We love BOB

When the kids were little and still in their infant car seats, the only stroller we owned was the double Snap N' Go.

This is a great little contraption that is basically just a stroller frame the car seats snap into. Because there aren't any other seats on it, it is pretty lightweight compared to the other double strollers out there. It's also terrific for keeping the kids in their car seats from car to stroller to car to house so you don't have to wake them up to move them.

Waking up twins is never a good idea.

The only downside to the Snap N' Go is that once the kids outgrew the infant car seats, they outgrew the stroller.

We debated about what to get next. A tandem double stroller? A side-by-side double? A double umbrella stroller? Or splurge and get what we really wanted, a double jogger.

(Never underestimate the importance of this decision, especially for a mom of twins. This decision will dictate not only how much money you have left in your bank account, which is never a lot since double strollers can be pretty pricey, but how long you have until your back gives out on you after pushing around a huge stroller not to mention taking it in and out of the car. Can't you tell how important this is by our stroller parking lot at a typical playgroup get-together?).


We searched Craigslist for weeks trying to find a double jogger with a front swivel wheel to no avail. The couple that we did find on there were snatched up within minutes and for not much less than the new ones. The resale value on those things is incredible!

Lucky for us, Aunt Mo solved all of our stroller needs.

Months after moving into our new house, we unpacked the last box in the garage to find a tandem stroller generously donated to us by Aunt Mo. What a find! It's perfect for outings to the store especially because it has such a large basket underneath. But, it's pretty heavy so not great for all of the trips to the Zoo and Animal Park that I make.

Luckily Aunt Mo solved that problem too. She helped us out with the double jogger so we could take the plunge. And then we got BOB.


And we fell in love.

I could go on and on about how much I love this stroller. It's super light to push around, it maneuvers effortlessly and in a much tighter space than you'd ever think possible. It has plenty of space to store stuff, and it has a great canopy to cover the kids.

One of the few drawbacks is the difficulty in changing a flat tire. Actually, Brian's difficulty in changing a flat tire. (I'm not about to tackle that). The nozzles on the tires are so awkward that more than half of the time, he ends up ripping the nozzle right off the tube after pumping the tire up.

This is not conducive to having a working tire.

We have literally gone through 3 bike pumps with different features and attachments to find one that will work with our beloved BOB. And I think we finally found one.

And not a moment too soon, since we now have a couple of helpers who can't wait to try it out.


Despite our love for BOB, there are other times where alternative modes of transportation are required.

That's how we came to acquire our beloved wagon


and our practical umbrella stroller.


But, despite how much all of our other strollers are necessary for various activities, nothing can take the place in my heart of that special guy we call BOB.

Indulgence

Today, as a special treat, we took the kids to Cold Stone for the first time. Not only did they have to sample all of the ice cream on the table (several times), Linus decided that Sadie wasn't stuffing her face fast enough so he had to help out.


Oddly enough, this was one of the few times that Sadie wasn't complaining about Linus' "help".

Chatterbox

I just got a letter in the mail from the speech therapist summarizing their evaluations from 3 weeks ago. Linus ranked on the low end of "normal" for receptive language (can understand basic concepts), but had a 41% delay in expressive language. She recommended that he receive speech therapy once a week to:

1. Increase attention to complete structured therapy tasks.
(Yes, we definitely need help with increased attention to complete tasks)

2. Increase functional language in order to request items or request help, express frustration, comment or stop an activity, etc.
(Yes, this would help tremendously with frustration levels on both sides because he can't tell me why he is upset)

3. Improve expressive vocabulary to label a variety of objects, animals, foods, etc. consistently.
(He has actually improved on this a lot in the last few weeks)

4. Increase expressive mean length of utterance to 2-3 word phrases.
(And he is now saying more 2 word phrases...most of the time involving something of Daddy's. For example: Daddy shoes, Daddy work, Daddy truck, Daddy beer...you get the picture)

5. Improve social skills to spontaneously greet familiar individuals and initiate turn-taking activities.
(He still needs help with this)

Sadie was 37% below the mean. It was recommended that she see a therapist twice a week to address the above plus:

6. Improve oral motor sensory awareness and placement of articulars by participating in stimulation and strengthening activities.
(She doesn't have as much control with her lips and tongue, possibly from the tube feedings when she was a baby)

7. Increase verbal imitation skills for vowel, consonant and consonant vowel combinations.
(Even though she talks more than Linus, she isn't as clear)

That was 3 weeks ago.

