Last Week in Pictures

Ryan looks terrified of the giraffe on his playmat.


This is a meltdown. Meltdowns happen quickly and with very little warning. The picture below was taken 1o seconds prior to the meltdown.


Two little peas happily reporting to "school"...or so I thought.



"I always feel like somebody's watching meeeee."

Their bibs say "Heaven Sent" and that they definitely are.

Coincidence? On more than one occasion I have caught the boys doing the exact same thing at the same time. Coincidence or a twin connection?

Evan says, " Thanks for the jeans, Cousin Betty!"

"Give me the camera, Mommy!"

We are Thankful for...

this boy and his sweet wet smile, and his curious brown eyes, and his soft baby skin, and his new little laugh, and his cover kicking, face scratching, rolling all around, looking like his daddy little self.


and this boy with his big dreamy eyes, and his nut brown skin, and his big morning stretches, and his graceful little hands, and his one-sock wearing, smiling in his sleep, sleeping on his momma little self.

The Parkers had a fabulous Thanksgiving! It was a quiet day with just the four of us. Wow. The four of us. That is such a surreal thing to be able to say. Just last year the Parkers were two and now our family has doubled. The boys had a treat on Thanksgiving...oatmeal cereal! It was actually their second day having it, and let's just say we had an interesting time! Pics of their first time eating solids are coming soon. I've gotta hungry baby boy calling my name so I'll post more tommorow! :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! This year Thanksgiving has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I look at my husband, Ryan and Evan and to say that I am thankful is a complete understatement. Check back for more Ryan & Evan updates. Those Parker brothers have been up to BIG things and we have the pictures to prove it:)

Random Pictures

Here are a few of the latest pictures of the boys. Enjoy:)

I think Evan has learned how to give fake smiles.


We were about to start "school." I think Ryan likes it!

Off to get Mommy & Daddy's H1N1 vaccine. Evan looks happy that it's our turn this time and not theirs!

This picture was taken tonight right before the boys drifted off to sleep---finally.

Ryan is cute and he knows it!

Evan looks worried everytime I pull the camera out. He was all smiles as soon as I put the camera away!

We went for the sporty look today. Our babies are turning into big boys!

A Day in the Life of the Peas

Since the boys are getting older and are staying awake longer I've been trying to establish a routine for us to follow each day. I also want to stimulate them both cognitively and physically as much as possible. Since everything depends on the boys' feeding and sleeping schedule we don't have specific times for anything. The boys feed on demand, usually every three to four hours. Sometimes they go longer than four hours and sometimes they want to eat every two hours. Good Lord! Here is what a typical day looks like for us.

*Early Morning (6-7am usually) First bottle and watch Sesame Street. If they are wake early enough we watch Barney too. I've learned that you have to be careful about these educational shows, though. Sesame Street was teaching that the letter T says /tuh/! I was horrified. T does not say /tuh/! I gave Ry & Ev a quick lesson on the letter T. "T" is a quick sound -/t/ Hubby told me to get a grip:)
*Nap
*Get the boys dressed
*School!-During our "school" time we read books, sing songs, and have PE a.k.a tummy time:)
*Feeding & Nap
*Playtime-the boys either play in their bouncy seats or on their play mat and we play together
*Feedings & Naps continue
*Bath time
*Bed time- we try to get the boys down by 9:30 or 10pm. They still wake up during the night to eat, just not as frequently

When I can we get extra reading time, and singing silly songs is always in order! It's still a work in progress, but this is life with the Peas so far.

The Peas in Action

Here are two videos we shot last week. In the first one you'll see what happens when Ry-guy gets in his bouncy seat. The kid loves it! It's great to watch him become more aware of his environment and be interactive. I wrote in an earlier post about how mild mannered The Baby One is. Well, that's true except when he's hungry. Check out how mad Evan was at his mommy!

Our NICU Experience

I found out that I was pregnant on January 7, 2009. I found out while I was at work and I waited all day to rush home and tell my husband. I had already made him a card in anticipation of the day I would tell him that he would be a daddy. We found out the day before the inauguration that we were expecting twins. My pregnancy was ideal; I was never sick and I felt and looked great (at least I thought so!) I loved being pregnant! I loved feeling our babies move and kick and boy did they move and kick! I loved knowing that they were always with me. I used to sing a silly song that I made up to them called "Two Little Peas." They were an answered prayer for us.

