. He was in basic training during the birth of his first niece, and then by the time we had Caden, his first nephew, Uncle B was fighting for our country over in Afghanistan. Missing the births of his brothers children hurt him deeply. He longed to be with them, and hold their little warm bodies, and cuddle them close as he whispered "I'm your favorite Uncle." {as Michael has 3 brothers, and I have 3 myself..} Uncle B was finally able to be there for one of his brothers children, Hailey's. Uncle B was ecstatic and grinned ear to ear during the entire labour process. He stayed in the room the whole time I laboured, then left as the time to push came upon us. He was then the first visitor to hold sweet Hailey! He and his wife were daydreaming of the day they'd get to be the new proud parents {they are expecting in Feb.}.

Emily was able to meet her new sibling right away. Caden however, was still a little young and enjoying his time with his Pops anyway!

Caden, Uncle M, Ry {Ry is Uncle M's girlfriend} Aunt L, and Little Uncle B (he's 6) came as soon as we went home, to meet Hailey! Everyone was in awe of this new precious life.

Hailey is the 4Th major "Precious Memory" I have in my life. Now that you have met my family and my major "Precious Memories" I will do the daily Precious Memories post. My goal is to upload 1 picture a day of my children, and blog about the day--whether it was a good, bad, funny, happy, sad, or loving memory--because when it includes your major Precious Memories, it is worth remembering!

Michael Caden...

Michael "Caden" was born on November 9Th 2007. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz, and 19in. long. He was born after 6 hours of labour at 6:47p.m. He was born with a very low immune system, and had to stay in the hospital a total of 7 days. He had to have I.V. antibiotics every 12 hours for 5 days (started the day after he was born and went until the day before he was released) Our last day in the hospital was for observation. I was lucky enough to be able to stay at the hospital with him. They set me up a room right by the nursery {he was able to be with me between the treatments~then back to the nursery every 12hours and he had to stay for an hour after each treatment to get blood drawls) ANY way, they let me stay with him because he was exclusively breastfed. On November 15Th we were able to finally make our journey home as a family of FOUR!

On our way home we had to stop by Nandy's house to get Emily. When we got there she came out to the car and I embraced her tightly {I was only able to see her the day after Caden was born right before they found out about his immune system}. I took a long look at her and she looked SO big, like she grew 3 feet and put on 10 lbs in a week. It took my breathe away as I watched her with her new baby brother. The two of them were the best of friends from the first day on. She was only 20 months old, but acted as though she were 20 YEARS old and like SHE was his mom. Even now it's always Emily and Caden {of course I have added referee to my list of job titles ;)..} The two definitely have their moments, but you can also definitely tell they have a close bond.

Emily Skye

Emily Skye came into our lives March 2006. I was in labour for a little over 13 hours. Here is her birth story.

