I have a few ( I’m sure more than a few). Ill admit it, I read the Twilight series. I’m 35 not 13. I might as well add Sweet Vally High to my bookshelves. In my defense I will say they are such easy reads you really don’t have to concentrate on the plot or characters which makes it perfect for reading while pumping at 11 pm. Then we can move on to iPods. Everyone I know has an ‘uncool album’ on their iPod. Something they love but everyone else would roast them for. My cousin likes Britney Spears, my brother has Destiny’s Child, Tadd has like 13 Jimmy Buffet albums. Umm, I have Justin Timberlake. So you can only imagine what a kick I got out of last nights SNL. That show is so hit or miss. I love that we can TIVO it and fast forward all the crap. Did anyone one else find it hilarious?? You have to be familiar with the last 3 years of SNL to get all all the jokes.

I guess the one good thing was I found it all while it was still cool and not room temperature. Thank goodness Fauxma Dee was around to watch the twins while I ran to the store to get supplies to make use of the meat.

Huge pot of chili

Roasted chicken for pot pies

Making chicken pot pies

Preparing the gravy for pot pies

While I was cooking the twins wanted to keep me company so I dragged a high chair into the kitchen for their (my) entertainment.

Some may have noticed that Derby’s helmet is now a very stark white. The paint was chipping off his super cool Star Wars paint job. I found paint chips in Derby’s bed and on Loen’s face…hence the removal.

The twins playing on Daddy while I finish dinner

I knew I had to get rid of the breast milk so I dragged it into the house, sticky with strawberry juice and got ready to pour it all down the drain. I felt a little nauseous as I cut open the bags and saw the dates. Christmas morning 3am 2007, Thanksgiving 2007 5pm, New Year’s Day noon, down the drain. All of my time hovering over the breast pump, in the pumping room at the NICU and the back office on the trauma floor was for naught. The one consoling thought was it has been a year and the kids have had breast milk all this time. I am still pumping and will have to bump up the schedule from 3 times a day to 4 or 5. A few formula bottles wont kill them. Sigh…

Epilogue: It gets even better. Last week we tried out the convection oven for the first time, it tripped the breaker. We tried it again just in case it was a fluke, same result. The electrician came last night to see if the problem was the actual range or with the wiring. In the process he dealt with the fact that 90% of the breaker box was labeled incorrectly. To address that problem we turned on all the lights in the house and took note of which ones went off when the breaker was flipped. Not the most fun at 5 pm when you want to finish cooking dinner. This morning I noticed the fountain in the backyard wasn’t on and mentioned it to Tadd. When he came home he went to see if the backyard breaker wasn’t turned back on. He was having trouble figuring out what was wrong. I went upstairs to put Derby to bed when I hear “I found it”. Turns out the GFCI that connects the garage and backyard had to be reset. Guess what was plugged in the garage? Our small chest freezer that I had plugged in after the big one petered out. So the chili that we froze for another night was ruined! I’m just grateful that I was too tired to finish the pot pies last night or else they would have been in the freezer too, then I would have been really upset. What is it with me and freezers this week?!

The best part is that after I calmed Loen down I look up to see our Child Development Specialist  at the zoo with her daughter. Tadd mutters “Just call CPS (Child Protective Services) on me now”.

I have been trying to get a good shot so I can make thank you cards but Loen has had other plans. Ones that do not include sitting contentedly beside her brother and smiling.

It makes me think of those shots of a blurry Bigfoot walking in the background

Trying to take a picture before she decides to nose dive off the rocker.

I tried to use a jack in the box to hold their attention. Derby looks drugged in this picture. Loen is apprehensive.

Yup, she is sure she doesn’t like a monkey popping out of a tin box.

Prime example of how they dont want their picture taken

Occasionally after 200 pictures I can salvage a few.

Derby

Loen

I like how it looks she is reading to him

Derby warp speed

Loen is frightened they are being sucked into a black hole

Well there is always tomorrow….

Somehow we managed to get through the first year with all of our faculties intact. (Though the momma continues to be late with all things posting)

Loen: Weighs 15 pounds 9 1/2 ounces and is 26 1/2 inches long. For her adjusted age of 8 months she is in the 30th percentile. She continues to amaze us with her learning curve. She is sitting, crawling, cruising. There have been times where she thinks she can hold on to things with only one hand, usually with with disastrous consequences. She likes to talk and blow razberrys all the time. She does the “ma ma ma” noise but I know she isn’t talking about me yet. She is a very independent little girl. You can put her in the playpen and she will entertain herself for the longest time. Just sitting there playing with toys, trying to eat books. It is so cute and a huge help when you’re trying to clean the house. Now if we can just get Derby to do the same.

