The Whole Family is Together

Ben made is home on Sunday afternoon from the NICU. Here's our first picture together as a family.

Andy's sleeping on the left with Ben wide eyed on the right.

Ben's first day home was pretty exciting. While in the NICU Ben had problems taking deep breaths while he was sleeping. He hadn't had any problems for a few days so his doctors sent him home with a monitor to measure his oxygen levels and emergency oxygen just in case. Unfortunately he started having problems again so back Ben went to the hospital.

Ben is now home but he is on a small flow of oxygen. He's doing really well but we can't wait until he's not hooked up to tubes and wires.

Andy's Home Coming

Andy came home Wednesday afternoon. We were hoping Ben would follow the next day. Unfortunately he had a few problems with his oxygen levels so he has to stay for a few more days. It was really hard to bring Andy home while leaving Ben in the NICU. One of these days the whole family will be home trying to figure out how we are going to make everything work out.

Here is Andy on his first day home sitting in the bouncer Aunt Kimber bought for him.


Andy's first excursion to the pediatrician and then to Target to buy him a pillow to hold his head straight in his too big car seat.

Dave and Nick changing Andy's diaper.


I can't wait to post pictures of Ben's coming home day. Keep your fingers crossed for this Sunday.

First Photo Together

Both Andrew (left) and Benjamin (right) are off oxygen and IVs. Every day they are getting closer to coming home. Little Ben has a hard time finishing his meals so they have him on a feeding tube. But he eats more and more on his own every day. Today was the first time I was able to hold them together. You can definitely tell they are brothers.

More Pictures of the boys

Here is a better picture of Andrew. As you can see he is now off supplemental oxygen.

Here's the proud Dad with Andrew.

Ben hanging out under the warming lights. He will hopefully be off the oxygen soon too.

Ben and Andy

Andrew Blaine and Benjamin Alan officially joined our family early on Saturday morning. Andrew was came at 4:07 weighing 6 lbs. Benjamin followed 6 minutes later weighing 4 lbs 10 oz.

Their little lungs weren't quite ready to work without assistance so they were rushed to St. Mark's NICU. It was a challenge to find a NICU in the valley with two openings. They originally wanted to split them up, but thanks to the wonderful pediatricians at St. Marks they made room to keep them together.

I was able to be discharged from Alta View early so I could go see my little boys on Sunday. They are beautiful and doing so well. They are breathing much better and now they are focusing on learning to eat on their own.

Here is a picture of Ben at the NICU.


Here's me holding Andrew. I don't have any close shots of Andy on this computer. I'll take more pictures when I go visit them this morning.

The Nursery is Done

I think I can finally say that I'm done with the nursery. My favorite part is the little knitted animals on the white shelves. I blogged about a pattern that I saw on Etsy and my mom asked a women that she works with to make them. They turned out so cute.

The collage of pictures on the wall is a collection of artwork from Etsy, vintage children's books and a couple of illustrations by me. My friend Kristin gave me the rocking chair which I think couldn't be more perfect. On the wall above the dresser I hung alphabet memory cards designed by Charley Harper. The mobile above the cribs is a collection of scrap booking chipboard animals found at Michaels.

I had so much fun searching for different woodland creatures for the boys. I was thrilled when I found cribs sheets to go with the theme. And the silly hedgehog beanbag from Ikea makes me giggle a little.

The only things it's missing are Baby A and Baby B. Katie is going to be heartbroken to find out the nursery wasn't designed for her. She loves to go in there and look around and lay on the soft rug. Luckily I haven't found her in the cribs yet. But she does think that the red changing pad is hers. No harm there I guess.

White Cake | Black Flowers

Last Wednesday I made a couple of birthday cakes. One for my sister-in-law Debbie and one for a good friend at work. I haven't had much energy lately, so they both got the same cake. I hope that they didn't mind. I really wanted to add a huge flower or a red ribbon to the top of the cakes but "the boys" told me that I was done.

I had another ultrasound today and everything is looking great. Both boys are head down and growing really well. Baby A is 4 lbs 4 oz and Baby B is 3 lbs 12 oz. That's a lot of baby!

Finally a new cake post

I feel like I haven't made a cake for ever. So when my friend Jessica asked if I was feeling up to making a cake for her mother-in-law's 50th birthday, I jumped at the chance. This cake was a lot of fun to make and surprisingly pretty quick. I baked the cake and made all of the stars and numbers the night before to give them a chance to harder. So when it came time to decorate the cake I think it only took about an hour.

Poor Katie

Katie hasn't been feeling so hot this week. She hasn't eaten anything since Sunday and she just mopes around the house. The moping is an improvement from Tuesday when I don't think she moved all day.

Last night I took her to the vet to see what's up. Poor thing was dehydrated and was running a fever. And her stomach was sore to the touch. They did blood work and it came back normal. So we still don't know what is wrong and she's still not eating. The vet injected her with fluids and pain medication. If she's not eating by tomorrow, I'll take her in for more tests.

Katie did so well at the vet. Everyone was amazed that she would just sit next to me on the bench in the waiting room. She didn't even seem to mind when someone brought a dog in. When it was time to leave I thought I was okay just carrying her out to the car. But as soon as we went outside she started howling. As we got closer to my car she started getting really squirmy. It was dark outside and I was the only in the parking lot. I really needed help but wasn't sure what to do. I tried to unlock the car door with one hand and hold Katie with the other hand. She took that as her opportunity to bolt. I was so scared that she would take off and I'd never see her again.

