an update on Miles

Here is Miles with his snow gnome. He made this last week with his grandma. Miles really loves playing in the snow.

Today Miles had his 4 year pediatrician appointment. He'll turn four next month and if you ask him he'll tell you his birthday is March 31st! He currently weighs 42 lbs and is in the 93%tile for weight and is 42 inches and is in the 95%tile for height. His BMI is 15.96. He is a big healthy boy! Miles did have to get another chicken pox vaccine today because we have the babies. He was NOT happy about it and I hate having to hold my child down to get shots but after only a few tears he was back to my happy Miles. He DID however enjoy peeing in the cup. I had to remind him that we don't pee in cups at home, only at the doctor's office. :D
I love this kid. He is such a big helper and has recently gotten into giving my back rubs which are actually really good. This kid could follow his auntie down the path of massage therapy if he wanted to.
In some twin related news Miles is learning the difference between boys & girls. (Think Kindergarten Cop.) He's watched many-a diaper changes lately.

a hug for you

we love each other and we love you! hope you're having a great day. xoxoxo

Dr. JUDD!

The night before we left the hospital we were there kinda late. We had both the boys and they got to hold & "pet" the babies, mama got to nurse them & daddy took lots of pictures. We also ran into my 2nd favorite man (Joel being number one of course) Dr. Judd. We caught him just before he left to go deliver another set of boy/girl twins (who incidentally were born on Friday the 13th AND Valentines Day).

I just want to take this moment to say how grateful we are for all of the doctors and nurses who took care of our family when we could not. We are in debt to the women who loved our little ones and helped make them healthy so we could bring them home. Right now I feel like these words are a pathetic attempt to show our gratitude but words cannot describe the love we have for each of them: Susie, Raiden, Debbie, Denise, Debbieann, Sherry, Ana, Carrie, Darlene, Paula, Tiffany, Jill, Nancy, Sheri, Kandis. The first night I felt apprehensive about the care our little ones would receive was the night we brought them home but knowing I have Joel to help me gave me the confidence I needed.

In other news, today was the twins 19th pediatrician appt but the first one when we brought the twins to Dr. Cornish instead of him coming to us. The good news: Scarlett weighs 5lbs 8oz and Isaac is 5 lbs 12oz!! They've both put on 5oz since they were discharged from OCH. I'm feeling really good about this and so is Dr. Cornish. Initially we were told he'd probably want to see the babies every 5-7 days but instead we only need to go in for a follow up in 2 weeks. Thanks aunt Noe for coming with me today. It is a little more difficult than you might think to carry two babies around with you. PS I also found out that 2 babies means 2 copays. Good thing we're super rich. ;-) (super rich with children that is)

Home At Last

Wow, after 18 days we are finally home. Just a couple of days ago it seemed like we were never going to leave; they told us that we might have to keep our babies there until there due date (march 2nd). On Friday Dr Cornish decided to give them a twelve hour "request" trial to see how they would do with nursing and bottles, and they did so good that on Saturday morning when Sara got the hospital to nurse them, our NICU nurse had already taken out their feeding tubes. When Dr Kendall came to see the twins she said that there wasn't anything going on at the hospital that couldn't be done from home. What a GREAT Valentine's day present!
When we got home we fed the babies and went to bed only to wake up every 2-2 1/2 hours to either feed or change the babies. It was the first of many long nights to come. As I was giving Isaac his bottle, it looked like he was holding his bottle himself, and sure enough, when I let go, he continued to drink his bottle all by himself. I called for Sara (who had just gone back to bed) and she was just as amazed as I was. I love our babies!

Nelms and Me

Ok, so I was at work a couple of days ago and I heard that David Nelms, the CEO of Discover Card, was at our center and was going to speak to us. Now any time I hear his name, I can't help but picture his hair...it rivals Donald Trump's trademark style. both of these men have incredible amounts of money and are both very successful in what they do. before the meeting I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and what I saw was a guy who hadn't showered in a few days that had been camping out at the hospital. So I did what only a LaClaire would do, I did my best David Nelms Comb over I possibly could and set out to meet the man. I succeed at Discover with "Name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake." I could not help myself, so I had to take a picture, which picture now occupies my background on my computer at work. I wonder if he had any idea? I say his smile says no.

