:: we LOVE dad::

Thought I'd share our Valentines day crafting with everyone.  We aren't big celebrators of the big V-day in this house, but this year I thought it would be fun to surprise Chase with something from Sean & Scott.  You would think it would be easy getting a footprint of a baby, but I learned it IS NOT!!!  We ruined several pieces of paper before getting any decent prints, but I will admit I am in love with the finished product!

**Thanks to Pinterest for the idea **

Favorite Room in the House :)

Finally some pictures of the nursery!  I didn't want something that was too baby-ish, so I thought the squares would be fun and different and would last through the younger years of Sean & Scott's life!  The squares weren't that hard to do.  I considered them easier than painting one whole wall one color!  The hardest part was deciding what color went where and trying not to end up with the same colors touching.  I may be in love with the finished product!  This room definitely makes getting up in the middle of the night a little easier!

Up to Date.... FINALLY!

Wow!!  Having 2 babies is insane, and I think that might even be an understatement!!  Our sweet boys have been home with us now for almost 3 months!!  I can't even believe how fast the time has gone by.  I'll be honest, the first month is just a blur of events caused by lack of sleep!

This is mostly for me and my record keeping so I'm going to start from the beginning.

Sept. 30, 2011::  Sean & Scott are born!!  Sean weighed 3.7lb,s was 16 inches, and a head circ. of 11.4 inches.  Scott weighed 3.11lbs, was 16.5 inches, and had a head circ. of 11.8 inches.  They spent 5 weeks in the NICU.  During that time they each spent time on oxygen and were given a dose of caffeine to keep their hearts beating when they would forget to breathe.  Each of them struggled with apnea up to the day they came home.  They were on feeding tubes for the first 3 or 4 weeks and then were weaned to nipple from a bottle.  Those 5 weeks are now a blur.  I can barely remember them being so tiny and looking at them in their isolettes and longing to just hold and snuggle them.  I remember being so excited when they got moved into an open crib and got to be next to each other and wear little clothes!!  It was the best feeling being able to give them their baths and change their clothes!  Scary, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Gary Scott Phillips

Bradford Sean Phillips

They loved snuggling together

These were my favorite outfits.  I can't wait until they are older and I can pull them out to show them how tiny they were!

One night while we were in the NICU visiting, one of the nurses mentioned that our boys could be coming home within the next week!  We were so excited!  It was amazing the progress they had made in those few weeks!  I was told that the Dr. would be contacting us on Friday to let us know when we would be able to go have a sleep over and bring Sean & Scott home.  On Saturday morning we had not heard anything so I called the hospital to see when we should expect to have them home.  I was told that we could come stay over with them that night!  Wow!!  We were so not prepared!  Chase and I cleaned like crazy people and went to the hospital at 5:00pm.  The boys were coming home with heart and lung monitors and would still be on caffeine, so we had to have a little lesson on how to use the monitors.  I'm pretty sure neither of us slept a wink that night!!  It was a surreal experience and I was a little bit panicked!  We had gotten comfortable with the routine in the NICU and to be given full control and access to our babies was like being handed a chinese puzzle!!  It was strange being able to hold them as long as we wanted and able to do things our own way because there wasn't a nurse by our sides!

Going Home!

Nov. 6, 2011::  Our babies came home!!  Sean weighed 4.11 lbs, was 17.3 inches and had a head circ. of 13.2 inches.  Scott weighed 5.3 lbs, was 18.9 inches and had a head circ. of 12.8 inches.  When we got the boys home, Chase and I just looked at each other and nervously asked "What do we do now?!"  Luckily my mom was on her way down to stay with us for a week to help get adjusted!  Thank goodness for her!  Chase and I just stared at Sean & Scott for hours.  It was so hard to believe that they were actually home, and they were ours, and no one was going to be checking on them and us to make sure we were doing everything right.

Let me just summarize the next few weeks.  Change babies, feed babies, snuggle babies, REPEAT (every 3 hours)!!!  When they got home they were still only eating about 60 cc's which is about 2 ounces.  By the 3rd week home we were feeding them 3-4 ounces!  They were improving so quickly!  Having my mom here was a lifesaver!  We would rotate through the feedings at night so that someone would get some extra sleep.  My mom stayed 2 weeks with us.  I cried the day she left for home!  It meant I was on my own!  Chase was going back to work the next day so I'd be flying solo with 2 babies!  The first day was exhausting, frustrating, exciting, and frightening all at the same time!  I'm happy to report - - - WE SURVIVED!!  I found that I enjoyed being with them by myself.  I had found my routine three days in.  I look back and wonder how I'm still alive.  It was hard to find the time to eat or have any time to myself.  Somehow, it all worked out!

This was our lunch most days!

We had our first pediatricians visit 4 days after the boys were home.  That was quite the event getting everything ready to go out!  The dr. was impressed with their improvement and we were scheduled to come back in one week.  At the next appointment the dr. couldn't believe the rapid weight gain each boy had!  It was a good feeling!  The caffeine was dropped 2 weeks after being home with no alarms on the monitors!  I was very happy about this, I hated the effects it had on my babies!  And by the end of the month we had said good-bye to the monitors also!  That was probably the best part, they were now more mobile.  We were sort of stuck to the living room with the monitors because they had to be plugged in and were a pain to have to carry around.  So we moved the boys into their crib!  It was a great feeling.  And they love their room! 

completely zonked!

 

 

 

We did a photo shoot about a week or so after the boys had been home.  It was a lot of work!!  I applaud the photographers who create amazing photos with babies!!  It's no easy task!  But we got some great photos and I will treasure them forever!  Here are some of my favorites!

Dec. 6, 2011::  2 month doctors checkup.  Sean weighed 7.5lbs, was 20 inches, and had a head circ. of 14.4 inches!!  He had gained 4 lbs in a month, and grown about 3 inches!!  Scott weighed 7.14lbs, was 21 inches, and had a head circ. of 14.4 inches!!  He had gained about 3 lbs in a month, and grown about 3 inches!!  It was a proud day!  The were doing so great!  They both ate about 4-5 ounces at every feeding and still ate about every 3 hours.  Still not on the charts for height or weight, but they were rising on their own charts!  Both boys developed reflux pretty bad.  Feeding them was a nightmare, they would just scream unless they were sucking on the bottle.  It was bad for about 2 weeks and we finally went to the doctor.  They are now on Prevacid which has been a complete lifesaver.  They are now happy to eat and be burped!!  By the end of December we had experienced an almost full night of sleep!!  It was exciting!  The boys sleep pretty good, but every once in a while they throw us off and wake up every 3 hours.  I think it's just to keep us on our toes, no slacking!!

I'm going to end this post here.  Hopefully I'll continue soon, since Sean & Scott are 4 months old now!!  I promise to get pictures of the nursery too.  It's my favorite room!