Busy

The last couple of weeks have been so busy around here!  Here's a little recap...

Reese had a check-up with the surgeon.  It went great!!  Dr. Liu couldn't believe how much he's grown.  He was shocked to learn that he's the smallest.  :)  He's very happy that we didn't put in a g-tube (feeding tube that goes directly into the stomach).  Reese has done great without it and it's one less complication to worry about.  Most kids that have a Nissen get a g-tube.  We often look at Reese and can't believe how fortunate we are.  Things could have turned out so differently.  One of the first things I asked when he was brought back to Comer was whether or not he would have brain damage from not breathing for however many minutes he was gone.  They said there was no way to tell until he was older, but that he looked okay at the time.  Last week we found out that he's not only okay, he's developing better than expected.

They all 3 had an appointment with the developmental specialist. This is an all day affair.  My mom came with me.  We left at 9:00 so the boys could nap on the way to the hospital.  They had appointments at 10:45, 11:15 and 11:45.  By the time we fed them lunch, ate lunch and drove home it was somewhere between 3:00 and 3:30.  Long day!  They did great though.  They are developing at or above their chronological age.  They have until the age of 2 to catch up in growth and development.  They are there and even past in some respects.  Their language skills are especially ahead of typical development.  Reese is the furthest with language.  In short they look terrific!  That's part of why we are doing the March for Babies next Sunday.  We were blessed with 3 healthy babies.  They were born early, but we received great prenatal and neonatal care that they have done remarkably well.  Anyways...

Things were starting to slow down when Thursday night Noah would not sleep.  He slept with us part of the night, in the bouncy seat part of the night (he really does not fit in there).  By Friday night he had a 102.3 fever.  Ugh!  It seemed like his ear was bugging him.  So, off we went to immediate care.  It was already about 9:00 when we got to immediate care.  The wait was well over an hour.  We loaded back up..I should clarify that Aiden and Reese stayed home with my mom and dad.  We went to another immediate care where we walked right in.  A mild ear infection was all they found.  They gave him an antibiotic and we finally got home at about 11:30.  Last night his fever was 102 again.  Hopefully he kicks this soon!

This was sure a long update!  If you're still with me here's the latest on their growth...
Aiden- 28 in.  18 1/2 lbs.
Noah 28 1/4 in. (one foot of growth since birth!!)  21 lbs. (17 lbs. gained!!)
Reese 26 3/4 in.  17 lbs.  (our peanut)  :)

Praise the Lord for big, healthy boys (who all now say, Dada)!

A few of my favorite things

As I go about my day I often think of things that I love and things that I don't love so much.  Here are a few.

Things I love:
1.  Naps..specifically long naps.
2.  Cleaning and organization.  I especially love vacuuming.
3.  Belly laughs.  Those laughs that seem to come from their toes.
4.  The way the boys "talk" to each other by screaming, babbling and coughing at each other.
5.  How excited they are when I get them out of their beds in the morning and after naps.
6.  Coffee.
7.  Toys.  How would I keep 3 kids occupied without a variety of toys.
8.  Netflix.  It's a cheap way to get shows we wouldn't normally be able to watch because we don't have cable.  Watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 makes my life look so simple!
9.  Folding laundry.  It's like therapy to me.

Things I don't love:
1.  When Reese is tired and refuses to nap or sleep in his own crib.
2.  Getting up in the middle of the night.  I am not one of those people who enjoys getting up and snuggling in the middle of the night.  I love my kids, but I need my sleep.  Please don't bother me between the hours of 10:00 and 6:30.  :)  I'm a much happier mom when I get my sleep (and lots of it).
3.  Changing crib sheets.  Worst. job. ever.
4.  When strangers ask questions such as whether or not our children are products of IVF and whether or not we're done having children.  Some even tell us they hope we're done.  It drives me crazy!!

Well, laundry is calling my name.  It has to get done today (it is laundry day after all) and tomorrow the boys all have an appointment with the developmental specialist.  Hopefully they are on track!

Easter (continued)

Perhaps I'm a little biased, but I think they turned out great!! 

Finally I just wanted to put in a little reminder that we are participating in the March for Babies.  Our boys have done so well despite the fact that they were born 7 weeks early.  Any continued advancements in helping preemies is another step forward.  If you would like to support the team we're walking with the link is: 
http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1759571

Easter

The past week has been pretty busy at the Brouwer house.  We took the boys to church for the first time since they were baptized in October.  I was a little crazy on Saturday night (to say the least).  It was a lot of planning and preparing to get us all out of the house on time.  We made it and the boys were great!  It was so nice to bring them with us.  Will we do it every week?  No way.  We had them sit with us-still pretty leary about germs.  Noah and Reese slept most of the time.  Aiden was too nosy so Nate took him out and he eventually fell asleep in the back of church with Nate holding him.  The craziness of the day caught up with them on Monday.   To say it was a long day was an understatement.  By the time Nate got home I was ready to lose my mind.  We left the boys with my mom and went to the grocery store just to be able to get away.  I never thought I would say the grocery store was my escape.  Tuesday and Wednesday were so much better!

Yesterday my mom and I took the boys to have their picture taken in their Easter outfits.  We haven't had their picture taken professionally since they were 8 weeks old (again, germs.  Picture places are like germ factories).  So, we dressed them up and took them in.  They did great!  Here are a few:

boys

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Aiden=fantastic

Yesterday I took Aiden in for a check-up with Dr. Gokhale, the GI specialist.  She checked him out and in a word said he looked fantastic.  Go, Aiden!  He has grown an incredible amount in 8 months.  He is 27 1/2 in. tall, which is 10 in. of growth since birth.  He is 18lbs. 4.6oz.  That's over 14 lbs. gained since birth.  She always measures his growth against a baby born on 8/2 and not a baby on 9/22 (their due date).  He started off below the groth curve and is now 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height.  That's a huge improvement!  He's completely caught up to babies his age.  She was also happy that he is spitting up much less now that he sits up and moves more.  She asked a lot of questions about his diet and was very pleased with the foods he eats.  She was glad that the growth was encouraged by healthy foods and not empty calories.  He sure loved being there as well.  He crinkled the paper on the exam table and pulled a lot of it out.  She asked if he was always this active and playful.  Yes.  Yes, he is.  :)  She changed his dose of medicine and he will only get medicine at night now.  Reflux is more common at night because you lay flat when you sleep.  A week after he turns 1 we will see her again and hopefully he can come off of the medicine and be done with it.  It was a great visit.

Thankfully we have started sleeping through the night again. 2 nights in a row and it feels great.  Reese has gone back to sleeping in his chair (sigh).  I think he wasn't dealing well with having a stuffy nose at night.  I think we have found the child who will conintually test our patience.  He's also the child who can make you laugh or smile right when you're ready to lose it.  He sure knows how to turn on the charm.  He is babbling like crazy already!  (Nancy-you will be so proud!)  He says, "dada" all the time.  Of course I wish it was mama, but oh well.  Aiden is starting to say dada and some other little babbles.  Noah says, "wawa".  They are also learning to clap.  They don't quite have it down, but we're working on it.  Reese has 2 big teeth in on the bottom.  His smile is so cute with those little teeth.  :)  They are all trying to figure out crawling, which leads to a lot of frustration and bruises.  I know that they will be happy to move.  Many have commented that I will be in trouble when they can move.  I think I will be happy.  Sure it will be hard to keep track, but at least they can get to things and I won't have to get them to everything.  Believe me, it will be nice.  I know it will be craziness, but that's life!  We wouldn't have it any other way.