4 months

On Monday, the twins turned 4 whole months! What a whirlwind those months have been. So glad we have made it this far.

Jeff went back to work on Monday (boohoohoooo.....). I truely have missed his company. Thankfully the girls were all very well mannered on our first day buy ourself. It really wasn't that bad. Tuesday was a little more hectic. AK woke up sick and so we had to make a quick change of plans for the day because I teach aerobics on Tuesday mornings. Jeff's mother has graciously offered to keep the twins while I teach aerobics on Tuesday and Friday mornings. Ashlyn Kay goes to school on Tuesday & Thursdays and can also go to the fitness center daycare on Friday's with me. We didn't want to leave sick AK with her nana + the twins. We figured it out and it was all good! Crisis fixed.

Today AK went to school while I took the twins to the 4 month well baby visit. Southlake Pediatrics is so understanding and kind to us. They always have me call before I come so they can help me carry in the twins and they take us through the back so we do not have to wait in the common area to avoid germs. They try and see us as soon as possible because they understand how babies can be. The girls did perfect!

Blake weighed 9 pounds and 6 ounces, 22 1/2 inches long

Palmer weighed 10 pounds 11 ounces, 24 inches long

Both girls were above the curve, well except for Blake on her weight, but the doctor said that is fine she should be above the curve by her 6 month visit.

The pediatrician was satisfied with their progress so far. He changed Blake's dosage on one of her reflux meds and hopefully that will work. If not we will be making a stop at the GI doctor.

So after the shots (which I hate) were over we loaded up and headed home.

Someone at the docs office commented that the girls must be new babies. I laughed and said, "oh no", "they are 4 months old." She looked a little shocked. Guess that is a reaction they will be getting for a while.

So far the girls are able to hold their head up and sit in the bumbo. They still love their swings and bouncers. Palmer is my smiley pants. She smiles anytime you look at her. She is such a joy. Blake is a go-getter. She likes to be stood up and bounce around on your legs. She is ready to Go! They both are changing everyday and growing. I am proud of them. Palmer is also doing better with her eating, thank goodness. Oh and they both are sleeping through the night. I thought this day would never come. I was having a hard time with it because AK slept through the night so early. The twins were just not big enough and we have finally made it.

Ashlyn Kay is being such a wonderful big sister. She loves to help out with the twins. She gets me their bib and burp cloths, throws away their diapers, and talks to them. Palmer loves her big sister a lot! We are excited about our first Christmas as a family of 5. We are staying in Birmingham this year. It is too much to travel all over with this many kids, especially since we still don't have a van yet. Crossing our fingers that Santa brings us one. I have written many letters-ha!

Here is another picture made by The Blink Lady. Our new family of five!

So cute!

One of our Christmas pictures by The Blink Lady!

As Thanksgiving is right around the corner I just gush with joy. I find myself day dreaming of sitting around a Thanksgiving table and sharing with others all that I am thankful for. I mean, really, if I were to start sharing my thoughts on thankfulness this upcoming holiday season we would never get to eat the turkey-ha! I am thankful for simple things. Such as first and foremost the fact that my dear angel is here and alive and WELL today. I sit and think of how different my feelings this holiday would be if our journey in Ohio had ended differently. She is such a blessing along with my other two girls. Her smile she shares with me and how her eyes widen when she sees me bring such overwhelming emotions over me. I am thankful for being home, my actual physical home. I am thankful for my husband and how much help he has been to me and how supportive he has been. I am thankful for my AMAZING friends and family who without them I would not have made it past the elevators the day I found out I was pregnant with twins. I am thankful for educated, talented, and caring physicians and nurses who have been such a important part of our lives this year. I am oh so thankful for generosity of others and God's ability to allow me and Jeff to accept their generosity without stupid pride getting in the way. My list goes on and on and on...literally. Never have I had so much to be thankful for than I do this Thanksgiving 2010. My life has been for ever changed for the better.