Derby: Weighs 15 pounds 4 1/2 ounces and is 25 1/2 inches long. For his adjusted age he is just under the growth chart but our pediatrician isn’t concerned because he said his fat little thighs are a good sign he is eating well. In the few weeks he has had therapy we can really see a change. Tadd was upset we didn’t get him in sooner but he is there now. He goes 4 times a week, twice to see the Physical Therapist and twice to see the Occupational Therapist. The supervisor of the program said the first time she saw Derby he resisted movement with both arms but now he is moving and starting to bear weight on his left when they put him in the crawl position. He wont stay there for long but he is trying. He gets so frustrated and annoyed when they put in him in a move that is unfamiliar. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry along with him as he sounds so pathetic! Ok, I end up laughing becuase I know the moment they hand him back to me he gets a big smile, like he faked them out. That is until I took him to PT on his birthday. I thought about canceling and letting him have a break but it is only 30 minutes and the benefits outweighed a birthday free pass. Well he bitched and moaned the entire time. Loen thought it was great to play with new toys and no one was bugging her. You could tell Derby was giving her dirty looks and the OT kept making him roll and work on his left leg. She finally handed him over and I gave him a big hug. Derby decided to show me what he thought of working on his birthday by biting my shoulder..HARD. I was afraid I was going to have to slap his head to get him to release me. He was like a dog with a bone. It is days later and I still have a red mark! We decided to get Derby the cranial remolding helmet. After speaking with numerous doctors, orthopedists, therapist etc. we decided it would be the right decision. While his head might have turned out normal without a helmet we only had a small window of time to actively correct the issue in case it did not. It doesn’t bother him and we wont have to worry about kids teasing him about a flat head when he is older. After he was fitted with the helmet I said he looked like an X-Wing fighter pilot from Star Wars. My brother Souther painted his helmet to look just like he was an extra in Star Wars. He was very meticulous in the details even spray painting ‘blast marks’ so it looked like he had been in battle. Derby looks super cool.

Derby makes all kinds of noises but has really honed in on the “Da da da” sound, of course he isn’t calling for Tadd yet. That would be nice in the middle of the night to hear ‘Da da” and Tadd would have to get up vs me! He has started to roll from his back to his belly, but he will often roll right back onto his back. It is like he realizes he is doing “tummy time” and wants none of that.

Food: They both know the sign for milk now. Loen get super excited when you do it, you just have to be sure you have the bottle near by or she will get upset. I am now working on the signs for ‘Mom’ ‘Dad” and ‘all done’. At first Loen didn’t care much for solid food but now she is suddenly very excited about it. The bad thing is she makes a major mess. I am tempted to feed her outside naked so I can just hose her off afterwards. Before I get hate mail, notice that I said tempted, I’m not really going to do that. Loen got the go ahead to try dairy based products like yogurt and cheese. She seems to really like YoBaby yogurt. Tadd asked if he could give her a little piece of cheese. I said sure and was in the process of telling him to give her a little piece of the organic mozzarella string cheese in the refrigerator when he says he already gave her a piece of SMOKED GOUDA! I told him to take it out her mouth. Hell, why not give her blue cheese or Stilton while we are at it. So far she seems okay and no reaction from the Daddy feeding her random bits of adult food. Derby is working with OT regarding eating. He knows what to do with the food once it is in his mouth it is just getting it in there. They feel it is a sensory issue and will be teaching us some tricks to help him. They are still hovering at the 5 ounces of breast milk every 3 hours. I think they are getting ready for a growth spurt so I waiting to see if they will start to drink more. At their one year well check I asked the doctor about starting them on cows milk but he wanted to wait till their adjusted age of 1 year (02/09) before making the switch. So I guess I will be pumping for a few more months here.

Teeth: They each have 6 teeth. We noticed that Derby’s teeth are looking yellow. The pediatrician also noticed that and said that preemies have a tendency for dental problems if they had:antibiotics, traumatic events, antibiotics in utero, high bilirubin or prolonged intubation. Guess what? We had ALL of those and I’m sure a few more of whatever will cause dental problems in the future. So we will be seeing a pediatric dentist in a couple of weeks.

Derby pondering the state of the economy.We removed the strap from his glasses so they fit in the helmet better. The down side is he removes his glasses more often and tries to chew on them.

