November 28th, 2009

This was a special week for our family. Our family celebrated Thanksgiving, the 7th anniversary of me and James' first date, the 2nd anniversary of the girls graduating from the NICU, owning our beautiful home for 4 years, and Papaw Marty turning 53! We are truly blessed!

Thanksgiving 2009

Stella, Mamaw Ruth, Kylee & Papaw Marty (Emerson wasn't feeling very photogenic!)

Emerson, Melissa & Nanny

Melissa & Will

Guitar Hero tournament...James won!

November 20th, 2009

Emerson fell yesterday afternoon and hit her forehead on the corner of our refrigerator. We took her to Urgent Care, and they were able to use surgical glue instead of stitches. We are hoping she doesn't end up with a big scar, but we are so thankful that she is okay.

The girls love our kittens so much! The girls wanted to see (hold) the kittens, but the weather wasn't great and our yard is still really wet from all of the rain. I let them hold the kittens by the back door instead.

Stella holding Hoosier. He is almost as big as she is!

Emerson hugging Colt. Colt loves the attention!

Emerson loves animals the way her mommy does...there may be a farm in our future!

We are working on taking "big girl timeouts."

Stella thinks she is hot stuff! (The glasses are upside down!)

She still calls sunglasses "eyes!"

Daddy and Emerson riding stick ponies together! I love this picture!

Emerson wearing her Colts jersey and daddy's slippers over her pajamas!

November 17th, 2009

Today is Prematurity Awareness Day. Two years, two months and six days ago, our lives were changed forever. My perfect pregnancy unexpectedly ended in an emergency c-section at 25 weeks, and our family would spend the next 11 weeks in the ICN. Today, we have 2 crazy toddlers, but things could have been very different for us. Our babies defied the odds, but most families of 25 weeks babies aren't as blessed as we have been.
One out of every eight babies is born too soon, and the March of Dimes' mission is to give every baby their 40 weeks. The March of Dimes was founded in 1938 to fight Polio. They successfully created a vaccine to combat Polio and have since focused their attention on prematurity. In 1985, the March of Dimes funded research leading to the use of surfactant. Surfactant is a drug that is used in preemies to fight Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Surfactant has saved many preemies, and it saved our preemies. Emerson and Stella received surfactant soon after their birth. This is why our family tries to help raise support and awareness for the March of Dimes. We believe that the March of Dimes research has the potential to give all babies their 40 weeks. We want to thank everyone that has graciously donated to the March of Dimes on our behalf.

In honor of Prematurity Awareness Day, these are some of our favorite pictures from the 11 weeks that we spent in the ICN:

Going Home!

Mommy holding both girls without ventilators.

Daddy feeding Emerson

Daddy holding both babies for the first time.

Mommy holding both girls for the first time.

Daddy holding Stella for the first time.

Mommy holding Stella for the first time.

Daddy holding Emerson for the first time.

Mommy holding Emerson for the first time.

November 15th, 2009

I am sorry I haven't done a very good job of posting pictures over the last few weeks. The girls are growing up so fast. Emerson is speaking in complete sentences! It is crazy! Last week, she looked at James and I and said, "I want pizza and cookies!" The only problem with her wanting pizza and cookies was that it was bedtime! They are both asking questions non-stop too. "What's that?" is definitely their favorite phrase. Stella is still doing great with potty training, and is talking really well also.
We have been talking about putting the girls' cribs in separate rooms for a while, but have been reluctant to to follow through with it. Stella has been napping in the playroom for a few months and seemed to like sleeping in there. We have been having some problems with them waking each other up in the middle of the night for a while, and finally decided to separate them this week. The playroom is now officially Stella's bedroom. They both seem to enjoy having their own rooms.

Emerson loves holding the kittens when she is outside playing. The kittens seem to like it too!

Stella showing off her new room!

Playing in Stella's room.

The girls have learned how to unzip their pajamas!

Playing in Emerson's room.

Aunt Cindy and Uncle Al came up to visit us this weekend.
Aunt Cindy and Emerson

Uncle Al and Stella

November 8th, 2009

These are the Halloween pictures that Sharlla took of the girls last week:

Stella the Witch!

Emerson the Witch!

I love this picture!

Playing in the leaves

Beautiful Stella

Beautiful Emerson

Daddy and Emerson

Daddy and Stella

Stella loved playing with the pumpkins.

Emerson showing off her kitty.

Emerson loves Colt!

Thanks Sharlla!

November 4th, 2009

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. We have created a virtual band in honor of Emerson and Stella. You can click on the Fight for Preemies badge above or you can click on the one on the top right side of our blog to go to our virtual band page. March of Dimes is fighting for preemies, and that is a cause that is close to our hearts. Please consider making a donation to March of Dimes in honor of Emerson and Stella if you can.

It is easy to forget how far we have come in the last 2 years. Below are the pictures that were taken of Emerson and Stella the day they were born. Our girls had to fight to survive, and we want to do our part to fight for preemies.

Stella Louise 1lb 13oz and 13inches

Emerson Ann 1lb 9oz and 13inches

November 1st, 2009

All of the grandkids got to spend Halloween together. We all went to Nanny Haus' for pizza and trick or treating.
My friend Beth made smaller tutus for the girls because the girls didn't like the huge tutus that I made for them. I brought the bigger tutus with us so Ruthi could wear one, but my silly girls decided they did want to wear the big tutus at the last minute. Ruthi ended up wearing both of the small tutus! Ruthi wanted to be a witch like the girls, but we only had two witch's hats. Ruthi wore a tiara, and we called her a good witch!

Will was a pumpkin! He looked so cute!

Papaw getting Emerson ready to go trick or treating.

Mamaw getting Stella ready.

Ruthi and Stella sharing a pack of smarties.

Stella the witch!

Emerson the witch!

Our carved pumpkins!

The girls like to play with the tops of the pumpkins.

Stella "carving" her pumpkin with a sharpie!

Emerson carving her pumpkin with a sharpie!

James carving his pumpkin (not with a sharpie!)

Stella

Emerson

Helping mommy clean out the pumpkins!

Emerson touched the pumpkin guts a few times, but Stella wouldn't have anything to do with it!

Emerson loves getting dirty!