Baptism

Today was a very special day for our family as Christian and Charlie were baptized.  We had hoped to do this sooner, but our church has been booked with baptisms every weekend since they've been home.  Amazingly enough we were able to get all 5 of us spiffed up and out the door on time.

The boys with one set of Godparents

And another set of Godparents.  Lets just say we have plenty of people to help keep these 2 hooligans in line.

A quick picture with Easton while he was on the run.  

Christian in his gown.  Christian's gown was lovingly made by Grandma Deb King, Tyler's mom.  She did such a beautiful job!  This is one to become a family heirloom.  

Charlie's gown is over 100 years old, passed down from Tyler's mother's side of the family.  The gown was hand stitched.  It's the same gown that Tyler's sister and Easton wore, along with many others in the family.  

And of course they need something to wear after baptism.  The onesies they wore were graciously given by great grandma Karen.

This day was made even more special by all of our family that came today to help us celebrate Christian and Charlie's baptism.  Our 3 boys are the most luckiest boys on earth to have so many people in their lives who love them.  Thank you, everyone, for all of your love and support.  

Hungry? Why Wait?

As I was getting Christian's bottle ready this morning both boys were playing together in the pack n' play.  This is what I come back to....

Do your hands taste the same as mine?

Ok Charlie, mom is too slow, just let me have a taste

Wait, is that your hand or mine?  Either way it tastes good

Aw, man! I'm so hungry!  Just let me eat your hand, Charlie!

In other news, Christian and Charlie had their first visit to the NICU Follow Up Clinic yesterday.  All in one visit we saw a social worker, an occupational therapist, a physician and a nutritionist.  We were also supposed to see a neurologist, but that doctor got caught up at the hospital and couldn't make it.  Overall the boys are looking good.  

Excellent that Charlie is rolling over, but he needs to work on loosening up a bit.  They have actually recommended physical therapy for him as he has a lot of stiffness in his hips and if this goes untreated could result in problems in the future when he tries to sit down or stand from a sitting position.  We also tried to figure out how to get Charlie to eat more than 2 ounces at a time and also stretch out his feeding times to longer than 2 hours.  We'll see how that goes in the coming weeks.  They want to see Charlie back at the clinic in 3 months to keep an eye on his weight and his eating as well as the stiffness in his hips.  He'll most likely start PT in the next couple weeks.

Christian on the other hand needs to work on the opposite and needs to work on strengthening his muscles even more so he can lift his head more and work on eventually roll over.  So this means even more tummy time for him!  He'll be so thrilled.  That's really the only thing  they'd like to see him work on right now.  His eating and sleeping is right on target and is doing great.

And no worries, Christian was fed right after those pictures were taken :)

Something Spectacular!

Something spectacular happened today.  Well....see for yourself!

Busy Raising Boys

Sorry it's been awhile since a new update has been posted.  We've been busy, but at the same time really haven't been doing much.  How do we stay busy doing nothing?  

Well, we've actually had some time to bake some cookies.

Easton loves to ride his "mule."  Why a mule?  Well because unlike a horse, a mule goes much slower. Since Easton doesn't hang on very tight his horse rides are called mule rides.  You can see from this picture that you don't always need to ride your mule the conventional way.

And if you are around our house in the morning you always know there is coffee in the pot.  Easton just likes the smell of coffee in the morning.  No worries, no children were given coffee in the shooting of this picture.

We've been hanging out with aunties and uncles.

Easton with Uncle Jakob

At the parade with Auntie Miki

And of course there is always time to read a good book in our house.  Animal books are always a hit.

This weekend we celebrated Byron Good Neighbor Days.  We went to the parade that goes by the end of our street, we had lots of people over to our house and watched fireworks that are set off less than a block away from our back yard.

Easton at the parade 

Christian enjoying his first parade

Easton and Auntie Miki at parade

Easton and his cousin Maddox

There's lots of time for hanging around the house.  We sit and talk, tell stories, and snuggle with our blankies.

Christian with his elephant blankie

Charlie hanging out on the couch

Christian has been busy eating and sleeping and has become a champ at both of those sports.  He has been eating 4-5 ounces at a time, sometimes less.  He has been sleeping through the night most nights and will occasionally get up around 3am to eat.  

