13 weeks

I'm starting this entry at 8:02 PM. Ryleigh was born at 8:19 PM 13 weeks ago tonight.
I'm still overwhelmed by it all..this blessing I trusted God for for over a decade but then was shocked when I received this most special gift of motherhood.
Tonight my heart longs for our birth mom (who by the way, is doing well!). I want to call her and "reminisce" over the events of 13 weeks ago, but that would be selfish of me. If she isn't thinking about it, I don't want her to. I want her to be thinking about being a 15 year old.

My eyes are filled with tears as I remember:

• that at this very moment, our birth mom was trying not to push as we were waiting for the DR to arrive.



• that Fred was shaking so bad I thought he'd pass out.



• that we could see the top of Ryleigh's head!



• that when the DR ran in the room he gave all of us orders as to what was happening and so on and I didn't "register" anything he said at the time! lol



• that I was holding the young girl's head up as she began pushing, wanting to give her some of my strength or trade places with her.



• that I switched positions and watched my baby girl being born.



• that I was a witness to one of life's most beautiful, amazing miracles. Birth.



• how our birth mom wanted me to cut the cord, as she thought it would signify the transition of Ryleigh being hers to Ryleigh being mine. And, I did. And, it was.



• that I watched my husband of 15 years become a father.



• that I watched my father-in-law become a first time Grandpa.



• that at this very moment (8:16) Ryleigh's head was birthed and I got the first glimpse of the love of my life, my miracle from God.



• that after Ryleigh was born, I just held our birth mom and sobbed, as did she. I kept saying, "THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" and she kept saying, "It's OK".



• how I stepped away from the bed to the area in the room where Ryleigh was being checked out and they pulled the curtain around our birth mom and I sobbed because I could hear her sobbing, wanting to be with her, saying I couldn't leave her and being told that I had to and that I had to take the baby, who was crying loudly, and go to the nursery.

It's now 8:19. 13 weeks ago at this very moment, a new mom was born.

We took these pix abuot 8:25 PM tonight. We'd both been crying, thanking God.

Happy 13 Weeks, Ryleigh!

Room service, please! One hot bottle please!

The Dress

Ryleigh's dedication dress was pale pink tulle by Baby Biscotti. The pix don't do it justice! She looked like a princess!

I made 4 headbands before finally deciding to go with this one. I think I made this one at 12:30 AM the day of her dedication!

At Ryleigh's birth, we gave our birthmom a matching pink teddy bear like the largest pink bear shown here.

Vacation

I'll post about the baby dedication when I have a bit more time, but I wanted to put up some new pix. We went on vacation...Ryleigh's first! She turned 11 weeks old in Tennessee! lol

Ry tryin' out the huge bed in our log cabin!

She was trying so hard to crawl! She is so strong!

She managed to move up a few inches! She finally got so frustrated that she started howling! lol

Takin' a break

She spotted her first black bear!

We were sitting out in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the mountain view.

She was sleeping so peacefully, with one tiny finger on her lip. I took this pic looking backwards in the mirror above her car seat.

Sweet baby

Daddy's Girl
Goin' to the dentist with Mommy

Dedication

Tomorrow at church we're having Ryleigh's baby dedication. I'm so nervous! I'm not looking forward to being in front of 1300-1400 people and then how many ever zillions watch the services online, but I'm excited to have her dedication service.

If you aren't familiar with a baby dedication, it's just a very special time where the baby, the parents, grandparents, etc. gather either at the front of the church or up on the platform, as is our case, and the pastor briefly speaks about the importance of raising your child in a Godly home, reminds you to set good examples and so on. Then there's special prayer over the baby and then the family. The baby isn't baptized or anything, as in a Catholic church. It's just a sweet time of dedicating your baby's life to the Lord.

We bought Ryleigh a special dress by Baby Biscotti in pale pink tulle...we got it before she was born, in anticipation! We have tiny pink glittery shoes, ruffly socks and a sweet headband.

The shoes

I'll be away from the computer this coming week, but I'll post pix as soon as I can!

If you want to watch the dedication live on Sunday morning, it's at 11 AM my time and you can see it @ http://www.calvarytabindy.org/. You will see a link on the top right of the site that says "Live" or something like that. Click on that to watch the service live!

Yay!

Yesterday was the first time she's ever gone to sleep on her back on her own...she thinks she cannot sleep unless she's in her swing or on someone's lap! lol I think she slept about 30 minutes.

Beautiful Baby

9/11

©Michelle Peterson

September 11, 2001

We will never forget.

God Bless America!

Precious Treasures

Our friend, Nell Seaman, sent us these beautiful gifts for baby Ryleigh. There's a gorgeous beaded white bib and 2 silver paci holders. There's a bunny that is so adorable and then the other holder is monogramed with "R" in script. These heirloom gifts brought tears to my eyes!

The Thank You's

The months leading up to Ryleigh's birth were filled with excitement, anxiety, sleepless nights and more. I used some of that time to hand-stamp Thank You cards for the baby showers that were planned for us.

Since we did the nursery in pink and sage green w/ shabby chic cottage roses, I made the thank you's in pink and green as well. I made matching envelopes and addy labels as well.

The inside

The front.

The sweater has white iredescent glitter on it, as does the shoes in the inside of the card.

The back

The matching stamped envelope.

Happy Dance!

We're doing the Happy Dance at our house today! Miss Ryleigh slept 6.5 consecutive hours last night!! That's a record! Woohoo!! lol

She slept from 9 PM -3:30 AM before needing a bottle. Then, she was up again by 6:30 AM needing to eat again.

We'll not share any actual footage of us doing the Happy Dance...it's not a pretty sight! LOL

Sunday lunch at Cracker Barrel

My step-MIL LaQuita

Fred's dad

Sept. 5 & 6

Warmin' up after a bath!

Sittin' in the driveway while I water the plants

There's always evidence left behind after she gets fed by Daddy.

Sept. 3

Snoopy, checking things out.