Partners in crime

I do know that Sydney Frances opened the cabinet, and she appears to be doing the unloading, but is Rush actually supervising and telling her what to do? Or, is he an innocent bystander who only wanted to continue to play with his bat but was pressured into holding the lid by his bossy sister?

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. :)