A Taste of Spring!

Sorry for the long updates between postings...life is a little crazier around the house these days! We are eagerly anticipating mobile children (crawlers) in the not too distant future. I have noticed that what little 'spare' time we previously had is now eaten up doing fun things like playing games with the girls and hearing giggles and lots and lots of babbling. WE sit up now...mostly on our own, but we still fall! :) Love petting the dogs too...that's one of our new favorite things! Also, we've been teething...fun, fun. Especially Miss. Sydney who is NOT too happy about it.


For the past few days in STL we've had a taste of spring like weather. So nice in fact that for 2 nights we slept with ALL the windows open! It was awesome and depressing at the same time as it's going to get cool again later on this week!



So, in honor of the nice weather we've been taking cute baby pictures! We are soooooooooo looking forward to the end of RSV season and family outings. We actually took the girls out for the first time this weekend...we went to breakfast and then to Sams...of course they stayed in their carseats the whole time, BUT I did wipe it down with sanitizing wipes anyways. WEll, you never know! :) We also spent QUITE a bit of time outside with our jogging stroller that my Dad and Carol gave us for our baby shower...LOVE LOVE LOVE it...and surprise bonus...I got more stress relief from exercising!

Our first time in the jogging stroller...it was only 60 outside, so mom had to bundle us up to make sure we didn't get cold in the wind!


On our walk where no less than 4 people told us how cute and perfect we were/are! Mom and Dad of course agree!




Next week is Spring Break and I cannot wait for some time off! :) I'm even looking forward to summer! :) As always! THis weekend we were talking about our last SPring Break and how I spent the entire time on the couch sick as a dog...yeah, won't be doing too much of that this break...instead I'll be playing with my 2 adorable babies whom we both love more than life itself. Hopefully it will warm up again and we can take the babies out and play!

"Hey...is this mine? It looks like mine...if not too bad...I want it." "Okay...I'm ready for kindergarden, I can share already!"

Olivia giggling it up in her Hawaiian Dress that FINALLY almost fits her...from my Dad! :)

Sydney in her extrasaucer...playing with her teether! She loves that thing!

Sydney going for a walk!

Livi going for a walk!
So, on Wednesday we get our last official RSV shot, we may get another one in April but that all depends on the CDC, so we may be even more particular about visitors in APril/May depending on how the RSV season is going. The RSV vaccine only lasts for a month and then it out of their system.

ON a sad note, I'd like to remind everyone how precious family is. Two families I know have recently been hit by tragedies lately. The first is a family from a multiples chat site that I visit (where I've learned TONS and the same site that I credit causing me to go to the hospital on May 16), both of their twin girls (identicals) were diagnosed 6 weeks ago with Werding-Hoffman's disease or SMA1, which is the number 1 genetic killer of children. It's a tragic disease that heartbreakingly claimed the lives of their twins 6 weeks after diagnosis. Please say a prayer for Sydney and her twin sister Caryanne and their parents Jake and Brook during this tough time. Their blog is on our homepage as I am follower of their blog. It is the Sweet Girlies Blog.

Also, my friend Amy whose husband Matt was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer in May while I was in the hospital. Matt and Amy's daughter Mattie was born in December and is perfect and the spitting image of her Daddy who went to stay with god on Saturday morning after a long hard battle. Please pray for them as well during this tough time.

Hopefully the rest of the year is much happier for all...and we hope that everyone is getting ready to enjoy their upcoming spring and Easter Holidays!

Love,

M, J, S, & O

HEre are some new pics for everyone to enjoy!

Just a few MORE....Pictures!

So, since I felt that Matt's last post was lacking in pictures (aka some of my favorite pictures)...I thought I'd post some MORE pics...and b/c it makes my Dad's visits to Grandma's sooooooooo much easier...here are some more baby pictures! Most of these are from last weekend!



"Those sweet potato things...GROSS!!" "Yeah, I spit mine out...Totally Gross!"


"Hey...why do these crazy people keep taking PICTURE of US?"










"Yum...these fingers are GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!"


"This thing is cool...and it makes noise too!"

Olivia...laughing at her Daddy! Don't worry honey, we all laugh at him too! :)

Hope All is well!

Love,

M, J, S, & O

JUST PICTURES!

Due to popular demand for some update photos, this update will be only of pictures...

After all, we know that's why you really come visit our blog...

Enjoy!

