Back to school...

School started yesterday. Somehow life keeps going on no matter how crazy everything is. The kids were excited to begin a new school year. The homework, activities, and sports make me nervous to add to the already sinking ship.


In the way of an update on my mother in law,
The surgery went well. The surgeon felt he was able to remove some infection and clear things that were causing pressure. He was not able to do some things that are needed because the risk of infecting other areas of the brain is dangerous. So there are likely two more surgeries in her future. Goals now would be to wake up and recover from surgery, and then show signs of infection improving enough to allow the other surgeries. She has been slow to wake up and has been having trouble talking. I stayed the night with her last night and I cannot believe how hard this all is. There is no end in sight for her yet.

Happy 5th Birthday!

Dear Sydney and Hailey,
I believe in miracles because I begged God to allow you to live and come to our family safely and you did. It didn't seem possible or even likely.

As I watched you be born and heard your first weak cries. I knew I was experiencing a miracle, we all knew it. I watched the nurses and doctors attend to you carefully. I worried as a ventilator was needed to help you breath.
All I wanted was you to be born alive- to have you safe, yet my arms ached as stayed at the hospital small and weak for 29 days.

We celebrated as you came home pink and healthy to our home.
You have given me a gift. I will never be the same. I will never take any life for granted. Life is fragile. I love you so very much!


Happy Birthday my sweet little girls!

Hailey's top five at five.
1-Cow blanket (her comfort item)
2-Shows (All barbie movies)
3-barbies
4-Molly (the dog)
5-Getting pretty, especially nail polish!

Things she has learned to do this year...
1-Swim without floaties in the deep end.
2-Get dressed.
3-Dress barbies and dolls.
4-Do chores.
5- Write her name.

Sydney's top 5 at 5.
1-Barbies and dolls.
2-Watching shows.
3-Dresses.
4-flip flops.
5-pizza and waffles.

Thing Sydney can do at 5.
1-Swim without floaties all over the pool.
2-Ride a scooter.
3-Sing songs.
4-Get dressed.
5-Do chores.


No kindergarten till next year. Preschool starts in a week or so.

Today is a hard hard day for all of us. My mother in law had a terrible weekend and had a serious brain surgery to get more information this afternoon. The surgery was very stressful and went as well as we could hope. No resolution in site though. Just trying to get more information to fight the serious brain infection. We are still all struggling. School starts for the other kids tomorrow. We're just hanging on. Thank you for all your prayers and words of support they mean the world to all of us right now. We still need a miracle!

Hope…

Last week my mother in law was readmitted to the hospital. We weren’t sure what was going on but she was confused and falling and something was wrong.  I couldn’t believe we were going through all this again. Even worse I couldn’t believe she was going through it all again either.  She hadn’t been home long and her progress had been slow and disappointing for us all. She had never gotten better. So it shouldn’t have been a shock, but it was.  She is in the Neuro ICU at a much bigger and better hospital. She has a team of doctors working on her condition and we are offering a lot of prayers.  Prayers of comfort, prayers hoping that her infection will get better.  The infection in her brain was not under control.  She has a tube in her brain, draining fluid to release pressure, allowing the doctors to test samples to see how bad the infection is, allowing them to administer antibiotics directly into the brain. The doctors have told us this is serious and she is not out of the woods. This is tough.

Last Saturday was our NICU reunion.  Which happened to be at the hospital my mother in law is currently at.  So we headed up to celebrate our healthy girls.  That our twins, our miracles  are almost 5 yrs old. Miracles do happen, it did for us. I just need another one for my mother in law.

 

It had pony rides, movies, food, games, life flight, ambulances… over the top fun!  As a volunteer I helped with the whole thing, but not as much as I would have liked considering current events.  It was a great reminder that miracles happen and when you are in a dark place and can’t see the other side its still there. Hope.  Life is full of hope and that’s what that reunion was all about.

Just taking a moment to celebrate that my twins made it.  That they are healthy.  We were very blessed!  I am proud to be able to be part of such a great program of volunteers helping parents of preemies see the hope and the light on the other side of the darkness.

Ebay

I have been working hard getting the girls ebay clothing up. If you interested you can find it with the link below. Most items have a match for twins, but please ask me first, as some times things sell.
http://shop.ebay.com/Lauraall/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

Swim team

Because I am crazy we had Lindsey rejoin the swim team for August.  Which means we do diving in the morning for an hour and then another hour of swim team.  So I had more subjects and plenty of time to play with my new lens.

 

 

 

Hailey

Sydney

 

Cousins

Been playing with the manual setting on my camera with a new lens.  These were taken before church on Sunday.  It’s overwhelming how much there is to learn but as I see it practice makes perfect so I will just keep practicing. 

Cali

Sydney

Hailey

Weekend wrap up…

Last week midweek I got a middle of the night wake up call with Sydney who was throwing up.  It was violent but short lived and by the next night I was up all night with Hailey. Wednesday I did laundry, lots of it. Thursday rolled around and my niece and nephew joined the party. We headed to the gym. On the elliptical I began feeling sick.  At first I tried to chalk it up to something I drank (don’t we always live in denial?).  No so. As the day wore on it got worse, much worse. By night I was barely able to tell all 6 kids to go to bed (so they partied in their rooms way too late).    Middle of the night Jacob woke throwing up.  I took care of him while being plagued myself.   Not the most fun I have had.  By Friday Jacob was fully recovered and I was feeling better (though slightly nauseous).  So the camping trip we had planned stayed planned and we headed out (all 8 of us).  I know your saying to yourself, don’t go. I  had the voice in my head saying that too.

 

We arrived and all seemed well. Did I mention I haven’t gone camping in like 10 yrs?  I don’t like camping. We discovered shortly into our adventure that one of the two tents was missing pieces so 4 had to sleep in the van we had borrowed.  After lots of chatter the twins, Lindsey and I fell asleep in the car.  Unfortunately I was awoken later by Lindsey who had the stomach bug.  Worst night of my life. Helping her throw up, in the dark, in a car, without anything but garbage bags.  Crying all night long.

 

Add it to my top ten things I will never do again. It was quite a weekend.

The pictures represent what the other kids thought of the trip, it was pure heaven.  Hailey, however, discovered a new kind of toilet. She tried to vow to not go to the bathroom once while we were there. If only.

Young again…

Some time in the spring we looked around and saw that Jack’s Mannequin and The Fray were coming to town so we bought tickets to their concert.

 

When the concert rolled around my mother in law was sick in the hospital. By the end of a very exhausting week I needed a break but I wasn’t sure that a concert was the kind of break I needed. It seemed like a better idea to go lay down and get good sleep and quiet.

  

I was totally wrong. The music was awesome and they were very talented. It was really a nice way to totally forget about all the stress and worry going on in our lives at the time.  I highly recommend seeing them in concert!