Tag

I've been trying for weeks to catch this on camera. This doesn't do it justice but you get the idea. Mattie is almost always the one who instigates the game. This time she went back and forth around Sophie and around the whole living room shrieking at the top of her lungs and seeing if she could get Sophie to chase her before Sophie finally caved and joined in on the fun. The video is a little long, but I wanted you to see some of the games being played at our house. Be sure to check the next post too since I'm posting two at a time. Didn't want you to miss the very serious conversation the girls had after lunch a few days ago. Here's some of the other stuff they are up to that is relatively new...at least since the last post:

• pulling up on everything (We had to turn the telephone table which they are under at the end facing the wall b/c Sophie kept pulling out one church directory for herself and one for Mattie to play with!)
• Sophie is cruising pretty well on the couches
• Mattie is waving hello and bye bye just a little
• Sophie is clapping and trying to say "yay" although it usually comes out more like "aayyyyy"
• Mattie likes to carry things in her mouth so she can crawl more efficiently. She will also occasionally shake toy keys or socks with her head when she has them in her mouth which looks impressively like a great impersonation of a dog...which is only worrisome because she has never really been around dogs:)
• Both girls are loving walking (closer to stumbling drunkenly with a crazed laugh) when we are holding their hands for support.
• They both say a lot of "mamamamamas," "dadadadadadas," "papapapaapapapas," "nananananana's" and an occasional "blahblahblahblah," from Mattie
• They absolutely love riding in the red wagon that was a gift from the youth group.
• They are eating a pretty good amount of baby food
• developing pretty good senses of humor (their timing with Peek-a-boo is pretty impressive)

That should catch you up fairly well. Amber and I talk all the time about how incredibly blessed we have been through all of this. It felt like a lot in the middle of the hospital stay and we occasionally still have our worries (like how in the world do we communicate to people that want to touch their hands and faces that we are still very worried about RSV!) but we have realized that comparatively we really didn't have to go through very much. We just heard about a couple the other day whose unborn twins were diagnosed with Twin Twin Transfusion Syndrome. They are around 20 weeks or so. Please keep them in your prayers. We never had to deal with that kind of waiting and the choices of treatment when TTTS presents itself that early. In reality, we didn't really have the TTTS full experience, for which I am very grateful. But we experienced enough of it to know that our hearts and prayers are going out to this family and others who have experienced and are experiencing things like this. Enjoy the videos and pray for these families.

We can't wait for summer!

Happy Babies

This is just a sampling of the fun we have on a regular basis now. Amber and I say all the time that we are very possibly the luckiest and most blessed people alive. Don't get me wrong, Sophie and Mattie know how to fuss and raise some blood pressure spiking cries, but for the most part, they are very happy easy babies...with great laughs.

Shameless Plug

Our friend Jenna Henderson came over several weeks ago for the girls first real photo shoot. We've never gone through the whole professional pictures at every stage thing. Once again, I'm afraid we're just bad parents. :) Thankfully, Jenna stepped in to save the day for their 9 month pics. She's an incredible photographer. Here are just a few of what she took. I wouldn't have believed they were taken at our house if I didn't see her start there. Check out her website and blog at http://www.jhendersonstudios.com/. We'd recommend her for weddings, babies, family portraits and just about everything in between. These aren't even our favorite ones. Amber wants to save those. :)

Sophie

Mattie

From Christmas to Crawling

Sorry, Wendy...no box pics. I think we're bad parents. We didn't get too many action shots that were good. Here's a decent example of their opening methods though:)
When the girls woke up Christmas morning, apparently they got the memo because they were rarin to go. Now it's a common occurence, but that morning was the first time the girl's were talking to each other through the rails of their beds. That was a great Merry Christmas for us:)
I think Mattie's (above) caption is something like "will you please hurry up!"
Sophie's (below) is probably more like an evil laugh:) (I don't think typing, "hehehehe" quite gets the actual sound across)

As of Christmas, they were both really close to crawling but no gates up yet. We'll try to put some video on tomorrow to show where they are now. Let's just say the gates are up.

Inside Jokes

Apparently I'm becoming more and more lazy...or at least my procrastination has gotten worse...or time must move faster. I think it's actually the last. We got on the other day and I couldn't believe it had already been two months since I posted last. The girls look completely different now than they did even then. I'll give the update on what they're up to and then just let you browse pics and the best video ever uploaded to the internet in the history of the internet. I'd love to know what the joke is that they find so funny. I have a feeling that it would make me appreciate life so much more. I suppose just watching them entertain each other like this is about as much joy as I can handle right now though. I wonder how similar God feels when his children are enjoying each others' company and delighting in each other. (I think the biblical word is fellowship, but I hesitate to use that word for fear potluck meals will be the only mental image that is conjured up.)

