Sleep Deprivation

Life with twins is tiring! Really, I imagine life with just one premature baby would be tiring! I think we are almost out of the stage where we have got to make sure Ethan & Grant eat every 3 to 4 hours, day or night! I just weighed Grant and he is now 10 lbs 4 oz. His pediatrician said that she wanted them to be 10-12 lbs before we took away any night feeds. Michael will be so excited!
Ethan had some more blood work done recently and his liver function is still improving. I think the doctors had anticipated it being normal by now, but we're not there yet, so we'll test again on June 18th. I'm thinking Ethan may keep us on our toes as he gets older. I often catch him with such a mischievous look on his face!

This past weekend we went to visit my great aunt. She is 95 years old. I was really glad that Ethan and Grant got to meet Aunt Fain. We always have to make surprise visits now because if she knows we are coming she wants to cook us a full course meal! She is pretty well blind now and uses a walker, but she is doing great. She said for new recipes these days she has to remember the recipe because she can no longer read them. I couldn't imagine what I would come up with if I were making everything from memory! She has a lady that comes in to help her some during the week. She is 84! Aunt Fain joked that she can't remember for the both of them! (Apparently Aunt Fain's caretaker is starting to be forgetful). Anyway, we had a good visit.


Now, for all of you who have had the pleasure of meeting my dogs and wondering what we did with them after the arrival of the boys... my mom & dad took "the girls" once I was admitted to the hospital. Eventually, the girls were allowed up for a visit to see how they would react to Grant & Ethan. Amazingly, they hardly even took notice! Still, they both went back to my parents house two hours away. The next weekend, Sierra got to come back and is doing great with Grant and Ethan, and even with Lauren, the babysitter. I haven't told Lauren this yet, but after only 3 days Sierra has started crying at the door when Lauren leaves. Spotter is a bit more "bull in a china closet" type dog and has a bit of a chewing problem (blue tooth earpieces, keyless entry for the car, corner of the dresser, corner of the cedar chest, ink cartridge, lots of ink pens, and I could go on...), so she is now an outside dog at my dad's. Pretty amazing for a guy who often says "One dog is one dog too many." Even after I've moved away my dad still has to deal with my adoptees (he currently has two of them and one that he and my mom adopted on their own, ha!). Anyway, I think that gets everyone up to date! Goodnight!

Mother's Day Weekend

First of all, let me say a big "Thank You!" to my mom & Michael's mom for coming up and keeping the boys when I went back to work. Aren't mother's great. We love you both!!
Our exciting news for this weekend is that we can now let the boys sleep up to 4 hours between feeds! What a difference an hour makes. I feel so much more rested. There are still times when it's just three hours between a feeding, but it still is a huge difference. Other exciting news is that, because Michael and I changed our mind about insurance, we were double insured from the boys birth until April 1, 2 days after Ethan was released! This, on top of verifying that the person I talked to in the hospital billing department really couldn't read the info right and we really don't owe them $45,000.00 after insurance paid their part! Ha! I couldn't believe that, so I asked her about five times and then waited until Monday and spoke to insurance folks (who really didn't clear anything up) and then the bill came in. No where near $45,000.00!! Oh, and all of that was for Ethan. I think the've lost Grant's big claim. Who knows?!?
Anyway, it's been a good week and we are all doing great. Michael is off this week to keep the boys until the babysitter (Lauren) starts, so ya'll all say a quick prayer for him. It can be quite tiring!

This picture was taken the day after the boys turned 2 months old. I wrapped Ethan up in a baby burrito and put him on his back. About 10 minutes later, this is what I found!! I can't tell you the number of times we dug the boys out of the bumper pads when we had the mattress raised to help with Ethan's reflux. So much for all of those crib safety rules. We do try, though!
I finally got Ethan's test results from the GI Clinic. His liver is still enlarged and his LFT's (Liver Function Tests) are elevated, but they are improved. We go back again on the 13th of May for more tests. Poor little guy has been poked and prodded so much, but he's a trooper. Thankfully he won't remember all this when he's older! As for the audiologist appointment, after about 2 hours Ethan passed his hearing test (one of them anyway). Basically, he can hear, but he has fluid in one of his ears and we'll have to go back again when he's a year old. Hopefully that too will clear up on its own.
The boys are 8 lbs 5 oz and 7 lbs 5 oz now. Grant weighs twice what he did when he was born! He was laying on the couch with his dad today and they were cooing at each other and making faces. So cute! I feel like I'm already missing so much being back at work now. They do grow so fast.

2 Months Old

I can hardly believe it's already been two months! Grant and Ethan are both doing good. We had their two month wellness check this past Wednesday and the pediatrician was very pleased with their developmental progress. Ethan will go to a specialist in June for even more thorough testing in that area (that appt has nothing to do with the pediatrician's visits, it was scheduled before we left the hospital). The boys each got 5 shots and 1 oral vaccine. Ethan did pretty good with both. Grant seemed to love the oral vaccine, but he would hold his breath every time he got a shot (he takes after his dad in the needles dep't I guess)! Anyway, we are waiting on test results for Ethan on his liver. It seems that his troubles may be the twin to twin transfusion stuff still resolving itself. Hopefully that's it and there is no long term damage. We go to the audiologist today for him, so pray all goes well. I will get more pictures up when I can get them to upload again!
For those of you interested in how Michael and I are doing, we are exhausted!! But it is all so worth it. My mom will be back up this week as I go back to work Tuesday (I'll almost feel like I'm starting a new job, as I've been off for over 2 months!). I'm sure going to miss those guys during the day!
In other family news, my brother is also having another check up in Houston today. They got great news at the last appointment and I pray that there will be more of the same!

Sorry Ya'll

This is the third day in a row I've tried to upload photos and it's just not working! And what a shame, because there are some cute ones (if I do say so, myself).
Anyway, things are going good here. Grant and Ethan made their first trip to church Sunday. That went pretty good, although we were a bit late. I thought we would sneak them in and Michael thought, hey, let's announce to everyone on facebook that we are going! We've really got to start discussing these things better. Ha! Anyway, Mrs. Frances was our hero for the day, standing gaurd outside the nursery to keep our boys peacefully sleeping, and germ free. Thank you, and what a great job! I'm going to try one more time before I'm done for the night and get some pictures uploaded...
Well, no go... and my brain is really not up for troubleshooting, so maybe later.

We Made It!

Ethan and I came home Monday evening! We had quite a stay at UAMS, but not near as long as some! And I think I've said it before, but the maternal and NICU staff there are great!! This is just a quick update, because life with two infants is busy. Even though all they do is eat and sleep, they keep us busy. Thank you Nena and Cesa for the help. We are very grateful! Ethan went to his first pediatrician appointment Tuesday and he is doing fine. When Dr. Salman asked us to tell her about his medical history we just had to say, "Here's his report." Pretty much everything has resolved. We are now just watching the hydrops and the liver enzymes, oh and he has to have a hearing screening at Children's still, too. He passed in one ear, but not the other. Anyway, we are doing well... And now it is off to bed for me. It's one hour to feeding time again!! Hope to have time to post pictures soon... Good night!