For this Child I Prayed

Yes, I kept the title singular, because that is what I did! I prayed and prayed for a child for 2 years....little did I know I was asking God for something so much smaller than He had planned for us! I'm so thankful He did not answer my limited prayer, but instead chose to pour into my cup until it ran over in grace...with TWO children! He had so much more in store for us and could see these two little blessings every time I cried out to Him in fear, anger, hurt, desperation and confusion.

Last Sunday at Church, we dedicated (in public) Jenna and Caden to the Lord. I love how our Church conducts this service! The parents line up with the children and share publicly in front of family, friends and the Church body our desire to release our children to the Lord's will and plan for their lives. Then, after we have shared our intent, our Pastor addresses the Church body and asks for their support, encouragement and prayers for the children represented (and their parents!). The twins did great...we had no major spit up or poo to deal with. Jenna got a little vocal so I didn't hear half of what Pastor was saying, I just joined in when it was time for us to respond! So, for my sake and yours....below is what was said....it truly is a reflection of our desire for Jenna and Caden.

Pastor: In the presence of our heavenly Father, you parents have come today to present your children unto the Lord. The faith which you have placed in the promises of God must grow as you fully honor God by embracing His promises by faith for your child. The individual commitments you have made privately to the Lord, to your child, and to each other, you now proclaim publicly in an act of worship and dedication. Do you come today to commit yourselves to be godly parents whose lives will reflect the glorious joy of knowing the Lord God through Jesus Christ, His Son?

Parents: We do

Pastor: Do you come to place this child in the strong, loving, secure arms of your eternal Father, entrusting your child both to His car and His service?

Parents: We do

Pastor: The prayer of Hannah for her son, Samuel, gives us an illustration of the extent of this dedication: "I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." (1 Samuel 1:27-28) Is this the commitment you are making in the dedication of your child unto the Lord?

Parents: It is

Pastor (to the congregation): Will you endeavor by the grace of God to pray for these parents and their children and to live your lives before God in such a way that these young ones will see the power and glory of the Lord in your walk with Him?

Congregation: We will

**We pray that you will join us in this prayer for Caden and Jenna. We pray that you will come alongside us and point their hearts and minds to glorify Jesus Christ as you take part in their lives. We are so thankful for you all...it is because of your prayers that our hearts were encouraged to wait patiently for God's plan for our lives.

Afterwards, in submitting to Ryan's wishes :)ha! we put the twins in the Nursery for the first time. ahhh! They did great and it shouldn't have been a big deal, but I'm still a bit in the "Mother Hen" mode. Preemie + Winter + Phobia of RSV + the number of germs in a church nursery = nervous mama. We had everyone over to our house for lunch after Church and had a great day celebrating our two gifts. Thank you, Thank you, Lord!

And of course, pictures of the Mr. and Miss.

Me and my Jenna Girl!

My two studs :)

Nana and Papa




Papa T and GiGi

Aunt Rob and Uncle Brad

Aunt Alice

Three Months!

Somebody make it stop...they are growing up way to fast. Can't believe it is time for a 3 month post! So much has happened in a month!

First, if you haven't looked through the previous posts...you must! We had an incredible Christmas / New Year Holiday. I prayed many a Christmas Holiday that we would have a baby by the next year and this was the year...times two!

The kiddos are growing so much, they have been interacting with us, smiling, cooing, laughing and bringing so much joy into our home! We didn't have a 3 month appt scheduled, but thanks to our awesome Pediatrician / Lactation Consultant...we do have a weight update :) About a week or two before Christmas, all of a sudden, the twins would only nurse for 7-8 minutes each feeding. No matter what I did, they would not eat anymore! I tried to observe to see if they were fussy before the next scheduled feeding so I could tell whether or not they were getting enough. With our reflux trouble, it made it hard to tell. So, my mind began to play tricks and I began to wonder about my milk supply. I called our Peds office and they were sooo understanding and said to come right on in and we would weigh the twins and look at their growth chart. So we took the twins in and...surprise! They are doing more than ok...praise God! Caden somehow has kept the heavyweight title coming in at 11lb 5oz (25%) with Jenna at 11 lb 2 oz (40%). Yep, Jenna, even using her actual-age scale (not adjusted to account for their prematurity) is coming in at 40%! My little chunky monkey :) They had both grown taller too which we were glad to see! Caden is now 22 inches (5%) and Jenna is 21.50 (8%). It is soo funny to me that Jenna, 3 months old, is finally the length of my friends newborn baby...straight out of the womb! Oh, I love my little Little's :) So the nurse told me not to worry for another second...I had plenty of milk and it was good milk...fattening these babies right up! She said to be thankful that they have become to efficient, it only makes my life easier! I'm so thankful the Lord has granted my desire to nurse both babies AND have enough to pump and store. The Lord is good.

