First things first...

For my very first post, I wanted to share a piece of a poem about life. I stumbled upon this poem a while back, and although it doesn't completely capture my life thus far, the beginning of the poem really stuck with me...

"Our children are here to stay
But our babies are not, I'm sorry to say
They grow and learn everyday
In the most remarkable and intriguing way

We watch and admire our babies so young
Hoping someday they will go to be strong
Wisdom and integrity are a hopeful thought too
Their brilliance is amazing that much is true"

The rest of the poem speaks about children going to college...we're clearly not even close to that point yet! Thank goodness!

I still can't believe I am a mother of two. God has blessed me with two beautiful, healthy children. Paxton is 2 and Ella is 4 months! Time flies!

Pax was born July 12, 2008 at a whopping 8.3 lbs and 20.5 inches. His birth was terrifying, but beautiful all the same. As many of you may know, he was vacuumed out after pushing for 4 (yes, 4) hours of hard pushing.  His cord was wrapped twice around his neck.  He came out with lots of bumps and bruises, and 2 gigantic cones on his head from the succtioning.  (I quickly and happily switched OB's after that)  From birth until now, he's been through a lot.  He had his first eye surgery August 26, 2009, and will have another probably within another year.  He had his first (and hopefully last) head surgery to remove a dermoid cyst on September 14, 2010.  Through all that, he's still the happiest child I've ever seen!  He loves to run, put puzzles together, build with blocks, look at books, EAT, and scare you when you're not looking.  He knows all of his letters by sight, and can even count to 8 in spanish!  You could say I'm one proud mama!

Ella was born June 9, 2010, weighing in at 7 lbs, 20.5 inches.  It's crazy to me how 2 births can be soooo different!  She came out in no time...like 10 minutes, max!  I owe every bit of credit to my awesome nurse that day, though!  I love just watching her...she is so happy ALL the time.  She never cries.  NEVER.  She will cry (maybe a short fuss, actually) when she is hungry.  That's it.  She LOVES to talk and coo, and will carry on for a good 10 minutes. 

Even though Ella is only 4 months, I can't even remember what it was like when we only had Pax...and don't even ask me what it was like before kids, because I can't remember that either. I can hope that I will be the mother to Pax and Ella as my mother was to me and my siblings.

Ella:  "Look, Pax, we need to calm down!"