I knew that there was a chance our babies would arrive before their September 16th due date, but extreme prematurity honestly never entered my mind. I knew nothing about prematurity. Nothing.

According to the March of Dimes one in eight babies are born premature. On June 8, 2009 my precious babies joined the ranks of babies born too soon. I don't really know why I went into early labor. I know that my cervix had shortened to about 1/8th of an inch. I know that at one point my contractions were stopped, but when they started again it was inevitable that our babies were going to be born that early Monday morning. They were born at only 25 weeks 5 days gestation. Ryan was born at 6:28am and Evan followed him one minute later. They were born at one of the best hospitals in our country, Yale New Haven Hospital. I was able to be transported there from Greenwich and for that I am very grateful. I can't take away from the expertise and the skill of the doctors and nurses at YNHH, but I know that it was the hand of God on our children that resulted in these two precious miracles coming home to us.

When my husband and I were thinking of names for the twins we didn't know the genders of the children, We just knew that their names had to have a meaning that we would want to follow them through life. If we had boys, there names would be Ryan and Evan. Little did we know how the meanings of their names would play out. Here is their story.

Ryan's name means Little King, his dad's name means King, so we thought that was perfect. Ryan weighed 1 pound 13 ounces at birth. He was a fighter from the very beginning. At only the second day of life he was able to be extubated (removed from the ventilator) and breath on his own with the assistance of the NIPPV (it looks exactly like the CPap for those of you with NICU experience) He was reintubated about five days later because the poor little thing got too tired, but that we was able to be extubated for any amount of time so early was unbelievable. God was at work. If there is such a thing as a Preemie Handbook Ryan read it. He did almost every single thing right. If you have a baby born as early as ours were you know that three letter acronyms are your worst enemy. IVH (bleeding on the brain that can cause severe handicaps depending on the severity), ROP (an eye condition that can cause blindness), NEC (a problem with the intestines that can cause death), PDA (an open valve in the heart that can cause a variety of problems that often results in heart surgery.) This is the world I was thrust into that June morning. I learned all I could about these things, but most importantly I truly learned to pray and I learned the power of prayer. Long story short, my first born son, my Little King, my Ryan had no bleeding on his brain whatsoever, no ROP, no intestinal problems, and no PDA. Infections can be deadly in the NICU and Ryan never had one. What's more, Ryan didn't even require a central line. A central line is a more permanent IV placed near the heart for babies to receive IV fluids. Ryan was able to get to full feeds pretty early, so he didn't need the line. This is truly remarkable for babies born as early as ours. In fact, as the doctors and nurses became more comfortable with the boys' prognosis and with me, they started to tell me exactly how remarkable all of this was. One nurse even told me, quite bluntly, that this simply didn't happen. I'd like to say that knowing this made the NICU experience easier for me, but it didn't. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Our Ryan spent 89 days in the NICU. He would have been home sooner, but on his original discharge day we discovered he had a hernia that needed to be repaired. Seriously. On the day we were to pick him up we discovered he had a hernia! Talk about the roller coaster of the NICU! We walked out of Yale with our boy on September 4, 2009, twelve days before his due date.

Evan means God is Gracious. Evan was born weighing 1 pound 11 ounces. His lungs were weaker than his brother's. He stayed on the ventilator longer (he came off one day before his 1 month birthday). His settings weren't terribly high, but he was on the vent nonetheless. His course was more dramatic than Ryan's. There were more scares for us due to his lung disease. Like his brother, though, Evan had no bleeding on his brain whatsoever. I still remember the feeling of waiting for those head ultrasound results. Ev had no ROP, and no intestinal problems. He did have a PDA that was closed with one round of medicine, so there was no need of surgery. He also never needed the central line. Still there were bumps in the road, mostly centered around his breathing. Evan had more episodes, and his episodes were dramatic. He stopped breathing on different occasions and needed the nurses to intervene. He also had two urinary tract infections. These were cleared up with antibiotics. He also needed a bilateral hernia repair. On one side the hernia was incarcerated, so it was an emergency situation. But, his name means God is Gracious. My baby fought on, and he hung in there, and he learned how to breathe, and he learned how to suck and swallow, and he did all of this when my body should have been doing it for him. Our Evan came home on September 10, 2009 after 95 days in the NICU. He came home six days before his due date. He was discharged on the nasal cannula on 0.1 litters of oxygen. As I sit here and type this I'm looking at my Baby one, my Evan. He is at home where he belongs and thriving. He's no longer on oxygen. For me, he is an example of strength.

