Happy 3rd Birthday J & M!

I really cannot quite fathom that it has been three years since the whirl-wind of events that would eventually lead to Juliana and Mia being born, late one Sunday night in August of 2006, at just 27 weeks, 2 days gestation. I can still hear their little kitten cries as they entered this world...just 2 lbs. and change...barely longer than their Daddy's hand.

For years, THIS was the birthday we looked to...the birthday where they would hopefully be fully caught up to their actual age. We hoped, we prayed, and these amazing little girls overcame. Today they are beautiful, thriving, living miracles. I will forever stand in awe of their strength and their spirit--how they could go from this...

...to this.

Sure, I hoped...but I never knew for sure how things would turn out. Juliana and Mia are and always will be the answer to a prayer we prayed many a night and many a long drive. I thank God each and every day for the gift of them, knowing full well that there are far too many people out who are still waiting for the answer to their unending prayer.

My sweet little angels...Mommy and Daddy love you more than words could ever say, more than we could ever show, more than you could ever know. Happy birthday my Mimi Bear and Juji Bear!

Status Report

Well, the girls are just doing fabulous with preschool! I am well aware it could simply be the "honeymoon" phase with tears still to come, but for now we are loving that our girls are more than thrilled to go to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays and ask about it all of the days inbetween.

One yucky side-effect, they are already sick with their first cold. It hit Mia on Saturday and Juliana last night. I haven't broken it to them that they cannot go to school tomorrow and am just praying they are well by Thursday for their birthday at preschool! That would be crushing, I'm sure. We are pretty certain at least one little boy was contagious, but not yet visibly "sick," in their class on the first day, when that same little boy sneezed green boogies all over Robert on the following Tuesday. So yes, it begins. We do have to watch colds very carefully with the girls as they can quickly go south on us and land them in urgent care and/or the hospital for breathing treatments and steroid shots. For now, my two little sickies are sleeping soundly in mommy & daddy's bed for a midday nap, humidifier on high, with Tylenol and Motrin keeping the fevers down. So glad it's not a workday for either Robert or myself after a very rough night with little to no sleep.

As for me, the school year is off to a very busy, but good start. I have Back to School Night (on their birthday, no less) I am preparing for and a district presentation to my fellow Kindergarten teachers on the new Math Adoption in a couple weeks. After that, things settle in and quiet down...we hope. My Kindergarten class started at 34 students (VERY boy heavy) and tomorrow will be whittled down to 20 little angels (this is a stretch, but I'm going to try to stay positive and hope it holds true), 14 boys and 6 girls...so still very boy heavy, but obviously better than it was.

The girls' birthday party is quickly approaching and some good-byes to the sippies, P's, and pull-ups (for Juliana). I am scheduling their first dentist appointment, a pediatric optometrist appointment, and then there is their 3 year well-check next Thursday.

Another start in a few weeks, Little Church on Sundays. Robert and I are sooooo looking forward to attending church in peace, while they attend Little Church. Should be another exciting milestone and we're hoping they do just as well with it as they have with preschool.

I'll leave you with a cute little shot of them on Jammy Day at preschool last Thursday. Love them so!

The Big Day

My sweet girls...

I love this little face...

Love those eyes...

Juliana, Daddy, and the Monkey in the Box...

Mia already into the play-dough...

Two silly girls...

One happy family...

How we left them...in the Cozy Corner with their three teachers!

What's this? A mid-day blog post on the ACTUAL day of the event...with pictures even? Shocking, I know.

But hey, that's what happens when your little angels come home exhausted from a wonderful first day of preschool and go straight to their bed and pass out within minutes of their little heads hitting the pillow, leaving me with another couple hours to myself...Thursdays are my new best friend. :)

So yes, the day went great, from start to finish. The girls were so excited to be there, in fact, when Mia woke up this morning, her first words to me were, "I'm so excited Mommy to go to preschool today. You are going to go shopping and to the gym and I'm going to play. Then you'll come get me." We had been talking this day up, so they would know the routine and we tried to do everything humanly possible to ease their anxiety. Well, it seemed to work because they were absolutely fine! No tears at all, not even a hint of sadness. They were immediately sucked into the classroom and all of the fun activities and Robert and I left at about 9:15 as they started their community time in the Cozy Corner.

We kissed Juliana good-bye and she went to sit down with the kiddos. Mia was already in the middle of the Cozy Corner and I tried to squeeze in to where she was to say good-bye, but she was certainly not worried about ME. I tapped her on the shoulder and said we were leaving and she didn't even so much as LOOK at me! How about that! Here I am, trying to ease their anxiety, following all the rules, making sure I say good-bye and don't sneak out and they couldn't care less!

We just left. And that was that.

My stomach was in knots for the next two and half hours. I cried on the way to Noah's, where Robert and I shared a bagel and much needed "us" time. That was nice, really nice, but of course all I was really thinking about was, "When is my phone going to ring? Are they okay? Did they get that we were LEAVING and not coming back for a few hours? Did they even notice we left? Are they crying NOW?" I was good though and made only one phone call at around 10:00 to let the teachers know that Mia had regressed a bit in potty learning and is now forgetting to tell us...just to make sure they remind her to go. That was it though. Really, it was.

So I toodled around town, ran errands, and checked my phone every 30 seconds for a missed call or voicemail from the preschool...but there never was one. Go figure.

At 12:00, we picked the girls up. The report? Mia apparently LOVES to paint. Well, we knew that, but they didn't. One of the activities today was to paint their hand and then put their handprint on the bathroom wall. They did that...and then Mia continued to paint...her arm, her face, her shirt, etc. She then decided to use the paper on the easel and was apparently there for a very long time per the director.

Juliana had a good day as well. And actually, there were tears from her as we were leaving. You see, this girl of mine has a love for animals, but also a serious shoe fetish. She loves to dress up in her fancy Little Mermaid shoes at home and wouldn't you know, she honed in on a box of dress up shoes this morning when we were dropping her off. In an instant, off came her shoes and on went the Little Mermaid jellies that the preschool had. She wore them the W-H-O-L-E day. Well, except for playtime in the indoor gym area. So naturally when we were leaving she wanted to put the Mermaid shoes back on. Sigh...what's a girl to do? We had to pry them away from her and that's when the tears started flowing. The director mentioned to me as we were leaving that someone had donated the shoes a while back and they wondered if anyone would ever fit into them, because they were so teeny tiny. Well, clearly they were meant for Miss Juliana's infant/toddler size 6.5 (barely) feet.

It was a perfect fit...the shoes and the school. So, so thankful the day was a good one.

And now my tummy feels a whole lot better. :)