Bittersweet

Today was a very emotional day. It was my Mom's birthday- Happy Birthday, Mom! But it was also Aunt Charlotte's day of "celebration." There was a great turnout at the service. Instead of donations, flowers were requested to honor Aunt Charlotte's love of flowers. Family and loved ones sent beautiful flower arrangements. From here on out, I know April 29th will be a bittersweet day for my Mom. We will try to celebrate her birthday and remember our beloved Aunt Charlotte.

R.I.P.

It is with great sadness to announce that there was a death in our family. Dear Aunt Charlotte passed away unexpectedly in her sleep over the weekend. Our whole family is still in shock and grieving. She was a such a wonderful, kind, thoughtful woman. Aunt Charlotte made the best fried chicken and sugar cookies! Our family looked forward to her goodies on the holidays. Just a few weeks ago on Easter, we enjoyed her homemade treats. She was also good at crafts: sewing, making blankets, etc. It breaks my heart that she didn't get to meet Vanessa & Valerie. We were actually making plans for this past weekend or the next to get together. Aunt Charlotte always put everyone first, never thinking about herself. She was too young to leave us. This is a reminder that life passes too quickly and we need to cherish every moment with family and friends. Aunt Char & Karen at my baby shower. We miss you and love you, Aunt Charlotte.

My Kids

Sunday Visitors

My good friend Melissa came to see our beautiful girls. She couldn't wait to hold Valerie and Vanessa. Grandpa Mike & Grandma Linda and Aunt Carol also came.

Tuesday Visitors!

Today the girls had a few visitors. First Aunt Rachelle and Grandma Anne came. Then Rita and Alicia (who I used to work with) stopped by, followed by Mimi Donna, Aunt Becky, and Sam. Later that evening Zac got his haircut and was such a good boy! (he threw a HUGE fit last time). As a treat, we had McDonald's for dinner.

1st Week Home

I finally got a few spare minutes to update our blog! It's not as easy to do now with having 3 kiddos to look after! I'll try my best to have weekly updates :) It's amazing how much formula/bottles, diapers, laundry we've gone through with having twins!! It seems the girls have their days and nights mixed up. During the day, after their feedings, they sleep really well until the next feeding. However at night is a different story. We are trying to fix that ASAP!! Mom and Dad are used to their 8 hours of sleep consecutively, not 2 hours here and 3 hours there.

Home At Last!

Easter

We were hoping (wishful thinking) to have the girls home by Easter, their 1st holiday. Unfortunately that didn't happen, so Ryan and I had to visit the girls in the NICU. The night nurse had added a cute bow on the girls' hats. I bought the girls "My 1st Easter" card. Afterward we went to Aunt Becky's, then Mimi Donna's. It was weird not spending Easter together as a family.

Week with Grandma B

Grandma Beth saved us all by staying the week with me while we all adjusted to having the girls home. Thank goodness she did!! She helped with taking care of the girls, cooking, and cleaning. I don't know what I'm going to do next week, all by myself with the 3 kiddos- yikes! That one extra blessing makes all the difference in the world.

3 Weeks Old & Coming Home!!

Wow! It's already been 3 weeks since our little angels arrived! We thought the girls were coming home tomorrow. However I received a phone call from the doctor this morning saying the girls were ready for their homecoming today!! I was excited and unprepared- today I was going to finish last minute errands before their arrival. Once again, that's what I get for trying to plan! We arrived at the hospital at 2:30 and didn't leave until almost 7pm! It was a lengthy discharge process. We also had our CPR class. The majority of the time was spent on waiting for Apria, the monitor company to arrive at the hospital. The girls do have to be on monitors for another month. Of course they had one on hand and had to scramble to find another one. Then we had to be shown how they work, etc. Those monitors are more scary than reassuring, in my opinion!! Grandma Beth came to our house to watch Zac. Poor guy has a bad cough and doesn't feel well. All 3 kiddos go to the doctor tomorrow. He wasn't too impressed with his new sisters. Mimi Donna & Papa Randy were also at home to greet the girls. They got passed around, had a feeding, diaper and outfit change, and time for bed. I should be sleeping also, but Vanessa has to eat an in hour, so might as well wait!

4-5-09

A few pictures from our Sunday visit:

Fun With Zac

While Ryan was on "vacation" for 2 weeks he played Mr. Mom while I was in the hospital for 4 days and then he took care of me when I was released. We did manage to enjoy a few days with Zac- before the girls come home. One evening we went to the Center and let him play in the kids area. He had a blast! Last Friday, we took him to Crown Center and walked around. We had an early dinner at Fritz's- a fun place for kids- a train drops your food at your table. Every time he heard the "choo-choo" he'd turn around and say "Choo-choo!" It was adorable. The food wasn't the best, but it was worth seeing his reactions.

Our New Home

I finally got around to taking pictures of the inside our house. We still have a few things to do, like hanging up pictures in Zac's room and we need to finish the girls' room!

2 Weeks Old!

Here's pics from tonight- we finally got our 1st family photo! Wow! The girls are already 2 weeks old today! I guess time has gone by fast since we've been driving back and forth to the hospital to see them every day. It is exhausting, but well worth it when we see their beautiful eyes staring back at us! They continue to eat from their bottles. They only had about 10 mL left from their bottle tonight when we fed them. It looks like they can come home the end of next week- which I would have been 37 weeks. They just had to come early :( We are so ready for them to come home. I feel fortunate and blessed that they were both healthy at 33 weeks, besides having the feeding tubes inserted. However, I'm selfish and feel like we're missing out on their first month of life. I know they're in the best place right now. With Zac, he got to come home with me, after a 2-day stay at the hospital. So this is a hard adjustment. We took Zac with us tonight and he did surprisingly well!! He sat in the chair, ate snacks and played with a car. We were there for an hour and a half for their feedings and he was such a good boy.

More Pics

Bottle Time

It's been quite the whirlwind this past week and a half. We were a family of three, and that changed to 5 in just a matter of hours on March 23rd. I really thought I was going back to work that day, not having 2 babies 5 hours after I checked into the hospital!! But now I can't imagine not having twins. It has been exhausting driving to the hospital every day to see them. We just want to bring them home. We tried to bottle-feed the girls the other day. Vanessa was not interested and slept the whole time. Valerie took a couple sucks. However yesterday Vanessa drank the ENTIRE bottle (36 mL)!! Ryan stuck the bottle in her mouth and she started chugging away!! Valerie took about half. We were so excited. There are 3 things they need to do in order to come home: 1) Bottle-feed at every feeding for 48 hours 2) Gain weight 3) Regulate their body temperature on their own. They're still in the incubator, but not hooked up to anything except the feeding tubes. The hard plastic from the incubator provides a little heat for the girls. So once they start eating more, it'll be a snowball affect: they'll gain more weight and be able to regulate their body temps. Hopefully in 2 weeks they'll be ready, that's our goal!!