Da Da Da Da Da Da….

What’s Charlie up to…

• Sitting on his own.  We don’t let him sit in the Bumbo anymore because he almost flipped out of it!
• Eating lots of food (mostly baby food, but the occasional big person food Daddy sneaks him – in a picture below, you will see Uncle Justin and Daddy giving Charlie something he DEFINITELY shouldn’t have had.).  He still takes 6 bottles of breastmilk a day.  We are so close to dropping that night time bottle.   He actually slept through the night Sunday night.
• “Talking”:  Babies start off saying vowels only.  Now Charlie can say “D’s”, “G’s”, and “B’s”.  Therefore, he can say Dada.  This makes Devin VERY happy.
• Smiling
• “Kissing”:  He’ll come at you with his mouth wide open…too cute!!
• Scooting:  He will push up on all fours and rock.  He can scoot backwards and is all over the place.  We’ve decided he will probably learn to go forwards Friday when we put up our Christmas tree. 
• Holding bottle.
• Throwing things.
• Holding on to the couch to stand…this one scares me!

What’s Anna Claire up to…

• Sitting on her own.  We still prop her up in the Bobby, but she can do it on her own.
• Eating lots of food (she loves puffs and yougurt melts!!) and she is still taking 6 bottles of breastmilk a day.  Last night she slept until 5:00, ate about 3 ounces, then went back to sleep until 6:45.
• Laughing – Devin can really get her going.  It’s so cute!
• Smiling
• Scooting – She can’t push up on her knees like Charlie, but she can still move around backwards too! 
• Holding bottle – however, she and Charlie like it best when Mommy feeds them.  Daddy says they forget how to hold their bottles when Mrs. Kim and Mommy are around!
• She’s still doing her physical therapy.  We have a ton of exercises to do with her each day.  We are seeing her hips loosen which is good.
• Observing:  this little girl is the most observant child ever!!  She LOVES to watch her daddy and her brother.  So cute!!
• Rolling over:  this is something she mastered before Charlie – she can roll from her back to her tummy.  She does this best when we are trying to change her diaper…go figure!

Today was the last day of school for the week.  I’m really excited about 5 days with Devin and the babies.  I also can’t wait to spend time with family this week and eat lots of great food.  We have SO MUCH to be thankful for. 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”  Psalm 118:1

Here are some pictures that haven’t made it to the blog yet.

Aunt Bekah and Uncle Justin came to visit a while back:  (AC is wearing a hat we wore when we were little.)

Trying sippy cups – we aren’t fans yet.  I think we’re going to try a different kind.  Any suggestions?  The ones in the pictures are the only ones we’ve tried.

Charlie has no problems falling asleep.  Anna Claire sometimes fights going to sleep.  We were at my parents’ house and she needed a nap.  Her great-grandpa got her to sleep.  Thanks Pa!

They went to their first friend birthday party.  Happy Birthday Sarah Ann!

Daddy went to Las Vegas for four days.  We were so excited for him to come home. 

Other than our parents, Mrs. Kim, and Elizabeth, we haven’t left the babies alone with anyone else…until last Thursday.  Mr. Jeffrey watched Sarah Ann, Anna Claire, and Charlie while Cortney and I went to a baby shower.  [We were only gone about an hour and his sister was there, but still, Jeffrey, you've joined the list of an elite few!  Thanks for watching them for us. ]  The blur you see is Sarah Ann.  This girl is on the go.  She kept going back and forth between AC and Charlie to give them hugs.  So cute!

Cookie Day at Mrs. Elizabeth’s with Daddy and some other friends. (Yes, Charlie is mashing the cookie cutter with his foot.  Such a boy!)

Prematurity Awareness Month

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”   Psalm 139:13-14

The March of Dimes designates November as Prematurity Awareness Month. November 17 is specifically a day when bloggers all over unite to blog about premature babies to raise awareness. If you are reading our blog, you know that this definitely hits close to home for us. So, I’m going to share (in a condensed version) our journey through the first couple months with premature babies.

Anna Claire and Charlie were born at 30 weeks. Anna Claire weighed 979 grams (2 lbs 2oz) and Charlie weighed 1161 grams (2 lbs 8 oz). It is truly a miracle these little ones are with us today. When I was 28 weeks pregnant we learned there were some complications. The babies were not growing like they should be. We found out Anna Claire had absent end diastolic flow. (She wasn’t getting the right blood flow through the umbilical cord – therefore prohibiting good growth.) I also had preeclamsia. I was put on hospital bedrest. Once my water broke, the decision to deliver by c-section was quickly made. After delivery, we found out the severity of the situation. Anna Claire had over a 50% placental abrution. Yes this is scary…she probably wouldn’t have made it much longer. This also leads to a high instance a maternal mortality. To add to the scary situation, Charlie’s placenta had a clot in it and a mild placental infarction…yes, this is bad. Praise the Lord he broke my water!

