Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 - A Year to Remember

This year has been so special to us and changed our lives for the best. I've spent some time reading my friend's blogs and I am so happy that many of my friends have beat infertility and some welcomed some little blessings into the world. I'm going to follow a few other blogs and recap our year month by month:

January - Up until January, we were on cloud 9 after finding out we were finally pregnant and with twins, no less. On January 12th, we found out my cervix was not holding up and I was put into the hospital and ordered on bed rest. I would be on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy which meant, taking a long leave from my job and getting used to life lying down. This month was very scary since I was only 18 weeks pregnant when I was put on bed rest. We learned that there was no way to do a cerclage to help keep my cervix closed and all I could do was pray and stay off my feet. Luckily, I was able to go home and be on bed rest at home rather than in the hospital. The doctors wanted me to make it to 24 weeks which is the earliest point of viability.

February ~ In February I had my baby shower, much earlier in the pregnancy than most women get a shower. We received many nice gifts to get us started once the girls arrived. My best friend Brea was a life saver by putting together my shower, bringing me treats and gifts to keep my spirits up, and being the best friend I needed to keep positive. At the end of the month, I reached viability and I knew each day/week/month I could stay pregnant would give the girls many benefits. At 25 weeks, I was sent back to the hospital with contractions.

March ~ I spent almost 3 weeks confined to a hospital bed with constant monitoring. The babies were growing well and my cervix was holding on to a thread. My sister moved down from Colorado to help me and prepare for being the girls nanny once they arrived. I spent our 3rd wedding anniversary in the hospital and that was no fun. At the end of March, I was released back to home bed rest.

April ~ Sara and I bonded at home as she helped to make my meals and get me things around the house so I didn't have to be on my feet. We sat out by the pool and sun baked the babies. In Arizona you can do this since it is in the 80's and 90's in March - Woot! At 30 weeks 3 days pregnant, I was admitted to the hospital after bleeding and some more cervical changes. This was to be my last hospital admission. I would only get released if I made it to 34 weeks or I had the babies, which ever came first. On the night of April 25th, 32 weeks pregnant my water broke and this signified the end. The girls were in a hurry to come into this world. I'm sure this had to do with Riley stomping on her sister trying to find some room the crowded womb they shared. The next day, April 26th at 12:33 pm after 5 quick pushes, Addison came into the world with a big cry. 8 minutes later, and 2 short pushes, Riley joined her sister. Both girls were healthy and needed little assistance. Jesse and I were finally proud parents of two beautiful princesses.

May ~ The girls continued their NICU journey by learning how to eat. They had visits from mommy and daddy every day. We were fortunate to live 10 minutes from the hospital and could be there anytime. We did find out that Addison has a heart condition, SVT, which is irregular high heart rate that can happen at anytime. This is something we will monitor through out her life hoping it doesn't cause too much trouble. Riley was able to come home on Sunday May 24th and we got a few days to see what raising one baby would be like. Addison didn't like staying in the hospital without her sister and so she was released on Thursday May 29th. Then the real fun began.

June ~ Jesse and I adjusted to parenthood. Aunt Sara was a life saver by helping us with some of the night time feedings. I dedicated myself to provide the girls with 100% breast milk and I was up every 3 hours to pump and needed extra help with the girls so I could get some rest also. The girls had their welcome home BBQ where they were able to meet all of their extended family

July ~ Sadly, I had to return to work. I was able to get 6 months off of work but to keep my job I needed to go back to work. The adjustment was hard at first, but it was nice to know that the girls were home with Sara and not in a daycare situation.

August ~ We took the girls on their first plane ride up to Spokane. This was a sad trip since my step-dad Dave lost his soul mate Laurie to cancer. The girls met the Stommes side of the family and I was able to help Dave after his loss by being there and allowing him to meet his grandchildren.

September ~ I celebrated my 28th birthday, where did the time go? Jesse and I spent our first weekend away from the girls and celebrated at the Scottsdale Resort and Spa. I enjoyed the extra sleep and alone time with Jesse but I missed the girls like crazy.

October ~ The weather finally started to change here in Phoenix. The girls celebrated their first Halloween and went back to the NICU for a reunion with some of the nurses and doctors. Jesse got his new job as a high school English teacher and we are very proud of him.

