March for Babies 2011

It is that time of year again - March for Babies 2011 is on April 17th!
1 in 8 babies are born too soon.

Walk Distance: 6 miles
Registration Time: 8:00 AM
Start Time: 9:00 AM
Location: Sawyer Point

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. Our team is walking in March for Babies because we want to do something about this. We walk in honor of Cohen and Bryce, for what they have been through and what they will go through. I would hope that no other family would have to experience what prematurity can do. Let's walk to try to lower this number!

If you can't walk with us, please help by donating to our team. No donation is too small. We will also be announcing some additional fundraisers in the coming week. Thank you for helping us give all babies a healthy start!

To find our team page go to http://www.marchforbabies.org/ and search for Team Croley Twins.

The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

Bryce at School

For those of you who don't know... Bryce attends the Perlman Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. It is a therapeutic program where he receives Speech, OT and PT. He started the program back in August but we had to pull him out for a month this winter. He was getting sick every other week - when Bryce gets sick he stops eating and takes forever to bounce back.

This is his second week back and as you can tell- he seems to be loving it. Serena is pictured with him. The have become great friends and we have come to love her and her family. They are also from Kentucky!

Bryce is going through a phase right now of wanting to be on his feet. We are so excited that he is showing so much interest in walking. He scissors a lot with his legs (steps foot on foot) but he is so strong willed. This is just the beginning!

Thanks Juliette for sharing the pictures!!

First Hair Cuts

We took the boys to get their first "official" haircuts on Friday. (I say official because Bryce has had a few haircuts, but this one was by choice.) I was expecting complete meltdowns but both boys surprised me! Cohen had a total of 3 suckers the short time he was in the chair. Bryce was a little more unsure of what was happening and wanted nothing to do with the sucker. We didn't get the best "after" pictures, but they look so darn cute!

Thanks to Sandy Godman of Country Cuts & Curls!

Update on the Braces

So we were all very happy with Day 1 of the braces. Bryce seemed to be very excited to stand (which was VERY surprising). However, Day 2 he decided that he HATES the braces; hates to wear them, hates to stand in them. I know it can't be fun for him, but I really hope that he will give in just a little. He is so strong-willed!

Bryce has also turned a bit of a corner with some of his eating habits. He actually ate a chocolate chip cookie, chili, pimento cheese and some pasta over the past few days. It is so unreal given he wouldn't each much more than sweet potato baby good. I think he finally decided that there must be better things out there.

Cohen is doing great... He continues beating up on his brother, running around like a mad man and demanding all attention from everyone in a room. Typical boy I guess.

Standing Tall

Today was a very big day for us.... I have been working from home the first Thursday of every month. I meet with our CDO Support Broker and Bryce's physical therapist (aka Mr. Dan).

Mr. Dan has been with us since Bryce came home. Bryce has always hated PT but is starting to trust Mr. Dan more and more each week.

Bryce's braces came in, so today was Day 1 of trying them out. Mr. Dan had Bryce standing at the coffee table. It was amazing to see Bryce standing there with very little assistance. You could see the excitement in Bryce's face. He knew he was standing tall like a big boy! After a while, Mr. Dan just let go. I have to admit I was nervous but just sat on my hands. After all- we have to start somewhere.... For around one minute Bryce stood there all by himself. Once I realized what was actually happening, I told Matt to hurry and grab the camera. We only caught a couple seconds of the moment, but I will never forget any part. I couldn't get the video to load so hopefully Matt can figure this one out later.

It was so exciting and so unexpected. We were so lucky to have all been home together...even Cohen knew that something exciting just happened! It's moments like these that keep us going! I was so proud to see my little peanut standing tall today. He continues to surprise us every day.

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!!