Home Sweet Home

Amy would have been full term today and I can’t imagine how different our lives would be if our babies would have gone the full 40 weeks. I would have just met Eli and Landon today which is kind of a sad thought to me. I wouldn’t know that Landon is laid back and Eli is a little high maintenance. I would have never heard them grunt or cry or watch them drift in and out of sleep as they lay against my chest. Thanks for coming early you two.

There are some things that make life a little sweeter than it already is. It’s the simple moments which seem so common and uneventful that makes every life unique. I know Amy has mentioned how the light comes into our bedroom windows and how the boys love to look at the stain glass. There is nothing closer to perfections as far as moments go than on a Saturday morning. Perfection you say? Yes. Here’s why.

This is our first real home and it feels like home with all our things in it and all the small alterations we made to it so far and because Amy and the boys are here now. In our home are many rooms but none is quiet like our bedroom on a sunny November Saturday morning. Our bedroom window faces the south so in the winter more light pours through the windows because the sun is lower in the sky. The result is a spectacle of green, purple, and yellow rays settling on the colorful quilt resting on the bed. It is most likely chilly outside, not that it matters at the time because we are tucked away under the covers. After we feed our boys in the mornings, they are usually wide awake and for the most part happy and content. They do a little grunting, some stretching, a little waving of the hands and kicking of the feet, and a lot of staring up at the window.

I am perfectly content laying there and watching; answering back their grunts with a whisper or a kiss on the forehead. Our house is simple and may even be a little run down by some standards. Even though it is far from my dream home it is my home. And someday I may live in a much nicer, much bigger house, but I know I will long for those Saturday mornings basking in the November sun with my babies between me and my wife in that simple home during those simple times.

Another Week...

I sit down to post and I can never seem to finish...must be something about two newborn babies that takes up a lot of time :)

My dad came to visit us for a few days to help us out and spend time with the boys. Thank you for all that you did for us while you were here! I don't think Eli and Landon minded all of the being held one bit :)

I also want to take a moment to mention some very special people whose generosity, thoughtfulness, and love have really made an impact on us.

Dad lives in Alabama and needless to say...we don't get to visit very often. He worships with the Sardis Springs church of Christ and throughout the whole pregnancy, delivery, and even now, they have continued to pray for our family. This alone we appreciate more than words can say, but they did not stop there. Despite not knowing our family, they had a baby shower for us and sent all of the wonderful gifts with Dad when he came to visit.

My sweet friend Trish is from Florida. When she went home to visit a few weekends ago, she mentioned to her congregation, who has also been praying for us, the financial burden this whole situation must have put on us and the members there collected money to send to us. I don't know if any of you read this, but if so...we humbly thank you.

There are many other congregations that have been praying for us this past year and many I'm sure that I don't even know about. We are just overwhelmed by the generosity and selflessness that others have shown to us and again, there are no words to express our appreciation.

Here are a few pictures of my sweet boys. I have so much more to share - like how they don't like to sleep at night, how we went to Lubbock by ourselves yesterday and actually survived, how sweet they are in the morning as they stare up at the stained glass window in our bedroom and are just mesmerized by it, how they can fuss for hours and as soon as they are in bed with us they are sound asleep, how sweet they look cuddled up asleep with daddy, and so much more. But for now...I'll just leave you with some pictures.

Looking up at our window in the morning. This is the only way I get a shower :)

Dad stayed with the boys, so that Dustin and I could go to worship services. It was the first time we had been together here in Snyder in almost two months.

This is Eli's favorite position - curled up in a ball


Eli

Landon

Landon

Eli

I'm being summoned by crying babies. I really love my life!

I hope you are all having a good week!

Where Was I?

I was tagged by Amy a long time ago and am just now getting to this, so here we go...

1 minute ago: Watching football with my three favorite men.

1 month ago: Sitting in the NICU with my precious babies. It was a Wednesday, which means Dustin was there with us. Now I wish I would have kept a journal of sorts to remember all of the details, but maybe it's better to just forget...it's not particularly a time I would like to relive over and over.

