A year ago today...

I was literally smack in the middle of the duration of bed rest. I took five minute showers each day (believe me I really looked forward to them), Jake was stuck doing laundry, making dinner, grocery shopping, and cleaning house. He had lots of help from my Grandmother who'd come and hang out with me at least one day a week.

He was doing a fabulous job managing it all, I will forever be grateful. But I have to admit, I was miserable. Do you know how boring it is to lay in bed alllllllllll day long? I did it though, for the babies. The babies that we prayed would stay put for much longer. I also took some criticism too for choosing home over the hospital during those weeks of bed rest.

Doctors advocated for it, but the Peri also admitted that he understood my reasoning and would work with me if I chose to go home. I did spend a few days in the hospital thru out this time, for steroid shots, and initially for antibiotics and IV fluids. But being in the hospital was my biggest fear and I deep down feared my anxiety of being in the hospital would send me in to labor sooner rather then later.

I knew the risk of coming home and say what you want, but I wanted nothing more then TWO healthy babies. I believed it could still happen if I stayed home. I also knew that meant at a moments notice, if I felt the least bit off I had to go to the hospital right away. The agreement was, I'd stay home (after getting the steroid shots and things being as normal as they could be in my situation) and that if anything changed I would then make the decision to stay. The moment that either baby seemed to be in distress, or the prognosis changed that was it. Yes I know I am lucky that we made it to the hospital in time, and I know it could have turned out differently.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have to say that at this point, yes I would make the same choice. It's not a choice for everyone and that's ok, but it's a choice that I made with my husband's support and agreement. Had it not been for him, things would have been so very different.

Now this year, in less then two weeks our amazing miracles will turn 1. Oh how time changes things.



Um, wait, what... a STANDING ovation

Today at 11 months & 5 days, these two awesome little people that I am so madly in love with decided to do this......

Yup you are viewing that correctly, no need to adjust your screens. They are standing ALL BY THEMSELVES. We are still working on pull-to-stand, but Blake is ooooh so close to that, and I can bet you Addison won't be far behind.

Take that prematurity! ;-)

A year ago today...

Something weird happened. This is the day the I can tell you for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that my water broke. It wasn't quite noticeable at first and I really honestly thought that it was just pregnancy related (translated to baby sitting on my bladder) even though it was different then what I expected.

We took out first trip to L & D after seeing my OB (and calling him again after hours), where we sat for several hours with nothing at all happening...just sitting in the bed in triage waiting to be seen. I got a very very quick ultrasound and that was it, I was sent home. I felt like I was nuts.

Counting blessings and the people in my life...

We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives. One of the people who I know I am beyond blessed to have in my life is my Grandmother, otherwise known as Mom-mom. Growing up she was (and still is) my very best friend. She loves me unconditionally, always gives the best advice, and very very rarely has a harsh word to say about ANYONE, and if you made it on to her bad side, well then you really screwed up somewhere.

I remember as a child spending my days at her house playing, dancing to "Achy Breaky Heart" (thank goodness nobody caught that on film), she also roller bladed with me (OK so she might have just held my hand while I skated, but she was so scared I would fall and we'd both be in trouble.) She always had time to play and her chores always got done. To say I've learned a lot from her would be an understatement. To me she is the ideal of what the all American housewife should be.

Addison and Blake both love her very very much, and we already know she will be Addison's partner in crime. You can clearly see the bond she has with her already, that very same bond she shares with me. I love that she is always teaching them nursery rhythms (she taught Blake "Patty Cake") and showing them how to do new things. It's like she just knows what to do. The babies benefit tremendously from having her in their lives.

I should also mention she was the one there with me alot when I was on bed rest. Laundry, cleaning, you name it she would do it. She is great to Jake too, and the fact that he appreciates her is one more reason why I love them both. They were such a great team to have on my side when I could do ANYTHING myself. I am so lucky that she has always been able to be there for me throughout my life. She's done it for all her grandchildren.

Tonight I was once again reminded of just how awesome she is... while she was here visiting me and the twins, low and behold Mom-mom got down on the floor and started playing with the babies. I admit I was beyond overwhelmed at the sight. Blessed indeed.

11 months old!

Where did the time go...

This time last year things were still settled with my pregnacy and I was spending my days relaxing and waiting.

Happy 11 months babies! I am so blessed to be your mommy!

Something to always remember...

“Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have. It's about understanding that he is exactly the person he is supposed to be. And that, if you're lucky, he just might be the teacher who turns you into the person you are supposed to be.” - Joan Ryan

"Hang on Mom, I am reading our blog."

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Food....

Recently we've begun working on Blake "self feeding" and of course continue to work on Addison consuming more then a bite per meal.

Blake says he prefers to play with his food. However, things bigger then Cheerios (like green beans, COOKIES etc) he will attempt to put in his mouth, sometimes he'll actually eat it, other times not so much. We are working on little things for him to eat safely.

(He eats purees like a pro, and has also started yanking the spoon from me and trying to feed himself...aka...spill it on his clothes.)

Here's Blake working with the Cheerios

Addison has a new "therapeutic toy" called a Chewy Tube. Now that we see she is making chewing motions with her mouth and biting on things, the therapist told us to give it a try. It's now part of her oral stim routine with every meal... (I think it's helping... the kid FINALLY ate a half a jar of stage 1 baby food today!)...

The therapist also said to let her explore with the Chewy Tube, and here she is chewing away!

Also something pretty cool happened in our house last night....The babies had what I call a fussy day yesterday, they were just plain cranky especially towards the evening. I knew that their Dada was on the way home so we snuggled in on the couch and I did my best to calm them both (ever been in a room with two fussy babies at the same time?). I heard Jake pulling up outside, and I guess Blake did too (thank you loud work van), he got really quiet, turned and looked up at me and goes "Dada" with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yes Blake that is Dada's truck"...... Blake: "Dada, Dada, Dada... ahh, Dada."

