Standing!

I'm sure as everyone watches their child or children learn to do something for the first time, their heart swells with love and pride. I remember how I felt when Matias learned to smile, said his first word (mama :)), stood up, and took his first steps. It's amazing to watch your baby grow and learn new things every day. It's bittersweet to watch your baby turn into a child. I still get tears in my eyes when I look at the pictures of Matias's 'firsts'.

Then there are the girls. Amazing, but in a totally different way. Love, happiness, pride, joy, and a huge dose of *relief* as every new skill is learned.

When your babies start crawling around and standing up after you've spent days, weeks, and months wondering if they are going to spend their lives in a wheelchair....words cannot explain the feeling.

Some people might wonder why I keep dwelling on the fact that the girls were preemies. Well, the fact is that they are still preemies. It's not a condition that goes away. They are doing well and learning all the things they should be learning (perhaps at a bit slower pace than what is considered 'average'), but they have had to work harder than most babies in order to do this. Life has not been easy for them. I will dwell in the fact that my babies are miracles, because they are and always will be. Every single thing they do is amazing.