"Rooming in"

It was one year ago tonight that Phil and me had one of the longest, most sleep-deprived, most wonderful nights of our lives. We spent this night in a cold room on a noisy hall in the NICU of Baptist South. Sounds fun, huh? And to add to the fun... you know that song.. "Sleeping single in a double bed"? Well, we were doing the opposite. Yes, that little room had a SINGLE bed in it, y'all! It was bad. But, it was a hoop they required us to jump through in order to bring our baby girl home. So, we changed her diapers, bathed her, fed her, and practiced giving her the medicine she needed. We also got to hold her with no monitors attached for the first time ever. It felt so weird and so wonderful at the same time. I am thankful for that time because the nurse was right down the hall, and we could ask her any questions we wanted to ask. And those of you that know me know that I asked some questions about my babies. That is one of my favorite things to do. It also meant we got to spend the night with Rush. Although he had to stay with his nurse, we still got to go out and feed him and hold him all during the night. Of course, that was really like holding him all during the day because the NICU never sleeps. Maybe the lights dim a little or something, but I don't think so. They just work on that little three hour schedule, and it doesn't matter the time of day. So, we fed her, changed her, fed her, changed her. 6 pm, 9pm, 12am, 3am, 6am, 9am. Then, it was time. We put her in that cute little preemie sized pink dress and bonnet with her crying the whole time. (That's my girl!) She has never been afraid to tell people what she thinks. I think she was saying, "Please leave me here because these two don't have a clue what they are doing with me!!!!!!!" But, we took her home anyway. And it was wonderful. Sydney Frances joined us at home for the first time on October 1, 2008. One of the greatest days. We had another great one the next week. I'll tell you his story later.










Those of you that have known Miss Priss from the beginning know what she is saying in this one... Eh, Eh, Eh, EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Being one

Just felt like posting some pictures today and looked through my computer folder to see what we have been doing lately. I must admit there is a trend with these pictures. See if you can figure out what is happening here...


You've got a little something on your face there, buddy.


You, too, sweet girl, but it's on your nose.


Dirty laundry?? Oh, the perfect place for me to sit and play.



Her two favorite toys... bunny and bear. Her Halloween costume is a pink bunny that looks pretty much just like this pink bunny...floppy ears an all.


Rush on his second attempt to escape... he army crawled under the library table in our den to escape their play area. He bumped his head along the way, so I did what all good moms do... took his picture. He is a crafty little fella.


New favorite activity..take all the books off the bottom shelf and then sit on the bottom shelf of the built-ins in the den.


Again...


And again...


And again...


And it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.


Fun times with the baseball... I have to buy my baby girl a tea set and a baby doll..sooner rather than later. She loves playing ball with her Daddy and brother, but I gotta get some girl stuff in there, too!


Please excuse the redneck bibs. We use those at night so the "decent" ones are available for daycare during the day. Can't be looking like little rednecks at daycare now, can we? :-)They are, however, sporting their new Children's Place footie pajamas. LOVE THEM!!! And they have the little grippers on the bottom. The grippers make me happy and sad. Happy because it decreases the chance of a busted lip on the hard tile floor Sydney Frances insists on walking across (very shakily)... sad because my babies need grippers on their pjs because they are walking. Tiny baby phase is all gone. We are well on our way to toddlerhood. HOLD ON FOR THIS RIDE...


So, did you notice a theme with these pictures? All but the last one are ACTION shots. And the last one was just a lull in the action. These babies are ON THE GO!!! Therefore... Mama and Daddy are ON THE GO!! Walking, crawling, playing, eating (well, sorta eating)!!! They love to play and laugh. I think the next time I get a picture of the two of them both looking at the camera at the same time will be... 17 years from now when they have their senior portraits made. Maybe.. just maybe.. we can get a picture of the two of them being still and smiling. :-)

Exciting news!