Now, times have changed.

I still think they could benefit from speech therapy (which still hasn't made it past the Regional Center yet, let alone trying to get an appointment scheduled with the speech clinic). But, I think they would test very differently today than they did 3 weeks ago.

Now, they are both talking.

Constantly.

I'll give you an example. Brian was home with a cold earlier in the week. Since Brian needed some rest, I took the kids to Sea World early in the morning with the explanation that Daddy was sick so he was at home sleeping, and that is why Daddy's truck is still at home. The entire way to Sea World, I heard a chorus from the back seat (that lasted for 35 minutes) of "Daddy sick truck home". Granted there was a lot of variation in the arrangement of those words, and I had to keep repeating back to them or they would get upset, but it's pretty cool that they can understand what is going on the world and basically repeat it back to me.

There is also a lot of chatter throughout the day, some of which I understand, and a lot of which I don't. Most of the time it's completely random, like when I'm trying to feed them lunch and all Sadie wants to say is "yellow". Yellow what? Not banana. Not sippy cup. What else in the world could be yellow.

Her socks.

Of course, how could I be so stupid? When I'm trying to settle them down for lunch and I'm talking about our menu, of course I should have known Sadie would bring up the color of her socks.

But she was as proud as could be when I finally figured it out.


**I have been trying to get a video of them talking, but once I pull out the camera they stop talking and want to see what I'm doing (or push the buttons), so it has been impossible to get a good video. Here's what I have so far:

Cute, but not great. I'll keep trying...

**ETA: I just got back from the Dermatologist with Linus. After looking at his birthmark, she said that the change in color and the bumps forming on it weren't unusual or concerning. He does have a red spot that she wants to keep an eye on, but she thinks it's probably a blood vessel and nothing to be worried about. She also said that a congenital birthmark is rarely cancerous and that this is the worst time to try to remove it since it requires general anesthesia and the recovery is very difficult. So, bottom line is we are going to wait until he is older ( like 8 yrs), and just keep monitoring it. She said removal isn't necessary but for cosmetic reasons we may want to. On the other hand, it is on the inside of his thigh and not on his face or something where people would see it all of the time. So, good news for Linus that he's not going under the knife...yet.

A typical week

No funny stories today, but wanted to share some pictures from our week.

Enjoy!

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Our trip to the zoo with friends Ethan and Lucas:





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Playgroup at a new park that opened last week:


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Sadie at Sea World, after I asked her to "smile":


And another example of her "smile":

Big feet, little feet

Brian and I took the kids shopping today for shoes. We drove all the way to the outlet mall, measured their feet to make sure we got the right size, and were surprised to discover that Sadie has grown half a shoe size since the beginning of the summer.

Linus has grown an entire shoe size.

I guess when the pediatrician commented on his lack of weight gain, he didn't measure his feet.

Looking back on it, both kids have more than doubled their foot size since birth.

Can you believe how tiny those foot prints were?

I can remember those little feet, and what's funny is that I thought they were so big compared to their skinny, little bodies. But, it's hard to imagine them getting as big as mine and Brian's.


I tell you what, when they do get that big, I'm not going to give them kisses anymore when they stub their toe. Brian can do it.

Little frogs

When the kids were in the NICU, one of their favorite positions to lay in was on their tummy with arms and legs tucked neatly underneath. There was even a special gel pillow put underneath them so that they had something comfortable to lay on and hold while sleeping. It made them look so content, and peaceful,

and a little like a frog.



Since that time, the kids have radically changed their sleeping positions. Sadie will still fall asleep on her stomach with her blanket shoved underneath her, but will quickly cover every inch of her crib during the night by rolling around. (Lord help us when she moves out of the crib and into a real bed. That girl will be rolling down the hall faster than we can catch her).

Linus' new favorite position is on his side with his head thrown all the way back so that he's in a perfect "U". This does not even look slightly comfortable to me, but to each his own. Unfortunately, neither one resembles that cute little frog anymore while sleeping.

But who needs to mimic a sleeping frog when you can mimic an active, jumping frog?

Apparently not Sadie and Linus.

Linus is pretty good at getting both feet off the ground. And he actually prefers to jump as high as a frog which requires starting rather high off the ground.

This is not my preference.

Linus could care less what my preference is.

