Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We have had a busy last couple of months (along with everyone else). To kick off the holidays, we celebrated 3 out of the 4 grandparents' birthdays. Gigi & Pops came to visit over a weekend to celebrate their birthdays. The boys created them one of a kind paintings to add to the decor in their office.

Happy Birthday to you... love Eli

Happy Birthday to you... love Isaac

The boys had lots of fun with Gigi & Pops. They both enjoyed modeling Pop's shoes and playing with their toys with G&P.

Then we celebrated Grandpa's birthday two whole days before Thanksgiving. The boys' cousins, Tyler, Ian & Patrick even got to come and play to help celebrate.

Eli and Ian were the helpers at this event, with a wee bit of help from Patrick. Tyler and Isaac were plenty busy entertaining the rest of us. We had a grand evening of Oklahoma Joes BBQ, and fun family time.

The very next day, we rushed off out of town to go to Gigi & Pops' house to hang with that side of the family. Boy did we ever have fun! We also went to visit the boys' great grandparents, what a special time for all of them.

We had such a fun time. The boys provided ample entertainment, playing with my parent's dog, Eli playing 'soccer' with Uncle Brett, Isaac playing with the Christmas decor, watching Duke out the back sliding door -- that door is like an open window to the world for the boys! Lots of things to see and watch. Eli enjoyed sporting Gigi's kitchen apron, he wants to be like his uncle Brett! :) Isaac loved being outside, having the wind blow through his hair. There isn't much that these boys don't like to do!

We came back home :( (always sad to leave, even though its good to come home!), and we decorated for Christmas. Daddy hung the outdoor lights (twice), while mommy decorated inside.

We had lots of fun during the month of December, going to look at Christmas lights, spending time with family, and seeing some new and old friends. We still have lots of family (hello Murdock's) that we need to see and friends that we'd like to spend some time with as well. As we make our attempt to live life more intentionally this year, we plan to see you all soon. Think twice before you answer that doorbell! *Just kidding!

I digress. Here are a few pictures from Christmas. While we don't have that many, I should explain that we were all blessed with a lovely case of the flu, so pictures are a bit lacking. Sorry. Better luck next time, I guess! All in all, we had a lovely Christmas, got to spend more time with family, and shared our good fortune of the flu! Love you all!

Isaac's Christmas
(he was hit the hardest with the flu come Christmas)

Elias' Christmas
(Eli gave us the gift that kept on giving - the flu)

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful start to the New Year! While we don't have any 'new' resolutions per se, we want to continually choose to live our lives to the fullest. Choose happiness. Love each other. No grudge is worth the time and effort to hold. Cherish each moment. Live with no regrets. We love you all! Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween (hey, we've been busy)

Happy Halloween from our Monkey and Banana!!!

So, we're a little late on getting these pictures up... but then again, we still haven't posted pictures from the first birthday bash... All in due time!

Isaac Stands!

Isaac Stands!

Each day, Isaac gets some form of physical therapy to work on stimulating his legs to know what it feels like to stand. His nanny, Jaime, goes to great lengths, keeping him entertained in his stander on a daily basis. In the evenings, as we go upstairs for the boys' bath time, Eli always climbs the stairs, and Isaac always is right there, begging to do the same. We work with him, moving his legs, and straightening them so he knows the motions to go through. He is always SO proud when we make it to the top of the stairs.

Tonight was a different night. I (Kristi) was helping Isaac up the stairs in our usual way, but Isaac straightened his legs on his own, and stood. Not once, but several times (hence, the photo op). Isaac was so nonchalant about it. Kinda like, "Duh guys. I just did what I am supposed to do." However, Ryan looked at me and asked, "Is he doing that on his own?" The fact that my hands weren't touching him led us to believe that yes, he was standing on his own!

Eli says "Ewlly"

Yes, Eli has been speaking for quite some time now, but tonight was the first time I heard him call the dog something other than "daugh". It is so much fun to see each Isaac and Eli recognize different things in their little world, and call them by name! I also mentioned in the last post that Eli is into hugs and showing affection (also demonstrated in the video!).

We're Back! Summer is officially over!

Hello! Summer vacation is over -- and we're back! Ryan had his first day back at school with students today, and well, for Isaac, Eli and I, not much changed! Isaac and Eli spent their day with their nanny, Jaime, and I went to work!

Over the summer, we have had lots and lots of fun. We've been to the zoo several times (Kansas City and Wichita), the petting zoo, swimming, the Nelson (for some culture!) and gotten to see lots and lots of friends and family!

Isaac and Eli are getting along quite well! Isaac can manuever and scoot to pretty much anywhere he wants to go. He squeals with delight when we help him get up the stairs like Eli! Isaac is babbling a lot, and can say: mama, dada, dog (dah), done, escape (eh, eh, eh, eh -- this is our cue that we're leaving the playroom to eat, take a bath, or go somewhere else. Ryan and I ask the boys if they want to escape!), and most distinctly tonight at dinner, he said "Amen!" I know there are lots of other things that he is saying that I am leaving out, and some that I have no idea what they mean!

