Our little miracle is 9!

How did that happen so fast? I definitely agree with the saying that the days may be slow but the years are fast. I was talking with a friend tonight about C's first days and those were definitely long. The longest moments in my life might have been the few minutes between when I woke up after C-section waiting until they got a doctor to talk to me. Long scary moments. And those first few days were long scary days. But now it's gone so fast! Although I'd never heard of vasa previa before C's birth, I'll definitely never forget it. The link to C's story isn't working tonight but I hope it will be soon.

Birthday celebration #1 Grandma and Pops Leon brought cake and presents!

We are so blessed and so thankful to have our not so little boy. Over the years we've done different things to celebrate how thankful we are for our little blessing and to remember those families' who lost their little ones. We did not do a Sophie's Walk last year- maybe this week we will. I do like reading over the ones' we've done in the past like C's 5th birthday or several others over the years.

For C's birthday the last bunch of years we've been in the OBX. We would have loved to be back there this year but God had other plans for us this year :) We missed James and wished he could have been here but we had a good day. We had a "normal" morning- Bible reading and verses, morning chores, breakfast, math, rotations- then did some cleaning. Lunch, playtime, naps, and it was time to decorate and get ready. C filled the pinata, KG made potato salad, T and K iced the cake C made yesterday and all the kids put up Lego Star Wars decorations. Well Big Girl napped which was a great help!

At 3 the kids began their countdown until friends arrived- not a lot of friends. We usually do just family but told C he could invite a few boys over for his birthday this year. C was excited about the dinner menu and games posted it on the white board:

At 4:05 I thought I might have to text everyone to see where they were, but thankfully 4:06 someone arrived- so exciting! The other family arrived soon after and then we had lots of happy boys and one happy girl- well two if you count Big Girl nicely napping. Although it was cold out, the kids played outside until they were starving and then had dinner, cake, and presents.

C got a ton of lego star wars sets and no duplicates! He was so excited.

 After presents, pinata time.

 Then trading time- I didn't get a pic but all 8 boys and 2 sweet girls built legos and traded pinata goodies so nicely.
 I did get this pic of the menu K and C posted for the Star Wars party

 And a pic (yes it's dark) but they listed the games they wanted to play. But they had so much fun just playing with friends that they didn't do any of the games.

 They did spend a lot of time that night putting lots of legos together.

A super birthday party for my favorite 9 year old son!

Sophie's Walk 2008

our vasa previa miracle

ready to walk

ready to ride

Sophie's Walk for Vasa Previa

We are so blessed that our vasa previa miracle C is alive and well. Most babies with undiagnosed vasa previa do not live. Every year we walk to remember and to pray for the vasa previa angels and their families, to thank God for C and the other miracle babies, to tell others about vasa previa- this preventable tragedy. Some years we've had public walks and some years just family. All special times. This year we had a family walk- we did have someone ask us about our shirts so we did get to tell others.
You can read C's story

Learn more about vasa previa at IVPF

I can't find my pics of several of our walks or the walks friends & family hosted over the years but here are pictures from our some of our walks: 2011 walk, 2009 walk,  2008 walk 

It only takes a moment to diagnose life!

Walk for Vasa Previa

Every October since C's birthday, we've done a Sophie's Walk for Vasa Previa. Some years were big ones with lots of people, other years just the family. But this year we just couldn't seem to make it work. I kept having it in the back of my mind bc it really is a passion of mine to tell people about vasa previa- this condition we'd never heard of until it almost took our baby's life. Then amazing how it worked out that the weekend of C's 5th birthday turned out to be a great time for our family to do out walk. We had such a nice morning. The boys were all big enough to walk, KG loved riding and napping in the backpack. We had good weather. We walked in the woods behind our house and stopped midway for a prayer and little talk about vasa previa. The boys all know that C making it is a miracle from God. Here's some pics from our walk-

More OBX and birthday x 3

OK I'm not quite smart enough to put the pics in backwards order so this is backwards. we had a great trip. James was there the first few days and then Nana and Papa the last part. We spent days at the park, swimming in the pool, visiting lighthouses, sliding in the sand, playing on the beach. yes, too cold for swimming but a great trip. Here's the kids out on the beach the last day.
I'll put some pics of our beach finds on our nature blog.
Sweet little ones headed down to the beach.
C's bday celebration #3- w/ Nana and Papa
Bodie Lighthouse- boys got badges- 3 Junior Rangers. I don't have pics of Wright Brothers, but we had a good visit there too. The boys enjoyed getting their badges and learning about early airplanes.
This tree (or one near it) by Currituck Lighthouse has lots of memories- from way back in 2001 with a little baby boy through this year & lots in between.
We hiked all around Jockey's Ridge- boys were so excited to find each number.
Sliding down Jockey's Ridge. Last year T couldn't go up by himself. This year he didn't want to stop.

Our kite- KG napping in the backpack.
T ready for some duck hunting. We had a great visit to the wildlife center by Currituck Lighthouse. Got to watch fish feeding- a little class about fish. A great movie about the history of the area, dressed up like duck hunters, and went home with new fishing costumes.
Bday celebration #2- w/ Grandma, Uncle B, and Pops Leon
Celebration #1 with the Lewcrew. We had pancakes for dinner & C requested carrot cake which we made from scratch (peeled the carrots, opened vanilla beans, ...) since we were snowed in and couldn't buy any shortcuts! Can't believe he's 5! Wow! It seems like yesterday that we were praying for him to make it. And now he goes a million miles an hour.

5 years ago (yesterday) our little miracle arrived. what a night! what a boy! We're so thankful for him. We went on our family walk for vasa previa this weekend- still praying for all the vasa previa angels and their families.
Chase's miracle birth