Charlie loves to be awake to see what's happening in the world and in our house.  He is still trying to increase how much he eats.  He normally will eat at least 1 ounce, sometimes 2.  The last day or two he's had a couple feedings where he ate 3!  We're hoping he'll start eating a little bit more so he can grow, grow, grow.  And also sleep.  Since Charlie eats more frequently he's up a lot in the night, leaving mom to only get about 4 hours of sleep each night.  Because there is such a lack of sleep, I've been able to push my return to work date back by a couple of months.  I've been very lucky that my supervisor is such an amazing and understanding person.

This coming Tuesday both Christian and Charlie have their first appointment with the NICU Follow-Up Clinic.  We're looking forward to hearing what the docs have to say about our little boys.  However, no matter what any doctor tells us, we know they are doing well.  They are growing good, healthy and most of all, happy boys.  

We're such lucky and blessed parents to have 3 wonderful babies.

Celebrating Charlie

Charlie is our little man.  He continues to be slow to gain weight and is about 1-2 pounds behind Christian.  Since his hernia surgery a couple months ago, Charlie only takes 2 ounces of milk at each feeding.  Since he doesn't take much in we have continued to fortify his milk each time he eats with extra calories to try to pack on the pounds.  Charlie is also being weighed every 2 weeks to keep an eye on his weight and to track it more carefully.  His next weight check is on the 20th.  On that day he will also see a nutritionist to see if there is anything else we can be doing to help him gain weight.

Charlie is still in Newborn size clothes and diapers.  Although he is getting closer to growing out of them and into the next size.  Charlie eats every 2-3 hours, 2 ounces at a time.  He sleeps now and then throughout the day, but a lot less than Christian.  Charlie isn't sleeping through the night yet, but he sometimes will sleep 4-5 hours at night before waking up to eat again.

Charlie is more forward, not afraid to let you know when there is something he needs.  He LOVES to be held and snuggled.  And if he could be held 24/7 he would be the happiest baby ever.  But since that isn't possible there are other things we do throughout the day to keep him busy:

Charlie loves to watch his mobile.  His mobile can keep him busy for several minutes.  He also likes to talk to people and smiles a lot.

Lots of smiles

Charlie has started sitting in the Bumbo.  He is still very tiny in it, but loves to be able to sit up and look around to see what's happening around him.

Sitting in the Bumbo

Charlie loves his tummy time.  He has become very strong and will push himself up to look around.

Rockin' tummy time

Other times he will just fall asleep on his tummy.

Sleeping during tummy time

Bath

Snuggling

lookin' darn cute

If he can't snuggle with an adult, Charlie will gladly snuggle with his brother.

Snuggling with Christian

We are anxious to see all of the things Charlie learns in the next year and all of the years to come.  There is so much curiosity it will be fun to explore the world with him.

All About Christian

Christian is following in his big brother's foot steps and becoming a brute.  According to our scale he is about 9.6lbs.  He eats and sleeps like a champ and obviously grows like one too!  He is now in size 0-3mos. clothes and recently upgraded to size 1 diapers.

Christian is our quieter, more laid back child.  He'll let you know when he needs something, but for the most part he is pretty content and happy.  He loves to smile and talk.

Snuggling with mom

Christian also LOVES to snuggle and have one on one time with people.  When Easton is around Christian has started to watch what he is doing and follow him around the room with his eyes.

More snuggles

Out like a light

Christian loves to sit in the swing and watch his mobile.  He often falls asleep to the lull and motion of the swing.

Christian has found a new friend, his elephant blanket.  His elephant will help him calm down if he's upset and he will smile and talk to the elephant if he has something to say.

Hangin' with his elephant

It has been so amazing to watch him grow at home and see his personality start to blossom.  We are anxious to see what he does in the coming years and how much he changes.

Don't Forget Tank

This being a family blog, we don't want to forget Tank, our dog.  Tank is a Redboned Coon hound mixed with Australian Shepherd.  He is tall with long hair and weights about 70 lbs.  He will be turning 8 years old this fall.  He is a good family dog, protective of our property and does very well with the kids.  Yesterday Tank found some critters in our neighbors yard and so badly wanted to play.  But, being the good dog that he is, he didn't leave our property and instead stared the critters down and barked at them.

Good boy, Tank!