Yes, We are Slackers...

I know, I know. It's been way too long since we've updated the blog. I don't want to create a "Prison Break" phenomenon with our blog audience, so I will make an effort to be better at updating this...

If you are sitting there saying "What the heck is he talking about 'Prison Break' whatsit?", then you may not be familiar with the Fox TV show 'Prison Break'. I refer to the phenomenon that occurred when the show originally aired and captured a huge following of loyal viewers. However, Fox miscalculated the loyalty levels when it decided to put 'Prison Break' on hiatus for about 6 weeks just at the pinnacle of the storyline... When it finally returned to the airwaves, a significant portion of their audience had lost interest.... THUS, I've learned from this and will attempt not to do the same things... ANYWAY, enough with my ramblings on random pop-culture things...

So, lets see... Last time I updated everyone was mid-January. Our Nanny Nikki had just started and Jeni had returned to work. Honestly, not a lot has changed significantly in our lives.

Nikki comes Tuesday through Friday and Nana Sharon and Papa Rick watch the girls on Mondays. The bonus is that typically Sharon whips up something for dinner for us and leaves it on the counter for us to heat up or bake. SUPER HELPFUL!

We've noticed some advancements in the girls over the past few weeks. They are definitely more social in general with both of them smiling a lot when you smile at them. They both babble a lot when they play (either with their stuffed animals or on their playmats with their rings). Sydney has discovered her hands and now grabs nearly everything she is interested in and attempts to put whatever she grabs into her mouth. We don't see any teeth coming in soon, but we think that will come soon.

Both girls have mastered rolling over, although Sydney actually enjoys Tummy Time unlike Olivia. Olivia barely gets any time on her tummy as she rolls over fairly quickly after being placed face down.

The girls really enjoy their Baby Einstein videos. These are a godsend for us as they typically entertain the girls long enough for Jeni and I to get a somewhat normal dinner in without the girls fussing to be held. Their favorites are Baby Mozart and Baby Beethoven. Not a big fan of Bach, though. They also watched Baby Barnyard which introduces them to cows, pigs, horses, etc. They seemed to enjoy it too with big smiles and lots of attention on the TV screen.

We have also started to introduce solids into their diet. In addition to the bottles, they are now getting one afternoon feeding of veggies. Week 1 we started with peas. I like peas. Jeni doesn't. Apparently I have been outnumbered for the first of many times based on the girls' reaction to the peas... They actually had some gagging and shuttering from the taste... Sorry girls! Peas were my suggestion...

After peas, we moved on to sweet potatoes. They seemed to like them better, but still not an overwhelming reaction. And finally this last week, we started carrots. We may have a winner with them. Of all of the veggies so far, they seem to put up the least resistence to the carrots. They get just a tiny amount each night mixed in with some dry rice cereal to make it a little thicker and more nutritious. Basically it comes out the consistency of the veggie if you had just mashed it up a little and less runny that the form it comes in.

The girls are also getting some attention to help them make sure they are progressing on track with other babies their age. While they are technically 7 month old today (Feb 10), they are just under 5 months old in adjusted age. They are on time developmentally with what they can do based on their adjusted age, but need to catch up a little with what 7 month olds should be able to do. To help this progression, they are getting visits from First Steps (which includes an occupational therapist as well as a speech therapist) and from Parents as Teachers. They work with the girls on doing things like reaching, rolling over, attempting to sit up (and stay up) as well as learning to eat better, both from bottles and from the spoon.

As for Jeni and I, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Spring, warmer weather, and the departure of cold & Flu season. We very much want to take the girls out with us instead of feeling like we are caring for shut-ins. We did venture out on Super Bowl Sunday and went next door to the neighbor's house, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We spent the first half of the game visiting with the neighbors and enjoying some good Superbowl food. Sydney and Olivia spent most of the time strapped to Jeni and I in their Baby Bjorns. We came home around half time and were exhausted...

We also made a trip out to the pediatrician and took the girls out to breakfast with us for the first time. After the doctor, we stopped at First Watch and had breakfast out like we used to on some weekends. It was GREAT! The girls were perfect as they slept in their carseats in the booth as Jeni and I had a nice relaxing, tasty breakfast (which for the first time in a while wasn't cooked by me). This really made us look forward to the Spring even more when we can get out more!

