outside

It was beautiful Saturday so we decided to spend some time as a family in the back yard!!  It’s so nice to slowly start doing things as a family.  I know I won’t know what to do with myself in April when we don’t have to send one person with Brady while the other stays with the babies!  It’s all worth it, don’t get me wrong, but I’m so looking forward to being somewhat normal again!

Anyway..back on track.  We took the babies outside and played.  I think they liked it what do you think?

 

This might be my all time favorite picture of Kaden!  I feel like he’s yelling AMEN in the middle of a sermon!!

sweet little girl with her mischievous smile!!

big brother was too busy showing the babies how to play baseball, soccer and how to swing…no time for posing!!

daddy’s helper

Brady and I were getting ready for church this morning (Jeff stayed home with the babies…we’re not quite ready for a church nursery yet!) and I walked in from drying my hair to find this!

His pants needed ironing…and of course he had to help daddy!!  Yes this is another one of those moments he will kill me for later, but I thought this was hysterical!!! 

Such a sweet little guy…even with his socks pulled up like that!!!

The 2 culprits

The first culprit made it’s appearance last weekend and the second followed closely behind……these two little boogers are behind all the fussing, drooling and chewing this little girl has been doing!!bless her little heart!!!  They might be little, but they pack a mean punch!!!  The 3rd is actually breaking it’s way through (on the top) right now!  Now wonder she’s been a little cranky! 

SO Karsyn – 3……Kaden 0…….surely they’re on the way…otherwise I’m going to think his crankiness is  a personality trait!!!

sleepy boys

there’s nothing cuter than a sleeping baby!

except for maybe 2 boys that couldn’t make it through movie night!!  Must have been a rough day!

All the while the boys are lounging around on the couch, Karsyn and I were busy cleaning and cooking for them! 

daddy’s game…revisited

My friend and Clear Brook’s Athletic Trainer took some cute pictures (with her fancy new camera) when we were at the game on Saturday that I thought I would share!  As I was visiting with her, posing for pictures and watching her take pictures of my son I suddenly realized how old I am!!!  You see, I remember a much younger, more energetic,  naive Kim that used to sit and chat with Cathy……10 years ago!  The 23 year old version of me who’s biggest concern was how to pose while holding my volleyball (with another coach who shall not be named…. Mandy Scott) for the photographer who was supposed to be there taking pictures of our athletes!!!  Those chats used to be centered around where I needed to go for xrays because I’d fallen off the bus and fractured my ankle…then they focused on what hand specialist I needed to see because I crushed my finger in a car door while shopping for wedding dresses….are we seeing a trend here?  Now we discuss her children in college, my babies and watch my 3 year old pretend to drive the gator…which by the way we didn’t have 10 years ago!!!  Wow…things have changed a bit!  Coaches have come and gone, job titles have changed,  life experiences have certainly made us stronger, and the friendship still remains!!  Together Cathy and I could probably write a pretty comical book about the things we’ve seen, heard, and been a part of here at Clear Brook…..some of you reading this just got VERY nervous!!!  All of this to say I’m thankful for Cathy, the experiences we’ve shared, the grief she always gives me, and for the fact I can call her up anytime and ask for injury/medical advice for me or my family….oh who am I kidding..it’s always for me!!!

Now on to the pictures!!!

Brady in action

wanna go for a ride girls?

The boys!!!   

congratulations daddy!  This is what I’m hoping he was saying…in all actuality it was probably something more along the lines of “can you take me to chuck e cheese?”

mommy and her sweet boy!  See here’s another difference….10 years ago I wore make up and fixed my hair!!

The Brewer’s minus the K’s

cabin fever

after being stuck in our house for almost 36 hours, Brady and I jumped at the opportunity to go to Daddy’s game on Saturday afternoon!  The weather was beautiful and Brady was so excited to see Trenton (who’s daddy had a game too!)!

The pictures are from my phone…not great but they’ll do!

watching daddy’s girls!

cute boys!!  Can’t believe how grown up they’ve become and I’m so glad they still love hanging out and playing with each other!

sharing a little snack!  

our first of many games!!!  Keep up the winning girls!!!

On a side note…Trenton gave Brady the hat he has on his head.  Brady is in LOVE with it and has yet to take it off!!!  I’m sure you’ll be seeing it more!

all dressed up with nowhere to go

just because it’s cold and you can’t leave the house doesn’t mean you can’t look cute!!!

