April Babies

Mommy and Gracie at Lydia's 1st birthday party!

Gracie wasn't too sure about the party hats...

And Lydia wasn't too sure about the cake!

Luke couldn't keep his hands off of A&O's bottles!

What a smart boy!

There are some incredibly large plants in Sacramento!

Holly and Mary, 2010

Adorable babies (Audrey, Oliver, Luke)

Some of our friends at the March of Dimes Walk

(Robert, "Auntie Lu", Robert, Milena)

Grandpa Gene and Tutu came to cheer us on!

Playing with Grandpa at Red Robin

Gracie loves her Grandpa Scott!

Grandma Terri and Gracie girl

Playing with spoons in the bathtub

(maybe I should give them toothbrushes to "play" with!)

Grandma Marsha and Grace

Grandma Marsha and Oliver

Audrey was very interested in the Sea Lions

Grace took quite a few naps at the zoo:)

Mommy and Audrey pet the goats!

"Buds"

At the zoo!

This monkey was very interested in US!

Self-portrait of Daddy and Audrey in front of the Columbia River

My mom and I look like twins!

Grandma and Audrey

Oliver's so funny:)

Playin' in the park on our last day in Portland

April was a month full of activities! Baby Lydia turned 1 on April 14th, so I took Gracie to her first birthday party! On the 12th, Audrey, Oliver, and I went on a 400-mile drive down to Sacramento to see the Giudices (Ben, Mary, and Luke), while Daddy spent some one-on-one time with Grace. We spent 5 beautiful days in warm, sunny California, but unfortunately, the babies ended up getting their very first cold! We knew it would happen sooner or later, and thankfully we made it to 11 months! We were pretty worried about how the virus would affect Audrey's airway, but amazingly, she ended up tolerating the cold better than the other two babies, and poor Oliver was sick, had a rash, and was cutting several teeth:(

The following week a speech therapist and physical therapist from Early Intervention came to our home to evaluate the babies. Because the babies were born so very early, they are considered "high risk" and a priority for "early intervention". The babies put on quite a show and kept the ladies very entertained with their smiles, giggles, and other funny antics! Audrey was determined to be functioning at her chronological age (as if she had never been a preemie at all!), Oliver is right around his adjusted age of 8 months (what the babies would be if they had been born when they were supposed to be!), and little Gracie is a little behind. So EI is going to do some monthly physical therapy with Grace to try to work some of her little muscles and help her "catch up". But even though she isn't moving around as much as her big brother and sister, she scored very well in "social interaction": Gracie is one smiley, talkative little munchkin!

A few days later was the March of Dimes Walk for Babies! We were very excited to get out and walk for a cause that is now so dear to our hearts. The March of Dimes has done a lot of the research and has created much of the technology that helps keep micropreemies like ours alive! We were also very excited to see some of the babies' nurses from the NICU and other multiples families. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a lovely walk.

And finally, we spent the last weekend of April in Portland with Grandma Marsha! We thought Portland would be a fun place to meet for a visit since there is so much to do there! Grandma hadn't seen the babies for quite a while, so it was a very special time for everyone. We took the babies to the Portland Zoo, to Saturday Market, walked along the waterfront, played on blankets in the park, and did a LOT of walking around the city! Although our 4 days together went by really fast, they were filled to the brim with laughter, hugs, kisses, and baby drool:)

As I go through these photos from April, I feel so very thankful for each and every one of our parents. Our babies are so blessed to have 5 grandparents who adore them and love them to pieces. That makes my heart happy.