I'm so excited to share this news, I can hardly stand it!
Our good friends, Andy and Jill Paullus, are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl,
Olivia Jaida Paullus!!! (Her birth mom named her Olivia; Andy and Jill gave her the middle name, Jaida. They will call her Jaida.)
Thank you, Jesus, THANK YOU for this amazing gift!
Jaida was born this past Monday, September 21st at 3:41p. She was several weeks early, weighing 4 lbs, 6 oz, and measuring 18 inches. She is doing
so well, eating well and growing.
The doctor gave her a "gold star" today.
Here is a little more of the story from Jill, "We talked with our birthmom for the first time on Sunday. We knew that she wasn't due till Nov. 4, but that her water had broken and so she'd most likely be induced the next day. So, we just waited to hear more and found out that she chose us on Monday! She then had the baby at 3:41 on Monday afternoon and we flew out on Wednesday to be there."
They were able to spend time with Jaida's birthparents as soon as they got there and they all signed the paperwork shortly after.
Again, from Jill, "Jaida's birthparents are great people and we enjoy being with them. Our interactions with them have been a true blessing and we are sure that God gave them to us and us to them."
Jaida is half hispanic and half African American. Is she an absolute doll or what?
And look at all of that hair!!
The Paullus's are hoping to come home in about two weeks. We can't wait!
Oh, the tears of joy I've cried this week! God is faithful. Thank you, Lord, THANK YOU!
Isn't she SO cute?
I really want to get my hands on that hair of hers.
So, I did. But, mommy is yelling at me right now to STOP!
Even though I messed up Jaida's hair, she still wanted to see what I was doing. I think she thinks I'm big stuff!
Then I guess I decided to really go after her hair a little while later.
But she played good defense and I fell down.
We lived happily ever after with our sippy cups and snacks!
Jaida came over last week. She LOVES to jump in the jumper.
When Abram realized where she was, he headed straight for her.
With his bat, of course!
Jaida's jumping landed him right on the floor.
Then it was time to play catch.
If Jaida is going to be the wife of a baseball player, she might as well start getting used to a bat and ball now!
I pulled her bow out of her hair.
She played hard-to-get.
But I got her anyway!
I hope she comes back again soon.
Reese and Abram, on the other hand, played together for a long time.
Reese moves around WAY more than Abram.
This is my favorite!
Reese moved on . . . and Abram is still where he was to begin with!
But he got her shoe off of her foot.
I moved Abram to this position. Can you tell who likes being on their tummy better?
Then Reese started rolling again. Oh, these two cracked me up today! It was so fun to watch them play. Abram played way longer sitting in his room than he ever would have if Reese was not there. We are going to have to do this more often!
And finally, the long-awaited OREO picture...two brown babies on the outside and a white one in the middle! Allie, Jill and I have been talking about doing this since the day Jaida came home.
Lots of presents, lots of people and lots of yellow frosted cupcakes with pretty pink "j's" in many different fonts. (Unfortunately, I didn't take any good pics of the cute cupcakes.)
And here is little Jaida herself. Although she still looks so little, she weighs 9 1/2 pounds already! She's a rock-star premie baby!
Andy, Jill and Jaida made it home last night. And we got to go see them! It was so wonderful to see them home, with their baby girl. 
She is so incredibly precious. Words can't even describe it!
The dads and their babies.
And finally, a couple shots of Jaida's room that Allie, Jill's mom and I did for them while they were gone!
Thank you, God. Thank you!
Jaida was born this past Monday, September 21st at 3:41p. She was several weeks early, weighing 4 lbs, 6 oz, and measuring 18 inches. She is doing so well, eating well and growing. The doctor gave her a "gold star" today. 
