What Time Is it?

No, it's not time for Wake Forest to win the ACC tournament. They lost their first game tonight. Actually it's time for my weekly post!! What you've all been waiting for with baited breath. Right?

Monday afternoon the nephrologist finally called to tell me the results of the renogram Lindy had on her kidneys. Kidneys should equally share the work, 50-50 for a total of 100%. Lindy's right kidney is only doing 31% of the work and the left is doing 69% of the work. He made comments like, "Yeah, the right one isn't working very well." I kind of took another point of view though. I'm just glad it's working! There was a real chance that it wasn't working at all. On older, bigger kids they would most likely go in and fix her bladder reflux (where her urine is going back up the wrong direction to her kidneys). But he doesn't want to do that right now. He called Lindy 'delicate' and said she is so small, with other issues , would have to be reintubated for the surgery and because she has only had one UTI (when she was a couple months old in the NICU). She is on a daily antibiotic to prevent anymore UTI's and it seems to be working. He was going to think about it and talk to some other doctors. We have another appointment with him in June and I'm really not sure if we'll hear from him before then.


Lindy had her deaf and hard of hearing teacher here Monday afternoon. Nothing very exciting happened during her visit.


Tuesday both kids went to the pediatrician for their LAST Synagis shot! Our friend Janice went with me because I'm still not brave enough to do it by myself. I didn't want to try and console two kids after shots by myself. They did great and recovered very quickly from the shots. The big news is that Miss Lindy broke the 20 pound mark!! She weighed in at a hefty 20lbs 6oz. She has seriously closed the gap on Will. Will did not gain any weight last month so he was once again 21lbs 3oz. She is less than a pound away from him! I think the car seats will be switching directions this week!


We have played outside a ton this week! Most of the week has been absolutely beautiful. Then today it got cold and rainy. Our little taste of spring was awesome and we hope it returns soon. We had snack and dinner outside on our porch a couple nights and it was great. They loved being out there! One day we were getting ready to go out and Will was standing at the door crying because I wasn't moving fast enough for him! Last weekend we put our little swing set out in the yard and we put the kids up on the slide. It was the cutest thing ever! Will was (still is) a little hesitant about starting down the slide. It usually takes a little convincing and sometimes a little help to get him going forward. He enjoys it once he goes down. Lindy on the other hand takes off as soon as you sit her down! It is the funniest thing ever. If you sit her back and a little bit she scooches up on her bottom and off she goes! The bad thing is that she leans forward so you have to be right there. She is a little top heavy! She loves it. That girl isn't afraid of anything!


Lindy Lou pulled herself up to her feet in Will's bed Wednesday evening. The cool thing was that she was on her knees and got up to standing. She did it twice. Then last night she pulled herself up to standing in her own bed. Albeit it was 2 hours past her bedtime and she was still in there playing, we were still proud of her! She pulled herself up on the back of her crib and was standing there playing with the painted picture above her bed. Drew was in the room right next to her and he kept hearing a noise. When he went to check on her to see what she was doing we found her standing and swinging the picture back and forth! She is going to have her bed lowered this weekend! We have no clue what she was still doing awake 2 hours past her bedtime. She never does that! Apparently she wasn't tired.


Will has been as cute as ever this week. He wore his first button up collared dress shirt last weekend to church and he looked so grown up. He also walked into church for the first time by himself. Usually I carry him and carry Lindy in her car seat. That way I can sit the car seat down and open the door. Well seeing as she is over 20lbs now, she is heavy to carry! So I attempted to carry Lindy and have Will walk. I didn't account for the small hill we had to walk down which was throwing him off. Luckily someone was there to lend a helping hand and hold his hand while going inside. He has been working on his bottom molars this week and has been fussy a couple times. Nothing a little Tylenol can't cure. Apparently it's an instant relief for him. Going outside with Will is a totally different experience this year. One day I looked up and he was half way across the yard! It's so crazy to see him walking all around!

So that's the news. Hope you all have a great weekend. It's going to be a rainy one here. Good weekend to watch basketball - but not Wake - remember they lost their first game tonight! Boo!

She should have been napping, but instead she was playing! Looking too cute in some new pj's.

More new pj's.

Little Man trying to be a big boy in his collared dress shirt.

Loving the outdoors.

