4th of July Festivities

 Having your baby is the NICU is one of the hardest things to do. 

You want to be with her every second of the day and night

but having three other kids at home made that impossible. 

We did the best we could to have either Ry or myself at the hospital with the baby, and let the amazing NICU nurses do what they do during the night. 

The 4th of July came and I was a mess. 

Birthday and Holidays are a HUGE deal to me.  Especially having no extended family close by I make an extra effort to make those days special for my family. 

Well, I was feeling extra emotional, even some what guilty on the 4th. 

I wanted to do all of our fun traditions, but our baby was still in the hospital. 

I was having a tuff time and I called my sister Christy.  She gave me the BEST advice ever. 

She said I am doing an amazing job, that the nurses are amazing and it's ok to let them take care

of her for an evening while I go make some memories with the kids who will actually remember it.  Aubrey would have no clue she was missing fireworks, and getting out and being together with the other kids would probablly do us all some good. 

 Boy was she ever right.  Although I missed my baby like crazy it was so fun

to spend some much needed bonding time with our crew. 
We had pizza and watched fireworks.  It was alot of fun.  There were a ton of people but it really 

didn't feel too crowded. 

these two shared a beach ball as a pillow to watch the fireworks.  :)

I have done a star before in B's hair but I decided to take it up a notch and add ribbon this year. 

She had her hair like this most of the day but we took it out after swimming. 

We ended up having so much fun.  When I look at these pictures especially the top one I can

still feel the emotion I had that night.  I am thankful for such a wonderful sister who is always here for me and for an amazing little family that is an absolute joy to be with.