January Update

Louise, Charlie, Reece

January has been a very busy month for us. This week alone we had 5 appointments. Monday, girls to the eye Dr. Tuesday, NICU follow up. Wednesday, occupational and speech therapy evaluations. Thursday, early interventionist to the house. Friday, physical therapy evaluations. WHEW!!!!!...........these babies are workin their mama to the bone!

The biggest change that has taken place over the past few weeks is that the babies are sleeping more..... THANK YOU JESUS! We put them down around 8pm and they usually sleep to 3am. I wouldn't really call that sleeping through the night but its loads better than it was. The only problem we are having at night is that our little Reece has turned into quite the "Swing Hog". Most nights, Reece and I end up sleeping in the Den so she can be in her precious swing. Not a good habit, I know, but I would sleep in a bowl of ice if it meant these babies would sleep an extra 30 minutes. Bottom line, I can see the light at the end of this sleepless tunnel.

Besides hogging the swing all the time, Reece is doing great. Tuesday at her NICU follow up she weighed 10 lbs! On January 27th she rolled from tummy to back for the first time.......YAY! She is gabbering up a storm and loves attention from anyone. Ben calls her his little "spitfire" and that pretty much describes her perfectly.

Louise is sweet as pie and has the whole world (especially her daddy) wrapped around her fingers. She had another CT scan last Thursday and the ventricles in her brain look about the same. The good news is her prognosis is no worse. I'm just wearing my knees out praying that we see some improvement over the next few months. I am also very happy to report......Louise is growing some hair on top of that sweet head!!!! I'm counting down the days until I can put bows, pigtails and braids in my baby's hair. This is a trait I must have inherited from my mother.

As for Charlie, he is growing by the day. At his NICU follow up appointment he weighed 11lbs 2 oz. He is such a happy baby and is all smiles most of the time. Charlie also gets the "best sleeper" award. I usually have to wake him up to eat after I feed the girls to keep everybody on schedule. It still shocks me how our tiny little Charlie turned into our biggest baby.

Overall, I'm having a blast with these babies. They are changing and growing everyday. Our household is slowly turning from a complete Zoo to a well oiled machine. Here of some pictures of the past month. The first few are from the end of December.

Daddy and his babies at Christmas!

Reece fit in her Stocking!!!! (After I took this picture I had such a hard time getting her out of the stocking I decided it was best I didn't stuff the other two babies in their stockings......Sorry Reecey!!!!)



Louise chewing on her fingers. This is a favorite pass time of all the babies.




Tummy time for Reece.




Charlie is still a little disturbed by the flash on the camera. I really hope he gets over this soon so he doesn't have "crazy eyes" in all his pictures.



Me and my sweet peas!!

Typical Charlie!

Everybody fell asleep during playtime!

Love my Babies!!!

Sweet Lousie!

Reece loves when her Daddy gets home from work (and so does Mama)!

Charlie

We made it through the snowstorm!!

Reece

Louise (you can kinda see some hair in this picture)

"Gangster face" Charlie

Big News...

I have a 10 lb baby!!!!!!!! Charlie has decided that he is sick and tired of being the runt of the litter and has had a major growth spurt. On December 2 we had a doctors appointment and he weighed 6lbs 11oz and Friday (January 7) he weighed 10lbs even. That's 3lbs 5oz in 36 days!!!!! I about hit the floor in the pediatrician office. I'm, sure the other parents in there thought i was some sort of looney toon because I totally freaked out. Laughing, crying, shaking my baby over my head...It was a proud mama moment for sure. (Oh, thanks to the 2 nurses who joined in on my "Charlie is a Champ" chant so i didn't look like a complete idiot). I just can't believe that my little peanut that was 1lb 15oz is 10 WHOLE POUNDS! Not bad for a breastfed baby!!

The girls are growing too! Reece was 7lbs December 2 and is now 9.5 lbs. Louise was 7lbs 6oz on December 2 and is now 9lbs even. That's right my biggest baby and my smallest baby switched and Reece is holding steady in the middle. BIG BIG BABIES!!!!

Sorry no pictures still having trouble with downloading pictures. Truthfully, I have taken so many pictures of the babies I filled up Ben's computer memory, and even though I have backed up the pictures I'm scared to delete them.