Birthday girl {Monroe, WA proud mama photographer}

We just tucked our little babies into bed and Jeff and I are now sitting down to take a deep breath from our long weeks. Everyone together now... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yes, that feels good. Jeff and I do that a lot. Just look at each other {even amidst the chaos of the week} and breathe. It is often comical.

Anyway, today we celebrated our baby girl's FIRST birthday! I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone! It is truly unbelievable. What a gift we got when she was born a year ago. I should have known that her personality today would echo the same characteristics as her birth story!

We conceived Grace quickly, to everyone's surprise, especially since it took us over a year along with a few nice hormone prescriptions to get pregnant with Ben. Our son has been the more cautious, reserved child {although, lately, he has been a monkey!} The fact that we became pregnant so fast, tells me that she was READY to come into this world! God wanted her here!

Throughout my pregnancy, the doctors were concerned with her growth. They found a couple of "red flags" early on and put us through weekly check-ups and ultrasounds to make sure everything was o.k., not to mention, they had me downing the protein smoothies daily! I don't know why, but through that time, I just had a peace that everything would be fine with our little Grace. I just kept telling the doctors, "We just have small babies." And, she WAS fine. Completely healthy!

On the morning of her birth, I rolled over in bed, to hear a nice little pop. My water had broken. We called our mid-wife and my parents to start making the 45 min trek up to the house. We entered into my labor completely casual, like we did with my labor with Ben, only with Ben, it took A LOT longer to get my body to the point of feeling like I was ready to make the drive to the hospital, so with Ben, we went for walks around the neighborhood, ran a couple of errands, ate dinner together, showered, and packed peacefully. We had desired a completely natural birthing experience and I felt confident that if I was relaxed, that this would be do-able.

I took a nice shower and Jeff started a big breakfast {comical now to think of him in the kitchen frying the bacon and flipping pancakes}. By the time I got out of the shower, I was in full blown labor, and my parents had yet to arrive. Still calm, I began to stress to Jeff that he might want to start thinking about getting in the shower too, so we could be ready to head to the hospital when my parents arrived. He continued to cook on. Fifteen minutes later and MY bags packed, I entered the kitchen again giving Jeff a look. Yep, this was the real deal, baby and we needed to abandon the idea of a nicely, cooked, relaxing, pre-birth breakfast and get this party going... to the hospital.

Parents arrived to watch Ben and we hopped in the car. I was doing my breathing and feelin good. Jeff, on the other hand, did not look as good, I remember thinking, as I watched him driving with his hands GRIPPING the steering wheel. We pulled up to the hospital and met the nurses and they got us checked into our room. Mid-wife arrived and we chatted wonderfully in between contractions. An hour later, things really got going and I went into the "zone". Through it all, Jeff was an amazing coach, rubbing my back and my mid-wife, Janice, spoke soothingly to me to keep me in that zone. With each contraction, I imagined the closer I was to bringing my little girl into this world and I remember that thought making me emotional. Just as I said, "I think I need to push.", she was already crowning, making, no rather... RUNNING her way out into the world!

And, that was that. Our little girl was finally here. Her newborn cry was exactly what my ears needed to hear! I held her in my arms, and whispered, "Open your eyes, pretty girl." Jeff teared up. And, we thanked God for our tiny miracle.

Like I said, thinking back upon even her birth story, makes me smile at how similar her personality is to how she entered the world. Determined. Quick. Strong. Present. Even at one year, she has a magnetic personality! Open mouth smiles, at a very young age. Giggles. Knowledge and Persistence of what she wants {lately, it is anything that her brother has}. Swiftness {no, she is not yet walking, but this girl can crawl from one room to another VERY quickly, sometimes, leaving me wondering where she went?}. Joyful.

All of these qualities make me so proud to be Grace's momma. I want nothing more than to teach my children how crazy God is about them and specifically, to teach my little girl that she is beautiful and strong!

I couldn't think of a better image to describe my beautiful Grace than the one below. Happy birthday, sweet girl!