Mupwa's Babies: Then & Now

Remember Mupwa?  (No?  Read about him here, here, and here.)

Last March, he was distraught because his tiny new twin girls looked like this:

Stuck in plastic incubators at the big (expensive) hospital.  

This situation was so important and so concerning that I even wrote about it here.

I will never forget the haunting images of those babies in boxes or the face of their papa when he told me what was happening.

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The other day, we had a celebration.  Because this is what those babies look like now:

That's Nsimba and Nzuzi or Katherine and Miriam.  They will be one year old next month.  A milestone worthy of a fête. (I think we polished off four plates of cookies, twelve samosas, and three cartons of juice.)

Enjoy their baby faces today.  I know Mupwa and N'Landu will.

The big sisters requested photos too, giving me their best "angst-y model" poses:

I told them they were allowed to smile.

Which they thought was a ridiculous request, but agreed to anyway:

Mupwa and N'Landu sure look a lot happier here: 

Then they did one year ago, here:

(Well...Mupwa says he smiles when he's stressed. This was taken at the NICU by Johan.)

And because of that, we are really, really glad.