So sickly Katie was running down the street from one parked car to the next. And I, hugely pregnant, was running after her as fast as I could. I finally caught up to her by a truck half way down the block. As soon as I bent down to pick her up she tried to run again. I was able to grab one hind leg and pull her out from under the truck. We both winced in pain.

When I got back to the car fear struck again. I was in the same situation as before. I still hadn't unlocked the car. This time I managed to open the door before she took off again. Luckily I was able to catch her in the parking lot this time. I put her in the back seat and hurried to shut the door. After collecting my purse and paperwork I was able to sneak into the front.

So we made it home. Katie isn't very happy with me and she's still not eating or drinking. I'm so worried about her. Hopefully she will be feeling better soon and we can all laugh about how silly the two of us looked running through some strange neighborhood in the dark of night.

Woodland Creatures

I've decided on a theme for the babies' room. Originally I didn't want a theme just something sweet and original. But as I started painting and decorating a theme sort of emerged.

I'm loving the idea of decorating with woodland creatures. I've started painting a abstract woodsy mural and will hopefully be done this week. I'll post pictures as I get further along.

I stumbled across this knitting pattern and thought it was absolutely adorable. My Grandma Jensen taught me how to knit when I was 12 but I don't remember much. I wish I would have kept it up so I could make these little critters for the boys.

Florida

My parents and grandma went to visit my brother in Ft. Lauderdale this past week and last minute I decided to crash their trip. I hope they didn't mind too much.

The highlight of the trip for me was a tour through the Everglades. We started the day with an air boat ride through the marsh. Here's my family hanging out on a hammock in the middle of the swamp. As you can see, we were all bundled up. We were hoping to get away from the cold winter days. Unfortunately, Florida was in the middle of an unusual cold front the majority of the time we were there.


Here's my grandma and I in front of some wild life right off of the road. It's amazing how many alligators and birds we saw. I don't think you can tell from this picture put there were alligators lined up pretty much nonstop along the canal right off the road.

This was as close as I dared get to the alligators. They didn't even seem to notice any of us were around.

The Everglades tour ended with a boat ride where the Everglades end and the Gulf of Mexico begins. I was thrilled to see dolphins swimming in the wake of the boat.

Bad Kitty

I put Katie on a diet about 2 years ago. What good has it done though? She gets the recommended diet portion of Iam's weight control. But she always seems to be begging for food and has put on more weight. During the summer I attributed the weight gain to her supplemental diet of birds, mice and the neighbors cat's food. Now that it's winter and she doesn't go out much she has found ways to sneak more food.

I came home late last night to this mess in my kitchen. About a week ago she figured out how to get into the cat food bag. I haven't had time to get a cat proof container so I thought putting the food on the counter behind some cookbooks would keep her out. Nope. Here's Katie impressed with her handy work. I swear that cat is like a dog. Had I not cleaned up her mess I'm sure she would have eaten everything and licked the floor clean before I left for work this morning.

We are having two healthy little...

A Few Highlights From the Trip

Dave and I went on our Hawaiian vacation with our friend's Sharon and Jared. Here's the closest thing I had to a group picture. Sharon and I posing under the huge Banyan tree, with Jared sneaking in behind us.

Here's one with Dave so he doesn't feel left out.

The last time I went to Maui my favorite part of the trip was a whale watching boat ride. So that was definitely on our list of must dos this trip. This time we did a dolphin tour knowing that we would see our fair share of whales too. About 15 minutes after leaving the harbor on our way to see the dolphins, a humpback whale jumped out of the water about 20 yards in front of us. It took everyone by surprise. The captain quickly stopped the boat and turned off the engine. No one could believe how close this whale was to us. They usually don't pay much attention to boats, so it was pretty rare when he started circling our boat and flapping his fins.

Here are a couple of pictures I got just leaning over the boat.

The whole experience was pretty amazing. Just as the whale was leaving he did a full breech right in front of the boat.

We spent a couple days snorkeling and saw some pretty cool stuff. Sea turtles where definitely the highlight.

We drove the road to Hana and saw waterfalls and my favorite beach yet. The picture I posted yesterday was from a black sand beach near Hana.

Body surfing at Big Beach was a lot off fun too. Here's Dave and Jared giving it a try.

We had an awesome time. But I did learn a few things about traveling while pregnant that I wasn't expecting.

1. Laying out while pregnant wasn't as relaxing as I was hoping it would be. I couldn't find a comfortable position. Dave and I tried digging holes in the sand for me to lay my belly, but it didn't work too well. So I could only tan the the front side of my body.
2. Even though dolphin/whale tours are a lot of fun at first, about 2 hours into it expect to be sick. Yes I'll admit it. I did yack off the back of the boat. Not my finest moment.
3. I know it seems obvious that body surfing should be a no-no for pregnant women, but I couldn't resist. Everyone looked like they were having so much fun. I only tried it once and thought better of it as I skidded across the beach on my belly then was repeatedly pummelled by waves because I couldn't manage to stand up. Sorry babies.

We're Back

I've taken a bit of a blogging hiatus. I'll try to be a little more consisted from now on. I blame my lack of doing anything interesting on my first trimester which was pretty rough. I was so exhausted that going to work was about all I could handle. But I'm finally getting my energy back.

In celebration of feeling somewhat like myself again, Dave and I headed to Maui for a week. Here's a sneak peak at out our trip. I'll post more pictures and stories later this week.