Baby Woowis

Oh my word I love my little boy.  I don't know if its like this for everyone, or if it will be with each of my full-term children, but I fell instantly in love and attached to this sweet baby.  I'll never forget the moment I held him for the first time, quickly after birth.  That in itself was so refreshing.  He has been a very easy, happy, smart and smiley baby.  He picks up on things quickly which makes me a little nervous for the next few years, but I'm sure I'll still enjoy being his Momma.

Since we were with a big chunk of family on vacation a few weeks ago we decided to go ahead and have a birthday party for Louis.  I always joke about Louis being the heir to the throne (first male, royal name), so a "King Louie" party seemed appropriate.  Having William and Kate add Louis to Prince George's name just solidified our choice in party themes.  I knew I had good taste in names.

We celebrated 15 birthday's over those four weeks we were together, and Louis' was one of the last, so we kept his party pretty simple.  By the way, I recently got my first digital DSLR and haven't sat down to truly figure it out.  Really I need a class.  Some of these pictures are great, some could be much better.  And there are a bazillion of them.  Sorry :)

We went with simple decorations and copycat Portillos chocolate cake (and smash cake)

The King himself

Pin the crown on the King

Make your own crown (or tiara)

Sporting the pre-made gold crowns

The family

Singing and "smashing" the cake didn't go over so well with him.

After the cake we headed to the beach to send off 20 Chinese sky lanterns like in Tangled.  We only managed to send one off.  Now we have 19 more to do another day!

The cake was a big hit with Louis and Millie the next morning.  Seems our little King was just too sleepy to party.

Love this little boy so much.  I'm so lucky I get to be his Mom.  Have I mentioned he gives squeezes now?  It's wonderful.

Rachel

     I don't really write about Millie being a preemie much anymore.  The truth is it doesn't consume my thoughts like it once did.  I love that experience, but I've kind of moved on.  Thankfully she has very few daily reminders of her miraculous beginning.  Can I blame the constant whining on that?

     When we're meeting people for the first time it occasionally comes up.  Sometimes I refer to her riding the mini-bus to preschool which is only a privileged given to the "special needs" children.  Other times we talk about her glasses and why she has them at such a young age.  Most of the time these conversations don't go far.  Most people just nod in acceptance and ask how long we've lived here or how old Louis is.

     Today I met an incredible neighbor on the playground.  She asked a few questions about Millie and then shared with me the story of her daughter, Rachel.  She was born just a little bit early which turned out to be a good thing.  She appeared completely healthy, but the neonatologist noticed something unusual and figured out she had a heart condition.  She had surgery at 6 months old to correct her condition and was given at 98% chance of survival from the surgery.  She passed just days after the surgery.

     I couldn't help but flip back to Millie as a tiny baby.  I couldn't imagine knowing her for 6 blissful months and then her being gone.  It reminded me of that terrible night in the NICU where we witnessed a baby pass away right outside of Millie's room.  It was too much to handle.  I actually teared up a little as she was telling me the story, about 3 minutes after meeting her for the first time.

     She went on to share with me a little bit more about her.  She has a son going into 2nd (there at the playground) who she adopted miraculously after 7 years of infertility.  I was just blown away by how quickly I learned about this sweet woman.  I can attribute that all to having Millie miraculously.  It was a blessing then, and the experience still blesses me today.  It could have possibly taken me years to learn so much about a neighbor that I might run into once a year on the playground.

     I am so thankful for her birth, her 135 days in the NICU, and especially every day since.  Isn't she beautiful?

Peaceful and Beautiful

We're at Siesta Key (wrapping up week 3) and loving it.  I've been surprised at how stressful it is for me to be here.  Keeping two kids safe, clean-ish, kind-ish, and fed in a busy house full of family doing the same for their kids is exhausting!  I do get help, but it still wears me out.

It's worth it though.  The beach is beautiful.  It warms my heart to see my children take to the sun, sand and water like they live in Florida or something.

The best part of it all is seeing my sweet cousins that I have loved and admired as babies doing the same to my sweet children.  They fuss over Louis, taking turns holding and singing to him.  I sort of wish we was more of a tiny baby so all of their hard work truly paid off.  They love my sweet Millie and endure her screaming, whining, and scowls when she's all-too-often grumpy these days.  They are always excited to see her even if she gives the impression the feeling isn't mutual just that second.  She has her good moments, and looks up to these kids so much.

I just crawled into bed and caught a glimpse of the most beautiful and peaceful face I've ever seen.  I'm sharing a bed with my sweet Millie.  It's amazing how just one sight can make your heart full and your mind race with thought that you need to write or you might burst.

I keep reminding myself that my kids are just this age for so long, soak up all you can.  I do.  I love it.  They are sweet, giggly, loving, and fun.  I do everything I can think of for them.  I do my best to capture these memories, not often in a blog post.  I'd like to blog more.  No promises :)

Just in case I still have any readers out there, what do you do to feel like you're still using your brain?  I'm not in school and my "job" requires lots of strength, patience, and endurance, but I don't find it mentally challenging.  What do you do to feel like you're still thinking and learning?

Here are a few pictures from our little vacation: