Georgia Gilmans

This is an important entry that I've been thinking about for 2 weeks now. I have had the best possible support team (family) throughout the whole end of the pregnancy, the birth, and the early weeks with a newborn.

First there's Derek. He was absolutely amazing as a childbirth coach and teammate on Amaris' birthday. He literally held me and supported my weight on nearly every contraction and supported me though many squats too. He was complimented by the nurses for his caring nature, his way with me, patience, and emotional strength. He was truly a God-given rock to lean on. We're volleyball teammates as many of you know where we each experience the fundamentals of passing, setting, serving, and hitting. This was such a neat chance to be teammates in a situation where our roles were completely different! The experience has bonded us to each other and to Amaris! He has continued to amaze with his patience and kindness in handling my emotions during the roller coaster early weeks with a newborn. I can easily say I've never loved him more!

Then next is my mom (aka Mimi). She came out on May 12th and stayed for almost a month with us. She quickly added a week to her stay when she saw that we still needed help and she is coming back in a week to help me fly with both girls as we move to Georgia. She's even still excited that we will be living with them for a few weeks! She helped keep me occupied with fun activiities while i was still pregnant and encouraged me to rest. Since Amaris has come, she has loved and cared for Kaley so that we could focus on the baby without neglecting our big girl. She has cooked, cleaned, stayed up late, chaueffered and shown love in trying situations. I miss her already! I don't think I've ever appreciated her this much. Our relationship has grown in a special way!

My dad (aka G) arrived just in time. We all need a break and he booked his ticket before we knew for sure that labor would actually start. He arrived just 12 hours after Amaris' birth. He also showed a lot of energy to Kaley and said it is some of the best time he has had with her. We didn't get our coffee date but had multiple good talks over the 3am feeding when he woke up to give Derek some extra rest. We sure wished he could stay longer and are so thankful he was willing to lend Mimi to us for so long.

Last but not least is Kaley. The child is resilient, loving, energetic, helpful, extremely proud to be a sister, and tenderhearted. She has done so well in these first 2 weeks and loves to show off her sister and to help us. We are still working on finding as many ways to incorporate her as possible.