Life Is Hard

Well let's just say our beginnings of daycare have been anything but easy.  We should have had 8 days down at this point.  Paige has been there 6 days and Andrew 4.5.

Andrew began having horrible nights at the beginning of last week.  Horrible as in one night sleeping less than 2 hours....TOTAL.  He was exhausted and miserable. He seemed to clearly be in pain and unable to sleep.  So I stayed home from work last Wednesday (supposed to be day 2) to let him rest and get him to the pediatrician.  We saw Dr. Arnold and I talked with our Georgetown Neonatal Clinic over the phone.  The thought was that it may be a reflux flair up but I was sick of treating his "reflux" when we've never actually shown that he has it or that that's what's bothering him.  So Thursday, instead of daycare, we headed to a gastroenterologist at Children's.  He was helpful and we laid out a plan.  First, we increased meds to help him stool easily, relieve some of his constipation, and get things moving through his system better.  This has resulted in huge, loose stools...I could give you more details, but then you may never read our blog again:)  So far, this has not seemed to help much in the sleep department.  He still wakes at night crying with his eyes still closed, thrashes around and can't get comfortable in his bed, our bed or being held.  It breaks our hearts...and makes us all exhausted!  We are going to get him through this first process though and then move on to the next step - upper GI (to ensure his anatomy is normal) and pH impedence study (to document whether or not he has reflux and what type).  This first test requires sedation and the second may require a hospital admission.  Obviously, we would like to try everything else before we do this.  So we are dealing with looser stools and are moving him to his own room this weekend to push him a little and make 100% sure there doesn't seem to be a behavioral component before we schedule these next tests...

On top of all this, Paige and I came down with a horrible stomach bug on Sunday night, which kept us all home Monday...and then Jack and Paige on Tuesday since she had to be a full day free of symptoms before returning to daycare.  So Jack and I have already burned through a whole lot of sick/vacation time.  I'm just hoping we have a healthier rest of the winter!

Despite all the stress over the past week, we are all so excited to see each other at the end of the day.  Their smiles just make you happy:)

Great timing for a long weekend - we need it and have some fun planned:)

We Survived!

Day one of daycare is over.  And we all survived!  Paige went in, sat on the floor, and started waving "hello" to all the other children.  Who know she would turn into Miss Social Butterfly?  Andrew, on the other hand, decided he wanted no part of playing with other children and cried for most of the morning demanding to be held.  I only cried a little when I left for work this morning. Jack dropped them without a lot of emotional turmoil.  And I only called once mid-day to check-in.  Now we have to do all of this over again tomorrow!  It can only get easier, right?!?  Picking them up was the absolute highlight of my day.  And they were so happy when we got home.  Paige speed crawled around to check out all of her toys...I guess to ensure they were still there?? And Andrew ran laps around the rec room. Who had the hardest adjustment? Kodi!  Poor baby hasn't been alone in the house for any length of time since I went on bed rest 16 months ago!  She was happiest of all this afternoon when we were all reunited:) Thanks for all the calls, texts, emails, and notes.  It meant a lot that so many were thinking of us!

Holidays with One Year Olds!

We had a wonderful Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed our extra time home over the past couple weeks.  Andrew and Paige were more interested in the boxes and wrapping paper than most presents, although Paige did get excited over a couple things. She LOVED her Fischer Price kitchen and quickly fell in love with a couple of her new dolls.  Andrew liked his new band set and enjoys "talking" on his cell phone.  As always, they were spoiled by many and our basement is filled to the max with toys!

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner with family.  This was right before bed in our Elf PJs!

Christmas morning bottles in our new bean bag chairs!

Paige was very excited to open presents (and Kodi wanted to make sure she was involved)!

Andrew liked to bang on the boxes:)

Paige and her kitchen

Santa must have been crazy to give them a band set:)

Our gingerbread man outfits!

And we're off to Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas Day!

Andrew's new hat and coat:)

Andrew had the Christmas glow:)

Paige is showing everyone that she's SO big!

Andrew's favorite part of Christmas:)

Paige loving the camera with Daddy:)

Christmas PJs #2 and Kodi love (too bad Kodi doesn't return the feelings!)

Our awesome new tent!

Playing Peek-A-Boo!

Paige feeding her new baby

And to make our holidays complete - a visit from Uncle Thomas!

The last two weeks have been amazing.  Now we've undecorated and spent the last couple days preparing to start daycare TOMORROW!  We're all a little nervous but feel like the kids need to get out and spend some time with other children.  Plus, we're hoping that it tires them out and we start sleeping through the night:)  A HUGE THANKS to Nana for the past 8 months.  You've given us all an amazing gift and we will miss you greatly.  But know that you're just a skype date away:)

Christmas Round One!

