Happy & Sad Weekend....

Happy 6th Anniversary Matt...I love you. I have completely and thoroughly enjoyed ALL of our annivesaries so far, some more than others....this one in particular, rates among one of my favorites. Last year, we spent our anniversary at the NICU in Children's Hospital...well, after we went out for a nice dinner, but still, we had to spend the day trapped in that building with our children. THIS year...we were able to actually do something! For our anniversary, we went out to the Cardinal's game (they won) and had a darned good time. When we got home, we went out to dinner with our girls! WE took them to what I am hoping will be the first of MANY successful dinners at a Mexican restaurant! :) I love Mexican food...almost as much as I love Mexico! :) The girls, seemed to really like the Mexican food as well!


Now that I am done with the Happy portion of the weekend, lets talk about why this past weekend was a sad weekend. My grandma died, well, actually she died on June 8th, but this past weekend was her Memorial service. Do you realize that I no longer have any living biological grandparents? This makes me particularly sad. :( It makes me sad that my grandma or any of my grandparents for that matter never were able to meet Sydney and Olivia, which breaks my heart. For the weekend, my entire family came in, which was nice, even though it was for a rather sad reason. It was so fun to introduce the girls to my brothers and for my Dad and Stepmom to spend time with both us and the girls. The girls love their GrandDude and Grandma Carol! The last time our entire family was together was 6 years ago for our wedding. Damn was that a great time! We are excited however, that we will soon all be getting together when Uncle Sean marries Aunt Kelsey (who sadly couldn't make it this weekend). :(


The girls with GrandDude and Grandma Carol before they left on Sunday....


The girls with Uncle Kent!

The girls with Uncle Sean!

The girls with Uncle Sean, Uncle Kent, & Uncle Todd...everyone is all decked out in their Cardinals gear...the boys stayed an extra day so that they (being the good LOYAL Cardinals fans they are), could attend another home game in Bush Stadium. We are happy to announce that ALL 3 of them can return to STL and start attending home games again...the Cardinals WON AND no one was injured (unlike previous games they have attended)!

I love this picture b/c of the look on Todd's face! :)

Out to dinner for our Anniversary...on the patio at Chevy's.

Olivia checking out her puffs or maybe it was the tortilla!

Sydney....we had a hard time convincing her NOT to eat the table...ick...I did steralize it, but I don't think that was good enough...it definately creeped me out!

On Thursday, July 16th...the same day everyone in the family arrived in STL, the girls had their 1 year appointment. Olivia weighs in at 16.3 pounds and 26.75 inches. Sydney weighs in at 16.7 pounds and 25.5 inches. Not bad for girls who were born weighing in at 2.8 and 2.75 pounds! The girls also recieved their MMR shots and chicken pox shot, which they were NOT too happy about....apparently MMR HURTS...as I write this, we are in the midst of a reaction...Olivia's had a low grade fever for the last 2 days. :( Poor girl...she's whiny and clingy. Anyways, after their appointment, we came home and this is them playing before dinner...Uncle Mike came over and made Matt and I dinner....so nice of him. Even more scary is the amount of vegetables in the dinner he made! To think years ago he would have FREAKED if we'd mentioned him consuming some of those vegetables!

Playing at the other side of baby jail....we currently have a laundry basket blocking the exit from our 'living room' to keep the girls contained!

Sydney.....

Olivia....

Everyone arrived very LATE in the evening...so the next morning all the Uncles and of course GrandDude and Grandma Carol wanted to see the girls!

Today is the actual day of Grandma's Memorial service out at Jefferson Barracks....before we left, Carol said, put the girls down so that I can take a picture of them....so I did....she must have forgotten what it was like to have mobile kids...no longer do you get the cute sweet pics we've previously had of them sitting STILL and TOGETHER!

Here's the pic I took!


At the Memorial....

The minister took this family pic of us before the memorial.....

After the service we came home for about an hour before dinner....during this time the girls took a NAP....a nice one too....which is why they are not featured in the following picture!
Olivia and I after her nap!
Sydney after her nap.....

The whole family went to dinner at Bill Gianinos (by our house).....it was cold, so the girls are weraing their Cardina's jackets....and hats! :)

Olivia eating her pasta!

Sydney eating her pasta.....