Elias is practically running around now. He really is into giving hugs and kisses (on his terms), as well as being possessive of any toy or item that Isaac is playing with. If he can't have said toy, then he promptly throws himself on the ground, and then looks around to see if we are paying any attention to him. We're doing our very best to not encourage said tantrums! Gee, I can only imagine what he is going to be like as he gets older. :)

Eli does say so much now! Mama, Dada, duck, dog, baby, done, hot stuff (bot buh), amen, book (buh), ball (bah), bye (with a southern twang), button (as in belly button - sounds like 'bun'), and I am sure there are a few that I am leaving out.

It has been so much fun to see how much they recognize that we are saying, and how much they actually really do understand: "Eli, please give Isaac a hug." CUTEST.THING.EVER! He actually did walk over and tried to give Isaac a hug and in the meanwhile, head butted him! Still was pretty dang cute!

I'll leave with a video of Isaac and his latest show of 'strength' as he 'tries' to pull apart some linking toys...

Home for a Year!

Just remembering the events of a year ago, brings a huge smile to my face. We were told on May 31st 2010 that we'd get to 'room in' with our boys at CMH the next night, and get to bring our little guys home with us after the doctors did their rounds on June 2nd. Just remembering hearing those words from the team, that we were just a couple of days away from having our family at home really just is a feeling that is indescribable.

It is such a strange feeling, because for the 3 weeks that the boys were inpatients at Childrens Mercy, it almost feels as though when you are there visiting, that your baby (or in our case, babies) aren't really fully yours. I remember having to ask someone if we could get Eli out of his isolette to hold him, or if we could hold Isaac, and how we'd have to move his oxygen tubing, or having to wrap him like a burrito when we were taking him out from under his bilirubin lights. Or anytime a diaper was changed, weighing it to measure the 'output' and making sure it was recorded for the nurses. So, you can imagine our excitement as we were driving to the hospital for the last time on June 1st, as we were geared up to stay the night, and then would load up the wee ones and actually get to take them home with us in the morning. So excited in fact, that Ryan got pulled over and got a ticket. I find this amusing because the route to the hospital is the exact same route that I take to get to work on a daily basis. And, if you know rush hour traffic, it's difficult to speed around here! We did laugh, and we were so excited about getting up to CMH to be with Isaac and Eli, we didn't let it dampen the mood (and I know some of you are wondering, no, Ryan did not drop his dad's name to try to get us out of it!).

In our "hotel room" at CMH.
*Note Ryan's cell phone next to Isaac... Either that's a big phone, or those are little babies!
Eli is on the left, Isaac on the right

The night we stayed in the room with them was pretty comical (as I remember it). We were staying with our boys, alone, for the first time. "How are we going to tackle this?" we asked ourselves. Are we doing shifts, where one of us would take care of them both while the other slept? Would we just be 'assigned' to one of them, only having to get up to care for them? (I should also note, that because they had the same nurse, they were not on the same 'schedule.' Isaac was on a 2, 5, 8 and 11 schedule - (eating every 3 hours), and Eli was on a 3, 6, 9, 12 schedule. You know, since one nurse couldn't be in two places at once). As most people might have already guessed, neither of us really slept at all. What if they cried and it didn't wake me or Ryan up? And we were just so giddy that we were actually going to get to bring them home, I don't think sleeping would have really happened anyway!

A few other things we remember from CMH: measuring their milk in mL's and weighing the boys in grams. Being divided from other patients just by a curtain, there really is no privacy. Wonderful nurses, even if they did wear KU scrubs (and all of the other friendly staff at CMH). Scrubbing in to go back to the NICU. And many other things...

Isaac in the wagon

Then there was packing all of our 'stuff' up to head home. I think Ryan made two trips down to the car with wagon-fulls of belongings before we actually wheeled the boys down in their first CMH Wagon Ride. Eli, that little peanut, only weighing just over 3lbs 12oz, couldn't go home in a regular carseat, but had to have a special "angel bed" carseat. We, along with everyone else, we surprised that Eli was discharged before he weighed 4lbs.

Once we finally loaded everything and everyone in the car, we were off, going about 15mph. I remember thinking there was no way we could go any faster than that. It seemed dangerous!!! Ryan did end up driving faster than that once we were on the highway. We went about a quarter of a mile, and one of the boys made a noise, so of course, we pulled over to make sure they were okay. And they were. On towards home!!!

And here are our two little guys now!!!

Isaac
5.28.2011

Elias
5.28.2011

What a wonderful, blessed year this has been. We love you Isaac and Elias, more than you can imagine!