I thought the twins first birthday party went really well. As many may know the first party is really for the adults, the kids will never remember what went on. It was just a big BBQ with friends. I decided to hold off on a birthday cake until they could appreciate it (and eat it). I made their invites and at the time I thought “how hard can it be?”. Yeah 1 or 2 is no big deal, 50 invites later I am cursing under my breath wondering why I thought stitching THEN adding a rivet to each invite would be a snap. Next year EVITE!

Big Iain, Loen, Little Iain, Souther & Derby

On the invite we asked that in lieu of gifts we would collect donations to purchase a new glider chair for the Santa Barbara NICU. Well, people decided the twins had to have something to open in addition to the generous donations to the NICU. Have I ever mentioned how spoiled they are??

We couldn’t resist the HUGE Nemo pinata. We had enough kids between the ages of 1-7 to enjoy that action. Though it took a couple of Faux-bros to break that guppy open! I love the fact that we put little toys and mini playdoh in the pinata along with candy. My nephew Iain runs with his bucket to collect the goodies then notices he got a toy vs candy, he chucked it over his shoulder. I guess he knew what he wanted.

Tadd, Loen and Tamie. Loen enjoying the pinata action

Loen and Katie. Loen was trying to hold the photographers at bay

Derby telling Martha about his day

This is why Grandpa Jim is not allowed to watch the kids by himself. I hope there wasn’t any beer in that cup!

My mom made the twins linen jackets and Iain silk screened these wonderful images on them. The twins have cooler clothes than I do.We should grow into these soon.

Loen trying to rip Elmo out of the box

Souther made a painting for the twins. If you look at the close up Derby looks a little like Plankton from Spongebob

Tadd’s mom put a lot of time and effort into making these dolls that are the same size the twins were when they were born. Not to mention they are anatomically correct. It still blows my mind to think of them that small.

Derby was cracking Jeff up

The day after the party we went to the park with my family. My dad is playing the part of the ‘Wandering Minstrel’

Little Iain was helping push Derby. I asked Iain what his full name was to which he replied “Big cousin Iain”.

Loen passed out in my dads arms. She barely napped the whole time we had family around. She was afraid she would miss something exciting!

Just hanging with the dad after everyone went home

It is amazingly difficult to get them to pose AND smile at the same time

Wasn’t there a Jaws sequel where they killed him with a sea mine? Perhaps Derby is reenacting that scene

Derby’s costume was a shark but with the addition of the helmet it became “Great White that swallowed X-Wing Fighter”

Face plant

Loen was being a good sport in the beginning

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dress her like a pixie

Loen is tired of the photo shoot

Loen has been a trouper through all of this. When I took Derby in for a recheck Friday morning she was in the stroller for most of the time. Fauxma offered to watch her but I hated to impose on her again, especially after yesterday when she stayed and helped with the babies for HOURS. She says she loves it but I don’t want to wear out our favorite helper. Loen has just been my little wild girl. Talking, crawling, cruising on everything. We are just hoping she doesn’t get what Derby has!

Jim held Derby during his breathing treatment and he fell asleep midway

We were all pretty lethargic this morning. Tadd is still recovering from the October 15th tax deadline. He was working 18-20 hour days towards the end.

Loen being still for a second

Derby getting a breathing treatment

So the rundown is we have yet to get the results of the chest x-ray or RSV test. Derby has to use a nebulizer 3 times a day to help with wheezing while he is sick and start oral steroids. My poor little man. I was afraid we would have to cancel their birthday party but she thought he would be fine by next weekend.

You are probably wondering what the title of this post means. To get a good chest x-ray they put Derby in a infant positioner, Pigg-O-Stat, that made me think of those clear pneumatic tubes you see at drive-up banks. I didn’t get a picture of him in it since I was trying to hold his arms so they could get the images. It was so sad to see his arms up and his little head sticking out of the hole! This is the promo shot for the device. Derby is smaller than this kid so his head was just resting at the bottom of the hole.

UPDATE: Ok now I feel REALLY BAD. After looking at the xray the radiologist said it is “early left sided pneumonia”. At least this is happening now and not on his birthday which would be really pathetic!

Trying peas last week

Trying sweet potatoes a couple of days ago. It was a bad idea to put their high chairs right next to each other because Loen reached over and slimed Derby.

That huge mess was caused by an OUNCE of sweet potatoes

I pureed organic green beans last night, Loen seemed to enjoy them. Derby….. well watch the video below to see what he thought of them.

Derby hates green beans from The Tadpoles on Vimeo.

This is what I did today. I enjoyed the fact that Loen and Derby had a marvelous time playing at the park. Our beautiful, laughing, smiling healthy babies. I guess we just knew things would work out somehow.