Sometimes you just gotta brag...

Then and Now...my three wonderful ones
Amanda (Mandy) - I'll never forget the first time I met Mandy (7lb-9oz)...round, scrunched up red face, looking angry for being born. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I'll never forget the first time I held her. The nurse brought her to me and I sat tensed up in bed afraid I was holding her all wrong. She was wearing a tiny white t-shirt and I sat her sideways on my lap with one hand under her chest holding her up. Being a newborn she had no neck and I still see in my mind the vivid picture of her straight brown hair hanging about a quarter inch over the back of her t-shirt. I remember thinking gosh her hair is soft and this kid could really use a haircut. ha-ha. In my nineteen years, this was definitely the happiest day of my life. Now 29, a Speech Language Pathologist living in Texas, a beautiful, smart and thoughtful young woman (although a little bossy) :), and still making her mom so very proud.

Jacob (Jake) - I didn't get to see Jake (6lb-1oz), (or his twin sister Emily), when they first entered this world. But I remember when the nurse brought Jake to my room all cleaned and bundled up and I looked down at his little ET-like face it was love at first sight. He had pretty much no hair and strongly resembled ET but he was beautiful. I was so excited and pleased to meet him and also shocked since I had been told during an earlier sonogram I would be having two girls. He was my surprise boy and I couldn't have been happier to have him. Jake was a good baby from the start, loving and affectionate and only occasionally a stinker. :) Now 24, working (and doing a fine job) in industrial sales, new homeowner living in St. Louis, big dog lover like his mom, and most importantly a good person with a good heart. I'm so proud of him.

Emily - My Emily was a gorgeous baby. Being a twin she was little (5lb-7oz), my smallest baby, but wow she was pretty. She looked like a doll with her tiny button nose and thick head of black hair. When Emily was young she was my little shadow. Everywhere I'd go she'd be there. I remember almost tripping over her a few times. She had a mind of her own from the beginning and still does which caused us to butt heads more than once as she grew up but we're like peanut butter and jelly now. Right Emily? When she moved back home a couple years ago (after living a year on her own) I thought "oh boy" but it's been great and now I wish she wouldn't leave. I admire Emily for a lot of reasons, her strength, her sense of what's right, her knowing what she wants in life, many things. Now 24, graduating in May, and about to become a special education teacher, I couldn't be more proud of her.