Thursday, May 30, 2013

Mother's Day 2.0

Last year, Mother's Day was not the happy day that I thought it would be.  It was my first one, but Willow, only being a week old, was still in the NICU.  That was beyond hard for me.  Leaving your baby every night in the hospital is NOT EASY to do!  Mother's Day was a constant reminder that she wasn't at home with us.

And so, when that special day came around again, I started to feel a little sad.  Somehow those feelings became attached with Mother's Day, and I was not looking forward to "celebrating" it again.

But I really didn't want to forever be sad that day, which is supposed to be special and happy!  I took a deep breath, prayed that God would restore that day, and then asked Ian to help make it special this year.  I needed some new memories!

And both God and Ian totally came through!  We celebrated on Saturday with a surprise breakfast by Ian, and then he whisked the family off to go for a day hike at Lord Hill (near Monroe).  It was so much fun!






I'm so glad that God is healing my heart!  It will probably be several years before the reciprocal feelings don't come back on that day, but we are starting anew and moving forward. (How appropriate we went for a hike for the day! Haha!)  Now the meaning of the day is changing into a reminder of how God does miracles, and how incredible it is that Willow doesn't even look like she was a preemie at all! 

I'm so grateful that we can be a family.... together.



Wednesday, May 29, 2013

1 Year Old!


A few weeks ago, we celebrated Willow's 1st birthday with a confetti party!  We had a little bbq in our yard along with tasty treats our friends brought.  It was sunny and bright... a perfect day for a birthday bash!


It was so great to have some of our close friends and family celebrate with us!  It wasn't just her birthday... it was the first anniversary of us being a family of 3.  I know that sounds silly, but to me that's an exciting thing!


She opened presents...
 
 
Willow had her first chocolate cake...


Overall it was a really wonderful day.  Happy 1st Birthday Willow!