Cuteness (from a biased POV)

Hope everyone had a FANTASTIC extended weekend!

J&K

Playing catch up

It is so hard to keep on top of this blog now that the boys are more active (and it didn’t help that 3 out of 4 of us have been sick for the last couple of weeks!).  We just want to soak up every single minute of Max and Wes’s new discoveries and achievements as we can, and that means less and less time on the computer.

First of all, I want to update everyone on the latest happenings in our world.  So much has been happening, and we just haven’t had time to tell everyone about it, other than the occasional photo here and/or shout out on Facebook, so I’m just going to list a few fun facts (and not-so-fun facts) about what’s been up with us and our boys.

• Both Max and Wes have been consistently sleeping through the night for about two months now, which is AWESOME (and yes, we know how incredibly lucky we are).  We usually put them down around 8, and then wake them to eat somewhere between 6-6:30 every morning.
• We stopped swaddling Max about a month ago, very successfully.  We tried to stop with Wes at the same time, but he just wasn’t ready, so we waited.  We stopped swaddling him about a week ago, and so far, so good.  They are both almost always roll over to their tummies when we put them down, and since it works so well, we don’t fight it.
• Max is still doing really well at sitting up, now staying upright for up to 30-60 seconds at a time!  He just LOVES all of the attention he gets from everyone when he’s sitting “like a big boy”, and he especially likes being on the same level as his new buddy, Rex.  He and Rex are going to be inseparable – he is always following him around with his eyes – it is the cutest thing!
• Wes doesn’t really show much interest in sitting.  I think he just may just skip it altogether, and just start standing!  When we stand him up, he stands flat-footed (not on his tip toes like most infants his age do), and has amazing balance.  When we try to get him to sit, he’s really wobbly.  He has also really taken to “talking” all.the.time, and oh my gosh, it could not be any more adorable!
• Jeff and I have done some MAJOR cutting back on our spending habits.  This all stemmed from when we got an email notification last week that our bank balance was sixty-six cents (yes, you are reading that correctly).  I’m usually on top of our financial situation, but with being sick twice in three weeks, and then looking after two sick little boys, I just lost track of where we sat financially.  Oops. 
• Our washing machine (the third one we’ve had in a year and a half) took a dump AGAIN a few weeks ago, and we were all set to go buy a new one last Saturday, when Jeff’s parents surprised us by offering to pay for it.  As much as I hate accepting help from our parents, we really did need the help (and I didn’t really want to finance yet another purchase), so we went for it.  We are now the proud new owners of a high-efficiency washer and dryer thanks to Jeff’s folks, so THANK YOU, Art and Sue!
• For those of you who don’t know us IRL or have seen our updates on Facebook, I want to give you another hint as to what the “big news” is that will be happening sometime in (hopefully) the next month.  Our IVF journey is being published in a major national newspaper (as well as their online version, along with video and everything), and we couldn’t be more excited to share our story with the world!  That’s all I can say for right now, but I promise you as soon as we get word on a “release date”, we’ll let you know!

And now for some pictures from the last few days…

Max chillin' with his bottle with my friend, Marci

A great picture of Wes while auntie Marci was holding him

Can you imagine if we would have had triplets? The boys' playdate with Dylan

The three amigos, just hangin' out while the adults had dinner

Melissa and Dylan (look at his eyelashes!)

And a cute video of Max enjoying his exersaucer (there are some really great smiles towards the end)…

And finally, GOOOOOOOOOO BIG REEEEEEEEEEED!!!!  I know, I know – Florida Atlantic isn’t much of a feat, but hey – a win is a win!

Kerry

Wes “talking”

I think he takes after his mommy…

Kerry

Cousin Brook!!!

My cousin, Brook, lives in New York, so I don’t see her nearly as much as I’d like to, but she came to Denver last week, and finally got to meet Max and Wes! 

I had to post two photos because I LOVE Max’s face in the second photo – it’s his “concentration” face (like when he’s reaching for a toy).  What he was “concentrating” on, I have no idea.

