Thanks by the Letters: K

Lots of friends to be thankful for today.

Kevin & Kate:

Those Boetchers are wonderful folks. Not only did Kate volunteer to shuttle Ella to and from her dance classes, every week, for 4 months after Max was born... they took her in on competition weekend, kept her for 3 days, did hair, make-up, and and to her to and from the rehearsals, photos and the competitions and recital on time. All we had to do was drive over from the NICU, and see our girl dance. Ella loves dancing. It makes her happy. She's the little girl who dances and skips through Target, skips around the backyard with an umbrella, it's her escape. I was ready to pull her out of her class, the competition, everything, because I knew I could not get away from the hospital to get her everywhere she needed to be, etc... Kate immediately offered to pick her up, drop her off, and take care of everything else. Ella had a wonderful time playing and doing all her dance stuff with Mary... and that dance continued to be her escape during some very difficult days.


Kimmie:

Our timing is great! We were pregnant together again! , (This is one of the only pics of us in our pregnant splendor... outside preschool of course, watching Ella and Sophia play on the big hill.) This time one of us planned it and was thrilled, the other was shocked and ready to castrate her husband at first... but that's another story. We were due 4 months apart, sharing maternity clothes back and forth, excited that we were both having boys, they'd be the same age, able to go to preschool together, be buddies, etc... Kimmie had just given birth and I was trying to help her with shuttling Sophie around to preschool, etc... when my water broke. This isn't how it was supposed to happen.

Even with a newborn and two girls of her own, she took over planning meals for us from the preschool mommies, shuttling Ella around after preschool, and talking me through almost every crisis at the hospital while juggling breastfeeding, no sleep and multiple other problems of her own. Her house is the place where my kids are happiest. They'll tell you Miss Kimmie is the best mommy ever... yes she ranks higher than me. She has juice boxes and makes animal shaped pancakes. So I knew they were happy and having fun when they were with her. That made being away with Max, so much easier. Max and Jack are sure to be best buddies... I'm sure Max will be telling me that Miss Kimmie is the best Mommy too... just wait!

Kristi:
My very best friend since I was 6 years old. We've been through everything in our lives together it seems. I never needed her more than I did this year. I called her when my water broke and I think Troy called her when Max was born. I remember calling her as soon as we came home from the hospital, and having my first breakdown. I wept and sobbed and shook and screamed and it's the kind of thing you can only do with your best friend. My kids were at Laura's. Troy was picking up medicine or supplies or something, and I was supposed to take a nap. But I had to be able to say the things that I was thinking, the things I feared. She asked what I needed and I needed her. I told her I wanted her to come and I wanted her to see him. I wanted her to know what I was going through and to know Max, in case he didn't survive. She was on a plane 2 days later. That first weekend after we came home, she was with us. She sat with Max and me for hours in the NICU. She talked to the nurses about what was happening with him, let me talk about everything that I was thinking and feeling and she'd come back home and send Troy and I to relax while she'd read to Ella and Alex or play with them or whatever they wanted to do. She did those best friend things, that make it like you don't have a house guest, you have a friend, someone who is there to help you... and she did help me so much.