Finally......they're walking.

Well, they're finally doing it....they boys are finally walking. I thought this day would never happen....after all, they are 16 months old. Avery had been walking for 2 months at this age. So this is how it all happened:



It all started about 3 weeks ago when Lincoln discovered that he could push himself up to standing. Then he discovered that he could stay standing. We'll just say that he thrives on attention because after all the clapping and cheering, he just kept on doing it over and over again, big grin on his face. So this continued for a while. Then he took a few steps. Of course, the cheering and clapping kept him motivated and about a week and a half ago, he started to really walk, not just take steps. Of course, we were thrilled, so thrilled that we praised him for his efforts. He ate it up!!! I've never seen this child grin so much as he did when he was learning to walk!!



Meanwhile, Hunter is doing nothing! Then one day, while I was folding the laundry, he discovered that he could use the pile of clothes to help him stand up. Before the afternoon was up, he was pushing himself up to standing using the floor. But still no attempts at walking. That ended about a week ago.....one afternoon, we were in the front room and Lincoln took the opportunity to practice walking again. Hunter was playing with a toy, generally not paying any attention to what his brother was doing. But, this time, when I started clapping and praising Lincoln, Hunter took interest. He looked at Lincoln, looked at me, stood up and started walking! No way was his brother going to get all of the attention! He's been walking since.



Now if we could only get them to talk.............

Almost first words.....

Today, Lincoln signed "milk" for the first time (that I've noticed, anyway). It was during lunchtime. He looked right at me and signed milk over and over while whining and crying. When I tried to give him a sippy cup, he signed it again until I gave him a bottle. I guess my inconsistency in signing with the boys hasn't been that awful. One of them is picking it up, anyway!!

Can it be...?

Can it be that you boys are already 1 year old? It seems impossible that time could pass so quickly...especially when looking back at the time when we weren’t even sure we would make it to week 29. Those days seemed to go by sooooo very slowly. Minutes felt like hours and hours like days. Days felt like weeks. It doesn’t seem possible now that I have 2 little boys that make me crazy almost every day. Looking back, I know things could have turned out much differently than they did. I’m glad they didn’t. We love you boys so much and are grateful for the blessing of all that extra time before you were born. We know it was because of the prayers and fasting of hundreds of people that you were born as late as you were.

Hunter---
You are such a joy!! You’re always happy and seem to take everything in stride. Even when you’re not feeling well, you’re good-natured. You take tremendous delight in stealing Lincoln’s pacifier...sometimes even directly from his mouth. He’s not too fond of that. It’s gotten to the point that he often starts to cry if he sees you coming toward him. Some other things you enjoy doing are picking toys up and dropping them onto the floor, standing up and dancing/bouncing while shrieking with delight, and trying to climb up mommy and daddy. You still don’t feed yourself. You’re much more interested in picking up and dropping the food onto your tray. Your ability to make a mess while “eating” is impressive!! Most of the food ends up in your chair or on the floor. You have 8 teeth, 6 more than Lincoln. You’re not too interested in sippy cups. You definitely prefer your bottle. You still have your big, blue eyes and your cute red hair. When people see you and Lincoln together, they can’t believe the two of you are twins.

Lincoln—
You are a thinker! Sometimes you look like you’re trying to solve all of the world’s problems with your furrowed brow. You’re definitely a more serious baby than your brother, but you have the most darling smile and giggle. Whenever you’re happy, all’s right with the world. We love your fat cheeks and your cute little vocalizations such as “ssssssssssssssssssssss” or “haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”. You LOVE your wubbanub pacifier and can often be found caressing and playing with it. You don’t like it when Hunter spies it...he has a tendency to steal it. Then we hear about it. You’re amazingly communicative, although your communications can be really loud at times. You do have a way of letting us know what you think or want. One of my favorite things is to watch you eat. You’re very thoughtful. You pick up your food with just your thumb and pointer finger...the others are folded out of the way. Then you put it in your mouth. If you don’t like it, you make a face that seems to say “how disgusting” and then proceed to spit it out. If you like it, however, you chew and move that tongue around as if you’re savoring it. Your little mouth moves into so many different shapes while you’re eating. It’s so darn cute to watch. Your favorite food is yogurt, although Cheerios are a close second. That’s pretty much all you’ll eat right now. We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves, however. Hopefully, they’ll help you to start eating a few more different foods. We’ll see. You’ve finally started crawling and get around really well. You still really love your bottle…..not sure how we’ll ever get rid of that, but we’ll think of something. You’ll sometimes try the sippy cup if it suits you, but it usually doesn’t. You also love your Daddy. You get all excited when he gets home. You crawl up to him and hold your hands up until he picks you up. You’re a Daddy’s boy for sure!

