Where does the time go?

AJ and Alivia riding in what Chris calls the "Chuck Wagon"

(yes they are still in their jammies)

As I sit here on Monday morning and reflect about the past year, it is crazy to me that our twins will be 1 years old in less than 2 weeks. It is a true miracle that Chris and I have survived. The road is still very hard at times, but it is so much fun. It really seems like yesterday that I was put on bed rest (ripped out of my classroom at 10:00 am) with no warning. Of course I did not listen very well to my Dr. I still did as I normally do without going to work. I always look back and think to myself that if I did not go to Target, drank that Dr. Pepper, eaten a spicy taco from Jack in the Box, gone to Chris' parents house, would I have had them the next day? My mom tells me not to dwell on that because they are here and there is nothing to I can do to change it. And I would not change anything about the birth of our twins. Well maybe one thing would be that I would have had the chance to hold them right away, but they were whisked away to the NICU immediately. That experience we went through in the NICU is one of strength. It has made me a strong person. And if you know me you know that I was a very shy, weak girl. I am probably not giving myself enough credit, but I know I am stronger because of our experience.

I was telling a friend the other day that I know I spent 6 weeks trying to get out of the NICU but there are times I miss that place. Not because of the help (well maybe a little) but the companionship of other mothers and fathers going through the same thing. I tell people all of the time that being in the NICU is different and you would not understand unless you have been through it or work with those babies and families. The nurses there were wonderful. They make you feel good about what is going on. They are there to comfort you when you get down. I did not have a bad experience. Would I do it again...NO! But I would not change a thing about my experience.

I plan on baking some cookies for the nurses up there in honor of the twins 1st birthday. They made it possible for me to be the best mom I could be. They played a major role in the beginning of their lives. So I want to thank them for the work they did in the beginning of their lives.

Well 2 weeks to go until the big day. We are just having a small get together for their day nothing to overwhelming but enough to be memorable I guess for me!! I am really excited.

Until then this Friday we meet with the speech therapist, OT, PT, at Baylor Grapevine. I am really looking forward to their appointment. I remember the last time we went they had just started them on solid food and told me the next time I saw them that they should be crawling....I said yeah right!!! But they are they are such strong little babies!! I am so proud of them. I look forward to their next goal.

Well as always I promise to post more, but it seems I never have the time.

Love to all,

Kristen

Been a long time

Well it has been about 2 months since I have written! Can you say BUSY!! School is going o.k. I have a hard group to teach this year. I have been calling it the year of the "fit thrower's". But I do have some real "gems" this year also. So many of them tell me that they love me every day and that is really sweet and always changes the outlook of the day.

As for the family we are doing great! The twins are just growing and growing. I can't keep up with them. Alivia is army crawling all over the place. She really just wants to be with me wherever I go. She is a Mama's girl. Chris reminded me today that there will be one day she won't want me like that, it made me sad to think of that day. I hope that never happens. As for A.J. he just spins around on his tummy and pushes backwards. That is very frustrating to him, because when he goes backwards he is going away from the toys, and that just makes him so mad. But this morning I caught him doing a little bit of an army crawl. That really tired him out. He just finds a few toys and plays and plays with no problem. He is very happy as long as he is not hungry and not tired. Yesterday the lady at the daycare where the twins go told me that they were talking to each other in their cribs. She said that Alivia was awake and was screaming at A.J. and he was sleeping. She kept on doing this until she woke him up. He then started to talk to Alivia and she talked back and he started laughing then he would talk and she started laughing. They said it was so funny, and that was the first time that they had really talked to each other there. They do it all the time at home. Not in their cribs but when they are up playing with us.

Having twins has really been a challenge and it was very hard in the beginning but it is getting easier as they get older, even though I want them to stay little forever, I don't want them to become teenagers!! I really can't believe in about 2 months they will be 1 years old! That is so crazy!

Eli is doing great! He is in kindergarten this year and he is loving it! He can read and write better than some of my kiddos in my class! Crazy! He is with us every other weekend and he sees Chris on Thursdays. We don't have him this year for Thanksgiving but we do have him for Christmas! This will be the first time he has spent the night with us and been with us on Christmas morning! I am so excited to have all my 3 kids with me this year on Christmas morning. How special for him to be here for the first Christmas with the twins.