At work I am getting busier as we head into recruiting season. Luckily I won't have too many trips that will keep me overnight. I'll be headed up to Mizzou and Truman a couple of times, but Mizzou is usually an up-and-back the same day trip, while Truman does require an overnight stay. I'm confident Jeni can handle a night with the girls without me, but we might invite a grandparent over to help out just in case...

Jeni is looking ahead to Spring Break already. While we don't have any travel plans, I do plan on taking some days off that week to spend at home with everyone. Also, my company is sending me to a conference in June that Jeni will be attending with me. The best part is that its in VEGAS! And if you know us, you know that Vegas is one of our favorite destinations. The warm weather and the food is enough to attract us, but the other activities makes it even better. Plus we've invited some friends to go as well which should make it even more fun. We'll be going just a few days after Jeni's birthday so we'll just have to celebrate out at a great restaurant just like we did the last time we were there. I highly recommend the Eiffel Tower restaurant if you are looking for some fine dining in Vegas on the Strip with an outstanding view. Still ranks #1 with me as the best meal I've ever had!

In some not-so-fun news, Macy's announced some major layoffs a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately that will effect several of my former co-workers who stayed on there or got opportunities in other cities with them after I was severed last May. I still get together once a month and do happy hour with some of my close co-workers from there to catch up. We were discussing that as much as it stunk at the time for us to be let go last year, we were very lucky. Lucky in the fact that we were at the front of the wave of job losses which allowed us to end up at some great companies. Of those folks who lost their jobs last year that I worked with, they ended up at Edward Jones, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Ameren, Vijon, and Boeing. All companies with what appears to be solid futures with a major presense here in STL. If anyone doubts how bad it is out there as far as jobs go, try going to a Job Fair. I attended one a few weeks ago at UMSL looking for Summer Interns. The fair was crazy busy. Non-stop traffic through my booth asking for positions. Most of the folks I met were out looking for opportunities after they had been let go from positions they had held with a company for several years. Many had 15 - 20 years of experience and now were back in the 'Job Hunting' category. Very sad. Let's all hope this gets better soon for everyone! I am very thankful that I have the job I have and that Jeni is where she is.

Well, that pretty much updates us to today. I'll be posting some pictures of the girls very soon!

Take care!

M

Daycare Drama and a New Routine...

UPDATED W/ NEW PICTURES! SEE BELOW!

So following our holidays, Jeni and I hoped things would start to normalize a bit. As discussed, I took a few days off here and there to spend some time at home with Jeni and the girls around Christmas and New Years. My job is REALLY slow this time of year since all of the campuses are basically closed with students and faculty at home for the holidays... thus, not a lot I can accomplish but planning ahead...

So Jeni and I both went back to a full work week on Monday 1/5. Nana Sharon and Papa Rick came up and did their usual Monday duties with the girls. On Tuesday, St. Louis got a quick blast of ice; just enough to cancel school for Jeni. Then, Grandma Pat had some more vacation time she wanted to take, so she volunteered to watch the girls for the rest of that week. On Wednesday, the girls went back to the pediatrician for another shot...

With Jeni's return to work, we've shifted the girls' schedule up a bit. They've been on only 4 bottles a day for a while, but our new schedule is that Jeni gets up at 4:45am to feed Sydney. I then get up around 6:00am and feed Olivia. This schedule finishes up the day around 8:00pm with their bath and last bottle of the day... It took the girls a few days to get used to this... I got up several nights in a row with first Sydney and then Olivia at around 3:00AM... An ounce of milk and a replaced pacifier followed by a few minutes in the rocking chair and they would drift back off to sleep...

Since the girls were scheduled to start at their daycare on the following Monday, we arranged for them to first go in on Friday for a half-day "dry run". We've heard nightmares about how tough some kids have it adjusting to daycare, so we thought we should try a half day before going full speed ahead. It was fairly uneventful... The girls really weren't too freaked out or overly tired... Probably because it was just a 1/2 day. Grandma Pat picked them up at noon after I dropped them off that morning.

On Saturday I met the guys up at Buffalo Wild Wings for some drinks, sports, and some good male bonding time. For the past 7 years or so, it has been a tradition for several of my friends and I to meet up on Thursday nights for "Guys' Night Out". We've migrated from several bars and the attendees have changed many times with additions and subtractions, but the core 3 or 4 of us has been consistent. However, over the past 2 years, our regularity of outings has dwindled, mainly relating to our growing families. This year has been especially tough for us to get together, so we attempted to do a Saturday outing instead...

