Nap Time Prayer

Giving thanks today that I have two great little nappers asleep at this moment. Also thankful that they are still on a two-nap-a-day schedule. I know those two-a-days are numbered. Until then, I'll enjoy taking the time to get things done around here while my sweet ones dream. 

"The sun still shines but I'm in bed

Because I need to rest my head.

So, God, please bless this quiet time

And when I wake, I'll feel just fine"

Who's Ready for Fall?! We ARE, that's who!

I think we've FINALLY made it out of the 100 + temps. Thank you LORD! It's been a brutally hot Summer around here...well, around everywhere I think. The cooler weather finally blew in late yesterday. I put long sleeves on K & D and we headed to the park for the morning. Here's a few pics of them enjoying some time OUTSIDE! 

Also, I treated myself to my first cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee of the season. :) I've been waiting to open the box until temps were cooler. Well worth the wait I must say! If you have a Keurig, this is a MUST have for the Fall. Happy Labor Day! 

Rainbow Play Date!

I took Kaylan and Dylan to a "rainbow-themed" play-date today. Each set of twins was to wear a specific color, and bring a snack of that color as well. (We had yellow). See pictures below. It was so much fun! There were four sets of boy/girl twins and one sweet little singleton (Hannah Kate -- she's in Purple). I think the kids thought they had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with all the fun toys at this house! 

Dylan's Homecoming!

August 13, 2011 --- it's been one year since we brought home our little baby boy! (He's not so little anymore)...sniff, sniff. Just a quick "then" and "now" picture to highlight what an amazing year we've had with Dylan. We're so thankful on a daily basis for both of our precious gifts! 

(Then) 

 (Now)

Firsts: Ponytails, Walking and a Good Book

I went to my "Moms of Multiples" meeting last night. July is typically when they do some sort of outreach/service project. We did the leg work for putting together some little lovie blankets for local NICUs. (There's a sewer in the group and she has the REAL work ahead). We collected new preemie clothes and one of the members will be dropping off little gift bags from our group some time over the next few months. I mention this because I had to go out and buy some new preemie clothes to donate....For the first time in a long time, I held a preemie outfit in my hand. Standing in line at Target, I thought, "This is the tiniest thing I've ever seen. How on EARTH did my babies have to GROW into this size?!" It was such a different perspective to be a year past the place of oxygen, tiny diapers, monitors and feeding tubes. It was a humbling moment. I'm so glad to be apart of this group of moms who share in so many of the same challenges that come along with twins, triplets, and yes -- quads! We all tip our hats to the mamas that have more than two....If you've got triplets, you're outnumbered at home!


Just this week, we had some "firsts"....Dylan started walking on Monday! He's just taking a few steps at a time, but improving every day. Also, we got Kaylan's hair in a pony tail for the first time :) It was a tiny little tail, but a pony tail nonetheless....And for me, I have been reading a book for the first time in a LONG time --- and now I will side track and tell you that if you need a good read for the Summer, please pick up The Help. It's wonderful! I just finished this afternoon. I haven't read a good book in so long, it felt good! 


Here's a couple of pictures of Dylan walking....Kaylan's pony tail...and oh yeah, I'll go ahead and put the movie trailer for "The Help" below...the movie comes out next month!  Can't wait to see it!

Here's a pic of me and Kaylan before church last Sunday. 

Shameless plug for a great book!! Check out the movie if you don't like to read :-)  

Baby you can drive my car

Just wanted to share this little video of Dylan pushing Kaylan around in their car....He's really getting confident with his walking. He won't let go yet (of anything), but he's happy to troll all over the house holding the couch, chairs, cabinets, our legs, etc. :) 

Let's hope that when he starts really driving, he's a little more aware of walls. Kaylan is not interested in walking or cruising just yet, but she's perfectly happy to ride in this car, all day long, as long as we will push around in it. I will spare you a video of the screaming, kicking, FITS that ensue when she is pulled from the car after more than adequate amounts of time riding. She LOOOVEESS, and I mean LOOOVEESSS riding in this thing.  

Rash Decisions

Well. Yesterday was fun. (Insert sarcastic sigh here). It was one of those days where you think, "I'll probably look back on this and laugh one day"....Happy to report, that day is today. I'm over it. It's all good. Here's how it all went down. 


