Merry Christmas!!

Hello all! Sorry for the delay in posts, but as it turned out I was at the hospital with the babies the last day and night and didn't have my computer with me. They scheduled us to room-in with the boys on Christmas night, and so I came to the hospital to do that! They are coming HOME tomorrow!! More about that story in a minute, but I wanted to tell a little bit about how our Christmas went!

Josiah woke up around 6am and so I went and woke David, and then as he was rising I sat in Josiah's room with him, prepping him for the "presents" he would see very soon. The first thing he saw as he came out was this Thomas the Train fort, and he was very excited to get in it right away! We ended up putting this in his room over his bed (which is also Thomas-themed) and it fit just perfectly!

We thought that perhaps Josiah wouldn't want to come out of the fort after seeing it, but we lured him out by telling him to come open his presents under the tree. This was the first year that he knew how to rip the paper and was more interested in the gifts than the boxes they came in! He had a couple of stages to opening the gifts. First it was, "What's inside it Momma/Daddy?" And then once we got the wrapping off it was "Open it Momma/Daddy!" And as those of you know who have had to wade through all the annoying twist ties and hard plastic covers for the various toys you buy for children, you will understand that the command "Open it" takes a bit more effort that you initially expect (not to mention some scissors and perhaps in some cases a blow torch!)

Josiah got lots of toys related to the movie "Cars" and that was VERY popular! By the end of the gift opening session though he was in a bit of a toy coma; not sure which toys to play with first!

Later on in the day, Grandma and Grandpa came over as well as Uncle Brent and Aunt Katie and there were more gifts to open. He got upset when he couldn't open other people's gifts, but we explained to him that not all the presents were his to open through his tears of unhappiness. We had a nice ham dinner with the extended family complete with scalloped potaotes, green bean casserole, jello salad, rolls, and a yummy sweet potato dish also. We called it "marshmallow potatoes" so that Josiah would try some and he actually ate them! Usually when there is something new, he doesn't like to try it!

Below are a couple more cute pictures from the day you might like to see.

As for the babies coming home, I have been here at the hospital hearing about the final details about how to care for these little ones once they are home. There are lots of discharge instructions that they have when your babies have an extended stay at the hospital. They also check the carseats to see if the babies fit in them properly and can breathe while seated in them. Since preemies have very soft trachias, they can't usually be in normal carseats because their heads fall forward and crush their trachias, which of course can result in suffocation. It turns out that our carseats failed for their current weight and gestational age, and so they provided us with these "car beds" which are essentially just a basket/bassinet like deal that is strapped into the car via the seatbelts. This is much safer for their respiratory health and later when they are bigger and older, they will be re-assessed to see if they can be in a normal carseat.


The main concern for us when they come home is to make sure that they are eating enough. They have given us a plan to track how much they are eating and if we can keep to it then they will continue to gain rather than lose weight. David and I could use your prayers in the next few weeks as we adjust to our new schedule. Please pray for Josiah as well as he has been very distressed that Mommy has been gone the past few days! Our little Pumpkinhead is not our one and only anymore and certainly will be finding that our attentions are divided now!