Leaf & Stick

When it is summer and nearly a hundred degrees outside, we find ourselves looking for creative ways to cool down. Our house doesn't have air conditioning or cooling outside of ceiling fans, and that doesn't quite do the trick when the babies are down to their diapers and still sweating. 

The other day we spent the evening outside under the only shady tree we have, which happens to be in the front lawn. We sat under the tree and watched the birds, listened to the sounds of the neighborhood, and enjoyed the slightly cool breeze. 

James was the first to venture out with me. After we'd been out a while, the tree dropped James a present: a tiny new branch with three leaves. He played with it and studied it closely for hours; pinching it between his thumb and fingers, twirling it, tasting it, dropping it, and examining it in every other way you could imagine. 

James did not prefer the grass as it was too scratchy for his liking. He did, however, like to gaze up into the heights of the tree and watch the birds return to their nest and fly around the neighborhood.

When Maisie came out, she plopped right down on the grass but did not feel compelled to crawl around. Instead, she found the pokiest stick in arms' reach and proceeded to eat it. I tried to pull off the rough edges and nobs, and she did a great job swinging it around and beating the ground with it when the stick wasn't in her mouth. 

After a while the winds picked up and the Cottonwood trees were causing me incredible allergies, so we went back inside and called it a night. James brought his leaf in and we kept it in a safe place, but Maisie discarded her stick in the yard in exchange for her hammer. 

***

The following day it was even hotter, and coincidentally the babies had made an unplanned trip to my parent's home in Conifer for the day. They had a great time exploring the property both inside and out, and met a few friendly neighbors who have heard and read so much about the little dragons over the past year.

The babies do so well adapting to new experiences and environments. We can't believe that they are almost a year old; and what a year it has been. 

King of the mountain

Maisie is cruising all around. She can pull to standing on her own and get down all by herself. We are so proud of her. She is one determined little dragon.

After their bedtime bottle tonight, Maisie climbed out of her chair and had her mind made up that she wanted James's. This is a common occurrence. She wants what he's eating, playing with, his spot - you name it. James was not budging.

Maisie pulled herself up and started antagonizing James. They were jabbering back and forth as if they were discussing why Maisie should have that particular seat rather than James. Maisie started poking and prodding at James's limbs, grabbing his shirt, and trying her hardest to get him out of the chair.

But, as we've learned before, James is smarter. He had higher ground and essentially the advantage. Every time Maisie got too close he would let out a cry and kick his legs as hard as possible, swat his arms at her and knock Maisie over. And every single time, she fell over. 

Maisie cried a few times, but only from surprise. She isn't used to being challenged. She made her way around to the other side of the chair and tried to work that angle, but James used his quick high-five swat and kept her out of arm's reach.

Eventually they got tired of this game and it was, of course, bed time. However, it is fascinating to watch someone with brute power try to outsmart someone with brains. It's a pretty fair match; not all the time - but they get even. 

***

Today was a great day. Apria came and took every last piece of oxygen equipment away. Large tanks, portable tanks, pulse oximeter. Everything is gone and we have a lot more room now. We hope we won't need it but we have great contacts and connections should we need something oxygen related. What a great obstacle to have overcome!

***

Finally, a year ago yesterday we hit "viability", or the point at which US neonatologists and obstetricians will save a baby that's born weighing 500 grams or at 24 weeks gestation. There are exceptions to this but it was a milestone that took a huge burden of weight off of our shoulders. We were lucky to last three more weeks. 

Also, at our appointment a year ago, we finally found out that our elusive baby B was a boy! Due to the lack of amniotic fluid they had been unable to tell until 24 weeks, when James was positioned just right. 

Save the Date

The little dragons' first birthday party is scheduled for Sunday June 23rd! If you'd like details, please email me. We would love to see you there. 

***

Maisie is pulling herself up on everything she can get to. Very fast and tenacious, she is also strong and determined. It won't be long before this little dragon is on the run! We are in trouble. 

James, meanwhile, is adding to his bag of tricks. He can high five with both hands, give kisses, shake his head "no", say lots of words and babble like its no tomorrow. His laugh is extremely contagious. 

Both of the little dragons detest Tom Jones. There's an old song called "What's New Pussycat" and they will both cry on cue if they hear it. My mom discovered this - go figure. It's the wailing part; they don't like to see anyone upset, and that's their impression of that song. 

11 months old

I cannot believe that next month the little dragons will be a year old. Where has the time gone? A year ago we were holding our breath that we would bring home two healthy babies, and not a day goes by that I don't think about how fortunate we are. 

The babies are on the move and changing fast. Here's a synopsis of what they are into right now. 

Maisie: moving, army crawling, rocking on hands and knees, clothes, colors - especially bright blue, eating puffs and bananas, helping out, screaming, hairstyles, her hammer, balls, piano, and bead toys, getting into things she shouldn't, the "boingy" thing on the wall in the kitchen, sleeping on her tummy, pulling James's hair, crawling over James as if he were an inanimate object, sharing, raspberries, being in control, being wild, picking on anything Giraffe (it's a love / hate relationship), screaming at birds, splashing like crazy in the bath, plastic bags, finding minuscule things on the carpet to eat, and being Houdini. 