Sadie, however, hasn't quite got it down yet but she definitely tries. Before she would concentrate with all of her might, arms straight out at her sides, and very slowly tip forward...and fall on her face. Now she at least gets a little bounce going even though she isn't quite able to get both feet off the ground at the same time.


If Linus has anything to do with it, he'll have her start from on top of the table or chair so she can really enjoy the life of a frog. I'm still encouraging the sleeping frog, but for some reason I think Linus is going to win this one.

Let's pretend

I have an excellent book that Becca gave me when the kids were born that talks about the major psychological/emotional developmental milestones in a child's life (Building Healthy Minds by Stanley Greenspan). When the kids were younger, I followed along with all of the suggestions like singing to them, making faces to get a reaction, and mimicking their sounds and facial expressions to create a "dialogue". Apparently, they are now at the stage where imaginative play is very important for healthy cognitive and emotional development. This poses a little bit of a problem.

If there is one thing that we scientists are not good at, it's imaginative play.

Seeing as both Brian and I are scientists, this is starting to stress me out a little.

I mean, give me a hypothesis and I can logically test it. Give me some data and I can systematically analyze it. Give me something to organize and I would happily organize it.

Tell me to be creative and I get an ulcer.

At some point in my life I must have had a little bit of a creative streak in me since I used to enjoy putting on plays for the family, but I'm pretty sure all of that ended when I hit puberty and wanted to become a lawyer. I really hope the kids don't do the same thing, thus my increase in stress.

When I try to sit down and pretend with them I honestly draw a blank. It never fails that I have about 3 seconds of "let's pretend" before I pull out a puzzle or a book. Because of this I have started harassing all of the moms at playgroup. Poor Jessica in particular (Lucas and Ethan's mom) is getting the brunt of it since she is incredibly creative.

Now I just need her to write down exactly what I need to do, preferably in bullet-point format, so I can study it and dutifully check off each point as we go down the list.

Or I can just "pretend" that allowing the kids to paint each other and the front porch will suffice.



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On an unrelated topic, the kids had their 2 yr well-baby visit with our new pediatrician yesterday. All in all it was a good visit, especially since it took only 2 hrs instead of the 4 hrs that it typically lasted at our old pediatrician's office. Who also lost both kids' entire medical records. Which is precisely the reason we switched.

Anyways, the appointment went pretty well - nothing too surprising.

Both kids are still very small, which we knew. Linus still is not gaining weight, which we also knew. And we need to pump him up with more fats, which we are desperately trying to do but to no avail. Sadie, on the other hand, is bulking up just nicely.

Poor Linus will certainly have to have surgery on his birthmark. Our pediatrician seemed to think that it will take more than one surgery since his birthmark is so large, but we have an appointment with the dermatologist next week so we'll find out more then. I'll definitely keep you updated.

Linus has also been having a little problem with wheezing in his chest, which of course I didn't hear. So, we are now supposed to be giving him a couple shots of his inhaler during the day to help with his breathing. I think he might be feeling better since the first couple of times we mentioned it to him he was more than excited to have the mask over his face. The last time he told us he didn't want it - hopefully a sign that he doesn't need it as much now??

Finally, Sadie has a history of staring into space periodically throughout the day. Sometimes it's easy to bring her back but other times you can wave your hand in front of her and snap your fingers without so much as a blink. We have learned that these are more than likely little seizures, but fairly common and almost definitely something that she will outgrow as she gets older. If they do start occurring more frequently and for a longer duration then we'll get her checked out by a neurologist, but right now it's just something we're keeping an eye on.

Oh, and they got their flu shots.

Wow, reading back on it I can see how someone might think that wasn't a good appointment at all. But, it really was good and nothing too concerning, just things to keep an eye on. I'm much more worried about their psychological development because of my faulty right brain.

A new dimension to playgroup

As I've said in the past, my playgroups have been such a life-saver for me. My entire week is centered around getting together with the other moms and their kids for some fun and some much needed adult conversation.

When we first started playgroup 15 months ago, Sadie and Linus had no idea that there were other kids around them. I think they were just happy that we were out of the house and someplace new. I was thrilled that I had an entirely new social circle which didn't require board books or repeated singing of the alphabet. We would spread out our blankets under a tree and the kids would hang out while we chatted for a couple of hours.

Shortly after, the kids became very mobile and the dynamics of playgroup changed a little. We all adapted to the schedule changes and gross motor changes of the group. But, one thing that hasn't changed all that much, until recently, is how the kids play together.

