My Nanny::It's Her Birthday

Today is my Nanny's birthday.  She would have been 73.  

Kristen, Nanny, Me and Ava, my Mom

We lost her very unexpectedly in May.  

Nanny with Elvis :)

I just know that she is in Heaven spoiling Hazel rotten.

Nanny holding Hazel

She was a great woman.  Funny. Sassy. Kind.

Nanny and Hollyn (She never got to hold Hew)

Tonight we are celebrating her birthday at my Mom's.  Pajamas (her basic attire) and Popsicles (the kids favorite treat that she always had on hand).  

We sure do miss her, but oh the time she is having in Heaven!  I know she is healed from the ailments that effected her here on Earth.  And I know she's celebrating even more this year because of that.  I know that I will see her again one day.  

Happy Birthday Nanny!  We Love You!

What's in a Name?

All 4 in one shot

Naming kids is a hard task.  There is a whole realm of things that you have to take in to account.  How can any name be turned in to an unpleasant nickname?  How does it sound for a child AND an adult?  Will I still like it in a couple of years?  It's a lot to consider.  I'm glad that Matt was big on helping me name our kids because I can't imagine having to do it alone.

Here are our kids names and a little about how they came to be. 

Laurie Ava
For us, naming Ava was easy.  We talked about baby names before we were ever pregnant.  We were those type pf planners.  We had a boy name and a girl name already decided on before we ever saw the positive pregnancy test.  We picked Laurie Ava for our first born daughter.  They aren't family names. They are simply names we loved.  And they suit her.


**I have to preface the triplets names by saying we had once again already decided on a girl name and a boy name before learning that we would soon {too soon} welcome 3 babies.

Hazel Frances
Hazel was the name we had picked for our potential next girl.  We loved the name and that it was an old name.  We like old names.  It also happened to be Matt's paternal grandmother's name.  We had such a hard time deciding on a middle name for her but finally decided on Frances, my maternal grandmother's name and the name of the sweet nurse from our fertility office who was always such an encouragement to us. (My grandmother has since passed away and I just know she is taking care of my little Hazel for me.)

David Matthew, Jr. {Hew}
Hew's name was our name for our potential boy.  He is named after his Daddy.  I had a teacher in high school that her son was a third and they called him Hew off of Matthew and I LOVED it.  And it just so happened that I married my very own Matthew and was able to have my very own Hew.  :)

Hollyn RoseAnn
Bless her heart...Hollyn's name was the only name undecided when we got the news that we were having triplets.  And it just so happened that both of the names we had decided on for our potential boy or girl started with the letter H.  We tossed names back and forth for a few weeks when Matt found Hollyn.  We fell in love with it and that it wasn't a common name but it isn't too out there in uniqueness.  Her middle name is a combination of both of our moms (and Matt's maternal grandmother's) names.

We love our kiddos names!

What are your kids names?  Any fun stories to go with them?

Weekend Wrap-Up

Y'all...this weekend was a doozy.  It started out great and ended crappy.  :)  Here's the weekend wrap-up.

Friday night Matt took Ava on her daddy/daughter date.  She was so excited. She talked all day about what she would wear, where they were going. She was just tickled!  I loved it!  She picked out the perfect outfit.  It was all just too cute. 

Daddy and Ava before heading out the door for their date.

Daddy let her pick where they went and she picked her favorite, Red Robin.  After dinner, he took her for dessert at the Great American Cookie Company.  Again, her pick.  She had the best time.

Saturday we went and visited with Matt's family that came up to visit. After we ate breakfast we headed back home to clean.  We went to the basement to get a level to hang some shelves and discovered that our washing machine had backed up into the basement.  NOT COOL!  Matt tinkered around with it and by Sunday we still hadn't figured out what was wrong.  By Sunday night...the toilet wouldn't flush.  Ugh!  Long story short...the septic tank people came out this morning and pumped our tank (we thought that was the problem).  That didn't solve our problem. Our house is so old that our pipes underground collapsed and it's causing huge problems.  They are coming back out tomorrow to fix it.  Oh joy!  And that's how my weekend ended crappy.  :)  I hope y'all has a great weekend!

Big News!!!

I had intended to write earlier today during the babies' nap time but apparently they are plotting against me and decided not to nap. Big honkin' sad face.

But! We just got the results from Hew's over night oxygen study. He passed with flying colors!!!!! This little boy is oxygen free!

Thank you, Jesus, for Your wonderful blessings!

PS Matt and Ava have a little Daddy/Daughter date tonight! She is so excited and I can't wait to share with you the outfit she has decided on.

Christmas 2012

December 27, 2012

We've had a great Christmas season so far.  I am soaking up this time with my sweet little family.  I haven't taken very many pictures and for once I am ok with that.  I am trying hard to be present and unplugged.  Our family needs this down time this year.

I pray that each of you have had a great Christmas season and that God has blessed you in some way.  I know he has us.

Merry Christmas!

