Thankful Week

I guess I better get around to my weekly post.  This weekend is almost over.

Not a lot went on last week.  At first I thought we had no appointments whatsoever.  I was so excited to have a therapy free week.  And then I remembered last Sunday morning in the shower that I just hadn't written down her physical therapy appointment.  She has it every Tuesday at 9am.  I guess one appointment in a week isn't too bad but I really was looking forward to that completely free week.  But PT went fine.  It was so long ago that I don't remember much happening. 

Wednesday afternoon we headed to Charlotte to Drew's mom's house.  We spent Wednesday night there.  Thursday morning I had grand plans to get Drew's sister, Anna, to take our pictures for our Christmas card and we woke up to rainy and foggy weather.  We had to skip the pictures but we headed to Drew's dad's house for our big Thanksgiving lunch.  We celebrated with GrandBob and Suzette, Mimo and Aunt Anna, Uncle Ed and his girlfriend Jamie, and Jamie's parents, Richard and Lorrie.  A good meal and good time was had by all.  It turned into a beautiful day so we were able to get our Christmas pictures taken and Aunt Anna managed to capture 2 where everyone was looking in the correct direction and smiling.  An amazing feat!  She only had to take 63 pictures to get those two.  Not bad, ha ha. 

Friday morning Mimo and Anna and I braved the crowds and went Xmas shopping while Drew and Bob watched the kids.  I managed to get a few more presents so all was good.  Crowds don't bother me so I don't mind going shopping on Black Friday.  And yesterday I was able to meet my best friend, Carrie, in Greensboro for lunch and shopping while Drew watched the kids.  I got a few more presents and I'm really closing in on finishing my shopping.  Yeah, it's not even December!  I do appreciate my wonderful hubby watching the kids so much lately so I can get out for a little me time.  It does the mind and body wonders! 

Enjoy the pictures....but not the 2 good Christmas pictures :)  Gotta wait on those!

The kids love pushing the chairs around the kitchen.  This day they pushed them to the gate and looked all cute while sitting in them!

Lindy still isn't sure about Boo Boo Bear, but she is warming up to him by sitting with him.  Or on him.

We see who won the battle though.

Last week's church outfits.

I guess her braces aren't so bad if she willingly tries to put them on!

Silly boy on the couch.  This didn't last long.

Cute kiddos.

The kids LOVE these 200 foam blocks.  I don't love the fact that Will figured out how to unzip the bag and dump them, anytime he wants.  Basically whenever your back is turned.  But he has been building some awesome structures so it's neat to see. 

Someone else in our house likes the kids' chairs!

This is from Wednesday at Mimo's house.  The rocking chair they are sitting in is their great-grandmother's chair from when she was a little girl.  It was Mimi's chair, Mimo's mom.

Will is as tall as Drew!

Such a sweet picture.  Perfect height windows for him to gaze out of.

Lindy hanging with Uncle Ed.

Little E and even Littler E.  For any non-Wake fans, #31 was Eric Williams' number, also known as Big E. 

Lately when Will is on the changing table he'll throw one leg up and rest it on the other leg.  It immediately reminds me of a picture from when he was first born.  Of course I had to find it for comparison.  The first picture was taken when he was 19 days old and weighed 2lbs 4oz.  I don't know what he weighs today, probably 24+lbs. 

Thankful For.....

Today we are thankful for GrandBob and Suzette.  GrandBob and Suzette are Drew's dad and stepmom.  GrandBob and Suzette have come in very handy at all the Wake Forest football games this fall.  They help entertain the kids before the game by walking all around with them and playing with them.  More importantly they help entertain and hold them during the games.  We love that the kids have started a tradition of going to the football games with their GrandBob and Suzette.

We are most thankful for the love they show to Lindy and Will.  They have been right there sharing in every milestone the kids have conquered.  GrandBob thinks the sun rises and sets on little Willy Will, but he is also the first to tell us how pretty and amazing Lindy is.  We can just feel the love they have for our kids and it's special to see.

We couldn't have made it the last two years without the love and support of GrandBob and Suzette.

Thankful For...

Today we are thankful for Mimo.  Mimo is Drew's Mom.  Mimo has been especially helpful when it comes to watching the kids while Drew and I are away for weekends.  We are thankful for a grandmother who willingly watches the kids, usually by herself!  She is also great about coming to help Drew on the weekend if by chance I am away.  I know the kids love their time with Mimo and I know Drew appreciates the help.

Who loves Lindy?  Mimo loves Lindy!  Who loves Will?  Mimo loves Will!  And love Lindy and Will she does!  From spending the night the first night the triplets were born to spending the night a couple weekends ago, we know she'd do anything for us and the kids.  Her love for our kids is obvious.  She is just as excited as we are when the kids do something new.  Mimo is also really good about remembering Adam, which means the world to us.

We are lucky to have a Mimo in our lives.

Thankful For...

Seeing as it is the week of Thanksgiving, I want to highlight some of the people Drew and I are thankful for.

