First Birthday Celebration!

What a birthday these two had! The party was a complete success and we didn't have a single meltdown! Despite very minimal morning naps, they both were wonderful and I think the chaos and excitement kept them well entertained and happy:)

Our day started out with birthday breakfast.  Here we are in PJs and crowns!

The birthday boy!

And our birthday princess:)

The balloons were a bigger hit than breakfast...

We had a pumpkin themed party!

With fun decorations!

Yummy festive food!

And everything pumpkin!

Including the cake!

Here is Paige's birthday entire:)

Andrew had a similar shirt but was too interested in the beer bottle to show us...

While everyone was arriving, they found a present and decided to start opening on their own.

At first we weren't too sure about the cake.

But then decided to start digging in!

Especially Andrew!

He LOVED the cupcake!

And needed a bath before presents!

Paige was a bit neater as per usual:)

Wardrobe change and presents came next. Paige just wanted to eat all the wrapping paper!

And we finished up with pumpkin cookie favors!

They are two spoiled kids - this is about 1/3 of their loot!

They sure had an amazing day!

And watching them get so excited over presents was SO fun!

We are so fortunate to have had so much love and support over the past year.  Thank you for all the birthday calls, emails, cards and gifts.  We are overwhelmed by all those that thought of us on Saturday and couldn't have made it through the last year without all of you!

Happy birthday to our beautiful babies! We love you!

One Year Stats

Yesterday was our one year Georgetown Neonatal Clinic visit.  It's amazing to think that just 10 months ago, we were there with 4 lb preemies dealing with feeding difficulties, minimal weight gain, reflux, Paige's habits of dropping her heart rate and holding her breath...and that horrible monitor!  And today, look at them in the waiting room:

We've come SO far in just a short amount of time.  And have so much to celebrate and be extremely thankful for!

Andrew weighed in at 20 pounds, 2 ounces and was 28.25 inches tall.  Paige weighed 19 pounds, 1 ounce and was 29.25 inches tall.  They were so pleased with their developmental progress and we happily reported that Andrew's reflux is finally getting better and that he is sleeping through the night!  The plan is to go back for one more visit in three months (after their adjusted one year birthday) and then hopefully GRADUATE from the program!  We do have a couple things on the agenda before we can graduate though: repeat hearing tests, eye exams and our transition to whole milk with Andrew's reflux.  If this is all accomplished in the next three months, we will be discharged!

Tomorrow is the BIG day and party which has quickly grown out of control... We let them start opening presents earlier this week to spread everything out and they are quickly mastering the paper wripping concept.  They aren't always too interested in what is inside though:)  We'll see how they do tomorrow with lots of presents, food, cake and a HUGE audience! Pics to come.

Cuties in Costumes!

Saturday night was our first Halloween event.  We went to a party hosted by Andrew's Godmother, Katie's family.  It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to have a great time until we were about an hour past their bedtime:)

Our ladybug and bat:)

They weren't too sure about their first time in a Moonbounce!

But Paige was very happy about wearing her costume!

And Andrew LOVED his first pumpkin cookie.  I think he was trying to eat the entire thing - hence my crazy face!

Our happy bat with his padded belly!

In addition to our Halloween excitement, we went Sunday afternoon to buy our first pair of REAL shoes.  Neither of the kids loved this process, but they got proper fittings and ended up with cute pairs!

We also completed our six month ITC evaluation this weekend.  Our physical therapist and case worker came over to re-evaluate our goals and see what progress we've made with both Paige and Andrew's development.  We already knew that Paige was a bit more behind and that was evidenced by looking at her goals.  Although she is just starting to pull up! We're so proud of her!  We will continue with our current services and now just need to reach out to our daycare provider to arrange for services there.  I can't believe they will be heading to daycare SO soon!  The idea of it is so overwhelming that I think I'm ignoring it a bit...

5 days until the BIG BIRTHDAY!:)

Loving Fall

We've had continued success with sleeping! Andrew slept alone in the nursery for a full week and we moved Paige back in last weekend.  I am VERY happy to report that they have both slept in their beds the entire night since then:)  This has made for a much happier, more well rested Mommy and Daddy!

Paige has made great progress with her developmental milestones and already reached my goal for her by her first birthday - CRAWLING!  She is SO proud of herself and is all over the place.  She will crawl fast and try to get you to chase her.  Its adorable.  And we are so thrilled that she's happily able to keep up with her brother a little better.  Now we've focused on helping her to pull up.  She understands the concept but just doesn't quite have the strength to do it yet.

Andrew is blossoming.  He is becoming very verbal - although everything is "BA BA."  And then he squeals with excitement.  He is cruising and walking pretty well attached to his walker.  He races up the stairs and will even balance a few seconds standing on his own.  He's amazing.

They now each have FOUR teeth in!  It makes them look so old and mature!  And they've gotten to try lots of big kid foods this week - we've done a little dairy with yogurts, they've had mac-n-cheese (although its organic whole wheat pasta with very little cheese), turkey hot dogs, pork, pumpkin, spaghetti, grapes and of course lots of streamed veggies. They have both been eating great - I'm hoping this means we are hitting a growth spurt.  We have our one year measurements coming up and are hoping they have hit the charts for their actual age!

We are having a great fall and are gearing up for lots of fun - a couple costume events including a "Multiples Party" with all twins and triplets, their first birthday party which is pumpkin themed, and a reunion trip to the NICU.  Lots of fun pics to come.  But here are a couple recent favorites -

Getting SO big!

Loving spaghetti and getting it everywhere!

Our favorite toy!

Laughing with our pumpkin:)

Sleeping Success!

On Thursday night, we moved Paige temporarily out of the nursery and into the guest room. One of the biggest obstacles in pushing Andrew to stay in his bed at night was Paige.  He would scream and if we let him go for long enough, he would wake her up.  Nana bought Paige a really good mattress for the pack-n-play (she spoils them!) and we we moved her out with a plan to let Andrew "cry it out" a bit.  We set strict time limits and Jack and I agreed on a plan so neither of us would cave and give in.  Ironically, on Thursday night, Andrew slept from 7:45pm - 5:30am straight. It's like he just wanted his own room or something! We can't remember him EVER doing that.  But they did get flu shots that day, which could have had something to do with it:) At 5:30, we walked in, laid him back down, told him it wasn't time to get up and after 2 minutes of crying, he went back to sleep until 7:20am! 

Night #2 was last night.  He slept from 8pm until 11:30pm.  We walked in, laid him down, put on his music and after 7 minutes of crying he went back to sleep until 8:00am!!!  I woke up twice in between and went in to check to make sure he was breathing:)  I just couldn't believe it.  I guess he is ready for us to push him!

So the plan is to keep Paige in the guest room for at least the weekend.  If we've had continued success, she'll move back in.  I do feel really bad about Paige having to leave her room - I mean, she is the perfect sleeper! But we figured he really needed to learn in his own bed.  Otherwise, we'd have another transition moving back to his room and she'd have to leave then!  And the pack-n-play doesn't seem to bother her.  She has continued to sleep 11-12 hours straight.

We're crossing our fingers for continued success!  We've gotten so much sleep the last two nights...we could really get used to this:)