After dinner we came home and hung out on the patio...well, some of us did....Sydney took ANOTHER nap (all the attention wore her out), and Olivia played inside with GrandDude and Uncle Mike...

GrandDude and Uncle Mike....

Daddy and Olivia....

Sydney....

Sydney and Uncle Todd....

Saturday morning, bright and early the girls got up to play with Uncle Todd...well, first they cuddled with Uncle Sean, but we don't have any decent pics of that! :)

Olivia...

Uncle Todd (who for the first time in his ENTIRE life did not complain about getting his picture taken), quickly realized how very important our Sesame Street Table is to us....fortunately the girls were willing to share with him! :)

On Saturday the fam went out to visit some old STL friends for t he day, while the girls 'recovered' from all the recent excitement! I had a pedicure scheduled and went to a massage therapy appointment for my fabulous back....when I came back, I sent Matt out shopping and the girls and I got a nice 5 mile walk in!

Here we are before our walk...

Olivia's excited about getting her picture taken!

Sydney giving Daddy the look while he takes her picture!

When everyone came back, we bar-b-qued a nd hung on the back patio....then Uncle Jason and Aunt Gretchen came over and hung out while we drank it up! :)

Mommy, the girls, and GrandDude!

The girls with Uncle Todd, GrandDude and Grandma Carol!

Olivia...trying on Uncle Todd's Hat!


Acute pic of Sydney & Uncle Todd...it's sooooooooooooo cute seeing them in those hats b/c they are so big!

The following are some pictures from the week before this post was written!

Olivia on her car, playing around during the Dog Days of SUmmer with Mommy and Sydney!

Not to be left out...Sydney wanted a picture of herself...actually I think she wanted the camera!!!!

Playing around before dinner and WAYYYYYYY before the "water bottle incident" as it has now become known!

So, Daddy left his water bottle on the floor and Olivia found it and was playing with it....it was empty thankfully (we save these for Sugar...she loves to play with them in the backyard)....all of a sudden she started bopping Sydney on the Head...she thought it was HILARIOUS...so did we...thus the next series of pictures....

Sydney was NOT thrilled after the 4th or 5th BOP.....


Olivia...laughing like a loon...I'm pretty sure Matt and I were too (the IRONY in this situation is that usually Sydney 'beats' and I mean this lightly...up on Olivia.

Okay Daddy..this is NOT funny anymore....make her STOP!

Mama Sug Checking things out.....I think she wanted her waterbottle to play with!

Cheering on Albert during the Homerun Derby...in our Cardinal's onsies....AFTER bathtime!

One evening we fed the girls spaghetti (well, plain noodles...for now)...it was a big hit!

Sugar especially enjoyed it.....our new favorite habit is feeding the dog when 'we' decide we are done eating. Drives ME bonkers!

Hope all is well,

J

Happy 1st Birthday to our Miracles!

Dear Sydney & Olivia-

I cannot even believe that it's been a year, and what a year it's been. Your Daddy and I thought we loved you before you came and we thought we loved each other as well. But let me tell you, I now know that I have never loved someone so much as I love the both of you, and I never even thought that how much I love you was possible. You two are the best things that have ever happened to your Daddy and I and we just wanted to share with you how much we love you.

From the 13 seemingly endless weeks at Children's Hospital in the NICU to FINALLY bringing you home on Sept 27 to meeting all our family and friends, holidays, photo shoots (and lots of them), 2 and 3 am feedings, you smiling for the first time, sitting up, giggling, going for walks, bathtime, cuddling, learning to crawl to watching you discover the Boxers and new exciting things around our home, it's been quite a year.

After that, I have a question, it's the same question I posed to my friend Laurie's triplets 2 weeks ago...WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD GET BIG?????????????????????????? You are so big now..what happened to my babies? Don't get me wrong, I don't miss all the pumping and frustrations from trying to convince you to eat, but dang, you're big. I miss my small little cuddle bugs. The most cuddling I get now is in the middle of the night when you wake up upset (and even that, thankfully while sad at the same time), doesn't happen all that often. :( Oh well, I guess I have pictures to remember how cute and adorable you little stinkers were.

