Weekend Review: Conner and Ben's 7 month birthday

I can't believe it has been 7 months since Conner and Benjamin were born.  It has been 7 months since I last held them, last saw them, and last kissed their little faces.  As time goes on, I find myself thinking about them just as much as I did the week they were born.  But I find that while this seemed like yesterday for me, it was an eternity ago for everyone else.  Nevertheless, I am determined that these boys never be forgotten and so we celebrate their birth on the 10th of every month instead of grieving their deaths.

Manicure for the boys this weekend.  I had to include the moon for them :)

The weekend started out pretty shitty (quite literally).  Our laundry room flooded.  There was crap everywhere.  Tim had just left for the fire department, and I went downstairs to do laundry.  I opened the door and stopped in my tracks.  I didn't even call my husband.  I texted a picture of the laundry room to him and within 5 minutes, he had found someone to hold over for him and he was home cleaning up the mess. What a guy, huh? Because he was on shift that day, I had to be home for when the plumbers came. (Side note: is texted not a word?  Blogger isn't recognizing it.)

This meant that I couldn't attend my sister-in-law's baby shower.  Divine intervention, perhaps?  I was having a really hard time dealing with her pregnancy.  I kept imagining pictures of her baby flooding our family's homes while Ben and Conner's pictures stayed frozen in time.  We would get Christmas cards with this baby all over it and my boys would never get a picture with Santa.  This baby's first Christmas would ironically be Benjamin and Conner's as well.  Plus, she's using the baby name we were saving for six years: Parker.  It was almost Conner and Parker, not Conner and Ben.  Or, Ben and Parker.  I knew I couldn't sit through the baby shower without crying, and not only did I not want to put myself through that, I didn't want to ruin my sister-in-law's day.

I ran to my parent's house to shower, since our plumbing was out.  Then my blow dryer lit on fire. Awesome. I started screaming and laughing all at the same time upstairs while my brother kept asking me what the hell was going on.  I didn't even know what to say.  Fire! Anything else, God?  Oh yes, the day wasn't over yet.  I went to Target to get a new blow dryer and ran into Tim's family buying stuff for the baby shower.  Yeesh.

Also grabbed a book for Conner and Ben's birthday.  So far, pretty good!

I did end up stopping by the shower right before it started to drop off gifts and say hi, then I ran home.  Right before I left, my other sister-in-law (the one that I spend time with often), gave me three books and a picture frame.  She told me they were for the boys.  Of course, I was a mess.  I was so happy that she remembered them.  She hugged me on the way out and said, "Everyone misses your boys, Krystal.  You need to know that."  I told her thank you and I would talk to her later.  I was already crying but no one could tell behind my sunglasses.  I had to get out of there before everyone saw what a wreck I was.  I sent her a message later to let her know how much that meant to me.

Inside the three books, she and her kids had written messages to Conner and Benjamin.  As I'm writing this, I'm trying not to cry.  I feel like she is the only one who really acknowledges them everyday.

I put their picture frame in their nursery.  See the little moon dangling from the frame?  I love it!

I got home and the plumbers got there shortly after. Tim didn't like the price the plumbers gave, so I had one more day without water.  Luckily, Tim fixed the plumbing on his own on Sunday, which was coincidentally also the boys' 7 month birthday. We did what we usually do on a Sunday: church and breakfast.  When I was pregnant with the twins, I had cravings for orange juice.  I consider this my only pregnancy craving. While I also craved things like peanut butter or fruit, those were not necessarily out of the ordinary.  I always like peanut butter and fruit.  But I can't stand orange juice.  So I knew that when I wanted orange juice, that was Benjamin and Conner demanding some. I could probably drink a whole jug of orange juice in a day when I was pregnant. So, every month on their birthday, I have some in honor of them.

Fresh squeezed, ya'll.

Happy 7 month birthday, baby boys. I would give anything to have you here with me today. I love you more than you'll ever know.