Chris and I are doing great. It just seems we are so busy with the kiddos we really don't get any time together just the 2 of us. But I am sure that will come soon. We love our new home. We just got the garage cleaned out so at least one of us can park in the garage!!! That will be me since I cart the babies around all the time. He thinks it should be him since he has the new car. But oh well!! We are also trying to figure out our new camera so we can put some pictures up of the babies. Everything just takes time around here!!!

Go Trojans!!!
Go TECH!!
Both play tonight and I really hope both win.!! We will be watching the TECH game tonight but we are not going to the Trinity game because it is too cold for the babies! And me too!


Will write soon

Kristen

It has been awhile....

Well things have been a little crazy the past 2 and half months. Let's start with the fact that Chris and I moved to Bedford to be closer to my family and to my work. I work in Euless which is about 5 miles from my house. The church daycare that we decided to put the babies in is about 2 miles from my house it is so convenient. We are really still in the process of moving. It is very difficult to move with twins and having Eli every other weekend. But we have most everything we need. There are some odds and ends to get and then we need to clean the house so Chris' parents can sell it. Our hope was that Jocelyn (Chris' sister) would move into the house but she had other plans to move to DC to be with her boyfriend.



Also I went back to work on the 15th of August and it has been a whirlwind to say the least. Putting the babies in daycare has been very difficult for me. I do good when I am at work it is the morning drive into work that saddens me. I miss them terribly when I am away from them. But is nothing compared to the time we had to leave them at the hospital for so long.



With the support of my family and friends it has been better everyday. It seems to get easier everyday. It helps that my sister and a few friends have their children there.



Well the babies are doing wonderful you would never guess they were born early (besides their size) They are 7 months old. They are only about a month or so behind. No real problems to speak of. Alivia had her first ear infection and did not take Will to the "pink medicine". I believe that AJ is getting it now. I guess this is how it is going to be one will get it and then the other a few days or weeks later. They are both sleeping through the night about 10-12 hours. Alivia is starting to do a little more talking. She rolls over and is showing signs of wanting to crawl. AJ is my talkative one. I can see it now he will get the "talks at inappropriate times" on his report card. He rolls over as well and sometimes shows some signs of crawling. But mostly when he rolls over on his tummy he wants to go to sleep. They are such wonderful blessings in our lives and we love them more and more everyday, if that is even possible.



I will try to keep up with the blog now that things are settling down a little bit.



I also have some friends in my life that need your prayers right now. Please think of them tonight when you sit down to relax, for me. Thank you very much.

Prayer

My friend Taylor that I blogged about in my last blog, has had her baby. He was about 10 weeks early, and he had T-13. A few short minutes after he was born he went home to our Lord. He is now in Heaven watching over his mommy and daddy! If you have not read her story you must visit her blog. (A little slice of Heaven) She has given us a glimpse into her life with Nathan, it is a beautiful story. One of strength, courage and sadness. Please pray for her and her family, as she is going through a tough time in her life. Thank you.

First Time

Well today was the first time since the twins were born that I left them for most of the day. They stayed with my parents, and they all survived!!! I had mixed feelings about leaving them for the first time, I was excited to get away for a few hours but on the other hand I did miss them. And I have to do it again tomorrow! Overall It seemed to be a good day for all four of my family members. So I think when it comes time for me to go back to work it will be ok.

On another note...I have a friend at work that I need your prayers for her. Her name is Taylor. She is such an inspiritation to me. Her strength is amazing to me. I have a link to her blog if you are intrested. She and her family are in my thoughts and prayers every day. She has walked the infertility road and is now pregnant with her sweet Nathan. Please read her blog and pray for her family!

Also I have a family friend that is in the hospital for a fractured skull and he has had surgery and has swelling of the brain with fluid on his brain as well. Things are not going as good as they thought. Please keep Braden in your prayers as well.

I will try to keep up with my posts. I do my best to keep you informed of our daily lives. This is really a good way to keep everyone up to date with what is going on with us. OK got to get back to baby land my nephew is over here so it is crazy!

