Happy Birthday Alayna!

Today is my baby's birthday! Hard to believe she is FIVE years old already...where does the time go?? It truly has seemed like a blink of an eye since we were on our way to the hospital for her birth. I remember breaking down in tears of excitement and barely being able to explain through them to Paul that I was so glad the wait was over and that "We were going to finally find out!" Most of you probably know that we knew we were having boys with our first three children. We wanted to know and found out around the middle of each pregnancy. But, this one was different. We pondered not finding out for the last one and having that excitement at the birth. We considered finding out ourselves and not telling anyone else. That one did not go over well with certain family members (you know who you are!), so we were left with 2 choices: find out, then lie and say we didn't find out (I would be lying if I said I didn't STRONGLY consider that one!), OR, not find out at all. We chose the latter. On my last day at work, a couple of the doctors were in my office and asked if I knew what I was having. This was a VIVID conversation in my memory:
Me: "No."
Dr. Miller: "You have three boys, right?"
Me: "Yes." (thinking, "What are you trying to imply??")
Dr. Miller: "I have three brothers."
Dr. Fellow whose name I have apparently blocked out: "I have four!"
Me: "Get out of my office!! You give me no hope!"
I pondered this conversation the rest of the day! I really didn't dare hope for a girl because I didn't want to spend one second of my baby boy's life disappointed he wasn't a girl. I truly had myself ready to hear, "Its a boy!" I was reconciled to it and waiting expectantly to hear it. I BRIEFLY entertained the thoughts of what my reaction might be if it was a girl, I thought maybe I would just scream out loud, then pushed those thoughts away. So, when we were in the car to go to the hospital, the whole emotion of finding out after such a long wait just overwhelmed me! We were so excited! We got to the hospital, my water was broken and we started walking. The previous time I was induced, nothing happened for four hours, so I was pleasantly surprised when I started contracting right away. They sent in the doctor to do the epidural before noon (it took forever and never worked well except in my left toes which felt like 400 pound sausages), and we were ready to go just after 1pm. When the head came out (with a hand up by the face), the baby started crying right away and sucked in a bunch of amniotic fluid, so they left him/her half in and half out while they tried to get most of that back out. Meanwhile, I am not concerned with the breathing problems, I am thinking, "Get it out, what is it??" The doctor slid the baby out the rest of the way, turning the bottom toward Paul and asked him, "What have you got Dad?" Paul looked at me and said very quietly, "You got your girl." I didn't believe him. I sat up and had to see for myself. When I could see her, I just cried and couldn't make a sound. Gabriel was in the room (he surprised me by wanting to be in there because he was excited to see the baby right away, he stayed where he couldn't see anything he shouldn't and ran the video camera), and he got the honor of going out to the waiting room where we had amassed grammies and aunties and announced, "Its a girl!" I could hear the screaming from down the hall!!

Five quick years have passed and we have had so much fun! Alayna, you are a precious gift from God. You are so much fun! You love to dress up in princess costumes, wear high heels, carry a purse, put on make-up, play with your brother's trucks and cars, kill monsters and bad guys with a light saber, and wrestle with your brothers. You talk non stop and you have been affectionately nicknamed, "The Weedeater". You melt my heart when you pray and when you tell me you love me. I have loved having you to myself on Tuesdays and Thursdays when brothers are at school. I love that we can do our girly things together and that I had the privilege to teach you to read and tie your shoes. I thank God for every moment we have together. I am so sorry you are sick today on your birthday and have to miss your special day at preschool. I look at you curled up on the couch and I am overwhelmed at God's goodness and faithfulness to our family. You are a light in my day baby girl!
So many people comment that Alayna looks like me and I don't see it at all! So here are pictures of Alayna, JoDee and I all at the same age. Now who do you think she looks like??