thankful (4)

I didn't think that I had anymore room to love another girl the same way that I loved Natalee, Lydia and Julianna. In fact, when I found out that I was having a girl with our fourth, I cried. I wasn't sad, but I just didn't know how I could do it again and have the same kind of love that I had for the other three. I must say that I really did feel this way and just wasn't sure how I would feel when she was born since we had hopes of having a boy. But, she was born....and it was indescribable!

The labor leading up to her arrival was drug out for the first 4 hours since I was just waiting for iv's to go through me with medicine for being strep positive. I had time to relax as much as I could and I was getting anxious to finally meet her. When my water was broken it was just one hour later and she was born! That one hour was filled with lots of intense pain but I just kept thinking about the end! 

Alyssia was born and somehow, only by God's divine power, my heart was filled with even more love for her then I had imagined!

The girls were so proud of her!

With our other girls we were able to send them to the nursery if we wanted to during the night. With Natalee we didn't know any better and kept her in our room the whole time:) With Lydia and Juls we sent them to the nursery during the night so that we could get some sleep in between feedings. With Alyssia, the hospital no longer provided a nursery for the infants. She was with us from the moment she was born and I even gave her the first bath!

So we were ready to leave the hospital by the second day
and we were so thankful for a healthy little girl!
We couldn't wait to see what her little personality was going to be like!

At 10 months she was full of energy and happy!....
constantly wanting to get down and crawl or move around.
 There was hardly ever a moment where she would want to just sit
still in our lap or sit still to read a book. She just wanted to keep up
with the other girls all the time:)

Before we knew it, she was turning a year old!
It was a big adjustment when she was born but we certainly could not imagine our family without her. She is full of joy and is the sweetest little girl. She loves her momma but is starting to become a daddy's girl more and more now!

We went to chic-fil-a on Alyssia's birthday and she had their ice-cream there for the first time:)

Alyssia Sadie, 

me and daddy are so thankful for you!
You have found a special spot in each one of our hearts!