At first, they didn't pay attention to each other at all. (This does not include how each twin pair interacts together which is entirely different. My guys have interacted with each other for a long time now, but still weren't too interested in other kids around them).

Then, they became aware of each other and would play near each other, but not necessarily with each other. But recently, I find the kids spending more time playing together with the sand toys, pushing a wagon or stroller together, or running through the grass together. It's also amazing how much they pay attention to what the other kids are doing away from them. If Linus sees someone climbing up the ladder to go down the big slide, he'll often run over to do the same. If Sadie sees someone on a ride-on toy, she'll sit back and watch until they start to get off before she'll run over and jump on for her turn.

This has also made for very cute pictures:





Granted, with this newfound discovery comes a lot of reminding Sadie and Linus to share or to wait their turn, but they are slowly learning the dynamics of a large social circle. (And I mean large - just look back at the birthday pictures). It's experiences like these that remind me just how lucky we are.

Infestation

Since living in California, I am surprised by the lack of bugs that live here. Of course this is in comparison to the giant roaches
and West Nile Virus-carrying mosquitoes
that we had in Texas. Or to my most highly feared bug while in NC, the camel cricket.
This thing is my worst living nightmare.

They look like spiders, but have the legs of crickets so they jump.

High. (Like face-level high).

And always directly at you.

And they are super juicy so they really squish when you kill them.

There have been many times where I would gather up my entire shoe collection and throw them one by one across the room to try to kill one of these things so I wouldn't have to get close enough for one of these disgusting bugs to jump in my face.

Another time I was taking a shower and one jumped off of the shower curtain rod and onto my head. Let's just say my reaction was somewhere in between "freaking out" and "losing it". I immediately ran out and shoved a towel under the door so my roommate could deal with it when she got home.

I think I had nightmares for over a year.

Anyways, back to my point. While in CA we have really only encountered daddy longlegs spiders and a lot of flies. All pretty minor considering the above. That was until we discovered what was making all of the webs outside our house.

Black widows.


And I'm not talking about just a few webs, but webs on every imaginable surface. So how many spiders could there possibly be since we never saw any during the day when we went looking for them? How about at least 10 killed a night on our front porch alone. Where the kids swim in their pool. And the dogs lay around. And we play with chalk.

Apparently, black widows only come out at night. They are not aggressive at all, and it takes a lot to provoke them. But a bite to an adult is serious, while one to a child could be fatal. And there are not only black widows, but brown widows as well which have smaller mouths but are more deadly. And the juveniles are brown and white striped, but all have the characteristic hourglass on the stomach. Brian could tell you a lot more than me since he really researched the subject, but all we had to see was one actually inside the kids' playroom to call in the exterminator.

So, on Saturday morning, after a sleepless night because Sadie was up projectile vomiting, we had to load the kids and the dogs into the car (that had a flat tire) and leave the house for a few hours while the house was sprayed. To make matters worse, the only place to take the dogs is the beach, and Fiesta Island (the huge offleash island where we normally take the dogs) was closed because of boat races, and it was the annual Clean The Beach day so the beaches were packed with people.

This did not appear to be a good omen.

I was expecting a long morning with sick, fussy kids but the entire day was surprisingly great and Sadie was back to her usual self! We braved the crowds and hit Dog Beach back on our old stomping grounds,


then dropped the dogs off and took the kids to the Animal Park.


What a great time! We really should do more fun stuff during the weekends instead of Brian watching the kids so I can catch up on cleaning and laundry. Watching a rhino roll in the mud is so much better than separating lights from darks.

And, now that we're spider-free, things are back to normal both inside


and outside.

1 year ago, in the middle of August...

Just like this August, last year at this time I was reflecting on the birth of the kids and how much they've grown. What a difference a year makes!

We had plans to celebrate the kids' first birthday in Dallas with both Brian's family and mine. We decided to also have the kids' baptism during this time since all of the family would be together.

Just days before we were set to leave, Linus developed a small cough. This cough turned into the flu. This triggered his first asthma attack.

Brian was the one who noticed that he was wheezing. I still have a hard time hearing it when he points it out, but since Brian has been dealing with asthma himself, he definitely knows wheezing when he hears it. I actually can't remember the specifics of the next 36 hours, but somewhere during this time he was taken to the ER twice and the pediatrician's office twice. He was diagnosed with a cold, the flu and the croup before he was finally admitted to the hospital because the poor guy just couldn't breathe.