November ~ Last year, the family spent Thanksgiving in San Diego and we went to Disneyland for Thanksgiving week. The girls got to ride on some ride inside mommy's womb. This year we stayed close to home an spent Thanksgiving at Dan and Shannon's house. We had many things to be thankful this year. The girls were showing progress with little effects from their prematurity.

December ~ We ended the year with a trip to Wisconsin to meet Jesse's family and friends. The girls got to see snow for the first time and experience what "real" cold is really like. We enjoyed our time but had too many travel problems to count. The family finished the year with colds and bronchitis as a nice souvenir from our trip.

We are looking forward to another year of growth and happiness as a family. Jesse and I will be completing our Master's Degrees this spring which will give us more to time to spend as a family.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Cbox

I borrowed this idea from a friends blog, Thanks Mandy.

This is a way for family and friends to comment on our blog without creating a blogger account. It is along the left hand side under a few pictures of the girls. All you need to do is click on the name box, type your name and then type your message (you do not need to enter an email/url) and click "Go"

This functionality is for the friends and family that read our blog but don't comment. I would like to hear your thoughts about what I write, what you would like to see more of, and things I can change. This means you Grandma Jean, and some of the other family members that read this blog regularly.

I hope to start seeing your comments soon!!!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Making it home for Christmas: Priceless

We were so thankful we finally made it home after the disaster traveling ordeal we went through. My parents decided to come to our house for gift opening rather than us having to get the babies up and go to their house. We all got some much needed sleep and were ready for a nice family day.

Here are the pictures of the festivities:

Riley:
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Addison:
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Riley with Aunt Sara:
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Uncle Steven trying to figure out how to hold a baby:
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Grandpa holding Riley:
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Opening gifts:
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Do you see me pumping during the action???
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Addison surrounded by her loot:
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Riley and Daddy:
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Next it was off to Aunt Shannon and Dan's house for the celebration with the Westrum side of the family. We got a nice 4 generation picture with Great Grandma Jean and Linda:

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Then mommy got a chance to get a picture with both girls:

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All in all, our first Christmas was almost spent back east, but we made it home and had a very nice celebration. The girls got tons of Fisher Price toys, rattles, animals, books, and clothes. Christmas is so much fun now being able to see the holiday through the eyes of your Children. I look forward to many more Christmases with the girls as they learn about Santa and the birth of Jesus Christ.

Trip Details Part 3 - The disaster getting home

Our flight was set to take off from Wausau at 1:15 in the afternoon and arrive in Chicago for an hour and a half layover. Then it was on to Phoenix getting in a 7pm on December 23rd. Sounds simple doesn't it? Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. We arrived at the airport and learned that our flight to Chicago was delayed 3 hours due to freezing rain in Chicago. All flights in and out of Chicago were postponed until the weather cleared up. Due to the backlog of flights, we could not get on a Phoenix flight after arriving in Chicago. The airlines said they could fly us in to a different airport and the closest airport with open seating was San Diego, so we were booked on an 8pm flight out of Chicago. Assuming we could get into Chicago, we would have a long flight to San Diego where my dad would drive over to San Diego as we flew to pick us up and take us to a hotel for the night and drive home the next day. At this point the local news station was doing a story on the winter traveling problems and Jesse, the girls, and I were put on the local news with our story of trying to get home for Christmas. I will try and add that link so you can see the girls TV debut

Chicago started allowing flights in and out and we arrived safely after circling in the air for an extra 45 minutes in the air for a flight that was only supposed to take 40 minutes total. We arrived in, found our gate, and tried to deal with our tired cranky babies. Jesse and I were tired and the girls were not happy to spend 4 hours in an airport waiting for our flight. About an hour and a half before the San Diego flight was to take off, Jesse went up to the counter to get our boarding passes since we were only issued paper tickets. Come to find out, the first airport never confirmed our flights and we were not getting on that flight. The ticket agent was preparing us to find a hotel in the area to spend the night. Are you kidding me??? At this point, I was so tired, the girls were tired and screaming and I started to cry. Why was everything conspiring against us getting home for Christmas? At this point, Jesse ran down to the gate where the San Diego flight was moved and began to tell the the new ticket agent our sob story. He even cried to the man, telling him that we had two cranky babies, one with a heart condition, and we needed to get on the flight. Apparently this worked and we were put on the flight and the guy promised to keep the seats open around us so we could lay the babies down and have extra room. Finally at 10pm, 1.5 hours later the San Diego flight boarded. We got on and got our seats to learn that we were actually put in first class. Finally something was going our way. Both girls were exhausted at this point and they both slept through most of the 3.5 hour flight.

