Where has the year gone?  Almost a year ago, my babies were released from the NICU. I don't even know where that time has gone... it is mostly a blur of persistence in breastfeeding, constant motion (6 kids will do that to you), and sweet, sweet sleep whenever possible (which never seems frequent enough!).  I have obviously neglected this blog and many of my other projects but so what? My family is worth it!

The twins are gorgeous, healthy, and on-the-go.  At 14 months they are cruising along things, standing without assistance (occasionally), and even taking a step or two.  They are babbling mama and dada and love to chase after their older siblings or the dogs.  They are two amazing miracles and we are truly blessed.   I remember long nights in the NICU just praying that  both boys would pull through and unbelievably, they are pretty much unscathed from being born much, much too early.  But tonight, I find myself in a hospital room again for Tommy's first of two heart procedures. You'd think with their miraculous lives, I could just completely trust God through this process.  But it just doesn't get any easier... I wonder how parents of chronically and/or terminally ill kids do it!

Tommy was a superstar through his heart catheter today.  The procedure went perfectly and he came off the vent with ease.  Although we had hoped that an angioplasty would correct the nasty overgrowth of muscle tissue just below his pulmonary valve, that was not to be the case. On July 1st, he will have to undergo open heart surgery.  If you are crazy enough to check it out, there is a video of a very similar procedure on youtube.

Finally, I can relax into being a mom of six.  (Did I really just say relax in that sentence? )  But compared to most of this past year, the last few weeks have to be described as "relaxing".  The boys are exclusively breastfeeding on demand. No more pumping.  No more frantic weight checks every day. I still occasionally take a glimpse but am less stressed at their smaller size.  Tommy is weighing in just over 12 lbs and Danny is 11.5 lbs.  But more importantly, they are healthy 5 month old boys (their adjusted age)... rolling over, sitting up, laughing, and playing.

Possibly even more important in the "relaxing" designation is that we have made it through our crazy fall sports season, with 3 kids in soccer and Juliana's select softball.  A sports season with multiple kids meant 4 nights of practices and weekends chock full with games and tournaments. I played the "Bad Soccer Mom" card and skipped most practices and games because it was just too hard to work around sleeping babies.  DH played Super Dad, taking the four older kids to 3+ games every Saturday, traipsing all over southeast Houston.  Although I  enjoyed the "quiet" time with just the babies, I can't wait until they are toddling around so we can all cheer on our athletes! Soon enough... David is prepping the babies by teaching them to play catch with a beach ball. This morning, Danny "caught" one. David was beaming from ear to ear!!!

Ahhh. And quiet settles over the house...at least temporarily. I have so needed to write lately but there are always too many things to do/be done. Even now, I look around at my dirty dining room table and my messy living room, oh, and I still need to pump... and the list goes on. But NO! I will take a few minutes for myself to write and share what we've been up to (and savor the Fat Tire I just cracked open - no judgments... its good for my milk supply:)

Tommy and Danny turned 5 months old on Tuesday. Unbelievable! I try to savor each moment with them, a true blessing, whenever I can. As I constantly fight the urge to get up and do 10,000 things (that aren't currently getting done) when all they need is for me to cuddle and nurse them. They are growing... Danny pushed the 8 lb mark and Tommy is 8 lb 10 oz. A miraculous feat from where they started but it seems like it is so slow from my perspective. They always tell you not to compare your children but our other four plumped up so quickly... this whole preemie thing has everything in S-L-O-W motion.

Lets start this blog off with a little terminology... I know there are some of you that are wondering what the heck a "babymoon" is. Think honeymoon but with no sex and little sleep. In all seriousness, a "babymoon" is a parent's conscious choice to honor the arrival of a new member of the family by setting aside everyday tasks for several weeks to focus on getting to know this new being. Moms on a babymoon have two jobs: 1) spend as much time in physical contact with her baby as possible (breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, etc.) and 2) take care of herself so she can recover and produce lots of great breastmilk.

A little different format this week as there are less changes day to day - Praise the Lord! 

Danny: Danny is on full feeds this week... 19 cc a feeding or roughly 5 oz of breastmilk a day.  They have also started supplementing the milk with a Human Milk Fortifier (I'm less than enthused about the HMF they use but I'll be blogging about my breastfeeding journey later this week, so more details forthcoming!), to get him more protein and calories, which should hopefully help him to grow a little faster.  He's been gaining roughly 20 g or 2/3 oz a day!  He remains the stronger breather but isn't a candidate for the nasal cannula until he hits 1100 grams... as of yesterday, we was 1020g - so go Danny, go!  He is working his way off IV fluids (just on Saline right now... helping his sodium levels!) so we expect them to pull out his PIC line in the coming day/s.  All of his meds are oral (through his OG tube) and currently include caffeine (to help with breathing) and reglan (to help with digestion).