The girls were born on November 16th, 2007, 16 weeks early. Mallory Kate – 1 lb 8 oz, Evan Reese – 1 lb 1 oz, and Kelby Grace – 1 lb 5 oz. Upon their delivery, Mallory and Kelby were transferred to St. David’s South and were doing fairly well considering the circumstances. Our little Evan Reese was a fighter, but she had a lot of problems and she was with us for about 5 hours. We love you Evan and we miss you everyday, but we know we’ll see you again one day. Mallory and Kelby both went through a lot in their 105 day stay in the hospital, from heart surgeries, to brain bleeds, to infections. Many prayers were answered and we thank God everyday for everything He has done for them. Today they are perfectly healthy and growing bigger and stronger everyday. We started this blog to keep everybody updated on their progress. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page for a slideshow from the NICU days.

Monday, March 29, 2010

I hope I never forget............

It seems as if in the last few weeks my babies are now kids and as we move on to next steps I realize how much I want to go back and relive the past two years. I didn't absorb it enough. Here are a few things I hope I never forget.

1) When you wake up, be it from nap or in the morning, Kelby always says "Hey Mallory... Boo!" and I hear you fall over in your crib laughing.

2) "Daddy, mere, help you!" or "Momma, help you, Momma." (anytime they need some help)

3) "Momma hold your baby, pease"

4) "Daddy, hold you"

5) The thrill of trying on all of your shoes in your drawer.

6) My cleaning helpers, obsessed with organization.

7) Claps of excitement for popcorn, chocolate milk, eggs, Dora cereal, cookies, etc.

8) How you both instantly take your shoes off when we get in the car

9) Sleepy sillies at night. Running around the house giggling at everything

10) "I poop, I stink!"- Mallory

11) Kelby- your high pitched voice as you imitate me to Mallory

12) You both love to hold hands in the car, as we walk, in your high chairs.

13) "Momma, Color paper, pease"

14) Kelby- your creative hiding places and the thrill you get out of hiding things - especially your glasses (or anything of Mallory's)

15) Playing with my shoes in the morning while I get ready.

16) Sitting on Daddy's rug in our bathroom, side by side, eating cereal out of your snack cups in the morning.

17) Night, Nights! - and your puppies... 'must haves' before bedtime.

18) Reading the same book over and over and over....... and over....

19) Your request to sing songs every where we go. And Mallory's insistence on singing while we're doing your breathing treatments... "SING.... SING... SING..."

20) Kelby- your sweet over protectiveness of Mallory

21) Kelby- your smirk and half laugh when something funny happens to someone else.

22) "Uh-oh, Break it!"... (at least once a day)

23) "Where go?" and the genuine bewilderment of not knowing where Daddy went when he's holding the blanket in front of his face... or not knowing where your cup is when you put it under the blanket... it's like Magic... and it's oh so exciting when you realize it's still there... under the blanket.

24) Reading the same book from #18.... again.

25) You love going to church to play with your friends, but we love how you're so excited when we come to pick you up, like you thought you'd never see us again.

26) Kelby- We love your 'seriously thinking' face.

27) Mallory- We love your supper sweet, flirty, ham it up smiling face when you get up in the middle of the night.

28) That you INSIST on singing B-I-N-G-O while you use the potty. "Sing, Puppy"

29) Dancing feet!

30) Your fettish with wearing your church shoes around the house so you can dance.

31) You are both so excited to see us if we leave the room for just a second.

32) When you look at the screen of the laptop and ask for "Gran and Grandad"

33) Mallory- you love to play like you are talking on the phone. Kelby- my future speedy texter.

34) Your creative daring climbing abilities.

35) Mallory- You patiently sit and use your nebulizer and get your blood drawn as long as we sing songs from Veggie Tales or church.

36) Kelby- you are the sweetest overprotective sister.

37) You putting your glasses on your forehead while you play "peek-a-boo"

38) Asking where your eyes are when you look for your glasses




and I'm sure we'll be adding to this list as the days go by...

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Are you with us???

