{our growing family}...ashlinn

We have  a tradition.
On my kids birthdays, I tell them the story of how they joined our family.
{birth story/ adoption story}
[just like when I was growing up]
they l.o.v.e. it.
My girls ask me to tell these stories as we drive in the car or at dinner too.
I want to make sure I have them written.
they will be long and wordy.
read if you want...or not. ;0

I will start with Ashlinn, since she is the oldest and work my way down.

Once upon a time...
In early 2003, Jake and I were enjoying newlywed life.
I had a routine that I would wake up each morning and do a workout video before going to work.
In mid January, I woke up, put the movie in and as I waited for it to start, I would fall back to sleep on the couch.
After a few mornings of doing this, I decided something was wrong with me.
I am usually a morning person, so this was strange.
I also started getting really hungry.
all.the.time.
I even ate crumbled bacon as I walked through the grocery store.
{i don't really like bacon}
Finally, I decided to get a pregnancy test.
I wanted to wait until Jake was home with me, so we ended up waiting until late night.
After taking the test, the stick said, "pregnant".
I cried happy tears and Jake smiled a huge smile!
It was too good to be true!
I told him that I wanted to wait to tell people.
He didn't want to wait.
So we made a plan.
We would go tell both of our parents, but wait for everyone else.
We went to Jake's parents first.
We sat on the bed with his parents
{it was late}
Jake's mom said, " I don't think there is enough space on this bed for the 4 of us!"
Jake said, "you mean 5 of us."
They cheered and Jake's little sisters ran into the room wondering what was going on.
We went to my parents next.
This time my dad was out in the family room watching the news and my mom was in bed.
tricky.
So Jake stayed to tell my dad and I went to tell my mom.
Of course they were as happy as can be.
Jake and I went to sleep that night knowing that things were going to be different from that point on.
{a good different}
The next day at work I kept my secret well.
Suddenly my coworkers phone rang.
{it was jake}
He told her, "ask Jenni if she is pregnant."
So she did.
{And I couldn't lie.}
Jake told me he had already told a few gas station and fast food employees and he couldn't keep it in anymore.

Soon after I got REALLY sick.
I was barfing 30 times a day.
I couldn't keep anything down and I felt like I would die.
Simple things became a huge chore.
{like walking to my car}
{or making a bean burrito}
I also became crazy emotional.
{poor jake}
 By 20 weeks, things had gotten better and my tummy was growing .
We had an ultrasound.
It was so amazing to see our baby moving around inside of my belly.
{she was a girl}
we picked out the crib bedding, painted the room, bought furniture, clothes, diapers, and picked a name.
{Ashlinn Sadie Willis}
The time was dragging  toward the end and I was DONE.
I wanted to hold my baby girl.
One Sunday morning, after another night of not sleeping, I was going to walk until she came.
I woke Jake up by putting his shoes on his feet.
We walked for miles!
{she didn't come that day}
I began having false labor.
{i thought it was the real deal}
I was sent home from the hospital.
I decided she was never going to come out.
1 week later, I was sitting in church and kept having contractions.
{as I had for the past 2 weeks}
They intensified.
By the 3rd hour I was wiggling in my seat trying to ease the pain.
{the poor mia maids sitting in my class were wondering what my problem was}
The contractions continued to increase. After church we timed them and waited.
We were going over to Jake's parents for Sunday dinner, but I decided not to go and take a shower instead.
I told Jake to go eat and we would go to the hospital after.
He wasn't able to even get to his parents.
I called him and told him to come take me to the hospital.
The contractions had gotten really intense.
{I was sure this was it}
it was.
After one glance, the nurse gave us a room without checking me.
That was a good feeling.
I was finally going to meet my baby girl .
After a pain free/easy labor and delivery, Jake handed me a beautiful, chubby cheeked, baby girl with two dimples and tons of black hair.
I will never forget my awe, as I looked at her.
She was perfect.
{and I was/am lucky enough to be her mom}

I think I stared at her non-stop for months.
She never took naps in her bed, I held her or layed her next to me.
I didn't want o miss a thing.

This is when I realized that being a mom is even better than everyone says.