Ben & Jake at 6 Months

(Ben is 11 pounds, 9 ounces

Jake is 15 pounds, 12 ounces)

We saw the pulmonologist today and are happy to report that Ben is doing well. Sadly, he is not off of his medication. The doctor explained to us that the damage from the Chronic Lung Disease takes time to heal. Ben needs to out grow his dosage. The good news is that we have not increased his dosage in months. He is at the low end of the theraputic range. Once he is out of the theraputic range (which they think will be in 1-2 months) we can stop giving him his medicaiton. We are really looking forward to the day that he can just enjoy a bottle with no medication added. All in all, they couldn't be more pleased with his progress. We did also have a long talk about taking the boys out and about. My doctor had a heart to heart with us!! He told us that we need to continue to protect them until their at least one years old. No grocery stores, no restaurants, no big crowds, etc. etc. We also can not expose the boys to smokers or sick people. He explained that their lungs are damaged from prematurity and they take a long time to heal. With time, they will fully recover. I don't know why..but this conversation upset me! I just can't wait to take Ben and Jake out and show them off to the world!! We are planning a baptism for them in June and my doctor was even hesitant about this! Again, I am sad that the boys have to have such a sheltered life but I do know it is well worth it! We are going to plan the baptism and then a small gathering with immediate family. My family knows the drill so I think it will be ok to go ahead and move forward with the plans. I really look forward to the day that we can take them out and about! I know it will be one day soon! We can't thank everyone enough for your good hand washing and being careful about not exposing the boys to illness. I believe that is why they are as healthy as they are!!

Update on House: We will be in by April 1st!!

We can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk to you soon! :)

Happy 6 Months Ben & Jake!!!!

Mom and Dad are so proud of how far you have come!!!

:) :)

Grandma Sue getting some baby love!

(This is an older picture, but I had to post it! I think it is very sweet!)

Grandma Wren Rocking the Boys!

Jake, Aunty Maria, Kev and Ben

We were all enjoyiing the sunny day!

The boys were not enjoying it as much as we were...as you can see in this photo!! :)

A Trip Outside!!!

Today we bundled the boys up and took them on a walk. It was such a beautiful, sunny day! It was so fun to do normal mom things! They loved it! They loved it so much they fell asleep minutes into the walk.

Now that things have calmed down, I have started to think about going back to see the doctor who gave us no hope about our pregnancy. I am really nervous to see her again but feel it is my responsibility to educate her on TTTS. I have ordered information packets to give her but for some reason can't bring myself to follow through. I don't know if I am afraid to relive the memory or what..but it has been a difficult thing for me to do. Hopefully, I will get the courage to go down that path again. I know that by doing so, I could help a family avoid the pain we went through. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

That is all for now!

Enjoy the weekend!!

Jenny and the boys!

My good friend Jenny came to visit the boys today.

Congrats Jen on your engagement!!!!

Going down memory lane!

As the boys approach almost 6 months old, I find myself thinking back to all we have been through. I love this picture!! This is Kevin trying to help me with a Non-Stress Test. We were trying to locate the heartbeats of both of the babies. This was no easy task. It reminds me of his dedication and determination he had/has! I can't wait to show the boys this picture and explain to them how lucky they are to have such a great dad. I can't wait to tell them how badly he fought for them!! Soooo many stories to tell!

Lately, I have been talking with a lot of parents who are going through the same thing we did, as we speak. It is my mission to give hope to families with TTTS/IUGR. I just want them to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! Hang in there and say those prayers!!!

By the way, I would like to say hello and thank you to Lynn. Lynn is a great friend that we actually have never met! She works with our good friend Mike G. She has followed our story and said many prayers for our boys!! Lynn, you are one of a kind!! We so appreciate your sweet and encouraging comments on our blog. They mean more to us then you will ever know! Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here she is!!!

The house we hope to move into sooner then later!!

Our New Home In Construction

(pre-flood)

Many of you have asked to see photos of our new home and I have not been very good about posting. Well here we are...going back in time...in the back yard of our new house. This was the one and only time I went off of bedrest. My family and I took a trip to see our house when I was about 25 weeks pregnant. This is one of the only picutres I have where I am actually vertical. I also am wearing the only maternity shirt I owned, which was given to me by my friend Amy. I usually wore sweats so this was fun to put on normal clothes and go out. This was three days before I was put in the hospital. Wow...it seems like a life time ago!

What an over achiever!!! Jake reading a book! HA! :) :)

Ben flashing a big smile!

Meet Abbie

This is our four year old Viszla Abbie! She is our first baby! This is the first photo of all three of our sweetiepies together! She has been staying at Kevin's dads house until we move into our new home. My mom is allergic to dogs so unfortunately she has been there since we moved. We miss her dearly! We can't wait to get her back!

THE BOYS UP NORTH

This past weekend we took the boys to our cottage up North. It was so much fun! Lots of doing nothing!!! Sitting by the fire, sipping wine, watching movies and playing with the boys!! There was a huge snow storm too! It was the perfect weekend! By the way, do you think the boys look identical in this picture??