Florida

Just made it back tonight... off to bed... will update pictures soon. We had a blast! SUCH amazing weather! Can't wait for next year! :)

Luke... continued!

So I must thank you all for your prayers because Monday went amazingly well. Luke did great! I just forgot to ask for prayers for Max... who was so crabby all day! haha!

We were happy to see that Allie (a friend of mine) was our nurse and I was very happy and relieved to find out that the whole sedation process was not nearly as serious as what they made it out to be on the phone initially. They simply gave Luke a few drops of a solution by mouth, I then rocked him to sleep and then I walked him down to the room where the scan was performed, which only took about three minutes and that was it! After the scan we just waited for him to wake up, I fed him and then we were on our way! It went great really! As far as the results... we should hear from the doctor as soon as he reads the scan. So I really have no relevant news... just that it went well.

It was fun to see a couple of our special friends that day too that visited us. Funny how anyone that came in the room from the Peds floor would say... "oh my! he sure is TINY! man, he's small. he's a little guy, huh!?" And then, when our old friends from the NICU came down to see us they would immediately start calling Luke 'big guy' and say they were amazed at how HUGE he looked! All relative I guess... but sure was nice for people to say my little man looked big! Loved seeing all our old pals! :) What a blessing our staff up there was!

Luke sitting up playing with his toys!

Goofy picture of Max!

Yes... we get bored sometimes and see what our kids will do when we...

put diapers on their heads!

It was very entertaining to watch... I promise. And it helped that it was late in the evening and Caleb and I were at the perfect slap-happy point! We were laughing so hard... the boys just kept looking at us like we were crazy... wow! The things you do for entertainment as a parent! :)

Luke

If you think about Luke tomorrow morning... say a little prayer that his CT Scan goes well. We are headed to Duluth tomorrow morning for 'Lover's Day' for the next step in our journey for this whole head thing. They are checking out his bone structure and any possible brain crowding. We check in around 9:00 am and then Luke doesn't have the scan until 11:00 am. Seems like a long wait, but I guess we have a lot of paperwork and questions to answer and then Luke has to get ready... IV's and sedation. (That's what I'm worried about... we've had IV's, but for some reason the sedation is worrying me a little).

So if you think of our little man... just pray he deals with the sedation ok, and the 'coming out' of it later!

Thanks!!! :)

Video

Video for the post below. New Things.

New Things

It is so fun to see the boys change... daily! They are doing new things all the time it seems. I have needed to update the blog for weeks! (Since it is serving as my 'baby book' for now I try to update as much as possible so I have record of what is happening in their lives).

As of last week... or two weeks ago? Anyway, Luke can now sit up by himself! Really well too! It is so much fun to see him almost rediscover the world at a new level.... instead of on his tummy or his back. In the picture below he is being assisted by the boppy, but he can do it all by himself! (I need to get better about taking pictures again too!!)

Max also is doing really well with sitting up, but he does have more of a tendency to fall over. I think it's because his head is bigger and heavier! ha! But... Max does have a pretty impressive new trick. He LOVES peek-a-boo and he can now play peek-a-boo back. He will take his blanket or burp clothe and slowly pull it over his face and then rip it down... then he giggles in excitement when he sees you say PEEK!!! Hahaha! He loves it! And so do I... and just about anyone else who has witnessed it! I will try to get a video up soon!

Aunt Kathy came for another visit! It was so great! Caleb and I were able to get a bunch of stuff done upstairs... on the baby room and in our new master bedroom! And... she made us good food and as always, we love to see her! :)

Pants are over-rated...

Oh... and the update on Luke! We met with the neurologist last week and he thought, first off, that both of the boys were doing well. He was impressed at how well they were sitting since that is a 6 month skill. We are SLOWLY closing the preemie gap. (Right now we are 8 months actual - 5 months adjusted). Now... on to Luke's head. The doctor was encouraging. He thought Luke's head looked fairly good and he said that surgery would most likely not be necessary. However, he did say time will tell. At this point Luke is too small for the procedure to be done. He would lose way too much blood for his size, so we have to wait for a couple months to see a neurosurgeon at Children's in the Cities. Until then we will pray that Luke's head will continue to expand as normally as it can as his brain grows and that the ridge in the front will not become more pronounced. At this point surgery looks to only be for cosmetic reasons. His development warrants normal brain growth, but it is obvious that his front plates have closed, but thankfully no other 'soft spots' are affected.

We do go for a CT scan on Valentine's Day in Duluth. Luke's head needs to be examined for the bone structure and brain crowding. I pray that it all goes smoothly. I am a little nervous because they do have to sedate him. Poor guy... but hopefully he will do okay!

I think that is all that is new... oh wait, I almost forgot... we are going to Florida! Can you believe it! I can't! ha! It will be a big adventure for our little house-bound clan, but I am really looking forward to getting the boys outside in warm weather... for some walks and fun! We are headed out in about a week and a half. We fly out of Duluth so it will be much better than trying to navigate through the Minneapolis airport with two carseats, a double stroller, luggage for Caleb and I AND the boys... along with diaper bags... oh and don't forget... each of us lugging a baby! Oh no, you know what I just thought of! I need to bring my twin nursing pillow with! For those of you that aren't familiar with it... it's about the equivalent of a floatation devise for a 400 lb woman! Ah! Well... I guess we will figure it all out. Or at least that is what everyone keeps telling me :) My biggest concern is the fact that my boys will be out of their routine. I know it won't kill them, but it might kill Caleb and I! I just hope they will still get the same amount of naps and nighttime sleep so that they are not super crabby! I'm sure they will... overall it will be a much needed time away! And did I mention that we are going with Ang and Lon??? (Caleb's sister and brother-in-law) I am really excited because we have gone to Florida several times with them but this is the first time with BOTH of us having families... it will be so great!

End of January...

January has come and gone... praise God that my taxes are done! ha! Doing the business stuff this year was interesting... not being able to follow a train of thought for more than 5 seconds made it very difficult! Here are some pictures to update since my last post... getting so big! :)

Max... figuring the sitting thing out much better.

and... he found his toes now too! :)

Mr. Max

Double Decker Babies! It is no wonder that Luke is so much smaller than Max, he never stops moving! As of last Friday their weights are ... Max 14 lbs 4 oz and Luke 12 lbs 13 oz.

I love it when they fall asleep after nursing... so content!

The boys... all entertained by something on the computer!

Luke watching daddy work on the house. We found his wedge when clearing out some of the rooms... it was what he used to HAVE to sleep on! Wow! We've come a long way! I will update later on the progress of the upstairs. It's coming along!!

Big Boys!

Monkey Butt and Doggy Butt

Had to document this... never really EVER happens in our house... random sleep!

Another... have to document... a picture taken right after Max rolled from his back to his tummy. Can't get him to do it again by himself now!