5 years ago: hmmm... November 2003. I was a student at Texas A&M, working at J.Cody's, living with two of my favorite people: Eva and Kathryn, playing on a co-ed softball team, and worshipping with the B/CS church. I loved this time in my life!

7 years ago: Florida College. I was spending every free moment with Sliz, Jess, Justin, Bill, Julie, Sterling, Clay, Candace, Staci, and a lot of other great people. I was doing very little studying and would pay for that later. We would go to the beach, Bush Gardens, or Disneyworld any chance we got. I was two doors down from my sister, Kristin. Elizabeth and I were sharing an extra long, extra thin twin bed and life couldn't get any better.

10 years ago: high school...I was a sophomore at Wellington High School and I'm sure my life consisted of "riding around" with my best friend, Erin...we were pretty much at each other's side at all times. Side note about Erin...I just talked to her earlier today and while we don't talk extremely often, when we do, it's like we've never been apart. She makes me laugh and she's wonderful and I really miss her.

So..this was kind of fun. It's been a long time since I thought about high school and Florida College. I have the best friends and we have had some really great times together!

A real post is coming soon and Dustin is in charge of the next one!

1st Week Home

I'm sorry it's been so long. I'll make up for it with lots of pictures.

We got home last Sunday evening and Amy had come and decorated our yard and porch with balloons, streamers, and posters. It was so sweet of her! Thanks Amy!



Dustin took Monday off and this is what he did most of the day - just hung out with his boys.



The boys turned one month old on Saturday. Here are a few pictures right after their bath.

We heard from the nurses that at night, they would check on the boys and one of them would be sucking on the other's ear or cheek or back of the head. I found them sucking on each other's fingers. By the time I got the camera, Landon had taken his fingers out of Eli's mouth, but...you get the idea.

So cozy

Landon

We took the boys out for their first walk yesterday. It was beautiful weather and I think they really liked it.



Landon slept the whole time, but Eli was wide awake just looking around.

Our first week home was great! I have two laid back, happy babies (for the time being at least). Amy Holifield came to help me on Tuesday and Neva came the rest of the week. It was so nice to have them here to help take care of us!

The boys are pretty much on the same schedule. They eat at 12, 4, and 8 around the clock and they sleep fairly well at night. They are very well adjusted babies.....to everything but the dark and quiet. They have never been in a dark or quiet environment and it took us a couple nights to figure out that they needed light and noise to sleep. They love to cuddle and be held, but they are also very happy to just lay together and look around. So far, this whole twin thing isn't at all what I expected. I haven't had to go one day without a shower and I'm even able to cook and keep the house pretty clean. It also helps to have an extremely helpful husband! I have the very best job in the world and I'm so thankful to be able to stay home with these precious boys.

That is pretty much all that is going on around here. I'm sorry this is so choppy...I've had to come back to it several times. We'll try to post more often. I think I'll put Dustin in charge of this...he's much better at it :)

Homebound!

It's Official...we are going home tomorrow! Both boys have had their feeding tubes out for a couple days now and have had no problem sucking down their bottles. They had quite a traumatic day yesterday in preparation to be discharged. It started early morning with their circumcision...not a great way to start the day. They then had their occupational therapy evaluation, hearing screening, and car seat test (sitting in a car seat for an hour to make sure they can keep their heart rate and breathing stable). We also got trained on the apnea monitors that we will take home. Someday in the not so near future, we'll be able to hold our babies without getting tangled up in cords, but for several more months, they will contine to be monitored and I am actually thankful for the peace of mind it provides.

We got the news yesterday that we would be going home Sunday, so we took the opportunity to go home and get things ready there. It has been almost exactly four weeks since I have been home and being there last night made me even more excited to be taking my boys there tomorrow.


This is a picture of a very happy family who knows they'll be home soon.

Part of discharge procedure is for parents to "room-in" with the babies for a full 24 hours before leaving. The NICU has three mini hotel rooms, so we checked in this afternoon and we are currently hanging out with the boys all by ourselves...with a complete nursing staff just down the hall. It's kind of nice to have a trial run with support before we fly solo!