I was scheduled for an induction on March 15Th 2006 at 41 weeks gestation {I had a stubborn little one and Michael was working an hour-hour and a half away with his dad and had to keep working until D-day so the project could get done, and with him being so far away we felt an induction was best for us.} I had to call the hospital at 5 a.m.{like I was asleep anyway..Yeah right I was so close to holding my little one...no sleep for me :)...} to make sure they weren't full and I could get in. I called and they said to be there at 6--that was an HOUR! I jumped in the shower, blow dried my hair, woke Michael up, put on my make-up, then out the door we went. I paused in the doorway of our duplex, and took a glimpse of the stairway that led upstairs to the bedrooms, then looked straight ahead on the first floor at the den, kitchen, and living room as I realized it was no longer "Us" anymore--the next time that we walk through that same doorway that the couple whom referred to themselves as "Us/We" would no longer be...We would all be a "Family". It was almost as if the last nine months of morning {or ALL day sickness as they should call it} sickness suddenly felt like 9 weeks, or even hours. I could not believe that "We" turned "Us" into a FAMILY...It was going to be Daddy, Mommy, and Baby the next time we returned home.....I felt a bit overwhelmed, but also joy as I stood there and visioned myself walking the floors to soothe a newborn, a baby girl, OUR baby girl! I then had another realization....That I was going to be late for my induction that was supposed to start in 10 minutes...I was late for my own wedding so why not the birth of my child? Those that are the coolest are always fashionably late, right? ;) We stopped to get breakfast then off we went to have a baby. I looked in the backseat, on our way to the hospital, to see the pink and white checkered Graco SnugRide all properly placed in, a diaper bag with the baby's clothes, and a duffel bag with our clothes in it. We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. got checked in and started the induction at 7 a.m. I'll spare the horror details of labour and make a long story short...I was put on Pitocine at 7 a.m. by 3:30 I was dilated to a 9.5 and was stuck there for 3 hours. I started getting really sick and weak from the constant contractions every 1-2 minutes that were lasting 60-90 sec. so I gave in and got an Epidural at about 6:30 by 6:40 the epi was working and 30 minutes later a "Precious Memory" was born....Emily Skye, she was born at 7:10 p.m. weighing in at 8 lbs even, and was 22 in. long. She was beautiful. Olive complexion, bright deep blue eyes, and the fullest, longest, blackest hair I'd ever seen. She was gorgeous and she was "Ours" and she turned our "Us" into a "Family". Today Emily is a healthy happy 3 year old that now weighs in at 33 lbs. and is 39 in. tall. She is an amazing little girl that I love dearly. She is so full of life, and says the funniest stuff. Emily is one of the reasons for this blog. She says the cutest things sometimes and I always think at that moment "Wow I'll never forget this.", but then somehow I do. So after I introduce you to my other two children I will start the daily posts for the "Precious Memories". Everyday has something "unforgettable" in it, at least with 3 growing children around :)

The beginning of my "Precious Memories"

This is my first blog, so bare with me on my writing as I have been out of the writing world for some time now. I want to start my first "Precious Memory" with the one that is the reason for so many wonderful, blessed memories I have. After I introduce my family in separate posts, I will then on a daily basis add my "Precious Memory" of the day :)

The start of my precious memories began with my Wedding Day. In December of 2005, I married the most wonderful man. He is a strong, loyal, loving, and giving man of God! Outside of Christ, he is my rock and my everything. When I wake in the morning, and before I close my eyes at night, my thoughts are of how grateful and thankful I am for my husband.

I remember the week of my wedding so clearly. {Note-Our wedding was supposed to be small-meaning-nice casual dress, and slacks and tie for him, like church attire..Not the case by the end of the week} On Wednesday my {soon-to-be} Mother-In-Love and I went shopping for clothes for everyone in the family to wear to the Wedding. It was so fun, yet nerve wrecking all at the same time, but it is supposed to be, right? Thursday, my Mom and Dad came in town. I helped my mom with flowers and the arch. Then we tried to relax--ha, yeah right this had turned into an actual wedding before my eyes. Friday, my mom and I went shopping for a dress, an ACTUAL wedding dress---the day BEFORE my wedding---we found one that fit and that was perfect! That night my mom and M-I-L went to decorate the church in Pine Mt. and get it all ready. I tried getting my soon-to-be husband to go stay the night with his brother so he didn't "see the bride before the wedding", but he refused to leave me alone {did I mention he was sweet?!?!} b/c all that we invited to our wedding were family and all of my family lived way out of town so all I had that night was my mom and dad, and my sister was coming the next day. The BIG day came, Michael and I awoke to my dad making omelette's and bacon...YUM! We ate breakfast together, then he gathered his suit and went to his parents to get ready, all while I stayed home to shower and get ready, too! I was getting ready and my sister called and said she'd be late, it was fine with me, because surprise~surprise I was running late myself. I ended up being an HOUR late for my own wedding :(

Standing there looking the man I love in the eyes, and about to pledge my love for him with God as a witness, was the most amazing heart warming moment I had ever felt. My love for him felt so deep that my heart was literally hurting, not in a bad way, but a good one! I looked at this man in his eyes, with tears in the both of ours, and pledged to Love and Honour him for as long as we both shall live. I still feel that same love today as I felt then. And in my heart and mind I make that same pledge over and over every night as I lye next to him in our bed. HE is the reason I have so many "Precious Memories".