Easter 2009

Halloween 2008

We had a great time with the twins on Halloween. Big brother Griffin even took off his mask so as not to scare his little sister. The twins loved getting all the candy but were mad that they could not eat everything that night. Dum-Dum pops, smarties and skittles are their favorites.

Hard to believe that this time 2 years ago they were both still less than 6 lbs and Kaitlyn has just come home from the hospital. You have both come a long way baby.

My Best Friend

Sailors June 1, 2008

We are TWO!!

Easter Pictures

Update on Kaitlyn and Grayson

It has been quite a while since I have posted. I never knew that life could get quite so crazy with twins. I am still working on updating this blog to include all the ups and downs we went through while the twins were in the NICU.

We had a great Christmas with all the kids and Kaitlyn and Grayson both enjoyed learning how to open presents. Of course, they were more excited about the boxes, bows and paper than they were about the actual gifts. They were both enamored over the Christmas tree lights and Grayson was very disappointed when the tree was taken down after the New Year.

They are both finally starting to sleep through the night most of the time. I keep telling Karl that maybe by the time they are in Kindergarten that they will both be sleeping through the night all the time. LOL

Kaitlyn has an appointment on February 4th at Children's Hospital for a barium swallow test. They think she may have a restriction in her esophagus that is causing her to choke easily. Grayson has an appointment with an ENT specialist at Children's on February 21st. He will more than likely have to have tubes in his ears.

The babies are both still staying with my mom and they are very attached to both my mom and my dad.

Kaitlyn is still wearing her glasses and she now has to wear a patch for at least two hours a day on her right eye. Her left eye is weak and we are trying to make her use it more by wearing the patch.

I am amazed every day at how big they are getting. I thank God every day for giving us these two miracle babies. They bring joy and laughter to everyone they come in contact with. People seem to be amazed at how great they are doing after all they have gone through.

Grayson is my little trader man. If Kaitlyn has something that he wants he will try to get her to trade with him for something else. One day he traded her a cookie crumb for a toy he wanted. at first Kaitlyn was agreeable to all the trading but lately she has started to fight back and not give in so easily to him.

People still stop us and ask us that famous question "Are they twins?" Part of me wants to say "Here's your sign.", but I usually just answer "Yes, they are." Karl wants to tell them "No, they are not twins, they are 3 months apart." LOL I also can't get over the question of "are they natural?" Of course they are natural babies you idiot, if they are not does that make them "unnatural"? Of course what they mean is did we use fertility drugs. To me that is a very personal question. Of course the answer is no but I really don't think it is the right of a perfect stranger to ask that question.

Also, I hear all the time, "Well, my sister's, best friend's, cousin had a preemie that was born 3 weeks early and they didn't have to spend any time in the hospital." Well, my babies were born 14 weeks early and they are "true preemies". If they had not stayed in the hospital they wouldn't be here today. Also, "My cousin's, boss' daughter's baby only weighed 5 lbs when she was born and they let her come home at 3 days old." Well, my babies weighed 2 lbs and 2 lbs 3 oz so to me a 5 lb baby is large. My babies didn't weigh 5 lbs until they were 3 or 4 months old. There is just no comparison and I realize now that if a person has not been personally involved in the fight for life a preemie goes through then they just don't get it and it is sometimes pointless to try and explain it to them.

I will get off my soapbox now. LOL

I will try to post Christmas pictures here in the next few days. You will not believe how big they are now.

Please continue to remember Kaitlyn and Grayson in your prayers over the next few weeks as they go for these tests at Children's. Without prayer they never would have made it this for.

We give all thanks to our Father in heaven for the continued health of not only our babies but also for our other three boys.

Love in Christ

Michelle

Please Pray

Everyone please pray for Adilee and her parents.

Adilee was born on 10/8/07 at 25 weeks gestation. She is doing well right now. Please pray that God continues to watch over her and her parents and that he keeps his loving hands wrapped around this beautiful little girl.

