TWO YEARS OLD

My boys turned TWO on 8/25/13. We have officially taken a step into that infamous time known as the "terrible twos", however, I've found it to be not so terrible just yet!

We didn't do anything super special for their actual birthday but I didn't want it to be a totally ordinary day. We started the day with balloons!

Oh, hey there, boys!!!! You're two today!

I put them in their Clemson t-shirts for their birthday and they insisted on wearing hats, too. Of course, the hats obstruct the view so we can't even see their sweet little faces!!!! :(

My TWO year olds!

Breakfast was normal, except that they got SPRINKLES on their waffles. :)

waffles, peaches and banana

Layla (or La La) brought gifts for the birthday boys!

Time to open the gifts from La La...

Stokes

Ryan

William

Fun bouncy balls in 3 different colors! YAY!

Then Ryan had Occupational Therapy with Emily.

Emily brought him some crayons
for his birthday! They're big and egg-shaped
so he may have an easier time holding them.

They also got some Mickey Mouse mylar balloons!

Then April came to do Early Intervention.

April and Stokes blowing bubbles

April and Stokes coloring

April and Ryan crawling

April and Ryan reading

April and William coloring

We planned to take the boys out to dinner on their birthday and Thomas came straight from work and met us at Chicora Alley! MaSha also came to dinner with us to celebrate!

Chicora Alley logo on their building

Thomas and his boys

Da-da and Stokes

Ryan and Mama

Kissy time!

Family time dinner

MaSha and William

MaSha brought gifts for each of the boys to dinner. She gave them each a little play cell phone. They love them! She noticed that they all love my phone and try to play with it as much as an often as they can (meaning until I see it and take it away from them haha). Now they each have their own!

Ryan and his phone

William: "hello, how are you?"

"Wassssssuppppp"

Stokes: "This is an important business call!"

After a delicious dinner, we walked right next door to Dairy Queen for dessert. We split a couple of blizzards. The boys have only had ice cream a handful of times and it's still kind of "new" to them. Ryan wasn't a fan this time.

Our DQ Blizzards

MaSha giving Stokes a bite

It's COLD! hahaha

Wrangling the troops

William liked taking bites by himself.

When we got home, we gave them each a little present that we got for them. TRACTORS! They absolutely love them.

Playing with their new tractors

Although it was a fairly normal day, it was still a good and fun day for the boys.

I actually had a run a quick errand to the hospital in the morning on their birthday and walked right by the NICU. I hadn't been by there in so long. The emotions of the day of my babies turning two were swirling up and hit a breaking point when I walked by those NICU doors. Lots of memories came flooding through my mind and my emotions felt so real and so raw as if my boys were still there in their isolettes with tubes and wires monitoring every move they made. It really hit me hard. My eyes stung with tears but I held them in. I'm so glad that it is just a memory now and we came out of there with flying colors. I walked by the high risk area where was I was patient for 5 weeks on bed rest before my boys were born and saw one of my favorite nurses. I got to give her a big hug and catch up with her and I once again got emotional when I told her how much I appreciated her. So many people played such a huge role in those months that made up our lives between July 22 - Nov 7, 2013. Each of those special people helped to shape and mold us and our lives and they helped give us 3 healthy, lively, adorable, fantastic boys. Each of those people also hold a very, very special place in my heart. Now here I am getting all teary-eyed again just thinking about it all. Grateful and appreciative. That sums it up.

Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet sons, Stokes, Ryan and William! Your Da-da and I love you to the moon and back.