"The Girls"

Introducing a very tiny version of Emery Hope Gates...

Dear Emery, 

This blog is the first thing you will be sharing with your big sister Kinley. Of course much more sharing is to come! (But don't worry, we're very busy making you your very own room!) You are five months along in mommy's belly right now, and will be arriving just 8 short months after Kinley was born. That means that on my very first Mother's Day as a mom, I will have two little girls to celebrate with! 


We are so excited for your arrival this January. You and your sister are such very special blessings in our life. You see, we prayed and hoped for four very long years that God would bless us with a baby. It seemed like such a very long time we had to wait (and wait and wait!) But then this year, all that waiting and hoping and praying finally payed off, and God placed you and your sister into our lives at practically the same time. Kinley is such a very special blessing, because she is without a doubt, a child God chose for us to love. He laid her on our hearts, and then placed her in our arms and we thought we could not have been any happier. Then we found out that God had placed you in my belly and realized how truly amazing He is. He works in some crazy ways, as you will learn throughout life, but always, ALWAYS is faithful. You are such a very special blessing and (do I risk saying it???) we could not be any happier. :-) Kinley is the child we prayed for. You are the child we prayed for. God has intertwined our four lives together in such an amazing way. A way that only He could have dreamed up. We are so excited about this new phase of our life. So excited about raising "the girls." 


We have decided to name you Emery Hope Gates. Your middle name Hope will be a reminder to our family that we can place our hope in God and He will provide. We can trust Him with our wildest dreams, our Godly ambitions and the deepest desires of our hearts. Our prayer for both you and Kinley is that when you come to know Jesus, you will each trust Him and love Him with all your heart, mind and strength, knowing that you are here because we trusted Him to bring us both of you. 


We cannot wait to hold you in our arms. We cannot wait to meet you. Your big sister is excited too. She knows that you two will be the very best of friends. (Even if she does have to share her clothes with you!) We love you so much Emery Hope. See you soon. 


Love, 


Mommy


"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." 


-Jeremiah 29:11b (MSG)

Hey Princess, you're four months old!

Dear Kinley (or as I like to call you....Kinster or Cheeks),

I just wanted to write you a quick note to tell you how much I love you. You are two days away from being four months old! Wow, you are growing up so fast. I still remember the first week you were home and your mom and I were waking up every hour to check on you. You were so tiny (about 4-1/2 pounds), you cried all the time (yes...all the time), and you were always hungry (even though you could only eat like 2 oz). I remember thinking at the time, "this isn't going fast, this is going incredibly slow!" But now, you're almost four months old. Wow, where did the time go?

Let me tell you a little about yourself (because yes, I will make you read this when you are older). Here are some of the things we now know about you, our little girl:

• First and foremost, you are the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. I know I'm biased, but really, I'm not that biased. You just are....beautiful. You have the most incredible smile. When your mommy or I smile at you, you immediately tilt your head back and smile so big! Your cheeks are so big though that when you smile your eyes close. It's my favorite thing in the world to watch. Your eyes close, you open your mouth so big, and your head rolls side to side. It's the most expressive and contagious smile you have ever seen. It gives me goose bumps.
• Second, you love to talk. When you wake up in the morning you jabber and say all kinds of "words." You love to try and say whatever Mommy and I say to you, and we are pretty convinced you know the words "Oh!" and "Hi!" Clearly you are a talker, which makes me nervous about your cell phone bills when you are 16.
• Third, you are clearly a genius. I mean, you may not actually be saying "Hi" and "Oh", but I think you are. :-) And this is the next thing you need to learn about your daddy, he loves to encourage. So, I'm telling you right now, you are so smart! You are going to do wonderful things in this world! God doesn't make all girls extremely beautiful and extremely smart, so that means you are blessed....and I know you will use those blessings.
• Fourth, you are independent. We know this because it used to be that your mom and I used to sing and rock and cradle you to bed every night. You used to love my rendition of "A whole new world"....now, you just want to go to bed and aren't interested that "momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird." :-) We lay you down at 9:30, and you go to bed all by yourself. You are sleeping 9-10 hours every night (what a difference a few months make), and when we come in your room in the morning you are typically laying there talking to yourself. Beautiful, talkative, smart, and independent? Geez, you are amazing Kinley!
• Fifth, you are a morning person. You clearly did not get this from your mom and I. You are happy every morning. We can't say the same thing about every evening (you love to scream when we are at bible study!), but man you love mornings. You smile while you watch your mommy cook breakfast. You talk and laugh when we put you on your changing table. You love to do push ups during "tummy time." You just love life at 6:30 am so much more than 6:30 pm.
• Sixth, you are loved! Everyone around you is deeply in love with you. First, your mommy and I can not get enough of you. You are our favorite part of everyday, you are our answered prayer, you are our everything. Your mommy especially loves you. She cries (literally Kinley, she cries!) when she hasn't seen you for a few hours. She lives to be your mommy! Second, your grandparents can't get enough of you. They beg to babysit you and buy you everything in site. Third, your aunts and uncles adore you. They want to hold you, to hug you, and to kiss you. Fourth, your birth families love you. Tareena and Riley ask about you all the time and come to visit you often! They love holding you, taking pictures with you, and all of their family members ask about you. Next all our friends love you....Miss Melissa actually takes you for long walks around the neighborhood when you are crying just because she loves you. Many of them babysit you. All of them love to let you hold their fingers in your little hand. Everyone loves you Cheeks. Everyone! Especially God, I thank him for you everyday.
• Seventh, and last point for today, you are already daddy's girl. Usually about once a week we have a date night and it is the highlight of my week. We talk and laugh, and give a lot of kisses. You love giving daddy kisses (this better not ever change...ever...since daddy is the only boy you can kiss till you are 25). Because you are daddy's girl, we are going to go on dates for the rest of your life. Just you and me. We'll go to your favorite restaurants or to the movies or whatever you want to do. Right now, your favorite things to do include sucking your bottle, sucking your thumb, sucking your fist, sucking on your bib, etc. I'm cool with that, as long as you let me watch football, which you do. As you get older, those things will change. But my promise to you is that Daddy will be there with you, always. We'll ALWAYS make time for just you and me....daddy and Kinster. After all, you are daddy's girl.

Four months old, and you have already grown so much. Kinley, mommy and daddy love you more than you'll ever know. You literally could not be any more precious or perfect....well, maybe in the evening. :-) Just kidding.

Love you princess,

Daddy

PS - your little sister is going to be born in January. We talk to you about her all the time. We talk about how you are going to be the best of friends. We can't wait to watch you two grow up, "our girls."