Your first birthday was AMAZING. I hope you two had a great day... I know Mommy and Daddy did. All in all it was a MUCH better day for ME (and I'm sure your Dad), than your actual birthday was. NO worring about if you'd be okay and how long of a NICU stay we were looking at, and for me, no constant throwing up and all the other fun stuff that being a new mommy brought with it! WE went out to breakfast and got you pancakes along with strawberries and bananas for your birthday. I'm positive that the people at First Watch remembered us for awhile after we left..or at least you two with all the food you donated to the floor!

Eating our Breakfast at First Watch....

A family picture before you Birthday Dinner!

We had a great time playing and just enjoying you guys! Then we had all the grandparents over for dinner. I know you had a great time being spoiled by all of your Grandmas and Papas and your crazy Uncle Mike...and you know that they love you of course! You are so spoiled and I hope that some day you don't turn into unmanageable brats! :) I do however know that you two are going to be MAJOR clothing divas...which is fine by me! :) As long as the grandmas continue to help out!

Sitting in your new chairs from Grandpa Gale and Grandma Vicki

Those darned Grandpas...they get you into trouble everytime! Whose in charge of them and making sure THEY behave????????

Livi Hanging on the Patio table!

Sydney watching us eat from her Pack N Play!

YOu certainly seemed to enjoy your birthday cakes...it was so cute watching you explore these new interesting foods and the textures found in the cake. Sydney, you much preferred to eat the icing and cake, where as Livi wanted to play in the icing and get her hands all messy. I especially enjoyed when Livi shared some of her cake with Sugar...just what we need a sick dog and a large vet bill! :) NOt that sharing our food with the dogs is a new trick for you guys by any means...you've been doing it for awhile...but turkey and sweet potatoes/bananas/raspberries/strawberries, etc. are MUCH better for the dogs than icing and cake! I suspect you'll be doing this OFTEN over the coming years!

hum.....let's taste this stuff...

Olivia...

Sydney....

On Saturday we had your First Birthday party, and man was it a party. 65 fun fabulous people all invited to come see you (note that 65 does not include children under the age of 5, so in actuality it was more like 87 fun fabulous people all invited to see you! :) It was so fun to see all of our friends (well, not really all of them b/c our house isn't THAT big) and family and to see all the kids interacting and playing with each other. YOur Aunt Nancy predicted that you guys were going to learn LOTS of new trickes from the other kids and boy was she right. WIthin 2 days Livi was actually pulling up and cruising our couches, which Miss. Sydney has been doing for about 2 weeks now! I doubt it will be long before we are actually walking! You guys got so many cool presents that you have been playing with for the last week and many of them that Mommy has to clean up at the end of each day so that you can continue to enjoy them fully the next day!

HEre's some of the food that we served (I took a picture for Aunt Nozomi, since she's in Japan and missed it!).

Playing around at our Birthday Party.....

Olivia..

Nikki and Sydney

Gage and Sydney

Gage & Sydney & Olivia


Olivia trying to eat Gage's new toy!
Aunt Amy & Caroline & Aunt Julie and Baby Kara...

Miss Caroline....love those eyes!

Aunt Amy, Caroline, and Olivia


Uncle Drew, Aunt Nancy, Stephanie, and Sydney...

Aunt Laura & Uncle Brent, Collin, Cameron, Brandon, and Kyra....

My favorite girls! (By the way...who told you 3 could get big too?)

Alyssa, Olivia, Peyton, Taylor, and Sydney (listed in the order pictured)!

The girls are big sisters to Baby Brendan.... note how cute he looks in his hat! :) Can you guess who bought it for him? His mama is my friend Laurie!

Mommy & Daddy with the girls after their 1st Birthday Party!

After Our Party...for dinner...wearing our 1st Birthday Bibs from the Birkenmeier triplets!

Bed and Bath time was not too long after this picture!

As I said before, it's been a great year. I have more than enjoyed all my time off with you guys this summer and I look forward to all of our adventures during the summers to come (vacations, parks, play groups, little gym, visiting friends and family, the zoo, you name it), and I fully intend to be sad each summer when my vacation is over, but know that I am a MUCH better mommy to you when I am working and helping other kids at work. I love you girls and I cannot wait for all the new and exciting things that you are going to learn this year! Now, do you think that the 2 of you could get some teeth?

Happy FIRST Birthday....

Love,

Mommy & Daddy