Both babies were taking their morning nap as usual. Around 10:45, Dylan woke up screaming, and I mean S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G! This is so unlike him, that I ran in there and swooped him up and tried to comfort him. He was squeezing and hanging on to my neck so tight. I thought maybe he had a bad dream....Anyway, I could smell him...he needed a dipe change. When I laid him down to change him, he flipped out on me and tears were flowing like I've never seen....When I opened the diaper, I saw why. He had a retched diaper rash that was bright red all over his little body. He was hurting so bad and he did NOT want me to change him. So after a battle that resulted in me sweating and having a big mess all over the place, I finally got him calm. This was a rash that no amount of Desitin or Boudreaux's Butt Paste was going to solve. He was still a little fussy, so I gave him some juice to calm him down. After they both woke and ate lunch, I needed to change him again....This time, worse. Very. Dirty. Very. Messy. Like, all-up-his-back, dirty. He was reallly, upset. This drama was happening right around 12:30. I put a call in to my pediatrician's office (and of course they are closed from 12 - 1 for lunch). On to Plan B. A call in to my friend Melody. Her little boy has recently had a diaper rash and I wanted to know what I should do. She suggested that I take his diaper off and let him crawl around dipe-less. Ummmm.....yes, I know. There are risks involved with this decision. But, it needs to air out/dry out to heal. 


Soooo, off comes the diaper. That only lasted aprox 30 minutes before he had peed twice, once all over the couch, and once all over the leather toy box ottoman. Then, made his way over to the corner by the swing and proceeded to, ehem, go #2 all over the floor. Yeah, that totally happened. The irony is he messed all over his 'dump truck' that he got for his birthday. (a little immature humor for ya). 


Meanwhile, I'm going to get towels to clean him as he has now slipped in it and is covered from his waist all the way to his feet. His curious little sister was anxious to see all the excitement so she crawled right over to it to join the fun. Thankfully, my ninja like reflex mom skills allowed me to grab her with my right arm and throw a towel down on the floor with my left. Crisis averted. 


I got the mess cleaned up and then hosed off Dylan. As I'm cleaning him, I'm trying to keep one eye on Kaylan who has crawled right under my feet and hanging on to my leg while Dylan stands in the kitchen sink splashing water everywhere. Well, he wasn't so much splashing as he was trying to block me from spraying the water on him. I've got one arm on him and the other on the faucet hose. He was crying the whole time cause he was hurting. So, that was enough "airing it out time" for me....the diaper was going back ON. My pediatrician's nurse called back and called in a prescription cream for him and suggested that we lay off of fruits and JUICE (see earlier paragraph where I had given him JUICE!) Ugh, bad mom. I didn't know!


Landon went and picked up the prescription after work. On a VERY bright and THANKFUL note, our deductible has been met and therefore we did NOT have to pay the $284.99 for a DIAPER RASH CREAM. That's right, I said TWO HUNDRED EIGHT FOUR DOLLARS and NINETY NINE CENTS! WHAATTT??? I'm quite positive that Landon would have had a small heart attack at the Walgreen drive-thru pharmacy had we been required to pay this. This better be a MIRACLE cream and he better never get a diaper rash AGAIN! That's just insane that any medicine would cost that much. But I digress. I'm happy to report that the cream does seem to be working -- quickly. The rash is still there, but he's much more tolerable for us to change his diaper. Hoping it clears up by the weekend. 


Update on Kaylan -- the last TWO nights she has slept ALLL NIGHT LONG! YAY! We are so excited about this. We've been doing a little sleep training with her the past few days and it's WORKING. Google really knows what it's talking about ;-) ...oh and Dr. Ferber. :) 


Looking forward to the weekend...and really looking forward to Landon having a day off tomorrow so we can all spend the day together. 


Despite the mess Dylan made all over our house yesterday, isn't this the cutest little caboose you've ever seen? 

Fog

Signing in this Monday morning in a complete fog. Our little Kaylan has staged a major sleep revolt and it is kicking our tail. I have dreams about hiring some sort of professional sleep nanny nurse. Maybe Jo from Super Nanny can swoop in with her PT Cruiser and British accent and make her sleep through the night. A girl can dream, right? 


