Ready for Spring

So I promised myself that I would keep up with the blog this year - Not off to a very good start.

We had a wonderful Holiday Season, but we are more than ready for Spring's Arrival.

We had to pull Bryce out of Perlman (his therapy school) for a few weeks. He has been sick a lot through the winter months. It is more important to keep him health right now - he will continue his in-home therapy. Hopefully he will be back there with his friends soon. We really do miss them! Bryce is up to 17 pounds, 15 ounces (so close to 18 pounds...finally!). Bryce had casts done of his legs and his braces should finally be in sometime this week. I am sure he will love us for those.

Cohen is ALL BOY! He is running and climbing on anything and everything. We call him our "Little Bruiser." I probably don't need to explain why. He is talking more all the time and really helps out with Bryce. It is so cute to see that brotherly bond at such a young age. I can already see that he is going to be so good to Bryce.

I wanted to send a note to everyone and let you know that we have started our fundraising for March for Babies 2011. I am hoping that our family can raise over $2K this year- we are already over $500. Please let me know if you would like to join our team.. I would love to recruit more walkers. Last year we had 13 - It would be awesome to double that this year. If anyone is interested please let me know.

Together with our family, we decided to do NICU care packages. I wanted to do this last year, but with Bryce just coming home a couple of months before Christmas we didn't have the time. I am proud to say that Sunday we made 54 individual baskets filled with tons of goodies!

I hope to bring a smile to the faces of those families in the NICU and to let them know that prayers are being sent up for them. We know just how difficult that experience can be. Even though we did spend 5 months in the NICU - I still couldn't imagine how it would feel to be there through Christmas.

I wanted to thank our family- each and every one of you - that bought things and helped us put together such neat, special packages. You guys have always been the very best. Thank you!!

Prematurity Awareness Day!

Looking back now it is so hard to believe everything that our family has went through. I thank God every day that we are all together. We somehow had the strength to make it through some extremely hard times. Prematurity is something that I didn't know much about until it brought us to our knees.

My two little boys are growing more and more every day. Both of them have been given different paths to follow and through it all have shown us how to love beyond words. I think we have seen both sides of what prematurity can do to a family. How unpredictable the future can be. I used to hate to hear that no one can tell you what the future is going to be - strange how I find comfort in those words now. Bryce has shown us that you can't listen to those predictions- he has already proved them wrong on numerous levels.... and Cohen- you would never be able to tell that he was born just over 2 pounds.

I hope to help raise awareness... I would never want a family to go through anything close to what we have gone through. The sad thing is - another family will. Please help us raise awareness, we will be walking in March for Babies (April 2011). We invite you to walk with us or make a small donation to the March of Dimes.

One Year Home

We had a Halloween Party and One Year Home Celebration on Saturday (10/23). There were about 13 kids in total and I think they all had a great time. We had a mini trick-or-treat in our back yard - It was a hit! All of the kids had their buckets packed with treats.

Since we have last posted, we have started Bryce in a theraputic school program called the Perlman Center. He goes twice a week for two and a half hours. There he gets Speech, OT and Physical Therapy. The neatest thing is the access to medical equipment that we have there. He has been in standers and walkers - which he hated at first but LOVES now (the stander more than the walker)! There are four other kids in his class all ranging in age from 9 months to 2 years old. -- He is already making friends :) We are still getting in-home therapy --- as you might be able to tell he is very busy. Bryce weighs 17 pounds and every day is a struggle with his eating - but we will get there. We have a feeding specialist that will be coming in within the next week or so.

Cohen is doing great- He is a very typical 17 month old boy. He loves running everywhere and climbing on everything. He absolutely loves playing outside. He loves to tell us No and hates when we tell him No. I would say that is pretty much normal. Cohen is great with Bryce. He gives him kisses and shares his toys with him (Of course he trys to climb on him and get a little rough- but that is a brother). He weighs 26 pounds - shows absolutely no signs of ever being a preemie.

They are at such a fun age right now and we are enjoying every minute of it. Both have the greatest personalities - I am so proud of them!

What a difference a year can make!

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Sorry it has been such a long time since we have updated our blog. The boys have kept us more than busy over the past several months. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! The boys have been growing so fast and are doing great.

Cohen is crawling, feeding himself and pulls up to everything. We are waiting for him to take off walking at any moment. He is full of energy and has been showing us some of his mischievous side. At his One year appointment he weighed 23 pounds 13 ounces and is 30 inches long. He has made it to the 75th percentile on the regular growth chart. Our Pediatrician has taken him off baby formula (YAY!!) and he has fully transitioned to regular milk. He is not picky about food and eats anything we offer him.

