Tuesday night fun...

Tuesday morning we called my Mom to see if she, my Dad and Russ were free for dinner. Logan had decided he really wanted to go to Mc Donalds for dinner with them. Once everyone got here after work, we loaded up and headed over. Russ and Logan had a great time playing on the play land together. Nathan and Owen enjoyed watching and being outside. They enjoyed their own dinner; sweet potatoes for Nathan and squash for Owen. Owen decided he did not want to eat much but instead get his Oma to hold and love on him. We were glad to get outside this evening and enjoy this wonderful, cool weather.

Georgia Tech game

Early Saturday morning we headed to Atlanta with Preston's Dad. Everyone had a nice ride over. I sat back with Logan and we familiarized ourselves with my new phone. It was pretty amazing how quickly Logan learned to use it. Once in Atlanta we had lunch from The Varsity and headed over to the game.
Here are all three boys enjoying the game.Just a few minutes after getting to our seats Logan needed a drink. I don't blame him, it felt like 100 degrees at our seats, and honestly it probably was. Once we came back Preston took Nathan to the concourse to get out of the sun. Just a few minutes later Logan decided it was too hot and we went and joined Preston and Nathan. We spent about 30+ minutes sitting of the floor, feeding the boys some baby food and Logan enjoyed watching the industrial elevator with all the vendors hauling their goods in and out. We then decided to watch the rest of the game in the comfort of the student center. Even though we only watched the game from our seats for a few minutes, we had a great time.

Since the game was early in the day we had some time to meet some good friend's, the Chung's, at Atlantic Station. Logan had a great time riding the train around with Jonathan and HannahKate. We enjoyed our leisure visit before heading back to Birmingham.

We all had a great time and hope tp make it back for at least one more game. Hopefully by then the weather will be a bit cooler.

Running with a purpose

For years I have had a passion for running. There is nothing like getting out in the fresh air and feeling the pavement under your feet. I also love the good conversation I have with Preston, Logan or my friends as we run together. This year I have decided to run a few races. In deciding which races to run, I thought it would be best to look at what charities are supported through each race. My first one will be the Vulcan Run. This run is coming up in a little over a month. It is only a 10k, so it should not be too hard....and I am not planning to place in the top 400!! I am then planning to run the Mercedes Half Marathon. I just did not have it in me to try and train for a Marathon while trying to take care of my three kids and all the appointments we have every week. The charity supported by the Mercedes Marathon is the Bell Center. The Bell Center is an early intervention center providing services to children ages birth - 3 that are at risk for delay. The boys are not part of the programs here, maybe some day, but we believe in supporting them!! The third race I am planning to run is the UCP's Race Without Limits 8k. The proceeds of this race go to UCP and a division of it is Hand-in-Hand, the early intervention service provider that provides Nathan and Owen with their in-home therapy. We are very thankful for Hand-in-Hand and the fantastic therapy they are providing to Nathan and Owen. In order to give back as much as we can, I have set up a fund raising website for my run. If you are interested in giving please click here. Thanks to all of you who have already signed up to support me.

Random news of the week...

Here is just some random news of the week.

1) We now have a second car to drive!!!! Thanks to Preston's Dad and Donna. Donna just got a new car, so we are using her old car. We are very grateful to all our parents who have let us borrow cars over these past 10 months.

2) We had our first speech therapy appointment today. Kelli, their therapist, is very nice and worked really well with the boys. We worked on different hearing exercises and she taught me three different exercises to work with them on at home.

3) We had an appointment this afternoon with Hanger Orthotics. They scanned the little boys heads for helmets. Our insurance is such that they want a packet on all the boys head scans and measurements before approving an amount they will pay. So Hanger is sending in the packet tomorrow and we hope to hear back in a week to 10 days. We will then go in for a re-scan and they will make the helmets within a week.

4) Logan had a great time making chocolate muffins as a fun after school activity. He has also been able to go to the park one afternoon and CiCi's house another afternoon.

High Chairs

The boys got new high chairs and we put them together this morning. They sit in regular table chairs, which is nice for the limited amount of space in our house. We got some with a high back and reclining and swiveling seats. (We have some great red portable ones we were just planning to use at home, but the boys need a little more stability with the high backs that these provide.) The boys have loved them and we think they have been good for their development already too. They have had tons of practice of good head control and playing, grabbing, etc of things. They also did a great job eating their dinner, yogurt tonight, while we ate ours.
The best part of the new high chairs was the three boxes they came in. These boxes provided an entire day worth of fun. At first they were a van. We made a front and stuck the three big boxes together and cut a tunnel going through all of them. This made for three rows in the van. Later these turned into three town homes.
Looking at Logan through the windshield of the van. He is in the back row.

Logan in the small house / front row of the van.