My friend Gretchen make precious pillowcase dresses!  Karsyn has been the lucky recipient of quite a few so we decided to dress up on Friday!!!  Gretchen, Karsyn said she’d gladly be your model when  you open your etsy site!!!!

How cute is she?

Thanks Gretchen for the precious dresses!!!

What do you do…

When the snow you promised your 3 year old turns out to be ice and your stuck in your house all day? 

You…..

bounce in your exersaucer…..

 

smile sweet smiles for your crazy mom who won’t put down the camera

 

make a train cake with whatever candy decorations you can find in your pantry…..

gotta love fruit snacks, dum dums, pez, pretzels, and apple jacks!  

build a fort!

   

put  a superhero hat on your brother

and a mask on your mother….

make sure your brother wears his hat the “cool” way

dress up like a superhero…..in your jammies

 

pass out on the floor from all the playing

 

sweet little bum in the air!

make sure everyone has on a hat!!

Karsyn….where are you?

big brother is the funniest!

sweet Brewer babies with their hats!

We were very sad to miss out on the snow.  Grandma came over the night before so she could be here to play with us….she didn’t get to play in the snow, but she sure got in her fair share of playing with a 3 year old suffering from cabin fever!!!  All in all it was  fun day full of fun family time and lots of cuddling to stay warm!

How is it possible

that I am starting to even think about, let alone plan the twins first birthday?

To say this year has flown by seems a little odd.  Obviously the first 4 months (122 day to be exact) of their lives were some of the longest of mine.  But here we are with two precious, almost 1 year old babies.  This strangely is a very emotional time for Jeff and I.  Remembering that day brings back the strange mix of emotions we felt for so long and still feel quite regularly…..shock, disbelief, fear, excitement, thankfulness, fear, joy, fear…you get the picture! 

As we begin to think about how to celebrate this day, it’s difficult because for us it is so much more than just a birthday.  It’s a celebration of the family we are today that we weren’t sure we would get to be a year ago.  It’s a celebration of these two precious little babies that have endured more in one year than most of us endure in our lifetime.  And most importantly it’s a celebration of how God has blessed us in this year and how amazing it is that we’ve literally felt as if we were being held in His hands every step of the way. 

The thing Jeff and I want to focus the most on is being thankful.  We’re thankful for our children, thankful for the doctors, nurses and practitioners that took such good care of our babies, thankful for the many friends and family members that helped us in so many ways, and thankful for the journey God gave us and the changes that brought to our lives. 

The journey is one that few people understand, and Jeff and I want to celebrate having made it through 1 year by helping other families going through similar situations.  I vividly remember those first few weeks when I could do NOTHING to help my babies…I found such comfort in the smallest things that made this journey seem less scary.  One thing that made me smile was the blankets I made to put on their isolettes and to use as sheets in their isolettes.  Yes a blanket is very trivial, but it made me smile and made me feel like my babies were normal in the midst of all their wires and machines. 

Jeff and I have decided that on their actual birthday we will be taking the babies back to the NICU’s at women’s and children’s hospitals to donate blankets and other fun items (hats, bows, etc).  We will attach a tag with the babies names, birth weights and weights this month, and our favorite preemie prayer.  There were so many families – NICU survivors if you will – that reached out to us during our journey.  Complete strangers that covered us in prayer, that we now share a forever  bond with.  It was comforting to read and hear those miracle stories during the tough times.  It gave us a strand of hope to hold on to when around every corner we were warned of the worst.  God gave us this journey and it is our desire to use every bit of it to glorify him in any way we can!  Hopefully, with these blankets, we can!

I’m not certain what the purpose of this blog actually is…..emotions have hit us so hard in the last week or so that I really felt I wanted to document and share.  If you take nothing else….and if you’re even still reading :)…. please know that as we prepare our celebration, every conversation Jeff and I have centers around how thankful we are for those people that carried us through the hardest time in our lives.  Without the prayers, dinners, donations, and thoughtfulness of so many of you we would not be celebrating today.  We are so thankful for the many Angels God placed  in our lives. 

And bear with me in the next month…I’m sure this is ONLY the beginning of the sappy, reminiscent blogs!!