World Prematurity Day

Today is World Prematurity Day.  It is a day to celebrate premature babies who have overcome the many obstacles they face, pray for the ones who are in the midst of those struggles and cherish the memories of the ones who were taken from us far too early.

As today progressed, I found myself taking the time to give extra hugs and kisses (as if that is even possible, they already get so many!) and being so thankful for the extra time I got on the outside with my babies, but also for their extremely good health.  As babies born 8 weeks early, we could have faced many complications and while we did face some, we were so blessed for an overall smooth road through the NICU.  From day 1, we were incredibly blessed with small, but healthy, happy babies who grew and developed better than we could have wished for.  My premature babies have grown into big, beautiful, talented, funny, smart, completely perfect 9 month old princesses!

I often sit down to write blogs, and find myself taking a few days to get all the right words on the page.  I want to share parts of our life with those who read, but also want to keep what we share in the internet world monitored and brief.  There are so many wonderful things in our lives right now that I could fill pages with everything about our day, how they sleep, what they eat, how they play, their growth patterns, etc.. etc.. etc.. but really, no one really wants to read that, so I try to keep it short, sweet, and from the heart.  With that being said, I sometimes feel like I say the same things every time, with my reiteration of how much I love my girls, how much my heart continues to swell every day and how incredibly proud I am of the little girls they are becoming.  Truth be told, that exactly how it is, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

We recently reached another big milestone, or at least what I consider a big milestone.  Maybe these milestones that appear BIG to me, appear BIG because they come with changes that I am not ready for!  6 months was incredibly hard, as I blogged about in the past, and 9 months also hit me like a brick.  It was that time where they really started progressing in their skills, I packed away swings and more baby clothes while beginning the search for the 'next size up' car seat and pulling out big girl 'things'.  As a Mom, it is sometimes the tiniest things that are the hardest, like putting away a swing.  We haven't used our swings in a couple months but the fact that I actually, finally, had to come to terms with packing them up and not having them taking up our already limited floor space tore at my heart strings.  It was one of the many things that meant my babies were growing up and becoming big girls.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love this stage and seeing them make huge discoveries and watching them progress through their developmental stages is a beautiful thing.  This, like our 6 month milestone, will pass, we will move on, continue to grow and learn and I am sure as February approaches I will find an entire new struggle that I have to work through.

For now, I will cherish each and every second, minute, hour, day, week, and month and be a Mom who is so blessed to spend each and every day loving everything about the life my girls have given me.

Happy World Prematurity Day to my most perfect premature big girls! <3

An overdue update!

Where has the time gone?  It has been almost 3 months since I last updated my blog, and so much has happened in that time!

The month of September was filled with exciting events, including some waterfall hiking, Bachelorette Parties, Bachelor Parties, a magnificent wedding, a 7 month birthday, starting solid foods and a visit from Mommom and Poppop!  We loved having some quality time with Mommom and Poppop and they sure loved getting to love on us!  We also had some family pictures taken with Amanda Lessner Photography!  She is so great!

The bottom on Taughannock Falls

Mommom and Poppop <3

Bachelorette Party 

A little over three years ago when Brayton and I got married, we never imagined that our wedding night would be the beginning of another beautiful relationship, but with a few too many drinks and a whole lot of fun we were not the only new beginning!  Travis and Lyndi, also known as Brayton's brother and my sister, found themselves falling for one another that day too!  A series of events that will not be shared here led to beginning of a wonderful relationship.  Two people who were polar opposites, who no one imagined would last in a relationship ended up being the best thing to ever happen to either of them.  They bettered each other, in every way, fell in love, bought a house, and had the most perfect wedding!  It was a day we will cherish forever, filling with laughter, happiness, tears, singing, dancing, and more love than I knew could exist in one place at one time!  We are so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful families and to have a brother and sister (Aunt and Uncle) who will forever be extra close to us!

Dad is so incredibly creative!  The girls ride in the wedding! 

Dollar Dance with the bride and groom!

October seemed to come and go with the blink of an eye with busy weeks, many colds and weekends filled with visitors and weekend road trips!  We were finally able to make a trip to Albany to visit Bit and Tim's new home, and it was beautiful!  This weekend also marked Elliana's first cold... Runny eyes and nose, cough and congestion.. No fun!  As is expected, her cold quickly became Juliette's first cold, which quickly became Brayton's cold, which in turn became my cold.. Luckily the cycle ended with me and we all recovered from about 4 weeks of germs fluttering around our house!  The girls also got their first TWO bottom teeth during the course of the colds and were remarkably content through it all!  I am not sure if I can account it to the Amber Necklaces or just overall happy babies!  Hopefully the rest of the teeth have the same outcome!  October also gave us two wonderful weekends of visitors.  Joedy and Andrea came and spent some time with us, we were able to go catch some of the beautiful views of Fall in Ithaca and hit up the Thrift Stores!

