Natalie turns 1 !!!!!!

It is hard to believe but my sweet little Natalie turned one on the 25th of August. Here she is in her birthday suit on her birthday in the bathtub.

Stats at age 1: 17 lbs 11 oz 29 inches long.

Natalie in her going home outfit. She had jaundice so yes her face is yellow it is not your eyes or the camera. Stats at birth: 7 lbs 13 oz 20 inches long

As I write this post and look at the pictures from the hospital I cry. It was such a beautiful day and it is wonderful to think about it. I have fond memories of all 3 of the birth days of my kids but Natalie's is a little different. I feel like Natalie is my little miracle baby. When I was about 8 weeks along they did an ultrasound and found that the pregnancy was viable but that my placenta was bleeding and so I had to be very cautious. For weeks I was not able to lift anything over 10 pounds (which meant Taylor who was only 2) or do any housework that would be strenuous or use my stomach muscles. (not too disappointed about that but it was very frustrating.) I am grateful to my Sister in Law Joycelyn who had just moved here from Utah and she wasn't working yet so she would come in the morning and help me get Nathan to his Kindergarten class and then come play with Taylor and help clean my house. It was a HUGE blessing. We had frequent ultrasounds to check the bleeding and I went to the hospital twice because of bleeding where I was told I was having a threatened miscarriage because if the placenta detached I would lose the baby. (Remember I had just been through my 2nd miscarriage a few months before this) I was terrified, I prayed ALOT and our family joined us in a special fast for this baby to make it to term. I went to the temple and tried to do everything I could to be prepared for the outcome. My testimony grew during this ordeal and eventually felt I was strong enough to handle whatever would come, including,but hopefully not, the loss of a 3rd baby. Well after the trial of our faith we discovered that the placenta had healed and that everything would be okay. We were all very relieved and grateful to a loving Heavenly Father. There were a few other hiccups with blood clots in my legs and of course the normal morning sickness but overall the pregnancy went well from this point on. Now we have our beautiful little Natalie Ann she is a pure joy to have in our family.

Here we are just moments after she was born. She was so alert from the very beginning. She still likes to just check things out that are going on in the room around her. She has a sweet spirit about her and we all love her deeply.