Nutcracker Ballet

December 22, 2012

Yesterday we took Ava to see the Alabama Ballet perform the Nutcracker.  She loves all things dance so we figured she would enjoy seeing "real" ballerinas dance.  And we were right...she LOVED it!

Before the show we were able to meet 2 of the performers.  Ava was in awe of them.  They even had cookies and lemonade for us to munch on.

 

After the first act ended they turned on one of those bubble snow machines and all the kids had a blast playing under the snow.  

We ended our evening with a dinner date.  We had such a good time spending some much needed quality time with our first born.

Lunch With Daddy

December 21, 2012

Today we went and ate lunch with Daddy.  We wanted to see his new office and such so me made the haul out there.  Seeing him in the middle of the day was such a treat. 

Dance Party 2012

December 20, 2012

Tonight was Ava's Christmas Dance Party.  She loves taking dance so much and honestly we love watching her dance around all the time.  They did 2 cute little dances to Christmas songs.  I just love the passion she has for dance.  I am so proud of how well she does and I can't wait for many more years of sharing these moments together.

We also got to glimpse at their costumes for recital this year.  They are going with an 80's theme and will be dancing to Don't Worry, Be Happy and When I See You Smile. 

Our Gingerbread House

December 19, 2012

Tonight we made our very first Gingerbread House.  Ava has been asking to make one for about a week now and I finally broke down and bought one at T@rget.  I put my OCD tendencies aside and let Ava decorate the whole thing by herself while Matt and I watched.  We had the best time.  And I think it turned out just beautiful!

Zoolight Safari 2012

December 17, 2012

Friday night we went with Kristen and Amelia to Zoolight Safari at the Birmingham Zoo.  The kiddos had such a good time.  The lights were so pretty and of course the kids LOVED the train and carousel.  And they even had ice skating this year.  I love making these memories with my family. 

Here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone:

Ava and Amelia

We look forward to many more days at the zoo since we were gifted a membership.  We can't wait to go back soon!

Celebrating!

December 16, 2012

I really struggled with the what to do about the babies' birthday parties.  It's RSV season and I really didn't want to expose them to tons of germs.  We decided to have a low-key family party for now and then in the Summer, for their half birthday, we will have a party for those who didn't get to come celebrate these 2 little lives.

We had our parents and siblings over, and Matt's grandmother was able to come.  I cooked spaghetti and we had cupcakes.  Nothing fancy.

But oh what fun it was to celebrate these two.  A year ago it was so uncertain if they would even survive and here we are...surviving AND thriving.  God is so good!

Here are the Birthday boy and girl eating their cupcakes.

Hew

 Hollyn

They didn't get near as messy as I had hoped.  Oh well.  They took a few bites but were more concerned about going to bed.  :) Poor things.  

Finishing up this post I can see them not feeling well at all.  They started soon after this with the crud.

Well Babies

December 15, 2012

Hew and Hollyn

These 2 had their 1 year well baby checkup yesterday! Hew weighs 18lb 9oz and is 26 1/4in. Hollyn is 18lb 3oz and is 28 1/4in. They both got 4 shots today. We are so grateful that they are doing so well. 

Here is a little bit of what they are up to:

*Both are crawling machines-they are everywhere!

*Hollyn has been pulling up for a few weeks now and just yesterday, Hew pulled up for the first time!

*They both babble all the time.  Hew's favortie sound is "ma, ma, ma, ma" {melt my heart} and Hollyn's is "da, da da".  

*Hew has 7 teeth.  Hollyn has 4 teeth.

*They both are such happy babies.
*We got the ok to switch to solely table food and whole milk!!!

We are so blessed that my childhood pediatrician takes care of our kids too.  We all love him so much!  He is thrilled with how well they are doing.  WOOHOO!!!

I have to add this in...Ava was such a big help today.  I went by myself and she jumped in and helped entertain and comfort.  I am so proud of her and the little lady that she is becoming.  

This evening is the babies birthday dinner.  I can't wait to see how they look after they eat their cupcakes.  Those are some of the cutest pictures to me. 

Weaning the Oxygen

December 13, 2012

We started the weaning process this week and praise the Good Lord Hew is doing GREAT!

Here is a picture I took on Monday and posted on Instagram.  Look at that sweet cannula free face!  I love it!

We are taking a slow approach per our doctors orders.  He has us adding an hour each morning and afternoon that he is off oxygen until the only time he is wearing it is to sleep.  Then we will do an overnight study to see how his sats do.  Please pray with us that this goes well.  {We still haven't heard back from this.}

Tomorrow is the babies well-child check-up and I am so anxious to see what they weigh.  I'll update y'all on how it goes.

Long time no see!

Wow!  I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post.  I honestly didn't intend for it to happen that way.  I have posts partially written and saved...just waiting to be finished or pictures added.  BUT, life happened.  Sick happened.  Christmas happened.  Things are finally slowing down now.  I'm planning to play catch up as I have a few minutes here and there. 

Until then, Merry {belated} Christmas from our family to yours!