Hazel's news

We received a call from Seattle Children's a couple days ago with the results of Hazel's labs that were drawn recently and everything is normal. Praise God!

Other great news regarding Hazel: yesterday she did so well in physical therapy that she graduated to every other week! Last week she was only pulling to stand on the couch (without the cushions). This week she's pulling up on EVERYTHING, dropping things and bending down to pick them up, cruising the whole length of the couch and around the ottoman, bear crawling (legs straight and butt up in the air) occasionally, getting out of standing without assistance, and more. Go Hazel! We're so proud of everything she's accomplished in 1 week! I'm constantly wondering if all parents are looking so intently for these milestones to be reached or if it's a "preemie parent" thing. Our PT thinks Hazel's on track to walk around 10 months adjusted age, which would be December. Whoa!

Jude will continue physical therapy on a weekly basis until he's a little farther along. He's not far behind Hazel, but is not at a level where slightly longer, every other week sessions would be a good idea. He continues to whine through PT since it's hard for him, but he's doing really well. He's trying so hard to pull to stand, but only has success on occasion (and when he doesn't, he whines and whines and whines). He'll get there! I'm hoping that in another month he can cut back to every other week as well, but we'll see.

Fun with Aunt Hillary

These are a little old, but still worth posting. The kids just love it when Aunt Hillary is here! Jude is especially in love with her.

Climbing on Aunt Hillary.

Jude's new favorite smile.

Jude kind of doing his "smile" again, but mainly just spacing out as bed time is approaching.

This happened after Aunt Hillary left. The kids were standing at the ottoman and decided it would be a good idea to destroy all the magazines. (Don't worry, they were closely supervised.) I think Jude's look is hilarious. "Who, me? I wouldn't do anything naughty, mommy! It's all Hazel's fault!"

House

Okay, this is kind of long, but I've had trouble posting the last couple days, so I'm just giving you a link for a walk through tour of our house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YX4LLZ81vs
There are still a few things we need to do (like get a piano, spray paint the legs of the couch, hang pictures in the big bath, and a few more, but this will give you a pretty good idea of our house).

On another note, I'm finally looking pregnant and will try to post a picture of that sometime soon. :)

Beautiful Day!

It was a gorgeous day here today, so Noel decided to take Hazel and Jude out for a walk while I got a few things done around the house. I LOVE Noel's day off! It's the best day of the week for sure. I realized that this was the first time I've ever been home without the kids since they've been home from the hospital. As much as I love them, it was GLORIOUS to have a quiet house.

Both kids got hungry right as he wanted to head back (I needed to get to choir rehearsal), so he double handed it, fed both of them at the same time, and made it back just in time. Nice work, Noel!
Our church threw a baby shower for Hazel and Jude on Saturday (they didn't know there was another baby on the way, but now they do). We received an incredible amount of stuff, it was just an amazing outpouring of love and generosity! One of the gifts was this farm activity center and Hazel seems to love it! It's our first "big" toy. :) She is really starting to pull up on things more and more. Noel was putting Jude down for a nap and when he came back, he found her standing up playing with it. What a big girl!

SURPRISE!

We expect this one will be as big a shock to you all as it was to us: we're pregnant again! Before we moved to Oak Harbor, I was having symptoms of pregnancy, but I tested negative multiple times (at home and at the doctor). So when we got here, I went to the doctor to try to figure out what might be wrong with me. Turns out, I am in fact pregnant (and must have been in Pasadena, too). I'll be 17 weeks along on Monday and I'm due March 26!

Noel and I are overwhelmed with joy and tiredness at this news (now that we're over our denial and shock). Please pray for a full-term baby and uneventful pregnancy!

Good reports

Well, I was totally dreading our day in Seattle, but it turned out to be quite good! We were supposed to have 1:00 and 2:00 appointments (after 3 morning appts), but they were able to get stacked onto our 11:30 and we were on our way home by 12:40! Amazing! Hazel and Jude did great in the car on the way there (even though we missed out exit, got caught in traffic, and added an extra half hour to the trip) and did okay on the way home (Hazel had a major meltdown the last 15 minutes).

