Feliz Cumpleanos (No idea where the squiggly line is on my keyboard)

The Celebration Continues!

The three amigos had a muy fabulous time at their birthday party. Gracias todas who came, sent happy tidings, made and sent decorations, brought food, came from far away, sent cards, helped set up, helped clean up, helped party and make our celebration of turning one outstanding!

"She's touching me!!" (Probably not the last time this scenario will take place.)

The spread. Tacos, tacos, tacos.



Uncle Rich, cousins Amelia and Ben having some tacos, tacos, tacos. (Well, Ben favors plain tortillas and I believe Meils only has fruit on her plate.)

Pre-smashed in pinata (sorry, still don't know where that darn squiggly line is for the "n") and super picture collage my sister Shauna helped me make. Pinata complete with authentic Mexican candy. (PS - I know what the squiggly line is called, I just don't want to embarrass myself by pretending I know how to spell it. Nor am I willing to look it up. Que es la palabra for lazy?)

"Hola! Estoy darling." (Sunny)

Los tres amigos. Que cute, cute, cute, no? (Christian, Sunny, Gabe)

Cupcakes and tribute picture of the birthday dudes. (Spoiler alert: no cake for the birthday babies this year. I know, grinchy, grinchy mom. A little cake is not going to hurt them. I just didn't do it, ok?)

It's my party and I'll pout if I want to. (Christian)

"I'm how old? No! Que awesome." (Gabe)

GG and Aunt Shauna around the drinks. Jarritos of various flavors were a big hit.



Dad with party guests, Gramma Linda and Aunt Megan.



Since grinchy mom did not do cake, she had to think of something else that was fun and exciting. So we sang Happy Birthday while a sparkler was going. Heh? Exciting? Right? (They all look riveted, don't they?)



Just a few of the sweet decorations our friend Abby made. (Watch out for a future book from her on how to plan awesome parties.)



Two chicitas bonitas. Grandma D and Sunny.


Our buddy Noah and his mommy Tina. Noah has officially been there done that with the whole NICU gig. He was our roommate for a while. It was so great they came to celebrate with us!



Aunt Megan and Gabers. (Yes, he has that look a lot.)

A couple of cupcakes enjoying some cupcakes. Friend Brynlie and cousin Amelia.

Uncle Michael, Aunt Mindy and Dane sharing some tacos!


Sunny and Aunt Shauna greeting new guests. Bienvenidos a la fiesta!

Christian enjoying some party chatter with some of our favorite neighbors, the Greenhalgh Girls!


In lieu of cake, they had all the yogurt melts they could handle!


Sunny waving goodbye to all our party guests with Gramma Linda. Adios! Vaya con Dios! Thanks for coming!
(Let's not forget to mention the uber cute flags. Again, Abby. Write that book girl.)

I definitely did not get pictures of everyone that came. If you came and did not see your cute face, sorry. We still appreciate you anyway. Even if you didn't come, we still love and appreciate you.

I can't say it enough, so I'll say it again. This first year of life for our gang of munchkins was quite a whirlwind of ups and downs. We could not have done it without you. Yes, you. If you're reading these words, we mean YOU! We have quite a circle of supporters. Everywhere from behind the scene quiet prayers to daily help that was slowly whittled to weekly. We felt and soaked in all the great care and love we've received. We feel incredibly blessed to have such a great system of support and love for our babies.

Gracias!

(And also sorry for misspelling any words that are not English. Or that are.)

Cliche Title Here

You've come a long way baby. It was the only sentence I could come up with for this post. I couldn't bear to actually put it as the title.

I'm one post off. The previous post of babies in the cupboard was not what I had in mind when I said I would post pictures of the little dudes next time. But I couldn't help myself.

So here is a few snap shots of my budding little one year olds. I hope you'll forgive the old pictures. No doubt you've seen them. But it's my mini, continuing birthday tribute to the bravest little fighters I've ever known.

My baby A; aka Christian Hinckley circa first of January, 2010. Hanging out with his feeding tube, tiny iv, nasal cannula, and of course, my little sprawler.