Lindy is a real baller - she had a triple double that day.

Sweet girl.

"You're crazy if you think I'm going down this little slide!"

"Okay, maybe it was fun!"

"Geronimo!"

"I love this stuff!"

Check out that hair!

Out for a Sunday swing.

Practicing her standing. She's getting a lot better!

Funny girl! She has been blinking her eyes lately, I think she is trying to wink!

Trying to 'climb' out the door. He tries to 'climb' everything now!

Snack time on the porch.

Trying out the dump truck we put together this week.

She's so stinking pretty!

Standing in her crib and playing with her pig picture!

The next two pictures are for our OT, Lisa. We've worked hard this week on letting the babies feed themselves. Well, we hand them a filled spoon and they get in their mouths. Today though, I gave them a little bowl of yogurt and let them have at it! It was better than I expected! Will had no clue what to do for a long time but he finally figured out that I wasn't going to help him. Lindy did pretty well too. Her biggest problem was that she would lay the spoon on top of the cup instead of putting it down in it to get more. I'm dreaming of the day they totally feed themselves!

From Snow to Spring All In One Week

It's been a crazy weather week in NC. We woke up Monday morning with about 5 inches of snow! What a fun way to start the month of March! We headed out Monday afternoon for a little fun in the snow. It was pretty cold and we don't own any proper snow gear for the kids so we didn't stay out too long. Will seemed to enjoy the snow and Lindy acted like she could care less about it. I think it might have gotten on her legs and in her mittens so she might have not liked that. They were cute all bundled up though. We laid them in the snow and we created the cutest little snow angels you've ever seen! Fast forward to the end of the week and it was 76F outside today! Strangely there is still some snow left over in areas that don't get sun. 76F and snow don't really go together in my book.

Our week was just fine. Lindy had her deaf and hard of hearing teacher here on Wednesday morning. I forgot to write about some exciting news last week in regards to her hearing. For almost a year now we have been doing these Learn to Listen sounds. Every day (well we strive for everyday but don't always make it) we pull out our basket of about 20 animals and objects and we make the sounds and show them to Lindy. She plays with each one a little bit and we sing songs for some of them. It's a pretty well rehearsed routine after doing it this long. By this point in time she should be making the sounds back to us. Unfortunately she can't because of her paralyzed vocal cord. BUT......last week we were doing our sheep and I was of course saying 'Baa.' For the first time EVER in response to one of these Learn to Listen sounds, Lindy made a 'aaaaaa' sound. I said 'baa' repeatedly and she would say 'aaaaa' after me. I know she was imitating me. So she couldn't make the 'b' sound yet, she was definitely hearing the 'a' in 'baa.' Of course I was so excited and told her teacher this week and of course she wouldn't do it! She does it frequently now, just not in front of the people I want to see it! Then at the beginning of the week I was putting them in their chairs for a snack and I said, "Lets have a snack' and she then went 'aaaaa.' Could she really be hearing the 'a' in these words? Who knows?! I just know when I say certain words with 'a' in it she is now going 'aaaaa.' We think that is exciting!

The only other appointment this week was with our occupational therapist on Friday. It was actually our LAST OT appointment. Lindy has officially been discharged from OT services. Lisa's main goals were to make sure she ate well, sucked on a straw and got off the bottle, and crawled on all fours. She accomplished two of the three goals (still not crawling on hands and knees yet). Lisa felt at this point that Lindy needs more physical therapy than occupational therapy. Although we are happy that she does not need OT anymore, we'll miss Lisa. She's been a great help and sounding board for us. She always had helpful suggestions for us, even about stuff that was more baby related than OT related! She also helped us out with Will and a couple oral motor issues with him. We'll all miss you Lisa!

We were supposed to have PT on Friday but our therapist was sick so we couldn't go. Instead we went shopping on Friday. The babies have only been in the mall one other time but I was having some cabin fever. We felt it was reasonably safe since they wouldn't be in direct contact with anyone. We have to eventually start loosing our reins anyway. I am still amazed at all the attention they get. We even got asked the famous 'Are they identical twins?" question!

This morning we enjoyed a wonderful morning at Hanging Rock State Park. I brought my camera but I left the SD card in the computer at home. I'm getting forgetful in my old age. We hiked to a new place and saw a cool waterfall and cave. We had a great little picnic lunch and a good time was had by all. This afternoon we went out in the yard for a little while and played in grass. Strangely enough, Will was fine with the grass and Lindy freaked out a little bit. Just when you think you've got them figured out, they go switching things up!