On Sunday, Jeni and I spent the day being lazy (as is our usual Sunday agenda). My big plan for the day was to go to Best Buy and spend some of my Christmas money and gift cards. So mid-day I was at Best Buy making my purchase when I got a frantic phone call from Jeni. Apparently she had just gotten off the phone with our daycare provider, Ms. Georgine, where our girls were scheduled to start full time on Tuesday. Ms. Georgine called and told Jeni that unfortunately she wouldn't be able to take our girls that week. Her original plan was for her mother to be there with her to help with our girls since she has several other kids in the daycare. However, her mother has to have some emergency surgery that will take her out of commission for a couple of months... She was very upset and apologetic. She said that she could honestly probably still take the girls, but couldn't give them the attention they deserved.

As you can guess, Jeni too, was quite upset. We were scrambling... Our plans that had seemed so perfect for so many months were now changing...

So, I finished my purchase and made my way home. We reached out to our friends Keith and Amy and got the information on the Nanny service that they had used. Jeni filled out the online forms and we looked forward to the next day to hope we could get some much needed relief to our worries...

Monday arrived and Nana Sharon and Papa Rick watched the girls again. Jeni and I went to work and I communicated with the Nanny service to fill out the paperwork they needed to give them the info to find the type of nanny we would need. By the end of the day, they sent me 4 bios of candidates for us to pick from. On Tuesday, we received another bio. So we had 5 very qualified choices. I worked from home on Tuesday and stayed with the girls. I contacted our top choice from the Nannies and scheduled her to come and meet us that evening. Later in the day, we heard from Ms. Georgine that should could take our girls for the rest of the week, which was quite a relief...

Our Nanny choice, Nikki, came over that evening to meet us and the girls. Immediately we really connected with her. She was very excited to meet the girls and eager to hold them. We could tell she really likes kids, especially babies. We got to know each other with the basic information and then showed her around the house. Jeni and I knew that we had found a great option for our Nanny. We told Nikki that we'd love for her to come back starting next week and that we'd even like for her to come over on Saturday to do a "test-run" and give us a chance to go through everything else like bottles, the girls' schedule, the dogs' routine, etc. When she left that night, I could tell Jeni was very relieved... The Daycare Drama was over. Nikki is going to be a great fit for us through April when the girls can go back to Ms. Georgine's.

So, the Sydney and Olivia have been going to the daycare for 3 days this week and are still not used to it... They come home every day very tired and VERY crabby... Even though Ms. Georgine says that they slept, you can't tell it... Jeni said there were some BIG tears even yesterday when they got home. I guess it's just really stressful changing up their schedule like that... Makes me sad... :(

In other news, I had to take my car into the dealer to get the headlight replaced. It's the driver side headlight... I just had it in a few months ago to get the passenger side replaced... This is the type of repair that I used to do myself... However, when I attempted to do this on my own, getting access to the headlight without a special tool is virtually impossible. In fact, the owner's manual tells you not to even try... Lovely. I also got my oil changed at the same time.

My car now has 92,000 miles on it... I know with the way cars are now they last way past 100,000 miles, but I think this is the most miles I've ever put on a car myself... It shouldn't make me nervous... but it does.

In other news about me, I finally purchased a new gaming system. I've been playing my Playstation 2 since I bought it way back in 2001 after it had been on the market a little while. Well, as the years have gone by and new systems have been released, fewer and fewer games are being made for the PS2... So I finally broke down and bought an XBOX 360. I bought the bare bones $199 version. Why not the PS3? Well, I don't need the Blu-Ray DVD ability since my TV doesn't support it. Also, after finding out that Sony didn't build the new PS3 with the ability to play old PS2 games, I'm protesting with my wallet and boycotting the PS3. So far I only have 2 games (NCAA football & a futuristic shooter game called 'Gears of War') but it's fun stuff! I recommend it highly. And I need to find some people to play against online...

Well, that's about it for now...

Playing with our Laugh n Learn Puppy

The Girls and Mom

Sydney and her bunny

Olivia and the bunny

The Girls and Cassius

In one of their new outfits from Christmas

Sydney - Our little Diva

Olivia - Hamming it up for the camera

Olivia and her friend, Caroline

Sydney enjoying some oatmeal

Olivia - not enjoying much of anything at the moment

The girls hanging out in another new outfit... and bunny hats...

