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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

She Was Robbed!!

I can't believe that I'm writing/venting about American Idol but here goes......

Jason Castro should've way been in the bottom 2 along with Syesha! I can't believe my girl
Brooke was sent home! She has so much personality and can sing so much better than the other 2. What a shame.... I have no doubt that this won't be the last we see/hear from miss Brooke.

I guess I shouldn't complain at all because..........I didn't even vote! Sorry Brooke.

One bright side ~ I know it's corny but I loved seeing Neil Diamond perform tonight.

My prediction ~ it will be the battle of the 2 Davids and I think that David Cooke will win (at least he should..he's the best of them all)!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Twice Blessed Daddy Thinks We Should Play the Lottery!

Some interesting ROP facts ~ Each year…

3,900,000 infants are born
28,000 are born under 2 ¾ pounds
15,000 get ROP
1,300 develop ROP requiring medical treatment
500 develop blindness

So, that’s 1 in 78,000 babies, or 1 in 56 preemies (under 3 pounds ) who develop blindness due to ROP.

Our odds are pretty good that we should buy a lottery ticket!!

LONG Weekend!

I made the official mommy mistake of bragging at how well Reese was doing...bad idea.
She woke up on Friday and cried in pain unless she was being held by either myself or TBDaddy. All she wanted was to be held or to sleep. Also, she kept rubbing her right eye ~ weird (her left eye has the shell). This continued all day Saturday and Sunday. We finally broke down and removed the shell yesterday morning at 8am. I thought she would have a much better day but she acted exactly the same. Poor sweet girl...we felt so bad for her but also so conflicted about removing the shell. We made the decision that if she wasn't any better by Monday, we would just take it out...so, that's what happened.

Today is a little better but her eye is still very teary. After speaking with her ocularist, we made an appointment for her to see the opthomologist on Wednesday and then back to the ocularist on Thursday morning. I can tell that the shell was working and doing it's job in just a matter of days. Now that it is out, her left eye is closed even more so than before. I was told that is the case because her eyelid was starting to stretch to the shape of the conformer. We're praying that after she's checked out, we can start this all over (with a few adjustments to her shell) without any complications this time.

Some good news....Tate is officially sitting! I know I posted awhile back "Tate can Sit!" but it was really a one time event. Yesterday TBDaddy went into the nursery to get Reese and I heard him yell for me to come quick ~ that made me panic a bit! I got in the nursery and our sweet baby boy was sitting up in his crib playing with a toy and just smiled when he saw us. Again, where is my camera when I need it? Anyway I'm proud to announce that he continued to sit all day long and it was just way too cute! Yeah for Tate!

I'm looking forward to American Idol tonight and am excited that they are finally featuring Neil Diamond!! I just love that guy.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Reese After Her 1st Visit to Ocularist

Reese was the perfect patient today!  The scleral shell went in very easily.  After we got home, I realized that she had already removed it on her own!  I was a little freaked.  I tried to put it back in by myself but quickly realized that there needs to be a 2nd person present to hold her hands.  After TBD got home from work, he held her down and I put it in..it was actually very easy I'm happy to say.  She tried to rub her eye but we distracted her with food and she left it alone the rest of the night and fell right to sleep in her Daddy's arms.  Please pray that she forgets all about it and leaves it alone for the next few weeks.  I can already tell a difference but not sure if anyone else can yet.  She goes back on 5/13 and then he starts working on her permanent shell.  He tells us that we should be able to tell quite a difference within the next few weeks.  

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

We met the Girls!

The babies and I went with Twice Blessed Daddy to the dentist today. Our dentist and his staff are such wonderful people..they prayed for our babies the whole time they were in the NICU (and continue to pray for them now too). They were all so excited to see them today! We had a nice time showing them off.

Next we went shopping at the new Target Super Store. We loved it!! I'll tell you why..their carts are all plastic and were so cool. They even have about 15 carts that hold 2 babies in the front so you don't need to worry about a stroller. For this reason alone, I will start shopping there..besides, it's only 3 minutes away from the G's house...which brings me to the whole reason I wrote this post.

We met THE GIRLS tonight after our Target visit. We stopped by the G's and got to meet them. They were both very sweet and on their best behavior I'm told. They loved playing with Tate and Reese and helped to feed them their dinner too. It was so nice to finally meet them.
A is very outgoing and talkative and B is a little more shy and reserved. Although by the end of our visit, she was just as talkative as A. Sojung was our official photographer for the evening..
I'm hoping they'll post some photos of our visit. We had a very nice time and are looking forward to spending a lot more time with them this summer. And thanks Mrs G for the peanut butter brownie care package you sent home with us... One thing is for sure, you can always count on her for wonderful desserts!!

Prayer Request for Reese, Ronda and Noah

Tomorrow is a big day for our little Reese. She gets a conformer placed in her left eye. We're not really sure how they plan on doing this since she's so great at clinching her eye muscles to avoid anyone bothering her eye. We were not given any instructions on how to prepare for this...I think I'm going to give her some Motrin right before her appointment and hopefully it will calm her down a bit. This conformer is the first step for her to receive the schleral shell prosthesis. Hopefully she'll only have to wear it for a few weeks before the ocularist makes her permanent shell. This conformer is not supposed to cause her any pain..it's like wearing a contact lens. So, please pray for Reese!

My friend and neighbor Ronda is in Reno NV for her 5 week treatment for Lyme disease. I've read her blog and it sounds like she's been going through quite a bit this week. She is one of the nicest persons I've ever met and I just hate it that she's going through this. I can't imagine being away from my husband and child for 3-4 weeks..I know that is probably the hardest part of her treatment. I'm thankful that her baby girl is able to be with her and that she has good friends and family who are taking turns staying with her to help out with Raegan. So, please pray for Ronda!

Our nephew Noah suffers from Crones disease. He is going through a bout of it right now and is in the hospital. We found out tonight that his doctors made a mistake last month and cut his med prescription in half by accident...they think that is what brought on this episode. He's in quite a bit of pain and is on a morphine iv drip. We're just praying that his doctors can remedy the situation and get his meds back on track. He's only 21 and had been through a lot with this disease. So, please pray for Noah!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Busy Weekend!

We kept very busy this weekend! Our Friday was spent at Babies R Us picking out umbrella
strollers, mats for our newly converted playroom (bye bye morning room) and new activity centers.

Saturday we took our french bulldog Milo to a dog park for his monthly frenchie meet up. The weather was so nice and he had a great time playing with all the other frenchies. He could really care less if there were other dogs there..he loves people and everytime I saw him, he was being petted by someone new. Once I got out the Cheerios to give to the babies, he came running because that's his new favorite snack food. As a matter of fact, I fed several of the frenchies Cheerios that day.

Once we got back home and fed the kids, we totally redid their new play area. We removed all of our things and now it's all baby stuff. The kids really love it too! They've been having such a good time playing with all their toys in there (forgot to mention it's now gated off from the kitchen).

On Sunday, we went to church and it was the 2nd time I took the babies to the nursery..of course I stayed in there with them again. Not sure when I'll feel comfortable to leave them. I know they'll be taken care of...just not ready yet!

Our friends the G's met their girls on Saturday! They then picked them up on Sunday and are bringing them home today! I'm sure they were very shocked at the sight of their new home ~ it's very large I must say. They were the topic of discussion all weekend. We admire them so much for opening their hearts and home to these little girls. We just know they'll be the perfect parents for them. Amen!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

My little sleep fighter

Have I mentioned that Reese flights sleep? Well lately we've been having a hard time getting her to go to bed at night..not to mention taking a nap during the day. Tate on the other hand, is just like his mama...LOVES to sleep! She's also been waking up in the middle of the night and crying either until she falls back to sleep (which usually happens) or I go and get her and take her to bed with us for fear she'll wake up her brother. I've been trying very hard to let her cry it out when she does this. It's very hard for me not to just go pick her up to comfort her but this hasn't been the best thing for either of us. When I end up taking her back to my room to sleep, I usually wake up with my back all in knots from adjusting the way I lay to accomodate her.

Anyway, last night she started crying around 3am and I let her cry for 10 minutes- thinking she'll cry herself back to sleep. Well she was getting louder and more hysterical so I run in her room and there she is...standing up in her bed!! Now this was a first. For about a week, she's been pulling up on our coffee table, her new kitchen and new piano (Mrs. G, she's almost ready for lessons!). So as you can imagine, this was a sight for me...how can you not pick up a baby standing in her crib??

I melted and almost ran for the camera..I know, not the best time for a photo op so I decided not to do that. I nabbed her and she snuggled up to me and was asleep before I was back in my bedroom..we both had a really good sleep after that. I'm taking the camera upstairs with me tonight just in case she does this again (I'm sure she'll be doing this quite often now)..hopefully, it will be in the morning and she'll be her usual happy sweet baby self.

Again, just wanted to share this first with everyone. We're experiencing a lot of firsts lately and will continue to do so for the next several months ~ did I say months?? I think I meant years!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Tate can sit!!

Yesterday was the first time that Tate sat up on his own. He has an Occupational Therapist come and work with him once a month and she was here last Thursday. We worked on getting that sweet boy to sit up and crawl on all 4's. He commando crawls and is very good at keeping up with Reese who's been crawling really well for 2 weeks now.

He was rocking back and forth on his hands and knees and then went into a sit from there. I called Twice Blessed Daddy at work and gave him the news and we were both very excited. I've been working with him today to repeat but he doesn't seem too interested. That's ok..I'm sure he'll be a pro by the end of the week.

Some of you may be thinking..he's 14 months old and can't sit up yet? That's correct!
His adjusted/corrected age is only 10 months and his development is based on that.

Just wanted to share the news on sweet baby boy Tate!

Monday, April 14, 2008

I won!!

I won Happy Mommy's Meme contest!! I can't say "I never win anything" because I've been quite fortunate in my life at winning contests. The biggest win I ever had was on 10/28/96. It happened to be 1 day before Happy Mommy eloped but that's another story.