Packing up the boys' area in the NICU

Rooming-In

Dustin and Eli watching football

And here are a few Halloween pictures. Costumes courtesy of Elizabeth and Kristin.

Eli is the ghost and Landon is the pumpkin.

Thank you for your prayers for the boys' progress and all of your encouragement the past few weeks. We are so relieved that this time period is ending and we will be together as a family at last!

Love,

One very happy momma

A Rebuttal, Elf Ears and More

I would like to clarify what my wife had led you all to believe about what I said about her long posts. I love her long posts as well. Actually they are not that long. All I said to her was that she should post more often using pictures since everyone wants to see more pictures and that she should not feel like she should have to write a long post every time she posts, just put a few pictures up if nothing else. Like these...


Landon is eyeing Eli's pacifier while Eli is sleeping. Little does he know that his own is out of sight... two inches above his head.

Eli caught on to Landon's plan to steel his pacifier and became very angry and so he turned his back on Landon to ignore him and sucked on his pacifier really loud.

Here are the sissy gowns mom decided to put them in. Between the gowns and Landon trying to snatch his paci, Eli is taking his frustration out on Landon. Its OK buddy, someday you will grow out of that gown.

In other news... I've been worried about the boys' ears. Don't worry, they aren't deaf... I don't think. But I have noticed they have elf ears. Please take note of Eli's ear. (You may have to click on it to blow it up to see his ear)

I thought that Amy was hiding something from me about her family, like her great-grand father use to work in Santa's Shop. But today I notice that Landon's ear is starting to look normal. Hopefully Eli's will do the same.

Not that it matters, I will love them no matter what... elf ears and all.

More exciting news, Eli broke 4 pounds today and we have the evidence to prove it.

There is not a more substantial form of evidence than a dry-erase board. You may have click on this one to read the writing if you don't want to take my word for it. Also the boys are eating very well and so the Doctor beleives it is possible for us to be going home this weekend or early next week.

And one final note. There has been some discussion of who these boys look like. Nana (my mom) dug out a picture of me when I was three days old.

I asked the boys if they thought they looked like me when I was a baby. Their reaction....

Eli was stunned at such a notion.

Landon was just horrified of the picture. So what if I wasn't as cute as you two, at least I didn't have elf ears!

Long Day

The NICU called me at 6:30 this morning to tell me that Eli needed a blood transfusion. I got up there as soon as possible and they explained that since Eli was the "donor twin" in the TTTS situation, he started out with low blood levels, while Landon's blood levels were elevated at birth. The hope was that both of them would even out on their own and while Landon's levels are now normal, Eli is still low and anemic. Poor little Eli just can't catch a break. I don't know how many of you have read the consent form for a blood transfusion, but the risks involve HIV/AIDS and death. So I sat in the NICU early this morning just praying that we were doing the right thing as I signed that paper. I guess it really hit me at that moment that I am totally responsible for what happens to these two precious lives and to even think about the possible consequences of my decision was just overwhelming. If I could have signed myself up for it in his place I would have done it in a heartbeat. So I spent the rest of the day praying for this little guy and around 3:30 this afternoon, they started the blood and everything went really well. God has blessed us once again.

The boys are both doing great with their feedings. Eli has not only caught up to Landon, but surpassed him. He very eagerly sucks every last drop of his bottle down faster than Landon can even get started. The nurse yesterday mentioned that we would probably be going home in a week or two at the very most. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but it is encouraging to think the end of this hospital stay might be in sight.



The great news is that Dustin got here tonight and will be here for the rest of the week. It's getting harder and harder on all of us to be apart from each other so we are very thankful he is able to be here now.


Okay...Dustin has informed me that no one wants to read my long posts and all you want is pictures, so here you go...

Eli and Landon's new crib!

Eli is such a daddy's boy

Eli will just crane his neck to look at me every time he hears me talking. I think I'll keep him - he's just too sweet!

Elizabeth and Landon. We miss you, Elizabeth!

Dustin burping Eli






They love each other.

Eli's blood transfusion today :(

So, I just realized that most of those pictures were of Eli. We'll feature more of Landon in the next post.