14 weeks!

Hi all,
I'm slacking in the 'blog' department.  I'm finding more important things to do... like snuggling my babies.  :-)

Things are still going well!  The girls are growing and happy!  They were weighed on Tuesday and....

We have 9-pounders!!  Johnalyn is 9 lbs 3.5 oz, and Danika is 9 lbs 2 oz.  They are gaining approximately 20 grams a day, which is right where they should be.  They are starting to both smile more and more... and making more eye contact with us.  I need to keep reminding myself that their milestones should be based on their due date... so technically, they're only 5 weeks old... so I'm trying not to be so hard on them (and me) when it comes to typical three month milestones.  My main concern is lack of eye contact.  I feel like they'll stare at anything but our faces... but when we do lock eye contact, and they give us a big smile, all my worries are put at ease.

I've had another bout of mastitis last Friday, and I seriously thought I was going to die.  I have NEVER felt so horrible in my life... and I'm not being dramatic.  I would have rather give birth again than go through that again.  Those who have been through it I'm sure would agree that it is one of the worst things to go through.  The girls' awesome daddy took over for the night because I could barely move... and if I did, I cried.  Our awesome and amazing nurse, Megan, is helping me avoid this happening again... we're pulling out any tips and tricks to avoid plugged ducts and mastitis... so if anyone out there has any secrets, please let me know!!  I'm stubborn. I'm not giving up the pumping... for two reasons that I mentioned before... It's the BEST nutrition for the girls... and formula for two babies is freaking expensive!!  We have to supplement some bottles because I'm not quite producing enough milk for two infants, and we have to use Neosure... which is a formula designed for preemies that has an extra calorie boost... and it's EXPENSIVE!  We go through one container every other day (thats JUST with supplementing)... its $18 a can... the can is 13 ounces... doesn't take much to do the math on that!  I have a coffee, beer, and wine budget that can't be tampered with!  :-)

We survived baptism day on Sunday!  It's challenging enough for us to get the every day things done, let alone prepare for a party... but we did it.The girls are completely blessed with so much support!  We had about 15 family members comes for baptism, along with the massive support system that our church gives us.  It was emotional for me to stand up on the alter with the girls and look at the complete joy in the faces of the members of Hilltop.

We have a very good routine down right now, and because they're weights are so well, we can now let them demand feed at night!! Last night they went SIX hours between feeds!  When we woke up at 2 am... we technically had a full nights worth of sleep!  Now, we'll see if it was a fluke... or this could be our new norm?? Time will tell. 

Pictures are worth a thousand words... so here ya go!  

Three Months Old!

We're back in service!  (Side Note: We DON'T recommend a Dell Venue with the attached keyboard!)

Some big life changes have happened in the two weeks I haven't written!  We knew the day was coming sooner rather than later (I was hoping sooner... Donny was hoping for later)...  We are now official mini van owners!  I have NO shame.  I love it... it's awesome... everyone should have a mini van!

Anyway, things have gotten somewhat chaotic on the home front.  I'm frazzled some days... like putting the sterilizer in the microwave for 30 minutes instead of 3 minutes (we had SUPER clean bottles that day!)... getting peed on and deciding that it wasn't worth changing because... well, it was next to the spit up spot that dried three hours before that... spilling breast milk while trying to pour it into the container when the container had a cap on it...Ive been told that pregnancy brain lingers for a while...

BUT it's all worth it when they look at me square in the eyes and give me a big gummy smile.

As for their weights, the hit a HUGE milestone last week... Johnalyn is now 8 lbs 9 oz and Danika is 8 lbs 8.5 oz!!  They are getting big!!!  Looking back now, it's SO hard to imagine them 3 lbs 5 oz and 3 lbs 7 oz.  Nights are still touch and go with them.  They'll sometimes wake up every 2-1/2 hours, sometimes 4 hours.  Hard to predict!  I've started a bad habit that I'm not one bit ashamed of.  Every morning after Donny leaves for work, I get up and take Johnalyn in bed with me... She LOVES it.  She snuggles right in daddy's spot and sleeps right through her feeding time.  Dani doesn't care for this as much and prefers to be cuddled in my arms rather than on Daddy's side of the bed. I'm soaking this up as much as I can, because once I go back to work, mornings like this won't exist.

Last Monday, May 4th, we had to go to Rochester for Danika's follow-up echocardiogram.  Because they did find a paent ductus artiosus (PDA), they needed to repeat the study to ensure that it was was closing or is closed.  This was all set up before we were discharged and they gave me the printed out schedule.  We were scheduled at 3:00, so I was up at 6:00 to baths, get bottles ready.... the whole nine yards of prep work.  This was our first big road trip with the girls... and their longest car ride (van ride... ha!).  We got there at 2:50, and when we checked in the lady told us the echo was scheduled at 1:45!  This mama was MAD!!!  The doctor still saw us.  He listened to her heart and said there was no murmur, so no need for an echo.  Great... we just spent two hours in the van just for a doctor to say "no murmur"... something our pediatrician could have told us!!!  I was SO mad.  But the good news is that they are confident that the PDA is resolved, and we don't have ANY more reason to go to Rochester for appointments.

So, the girls are doing great, and mom and dad are surviving!  (I did change my clothes after the pee incident... just not right away).

We are preparing for baptism this Sunday, so we are busy getting the house ready to host our families post-baptism. I seriously can't believe we're in the middle of May already... my time at home is coming to an end after SIX months!!

Pictures!

Johnalyn cuddling on mom

First trip to the mall.  It was short lived... mom got nervous.

Desperate time... instant improvise!  

Danika

Johnlyn says 'Hi friends!'

Johnalyn showing of her strong head!

Danika's crazy hair after bath

Johnalyn showing off no hair after bath!

I love them.

Out of Order

So... our laptop broke... I didn't break it...
And I'm not about to write a post using my phone... thumbing every letter. :-)  hopefully we'll be getting the computer fixed soon...

But a quick update: the girls are doing great.  Rolling over the crazy!  We're  slowly migrating to every four hour feedings at night... it's a hit or miss!  Here are some pics from the week!