Merry Christmas!

We had to post a few pictures of Santa's Little Helpers. The girls are pretty excited about Christmas as you can see. I was sad about not being able to take them to see Santa without being exposed to other kids....so our friends Moose, Amber, and Dawn provided us with a germ free santa experience! Thanks guys we really appreciate it! The whole family really enjoyed it! We will be spending time with each of our parents for Christmas but without our sisters and nieces and nephews due to the quarantine. They will all be greatly missed. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys getting to spend some time with their families.

We've come a long way Baby!

Renna, 6 months old

Reagan, 6 months old

Reagan at two weeks old

Renna at one week old

In honor of the girls turning 6 months on Dec. 11 I wanted to look back at what huge improvements they have made. Actually that really seems like an understatement...they are our miracle babies and are tougher than me. It is amazing what God has done in their lives and how much he has blessed us by allowing us to be their parents. Renna started out at 2lbs. 15 oz. and is now a whopping 12lbs. 13 oz!! Reagan started out at 2lbs. 10 oz. and is now 11lbs. 7oz!! Can't believe how chubby they are getting. It really makes us smile. When we brought them home at 9 and 10 weeks of age we were making 16 bottles a day and feeding round the clock every three hours. We are now as of this week (hope I am not jinxing us) making 12 bottles a day and have just in the last few days started sleeping seven hours at a time!! Yes, I said seven hours!! What wonderful, blessed sleep. Of course I still wake up about every 1-2 hours to pat bottoms and replace a pacifier....but overall much much better. We still go thru anywhere from 14-18 diapers a day but who is counting! The girls are really starting to notice each other a lot more. It is my favorite thing when I catch them smiling at each other and then they coo back and forth. It melts my heart! I can't wait until they really start interacting with each other. How lucky they are to always have each other around. This six months has been the hardest of our lives but also the most rewarding. The experience with the girls spending over two months in the NICU was something I would never wish for anyone to have to endure. However I do believe as all hard times do, it made us so thankful for what we have. It brought Adam and I closer together and now we feel as if there isn't anything we can't get through together with the help of God. These little ladies can be very challenging at times but they are worth every second of lost sleep and worry. We don't get out at all except for our visits to the doctor which are actually quite frequent. So far we have seen: Neonatologists, Pediatric Cardiologist, surgeons, radiologists, ophthamologist, gastroenterologist, dermatologist, pulmonologist, and of course our pediatrician. I am sure there are a few in between that I left out. We recently ventured out to my parents to spend our first night away from home. It is nice having both sets of parents live within 45 minutes. So anyways Adam had to go out of town for some continuing education for work, so the girls and I went and stayed with my parents. It was so much fun...It was really good to spend time with my parents and my grandma. Plus it was huge for me to actually be out of our house for once and have some change of scenery. I was very worried about how the girls would sleep. Turns out the first night we stayed there the girls slept for about 6 hours!! Yeah!! The next night they slept seven hours!! Wow!! So far this week they have continued that. What an answered prayer. I will keep you posted on how it goes. We had a great time watching movies and just relaxing at my parents. I forgot the camera in all of the junk I packed so I will have to get some pictures from my mom. All in all it was a great weekend and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment at surviving away from our comfort zone. Of course it was also Adam's first time to be away from the girls and I think we missed him as much as he missed us. So to some it up, we now have six month old babies. We can't believe it. Everyday they do something new and fun. I am sure the next six months will prove to be just as exciting.

Thanksgiving with a cold...

Grammy feeding Renna

Our first thanksgiving as a family of four!

Our four generation picture: Me, my mom, my grandma, and the girls

Well we survived our first Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time visiting my parents on Thursday and then Adam's parents on Saturday. It was so nice to get out of the house briefly and relax with our families. We didn't get to see our siblings and our nieces and nephews due to the quarantine this year so they were greatly missed. We look forward to holidays when we can all be together again since we haven't been since the girls were born. Well again the viruses have come to haunt us. Renna began getting a runny nose on Wednesday and of course it turned into a full fledged cold and cough by Thursday. And of course you guessed it, by Friday I was sick and by Saturday Adam and Reagan had it too! Great!! It made for an extra cranky holiday, poor little ladies! Good news is that we are still battling runny noses but the cold doesn't seem to have gotten in their chest like it did last time. So far so good. It continues to baffle us as to why the girls keep getting sick. I mean we don't take them anywhere (except to their many doctor visits) and we practically sterilize ourselves when we come home from a public outing before we even touch the girls. Who knows, I guess they just have a weak immune system and if we were taking them all over the place they would probably be getting really sick all the time. We are just thankful that they are feeling better today. Reagan has her ultrasound of the lump on her head on Thursday so hopefully we will get some good news. Please keep that in your prayers. The girls have started trying to grab at toys and will put some of their stuffed animals up to their mouths. It is so cute. They seem like they are doing new things everyday. We managed to get the Christmas tree up this weekend despite the illnesses. We weren't going to let that stop us from enjoying the tree for a month. The girls really like the tree and the lights. Can't wait to start some holiday traditions with them this year. Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for our wonderful families who continue to help us so much.