My boys are miracles, no doubt about it. I would be remiss if I leave the story there though. Prematurity is not easy. Outcomes are not always like ours, but even with an outcome like ours there are challenges. We have to do a lot of things that we wouldn't have to do if our children weren't born premature. We can't take our children to crowded places, so church, malls, stores, and all are out of the question for us. We even have to limit the company we have because of the possibility of exposure to germs and viruses. We have countless doctor's appointments. A physical therapist comes to our house to work with the boys once a month to make sure they are meeting developmental milestones. We have to administer medication to them to make sure that they don't retain fluid. I'm happy to report, though, that their lung doctor plans on taking them off their meds at our appointment next month.

Eventually RSV season will end, and meds will be stopped, and milestones will be met, but that's not the end of the story. The NICU experience will always be with me. It makes me sad that my babies had to struggle so hard to live. It breaks my heart to know that my body failed them. I don't know if I'll ever be over it. But I do know how very happy I am every time I look at them. Our children have taught me so much in their short lives. They are special special little boys, and I know that God has a purpose for their lives. I do know that prayer works. Our family, friends, and church family have prayed for our family and their prayers helped get us through.

When our babies were born I needed to hear other stories about babies born as early as ours. I needed hope. I stumbled upon blogs that moms of preemies had written, and they were a tremendous help to me. I understand that no two babies will have the same course through the NICU, but there is hope. I hope that someone finds hope in our story, so I'll continue this blog and share our story. Today is the day that we fight against prematurity so that babies won't have to fight.

The Parker brothers had a busy week last week. They had a couple doctors appointments and both boys were given a clean bill of health! Praise God for that. They are a bit congested, but nothing t0 be worried about. The cool mist humidifier and saline drops have been helping. They also got their first Synagis shot. Synagis will help protect them from RSV, a dangerous respiratory virus. Both boys screamed bloody murder, but too bad babies! They'll get this shot once a month during RSV season. In New England the season usually ends in March.

The boys managed to bet themselves on complete opposite schedules for a few days. This means that we were feeding/changing/burping/bathing/consoling a baby almost every hour! Whew! Busy, busy, busy! I think they are more in sync now, so it'll be a little easier.

Ryan and Evan were treated to new clothes and books. We are excited to have all of the Llama Llama books by Anna Dewdney now! We've had fun reading those. Our (my :) favorite is Llama Llama Red Pajama! We also added a couple of classic Christmas stories to our collection so we can start our Parker family Christmas traditions. Here are a few pictures from last week. New videos are coming soon!



This baby is full of smiles!


Evan is a wild sleeper! He has taken over his brother's blanket!

I heard about these Fisher Price seahorse soothers. They play calming music and ocean sounds. They boys did fall asleep, but 10 minutes after this picture was taken Evan woke up!

One happy mommy! If you think my hands are full you should see my heart!

Prematurity Awareness Month

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In efforts to raise awareness about premature births and to help support the March of Dimes, bloggers who have preemies, or who love a preemie, or who simply know a preemie are asked to blog about their experience with prematurity on Tuesday November 17th. I have decided to participate and blog about our experiences over the last few months. This is going to be hard for me. I already know that it is. It is not something I like to think about, let alone discuss and in such a very public way. But think about it I must because this is our reality and it will forever be a part of our family's story. If blogging about my sons' premature birth and the NICU experience can help another mom or family of a preemie and give them hope, then it is definitely worth any discomfort I may feel. I remember when I used to scavenge the internet for stories about preemies born as early as our sons. I needed information, but I was also looking for hope. There are some amazing stories out there and I believe ours to be one of them. I always knew that I wanted to help in some way, and I think I may have found it. Please check back on November 17th.

