Birthday, Baptism and Baby

Memorial Day weekend was a busy one for us - busy but such a blessing! A couple of months ago I started to think about the things that needed to be done before baby #3 makes her arrival in July. Hannah Cate had been asking "is the baby coming out today" and my standard response became that she needed to grow a little more and that she couldn't come until after Hannah Cate's birthday and party. Maybe a mistake on my part because Hannah Cate's birthday party became quite the topic around our house - who knew that an almost three year old would get so excited and thoughtful about her birthday party!?!?. So, the planning began.

Another item on my to-do list (for a long time) has been to schedule Maddie's baptism. We had Hannah Cate baptized around 9 months and I would have liked to have done the same with Maddie but that was last summer and Mom was so sick and I was in Birmingham with her so much and it just didn't happen. And then I was in the early stages of pregnancy and Mom was still recovering and so in the fall and winter it just didn't happen. Now looking back I think it worked out just perfect. We combined Hannah Cate's (early) birthday party with Maddie's baptism and for the first time all of their grandparents (all 8 of them) were able to make it for one single event.

It was a special weekend and I'm thankful to our family and friends for making it a weekend that we surely won't forget!

Now for picture overload.....I'll try to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Hannah Cate's 3rd Birthday Party

Given that I knew Maddie's baptism was the next day, I knew a party at our house was out of the question this year. I needed somewhere we could just show up. In talking to Hannah Cate about her party - two things came out: she wanted a pink cake (which eventually changed to pink cupcakes) and to "jump". There is a place in town filled with inflatable jumpees for kids - Kangarooz. All you have to do is bring the cake - pink cupcakes in our case!

The birthday girl! I really can't believe she's almost (June 10th is her actual birthday) three! It really does feel like yesterday that we were in the hospital having her.

Olivia is our across the street neighbor and friend. She's six and is a good helper with Hannah Cate. She's good at teaching Hannah Cate the ropes - things like what to carry in your purse, what kind of flip flops are cool and all about what she learned in Kindergarten that day. Hannah Cate loves Olivia!

Sweet Mimi and Papa John (not pictured) made it to Fairhope for the first time since Mom got sick. It was so special to have them with us and a reminder of how much life can change in a year! It's been nearly a year since I rushed up to Birmingham late one night because it looked like Mom was going to have surgery for what seemed like a perforated ulcer in the lining of her stomach. I made it in time for what they expected to be a routine 2-4 hour surgery. Many hours later, the surgeon finally came out to tell us it was worse than they expected and they had to remove her stomach. I honestly kept waiting for the surgeon to tell us "and then we put her stomach back in". No such luck. They found Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in the lining of her stomach and it was too damaged to repair the perforation. She would have to learn to live and adjust to life without a stomach plus undergo treatment for the lymphoma. One of the more shocking moments that I can remember in my lifetime. Here I thought we were at the end of what had already seemed like a long road to figuring out just what was wrong with her - but we were really just at the beginning of a much longer journey. It's been a really hard year for my Mom - but I'm contstantly amazed at her resiliency and incredibly positive perspective. I can't tell you how special it was to have her present with us for these two special events for my children. I know that all three (almost four) of her grandchildren have been bright spots in a dark year - so I'm so glad she was here to celebrate with us!

One of the things Hannah Cate talked a lot about leading up to her party was blowing out the candles. She had been to enough parties and taken note that birthday boy/girl got to do the blowing. She had waited patiently for her turn and was very excited to blow out the candles!

Good job sweet girl! She may have had a little help from one of her friends sitting close by and she may or may not have given him the evil eye. I was just thankful no harsh words were exchanged and no tears were shed!

I wish I had done a better job of documenting all her little friends that were there and all of our family - no such luck! But here's a shot of 1/2 of the people that were there.

Maddie has decided over the last few weeks that I'm her favorite - she has been such a Daddy's girl up until this point. Great timing considering what is just aorund the corner! She's also decided that she loves her paci - went from only sleeping with it to standing at her crib asking for it. Maybe she senses that something is up!

Speaking of Daddy - what a trooper to share his actual birthday with Hannah Cate. The party just so happened to be on his 32nd birthday. He was happy to share and I know he was secretly glad to have all those pink cupcakes for his big day! As if he doesn't have enough pink in his life already!

