Merry Christmas!! (A Day Late :) )

Merry Christmas!!

Love, Dustin & Mandy

Liberty 7, Caden 5, Josie 2.5, and Paisley 7months

We pray that you had a Merry Christmas and that you will have a most blessed New Year!

One Month....Already

So, my little Paisley Grace is turned one month yesterday.  Time goes by so fast.  She continues to be such a good baby.  Sleeps about 6-7 hours a night and is content most of the time she is awake.  The Lord has truly blessed us.  Liberty, Caden, and Josie continue to adjust well.  Liberty is such a wonderful help and will run and get me anything I need whenever I need it.  Caden is such a sweet boy with Paisley.  The other day she was laying on our bed while we were getting ready for the day and Caden crawled in bed with her and just gently rubbed her head.  He is going to be such a great big brother.  Josie loves her baby sister too!  Although sometimes she would rather be Paisley than herself. :)  She loves to sit in Paisley's carseat and loves to tell me to call her Paisley.  Life at Gateway continues to go well.  It is now summer, so life gets a little bit busier, but so far things are going good!  Our days have their ups and downs, but seeing small progress in the lives of these teenagers makes all the hard days worth it!  So, for now we will keep doing what God has called us to do and rejoice in each day!  I pray that you all can do the same in your lives.  Doesn't it feel great to serve such an awesome God! :)

PAISLEY GRACE IS HERE!!!!

On Wednesday, May 9th, we welcomed our precious Paisley Grace.  She was our smallest bundle and weighed in at 5lbs 11oz and was 19.5 in long.  Paisley was 2 weeks and 1 day early.  The week before she was born I went in for a regular appointment and my belly was measuring small.  Dr. Kennedy decided she wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure that Paisley was growing like she should be.  To make a long story short, during the ultrasound Paisley needed to do 3 things to "pass".  She only did 2.  So, they brought me in the next day to perform another ultrasound.  They told me that if she didn't pass again that they would induce me right then.  Well, she passed, but barely.  So, Dr. Kennedy told me that she wanted to keep a close eye one us.  She scheduled us to come in twice weekly instead on once, and one of those appointments would be an ultrasound.  So, I went in Tuesday the 8th and had another ultrasound.  Well, little Miss Paisley Grace didn't pass for the second time.  So, Dr. Kennedy said that she would really like for me to be induced the following day.  It wasn't critical, but she didn't want to take any chances and since I was nearly 38 weeks, she felt comfortable with bringing Paisley into this world a little early.  I was excited!  I was so uncomfortable and all these ultrasounds were just making me anxious.  So on Wednesday morning, we got to the hospital at 7:30am to start the induction.  I was dilated to 1cm, but my cervix was still pretty high.  She they gave me cervidal ( I think, or something similar to that) and said that should soften my cervix and start contractions.  They were right! :)  I started contracting about an hour later.  At first they weren't bad, but they were starting to get uncomfortable pretty quick.  So at about 11am they came in and checked me and I was 3 - 3.5 cm and told me I could have my epidural as soon as my first bag of fluids was in.  That didn't take very long and by 11;30 I had my epidural.  And boy was it a strong one!  At first I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, but soon I couldn't even feel that.  So at about 2:30pm they came in and checked me and shut my epidural off for about an hour.  I was dilated to 4cm at this point.  An hour later they came and turned it back on and at this point I was starting to feel more pressure.  At 4pm, I was really starting to feel the urge to push.  They had checked me at 3:45 and I hadn't really made any change.  Maybe a 1/2 cm or so.  Well, they checked me at 4:10 pm and I was complete and ready to push.  BUT my doctor was about 15 minutes away.  YIKES!!!  How was I going to hold this baby in for that long?!  Well, it took concentration, but I was able to breathe through each contraction and hold that baby in! :)  My doctor arrived at 4:25pm and "suited" up!  I pushed twice and little Paisley Grace entered the world at 4:41pm! :)  So, my labor started out kinda slow, but by the end it went so fast!  I am doing really well and have healed the fasted this time around than with any of my other kids!  Which is super nice since I have 3 more little ones to take care of!  So that is the story of how little Paisley Grace joined our family!  We are enjoying her so much already!  Libby, Caden and Josie just can't quite get enough of her!  :)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Baby Girl!!

Two years ago I got to meet you for the first time! We were so excited to have another little girl in our family! You have brought us so much happiness and laughter. You are so onery, but that's what makes you our little Josie Mae! I love how your eyes smile and sparkle! You are such a beautiful little girl! We all love you so very much and can't wait to see you grow this next year! Happy Birthday, my little girl! Always remember that Jesus loves you and will always be there for you! Love you little girl!

It's a......

GIRL!!!!

Today was the big day! We had our ultrasound this afternoon and got to see our baby for the first time! At first she didn't cooperate very well, but after moving around and pushing on my tummy a little, she moved enough for the ultrasound tech to confirm her suspicions of a little girl! Baby girl Hodel seems to be growing right on schedule and looks healthy! Praise God! As we prepare a little more each day, we pray that God will continue to be with our baby girl as she grows! Looking forward to meeting her in May!