Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2006





I just wanted to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas.
To all our family and friends who have been there since the day the first email went out about my delivery at 23 weeks, thank you so much for sticking by us in the best and worst of times. Thank you for your love and prayers...and most of all thank you for believing in Serena and Edwin.
To all my fellow micro preemie moms: Thank you so much for the support, advice, and for being a sounding board for the past 11 months. When I started blogging last Jan, I couldn't have imagined the invaluable resource you've been for me. Thank you for giving me the strength to be a better mom.
To everyone else who is interested in Serena and Edwin and reads this blog: Thank you for your interest in my children and for faithfully checking in on their amazing progress.
Last year Edwin was going through his "death spells", his last one was the 22nd, and I wasn't sure if my guy would even make it to Christmas. All I wanted for Christmas was for my two babies to get better and be able to come home.
This year, we have sooo much to be thankful for.

Here are pictures from our visit to Maine over the weekend. My aunt came up from Florida. The last time she saw S&E they were 1 month old and very sick. This was the same week we were told EJ had "close to a zero percent chance of survival" and Edwin and I had to think about ending support. She said she knew he was going to make it and gave us hope, even when I thought there was no way possible that he would get well. Both she and my grandmother came up, were there for his baptism and his PDA surgery in Boston. During this time Serena became septic and was put on antibiotics. Having them come up showed me how much they cared and really got me through one of their worst times in the NICU.
Of course my aunt was so excited to see them, as was all of our family...no one expect my grandfather had since them since the NICU days. We had a wonderful time visiting!






Look how far we've come...and yes, my boy is sitting...I didn't catch him once anytime he was sitting. He balanced himself without my intervening! My little princess on the other hand didn't want to sit by the end of my photo shoot and was far too interested in crawling over to inspect the camera. As you can see they both decided since Daddy didn't put that present under the tree, which is blocked now by a chair, the present was fair game and they began opening it.










And look at my two standing in their play area!






Tonight we go to Grammy's so I'll have even more pictures soon!