August 14th, 2007

Enjoying our Cheerios.

And our bath w/ big brother Griffin

Grayson and Kaitlyn are both saying Bye-Bye now and crawling everywhere. They will definitely be walking in no time. WATCH OUT!!!!

We tell everyone "If you come to our house, expect to have a baby in your arms or wrapped around your legs." They just love people.

Grayson has 6 teeth now and Kaitlyn has two.

Everyone is healthy and doing well. Kaitlyn has glasses but she does not like them. If she doesn't take them off herself Grayson will do it for her. :-)

Our first swim

Look at those eyes

Kaitlyn with big brother Joshua

Grayson with big brother Joshua

We are ONE!

Kaitlyn and Grayson turned one on May 26, 2007. What a year it has been.
We are so blessed to have these beautiful children in our lives, along with their three older brothers. We are also blessed to be surrounded with such wonderful family and friends.

Every day is a blessing, all problems are fleeting with God at your side.

Easter Pictures

Grayson and Kaitlyn Easter 2007

Ain't we cute !!!

Griffin and Baseball

Griffin was selected to pitch last night. This was the first time he has pitched in a game and he did a great job. :-)

We are proud of you Griffin. You have turned in to quite a good ball player.

Grayson and the tooth

That's right - Grayson has his first tooth. Woohoo :-)

He has been teething for a while and today a bottom tooth finally broke through.

Now it is Kaitlyn's turn.

I promise to post Easter pictures soon

We are friends

The twins have finally "discovered" each other and seem to communicate in their own "twin" language. We are enjoying all the time we get to spend with them. Hard to believe they will be 10 months old in just a few days.

Oh, there you are - Where have you been?

All dressed up to go

Just chillin' with dad

Tuesday evening was rough. My mom, Grayson and I spent the night at the ER. Grayson had a virus and both ears were slightly infected. They had to run an IV on him in his foot. Poor baby screamed so loud. Guess he thought that once he was home from UAB that he would never have to have an IV again. I feel so sorry for him.

They gave him fluids through the I because he was mildly dehydrated from the virus. And they gave him an antibiotic through his IV for the ear infections.

I took off from work yesterday and tried to sleep, to no avail. You try sleeping during the day with two 9 month olds and see how far you get LOL.

Grayson is feeling somewhat better today. Still not quite back to his old self just yet.

Both Kaityln and Grayson are doing well.

We are supposed to close on our new house on March 29th. We have fallen in love with it. It is out and the country, about 15 minutes from town. It has five bedrooms, a two car garage and it sits on an acre of land. The house is only 3 years old.

Hope you all have a blessed day!

Happy Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Love,

Kaitlyn and Grayson

Where has the time gone?

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Kaitlyn and Grayson were 8 months old on the 26th of this month.

Today the nurse came to give them their Synagis shots and she weighed them.

Kaitlyn weighs 14 pounds 10 ounces and Grayson weighs 19 pounds 6 ounces.

Time sure does fly when you're having fun and boy oh boy are we having fun. :-)

Facts about RSV

RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus, is the most common cause of lower respiratory infection and viral death in children under 5 years of age and children under the age of 1 are especially vulnerable1. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in children under the age of one.

Premature babies or infants born up to four weeks early (also referred to as less than 36 weeks gestational age) are at increased risk for severe RSV disease. Since premature birth interrupts the final stages of normal lung development, premature children are more vulnerable to more severe lower respiratory tract infections.

Certain populations of children, including premature infants, children with chronic lung disease and/or congenital heart disease are at increased risk for complications from serious RSV disease.

According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), RSV outbreaks occur worldwide typically from Fall through Spring. During RSV season in the USA, up to 125,000 children under the age of one year are hospitalized annually due to RSV-related illnesses1 and some of these children may die.