James: rolling, clapping, pounding on things, throwing toys, banging toys together, laughing and giggling, his shark shirt, reading, the ABC book by Dr Seuss, the piano, eating, cuddling, soft things, bothering Maisie, pulling wipes out of the container, bath time, laughing at words beginning with S (like "Shark Shirt"), talking up a storm, playing Roll and Dive Bomb, music, high fives, raspberries, sharing, being observant, tickles, wild hair, talking to Daddy, his keys, puppy, winkel, and rings toys, hoarding toys, plastic bibs, fresh food from the Baby Bullet, and laugh wars. 

We will be planning a 1st birthday party for the little dragons and it will likely be the weekend of June 22nd. Details to come!

Pants / Hat Wrestling

The little dragons love to wrestle. Maisie of course is way more mobile right now, but that doesn't stop her from antagonizing James whenever possible. She loves to climb over him and pull his hair, or use him as a stepping stone for her next destination.

The other day it was pretty warm and as we don't have air conditioning, we were gradually undressing the little dragons so they didn't get overheated. We decided to play a game: Pants / Hats Wrestling. We stuck their pants on the babies heads and let them try to pull each other's pants off. It was hearts vs stars and as soon as we got a quick photo side by side the little dragons were off, trying to rip the pants off their twin's head. They were giggling and growling the whole time, and it was very entertaining.

In the end, James ended up with his pants entirely covering his head and Maisie was trying to crawl around with her pants over her eyes as a blindfold. But Maisie was the ultimate winner, though James wasn't far behind.

NICU Reunion

What a day! We are exhausted. After a full day of car seats, sunshine, and seeing our friends at PSL we are finally home. It was an amazing day and I am so glad we had this opportunity to catch up with everyone.

We arrived at the Denver Zoo just after 10am to find absolutely NO parking. There was a race finishing up at City Park and a generous runner gave us his spot in the last row. We unloaded our gear: babies, carriers, stroller, diaper bag, supplies - and headed to the entrance. It was packed with families and children of all ages going to the reunion. We heard there were over 1200 people attending.

We met up with many of our nurses and doctors, including Dr Hawkeye, Dr Irish K, Dr K, and Dr Z. We saw nurses L and M, two of our absolute favorites. And our highlight was meeting up with our friends Braedyn, Dana, Chris and Ryan and Liam, Jen, and Matt. It was bittersweet because Liam's twin Lily is in the PICU at PSL (thoughts and prayers are needed).

We told our story about our pProm experience and PSL on camera for the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children Foundation, with hopes that it will help others in our situation. You can watch our story here starting at 7 minutes 45 seconds.

It was muggy and hot out, and the little dragons were very overheated. We managed to see a few animals (giraffes, leopards, and cheetahs) before leaving for PSL to see the rest of our primary nurses.

At PSL we met up with nurse M, nurse C, and nurse H, along with respiratory tech J. It was so great to spend some quality time with our good friends there. We found out that the NICU will be moving to its new location on the little dragon's first birthday, June 26th. We heard time and time again how well behaved the babies were. And, people are quite impressed with their hair, eyelashes, and cuteness.

Maisie blew lots of raspberries and showed off her flexibility. James smiled and talked to everyone, and even sternly told the doctors how he felt. They weren't even showing off. I'm so proud of how far they've come.

Mother's Day

The little dragons have some amazing art skills. They worked with Jimmy on a Mother's Day present / art project yesterday and I am quite impressed with the results. They each picked out their own colors and used very different techniques when painting their discs. Apparently Maisie went wild and James was more methodical. I'm not surprised!

***
This week Jimmy and I celebrated our birthdays and we were quite busy. We even took the babies out for their first restaurant experience! We went to Abrusci's, which was a great choice. It was loud and we had a booth along the wall so the babies were able to observe all the new sights and sounds.

Maisie loved the spoons and went through four or five. James loved the paper on the table and the gluten free garlic bread. They were very well behaved and had many people admiring them throughout the night. As the birthday girl I even got thrown up on but luckily we had a change of clothes in the diaper bag for James and plenty of wipes for me. No one in the restaurant even noticed. The babies managed to get hands and feet in my food. But, as a mother, I was more than okay with that.

***
A year ago I was banned to lay on the couch on bed rest, weeks from "viability", not knowing what our outcome would be. My parents brought over my first Mother's Day present: a bird feeder and huge bag of bird seed. We didn't have birds for days but suddenly a male and female finch found the newest feeder in the neighborhood and came regularly for weeks before the rest of the bird community caught on. Those birds gave us so much peace and hope that things were going to turn out okay. Seven weeks later we had Maisie and James.

What a difference a year makes.