A Day to Celebrate...

Six years ago today, we eagerly welcomed Lorelei into our lives.  As mentioned around Ethan's birthday, my water broke at 3 am and we arrived at the hospital at 4 am (the same times 2.5 years later with Ethan).  Only with this trip, my mom joined us...and of course they both had to shower and grab a coffee before we could leave (Seriously? My water broke, we should get in!).  Our car had been acting up and we had no lights (except high beams) for the drive to the hospital.  We did pass a police car, but thankfully did not get pulled over.

Lorelei just shy of 1 year old, in Alberta.  Notice the yellow tag?  It was from her hospital stay in Alberta.  She caught a GI bug and required IV fluids.  It was a scary period for us (not being used to hospitals or children in them).  It took several tries and a fair bit of extra money but we eventually got to fly home.  She was still a bit sick when we came home but recovered well enough.

Once in hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors and let me pace a bit before they decided to induce me because I was not progressing in labour.  I remember it being the worst feeling, it felt like I was going through all the labour pains but there was no real change in the actual progress of the labour.  A long 25 hours, an epidural (after 12 hours and their promise the baby would not come that night) and two emeses (sorry mom) later and we were thrilled to hear the cooing of our new baby.  She made the sweetest sound when she was born.  All around us we could hear the screams of babies (and in some cases their moms), but our little girl came out cooing.  We later found out you really want them to cry to clear their airway, when she threw up the next day or so.  It was exciting and so new to us...the lack of sleep as we settled into life with a baby was difficult to deal with at the time.  She came home before we named her as we could not settle on a name, but within the next couple days we decided on Lorelei.  A beautiful name with a beautiful folk tale for a beautiful child.

Just before her 2nd birthday, Lorelei was helping daddy build a deck.

Here she is hanging out with her baby brother, just before her 3rd birthday.

Just after Lorelei turned 4 we brought her and Ethan to the park.  It was Ethan's first time at a park.

Now six years later she is still as chatty as ever and will be entering Grade 1 in September.  She has been in mixed ages care (up to 12 years old) and wants to shed a lot of the 'baby' things from her life.  They grow up so fast and it is hard to think of her as growing up.  She will always be my baby girl!  And I want her to hold on to as much of her youth as she can.  There is always time to grow up later!

Last year she was delighted to celebrate with her Nan & Pop.

On a side note, Ethan did great at his MRI today and we got home earlier than expected so we were able to have dinner, cake and presents with Lorelei.  :)