Goodbye Old Friends

We hit another milestone today!

Landon is officially off his apnea monitor! No more cords for that guy. They came to pick Landon's up and downloaded the information off of Eli's so hopefully, the doctor will soon release Eli as well.

Doesn't he look excited to be saying goodbye?
Last Tuesday when we were at the doctor, I forgot to ask about the medication the boys have been on since we came home. I have really had my doubts as to how necessary it is anymore - they have been taking the same dosage every since they were born and I'm pretty sure we outgrew that dose a long time ago. If they really needed it, we would have seen problems by now, so I called today and we can stop the prescriptions!!

These are just a few of the bottles we have gone through in the last two months. I finally threw some away last week. I have this strange attachment to anything that has anything to do with my babies, but in a moment of clarity last week...I finally let a few go. I wonder how long these will sit on the counter...



So to you, Mr. Apnea monitor and prescription drugs, thank you for your services in keeping my babies safe, but you are no longer needed around these parts.

We're liberated....well almost.

Landon's Bad Habit

Landon has been trying to suck his thumb for some time now.

He is finally getting it in his mouth instead of rooting around on his whole fist



And now...he is actually sucking
And despite my best efforts to fight this off...I think I am losing the battle. Every time I see him trying to suck his thumb, I put his pacifier in his mouth, but he immediately spits it out and goes to town with his thumb.

I am torn between the nightmares that I'll have a 13 year old who still sucks his thumb and the wonderful thoughts of not having to replace a pacifier in his mouth every five seconds and his ability to self-sooth.

So for all of you mommies out there...thumb sucking - fight it or embrace it?

Ready...set....advise!

The New Eli

Ever since he was born, Eli has been the more serious of the two. He rarely smiled, he always had a very serious look on his face, and I promise he has even rolled his eyes at me as if to say, "seriously? this person is my mom?" I never knew a baby could make you feel so dumb.

Until...recently. Eli has had a personality makeover and we cannot keep this child from smiling. It's not just a smile, though...it's the goofiest, full-faced grin you've ever seen. I just can't get enough of it (unless it's the middle of the night and he won't eat because he's too busy smiling).

I'm working on getting a better picture, but here's a glimpse of the new Eli.

Family, Family, And More Family

The boys certainly got an introduction to family this past week. It exhausts me to think of trying to give an account of all the happenings, but to sum it up, we started out last Tuesday, drove to Lubbock, went to the doctor, drove to Dallas, and got in late that night. Over the next few days, I was able to attend Kristin's recital, several family dinners, lunch with good friends, Katelyn's basketball game, and then we headed home Sunday afternoon. It was a busy week, but the boys did great and we had a lot of fun! A big thank you to everyone who endured my incessant requests to wash hands! It's the number one way to prevent the spread of germs :)
The irony of it all is that I spent the whole week asking people to use hand sanitizer and to keep kids away and in the end...I ended up with pink eye. How do you wash your hands a million times a day, never go in public, and end up with pink eye?

I think almost everyone we saw is represented somewhere in the following pictures.

Littrells

Sisters

Andrew and Julie

McDaniels

"Greaty-Grams"

Watters

My sweet Madison who was so wonderful to keep her distance from the boys.

Aunt Kristin

I have lots more pictures, but I'll pace myself and it will give me an excuse for another post very soon.

My Handsome Boys

Our friend Keva took pictures of the boys for us about a month ago. I find myself just staring at them. They have changed so much even since these were taken and I'm so thankful that she captured their sweetness at this age.


More to come at a later date...

Now that all they do is laugh and smile, I can't wait to go visit her again!

We haven't been up to much. We go back to the doctor on Tuesday. We'll see the doctor, get a shot, and then head to Dallas to stay with Grammy for the rest of the week. We'll have lots of pictures to post when we come back.

I haven't mentioned this yet because I didn't want to jinx it, but the boys have been sleeping so well at night! They go down after their 9 or 10 o'clock feeding and they sleep for 5 hours. They get up, eat like they are starving, and then go right back down for another 4 hours. I feel like a new woman! I've been getting close to eight hours of sleep and it just feels so great! I just couldn't ask for better, sweeter babies.

Let's hope our trip doesn't disrupt our schedule too much. Oh well if it does...

Hope your week is a good one!

-Amy

Pictures and Happenings

It's been a while since we posted pictures, so here you go...

Grammy came to visit us and stayed for a long time...it was wonderful! Being one of five children, there aren't a whole lot of opportunities to have my mom all to myself for five days. The even better news is - she's coming back this weekend and we'll spend a whole week with her. We are taking our first trip to Dallas next week and we'll meet Aunt Kristin, Aunt Laura, and Uncle Andrew for the first time, along with Uncle J and Aunt Susie, and all of the great-grandparents. We are very excited.

Eva also came to see us. I wish we didn't live so far from her! Thanks for driving 8 hours to visit.

We went to Iraan for the weekend. We got to see lots of family and friends.

Landon smiling at Nana

Eli spending time with Daddy

Landon and Daddy - look at him holding that head up.

Aunt Kristin got us these shirts. They are so true!

I love this picture - it looks like they are really in deep conversation.
It also shows how the gap in size is starting to close. I think Eli is catching up!

And this video is from this morning. I just love these smiling, chattering boys. I was really hoping to go back to sleep after the 7 a.m. feeding. They had other things in mind.

Congratulations Elizabeth and J!!

