My tiny little terrors

The boys are really enjoying tearing up the house everyday. It's a complete tornado going through constantly. They interact a lot more with each other, mainly by stealing each other's toys, but I'll take it. Jax can consistently pull up to a stand now, so we may have to lower his mattress all the way to the floor in his crib since one side is elevated and he likes to stand so much! Putting the mattress directly on the floor is a solution to babies who can climb out of the crib. Now while neither of my boys are near climbing out, Jax could possibly fall out since the mattress is inclined.

Brady has a nasty runny nose which is keeping him up at night. He's going through a bib every hour. He has no fever and is still his lovable self who loves to play, so I hope it just clears up and doesn't become anything bigger. Lucky for me, he doesn't mind it when I use the battery operated nasal aspirator on him! He is still my little cuddle bug with a new bump or bruise from his curious adventures everyday!

The boys have their 15 month physical on Friday. It will be neat to see where they fall on their growth curves to see how they're doing.

My big boys on their feet!

A pair of sassy pants!

Daddy giving rides around the kitchen!

(Jax)

(Brady)

Big B being a big boy.

Happy Halloween!

The boys definitely enjoyed Halloween much more this year, and I'm sure it will be even better next year. We went to the zoo and saw tons of kids all dressed up. The boys got to see a lot of ghosts and goblins and get treats.

After their naps at home, we put their costume hoods on them with their Halloween pj's and they loved it. They greeted all the trick-or-treaters and got to visit with neighbors. We kept them up an hour later to try and make up for day light savings time, which I now believe is just a big ol' cosmic joke on anyone with infants or toddlers. They both woke up at their regular times, but Jax was on the early end of thinking it was 5am, when really it was 4am! Ouch! We'll see how tomorrow goes. I think it will take the better half of this week for them to adjust.

The boys had a lot of playtime today. Auntie Rachel and Uncle Dennis came over for the game, so there was a lot of wrestling and giggles. Jax pulled to a stand holding onto me once all by himself, he's getting there slowly but surely! We also moved his crib into the spare room so he can have a nice big bed. We had been using a pack-n-play in our room with him for so long that it became his "bed". We always had the hope that he'd stop vomiting and go stay in the nursery with Brady, but once he started sleeping through the night, we moved to the room next to us since he still vomits every morning pretty violently. So we need him close to us, and it would be NUTS to put him in by Brady knowing he retches and heaves so loudly at least 1 - 1.5hrs before Brady gets up in the morning. I'm hoping they can share a room around 2, so we'll see.

I finally went into the doctor today since today marked over 2 wks of feeling lousy. I cough so much and so hard at night that I have to do it under my blanket so it doesn't wake the boys. The doctor did his exam and said I have Bronchitis and prescribed some antibiotics (and told me not to wait so long again). Apparently it's a lovely lingering affect from the flu that I had. He also prescribed a cough med with a sleep aid for me, but of course that prescription didn't go through to the pharmacy and by the time I got there to figure that out, the doctor's office was closed. Always something! I'm just glad I went in and can start to get rid of this!

So here are the promised Halloween photos, enjoy!

Jax the monkey and Brady the lion!

All my guys waiting in line for the train.

~Train ride~

Jax loved standing and hanging out the window on the train - such a sweet smirk.

What a sweet baby lion on the train.

Daddy with all the animals~

Jaxon trying out his super mini backpack to hold his own feeding pump and bag. It fits him well, but it's too heavy for him. He fell backwards a few times, and finally just stayed put to play. We'll be trying it each month to see how he does. As for now, he just crawls and drags the large backpack, but mostly we're chasing after him to keep it up with him!

The boys made a few second appearance outside during trick-or-treating in their pj's and costume hoods!

Mama with her fierce lion!

Jax being a monkey!

2nd Lab tests - done!

I brought Jaxon into the hospital to get his blood drawn for the second round of testing we're doing for the holistic medical facility. I was dreading this morning, but I'm so glad it's done with. It took three tries to get his blood, so you can imagine the nuclear meltdown he was having. We were able to get the labs processed into plasma and ship everything out. Now we wait to see what his results are and where to go from here. He had his Amino Acids, carnatine levels, serotonin levels and a Denox DNA evaluation done. I'm anxious to see the results.

