Goggle Glitches

Goggles are so annoying.


These cherished spectacles may or may not have "accidentally" found their way to the bottom of the trash bin...

Memorial Drive

We drove down to the cemetery on Saturday morning. It was a little less crowded than the Sunday and Monday crowds, but still lovely. Tanner misheard me and thought for a while that we were celebrating "Mario" day, as in "Mario Brothers"... Crew was less interested in posing for pictures than wandering about the grounds, exploring.

Crew is saying "bye bye".








I love the cemetery.

We also stopped by our old townhouse for a few minutes. It was surreal watching Crew climb up and down the stairs. He has come so far.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day 2011
It's Memorial Day, my tiny son,
And I doubt that I'm the only one
Whose thoughts are with a child they've lost,
Whose path has on to Heaven crossed.

I miss you more than you could know;
I wish things hadn't turned out so.
You've seen me cry a thousand tears,
Millions maybe, these past two years.

Some say they couldn't bear the thought
Of all the ache your death has brought.
To them I just cannot explain:
Your death has given more than pain.

Our time, while brief, was filled with joy,
My darling, precious, angel boy.
I'd never known such peace, such love;
The things I learned I can't speak of.

I live my life to see your face
In our appointed time and place.
For now I'll work, I'll learn, and do.
Family forever, I KNOW it's true.


Memorial Day 2010
We felt our family incomplete
And hoped to add some more.
"Three!" the darling dad announced.
But I thought maybe four.
I prayed for strength, I prayed for help,
I said we wouldn't mind.
This was His chance to send them both;
"Please don't leave one behind."

I suspected very early
But I still wasn't prepared.
When the doctor said "you're having twins!"
I laughed, but felt so scared.
Daddy was in shock that day
"What happened to the plan?
You prayed for what? You crazy girl!
Now we have to drive a van!"

We prayed to feel God's comfort
To know it all would be ok.
"They'll be just fine", we knew it then
And remember still today.
The funny thing about answers
With our understanding flawed,
Is that "fine" did not mean what we thought.
"Fine" was something else to God.

The months wore on, our babies grew;
We found out they were boys!
We eagerly anticipated
The love, the work, the joys.
We bought several matching outfits,
We used family and friends
To help us make it through the worst,
To hold on to the end.

Then unexpectedly one night
We had to call our neighbor.
My water broke, we had to go;
I had started preterm labor.
All hell broke loose, it was so fast;
I woke up with the dawn.
My husband had to tell me that
Our little one was gone.

They brought his quiet body
To my room for me to hold.
I felt his valiant spirit then,
So noble, strong, and bold.
He touched our lives so deeply.
Such a tiny little guy!
We spent the day together
Before we said goodbye.

We mourned his death, the crushing blow,
One foot before the other.
Then turned to battle once again;
We had to save his brother.
While grieving for the loss of Dex,
We fought to keep our Crew.
We knew his brother strove with him;
We felt his presence too.

"Your darling may not make it,"
They all told us many times.
We took the NICU rollercoaster
With its inherent dips and climbs.
Surgeries and setbacks
Became the "normal" for our lives.
We never had a guarantee
That this brother would survive.

Survive, he did, and beat the odds!
He came home three months later.
Our joy is full, our hearts at peace,
Just one thing would make it greater.
In sleep reposed, we see his face,
The one he shares with Crew.
Our angel Dex, so loved, so dear,
We wish we had him too.

Siblings

There is too much to say, so I won't even try. Tonight I just feel so overwhelmed with gratitude for how much my children love each other. I appreciate how loyal they are to each other, how they spoil one another, make sacrifices, and how they treat each of their siblings as honored guests and treasured friends. It makes me a little emotional sometimes, to see this level of daily devotion between those who might instead be rivals.

They are so blessed to have one another.

And I'm so blessed to have them.

(And yes, sometimes they bicker too.)

Freedom Isn't Free

Great Grandma

We were so lucky to have Great Grandma with us for our reunion!Kinley created an autobiography to give to Great Grandma. Now Grandma knows everything about Kinley: all of her deepest, darkest secrets... and her favorite color. Kinley's Memoirs will be worth big money some day.
Grandma took a moment to share some naughty stories about Kinley's daddy when he was a boy.
She also very wisely engaged Crew in speech mimicry games.
He climbed right up on her lap to visit a while.
As you can see, genetics do not favor Crew's chances of being a starting forward in the NBA, prematurity and growth issues notwithstanding.

She almost convinced Mini Monster to take a few steps forward. Almost.
We love you, Grandma!! So glad you could come!

4-Ring Circus

Crew loves things on his head and face. I suspect he needs them for sensory fulfillment. During our vacation, he adopted the swimming pool dive rings as accessories. He's so fancy, right? It was especially exciting that he was able to get them onto his head/neck all by himself. He usually pulls things off his head by himself and then hands them to me, yelling at me to put them back on him. Repeatedly. He even used both hands together a few times, which is a current focus of ours.

Swimmers

Grandma and I took the 6 oldest cousins out to the pool(s) while others made dinner. They were thrilled!






The cannonball kids.

Happy Birthday, Tora!

Two years old is going to be great!

Let Them Eat Cake

After feasting on cookies, he hit up Grandma to relinquish her cake.

Cookie Monster

Crew ate decently, not awesome, while we were in Park City. He did gobble up all the cookies that he could find!
Crew wasn't the only cookie monster...