The girls and their dad... can you tell who's tired?

M

Our Year in Review

So now that we have started 2009, I thought it might be appropriate to do one of those "Year End Review" pieces that you see on Entertainment Tonight and SportsCenter. You know, those ones where they show you the highlights and memorable moments from the year that is about to end? Well, as usual these days, we are a bit late on doing everything... So while it's still relevant, lets review our family's 2008.

Back on New Year's Day 2008, we rang in the new year with our friends at our place. We invited Keith & Amy, Kent & Sally and Scott & Josie over and had a nice little get-together with them. I took my usual week's worth of vacation between Christmas and New Year's and spent it with Jeni at home together. Then, only a few days into the new year, we got the news we had been waiting and hoping so much for, for more than a year. Jeni got a positive pregnancy test! We could barely restrain our excitement, but we kept it a secret.

About 2 weeks later, I went on my last recruiting trip with Macy's. All of the Macy's recruiters met at our San Francisco division for 2 days of meetings. Jeni flew out on Thursday evening and met me. And, Jeni's parents, Jim and Carol met us in San Fran for some great family time.

We even made a trip up to the Napa Valley to sample some wine. Unluckily for Jeni she couldn't enjoy it as much as she liked... We had to be very sly about hiding the fact that Jeni wasn't drinking from the other folks who went with us (friends and co-workers from Macy's). I spent most of the day sampling both my share and Jeni's share (on the sly) of wine.

A few days after we returned home, we had our first trip into her doctor's office for a confirmation and check-up. That's when things got interesting...


As we got into the room with the ultrasound tech, Jeni lay down on the table and I held her hand, praying that things were going o.k. It was only 6 weeks into the pregnancy and she and I were obviously the only ones who knew anything to that point because so many things can go wrong. The ultrasound tech started with the exam...


That's when we saw this...

So, I remember hearing the tech say something like "Well, look at that." Jeni quickly blurted out "IS THAT 2?" And I said, "HUH?" Jeni said something else like "Oh my God, that's two of them." I don't remember much more of the conversations... You could say I was in a bit of shock.
We did get to see the flicker of two tiny heartbeats... Very cool stuff.

Obviously we were thoroughly thrilled that everything else looked great, but still in total shock... We were having twins. We probably said that to ourselves about 100 times that day... Sometimes laughing afterwards... Sometimes chuckling in disbelief... We were having TWINS.

As we attempted to prepare ourselves mentally that our life was definitely going to change a lot in 2008, we didn't realize exactly how much for more than the reason that we were about to become parents. Things got really interesting in February.

It was the first week of February and I went into work as usual on what seemed to be a normal Tuesday. However, things changed quickly when my boss told me that everyone (and I mean the entire company) had been called into a meeting on the 21st floor. We knew then that something big was about to be announced. Rumors started to fly instantly that Terry Lundgren, the President of Macy's Inc. was in our building... Holy cow. It was really big. The predominant opinion was that our division was about to get a lot bigger with a lot more responsibility... Everyone assumed that because of its struggles, Macy's North (formerly Marshall Fields) was going to be absorbed by us. Exciting for us! However, that wasn't the news...

As our CEO began to speak you could tell something bad was about to happen. He then announced that effective by Fall of that year, all business functions currently happening in our offices at Macy's Midwest would be assumed by Macy's South in Atlanta. It was so weird how the sounds in that room were a combination of gasps, sobs, and the air being sucked out all at the same time. Everyone was in disbelief. They dismissed us and we all retreated back to our offices...

Now was the thing I dreaded most. I had to call Jeni and tell her the news. It was about to break in the media in an hour so I had to call her before anyone else did. While no one died or anything of that nature, the phonecall felt that bad. We had just had the happiest news of our lives together, and now everything is thrown for a loop as I may soon be unemployed! Quite a punch in the stomach... Obviously Jeni and everyone in my family had tons of questions about what would happen next... Unfortunately no one really knew, but everyone assumed the worst that we would all be looking for new jobs.

Jeni's pregnancy progressed a few weeks and we decided it was time to tell the grandparents. We decided that a simple phone call wouldn't do, so we decided to send a greeting to everyone from the womb. Here's the photo that we emailed out announcing that Jeni was expecting.

Needless to say everyone was very excited. My mother responded over the phone with a series of screams and "Oh my God!". Another fun memorable moment.

