Happy Birthday to PopPop

We (and hopefully PopPop) enjoyed an 87th birthday celebration in his honor.....It was a great party with all of the activites found in a "wild" bash....nudity, and of course cupcakes! The babies had their first taste of chocolate.... Seriously, the day was very relaxed and lots of fun for us. We are all so grateful for our "PopPop"....especially the boys and I...as PopPop seems to have passed his love of reading and quest for knowledge to all three of us!! Happy Birthday PopPop...and many more!! xo

Happy Father's Day!

The boys spent a very Happy Father's Day surrounded by those who love them best.....We hope that your day was just as perfect.....xo xo xo

Please Donate...Whatever You Can..

Hello Everyone, This is the "Children's Miracle Network" Fundraising weekend at Janet Weis Children's Hospital at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville...As you all know...Evan & Alexander would not be here if it weren't for this wonderful place, where so many "miracle" babies are helped along...As I sat with the boys, everywhere I looked, including the very machines that kept them alive would all have little golden tags on them...which read "Made possible by Children's Miracle Network".....If you can..please donate...any amount helps...and you would literally be helping to save another baby's life...Thanks so much..... Lissa xo 1-800-322-5437 (This is my favorite photo....the day the boys came home...weighing in at an impressive 4 lbs each!!)

Memorial Day

As Mommy got the boys dressed for Memorial Day...she tried to explain the reason we celebrate this day...Unfortunately, they seemed a lot more excited about our "picnic" later... I suppose hot dogs grilled on a Foreman grill and pasta salad (with all their favorites..cheese, olives, broccoli) is more exciting when you're two... Anyhow, we all had lots of fun... Daddy has been working very hard to make a nice back yard for the boys... and this was the official "opening day"....Hope you all had a nice day as well.... xo xo xo xo ( Alex, Evan, Mommy & her hungry boys, Evan feeds Alexander)

Ethan's 2nd birthday party

The boys were recently invited to their friend Ethan's second birthday party.....were I do think they had more fun that anyone else there!! Mommy & Daddy are so happy that they aren't shy, like their parents were when they were little....In fact the boys arrived and joined right in! They ate, played, and met new friends....In fact Alexander had his first "car date" with an older woman of four years old (see photo...for his "I'm in love face"!)

We feel so blessed that the boys have so many people who care about them......Happy Birthday Ethan! xo xo xo

Abigail comes for a visit!

Abigail first met the boys in the Moses Taylor Hospital NICU...For the few hours they were there, she was in the incubator next to Alexander. The babies LOVED having her with us yesterday..(especially Evan)...they showed her all of their toys and everyone played so well together...it's like they all remembered one another! Abigail~another "miracle" preemie is just like our boys~ so full of laughter and life....the boys cried when she left....and we hope she can come back to play..really soon! xo PS. Don't miss Evan's "I'm in love face" on the sofa!

Mommy gets her BSN

While our Mommy has been a nurse for many years....she was very happy to have completed her BSN....we were very happy she woke us up for the celebration (and cake) afterwards!! xo xo xo

Aunt "Sexy"

Aunt Stephanie is visiting from Philadelphia and the boys are in love! On Mother's Day, I was trying to teach Alexander to say Aunt Stephanie or Aunt Steffie....all the poor guy could muster was "Aunt Sexy"....We all tried not to laugh at the poor baby's attempts and assumed it was a fluke..However Aunt Steffie is still here, and each time Alexander wants her...you got it...he calls for "Aunt Sexy"! P.S. Evan likes to wear his Aunt Steffie's shoes.....and Alexander in his Winnie the Pooh sweater.....

Mommy gets her (BSN) Nursing Pin

Mommy was so happy to (finally) receive her nursing pin from Penn State University for her BSN...It took longer than she would have liked, but she had lots of great experiences along the way....including her little monkey boys!

Mother's Day 2007

Mommy had the perfect Mother's Day....It began when the boys ran into greet her in bed to give her their Mother's Day cards...Of course she had been listening to poor Daddy try to get them organized & into the bedroom for about 10 minutes beforehand....The boys of course opened the cards and ran away with them...They took them somewhere? & then back shouting, "Mommy!! Hungry!!" Daddy was going to let Mommy sleep in...but on this day Daddy just wouldn't do...So Mommy fixed them up...and Daddy took over. Mommy had wonderful visions of Mother's Day Mass spent with her 2 little angels....The reality was yelling boys ( 15 minutes into Mass) who wouldn't be calmed with Rosaries, books, binkies, or Cheerios...Daddy took Alexander away...so Evan began to have a meltdown shouting "Ackey" (what he calls Alex)...."Ackey" and throwing himself backwards in my arms as though he was having some sort of fainting spell...So Mommy & Evan left as well.... Daddy & I tried to show the boys the beautiful statue of Mary in the back to the church, (incidently this is were Mommy spend LOTS of time praying that her boys would be "healthy")...but the twins were more interested in yelling "HOT" when they saw the lit votives. We took them outdoors where there began to have seizure-like fits shouting "Bye-Bye!" At this point Daddy said to Mommy..."I know what you have going on in your head, but this is the reality.." Since Mommy knew Daddy was right...she became agitated, gave Evan to his Daddy--who is now holding both boys--& returned to Mass. Meanwhile Daddy tried to walk the babies & let them enjoy the beautiful day, when Evan broke loose from Daddy's hand & began to run down Wyoming Avenue! Matthew thought perhaps if he took the boys into the Prayer Garden, they would look at flowers and the statues....they ran straight to the mulch and began to "garden". The twins kept telling him they wanting to go "home"...then when we got home...they began to cry & didn't want to go in!! Lunch & naps helped the situation..and then off to Nana's where the rest of the day was just as energetic!! Mommy had to hold on tight to her boys whenever a Mother's Day photo was taken...making for perfect photos!?! This was the best day ever...perhaps not as perfect as Mommy had envisioned, but so much better than she could have imagined!! Hope you all had just as great a day!! Love, xo xo xo xo (P.S. Click on phots to make them larger...1st photo Evan & Alex;2nd-3rd photo Alexander loves Mommy; 4th Mommy escapes Evan's flailing limbs!)

