More smiles for Mama!

Kaleiah is perfecting her smile by practicing :) Today when I was talking to her, she gave me about a dozen smiles and every time, my heart raced and felt like it was going to pop out of my chest! It's such an incredible feeling when you are talking to your baby and she lights up and smiles because she is starting to recognize you! It's so awesome. Kaden has only smiled a few times and I haven't been able to capture it yet! Enjoy the pix, they are soooooooo cute!

Christmas part 2

Christmas day is always spent at my parents in the morning and then Randy's parents in the afternoon. This year was the first time that we had every single child and grand child there all together at my parents. Inevitably someone is always missing so this year was extra special. There are 6 of us kids and we have 8 kids between us that have them. Also, my grandma was out from Iowa, we only see her every few years. It was a wonderful Christmas, not because of the presents but because of family. Because that's one of the things it's about. Here are some pictures from my parents Christmas, unfortunately we forgot to take any at Randy's parents :(

Christmas part 1

Every year Randy's family celebrates Christmas on Christmas eve in L.A at his grandparents house. We have not been able to go for the past 4 or 5 years because Randy works on Christmas eve. So this year they moved it to the 21st so that we could go and the babies could meet their Great Grandparents, great Aunt and Great Uncle for the first time!
It's quite a task to get the babies fed, changed and get everything packed up as well as try to find time for ourselves to get dressed but for something like this, we wouldn't miss it. Family is of the utmost important to us and even though the drive was far and the babies are still so young, we don't see that side of the family but a few times a year. It was so neat to see them with their great grand parents :)

Babies' first Christmas

Here are some cute pix we took for fun!

Smiles!

Today my baby girl smiled and it was the cutest thing ever!!!! I was able to get a video of another smile but it wasn't as big as the first! I can't wait until they smile all the time! They are 11 weeks and 1 day (Developmentally they are only about 6 weeks old so they are going to be behind on things for the first year bc they are preemies.) Along with starting to smile they are starting to try and hold their neck up. It's very cute. We are looking fwd to when they start sleeping longer than 3-4 hours at a time! That should be soon too.

Christmas Time

The babies are doing great. Kaden weighs 8.12 and Kaleiah weighs 8.4.



We got our first family Christmas tree last week!

Our babies' development week 9

On Tuesday Kaden and Kaleiah will be 9 weeks old but, because they are preemies and were born over 4 1/2 weeks early, they are only 4 weeks old developmentaly.

Here is what an actual 9 week old is doing:

Physical Development

As your baby passes the two-month mark, she's gaining coordination and learning to control her muscles; newborn reflexes like the Moro (startle) reflex are being replaced by voluntary actions. As a result, she may appear to move less, but this is only because her movements are smaller and more controlled. In the next month, she'll learn to exercise her arm muscles by batting at toys as well as performing the "baby push-up," pushing up with her elbows or hands when she's lying on her tummy. She may even start to roll over.

Here is what a 4 week old is doing:

Physical Development

What a difference a month makes! Your baby has lost his newborn appearance and can even hold up his head for a minute or two. He's beginning to discover his own body, especially the hands, which fascinate him as he moves them about.

As a general rule, motor development proceeds from head to toe. The first milestone to be reached is control of the head, followed by the body, the arms, the torso, and the legs. At this point, most of your baby's responses are still reflexive; for instance, his hands are held in a tight fist, and he'll reflexively grasp anything put into his palm. This will change in the next month or two, when movements start to become voluntary.

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Thanksgiving 2008

This year was Kaden and Kalieha's first Thanksgiving! They are 8 and a half weeks old (but only 3 weeks old in reality as they are preemies). We spent it this year with my family (we take turns) and it was a lot of fun. Randy's uncle and Grandmother came down to meet them for the first time and it was so nice to see them with their Great Grandma and Great Uncle!

Cute

This is my onsie from when I was a baby, and now my daughter wears it!





















Kaden is adorable after a bath

Update

Well, Kaden and Kaleiah have been home for about a week now and it's been so wonderful! It's challenging but so rewarding. They had their first Dr.s visit last week and she said they are doing great! Kaden weighed in at 6lb 13oz and Kaleiah was 6lb 8oz! Kaden is also 19 3/4in now and Kaleiah is 19in. They are really growing!

The hardest thing right now is not the lack of sleep or the hundreds of dirty diapers, it's trying to get them off the bottle and exclusively breast feeding. Unfortunately they were given the bottle in the NICU for about 3 weeks and I wasn't given ample opportunity to nurse so I am at a big disadvantage. Most moms get to see their babies right away and start nursing from day one. I did't even get to attempt it until about 2 weeks after they were born. They are now 6 weeks old and are used to eating from a bottle.They have always and will continue to only get breast milk but I am determined to nurse and not bottle feed (not that there is ANYTHING wrong with it. It's just a personal choice). It's very hard and very draining for all 3 of us. We are all learning. Some days are better than others. My mom has been an AMAZING help and with it, I'm sure I will get it down soon.
Kaden is a grunter. He is almost always making some sort of noise and it can be funny and cute...and it can be not so cute when we are trying to get our 1-2 hours of sleep! But that's how God made him and I love it. He also is a big time stretcher. He was soooo cramped inside me that he just loves to stretch as much as he can (which is usually when he grunts the most!)
Kaleiah is a quiet, mellow baby. She takes after her Daddy, very easy going. I check on her often at night because she barely makes a peep! She makes the cutest faces and is just so beautiful! Randy is completely and utterly wrapped around her finger.