Here's what they are up to:

• Can't stop rolling over
• Can't wait for the next bite of apples and pears...not so much for the rice and oatmeal
• Sitting up like pros. Considerably better even in the last couple of days.
• Reaching for us to be picked up (I feel like I'm doing a good job of not getting wrapped around their fingers...if you believe that, you don't pick up on sarcasm well.)
• carrying on conversations with each other...just not in anything we can interpret yet.
• Getting very, very expensive shots to prevent RSV each month...we are very, very thankful for insurance.

9 months check up is on Monday so I'll try to report weights and all that boring stuff next week. Here's the fun stuff:)

Mattie

I'm not sure the antler to body proportion is exactly right.

Sophie going for Santa (Papa should be happy:)

Sophie

All worth while

I recently wrote to a friend saying that Amber and I are learning just how exhausting babies are...especially when they come in twos. Laughter like this makes it all worth while though. Thought you would enjoy.

This is a pretty good snap shot of our paranoia and our friends support. Trick or Treat was really just an excuse to get a peek at the girls. I don't think the girls knew exactly what to think, but Sophie finally started talking to everybody...apparently she enjoys the lime light. Mattie on the other hand just stared at everyone as they barked, panted, mooed, danced, and whatever else I told them to do to get the girls to laugh. The girls didn't laugh, but Amber and I had a good time. :) Speaking of Sophie talking and Mattie not- we had no idea that twins periodically switch personalities. Everyone always asks if they have distinct personalities, and they do. The problem is that they pass the distinct personalities back and forth. I'm convinced that since they came from the same embryo, they had to split the same personality in half as well. Right now they are simply "trying on" the different halves before they settle into who they want to be for the rest of their lives. I ran this theory past Jolie who has 6th grade twin boys and she confirmed my theory. Her boys switched personalities back and forth as well. (Of course, they aren't identical, but that's just a technicality)

Here's what they're up to now:

• sharing- A.K.A.- Stealing each other's toys and crying when the other one does it
• oh so close to rolling onto their stomachs
• sucking on their toes
• oh so close to crawling
• oh so close to saying "daddy" (may be wishful thinking, but I'm sticking to it)
• sitting up almost completely by themselves
• spitting up almost completely all day

And they can't wait to meet you.

Officially graduated from preemie status!

Happy October!

Mattie and Sophie at the wedding...sort of.

Madelyn the Ladybug

Sophia the Watermelon

I think it's been about 2 months since I updated the blog...a fact which has earned me a couple threats lately. So...I guess I should fill you in on the progress made over those two months. Both girls are now speaking in complete sentences. They are quickly gaining their balance and starting to wobble less when they jog and are finally figuring out how to balance their check books.

I'll let you know what's going on next month if I get a chance. Thanks for reading!

Ok. So maybe I exagerate a little. I think that's part of my job, right? :) Truthfully, they got off of O2 last month on a trial run and today were officially graduated from the BPD clinic. That means we can finally send back all 20 O2 canisters that are all over our house! Sophie gets to get off of her blood pressure med. on a trial run (we're about 98% sure that will go without a hitch) and doesn't have to go back to Vandy to check that for 3 months. All that means...we can finally take a break for a while from Vandy visits to monitor preemie complications.

Now for the fun stuff. They talk like crazy now (not complete sentences...or even intelligible words, but you would sure think so by the expressions, change of tones, and laughter), are experimenting with rolling over both directions, and want oh so badly to crawl. That may take a little longer, but you can see them both working hard to figure it out. As far as size goes, unless I misunderstood today, they have caught up to term babies. Mattie clocks in around 15lbs and Sophie almost 14.

Their first outing was my baby sister's wedding at my parents' house last weekend. The wedding was beautiful (as were my sisters) but I was still kind of partial to the beauty of my wife and girls watching from the upstairs window. The girls handled the crowd of my family all together surprisingly well and contrary to all of our paranoia and fears, they came away healthy. That's not to say we weren't exhausted by the end of the weekend from trying to make sure we didn't expose them to unnecessary germs.

Lest we offend anyone, let me explain why we seem paranoid and somewhat rude. Right or wrong, Vandy docs and our pediatrician warn constantly about RSV. Even though they are off O2 now and doing great, their lungs are still fragile since they were so underdeveloped early on. Add to that the fact that the third trimester (which they saw about a week of actually in the womb) is when babies get all of the stuff they need to develop their own immune system. To top it all off, we were also told that the mother's milk quits providing immunity benifits at 6 months...just in time for cold and flu season to get going. Needless to say, we are probably going to seem a little rude trying to ward people off. I even got called out by a nurse today for an attempted body block (shifting the baby from one arm to the other to put my body between Mattie's and the nurses....awkward that she noticed. Need to work on my subtelty apparently) Trust me, it kills us, but we're not backing down. I don't plan on going back to Vandy until scheduled appointments if I can help it at all. So, we're hunkering down till spring time and the end of RSV season. Sophie and Mattie can't wait to meet you. Please pray for them not to get sick this season. We start RSV shots this week and will get them once a month throughout the season. (You may want to pray for our sanity too:) Our friends from the NICU will be going through the same thing so keep them in mind too. Crimson, Brayden, Isaac, and Eli.