Cuddling Cousins

My sister Helena and I found out we were pregnant within a couple of weeks of each other. Helena found out first but I was actually due first. Our babies' due dates April 13th and April 19th. At first it was so exciting to be pregnant at the same time and due so close together. But then we realized a couple of not so great things about it: 1. We couldn't swap maternity clothes and 2. My mom wouldn't be able to come to Irelyn's birth. Despite the less-than-ideal timing we really enjoyed being pregnant at the same time, we were thrilled to find out we were both going to have girls{!!!}, and I came to terms with the fact that my mom wouldn't be able to be with me during Irelyn's birth {And luckily, I was blessed with an absolutely wonderful birth experience! Read about it here}.

Then we both had our sweet babies just three days apart!

Irelyn 4.21.2014

Iris 4.24.2014 

Turns out having our babies this close together is pretty awesome!

I was able to go down to Arizona {Thank you Angus, Jes, Race, and Mom for working this out!} for a couple of weeks to visit family and get these sweet babies together and then Helena has been up in Idaho for the past week! It has been so fun to have this time together with our new baby girls so that they can develop the best cousin bond from the very beginning! Haha. Mostly though, I have absolutely loved seeing my sister become a mom. I love seeing her cuddle and rock and whisper sweet things to Iris to calm her down. I love being able to see the many sacrifices Helena is willing to make for her sweet girl and I absolutely love seeing how much she loves being a mom even though it is so hard at times. I'm not the best with words {in writing or talking} so I don't feel like I'm getting all of this out quite the way I want to but I always want to remember what a wonderful experience it has been for me to witness this transition in my sister's life. I am so grateful that through the births of our baby girls our bond as sisters has grown even stronger and I can't wait to watch these girls grow up together {Hopefully eventually we'll all live a bit closer}!

So here's to sweet cuddling cousins! I love both of these girls so so much!