Goodbye for now.....

Well, the day has finally come to say goodbye to Rachel and Clint.  I hoped it just wouldn't come, that they really weren't moving and that they'd be here forever.  Boo.  Its amazing how close you can grow to someone you've only known for 2 1/2 years.  I guess going through something as painful and trying as infertility with someone will do that.  There's just something comforting about finding someone that knows exactly what you are going through.  I was going through emails between us from shortly after we met the other day and tearing up at what an amazing gift Rachel really was and is in my life.  God gave her to me right when I needed her.  She prayed for me.  She prayed with me.  She shared bible verses with me that God laid on her heart for me.  She strengthened my faith when I was hanging on by a thread.  She reminded me that God is faithful and He comforts us in our troubles.  When I found out I was pregnant and she found out she wasn't, she celebrated with me.  She put her pain aside and spent the day with me, bumming around the Third Ward, shopping, eating and dreaming of life with kids.  I feel so fortunate to have been able to get to know her, to share pregnancy with her, to share the first year of our kids' lives together, to share life with her.  We have so much fun together and I will miss crashing your house on my days off to watch the kids all chase after each other.  Rachel, you are an amazing woman and Greenwood, South Carolina is a lucky town for getting you.  We will miss you SO much!  We are already counting down the days until we can come and visit you!! Muah!!! 

Last night we had a great night with Rachel and Clint - they said their goodbyes to Makenna before bed:

And then had a campfire with just the 4 of us.  It was great to be silly and just hang out with you guys one last time.  We LOVE you and already miss you SOOOOO much!!!!!

Morning giggles

Mmmmm pizza!

Triplets birthday party pics

Love you guys!!

This one cracks me up - I wonder what we were laughing at...

Mmmmm more cake!

We're gonna miss you guys.....

They were so funny with their cupcakes - Ellie was going to town on the frosting, Adelyn wanted the candle and Quincy (who chews on EVERYTHING) didn't know what to do with it. 

Happy Happy Birthday Ellie, Quincy & Adelyn!!

Happy Birthday Adelyn, Ellie & Quincy!!

Well, technically your birthday isn't for a few more weeks, but we're getting ready to head over to your birthday party as soon as I wake up from my nap.  I just wanted to let you know how much I love you all and will miss you when you move away.  Mommy wrote a little poem to go along with our gift today (picture books for each of you with pictures of me and each of you and a Milwaukee Brewers racing sausage along with a few scrapbook pages mommy put together with this poem, pictures with my best girls and pictures with Quincy, my first boyfriend) and thought it would be sweet to post it on here with a picture of us all together:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
My besties are moving
Whatever will I do?

Quincy, Adelyn and Ellie
I’ll miss you so much
Please don’t forget
To keep in touch.

I put together a book
One for each friend
Of the fun times we’ve had
I don’t want them to end.

Italian, Brat and Hot Dog
Are also for you
Always think of me
As you cheer on the Brew Crew.

This year has been fun
So many memories were had
When you start to miss me
Please don’t be sad.

Hug your sausage, read your book
and remember the fun
for soon enough we’ll be playing
together again in the sun.

God brought our mommies together
What a blessing each has been
Our lives are forever connected
I can’t wait to see you again….

Love,
Makenna

Happy Birthday, babies!!!  I can't believe you are almost a year already!!  Last year at this time, your mommy was at my house and my mommy was painting her toenails because she couldn't reach her toes anymore!!  ha ha ha ha!!

Sickly baby...

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Birthday Party!

Birthday girl is all decked out in her lollipop tutu and ready to go!

The sweets table - turned out pretty well for my first try at baking if I do say so myself:)  The cake pops seemed to be a hit.

I wanted to put something together showing all Makenna's monthly pics with her monkey.  With the "sweets" theme I had going, Oma recommended making a lollipop and displaying them all on there.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.  Her invite pic is in the middle and says "sweet girl" on it. 

I'm ready for all my friends sto show up!!

Love the little lollipop on this!

Time to hit the pool - with 80+ degree temps, the pool turned out to be a good idea

Such a happy baby

Gettin' some daddy lovin'

Post - swimming wardrobe change (love this little outfit - thanks Oma!) and time for presents - of course the boxes were my favorite:)

Mommy taught me to read all the cards before opening the presents. 

She sat so nicely while everyone sang happy birthday to her - she was smiling so big looking all around at all the people there to see her. 

Time to dig into these cakepops!

Mmmmmm

Kenna sandwich

Daddy, you are so silly

Thanks for helping me open my big present Adelyn, Ellie and Quincy!

That is one dirty girl!

