Happy Birthday Haleigh Rose!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been an entire year since you came into the world. January 31, 2005 was by far the best day of my life. Some highlights of that day:

I started having contractions at 8:30am, five minutes after Daddy left for work. He got all the way to work and had to turn around and come back home to take us to the hospital.

The epidural only worked on one side of my body. But I was glad that it gave me some relief because the contractions were pretty painful by 2pm.

Poppy kept an eye on the monitor that read my contractions and was sure to let me know when I was having a good one. That was funny AFTER I got the epidural; before though, not so much.

By the time I started pushing, around 9:30pm, the epidural had completely worn off. My doctor showed up and changed the TV channel with a comment that she wanted to finish watching this show before you were born. I forget now which show, but it was one that I sure wasn’t interested in at the time.

You were born at 10:25pm. Daddy was so excited when you arrived that he forgot to cut the cord and instead ran out into the hallway to tell everyone you were here. The doctor yelled after him to come back and cut the cord!

You surprised everyone by weighing 9 pounds, 3 ounces. Immediately they checked your blood sugar because you were such a chunk, but everything was fine. You started out in this world at 19.5 inches tall with dark dark blue eyes and lots of dark hair. We noticed right away that you had my chubby cheeks and Daddy's big feet.


Watching you grow this past year has been the greatest joy. Every time you have a new accomplishment, part of me wants you to stay at that stage forever. But then you move on to something new and I am so proud of you and decide I like the new stage even more!

I often wonder what you’ll be like in a few weeks, months, or even next year. Will you still scrunch your nose up and smile at people? Will you still hold your arms over your eyes when you’re sleepy to try to block out the light? I hope you continue to grow and change every day (but not too much.) You have changed our lives so much and I couldn’t imagine this past year without you.

I love you bunches,
Mommy