Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little pumpkins. God knew how much I loved Fall and that having babies in the fall would make it that much more fun! I LOVE IT.

Chance and Luci are 2 today! It's hard to believe. I see my kids everyday so I don't always recognize the gradual growth and changes until one day I wake up and look at them in a new light and wow...look how big they are! Where does the time go? We recently got our family pictures taken for their birthday and when I saw the proofs yesterday I just cried when I saw how old they look. And how stinkin' cute they really are. And I'm not just saying that because they're mine. These kids are cute.

I know all mom's feel this way. Sometimes I look back and think, "Did I really survive that?" Their conception, gestation, bedrest, premature delivery and bringing home two tiny little miracles. Not having a clue what I was doing. Other times I look back and think, "That wasn't so bad. I could totally do it all again!" And I would do it all over again a million times.

I remember times they wouldn't sleep and I'd be holding one of them for extended periods of time...being so tired and wanting to lay them back down in bed...and then looking down and thinking..."Some day, I would pay a lot of money to be able to do this again." To be able to relive some of the baby days. Someday when they are too big to hold, when they don't want to be held. Already I can see tiny glimpses of that day coming...but am thankful that they still like to snuggle most of the time. I even did get to rock Chance to sleep at nap time the other day because he was just having a hard time getting to sleep. It was so nice to be able to do that. I don't want to go back. So far, thankfully, every stage they've been at has been my favorite...but I still miss those tiny little baby feet.

As we celebrate their birthday today I wanted to just take some time to reflect on all the new and fun things they are doing these days.

Luci talks pretty regularly in sentences...
"Daddy working hard."
"Mommy coming too?"
"Bubba mean to..." (i.e. bubba's being mean to me.)
"Bubba took the keys away."
"I love you mommy."
"I miss daddy."
"Swing High!" (she loves to swing high and often wakes from her naps asking "Swing High?" meaning are we going to the park today?)
"More please momma"
"Mommy's name is Kelly"
"Daddy's name is Jeremy"
"Bubba's name is Chance"
"Be right back!"
"I said NO!"

I could go on and on but these are just a few. It seems like everyday she surprises me with more and more.

Here are some of Chance's new tricks. (More often than not, Luci is also involved)
Climbing up the outside of the crib. Haven't been able to get actually in or out of it yet. (thank goodness)
Taking off pajamas and/or diapers
Using ride on toys to push around the room and then climb on as "step stools" to pull down all the Halloween Candy off the dining room table, or push all the buttons on the stereo and grab the remote controls.
Shooting baskets in his new basketball goal
Going down the slide backwards.
Crawling under his bed and hiding...saying "Be right back..."
Taking laps around the backyard and cutting grass.
Jumping higher and higher. Almost can get both feet off the ground at once.
Jumping off the arm of the couch and ottoman into piles of pillows and blankets.
Becoming a better dancer.
Loves being in the middle of lots of action, watching other kids play etc.
Runs to me giggling when I count 1,2,3 and gives me huge hugs.
Will hug and kiss his sister, mommy and daddy.
Likes to flush the toilet.

There are so many other things that happen day to day that I never want to forget and swear I will remember forever but am not the most disciplined about writing things down. But today, I'm capturing these moments and holding on. I love the way the kids fit into my arms right now at the size and age they're at. I love their little smells. I love their snuggles and kisses and hugs. I love their little voices and hearing more and more of them everyday. I love their giggles and the way they are starting to really play together and chase each other around the house.

My little 2 lb 13 oz redheaded daughter and my little 3 lb 8 oz brown haired baby boy...
Not so tiny anymore, but still and will always be my babies.

I love you Chance and Luci.
Happy Birthday.

10w4 Days

Today was my first Dr. Appointment with Dr. Jones, my regular OB. Dr. Jones is the one who took care of me while I was pregnant with Chance and Luci. (along with Dr. Grant) He's the one who discovered I was becoming pre-ecclamptic at 30 weeks and sent me straight to the hospital for labs. His forsight gave me enough time to get steroid shots and allowed them time to work their magic before the babies were born 3 days later. I am so grateful to him. I told him that at my appointment today and he humbly blushed the deepest shade of red you've ever seen. He's a great Dr. and a good man.

Needless to say he is very happy that I am only having one baby this time. I have to say...me too. I would have loved to have met those two babies we lost in the spring. It would have been so hard going through all that I went through with Chance & Luci again, but I would have done it willingly (and more) for my babies. But God did not give me that choice. God knew their lives were best served with him. God has given me the opportunity to experience one baby...and I am so excited about that. I know that I missed out on so much of the baby fun. I know I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. I regret that but am not sure how I could have done things differently. It was overwhelming at times and I was in survival mode much of the time. So I'm excited to have another chance to snuggle and cuddle a tiny little baby. (hopefully not AS tiny as my other two little ones).

I got to have another ultrasound today. Wasn't sure if I would or not. So at 10w4days "Baby C" is looking great. All signs that can be seen at this point looked great. We saw little hands, 10 fingers, 10 toes. It's just amazing. Laying there during the ultrasound...I officially fell in love

again. Here is our little "guy".

This pregnancy is going to be so much different than before. That's a good thing. Dr. Jones is optimistic that I won't have the same issues I had with the twins and if I do they will come much later in the pregnancy. He doesn't see a need to refer me to Dr. Grant, but did say that he will start to monitor me weekly at 28 weeks...which is about 2 months sooner than he normally would start weekly monitoring. They'll measure and check my cervix at my 20 week ultrasound to make sure all is well.

My next appointment will be at 14 1/2 weeks, November 3rd. I will not, however, see my baby again until December 14, at 20 weeks for the big morphology scan when we learn the gender. Yay! This is going to be hard. While I'm grateful to not have the potential complications, it is really going to take a lot of trust and faith to not fret over not seeing the baby more often. With the twins I saw them weekly starting at 16 weeks. I was spoiled.

So having said all that...I'm learning once again about patience on a daily basis. Patience as a wife, mother of almost 2-year olds...and mother of a baby on the way. Lord, thank you for your daily watch over our family.