Wednesday, November 29, 2006

HAPPY 1st B-DAY RAULY MARIE!!!

A year ago today I was smooth sailing through the most amazing and beautiful labor and delivery with my second child - Rauly Marie. My water broke on the way to the hospital for a scheduled induction and I was 3 cm. dilated so they went ahead and gave me my epidural...I don't think I experienced any pain with her delivery! Both Rauly's grandma's were in the room to see her come in to this world and her Aunt Jenny met her just moments after her birth! From the moment they laid her on my chest I was in love - she nursed beautifully and loved to nuzzle with me. It wasn't until around her 2nd week that we had any problems with her and unfortunately she was colicky. We listened to her cry non-stop for the first 3 months of her life and let me tell ya'...that was the most brutal experience Chad and I have ever had - I made many phone calls to my mom and Melissa balling my eyes out due to complete and total exhaustion and frustration. One of the only sources of positive bonding we shared during those months was nursing...she was content during those moments and I will forever be grateful for that experience! Thankfully, the fog lifted and one day I noticed she wasn't crying as much...then we were on to much happier days!!

Rauly Marie has such depth to her personality! She is already very much strong willed and she knows exactly what she wants...at the same time she is meek and doesn't speak unless she has something worth saying. She seems very confident already and seems to thrive off of attention although at the same time she is cautious with strangers and needs to warm up to you before she allows you the priveledge of holding her. :) She never took a passy but instead, her thumb. No matter what ails her, her thumb is always her main source of comfort...you'd think we put sugar on it with the her way her eyes roll in to head when she sticks it in her mouth. And boy is she a daddy's girl - I mean, they obviousely look identical - but Rauly's bond to Chad goes much deeper than just appearances. Chad's patience with her is endless - if she's sick, he's the one to offer to get up with her at night and feed her a bottle or rock her back to sleep. If she wakes up first in the morning, he always wants to be the one to get her out of bed. He heard the new song by Tim McGraw the other day and started crying just thinking about having to give lil' Rauly away to another man some day. I love her so much and it's hard to believe that his love could go any deeper than mine, but they seem to have a bond that is untouched by the mother/daughter bond that Rauly and I share.

Bottom line, we love our little girl and are enjoying watching her grow into the beautiful blue eyed, blonde, sweet natured girl that God made her to be. She makes us so proud!!

4 comments:

tleaf10 said...

Happy Birthday to You , Happy Birthday to you, Happy BIRTHDAY dear Rauly, Happy Birthday to you! You are such a sweet girl! Glad you'll be closer to your best friend Kayden :) Love,
-Terri

Kimberly said...

Oh my goodness this post was so sweet! She will look back on this one day and know with out a doubt how much she is loved! I love the pregnant picture of you-beautiful! Rauly is gorgeous and looks like such a sweet spirit! Happy Birthday!

lauren said...

Happy Birthday, Rauly! What a sweet and beautiful girl she is!

aWare said...

Happy Birthday Rauly! I love the story!