Mark, Julie, and the Twins

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Will and Erin got an early birthday present of sleds from mommy and daddy. We've only used them twice this winter because the weather has been much to warm which has resulted in little snow. Will and Erin did enjoy the sled rides and a brief sledding experience down our front yard hill. Daddy stood at the top of the hill and I was at the bottom catching the babies. Will looked terrified and Erin squealed with delight. Is this a preview of what's to come?

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! The babies sleep in separate beds, but we put them together for their first picture as 1 year olds! Erin stands up in bed, but Will isn't there yet. Not long after this picture was taken, he tumbled over and nearly hit his head on the crib. Both babies had been fighting the Norovirus (Erin had diarrhea for two weeks and Will just threw-up a few times) so they took many baths. This was Erin's first of three baths for the day. After a bath, Grandma Pam and I got the babies dressed in one of their cute new outfits.

Will loved the 'Happy Birthday' banner that I decorated their exersaucers with. He LOVED the crinkly sounds of the banner.

Erin still wasn't feeling well. She snuggled and took a few catnaps with me. During this one, she managed to fill her pants (again!) and it leaked all over me. I know that Erin will be happy to see that I captured this moment with a picture.

Wednesday is Grandma Pam's day to watch the babies for us (my mom does the other days), but today the babies had their RSV shot appointment so I took the day off from work. The appointment ended up getting rescheduled, but we still enjoyed the day at home celebrating Will and Erin's amazing year!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

1 Year Update!!!!

WHAT A YEAR!!! WOW!!! How do I even begin to put into words all of my emotions about everything we have experienced? Our kids are doing amazing and act like their adjusted age of 9.5 months. Will is starting to do his version of crawling. He wiggles himself to get to whatever he wants. He has 6 teeth and I can see two more starting to peek through. He loves baby food and can eat a jar and a half in one setting (twice a day too!) He is curious about the world around him.

He LOVES any toy that spins. Will bangs on anything (toys, our faces, the floor, the dog, water, etc.) to see if it will make noise. He LOVES to splash in the bathtub. Will LOVES to jump in his jump-a-roo play thing. Will is so happy, content and sweet. He is starting to interact with Erin. There were many times today that he would look at her and get the biggest smile on his face. He would 'talk' to her too. It seemed like he was truly excited to see her. It melted my heart. Before we know it, he won't be so happy to see his sister.

Erin has graduated from the feeding clinic!! We had our final appointment last Tuesday. For now, we will work with Erin at home and contact our OT if we feel she isn't making progress. It is one more appointment to check off of our list. :-) Erin is crawling everywhere! Tonight, she found Clark's water and food bowls. She loves to pull herself up onto anything. Will was in the exersaucer and she was pulling herself up on there to say hi to him. It was very cute to watch. She is finally feeling better and didn't have a blow-out diaper today (the first time in a week!) Erin babbles and 'talks' a lot. In the morning, we wake up to the sweet sound of her saying 'bababababababa' or 'mamamamama.' She is so cuddly and lovable. Erin is our girl who goes after anything she wants. I hope that she continues with this attitude in life. She LOVES the bathtub and could spend hours 'swimming' in there. I am visualizing my summer vacation and a lot of it is going to be spend outside in a kiddie pool.

I was thinking back to hours (approximately 1,400) we spent in the NICU sitting by the babies bedsides waiting. Just waiting for the next step. Waiting to see their eyes open. Waiting to be told when we could change their diapers. Waiting to be told we could hold them (after nearly 30 days). Waiting for them to breath on their own. Waiting for the surgeries to go well. Waiting for Will to get better. Waiting to see if we would take Will home with us. Waiting for answers. Waiting for them to drink from a bottle. Waiting to go home. Waiting to be normal.

We have waited long enough. We finally achieved normal and it feels AWESOME!

Here are a few pictures taken January 18, 2011.

I know this is Will because his eyes didn't open for a few days. They were still shut when he was born. He was wearing a preemie extra small diaper though and it is still to big.

Tiny fingers next to my small hand.

Mommy and Daddy with Will.

Daddy was touching Erin for the first time. We could only touch the bottom of their feet or the top of their heads. Touching any other part of their body, would cause too much stimulation to them.

My sister bought me a peanut butter chocolate chunk ice cream cone from the ice cream shop in the Children's Hospital. It was the first of many cones.

Looking at one of our miracle babies and not knowing what the future would hold for our family.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Erin!

Erin is on the move!!! She is pulling herself up on EVERYTHING!! She is crawling and we never know where we will find her. Luckily, we have a small house so she can't go to far without finding her. Erin voices her concern whenever we contain her in the exersaucer. She likes to play with anything that isn't a toy (the remote, computer, paper, cords, phones, etc). She has started to help me with the blog too. Erin likes to play with any toy that Will has and will take it away from him. He is getting much better about fighting back. Despite being such a busy girl, she is a snuggler and loves to be rocked to sleep at night (which is something I treasure because I know it won't last forever.)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

It was time to 'take our show on the road' (as I like to call it) and head home. We had fantastic trips, but it was time to get back into our daily routine again. I don't know how we would travel without our mini-van. We have so much stuff!! This picture doesn't even show everything that we brought with us. We had skis (yes, we did ski while we were at Crystal even thought we didn't have any pictures) and all of the ski equipment too. It was pouring rain while Mark was packing the van. Happy Birthday to him. :-( Mark opened some presents before we left for home. He is saving up for a new road bike and appreciated the gift card towards that purchase. He also got an iTunes gift card which was already put to good use.

Will's nose was so runny and snotty. Just had to take a picture to remember how bad it really was. Uncle Matt and Will had a few coordinating outfits. Grandma Pam bought him this shirt for Christmas. He looked so cute in it too.

Once we got home, unpacked and settled we were able to celebrate daddy's birthday. Will got him a Detroit Tiger's calendar to put on his desk at work.