When admitted to Children's Hospital, you start out on the Recovery floor where each nurse has several patients to take care of. Our stay on this floor was short-lived when they realized that normal breathing treatments weren't helping.

A few hours later we were moved up to the Med/Surg floor where each nurse has only a few patients to take care of. While Linus was moved to this floor, I was home with Sadie. That was until I received a frantic call from Brian asking me to come because Linus was having seizures and his breathing was even more labored. (During this whole ordeal, the oxygen saturation levels in his blood were less than 70% - normally they should be above 95%. We knew how serious this was because while in the NICU, alarms would sound if they went below 90%).

While I rushed to the hospital, Lius was being moved to the ICU (where there is one nurse per patient, and who stays in the room with them at all times). He was one step away from being intubated, but first they decided to try him on a relatively new treatment called Heliox. It's actually a helium-oxygen combination that is supposed to help the blood uptake oxygen more easily.

Thank God this finally worked. After a total of 3 days having trouble breathing at home then 5 more days in the hospital, Linus was finally breathing normally. This was also about the time when he decided that he really didn't like the hospital anymore, and he especially didn't like being hooked up to all of the monitors or having a breathing mask on his face. Having him fuss and complain because he wanted to get out was the most beautiful sound.


Soon he was allowed to venture outside his room.


And then he was discharged home on their birthday.

Lucky for us, Aaron and Grandma decided to come visit us at home since our trip to Dallas was now canceled. So, we had a very quiet celebration with a cake and a few presents.



Well, since Linus was back to his old self, I guess "quiet" is a relative term


Like I said before, what a difference a year makes!

2 years ago...

It's crazy to think that 2 years ago today the kids were 2 1/2 weeks old and in the hospital fighting to grow and stay healthy.




















Now they're fighting their bedtime.

I guess I should back up a little bit. Both last year and this year, at the beginning of August I can't help but think back to when the kids were born since that is when I went into pre-term labor.

I remember that Brian just happened to get home from climbing Mt. Whitney two days before I discovered I was contracting.

Every 2-3 minutes.

And I never felt a thing.

And I was at 24 weeks gestation.

OK, I think I'm getting ahead of myself again. Brian got back from climbing on Saturday, and on Monday all was normal until after I got home from work and went to the bathroom, I found one spot of blood. Normally this would never concern me in the slightest so I have no idea why I even called the doctor. Since it was after hours, they had me come into the hospital for a routine stress-test. I called Brian while I was heading over there without extra clothes or having eaten because I was told that this was routine and it would only take an hour.

Fast forward a couple of hours. The doctors realized that I was contracting very frequently and that my cervix was soft. They decided to keep me overnight on some medication to stop the contractions (which never worked) and then I was to be seen by a perinatolgist (which turned out to be the doctor who did my c-section) the next morning.

So, at 8 o'clock the next day, I was wheeled into the ultrasound room where the ultrasound tech did a quick exam and then quickly left.

Not a good sign.

Then the perinatologist came in, did a quick exam, and then called an ambulance. Apparently overnight they were not able to get my contractions under control and hence, I was dilated to 4 cm. And, I was at a hospital that was not equipped to handle babies born at 24 weeks.

So, strapped down to a board traveling to another hospital in an ambulance, I still could not process that we were going to have the babies. I mean, I still wasn't feeling anything, and contractions were supposed to hurt, right?

So we arrived at the new hospital and I was quickly wheeled into labor and delivery. (This is a teaching hospital so at any given time there are 5 or more people in the room, and you are never alone for more than 5 minutes). The doctors who greeted us were residents and fellows who were very anxious for us to have an emergency c-section right then. Part of the reason was that Sadie's heart rate kept dropping from 140 to below 60 indicating stress on the baby.

Luckily for us (and the kids), our perinatologist came in and suggested putting me on the highest possible dose of magnesium sulfate to control my contractions and hopefully stop my cervix from dilating further. If you've never been on magnesium, consider yourself lucky. It is what I consider the absolute worst drug that you could possibly be on, but it did save the kids from being delivered that day...and for 3 more weeks...so I can't complain too much. I would gladly have taken that drug for 9 months if I thought it would have kept them in.

During those 3 weeks in the hospital I had a ton of visitors. Brian's parents were there that first week, our friends Bruce and Laurie were in town from Texas, Brian's aunt and cousins came down, and my mom stayed with me in the hospital for a few days. This was very generous considering I was quite a sight. I couldn't get up for any reason so I didn't have a shower and I only "washed" my hair twice during that entire ordeal. Very pretty, let me tell you.