Christian Hinckley; aka big man, aka little bear, aka bruiser, circa January 2011. He loves to get up on knees and wave his hand in the air. Has a very busy schedule every day and doesn't have a lot of time to just sit and lounge. Will eat anything I put in front of him and has a tendency for the dramatic. (Getting really good and throwing his face into the ground in despair when something does not go his way.) Loves to climb into and play in boxes of all kinds. Is kind of a cowardly lion. Recently became terrified of packing material I was pulling out of a box. Kind of a mama's boy. Still a sprawler.



Baby B; aka Gabriel James, circa January 2010. Just chillin' with his ventilator that helped move his lungs up and down for him. I believe in this picture, he had just received a blood transfusion, has a tiny iv, and was about to get sick.

Gabriel James; aka Gabe, Gabers, Tiny Mite, Little Talker, and Uh Guh. (His nickname for himself.) Our Gabe loves to carry on a conversation to anyone that will listen. He's the fastest little guy his size I've ever seen. Kills it on his push toy. Zero to two miles an hour in 3.4 seconds. Loves a good rib tickle and playing peek a boo. Loves to knock down blocks and will always have something in his hands. Shows us his cute teeth all the time with his giant smile. Prefers puffs over cheerios, drinks from a sippy cup and is a scoach picky. Is the champion sleeper out of the three.

Baby C; aka Sunshine Grace, circa January 2010. Sitting pretty with her CPAP machine that would later be upgraded (or downgraded, depending on your point of view) to a double ventilator. Double. She was real sick. She too has a tiny iv and would be the last to eat, last to be on O2 vs a vent and last to come home. All of these things is because she wanted to decide herself. She would not be told how fast her healing would be.

Sunshine Grace; aka Sunny, Little Miss, Pretty Princess, Peanut, Miss Thing, Button. Loves music and will sway and bounce to any music she hears, including accapella family night songs. Crawls on her hands and knees, drinks from a sippy cup, and does everything because it is her idea. She is my old soul. Her beautiful eyes have had many deep conversations with mom. You can't tell her what to do. She'll do it when she is ready. Just like when she was 28 weeks! Loves to play with ball-type toys. Loves her push toy. Much to her dad's delight, is a total daddy's girl.


Happy Birthday sweet babies. You fill my cup everyday.

Happy Birthday

I should be asleep. But we are a few minutes away from the big B-day. I'm finding myself in reflection once again. (I know, it's getting old.) One year ago I was in the operating room. Crazy. There are a lot of things I could write about. A lot of things I could say. Maybe make fireworks come though your screen in celebration of our two pound miracles turning one. But only one thing is coming to my mind.

We didn't do this alone.

I used to have them daily--sometimes hourly--depending on the situation. Little thoughts would creep into my brain about how inadequate I felt to be mama, mama, mama. How ill-prepared I was. How completely scared of messing up raising three babies the same age. (I think Chris was born for this. It's so natural for him. And if he's ever felt less than what he is, he's never let me know. My rock.) Sometimes it was crippling. The realization that I was given this gift of three spirits at the same time often left me weeping with feelings of failure before I even started! What a sight for any flies on the wall. Giant pregnant woman holding her bulging belly and apologizing to it for being an unfit mother before she was even a mother at all.

But before these thoughts could really plant themselves in my head, another quite opposite thought came to my heart. But this one always warmed me from head to toe. It was always quiet and gentle. You're not going to be doing this alone. I would never ask you to do something you can't handle. You're stronger than you know. Just wait. I'll show you.

I did see. I've never been alone. Angels both unseen and of flesh and blood have been by our sides. Even as I write this, that warm feeling is again in my heart. Even a year later, still not alone. Which is a good thing because I definitely need the help. I keep trusting and it makes my fear and deficiencies lessen. I'm not sure if the fear and inaptness will ever disappear completely. (I am a person after all.) Maybe I'm glad. Because praying for strength on a daily basis I believe has actually made me stronger. So instead of crippling inadequacy, it's more like limping inadequacy. I can handle limping.

12:09
12:10
12:11

Three minutes that will always have my heart!

Here is my little birthday present to all of you. A little peek at what was going on in the pre-delivery room hours before the birth. I was having magnesium pumped into my body and was extremely hot. (Meaning temperature. Just in case you watch the video and think I meant really really good looking.) I can't believe I'm putting this on the www interweb world of cyberspace.

ps - Love love love the narrator. He actually is hot.









Pictures of my little monsters next post...