progress

Hi! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the last few gorgeous days of summer. The boys are doing very well! We had a great weekend! On Saturday, we went to the Museum with Aunt Lys, Reid, and another friend and her two daughters. Then, Saturday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate Uncle Seth's birthday. Today, we went grocery shopping and then hung out at home, playing with every single toy we own. Our living room looked like a Toys R Us explosion by bedtime! Ross had a very exciting week! He took his first few steps forward holding onto my hands! I am so proud of him! Up until now, he has only been cruising sideways while holding onto furniture. He is still having some trouble with high muscle tone in his legs, and is walking very high up on his toes, so he is going to be wearing DAFO's (ankle/foot braces) for a while to help him get the balance he needs to walk on his own. He should have the braces in a few weeks. However, this was the first time he tried to take steps forward and is a huge accomplishment! On Friday, he had his yearly re-evaluation for his early intervention services and he ROCKED! He has made great progress in PT and OT for his fine and gross motor skills and he is catching up in both areas. In fact, he has made such great progress with the torticollis (the problem he had with his neck muscles) that he now only needs PT once a week instead of twice! The most exciting news, though, is that for cognitive and social skills, he is right on target for his real (not adjusted for prematurity) age! Yeah, Ross! Riley is also doing beautifully! He is cruising much more quickly now and has a lot more confidence with his movements. He has been using some special therapy shorts that have straps to help hold his legs together while he is standing. His low muscle tone makes it hard for him to keep his legs together and he tends to slide into a split and fall down after a few minutes. However, with these shorts, he is standing for over 30 minutes at a time! It's really amazing to see how quickly he is gaining strength from using them. His re-evaluation is next week, so I will post all the good news for him after the meeting. Please take a look at the new pics I posted. Some of them are from a few weeks ago when we went swimming at Reid's house and some are from the past couple of weeks. Thanks for checking in!

Ball

Hello! I know it has been a little while since I've posted, but things are always busy at the start of the new school year. The boys are doing some exciting and fun new things. They are both cruising (holding onto furniture and "walking"). Riley said "ball" today and and handed me a ball while he said it, so I am pretty sure he knew what he was saying. They are playing together more and more, which is so much fun to watch. They look for each other as soon as they wake up in the morning and burst into giggles as soon as they see each other. They are so much fun right now! I just posted some new pics, so please take a look! Thanks!

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a great summer. We did, other than that one very long week. The boys have grown and changed so much this summer and it has been such a blessing to be able to be home for so much time with them. I am going back to work tomorrow, which makes me so sad. I am sure we will all adjust and do fine, but it is still tough to think about going back. You all know that I love what I do, and I really enjoy my students, but nothing compares to being with my sons. We had an especially fun day yesterday! First Reid and Aunt Lys came over to play and visit for a little bit. Then, we went to the Center for Creative Play, with our friend Carol, who was Riley's nurse in the NICU. We also met another mom there, and her daughter, who was in the NICU at the same time as the boys. She was much smaller and more premature than the boys, and had a harder time with medical scares, so it was truly amazing to see how wonderfully she is doing! She is so healthy, and so big and strong. She's truly a miracle! Ross and Riley had a great time playing and exploring while we were there, and they wore themselves out so much that they took a long nap as soon as we got home. Can you believe that one year ago today, my boys came home from the hospital? I remember every second of that day...mostly because I was terrified. Of course, I was overjoyed to have them home and healthy, but I couldn't help but wonder who in the heck thought it was a good idea to leave me alone with two premature infants!! I was so worried that I wouldn't know what to do. Now, I realize, like every other mom in the world, that no one knows what to do! We just make it up as we go along and let our children lead the way. Every day with them reminds me of how lucky and blessed I am...doubly blessed! I added three new pics of the boys being cute, so please check them out. To all of my teacher friends and family....I hope you all have a great school year!

Week from h-e-double-hockeysticks

Hi, everyone! I know it has been a little while since I've posted, and I'd like to say that we've been so busy having fun that I haven't had time, but that is not the case! We are doing just fine, now, but we had a pretty rough week last week. Our entire family was on vacation in Florida, but we couldn't go along because Ross can't be in the heat or get wet because of his helmet, so it didn't make sense to spend the money for airfare, hotel, etc. this summer. We will all go next year, but it just didn't make sense for us this summer. I knew we would miss them terribly, but I had no idea just how hard it was going to get to be on our own. First, Riley got sick and we went to the pediatrician on Monday and he got an antiobiotic, which immediately gave him expolosive diarrhea. Then, on Tuesday night, Ross got sick. So on Wednesday, we went back to the pediatrician and he also got an antiobiotic and, of course, also got the awful diarrhea. Then, on Thursday, that horrible storm knocked out our power and it never came back on until 5 pm SUNDAY! It was so awful to have no air conditioning and no lights, and no fridge or microwave for four days. Of course, we lost all the food in fridge and freezer and I had to use a cooler and get bags of ice each day to keep the milk and their antibiotic cold. The poor little guys were back to eating baby food all week, since it doesn't spoil. To top it all off.....Ross woke up Friday morning covered in dark red spots from head to toe! Thankfully, it was just a reaction to his MMR shot from 10 days before and didn't itch or bother him at all. I posted a couple of pics of him with his spots, which are almost all gone now. You can see from his smile that they didn't make him uncomfortable! I nicknamed him "Sir Gotalotofspots" for the weekend. Needless to say, I was so thrilled to have my family home safely on Friday! They are the only reason we made it through the weekend until the power came back on. The great news is that both boys are doing so well right now! Ross is cruising holding onto to furniture and even got his first pair of shoes! (I posted a couple of pics of that, too.) Riley is trying so hard to pull himself up to stand and is getting stronger every day. He is even starting to climb up onto things. There is a cute pic of Riley laying on the coffee table (Katie, the nanny, is holding him!) and he is leaning over the edge checking out Ross' shoes. They are both getting more teeth, which they sometimes use to bite one another, but we are working on that! Yesterday, Aunt Lys, Uncle Marc, and Reid gave them the most wonderful toy....The Incrediblock! The boys had so much fun and played so hard that they wore themselves out. Ross literally chewed his dinner with his eyes closed! So, we are going to use the rest of our summer to have fun and enjoy ourselves! Hopefully, I will get lots of great pics to share with you! Thanks for checking in!

Silly

Hi, everyone! I just posted some pics I took of the boys after dinner tonight. They were in a very fun mood, and we had a great time goofing around and being silly. Take a look!

B-day pics

The boys had a great birthday! Please check out the new pics of the boys covered in chocolate cake!

Happy Early Birthday

Happy (early) Birthday, Ross and Riley! The twins will be one tomorrow! Can you believe a year has gone by already? I wanted to post this tomorrow, but I am sure it will be a hectic day, so I decided to post it now. There are no words to express how much I love these little boys. Ross and Riley are my miracles, and I am in awe of them each and every day.

Their first year has been so amazing, and I made a photo montage to celebrate this milestone. If you would like to see it, I would be honored. Just click on the link below. If you do want to watch it, just be sure to turn your volume up!

Thank you for loving my boys and for sharing their first year!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ross and Riley!