Our Sweetheart's 3rd Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday.  I know I say it every year but it's so hard to believe another year has already passed us by.  When I asked her what kind of party she would like to have, she just kept saying "a red party."  I mentioned all these other themes but she turned them all down.  I'm guessing the reason why she chose red was because that's her favorite color.  When I looked at the calendar to see when we would be having her party, it fell on Valentine's Day so it actually made sense to have a "red" birthday party.  She must have known all along :)  We wanted to have the party President's weekend so my family could travel up from Florida and it just so happened to be Valentine's weekend as well.  So a sweetheart party it was!

We were so thankful to some friends of ours for loaning their jump castle to us.  It was a big hit with the kids and Hannah enjoyed having some time by herself in it the day before the party.  Daddy and I even enjoyed some jumping :) 

 

Hannah had a great day celebrating her birthday with friends and family. 

This was taken before all the food was set up but daddy made some mean pulled pork on the smoker.  We had some heart PB&J's, mac and cheese, and baked beans as well.  

Testing out daddy's new toy.

With her friends Jake and Addison.  Daddy trying to sneak a picture in with the busy birthday girl.  

My stepdad and brother watching the kids go crazy over the pinata.

Love this picture of her and her buddy, Ford, from school. 

  

Opening up gifts and then a trip to Costco with Gigi and Pop.   We can't get out of there without a hotdog.  

Worn out birthday girl with grandpa.

The Friday before her party, which was her actual birthday, she went to school in the morning and then we picked her up and took her to lunch.  We went to East Bay Deli so she could get a hot dog.  This girl loves hotdogs!  She probably would have rather gone to Costco to get one.  Like I said earlier, we usually can't leave there without one.  Anyways, there were some ladies at the booth next to us and once they found out it was Hannah's birthday one of them gave her money to pick out a dessert.  They were so sweet.  Hannah chose carrot cake and we all enjoyed some.  The plan was to take her to get her fingernails painted but she was so tired from school we decided we would do it another day.  Instead we went to the surf shop and then home to let her play in the jump castle. 

The lady in blue is the one who bought her cake.  

Her main gift for her birthday was tickets to Mickey's Magic Show.  We just went the other night and she enjoyed every minute.  Georgia was even entertained for the whole show.  We have now concluded all the birthday festivities for this year!   

To my sweet angel girl,
We are so thankful for you!  You made me a mama three years ago and turned my world upside down.  You keep me on my toes and asking the Lord for patience daily.  The last part of your two's brought some changes.  Some were easier for you to adjust to than others.  You started Preschool in the Fall and absolutely love it.  You also gained a little sister and that was a little harder for you to adjust to.  It has taken some time but I know you love Georgia and her face lights up when you are around.  She is blessed to have you as her sister.  Not having your mommy and daddy's full attention has been hard to adjust to but you are a great big sister and always try to help out when you can. 

You amaze me daily with your vocabulary and memory. I have to watch everything I say because it usually comes back to bite me :)  Your imagination has really started to develop.  I never know what imaginary friends or animals are joining us :)  You used to be a great sleeper but that's not quite the case anymore.  You usually make your appearance in our bed some time in the middle of the night.  Some times we don't even know you are there until we wake in the morning.   You are still not the best of eaters but some days are better than others.  You love to play outside, paint, play with playdoh and do arts & crafts.  You have started to be more opinionated with what you will wear.  You crack me up when you tell daddy something doesn't match.  He can no longer just throw something on you to go outside.  You love to dress up as a princess and have tea parties but you also enjoy getting dirty out in the yard with daddy or fishing in the lake.  You have become more interested in Barbies but you still have a love for Mickey Mouse and anything on Disney Jr.  All your teachers at church and school just love you.  You are very determined and quite the leader.   We are hoping and praying to direct that strong-willed behavior for the good :)  I know the Lord has great plans for you.  You already love to talk and sing about Jesus.  You melted my heart the other day when you prayed for daddy's "boo boo" out of the blue at lunch without anyone telling you to do so.  I know the Lord loves to hear your sweet prayers.  You are such a loving and compassionate little girl.  You bring so much joy to our family  We are so thankful the Lord chose us to be your parents.  You are so precious to us and we love you to pieces! 

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!

Georgia Ruth Doughty

It's hard to believe our sweet Georgia girl has been with us for almost four months already!   She has been and continues to be such a blessing to our family.  We could not have asked for a sweeter and more easy going baby.