Since my last 2 month post, Caden smiles all the time...he is such a ham! He can melt your heart right at the second you are most frustrated with him by flashing that adorable smile.




Jenna has slowly decided she likes the response she gets when she smiles :) Your key times to see her beautiful smile is in the morning and at night...on the changing table. She is such a little lady and blinks her long eye lashes and smiles with her eyes.

Caden must have heard us talking about him being our little drama. The twins have completely switched places! Somehow, overnight, Caden has turned into our textbook baby. He gets a good feeding in, is happy as can be talking and cooing, then soothes himself to sleep the last hour and a half of each cycle. At night, we put him down with his paci and he is out like a light!
Jenna? oh dear. She does great during the day with her schedule, she too eats well and has great happy awake time. She often fights sleep and will eventually fall asleep with about an hour to go in her cycle. She continues to have fussy time from 8 - 11pm each night. Once it is time for bed, the battle begins:) She has a hard time soothing herself to sleep. Our attempts to let her "cry it out" have ended 45 minutes later with her still crying on all cylinders. So, for now we still help sooth her to sleep....the good news is that once she is asleep, she is asleep and goes through the night.
If you remember, when I went into pre-term labor back in September, they gave me a series of steroid shots to help the babies' lungs develop in case they came too early. Well, I joke now that Caden must have soaked up all of the steroids and not left any for Jenna. He is strong as an ox! He has been holding his head up since 2 weeks old, but now he can basically sit up on his own...sure he tumbles every once in a while, but he holds his head straight up with great control, turns from side to side and even uses his stomach to crunch himself up when leaned back. He is doing so well, I broke out the bumbo seat for him and he LOVED it! We joke that he thinks he is 6 months old and just trapped in a newborn body :) Jenna? Bless her heart...her side-neck fetish doesn't help her at all. (Click here to read what I'm talking about if you dont remember.) She is doing better now...but is not close when compared to Caden. She has a hard time sitting up and holding her head upright. We work with her daily so I know she will catch up! Combine her side-head with her tongue fetish and you have some funny looking pictures:)



The medicine we got at our 2 month appt seems to be helping a little bit. We (me and Ryan) thought we knew best and stopped giving it to them over Christmas b/c we couldn't tell a difference. BIG MISTAKE. It was definitely keeping things from being worse...which we found out. Our first huge foul as parents. So we started them back on it and things have leveled out. Jenna still spits up every feeding, but Caden seems to be at peace after more feedings now.

How are they sleeping? Like angels! We are so blessed to have TWO good sleepers. They really could have made it hard on us by having different schedules or only having one who cared to sleep...but we are so thankful that is not the case! Right after the 2 month post...on December 15th to be exact...they BOTH slept through the night! It was amazing, I jumped out of bed...not b/c I was worried about them...I was so energized! They slept from the 11 pm feeding to 7am. It. was. awesome! For the most part, they have kept that schedule...both of them! We typically feed the last night feeding between 10:30 / 11:00 pm and have them down asleep by 11:30 pm / 12 :00 am. They consistently sleep until 5:30 when 90% of the time, Jenna has figured out she is on her back and cries. Once you go in and turn her on her side again, she is out so we can usually get another hour / hour and a half of sleep. Here lately, they have tag-teamed me in the mornings and taken turns needing to be soothed. So J will wake up around 5:30, then Caden around 6:00 , then J again at 6:30 and so on... While it would be easier to go ahead and get up and feed them, I fight it and do the up-and-down to get more sleep. We typically start our day between 7 and 7:30 am. They are still in the same crib for now although I rarely find them in the same place I left them. There is no better of God's grace and sovereignty than sleeping babies.




We are enjoying more "things" like play gyms, bumbo seats, mobiles, Baby Bjorn's and such. They are fun to interact with during their awake times. I still nurse them every 3 hours, play with them for about 30 -45 minutes, then they sleep the last hour and a half of each cycle. The 8 am / 11 am / 2 pm go quite smoothly...once we venture into the 5pm / 8 pm territory, all bets are off. Usually they just want to be awake and observe...they are happy, but they are awake! Jenna still has trouble from 8 -11 pm, but we have accepted that and try to work with her and comfort her during this fussy time. I can tell a HUGE difference in the random crying...8 weeks really was the peak. They are happy and content babies who like to kick, squeal, and snuggle up to each other.







