Bili Lights

So far, we've been able to visit Ryan every day at the hospital. We can only stay for a little while, but we can at least check up on him. Today he was under the Bili lights to help with the typical jaundice that all preemies get. He looks a lot more comfortable now that he does not have a big tube in his mouth. 

The doctors said they are going to start feeding him breastmilk today for the first time, so that is exciting. He will have a thin feeding tube going into his stomach and they'll see how he does with digestion. He's getting a scan of his heart today to check on a murmur (very typical of preemies), and he may or may not need some medicine for that. Things are looking good so far!

Ryan's Surprise

Ryan Andrew Marshall was born on December 27th, 2011. He was supposed to wait until March, but he was too excited about Christmas and snow! He came very fast and there was just no stopping him!

Ryan was born at 28 weeks gestation,which is about 2 1/2 months early (considering how late our babies have gone in the past, though, more like 3 1/2 months early!) Despite being so early, he seems to be doing well. He was 3lbs even, and 16.5 inches long. Callie was 9lbs 2oz, by the way! So her little brother was 1/3 of her size!

Since we were not prepared for this birth, we did not have a camera with us. We used our cell phones to take his first pictures. The first three were taken immediately after his birth. They wrapped him in a plastic bag to keep him warm. He cried just a little after he was born, which is a good sign.

A few hours after he was born, he was ready for some visitors. We took a few more pictures of him (via cell phone) as he cuddled in his little incubator bed. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe and has many tubes and wires connected to him. 

He has since been taken off the ventilator because he was doing so well. He is definitely a fighter. He has blonde hair, just like Jack. He can open his eyes, and even cries a little. 

We will post more details as they come. So far, the outlook is very good for our little man. We will visit him as often as we can, but the hospital is 40 minutes away and the kids aren't allowed in the NICU. It will be tough, but we will make it work!

Christmas Videos

Here are a few videos of the kids on Christmas morning. Nothing terribly exciting happens, but you get to see them being cute and opening presents!

(In the background you can hear Callie putting her baby to bed. She says, "Mommy, Hat on. Night night.")

http://youtu.be/sAsxgyVbb7M


(Callie thought many of the gifts today were "popsicles." We don't know why!)

http://youtu.be/af8hV9U5wVg


(To all the family we won't see today!)

http://youtu.be/Pt7N9_OrBA0

A Very Melissa & Doug Christmas 2011!

Merry Christmas! The kids were pretty excited this morning to open their presents. It took Callie a little while to figure out what was going on, but once she did, she was all over it!

Callie got a cute baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa Marshall. She wanted to put her to sleep right away. That's her favorite game to play with stuffed animals and dolls- night night!

One of the only things Jack asked for was a toy saw. He really likes working with tools. He was very happy to see a "Home Depot" tool box complete with his new toy saw!

We threw in a new construction hat to prevent head injuries while on the job.

The rest of the presents the kids received were all Melissa & Doug toys. This particular toy company is best known for its wooden, home-made-type toys. They make a lot of really cute play food and puzzles, which is what the kids got! A big "Thank You!" to both sets of grandparents for adding to our collection of play food for the kitchen!

The kiddos worked together to get the last present unwrapped!

We tried to get some cute pictures of the kids with their gingerbread houses (and new ornaments from Great-Grandma Culwell), but they don't smile on cue very well! We're working on it. 

This is the best we could do with the Santa hats on. They were both much more interested in attempting to eat their gingerbread houses and play with their new toys than sit and look cute for pictures!

So far, we have had a very merry Christmas out here in New York. We don't have any snow on the ground, but it's plenty cold! As much as we love being around our extended family for the holidays, it was so nice to be able to wake up in our own home and enjoy a relaxing morning in front of our tree. Maybe next year we'll trek out to see some cousins for Christmas!

Whack-a-foe!

 Here are a few pictures from last week's trip to the museum. We'll try not to overload the blog with them!

Jack played "Whack-a-Foe" in the super hero exhibit. It's pretty much what it sounds like- instead of hitting moles with a giant hammer, you hit little characters that would be considered villains.

This activity is supposed to work on coordination and balance- Jack is supposed to be walking along the black line over the city. The "city" is under plexi-glass and it actually makes one quite dizzy trying to walk over it!

