Friends for Life

I have been friends with Becky for over a decade.  We met at church, where she was the leader of a Bible study I was in.  At the time, she was newly married, with no children, and I was still in college.  Marriage and children for me seemed very far off at the time.  Even though she was only a few years older than me, we were in very different stages of life, and because of that, I never would have thought that she would be more than just a casual acquaintance from church.  Fast forward to today, and she has been a mentor, role model, best friend, and someone with whom I share all the ups and downs of life.  She prayed that Caleb, Wren and Judson would come into our family - probably more than we did.  She met us as we came home with Caleb for the first time - weary from traveling with a newborn.  She was with us as Wren and Judson came into the world.  I can still hear her saying to me, "You can do this, Alicia."  When I want to quit or cry or both because of the burdens of life, she tells me to do the next thing.  I couldn't imagine life without her and her encouragement. 
And her sweetness and encouragement don't stop with her.  Her daughter Anna has the sweetest and most gentle spirit.  She loves Jesus, and that love overflows in love and kindness for other people.  She is a hard worker and a model of Godly character.  Like her mom, she's beautiful, inside and out.
When I was in labor at the hospital, Anna sent me this letter:

 On the back, she wrote two verses, one of which was the verse her mother used when she was in labor with Anna and the other was the one I had chosen to help me.

Then when we returned home from the hospital, she came to visit and gave me this letter:

[I still can't believe I have three children either, Anna!]

While she was visiting, she held Wren, something that she had been looking forward to.  Can't you just see the pure joy on her face?

Even though she's older than Wren, I pray that Anna would be a role model for Wren and that they would grow to be close friends, as her mother and I are.  Who knows?  Maybe 20 years from now, we'll have a picture of Wren holding Anna's new baby...

Learning to Fly

I'm going to be honest (and all you seasoned parents of multiple children are going to find this amusing)...just a few short weeks ago I was completely overwhelmed with the thought of being alone with all three of my children at the same time.  To be real honest, I was scared of being left alone with just two of my three children!  We had gotten so used to having an extra person at the house to help right after the babies were born that even the thought of just Tony and me caring for all three of the kids at the same time was a little much.  I've never in my life taken care of two newborns at the same time for more than a few hours, let alone taken care of two newborns and a two year old...24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I remember the first time that I was left alone with Caleb and Wren.  Tony was at the hospital with Judson, awaiting his release to come home, and all of my helpers were enjoying a much deserved day of rest.  The morning went by mostly without a hitch, but when Tony called to tell me that it would likely be after Caleb's bedtime that he came home with Judson, I panicked.  I called my sweet mother-in-law (who had already spent much of the previous two weeks with us), almost in tears.  As I was starting to ask her to make the hour long drive to my house to help me, I said something along the lines of, "I guess I have to figure out how to handle this sometime, but..."  As my sentenced trailed off, she said, "Well, yeah, I did it with Tony and Brent [Tony's older brother]..."  I know she would have dropped everything she was doing to come over right then and there, but I also knew she was trying to tell me that I had to face reality and learn to manage my own household...alone.  It was then that I knew that it was time to leave the nest.  If not now, then when?  I told my mother-in-law that I would call her if I needed her but that I was going to try to handle the kids myself.  And so I did...mostly.  Granted, there was a temper tantrum that resulted in Caleb peeing in the floor out of spite and there was one point when all three of us were crying, but we all survived mostly unscathed.
It may have been a bumpy start, but since then, we've learned to spread our wings and fly (even if there are some unexpected nose dives every now and then).  Tony and I have each been alone with one, two, and three of our children, and it seems to be getting easier.  I've learned that two babies is really not much different than just one baby (or maybe that's because ours are so good?).

And I've also learned that toddlers can actually be quite helpful (with the right motivation and if they're in the right mood).  Sometimes their idea of "help" may not be the same as ours (e.g., carrying a partially open and leaky container of barbecue chicken sideways all the way from the kitchen to the bathroom so his weary mama could have a snack), but at least they try. 

Shortly after Judson came home, I made my first outing with Caleb and Wren to a local park where we walked on the trails.  While Wren slept in the stroller, Caleb and I had a great time enjoying nature.

