Emery Charis Clark

October 6, 2013

After what felt like the nine longest months, we welcomed our baby girl

Emery Charis Clark

{Charis is pronounced care-iss - it is found in the Bible.  It is the Greek word for grace.}

Here is her story...

At about 12:45 am, I woke up to use the restroom.  After I got back into bed I thought something wasn't right so I went back and noticed a little bit of spotting.  Because of my history of very fast labors, I woke up Dan.  I thought it might be a good idea to head into the hospital and see if there was anything going on. 

We were incredibly thankful my parents were here for the weekend so we didn't have to call for anyone to come over or wake up the girls to take them along.  God always has the perfect plan.

We were at the hospital in no time.  It was JUST before we arrived I noticed my first contractions about three minutes apart. 

 After arriving, I got changed and we had one last opportunity for a baby belly picture.  

 Here is the proud daddy!  He was so excited!  He's absolutely amazing and did me the biggest favor by taking pictures while I was in labor.

 It didn't take long for the contractions to get stronger.  I was finally checked about 1:30 and was at 5 cm and my water had broken.  

 The contractions were so hard and I often felt like I wasn't going to be able to do this. I had to keep reminding myself I knew it wasn't going to be long before I would see our little girl.  I was checked again at about 2:15 and was at 7-8 cm.  My (amazing!!!) labor nurse decided it was a good time to get me moved from the triage room to delivery.  My room was quickly filled with nurses to set up and get ready for baby.  

 At 2:55 I was feeling ready to push.  I told my nurse and I was complete.  They called the doctor and she arrived in just a few minutes. 

 I pushed for about five minutes and she was here at 3:04 am.

 Once again, God showed his perfect timing.  Just as my parents, Hannah, and Mia arrived at the hospital, they walked by our room and were able to hear the first cry. 

 She weighed a perfect 7 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.

We are a perfect, beautiful family of five.  I am so thankful for how much God has blessed us.

Mia's first day of preschool and she turned 4!

Wow, poor kid.  I keep forgetting to post an update on our sweet Mia!  I am completely blaming it on the pregnancy brain - I am so forgetful these days!

 

On September 4th Mia started her first day of preschool! 

 I was a little nervous about the start of preschool for her. She has always been our very shy little girl and seems to prefer to be wherever mom, dad, or big sister is.  Thankfully she did amazing! She was so excited to be back with all her little friends and to see her favorite teachers. 

 On September 21, Mia celebrated her 4th birthday!  I know! She's 4 already!!  It truly is hard to believe.  She had a fantastic day and we made sure to make her feel extra special.  We had a very small party (mom isn't up for big bashes these days) with some of our closest friends and family.  She loved every single moment of it. 

 She is such an amazing little girl! I love her so much and feel extremely blessed God chose her to be in our family.  And any day now she'll be a BIG SISTER. She is also so very excited about meeting our little one  and cannot wait!

Summer Family Pictures

We have finally been blessed with some cooler weather after the very hot couple of weeks we have had.  One of the things I wanted to check off the to-do list before "Baby Cinnamon" is born was to get some family pictures taken.  Thankfully we have the equipment to do it ourselves - although they would never be as wonderful as a photographers - so we can take them whenever we want.  And with the girls not wanting to do this for more than 45 minutes - 1 hour, we have to work very fast while keeping it very fun! Not to mention all the distracting grasshoppers - the girls really wanted to chase them and not focus on pictures. {Their fascination with bugs makes me laugh. I love my girls so much!} Here a just a few we want to share.... Enjoy!

{The End}

Hannah's First Day of Kindergarten

Today has finally come. A day I knew would be here before I know it - I am pretty sure I made it clear she wasn't allowed to grow up.  If only it was that easy to control.

 

Today Hannah started Kindergarten. 

She woke up extra early, had a yummy breakfast, yet wasn't quite herself - a big change from the days before as we counted down to the big day.  You could clearly see she was excited, yet very nervous.  She gave me lots of hugs all morning long and telling me how much she loved me.  Boy, this wasn't going to be easy!

 

Mia stayed close to her side on the walk to school. She was going to really miss her big sister too.

  The BIG question - did mom cry?  Of course!! Dropping her off took longer than I hoped. I actually did really well until Hannah's hugs wouldn't end and she was in tears begging me to stay.  It just broke my heart.  I know my tears didn't help, but I did all I could to encourage and remind her how fun and exciting her day would be. 

 

The day slowly dragged on for Mia and Mommy until we could pick her up.  I am not sure who was more excited when the time finally came - Mia, Me, or maybe Hannah?

On the walk home Hannah told us about her day. She loved recess.  Loved lunch.  Loved art class.  But was too nervous to meet new friends and too sad to ready books.

As a big surprise, Daddy took the afternoon off to spend time with all his girls doing one of his favorite things - Fishing!  Overall it was an amazing day.  Hopefully, in time, she'll be less nervous and more excited about going to school.

 

It's a...

 

 

Preschool Graduation

Today Hannah graduated from Farmstead Preschool. 

 To say she was excited about today would be an understatement. She was beyond thrilled for her amazingly special day.

 

 Congratulations to the Farmstead Preschool Class of 2013!

 Hugs from little sister - she is pretty happy too!

I hope Kindergarten is ready for this sweet, smart girl - but first we're going to have an awesome summer!



Birthday Celebration

On April 24, Hannah turned 5 and we were so excited to finally have her big Birthday Celebration Party on May 18. 

 She absolutely loves to write and draw making Blues Clues on of her favorite cartoons.  She loves to draw the clues with Steve or Joe.  So she picked our party theme.... a few of her favorite friends came to the party too!

Most importantly a lot of our amazing family and friends came to help us celebrate our amazing little girl and we never fail on the fun!

 It's amazing how quickly time passes and our little girl is 5 already.  She had an amazing day with everyone and is already planning her 6th birthday party. :)