This is my dear friend Elizabeth

Elizabeth has been with me through the best of times and the worst of times. She actually became friends with my mom first - in the closet of a dorm room at Florida College. That first semester at FC, I was terribly homesick and sat in my dorm room feeling sorry for myself and even though Elizabeth didn't know me, she came by my room every day inviting me to go places - even if it was just to the nasty cafeteria. Realizing that this girl was never going to give up, I finally agreed and we've been the best of friends ever since.


It's been about 7 years since we lived together, but we still talk on the phone all the time and when we're together, it's like we were never apart - those are the kind of friends I love.


Most recently, Elizabeth flew in from North Carolina to Lubbock to be with me when Eli and Landon were still in the hospital. She dropped everything to be with me when I needed her and she couldn't have come at a better time. She was a cheerleader for me, she kept my spirits up, she cried with me, prayed with me, and laughed with me and she got me through one of those weeks in the NICU.

She is selfless, giving, hilarious, and kind.

And you must see these onesies she got the boys with her picture on them.

Eliabeth and J have been dating for several years now and got engaged yesterday. I just couldn't be happier for them. While I don't know J as well, I've only heard great things about him and know that he must be pretty wonderful to be marrying Elizabeth. What a beautiful couple!

Congratulations! We love you both!

3 Months

Where is the time going? All I ever heard or read regarding twins started something like, "If you can just survive the first [insert any amount of time here from 3 months to a year]..." Those were depressing words to hear not because of the hard work they implied, but because I didn't want to just "survive" the first year of my babies' lives...I want to enjoy them. I want to cherish each moment and burn these memories forever in my mind. Thankfully, we are doing much better than just "surviving" around here and I am thoroughly enjoying the time I spend with Eli & Landon.

The boys are 3 months old today and they are growing and changing daily. They are both smiling, cooing, and starting to laugh a little. And let me tell you...it never gets old. I can sit here all day acting all sorts of silly trying to get them to smile and when they do...well, it just doesn't get any better. They are eating about 4 ounces every three hours. They are sleeping in their playpen in our room, but the nights that they end up in bed with us have greatly decreased! They go right to sleep when we put them down at night and although they still are up every three hours to eat, they go right back to sleep when they are fed and changed. They take several naps throughout the day, but they are also alert and active for good periods of time. Their cries have changed from weak whimpers to full blown strong baby cries. They love music, they love their baths, they love each other, and they adore their daddy.

ELI

Eli weighs about 8 pounds now. He used to have good days and bad days - days that he would look pale and sickly, but these past few weeks, he's gained some weight and just looks healthy and happy. He is a more serious baby than Landon. I hear Dustin was a very serious baby, so maybe Eli will just be more like him. He still has a little bit of an elf ear and his hair is a bit longer than Landon's. His eating schedule is like clockwork and he will go from sound asleep to screaming his head off in a matter of seconds. From the moment he realizes he is hungry...it is an absolute emergency - you would think he was starving to death. It's quite comical. He can be just a tad high maintenance some times and wants to be held a lot, but he makes you feel like the most important person in world when he cuddles up close to you and is completely content for hours like that. He is an absolute joy!

LANDON

Landon is SO laid back. He is just an extremely happy baby, he smiles a lot, and he "talks" to us constantly. He weighs about 10 pounds and we lovingly refer to him as "fatty" but not for long...I don't want to cause any severe psychological damage that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Landon sleeps a lot more than Eli and when he and Eli are in bed together, he wants to be touching his brother.


I keep thinking, "it just can't get any better than this," but then they do something new and they steal my heart again.

I tried all day to get a good picture of them, but was unsuccessful. Oh well...there's always tomorrow.

Happy 3 month birthday Eli & Landon!

Happy New Year!

I'm sitting here next to three sleeping boys. We really know how to ring in the new year in style.

The fear of something happening to my computer and the possibility of losing all of my pictures has been looming over me for quite some time now and I keep having the best of intentions to back up all of our pictures onto cds, but things like that sometimes aren't a high priority around here and so day after day, the thought quickly passes through my mind, but I just haven't done it.

So tonight, when my computer screen suddenly became a series of colored lines and wouldn't respond to anything I did...I panicked. The thought of losing all of the documentation of the first hours, days, and weeks of my babies' lives is tragic.

Don't worry...it came back to life shortly after and so I have spent the last few hours fishing through disorganized folders of pictures and videos and copying them all to cds. In the midst of this project, Dustin and I found ourselves watching all of the videos from the past couple of months and quite honestly, I wouldn't have wanted to spend this new year's eve doing anything else in the world.

You see, where we came from and how far we have come is never far from my mind. It is not infrequent that the events of this last year come to mind: finding out we were expecting, that first doctor's appointment when we learned there were two, that first appointment in Houston when I was told that there was only a 50% chance that both babies would survive, the news that Eli just wasn't growing inside of me, the medication to control the contractions helping us hang on a few more weeks, being admitted to the hospital 7 weeks before my due date, discovering that my body just couldn't take it any longer, delivering 6 1/2 weeks early, and the several weeks spent in the NICU. And as I sit here with my two perfect babies 9 months later reflecting on those times, those emotions overcome me again, and I just can't stop the tears of joy, relief, and gratitude that come knowing that we have been so blessed to come out the other side happy and healthy.


We are blessed. And we don't forget it.

I think about these things often because I never want to take a moment with Eli and Landon for granted. I will never complain about lack of sleep or loads of laundry or never being able to leave my house because I consider those things a privilege. They mean that I have two precious little people to hold and love.

I do believe that 2008 was my best year yet. It brought me closer to my husband, closer to my God, and it brought me Eli & Landon. I am very much looking forward to the things to come in 2009 as each new day will be filled with new joys as I watch these boys grow.


From our family to yours, we wish you a very happy new year!

Love,
The Grigsbys