Happy Mother's Day!

This is Mommy's first Mother's Day. And it will always be her favorite. This was the first day that Mommy got to hold both boys....due to Daddy's directness with the NICU nurses I later found out!! Lots of nice memories... This was still 2 months before they came home... xo (Alexander is closer up...Evan's photo further away...We're "kangarooing")

Mommy's favorite pictures...

Here are Mommy's favorite photos of her boys. MiMi (my mom) was watching them for the day while I went to Danville for a March of Dimes meeting....and she captured what I missed out on...Heaven for bid I leave them for a few hours!! Ha! Ha! Ha! I sometimes feel like the NICU still might come to reclaim them!!! Enjoy! (I took the photo of the both of them before I left...Alex has a thing for sunglasses & that's a new look Evan seems to be trying out--on everyone!; Alex is close up; Evan has his cup)

Mommy's babies have turned two!! She's not sure how that happened, since it seems as though they were just born not that long ago... Each and every day they bring Mommy more joy than they will ever know; and even more happiness than she could ever have imagined. Mommy's only saddness is that their brother Christopher can't be with us right now.... Here are some photos of our party boys! Enjoy! xo

Answered prayers....

Thank you so much again for all of your love and prayers for our boys....We were blessed to learn last Friday that our boys don't have Glaucoma. The babies' eye doctor in Danville personally made an appointment with the head of the Opthamology Dept. at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia...so we're thinking he knows a thing or or too...Dr. Mills is actually one of the leading "Pediatric Glaucoma" experts in the United States and he couldn't be more kind. Alexander & Evan actually have something called "Pseudo Glaucoma"...Again because they are "preemies"...their little eyes aren't as developed as they should be, and if looking on the inside of their eyes certain things "mimic" the idea of Glaucoma....but they will grow out of this by school-age. We all breathed a BIG sigh of relief and immediately said our thank you prayers.... again! The boys were so good....I couldn't have sat there for all of the eye poking they received. They loved the waiting area....lots of books and other children to play with! As usual they made friends with children much older then themselves and really had a great time. Thank you so much again for all of your love and support and Faith......I can't even imagine my life without any of those things..... Lots of love and prayers to you all.... Melissa, Matthew, Evan and Alexander Here's a photo of the boys with Dr. Wilson on their last visit to Danville...

The boys' Easter Day

Evan & Alexander had a wonderful Easter Day...The bunny was very good to them at all of the homes he visited and they really enjoyed church. Alexander (once again) donned his Rosary Beads in church and began to bless people going up for Communion by touching them with the cross on his Rosary! We don't really know where he got this from...but we don't discourage it either.. Perhaps we have a priest in the making! Hope you enjoy our photos as much as we enjoyed our day...xo

(The first photo is the babies finding their baskets (Evan on the right is already losing his kneesocks), The second shows Evan very happy to have found breakfast bars..how did the bunny know?, The third is Daddy and his boys singing "Happy Birthday" to Uncle Edward (Evan is on the left). ***Remember if you click on a photo..it gets larger***

How you know...you're an "old" Mommy

Evan & Alexander love to watch Mommy get ready each morning...combing her hair, putting on makeup etc....They like to reach up onto the sink & run away with her lipgloss, brushes etc... Today, Alexander reached up and grabbed Mommy's Capzasin cream (she uses for her back). Without thinking & as usual Mommy began to chase Alexander, he laughing like a madman....as Mommy began to say, "Hey Monkey...give me my 'arthritis cream'.....Monkey boy...Mommy wants her 'arthritis cream'....!" Suddenly it struck me exactly how funny this sounded out loud...Funny or sad....so I went with funny!!!

Let's not forget these....Happy Easter (again) !!

Easter 2006

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to all of Our Family and Friends~This year the boys realized how scary a large rabbit sitting on a throne can be and didn't seem to share Mommy and Daddy's enthusiam for the Easter photo...Mommy thought it was cute anyhow....Knowing Mommy she'll probaby drag it out each time the boys bring a date home...and she'll most likely show it to all of her new friends at the old-age home the boys send her too.....The photo (no matter how traumatized they look) only took 30 seconds at most. Afterwards back off the bunny land platform the boys were happy to wave at the "bundy"....from a safe distance....Hope the bunny is good to all of you!! Lots of love and prayers to you all.....xo