Fight for Preemies

Lately I have been overwhelmed with the thoughts of how blessed we are that both of our little girls are doing so well. They arrived so very early at 28 weeks of gestation and had such a tough road. After surviving heart surgery with Renna, rectal biopsies with Reagan, and in general over two months of needles, IVs and machines in the NICU, we count ourselves very very blessed. It reminds you of how life can change in an instant. Our day had started like a regular summer Thursday and before we knew it I was in labor and we were racing to the hospital...four hours later our girls were fighting for their lives. We have, with God's miraculous blessing, survived and triumphed. I now often say to Adam that I feel like "our cup runneth over." I don't know why God chose this journey for our little girls or for us, but I do know that every minute was worth it when I hold my little sweethearts in my arms. Even though I complain about house arrest I must say any and every day at home is better than two seconds in the NICU. I have been thinking alot about the other babies that we met while we were there and of course the ones that we saw who lost their fight. Some babies weren't premature but were born with congenital problems and are facing a lifetime of surgery and illness. It makes me never take one second for granted. I know there are many babies all over the country who are in the NICU now over the holidays. Adam and I were just talking today about how tough it would be to be spending your babies first thanksgiving and Christmas in that awful place while your child/children fight for their lives. So as I have been doing all of this thinking lately, I decided I want to give back and get involved with the March of Dimes. As it turns out this month is Prematurity Awareness month. Over 540,000 babies are born each year in the US as preemies. Only a small one percent are born by week 28 or before. Of course we fell into that one percent. Anyways please visit the March of Dimes website and help in the fight for preemies. I am not exactly sure how I am going to get involved yet but I will be posting more information soon. I did send an email they already have written for you about increasing funding for research into prematurity. If you feel moved please email your congressmen as well. I will try not to turn this post into a political platform, just wanted everyone to know what has been on my heart lately. Please remember all the sick babies and children out there in the hospital who will be spending their holidays in the hospital. Say an extra prayer for them and their families. Makes you want to hug your little ones a little tighter. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

House arrest continues...

Renna

Reagan

The girls are doing great and continuing to grow and have really started developing some chubby rolls! What an accomplishment for them! Renna now weighs a whopping 12lbs. 3oz and Reagan closely trailing at 10lbs. 14oz. I can't believe how much heavier they are getting to carry around. The girls have begun their series of RSV vaccines. We met with the pulmonologist and were again cautioned about keeping the girls from public areas and other children...blah...blah...So the house arrest continues. I am sad it has started getting cold since our walks outside had become something to really look forward to. Anyways, the holidays will be celebrated with only our immediate family in effort to restrict our little ladies from other children. It has been a hard decision for us to make but we have to do what is best for our girls. We look forward to seeing everyone and getting out and about once flu and RSV season have passed. We went to Reagan's dermatologist appointment last week for the bump/lump around her eyebrow. The doctor said it is one of two things (hemangioma or intradermal cyst). Both of these things are nothing to be too concerned about but may require surgery with a plastic surgeon to remove it! Great...another procedure...another referral. I guess we should just be glad it hopefully isn't anything too serious. It doesn't seem to bother her at all so that is good news. So we will be going to yet another specialist for an ultrasound of the area in December.We will keep you posted on that development. Renna is doing great and is still our little eater! Both girls are eating every three hours during the day but are doing one five hour stretch between bottles at night. Yeah!! I am very excited about that. Now you notice I didn't say they always sleep for five hours...but at least they are sleeping longer periods all the time. The developmental specialist came yesterday and informed us they are right on schedule with their gestational age. She actually said they were a little ahead of where they should be. We are so excited to hear that and will continue their daily "exercises." The girls are cooing, smiling, and laughing at us more all the time! We love it so much. Renna has started smiling huge when she is crying in the middle of the night and she sees me....it is like she knows my weakness. I have to look away and just pat her back to sleep or else she has me won over and I have to snuggle her! Ha! ha! We had a quick impromptu photo session before a doctor appointment outing last week. The doctor appointments are about the only time we leave the house so of course the girls must wear their best clothes (thanks for the cute outfits Moose, Amber, and Dawn)! As the beginning of the holidays approach I have been thinking about how blessed we are. We are so thankful for our miracle baby girls who are so strong and have overcome so much. We continue to give the glory to God for blessing us with them. We are also thankful for our wonderful family and friends who have been so helpful to us through the tough times and continue to help with the girls. We love you all! Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving next week!