Today, we headed up to Gettysburg to our Aunt Anne and Uncle Dave's to celebrate Christmas with extended family.  We ate lots of food, hung out with family, and opened LOTS of presents!  As always, our children were spoiled with gifts and lots of attention.  Andrew thoroughly enjoyed himself...which is not surprising at all:)  Paige was a little overwhelmed but did enjoy her new toys and exploring more Christmas decorations.  She is OBSESSED with Christmas trees.  She finds them everywhere we go and stretches both hands in the air and says "Ree" when she spots one!  Here is a glimpse of our first round of Christmas...

Andrew LOVED his Santa hat!

Paige focused on opening her presents:)

There were so many presents they didn't know which way to turn!

Paige showed everyone just how big she was...

And Andrew went around searching for hats.

Paige found another tree.

And they both loved watching Daddy load the car.

Except Paige liked Andrew's window better - see her hand shoving his head:)

And we all squeezed in!

Christmas is truly more magical with our two most precious gifts of all:)

It's The Most Wonderful Time of Year!

Last Saturday morning we had our big visit with Santa:)  We left super early with the hope of avoiding crowds and getting there right before they opened.  Even with our excellent planning and early departure, we still waited over 45 minutes!  But the kids were great in line.  And we got our picture.


Attempt #1



Attempt #2

 There were no smiles.  But there were also no tears!  Overall, it was a success.  Even though we aren't super thrilled with the pictures, they sure did look cute in their outfits:) And they were super excited to be festive...



Paige showing off her dress at lunch after!



And Andrew thinking he is hot stuff in his vest:)

We are so looking forward to Christmas with our one year olds:)

Entering the Toddler Stage

Where did our babies go?!!? Our teeny, tiny preemies now look and act like toddlers! Their personalities are blossoming.  They are talking up a storm. And we are really getting sturdy on our feet!  Andrew is definitely walking...EVERYWHERE!  Paige is just starting to be brave enough to take a few steps.  As soon as she gets the hang of it, she will likely surpass her brother as she has more patience and therefore, better balance.  All Andrew wants to do is run!

Paige officially has three teeth on the top and five on the bottom!  She has completely transitioned to whole milk and is eating almost everything.  Andrew also requires teeth brushing, with four on the bottom and four on the top.  They are both babbling like crazy and really try to imitate specific sounds.  They both try very hard to say "dog" when they see Kodi and Paige walks around looking for her "dolly."  They are truly a delight:)

Andrew did have some difficulty with his transition to whole milk and we eventually aborted the process and are now starting over with soy milk.  It seems as though his reflux recurred with nighttime discomfort and more vomiting than we've seen in a long time.  This unfortunately also set us back in our overnight progress and we are now getting up several times a night again.... Paige is sleeping in the guest room again as we try to work with Andrew on staying in his bed all night.  We're all exhausted but its so hard to get mad at that cute little face...even at 3am:)

13 months!

SO big!

Sunday afternoon shopping:)

Paige's first steps to Nana...and Andrew cheering her on!

Big kid car seats!

The hat Andrew refused to remove:)

Check back soon. Our holiday fun has just begun...and we have Santa pics!

Thanksgiving at the Beach!

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at Nana and Papa's house in North Carolina.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice to simply be away for a couple days with the kids.  They actually did pretty well in the car for the six hour trip.  We timed our traveling with their bedtime and went through the nighttime routine before getting in the car.  They slept great until we had to get gas... The way down was a little more rough, as there was pretty heavy traffic and we had to stop for gas with an hour and a half still left in the trip. The way home Saturday night was a breeze and we made it 20 minutes from home before we needed gas and we were all awake and ready to escape from our seats!

Thanksgiving day was spent with our family and our family friends that also live in Wilmington.  Andrew's Godfather, John, is part of that family and was in town with his wife, Molly, so it was great to get to see them, too.  We had perfect weather, fabulous food, and wonderful company.  Andrew thoroughly enjoyed his Thanksgiving feast.  Paige, on the other hand, was exhausted and done with the chaos and had no patience for trying new things. Maybe next year:)

Paige's and her turkey headband:)

Andrew learning how to fry a turkey with Daddy:)

Paige and Meghan were joined at the hip and are best friends:)

Andrew and his Godfather, John

We had lots of fun, including chicken fights!

We ate ice cream by the beach...

Had fun at the park...

And even climbed the trees:)

The weather was beautiful!

It was sad to come home and get back to reality....although I think the kids were happy to be back to "normal" and sleep in their own beds.  Only one month until Christmas...which we're so very excited about!