Kerry

Poor Wes (and Max)

As I type this, Jeff is on his way to our pediatrician’s office with both boys.  Wes has a horrible cough (it sounds like he’s barking, it’s so heartbreaking), and Max’s little cough from last week just doesn’t seem to be going away.  I had a viral respiratory infection and double ear infection last week, so I’m sure the boys got this from me.  All of that covering my mouth, washing my hands, and using hand sanitizer like a crazed woman didn’t even help protect our little guys.  =(  I hope and pray the little guys are okay…

UPDATE – Both boys are okay, they are likely just at the tail-end of a cold, and the coughing is likely just a result of nasal drainage.  The good news is that they do NOT have to be put back on oxygen or be admitted to the NICU again, which is what I was most afraid of.  Maybe I’ll actually be able to sleep tonight.  =) 

Kerry

Six years ago today…

…I married my best friend in the whole wide world.  Jeff and I have an amazing partnership and a mutual love and respect for each other that I’m certain will stand the test of time.  There are a gazillion things I want to say about him here, but I think I’ll spare y’all and just tell him in private. 

I love you, punky!!!!

Kerry

Another Max Milestone!

Please forgive the crappy photo quality and red eye (I used our old camera), but look at what we have here – Max sitting up all by himself!!!!!!  What a big boy!

Kerry

Thank you, Jamie!

Remember Ivory?  My friend, and fellow preemie parent, who set up our meal delivery schedule when I was on bed rest?  Well, Jamie is her super talented husband who shot the photo that’s now our new header – the photo that brought tears to my eyes when I first saw it.  We had a BIG day on Sunday – with two photo shoots – one with Jamie (and helpers Ivory and Emma) for the boys’ 6 month pictures and a few family photos, and another with a photographer that is working with us on something for our big announcement happening sometime next month.  That’s all I can say for now (on the blog anyway, our Facebook friends and friends IRL know what’s going on), but I’ll leave you with a few more shots from our photo shoot with Jamie…

Kerry

6 month pediatrician appointment

I’m on my lunch break at work, so this is going to be short and sweet.  =)

STATS (as of their appointment last Friday):

Max was 13 lbs, 4 oz, 25 inches long, and had a head circumference of 16 1/2.  Wes was 13 lbs, 11 1/2 oz, 26 inches long, and had a head circumference of 16 1/4. 

We can no longer call Weston the “chubby one” or “fatty” (even though we lovingly still do from time to time) – he is really getting long and thinning out quite a bit.  And his head is smaller than Max’s now – how did that happen?!?!

I’ve always told our pediatrician that I didn’t want to know the boys’ percentiles (as far as height and weight are concerned) because I didn’t want to be freaking out about how “behind” they are (since they were 10 weeks early), but Dr. Brandon let Jeff and I know that both boys are on the charts for their ACTUAL age for height, and almost on the charts for their actual age for weight.  How fantastic is that?!?  Dr. B was also very impressed with both Max and Wes’s gross motor skills, and said that developmentally they are around what a 5-5 1/2 month old baby should be, not a 4 month old (which is what their adjusted age is)!

We were also cleared to start introducing solids, but I’m not sure we’re ready for that quite yet (and by “we” I mean “me”).  For some reason it feels like starting solids is a HUGE step that I’m not sure I’m mentally prepared for…hopefully this makes sense to other mommies out there.  :::sniff, sniff:::  I can’t believe our little boys are growing up so fast!!!

Who gets to tell them they have to get shots?

Dr. B with Max and Wes

Kerry

Better late than never!

Saturday, August 15th

Believe it, or not, we had two weddings to attend last Saturday.  Our friends, Tiff and Rich, got married in the morning, and our friends, Luke and Christie, got married in the evening.  Tiff and Rich’s wedding was beautiful (as a “manly man” am I allowed to say that?), and their reception was a lot of fun.  We had a lot of friends there, and we all enjoyed the signature drinks (well Kerry did anyway) and delicious food at the clubhouse.  Kerry was very impressed with the cake, too – we always joke that we only go to weddings so that my wife can get her wedding cake, her most favorite thing ever.  We were really sad that we had to leave the reception early to make it to Luke and Christie’s reception (we couldn’t make the wedding) in Boulder, but it was easier that two other couples at the first wedding also had to leave.