It is that time of year again, actually we are a bit late in announcing, the March of Dimes March for Babies walk is May 8, 2010 9am. This is the one event that we will try our hardest to never miss. Jeremy and I decided that our family participation in the walk would be our tribute to Evan every year. The March of Dimes is an amazing organization that does so much for NICU's across the country and research for babies born prematurely or with birth defects.

This year is going to be extra special for us. The Austin MoD chapter has memorial towers scattered through out the grounds area on the day of the walk. These towers each pay tribute to a little one that has left this earth way to soon. I received an email Friday asking if they could do a memorial tower in honor of Evan. Of course I said yes and sent in the information. So honored and humbled that they want to honor our little girl. I know God is using her story in so many ways, and it just warms my heart when we get to be apart of it. The sponsors that donate the funding for the towers will also give us the banner after the walk as a keep sake.

So with this special tribute we are working extra hard to raise money for the Austin MoD chapter. If you would like to donate to March of Dimes, we will have a link posted on our blog shortly. I am going to call around tomorrow to check on locations for a bake sale fundraiser and am looking into other ideas as well. If nothing else we would love to have you walk with us on Saturday May 8th. The walk is a short 3.2 miles through gorgeous downtown Austin. The path goes around the capital so there is even a photo op! We would love to have everyone join us.

Potty Training.

Whew! Seriously can not believe how fast time has been flying! It has been little busy at in our neck of the woods lately. Jeremy is studying for his PE exam (take 2) and attending a prep course for the last 5 Saturdays. Which has left the girls and I entertaining ourselves 6 days a week. I love the time with just the girls and makes me appreciate even more how much Jeremy helps me and plays with the girls.

I had a wild hair to try potty training a few weeks ago. The girls had pulled a stunt with taking their diapers off during nap time and a few other Mom's I knew made it seem not near as bad as I envisioned. So not expecting the girls to really be ready just yet and figuring we would go back to diapers with in two days, I gave it a shot! However, the girls fooled me and some what caught on, so I can't go back now! They LOVE their Dora panties and refuse to wear anything else. Needless to say if I had a nickel for every time I have said "Do you need to potty?, keep your panties dry" over the last three weeks I would be a rich Momma!

Kelby has a better hang of it and actually, today, pooped in the potty. Mallory thinks it is more fun to sit on the potty with your panties on, which defeats the purpose of keeping them dry.
- Sorry I know many of you could care less about potty training, and honestly before kids I rolled my eyes at parents that went on and on about the whole process. HOWEVER, now that I have been over my head in the whole ordeal, I feel the need to be one of those parents and ramble on! Plus it is a big mile stone that needs stamped and celebrated! -
On a rough estimate once the girls graduate fully to panties we will save $160 in diapers and wipes monthly! Now that there is some incentive for Momma and Daddy to hang in there.

Fun and cute pictures have been taken and will be uploaded soon. Hugs to all of our friends and family!! We love you all and miss you bunches!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

SNOW in Austin!

TWO days after the nice trip to the park, we got about 1-2 inches of snow! So we went out with the girls and built their first snowman!



Kelby was having a GREAT time...



Mallory... not so much...



Kelby - having a blast!



Mallory - "Seriously, can we go inside..."






There's a smile, so she wasn't completely miserable...






Our 'Snow Raider'

We love the park!

We had a great weekend a couple of weeks ago, it was really nice on Sunday so we spent the afternoon at the park.


















Valentine's Weekend

We had a great Valentine's Day weekend... Momma and Daddy got a weekend away. Gran and Granddad came to the house to keep the girls.









We got the girls a princess tent... they're still not sure about it.







We had a great weekend in Fredericksburg... this was the place we stayed.



Super Bowl Sunday

We made some snack food for Super Bowl Sunday and let the girls dig in... this was their first experience with chips and queso... they loved it.

notice Mallory's glasses are missing in these... we try... its hard when they're 2... ;)







Mallory's first haircut

Mallory's hair was starting to resemble a mullet, so early February we decided to take her for her first haircut.

Before shot




During...






After...

February catch up...

Iit's been so long since we updated the blog... here's some random photos from January and February...

"Where go?"



Boo!



Here we are! Notice Kelby's glasses are missing, that's a common occurrence... she likes to take them off and hide them... we've found them in the most random places... thankfully we have always found them eventually...