I was getting ready for work and my phone rang. It was a local radio station telling me that I was the winner of the Lynnhaven Mall giveaway called "Come see our new look and win some great stuff". I thought it was a prank. My boyfriend was in Las Vegas at the time with some of his friends and I thought it was one of them pulling my leg.

After I sort of argued with the guy (I almost hung up on him), I remembered going to the mall a week earlier and seeing this big house that they built in the middle of the mall loaded with gifts to be given away..I did put my name in the drawing. Long story short, I won $50,000 worth of cash and prizes.

Here's a list of some of the goods..the ones I can remember 12 years later anyway;
1) $10,000 mall money
2) hot tub
3) pool table - sold it for $1000
4) free groceries for a year
5) $1000 gc to mall jeweler (I added some mall $ and bought 2carrot diamond tennis bracelet)
6) car - manual Hundai w/no extras - sold it for $8000
7) 36 inch Hitachi tv
8) Gateway computer
9) daily newspaper for 1 year
10) security system
11) Tiger Shark jet ski
12) $1000 worth of flooring
13) free paint from Norfolk Paints
14) Conti's mountain bike
15) $500 Clinique make up
16) tuxedo
17) Laser eye surgery - had rk done to both eyes 1 week later!! best gift of all!
18) water purifier
19) queen size bed, dresser and 2 nightstands
20) embroidered blanket saying "Lynn Haven Mall" on it

There were 26 prizes in all and I can't think of the last 6 for the life of me. Well that's my "big win" story. Thanks to Happy Mommy for drawing my name and making me another big winner!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

One year anniversary

I realized today that it was a year ago yesterday, 4/11, that I held my babies at the same time for the first time. Reese had been moved a week earlier from room 204 to room 201 which was a step down room in our NICU. Tate was just next door in room 202. They hadn't been together since they were born and we so wanted them to be in the same room. Tate's nurse was Connie that day (she was my favorite of T's nurses-she let me hold him the very first time) and she knew how much we wanted them to be together.

She surprised us that day and got permission from T's doctor to move him to room 201 to be right next to his little sister. We were so happy..they made such a big deal about this and we were thrilled. They gathered some of T and R's other nurses around. They got me and TBD in our gowns, sat us in a chair and gave me Tate first and then Reese and then started taking our pictures. Then it was Daddy's turn to hold them. We all laughed, smiled and cried because it was such a blessing to witness. It was an answer to prayer that our babies were finally together again.

I just wanted to share my memories of such a wonderful day!!

Reese Loves Pancakes!

Our baby girl did great yesterday. Her doctor was very pleased with her retinas-no changes since last Novembers EUA. When the nurses brought her back to us, they told us to watch her closely all day and that she may sleep a little longer/deeper than usual. NO...she was up all day and didn't even take her nap. I don't know what they spiked her gas with but it had the reverse effect on her. By 630p she was very cranky but still wouldn't sleep..she's such a sleep fighter.

Anyway, after we left the hospital, we went for breakfast to one of our favorite diners. Twice Blessed Daddy ordered the pancakes and Reese was very interested in them. So, she had pancakes for the very first time and loved them. Poor Tate had oatmeal w/pear juice and peach yogurt...he really missed out! He stayed home with Aunt Cindy who was amazed at what a happy baby he is.

I got my haircut today and met up with Mrs G who was doing the same. We've been meeting every 4 weeks at Ty's (our hairdresser) for our monthly cut and color. It was nice to
talk to her about her girls. She showed me new pictures and they are so pretty.

We had our family over this afternoon for a Birthday BBQ for my father in law. It was nice to relax and let my husband run the show. Our niece Jessica is in town for the weekend and she came over early to help with the babies so I could go get my hair cut. I'm happy to say that she never lets me down...she always comes over when she's home to visit with the babies. We're very blessed that she loves them and wants to spend time with them.

Until next time...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Pray for Reese

Our daughter Reese is having a minor procedure on her eye tomorrow morning at 730a. We have to be at the hospital by 6a. I'm asking anyone who reads this to pray for my baby girl.
She has micropathalmia (underdeveloped eye) in her left eye due to complications from a preemie eye disease called ROP (retinopothy of prematurity). She is finally being fitted for a schleral shell which is a prosthetic contact that she'll wear the rest of her life. She's such a pretty little girl and we're very happy that her right eye will now look the same as her left. Please pray for her and the doctors who are giving her the EUA (exam under anesthesia). I'll explain more about ROP in future posts since my son Tate also suffers from residual ROP.

So Happy for Twice Blessed Mommy 2

This is my first post and it was going to be about our family..but - my dear friend has the best news and I wanted to share. Mrs. G has been waiting for such a long time to be a mommy and her dream is finally coming true..like next Saturday. The G's are adopting 2 beautiful sisters (that happen to look just like Mrs. G). They got the call to come and get them on the 19th!! This is so exciting for them.. I'm just over the moon happy. Reese and Tate will have 2 new babysitters! I just wanted to say that God answered their prayers and now she's a Twice Blessed Mommy just like me.