Willy Will is doing well. He's getting faster and faster with his walking. He can get up some speed when he's chasing the cat! Drew and I made a list of his words today. He says: ball, bath, book, mama, dada, up, and pj's. Ball, bath, and book all sound quite similar but oh well. Pj's is the cutest thing he says!

For the first time ever the babies were playing with each other in their bedroom at the end of their nap today. Well, it was actually during their naptime, but Lindy never went to sleep and Will woke up very early. Lindy was up on her knees bouncing around and playing her music on her soother. We'd hear Will laugh and then Lindy would start laughing. It was so cute! Of course I'd rather they had been sleeping but oh well. With horrible naps today and losing an hour of sleep tonight, they should be tired tomorrow!

Enjoy our snow pictures and a few others from the week.

What do you think of the single pony tail? At first I thought it looked silly but then it grew on me. Kind of cute!
Her hair after she woke up from her nap that day. Not so cute!

Lindy pulls up on her knees on everything now.

I've started giving them each a half a banana at snack time lately. They usually try to get as much as possible in their mouths at one time and then Lindy likes to rub her hands in her hair. uggg. Luckily it was bath night!

"There's Something About Lindy"

Our favorite OT, Lisa.

March of Dimes update: I can't believe no one commented on my old school pictures. I thought for sure someone would make fun of me. Thank you to the Beasley's and Greco's, our only two contributors this week. We have a long way to go to reach our goal. We got a MOD newsletter this week and it had a letter from the national ambassador's family. Each individual walk has an ambassador child and then there is a National Ambassador Child. Katelyn's team started walking in 2005 and they have raised $140,000!!!!!! WOW! That is about $32,000 each year! And I thought our $4300 was good last year. So come on family and friends, help us out. We've got a lot of money to raise! We've got to beat Katelyn's team this year :)

Guess What I Did in 1990 and 1991?

I walked in the March of Dimes Walk America walk (now known as the March For Babies)!! I was living in Bennington, Vermont at the time and my mom, sister, and I participated in the walk a couple years. It makes me proud to know that back in the day I was helping out babies. Little did I know that one day my own babies would benefit from the March of Dimes education and research. Although I don't have pictures of the actual walks, I found pictures of me back then wearing my March of Dimes shirts. (I'm willingly embarrassing myself with old pictures - for a good cause). And here's the crazy thing - I still have one of my t-shirts. So what if it's 19 years old!So as you may have guessed - we are walking again in the March of Dimes March For Babies. Last year we walked and you guys blew us away with your support and generosity. We hope you will consider supporting us again this year.

March for Babies - Winston Salem

April 18, 2009

Bolton Park

Registration begins at 9am, Walk begins at 10am

This cause is very near and dear to our hearts. Lindy, Will, and Adam were born at 25 weeks. Lindy weighed 1lb 9oz, Will weighed 1lb 14oz, and Adam weighed 1lb 13oz. Our sweet Adam only lived for 12 hours, but thanks to some of the research made possible by the March of Dimes, Lindy and Will were able to survive.

You may think the March of Dimes only helps premature babies. The fact is that the March of Dimes has also touched your life if you know the importance of taking folic acid before and during pregnancy to prevent neural tube defects, if your newborn child received a PKU test (a mandatory test in all 50 states that can diagnose a disorder which causes severe mental retardation), or if you or your children were vaccinated against polio. The March of Dimes has been instrumental in the research and education of all of the above.

We hope you can support us again in our efforts to raise money so that all babies can be born healthy. You can donate online by clicking on the March of Dimes badge on the top right of the page. You can also give me or Drew a check, made out to the March of Dimes. We know money is a little bit tighter these days but we hope you will still consider supporting us. My guess is that Lindy, Will, and all the other babies out there do not know we are in a recession. Any little bit can help save the life of an innocent little baby.

We would love to have people join our team and walk and fundraise with us. If you are interested in being a member of the Million Dollar Babies team, let me know. We would love to have a large group walking for Lindy and Will, and for Adam, who can't be with us.

Can you possibly say no to these March of Dimes Miracles??