Happy Anniversary to My Husband

It's been three years since I laced up my white dress, stood in front of God and my friends and my family, and promised to love one person for the rest of my life.

The last three years have been amazing; we have seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

Our wedding was the wedding dreams are made of.

On our first anniversary, we took a cruise to celebrate and on that cruise we decided to try for a baby.

On our second anniversary - after 11 long months of trying - I was almost 7 weeks pregnant and we had just found out we were having twins.

And today, on our third anniversary, I watched Chris kiss our daughter's feet and coax a belly laugh out of our little boy (who is his spitting image).

They could not have been blessed with a better daddy.

I could not have been blessed with a better husband.

Chris, I love you so much. Thank you for building this beautiful life with me.

But the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13

World Prematurity Day

The babies, on the day they were born

Today is World Prematurity Day. I have so much to celebrate today.

I've been staring at this open blog window all day. I have so many things to say, so many places I could go with this post.

I just don't know where to start.

So I'll just say that I am so very thankful. Did you know that one in EIGHT babies are born too soon? That last year, there were ONE MILLION babies who were born before their time who weren't as lucky as my babies, ONE MILLION babies who were too small, too underdeveloped, one million babies who couldn't be saved. In addition, there were TWELVE MILLION babies who are in the same boat as mine? TWELVE MILLION babies who were born too early, who spent the first days or weeks or months of their lives in plastic boxes, living on borrowed time and prayers. TWELVE MILLION babies who, like mine, are still fighting for their lives.

I am so thankful that I listened to my body, that I spoke up when I felt that something wasn't right. I am so thankful that my midwife was insistent on being aggressive with examining me, and then sending me straight to the hospital when she, too, thought something wasn't right. I'm thankful for the OBs and perinatologists that fought so hard to keep me pregnant, to get us to a place where my babies had a chance. And I am so thankful for the doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists who truly did the work of God's hands and kept my babies alive.

I am so thankful I have babies - tiny, premature, formerly pound-and-a-half miracle babies - to snuggle tonight, on World Prematurity Day.

Give Peas a Chance

See that nasty green goop? That's home-made pea puree. Pretty gross, huh? Although not near as gross as jarred pea puree... that stuff is more of a pukey green than that lovely bright green there.

Confession: I don't really like peas.

It seems that peas are the standard go-to for the first green veggie though, so peas it was for our second choice puree.

Apparently the babies agree with me. Hopefully the "offer five times before they accept it" rule is true! (Sidenote: how does Audrey get SO MUCH MESSIER than Grayson? Crazy girl.)

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Girls Are the Prettiest

Sweet Potato Pie and I Shut My Mouth

The babies had their first taste of food last night! Figuring out the timing of starting purees was kind of complicated (but what isn't with a preemie?)... Conventional wisdom says babies "start solids" at 6 months, but at 6 months my babies were the size of a 2.5 month old. On the other hand, waiting until they were 6 months adjusted would have put them at over 9 months actual, and our neonatologist thought it was unnecessary to wait that long since we (so blessedly) avoided the intestinal problems that can plague preemies. After talking it to death discussing it in depth with ALL of our doctors, we decided to do it sometime between 6 months actual and 6 months adjusted. November puts us smack in the middle of the two, the babies were starting to show some signs of being ready and my sister was here to join the fun so it seemed like the perfect time to jump in :)

We started with sweet potatoes... and I even made our own puree!

Uh mom... what is that stuff?

First bites!

Audrey was kind of a fan

Grayson... not so much.

Toes in the Water

I know, I know... These vacation pictures are about 3 weeks late. I'm a total slacker. I also have two babies who have seemingly forgotten how to nap.

This vacation was everything I had hoped it would be. Introducing my babies to their great-grandmas was such a fun mommy moment, and putting their toes in the water I grew up in was nothing short of magical. (OK, I thought it was magical, they just thought it was cold.)

But you're not here for words. Onto the pictures!

Great grandmas!

Generation pictures! Babies, me, my mom and her mom on top; Babies, me, my dad and his mom on bottom.

BEACH!

Beach babies :)

Love!


So much fun :) I can't wait to go back in April!

What We Love: First Three Months Home Edition

It's time for another "What We Love" post! This one is for our first three months at home. The babies came home right at their due date, so these could technically be considered our "newborn" must-haves, since the babies were basically developmentally "new born", even though they were 3-6 months old. (This preemie stuff can be SO confusing, yall)

-Arms Reach Co-Sleeper
We use this as our bassinet and I LOVE it. The Original is actually marketed to be big enough for twins, which is what drew me to this to begin with. I really wanted to have my babies co-bedded when they came home, and this is the perfect size for them to sleep next to each other. I really like how it backs right up to my bed too - makes those middle-of-the-night nursing sessions a little bit easier.

-Boppies
MUST. HAVE. We have one for each baby - A actually has that cute cupcake cover, and G's has cars on it. And man, we use these suckers for EVERYTHING. I actually brought one to the hospital when we were learning to breastfeed, and it is worth it's weight on gold for helping you position a tiny, squirmy baby. Now that they're home, we use them for tummy time, to sit the babies up under their play gym, to prop them when I have to double-fist bottles, lounging around... literally, EVERYTHING. If you don't get anything else, GET A BOPPY.

-Fisher Price My Little Lamb swing
This thing is a sanity saver. Audrey is a nap fighter extraordinaire and this thing can knock her out in no time. I know, I know, it's not the best show of parenting, and I don't use it for every nap, but desperate times call for desperate measures my friends. We have the matching vibrating chair and the two combined have won me many a shower during the day. The only thing I don't like is that it runs on batteries and we are CONSTANTLY buying them. FP makes another swing that you can plug in, and if we had to do it again I would probably go that route. But I am a little neurotic really like things to match and the plug-in swing didn't have a chair that went with it. But I digress.

-"Burp Diapers"
Technically, these are pre-fold cloth diapers. We use them for, uh, just about everything BUT diapering. We call them "burp diapers" because we mostly use them to catch projectile vomit (yay reflux) as burp cloths. They are super super absorbent and they're also pretty cheap (psst, the Babies R Us brand ones are the best) so I don't mind getting them nasty. We go through stacks and stacks of these a day.

-The First Years Gumdrop Pacis
The only pacis my babies got in the hospital were the preemie-sized Soothies ones, but once they got home I really didn't like them because they got in the way of their cannulas. Only problem? THEY WOULDN'T TAKE ANY OTHER PACI. Until I found these. The nipple part is shaped the same as the Soothies but there are notches cut out for their noses. We have them in every color!

-Summer Infant velcro swaddlers
SO MUCH EASIER than any receiving blanket. Plus, Audrey is a certified baby Houdini and can beak out of just about anything. These are genius. We have worn ours out!

What about YOU, new mamas? What did you love for your little loves?