Special Day

After a lot of thought and discussion Steven and I decided to joined St. Paul's Lutheran Church a few weeks ago. This was not the easiest decision for me because I grew up Catholic and I didn't know if I wanted to leave the traditions of the Catholic church but it was very important to me that we go to church as a family. We tried both churches but in the long run felt that we would feel more comfortable and become more involved in the Lutheran church. Since we finally made this decision we decided it was time to baptize the babies. On Saturday we had a special service just for them and we shared it with close family and friends.   

Addison being baptized

Bryce being baptized

Collin being baptized

Addison and her sponsors (Melonie, Dane, Deanna and Jason) 

Bryce and his sponsors (Kevin, Alison, Mike and Becky)

Collin and his sponsors (Jeff, Lindsey, Kyle and Danna)

The cake turned out so cute and it was yummy too!

With the Grandparents and Great Grandparents

Bryce with grandpa

The Siemsglusz Family

Our last trip to the medical center

Since leaving the NICU we have made several trips back to see different doctors for follow up appointments to make sure the babies are developing okay and yesterday was our last appointment for a while (we hope)!
Yesterday we had our third follow up appointment with an optometrist. They check preemies for ROP, which is a potentially blinding eye disorder and thank goodness we did not have that. On this follow up visit she checked for any vision problems, she had no concern for Addison or Collin but was a little concerned about Bryce being far sided so he will have a follow up appointment a year from now. She said there is a chance he can out grow it so we will just keep an eye on him. The doctor didn't feel like this was a problem due to his prematurity but more genetics (he can blame his father for that one). 

Last week we saw a doctor for both Bryce and Collin, they both have a mild flat spot on the back of their heads, it is purely a cosmetic thing and does not affect their brain or development. It is common with multiples (from being in tight quarters in the womb) and NICU babies (laying in an isolette). We were very happy to find out that they both have mild cases and they will not need to wear a helmet to reshape their heads. The doctor feels that both will get better over time and it will not be noticable with hair, lets just hope they never want to shave their heads(or maybe it will be a way for me to stop them from ever wanting to do that)! Both boys have already improved a lot over the last two months so we feel they will continue to improve and you really will not be able to notice it.

We are very fortunate that we have had the best care for our babies and every precaution has been made to make sure they are healthy little babies but we will not miss the parking garages, waiting for an empty elevator that will fit two strollers and two adults, and packing up for a day long trip to Houston.

Not much to blog about

I know its been a while since my last post but we've been a little busy and not with anything worth blogging about. Since I don't have much to blog about I thought I would share some pictures about some of the stuff I've already posted about.

This is Addison's favorite sleeping position. Collin likes this position too but he doesn't do it as much as Addison, you can find her like this just about every morning.

The girl loves her toes. Even when you're trying to feed her real food!

Sitting pretty all by myself!

Bryce has been fighting an ear infection in his right ear and congestion. He is on antibiotics now but still has his fussy moments.

This is Bryce before he was feeling bad and he was very messy at the time so excuse the clothes. He just cracks me up when he sticks out his tounge like this, I'm sure it won't be as cute when he is older but its kind of funny now.

Bryce sucking his bottom lip.

Collin is getting two top teeth for a total of four teeth now. He is not handling his top teeth as well as he did with the bottom two so we have had a lot of blow out diapers and a few fussy nights!

Collin is rolling all over the place now, he will roll and get caught under the couch or rocker and then he doesn't know what to do.

Even when he doesn't feel well he is still such a good baby!

I got a new Momma ride! We had to make the upgrade to a suburban and we are really enjoying it. The extra room is nice and the best part is I can finally ride in the back with the babies. We've had to make a couple of trips to Houston and it helped that I could sit in the back when they needed to be fed or calmed down.