 We've even all been out to the park and store together a few times.  Such trips usually start with Tony and me looking at each other thinking, "Are we really about to attempt this?"  Sometimes I just break out laughing because of the absurdity of it all ("Is this really happening?  Are we really driving a minivan with our three kids loaded up in the back?").  Preparing to go on these outings usually takes more time than we actually spend away from the house, but at least we got out for a while.  It doesn't always go smoothly, (Yesterday, we arrived at the park only to realize that we forgot Caleb's shoes and the double stroller for the twins.  Oops!) but we're making it!  We can do this!  Even if some of us have no shoes on...Even if there is a trail of barbecue sauce staining the carpet through our bedroom...
Thanks for nudging me out of the nest, Sheila!

Answered Prayers for Judson

Many of you have asked about an update on Judson.  I am happy to report that, thanks to all of your many prayers and the goodness of God, Judson is doing remarkably well!
As you can probably tell from some of my previous posts, Judson was taken to NICU shortly after he was born.  I knew this would likely be the case, but I had prayed that I would still have an opportunity to hold him before he was taken.  Thankfully, I did.  This was when I held him for the first time:

I wasn't able to see him again until the next day, right before he was transported to Egleston:

When he was assessed at Egleston, the team of doctors and nurses decided that they wanted to monitor him for a bit to make sure he received the most appropriate care.  After more than a week in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Egleston (which felt like an eternity!), they finally decided that Judson did not need the more invasive shunt but that he did need to have the stent placed to make sure that he received enough oxygen.  The cardiologist was able to place this stent using a catheter through a vein in his neck.  The only external way you can tell that he had this procedure is by a tiny bruised area on his neck.  He was monitored a few more days in the hospital, and then he was released to come home on Wednesday, October 28, exactly two weeks after he was born. 
While it was only two weeks (much less than it could have been), it still was so difficult!  I felt like my heart was torn in two:  I wanted to be there with him, but I also wanted to be with my other two babies at home.  More than anything, I yearned for the day when we could all be together as a family.  We visited as often as we were able to, and he had a steady stream of visits from the grandparents, too.  When we were there, it was so hard to see our little peanut hooked up to all those machines and unable to eat (he was given nutrients through an IV before he could eat by bottle). 

Not only did God answer all of our prayers in the fact that Judson only required the less invasive stent, but he also provided in that when Judson came home, he did not require an NG tube or any other monitoring device.  He was able to eat by bottle with no problems and he was maintaining his oxygen levels well while in the hospital.  This was a rarity according to all the nurses and doctors! 
Here Judson is, ready to finally come home:

 Since he's been home, he's continued to flourish, acting mostly like any other baby.  He continues to eat well and has surpassed his goals for gaining weight.  His oxygen levels are good, and the doctors have not seen any causes for concern.  Our little peanut is quite the fighter!

He's not totally out of the woods yet.  Barring a miracle, he will still have to have major surgery sometime in the early to middle of next year.  He will go to the hospital in January to see how the stent is holding up and to decide when he will have the next procedure.  So please continue to pray that the stent will hold up well; that he will continue to grow; that he will stay healthy over the winter; and that the next procedure will be delayed as long as possible.  We continue to thank you all for your prayers!  We know that God is good and faithful and that he hears all our prayers.

First Introductions

After Wren and Judson were born, we had a steady stream of visitors to meet the newest members of the family.  One of the first was Caleb who came to the hospital to meet his new baby sister and brother.  Because Judson was in the NICU, he couldn't yet meet him, but he was able to meet Wren.

 Mommy was awfully happy to see him!

I think this is when it finally clicked with him that the babies in Mommy's belly that we were always talking about were real!
We also had many other visitors those first few days, both in the hospital and at home.  Here are a few pictures we remembered to take (unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures with many of our visitors):

 When we first got home with Wren (while Judson was still in the hospital), Caleb started to show some signs of jealousy, which is perfectly normal, of course.  On the first day, he head butted Wren (although I think it was just an accident) and threatened to bite her.  And you should have seen his face when we brought Judson home!  It seemed to say, "So you really weren't kidding about that two babies thing?!  When are you going to stop bringing babies home?!"  Now, he's adjusted well to his new role as big brother.  He will kiss their heads and check on them when they're crying (with our vigilant supervision).  It's really quite funny when one or both of the babies is crying.  Caleb will scrunch up his face and say, "Crying" or "Upset."  He still has his jealous moments, but they are becoming fewer and far between.

I pray that this is the beginning of a lifelong beautiful and loving relationship between Caleb and his new sister and brother!