1 week

Happy one week, sweet baby girl!

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3 years

It's been 3 years since Alivia was given to us for 5 short weeks. I'll never forget the day she entered our lives. Today we celebrated her birthday, and at the same time grieved her loss. It was a day full of mixed emotions for me, like nothing I think I've ever experienced. From kissing my newborn baby's tender cheeks and being amazed at her life one moment, to then feeling the pain of missing the one that I only got to hold for such a short time...

Despite how challenging work has been for Dave, he fought hard to take today off and did! It was great to spend the day with the family. We headed out this morning to visit the cemetery. It just happened that Alivia's stone was finally installed this past weekend. The timing was perfect. It's been a very long haul for us to get this memorial stone in place. And it was so wonderful to drive up and see it siting there, in memory of our little girl.

Throughout the day a few very faithful friends stopped by with pink flowers, gifts and notes to express care. And so many emails filled our inboxes from those remembering with us. I never cease to be amazed at how many friends do remember and take the time to express their care. It just shouts the Father's love to us and helps carry the burden that we still feel from our loss.

This afternoon we took the big girls out to the mall. Since we were celebrating Alivia's birthday, but could not give gifts to her, Dave told Mckenna and Selah that he wanted to get a gift for each of them to make the day special. They rode the train around the mall, got candy from the candy store and picked out a gift. It was a great memory! My heart was very full as we drove away with their smiling faces. They were obviously very tickled by their presents and sugar highs!

We came home to my sister at the house, with a wonderful meal made. She never ceases to amaze me by her care. Then this evening we sat around the table and just chatted and then I took time to look at pictures. A sweet day...remembering.

Selah picked flowers to put on Alivia's stone...

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Hailey Hope Castro

We are completely in love with our new little girl. Her arrival was a bit different than any of her sisters. Here is a little of her story and some pictures too.

I had more contractions leading up to this labor than ever before. I had a few times when I woke up thinking this was it...only to get up and have the contractions taper off. This past Tuesday night I woke up after about an hour of sleep to a contraction. They proceeded to come every now and then, nothing regular and not unusual. But they did keep me up all night long. In the morning, after a few more hours of irregular but fairly strong contractions, Dave, Kelly and I went to the doctor's office. Before I knew it I was being rolled over to the hospital at almost 7cm. The big change in this story is that I did get an epidural! After going completely natural with all my other 4 labors, my doctor and nurse convinced me to give it a try. I was completely exhausted from being up all night and quite frankly just didn't want to go through transition and then the pushing (my least favorite part). And it really was the Lord that I ended up getting it.

It turned out that Hailey was facing the wrong direction. Instead of face down, she was sunny side up. The doctor told me, I would most likely have to push harder, longer and was more prone to tear. That was all I needed to hear to know that it was God's kindness that lead me to get the meds! On top of that the doctor actually turned the baby while I was pushing and, let's just say, that would have probably sent me through the roof if I hadn't had any pain relief.

I have to say it was a great experience and Dave's opinion is that it was the most peaceful delivery. There are pros and cons both ways of natural vs. meds, but this time I think the pros far outweighed the cons, hands down...just ask my husband!

We had a few names we were debating on, and as usual for us, it was the last minute that we decided. However, I knew if it was a girl I wanted the middle name to be Hope. Since Alivia, we have learned more than ever, what it means to hope in God and His promises. We have grown more in our confident expectation of God's promises and of our eternity with Him.

Here are some pictures from Hailey's birth and meeting her family for the first time...

Labor...

This is the only picture I have of my big belly...I never got around to taking a belly shot in the last few weeks. Thanks to my sister for taking all these pictures.









Meeting her sisters (Thanks to Kristen for these shots)...






















Getting ready to leave the hospital...



Coming home...

Pictures from here on out might, unfortunately might be a little scarce...my camera broke the day we arrived home with Hailey. An extreme disappointment for me. But I'm sure I'll manage to borrow my sister's soon to capture some more memories.

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Our Girl!

Name will be announced soon!

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Lemon Bread

For Jerusha and Kelly....

Modesty aside, I really did forget to mention that, yes, I did get a Grand Champion big 'ole purple ribbon for a lemon bread that I made. Mckenna made some cookies and I, last minute threw this together, per my mom's suggestion. So, credit goes to her for the suggestion. I was completely surprised when Jerusha texted me a few days later to tell me it actually won Grand Champion. First, I was in such a hurry when I made it, that I set the oven to the completely wrong temperature. The bread came out looking too brown on the outside and I was convinced probably too dry on the inside. Then I put the glaze on wrong and was trying to fix that right before taking it to the fair. Anyway, for those who are interested, here is the recipe I used:

Lemon Bread

1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
gated peel of 1 lemon (reserve rest of lemon for glaze)
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until smooth. In small bowl, mix 2/3 cup mlk, grated lemon rind and almond extract. In another bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture to butter-sugar mixture. Pour into greased bread pan and bake for 50- 60 min., until done.

Glaze

Mix 1/3 sugar, juice of 1 lemon and 1 tsp. grated lemon for glaze. It should be fairly thick but thin enough to pour on top of the warm bread when it comes out of the oven. Using a toothpick, I poked holes on top of the bread before pouring so the glaze would soak into the bread.

Enjoy!

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A day at the fair

I'm a bit behind here. I've been nesting like crazy these past number of weeks (err...months) and have been busy around the house getting things ready - organizing, cleaning out closets, sewing things, and scouring craigslist for last minute necessities and then painting and fixing them up. Between that and making/freezing meals, keeping up with schooling, and Dave still gone a ton, I crash at night.

Anyway, a little update on the fair. The girls and I made it on the day before it ended, a few weeks ago. It was so fun to go and see all the entries we had made and to find out the results. Everyone won ribbons and the girls could not be more thrilled. It's all about the colors to them. Never mind that it's only 6th place, it's a PINK RIBBON! And it didn't bother them that it was only an "honorable mention"....there was a ribbon on their artwork. I love that!

We enjoyed visiting the animals, seeing a few competitions and then ending our time with ice cream. This year the girls opted for ice cream over a horseback ride. I think that was Selah's sweet tooth influence!

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