Happy Birthday, Sunshine Girl!

Abby Elizabeth

April 21, 2006

Weight:  8 pounds, 7 ounces

Length:  19 inches

If you have read about the first two birthdays (here and here) that we have celebrated so far this year, you may realize that I have had to deliver all of my children via c-sections.  The last three c-sections were all planned with me showing up at a certain time and <tada> there was a new baby!  Surprisingly, even the planned births had certain elements that made them different.  Well, all except for Abby’s birth.  Her birth was pretty much in on Friday, out on Sunday, no complications (ok, some jaundice that almost landed us back in the hospital) but all in all, a pretty typical, uncomplicated c-section.

But…Abby’s story goes back much further than that.  My pregnancy with her was so different from any other.  So I’m going to take you back a few years to 2001…

My little jaundice baby getting her last hospital feeding before going home.

In 2001, I was in a good spot in my life.  I had two little boys and I was teaching.  At the time, I was also pursuing my master’s degree in education and studying to be a reading specialist.  David and I had decided that we were happy with our life as it was and we would not have any more children.  However, I had this little tug on my heart to be at home with my boys.  But I loved what I was doing even though it took up so much of my time…even my family time. 

But September 11, 2001 changed all of that for me.

It made me realize that the dream of being at home was a dream to live … not just a dream to dream.  So I started down the road of becoming a stay at home mom.  At this time, we decided that we would like to add another child to our family too.

What’s all this got to do with Abby?  I’m getting there, I promise!

For over a year we tried to get pregnant again, with no luck at all.  Finally, the doctor prescribed me a medicine and 3 months later, we were pregnant with #3.  But wait, Abby is #4, right? 

I’m taking you way back, remember?  Lots of things happened in the years leading up to Abby’s birth that have a lot to do with Abby. 

You see, after we had our third child, we figured that we were done.  I mean, we had to take fertility medicine to have our third child so how could there be anymore children?  But during that time, we decided that we would no longer take chemical birth control.  (I’m not judging anyone who does.  It is a decision that we made for our family.  Everyone does what is best for his or her family.)  So we figured that our little family was done.  But we decided to leave it in God’s hands.

Then God surprised us one day when I started feeling badly.  At first, I thought something was wrong and was just taking a pregnancy test to “rule out” that as the source of my illness.  Imagine my surprise when I saw those two lines!  Wow!  I really did not expect that! 

My pregnancy with Abby was normal…morning sickness, fatigue, all of the normal stuff until December 7, 2005.  That was the day that my brother died in a car accident.

On that day, my fourth pregnancy became unlike any other that I had experienced.

 

Abby got quite a few giggles with her blue cotton candy mouth at our church family night.

I did not  realize it until much later but I think that God sent Abby to me at that time to be a balm for my soul.  I truly, truly believe that.  She has always been a source of comfort for me.  She comforted me when she was in my womb and I was in the throes of grief.  She comforted me when I stood at the graveside.  She comforted me when she was born on April 21.  She comforted me when she nursed for 16 months.  She was and is a source of comfort. 

Abby has been called Sunshine Girl since she was a wee little baby and it is a name that she lives up to.  She is like a ray of sunshine in our home.  When she walks into a room, it instantly brightens.  Some people have that quality, and Abby is one of them.

Oh, if you could hear her laugh!  That laugh is so contagious.  We can not listen to her deep, throaty giggle and not laugh ourselves. 

Abby is very motherly.  She tries to take care of her little brother (though he loves to pull her hair) and she loves to baby the babies at church (especially Baby Jack).  She will take care of her baby dolls too.  I believe that she will be a very good mom one day.  She is definitely a nurturing person.

Abby loves to do school everyday.  She will get upset with me if I don’t have something planned.  She loves to read and is now really into writing words and asking me to spell everything.  Tonight she thought that she would be like her big sister who is writing a new song.  She tried her hand at writing a new song too.  I wasn’t sure what it said but she sure was proud of it!

She can be very shy but is actually quite a ham once she is comfortable around someone.  She is very expressive with her face and body.  If you look at some of the pictures that we take, you can see her come up with neat expressions.

Two things that she loves:  1. gymnastics and 2. photography.  For Christmas, she was given a camera of her own.  Here are a few pictures that she took with her camera:

 

  Her camera has the option to add things like mustaches…

and duckbills even when the person in the picture is clueless as is the case here… 

but someone got the birthday girl too!

Happy 4th Birthday, Sunshine Girl!  We love you!