For your party, we invited all of the people who helped during bedrest and the first few months after you were born over to the house for cake and ice cream. We wanted to thank them for their help. We enjoyed talking to everyone and they had fun watching you eat your first cake and ice cream. We love you boys so much. Happy Birthday!!

5 days and counting.....

Well, it's been 5 days since we had to check into the hospital. It's been a long 5 days, too. This is the first day that I've felt somewhat normal, whatever that means. It's been a quiet day as far as contractions go....I haven't felt too many, a welcome change from yesterday. It's also the first day in 3 that I haven't had to have that dreaded Terbutaline shot. I really hate those......they make me feel so out of control. I'm not a fan of shakes and the nervousness that come with Terb. If that's what it feels like to be on drugs, there's no danger that I'll ever use them!!
Dave gave me a blessing yesterday. It really helped. I'm grateful for the Priesthood and the Power that is available to us. I'm pretty sure that's what's pulling me through and keeping me at least a little sane. It's been a battle.........just 3 more days until Week 29.

A mixed bag....

Today, we went to get another ultrasound to see if things had changed since Wednesday morning. What a welcome relief to see that it hasn't. Of course, things are still very concerning....not the ideal place to be at 28 weeks and 3 days. But the fact that things haven't changed is still good news. The bad news isn't really bad, per se, but not fabulous. I've been having regular contractions every morning since Thursday and have had to have the Terb for 3 straight mornings in a row. This is not my favorite drug. It makes me feel jittery and nervous and I have a difficult time feeling in control. The only thing that really helps is having Dave hold my hand. He's been a trooper.....I can't even begin to say enough about how lucky I am to have such a devoted, sweet, caring, and patient husband to help me through this. I can't imagine having to do this alone. I'm not sure I'd be this far if I did. He's getting really good at pep talks.....before we know it, he'll be on the motivational speakers line up. What fun that would be!! At any rate, I'm very grateful for him. I'm very blessed to have found him.

One step forward and two steps back....

Well, Friday's relief and joy were shortlived. I've been feeling a lot more activity over the last few days. The contractions are coming more often and seem to be more intense. I finally caved and called the doctor. Of course, they sent me to the hospital. We got here last night (Tuesday) at about 5:30 and stayed in triage for quite a while. Two Terbutaline shots and an I.V. later, they finally sent me to a room in Labor and Delivery. It's all a blur from there, but we were there for quite a while. I think it was a few hours later before we were taken to another room to spend the night. We didn't get to sleep until 1:30 a.m. or so. Just a bad night overall. We're here for awhile, at least. We still don't know if it's for days or weeks, but I'm thinking weeks. So thus begins another journey for us.
We had an ultrasound this morning just to see how things are holding up. Well, I've still got about 1 centimeter left, but that's it. It's discouraging and frustrating to me to keep having things getting worse. The doctors try to be encouraging, but I'm scared these babies are coming too soon. Fighting the fear and anxiety is beginning to get difficult. I'm really trying, though.

Some good news....

Today we went to see the maternal fetal specialist to follow up on how things are looking since last week's visit. What a relief to hear that things haven't changed. I'm still hanging in at 2.1-2.2 centimeters. Dr. Allbert also said that he's confident that we're going to make it to 29 weeks! What a good day it has been. Dave and I are quite relieved and feel a sense of rejuvination. We're grateful to be this far. It seemed so far away 4 weeks ago. Now we're almost out of the extreme danger zone. We're still hoping for 32 weeks and beyond, though. But we'll take every day that we can right now....every week is gold.