Thus began our 10 week journey in the NICU. I was not able to go see the babies until 24 hours after delivery due to my own health issues. Devin did a great job going back and forth and keeping me updated on everything! I was so excited to be able to go see them the next day, but had no idea what I was going to see. I was in SO much pain, but pushed through it. We saw Charlie first. He and Anna Claire were in different rooms at this time. They were so small and so helpless. I didn’t know what to do. I had visited family and friends with newborns, but we couldn’t hold our babies; we couldn’t feed our babies. We could look at them and touch them a little. I look back on this time and think that I probably should have been more afraid/scared/nervous/worried than I was. Don’t think I wasn’t all of those things, but I truly believe that because of all the people praying for us, God gave us a peace that is indescribable. Over the next several weeks we dealt with all the premature issues like breathing difficulty, nasal canulas, apnea, feeding issues, residual, bilirubin issues, bili lights and blankets, PDA, hernia surgery, etc. I am forever grateful for the wonderful NICU nurses, staff, nurse practioners, respiratory thereapists, physical thereapists, surgeons, doctors, etc. who helped and loved our babies.

Anna Claire and Charlie are 8 months old now. They are growing and thriving. They are learning and teaching us more than we could ever imagine. God is good. Prayer is powerful. This journey is not over yet…it has only just begun. Thank you for joining us on this adventure. I thank God for each of you.

Here are a few pictures from the beginning and a few from this week. Enjoy!
Charlie then:
Anna Claire then:
Charlie now:
Anna Claire now:
Both now:

Eight Months Old

Anna Claire and Charlie turned eight months old last Saturday. How exciting! So much has happened over the past eight months. We took them to the doctor last week and Anna Claire is 13lbs 11oz and Charlie is 16lbs 7oz!!! They are doing so well. Anna Claire is continuing her physical therapy for her legs/feet. We work with her daily and hope to see improvements soon! As you will see in the first picture, Charlie is trying his hardest to crawl. I let them play on my bed with some toys and pillows around them. Within 30 seconds, Charlie was almost off the bed. Do you see his little knee pulled up? Yes…I’m afraid we are almost mobile!!
Anna Claire LOVES Charlie. She will just stare at him sometimes. Here they are and she is just reaching out for him. Too cute!!
They are doing so well sitting and playing together.
On a side note, Devin is in Las Vegas for a math conference. Please pray for him to have a great time and for safe travel. He will be back Saturday night. Please pray for us that we will make it without Daddy!

Awake… asleep… awake… asleep…

In the evening time around 7:30, Charlie always goes out like a light. However, Anna Claire wants to stay up and play. It’s funny because she’s not fussy at all, but she can stay up till 8:00 to 8:30 no problem. One night I was rocking her to sleep, and she was playing this game…

November 4, 2008 – A day we won’t forget!

Many people will remember this day last year as the day our country elected Barack Obama as the 44th president.  While this was a big deal for our country, Devin and I got the shock of our lives that day.  We went to the doctor for our regular prenatal appointment.  We were 13 weeks pregnant.  Keep in mind that we had already had an appointment and an ultrasound and our ONE baby was doing fine.  The doctor did all the routine things, including listening to the heartbeat.  We thought the appointment was over, but she said, “I’ll be right back, I want to grab the portable ultrasound machine.”  I immediately thought something was wrong.  Devin asked her if everything was ok.  She said yes and that she just wanted to take a peek at the baby.  As soon as she left the room I was upset, but Devin said, “Maybe there’s more than one in there!”  (famous last words)  I still didn’t think that.  Well, she came back and as soon as she put the thing on my tummy, we saw TWO BABIES!!!  I felt light headed and Devin literally jumped.  He was so excited…I was too, but we were both in shock.  We had no idea what we were in for.  I didn’t understand how we missed it last time.  Supposedly she suspected it because I felt bigger than I should be, but one baby was hiding behind the other one on the ultrasound.  Needless to say, a year later, that day will never be forgotten!

Our TWO little babies:  (Charlie reading the paper and Anna Claire grinning at her daddy.)

An interesting twin fact…

SO many people ask us if twins run in our family.  (If we had a dollar for every time, we’d be rich!) :) I can completely understand the curiosity, so I thought I’d post some information about twins and heredity. 

Only fraternal twins are hereditary.  So, dads…it doesn’t matter if there are 100 sets of twins on your side or even if you are a twin, it doesn’t affect if you father twins.  Moms, if you have a history of twins on your dad’s side of the family…that doesn’t affect whether you have twins either.  The ONLY situation where having twins is hereditary is if your mom, grandmother, etc. gave birth to fraternal twins.  This means that you COULD be predisposed to releasing more than one egg in a cycle which could result in fraternal twins.  (Of course, fertility treatments and such can also result in twins.) Although there are families with multiple cases of identical twins…we just have to chalk that up to coincidence.  Hope you find this interesting.