Black Friday

My amazing sister Allison spent two hours standing in line with me for two hours in the cold at Best Buy. All in an effort for me to buy my Christmas gift... And we were successful!!!!

I got a Cannon T3i bundle with the camera, extra lens, camera bag, and a 16gig memory card. I am one happy lady and can't wait to show off pictures with it!!! I took a ton of everyone watching the UGA GT game but haven't had the time to go through them... theres only 300+....

Five Months

I can hardly believe my little itty bitty babies are five months already!!! They are no longer itty bitty babies. But big! And they have such personalities. They turned five months on Thanksgiving with the whole family here, so it was a busy day! I was not able to get Hannahs weight.

I love this because she is looking up at the bear like what the heck is this thing!

I took Sarah Grace to the doctor on Monday so I know that she weighed in at 12lbs 4oz.

She's looking at that bear like what the hell is this, is it going to attack, get it away!!!

Still a little unsure about this bear...

And look at this can you believe it she is getting so strong!!! We have had her sleeping on her stomach, and since then we have seen such huge improvements!!!

Of course I had to take some of them together.

I just love little baby legwarmers, and have two dozen pairs.... which really isn't that many when you think thats only 12 different pairs....

And I love that when you lay them beside each other they look for each other, at each other, and since they are reaching and grabbing for things, they tend to hold hands:)





Hannah & Sarah Grace: The Beginning

I love photos and albums. For the girls first Christmas I created these photo books for them that tell the story of their birth and the time we spent in the hospital. Every year on their birthday they will be given books for the previous year. I cried writing this book, but am very pleased with the outcome and can't wait for them to come in the mail!!!

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Hannah

I've noticed lately that I don't say as much about Hannah so this post is devoted to her! Hannah when she was a little bit younger was known as Handza because she always always always had her hands in her face. Above her head all over the place. At night we would swaddle her and if she got her hands out she would wake up screaming, but she would try so hard to get those hands free!!!

 

She has for the most part grown out of this habit. Although we still swaddle her every night and she still wakes up screaming when she finally gets those hands free! We invested in something called a miracle blanket and I have to say it has been a miracle for us! Whats sad is even now at 4.5 months we still use it and she is growing out of it. I have no idea what we are going to do when it no longer fits. 

Hannah is my little firecracker. Where Sarah Grace is soft and gentle and quite Hannah makes up for it. She is loud and proud!!! And she will let you know what she wants and when. 

Her first cry and she hasn't stopped yet! 

This girl is growing up way to fast. She is such a busy body she always needs to be upright and looking around she doesn't want to miss anything! 

It was just a few days ago that my little sunshine rolled over for the first time. And yes I said she's my little sunshine because yes even though she can cry she is normally a very happy baby.

I love her expressions, this one just previously she had been looking at the bunny and she turned and looked at me and was like what the heck is that?

Ok I like the bunny!

And yes she is balancing herself, in fact moments after this photo I took this photo I let go, and she was able to hold herself up. Only for a few moments, but before I know it she'll be up and running. She really is such a  good baby. 

Some Days are Harder

Some days are harder then others. Well I should say some moments are harder then others. The bad days are few and far between. Usually it happens in moments, she looks at me a certain way or something happens, or someone says something. Well in the past few days I've had two such moments that T21 just hurts, not Sarah Grace, but T21. 

A few nights ago Harmon and I were watching something on tv. I can't remember what but it involved someone having to bury their own child. And my initial thought was no parent should ever have to bury their own child, it's just not ok. And then I did it, I did the math the average life expectancy of someone with T21is 60 and I'm 26. Then I started looking around my family tree at the women. And it doesn't matter what the odds are I should not be in tears over the fact that maybe one day I might have to bury my baby. 

Today I don't even know what brought it on but I had the overwhelming feelings of pity for Hannah. I've read the research and stories of how enriched siblings of people T21 think their lives. And what a blessing they think it is to their life. And maybe one day I will feel that way to. But today is not that day. My baby is a blessing but her having T21 is not. It still hurts, it still stings. I think of Sarah Grace and T21 as two different things, things that don't relate, shouldn't go together. Anyway back to Hannah, I hope and pray that she never feels like her sister is a burden or that she has to be responsible for her sister. I don't want her to ever feel... idk I just want her to lover her sister. 

Believe it or not I have been doing a really good job of not worrying about things like the the fact that acute lymphoblastic leukemia is 10 times more at risk in children with T21 then the general public. Things like increased rates of thyroid disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, hearing and vision problems. The much higher risk of having Alzheimer's. 

For now Sarah Grace is an extremely healthy baby and we have been blessed beyond measure not to be having to deal with so much that so many with T21 do have to deal with with their new babies, 50% of babies born with T21 have congenital heart disease. 

Our prenatal screening for T21 came back completely normal. And sometimes I wish I had known in advance, but other times I'm glad we weren't told until she was 48 hours old. It gave us time to bond with her without having to think or worry about anything else but the two prefect babies God had given us.