Jake opened the door and if I'd bet if Blake could walk he would have ran and grabbed his leg. Arms up and grinning from ear to ear "DA-DA!"

I guess I know who his favorite is :-P

Today we were just chillin in the house when...

Mommy walked right into our baby swing (that's been sitting there for weeks) and possibly broke two or three toes. (Yup it hurts to walk, bend my toes or wear shoes).

And more importantly IT WAS SNOWING OUTSIDE..... Ok maybe just a little, but last time it snowed we were alseep in bed (and our mommy almost woke us up <---True.) Soooo as not to miss out on opportunity twice, Momma put our puffy coats on and sat us outside in this stuff...

Ofcourse she had the camera in hand, because who wants to miss out on this important stuff?

I think Blake wanted to taste the snow :-)

What a better time to start teaching them my favorite song... "If all of the snowflakes were candy bars & milk shakes, Oh what a snow it would be!"

Big kids sit...

LIKE THIS :-) (May I never forget this moment and all the moments it took to get here.)

"Ma come on, you act like I've never sat like a big boy before"

"I can sit up by myself too Mama"

And one more for fun. Addison always checking for the camera.

Appointments, Appointments every day....

Tuesday was GI... (see this post for that update)
Weds was the NICU Developmental Clinic Follow Up for both babies....
Today was an unexpected (but very good) visit to the Oral Surgeon for Addison...

Lets start with the NICU follow up... in short IT WAS A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.

- It was a two hour wait to be seen, another two hours before we were done and on the way home.
- The said the assessed the babies based on "adjusted" age (adjusted age is the age they would be in they had been born on their due date). However, I think their assumption of what a 7 month old should be doing is WAAAAAAAYYYYYY off.
- First they claim Blake should be able to eat with a spoon, and feed himself finger foods (as in enough to sustain himself).
- Blake has tightness in his ankles
- Addison has moderate low tone in her legs
- They should be crawling
- They should be able to remove/replace a peg from peg board.

It was not pleasant. Luckily we had an appointment with our PT today who said that she had to totally disagree with all they said and if she even suspected that Addison had tone issues, etc she would have already referred us to a specialist. Apparently we are not the only family to have a horrible experience and I am almost positive that we won't be going back there in the future. We've got a good team with our Ped, therapists and specialists that I really don't think it's necessary. I will be talking more in depth with our Ped before making our final decision on that.

Now on to the visit to the Oral Surgeon... (Recap... Addison has a Cleft Palate, begins in her hard palate and extends all the way back to the end of her soft palate, it is unilateral and lucky for us isn't a huge opening.)

- First, anytime a doctor, nurse, etc walks in to the room and addresses one of the twins and shows a kind and compassionate personality, wins in my book.
- I love this doctor! Without ever saying "It will all be ok" he was able to reassure me about everything and I instantly felt at ease. Addison will be in great hands.
- It doesn't hurt that the NICU nurses speak very highly of him.
- His office staff is top notch.
- I didn't have to wait 4 hours. We were in and out in an hour.

Her next appointment is in April and then we'll be scheduling surgery then for in the summer. God willing (and provided Addison gets the memo) she'll only be inpatient for 24 hours. SHE BETTER GET THE MEMO! Lol. The surgeon feels confident that she could very well only need 1 (yes O N E) surgery to repair the cleft palate. (PLEASE OH PLEASE DEAR GOD!) At most she could need just one more when she is about 5 or 6 years old.

Special thanks to my mom who was able (with short notice) to take the morning off to keep an eye on Blake so I wouldn't have to drag him along while Jake was working.

I know that I will be extremely nervous as the time draws closer, but I am at peace with this right now and I have FAITH that she will handle this as gracefully as she has handled everything life has thrown her way. In case you didn't already know it, she's one tough cookie! (As always we can use all the prayers we can get, they always help.)

Tomorrow is OT for Addison, let's see if she behaves ;-)

Today we went to visit our GI doc...

Here's what she had to say about Little Miss Addison...

Weight: 8.400 kg... (18.85 pounds)
Height: 26 1/2''
Precentile: 90th for ACTUAL AGE....WOWSER!

As you all may already know Miss Addison is G-tube fed. Currently she gets 8 ounces via a "bolus" aka gravity feed 4 times a day.  She recieves Occupational Therapy once a week where we work on her oral motor skills and eating, then we practice with her twice a day or more if she'll tolerate, all other days. Right now, she can take up to 1 tbs of food, but mostly takes maybe 3 or 4 small baby spoons full.

Today GI gave us some options for reducing those bolus feeds in hopes of increasing her oral feeds. Option 1... continuous feeds at night via feeing pump and no tube feedings during the day only oral feeds. Option 2...reduce the number of bolus feeds during the day from 4 to 3 and reduce the overall amount; and eliminating the "need" for continuous feeds at night.

Their are pros and cons to each option and I am not sure which route will go but, this is still GREAT NEWS to start the new year with. We meet with OT again this Friday, I'll discuss things we here then and hopefully move forward.

Oh and the biggest news... She said that she feels confident that Addison will be saying BYE BYE to the feeding tube by her 2nd birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sure hope she's right...and in Addion's tendency to prove people wrong, maybe it will even happy before that.

Happy New Year!!!! 2012

What will 2012 bring... Only God knows.

Our own goals this year include: (in no particular order)

Addison's Cleft Palate Surgery (sometime this spring) and a smooth, uneventful recovery.

Keep up with the blog :-)

Spend more time together as a family

Grow stronger in our Faith

Increasing Addison's oral feeding


......Just to name a few, and who knows maybe a few other "surprises" along the way ;-)