Happy Birththday

I can't believe that Feb. is here. So I have been a little emotional the past few days. Isabella's birthday is coming up in a few days. And for some reason it makes me really emotional. Okay, all you mom's out there, is this normal? Am I going to cry every time she has a bithday? I was looking at some pictures just reflecting the last 12 months, and as I looked at her newborn pictures, I don't remember her being that tiny, or having black hair, you forget how fast they change! The superbowl also reminds me of her. Here is the story: One year ago I was working at Bear River Head Start. We decided to enroll in secondary insurance through Aflac because they have a great matenity plan on top of your regular insurance. At one of my Dr. visits mid January, Dr. McCulloch said, "Well your dialated to a 3 and 70% effaced." Oh no, Aflac says that we can't have our baby until Feb. 1st or we will lose the money we have invested in the maternity plan. So every night we would have a little chat with Isabella asking her if she could kindly do mommy and daddy a favor and wait a couple more weeks. Sure enough, Feb. 1st rolled around, and it was such a relief to know we weren't going to loose our Aflac. Then we got really picky. Chris would sit down at night and tell Isabella that the superbowl would be coming soon and he really didn't want to watch it at the hospital. Come on, we all know the superbowl is about food, and hospital food for superbowl....ummmm tasty!

So Superbowl Sunday finally rolled around and Chris thanked her that night for being the best behaved baby ever. Once again, we asked her for another favor. Chris leaned over and said, "Hey, ya know I'm really not in the mood to go to work tommorow, do you think you could do me a favor and come Monday morning before I have to go to work?"

Monday morning, 4 a.m. I woke up and thought, "Wow, 1 too many nachos at the party yesterday." So I took my usual 4am trip to the bathroom, came back to bed, and for some reason those pains got longer, harder, and more frequent. So I woke Chris up and told him that I thought I was in labor. We stayed home for the first 3 hours of labor.

This picture was about 2 hours into labor. Obviously no smiles, right after the picture I sat on the bed and the only thing I could say was, "You've got to be sh****n me!" I apologize for the language, but for those of you who know me, I swear like a sailor and this was no exception!

We got to the hospital a little after 7am and the nurse said, "Um...you're at a seven and if you want an epederil, you'll want it now!" I was in labor from 7-1:00. I loved every minute of being in labor. The anticipation of her arrival was too much for me to handle. I was sooo excited. The nurse came in at 1:00 and said okay, it's time to start pushing, 2 1/2 hours later, she finally decided to join us. I was so exhausted, but I remember looking at this precious little baby, and thinking "10 fingers and 10 toes, she's perfect!"

Here is Isabella 4 hours after her big arrival. One thing I will always remember about her birth, is that she came into this world so bright eyed, she wanted to see everything and everyone. I remember just looking into those big blue eyes, and feeling an overwhelming amount of love. She has brought so much joy into our lives, and I am so greatful the lord blessed us with this little angel!

Here's another picture of Isabella. She is just 10 days old and we always joke about these pictures because we use to say that she was born Mexican, but somewhere along the way lost it. Well....12 months later she's got light skin, blue eyes, and light brown hair???

We love you Isa!