Today is Lennie & Lonnie’s 1st birthday and there is no better way to celebrate than with a zoo trip, dessert (first time ever, a whole piece of cake to themselves), water play and quality family time. Over the past year, we have felt the pain & love, tears & hugs, and all of the blessings that each of you have sent our way to get through Lennie’s biggest heart surgery and to now allow us to thrive as a family, but best of all, let Lennie thrive. Not only have these littles taught us to love life a little harder and love on our loved ones a little stronger, but also to know that life is too short and changes in an instant. Seeing the world through their eyes is something magical, too! They cannot be outside enough and yelling “hi” to all of our animals. They cannot get their hands in enough dirt, rocks, gravel and water. They cannot go fast enough to chase their cats and (try) to catch them. And they cannot get enough quality time together, always pushing each other out of the way, hugging one another & laughing at their baby chatters back and forth.

Our Lennie girl is living her life to the fullest and thriving beyond no end. She has an odd love for eating dirt and digging her head into the dogs to show them some love. Lennie has the cutest little bottom teeth and giggle when something excites her. Seeing her instantly warms our hearts and we feel her braveness in our lives. Lennie is blowing the doctors away with her progress and hitting milestones early, like walking and fine motor skills! Each appointment has been a blessing, with Lennie passing with flying colors. She has graduated from Early Intervention, passed the NICU follow-up appointment and all of the echoes & EKG’s have come back as suspected. We do still have a surgery in the future, however extremely grateful for good news so far. Lennie has mastered walking, traveled to Arizona (having her first plane ride), explored the fun activities of Omaha, babbling to her fur friends and pointing, throwing toys at her sister while she sleeps in bed and loving endlessly. We adore Lennie and her constant fire-y way of life, she has no fears & faces things head on already, and are extremely grateful for her positive progress over this past year. The images may be vivid in our memories but man, does that smile take those worries away. Happy first birthday, sweet girls!

P.s. unless anything major changes health-wise in Lennie’s life, there will be less updates. As her surgery approaches, we will be active on here again. Prayers and love are always welcome and know how much we appreciate them. It takes a village and lots of prayer warriors!