Little Miracles Family Fest

Hello out there!
In the chance that anyone reads this blog I'm shouting out to anyone who wants to support a good cause.

Our Miracle Babies is a local support group for families experiencing a difficult pregnancy, premature birth or perinatal disease.  Tyler and I were lucky enough to be recipients of such great support during our journey with Christian and Charlie and have met some amazing people (and babies) along the way. Recently I was awarded a seat on the Board of Directors for Our Miracle Babies.  A perfect way to give back to this wonderful group for all they've done for us as well as other families and babies in need of support.  For more information on Our Miracle Babies please visit:  www.ourmiraclebabies.com

Here's where you can help:
On Saturday August 3rd, 2013, Our Miracle Babies is holding the 2nd annual Little Miracles Family Fest.  This event will raise awareness of the group and their purpose as well as raise funds for this group and most importantly, celebrate all the miracles this group supports!

I'm writing today to invite you to support such a good cause.  Please join our team in the 5k walk in honor of Christian and Charlie and the amazing miracles they are.  If you are unable to join us you can also donate to Our Miracle Babies to support this great group and the people they support!  To join our team or to make a donation please visit:  http://ourmiraclebabies.com/littlemiracles5k.html

If you have any questions please feel free to call or email me at kayla.king17@gmail.com
Thanks for your support!

A Year Ago Today....

A year ago today I was sitting in Methodist Hospital on bed rest in my secluded make-shift jail called Antepartum.  One of my sisters came to visit me to keep me company and it was during her visit at 11:00am that I began having regular contractions.  By Noon Tyler had brought me lunch (boy was I tired of hospital food!) and I was beginning to get mildly uncomfortable with the contractions and had already alerted my nurse.  The nurse immediately hooked me up to a monitor to watch the contractions and the boys' heartbeats and said she would tell the doctor what was going on.  She monitored the contractions from a computer at her desk so Tyler and I could finish eating lunch.  A little while later she came back in to my room and said "yep, you sure are having some pretty good contractions." Ya think?  Like my saying so wasn't enough confirmation?  She had yet to hear back from my doctor and said to hang tight.  More time passes and the doctor finally comes in and talks with me.  It's established that I will be taken down the hall to the delivery area so they can monitor me and the babies more closely and with better/more machines.  All the while the contractions are getting stronger and more frequent.  More monitoring, physical checks by doctors to establish how far I am dilated, more monitoring, more checks and by 6:00 it is determined that the babies are coming and there is no stopping them.  They needed to do a C-section right away and by 6:30pm Christian James was born into this world followed by his brother Charlie Steven at 6:32pm.  Boy has our lives been a whirl wind since then!

A year ago today....

Christian was the bigger of the two at 2lbs. 4oz. and he wasn't much bigger than Tyler's hand

Our babies in the transport isolette to be transported to St. Mary's Hospital NICU

A year ago today.....

Charlie

Christian

Both boys all settled in the NICU for a 3 month stay

And what a difference a year makes.....

The pictures listed below are courtesy of Amy Lorentz Photography and are not permitted to be reproduced in any way:

What a difference a year makes.....

CHRISTIAN:

Christian is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up on things.  He has 4 teeth and has been working on a 5th.  He 16lbs 9oz and is wears size 3 diapers, size 9 mos clothing and 12 mos jammies.  He loves to chase his big brother Easton around and pick on Charlie.  Christian is sleeping through the night and taking 2 naps a day.  He is still on regular formula (recommended by their nutritionist) and eats 3 meals a day (a combination of jarred food and homemade food- starting to go toward all homemade food slowly).  He can feed himself small, soft finger foods and would prefer to feed himself rather than someone else feed him.  He takes 3-4 bottles a day and hasn't gotten into using a sippy cup yet although he does love to play with them!  Christian loves to smile and can sometimes get away with murder because of that infections, beautiful smile.  He is so laid back and calm and usually doesn't fuss or cry unless he's hungry or very tired.  Next week he and his brothers will embark on a new journey as they enter family day care for the first time.  We love you Christian and cannot believe it's been one year already.  You are such a sweet boy and fill our days with such joy just by being around.  You make us laugh and watch in wonder as you grow and learn new things constantly. 

CHARLIE:

Charlie is army crawling, chasing his 2 brothers around constantly.  He likes to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth but has yet to crawl on all fours.  He is currently working on his first 2 teeth.  He is 13lbs. 2oz. and wears a size 2 diaper, size 6 mos clothing and 9 mos jammies.  Charlie loves to keep us on our toes.  He is not sleeping through the night and in fact gets up several times a night.  He takes 2 naps a day and at times has a 3rd catnap.  Charlie is now drinking goat's milk and seems to be tolerating that better than any formula he has been on.  He, too, is eating 3 meals a day but prefers that someone gets the food in his mouth as fast as possible rather than feed himself, although he can feed himself finger foods.  Charlie is still using a bottle and has explored using a sippy cup but would rather play with it than drink out of it.  Charlie, you are such a beautiful boy with the most amazing eyes we've seen.  Your smile is so precious.  We love you so incredibly much and can't believe how far you've come in a year.  You are always working double hard to meet the next milestone and keep up with your brothers. 

Boys, we cannot tell you how happy you make us.  You are truly beautiful miracles who have completely taken our hearts captive.  You are both so amazing, strong, determined and inspiring.  We can't imagine our lives without you.  Mom, dad and Easton love you with all our hearts and more.  

Happy 1st Birthday!

Adventure

Well, yes, every day is an adventure at our house, but today was a special adventure....another LONG day at Mayo Clinic.  Christian and Charlie had their 1 year NICU Clinic appointments today and we were told to expect to be there for 4 hours.  So, at 7:45 we checked in at the appropriate desk....wait.  Stop.  Back up a little bit!  Our adventure really started in the parking ramp when the boys and I arrived at the clinic.

We arrived a few minutes early hoping I would be able to stop and get a cup of coffee since I didn't get a chance to make and take any.  So, I get out of the truck and open the back to get the double stroller out....NO STROLLER.  Okay, I run through my mind the last time we used it- Saturday. I ran through our schedule since Saturday- stroller should be in there- but it's not.  Well this will be interesting without a stroller!  So I call Tyler to ask him to come on down, you're the next contestant on "Help Me Lug These Babies Around The Clinic All Day Since I Don't Have A Stroller!" And being the great husband he is, he came to my rescue.  Only to find out HE was the one who took the stroller OUT of the truck and forgot to replace it.  Up until this point I had convinced myself that someone must have stolen it out of the truck because we usually just leave it in there!  Okay, he won't live this one down for awhile.  And, being the wonderful husband he is, he offered to drive back to Byron to get me the stroller since he wasn't able to stay with me all morning :)

So, NOW the boys and I check in to their appointment, get undressed for weight checks (well the boys did, I didn't).  Have I ever mentioned that my boys are rockstars?  I haven't? In awhile?  Well, they are.  Trust me on this one.  Christian weighs 16lbs 9oz and is 28.2in. long and Charlie is 13lbs. 2oz and 26in. long.  Way to grow boys!  Throughout the morning the boys were seen by a Neurologist, Neonatologist, PT/OT, Nutritionist, and a social worker.  And let me tell you, the boys were marvelous through all of this.  Real troopers.  Developmentally Christian tested at a 9-12 month level which is great!  And Charlie tested at a 9 month level which is also great!  Testing at a 9 month level is right where they should be since they are 12 months chronological age, 9 months corrected.

Other things they are looking at are possibilities of why Charlie does not sleep, like EVER.  He gets up several times a night still.  They sent us home with an oxygen monitor thinking that maybe he has sleep apnea.  We were to monitor his oxygen levels for a night to see if his levels dropped at all.  We did this on Tuesday night and that adventure in itself could use it's own post.  Other possibility: restless leg syndrome (really? In a baby? Yeah, only my child), low iron which can interfere with ability to sleep.  So after picking up his oxygen monitor, Charlie also had a blood test to check his iron levels.  Low and behold....the level is low.  Charlie will now be on iron supplements once again.

For Christian, the doctor was concerned about his head.  Several aspects such as the size (it's large), his soft spot is still open (but so is Charlie's) and the bones in his skull have not yet completely fused together as they should have by now.  So in addition to equipment pick-up and a blood draw we added on a head scan as well.  A half day at the clinic very suddenly turned in to an ENTIRE day at the clinic.  But since we have rock stars for boys they were great the whole day.

Now we're going in to Thursday and we still have no results from any of the tests with the exception of the iron level in Charlie since I could look that test up online.  I'm hoping tomorrow I'll hear from the doctor, and if not, they'll be hearing from me.

Way to be rock stars Christian and Charlie! Keep growing!!

Wounded Soldier....

Remember when Christian started crawling?  Yeah, it seems like forever ago that he started doing that, but really it was only January 3rd.  Well we predicted that Charlie wouldn't be far behind since he hated being left behind by his brothers.  About a week after Christian started crawling...so did Charlie.  And here is proof.  Now, he isn't up on his hands and knees, but in the last week Charlie has been getting up on his knees on his own and bouncing so we don't think it will be too long.....

Any way, here is Charlie and his wounded soldier crawl....

Celebrate Good Times

January 9th, February 15th...what do these dates have in common you ask?  They're my babies' birthdays!  Easton turned 2 on 1/9 and Christian and Charlie will be turning 1 on 2/15 so naturally we need to celebrate!  And celebrate we did....

We had a grand ole party at our house today (2/2) filled with all the family that love these little guys so much.  I made a cake for Easton and a cake for Christian and Charlie as well as cupcakes.  We had balloons and party hats...what's a party without party hats?  And of course there was a feast and presents.....wow, so many presents.  I think we're going to have to buy a second house just to hold all of the toys and clothes these boys got just from today!  

Easton had fun playing with his cousins, Christian had fun visiting with all of his guests, eating and eating some more and Charlie was a little overwhelmed by all the people.  I think he was so touched that so many people would come to his party he just couldn't hold back the tears.  A big day for sure, but for Charlie an extra special, big day....Charlie also got his first hair cut today done by none other than great grandma Karen!  You see, Charlie has so much hair that has a mind of it's own and likes to go every which way we broke down and decided to trim it up a bit.

WARNING.....there are a ridiculous amount of pictures in this post

Christian loving his party hat!

Charlie....not so sure....

It's my party, I'll cry if I want to!

Easton looking hip in his party hat!

Funny story....It came time for Easton to blow out the candles on his cake.  Everyone was tell Easton "blow out the candles, blow"  So Easton sat there looking at his candles and saying "blow!" as if just by saying it the candles would blow out on their own....funny kid.

Ah, you want me to do what with this cupcake?!?

Okay, I guess it's not so bad

But seriously....WHY do you insist I wear this hat?!!!

AND....Charlie's first haircut.....

 Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!  It's been one heck of a year and everyone's support has meant the world to us.  We couldn't do this without our family and friends.