Overlooking Taughannock Falls

October was a big month for my parents as they celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary.  This day and age, finding people who demonstrate the TRUE meaning of love, faithfulness, partnership, family and forever seems to be a rarity.  I feel so blessed to have witnessed and grown up with that in my parents.  They are such a blessing and I can't imagine life without them supporting us all, always!  They are two people who would and DO do anything for everyone.  We were fortunate enough to spend the weekend celebrating with them by taking our own Wine Tour.  We spent the day enjoying the spectacular views of Cayuga Lake and wine country and what fun it was!

30 years, 3 kick ass daughters, 3 great son-in-laws, 2 perfect granddaughters.. Life is good <3

October also marked the girls first Halloween!  We didn't really do anything but I sure had fun dressing them up and taking their pictures!  That's what counts, someday when they look back, they will have pictures of their first Halloween (and every single other day of their life) to cherish!  They played the roles of Nautical Ballerinas and Turtles, and they did it oh so well!

And in the mix of all that crazy October business.. My babies turned 8 MONTHS OLD!!!

WE ARE HOW OLD?!?

Now we are here a third of the way through November, almost to the 9 month mark... My babies are not babies anymore, they are big girls with big attitudes and amazing personalities.. More about them to come in the 9 month blog post!    

Let them be little...because they are only that way for a while..

6 months was a tough milestone for this Mama.. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital, making the decision to deliver our babies, seeing their tiny bodies crawling with wires and tubes for the first time, staring into their big blue eyes look as they glanced up at ours, feeling their warmth as they snuggled against our chests, being able to hold them in the palm of our hands. Those tiny creatures that are our babies, those precious gifts that we made and carried, now in this scary world ready to take it on with us by their sides.  Where have those 6 months gone?  My tiny babies crawling with wires and tubes are now big girls who smile and giggle.  Those big blue eyes now glisten full of love and life, the snuggles that have only gotten bigger and better and those babies who used to fit in the palm of our hands now fill our hands and heart with more love and pride than we ever knew existed.  

If you look at my last post, you will see this exact picture one month ago.. Only my babies were not nearly this big!

This week, I have spent far less time worrying about housework and I have spent more time snuggling in with my babies.. We've always snuggled a lot, but this week we've taken extra time to cherish the moments and get as much Mama/baby time as possible.  I have loved it, it has filled my heart with so much happiness, but even with all that happiness I still feel this ping of sadness that my babies are growing so fast.  I want time to slow down, life to pause for a while so I can cherish these moments a bit longer.  As I accept that there is no slowing down of time, and its only going to go faster, I find the time each day to cherish my moments with them, to take in every little thing they do, to capture their perfection with a photo and to remember that each day I find more love and happiness in these girls.  The bigger they get, the bigger my heart gets and the more pride I feel and I look forward to that growing with them every single day for many years to come.

On Wednesday, I found myself just staring into their big blue eyes saying, "6 months ago at this time, I saw you for the first time", "6 months ago at this time you were whisked away from me", "6 months ago at this time, I had still only seen you for a brief second".  Thursday, I found myself continuing on that path but this time saying, "6 months ago at this time, I got to hold you for the first time".  That was a day I will never forget, their tiny 3 lb bodies being placed against mine.  All the pain I was feeling vanishing and my heart opening and being filled with a love I've never known before.  It's crazy how 6 months later, everyday that I lift these babies up and place them in my arms, I feel that same feeling in my heart...

Aside from my dramatic transition into the second half of the girls first year of life, we've had some exciting firsts!  A couple weeks ago my parents were camping, and we cherished our time with them while enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.  The girls even got some time to play in the kiddie pool.  They showed their enjoyment in the arching of their backs to float and further submerge themselves as they smiled and relaxed into the water.  They were floating babies, happy and cool!  This past weekend, the girls had their first river experience and loved it!  Their tiny bodies were swallowed by their life jackets as they slept their way across the river.  They dipped into the freezing cold water and quickly adjusted to its temperatures finding enjoyment in splashing and swimming.  They napped liked queens in the comfort of a rocking boat and ended every day happy and exhausted.  Life is good!      

Naps in the camper <3

Loving the pool! 

It doesn't get any more beautiful than this!