Happy Thanksgiving!

And a few others that made me laugh...

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Lashes

These will be the envy of her sisters. They've gotta be a 1/2 inch long!

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She makes me smile...

every day! Even on the hardest ones.

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My little sunshine

In the midst of trying to change a diaper, telling Mckenna how to do her art homework, Addie having a fit, and instructing Selah how to get Addie some crackers, I realized that before I changed Hailey out of her 3-day old clothes, I should take some pictures of her in this adorable outfit. I'm resolved to the fact that this poor girl is just not going to have as many baby pictures of herself. But hopefully we'll manage a few. Here are some from today, before my camera decided it wouldn't take any more.








Love the lip!

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Smile

I love her smiling eyes.

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An evening in December

I didn't take nearly as many pictures around Chirstmas as I would have liked. My camera isn't working very well and my favorite lens is broken. So I don't find myself picking up my camera as much as I should. That coupled with a busy life, made for not too many pictures this Christmas. But that didn't stop Mckenna. She is always asking me to take pictures! One evening, she took my camera and went around our living room, capturing the evening...I'm so glad she did!












Mckenna figured out which stack of presents were hers...and she took a picture of them!

Notice the slipcovers off the cushions and drying on the back of the couch? Guess who got into the markers? :)

Momma enjoying a little Country Living

Mckenna handed over the camera only if Selah would take a picture of her with her gifts!

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Hailey + Ty

Dave took this picture while we were at my dads this past weekend for his 65th birthday. Does Hailey not look more like a Plunnecke kid than one of our kids?

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My girls

If any of us were to think that I'd never have a picture of all my girls together, well think again. This is what happens when Kristen babysits for me...

Thanks, my friend!

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A gift...

from Kristen. Found the link to this video sitting in my inbox a few days ago and just cried as I watched it. Thanks, my friend! This meant a lot. More than you know.

hailey hope from Kristen Leigh on Vimeo.

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Tiny toes

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3 weeks

Loving this little life that the Lord has given us.

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Hailey's first bath

clean, dry, warm and happy...

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1 week

Happy one week, sweet baby girl!

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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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