We finally arrived in San Diego at 12 midnight local time (2am WI time). We waited for our baggage and spotted some of our items. By then I was relived that our baggage made it. Then the carousel stopped and we realized we were missing one suitcase and both car seats. Seriously, why couldn't we get through a flight with things going right???

Once again we were given horrible loaner car seats and were told they would deliver our baggage to Phoenix some time in the next few days. The loaner car seats were a big problem since we planned on driving the 6 hours home to Phoenix the next day. One car seat was way to too tight and Riley barely fit in it. The straps would not adjust. The next car seat was way too loose and I could get those straps to adjust either. I then had another crying melt down moment, but Jesse told me to get it together so we could get to the hotel and get some sleep.

We arrived at the hotel and got the girls fed and in bed at 2:30am. By then it was 4am WI time and I had been up for 22.5 hours straight and I was losing my mind. We managed to get 6 hours of sleep broken up with a feeding or two and we got back on the long road to home.

The girls did pretty well on the drive considering the circumstances. They started to get really upset as we got an hour from home. I proceeded to sing Christmas songs to them over and over again to keep them from crying and we finally arrived home at 6pm on Christmas Eve.

Lessons learned: Never fly with United again. They will lose your bags, not book you flights they say they will, and have horrible customer service. Our second flight was on American and we thank the nice ticket agent in Chicago that got us on the flight in first class with extra seats so we could be comfortable. Next lesson, gate check your car seats. At least this way, you won't have to use the airlines old, dirty, unsafe seats. Don't fly back east around Christmas time, next year we will fly after Christmas where we won't have such a rush to get back home.

More Pictures from the Trip

Riley playing in the presents
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Addison in the presents:
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Eating the presents:
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Both girls:
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Mmmmmm...we love bows:
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Riley:
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Addison:
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Riley:
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Trip Details Part 2 - Enjoying the Trip

Our bags were delivered at 1am safe and sound and we were able to unpack the next morning. I think the girls were a little unsure about their surroundings and woke up a few times over the first few nights. I don't think they are big fans of the pack n' play so we alternated which baby got to sleep in the nicer crib.

On our first day, we met Jesse's grandmother and sister Sarah at Perkins for breakfast. We had a great time talking and catching up and the girls loved all of the attention. Here are some pics from the breakfast:

Riley on her way out in the cold:
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Riley, still a little tired from all of the action:
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Addison sitting with Aunt Sarah giving us a smile:
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Jesse playing with Riley:
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Then both girls pooped out towards the end of the breakfast,

Addison sleeping on Greg:
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Riley falling asleep on Great Gram, while Gram smashes her a face a bit:
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Later that day, Aunt Sarah took the girls back to her house, so Jesse and I could get some Christmas shopping done.

Aunt Sarah took many many pictures while the girls had fun at her house. Here are a few of the highlights:

Both girls sitting in the rocking chair by the tree:

Addison looking more like and old man than a young girl:
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Riley being goofy:
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Both girls together:
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Riley and cousin Hannah:
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Riley and Aunt Sarah:
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Addison with Cousin Hannah:
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Addison with Cousin Jordan:
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Riley with Cousin Jordan:
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All 4 cousins together:
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Addison wearing Daddy's hat:
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Sarah watched the girls for us on Friday night so Jesse and I could get some rest after 2 nights of one baby or another waking up several times. The girls were very nice to aunt Sarah and slept the whole night through. Aunt Sarah has some tricks up her sleeve and introduced a NUK paci to Addison which has been a life saver ever since. Addison likes to wake up at night but she really isn't hungry so offering her the paci works. All other paci's she had refused but Aunt Sarah had an extra one for her day care kids and Addison took to it right away. Thanks so much Aunt Sara.

