What's In A Name

I have spent the past month and a half absolutely enjoying life as a wife and mommy! The time has flown by!! I find myself saying that several times a week. Our little princess has changed so much in just the past 2-3 weeks! We love her more and more each day!! And we are just mesmerized by her more and more each day!!

Some may already know her name from my original post on face book. But I later removed it for security reasons. Today, on her 6 month birthday, I wanted to post her name and why we chose it.

When her adoption is complete her name will be:

Gracie Faith ______ Haskins

She will have two middle names. The last one is the first name her birth mother gave her when she was born in November. Although parent rights have been terminated, we are still waiting to post that detail as well as her actual birth date.

We debated on changing her name. We considered keeping her name but shortening it to something else. We wanted to have a name that was reflective of Bryan & I and one that would display who our Lord is and what He has done in our lives as well as hers! We wanted her name to be a testimony. We do not have salvation from an eternal hell were it not for God's grace and His gift of His son. Her name isn't just about our journey to have a family, her name is about all things in life on our walk with God. God gives us grace, undeserving favor, every day of our lives.

Gracie's name is reflective of our journey to get her into our home. We would not have Gracie were it not for God's grace. There is absolutely nothing Bryan and I could have done in our power to receive such a precious child. God gave us Gracie because He is gracious. We could not have worked out the details and timing like God has. We are undeserving of every gift He gives us. When you face infertility or the loss of a child, it takes a lot of faith to walk through to the other side. It takes faith to walk through the unknown. Ours was not always perfect. At times, our hope and our faith seemed so small.

We want Gracie to know how important faith is. For it is by GRACE through FAITH we are saved!! I'm excited for the time to come when Gracie realizes her name is reflective of God's plan for salvation. I pray everyday for Gracie to grow in faith, love of scripture, and her understanding and realization for repentance and a Saviour.

So each time we say her name, look at her, hear a song about God's Grace...His AMAZING GRACE, I am reminded both of the beautiful daughter we have and the Grace of God throughout every activity and provision in my life.

We are still waiting for our side of the adoption paperwork which we hope to receive within the next few weeks. It is our hope all legalities are done by her 1st birthday!

Gracie is 6 months old this week!

I completely missed posting on her 5 month birthday, but I did get a picture.

She has changed so much since her 4 month birthday. And a lot of that change has come just within the past 2-3 weeks. We think she is on a growth spurt.

At 6 months:

*Gracie began sleeping through the night April 29th. She has only woke up during the night on 3 nights. Last night though, she woke up every hour!!

*Gracie weighed 12 lbs on May 3rd and was 23 3/4 in long.

*Gracie wears a size 1 diaper.

*She has now begun to wear size 3 months clothes.

*Her eating schedule has changed back down to every 3 - 3.5 hours and she takes about a 5 oz bottle at each feeding.

*We have tried rice cereal 4 times now, but she doesn't seem to like it or take it well from the spoon.

*Her first laugh was on Monday, May 3rd.

*Her daddy goes into her room every morning before he gets ready for work and she greets him with a huge smile! She is a happy baby in the mornings.

*Gracie loves to watch people in a crowd. She is very alert. She loves to interact.

*She has begun to bend her legs up and down, like she is jumping, when someone holds her in their lap.

*She loves to have her hands in her mouth. We often hear her smacking!

*This morning she began bringing her hands up to her bottle and she held her bottle briefly by herself for about 4 seconds today.

*Gracie took her first long distance trip to Ft. Worth, Texas in April for Daddy's PE exam.

*She has slowly, very slowly, moved from despising tummy time to tolerating about 5-7 minutes.

*She loves the clown a lady made at Nawna's church and that helps with her tummy time.

*She loves to stretch and kick in her bed. She slams her legs and arms down. We think she loves the thud sound. She still moves all over her bed at night.

*Gracie has rubbed a lot of her hair off on the back of her head and the crown. We think it is from moving so much in her bed. I have found her hair on her bumper pads!!

*Gracie has begun to spend some supervised time in her bouncer. She is learning to hold toys in her hands. She is also realizing items with texture.

*Gracie holds her head up quite well. She has begun to raise her head up when she is sitting in the swing and laying on her play mat.

*She sits in her bumbo chair very well now.

*Gracie squeals and makes the sound of "aaahhh" and "eeeeee." She will "talk" to me when I stare right at her and make an "oooo" sound.

*She loves to have someone help her use her hands to hit the table top.

*Gracie begins to laugh when we use her hands to pat our cheeks.

*On May 10th, Gracie had her first experience of Oklahoma severe weather when a tornado touched down approximately 1 - 1.5 miles from our house. She and I went into the closet...all during a feeding time and very humid weather!

After school, our friends, Ava, Stella, and Boston came by to have cupcakes to celebrate Gracie's 1/2 birthday!

Mother's Day 2010

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day. I had to be pulled out of Sunday School for the first time to go console Gracie! I loved it though. I felt so needed! I just held her close and rocked her! She quit crying almost as soon as I began to hold her and talk to her!! And the fact that she did that on Mother's Day was just fitting. She also spit up all on her new white sweater! :)

She had a little melt down last Sunday as well and I was called out of Sunday School. I'm wondering if this may become a habit. :)