I can't believe a year has come and gone with my sweet little girl. It went by way too fast and now we have a one year old. On the right side of the blog, Marty is putting a video of Lily Grace's first year. It is 25 minutes long, so just warning you it won't be a quick video to watch. We let it run continuously throughout her birthday party. It really is a very sweet video, Marty did a great job putting it together. He also put a little photo montage of Lily Grace's many faces. Too cute!

Lily Grace's First Picture

Two days before Lily Grace arrived.

This day one year ago was one of the most exciting days we will ever have. After nine months of a very hard pregnancy, from being sick the whole time I found out at the last doctor's visit, I was scheduled to be induced at 7:00 am on May 8th. I was very sceptical about this because I thought "what if she isn't ready to come on that day!" Well, Lily Grace was definitely ready because she started coming at 2:00 am on her own!!! I honestly think that contractions may be the worst pain in the world! I didn't know what to do, go on to the hospital or wait until 7:00. They were two minutes apart and I was hurting so bad, I couldn't even fix my hair or put on make-up good. I couldn't sit but then I couldn't stand either. I held out as long as I could until we finally left the house at 5:00. Marty is a very fast driver normally, except for this day! He drove so slow!! He said he wasn't but it felt like eternity getting to the hospital. Once we got to the hospital it was around 8:00 before I got my epidural. Once I had that, I felt great except for one hot spot. When Dr. Rosenstiel came into check on me around 8:00, he said I was 100% effaced and 7 cm dilated. He predicted Lily Grace to come into this world around 12:15. He predicted right! I started pushing about 11:30. My Mother, Kirsten, Kendra and of course Marty joined me during this wonderful experience. They were great motivators and I was so happy to share that time with them. After another epidural, I never got rid of the hot spot. Even though it was a horrible pain, I didn't care because I knew I was about to see my baby after wait patiently for 9 months. Pushing was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but with encouragement from Marty, ice chips and an oxygen mask, I was able to get her out. It was exhausting and you won't believe this but in between pushing, I kept falling asleep! After pushing a few times for about 45 minutes, she arrived at 12:16 pm. She was healthy, had all her parts, weighed 7 lbs 14 oz, 20 inches long, and was beautiful. I knew the moment I looked at her, I would love her forever and she would always be my whole world. It was a blessed day and I would do it all over again in a heart beat.

Lily Grace has changed our lives in so many wonderful ways. We could never imagine life without her. She is our pride, our joy, our happiness, our world, and everything good in our lives. We love her so much and our love for her keeps growing more and more everyday. I look forward to waking up every morning to her smiling face and big hug and kiss. It is the sweetest thing. It has been the best year ever and I know each year will be even better than the last. I look forward to them all, I just want them to slow down!

Lily Grace changes so much and does something new everyday. I like to post these things to help me remember in the future. Her vocabulary is growing so fast. Monday she said Mykah (a little girl in her class) and "coke" when her teacher was pouring a drink. Wednesday, when she would hand something to someone, she said "here, here". This morning when she got up, she pointed to the television and said "Gabba, Gabba" (Yo Gabba Gabba is her favorite show). Tuesday she started dancing. She will bounce up and down and stomp her feet just like Happy Feet! It is too cute. Today, I started giving her whole milk but she only drank one ounce. She didn't care for it too much so I had to mix in the Next Step formula with it in order for her to drink it. Hopefully she will get used to it soon.

It was a wonderful year and we are so thankful for a healthy little girl. We are also thankful for all our family and friends that have shared this first special year of Lily Grace's life with her. We love you all!!

I took Lily Grace to the doctor Tuesday because she just can't seem to get well. He said she has a pretty bad sinus infection. He gave her an antibiotic to take for two weeks. He also said it would take about 5 days to start helping so she will still be feeling bad until at least then. They did check her weight and she weighed 23 lbs and 7 oz. She hadn't been wanting to eat as much because she can't smell or taste her food, so I was happy she had gained a few ounces since last Tuesday's appointment at Children's. Just say a little prayer for her that she feels better soon. We all know how bad a sinus infections makes us feel!