Today I'm thankful for Nana and Papa.   Nana and Papa are my parents.  As much as I wish my parents lived around the corner, unfortunately they don't.  And although they live up in Ohio, we still get to see them every couple of months.  They descend upon our house for a weekend full of lovin on our kids.  They dive in and feed, and read, and play with the kids.  It's obvious the kids bask in the constant attention they get when Nana and Papa are around.  Will especially loves having a willing person to read him books! 

Nana and Papa have always been a constant support system for us.  My mom is the first person I call when I'm having a horrible day with the kids.  They are the first people I call when one of the kids has accomplished a new milestone or done something funny.  From the poems my mom wrote every month of the kids' first year to the things my dad has built for the kids, we know how much Nana and Papa love our kids. 

We will miss seeing them at Thanksgiving this year, but we want them to know how thankful we are to have them in our lives and our kids' lives!

 

Pretty Quiet Week

This post is dedicated to Joe and Josephine.  I think they are quite possibly my most loyal blog followers and I just wanted to give them a shout out!  Hey Joe and Josephine!

As for appointments this week, we had our weekly PT appointment on Tuesday.  She did well, as usual.  Heather really worked her pretty hard, stretching  her hips and legs.  She was exhausted by the end!  But Heather is always amazed at how happy she is, even after working so hard.  Wednesday we had governor morehead, our vision therapy.  We played with all kinds of fun toys and Lindy did well.  Lindy did end up getting ear molds made on Wednesday afternoon.  It'll take a week or two to get them in but let's keep our fingers crossed that they are better than the set we have now. 

I was able to get a full day away from the kids on Thursday.  It was a nice little break.  I went to the Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte with Drew's mom and sister and his brother's girlfriend.  We shopped for 6 hours!  I was so tired by the time I got home.  I do appreciate Drew watching the kiddos so I could get away!  I'm sure they had a great time with Daddy!

Today the kids got a haircut.  It proved to be quite a feat to get them to sit still.  Will's bangs might be a tad short and Lindy's might be a tad long, but they both needed a cut!

I guess it was a quiet week around here.  I do have a funny story from the week.  One night I was getting Will ready to take a bath.  He ran down the hall naked and went straight to the bathtub.  I was walking down the hall behind him and said, "Wait Will, you need to go pee pee."  Before I knew it, the boy stood there and peed all on the blanket and bath mat.  So he definitely understands going pee pee, but I apparently need to be a little more specific and careful when I say it!

Without further ado....

Muscle man Will picking up the big blue bouncy ball that I got out to do exercises with Lindy.

This week we worked on a new body part.  The tongue!

We played outside and raked some leaves.

How sweet is this?

Drew took Lindy to get her ear molds made on Wednesday.  It was odd for just me and Will to be home alone.  We had fun playing with the magnatiles.  I think he thoroughly enjoyed being able to build something and not have Lindy around to knock it down!

And then he got a little upset when we had to pick them all up.

I love their matching monkey pj's and I love this series of pictures!

New haircuts!

All the cool kids put a Demon Deacon on their head.

Reading night-night stories before bed tonight.

At the end of Snuggle Puppy, one of the kids' favorites!

National Prematurity Awareness Day

Today, November 17, is National Prematurity Awareness Day.  Today, many people are participating in Bloggers Unite Fight for Preemies to raise awareness about the 20 million babies that are born early each year.

Everyone who reads the blog should know that our kids were born very premature, at 25 weeks and 2 days.  They weighed in at 1lb 9oz, 1lb 14oz, and 1lb 13oz.  Our lives were turned upside down the day they were born.  We lost our son Adam after 12 hours and we watched Lindy and Will fight for their lives.  There are no good words to really describe the feelings you have when you deliver your children that early.  We lost one baby and we didn't have a clue if the other two would make it.  And what would their lives be like if they did make it? We sat in the NICU everyday for 3 months waiting for our first baby to come home.  And when we finally got to bring Will home, we had to leave Lindy there.  For another 1.5 months.  It's hard having two babies in the hospital and it's hard having having one at home and one 2 hours away. 

Thankfully the March of Dimes is trying to educate, prevent, and help familes cope with premature birth.  We are thankful for the research the March of Dimes has funded.  Our children benefited from their research and it helped two of the three survive. 

When you have a premature baby it can either pass away, survive and have disabilites as a result of the prematurity, or it can turn out completely normal.  I feel like I had all three.  Adam passed away because he was just born too early.  Lindy has severe hearing and vision loss, hydrocephalus and a shunt, kidney issues, paralyzed vocal cords, cerebral palsy, and the list goes on.  And Will, for the most part he has no complications.  We pretty much experienced all that prematurity has to offer.  And it sucks. 

1 in 8 babies is born premature in the United States.  That means that someone you know had a baby born too early.  We need to help fight this battle.  The little innocent babies can't fight the battle, so we have to.  We need to do what we can to stop babies from being born too early.  We need to all dream of the day when all babies are born healthy.  But we need to work with the March of Dimes in the meantime to get there.

