four girls and their babies

reece's hospitalization happened to fall during my bestest friend's visit with her precious new baby girl.  at first I was disappointed that laurie and I wouldn't be able to just lounge around with our little ones and take them out for lunch. however, I quickly felt so lucky to have her here by my side during this difficult experience. she understands me and knows how to cheer me up. I'm certain that she was here for a reason.

last december we had fun showering laurie with well wishes and gifts for her new little one (click here for a look back).  it was time to finally meet little ava lee:

laurie and I have been friends since birth.  our moms met at a baby class with our older sisters and our families have been joined at the hip ever since.  that was more than thirty years ago.  over the years we have shared numerous sleep overs, play dates, holiday celebrations, and even a three week trek across the western USA with eight kids, four adults, and two vans.  such amazing memories.  imagine our excitement then we we discovered that all four of us girls were pregnant and would be delivering within months of one another.  remember this?

let me proudly introduce the babies:  elliott asher, ava lee, reece william, and eli james.

we had a blast catching up with jan and gary and their grandbabies.

my mom and jan are two very adoring (and very blessed) nanas.  in case you're wondering, there are eleven grandkids under the age of five...five under the age of one! we were just missing josiah and eli for this shot.

I don't have a clue what miles and henry are doing
**fun fact: the youngest six babies are each half as old as the one next in line.  hmm, that's confusing.  here's what I discovered: callan is 16 months old, quinn is 8 months old (half as old as callan), elliott is 4 months old (see what I mean now?), ava is 2 months old, reece is 1 month old, and eli is 2 weeks old.  there's a little mathematical fun that will never happen again!**

with everyone a little spread out, these get-togethers do not come often, but we cherish the times we do get to spend with each other.

sweet emma...a picture of her momma.
it is my hope that our children will get to know one another and realize what it means to find precious friends who become your extended family.

who knows, perhaps something more will blossom someday? *wink*