Sorry there are so many posts (12) to view all at once! We had a crazy week and we actually stayed home for this Sunday for once because an old preacher friend of our family, Don Blackwell, is preaching for a gospel meeting at Centreville Church of Christ this week. He is wonderful and anyone that would like to come hear him, you should!! So we had a Sunday afternoon to play at home and catch up on the blog!!! I haven't even been able to read any one's blog in over a week, so I am very far behind! Hopefully I will be able to do that soon but it's another crazy week coming up!

Daddy and his sweet girl

Mommy loves those sweet kisses from her baby! I would take a million everyday!

I love my girl!

Yesterday we celebrated Lily Grace's 1st Birthday party. We had so much fun with lots of family and friends. Thank you all that made it because it meant so much to us that you were able to celebrate this very special time in our lives with us. And we missed the others that weren't able to be there. It was a blessed day and Lily Grace truly enjoyed herself even though she was a little under the weather. She got so many nice gifts and we appreciate it all! Thank you everyone, we love you all!

Thank you Grandmommy for the fabulous birthday cake! It was delicious and so pretty!

Lily Grace's own little birthday cake, how cute!
The kid's table
The food table
The gift table
Thank you Grandmommy for everything!! We love you!!

Lily Grace didn't know what to think about all these people singing to her and standing around starring at her. It was really funny. She did NOT want to dig her hands into that cake. It was something she has never done before so she didn't understand it. And she usually loves birthday cake! She just kept looking at the icing wondering what is this on my hands?!
" Ummmm, I think I might like this!"
And this was as messy as she got, a little bit on her head and in her hair. After the party she has eaten a ton of the cake!! She has had really bad allergies and didn't feel especially good at the party. She hasn't had much of an appetite because of it so I think that had a lot to do with it. We may try it again on her actual birthday, this Thursday.

"Oooooo, I like this Birthday Doll from "Aunt" Crystal!"
"I love books!"

She sat in her wagon from Grandmommy and Pop the entire time we opened gifts and for about thirty minutes afterwards! She loves her wagon!! Thank you Grandmommy and Pop so much!
"It's my Birthday!"
Lily Grace loves Beau and thank you Beau and "Aunt" Kim for the beautiful outfits!
Madi liked to ride with Lily Grace too. My Daddy pulled them around for a little while, it was so funny. I think Brennon is trying to pull them here!
I got all the pictures from her invitation to put in this for everyone to sign. A great keepsake from her 1st Birthday Party.

Lily Grace got so many wonderful gifts from all her family and friends. Thank you all so much and we want to thank Granddaddy and Grandmama James for the colorful piano. She has banged and banged on it. She really loves it and also thank you for the yummy peanut butter and chocolate desserts! They were a big hit! We love y'all!

Another collage of all the pretty faces of Lily Grace.

Friday, Lily Grace got to finger paint at our house for the first time. It may be the last time for a while too! It was so messy!! It ended up all over my kitchen counters and even the dishwasher. Everything we both touched got purple paint on it. It was lots of fun though.

Then she really got to liking it, she even tried to eat it!

Her beautiful painting. Hey, one day this may be famous!

I was wanting to do her hand prints on the tablecloth for her birthday party. The prints didn't turn out too good but they were still very cute. Each year we will add another hand print and see how they have grown.

I am sorry I am just now getting this posted. Tuesday we went for our visit to Children's. It was not what we expected at all but a great relief. They did not run any tests on Lily Grace. They talked to us about seizures, how to handle them, we watched videos about them, and did give us a prescription in case she had another so that we could stop it. They did confirm the first seizure was caused by a fever. The others they could not say what they were. The doctors did not believe they were seizures though because she was limp during them. They want me to video tape her if she has another one like those and come back for tests. They weighed her and she was 23 lbs 3 oz. and 30 inches long. Please pray she never has another seizure or another one of those dazing out spells. Both were very scary for us and I hate for her to go through something like that again. Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers and calling to check on her. We love you all so much!

Lily Grace loves "Pinky" her flamingo that she picked out of all the stuffed animals at the zoo store!! I want the camera!!
My sweet little girl
Mommy loves Lily Grace more than the whole wide world!!
After the appointment we went out to eat with Grandmommy for a very nice lunch at J. Alexanders. It was so yummy!! Thank you Grandmommy for go with us to the doctor with us and spending the night and spending the day with us! We love you so much!