Brooks comes home!!!

Brooks' first car ride!

Wow, if I thought it was hard to update my blog when both babies were in the hospital, I have another thing coming now that Brooks has come home!  I am so flattered by the amount of people that are following this blog, I apologize for the amount of time between posts, but hang in there, I promise I will keep updating!
So much has happened in the last few weeks!  For starters, our amazing friends surprised us with a stay at the Willows Lodge in Woodinville for our anniversary.  Our amazing friends Cory and Cassie Noel went out on a limb and called the manager at Willows, told them our story and they offered to comp us a room for the night of September 22nd, our 9th wedding anniversary.  I cannot tell you how important and special this was to us.  Every year since we've been married we've made a huge deal out of our anniversary. And we always celebrate it on the actual day, whether it's a Wednesday or a Saturday.  We always go somewhere overnight and no matter what is going on, we make it a priority.  With all of the marriages that are not staying together these days, we feel that an anniversary is a huge event to celebrate.  We had plans to go somewhere before the babies were born but once they decided to join us earlier than planned, all anniversary plans went out the window.  So when our amazing friends told us that they had planned our anniversary for us, we were over the moon excited! Yes, it was very hard to be away from our babies for the day, but it was a much needed mental break, and so great because we were only minutes from the hospital should we have needed to go somewhere.  And the managers and staff at Willows Lodge went out of their way to make us feel like royalty.  We were greeted at every place we set foot in, brought extra special appetizers at dinner, had fondue in the room, comped a free in room movie and so much more.  If any of you have not yet been to Willows Lodge, please go!  The Barking Frog Restaurant is incredible, or if you aren't up for a fancy meal, check out their happy hour in the lounge.  Delicious food in a beautiful setting and great half priced drinks form 4:30-6:30.  If you are a business professional that take clients out, take them to the Willows Lounge.  Really, they are incredible and we can't thank them enough for what they did for us.  We were total strangers to them, yet they treated us like family.  They will never know what an impact they made on us....
Anyway, back to the kiddos. :)  Brooks came home on Monday the 27th.  So we've been sleep deprived ever since! :)  He weighed 5lbs 5oz when he was discharged and went straight from Evergreen to visit his sister at Children's.  The poor guy didn't even get to come home and get comfy first.  But it was amazing to see McKinley and Brooks together again, for the first time since they were born.  I didn't know what to expect, but we immediately put them in the crib together and they were so calm.  They knew each other were there and it was like all was right in the world again.  So now we take him with us every time we go to visit McKinley.  We think it's good for both of them to be together.  It will be amazing once they can be together at home.
Brooks is doing well.  He has his days and nights mixed up, and just yesterday was diagnosed with reflux. :(  But, we're learning how to live with each other and falling more in love each day.  Small pieces of the puzzle are finally fitting together, we are so anxious to have all the pieces in place.