2 years ago...

Remembering back to two years ago....

How can it have been that long ago already? It all seems like just last week!

I can remember the bedrest, how ABSOLUTELY miserable I was, hospital stays, medicine that was created by the devil himself, waiting and wondering when they were going to come, if they were going to be ok, what life was going to be like when we had 3 - count 'em, 3 babies!!

The day they were born was such a hard, wonderful day. We had talked to the doc that morning trying to figure out what to do. I was beyond sick, miserable, in pain and scared. The doc said we could deliver - but I could not make that decision. I wanted to say yes, so so bad! But we oth knew we couldn't make that decision for the health of our babies. So we were waiting, I was crying, when a new doc came in and spiked my meds WAY up - he didn't know I wasn't handling them well. Well that shot my blood pressure through the roof and I was heading into pre-eclampsia. So, the decision was made for me.

We rushed around, prepared and headed into the delivery room. We had 3 Doctors and 10 nurses in our surgery. Quite the crew! I caught quick glimpses of the kids as they took them out and rushed them over to their area to work with them and make sure they were ok!


They were ok praise the Lord! They still needed some with their breathing and eating. But prefectly, heathy little babies! And boy were they little!! It's so hard to remember, to picture it anymore. But the were small and wonderful! I was so in love! Madison was barely 3lbs - she dropped into the 2 pound area after birth but caught up quickly!

I was able to see them a few hours after they were born. SO sad to wait and not just hold them! But I was sick after the surgery so they gave me meds that KNOCKED me out so I didn't throw up and hurt my freshly cut into stomach. They wheeled me threw the NICU on my way up to recover. I didn't get to see them again until the next day. I can't tell you how hard it was.

Jason wheeled me down first thing the next day to see the kiddos! Cam was the only one ready to be held but I got to hold him!! That was amazing! I wasn't able to stay too long as I was still adjusting to being upright from the bedrest. I was also still pretty messed up from the drugs they had been giving me to stop labor. It takes a while to get those out!
They were amazing - this was one of the BEST days of my life! We were (and are) SO blessed by these miracles! They are growing up so fast! I miss those tiny babies, but at the same time they are so fun and cute now! I look forward to this next year and all the things they will do and say!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMERON, BLAKE AND MADISON!!

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Deployment

Sage was deployed on Monday.

Wow - did you watch the news and the good-byes? Heart wrenching!

This time is going to be so hard for these two - but I am so proud of both of them and the sacrifice they are making! This kind of thing has never hit so close to home.

It's a first for us.

Do you truly appriciate the freedom we have in this country? I know I have always appriciated it, but have never quite realized the impact that it plays in some peoples lives!

Can you imagine not having your husband around for a year? To not have those hugs, support, visits, holidays? Do we really realize the sacrifice that some people are doing?

I am learning through Sage and Kristen. Please pray for them this year! It will be a long, hard year for both of them! But we are so proud of them!

Thanks guys for your sacrifice! We love you both so much!!

The Big 3-0

Not me. Not yet anyway. Kristen gets the party first! :) (Love ya!) Sage has had to be gone a lot preparing to leave, so he asked me if I would plan a surprise party for Kristen. It was SO fun - I got to spend Sage's money and plan a super fun party! I love shopping with other people's money! Haha...

We pulled it off wonderfully! We threw an old fashioned ice cream social. My mom found some wonderful glass dishes of all sizes for the toppings and goodies. There were a lot of sweets it was sugar overload but it was WONDERFUL!

There were a lot of sweet friends and family came to celebrate with us.

Oh, I am drooling right now...wish I had some more!

Kristen you are a sweatheart! I love you dearly! She is one of my dearest friends that I treasure so much! Throwing her this party was so fun and I am so glad I got to do it!

We had some very cute kiddos partying with us!

Aunt Jean, Grandma and Courtney

Grammy, Blake and Joshua

Jacob and Hilary

Isn't he just the best Granpda - good entertainment for all the kiddos.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!

Love you so much!

Dad's kind of fun in the hotel room!
Mommie's little girl - she REALLY is a mommie's girl!!

Relaxing on a cold morning, in our new jammies, drinking milk. Does it get any better?

Sweet smile! And yes, he is in a pink car! The boys always fight over the pink car!

He looks like a little boy!!!! Such a sweetie!

LOVES the dirt! Showing of the shorts Grammy made her!

The BEACH PARTY!

And the running down the hill, face planting every two seconds, getting COVERED in dirt PARTY!

Which led to this...

And this.....

And this!

You should have seen the amount of dirt and sand in these poor kids diapers. WOW! We now have a beach at our house! Haha...

Where to Start???

I have not felt like blogging the past couple weeks. Besides not feeling like it - there has been NO time! In one of my posts a couple weeks ago I said i loved being busy. Stop here - open mouth - insert foot! :P Our last couple weeks have been insane! I have been in charge of a couple big things, had some hard, sad stuff happen in the family and Jason and I have been VERY involved in planning and carrying out re-doing the inside of our church. LOOKS awesome!! I will have to take some pictures to show! We have had birthday parties, family get togethers, good bye parties, birthday weekends and more! All packed into the last couple weeks. We had a family reunion and FIRE season! I hate fire season!

Sigh

Now I am tired! :) My birthday was a couple weeks ago. We had a wonderful celebrations just me and Jason for a whole 3 days! Heavenly! My parents are so great to be willing to take the kids for that long. I don't have to worry because I know they are wonderful hands! Jason and I spent the weekend eating at lots of yummy restaurants, seeing movies, shopping and just relaxing together at the hotel. We had a super nice room - the bell tower sweet - so fun! I didn't take one picture that weekend. Bad I know! Kristen and my parents had a party for me at her house with YUMMY enchiladas and DQ ice cream cake. Aunt Boo threw a party for the Aug/Sep birthdays on the McKinney side of the family at her wonderful beach she had made at her house. Aunt Boo is amazing - everyone should have an Aunt Boo. I am beyond blessed by her! Such fun! Love those birthdays.

We did family pictures yesterday with the McKinney clan and then our own personal family. I am SOSO excited - I think they are going to be super cute!

Grace's wedding is fast approaching, plans for her shower are in the works. Very excited for that.

I think that is the quick shortened version of life right now. They kids are getting so big and cute. I don't know what to think, they seem to grow leaps and bounds daily. Trying to savor this time - I can tell it won't last long!