This past week we've just tried to get through the night with rocking, feeding and yes, even the WORST sin of them all...allowing her to sleep in our bed. GASP! It's only happened a few times. Don't judge. Poor Landon...he gets up with her more than I do. He always has. We're both exhausted and running on fumes. We're getting close to some serious sleep intervention for Kaylan....the middle bedroom has officially been staged with the pack-n-play and a night light. Something has got to change, and FAST.  It feels like everyone else has this sleep thing all figured out. Sigh. Kudos for Dylan...he's a sleep champ. (Most nights, that is). So, glass half full, I suppose?? We'll think positive :) 


On another note, the Twiblings are all over the place during the day. It's time to baby proof cabinets, doors, etc. Case in point...see picture below from this morning. Thank God it was just paper plates! And, not to be outdone, the little peanut is trying to scale the brick hearth. Someone get me some coffee!

Happy Friday :)

Okay, I'm going to make an *attempt* at updating this thing a little better...I know, I know. We've said that before. So much of this blog was dedicated to a very desperate time while Kaylan and Dylan were in the hospital and this was our outlet for communicating feelings, emotions and prayer requests. So thankful to be in a new place these days. It's not always easy, but it's oh so worth every ounce of sleeplessness.


Both of these little stinkers are crawling now and I'm pretty sure our life is about to get really chaotic...anyone know where I can get a helmet for these guys to wear...ALL THE TIME?! Dylan is all boy...climbing, crawling, and pulling up on anything and everything. He's fallen twice this week and has a war wound on his left cheek. He's tough. Kaylan is a little bit more conservative. She crawls, but only for a few special little toys that she thinks is worth the effort :) She has all the ability (and great form I might add), to crawl wherever she wants...just not always the motivation.

Happy Friday! Hope everyone has a great weekend. 


Here's a little Friday morning silliness to get you smiling.

We Made it Through Year 1...

WOW!  What a year!  Today, Dylan and Kaylan celebrated their first birthday.  It was a roller coaster year with a lot of ups, a lot of downs and several upside down loops along the way, but we managed to make it through.  Here's a little video highlight of the past year. We are blessed beyond measure. We know we haven't updated in awhile...hopefully this will make up for some lost time :) 

How Cute....Are They Twins???

So we do not post on this blog very much anymore, and for good reason  -- lack of time and energy.  This blog started off as a quick, better-than-email pregnancy update board for those following the pregnancy- through the birth and ultimately the hospital release of Dylan and Kaylan.  Since both have been home, we have had little time or energy to blog.

Today, we had their 9-month check-up with the pediatrician.  I know 9 months!!!!  Wow, time really does have wings.  The doctor was very happy about both of their progress and was very encouraging.  Dylan now weighs almost 23lbs and is in the 85th percentile for babies his age...not the preemie charts, the "normal" baby charts!  The doctor was blown away with how strong and stout he is.  We got a "keep doin' what your doin'" from him.  Kaylan's check-up was also positive.  She is a few ounces shy of 13lbs, which we really wanted to be at by this visit.  She is still not even to the 5th percentile on the preemie charts, however, her growth curve continues to trend just the way it should and since she has never been "on the charts", it was no big surprise.  She has made good strides in every area and we are now comfortable in the fact that she is running an ultra-marathon while Dylan seems to be on more of a sprint.  We were referred to see a pediatric gastro-specialist just to be sure that we are doing everything we can possibly be doing to help her with her feeding and weight gain issues.

Everywhere we go, people (especially elderly and young kids) love to see 2 babies being pushed around in a double stroller.  The one thing we ALWAYS get, no matter where we go, is the response, "AHHH, how precious, are they twins?"  And while part of me wants to say, no you idiot, they are brother and sister born a couple months apart...go do the math on that!  We always just smile and say yes they are, which ultimately brings the statement, "Wow, she is so small!"  And we usually just nod and say, yeah she is, or sometimes say, they were both very premature, usually in an attempt to be cordial, because, really, people want to be nice but don't really know what to say.

So who knows if sweet Kaylan will have to go through life having to explain her 1-pound birth story and why she is so tiny, but it is true that when we look back as to how far she has come (both of them really), there is almost a since of pride in her petite tiny frame.  Because we know God did not make a mistake when he designed her and she gets more beautiful every day!!!