We have somewhat of a routine down but we are still working on it. With them eating every 2-3 hours we spend all of our time preparing bottles,feeding them,burping them, changing them, washing bottles and oh yeah of course I am still pumping! It's crazy how fast the day goes by. But Randy and I make a great team and we are starting to figure out how we are going to do things and what works for all of us. It's only been a week so we are still learning!
I know so many of you have asked to come see the babies but for the fact that we ARE still trying to get situated and trying to nurse, we have not had visitors yet. More importantly, it is getting to be flu season and with them being preemies they are incredibly susceptible to viruses and germs. We have to be extremely cautious with who comes over. So at this time we are still not excepting visitors until we get the OK from their Dr. We want to thank you so much for your patience and understanding and just know, it won't be forever!
Enjoy the newest pics of the little peanuts!
GOD IS LOVE,
Randy and Megan

Welcome home Kaden William!!!!!

Kaden came home today, one day after his sister! This is an amazing day for us!!!!!!!!!
GOD IS LOVE,
Randy and Megan

Welcome home, Kaleiah Hope!!!!!!!

Today was a dream come true and a gift from God. We FINALLY got to bring one of our babies home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tonight we brought our baby girl home and the feeling is unexplainable. Right now she is fast asleep in cozy pink blanket in between Randy and I. The fire is going and it's a beautiful night! I could never put into words what it feels like to finally have her home. We are BLESSED!

We dreamed for so long about this day, prayed for it, prayed about it, longed for it, waited for it, hoped for it and now it's finally here.
All of you know our long, rocky journey and what it took to get these precious babies here. The trials and tears have made a night like tonight completely worth it. Randy and I are soaking up every moment of it.
Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us and followed our blog. Our family is almost complete. Kaden should be home in a few days (multiples are rarely sent home at the same time) and we will finally all be together under one roof.

To our loving friends and family, I know all of you are eager to either meet them for the first time, see them again and many of you have offered your help at our home but these next few weeks and next few days especially are so important for us as a family to bond. We just need time to adjust to this brand new life, to finally get to know our baby (babies), for them to get to know us. After all we have been through, we just want to enjoy this precious time that we have been robbed of for 5 weeks. We love you all and will let you know when to come on by! Thank you so much for understanding! Love, Randy and Megan

How we spent Halloween 08

Last night was Halloween and we spent it with our babies! We did what is called "rooming in" and it's offered and suggested by the NICU Dr.'s and nurses. Basically you stay the night in a hospital room with the babies to get a taste of what it's going to be like. But this way, you still have nurses and Dr.'s to help in case anything goes wrong.
Randy and I were a little nervous because we knew the night would be a sleepless one. On top of that it was not the best feeling for me to stay in the hospital again-I couldn't believe I was willingly doing so. I have now spent 65 nights total in that place!
I must say, Randy and I did really well for our first night as real parents :). Neither of us have ever taken care of an infant over night and we weren't quite sure what to expect. I knew however, that our instincts would kick in and it would just be natural. It was.
We marveled at the fact that we were a family for the night! Finally, it was just the 4 of us, on our own. And the babies were more beautiful than ever, they got the feeding tubes out of their noses and it was awesome to see them looking so normal.

It was actually a pretty uneventful night. The only reason we had to wake up was to feed them. They eat every 3 hours and we fed them 4 times each. They have been on a schedule in the NICU so we had to follow that. Kaden eats for example, at 2am and Kaleiah eats at 2:30am. And with my pumping schedule, I pump every 3 hours so I had to pump at 3am. So it was feed one baby, feed the other, pump and sleep for about and hour and then do it all over again. But it wasn't that bad and I was not nearly as I tired as I imagined I would be. Don't get me wrong, we are exhausted today but we expected to be so tired that we couldn't see straight and it wasn't that bad. They are very good babies from what we can tell. They didn't cry once the entire night. Also, I think the fact that I have been pumping every 3 hours for almost 5 weeks to stay on their schedule prepared us for it.
The babies will be home soon as they are both eating all their feeds from the bottle!!! We are beyond excited. We can't wait to just finally be a family!!!!!!

My arms don't ache...

My arms don't ache when I have my babies in them. Please Lord, let this be reality soon...let them come home. Amen.
God is love,
Megan

4 weeks ago tonight

It's incredibly hard to believe that 4 weeks ago tonight, almost to the minute, I went into labor. I'm sitting where I was when my water broke. It's hard to believe our babies are one month old already. It's flown by!!! And yet it seems like yesterday that I had them. When I think about how it's been a month and we have not been able to bring them home and be a family, I get sad. But the NICU is where they need to be and they are being well taken care of. I miss them terribly, sometimes so much that I cry. But God's timing is beautifully perfect and I'm not going to stop trusting in him now.
I know He gave me this month to recover my from my 2 month hospital stay and from the c-section and I am grateful for that. The babies will be home in no time. It will be sleepless nights, spit up and dirty diapers...and I can't wait.
GOD IS LOVE,
Megan

P.S Today I go to breastfeed Kaden and it was awesome! Just one step closer to my goal.