This was a great place for Logan to eat his lunch.
Now it is time to decorate the inside. Logan did a great job coloring both the inside and the outside.

Logan's teacher

Miss Traci is Logan's teacher this year at school. We really like her and are looking forward to a good year.

Out for a run

Yesterday I decided to meet some of my friends for a run and take the boys with me. This was their first time in the jogging stroller. For various reasons, mainly they were too small, I have not been running with them. Today is our second day out and they seemed to love it both times. The only time Owen cried was when I put him back in to the car. Nathan took this time to take a nice nap. I am glad they loved it...because they will be running with me a lot over the next several years (just ask Logan).Here are Nathan and Owen with their running buddies. We have a picture from about 3 years ago when all of their older siblings are their age. Now the older ones are all off at school.

Why is Owen so happy?

Yesterday Owen saw Dr. Lozano, his pulmonologist, and we got the go ahead to begin weaning him off his oxygen. Each day we are able to add several hours and he should be completely off his oxygen, except while sleeping in about a week. He will then try a night without oxygen and Pediatric Specialist will download his monitor that morning and send the report to Dr Lozano. He will then review it and let us know if Owen can get off oxygen for good!!! Owen is doing incredibly well when he is off. He is so happy and is breathing well.
Owen is showing off his SPO2 rates. He is leaning over trying to grab his monitor while still trying to look over at Logan.

16 years

Sixteen years ago, on Sunday the 11th, Preston and I started dating. For a mini celebration we took the family for an outing at Aldridge Gardens. We walked all around the gardens and lake.Logan is holding Owen's hand.The great pictures of Preston and I.

A little more medical talk and then to the fun

The boys had therapy with Jane yesterday afternoon. Owen did very well. Nathan cried and cried when it was his turn which is not like Nathan at all. Jane tried in a special suit on Nathan that will strengthen his back and help him to not completely slump over while in a seated position. The one she had ended up being a little big so we will try again next week with a smaller one.

The boys now have appointments to get their heads scanned for helmets at the end of the month. The helmets will fix their head shape.

To celebrate the end of a long week we took all three boys to the zoo. Logan got to run around the fountain area while the boys ate some yummy carrots. We then went and saw a few animals. We wanted to see more but just ran out of time before the zoo closed.

Hearing Aids and Therapy

This morning, at 8:00 am, we were at the HEAR Center for Nathan to get his hearing aids. He is doing remarkably well in them. He is not trying to pull them off and so far he seems to enjoy wearing them. Right after they put them on, they took him into the sound booth for another behavioral test. This time he made responses to sound that were at 50 dB. This is a great improvement. It will take several more tests, Nathan getting older so he can respond better, and speech therapy to fully know if the hearing aids are all he will need. Just from observing him today, it seems as if he really is hearing well.

Later this morning, the boys had physical therapy with Kristi. They both did very well and she was very pleased with their progress!! Always a good thing to hear. She showed us some new positions and ideas for play that will strengthen them and move them closer to their activity goals.

Hearing and Seeing

Yesterday afternoon we got a phone call from the HEAR Center. They had a cancellation in their speech evaluation schedule for this morning. We were excited to be available to fill this spot, moving up the boys evaluation by 1 month. This means the boys will get in to seeing a speech therapist more quickly. Both boys tested in the up to 6 months category for attachment and socialization, which is good considering they are just 6 months corrected. They both scored up to 3 months, with some of their responses in the up to 6 months category for their verbal reactions / output.

Big news for Owen. He had his appointment with Dr. Feist, the retina specialist, this morning. His eyes looked great and he was discharged back to the regular pediatric eye doctor. We are excited Owen's eyes are doing so well and to have one less doctor to visit.

Nathan gets his hearing aids in the morning!!

One down eight more to go!!!!

We had our first of nine doctor appointments for the week. Nathan saw Dr Metz, his eye doctor. Nathan's eyes are getting a little lazy and turning in from time to time. He said this is common for premature babies. He looked in his eyes with several tools and said his eyes look great and he does not need glasses. However, the muscles in his eyes need to be strengthened. Since his left eye turns in more than his right eye, he is now wearing a patch over his right eye 4 hours a day. We need his muscles to straighten out. If the muscles do not straighten out on their own, Nathan will need eye surgery to straighten these muscles. We go back to the doctor in one month. At this time he will be able to tell if the patch is strengthening his muscles or if we will need surgery. Of course, it could show slight improvement which would mean we just take it one month at a time.

We got a phone call today and Nathan's speech assessment at the HEAR Center has moved from early October to tomorrow morning.

High Falls Park

Today we went to High Falls Park in Northeast Alabama. It was a beautiful day and the temperatures were great, high in the 80s. Our friends, the Cooks, came with us and the kids had the best time together.