December 2014

This is a small portion of December....

This tree farm is about 5 miles from our house:-)

It was bitter cold and windy the day we went to the tree farm..

We have really enjoyed the tree farm experience.

We chose a "mini" tree this year..

Our littles were so excited about having a tree their size.

I thought this wasn't a great idea, I was proven wrong, it turned out so cute!

 

 

We took some of our Christmas card pictures while at the tree farm.

 The highlight for the children at the tree farm is getting hot cocoa while our tree is being wrapped.

 Bekah drove her car so she could bring the tree home for us :-)

 

Our "mini" tree, I absolutely enjoyed looking at the tree this year.

Christmas is "my" favorite holiday and time of the year, but with being so pregnant I didn't have it in me to decorate like I normally do....keeping things simple was my plan. Elizabeth picked up where I slacked. She decided to decorate the tree with homemade ornaments. She had craft days with the littles, and they made the ornaments that hung on the tree. The littles were so proud of their homemade ornaments....when I looked at the tree I saw creativity, love, simplicity, and beauty. I think it was the pretties tree ever.

 

 

 

Christmas Eve dinner....

It was a real treat to be able to leave the hospital and come home to have Christmas Eve

 with my family, though it was 'hard' to leave my babies behind.

 

 

 

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Our first Christmas gifts arrived....

Olivia Noel & Emma Joy

Our sweet girls may have had to celebrate their first Christmas in the hospital,

but everyone needs a tree.....

So, Elizabeth made them a little tree to have on their beds.

The nurses gave the girls Christmas booties to wear along with pink reindeer hats...

They looked very festive ;-)

 

Olivia & Emma

Crib Buddies

Life in NICU has given our sweet girls a good start their future...
They have had top notch care while here...
And we have made new friends/relationships.

The journey in which we have been on for the past 16 days has had it's ups and downs...

Through it all we have seen the Lord's hand at work....

And felt His peace~

Emma & Olivia

The girls have graduated from the gavage feedings, and from the warming beds. They have gained strength and are now feeding well, and for the past 4 days have been gaining weight!

We will prayerfully be going home tomorrow...

Praise the Lord!!!!!!

EMMA

Many people have ask if the girls are identical...
The ultrasound could never give us an answer to this question, due the way it was positioned.
After the girls were born the doctor thought they were,
but to be sure he sent the placenta off...
Today we received the news from pathology...
Olivia and Emma are identical twins!

OLIVIA

 

In the weeks to come we will be taking life slow staying in and keeping warm...

We'll continue to "grow" our new tiny little girls...

And hoping to avoid all the nasty germs that come with winter.

~ Life is Good~

Our Twins Are HERE!!!!!!

The twins due date was January 30, 2015

 

On December 20th I woke with a fever and having contractions, I was 34 weeks pregnant. Arthur took me to the hospital that Saturday, they controlled my fever and slowed down my contractions. I was released that evening and sent home on bed rest...a first for me ever! Since my entire pregnancy with the twins had been uneventful with "no" complications my doctor thought that I could still carry the girls another week or 2.... and that was what we were praying for! I continued to have a low grade fever for the next couple of days. On Monday I had a fever and a day filled with sporadic contractions. Arthur and I went to bed at 10:00PM that night, at 12:40AM I woke to my water breaking! So, we knew that this was it, the Lord had appointed December 23rd to be the twins birth day!

At 34 weeks and 4 days pregnant we knew the girls could face a rough start.

 

We arrived at the hospital at 1:45AM,

everybody and everything from that moment on moved fast.....

the nurses knew that my labors move quickly.

By 3:45 I was dilated to 10 and moved to the O.R. to deliver...

just in case I needed a C-section.

 

Praising the Lord I had a safe vaginal delivery,

I feel beyond blessed.

 

 

BABY A: Olivia Noel

Born  4:19 AM

Weight: 4.15 lbs

Length: 18 3/4 in

 

BABY B: Emma Joy

Born: 4:27 AM

Weight: 5.7 lbs

Length: 18 in

 

Our sweet baby girls have had a tough start.

 

 

The first 2 days Olivia and Emma were on oxygen and antibiotics for an infection. Christmas day they both came off the oxygen and labs came back that their infections were cleared up! That was truly the best Christmas gift ever!

 

This picture was on Christmas day, our tiny Christmas gifts.

Christmas day was the first time the girl had been together since they were womb-mates.

It was wonderful to see them together, even if it was just for a few moments.

That was the last time they were together, other than their little beds being side by side.

 

A priceless moment~

 

At present Olivia and Emma are making progress daily,

one baby step at a time.

They both have IV's for nutrients,

they are in warming beds to help them maintain their body temperature.

The girls have been battling jaundice with their counts up one day and down the next,

so they've been having phototherapy.

Yesterday they both started taking a bottle and "trying" to nurse...

You know it's hard work to nurse~ 

Because the girls exert themselves when they nurse or bottle feed 

they also have a feeding tube,

 this helps when they are just to tired or sleepy to nurse/bottle feed.

 

 

The hospital gave me a courtesy room ~the room I had on the labor/delivery floor~

this way I could be close to the girls and able to stay overnight.

I was released on Christmas Eve and able to go home that night to spend time with my kiddos.

I'm now staying at the hospital every night to be near the girls,

(we live 25 minutes from the hospital) 

this gives me the ability to feed them and get some quality cuddle time in.

 

At present we don't know when the girls will come home,

and we aren't in a rush as we want them stable and healthy first.

Today the doctor told us with premature babies it's all in "their time"

which could be a week or weeks.

Olivia and Emma have many hurdles to cross before they can come home...

Until then we continue to pray for their progress and health.

 

*This blog post is a bit choppy and lacking descriptive words,

I blame it on lack of sleep and creativity.....

All of which take time, something I have little of right now.

Still here.....

 

I haven't been ignoring the blog, just been busy with life~

I just wanted to say HI :-)

I'll be back soon with lots of pictures and a few family updates~

Hope y'all are having a fantastic start to the most wonderful time of year CHRISTMAS!

Home Restoration....

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder~

 

I definitely believe that statement fits when looking at the first picture above. In May 2012 we purchased the little yellow farm house and 30 acres of land. The land was overgrown, the barns were in poor condition, and the little yellow house....

Well, it was a mess!

The little yellow house had hay bales being stored on the front porch, it had been half way gutted inside by the previous owners,

windows were broken, and little varmints were using it as their home:-0 The Lord allowed us to see past all of that and gave us a vision for the house and land, I'm so thankful He did! It has taken lots of hard work, sweat and pulling together to get the house/land/barns where they are today.

 

We are still in the restoration process with the house,

we hope to be moved in way before Christmas

the end of the year.

 

Once the house is complete I'll share pictures of the

before and during process...

along with the after.

Random pictures from fall...

 Crafting......

 

 Adventures.....

 

 Weekend Trips....

 

Silliness.... 

We hope to move into our house before Christmas!

~ Fall~

Fall*Apple*Fun

 

The first of October we took a little trip to the apple orchard.

We enjoyed the store and the apple picking....

Mercier Orchard has lots of activities.

The views from the orchard were amazing.

Apple picking was a first for many of our kiddos.

 



 

 

We sampled lots of apples...

 

After filling 3 bags to the top with various kinds of apples, it was time to load back on the wagon and ride back to our van. We had all sampled and eaten so many apples that the thought of eating the ones we purchased didn't sound appealing. It didn't take but a day and we were to eat apples again :)