Happy Halloween!

Reagan, Natalie, and Renna

Renna

Reagan

Just wanted to post some pictures of our little pink flowers! We made a quick trip to visit my best friend Sonya and her little girl Natalie on Halloween. We know the girls are going to be best friends, even if they may not look like it in these pictures! It was fun to get the girls around another child/baby for once, even for just some quick photos. Sonya and Darran, thanks for inviting us over and helping with the photo shoot. Hope everyone had a great Halloween. We are doing well. I survived my first two whole days away from the girls last week. I had to do some continuing education to keep my license up to date. It was so hard being away from them all day. I definitely cried the whole drive down there the first morning. The girls did great and I am positive they didn't even know I was gone. Adam and his mom watched them the first day, then my mom and grandma watched them the second day. Sure made me realize how much I love being a mom and getting to stay home with my little ladies! We have a friend of a friend that lost one of their twin baby girls this week. I can't tell you how much this tragedy makes me remember that every moment that I have with my girls is a special gift from God. I will not take one second for granted. Our prayers are with the family and friends of sweet baby Kate.

Punkin & Pickle

The girls are continuing to grow and learn new things everyday. Last week we had a meeting with a child developmental specialist who is now going to come once a month to evaluate the girls and have some special play time. The good news is that the girls are actually beyond where they should be for their gestational age of almost 7 weeks. They of course are not up to the development level of four month olds, but the goal is for them to be caught up developmentally by the time they are two years of age. We are very proud of them and how well they are doing! Of course Adam and I knew they were very smart! So we now have some massages and exercises we are doing everyday to work on motor skills etc...This is part of our "fun-awake" time everyday. It is very exciting because everyday we can see them learning new things and becoming more aware of their surroundings. They have both started smiling in response to Adam and I talking to them. This new development is so rewarding for us. It is actually beginning to seem like they know us. I can't tell you how happy and excited this makes mommy and daddy!! We now spend our evenings acting like complete crazy people trying to get them to laugh and smile at us. What fun! They are both cooing some and Renna has started trying to respond to us with coos when we talk to her. She will likely be our little talker. Who am I kidding anyone who knows me has no doubt that both my girls will be little talkers just like their mommy. Poor Adam will never get a word in once that starts. Last week the girls also got their four month shots (yes they are technically almost 5 months old). Ugh! They were very cranky for a few days but are feeling fine now. As a mom it is so hard to watch them get their shots and usually results in all three of us crying. I could not be the person to hold their arms down and let them look at my face while they were screaming in pain. So poor Adam had to be the bad guy. The good news about the doctor visit is that she was very pleased with how much they had grown. Renna weighed 10lbs. 15oz. and Reagan weighed 9lbs. 13oz! I was shocked at how much they weighed. She said we could start stretching the day feedings out to four hours. We have not tried this so far because every three hours they seem to be starving and I haven't been brave enough to make it thru an hour of crying just to stretch it out. As long as they keep gaining and eating well we may keep doing the three hour schedule. We have officially run out of breast milk for Renna and at the doctor's suggestion switched her to Reagan's whey protein formula. The hope is that this will help her with her constipation problems as well. We will keep you posted on the pooping progress. Reagan will also be going to see a dermatologist in a few weeks for a bump above her eye. We believe it started with a mosquito bite but it isn't going away so the doctor has referred us to yet another specialist, a pediatric dermatologist. Hopefully we get good news about this. I guess I should explain the title of the post. I have always called the girls my little punkins. Well Adam decided they should have different nicknames and just blurted out Renna should be Punkin' and Reagan our little Pickle. So it has kind of started sticking this week. I am sure it will be something we will look back on and laugh about with the girls one day. So we will keep you posted on the many adventures of Punkin' & Pickle.