A Sunday afternoon with the boys

Both boys are doing well. Owen is now 4lbs 8oz and Nathan is 3lbs 7oz. We love seeing their personalities, holding and talking to them every day. They are incredible blessings. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Nathan has been a little on the cool side the past couple of days. It has made him stay wide awake. This is just after eating. He has his paci in his mouth and the blub is holding it in for him.
Just seconds after his nurse wrapped him in warm blankets, this is how Nathan looked.
Once Nathan's temperature returned to normal, he was able to just hang out in his clothes.
Owen is not so patiently waiting for his bottle. When he is hungry, it is time to EAT!!!While waiting he decided on getting a new cannula. He made it out of his fingers.This is the way to tame Owen's hunger. After nursing and two 20-mL bottles later he was okay.Today Owen was very busy digesting his bottle. He had several good burps and pooped five times while being fed.This is a content child.Now he is clean, happy and back in his bed. He only needs one more thing....His brother, Nathan, at his side.Nathan's brain scan is tomorrow morning. Please remember to ask God to completely remove his PVL.

Good Progress

Nathan and Owen are doing well and making good progress. As of this morning, Owen weighed 4 lbs 4 oz and Nathan weighed 3lb 6oz. Nathan is still doing well off his cafcid and only has three more days to go of his countdown. Owen is still hanging on to his nasal cannula. We are praying he will breath well enough to get rid of it quickly. I would love for it to be gone on Monday to celebrate along with Nathan's countdown completion and good head ultrasound we are praying for. Nathan and Owen receive OT everyday and the therapist says that both have great muscle tone. Nathan had a check up with his eye doctor today. There is a very small spot in his eye that is not looking great. It is a very small spot and the doctor is hoping it will turn around and start going away. No need for injections or laser at this time, and probably no need for it ever. Please just continue to pray for this too. Nathan moved up to 29ml every three hours. Soon he will go to "adlib" feedings which is as much as he wants every 4 hours. His nurses think he will really begin to pack on the pounds then since he will be getting a lot more. The boys still really enjoy bunking together.


Tonight we celebrated Kristen's birthday. We had a great time eating together and playing nertz.

The boys are doing well. Owen was visited by the ENT yesterday and everything looked good with him. He snorts while eating, but he has so physical reason to cause his snorting. We were very thankful. Both boys are doing well on their feedings. They are both doing very well with their weight gain. Nathan weighs 3lb 6oz and Owen weighs 4lbs 2oz (he officially tripled his birth weight). Nathan will have another brain scan on Monday, March 1st. Please continue to pray God will remove his PVL and we will be able to visibly see his work on this next scan.

Half Update

When up at the hospital last night we received a good progress report on the boys. I thought I would pass it on.

Nathan is now all bottle feeds, no more og tube down to his stomach!!! He was also taken off his caffeine, which is given to remind him to breath. He is now on the "caffeine countdown" and if he goes until March 1st without any big breathing or heart rate dips he will no longer need to be hooked up to his monitor every minute of the day. If he has just one dip, his caffeine countdown will start all over again. Nathan is now 3lbs 5 oz. His average weight gain is 18 grams per day, which is great.

Owen is doing very well with his feeds. He is now able to take almost as much as he would want. I say that because he would eat until the food was gone, even if it meant him getting way over stuffed. Two days ago he was at 30 cc every three hours. Now he is at whatever he wants ever four hours. Yesterday his nurse started offering him 50 cc and he ate it all. When we were there last night Owen had not get gotten his bath or been weighed, but with the amount he eats I am assuming he will have more weight gain. His average daily weight gain is 30 grams per day. Owen is still holding on to his cannula and started making a snorting sound about a week ago. The nurse had Dr. Strange come look at him and he will be visited by an ENT this morning. He may have some irritation in his nose, which upon being fixed could easily help him get off his oxygen. Just in my "non-medical" evaluation last night, I noticed his nostrils were irritated and smaller than Nathans.

The boys seem to enjoy each other more and more every day. They always seem to be a bit fussy when the other one is out of the bed.

Good Monday

I thought you might enjoy looking at some pictures of our day. Both boys are doing well today. Owen is now 3lb 15oz and Nathan is 3lb 3oz. They seem to enjoy bunking together.
Owen and MommyOwen and Daddy
Owen
Owen and Nathan
Nathan

Getting bigger and bigger

Nathan and Owen are continuing to grow well. Today Owen weighed 3lbs 13 oz and Nathan is now 3lbs 2ozs. Owen has also moved up on his feedings to 40ml every 4 hours. Nathan is at 26ml every 3 hours. Nathan now gets a bottle every other feed, so only 4 feeds a day are through his og tube. Both are doing very well eating. The boys are getting used to sleeping next to each other. They just lay there very peacefully with each other.

Sarah and I paint

Last Thursday my friend Sarah and I went to Art from the Heart at Dawson, taught by my friend Amy Brown, and painted these pictures. We had the best time and I must say for two beginners our paintings look pretty good.