The next morning I was off to take the girls to meet a good friend from my online message boards. Leah lives in Chippewea Falls WI which is about 2 hours away from Wausua. Leah and I met in a cafe about half way in between. Leah brought toys for the girls and some nice banana bread made with oatmeal which is a big part of my diet to help my milk supply. Leah and I had fun chatting and chatching up. She is the first person I have met off of the boards and we have been online friends for 2 years now. Leah is so sweet. I wish we lived closer so we could hang out more often.

Here is the only picture I took with Leah and Riley together:
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Leah took more pictures that I will have to add to this post later.

On Saturday night, we met up with some of Jesse's other friends Jason and Kristen, and their son Jack. We had pizza and caught up on the events in our lives.

On Sunday, we did Christmas at Aunt Sarah's house. The girls got to open their first presents and we were suprised at how well they were able to peel the paper off of the gifts.

Riley opening her gifts:
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After some of the gifts were exposed, this is what happened to the paper:
Yum yum:
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Addison opening her present with Daddy:
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Both girls got these dolls from Great Gram:
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On Monday was Jesse's 33rd birthday. Aunt Sarah watched the girls again for us and Jesse, Greg, Amy, and I went to eat at Jesse's favorite Chineese restaurnt and then we went out bowling. Jesse beat us all with a high score in the 140's.

The rest of the trip was low key, Jesse went sledding with Greg, Amy, and Lindsay and the girls and I visited with Aunt Sarah and the kids. Overall, we all had a nice time and it was nice to see the snow and experience the cold weather for a week.

Trip Details Part 1

We left for the trip to Wausau, WI on Wednesday morning. We were a little unsure of how the traveling would affect the girls, so we prepared for anything. The first leg of the trip was to take off right at the girls morning nap so either they would sleep on the plane or be very cranky. Luckily, the flight was not completely full and we had open seats around us to lay the girls down and give our arms a break now and then. The girls made it through the first flight very easy. I was even able to find time to pump before we landed. Riley nursed like a champ on the plane too, which really helped. Here are some pics of them on the plane:

Addison playing with the Starbucks cup we got to warm up the bottles:
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Riley smiling away as usual:
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The second leg was even easier since the flight was only 40 minutes. Both girls fell asleep. Addison was laying by Jesse and Riley fell asleep nursing. We were so proud of how well the girls did with the flying.

Addison sleeping with her mittens on and ready to go:
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When we landed, Jesse's friend Greg and his wife Amy were waiting for us with their 4 year old daughter Lindsay. We were happy to see them and Lindsay was so excited to meet the girls. Amy is 7 months pregnant with their second child so the girls were a good test run to see how Lindsay would do with babies around her. Lindsay was shy at first but then started talking to the girls and giving them toys.

Here is Lindsay holding Riley:
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Our first disaster came shortly after arriving. We waited for our bags and waited and waited, still no bags. We had packed all of the winter coats and gear in the suitcases to avoid carrying too much stuff on the plane. I'm thinking that because I packed that way is the reason why the airlines lost our luggage on the way there. What do you all think? We talked with the airlines and they informed us that our bags did not make it on the flight and wouldn't be coming in until later that night and they would deliver them sometimes in the middle of the night. Are you kidding me??? We had no clothes, no toiletries, no pajamas for the girls, and most of all, no car seats. All we had was some diapers and things in the diaper bag.

The airlines provided us with loaner car seats, which by the way are a complete joke. These seats were old, dirty, missing parts, and highly unsafe. At this point there was nothing we could do about the situation and our drive to Greg and Amy's house was not very far, so we bundled the girls up in Jesse's sweatshirts and stuck them in the bad car seats, and off we were to get the Greg and Amy's house.

Once we got there, Jesse's grandmother and Amy and I decided to make a Target run to get the girls a few things to make it through the night. We loaded up on a few things, got home and gave the girls a bath, and put them to bed. Greg and Amy had a pack n' play and a crib set up in our room which was very nice and the girls went to bed easily after their long day of traveling.