Saturday, July 21, 2012

And Then There Were Eight

I remember my mom told me once that you make some of the best friends in your life when you have kids, simply because you connect to people who are sharing the same experiences you are.  It is hard to believe that only three years ago now Michael and I met the most amazing group of people  ~ in our birthing class of all places!  They have truly become some of our best friends, and the last three years have felt more like a lifetime together considering all that we've experienced. Together we went through the joys and challenges of becoming first time parents ~ and then we all managed to get pregnant again and have our second round of babies within six months of each other!! When we took that photo of the first four babies playing/sleeping on the world map quilt... I honestly never imagined that years later we would be lining EIGHT babies up in front of it!  But, here they are...

Introducing "Round Two" - Emma, Ruben, Carson, and Abram.  In a fascinating (at least to us) twist of fate Round Two had only one girl and the rest were boys. Compared to Round One where Miles was the only boy - and now spends his time surrounded by a harem of cute girls, which seems fine with him :-)  One family had two girls, we had two boys, and the other two had a girl and a boy. Unfortunately one family from our birthing class moved away - but they ALSO had second babies within the same time frame.  They had a girl first, and then a boy.  One day we will need to have a proper reunion and get all ten babies together for a play date!

Here is the first "batch" of kids - all lined up in the same order as the original photo.  Sophia, Josie, Miles, and Chloe.  (Yes we had to bribe them with popsicles to stand still for a moment!)
Look how much they have grown!  I do hope we can continue these photo shoots for years to come, I just adore the collection of photos I am cataloging of this crew growing before our eyes.

Then we added siblings to the photo shoot ~
There you have it - eight beautiful babies! 

Chloe

Abram

Miles

Ruben

Sofia

Emma

 
Josie

Carson

Here is a group photo of all sixteen of us lined up!  Hard to believe that we have doubled the size of our tribe!  Some of us are talking about "Round Three" and others know for sure that two is enough. I so look forward to watching this group grow and change through the years.


When the reunion was over I found myself reflecting on the blessing I feel from knowing these wonderful people and their children. Because I was only given brothers in this life I have always wondered what it would be like to have sisters; I just never imagined I would find them in someones basement while learning how to cope with transition.  I am so thankful for the friendships we have created while experiencing the miracle of motherhood together. Now I simply cannot imagine this chapter of my life without these women in it!

Sometimes facts are stranger than fiction, and when I tell people the story of our friendship, and about the babies we've had together, they get starry eyed.  Many tell me they wished they had a friendship like ours when they were raising children.  All I can do is acknowledge the fact that I know that this friendship is a gift that has been given to me (us)! Truly - you are the sisters who found me and carried me through the "transition" into motherhood.  For that I am forever grateful and I look forward to making many more memories together!

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