RSV spreads easily from person to person through respiratory tract secretions that carry the virus: sneezing or coughing, hands that touch the nose, mouth, or eyes and then come in contact with another person or object. The RSV virus can survive up to 6 hours on hands and up to 12 hours on non-porous surfaces. Spread within families is common, especially when a school-aged child re- introduces the virus to the family.

Despite strict infection control procedures, hospital nursery units, daycare centers, and other similar institutions are at high-risk for RSV outbreaks.

The symptoms of RSV may be like a cold at first and can include: fever, runny nose, other cold-like symptoms. The symptoms may then get worse, and can include: coughing, difficulty breathing, wheezing (a whistling sound), rapid breathing.

Grayson is a big boy now

Grayson rolled over last night. He has caught up with older sis Kaitlyn.

Both of them are doing well. No news to report. This is nothing like those first few months in the NICU when every 1/2 ounce lost or gained was such a big thing.

Sometimes, believe it or not I actually find myself longing for the NICU. Don't get me wrong, I DO NOT want my children back there. However, I made some very good friends there and I miss them all very much.

Actually I have recently been in contact with another mom that was in the NICU at the same time Kaitlyn and Grayson were. Her boys were in the same isolation room as Kaitlyn. The "MRSA" room. I feel as though we have a definite "connection". We were both there, at the hospital, everyday. One of her sons spent time at Children's Hospital, too. So we both know what it is like to have children in two different hospitals at the same time. I have missed seeing her and her boys every day and finding out how everyone is doing.

I have spoken with her several times in the past week. I even helped her with getting signed up for WIC (Women, Infants, Childrens). No one had told her that if the babies, due to being preemies, were on Medicaid that she automatically qualified for WIC. At $15 per can of formula, WIC providing 10 cans per month, per baby is a big deal. Looks like someone at one of the hospitals would have mentioned this to her. I hope that other moms are finding out about this. It is a great program and has been a big help to us.

I hope that she and I and all of of babies can get together when the weather opens up. It would be nice. Maybe even some our favorite nurses could come out and spend the day with all of us. We will have one big NICU reunion.

There was a doctor in the NICU, he worked at both hospitals, that Karl and I think the world of. His name is Reed Dimmit. It is my firm belief that God sent him to us. He was one of the first doctors that I actually remember meeting. I will never forget that when the babies were just a few days old he came by during rounds and told us "your babies are boring and that's a good thing." Unluckily for us, Kaitlyn developed NEC shortly thereafter. Lucky for us Dr. Dimmit and Dr. Barnhart, her surgeon (another wonderful man who performed 4 surgeries on Kaitlyn), are good friends and they worked together to make sure that Kaitlyn got back at the same hospital as Grayson as soon as possible.

There were several times we bothered Dr Dimmit, I know. But he was always very patient with us and very willing to talk to us about any concerns we might have. We can never thank this man enough for all he did for us and our children. Dr. Dimmit - We are eternally grateful to you.

Speaking of thanks, there were two nurses in the NICU that we found an instant kinship with, Kelli Gray and Kristin Kozub. These wonderful ladies mean the world to us.

Kelli was with Kaitlyn the night it was discovered she had NEC. She got on the phone with me after the doctor had spoken with Karl and told me that Kaitlyn was fine and that she would be right there with her right up until the time that she was transferred to Children's. I cannot count the number of times I called to check on one of the babies and Kelli answered the phone and told me that she was there nurse for today. She was the only nurse in the NICU that got the chance to take care of them at the same time. It always made me feel good and feel that my Children were safe when I knew that Kelli was there watching over them. She went above and beyond her duties as a nurse. Even so much as keeping Grayson for us so that we could go and visit Kaitlyn. She is an angel here on earth.

Kristin was also one of the babies nurses. The last time that Kaitlyn was at Children's, Kristin was doing her Nurse Practitioner training. She always made sure that she got to be over Kaitlyn when she was working there. She put us at ease and helped us with our fears about the babies. She is going to be a great Nurse Practitioner. She is another angel that God allowed to cross our paths.

WAR EAGLE ladies!