Baby updates

Eye exams were perfect, both kids are seeing 20/20 and have no eye issues. Hearing exam were perfect also. Both kids came off their lung development medication, which makes things so much easier on Nana who gives them each reflux meds twice a day and hemangioma med 3x/day for Harp. Her hemangiomas are slowly disappearing, and as promised, look like they will be gone by her first birthday. Robbie's tummy hernia went away, and he never seemed to notice it was there to begin with.

Robbie loves outdoors, attention, and jumping. He is amazingly strong. He's going to be one of those kids that just stands up and walks one day, bypassing any milestones that were supposed to come before walking. Robbie loves to be comfy-cozy and has slept over at nana's house a time or two without a problem. He loves to be with his nana and papa and get smothered with love. When he is apart from Harper, he can sleep 12 hours straight, otherwise Harper wants everyone to be awake when she is. Robs is 16 pounds and growing out of all his clothes faster than I can keep up. He is 26 inches long.

Harper is adjusting well to her helmet, she hardly notices it is there. She wears it 23 hours/day. Honestly, I think Pete and I had a harder time adjusting to her getting the helmet than she did. She loves to be with her family. When everyone is together at the end of the day, she just sits on mom's lap and watches everyone... so proud, sitting up tall, and content. She laughs so hard at her daddy who makes funny faces and voices and just cracks her up. She is very interested in my parent's dog, Buddy, and loves to pet our cats too. She seems very interested in what these creatures are, can't take her eyes off them. She is a bit more sensitive, if you leave her for too many hours to go to work, she will turn away from you when you return, not looking you in the face for a few minutes, then she warms up to you again. She is 13 pounds, still teeny and delicate, but her personality is feisty which makes it so cute. She is 25 inches long.

Friday we have an appointment with the number one developmental specialist in AZ, Dr. Elaine Ellis. We had to wait 6 months for an appointment with her. She is going to meet with each child for an hour and assess where they may have problem areas. We have been told she is a no-nonsense doc who will give it to us straight and we may not like everything she has to say. But it is important that we can work with our kids in Physical Therapy and push them beyond what may feel natural, to strengthen all areas of their bodies, using all their muscles. We have been told this is how we overcome possible future problems as much as we can. As much as our kids seem perfect to us, we still fear the possibility of future problems and apparently identifying these problems and working on them today is the solution.

Pete and I are loving being parents more than we could have ever imagined. We love every minute of it. Every cry, every coo, every smile is a miracle to us. We wouldn't change anything we have been through, it has strengthened our family and made us more grateful and humble than we would have ever done on our own. I wish our kids didn't have to endure what they went through, and seeing their little heart surgery scars everyday does choke me up, as well as their reflux issues, but they seem so happy and energetic, I can't hold on to negativity if they don't. For so long I have tried to figure out why this happened. My docs keep telling me it's random, it can happen to anyone, there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent this. It seems easier to overcome if there is some concrete answer to it all, but slowly I am coming to realize I may never know why this happened to us and our babies and am just trying to appreciate all the baby moments and not let my over analyzing brain take anything away from that.

Pete and I are also looking for a bigger house, and have put our house on the market. We have become cramped and smooshed with all the new baby gadgets we have and we want to get a house without a pool until our kids are fully capable swimmers.

I'm sorry if I have not sent out thank you notes in 2012. I was truly raised better than that. I plan to do better in 2013. I hope everyone knows how grateful we are for all the thoughtfulness that has been extended to us this past year.