Six Weeks Early, Five and a Half Years Later

six weeks early

Actually, that picture was taken a little over a week after Sydney's precipitous, premature birth. We didn't bring a camera on that quickie weekend road trip to visit some of Matt's relatives, and it simply never occurred to me to ask Matt's extended family for a camera so that I could take photos of our unexpected baby girl. 

Some dear friends of ours drove ten hours to bring us some things from home, using a house key that Matt overnighted to them the day that Sydney was born, digging around in our basement for the Rubbermaid bins of baby clothes that I hadn't even begun to sort through. When they stopped by to visit us, they brought their camera! It was the kindest, most thoughtful, most generous thing that's ever been done for me.

Sydney took a turn for the better right before our friends arrived (oh, the turns that a preemie will take! Better, then worse, then better, then much worse...I was terrified to leave her alone), so they didn't have to see the CPAP that took up her whole face, and in this photo you can't see the needles stuck in her body or the wires glued all over her. I regret not having photos of my labor to show her now, but I don't miss having those first days of her life on film--having the memories haunts me enough.

five and a half years later

Is it indulgent to have a surprise half-birthday party for a five-and-a-half-year-old? Sure.

Is she worth every simple pleasure, every indulgent little surprise, five and a half years after she needed a machine to help her breathe, and a tube down her throat to feed her, and a team of neonatologists to treat her, and a $200,000, three-week NICU stay?

Oh, you bet she is. I'd give that kid a flying pink unicorn for her half-birthday, if only I could get my hands on one, I'm so thankful to have her.

Today is World Prematurity Day. Who are you thankful to have?

A Big Reunion for the Little Girl

She put on her favorite party clothes:

She wrote her name on her nametag so that all her former nurses and neonatologists could remember her:

Her father showed her an incubator like the one that kept her own life safe:

She got her face painted--

--like a purple pony, which was just what she requested:

She ate lots of party food:

She played lots of party games:

She did the bubble dance with her sister:

And she reminded us once again, as she reminds us daily, that we are very, VERY lucky people:

I hope that you had a lucky day today, too.

The Joy of Three

The joy of adding a third button to the birthday crown, the joy of wearing that crown all day, the joy of Willow's preschool teacher saying to you, "What a beautiful crown!" and getting to say back, "Iss my BIRFDAY!!!"

The joy of choosing exactly what cake you want Momma to bake with you (chocolate and stair-steps and pink frosting and rainbow candy), and helping to bake that cake and make the frosting and decorate it, and being too young to know that Momma is TERRIBLE in the kitchen and thus that the cake will look far less like the fairy-pink tiers that she imagined and more like that scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind in which Richard Dreyfuss sculpts the Devil's Tower out of mashed potatoes only pink and with M&Ms melting down it, and the joy of running sobbing to Momma that you broke your big 3 candle when you weren't supposed to be playing with it and having Momma call Daddy at work and having Daddy bring a new 3 candle with him when he gets home, and the joy of seeing your brand-new big 3 candle lit on your hideous pink cake, and the joy of having a sister help you blow it out again (twice):
(It really does look like the Devil's Tower only pink, doesn't it?)

The joy of being a big girl, so big that your Momma for the first time is not haunted so much this year by memories of you in the NICU, and the joy of getting big-girl gifts, a huge stash of Land Before Time toys that Momma bought for you off of ebay and bartered for you from friends (the Anna bunting is in the works, Jenny!).

For me, though, the best gift of all--the joy of being your mother:

I Heart Tim Horton's

So here I am in Belleville, Michigan, sucking down my second Tim Horton's iced cappuccino of the day and utilizing their premium public wi-fi. Tim Horton's beats Starbucks cold, I tell you. But why, you may ask, am I sitting here six hours to the north of the last place I blogged, i.e. my hometown?

• Tim Horton's


• Matt's paternal grandmother, aunt, cousin, and baby cousins (including a six-week-old--squeal!)


• the Found store in Ann Arbor


• IKEA


• Sydney's NICU reunion

And it's been a festive weekend so far. The girls got cherry-tongue at the Ann Arbor farmer's market while Matt and I gorged on an entire loaf each of olive bread and white chedder/jalepeno bread: While we were walking through the covered farmer's market, I spied an awning across the way that read "SuchPrettyColors." Hmm, I thought to myself, that name sounds familiar, and I dragged the family away from the twelve different kinds of tomatoes they were mooning over and went to investigate. When we'd pushed our way through, what did I see but the self-same breastfeeding pendant necklaces that I bought two of on etsy (this one and this one) last year? And there are like four more of them in my wists! The lovely proprietor, Ann Sheppard, comes over, and I immediately screech into her face, "I know you online!" Ann quilts and makes jewelry, among other things, and she has this web site and this etsy shop. I bought yet another breastfeeding pendant, and almost bought this Utamaro one, but seriously, I have to let some other people participate in breastfeeding activism, too. Right? Cause she also does the Sunday artisan's market, so I could go back...

Small world, huh?

The theme for Sydney's NICU reunion at St. Joseph Mercy Health System in Ann Arbor was "Under the Sea." Just like prom, right? There were games and fun stuff for the kiddos--
--although of course we spent the most time at the buffet and the craft table. Totally on-topic for my currently ocean-crazed girlies:
By the way, I have never seen so many multiples in one place in my life. Sydney got to wear a special nametag--
--and Matt remained true to his promise to smack me on the head whenever I got weepy.

It's kind of ridiculous how lucky we are:

Tomorrow--home! I've got lesson plans to prep and two etsy orders to ship and a craft fair to get ready for and Willow's tuition to pay and the yard to lasagna garden and DVDs to return to the library and...