Hello June!

The babies are doing really well! It's mom and dad that have been through the whirlwind this time! What a crazy month it has already been...

The school year ended, so Dad is now Mr. Mom for the summer break. From carefree summers of surfing, home repair, yard work, and playing with the dogs - to preparing bottles, washing bottles, changing diapers, making up silly rhymes, and overseeing "tummy time". What a change! The funny thing is - he's amazing! I have my very own domestic goddess :)

I went back to work full-time for the months of June and July... come August it will be part time... but I'm blaming my lack of blog posts on going back to work :) The hardest part is leaving the house in the morning, but once I'm there it's go, go, go, so the day goes pretty quickly. Plus, I know DB is at home with G & O, so my mind is at ease.

George & Olivia attended their first birthday party - their favorite cousin is 13!

Samuel is doing so well! He did have one rough week, so our hopeful come-home-date has been pushed back just a bit to early August, but now everything is back on track :) Samuel had a potential blood infection, but everything turned out great! Doesn't sound so bad - a suspected infection - but in order to prove he didn't have it he had to have yet another work-up. We haven't had one in a while, so it broke my heart... a few sticks, an IV, and a lumbar puncture... ugh. But as I said - it's all good! Now he's back to working on his breathing :) He even had a few nasal cannula trials this week - yea!!! (He's still on CPap 80% of the time, but trying the cannual a few hours each day, and he LOVES it!) And get this - he's more than 7 pounds - no more preemie clothes!!! No smile yet, but he is SO close :)

Sweet boy fast asleep :) Just a little mark left on his hand from the IV... love those chunky arms!

Hi Mom! Check out how strong I'm getting!

Whatcha doin' up there? Check out my cuteness :)

George is growing just a little every day :) He gets a little fussy now and then, and shoots us some great smiles, but for the most part he is our serious guy - with the most expressive eyebrows I've ever seen! (Wonder where he get's those?! Dad!) He's eating a little better every day too... he's our puker... ugh. But, he is just under 10 pounds!

Laughing :)

Excuse me?

Oh geez!

Olivia is truckin' right along! She is a whopping 10 1/2 pounds! She has started laughing and loves to smile :) Such a girl! She loves to eat and socialize, and makes the cutest little girl noises you've ever heard. She has completely grown out of her newborn clothes!

Lookin' pretty :)

Oops - fell asleep mid-prayer :)

Dad! That's my ice cream! (YoungLife fundraiser - starting early :) )

DB and are I doing really well! I've also started coaching the school swim team again and DB has taken on home improvement projects at our house and at Omi's, so we are certainly busy. More than anything, we want Samuel to come home! The daily trips to Charleston are taxing, and we are beyond ready to have our family together. We miss our little boy.

From Us

Hi everyone! Olivia and George here! I know what you're thinking... man, aren't kids tech savvy these days! And yes, we are :)

Mom keeps going on and on about needing to post on the blog, but not knowing where the time goes... we're not sure what that means - we can tell her exactly where the time goes! And dad is busy between hanging with us and the kids at school. So, we thought we would do our part and update the blog!

It's been three weeks since we came home! Man, do we love it here! So much to tell, and we have some cool photos to share...

First, we really miss our brother! Samuel is still hanging out with the nurses at the NNICU - we've tried to get a message to him that it's WAY better at home, but we're not sure he got it. (He's a little spoiled with all of the attention he gets :) ) Mom, dad, Omi, and "aunt" Sarah go to visit him every day, and it sounds like he's doing well! If everything goes perfectly, he could be home in the next 4-6 weeks. We are hoping his lungs stay strong! Mom will have to update you with the specifics... all we know is that we can't wait for him to come home.

We have had lots of visitors! First, cousins Elizabeth and Gary came to visit us in the NNICU and were here when we got home! They were GREAT! Mom and dad weren't sure what the heck to do with two babies at home, so it was really nice that they were here to help out :) Dad had our rooms organized, and Elizabeth did our laundry and organized all our stuff... man, do we have a lot of stuff! Who knew babies could go through so many burp cloths in one day?! Luckily, mom sure seems to enjoy the laundry room - she's in there all the time! Gary helped put a lot of our things together and it turns out he is a great cuddler :) They even took infant CPR and got trained on our apnea monitors - mom and dad got to leave the house at the same time to go see Samuel!

Our Omi lives down the street, so we get to see her all the time! Every exchange between her and our mom and dad seems to include "love you" and "thank you" :)

Our "aunt" Brooke came to visit too... she stayed with us and helped with our 2am meal time. You would be amazed at how much energy our mom and dad had that weekend!

We're pretty sure we live in a really cool town! Lots of people come over to help mom and dad feed us, and they all seem awesome! We each take anywhere from 20-60 minutes to eat (we're getting better!), and we eat every three hours, so all these incredible people helping out allows us to spend some quality time instead of always feeling rushed. Plus, most nights mom or dad is with Samuel, so it's really nice to have some company :) There are also people that bring yummy dinners - we may not be able to dig in yet, but our noses love it - and some who even walk the dogs! (Huge thank you to our church and school families for coordinating AND volunteering!!!!)

Check it out, we have two cool dogs too! Who knew?! They're really funny - Belle likes to sniff us a lot and then sit right next to us and stare :) (In this photo, we're going for our first walk!)

Some other fav's...

First doctor's appointment in Beaufort! Above, George - below, Olivia. We love Dr. Kurt!

There's bath time at home too - and Olivia loves it! YEA!!

George just chillin...

Olivia reading with cousin Kelley! (She just got here today - yea!)

Dad and George :)

The Best Weekend... so far...

What a weekend! Yes, it's Wednesday, and I'm just now posting... but I'm doing it from MY couch! Two days shy of ten weeks, I am home!

Now, on to the important people - the babies :) ALL had great weekends!

Samuel has had a great last five days! He took a bottle for the first time, he breastfed for the first time, he is rockin' the physical therapy, and the meds for his lungs ended and have worn off and he's still breathing like a champ with just the nasal cannula! We are convinced he wants to come home soon to be with his brother and sister :) Driving away from Charleston without Samuel was every bit as painful and difficult that we thought it would be. But his progress outweighs any sadness! Plus, between his Omi, our friend Sarah, and dad and me, someone has been there every day to cuddle and read to him :) Can't wait to have our little man home!


And Olivia and George are home!! I can't believe there are babies in our house - it's so crazy! We wake up in the morning (every couple of hours actually :) ) and there are two little beautiful babies that we get to care for... too cool. Olivia is on a monitor for her heart and respiratory rates, and George is wireless! It is unbelievable! We keep questioning the sanity of the hospital folks for entrusting us with these amazing little beings :)

It's funny, speaking of babies being home... a few of the things I missed the most about home were the dogs, my bed, and my shower. Those are the three things I've seen the least of since being home! Who knew you could spend so much time sitting on your bootie in a rocking chair... feeding, playing, and just watching them sleep :)

We're outta here! Too funny - the nurses have to carry them out of the hospital, not us... guess they've worked too hard to let us blow it on our way out the door :) Probably a safe way to go!

HOME!

Well hello there! Long time, no see!

Lovin' life... now where's our brother?!