G-Daddy was there too and got in on some good lovin'!

The end of the "jumping" party turned into a dance party. Hannah Cate latched onto this sweet little girl that was there with her family and they danced and danced. I had no idea she had it in her!

These two we are going to seriously have to watch after. Connor has clearly taken his pick of the Miller girls! Who can blame him for going after the "younger woman"!

Maddie's Baptism

Having one baptized while 35 weeks pregnant with another isn't ideal. But I wanted Maddie to have her own special time. I warned our new pastor that I didn't expect Maddie to take to being handed off very well - especially not to a man. Definitely one of the down sides to waiting until the attachment phase is in full force - versus an unknowing baby. She definitely cried when he took her from me, so he quickly handed her back and all was well again. Her facial expression when the water hit her head was hilarious!

I was slightly stressed over the whole thing - the whole thing being having a toddler that I knew would cry - but in the middle was reminded that the crying didn't matter. The whole point is that we are dedicating to raise this precious child with the Bible and the Lord as our guide. We are dedicating and giving her back to the Lord - out of our clenching grasp and into His ultimate care. It's something I need to be reminded of and pray over daily - not just one Sunday in her life.

These pictures are really not very great. I handed my camera over and I must have had the settings on something funny because there's a weird shadow in most of them. But, they are all we have and so I'll post them anyway.

This face kind of sums up Maddie's mood that morning.

And this one explains why we just don't have many pictures. She just wasn't in the mood for pictures! I'm going to have to put her back in the gown and take her up to the church on a better day for some pictures. Such a sweet girl, but I wouldn't exactly call her a "people pleaser"!

On a funny note - at least funny now, I didn't think it was so funny at the time. I ordered a cake for lunch from a local bakery in Fairhope. Aside from the fact that they really didn't do much of what I asked - they put my name on the cake instead of Maddie's initials! Slight disconnect between the person that took my order and the baker! Dad and Mary Rose picked up the cake for me on Sunday morning but they didn't really think to check the cake before they left. Fortunately, I did take a peek and realized the mistake. They had enough time to go back to the bakery and have them correct their error before church.

Baby Girl #3

Baby girl in my tummy has not gotten much blog time, but her time is quickly coming! I started this post on June 1st, now it's June 14th, and I'm 37 weeks pregnant. I've started to make just a little bit of progress, but I'm really hoping she'll stay put until Dr. Shoemaker gets back from his medical missions trip to Africa! He gets back on June 26, so anytime after that will be just fine with me. I've been amazed at the differences in all of my pregnancies, but none have surprised me as much as the lack of anxiousness I feel for this sweet girl to make her entrance. Sure, I'm big and it's hot, but I know we'll have plenty of time to get to know her once she's here and the truth is that she's just a lot easier to take care of right where she is!

Sweet girl does have a name - that I've just neglected to mention yet.

Emma Ann Miller

Some sweet friends had a shower for us and when we received her first monogrammed things, we realized something so fun about her name.....

Her monogram spells EMA (like Emma). So fun! Matt and I both really liked the name Emma and initially intended on calling her Emma. Then I started hearing the name Emma everywhere and started to wonder if we had picked a name that was too popular these days. Around the same time, Hannah Cate started really calling the baby by her name - except she always referred to her as "Emma Ann". It's kind of stuck and I think we're going to have another double named little girl. Of course the worrier in me has been afraid that Maddie is going to feel left out - being the only one without a double name, coupled with the fact that she's already going to be the dreaded middle child! I guess I'll just go ahead and start her therapist fund now.

All of the girls have first names (Hannah, Madelyn and Emma) that are just names that Matt and I both really liked. They also all have middle names (Catherine, Virginia and Ann) that are special family names. Ann is a name on my side of the family - my Mom's Mom's Sister was Ann. I loved, loved, loved my Mom's Mom. I have such fond memories of her and she was such a special lady to me. Her sister, Ann, had such a sweet spirit and I'm so glad to use her name as a way to honor three very special women - my Mom, Grandmama and Aunt Ann.

I am looking so forward to meeting Emma Ann, but am glad I feel a peace about her coming at her own time and not rushing her. In the mean time, I'm going to soak up these last days with her big sisters and Daddy before we become a family of 5!