Paul, Noelle, and Jane finally get to hold the babies

A few More pictures as promised...

a few birthday gifts

so the nurses at Orem Community are pretty much the sweetest people ever! they love our babies and take such great care of them. joel and i feel at peace everyday and night when we leave to work or eat or sleep. we know they will be in excellent care. we have really felt blessed to have such professional people working with us and our babies. yesterday was my birthday and while i was at the hospital for our final feeding for the day several of the nurses came in and sang happy birthday, brought me a little gift and a yummy cupcake! that was pretty much the nicest thing ever. a few of them said they were sorry we were still there but that they love our babies and are in no rush for them to leave. i really feel like part of a family at OCH and hope these women feel the love and respect we have for them.
my babies also gave me a wonderful birthday present and nursed really well at 2 of our 3 feedings. it was just the boost of confidence i needed.
my mom and dana got me new clothes for my birthday which of course i love. it's always nice to have something new and since i've been rotating the same couple of items for the past couple of weeks it's really nice to have something else to look at. plus it's nice not to wear something that doesn't accentuate the fat parts still hanging around. usually you can hide at home for the first couple of weeks but we are out everyday going to the hospital and trying to spend time with miles that i feel a little pressure to look cute. (PS i'm LOVING my girdle. it really does the trick. i've lost 6 inches around my tummy so far which i feel is pretty good for 10 days.)
this has been a great birthday with many more gifts and phone calls and texts and messages from my loved ones. i truly feel blessed and lucky to be in the family i'm in. thanks everyone!

a little perspective

So the past couple of days have been really hard on me. Ever since we've left the hospital all I've been doing is trying to get the babies to nurse and pump so that they can have an all breast milk diet. (one of the criteria for coming home is that they need to be eating on their own and right now they've got a feeding tube which takes care of all but 3 of their feedings which I'm trying to do) It's really slow and go and it's a lot of work for these two to nurse. Even when they do latch on and get a good flow going, they aren't really strong enough to take in enough milk to sustain them. It's been a slow process BUT the past two days they seem to have regressed. Of course I can't help but feel like I'm the one to blame and that if I could produce more milk or somehow make it easier for them they would just be able to do it. All of the nurses and their pediatrician have been really supportive but it's hard not to feel responsible for ever move these kids make. And to top it off I'm tired and extremely hormonal.

Well, last night our babes got some roommates. A set of identical twin girls were born. They are 38 weeks and just adorable. This morning when I went in to feed the babies I noticed that the new twins were already in the nursery. I can't tell you how jealous I was that they were already out of the NICU. And not like I was hoping they'd be in the NICU but I just felt overwhelmed that my babies are still struggling. (with the feedings not anything else) So there I am feeling so sorry for myself and my situation when it happened. I'm in the NICU with my babies when I hear one of the nurses say, "I need someone to help me show this mom her new babies. It's the first time she's seeing them. She just flew in." These sentences didn't make sense to me so I peak around the corner to see what's going on. Two nurses hold up these babies for the adopting mother to see her new daughters for the first time. She stood on the other side of the window bawling and just so full of love and joy for this gift that someone had given her. I sat back in my seat and thought how ungrateful I am for the blessings that I've been given. I thought, I'm sure there are many women who would gladly take my place and sit in the NICU with a "feeder/grower" baby and just be happy that they have a baby at all...AND I've got TWO!!!

I'm not going to lie, the nursing continues to be a struggle, and I have spent some time in tears over it. However, Scarlett and Isaac really were so easy for me. Joel and I got pregnant the first month we tried to get pregnant. I didn't have any severe problems with my pregnancy and the fact that I went into preterm labor just ensured that they got the steroid shot to help with the lung development which has NEVER been an issue for my little premies. They are healthy and beautiful, and we have excellent insurance so we feel no stress about them being in the hospital except for that we want them home with us. I am so grateful for perspective, and I hope I can keep it with me as we spend these next days or weeks in the hospital.

all of our children together for the first time 01.30.09

sara & joel's baby pictures

LeDawn asked for these from our moms for my Utah baby shower. Thought I'd share them with you. What do you think?