The Party!!! We're one!!

Yesterday was a day filled with fun for everyone! :-) There may have been a breath or two that we missed, but otherwise, I think we captured the entire day on some type of camera! Ha! I will spare you all of the pictures, although there a quite a few here!!! The babies were so spoiled by our families!!! They received so many cute and fun gifts. We have lots of new toys to play with and new clothes to wear! It was a great day!

The Twins turn ONE!!!!

It is really hard to believe this day is here. Really hard. It was one year ago today that a little over two hours ago, Phillip Rush and Sydney Frances entered this world. I was just going in for an ultrasound, mind you...one of our favorite things. We loved going to see the babies. But, this one wasn't like the others. She didn't say much and then she said "Things aren't looking like they should be looking at this point." Not what an expectant mother EVER EVER EVER wants to hear. I immediately burst into tears. She got one of the doctors to come in to talk to us. So many words were flying around.. 33 weeks, Level 3 NICU, not measuring correctly, UAB, hospital, labor and delivery, transport by ambulance... and the list goes on and on. Phil and I left and went to Labor and Delivery... my home away from home over the last three weeks. They got me all hooked up and started watching those monitors like crazy. Dr. Marino was so calm, but he had a little bit of worried tone in his voice. He made the decision that they would be delivered that day. Rush was having decelerations in his heart rate and his small measurements meant there were some growth restrictions in there for him. He also only had 3 cm of amniotic fluid in his gestational sac. Sydney Frances, meanwhile, was as happy as a lark in there. "When?" Phil asked, "how long?" "In about thirty minutes," he said. It was the beginning of a long journey to get to THIS DAY!!! I got to touch their hands before they were taken by ambulance to the nearest Level 3 NICU. I really saw them and got to look at them when they were three days old. We survived a 6 (S.F.) and 7 week (Rush) NICU stay. I am a different person because of that experience. It changed the way I look at things, and I had the opportunity to see how very lucky we were to be able to bring those sweet babies home with us at the end of their stay. I also realize how very fortunate we are that they were healthy even though they were so tiny... healthier than most babies there. (I realize that this doesn't sound like a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" post at all, but we are getting to that!!! There are cupcake pictures coming.)I just wanted to take a minute to reflect on how far we have come! These pictures tell it all.





Top photo is Rush on Aug. 20, 2008. The rest are from my first visit to see them on August 23. Phil had been going on all the days in between to visit them. For a little perspective, the diapers they are wearing in the bottom three are "preemie" diapers. They were too big.

Now.. this morning we got to celebrate with these sweet, healthy one-year-olds!!





The cupcake t-shirts were made by my friend, Lynn! LOVE THEM!!!

And tonight, the celebration continued!





Then, the day ended with a fun visit from Granddaddy. He gave airplane rides and all! Rush didn't want him to stop!


I wanted to end with one of my all time favorite pictures of the two of them. This was the first night they were BOTH home from the hospital...sleeping so peacefully in the bassinet together. AT LAST!!! Sweet dreams!

Phillip Rush, 2 lbs. 12 oz., 6:46 p.m. (right)
Sydney Frances, 3 lbs. 13 oz., 6:47 p.m (left)

P.S. The birthday party is Saturday, so there is more fun to come!

New car seats

Just some pictures of my babies in their new car seats! It was time, time, time!! Poor SF was just about to pop out of her little infant carrier. I know I used the infant carriers longer than most people ever think of using them, but I had tiny babies! We put them to very good use! We were also putting off the inevitable because installing car seats in NO FUN! Of course, I am not really speaking from experience because car seat installation falls into the "Phil" category around here. It was a very hot, sweaty, make you mad, say bad things, had to do it twice kind of job, so I am thankful for Phil on this one. For some reason, he didn't think it was all that funny when I said, "It won't be long before we have to turn them around to face the front." We are looking forward to using these seats thanks to all of my good buddies from high school who went in together to buy us the two seats before the babies were born. They are the swanky seats, too! Very nice and comfy! Thanks, girls!!! This post is for you! :-)

Meet Rufus and Jasper

Today, we met one of my best friends and college roommates, Leslie, at Hobby Lobby for a little b-day party shopping trip. Then, we went to Starbucks to hang out for a little while. She had very sweetly gotten the babies some very cute presents for their upcoming first birthday. These monkeys are named Rufus and Jasper. They came with a nametag and all. They are the cutest monkeys I have ever seen!!! Love them and the babies do too! They also got new AU t-shirts from Leslie's Mama and Daddy. Thank you, thank you! I haven't shown those to Phil yet, but they will go perfectly with the AU caps from Michelle from earlier in the summer. (This is a test to see if Phil actually reads the blog. Ha!) Apparently, though, SF's favorite gift was the fact that Leslie gave her a straw to play with at the table as you will be able to see from a GIGANTIC grin in one of the pictures! That girl has got some buck teeth just like her Mama! I feel that they are one of her very cutest traits and try to frequently get them in pictures of her. This is definitely my best tooth shot so far! This also proves once again that it doesn't take much to entertain a child. It cracks me up! We had a fun afternoon!
P.S. Is Rush wearing a toupee today? It looks like it to me! We had some crazy hair action for both babies today! I had Fran's bow in the stroller pocket in case someone called her a boy. :)

Trying new things

We have been trying all kinds of new things around here! Phil and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on August 1, so the babies went to spend the night with Gigi and Papa for the first time. This is the first time they have spent the night away without Phil or me being with them. They had a BIG TIME!!! The babies also started going to a home daycare this past Monday. I think they really do love it very much! They are very busy judging by the fact that we had to bump their bedtime up almost 30 minutes because they are so tired these days! Rush seems to be perfectly fine with being left there every day. He has not shed the first tear over being dropped off at daycare. Sydney Frances seems to be a bit more inclined to believe that I have lost my mind each morning, but she is getting better. She also cries when I get there to pick her up. It's like she realizes when she sees me again.. "Oh yeah, there's Mama and she LEFT ME.. AGAIN!!" Susan says that she only cries a little bit. I know she will be fine. I have to say that although I am very comfortable with our choice for daycare, it hasn't been easy to leave them. I am feeling some major guilt. I also miss them like crazy during the day. Unfortunately, that means that everyone at work has to listen to me talk about it incessantly. One especially unfortunate group of co-workers had to witness a crying spell in the school office. That was on Day 2. Lovely! Oh so lovely! OK. Now some pics of the fun!

Packed and ready to go to Gigi and Papa's. They won't both look at the camera at the same time.


Frantastic is very excited!


Can we go outside??


I LOVE cheesy poofs this much!


More fun with food and spoons!


Sydney Frances ready for her first day of daycare


Rush is ready for daycare, too! Rush: "I think I remember a cool ceiling fan she has there. I love fans, y'all!"


Both babies at daycare... again no way to get both to look at me.



Rush: "I told y'all she had a cool fan!!"


Love these sweet babies!!!!

Unhappy nap face

Just got up from his nap. Apparently, he wasn't interested in me taking pictures of his bedhead.