Christmas celebrations are still in full swing around here.  But I wanted to check in to say MERRY CHRISTMAS and to share some pics of our adorable little gifts.

We enjoyed a visit from Justin’s family and hosted a fun foursome as well.  K had a BLAST.  He understood enough to look forward to presents this year, and had some specific (and actually reasonable) requests.

The babies gave me two good nights of sleep in a row as their present.

We enjoyed a candlelight Christmas Eve Service at church, had snacks and card games, enjoyed new toys, and are currently working on a jigsaw puzzle, and waiting to finish up a two day game of Monopoly.  (I’m winning).

It was a special time.  I did have one little emotional mama moment when I was taking photos of the boys.  I can’t help but hope the boys get to have 90 Christmas mornings.  For now, they’ve had one, and it looked something like this:

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L & N are three months old now! ( 1 1/2 months adjusted)

L:

Weight – 11 lb 7  oz

Food – 3 oz every 3 hours

Accomplishments  – Smiling!  Rolling Over!

Goals – Focusing on objects/faces.  Tracking.  Neck strength.

Likes – Being held.  Something soft against his cheek.  Music.

Other – Wearing 0-3 clothes, and size 1 diapers.  Sleeping in his own bed with a swaddle blanket.  Waking up two times per night.

N:

Weight – 9 lb 5 oz

Food – 3 oz every 3 hours

Accomplishments  – Rolling Over!  Weaning off of Oxygen! Eating faster!

Goals – Focusing on objects/faces.  Tracking.  Neck Strength.

Likes – Being Cuddled.  His Pacifier.

Other – Wearing 0-3 clothes, and size 1 diapers.  Sleeping in his own bed with a swaddle blanket.  Waking up two times per night.

Moments I don’t want to forget:

Being shocked when N first rolled over during tummy time.  And they’ve both done it numerous times since!

Laughing and crying at L’s first big smile.

L

L & Monkey & N

N

Brotherly Love

It’s been nearly a week since I provided an update, so I thought I would catch you up on miscellaneous details so that tomorrow’s post can be focused on their 3 month update.   (WHAT?)

My mom / “Nana” was around to help us again last week.  She went to both appointments with me, but stuck around so I could go in to the office on Thursday.  I’m working on a few loose ends and annual items, and will also be in for training a couple of days this week.  It was great to be back.  I miss that crew.  I was welcomed with a bacon themed celebration. (It’s good to have people who “get” you.)  Leaving the boys during the day will be tough, but it’s good to know they will be in good hands, and I will be in good company.

But two other things struck me about being in the office as well…

My drawer was empty of pens, but full of tissues.  That’s a reminder of how emotional those last few weeks were.  Looking back, I easily spent 90% of my time crying and praying, and explaining what little I understood to people, and 10% working.   (Whoops, thanks for your patience.)  When I remember how broken I felt then, it feels good to have come so far.  We still have bad days, emotional moments, and when we allow it, a bit of fear of what’s to come.  But it feels good to have more things to smile about than to cry about.

The other striking moment, was seeing these two photos (on the left) for the first time in a while…

So tiny.  So frail.  N didn’t even fill out a preemie diaper.  And neither of them had any strength.  But they had fight.  Man they’ve come a long way…

Declaring this photo shoot over!

J and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on Sunday.  “For better or for worse” and “in sickness and in health” take on a whole new meaning when you actually get a dose of “worse” and “sickness”.  But we’re here, wading through it together.  Feeling like if we can stay strong through this, we can conquer the world.

6th anniversary!

On the agenda for this week:

• Bloodwork / seizure med level testing tomorrow
• Weight check tomorrow
• 3 month checkup and vaccines on Friday

So a slower week than normal.  That will allow me a day and a half to get back in the office.  AND more time for Christmas celebrating with my parents this week.

Administrative items:

I ran out of space to upload photos for free on here.  Obviously I can’t just stop uploading photos…and I prefer not to delete them as this is our family scrapbook / K’s babybook as well.  So I upgraded to a paid account.  As such, I could make a personalized domain name too.

You can keep your favorites or get here the same ways you always have, but https://twoifbyfaith.com/ is now also a direct link.  As a side note, we also have a “Two If By Faith” facebook page where you might see more photos or brief notes about the boys.

Adorable items:

Both boys have been giving us lots of sleepy smiles lately.  And they seem sooo close to a responsive smile.  Today I was using my most ridiculous voice with L, and we found a winner!  He finds me amusing!

Mama is amusing…

Mama is HILARIOUS!

And that…is worth smiling about.  🙂