Birthday, Strawberries & Doggie

My two precious presents!

We traveled to Macon this past weekend in order to celebrate my 29th Birthday with my family. I always love going to Macon because it means that Gracie and Bailey will be able to play with their cousins who they love so much. We drove into town late Friday night after the twins had already fell asleep. On Saturday we played outside and then our cousins arrived for lots of fun. The cousins including, Michael, Molly Kay, Andrew, Lauren and Addie Mae always provide nonstop entertainment for the twins. Saturday night we had a cookout and Birthday party. I loved being able to blow out my candles while holding my two most precious presents! On Sunday we visited a strawberry patch where we picked lots of yummy strawberries. At the strawberry patch they had a big picnic area, a huge playground and animals that we could feed. We let the twins taste their very first sample of ice cream and their faces told us that it may be a little too cold for their liking but as the Summer continues I am sure they will begin to like it a little more. While eating our ice cream, Gracie surprised us with her very first word, scroll down to find out what she said! I could not have asked for a more fun Birthday weekend celebrating with those that I love.

Enjoying Grandma's beautiful backyard.

The girl cousins!


Hanging out with our cousins, Michael, Molly Kay and Addie Mae.
Our first trip to the Strawberry Patch.
Grandma and her sweet little berries!



Bailey tasting ice cream for the first time!

Cousins Lauren and Andrew showed the twins how to pick strawberries.Gracie said her very first word...."Doggy"

Mama's Day

This Mother's Day I felt amazingly blessed to be a mother. It was very surreal to think about how last year I was able to celebrate that Gracie and Bailey were in my belly and this year that they are beautiful nine month old babies. I absolutely love everything about being a mommy.
I have to admit that I have always dreamed of the perfect Mothers Day that you see in the movies or on tv; you know the one where the mom wakes up to breakfast in bed, takes beautiful pictures with her babies at church where she wears a flower on her shoulder and then she gets whisked away to a spa for the day. Well my Mother's day looked a little different... I was up at 4am with a sick baby, up at 6:45 am feeding two babies, unloaded the dishwasher, prepared 10 bottles, restocked the changing table, did two loads of laundry, got peed on and puked on all before 9am. Unfortunately we were not able to attend church because Gracie and Bailey still had colds and we were worried about them possibly catching something else. I secretly wanted to be able to stand up so bad in church when they asked all the mommies to be recognized.
This is just what the Mother's Day of a mama with twins looks like! With all this being said, my day was perfect!
I left out of the above that I woke up to the baby monitor to hear my sweet Bailey saying "Mama" for the very first time. How awesome is that! Of course I ran to him and gave him a million kisses. Preston helped the twins surprise me by leaving matching "I love Mommy" picture frames and cards in the play room. We planned a picnic in order to celebrate the day and visited a new park to us called "Pooles Mill Park." The park was pretty and we had lots of fun. The day could not have been more beautiful. I loved that all the other moms greeted me with Happy Mother's Day, it was kind of like a secret society or something by the way we all felt united. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, took lots of fun pictures, watched the waterfalls and played on the playground. That evening we visited Preston's parents and the twins had fun playing with their Grammy who is an amazing mother and grandmother. We do not know what we would do without our Grammy. She is always so willing to help and loves her grand babies more then anyone I know.
I can't end my post without recognizing my own mom who is a terrific mom as well. I think this pretty much sums it up...who else would sleep on a hospital sofa bed for every Monday-Thursday night for 7 weeks so their baby didn't have to be alone, yes enough said! Besides that my mom has truly been a lifesaver this year when I have needed it the most. I am very blessed to have her in my life.

Mother's Day in the park.

Mommy and her sweet Gracie.
Watching the ducks from the beautiful bridge.
Doubly Blessed Mommy!

Swinging in the park.

His smile made my day perfect!

Mommy having fun with her babies!

Nine Months of Double Loving

My sweet Gracie and Bailey turned 9 months old on May 2nd. I feel so blessed to have been able to love them these past 9 months. It is amazing to watch them grow and to witness their love for one another. This post is a little late because our house was attacked with an icky cold virus and so we are just getting back into the swing of things. I am relieved that my babies are feeling better. If you want a challenge then try to take care of two sick babies at one time. When babies are sick they want to be held and when there are two of them and one of me then things get a little difficult to say the least!

We had our nine month checkup and Bailey stats were as follows: weight 18.11pds 20%, length 27 3/4 in 30%, and head 18 1/4 75%. Gracie's stats were: weight 16.3 pds 20%, length 26 1/2in 15%, and head 17 1/8 30%. It was kind of funny going into the apt because we all thought that Bailey had really outgrown Gracie. He seemed to be eating more and just felt heavier. We were surprised to find that they are in the same percentile and that the difference is made up in him being a boy and her a girl. I try pretty hard not to compare the twins and this taught us our lesson and that Mrs. Skinny Minny as we call her is doing just fine!