5 Months

Yesterday Ryan and Evan turned 5 months old and I found myself wondering where the time has gone. Preemies really have two ages--their actual age and their adjusted or corrected age. The actual age is the chronological age; the corrected age is the age the baby would be if he was born on his due date. As preemies get older, their ages will stop being corrected. This usually happens by age 2. Think about it; there's not that much difference between a 24 month old and a 27 month old. Since they were born 3 months early, the boys' corrected age is 2 months. This is the age that the pediatrician and Birth to Three (an early intervention program) use to determine how well the boys are doing. We are pleased to report that the boys are actually performing ahead of their adjusted age! This is fabulous news! In honor of their fifth month of life I will share 5 fun facts about Ryan and Evan.

Ryan:
1. We call him Ry-Guy and I made up my own special name for him--The Big Brother Baby Boy!
2. Ryan was born first and his emerging personality proves it! He is extremely demanding. He wants what we wants and he wanted it 10 minutes ago. He's not afraid to let you know when he is not happy.
3. Ryan is a noisy baby! He makes the cutest moans, groans, and grunts! When he first came home I jumped at every single noise he made. We've noticed that as he gets older he makes less noise. I've gotta try to catch him in action on video though. I think I'll miss his noises!
4. Ryan is so silly! He can go from crying to laughing and back to crying in 0.3 seconds! He does this little lip quivering thing when he's mad and when you talk to him, he starts laughing! Hilarious:)
5. Ryan's nails are lethal. I mean really. He has given himself and us some nasty scratches.

Evan:
1. We can him EvMan, but I have my own special name for him. I don't think he'll ever live this one down--he's my "Baby one!" (Baby one as in little one, not baby #1) We think we are done having children, so Evan will always be the baby of the family!
2. The Baby one loves his binky! For him, the bink makes it all better. No bink = a very fussy Evan.
3. Evan is very mild mannered. He really doesn't cry a lot. If he's unhappy about something he'll whine a little and that's about it. But he does have a cry that brings me running! When I hear him cry and really cry, I know that something is not right.
4. Evan has the biggest, dreamiest eyes I have ever seen. A close up look at his eyes will make you think that he is wearing eye liner. Simply gorgeous...in my unbiased opinion! LOL
5. Evan is very expressive with his hands. It seems that his hands are always moving. His favorite pose is the "talk to the hand" pose. I even have an ultrasound picture of him giving someone the hand! His newest thing is patting your back or arm while he's being burped.

Swilly!

Our boys are so sweet & silly--swilly!

Double Trouble?

Traveling with twins is always an adventure. People are fascinated with multiples. I guess I can understand that. It is quite a sight...pulling out the big ol' double snap 'n go, hoisting baby #1 and then baby #2 and strapping them in. Steering it is another story! Don't forget about the huge diaper bag full of gear. Most people are in awe of us and some of them look terrified for us. It is the latter group that inspired this post. A few times people have said to me "Ahh, twins-double trouble!" To this my standard reply is, "No trouble; just double blessings." and I happily continue pushing my big ol' double snap 'n go. Is it a lot of work? Ha! That's an understatement. Is it tiring? We all (even Evan!) usually crash as soon as we get home. Would I have it any other way? Absoultely not.

Sleep!

This is an old picture, but the onesie pretty much sums it up! This pic and the one in the header captures the rare times we catch Evan sleeping and Ryan wide awake. You see, Evan does not like to nap! In fact, just now as I was writing this post I had just put Evan down for a nap. He was fast asleep...or so I thought. As soon as I went over to get Ryan his eyes flew open and he gave me the biggest cutest grin ever! BUT, I am happy to say that Evan slept through the night for two nights in a row! Well, it was more like from 12:30 to 6am, but we'll take it!

Solo Shots

Ryan is just too cute for words and I love this picture of Evan!

The Cutest Pumpkins in the Patch!

The boys and I were not able to join Daddy at our church's OctoberFest this year, so we used the time to have a photo shoot! Aunt Aliki sent Ryan and Evan the cutest outfits (thanks Aliki!) and though we don't actually celebrate Halloween, we had to acknowledge that this was the boys' very first Halloween. Ryan is on the left and Evan is on the right. Though Evan looks extremely bored, it was fun--I promise!