April 26th, 2010

Once again, I am so sorry for being so slow to post pictures. Life is crazy, blah, blah, blah. You hear me say how crazy our lives are every time I apologize for not posting!

We are all doing great, and the girls are finally healthy again. We are so excited to participate in the March for Babies again this year! It is so great to honor our miracle babies with our family and friends! If you would like to walk with us, please feel free to sign up. If you can't walk with us, please consider making a donation to our team. www.marchforbabies.org/emdawn00.
This year we changed our team name to Precious J.E.M.S. J.E.M.S. stands for Jessica, Emerson, Michelle, and Stella. Our family's struggle with prematurity began when I was very young. My Aunt Cindy and Uncle Al's first baby was born prematurely and didn't survive. Her name was Jessica, and she would be 24 this year. Their next baby, Michelle, was born nine weeks early, and will be graduating from nursing school in a few weeks! My aunt and uncle were a huge support to James and I when our girls were in the hospital. Their understanding of the situation gave us strength. That is why we wanted to remember Jessica and honor Michelle this year along with Emerson and Stella. Thank you to EVERYONE who has already made donations and signed up to walk with us! This is a very special event for our family.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

I was reading in bed (with my snuggie) yesterday afternoon while the girls were napping. When they woke up, they wanted to lay in our bed too. They also both wanted to share mommy's snuggie! We might need to find baby snuggies! Mo decided to get in the picture too.
Sharing the snuggie!
The girls wanted to "help" James plant our garden. They love playing in the dirt.
Helping daddy.
I found Elmo garden bags for the girls at Lowes about a month ago. They were adorable, and had garden tools, tomato plants, potting soil, cups, stickers, and journals in them. I put them away until the weather got warmer, and the girls and I planted Elmo tomatoes while James planted the big garden.
Mo joined in on the fun too. He seems to enjoy being in family pictures!
Stella playing with her garden tools.
Stella makes the best faces!
Elmo Tomatoes!
Emerson decided to turn her Elmo bag into a hat!

April 14th, 2010

We left for Indiana last Friday to visit with James' family and pick up our new puppy. We had a nice visit, but we were all pretty worn out from all of our recent travels. We were so excited to bring our new puppy home to meet Rambo.
Rambo stayed with Mamaw Ruth and Papaw Marty over the weekend. When we got home on Sunday, we quickly realized that Rambo was having a hard time walking (more than normal.) His condition rapidly deteriorated, and he lost control of his bladder on Sunday night. We had known for a while that Rambo's days were numbered, but we thought we had more time. I took him to the vet on Monday, and she said that he most likely had a "growth" on his spinal cord. Our only choice was to put him down, and we knew that we didn't want him to suffer. We are missing Rambo a lot, but our new puppy is doing a good job of keeping us entertained.

The girls were really good at trashing Grandma Natalie's living room!
Eating biscuits with Grandpa Kim.
Opening presents with Grandpa Bob and Grandma MaryAnn.
Cousins.
I always ask the girls to kiss when I am taking their picture because I know that they will sit still and look in the same direction for atleast a second!
Aunt Kathy trying to help the girls pose for a picture.
This is such a good picture.
Our girls rarely sleep in the car, but they passed out on the way home from Indiana.
So tired.
Our new puppy is an 11 month old Chocolate Lab. His name is MoJo (Mo for short.) His previous owners had gotten all of his shots, taught him commands, and potty trained him! He is my kind of puppy!
Thanks Grandma Natalie and Grandpa Kim for our new puppy! He is such a good boy.

April 6th, 2010

We spent last weekend in Colorado visiting Uncle Eric, Aunt Brandi, and Cousin Ruthi. We had a great visit and made lots of great memories. We all went to Estes Park after church on Easter Sunday. The weather was great, the mountains were beautiful, and the elk and mule deer were out! James got out of the truck, climbed down an embankment in the snow, and hid behind a tree to take this picture:
The mountains were more awesome!
See the elk in the background?! Amazing! Emerson was crying because she wanted to "ride an elk!" We were only able to calm her down by telling her that we would need to find an elk with a saddle! (Luckily, we didn't find an elk with a saddle.)
More elk in the background again.
Emerson wanted to "feed the elk!" Yes, she is holding a french fry! Do elk eat french fries?
Ruthi, Stella, and Mamaw leaving church on Sunday.
Emerson and Ruthi running down the hall holding hands.
Emerson loved Uncle Eric's youth room! She ran around like a maniac!
Daddy and Stella.
How precious are these girls?
I love this picture. It definitely sums up all of the chaos and craziness of our trip!
We must have been crazy to expect 2 year olds to sit still for an Easter picture!
Thumbs up!
Aunt B introduced the girls to the drum set in Uncle Eric's youth room. It was a big hit, and the girls were surprisingly good!
We are going to need a sound proof room in our house!
Emerson played the drums for several minutes. She inherited her daddy's rhythm!
So fun!
Chuck E. Cheese!
This was the girls' first trip to Chuck E. Cheese! I am sure it won't be our last trip!
Cousin Ruthi is a Chuck E. Cheese veteran. She showed us the ropes! By the way, how cute are the girls in their matching Cardinals shirts?
These pictures were taken a few weeks ago at Mamaw and Papaw's house.
It was one of the first really warm days of the season, and we were so excited to go outside and play!
Papaw taught the girls how to go down the big slide! They loved it!
The girls were tiny babies when Mamaw and Papaw bought their swing set. It was hard to imagine them playing on it when they were so little. Now they love it!