The Neurodevelopment reports were good. The nurse who did the examination thought they were both doing great and said she didn't see any major reasons for concerns at this point. They are doing everything 8 month olds should be doing and doing many skills beyond that, which is a good sign. They want to follow them until they're 2 (standard for preemies) since they are still at high-risk for problems. But, so far things are looking great! We'll go back in 6 months. They also had to have nutrition appointments (part of Neurodevelopment at Seattle Children's), but since their growth is good and they eat well, we don't have to go back! Yay! Hazel had to have some labs drawn to follow up on some abnormal labs she had while in the NICU, but we're not expecting the results to be abnormal anymore. It's common for preemies to test positive for things they don't actually have and their levels just eventually even out. So, we're praying that's the case for Hazel and should get the results in a week or so.

Overall, the kids did fantastic the whole day. They were so tolerant of the appointments, ate well, and were surprisingly not too fussy even without much morning sleep. I was so proud of them!

More laughing

It's rare to get Hazel and Jude laughing at the same time, but apparently they both thought it was quite funny to have a ball bounced on their heads. Sorry about the recording quality. It's hard to hold a camera with my left hand, bounce a ball with my right hand, and go back and forth between babies.

Behind

As always, I'm feeling behind. I have lots of cute pictures of the kids and a few videos, but I've been sick with a cold (I know, horrible for the kids to be around, but so far they're still healthy!) and have fallen asleep on the couch for the past few nights very early. Noel was in Michigan for his grandpa's memorial service the past few dys and my sister, Hillary, came here to keep me company, finish the decorating, clean the house, play with the kids, etc. Anyway, we now have pictures of the house! I will try to post them soon.

We are headed to Seattle Children's tomorrow for Neurodevelopment appointments for Hazel and Jude. They also have a few other appointments and it's going to be a VERY long day. It's 2 to 2 1/2 hours away and our first appointment is at 9:15, followed by a 10:30, 11:30, 1:00, and 2:00. Yikes. We probably will be gone for 12 hours. We're really hoping that we don't have to go back for these types of appointments too many more times.

Hazel's new trick

"Look what I did this morning all by myself!"

Graduation gifts

It's getting harder and harder to get pictures of Hazel and Jude sitting together; they are always wanting to go somewhere! We were trying to get a picture of them with the little stuffed animals they received at Seattle Children's for their graduation, but it didn't work too well.

Jude: "I'm outta here."

Hazel: "I'll join you."

Jude: "On second thought, I think I'll stay here. Bye Hazel!"

Go Tigers!

They may not look like Tigers fans here, but don't let that fool you! Hazel thinks Noel's Tigers' hat is SO funny. She laughs every time she sees it. Jude on the other hand, cries. He's very scared of it. Anyway, they are just very tired and ready for bed here...hence the faces.

Noel's watching the Tigers on his computer since we don't have cable. He couldn't miss out on seeing the Tigers in the playoffs!

Sunday afternoon play with Dad

Here's a glimpse of Hazel and Jude playing with Noel. Hazel is completely obsessed with strings on sweatshirts (she's pulling Noel's here). I used to be able to hide mine from her, but now she's too smart and pulls it right out. Today, she "attacked" me pretty much all day just to get my string. You can also see her crawling on hands and knees here! She started doing this a little bit last week, but does it almost all the time now.

Jude and Hazel like to have "baby parades" a lot lately. They'll be playing on the play mat and then suddenly Jude takes off towards the kitchen with Hazel following. It's pretty funny. Jude always leads. They are crawling all over now! They have both crawled all the way from our family room to our bedroom, which may not mean much to most of you, but it's the farthest distance they can go in the house.

Jude's at it again

Graduation!

I meant to do a better post and post a picture, but I'm tired and I'm going to bed. But, I just wanted to announce that Hazel and Jude both graduated from the pulmonologist today! This is the last specialist that we've been going to regularly. We still have to see a few specialists here and there as well as continue therapy, but this a great accomplishment. The doctor (we just met him today) said their lung function looked good. It may not be completely "normal" yet, but they are doing great. Their growth is good, their development is good, and he said they looked just great. In fact, he said, "You've got a couple of good ones.". We agree and are constantly reminded of how well Hazel and Jude are doing, especially compared to so many other preemies who start the world with a similar course. Thank you for all your prayers!

More tomorrow hopefully...