Blakely & Palmer are doing so well. I am just thrilled at how much they are growing and getting stronger every day. We are working on our motor skills and both girls seem to be making needed progress. Palmer is stronger but Blake hates to be left behind and tries her best to catch up. She is so determined. I am looking forward to yet another "First Christmas" this year. I am also excited because Ashlyn Kay is starting to get to the sweet age where Christmas is truly a miracle in her eyes. I am excited to see her expression on Christmas Day to see what Santa has brought her.

I don't think I had posted our recent family pictures made by the talented Bonnie Cerniglia aka The Blink Lady here in Birmingham. Bonnie has been taking our families pictures literally since AK's birth-day. Bonnie was there in our delivery room snapping away when Ashlyn Kay was born and she has watched our family grow and grow and captured these moments beautifully. We had these pictures done about 2 weeks after we got back from Cincy. They are wonderful!
Go to www.theblinklady.com
Click on Online Proofing, private settings, and scroll through the pages to Kristen M. Our password is MORAN (ALL CAPS) and enjoy my beautiful girls.

Have a wonderful upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!

3 months old!

I seriously can't believe the twins are 12 weeks old today. They are adjusted age 1 month old, but either way time is flying by quickly. Its neat to see the changes from their last month picture. Blakely is really putting on the lbs! She went for a visit at the allergy & immunologist last thursday and weighed 8 pounds and was 18 inches long. I was shocked! We won't find out Palmer's weight until next months 4 month check up with the pediatrician. I am guessing she is weighing about 10 or 11 pounds now though.
Let's see what has been going on here in the "Big Top" circus show....
Blakely is finally eating better. She test slightly positive to milk & soy. Which means she has a allergy and possibly esonophillic esophigitis (spelling). The allergist suggested a new formula called Neocate. She really likes it and there is much improvement with it-thankfully. We will have to avoid all milk and soy products through her first year of life and hopefully she will out grow it at that time.
Occupational Therapy came to the house this past Friday to evaluate Palmer's eating habits and see their skill level so far. Palmer is still working on getting her jaw muscles stronger so that she can get the suck, swallow, breath reflex down better. The OT told me to introduce a rattle and play patty cake with Blakely because she was ready. Palmer is just hanging out right now and doesn't really have a desire to get moving...as we assumed she would be that way. She is my laid back child. Blake is my "go-getter" like her big sister. One thing is for sure that this house is going to be a crazy town once everyone is really moving. I am excited though!
This past Saturday was mine and Jeff's 6 year anniversary. Our sweet sunday school teacher and her daughter came to the house and babysat all three girls. Bless their souls! Jeff & I went out to dinner and really enjoyed ourselves. We were thinking back to that day and not being able to imagine that 6 years later there would be a house full of girls! We are thankful and happy! Especially for our Blake. Sometimes I am sitting on the couch looking at her and just imagining a life a without her in it. I just can't! She is so precious in every way, as are all three of our little ladies.
Oh...big news in our family...my baby sis is pregnant!!! We are thrilled and hoping for a boy to mix it up. May 28th is our big day!

Back to where it all began

Jeff & I made the visit to my OBGYN, Dr. Michelle Christine, at Birmingham OBGYN, here in Birmingham yesterday afternoon. I felt a little embarrassed strolling my "bus" plus 1 into the office, but everyone was so excited to see us it made me feel better. The office staff who are always so kind, just went bananas over the twins. As always everyone in the waiting room wanted to check out double trouble. It always cracks me up how people find twins amazing. I guess when you have them you just forget how strange it actually is to have two human beings growing in your belly at the same time and then arrive together. I was telling my mother that and she said, "I still can't believe you have twins!" Strange.
I had a good check up and shared our story with the physician. She had been keeping up through the blog and through people at the office, but was just amazed by the story once she heard it again from the horse's mouth. I hear myself telling it over and over again and sometimes stop and think, my gosh this is amazing. Throw in the generosity of the Bradley Family and you have a new "Blind Side" coming your way. Here I come Hollywood! Ha, right? Dr. Christine made a comment about how if you weren't a believer before hearing a story, how could not believe in some way or another afterwards. Medicine is truly a miracle, but so is the power of our God. I remember telling myself he had a plan for my girls and that he would not take either of them away from us and use them in some way. It is now wonderful to start to see this all unfolding.
I was a little sad knowing that my favorite doctor didn't get to deliver the twins but thankful she was able to meet them. I guess silly things like that really don't matter in the end.