Callie visited Big Bird. He wasn't home. 

It's always nice when Dad gets to come along to the museum so we can actually get some good shots of the kids on the carousel!

Snow Globes and Christmas Trees

 We had the first snow of the season (that stuck around for a few hours), and the kids were very excited! Jack looked outside and said, "Oh, now it's Christmas! Now we can get our tree!" 

Callie knew she needed  her boots and hat, so she insisted on wearing those even though we were not ready to head out yet. She also wanted to wear Jack's tie... It must be in her DNA or something to want to constantly dress up, because we have not taught her anything about wearing strange things around the house. She can often be found wearing paper crowns, 5 necklaces, several bracelets, and whatever else she can find around the house. Hats, of course, are her favorite. 

After the snow disappeared from the ground (for the most part), we went out to get our tree. It was extremely cold outside and the kids started out enthusiastic about the adventure, but quickly found that they just wanted to get warm!

We found the perfect tree and cut it down as fast as we could!

While Dad and Jack set up the tree, Callie decided to dress up again. This time, she chose Jack's sunglasses and baseball hat. Maybe she is trying to disguise her true identity?

Jack had fun playing with the extra branches while Dad got the tree ready to decorate. Both kids were very excited about having a tree in our living room! 

Jack took this picture of Dad putting the finishing touches on the lights! 

For our church's Christmas party, we brought "Snow Globe" cupcakes. They are jumbo cupcakes, so they take up a little more space! Hopefully they tasted good- none of the Marshall clan got to eat one!

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Since we go to the Museum of Play almost every week, it gets challenging to take pictures that are different from the previous trip! The kids are often drawn to the same areas and do the same things! There have been several times when the camera has just been left at home. Not this week, though! 

The kiddos have been playing together more often as we visit the museum. They are both doing better about not wandering away while we play and are starting to understand that we have to wait until we're all together to leave an area. Although, Jack did disappear for about 3 minutes during our last visit, during which time Callie and Mom frantically ran around in a maze of exhibits trying to find him! He got a severe talking-to after that!

Callie loves to play hopscotch at home on our driveway. Every time we play with sidewalk chalk, the first thing we have to do is draw a hopscotch game. She loves to jump along and shout out random numbers!  

This is a fun little system of pipes that make different notes when kids hit them with the little paddles. There are even some instructions for how to play different songs. 

Callie was wearing this necklace at home, then wore it all the way to the museum and kept it on the whole time! She got a few compliments on her accessory choice!

This is what happens when we try to get Callie to pose for a picture. It takes several tries to actually get a good one!

Callie never would cooperate for this picture. Oh, well!

The Cutie Pies

We just wanted to share some pictures of the kiddos we took today before church. Grandma Marshall needed a picture of Callie for her collection of grandchildren (there are quite a few!), so we tried to get a cute one! 

Oh, but before we get to those, the above photo shows how Callie often likes to travel in the van (we had stopped to get gas, which is why Dad is outside.) Her shoes and socks come off within a few minutes of driving, then she plays with "sock puppets," then she asks for various objects that she has previously thrown on the floor. On this particular day, she asked for Elmo slippers and her paper crown (minus the jewels, which were pulled off as soon as we left the museum, of course!) She is so goofy sometimes!

And here are a few attempts at getting some frame-worthy pictures of the kids. We don't have a fancy camera, by any means, so we take what we can get! 

 Cheesy, but cute.

We chose this one to send to Grandma Marshall.

And now we're running out of time so we won't be late for church, so we snap a few more of the kids together...

Aaaand that's enough of that. Let's get in the van before someone's hair gets messed up or shoes get taken off!

Sweet Creations Display

To get into the holiday spirit, we decided to check out the "Sweet Creations" at a local museum. There were 100 gingerbread houses made by different people and groups to admire, and then the gingerbread houses would be sold by silent auction. We didn't bid on any, but we got some good ideas for when we are ready to make our own next month! (Jack is saying, "Do Not Touch," as it says on the sign.)

We'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

The kids had a lot of fun looking at all the cool houses and other decorations. The museum we visited is located in an old mansion that was owned by a prominent citizen of our local city. That house is HUGE! We would only live in a house that big if we could also afford a staff to clean it!