Pictures

I love this pictures of my girls. Sage is smiling so big that her eyes are closed and Reagan is giving me a big grin too! Notice how they both only have on one legging...Nice!

Sage a Daddy at the Phoenix Zoo!

Sage and Mommy on a camel ride!

Reagan my happy girl! She is full of smiles these days!

Sage and Mommy at the pool in Phoenix.

Sage and Daddy getting ready to ride in the lazy river!

Mommy and her girls!

I love this picture even though Sage isn't looking at me, they are so beautiful!

Sage loves to hold Reagan!

That Makes Me Smile

Today Sage looked at Reagan and said, "Where did you get that baby from Mom?"
I asked, "Where do you think I got her from?"
She say's, "From the Doctor."

Scott took me out to lunch for Mother's Day today. It was so nice and I really felt special to have my two girls with me. Sage kept hugging me and rubbing her cheek on mine and saying "You're the best Mom ever."

Today while I was rocking Reagan I was overwhelmed by her sweetness and the spirit she has brought into our home. She melts my heart. I am constantly amazed at how lucky I am to have her as my daughter. She has already brought so much into our lives and lives of others.

These are things That Make Me SMILE! I love being a mom.

Life

This story really hit close to home for me. I thought that I would share it.

"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with special needs to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like . . .When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. Michelangelo’s David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting!
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”“Holland?” you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and you must stay. The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting filthy place, full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It’s just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. A slower pace than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going to Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.” And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.–Author Unknown'

We plan our lives and we think that we have control over it. Then when life doesn't happen how we expect it to it turns our world upside down. I am learning that even though it doesn't always turn out how we planned it, amazing things can still happen. I am learning and growing in ways I didn't think that I could. Most days are good, but some days are hard.

Update!

Well we have survived the hospital and are now in the comfort of our own home. I can't decide if being at the hospital is harder or easier on me! It's nice to have the nursery during the night time, but not so nice to have nurses in and out of the room all night. I was pretty ready to be home by day 3. We came home on Wednesday and my mom arrived Wednesday afternoon. We put her right to work. It was such a blessing to have my mom here to help me! She was able to help me get back on my feet. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, helped with Sage and Reagan, gave support when needed and was basically my secretary! I wasn't up for too much conversation the first couple of days home so she helped me by taking most phone calls! Sorry guys;)

We are doing great and I feel stronger every day! I am trying to adjust to this new schedule. I forgot how tiring it is! Reagan is an absolute doll! We have had pretty good nights with one that was great with 4 hour stretches! I am hoping we can do that more often! Sage is dealing with all these changes very well besides the occasional melt downs! She loves to hold Reagan and sing to her. A huge thank you to all of you that have helped me out by taking Sage! I worry that I have just shipped her away since Reagan has been born. But I also know that she has been having a blast!

Introducing Reagan Lynn Simons

Reagan Lynn Simons

Born March 22nd, 2010

11:05 Am

9.3 Ounces 19 inches

Her Story

We arrived at the hospital at 7 am on Monday morning. I had been having contractions all through the night and knew that Reagan would finally be born on her own or with a little push from the doctor! I had already planned to be induced on Monday knowing that I was going to have a big baby and liked being able to plan the event! Once we arrived at the hospital a steady stream of events quickly occurred. I got settled in my room, got my IV started, the doctor broke my water, and I was started on potosin. As soon as this all occurred my contractions grew in full force! I was in so much pain that it didn't take me long to ask for the epidural! We finally got my pain under control. By this time it had been 2 1/2 hours since they had checked me. I was at a 10 already! My doctor was about 5 minutes away. I pushed for 15 minutes and she was here! My mother in law had Sage and she didn't make it in time! We thought for sure we would have plenty of time to have her there, but Reagan was ready to come! She is absolutely beautiful. Chubby and full of life! Reagan will have something very unique to share with those around her. She was born with only 4 toes on her right foot. For some reason unknown to us something happened during her development. Thankfully, it is isolated from her mid shin down, meaning she is perfect in every other way. We will be taking Reagan to an orthopedic specialist next wee to learn more and form a plan. We are preparing ourselves for surgery's in our future, but for know we are just loving our little girl. She is truly special. I keep saying to myself, How does she get cuter every time I look at her? I am blessed to have her as my daughter.

I think we are getting somewhere!

First of all thank you, thank you, for those of you that posted comments and ideas. Last night was the best night we have had in a while! Scott turned the door knobs around last night so we were able to lock her in her room. When she got up at her usual 1:00 time she was not happy when she realized she could not get out! I waited for a little bit and then went and put her back in bed and told her she would have to stay in bed because she can't get out of her room any more. I sat outside her room while she yelled at me and cried. Then she started yelling for daddy. So I went and told Scott that he has to go and show her that he will make her get in bed too. So off he goes to put her back in bed. I lay there and wait for him to come back...it's quiet but no Scott. I just knew that he was laying on the floor next to her bed. So what did I do? Well having the McGee blood in me that I have, I marched right up there and opened the door and said, "What are you doing?!!!" and I marched right back downstairs to bed. He came back in and we had a little discussion about it... Do you see why Mommy is the mean one? I just love being the mean one! Thankfully, Sage cried out once and we didn't hear from her again all night. Wow! She slept from about 1:30 until 8:00 this morning! So I should have had a good nights rest...I love being pregnant! My hips ached all night and I was very restless. But guess what, I would still call that a good night!
Thumbs up for locking your kid in their room!!