Saturday, December 21, 2013

Hope's Story

So I had a baby! 
For months we have been trying to come up with a name for our little girl, but with no success. Last Monday I went to the doctor and he decided due to some medical issues I have that he wanted  to induce me this week when I hit 39 weeks. He was a little paranoid that I would have a seizure during labor, even though I knew that wouldn't happen. So this meant in two days we would be having the baby. This past Wednesday December 18, 2013 we headed to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. My doctor broke my water at 7:45 a.m. and I had my epidural by 8:00 a.m. During this time we were still debating on what name to give this baby. We both loved the name Hope, but we felt it was too abrupt with no middle name and there was no way we were going to come up with a middle name. So we settled on a first name with Hope as her middle name. However, the first name just didn't fit right and we couldn't come up with anything else. From 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. my doctor kept calling my nurse to see how I was doing. He was afraid that the seven minutes he needed to get to me wouldn't be long enough so he called my nurse a lot, which I was very grateful for. At 11:30 a.m. Dr. Pace (not my father by the way :D) showed up and declared I was ready to go. I pushed a few times and at 11:58 a.m. our baby girl was born weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and measuring 19 1/4 in. long. She came out with long dark hair, a big nose and a double chin. As she was getting cleaned up, Spencer came over to me asking if we could change the name to Paisley Hope Donovan. I have always liked the name Paisley and so immediately I said yes. However hours later after Spencer had texted just about everyone about our new arrival I asked him for the millionth time that day (not an exaggeration) if we should name her Paisley or just name her Hope. Hope has been our theme this past year and again we love that name. I asked Spencer if he "loved Hope more then Paisley" he said "are we really having this conversation again" but then he said he loved the name Hope more. So officially her name is Hope Donovan.
She is such a nice baby. She eats really good, and sleeps four hour increments at night. Yes, I know this will change, but for now lets pretend it won't change and she will just get better and better at night. 
When Rhett came to the hospital for the first time, he wouldn't even look at Hope. The next time he came to visit her he kept saying 'hold' meaning he needed to hold his baby sister. It's going to be a while longer, but at least he's starting to accept that he's not THE baby anymore. 
February 27th, 2012 hours before giving birth to Rhett
December 17th, 2013 hours before giving birth to Hope


Spencer lounging (studying my scriptures :D)







Mom and Hope's first meeting 






Luckily, Grandma Donovan was here to take care of Rhett while we were at the hospital

Our first family photo together





When she is awake, she is AWAKE and loves her binky


She's just like her big brother- Rhett loved to stick out his tongue too!



Friday, December 6, 2013

Picture Overload

Rhett received 3rd place in the costume contest at our ward party
The Costume Contest
I was asked to take some pictures around Hattiesburg so family members could see where we live well here are some of them


Last spring a tornado struck Hattiesburg and many houses still have not been cleaned up. People have either abandoned them or still live in them even though they are so damaged. 



In Logan there was weird painted cows everywhere and in Hattiesburg there are weird painted swans
The ghetto and large mansions are only a block away from each other


He also found my cake pan 
Rhett found his swim diaper and turned it into his new hat

This is the African Savanna in our back yard


For Thanksgiving we went to our friends house and Rhett chased the dogs and played football with all the teenagers
Black Thursday shopping



We went to a Christmas Tree Lighting the city had. It turned into a Baptist Revival, which was on my bucket list since we moved here, well I can now check that one off my list. I might even convert.





This is the most awkward picture with Santa ever! Rhett is screaming, I'm laughing, and Santa at the last minute decided to grab the screaming child's foot. It was an epic encounter!