Brady is starting to understand words now (he certainly knows what NO means). He takes socks and puts them to his feet knowing that's where they go, and he also takes Jaxon's bibs and put them up around his forehead knowing that's how they go on. I know these are little things, but this is the first sign from him that he gets it. He also does high 5's now, but for some reason "bye-bye" waving is still beyond him.

Since Jaxon is on the move like crazy now, he's having to learn the word NO for the first time, and he's only starting to get it :)

Here are the boys cruising around the kitchen at night (when Jax is off his feeding pump):

Thanks to Tamlyn for sending these cute outfits from Cooper and Colton!!

**For anyone following baby Grant, his staph infection is not MRSA (great news) but his liver enzymes are now at a critical high level. They're hoping it's from the staph infection and not his TPN. Please continue thoughts and prayers to their family.

GI Follow up

Jaxon had his GI follow up and another Feeding Clinic meeting at Children's Hospital today. We started with the feeding clinic (which is located inside the GI dept). Jaxon was absolutely fine until we brought him in the room where he gets weighed and measured. He had the worst meltdown we had ever seen. He actually clawed at me when I tried to put him down to get his clothes off. He screamed and cried so hard that I myself had to fight back tears. I couldn't even get him to stay on the scale because of his flailing around. He had to be put on the floor scale (like the kind they use at veterinarian offices), and even that was a struggle.

Once we got in the feeding clinic room, we were able to get his clothes back on him and he finally calmed down. He really likes the feeding clinic coordinator that we work with so that helps. She helped defuse the situation by making small talk before beginning any "food-work". Jax did VERY well. He sat in the highchair and smiled and clapped as I sang his special spoon-song. We worked on taste and texture today. We used apple juice mixed with water in one cup, apple sauce mixed with water in another and finally straight applesauce (very thin stage 1 baby food).

We practiced with the flavored water and he did great. We followed with the thicker water and finally a real taste of stage 1 baby food. He did AWESOME. Of course it was just a dab in his mouth, but that was the first time ever he's had it! We were taught how to go back and forth between the textures, and always bring him back and end with the flavored water, and how to use TINY amounts of the actual "food". So we'll be working on this over the months and working our way up. This will/should slowly but surely work on his gag reflex that he's acquired from the feeding tubes and early months of reflux and vomiting.

We met with the GI specialist after this and he was SO impressed with seeing Jaxon crawl around and trying to pull up on is leg (Jax couldn't even roll over when he last saw him 8wks ago). Of course the doctor said he is amazed at Jaxon's health and very hopeful for him. He agrees now that small meals may in fact be a possibility for him in the future. The doctor actually wants us to slowly increase his rate of food per hour to get him even more time off the pump, and to also take his vent off more frequently. He feels that since he's vented 21 hrs a day, his stomach is most likely producing more acid to keep up. He wants his stomach to feel volume in it (even though it means some of his vomits will produce more volume). He really thinks it's time to start making his stomach work. He's extremely happy and surprised at his health. I asked if we should check his iron levels since we've stopped giving him any, and the doctor said his complexion and color look so great that there's no question of iron deficiency, although they will check on the next appointment.

Jax had great appointments today which fills us with so much hope. I asked the doctor if he felt that Jax was on his way to being cured. He smiled and said that he thinks Jax is doing amazing and is on his way to having a much more free life. I'll take that ~

:::The doctor did say that he didn't know if the natural supplements were the key factor in Jaxon's progress since he has no education in that field, but he said he's not saying it isn't the key factor either::: 

**Please send more prayers out to baby Grant. He has a central line infection and has been re-hospitalized. Sending out tons of thoughts and prayers to you Shawna! Keep up the good fight.

Seasons change

The last few days proved to be a beautiful fall weekend. Not much has changed with the boys for development other than Jax getting much more comfortable with crawling and Brady has tiny moments of standing alone. We worked with Brady off and on and he just tries to get down to crawl the moment you try to get him to walk - this better not be a foresight into the future of getting him potty trained!

On a more serious note, I would like to take a moment to send some love out to Shawna from Texas. Shawna and I belong to the same online community of mothers of multiples (she has 8 month old twin boys), and her little boy, Grant, has been diagnosed with Pseudo Obstruction. It's unbelievable that two babies in this small group of women have the senseless same disease. Please take some time to send your positive thoughts and prayers to their family. Grant is struggling at only 11 lbs and is on full TPN (IV feeds). My heart has been breaking for this family for quite awhile, and I know exactly how Shawna felt the other night when her baby was given this diagnosis. At this point, Grant is given a less than 30% to ever be off TPN, ever. Hopefully with this diagnosis they're able to begin calming his pain and getting him to grow now that they know what they're treating. No parent or child should ever have to go through things like this. 

With that said, everyone hug your babies and enjoy some pictures of these guys.

A walk with Daddy to look at fall leaves.

Brady enjoying the leaves in the yard!

Jaxon does NOT like the feel of leaves!

Neither boy owning up to who ripped the lamp...

Bathtime!

Jaxon testing my cleaning skills by trying to chew on the tub...

~ They love bathtime ~

The neat thing about Brady...you can pull his clothes off at bedtime and leave them on his head 

and the kid just leaves them on his head and goes about playing like they're not there!

Silly boys

The boys are doing well. I have continued this nasty bug, but thankfully the boys seem happy and healthy. I contacted the doctor's office about myself and the nurse said that with all my symptoms, I either have a bad bug, or the H1N1 flu, but either way, they'd give me the same advice for either to get better. Although extra rest and staying away from people can't really happen. The nurse said that since my symptoms had been going on since Saturday, the Tamilflu treatment wouldn't help me at this point. Although if I still have a sore throat in a day or two I should come in. I just don't want to go into a doctor's office unless absolutely necessary so I don't expose myself  (thus exposing the boys) to other illnesses. 

My symptoms have been: Sore throat, body aches, chills, headaches, vomiting and now a cough. I'm ready for this to all be gone now! So I'm forging through and using a pound of disinfectant daily. 

We've still managed to get a lot of playtime in with the boys. Here are some pictures to prove it!

I was doing spoon-therapy with Jax in his highchair this afternoon. 

I turned to begin and this is how he was sitting there. All "matter of fact" like! 

It's nice to see some color to his skin, isn't it?

Jax was all kinds of giggly and silly, enjoy!

I looked down at my feet and there's Brady blowing spit bubbles!

The boys "unwinding" with Daddy before bed.

Hi boys!

Jax is on the left and Brady on the right.

Weekend yuckies

We had a very low-key weekend. Jaxon and I haven't been feeling the best. I started with aches & pains, a sore throat and nasty headaches, and Jax was irritable and ran a temperature on Saturday night. His vomiting had increased to every 20 minutes when we put him down for bed so I called the doctor about what to do. She doesn't ever like it if Jax runs a fever with extra vomiting. I realized he's never run a temperature at home (only in the hospital). We all made the decision to only bring him into the ER if his vomiting continued or fever got higher (it was at 101.7 at 10pm). He actually stopped vomiting after I got off the phone and slept until 5:30am, and then after a few episodes of vomiting, he slept until 7:30am and has been doing well since. He's back to his baseline of vomiting and no temperature since last night. It must have been a quick bug for him, although he does have a touch of diarrhea, but he's acting totally normal. I on the other hand don't feel great at all. I can somehow give Jaxon over 20 medications/supplements every single day but can't remember my own multi vitamin...seriously woman!

Otherwise the boys are still moving along. Brady hasn't taken any steps unassisted yet, but I'll sure let you know when he does! And Jaxon is cruising around with his crawling. We have to chase behind him with his backpack that he's attached to. He needs to be pulling up to a stand and taking steps like Brady in order to wear his backpack...we can't wait for that!

The boy's play pen set up in the family room. 

We play in here late morning while listening to Sinatra. 

A change of scenery and toys can do wonders!

Brady proving that I can't keep a big basket of 

diapers and supplies sitting on the couch anymore...