All dressed up

The boys are growing so fast now. It seems there is something new everyday! They are smiling more, cooing more and they even slept 8 hours one night this week! It is so rewarding to have them responding to us so much now. It makes everything we went through in the first months seem so far away. All that I think of is how happy we are now.

Nicolas had a Dr. appt. last week with the Neurologist and that went good. In 2 months they will do an EEG on him and if that looks good he can be weened off the phenobarbital he is taking for the seizure he had when he was just a few days old.

A couple weeks ago I had been relieved from the weekly weight checks since the boys are gaining well. *whew* Our next check-up is this Friday.

The weather is finally getting milder so we took the boys out in the ministry for the first time Saturday then again Tuesday! They like to ride in their car seats so they did really well.

Below are some pictures we took Sunday when the boys were all dressed up. Enjoy!!

Nicolas "I'm the boss""You're FIRED!!"

Ethan

-5 months-

Nicolas

Ethan

The boys are doing GREAT!! They wiegh in at 9 lb. 10 oz. and 8lb. 12 oz. They are smiling a lot! But of corse for the above photo shoot they wouldn't give me any smiles. But they are cute anyway.

Eye Dr.

This week Nicolas had a Dr. appointment with the eye Dr. and it went good. His eyes are all healed up! --- Both the boys had retinopathy of prematurity- that has to do with the growth of the blood vessels in the eye. The last 28-40 weeks of gestation is when the eye rapidly develops. Since the boys were born at 25 weeks that mean their eyes were very immature. They have been watched closely by an eye Dr. and their eyes have now matured and healed!!! Ethan's eyes were OK before he even came home.

We all caught a cold last week- all at the same time!! I was so tired after being sick and taking care or the boys being sick as well that by Sunday I got up and attempted to get ready for meeting and just couldn't do it. Trevor took care of the boys while I went back to bed at 10 AM and didn't wake till 3PM!!! And I still went at bed at a decent time that night!! I really needed to get caught up on sleep!!

Oh, and the boys are 5 months old tomrrow!!! The top picture is Nicolas - he took hold of a toy for the first time and he really likes his new toy. The second picture is Ethan peeking at us from his swing.

Weight gain is up

Raising twins keeps you so busy making sure all the basic needs are met that sometimes you forget to stop and enjoy this moment. Then when you take a moment, you realize just how worth it all of the work and lack of sleep is. Especially last week when the boys started smiling and cooing.... I have been waiting for that moment.

I took the boys to get weighed today and they gained really well this week!!! Nicolas is up 11 oz at a grand total of 8 lb. 11 oz. and Ethan is up almost one whole pound to 7 lb. 11 oz.

Great job boys!!

P.S. There are 16 oz to 1 lb.

weight gain

The boys went to the Dr. Monday and had some shots- they were SO brave. Our only concern right now is the issue with weight gain. In two weeks Ethan had only gained 1 oz and Nicolas 3 oz- The Dr. wants them to gain 1 oz per day. That's about 2 lb per month. So we are on a very strict eating schedule at night again. It is easier to keep the schedule in the daytime but nighttime is SO hard. I get SO tired when I have to wake up so often. - They are both already on higher calorie soy formula and they are taking 3 oz per feeding now. Nicolas doesn't spit up very often, Ethan still does; but learning how to burp him has helped some.

We are done with breast feeding. I am glad I kept up with it for as long as I did especially for the circumstances we have. It was emotional to quit sooner than I wanted, but it was also emotional trying to do it and having so many issues. It was really wearing all of us out. It is kind of a relief just making a decision about it instead of going back in forth with it.

Take #1

Take # 1- Nicolas turned to suck my face Take #2 - AWWWW......

Little Helper

We had a little helper Sunday - Thanks Rebekah

Than the cat joined us

Feeding time (Ethan)

making friends

Today the boys made some new friends. Talon is almost three month old, Nicolas and Ethan are four and a half months (but still little in comparison)

Talon, Ethan, NicolasEthan wasn't so happy about having his picture takenThanks for coming to visit!