Bryce has finally had a nice streak of normalcy. His shunts have been working like they should and he has been surgery-free since December now. If you would have told me a few months back that we would be out of the hospital for longer than a month, I would have never believed you. We have been so very fortunate that Bryce has had time to be a baby. He has been through so much in his short life that I couldn't be more thankful that God is giving him some "down-time." Bryce still has physical therapy once a week and works with a developmental interventionist twice a month. He is doing good, but still has a lot facing him. He doesn't sit up on his own or crawl yet, but we work hard to get him to that point. He is now 15 pounds 4 ounces and is 26.5 inches long. He hasn't hit the growth chart yet, but his line is going straight up. He is the happiest baby and smiles at the mention of his name.

We participated in the March for Babies this year! It was such a proud moment for us. We chose not to take the boys this year since the weather for that day was questionable. There were a total of 13 that walked with us (in our Family Team). As a team, we raised over $1,500. We saw people walking for their babies or someone they knew... We also saw people with t-shirts that read "in memory of." I realized that day just how lucky we were. We have been so blessed!

The boys had the First Birthday Party at our new house (failed to mention we have moved since the last blog- so much more room!). We had a monkey themed first birthday. The cake and cupcakes turned out so cute and the rain held off just long enough to have a very enjoyable party in the back yard. They both loved their cake and all the gifts they received.

I promise to keep the blog updated more often... With all we have been through as a family, I feel that it is very important to share our story. Hopefully we can bring a smile to someone's face or just provide a little inspiration to those who need it.

Happy Holidays!

We just wanted to be sure and thank everyone for all of their love and support over the past year. It has been very difficult, but both boys are finally home and doing well. We have started to make great memories and we treasure every moment!

Cohen is interested in just about everything. He is eating his big boy food- cereal, fruit and veggies. He is 17 pounds 14 ounces and gets bigger daily. He is playing, talking up a storm and craving some of Bryce's attention. He is such a happy baby and smiles and talks all the time.

Bryce had bilateral (inguenial) hernia surgery on December 10th. That bought us another night at Children's... The surgery went well and he never seemed to be in much pain from it. We were very glad to have that finished, another check off the list. He continues to do good. We have a physical therapist coming in every Monday and a developmental interventionist that works with his twice per month. He weighs 10 pounds 6 ounces....

We are so thankful to be where we are today. Given our history, we felt like this time would never come. December is also Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) Awareness Month so we wanted to mention that. We hope in the future to give back, but for now we just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention. Don't take anything for granted this holiday season. Squeeze the ones you love extra tight this year. We sure will!

Home Sweet Home

I know that it has been quite some time since we have been able to update everyone on the boys. So much has happened over the past few weeks, we weren't able to keep the blog updated like we had hoped. 

Bryce had got to come home with us on our anniversary, September 29th... We couldn't have asked for a better anniversary gift than that! We spent the first couple of days just the four of us, we had waited months and months to be able to do that. Unfortunately over the next five days Bryce started getting sick. He had a high temperature, wasn't tolerating his feeds and just wasn't himself. I took him to the ER the Sunday after he got home and we found out that he had a staph infection from his last surgery at Children's. That news led to another 3 weeks in the hospital, we were devastated. Matt and I went back to taking turns staying with Bryce and seeing each other for just a few minutes as we switched spots.

Luckily, we were able to bring Bryce back home once the infection cleared... It is just a few days shy of being 2 weeks at home, the whole family... Bryce has done great! He is growing and eating like crazy. He has finally made his way to 8 pounds 10 ounces. He is starting to smile and laugh and play. He has  never had an opportunity to do this before. It has taken time and will continue taking time to show him that we aren't here to hurt him. We are so happy to finally have him with us at  home!

Cohen has been doing great.. He is 15 pounds 3 ounces and eats eats eats. He is starting to be very interested in toys and his surroundings. He is starting to teethe as well... It is so hard to believe that they will be 6 months old in just a few weeks.

Unfortunately we are entering RSV season and with the flu being so bad we have to keep the boys on lock-down. They are getting monthly shots to help their immune system fight off these types of illnesses through April. We can't wait to take them out and let them meet everyone... from family to friends. Of  course, I would love to show them off to absolutely everyone!

Life is starting to come together and we couldn't be happier. We want to be sure and thank everyone for helping us through this tough time. Also thanks to everyone who participated in the benefit for the boys, your support is much appreciated. There is no way we can ever repay or thank everyone enough for all that has been done for us and our two miracles!!! Thank you~