On the day you were born...

On Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Corey, Sydney, and I, along with all of our family and friends, welcomed our two precious babies into this world.  Samuel Cline and Sadie Caroline were born at 8:25 and 8:26 am and our journey as a family of 5 began...

Leading up to this day I was overwhelmed with so many emotions.  I was anxious, scared, nervous and excited, to name a few.  I had no idea what my life was going to be like after this day and could only think about how dramatically our lives were about to change.  The morning of their birth, Corey and I got out of bed (we never really wen't to sleep I don't think) at 3:30 or so and hit the floor running.  We had to be at Baptist Hospital at 6:00 am and Corey was determined that I was not going to make him late (this time!).  :)  We got to the hospital perfectly on time and began the admission process and I was UNBELIEVABLY calm and ready for this day to begin.  The prep time before the scheduled c-section flew by and before I knew it, my body was half numb from the spinal block and Corey and I were in the operating room and seconds away from being parents once again. 

Minutes later, Sam and Sadie were here and PERFECT!  They were BIG, HEALTHY babies, just like we had hoped and prayed they would be.  Sam weighed 7lb 7oz and Sadie weighed 5lb 15oz.  It was absolutely one of the most precious moments of my life looking at Corey holding these TWO perfect angels in his arms for the first time.  In an instant, I went from loving ONE baby (Sydney) to loving THREE babies so much that I thought my heart would just burst.  We sent pictures to our family in the waiting room and they couldn't hardly believe they were so big and healthy.  Grandma, Grandad, Aunt Nat Nat, Papoo, Debbie and Meghann were all there waiting patiently while Uncle Chad, Aunt Valerie, Katelyn, Jake and BIG SISTER SYDNEY were on their way.  What a morning...

After an extra long "recovery" time, we made it to our room after lunch and got to spend the rest of the day loving on the babies.  It was a day Corey and I will never forget as long as we live...the day we fell in love, once again, for the rest of our lives. 

Here are some pictures of their first day with us:

Baby Names!

Most of you already know...but we finally decided on names for the babies. 

These are a preview of the decals that are going in their nursery above their beds.  I just love um!

This name thing was such a struggle.  We went back and for between "S" names or no "S" names.  Then when we decided to use the "S" we couldn't figure out a girl name that we both liked.  Shew!  And to be honest with you, Corey really made it a long, drawn out process.  He picked apart every single name I picked out...for good reason though.  He said he had to think like a 1st grader and figure out every possible way to make fun of a name.  Geesh, he wore me out on this but I must share one hillarious example.  At one point I liked the name Sawyer for a girl (thanks to Mom).  I had it written down on a piece of paper with several other girl names she had suggested for us.  When he saw the paper (after ripping apart all of the other names) he said, "Sawyer, huh?  Like saw your underpants?!  I don't think so!"  Crack up.  Gotta love him!  And the middle names made the process take even longer while our precious family (Natalie) waited ever so patiently for us to deside.  But we finally did.  Their official names are Samuel Cline Konow and Sadie Caroline Konow.  Samuel came from Sam, my Grandaddy Thurmond's first name and Cline was Corey's Mom's maiden name.  Sadie just came from the internet (oops, hope she doesn't ever think she got shorted, lol!) and Caroline comes from Carol, my Granny Thurmond's name and my middle name. 

We're excited that that job is done and in love with our baby names, Sam & Sadie or as Sydney calls them..SamSadie like it's all one name.  :)

Back in town

After 8 days in Mexico Grandad and Grandma finally got home last night and we couldn't wait to go see Grandma (Grandad was working) first thing this morning after we got ready!

Sydney was soooo excited to see Grandma and was dying to "pay" as soon as she saw her and Grandma obliged, even though she had a lunch to do today. :)  At Grandad and Grandma's house they have a princess dress-up set (shoes, outfit, wand, crown) that Sydney loves.  This cracked me up...I just had to share a little bit of "Princess Sydney" with you. 

We are so glad Grandad and Grandma are home....now everything is back to normal again! ha!

12 Days of Christmas

It seems like we had festivities for 12 days before Christmas (really we didn't) but we all loved every minute of it.  I'll just post some of our best pics leading up to CHRISTMAS DAY with our sweet girl!

Our first gathering is what we call the Annual Thurmond Christmas.  We get together with my Dad's extended side of the family twice a year so Sydney went into the crowd not remembering many faces...and came out with several best friends!  And she got the coolest gift from Reece.  Her very own basketball goal.  Awesome!

Our next stop was Aunt Linda and Dean's the next afternoon (Sunday the 18th).  And her favorite people (her cousins!) were there and ready to play...

We had a few days to recover from unwrapping presents before our BIG events started.  We went to Papoo's on Thursday night for lots and lots of goodies.  We were all 3 spoiled with a good supper and lots of presents from Papoo & Debbie and Uncle Chad, Aunt Val, KK, Caleb & Jake.  Sydney was in heaven with her new stuff and once again her favorite playmates...

We all piled in on Grandmama for the Burr family Christmas on Friday night.  As usual, it was a house full of Burr's and Babies which equaled lots of fun for everyone, especially Miss Sydney. As you can see in the last picture, the kids like the big box more than their new toys. 

We have standing reservations at Granny Konow's every Christmas Eve for supper and this year was no different.  She entertains a house full of Konow's and Jones' and of course there were so many people for Sydney to play with I couldn't keep up with her.  Granny Konow gave her a big wooden cradle for her new doll that was big enough for her to sit in and she loved it. 

On Christmas Eve night we spent some quality "family time" together making cookies for Santa....and Daddy and Mama and Sydney. :)  Sydney loved getting to "hep" in the kitchen but she loved the cookie dough even more.  We couldn't keep the spoon out of her mouth. 

And the big day (drumroll please) CHRISTMAS DAY!  Oh, what a fun filled and overwhelming day it was for our SPOILED ROTTEN little girl!  She started her morning checking out all of her toys from Santa and Daddy & Mama.

We hustled through "Santa gifts" and started our normal Sunday morning ritual...getting ready for church.  It started a little later than usual because Sunday School was canceled so we were there for worship at 10:45.  After church we all gathered at Grandad and Grandma's for a fancy Christmas Day lunch and then presents.  We made a whole day of it and enjoyed every single second together eating, relaxing and opening our WAY to many presents. 

And now...almost a month later we're still hunting places to put some of our new toys! :)  Christmas 2011 was wonderful and unforgetable...now I've got to start mentally preparing for next year with 3!!!