2 babies and a gravestone

Today was a big milestone in the healing department for Matt and I.  We finally got enough courage to go to the monument store and order a small gravestone for Collin.  Nothing fancy but a flat rectangular stone with his full name  Collin Thomas Medema and date of birth / death November 21, 2013.  

We were going to leave the girls with my mom but decided to bring them along.  So in walked a 29 year old, a 30 year old, and 2 four month old babies to pick out a gravestone.  Quite a weird experience and something I never ever planned on doing for a child.  They had a nice selection and in the spring once all the snow has melted we finally will have a nice little marker.

I am so happy that Matt and I decided to have a proper burial for Collin.  Since he was so small / young we had the option to send his remains to a cemetery in Chicago in an area designated as "baby land" where they put the babies ashes of infants that have died and the parents don't really want to have a plot or know what to do with he body and/or ashes.  So you know that the baby is buried in the cemetery but you never truly know where.

I remember thinking at the time that I would wait a very long time before I got the courage to go to the cemetery.  I've gotten that courage a little sooner than I thought and am so thankful that I have a place to remember him.  

After we went to the store Matt and I drove around with two sleeping babies in the back of the car and went and drove by the beach.  Such a peaceful place.  A place that I find so much serenity in.  I wish I could have stayed there longer.