4 month old babies

Pictures taken on Christmas day.

Little family o' five.

2 cutie babes.

heh heh.

Ivan in his cool new jammies-with dump trucks and excavators on them, of course.

Isaac has been off his oxygen for nearly 3 weeks now and is doing great on room air. He weighs about 12 lbs. He is the smilingest baby-so sweet. He has a few little coos but mostly likes to smile and giggle. Erik is about 17 lbs-built like a little sumo wrestler. He loves to coo and goo and also has an infectious giggle. Everyone comments on how blue his eyes are. They both have blue eyes but Erik's seem to be a little lighter-maybe they'll stay blue. We enjoyed some quiet holiday moments. We do allow grandparents to see them so we spent Christmas day with Lance's mom and dad and that was very nice. Ivan and I went to the Benjamin gathering on the 26th while Lance stayed home with the babes.

Pictures!

Lance took Ivan with him to Havre today so the babies and I are just eating, sleeping, and getting things done:)

Here's Ivan in his fab new sandbox. I try to get the babies down for naps at the same time in the morning so we can go play in it before lunch. I'm finally starting to get the hang of playing like a little boy-building roads, back, back back, dump, dump, dump. I was kind of lame at first (here, let's bake a cake, we'll use this stick for a candle). Sleeping cherub (Erik).

Isaac sleeping with his eyes still open a bit-doesn't want to miss out on anything!

All my men. Lance is a natural, don't you think? Looks like you've got it under control, honey! I'll be back in a few hours....

Babies are doing awesome! :)

I see my last post was exactly 1 month ago. Time flies when you're changing 400 diapers/day:) The babies are over 3 months old now. Isaac had an appt with the pediatric specialist today. He is doing great and will most likely be off the oxygen and the monitor in a couple weeks. Yay! Wireless by Christmas is the goal. He is 11# even. Erik is over 14 # now and cooing and smiling. Isaac is quick with the smiles but doesn't have anything to say yet. Ivan, on the other hand, keeps us in stitches with the things that come out of his mouth. I got after him the other day and he said, "Don't! I'm fragile!" He is quite helpful and likes to be involved with whatever is going on. He especially likes to make muffins or cookies-anything that involves dumping things in. We finally got some sand in his backyard sandbox (thanks to my Dad) and he loves that.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Stayed home and counted our blessings-and fed and changed them!:) We have so very much to be thankful for...
We have weekly clinic visits so my Mom has been coming to watch whomever is not seeing the doctor. We all enjoy her company and the change of pace.
When the weather was nice we would all bundle up and head outside for a walk. As you can imagine, it took about the same amount of time to get ready to go out as it did so enjoy the walk... I put Isaac in the front pack,, his oxygen in the backpack, Erik in the stroller and Ivan running along beside. I still have one hand free...maybe we need to get a dog or something...kidding! Of course, we can't go anywhere public but it works well to walk to the school after hours and walk around the track.

Halloween fun

Isaac and Erik in their kiddopotomus wraps. Ivan with his jack o' lantern. We roasted the seeds but he "didn't yike 'em."

Erik and Isaac: two peas in a pod.

Ivan with 2 little pea pods.

Erik and Isaac- 10 wks old.

Erik and Isaac-2 months old!

Our little men are doing fine at home. I stay pretty occupied keeping their bellies full and their diapers empty. Ivan is such a great little helper-so willing to fetch things for me when I am taking care of Isaac, since he's on a leash. Both babies were weighed this week. Growing like little weeds. We go to lots of doctor appointments so they are watched carefully. Thankfully nobody has gotten sick.
Erik taking a little snoozeroo. Tsk-on his belly.

Isaac with his fashion accessory.

Four bright little eyeballs...and Isaac is bored with the whole thing. Ivan, Erik, Isaac.

Erik 9# 5oz. Isaac 6# 5oz.

This is Isaac in the little gown that was specially made for my Dad when he was born because he was a preemie as well and there was nothing to fit him. Isaac is all upset because he thinks it's a dress. Mooo-om!!

Isaac's eyeballs are lookin' good

Mom and I just spent two action packed days driving to Missoula and back with 2 babies for Isaac's followup eye appointment. The NICU team checked his eyes once a week and sent the images to this eye doctor so this was the live exam. They are checking for retinopathy which can occur during oxygen therapy if the dose is too high. They don't want to see O2 saturation levels above about 97 percent while a baby is at risk for this. The blood vessels that grow around the eye are just under the retina and don't finish growing completely until very near term. In a preemie, the blood vessels can grow abnormally-toward the center of the eye instead of around the curvature and toward the front of the eyeball. Growing toward the center of the eye pulls at that thin retina and can cause detachment. Isaac's are fine-the vessels are mature and grew like they were supposed to. As he is home on oxygen, we are glad to not have to worry about the dose being too high. We are thankful to cross a worry off our list and not have to make that long trip again soon! It was a beautiful drive and we enjoyed the fall colors immensely.

So our days here consist of keeping tummies full and diapers empty, and going to doctors. The days and nights are busy but we are loving these three little boys!

Home again...

Happiness is...
...having my baby home
...being the Mom of 3 boys
...finding toy hay bales in my purse:)

My Mom stayed with Ivan and Erik while Lance and I went to Great Falls to pick up Isaac today. It was quite the ordeal as we had to meet with the rep for his equipment and then drag it all home as well. He is doing fine and it's good to have his sweet little face around again. He has oxygen, an apnea monitor, and a couple medications. I am so thankful for all the fantastic support we have in our family and friends...