Jenna is my little Mermaid - she loves bath time! Caden = not so much. Just hurry up and finish with Caden...Jenna likes to splash around and enjoy her baths. I see many a bubble bath in her future :)

They are out of most Newborn outfits. I almost cried when I had to start a bin of "outgrown" clothes. 0-3 month fits best while 3 month clothes are baggy ;) The newborns diapers are definitely gone so we are using our plethora of Size 1 diapers:)

I am gaining bravery by the day as far as my adventures with the twins by myself. I have taken them to the Pediatrician, by work office, and to friends' houses by myself. So far so good...who knows where we will go next!

Tummy Time: a family affair

Sometimes, Daddy helps with Tummy Time :)

Best Place on Earth

Over the New Year Weekend, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed East...to the Beach! I was sooo excited to take the twins to the beach, it is my favorite place on earth! I've always dreamed of taking my kids to the beach and making memories there. I was so excited, I started packing at the beginning of the week :)

On Thursday, Aunt Robin, me and the twins packed up the car and hit the road...the twins did so well - they slept the entire drive! Gigi and Papa T followed behind in case we had a crisis :)Ryan and Brad came down after work Thursday night. We had a great time enjoying the weather...we even sported short sleeves one day it was so warm! We took walks in the stroller, swings in the hammock, and quiet time in the rocking chairs. It was awesome! As usual, Ryan and I had a wonderful relaxing time since we had so much help with the twins...it is soooo nice to just sit down because other folks are around to go check on the babies when someone starts crying. We had to adjust our usual lifestyle at the beach by eating in more since we had some new additions...but we loved it! (don't worry, we still made it to Dairy Queen...rest assured).



The photo below is how we found Papa T when we came back from eating one night. He insisted that he stay home with the twins while the girls went out and enjoyed some seafood...looks like everything is under control to me ! :)



Of COURSE we had to go out on the beach and have a photo shoot...the twins' first time seeing the Ocean...2 months old was waaaay too long, but we have taken care of that now :)

** Shout out to Aunt Robin for going bonkers on our new camera and taking all of these awesome shots...

I had forgotten to take the twins' 2 month old picture, so we squeezed that in too :)






If there was any downside to our trip it was the fact that Ryan and I had roommates..the twins! We put their pack-n-play in our room and heard every noise they made all night. We never had them in our room once we came home from the hospital, so this was new to us! With two babies...someone is always moving or grunting or making a noise! We didn't sleep well at all...so much so that Gigi and Papa T offered to have the pack n play moved in their room New Years Eve night (our 2nd night there). We jumped on that and went to bed at 10:30....glorious! We laughed at how we are such old parents already...sleeping through NYE. :) Gigi and Papa T learned how noisy the twins were so they found their way back into our room the next night :) Ryan and Jenna had some bonding time with a 6:00 am stroller ride...bless her heart. The family teamed up together and took care of the babies one morning so I could sleep in a bit.

There is NO better way to wake up than this...



We had such a wonderful time at the beach....me and my mom are eagerly looking to the weather for any warm weekend so we can pop in the car and go! We are sooo thankful the Lord has provided this retreat for us to go to...we look forward to making many, many memories at Oak Island!

Trial Run for Uncle B and Aunt C

Over the Christmas Break, Uncle Brent (Ryan's Younger Brother) and Aunt Courtney spent the night with us one night to help us with the twins. All was going well and predictable until Ryan decided to go to bed early since Brent / Courtney could help me with feeding and getting the twins in bed. After some initial hesitation, Brent agreed to feed Caden his bottle...after all Caden is the easy one to feed remember? Courtney was ready to accept the challenge of spit-up Jenna. After 10 minutes of feeding, all chaos broke loose on poor unsuspecting Brent / Courtney. :) In a matter of 10 minutes all of the following occurred:

1- Caden is incredibly fussy and squirmy not wanting to finish his bottle.
2- I tell Brent to pick him up and maybe burp him !?
3- Caden proceeds to throw up...NOT spit up on Brent...all over Brent :)
4- I am laughing hysterically while Brent is sitting covered in throw up. I go to help Brent out and pick up Caden. He apparently was holding the best for mama.
5- Caden up-chucks all over me and I mean all over me :)
6- Over in the corner, Courtney says she thinks Jenna has a dirty diaper. I say she probably doesn't b/c Jenna has turned into a store-n-save...she only has a dirty diaper every 3 or 4 days.
7- Courtney re-adjusts Jenna and finds her hand covered in....poo! Jenna proceeds to have major intestinal blowout all over her outfit and on Courtney.

By now it is midnight and I'm getting the bathtub run for Caden...we salvage Jenna enough to give her a bath in the morning. What a trooper Uncle Brent and Aunt Courtney were! I told them if they could handle those 30 minutes...they are already a leg up for any future little " Littles " in their family.

Battle Wounds Documented: