Lots of new pics: library, bath, Aslan, & more

Anne-Claire has started sqweenching up her face when she smiles.

Elise, such a cutie

Elise and Anne-Claire trying to get past my makeshift baby gate

Charlotte-yogurt face

Emma was supposed to wear clothing "from around the world" on Friday b/c the theme of her school's auction that night was "Around the world in 80 Days." Her dress was a gift from our neighbors in Bloomington who'd spent a summer in Nicaragua. She told her teacher it was from Bloomington.

At the library: Elise already loves books

Anne-Claire

Emma

Charlotte and Elise in matching dresses

The babies 1st bath in the big tub with big sisters

All the girls with Aslan, their new lion that we got at a garage sale. Emma and Charlotte are obsessed with Narnia these days.

The 4th of July 2009

This one's for Aunt Dorothy! I'm finally getting around to posting the 4th of July pics of all the girls in their festive red, white, and blue. Charlotte is 20 months old in this picture and is holding Anne-Claire who at 5 weeks old weighed in at 6# 3.4oz--nearly what Charlotte weighed at birth (6# 13oz). Emma is 13 days shy of her 4th birthday and is holding little Elise who finally reached 5 pounds!! Their nurse actually made a sign reporting the milestone (see below). We'd really been hoping to have the babies home by July 4th at just a few days shy of 38 weeks corrected age. We'd been told that many 32 weekers make it home by 38 weeks, so we were disappointed to only be able to visit on the 4th. Don't they look sweet in the little outfits from Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Brian and all their guys?



After our visit we went to celebrate with our friends, Jen Phelps and Brian Kelleher, who threw a party in honor of their twins, Sage and Lucy, being 100 days old. I met Jen and Brian while Sage and Lucy were still itty bitty in the NICU and I was on bedrest at Community North. Their girls had TTTS and were born at 30 weeks. Our doctor, Dr. Lauren Dungy-Poythress, got us connected, and their friendship has been an incredible encouragement to me. Through Dr. D-P, I also met Meghan Adkins whose twin boys, Gavin and Marcus, survived TTTS. Others in attendance at the party were Abby and Jason Barton and their twin girls, Alana and Alexis, who were mono/mono twins born at 28 weeks, and Christa and Matt Mains whose little boy, Sammy, was in the NICU just down the hall from Anne-Claire and Elise.

TTTS survivors: Meghan only brought one of her two boys, Jen has both Sage and Lucy, and my babies were still in the NICU, so Emma & Charlotte posed with me

NICU Friends: The Bartons, Phelps-Kellehers, Mains (Sammy was still in the NICU), & us

We were all patients of Dr. Dungy-Poythress (in the middle).

Emma and Charlotte had a blast on Sage and Lucy's giraffe.

Playing outside

What big girls we are! We love playing outside with our big sisters!

1 month old!

On June 26, the babies were 1 month old! Their corrected age was 36 weeks and they weighed 5 pounds 6.4 ounces and 4 pounds 4 ounces. Aunt Julie came to visit and so did Daddy! I had a really hard time figuring out who was who in these pictures because they're wearing identical outfits.

Elise

Elise and Aunt Julie

Aunt Julie feeding Anne-Claire

Anne-Claire and a really big passy

A proud papa holding both his baby girls

Elise is on the left and Anne-Claire on the right (I think)

Anne-Claire: 5# 11 oz (June 29)

Anne-Claire

A big yawn from Elise: 4# 9oz

Elise looking very tiny

5 weeks old, July 1, Elise with blankie she sleeps with now

4# 12oz, 17.3 inches

Anne-Claire, sleeping peacefully

6#, 18.8 inches

Fun in the sunshine and pulling up

Yesterday we went for an afternoon walk around the pond in our neighborhood. I put hats on the babies so the big girls wanted hats, too. We saw 4 ducks and 1 goose on the pond but, thankfully, stepped in 0 poop. :)

The babies are pulling up to everything these days. Not cruising yet, but close. They really enjoy standing at their play table. They bounce to the music and giggle at one another.

Charlotte and Emma posing by the water

Elise and Anne-Claire enjoyed the stroller ride

A big smile from Elise

Anne-Claire looks so big!

Getting them to both look at the camera is quite a feat these days

Trying to get back up to date...

I know that I have been remiss in posting anything for a LONG time and really want to get back on board. I feel like I need to post hightlights of our life until this point so that's what I'm going to try to do. Here's my plan: Every day, beginning today, I'm going to post something from our past year and something from our current life until I get caught up to the present. Let's see how it goes.

So, with that said...Here are some pics of Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Cindy's visit way back in June of last year. Anne-Claire and Elise were right around 1 month old and still in the NICU. Emma was almost 4 and Charlotte was 20 months.

Aunt Dorothy and Anne-Claire (4 weeks old, 5# 4.9 oz)

Aunt Cindy and Anne-Claire

Anne-Claire and Elise, side by side

They look so much alike!

Mama and Elise (4 weeks old, 4# 1.2 oz)

Look at how tiny her head is beneath my hand

Elise's first time in a "big girl bed!"

She still has an NG tube but is beginning to nurse a bit

Both girls in big girl beds!! Yay!!

Elise's outgrown Giraffe (isolette) is in the background.

Charlotte all worn out fell asleep on Aunt Cindy

A big step in getting to go home is the car seat test: 1 hour in the car seat with no alarms.

Anne-Claire passed!

Very tiny in the car seat!

Father's Day! June 2009

Father's Day was bittersweet because we were happy to have the girls here for it but sad that our time had to be spent in the NICU. The day did not go off like I'd imagined, so we didn't get all the pictures I'd anticipated. I'm only just realizing sadly that we didn't get any pictures with Elise. All the pics above are with Anne-Claire.