Many people do not know this but we found out that I was pregnant Christmas of 2013.  It was just weeks after the tragic death of Paul's grandfather.  The Lord used this precious baby to lift our spirits during a difficult time.  Unfortunately the weekend before my eight week appointment I had a miscarriage.  It was yet another time of loss for our family.   I can't really explain the roller coaster of emotions that I felt.  Of course I wondered if I would ever get pregnant again but the Lord was so faithful.  The following weeks after the miscarriage I had to do routine blood work to make sure my hormone levels were back to normal.  Much to our surprise the last part of the blood work, which was about a month later, showed that I was pregnant again!   We were shocked and excited.  I have to admit that I was a little concerned that this pregnancy may have the same outcome as the previous one.

When my eight week appointment came, we were filled with joy as we saw our precious baby with a healthy heartbeat.  When we found out that we were pregnant after losing Paul's grandfather, George, we talked about naming our child after him.  He was such a humble man and would have been so flattered.  My grandmother has also been very influential in my life and that is where Georgia gets her middle name, Ruth. 

This precious girl came into the world on October 23rd at 1:33pm.  She was 8 days early.  I started having contractions around 8:30pm the night before.  They were not very intense but when they started coming 3 minutes apart for an hour I called the doctor to see if I should head to the hospital.  Thankfully the hospital is just down the street so we didn't have far to travel.  At about 11pm we made arrangements for Hannah and headed to the hospital.  When I arrived I was only 3cm dialated so I had not progressed any since my previous doctor's appointment which was a little disappointing.  With this pregnancy I started having braxton hicks earlier than I did with Hannah and they would last for hours at a time so I had a few false alarms but never went to the extent of being that close together consistently for over an hour.  So, they said they would monitor me for an hour or two and see if I needed to stay.  After an hour the doctor agreed that I was in labor and they would go ahead and get my IV started.  Around 3am or so my contractions started slowing down and I was worried they would send me home.   The nurse came to check and see if I had made progress.  I think it was only 1/2cm progress.  The nurse wouldn't really tell me much so I waited for the doctor to come in and let me know whether I was staying or not.  Around 4am she came in and said I had progressed a little and the contractions were still steady so it was up to me whether I wanted to stay or not but she was confident that I would be back within 24 hours.  I told her I would rather just stay so she agreed that would probably be best and gave orders for the next doctor coming in at 7am.  

My doctor was not on call but I really liked the doctor that came in at 7, Dr. Devine.  I honestly didn't really care who it was as long as they could get my precious girl out safely that day.  My contractions started picking back up again so I was thankful to get my epidural around 9:30.  Call me a wimp but I was thankful for it!  Not too long after they broke my water.  Things started progressing but this time around I actually tried to sleep as much as I could.  Unlike with Hannah I was so anxious I couldn't rest and then regretted it when I didn't get much sleep afterwards.  I think it was around 12:30 my contractions were getting pretty intense.  I had so much pressure I couldn't really relax.  The nurse that came in tried to help me switch sides to see if that would help but I think when she saw how far along I was and where my contractions were she must have informed the doctor because they were in there within minutes.  They didn't even really tell me that she was about to be here.  They just started setting up all the equipment and the next thing I knew they are telling me to push.  After about four good pushes, our precious girl was in my arms.  The delivery was very similar to Hannah's.  Quick and smooth!  

This time around they let me hold her right away.  They washed her off a little after and then gave her back to us.  They had a new procedure where they did not give baths until at least 8 hours after the delivery.  I believe it is to get their vitals stable before shocking them with a bath?  Something like that haha.  So we got to spend time with her for the rest of the afternoon/evening and then they moved us to another room.  Once we got situated she received her first bath right in her room.  So things were a little different this time around but it was nice that pretty much everything was done in the room.  She wasn't a very good eater that night and just wanted to sleep.  We were both cleared the next day and left that afternoon.  It was so nice to be able to get back home even though our stay at Roper was nothing but exceptional.  With both deliveries I had such good experiences.  

 

So there it is!  Georgia's entrance into the world!  Documenting it about four months late :)  That's about right for me.  There is so much more to share about our precious girl and hope to get those blogs out soon.

Before I wrap it up though, I have to give a shout out to Angela who came to stay with Hannah the night I went to the hospital.  I don't know what we would have done without her coming to our rescue so late at night and willing to stay at our house so we didn't have to wake Hannah up.  Also so thankful to Kelly and Joe for taking Hannah for the next two days and night.  She loved spending time with you all!  It gave me such peace of mind knowing that she was in good hands and having a ball.