“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures"

Last weekend was my first official "I don't work on weekends" weekend and what a wonderful weekend it was!

Saturday morning I slept in, and woke up to my favorite Panera Bread breakfast and latte. I had a perfect slow morning...that turned in to the whole day..spent time with John, talked to mom and argued who loves fall the most and did a few things around the house.

Saturday night John and I went to "Merry Mimics", a ball here in Montgomery. We had so much fun! The concept of these events is still a new one to us being transplants to Montgomery, but it is always a good time to enjoy each others company, dance, AND people watch! John especially enjoys wearing his "James Bond costume" and driving my car very fast in his "costume".




Saturday night I am ashamed to say ended with a late night run to Wendy's...we did still manage to set the alarm for church and planned to make every effort to be on time... In my half awake, half asleep state early Sunday morning I heard a phone buzzing and subconsciously assumed that John's cell phone was dying..which it often does and the delightful buzz was is typically our friendly reminder.

After a few buzz cycles I realized the buzz was coming from my side of the bed. My cell phone is always on my bedside table and makes a much different noise from the "P.S I am dying noise" of John's phone. I opened my eyes just enough to realize that it was my phone buzzing, but it has fallen on to the floor. I opened it to see who called around 7:00 and saw that I had missed a call from my mother in law. For us that is when it all began! I immediately started yelling that "the babies are here!" and "we gotta go!", "get in the shower!" If you had been a fly on our bedroom wall you would have thought I was in labor! When I called John's mom back my hopes were validated..Alyson (my sister in law) went in to labor during the night and delivered our very first nieces early early Sunday morning.

Barley and John were a little confused by their wake up call, but very quickly got in the game. John and I were out of our house and on the road in 30 minutes...which I may boast is EXCELLENT timing for me! We ordered bigger coffees than normal and shot down the road. We could not get to Huntsville fast enough!

Now, I have always known that I married in to a strong family...but this weekend raised the bar a little bit more. My sister in law Alyson is wonderful...she has been blessed first with a dream pregnancy. Now, I know all days were not easy or fun and her continuous optimism absolutely played a part, but all in all she made it look WAY too easy. She was a happy, energetic, glowing pregnant lady. In my opinion she gained less than average weight and truly was all baby...and did I mention she was having TWINS?!?

Her delivery story is one that is impossible to follow. Not only was the blessed with a dream pregnancy, but her birthing experience was one for the record books! Alyson woke up went to the bathroom and her water broke, she calmly woke up Pat, told him he was welcome to shower she was not in pain, but it is time to go to the hospital...they got everything in the car..drove 25-30minutes to Huntsville Hospital. Parked the car, got to the waiting room, filled out paper work..yes she sat and filled out paper work! They put her in her room and started preparing for iv and eventually her epidural. When asked to rank her pain on a scale of 1-10 she gave it a 5..and then after a "little" contraction bumped it up to a 6. The nurse wanted to go ahead and check her to see if she was progressing...she yelled "oh my gosh she has hair!" Alyson said a crew of nurses flew in from every angle and her doctor dashed in to the room...My sister in law had TWO babies...naturally...with NO drugs..in THIRTY MINUTES from the time she started her paper work!!! The craziest thing..she swore she NEVER hurt and just took a few Motrin all day. I made her vow when I weigh 300+ pounds and am in labor for 127 hours with ONE baby she will just feel REALLY sorry for me and will not remind anyone of this day!!

The product of her perfect pregnancy and even more perfect delivery could not be more perfect. John and I both instantly fell in love with our nieces. Savanah Claire and Payton Elizabeth. It is amazing how differently they look. Both perfect and gorgeous but each 100% individual.

Savanah was born first and she honestly looks like her daddy. She has Pat's eye shape and dark hair. She was 4 pounds 13 ounces and 17.5 inches long.





Payton looks like Alyson. She already seems to have her complexion. She weighed 4 pounds 15 ounces and was also 17.5 inches long. She has the most fun strawberry blond head of hair!!






Now, I just cannot wait to go back to Hartselle to love on these two beautiful babies (and of course their amazing mom!) I am thrilled to officially be an AUNT!!! ...let the spoiling begin!