Samuel's 1st "Un-Birthday"

As of October 29, 2015 I can say that Samuel has been home for one year!  In preemie world, this day is called many things - "Un-Birthday", "Welcome Home Day", "HomeAversary", and so on.  No matter what it's called, this day means the same to all preemie parents.  It's the day that we'd dreamed of for days, weeks, months, and sometimes years.  The day we were able to bring our precious baby home.  The baby that lived day in and day out under the watchful eyes of amazing doctors and nurses.  

For those who have never experienced this, it's very hard to explain to emotion of finally being told it's okay to take your baby home.  With Matthew, we had the typical hospital stay, the wheelchair ride down to the front of the hospital while waiting for Mike to bring around the car, and the anxious car ride home with our new family member.  With Samuel, I had the wheelchair ride down the front of the hospital (per nurses order), but left empty-handed and with a huge hole in my heart.  It is so unnatural for a momma to have to leave her baby and make frequent visits throughout the day.  While we were in a good routine of our Samuel visits, his "Un-Birthday" represents the day that we no longer had to drive 20 minutes to see him.  We no longer had to call for an update in the middle of the night.  We no longer had to split our time between our two boys.  We were together as a family of 4, under the same roof, for the first time.

In order to celebrate this HUGE accomplishment, we gathered with family and friends at the Schaefers and Collins Pumpkin Patch.  It was a time to just let the kids run around and play and enjoy each others company.  It was perfect!  The weather was amazing, it wasn't too muddy, and the food was yummy!  Samuel will not remember it, but it holds a special place in my memory.  Thankfully, because I came away with only 3 pictures - oops!  I'm looking forward to celebrating Samuel's "Un-Birthday" every year because it is the day that our family felt complete and the hole in my heart was mended.

 Can you tell that Matthew is in a fun stage with picture taking?

LOVE my little Super Sam!

Pumpkin Patch 2015

A year ago, we took Matthew to the pumpkin patch as one last family of 3 trip before we brought Samuel home from the NICU.  I wasn't sure if we'd be able to venture out with Samuel this year or not, but we had the perfect opportunity in early October.  We went with my parents and sister to Motley's Pumpkin Patch in Little Rock and had SO much fun!  Mike and I had been to Motley's once before we had kids, but it had changed so much.

They had a great area with animals that you could pet and feed.  We spent a lot of time there because Matthew was in heaven.  There was a small maze made out of hay bales, a stack of hay leading to slides and a tunnel underneath, swings, a train ride, hay ride, and pig races.  So much to keep little ones entertained!  We ended our time there with the pig races which were hilarious!  To top it all off, we ran into our fave Neo from the NICU.  She had not seen Samuel since the day he left ACH.

We will definitely make Motley's Pumpkin Patch an annual trip!  

Proud after he finished the maze!

Hay Ride

Pumpkin Patch

October is here and that means cooler weather and pumpkin patches!  We decided to take Matthew to the pumpkin patch in Mayflower that we went to last year on the first cool Saturday of the month.  It was perfect!  Matthew was all over the place - playing on the slides, the sandbox, with the animals, on the hay, etc.  He even got to ride a horse for the first time.  There may have been a tantrum when the ride was over :-)  I'm so excited that we've made this a family tradition of I'm looking forward to having Samuel with us next year.

Happy Fall Y'all!

15 Month Update

I admit, I've been terrible at keeping up with this blog lately.  I'm just soaking up every bit of family time right now!  Matthew is at such a fun age and I don't want to miss a thing.  Here are a few highlights of what Matthew's been up to:

~  We went to see Dr. B this week and he gave you a glowing report as usual!  You weighed 24 lbs 3 oz and were 31.5 inches long.  Unfortunately, your height is kind of our best guess because they were off at your 12 month appointment by at least an inch.  When they measured you at your 15 month appointment, the nurse got 31.25 and the doctor got 32.5.  We just estimated your height at 12 and 15 months based on your 9 month stats.

~  You have 4 teeth (FINALLY!).  You got your first two teeth at 12.5 months, then the next two followed shortly after.  I know that more teeth are coming thru because you are drooling up a storm and have your fingers in your mouth all the time.

~  You are a busy-body like non-other (another reason I'm behind on this blog)!!  You walk/run all over the place.  You've gotten to where you really don't want to be held much because you want to move around on your own (unless you are unfamiliar with the environment).  I know we've got our hands full, but I'm looking forward to keeping up with you :-)

~  You LOVE to climb!  It started with you climbing into your toy basket.  You then learned how to climb into our bathroom cabinets, onto storage totes then on the couch, on your activity table/motorcycle/rocking chair, and into the kitchen cabinets.  You were literally all the way on the top shelf in the lower cabinets with just your little bottom and feet hanging out.

~  You are talking more and more.  You still do more babbling than saying just words, but it's adorable.  While you may not, yet, know how to say certain words, you know exactly what we're talking about.  You can say dada, mama, Bella "be-ba", uh-oh, and bye bye.  I'm amazed at how smart you are - such a proud momma!

~  You've developed a love for reading again.  It went away for a few months while you were busy learning to crawl and walk.  You especially love a book filled with animal pictures.  We are reading books over and over again with you snuggled in our laps.

~  You absolutely LOVE animals of all kinds!!!  You are only interested in books or shows that have animals.  You can identify several of them: dog, cat, cow, horse, donkey, chicken, pig, snake, monkey, lion, sheep, giraffe, elephant, tiger, polar bear, rhinoceros, bird, fish, bee, and bunny.

Now, here are a few pics of my sweet little 15 month old Matthew

 He loves his alligator!

 Like Father, like Son - spaghetti is his FAVE!

 Told ya - climbing in his toy basket, he was so proud of himself

 Meeting my BFF's babies -  which makes them Matthew's BFF's

 Checked this off the Fall Bucket List - playing in a pile of leaves

 A Saturday walk to the park - Matthew loved it!

 Reading in his first fort

 Playing in Bella's dog house

Sitting on the couch after climbing a storage tote - this was in between jumping on the couch

I love you sweet boy and am looking forward to the Christmas season with you!  You are already in awe of our Christmas tree :-)

Pumpkin Patch

Now that it's officially fall (YAY!), we are trying to get out as much as possible to enjoy the amazing weather, festive activities, and make precious memories as a family.  Nothing says fall like big, orange pumpkins - so, naturally, we went to the pumpkin patch.  We chose Schaefers and Collins Pumpkin Patch this year and it was awesome!  They have a huge play area for the kiddos, barn with baby animals, pony rides, train rides, hay rides, and a corn maze.  We all had a blast despite the rain - we weren't able to go on the hay ride because of the rain, but M had already played hard and was tired.  I'd like to go back if we have time before the season is over.  On a side note about fall - I am trying out several new fall inspired recipes (pumpkin galore) and it makes me SO happy!!!  I may have to share some of our faves :-)

Matthew LOVED the slide!  Mike's face cracks me up because his hips kept getting stuck.

M also learned that climbing up a slide is more fun than sliding down

That face - he was having so much fun!!!

Example 2 of loving climbing up the slide

He also loved the pumpkins!  He would walk around looking at and touching each pumpkin.  He also enjoyed riding in the wagon with all of the pumpkins we were going to buy.

"PUMPKINS!!!" - can you tell he had his mouth open talking the whole time???

My two boys love pigs - they were mesmerized

 

 And, of course, we couldn't leave without a few photo ops.  These are 2 of my faves :-)

I L-O-V-E this time of year and I can't wait to start many new traditions with Matthew!