I have finally gotten permission to do the blog post I have been waiting to do. I am very pleased to announce that we will have a new member in our family very soon! (No, silly, I am not pregnant. That makes Phil stop breathing for a few seconds, so that can't happen right now.) My little sister, Ivy, is expecting her first baby, and I am beyond excited about it!!! Now, not only am I announcing that here in the blog world, but I am also telling you that it is a GIRL!!!! And not only am I telling you that she is a girl, but I am also telling you that that she has been named. This February we will welcome sweet Kate Elizabeth!!!!

Now, of course, we have known about this pregnancy for quite some time. I have known since the first pregnancy test, but I have waited patiently for my opportunity to tell this little story. This one involves Rush and Sydney Frances. They really wanted to help tell Gigi and Papa about their new cousin. So, on Father's Day, they dressed up in these cute little onesies and told Gigi and Papa that they had a brand new grandchild coming in February. It took just a minute for it to click before everyone got very EXCITED!!! Sydney Frances entered the house first wearing one that said "Coming February 2010". She was followed by Rush wearing one that said "Cousin C_________". (We don't do last names here at Just the Two of Us.) So much fun!!! I am glad they were able to be a part of it, and I hope it is just the beginning of a long, close relationship between these three babies. Phil grew up being very close to his cousins in Birmingham. I hope that my two will be close to sweet Kate, too! There will only be an 18 month age difference, so I think that is just about perfect!!


Kate, we can't wait to meet you! Love, AUNT LAURA!!!! Yay!!!!!!

Videos

Below are a couple of videos of the kids playing around at home. Please ignore our messy house. This is what it looks like when we are all hanging out at home on the weekends!!! Messy but fun! The first clip is of Rush dancing at his music and lights table. He loves that thing and can't keep those feet still. He also has a Stevie Wonder move that he is using these days. The second clip is of Sydney Frances taking a few steps. She is so proud of herself and LOVES for you to cheer for her. Right now, she only wants to walk so she can throw herself into your arms, but you gotta have goals, right? Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Rigoberto

Rush and Sydney Frances received some really cool gifts for their birthday. It looked like Santa Claus had come for a visit after the party was all said and done. Toys are really high tech these days and can be very smart! They both received these cute little interactive puppies named Violet and Scout. They play music and lullabies. Some of the songs are quite catchy! You connect them to the computer using a USB port. Then, you can program them to say your child's favorite food, animal, color, etc. You can also choose the songs it will play when the animal's paw is pressed. One other very interesting feature is that you can program the "Friend" to say your child's name! How cool is that, right?? So, I plugged them in and downloaded the Leapfrog software stuff from the website. Everything was very simply designed so I didn't even have to get all aggravated and hot while trying to get them set up. I started with Violet. She belongs to Sydney Frances. I chose her favorite animal (rabbit), color (orange), 5 daytime songs, 5 sleepytime songs, and then I chose her name. You can't make it say two names, so it just says "Hi, Sydney." She smiles every time. It is the cutest thing. I think that she really loves that it says her name! It also sings songs with her name in it, and says "I love you, Sydney." Yep, cutest thing. Next up was Rush's good 'ole pal, Scout! I put in his favorite animal (bear), color, (red), 5 daytime songs, 5 sleepytime songs, and his na... Wait, the little booklet says it has THOUSANDS of names to choose from. Where is sweet "Rush"? It is a boy's name after all. It is not a made up name. I even know another Rush. It was my great-grandfather's name. Well, let me follow the steps for what is says to do if you can't find your child's name. I click on the "R" to see all of the "R" names. Surely it will be there... thousands of names they said. But alas, no Rush. Of course, if my child's name were Rigoberto, I would be in luck. Or Ravleen. Or Ravneet. Or Reame. Or Remington. Or Raven. Or Rocky. All of those parents are in luck. So, poor Rush. I know it is not the most common boy name, but seriously, Ravneet? I feel that Rush should be there over Ravneet. Don't you? Scout does tell Rush that he loves him, but Rush just has to trust the eye contact coming from Scout because Scout can't say his name. We could have made it say, "I love you, Buddy", but you all know I am paranoid that Rush is going to grow up and tell people his name is Buddy because I call him that all the time. Like I have said before, the Buddy's of the world usually weren't given that name at birth. It is, however, one of the choices for a name in the Leap Frog database.