Luke and Christie’s reception was a blast!  We got to see our good friend, Sean, and meet his girlfriend (finally), Sara – and I got to see Sean’s mom for the first time in about 8 years.  The last time I really talked with her was the night before I bought Kerry’s engagement ring.  That night, I was with some friends at Sean’s parents house and both Sean and Joe offered to help me pay off the rest of the ring (so I could have it earlier than planned to propose in California).  Rambling on sorry.  She is the sweetest lady, and we had a great time catching up.  We hung out through the dinner, the cake cutting and the speeches.  Luke’s dad was funny, he had 3 pages to go through that went from comical to fatherly and everything in between.  We had a blast talking with friends and Kerry even got out and danced – I have video but I think I will hold on to it as blackmail.

On our way back from Boulder we decided to stop by Rich’s parents’ house, where they were having an after-party.  It was nice to hang with our newly-married friends without the hoopla of a reception, and a great way to wind down from our very full day.  When we were leaving, someone asked where boys were, and Kerry responded, “oh we just left them in the closet”.  Rich’s dad almost chocked to death laughing – he had just taken a drink of water, beer, or whatever it was he was drinking, and spit it all over the sink.  We all had a good laugh for a few minutes while he recovered.  And BTW, they boys were not in a closet, they were still at my parents’ house (thanks to my mom and dad for watching our little guys), which is were we went next to hit the hay.

Two weddings in one day is not recommended for a few reasons.  

1.  You have to leave one to go to the other and risk missing portions of one or both like us.  

2.  Two fabulous wedding meals in one day sounds great, but you are almost too full from the first one to truly enjoy the second.  

3.  You feel horrible for missing parts of each wedding, and the fact that you were so focused on both weddings that you didn’t get to put all of you attention on the one you were at.  

That said, we would not have missed either one for anything in the world, but it just stunk that they both had to be the same day.  At least we got to attend them both, considering how we felt two days earlier.

The beautiful bride and groom - congrats Tiff and Rich!

Kerry and I all dressed up

(Our best man) Josh, Peyton, Kerry, and I

Don't they look great together? Congrats, Luke and Christie!!!

The "Dogg Pound"

Sunday, August 16th

Sunday we got home from my folks’ house and got ready so that we could meet up with Sean, Sara, Ryan, and Melissa (and Dylan) at DIA (since Sean and Sara were flying back to Charlotte and were already running a bit late).  Kerry, I, and our boys got there with enough time for Sean and Sara to spend a good amount of time with the boys before they had to run.  It was awesome to get to introduce Max and Wes to Sean since he had a special role our lives (read above how he helped me out on the engagement ring).  Kerry and I had also not met Ryan and Melissa’s little boy, Dylan, yet.  Kerry and Melissa were both due on April 26th, but Dylan was born early too, so the preemies all got to hang together – it was so cute! 

On our way back home from DIA, we stopped at Ted’s Montana Grill for dinner.  While we were waiting for our food, Wes was having fun making cute little baby noises and a lady in the booth next to us “shooshed” us, or so we thought.  It could have been anything, but it definitely sounded like a shoosh and it definitely sounded like it came from her booth.  Who “shooshes” a baby making cute noises?!?  Then, after we had finished eating, the boys were starting to get restless, so we got a dessert to go and started heading towards the front door.  A new set of people were being seated in the exact booth as the Shoosh Lady, and one of them made a comment about how close to the kitchen they were and “oh great, two babies too…oh good, they’re leaving”.  Kerry didn’t hear them say that, and I didn’t tell her until we were outside (and they were safe from the wrath of my wife), but I was really annoyed by their comments.  I mean, what are we supposed to do – stay home and never get to enjoy a dinner out with our entire family?!?!  Grrrrr.

Ryan (with Wes), me (with Dylan), and Sean (with Max)

Sean was really brave and held all three boys

A few days before we finally got the boys in their Bobcats gear that uncle Sean got them shortly after they were born

Dylan making a silly face

And some miscellaneous photos from the last week, or so…

Wes fed himself the whole bottle for the first time at Grandma and Grandpa's last weekend!

Wes looking a bit like Dr. Evil (Austin Powers) in their new exersaucer

Max was concentrating very hard on spinning that ball!

A picture of our first little boy, just so you know we still love him

Max was so pooped from the weekend that he didn't even make it through his Sunday night feeding

Jeff