Lindy

Will

Adam

Ida Who?

That is what I said when my mom asked if we were going to get any rain from Tropical Storm Ida.  I hadn't even heard about Ida.  72 hours and 10-12 inches of rain later we knew who Ida was.  And we are glad she is gone!  We spent most of the week inside because of the weather.  We even lost power one morning for a few hours.  The ground was so wet that trees were falling over on power lines. 

We had a relatively quiet week.  Lindy and Will got to spend all day with their Mimo last Saturday while we went to the Appalachian Sate football game with Drew's family.  Lindy had PT on Tuesday morning and she had hearing therapy on Tuesday afternoon.  Both went fine.  At PT they put a little piece of foam on the bottom of her brace on her right foot so that it shifts her weight back some.  It is supposed to help her pick her feet up better.  It definitely took some getting used to because she was stumbling all over the place but she's got the hang of it now.

This week in hearing therapy we worked on Lindy trying to pick two objects out.  She needs some practice at this.  Another day though I would ask her to make the dog jump or the airplane fly or the bunny walk.  She would pick the correct animal and make it do the correct action.  That's good listening!!  She has also started using the word more and the sign more to actually tell us she wants more of something.  Until now she will do the sign if we say the word more.  During many meals this week she has been doing the sign and saying more by herself to get more food.

She had an appointment to get new earmolds this week but it was cancelled.  Lindy is still messing with her hearing aides and ear molds all the time so I asked for new ones to be made.  We'll see if the next set is better.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate getting new earmolds?

Lindy is adding to her list of words all the time.  I swear she almost says as much as Will now.  Some of it all sounds alike but Drew and I know what she is trying to say most of the time.  Her newest thing is saying 'what's that?'  Just like Will does.  So now I have 2 of them saying 'What's that?' all day long.  Except when Lindy says it, it doesn't sound anything like it should.  But she is pointing at something or holding something out to us and saying the same phrase each time.  It's clear that is what she is trying to say, even if it sounds nothing like it.  I've always heard the 'why?' phase kids go through is horrible but I can't imagine it's any worse than the 'What's that?' we hear ALL day long! 

Will's newest phrase is 'Hi boo.'  He's been saying it all week.  We aren't sure where it came from or what it means.  But he's been saying it a lot!  Something I have noticed is that whenever I tell Will I love him, he says 'bye bye.'  I've been testing him and he usually does it.  He associates me telling him I love him with me leaving to go somewhere!  Even if I'm just sitting in the kitchen and telling him.  Silly boy!  Will is peeing on the potty before almost every bath now.  He loves hearing the music the potty makes when he pee pees.  It's obvious he knows what to do when I tell him to go pee pee.  You can see him squeezing or pushing or something.  But he pees!  Maybe the real potty training will go smoother than I think?  Old Will has a nice bruise and cut on his forehead today.  He fell yesterday in the kitchen and his forehead hit the direct corner of the cabinet.  Poor guy.  I know that one hurt! 

We have noticed that Will is not really shy around people anymore.  He's come full circle.  He used to be so outgoing and then got shy around new people but he's back to being very outgoing.  For awhile there he would cry every time I left the kids in the nursery at church.  I ended up having to sneak out.  But lately I can just tell him bye bye and he tells me bye bye back and he's totally happy.  Lindy has never for one second cared about me leaving the nursery.  But she does tell me bye bye as well.  It's so nice to be able to have them tell me bye bye and be happy when I walk out.  There is one other little boy who is about a year younger and screams when his parents leave!

We finished up our weekend with our last home Wake Forest football game.  It was a gorgeous November day.  It was supposed to be around 70F but it felt more like 80F sitting in the sun.  The season was a bit of a dissappointment but we still had a great time going to the games.  The kids do remarkably well for us and that saved us a lot of money not having to get babysitters for the games. 

Enjoy some pictures from the week. 

Last Sunday's church outfits.

Will decided he didn't want his pictures taken.  My camera records the time.  This picture was taken at 9:12 (and 57 seconds).

And then got really mad.  This one was at 9:13am on the dot.

And everything was all better by 9:13am and 44 seconds. 

And everyone was really happy here.

Big girl woke up with a strange curl one morning!

We dressed warm on the cold and rainy days.

This is how Will tells me he is thirsty.  Hanging on the fridge.

When I tell Will to sit by Lindy for a picture he always sits down way in front of her.

But then he smiles really cute and everything is okay!

And Lindy always smiles really cute too!

One of the many reasons we used the Monkey See Monkey Do as the theme for their 2nd birthday party.

Laying on the floor is becoming a favorite pasttime around our house.

I just love one piece outfits on the kids!

This would be a perfect picture, if only Lindy wasn't on the way to picking her nose!

Always having a good time!

Will asking, "What's that?"

Daddy has started a new thing with the kids and now they want to do it all the time!  They're flying!

Are you ready for some football?  The last Wake Forest football game this season.

Love this picture!!