"Bailey Boy" as we call him is always busy. He is constantly looking for something to play with or is rolling across the floor. Rolling on the floor seems to be his new hobby. He can get from one side of the room to the other in 5 secs flat by rolling. His favorite toy is now his laptop and he has discovered the taggies on things. He goes straight for the tag on most of his toys and he is content. Bailey continues to love bath time and he likes to try to grab his sisters toes while in the tub. He has been enjoying his swimming pool and loves to fish for his pool toys. Bailey now has four teeth and his fifth tooth should be in any day now, needless to say he is chewing on everything in sight. Bailey eats anything and everything that we give him and he doesn't really seem to have preferences. He is still on the number 2 foods and has had some "real people " mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, apple sauce, croissant roll and mac and cheese. Bailey is quickly outgrowing his swing but it is still is favorite place to nap and he is sleeping a very consistent 11 hours every night! I have the privilege of tucking Bailey in each night and my favorite part of the day is having him fall asleep in my arms, Daddy usually wakes us both up in order to put him in bed. Bailey still seems to be a mama's boy and is easily scared by his sister when she screams at him. He prefers to sit in his carrier while in the stroller so that he can be close to me. Bailey still has the biggest and sweetest smile and I love when he reaches for Gracie, he is constantly wanting to hold her hand, foot, head... well really any part of her.

"Crazy Gracie" as we call her, seems to be into everything and has become even more independent. She has discovered how to stand and hold onto things and thus wants nothing to do with sitting or crawling. She still enjoys to watch Bailey play but now she has learned how to steal toys away from him. Her favorite game to play is to throw everything off of her exersaucer and to have mommy pick it up numerous times. She absolutely adores her puppy, Dixie and she looks for her every morning. Gracie's favorite toy is a stuffed soccer ball that she can actually catch and somehow throw pretty good. Gracie loves to kick and splash in the pool and the bathtub. She is our outdoor baby and loves being in the sunshine. She recently discovered the slide on our playground and giggles when mommy goes down it with her. Gracie is more picky about what she eats and she prefers fruits but turkey and rice is one of her favorite meals. She doesn't really seem to be into "real food" and wants nothing to do with it. We haven't discovered any teeth yet but hopefully she will get one soon. Gracie is a wonderful napper and goes right down. She sometimes wakes up at night time with belly aches but is doing pretty good. Daddy tucks Gracie in each night and she loves her special time with him. I love watching Gracie in the car, she will lean forward in her car seat to make sure that her brother is on the other side of the car.

I grow more and more in love with my Gracie and Bailey each day. I can't believe that they are 9 months old and it makes me want to hold them tight, hug them and kiss them as much as I can because they are growing up way too fast!

Nine Month Moments...

We have been working on sharing our toys and we play great together.

Bailey loves to sit up and play with his train.

Gracie loves to play catch with her soccer ball.

Bailey prefers to ride close to mommy on walks.

Gracie like to ride in the front seat with her feet propped up on walks.

We are discovering lots of new foods and we love to watch mommy dance while doing dishes.
We chew on just about anything these days!

Bailey loves to take naps in his swing.
We love to splash each other and play with our pool toys.

Miracle Baby Reunion

I was SO excited to attend the Emory at Johns Creek NICU reunion today. Unfortunately, Preston had previously planned on going to a PGA golf tournament before we knew the date of the reunion and so I was grateful to have granny accompany us to the party. On the way to the reunion as we turned on the road that the hospital is off of I told my mom that I had the same "anxious/excited" feeling that I had after turning on that road for so many days when visiting my sweet babies. I was excited to see the nurses who cared for me for seven weeks and also the nurses who cared for Gracie and Bailey. I think of these nurses as more of family or really angels!

The first nurse I ran into at the reunion was Cathy and she was my night time nurse who took excellent care of me. Night time was the hardest for me because I usually always had contractions and Cathy was great at staying on top of them although it meant lots of shots for me. It was great to get to show her the little ones who she used to chase around my belly with the heart monitor for hours each night while trying to trace their heartbeats. We also were able to visit L&D were we saw Linda who was one of my daytime nurses who delivered the twins. Linda was always so sweet and caring.

We saw so many of the NICU nurses who cared for Gracie and Bailey. Each nurse brought back special memories. Like I said before these nurses mean the world to me. Most new moms can't leave their babies for an hour or day so to have to leave your babies every night for 6 weeks is very HARD. What made it more comforting was to know that I was leaving them in the most loving hands. Pervell and Karen were two of Gracie and Baileys night time nurses who we kind of became attached to. Pervell would always "teach" us how to care for our sweet little ones and would challenge us by making us do more and more with each visit. We always had fun with Karen who was the first nurse who allowed us to hold our babies for the very first time, what a special moment! I can remember her saying "I'm a mom and I know how important it is for you to hold your babies and so I am going to let you do this tonight even though it isn't exactly on the care plan yet." We also were able to see the twins' Neonatologist, Dr. Narayan who visited me just about every other day before Gracie and Bailey even arrived just to check in and cheer me on for keeping them in for another day. By the time Gracie and Bailey came it was so comforting to have him caring for them because I felt like I new him so well.

At the reunion, I was able to make a scrapbook page for Gracie and Bailey that they keep in the NICU and they also had a table to make prints of their feet. Looking at their prints now compared to when they were born is simply amazing as their old prints could probably fit into their toe prints now! It was a wonderful day celebrating with some of the most special people in our lives.

I brought this pic for our scrapbook page, can't believe how tiny they were!

Nurse Pervell, our night time nurse

Nurse Karen, our night time nurse

Dr. Narayan, our Neonatologist