Pictures

Just wanted to share some random pictures from the last few weeks!

Ainsley would not put down Grandma Barb's cell phone all day.  She had a working lunch. 

We tried to get a picture of them with all the Toys for Tots toys from their birthday.

Daddy and his little Chiefs fans!

Tried for a family picture with the timer. 

Not super excited about his dinner - salmon and peas.  

Our adorable outfits did not help the Hawkeyes.  

Ben playing in the ball pit - so fun!

Just having some dinner. 

Spill proof snack container, huh?  

She covered herself up in the car.  It was like 75 degrees out. 

"Helping" to do a little packing in the office. 

Halloween 2012

We didn't go trick-or-treating with the babies but we did dress them up to hand out candy.  We continued their birthday theme and they dressed as Minnie and Mickey Mouse.  

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday to Aunt Liasa - we love you!!!

Twelve Months

It is hard to believe Ainsley and Benson are 12 months old!  And they are actually 12 months and 3 weeks - we're a little late with this post!

Ainsley - I can't believe you are a YEAR OLD!  You are growing up so much.  You are all over the place and into everything.  Your favorite things to try to get into are the pantry and the dog's food & water dish.  You are not very good at listening and when we tell you "no" you usually pause and smile, then go back to whatever you were doing.  We have to "redirect" you a lot.

You eat great!  You like almost everything.  You LOVE mandarin oranges and have recently tried macaroni and cheese and liked it.  You are NOT a neat eater.  You shovel food in your mouth like someone might take it away.  You also have a thing for rubbing your dirty, food covered hands all over your face and hair.  You recently discovered the food that falls in your bib pocket and have eaten out of it - too funny!

You transitioned to milk like a pro.  You still drink a bottle in the morning when you wake up and at night when you go to bed.  You do great with your sippy cup but haven't figured out how to work a straw yet.  You have however, figured out how to squeeze the milk out of the spout on the "spill proof" sippy cup and use it to paint on your highchair tray - clever girl!

We love your laugh and you can be a pretty silly little girl.  You also have become more lovey lately.  You like to be held more and will just snuggle - you used to be too busy for that and we love that you'll snuggle now.  You've also started hugging when we pick you up from daycare.  You'll just put your arms up and when we pick you up you put your arms around our neck and put your head on our shoulder - so sweet!

Benson - You are ONE year old! You are such a big boy!  You are definitely bigger that your sister, both in weight and height.  You are so sweet and smiley.  You get pretty excited with your "good hand" and like to bang on things and make noise.  We have nicknamed you Bam Bam because you're always banging away.  Sometimes you like to bang on whoever is holding you and you are getting strong so we are working on nice touches.

You are doing so great at feeding yourself!  You are a much neater eater than your sister.  You are very precise and don't make much of a mess at all.  You are a little more picky about what you eat.  You were not a big fan of macaroni and cheese though you also LOVE mandarin oranges.  Goldfish crackers are also a favorite of yours.

You weren't very excited about switching from formula to whole milk.  We are actually still working on transitioning your two bottles to all milk.  You do well with your sippy cup of milk during the day though.  You have to have a little help since it is hard to tip up so far with only one hand.  Hopefully you'll figure out how to use a straw soon because that seems like it will be easier to use with one hand.

You are doing great at sitting and you roll ALL OVER!  Sometimes you seem just to roll for rolling sake.  You'll go from back to belly to back to belly without going anywhere - I think you just like to do it!  You are so funny and ticklish and laugh all the time which is so adorable!

We love you both more than words can ever say!

1st Birthday Party

Today was Ben and Ainsley's first birthday party!  We had such a great time and I think they did too!

We enjoyed delicious cupcakes!

We had some good lunch.

We got exactly two pictures as a family - the first one Jeremy has his eyes closed and the second is blurry.  This is why we go to a professional photographer.  

We have amazing family and friends and when we asked for donations for Toys for Tots instead of gifts for the twins - they delivered!

We got a picture of all the babies on my side of the family.  We've had a recent baby boom - 5 babies in about 13 months!

From left to right: Violet (Sarah & Dan's daughter), Ben, Cooper (Joe & Jeannie's son), Ainsley, Hudson (Joe & Jeannie's 2nd son).

I printed these collages from all their monthly pictures - I love them and they'll probably stay up for awhile.

We had ears for our guests.

Here are a few of them!

 Our neighbors: Andy, Staci and Emmett

These ladies don't have on their ears but this is Grandma Betty holding Violet and Laura holding Hudson

Sarah and Dan

We had a great day and are so thankful to everyone for coming! 

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today we went to the doctor and were sent to the hospital to deliver our babies.

It was scary and exciting and amazing and one of the most important days of our entire lives. 

I think back to the delivery and how I cried the happiest tears of my life when I heard each one of them cry.

I think back to how Ainsley was on the CPAP oxygen and how we couldn't hold her the first couple days of her life.  That gets me more now than it did then...not sure why.

I think of all the days we were in the NICU and how we wanted to take our babies home so badly.

I think of what I still consider the worst day of my life, when we learned Ben had a stroke.  

And I think of how far we've come in 12 short months.  I think of the amazing gifts God has given us.  I think of how amazingly blessed we are.  And I never, ever want to take it for granted.  Not for one second.  

Happy 1st Birthday, Ben and Ainsley!  We love you more than words.

Prayers Answered

Here's a little update on Ben.

We went back to Iowa City yesterday.  Ben had an EEG then we saw Dr. Joshi, his neurologist there.  The EEG showed no signs of hypsarrhythmia which is the chaotic brain waves.  His last seizure was last Wednesday.  We are so thrilled that the seizures have stopped and the EEG has normalized.  We have started to taper Ben off the Prednisolone (the steroid).  He was up to 20ml per day and we are going to decrease the dose by 3ml every 5 days so it is going to take quite awhile to get him off of the medication.  We can't wait to be done with it because he HATES it.  I can't really blame him because it tastes awful!  It is so bitter even though we had it flavored.  It is so hard to get him to take such a huge amount of liquid - we have to use three syringes (he also gets 1ml of Ranitidine to counteract the increased acid from the steroid).

We still aren't quite out of the woods yet though.  There is a chance that the seizures could return as we start to taper the steroid.  If he has even one seizure we have to go on the ACTH injections.  Dr. Joshi said we have about a 50/50 chance that his seizures will come back because he has "symptomatic spasms" which just means we know the cause of his Infantile Spasms - his stroke.  We are praying that the won't come back but only time will tell. 

Right now we are just counting our blessings and being so, so thankful for all your thoughts and prayers.  Our prayers have been answered for the seizures to stop.  Ben has had an amazing couple of days.  He is so happy.  He started feeding himself yesterday.  He started rolling over today.  It is exciting for every parent when their baby feeds himself for the first time but when Ben put Cheerios in his mouth yesterday before we left for Iowa City I cried.  Every milestone is one worry to check off my list of things I wonder if he'll ever be able to do. 

I'll try to get a video of him rolling over soon! 

Thank you all again for all the kind words and prayers.  We can't tell you how much they mean!  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!