Frozen Yogurt and Baths 7/6/12

July 6

We had a delightful day!! Earlier in the summer Phin won a coloring contest and a gift certificate to a frozen yogurt shop in town. We had so much fun picking from the yogurts and the toppings. Jonathan and I stuck with fruity yogurt and fruity toppings, but the big boys went all out. Cookies and Creme yogurt topped with passion fruit bubbles, raspberry lemonade yogurt with chocolate sprinkles. It was fun! :) We decided that could be the place for special treats or special occasions cause it was gooood!

Then we trekked down to Des Moines to see our other little men. We decided that it was time to give the electronics a break and we stuck with books and Legos. The boys did pretty well and I don't remember if we ended up giving in to them regarding electronics or not. :)

Here's a view of our room into the nurses station.
Little Caleb in his big boy bed and Zeke close to the windows.

Jonathan got to hold the babies together for the first time! 

He said it was a surreal moment.

 

We were also able to give both of the babies a bath. It's so hilarious to look at these pictures.We used a foaming soap, disposable wash cloths (the same ones we used to wipe their bottoms when they had a dirty diaper) and a large syringe. :)

Do you see that little plastic bowl? 

That's what we put the warm water in when we bathed them. :)

Zeke was first. Isn't he a tiny little guy?

Here's Caleb getting all fresh and clean. 

We had to make sure to keep their diaper area covered 

because we'd been sprayed before...and not from the syringe. ;)

Here's Asher with one of his Lego creations. 

He sure loves to build and he's really good at it.

Summer Fun 6/30/12 - 7/4/12

June 29

The doctors decided that Zeke hadn't had any more seizures so they discontinued one of his seizure meds and will wait for him to grow out of the other. Yay! So happy for progress!!

June 30

My parents came for a visit. It's the first time they each got to hold a baby. :) It was so nice to see them excited to hold them and they took plenty of pictures.

At this point, Caleb was still having trouble eating and digesting. They started him on medication to get his bowels moving and thankfully it worked. He started eating well after that.
Zekers was still spelling at least once a day but he was tolerating his feedings well. We were calling him "Steady Eddy" because he hadn't had any set-backs in quite a while.

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Caleb in a hat. 

He looks like that guy from Fat Albert.

 

July 1
The big boys came for another visit. Phin was so happy to see Caleb in his big boy bed. ;) Then he could ask for permission to touch him.

I hate to admit it, but the boys did a LOT of this over the summer.
It kept them entertained and quiet while we were in the NICU. 

I don't know how we would've survived without the iTouch. :)

July 2
I have to admit that this was a hard day for me. It was my birthday and no one (in the NICU) knew. It was just another day traveling to the hospital to visit half of my boys. It started out as a rough day, but then my friend Sue came for a visit and brought along some much needed laughter.

July 3 - SEVEN WEEKS!!
Zeke is off of the CPAP and on to Vapo-Therm!! Another amazing step of progress. I'm just glad that the CPAP wasn't the big bulky thing that Caleb had to wear. We knew it was an improvement even though he looked the same. :)


July 4
What a day to celebrate freedom!! I was finally able to hold both boys - at the same time!! What an amazing thing. I just sat and cried tears of joy...and then fear. What were we going to do with these two? How did we make it this far and what does God have planned next?! I had been able to keep a pretty good perspective through the months but holding them both in my arms brought a flood of emotion. That was the first time it really became real (even though some nights Jonathan and I look at each other and say, "We have twins" just to remind ourselves).
On another note, we were really disappointed that we couldn't take the big boys to the Yankee Doodle Pops concert out by the Capitol. They were playing the music of John Williams. I learned that he wrote some of the music from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurasic Park, and many more! The boys would've LOVED it. But there were a few reasons we didn't attempt this: A) It was a free concert and it was first-come-first-served on the seating; B) It was 100 degrees outside. I didn't think we'd want to sit in the heat to save our spots for the entire afternoon and evening. So we didn't go, but if I ever hear there's another concert playing the music of John Williams, I hope to be there with all five of my guys. :)

This was the first time the boys were back together since they were born.

I know that most of you are jonesin' for some pictures of our sweet family but I know you undestand why that's not happening. :) I will try to work on soon but for now, I wanted to pass on to you that I'm guest posting at my friend Brooke's blog - B in Real Life.

I met Brooke (and her husband Jeremy) several years ago down in Florida at Rebound (the E-Free Church's youth pastors and wives retreat). She's a great friend, super funny, loves her family, and is a great writer. She's doing a series this week on why their family said good-bye to food dyes. I know that I've mentioned to some of you that we've also made that change and she's helping to explain why. My guest post today tells our story, well, it's really Asher's story. We've made some pretty small changes to our diet in order to improve Asher's behavior, and as weird as it sounds - it's working! :)

More Babies - 6/13-26

I still have quite a few pictures to post to feel like we're caught up...not to mention the last 6 months of "pre-twins" life that hasn't been posted. :)

June 13

Here's little Zeke next to a tennis ball for some perspective.
It's funny cause his pacifier is just about the same size. :)

June 14

Caleb had some trouble regulating his fluids. His blood pressure was low so they gave him a lot of fluid and a unit of blood to increase his blood pressure (and it did help) but he got so swollen. He had quite a few chins on his little head and his neck completely disappeared. He was a pretty sad-looking little guy. We called him "jelly fish" for a few days until he got rid of all that fluid.

June 15
This was the big boys' second visit. It is such a wonderful feeling to have all six of us in the same room. :) And this was the day Jonathan had his first kangaroo with Zeke.

Phin was a little more interested than Asher when it came to doing Zeke's cares.

Here's Big Daddy with his miniature-sized baby. :)

Such a sweet time together.

June 21

Zeke's first time wearing clothes

Zeke all cozy for a nap.

Caleb and a sweet little yawn.

My favorite picture of Caleb so far.
What a sweet little chipmunk in blue. :)

June 24
Zeke sleeps most of the time so it was a rare treat to see him wide awake and totally relaxed. Jonathan even got to spend some one-on-one time with him. So sweet.

June 25
This was a big day for Caleb!! It was the first time he wore real clothes and he got moved into a real "big boy bed!!" I was so excited to see him in his little bed instead of the big giant isolette. They need to weigh more than 1800 grams and be able to hold their heat to advance to a "big boy bed."

Phin was so excited to see Caleb wearing the outfit that he picked out. :)

June 26

Jonathan was a little overly optimistic about Caleb's growth 

and he thought this newborn shorts outfit would fit. Fooled you, dad! 

Caleb and Zeke spend most of their days sleeping so they have energy to grow.

And they are super-cute sleepers. :)