What a day!

Well yesterday we got the phone call from the Children's Cook home health that we could discontinue the use of the cardiac apnea monitor for AJ! We are so very excited! He has been on some kind of monitor since he was born that is 4months and 1 week! I am so thankful to not have him plugged into the wall anymore.

So, I am trying out new things all the time with AJ to see if it will help with his reflux, so I tried a new bottle last night with formula (I am introducing 1 bottle of formula at night with the twins because when I go back to work it will be to hard to nurse and pump) so I am not sure if it was the formula, the bottle, or the fact that he had been crying straight for 4 hours, but he projectile vomited his entire bottle all over me all over him and all over the floor, it was terrible. I was crying and he was just smiling, and Chris went into overdrive and cleaned up the floor and AJ. It has been about 2 months since he had a projectile so I am not sure what it was but it was not fun!

As for Alivia she is doing great! She is addicted to her pacifier and it drives me crazy when she has lost it because it seems to be the end of the world if it falls out of her mouth!!! I am ready for the time she can pick it up and put it in her mouth herself!

I went to a church daycare yesterday and checked it out! It was really nice and everyone there seemed so loving and nurturing! It makes me feel safe and secure that they will be going to a place that is like that! But as I drove away this feeling overcame me about what is it really going to be like the first time I have to leave them for more that 4 hours, in the care of complete strangers!!! I started to cry a little bit! But I still have about 2 more months until that dreaded day!

Up to this point

I just want to update everyone on how we are so far! It has been almost 3 months since AJ has been home and a little over 3 months since Alivia has been home from the hospital. They were 10 weeks early, born January 30th 2008 but were not supposed to be here until April 4th. Alivia spent 4 weeks in the NICU and AJ spent 6 weeks in the NICU. This was a very difficult time for myself and our family, but with prayers we made it through the tough times. Raising twins is the most difficult thing Chris and I have done. I think teaching 1st grade is much easier. In the beginning there was no sleep to be had!! Very sleep deprived.

After four months it is getting a little better, each day gets just a bit easier. We went to our doctor on Friday and Alivia weighs 10lbs 3oz and AJ weighs 9lbs 6oz. They are really growing from Alivia being 3 lbs 13oz and AJ being an even 3lbs. I am very thankful that I was able to stay home with them during this time. For a quick update: AJ has reflux and spits up all the time. Sometimes it is worse than others, but in the beginning it was across the room. And for about 3 weeks we were feeding him every 2 hours!!! So he is on some medicine that helps control the spit up, he is also still on his cardiac apnea monitor. While in the hospital he would somtimes forget to breath and his heart rate would drop below 80 bpm which is very scary! So when it was time to come home they told me I could stay in the hospital until he grows out of it or I could take him home on a moniter. Chris and I thought long and hard about this option, I really wanted both of the babies home together, it was getting very hard to travel up to the hospital and leave Alivia, so we chose to take him home on the monitor. It has not gone off in about 3 weeks so we are ready for that thing to go! Alivia is doing great all she really wants to do is eat and sleep and sometimes be a little social. No complaints about that sweet girl. They are both smiling and cooing and a little bit of laughing.

For those of you that don't know since they are preemies we have to adjust their age even though they were born on 1-30 we have to adjust to my actual due date with them. Developmentally they are only 2 months old. So right now they can only be expected to do what a 2 month old baby does right now. They will be caught up developmentally by the age of 2.

For the past few weeks or more I have been staying with my parents during the week and Chris comes over after work and we eat dinner or go out and eat, feed the babies and then he leaves to go home around 10. Without the help of my parents I really would not have made it through all of this. Even in the beginning they were at the hospital every day with me by my side through the most difficult time in my life. They have been my ROCK! Nothing I can do will ever repay them for what they have done for my family. I have an amazing circle of friends and family, I am very lucky! My sister has been amazing through all of this right by my side all of the time even while raising her son Preston (who was born 12 days after the twins) he is so precious! She has been a great help just by listening to me and giving me advice, she is truly my best friend!!! So as of today we are doing awesome