After 3 weeks, and without warning, I quickly contracted to 10 cm and I actually started feeling it. Definitely not terrible, but enough for me to alert the doctors. When they looked they saw an umbilical cord. And a foot.

And I was rushed to have a c-section within 10 minutes.

Brian called our parents while I was being prepped for surgery, then came in while they were cutting me open. And through the entire surgery, I kept having to remind him to stay near my head and not at the other side of the curtain giving me a play-by-play of what was happening to me. I mean, surgery is fascinating and all, but when your uterus is outside of your body, trust me when I say you really don't want to hear about it.

The kids were born 3 minutes apart and we didn't hear either one cry. Neither was breathing so they were rushed from the ER to the NICU for resuscitation. Before I was finished being stitched up, Brian left me to follow the kids. I had to recover enough to feel my legs before I was allowed into the NICU.

I actually don't remember a lot once I was there. The bed I was in was lower than the warming tables so I had a really hard time seeing either baby. I did think they were a lot longer than I imagined them to be, but they were so unbelievably skinny. Not an ounce of fat on them. It didn't seem real at all and I remember falling asleep off and on while I was there until they wheeled me up to my room.



That night was extremely painful since the nurses were making me get up and move aound, and I had absolutely no muscle left in my legs because of being bedridden 3 weeks prior. I also couldn't sit at all so there was no chance of me going in a wheelchair to the NICU. But Brian was so sweet and kept running back and forth between me and the kids, bringing pictures with him so I could look at them.

The next day (actually for the rest of my time there), I was up every 2-3 hours pumping while watching the approach, landfall and devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Why did I subject myself to all of this misery and destruction? I have no idea. But I do remember feeling like all of it wasn't happening (the hurricane, the kids, the pain), just something I was watching from afar.

I sometimes still feel like that, especially when the kids are throwing a major tantrum.

Anyways, two days later I could tolerate being in a wheelchair long enough to visit the kids. I actually can't even remember if I was able to hold them that first visit or not, but I definitely got to touch them. Shortly thereafter Brian and I were allowed to periodically do kangeroo care with them.



Sadie was doing fantastic. She had started feeding (through a tube) and was breathing well on her own. After a week or so she was really starting to look much healthier.


Linus was sick the first couple of weeks needing transfusions, antibiotics, and medication to close a hole in his heart. It was devestating to see him so sick, but we were thrilled that Sadie was thriving. Luckily he never needed more than a little help with oxygen after the first day or so. Most babies that young need to be on a ventilator, but he did great with his breathing. I recently read back over a journal I kept about that time, and it was heartbreaking to read about his lack of progress.

But, after 2 weeks the roles reversed. Linus recovered and was doing well while Sadie took a turn for the worse. She started not tolerating her feeds, gained a lot of weight through water retention and eventually stopped breathing on her own. They first thought it had something to do with a hole in her heart which they repaired. (This was the same as Linus' but hers required surgery).

Later we were to discover that she had a perforated intestine which infected her for over a month before they found it and she went into surgery. All in all, they removed over a foot of her intestine.

Afterwards, she was left with an ostomy to allow her intestines to heal. For those that don't know, she had both ends of the intestine they had just cut sticking out of her abdomen allowing her waste to drain into a bag. It was worse than it even sounds. All of that waste just ate up her poor skin leaving her with huge red sores. To make it worse, the bags were taped to her to prevent it from leaking out (much) and the adhesive gave her even more of this angry red rash. You couldn't help but feel so sorry for her. It was awful.

Meanwhile, Linus thrived. He went from a tiny, skinny baby

to a tiny chunky baby.

He outgrew his isolette

and moved into an open bed after he could maintain his own temperature. In short, he became a "feeder/grower" which is music to your ears when you're in the NICU. It basically means that all the babies have to do is learn how to take all of their meals through a bottle and then they will be discharged.

And at 10 weeks, Linus was discharged.

He was finally home.

During the time that Linus was discharged was when Sadie got really sick and had her intestinal surgery. After a month she finally had her ostomy repaired.


Then Sadie was also allowed to come home after 14 weeks in the hospital.


Thus began the next chapter of our lives, which I will mercifully save for another post since this is turning out to be much longer than anticipated.

(Actually my next post will be "1 year ago..." which is another story entirely).