Another Anniversary

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the day we brought the girls home from the hospital after 5 1/2 weeks in the NICU. We had spent the night before they came homing rooming in at the hospital and learning what it would be like to take care of the girls by ourselves (with the security of having nurses not too far away). We slept a total of 2 hours because we wanted to make sure the girls were ok.

We brought them home in the morning and my parents and Wes's mom were waiting for us. It was so weird. I remember saying to Wes, now what? It was one of those moments that you had waited for and when it finally came you were scared to death.

We had two tiny babies (barely 6 lbs) that just weeks earlier need assistance breathing and eating. We still had to watch them while we fed them to make sure they didn't choke and turn blue. We had to feed them laying on their side to make sure that not too much milk hit the back of their throat and make them choke. Feeding was the most difficult. We fed them every 3 hours around the clock and had to fortify their milk to 22 calories. I was pumping too during all this. Feeding took an hour. So that gave about 2 hours to rest between each one. We got very little sleep.

A couple of days later, we got the bad news from our pedi that she didn't think it was a good idea to take the girls out in public because of germs. So, our girls were in lock down until October.

How things have changed, now they are big girls crawling and eating everything in site!

Milky and Big Girls Seats

We hit another milestone. The girls are now drinking milk! Our pedi wanted us to wait until the girls were at their adjusted year birthday. However, Wes had to take Lizzie on Monday to the pedi and told him that the girls weren't finishing bottles. The pedi said that it was probably the sign that they were ready to switch to milk.

Gracie watched me carefully as I got out the sippy cup and milk. She watched me pour it and put on the lid. I handed it to her and she started to suck. It took her a minute to figure out it wasn't formula. She stopped and just held it in her mouth. I thought she was going to spit it out but she didn't. She drank it all!

Lizzie didn't watch me fill her cup. She was too busy playing. When she took her cup, she drank it down. She loved it. She now even tries to steal her sister's cup.

Airplanes

Tonight we went with some friends to watch the airplanes land at DFW Observation Area. My friend was always posting pictures on Facebook and it looked like fun. We had a great time. The girls liked crawling in the grass. The pictures are below.
Yesterday we went over to some friends from college's house. They have a little girl that is about the same age as the girls. It was really fun to see the girls all playing together.

I just threw this one in because I thought it was cute.

Yeah Twins

Today, I took the girls to a play date with some other twin moms. Four sets of twins met at the play area at the mall. We played, ate, and played some more. It was really fun and exhausting. The girls fell asleep in the car and went straight to bed. I took a nap too!

The other big thing today is that the girls moved to their own room. Since they have come home from the hospital, they have stayed in our room. We first had their bassinets, then the cribs in our room. We decided that they were big girls and could be in their room (and I decided I could be a big girl and let them go to their room).

Playing on the slide with Trevor and Ashley

Lizzie, Trevor, Gracie and Caleb

Happy Birthday Wes!

Today is Wes's birthday so I decided to dedicate this post to him. I want to share what a wonderful husband, dad, and person he is. He was recently laid off and has been spending his days looking for a job and watching the girls. It hasn't been easy for him but he has taken it with a good attitude and takes the best care of the girls. Not all fathers get a chance to do what Wes is doing.

Twins Rock!

We received these onesies when the girls were first born and now one year later they can finally wear them! I came home from work yesterday and Wes only had Lizzie in it. I told him you can't have one baby in it and the other one not. It was just too weird. So, I had to change Gracie's clothes before we went to dinner and Babies R Us (which is our second home).

Right now, we are trying to work toward sippy cups. Lizzie has it down, but Gracie is still fighting it. We keep buying new cups to try but she is wise to our tricks......

July 4th

This was the girls second July 4th. The first one they spent in the NICU. They were about three weeks old. I remember feeling guilty because we left them early to go watch fireworks.

This year was more fun. We went to Oklahoma and visited family. We took the girls to a parade and went swimming in a pool. They ended up going to bed and not watching fireworks. We decided that their sleep was more important and we will take them next year.

Below are some before and after pictures of the parade.

Before

After