7 Months Old

I'm a little late in making this post but the babies turned 7 months old a few days ago. As I looked back at the past six months I thought about the things we could not have lived without and what helped us survive and these are the things that came to mind:

• bouncer chairs
• bottle proppers
• formula pitchers (thanks Jennifer)
• swaddle blankets
• swing for Bryce
• iPhone's for white noise
• family and volunteers

This past month we survived our first virus that hit each of the babies, thank goodness it happened when Daddy was out for winter break. They took a step backwards in their sleeping patterns when they were sick but we are slowly but surely getting back to sleeping until 5am or later. Christmas was wonderful and the babies brought so much joy to the holidays for us. We are looking forward to the new year and all the excitement and first that are sure to come.

Addison has two teeth and likes to bite the spoon when you feed her, she started to suck her toes, she likes to sleep late, she loves Mommy and Daddy's phone and will reach out for it, since she is no longer swaddled at night she likes to sleep on her tummy with her bottom in the air and her head wedged in the corner of the crib. She kind of scares me sleeping like this but I think it is one of those comfort things from the womb (she was positioned head down in a very tight spot, it was always very difficult to get images of her).

Bryce has finally rolled over a few times, he likes to suck on his fingers and drools like crazy, he sucks on his bottom lip and likes to stick out his tounge, he is our early riser and is always the first one awake but is always in a really good mood first thing in the morning.

Collin has two teeth and likes to bite the spoon when you feed him, he really likes to chew on anything he can get his hands on even if its a foot, elbow, etc of his brother or sister, he will spend hours trying to figure things out and entertaining himself, he also likes to sleep on his tummy and will roll over just as soon as you lay him down.

This one's for cousin Michael and the Maurer's

Tonight we hung out at the house watching the National Championship and I couldn't resist putting Addison in this outfit that the Maurer's loaned to us. I thought this may be the only time she will ever have a reason to wear it and since my cousin Michael is in the drum line at UT I thought we would root for that orange team. My dad(Papa) is a die hard Aggie so I hope he doesn't disown us!

She's still pretty cute even if she is in orange!

The joys of lunch time

Today about 11:00 I have three screaming/crying babies so I decided it was time for lunch.  I place each of them in a high chair and gave Addison and Bryce a toy to entertain themselves while I fed Collin (he was crying the loudest). As I fed Collin he fell asleep so I put him in bed and began feeding Bryce. Bryce finished eating and looked really tired so I put him in his bouncer chair and gave him his bottle in hopes that he would take his bottle and fall asleep. While he is finishing his bottle I thought I would feed Addison. I'm feeding her and I hear a thud in the living room, I run into the living room to find Bryce laying on the floor under his chair. He wasn't hurt or crying but I felt bad for not buckling him in so I held him for a minute and then put him on the floor to play while I finished feeding Addison. As I go back into the kitchen I find Addison chewing on her bowl of apple sauce with all of the apple sauce poured out in her lap! If I couldn't laugh I would go crazy!

A busy week for Bryce

Bryce was the first to sit up on his own. Sunday(1-3-10) Bryce sat for 30+ seconds balancing himself. Collin and Addison sat up too but they were not as stable as Bryce was. Bryce also rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time last Tuesday (12-29-09). He only rolled over once so I wanted to wait for him to do it again before I officially said he did it but he got sick Wednesday so he didn't feel like laying on the floor and rolling around.  When he rolled over he started to cry and we aren't sure if he didn't like being on his tummy or if I scared him from screaming with excitement! Now that he is feeling better we hope he will get used to being on his tummy and roll over more.

Rocking Chair

When I was little someone gave me this rocking chair well we still have it and I wanted to share it with my babies. While going through some old pictures I found a picture of me in the rocking chair with my Aunt Jeanie sitting next to me so I thought it would be cute to take a new picture with each of the babies in the chair with my Aunt Jeanie and me next to them.

Adrienne (probably 1yr. -1 1/2 years old) and Jeanie

I also think Bryce looks like me in this picture

Adrienne, Collin, Jeanie

Adrienne, Addison, Jeanie (notice Addison is holding her baby doll like I was in the picture)

Adrienne, Bryce, Jeanie