Swings

Tonight the boys are chilling in their new swings. Ethan Nicolas

I would not have it any other way. Having these kids is the best thing for me. I love being their mommy. Life has it's challenges - but I don't freak out like I thought I would. I feel life in the NICU has taught me what things are really worth stressing out about and what things just aren't important enough to stress out about.

Last week we got the boys swings and the boys really like them. Gives me a bit more free time. I also got a 'peanut shell' sling. That has helped in giving me an extra 'hand' when they don't want to be put in their swings. They are still small enough that I can put both of them in there for now.

Breast feeding has been SO hard for us. I don't know what I am going to do. To quit or not to quit. I guess I shouldn't feel like quitting would be failing, I know my circumstances are very out of the ordinary. But I just feel like I got cheated out of a lot with the premature birth and the extended hospital stay and I don't want to be cheated out of this too. But I am saying it is hard.

We got an OUTRAGEOUS electric bill this month.... So we are in the process of getting the house insulated this week to help. But then we found out today that our heater is not working properly.... That would explain our bill... so we also need a new unit. It still heats, but it just uses a lot more electricity than it should. Oh, the joys of owning a home!!

Here are a bunch more pictures - ENJOY!

Feeding time

Nicolas is very expressive with his eyebrows Nicolas: "I can hold my head up all by myself"
Nicolas: "let's play"Nicolas and his Fishy

Nicolas 4 mos. old

Nicolas deep in thought

Ethan

Ethan

The boys went to the Dr. Friday.

Ethan is 6 lb. 11oz. and 20 inches long.

& Nicolas is 7lb 12oz and 21 inches long.

They are growing well!!!

Our First Meeting

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Last night we went to our first meeting at the kingdom hall as a whole family. The boys were SUPER good for us. They were awake for a while to meet people then slept through most of the meeting. We paid for it when we got home though, because then they wanted to stay awake and I was ready to go to bed. I have been looking forward to last night for months now!!! I almost cried when we got there. It was a very happy night for us!!

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Our first meeting together as a family

Sorry it's been a little while since I've given an update, Trevor and I took turns the past week and a half getting very sick, but we are well now.
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So... what's new??..... We went to the Dr. today and I am happy to say that the Dr. has now released Nicolas from his apnea monitor!!! Ethan got off his monitor last week. It is so much easier to maneuver without trying to carry those around.

Nicolas is becoming more and more alert since he's been home. It is nice to see that from him. Ethan and Nicolas like to cuddle together as you could see from some of the pictures I have posted in the past.

They have pretty much outgrown their preemie clothes now and are wearing newborn size. Nicolas is over 20 inches long now--- that is 6 inches from his birth length!! Ethan is 19 inches long -- 5 inches from his birth length.

We are figuring out systems that work for us and are able to gradually add other normal things back into our life, like trying to have dinner prepared every night.

We have figurd out a color system for the boys to help keep track of bottles and pacifiers and such. Ethan is always blue and Nicolas is always green. This has been working pretty good for us so far.

We have started a bedtime routine of reading to them from their Bible Stories book and saying a prayer. It's nice to have some quiet family time without any other distractions.

Tonight Trevor is finishing up the last of the repairs to our bathroom. I think I forgot to mention it in my blog about the flooding we had the night I got released from the hospital after I had the boys. We had A LOT of rain and the city sewer had flooded our bathroom. So we had to do some major remodleing in there. Tonight it is finally finished!!!

Well That is all for tonight. Thanks for keeping up with us.

Parenting twins : "It's a juggling act, I wish I could say it was an art- but there is nothing pretty about it!!!" :P

sweet boys "I have a secret to tell you...."
Kisses

photo shoot

We had a mini photo shoot after our bath Wed night. Here are some of the pictures as well as some others.

Nicolas Conner MarcumTwo peas in a pod

Ethan Cole

Grandma and EthanGrandpa and Ethan