This year was quite a different story. We spent the majority of the day at home as a family. We were able to watch Adeline crawl up on all fours for the first time (instead of her preferred commando style), make pumpkin bread and relax. This evening was spent at our good friend Charlotte's house. We celebrated the girls' road home from the NICU and the joy they have brought into our lives over the past year. How nice it was to sit around a table with the girls intead of sitting around their isolettes in the hospital.
Not only is it Thanksgiving, it is also supposed to be the girls' 1st birthday. If you look at them as 12 month olds you would not think twice about their development. Of course they are small, and yes, Adeline is still commando crawling, but there is nothing that says these girls don't fall into the range of "normal" 12 month old development. I recognize that they are 15 months old and eventually they must conform to their actual age expectations, but for now, I am happy to see them evolving from babyhood to toddler-hood as all one year olds do.
To mark their "unofficial 1st birthday," we took the girls to go see Santa (against the advice of our pulmonologist). We thought going before Thanksgiving would decrease the chance of catching some nasty virus. To our surprise, we weren't the only ones chatting it up with Santa the day before Thanksgiving. Savannah was proud to hand Santa a letter from her teacher stating that Savannah had been a very good girl this year. After realizing she wasn't getting his lap all to herself, she climbed on up and helped Santa hold the babies while everyone looked at the camera and tried to smile. Try, being the operative word.
There is so much to be thankful for this year. I felt like the world was crashing down on us last year and today I feel nothing but blessed. I can't express in words how much I love these girls. They are my joy, my delight and the root of my happiness. It has been a fight to get to this place but I feel an overwhelming sense of peace. Maybe it is Miss Adeline rubbing off on me. She has plenty enough serenity and inner strength to go around.
We thank our friends, families and those who didn't know us yet felt compelled to pray for us, for your steadfast prayers and support over the last year and a half.
