Happy Birthday Babies!

On April 13th we celebrated the babies first birthday! It was a wonderful day with much to celebrate. They have been able to accomplish so much over the past year. We feel so blessed to have such special little babies who have fought so hard to be where they are.

Carsen is doing really well eating solids now. He still has some trouble taking the bottle as much as we'd like him to. But overall he seems to be getting enough to keep him satisfied. Sometimes that means he gains weight and sometimes it means he just stays the same. His eating and weight gain are still a concern with the Doctors but not enough to doing anything drastic.

Carsen has been able to roll over from his right side for some time now. Well, good news is that as of a couple of days ago he has learned to roll over from his left side! That may not sound big to some but for us and Carsen it's huge! His left side has been the side there has always been some concern about. Mainly the tightness in his left arm and hand. We have tried to give a lot of attention to this area. Often it feels like he has maxed out his level of progress in a certain area. Then finally, much to our surprise he shows us that he is not done by any means. It does take time (and patience on my part) but eventually he overcomes or hits that developmental milestone and reminds us that he's going to get it. No matter how long it takes. It's always a huge relief to me because after working on something for months and months you start to worry that it's not ever going to happen. That maybe this is as far as he can go. What a blissful moment it is every time when he shows us otherwise! Then we start the process all over again focusing on the next big milestone. Trying to remind ourselves that its going to once again take time and just remember that eventually he will get it. Just DON'T GIVE UP!

Cierra is still our miniature locomotive. She just goes and goes and lets nothing get in her way. She is fully crawling and trying to pull herself up to standing now. She has two bottom teeth and loves to mimic and babble with you all day long. She's amazing!

I have to mention that Carsen is doing great socially as well. He loves to babble and talk as much as you'll let him. He also has two bottom teeth that are pushing through.

Anyway, as you see I could go on. Sooooo... today I am 32weeks along now and getting closer and closer to having a third baby in the household. CRAZY!! I am getting more and more scared as the due date gets closer. I don't know who to pray for more these days.... the twins, me, or the new unsuspecting baby who has no idea what they are getting themself into. Probably all four just to be safe. Or maybe just Brandon the way he keeps making reference to the fact that he's so close to picking up "drinking". Ha Ha

Enough chocolate!!!

O.k., just because I am pregnant does not mean I should eat so much! I made the mistake of trying a homemade chocolate fudge sauce recipe and now I CAN'T STOP!!! I have had one of these banana split sundaes almost every other night if not every night this past week. This is especially bad that I do this when my doctor tells me to stop exercising for a week. Bad idea!! I just hope he lets me resume starting next week. Since, I brought that up I will just mention that I am being put on a progesterone shot once a week to keep me from having preterm labor again. The doctor discovered that I was already slightly dilated. So for precautionary measures this is the rout we are taking. No worries though. I'm more concerned about the excessive amounts of sundaes I am consuming. So let this be a warning to anyone. Don't make homemade chocolate fudge sauce. You won't be able to leave it alone!!

Watch out Grandpa Towne!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Braden turns four years old on March 1st. So today we had his birthday party at the local bowling alley. First we have to thank Grandma and Grandpa Towne for the Nintendo Wii for Christmas because now Braden thinks he is the worlds best bowler. Well, we all know that real bowling is not as easy as the Wii. But, after seeing Braden play the real thing maybe the Wii really has taught him something. Sooo..... move over Grandpa Towne you have some competition now!

Back to Basics

Well, Carsen has decided to show me who's boss once again. I try so hard to show him it's me but he just won't budge. (Sounds a bit like myself, hmmm.) When it comes to eating Carsen wants to be in complete control! Not a big deal if he liked to eat. But he doesn't! Well, not enough. So with counsel from the doctor and feeding specialist we have decided to go back to the basics. Since Carsen has come home we have tried everything we could think of to get this guy to eat! Sadly none of our tricks or methods have really been very effective. Yes he has gained weight all along which has definitely been the goal. But, he still struggles with feedings and often hardly takes half of his bottle. So, since the new routine he has gained zero. Not good! I can't stand it when I see this happen. The doctor has said to keep up the routine and not to try my old tricks that used to get more ounces in him but took a very long time and almost took all my attention from everyone and everything else. In short, emotionally exhausting for me and never any time left over for the other kids. So here we go again. We hope this method works! Aside from all that... he and his lttle sister sure are cuties!!! Here's a little peek.

In case you haven't heard

We are expecting once more. At least we really hope only once more. Admittedly, this has been a tough discovery for Brandon and I. As you can imagine we really weren't prepared for another baby, especially so soon. We are not denying responsibility here we just can't believe this was in the cards for us. When we found out we were terrified and absolutely stunned. But since finding out we have felt more and more gratitude for the blessing that it is. We just hope that we can do our best and provide our little ones with all that they need and deserve. We will try our hardest. But ohhhhhhh boy! We have a lot of work to do! And speaking of boy, well that's what we're having too. He is due July 3rd which is my Grandpa Redfields' birthday who just passed away this past year. (Kind of special.) Anyway, we are wishing for a long (hard to say) pregnancy this time around. No more extra-early babies please! So that's our news we hope life gets extremely boring for us for awhile. We could really use it!!

Does Elmo do this to your child?

Cierra will sit and shreik at any stuffed animal. It cracks us up! From the other room it sounds like a horror show on T.V. It's hilarious. It's only after about ten minutes straight of it that we finally get our fill. I couldn't pass up showing a small bit of it. I'm sure this is a temptation to come stay with us and hear it for yourself. Any takers?

A New Year!

To our family and friends we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We had a very nice holiday with family all throughout the month of December. With the Eskelson family Christmas party and a special surprise by Grandma and Grandpa Towne on Christmas Eve. Thank you to everyone who sent kind Christmas greetings, delivered yummy holiday goodies and of course the very thoughtful gifts for us and the kids. It was a most special holiday for us. Mostly because of the gifts that we have received from our Heavenly Father and his angels (on earth and from Heaven)this past year. Our little babies have been so greatly blessed. So much more than I ever could have imagined. Most of all we have been blessed with the gift of HOPE. Shortly after these babies were born we were given such little hope for Carsen and what his future would hold. That lack of hope is what was so torturous for us during that time. We will never forget that feeling of hopelessness. The only hope we had at that time was that one day Carsen would be wholly restored both body and mind. Gratefully, today we have so much more hope. For Carsen we rejoice. He will not have to wait for that glorious day to enjoy the wonderful gifts of his body and mind. He gets to enjoy those precious gifts now. We have been blessed with great HOPE for Carsen's future. As a mother I can't explain how that makes me feel for my little baby boy. It's the greatest kind of joy I could have. I have learned how important hope is in this journey of life. When it does not exist our trials can overwhelm and overrun us. I am so grateful for the HOPE that our family has been given as we have watched Carsen progress and achieve more by this young age than they once ever expected. We continue to recognize the power of miracles through faith and prayer. We are so grateful for the faith and prayers of so many. Those prayers of faith have helped us to have hope when it seemed so hard to maintain at times. We have never been in this alone and we feel eternally indebted to many for their support. I have learned so much in these past eight months but these lessons have not been easy. I thank you Father and I thank you friends for the HOPE you have given us when times have been so hard. I am trying to learn as the plaque my dear Mother-in-Law gave me that "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass..... It's about learning to dance in the rain".