Blessed.

The other day I read a story on Facebook about the King Twins. The short version is this: this family found out they were pregnant with conjoined twin girls. Unfortunately they were joined together in the chest area causing some major issues that meant the girls wouldn't survive once they were born. I happened to read their story on the day of the c-section when the girls would be born and unfortunately die. Their c-section was scheduled for between 8 am and 9 am in Chicago and I happened to read the story around 7:45 am while feeding Ellie Jo and Charlie their morning bottles. My girls probably wondered why momma was crying but I couldn't help but feel for that family.

There seems to be a lot of hurt in people's lives around me... a high school friend lost a baby just days before she was to be induced. A college friend who has fought cancer and survived, lost her fiance. Multiple friends lost loved ones, either family or friends, and took to Facebook to express their grief. And every morning I wake up and get to see what I consider the best sight ever: two smiling beautiful faces.

To say that I feel blessed would be an understatement.

Scott asked me the other day why I read stories like that. Honestly, I don't seek them out but even though I feel like I realize how lucky we are stories like that remind be to be thankful even during the trying times. There are so many things that can happen in life, we've seen that and weathered a few storms along our way. But each morning I get to wake up and give kisses to my girls. Two girls that just a couple years ago I didn't think would happen.

Things are changing again in our family... When Scott took his position with Auto Owners he was going to be based out of St. Louis and we were excited for that. It put me closer to my family and put us close to friends from college. A couple of weeks ago an opportunity came up and now Scott will be based in KC. I think it's pretty obvious that I am excited :) But more than excited I am relieved... raising babies is hard work. Scott works hard and sometimes works late (gets off at 5 but sometimes he's there till 6-6:30). The girls go to bed at 7. That's not a lot of time for him with them or for me with help. I can handle it but let me tell you how amazing it is to have an extra set of hands: AH-MAZING! Especially on those days when things aren't going very well, like when a couple of lil ladies decide they don't want to nap. That makes from 5-7 a VERY bad time of life. Extra hands are very nice :)

Being in Lee's Summit gives us a support system that is different than the one we would've had in St. Louis. Because let's face it, there are somethings you can call your mom & dad for that you just can't call your friend who has a kid of her own for. Especially when you're calling saying you need help with 2 cranky babies. Grandparents have a way of being there :) And as I've learned, not only is it because they're grandparents will they help but they're still my mom & dad and they've always been willing to help. Can I re-iterate the title of this post? How BLESSED am I to have them?!

We are sad to be further away from family in Illinois but we know how to do this long distance thing... we did a longer distance with my family while we were in northern Illinois and it worked fine. Just extra planning :) Plus with wonderful things like Facebook & iMessage on our phones there's been plenty of photos & videos shared on an almost daily basis.

I really need to get better at this blogging thing... talk about inconsistent :)