Caught ya!!! Rush under the dining room table... I think he will love to build "forts" one day with kitchen chairs and blankets. He loves it under there.

Stats and Facts at ONE!

We had a great visit with Dr. Jones last Friday for the babies' one year checkup. Well, it was great minus the shots which produce two of the most pitiful faces I have EVER EVER EVER seen. Poor Rush couldn't catch his breath, and my heart almost broke IN HALF. They did recover much more quickly this time, though. Last time, we left with both of them still screaming. This time, they weren't even crying when we left the room. Dr. Jones was very happy with their progress!!! So, of course, we are VERY glad!!

Their stats at the 12-month checkup are:

Rush:
Weight: 18 lbs. 4 oz.
Height: 28 inches
He finally got a little dot on the growth curve this time. He has always been UNDER the curve since birth, so we were very pleased to see him jump into the 5th percentile. He is also a whole 1/4 inch taller than his baby sister. It is about time he passed her in something. He has been working hard. Yay, Rush!!!!

All about Rush at one year:
-He loves to laugh.
-He has 4 teeth with two more pushing through right now.
-His hair is starting to get curly, and I am in love with it.
-His favorite toys are his bat, ball, and anything that plays music.
-He loves to sway to music.
-He will also dance standing at his music activity table. (Hilarious!)
-He seems to prefer playing by himself at home, although he loves Sydney Frances very much.
-He will not eat any "table food" and will vomit on you if you try to make him. Guaranteed.
-He can throw his ball.
-He can clap.
-He can say ball, although everything is currently "Caaaaa...", and we can't figure out what that means.
-He still loves to have the top of his head pressed against something when he goes to sleep. It all started with a beanbag on his head in the NICU. He loved that thing!
-He cried for two days at daycare when it was time for his nap and he realized Sydney Frances wasn't in the bed next to him. She was at home sick. When she got back on the third day, he went right to sleep. Sweet!
-He loves to be tickled.
-He is cruising on furniture and can crawl at lightning speed.



Sydney Frances:
Weight: 19 lbs. 4 oz.
Height: 27 3/4 inches
My sweet girl is between the 10-25th percentile for height and weight. Dr. Jones was very impressed that she is getting ready to walk!

All about Sydney Frances at one year:
~Has four teeth with two more pushing through right now. Yes, it is very intriguing to me that they have gotten every tooth at the exact same time. Twin stuff!
~Her hair still stands straight up in the back. It is so precious!
~Her eyes are becoming a beautiful blue-green color. I can't wait to see what color they are in the future!
~Her favorite toys are her "Bunny and Bear" and books (only if she is holding them and turning the pages, though.)
~She can stand by herself and took her first step a week ago.
~She adores her Daddy. She claps when he comes home from work.
~She can flop out in the floor and pitch a fit like a two-year old professional. Wow! I thought we had a little while before that started.
~She would play in the bath tub for three days if we would let her.
~She can say ball (Sense a theme here?), Ma-ma, Did-dy, and MINE!
~Table food makes her shiver, but she doesn't usually throw up.
~She likes to be in charge and seems to be a little dramatic. (Where does she get these things??)
~When she wakes up in the morning, she won't open her eyes for the first few minutes. She will smile at you when you talk to her, but her eyes stay closed. Cute stuff!

All is well here in our little world. They are so much fun and growing like crazy!
The pictures coming up are of them right before it is time for bed. Most of them are of Rush because he is usually the sleepiest. They can't hold their heads up at night since they started daycare! I think they are so much busier, and there are other children to play with and watch. They also play outside and just generally have a great time. This is evident by the fact that Rush couldn't even wait for his bottle. He put is head on the arm of the chair and went to sleep. Notice that Sydney Frances has her face buried in the above mentioned bear, as well. These pictures are so funny to me!!