Max's BIg Day

Friday (Nov. 5)Max is going to have an the opportunity to have a vent ween. They (Pulmonology) will turn his vent off for 1 hour and see how he does. If he handles it we will get to try it at home. And then, as the days go by we can slowly increase his time off the vent until he is off all day long (he will remain on the vent at night for a while yet). This is a HUGE step! We are thrilled that we are even talking about it. Please pray that it goes well. And, that he can continue to take steps towards being less dependent on his ventilator.
Thanks for your thought and prayers! We appreciate all of them. God has blessed us with these amazing boys. I am so excited to see what God has in store for them.

NICU Buddies

Some of our NICU buddies came over for a photo shoot yesterday. We had a blast!!!
I made the tutu's and tie onesies for the kids. I have to say they turned out pretty cute.

The line up of the kiddos. Sooooooo adorable!

Max, so handsome sitting up like a big boy in the chair! Kisses all around!!!

Wesley pondering the chaos of the day. This was towards the end of the photo shoot, he was exhausted.

Times they are a CHANGIN!!!

Wes and Max in the tub together! I know that is "normal"  for most families, but in our house it was HUGE! The boys loved it! Splashing and giggling the whole time.

This pic of both of them in the tub is a true depiction of their personalities. Wes is mischevious and .....well naughty. Max is cautious and careful. SO CUTE! 

I love this picture.     Aug. 2010

Wes is now standing up by furniture and crawling EVERYWHERE! He is into everything. He loves to "help" me sew. He plays with my sewing machine petal and picks up all the threads on his pants.        Sept. 2010

Max is giving all of you a kiss! He is hilarious. He sits on the floor and bounces, plays the drums on his little stool, and watches everything. You can almost see his brain trying to figure out how things work. Maybe he'll be an engineer like his uncle.                    July 2010

Wesley playing in a box just like all kids do. So cute, he thought he was pretty cool.                    July 2010

Max at feeding therapy. This picture is before he actually started doing anything. About 5 seconds after this picture was taken he was screaming.                       Oct. 2010

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GREAT Changes!

Max and Wes are doing GREAT!

SIZES: Max is still our "Big Guy" he is 29 inches long and 23 and a half pounds.

Wesley is 27 inches (I think, sadly I am not good at all the boys details). He is still 17 pounds. He is still struggling to gain weight.

DEVELOPMENT: Max is starting to roll consecutively! He rolls over to toys or to grab one of his tubes. He is hilarious, he likes to stick his bottom lip out and then smile really big. My Dad can make him do it on command. It is so fun! Max is also sitting up on his own. We set him in the sitting position and he'll sit up playing with toys and talking to Wes. He loves to talk, he is our chatty boy. Max is also still teething, the poor kid has been teething for months. He has one of his front teeth and four on the bottom. When he smiles it is adorable because his huge front tooth pokes out. He a big fan of zerburts, ( sorry, I'm not sure how to spell that) he just giggles and giggles.

Wesley is rolling EVERYWHERE! He loves to roll across the room to steal the toys Max is playing with. He is also sitting up. He loves to sit and play the xylophone. He hits the keys really hard while closing his eyes because it is so loud. So fun. He recently started standing up next to furniture (we stand him up next to it and offer minimal support). It is one of my favorite things. He gets so proud of himself and just beams.

The boys therapists are very happy with all the progress they are making. Hearing that makes me a happy Mama!

We recently had appointments at the pulmonologist. Both boys are doing fantastic. Max was able to go down on her vent settings! He is in charge of all his own breaths and his pressures are lower than before. I can't tell you how exciting this is! We have finally begun the process of getting rid of the vent. Mark and I realize that it is still going to be a long road, but we are ecstatic that it has begun! If his wean is successful we can go down from 3 breathing treatments to 2. ALL GOOD THINGS!!! Wes had his appointment yesterday. We are able to get rid of at one of his breathing treatments, and if all goes well we can get rid of another in a few weeks. He still on a little oxygen when he sleeps but that is it. We have a wireless baby all day!

Thank you all for your support and prayers. It is amazing to see your prayers in action. The boys are thriving, we could not be more happy with all their progress. Please pray that they continue to develop and grow. Specifically for Max's lung development and for Wes to gain some much needed weight. He is also still struggling with retching. We still are not sure why he is doing it, or how to stop it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You support, prayers, meals, landscaping, help, gifts..... No words will express how blessed we have been.

I forgot how to post pics. As soon as I figure it out again I will post some adorable updated pictures.

Happy Birthday!!

Sitting in the chair together, Wes is kind of making a 1.


Family Picture. I don't know what the boys are looking at.

Max and Wes are 1!

