It Was All SO Good!

I always think of Christmas as one of our lowest points with infertility. Christmas is the time when everyone celebrates their families. It's the time of year when it's very lonely for those who don't have kids. Four years ago we celebrated our hardest Christmas ever. We had just failed another cycle (our first cycle with Braverman) and hope was all but lost. We had tried his immune treatments and still didn't have success. About a week before that Christmas we attended our first adoption orientation and started to look in that direction. On Christmas Eve, Walt's cousin announced she was pregnant after they had just gotten married in June. It was hard. We barely made it through and I distinctly remember throwing up in the driveway after Christmas dinner and too many drinks.

This year couldn't have felt any different. We did so many fun and festive things as a family this Christmas season. We went to Lights on the Lake and the girls loved driving through the light tunnels and seeing the princesses. We cut down our Christmas tree as a family and enjoyed the hot chocolate and popcorn they had to offer for free after. We hung ornaments and lights on our tree together and listened to Christmas music. We got the girls their own little Christmas trees for their bedroom that they decorated with lights and ornaments. We made a whole bunch of handprint cards and went to a nursing home to hand them out and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We had a book advent calendar and opened a Christmas book every day to read. We made a few batches of Christmas cookies and enjoyed them immensely. We attended the Mom's of Multiples Christmas party and built a snowman. We saw Santa and had very mixed results. We went sledding for the first time as W had a few days off before Christmas and the girls LOVED it! We also got to go to Lucy and Clara's preschool for a Christmas tea and to see them sing holiday songs. In addition, we attended a Christmas Eve church service and had dinner with W's parents for Christmas Eve. Boody Mary's, my in laws, and pajamas at home on Christmas morning. It was all so good!!

Our Christmas card

Our snowman we built

Christmas pajamas

Our book advent calendar before I wrapped them all. 

We got a fireplace this year too! I loved decorating it. 

MMM Christmas party

Library fun 

Our Christmas tree!

Where we get our tree

Hot chocolate after tree hunting

Santa cookies!

Decorating our tree

Post bath crazy Santa 

decorating the tree at pop pop and Grandma Becky's house 

Baking cookies with grandma becky and pop pop 

After singing Christmas songs at preschool 

My girls

Sledding with Daddy. So much fun!!

Ready for swim lessons

Close encounter!

Christmas Eve church service 

Christmas Eve Dinner 

Reading The Night Before Christmas

Daddy's last day off so we went for carousel rides. 

This holiday season I can't forget how lucky I am to have everything we have. I have THREE beautiful girls that make life feel so full. They fill my days with laughter and joy as well as frustration from time to time. I have an amazing husband who works hard every day and a job he loves to provide for our family. He is such an amazing hands on daddy to our girls and we're all so lucky to have him.

I just feel so lucky and blessed to be where we are now. I know how lucky we are because I've seen the other side of that. I've felt heartbreak as we waited for our turn to be parents. We were so close to giving up.

"When the world says give up, hope whispers try it one more time." I'm beyond grateful I emailed Dr. Braverman when it felt like all hope was lost and he told me I had to give it one more try after that unsuccessful December cycle. He told me I had to try at least one more time in order to know if the treatment was successful or not. When all hope felt lost I had a glimmer of hope in his reply. That glimmer turned into an IVF cycle at his clinic the following month. That next month I got pregnant with twins after the hardest Christmas ever. One month and a little hope was all it took to change our fate beyond belief.

Stella 14 Months

It's getting harder and harder to keep up with these posts. Stella turned 14 months old almost 2 weeks ago but better now than never if I'm going to try to keep up.

SO cute!!

Walking out to the car by herself. 

Election day playground fun 

always the center of attention 

So teeny and cute in her dresses!

Babywearing 

She LOVES her Togee

Passed out 

Not so sure of the snow 

Thanksgiving crazies!

So many teeth now

Snoozing and cuddling with her doggie she picked for her birthday 

Christmas pajamas

Big world, little girl 

Getting a smooch from her friend Connor 

Decorating the tree

Little Stella,

You are such a little wild woman. You're in constant motion, even running now to keep up with your big sisters. You say so much and jibber jabber almost non-stop throughout the day. You are repeating and using quite a few words and we can now add pop pop, diaper, poop, sock, sweater, frog, Elmo, Elsa, Olaf, meow, kitty, baa, and I'm back to your repertoire of words. You will try to imitate a lot of words and animal sounds. This past month you nearly doubled the number of teeth you had and went from 4 to 7. Needless to say, sleep wasn't the best. You've also been sick a lot and had a pretty bad cold with lots of coughing. Preschool means your sisters brings home lots of germs. This month you learned how to climb. On to the coffee table to stand up, on to the side table next to the couch, into your box Grandpa Scott made you, on to child sized tables, etc. If I don't watch you at nearly every moment I find you often getting yourself into trouble. It's amazing the difference being mobile (and having big sisters) makes. Your sisters definitely weren't getting into this much trouble at this age. You're getting a little pickier with your eating and just LOVE to feed Togee our dog. She knows it and parks herself right next to your highchair any chance she gets. We've starting having to put her out for meals or you feed her everything. You are still sensitive to dairy and don't do well if you have too much. You still take meds for your reflux as well. We also can't feed the dogs unless you're in your highchair or bed these days since you don't leave them alone. While Togee will still eat that way, I think it scares Pepper away and then he doesn't end up eating. You've had a few good nights of sleep where you were only up once to eat and went right back to sleep, but that's not the norm. I'm hopeful we'll get better sleep when you're not teething or sick. You are beyond exhausting to your mama since you're in constant motion. You're always getting into things or causing trouble, but it's a good thing you're so darn cute. You are the teeniest little walker/runner around. I love putting you in dresses and tights since you're so great at walking. I didn't get to do that with your sisters until they were quite a bit older. You are such an outgoing little girl and are friendly to most people you meet. You weren't super sure of Santa and cried once Clara did, but usually you're great with strangers. I've started leaving you at the childcare spot at the YMCA and you've done really well minus one time where they had to come get me because you were crying. I'm hoping it was just an off day. Most days you only nap once but some days you fall asleep in the morning for a short nap in the car. When you don't take a morning nap you usually have a great 2-3 hour afternoon nap. It's so nice when you sleep at the same time as your sisters and give your mama a break. You're getting so smart and understand so much. You'll point to body parts or family members when asked. I can't believe how big and smart you're getting and how fast time is flying by. I just love you so much and can't imagine our family without you in it. You add so much and are such a little firecracker! I love you my wild child.