Milestone anniversary..

Six years ago today, Brad and I brought our tiny daughters home from the hospital. Not generally a celebrated day, what with most babies coming home within a few days of their births. However, if you think about it, it is one of the most significant days in your life. For us, it was the day we were waiting for, and yet the day we dreaded. Our daughters were exactly 9 weeks old, and still 3 weeks shy of their due date. Paige weighed in at 3 pounds 15 ounces, and Peyton was the "big" baby at 4 pounds 1 ounce. That old story that babies must weight 5 pounds was proved to be untrue. Good thing, or they would have been in there for several more weeks! It was a pretty spring day. My sister Jamie and I went over to Champaign early so that we could go to target and get a few things we needed. Brad would get off early, and come over for infant CPR training, as well as training on the apnea monitors (our friends and our worst enemy, those machines!).

We were nervous and excited. One definite advantage that we had was that we knew our babies by now. After all, we had been able to learn about them for over 2 months, and still go home almost every night. I have since seen my friends bring home 2 day old babies, and often wondered what that would be like, to bring home this new person you knew pretty much nothing about!

Paige had only been taking feedings by mouth for about a week, and she had just come off of the oxygen. The skin around her eyes was still bluish. She was still very "puffy" from steroids. This gave her the illusion of being "fat" next to scrawny Peyton, even though Peyton was heavier. I could tell their cries apart, because Paige was still "hoarse" from having the tube in her throat to help her breath for so many weeks. Peyton came home on medication, literally caffeine drops, to remind her to breath.

Anyway, I thought it was the end of the most difficult period in our lives. I was wrong. The coming weeks were half magical, half crazed. I am thankful for a helpful husband, sister, parents, inlaws and friends. Without them, there would have been no sleep, and much less joy in time with my babies.

The last few years have held many changes for our family. We have been blessed by God to watch our girls flourish and grow. God has protected them, they have been healthy. There are only a few small physical signs of those months left. Now, I am thoroughly enjoying my days with my two kindergartners. They are smart, polite, funny and beautiful. (I am not biased or anything.) Here are a few pictures of us enjoying another spring day, much like the one on which they first came home to us 6 years ago.

Paige and me
Paige and her bicycle

Peyton copying pages from a book