This weekend, Penelope wore her first set of pigtails. I loved this look so much on her!!
The big girls got pigtails, too. They were all pretty proud of themselves!
Auntie Ann came over on Saturday for our first birthday celebration. This one was a big celebration, because Auntie Ann made a cake for the big kids!!!
The big kids totally have this blowing out the candles thing down. . . .
{I’m not sure who swiped some icing there at the “ar” in Rosemary, but someone definitely got ahold of it.}
The cake was chocolate, just like the kids wanted. Delicious!!
Today is it. The big kids are now four years old. I really can’t believe it. I don’t know how FOUR YEARS has passed since the big kids were born. It just doesn’t seem possible.
Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday that I was in the hospital, on bedrest, hoping they’d be okay. Other times it doesn’t really feel like it happened to us. It feels like it was a story I read in a book or watched on a television show.
I wasn’t that emotional about birthdays at first. But that changed suddenly last year, when I was fighting back tears during the big kids’ birthday party. This year being emotional started even earlier, and I’ve letting my mind go back to when I was in the hospital, and the big kids’ birth, and feel it again. It was mostly overwhelming fear. Not at having three babies, of course, but of the other possibility. A lot of the times I feel so sorry for the person I was at that time and all the fear I had – and I really wish I could have made that person feel better or give her a little support. I’ve said this before, but I wish I could have let her see, for just a minute or two, what I see now – all these beautiful, healthy kids. I think that I could pick out just one photo that would have gotten her through it all a little easier. . . .
This year, as we celebrate the big kids’ 4th birthday, we’re also celebrating being free of prematurity issues. As of the end of May, Rosemary has been kicked out of speech therapy. We have no other lasting effects of prematurity. {Well, I guess that Rosemary’s asthma could be related to her prematurity – but it could also be inherited from Gary or from my dad, who both had childhood asthma. Regardless, we have that under control now and I’m not going to count it!} I’m a big believer in the concept of no-harm-no-foul. Even though I know it wasn’t my fault that my body had such a hard time keeping them in, I feel like I can really let myself off the hook – finally. No harm no foul. They’re fine now. My body didn’t let us down in the end.
I can’t remember the last time I did a big comparison post of the kids. I think it was when they were a year old. That was a long time ago. When the big kids were in the NICU, Aunt Kimberly and Uncle Zac gave them each a small stuffed animal. We put those in their isolettes with them. They looked giant next to our little babies, and we’ve kept them so that we never forget how small our kids used to be.
Here is Piper when she was 6 days old:
And Piper yesterday, holding that little lamb that used to be bigger than her head:
Here is Henry when he was 6 days old:
And here he is today, holding that same little bunny:
Last but not least, here is Rosemary at 8 days old:
Her hand was smaller than that doggie’s ear!! But here is Rosemary yesterday, holding that same little doggy:
It’s just amazing to me. It really is.
The kids were SO excited to play with their little animals, then they kissed them goodbye until the next time they can play with them.
But before they put them up, Gary pulled up the old photos of them on his phone so that they could see how little they were and why these stuffed animals are so special to us. . . .
Penelope even loved on a stuffed animal a little bit. We can’t leave her out!!!
Happy Birthday to our babies. We love you and are so proud of you.
It’s hard for me to believe that Laramy is 3. It doesn’t seem like she should be that old! It also means that my kids are almost 4, which is even harder to believe. . . .
Laramy’s birthday party was last Saturday at a gymnastics studio, which had a lot of jumping fun. When we first walked in, Penelope wrapped her legs around me tightly and gave everyone the stinkeye. Thankfully, she loosened up a bit after a while. . . .
We had pizza and cake + ice cream, which was a huge hit. I think the birthday girl enjoyed it, too.
My kids were very serious about the cake and ice cream. They ate a ton. Poor Piper tried to “save” the ice cream that she didn’t eat. That didn’t go so well, though.
After the birthday party, we went to Nana and Papa’s house for a little while. The first thing the kids said is that they wanted to ride Papa’s horses.
Then Laramy showed the kids how to drive the “alligator,” which was a HUGE hit.
There were lots of things to ride at Nana and Papa’s house!
And then there were lots of treats to eat. . . .
For obvious reasons, we ended up bathing the kids before we left. To our shock they were hungry again once we were on the road, so we stopped about halfway home and grabbed some food, which we ate in the car. By the time we made it home, the kids were completely passed out. We put them in bed and didn’t hear a peep. It was definitely a fun party!
I think that Gary had a very nice Father’s Day. It started out with some homemade peach waffles (good stuff if you’ve never tried it) . . . and some gifts from the kids:
Later that morning, we all went to church. Penelope did much better in the nursery and the big kids seemed to do well in Sunday School, even though Henry shed a few tears at first. I think that they’ve just about got the hang of everything.
Later that day we spent a lot of time outside, and ended the day with Gary grilling out steaks and corn on the cob -- and with some homemade peach cobbler. It was a really nice day and I think that we all enjoyed it. I wouldn’t mind at all if every weekend day was just like that.
Piper walked up to me the other night and told me that she was pretending to be the mommy and Henry was pretending to be the daddy. Rosemary was a baby and Penelope was also a baby. I told her that sounded like fun. Then she turned around, put her hand on her hip, and bellowed, “Gaaaaaaaaaary!!” Then Henry ran around the corner and said, “Yes?”
Hilarious.
Penelope is also talking a LOT. She can carry on a conversation. She’s also getting to be a little bossy with her brother and sisters. For instance, if they’re doing something she doesn’t like, she will point to the stairs and tell them, “Go to room!!”
It’s so funny to see ourselves as our children see us. Sometimes a little too funny.
Strange things seems to happen whenever I go on – or plan to go on – vacation. When I was a little kid, our family was vacationing in Washington State in 1980 when Mount St. Helens erupted. Gary and I were vacationing in Key West in 2005 when Katrina hit. Gary and I were supposed to be in San Diego in 2007 when the wildfires started and our seminar was cancelled. These are pretty strange coincidences and seem to occur with greater frequency, so I always wonder just a bit what is going to happen when we leave for vacation. Although it’s pretty mild in the grand scheme of what has happened in the past, the central gulf coast saw some record rainfall while we were there on that Sunday. Luckily, we were fine and got home in time to nap through the worst of the storm. 