Happy birthday to me!!

Oh boy, that was a lot of sugar.... I think I'm gonna be sick.

BFF's, Makenna and Adelyn

Happy Happy Birthday Makenna!!

Such a beautiful family.  They make the triple feed look so easy.  Love you Clint, Rach, Adelyn, Ellie and Quincy!!!

Sleepy sleepy baby....  Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!  What a wonderful party!!

Mom and Dad rock!

Thanks for helping me out today - came home with chills, 102.1 fever and a nasty cold and they left me to sleep for a few hours while keeping baby K busy. Even offered to make me chicken soup for dinner;).

THANK YOU!!!

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My first birthday

Mommy AND Daddy surprised me in my crib first thing this morning with...

BALLOONS!!!

I LOVE balloons!! What a fun birthday morning surprise!

And heck, I'll even sit nicely by Mr. Monkey one last time with my new balloons:) 

She was a happy happy girl!

And sitting so nicely in her chair, too

Pretty pretty girl

Time for my birthday cupcake! 

OOOoooh, this is SO good!

Nothing like a balloon and a cupcake to put an end to a great day! 

Happy Birthday, baby girl!  We look forward to celebrating with family and friends this weekend! 

The birthday girls

Annaliese (the other little girl Miss Elizabeth watches) and Makenna share the same birthday!

What a Wonderful World......

I’ll never forget the first time I laid eyes on you, baby girl. It was 1:19am. After 26 hours of labor, 3 hours of what felt like I was going to push so hard my brains were going to squeeze out of my ears, there you were. Perfect in every way. Somewhere Over The Rainbow was playing in the background as we held you for the first time. It’s the same song we heard when we were in Hawaii on vacation 2 years before that, waiting and wondering if you’d ever get here. The one we listened to as we lay on Makena Beach, dreaming of the day we’d hold a sweet little girl in our arms. It was the song we’d heard one morning when we went out to breakfast to celebrate my pregnancy. We walked in the restaurant and heard the part about "what a wonderful world" and my eyes teared up, thinking, indeed, what a wonderful world it was. As we read in our pregnancy book later that night, that was the day, developmentally, that your heart likely started beating. I’m pretty sure it happened that very moment we heard the song that morning in the restaurant:)

I’ll never forget the moment you were wheeled back into our room in the hospital after the nurses and doctors were done checking you out. I looked at daddy with tears in my eyes and said – “she’s really ours”. It felt so surreal that years of waiting and waiting had come to an end. You had arrived. In your own time and in your own way. God had you all picked out just for us. What a wonderful world.

As I look back over the last year, I can’t help but tear up as I type this. Its been better than I could have ever imagined. I keep saying I don’t want you to grow up, but with each new day and each new step, I love you even more. If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat if I knew it meant having you to hold every night. You truly are our little gift of happiness. Happy Birthday, Makenna Lee! We love you!!!

So, what are you up to this month?

Your personality continues to shine through. You are such a silly little girl. You love to be the center of attention and if you have everyone’s attention, you will slowly look around the room to make sure everyone is looking and then laugh and do silly things. Your favorite word continues to be “hi”. You love to say hi when we come in to get you out of bed in the morning and to every stranger you see when we are out shopping. You prefer to surprise people with your hi’s and say hi to strangers when they aren’t looking. If I try to get you to say hi to people, you get all shy.

You still aren’t walking, but are getting really fast with your crawling. You pull up on everything and are into EVERYTHING these days – you love exploring. If we leave the doors open, you crawl as fast as you can toward the bathroom or the office. Your absolute favorite thing is balloons. It will make you stop crying in a heartbeat. Taking one away will make you start crying in a heartbeat. When we are at the store and you see a balloon, you can’t help but point to it and say what sounds like balloon.

You are talking nonstop, with your clearest words being dada, hi, mama, puppy, papa, up, out, water and ball. You mimic a lot of other things we say and the rest just sounds like Chinese:)

You are sleeping through the night and taking 2 naps a day – usually for an hour each. You go to bed at 8pm and wake up a little after 6am most mornings. You like to sleep with your blankie Oma made for you and you still take a nuk when you are sleepy.

You love going for walks, especially in your scooter and in your wagon. You love being outside and watching the neighborhood kids play. You also love to harass Bugsey – you crawl up to him and try to grab his collar. He wants nothing to do with you, but I’m sure once you start walking, he’ll enjoy a good game of chase with you.

Happy first birthday baby girl!! What a great year of memories its been! We love you!!!

My first first bday present

Thanks for the homemade bow Auntie Rach!

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Snack break at the zoo!

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