OH, I forgot to mention in my email about Blakely's follow up appointment that we spoke to the surgeon about several things. One, being her ovaries. He said he was not sure if they were there or not, but they should be. He said he didn't encourage parents to concern themselves with checking in to that until they were 3 or 4 when the ovaries were bigger. We will probably get that checked out in a year or so around the time of her 1 year MRI. Also, Jeff asked Dr. Lim why she was born not breathing. We knew the tumor was hemorrhaging but had no indication she wasn't doing well with her breathing and were a little confused what led to that. He said that she just happened to be delivered at the moment the tumor had finally taken its toll on her. The hemorrhaging let to too much strain on her heart. So basically she was delivered at exactly the right moment. Now that is a God thing!

Tomorrow we are taking Blake to get checked for a protein allergy at a allergist and immunologist here in Birmingham. We feel 100% that she is allergic to the protein in cows milk, but just need to know for sure. She is eating much better now that she is on the protein sensitive formula thankfully. I hope that Blake doesn't cry too much tomorrow. I hate when she cries from pain.

O-Hi-O

What a good week we had! Monday, meme & papa made a trip to Birmingham to pick up AK. They kept her while we were going to Ohio. Jeff & I left Tuesday morning, bright and early, and started our 8 hour trek to Cincy. It wasn't bad weather when we left, but boy did we hit some. At one point we passed a exit and immediately then heard on the radio from the weather service that if you were in that area a tornado had touched down and you needed to seek shelter immediately. ahhh! so scary! Made it to Cincinnati despite bad weather and poop in one piece.
Everyone was very excited to see the Bradley Family. We had missed them so much. So we picked right back up where we left off...talking about those Auburn Tigers. War Eagle!
Wednesday morning we had our appointment for Blakely. We went to the hospital a little early just in case. Ate lunch at the cafeteria and as I sat there feeding Blakely I realized the journey we had just been through. I had sat at those same tables eating that same yummy pizza time after time through pregnancy, post-delivery, and now while holding my precious girls. Wow! I wanted to stand on the tables and shout it to everyone. Miracle in your presence! Everyone oohed and ahhed over how cute the twins were too. Melted my heart. Since we had arrived early we headed on up to Floor 4, Area B to the RCNIC. Kourtney (Blake's primary) and Karen ( a charge nurse) came out to see the girls. We were all so excited. When you spend day in and day out with these people leaving them is like leaving a very close relative behind. Nice to visit with yall! I also felt some sadness for all the parents going in and out because I had one time been that parent who watched people bring in their graduated babies to visit wishing inside that it was me.
After our reunion we went to another part of the hospital to see Dr. Lim. He was excited to see us. A different vibe because now we were out! He checked Blakely over and she got a great report. He was very impressed with her healing and how wonderful she looked. We will have her alpha fetal protein markers checked in December. He anticipates these to be high. They will be checked every 3 months. So again in March. Dr. Lim said if these were the same or higher we will need to head back to Children's Cincinnati, but if they are lower then we will continue care down here in Birmingham. She will come back in August regardless for a 1 year follow up MRI. As much as we are wanting to go back to visit I don't really care to be visiting for a bad report. So everyone pray low markers in March. Sounds like something that should be on a t-shirt. Low Markers in March-ha!
Thursday Laura and I did a little shopping and we visited again with more old and some new friends. Friday was back to Alabama day. Thankfully the weather wasn't so scary. It was cold, but not scary. Arriving back in Birmingham to Ashlyn Kay's smiling face was the cherry on top! Such a great week.
Here is a picture of the twins in their Halloween costumes. They are mini-minnie's. Ashlyn Kay was a big girl Minnie Mouse. She would not cooperate to take a picture with the twins. Shocking I know. Thank you all for your prayers for us this week. As always, grateful!