Happy Birthday

What an incredible day! THIS was the best day... so far :)

A few weeks ago I mentioned to Samuel's nurse and the nurse manager that the big 1st birthday was just around the corner... and I was shocked by the response. Because Samuel was strong enough for fieldtrips, they threw out the idea of having the party in the hospital - WITH Samuel! All three babies together. I felt like I was floating.

When I realized Samuel wouldn't be home for his birthday, the idea of having a party without him weighed really heavy on my heart. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure how I would make it through that day... I hated that I wasn't over the moon about our babies first birthday. Then, this idea came. We immediately jumped at the idea and they booked the conference room down the hall from the PICU. Now I was over the moon about their party - they would get to be together! YEA!

Samuel, Olivia, and George have not been able to spend much time together. Due to infection/germ control (which we are extremely thankful for), Olivia and George are not allowed to visit Samuel. They have taken 3 pictures together... one before G and O left the hospital, one when we feared for S in July, and one for our Christmas picture. During each of these, interaction was minimal and the goal was in, take photo, out. This birthday was also a chance for them to catch a few minutes together!

The birthday party was incredible! With help from friends, we turned the conference room into a blue and pink fiesta! A few friends from Beaufort came (back to that infection/germ control), and we were shocked at how many of the docs, nurses, therapists, etc. were able to come. It was overwhelming to see how much people care for these babies... a parent couldn't ask for more. At one point during the party I realized I hadn't really looked anyone in the eye for a while... but I knew if I did, the waterworks would come and not stop. I also gave a very uncharacteristically short thank you speech... again, I knew if I spoke one more word, the joy and appreciation would have started bubbling out. I cry enough, I prefer not to do it in public if it can be avoided :) Plus, honestly, I knew that it I let that crack open, I wouldn't be able to stop. I'm not sure I've ever been so overwhelmed with thankfulness.

I still can't believe we have triplets... much less three 1-year olds :) The word "lucky" just doesn't seem to cut it!

Let the fun begin! And yes, you better believe I was determined those hats would be worn!

Dad and the birthday girl share some pre-cake sub sandwich... nice to see DB giving Olivia a chance and not eating the entire sub in one bite :)

I think George likes his birthday! That, or he's happy to see all of his hospital friends again :)

Welcome to my, I mean, our party!

Samuel makes his entrance!
This was a bit tricky, he wasn't having a great morning. Go figure, even though we planned a start time for the party, and even a time for cake, Samuel had his own timeline... the story of his life! I think he wanted to be sure everyone had time to arrive before the cake eating began. Samuel couldn't stay too long, but the time when all three babies were in the same room was incredible.

Cake!!!!!

George dug right in!

Samuel was way more interested in the people at the party :)

Olivia followed George's lead and made a mess!

Hey, I wasn't finished... where did my cake go? Oh well, I still have all of this frosting to play with!

Alright, I'll try some... yum!

What a cute mess!

Hi dad!

I just couldn't choose. Love these both... especially poor George, thank you for trying so hard to smile :)

Hi Samuel!

Mom almost didn't make it past this moment without tears... then we all got a good laugh as Olivia went for Samuel's trache :)

In line for seconds? Or, just scrape the icing off of dad and onto a plate. Ew!

Mom and her boys.

What? The party is over? No way! Come on favorite cousin...

We are NOT finished celebrating!

Then there's George, as usual you can tell when the party is over :) Thanks for the cuddle 'aunt' Brooke!

One Year!

What a year! A picture is worth a thousand words... (Just a reminder, these animals fit in the palm of my hand!)

Olivia and her octopus - 2 lb 12 oz

Olivia and her octopus - 21 lbs!

George and his crab - 2 lb 10 oz

George and his crab - 17 lb 8 oz!

Samuel and his turtle - 1 lb 9 oz

Samuel and his turtle - 17 lbs!

A thousand words don't cut it for this one... it just takes my breath away...

Samuel with dad's wedding ring, then...

... Samuel with dad's wedding ring, now!

What a difference a year makes!

A Good Week

Our family has had a really good week! It has also brought a roller coaster of emotions as we count down to tomorrow - the first birthday :)

George had a follow-up cardiology visit today, and he got a huge thumbs up! The PDA and ASD look great. They are very pleased with the devices! We will have another follow up in 6 months, at which time they will probably stop the daily aspirin, and another in 3 years just because he was so young when both procedures were performed. Good day!

Olivia is truckin' right along :) She is all over the place. I am sad to report that the mohawk is officially no more. We miss it! It has been replaced by more bows, but it's just not the same.

Samuel has had a great week! On Saturday I got a chance to chat with his pulmonologist, which I loved, and one of the big pieces of info was that they would like Samuel to be 'event free' for 3 weeks prior to going home. He had some pretty major events the last half of December and the first half of January, kind of like really terrible asthma attacks, but requiring lots of intervention and support from the nurses, docs, and RT's. I can't believe I'm about to put this in writing, but his last event was on January 16th... a week and a half ago. We are so scared to be excited, but no matter how many times our excitement of bringing Samuel home is crushed, we just can't help but let our hearts soar with every day that passes without an event. We have yet another potential come home date for mid-February... and again, we are hopeful :)

I was really worried about this week... I was worried that even though we have so much to celebrate, I wouldn't be able to be as joyful as every mom should be on their child's first birthday because Samuel isn't home. Turns out, thank God, joy had it's own plan! We have spent many moments this week reminiscing about this time last year... a year ago Saturday, my girls came for a baby shower... a year ago Monday, I called the doctor to say something didn't feel right... a year ago Tuesday, we got the news that Samuel needed to come and we decided to deliver early... a year ago we were so scared. Then tomorrow came, and we were overjoyed to meet our children! Yes, we were still scared, and we never could have imagined what the year would hold, but it didn't matter - our babies were here! And now they are about to turn a year old - praise God! I have never experienced such joy, or pain, as in the last year... but the joy wins :)

A few pictures from our week...

Olivia is on the move! And has figured out how to take her things with her :)

Who needs the toys, when you can play with the bucket?!

Just making sure no one takes my trache collar while I'm sleeping :)

George talking to himself in his fort :)

Watch out mom and dad, your counter tops aren't going to be safe much longer!

Hi handsome :)

This laugh is contagious!

Morning!

Rewind - everyday December

In the midst of all the big moments in the last few weeks, I missed posting on some everyday cuteness :)

Nothing better than seeing Samuel play with his toys :)

Excuse me, pass your glass over here please!

Daddy couldn't be prouder :)

Yelling, or singing really loud? Cute either way :)

I'm pretty sure the song is All By Myself... don't wanna be all by myself...

Awaiting the third stooge :)

Bath time makes me happy!

George gets his first drum lesson... great fun until the spoon jumped out and knocked him in the forehead!

Excuse me, have you seen my puffs? I could have sworn there were two more somewhere?!

Rewind - New Years

The few days between Christmas and New Years were filled with George's procedure, getting ready to move, and of course visits with Samuel... and a visit from Jeb and Tish! They were here for all of those things, and we had such a great time together :) Plus, it was a crazy few days, and they stepped right in and were so helpful. Talk about great timing!

Like GrandMo and GrandDo's visit, I found myself getting to the end of the visit without many photos... but I love these two.

We love our uncle Jeb! Too funny, the paint in Jeb's hair was entirely too telling of their visit. So much for a vacation, besides enjoying our time together, they painted, cleaned, and helped pack. Thank you!

On New Year's Eve we may not have had hats or noise makers, but we had more than enough smiles :)