Maxwell and Wesley had their first Birthday yesterday! We had a small relaxed party. The boys slept through half of it, but it was still fun to celebrate how far they have come. At birth Max weighed 1 lb. 10 oz., Wes weighed 1 lb. 9 oz. They are now weighing 21 lbs. 10 oz. (Max) and 17lbs. + (Wes). HUGE compared to where they started.

The year has been difficult and amazing. Losing my Mom has been a struggle for me. It is hard to think that she never got to hold the boys and doesn't gets to watch them grow up. I take comfort in thinking she is watching them from Heaven, helping us raise them into the amazing boys that they are.

Our boys have been through so much in their short lives. They have made and are making amazing strides; learning, growing, and discovering new things.

Max is laid back, investigates things before he grabs them, and is happy to play on the floor all day if he could. He loves to play with his tongue and stick his thumb in his mouth to feel his one lonely tooth- Mark calls it his tusk. Wes is a mover and a shaker. He scoots himself across the floor on his back, puts anything and everything in his mouth, and reaches for anything he can touch. He lays on the floor and kicks his feet, we call it the "Irish Jig." They are giggling and laughing at each other (my favorite thing to see). It seems like everyday they do something new.

The next year is going to be one of changes, hopefully. We would love to see Wes off oxygen ( he is currently on oxygen while he sleeps). Max has more obstacles, but we are praying for decreased vent settings and lower oxygen needs. Maybe even off the vent a year from now...hey, a Mom can hope!!

We praise God for our Miracle Men. They are just that, miracles. Everyday we have with them is amazing. Thank you so much for your prayers and support through the last year. We have all come so far.

Top Pic: Max looking at Mark for permission to dive in.
Bottom Pic: Wes thinking about more cupcake destruction.

Already 1 Year

It has been a whole year since I was admitted into the hospital with preterm labor. March 9, 2009 was one of the scariest days of our lives. I was put on bedrest and went into the hospital all on the same day. I stayed at Holland Hospital for 5 days (I think) until I hit the 23 weeks, then they transferred me by ambulance to Spectrum Health where I stayed until the boys came. It is hard to imagine everything that has happened in that year.

The boys are doing great! They are growing and changing everyday. It is amazing to see their progress. They are interacting with eachother, cooing, laughing, and all sorts of fun stuff. Max weighs 19 lbs. 8 ounces. Wes weighs 16 lbs. 8 1/2 ounces. Max is getting a tooth! It has been trying to poke through for about a month, but no luck so far. Mark and I wonder what he is going to do with a tooth, he doesn't take anything by mouth yet.
We have an appointment for Max with the pulmonologist Wednesday afternoon. We are hoping that he is doing well enough to either go down on his vent pressure or lower his oxygen level. Wes is still retching but it has improved slightly with the addition of a new medicine.

We are so happy to all be under one roof, and thrilled with how well the boys are doing. Max has been home for 9 weeks. In that time neither of the boys have gotten sick or had to make any trips to the doctor. We are incredibly thankful for their health thus far and pray that is continues.

We have been getting fantastic help during the day from friends and family. As well as delicious meals and goodies.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support. It mean so much to us. The road to this point has been very difficult. The future has its obstacles but we have a renewed strength forward.

New Pics

I am getting really bad at updating this lately...as I was reminded by my entire family at my little brother's birthday party on Sunday!! Things continue to progress appropriately, I guess. Max is doing really well and has adjusted to life at home. He has had some good doctors appointments recently and they have resulted in a few adjustments to Max's vent settings, but not any of the pressures just yet. Things move a little more slowly after leaving the NICU, and we were aware of that before we left, but the reality is kind of a bummer when he is doing so well. Max is tipping the scales at 19 pounds as of today...and his cheeks are still as chubby as ever. His latest trick is peeing whenever he is put in the tub. The last two tubbies have resulted in at least 3 tub refills each. And the look on his face while he is peeing all over the place is of a deep sense of pride.

Wes is still chugging along. We continue to struggle with retching and weight gain, and truthfully, that has been an incredibly frustrating ordeal. No one seems to really have any idea what is causing it or what to try next. We are on our third type of formula in as many weeks and just really want this to stop and start seeing some good weight gain. He weighs 16 pounds as of today, but next to his brother if looks like he weighs about 10 pounds. Wes is off oxygen all day, and we have a sleep study in April to see if he can come off oxygen altogether!! It is hard to believe we will ever have a baby that is not connected to some sort of wiring or tubing.

Certainly one of the highlights of the last couple of weeks was a follow up photo shoot with Marie Clark. She came and did a session with us when the boys were about 4 months old...needless to say, they have changed a bit since then! Below are some examples of Marie's amazing talent. You can view all of the pictures at the following link:

http://www.pictage.com/690798