March flew by with little excitement. We spent a full day of Jeni's Spring Break registering at Babies R Us for the tons of stuff we would need.


April arrived and the days were numbered at Macy's as my last day was to be May 2. To celebrate our "graduation" to new careers, the HR Team at Macy's decided to have a 'Prom'. Basically just another excuse for us to get together, have a good time, and dress nice... Here's our 'Prom' picture. As you can see, Jeni was 'showing' quite a bit already.







May arrived and I was officially unemployed for about 2 weeks. My last day was May 2nd but I was fortunate enough to find that Save-A-Lot was looking for a College Relations person at the same time. I arranged that my first day there would be May 19. Two weeks to relax, sleep in, and get a few chores around the house done... Little did I know...


On Friday, May 16 Jeni called me early on her way to work to say she "didn't feel right". She wasn't sure, but she thought she was having some contractions. Very early for that, I thought, but we need to be careful. She even called my cousin, Gretchen, who has 2 children of her own, to clarify exactly what contractions feel like... Just to be safe, she called her doctor who told her to go to the hospital to get checked. So began what was probably the scariest few days of our lives...

I got to the hospital and to Jeni's room where she was waiting in a hospital bed. The doctor came in a did an evaluation on her and then began the physical examination. Immediately I could tell by the doctor's face and the tone in her voice that something was not right. We were told that Jeni was indeed in preterm labor and she would be getting some drugs to stop the contactions. However, that was not all. The contractions had already started pushing things along and some of the babies' membranes were exposed. This was not only serious, it was threatening to the babies, especially since they were only 21 weeks along. Very few newborns are viable and can survive before 25 weeks...


Around the same time, our older boxer Cassius had started acting differently. He had had numerous health issues from his Cushings Disease to his torn ACL. However, between February and May Cassius seemed to age 6 years. He was sluggish and didn't want to eat. He was vomiting alot and on that Friday refused to even get up off his bed to go outside. With the amount of time I knew I'd be spending at the hospital, I couldn't chance something being seriously wrong with him. So, I loaded him in the car and took him to the vet. He was extremely dehydrated and malnurished from refusing to eat. He stayed the weekend so they could run tests and get him feeling better. Here's a picture of Cassius in mid-April when he started to go downhill...






Later that Saturday, our savior performed a miracle. Now, I'm not being religious or overly dramatic. However, I do refer to Jeni's new doctor, Dr. Michael Paul, as our savior. And he truly did perform a miracle. Jeni had to have what is known as a rescue cerclage. As we were informed later, many doctors would not have performed the procedure on Jeni as it was very risky and had a likelihood of failure. Failure would have most probably meant the loss of our girls. However, Dr. Paul performed the cerclage successfully. Jeni spent the rest of the weekend and most of the rest of May in the hospital. I spent the next few weeks making daily trips back and forth from home to the hospital and off to work... Oh yeah I did start my new job the Monday after Jeni's procedure...


Jeni was released to come home just in time for her first shower. It was thrown by my mom, and Gretchen. Here are some photos...

After his evaluation at the vet, we were told that Cassius would need to be seen by a specialist at Mizzou to diagnose exactly what was wrong with him. He continued to not to want to eat and was dropping weight rapidly. He had gone from weighing around 70 pounds in January down to under 50 pounds by mid-June. Since he's not really an old dog, at only 8 years old, we decided to do whatever we had to, to get him fixed up.

I took Cassius to the Vet school at Mizzou where they performed an CT scan on him. They discovered that Cassius had what is called a macroadenoma. Basically this is a tumor on the pituitary glad. A large tumor in fact. This tumor had grown and was now causing a lot of internal pressure on his brain and causing him lots of discomfort and thus he didn't want to eat. So immediately we had them begin treating him with radiation treatments. The only problem was that these treatments had to be done daily and could only be done at Mizzou. So every Sunday afternoon I drove Cassius up to Mizzou. Then on Friday afternoon, I went back to Mizzou and picked him up so that he could spend the weekend with us at home. At first he was quite pathetic as he was very tired and weak... But that quickly changed. He did however have to have a feeding tube inserted in his neck as he was still not eating on his own.


Here is Cassius with his feeding tube bandaged up.


On July 3, Cassius got to come home for good after completing his radiation treatments. He acted like a new dog! He was eating, playing, and running around the back yard again with Sugar. We even got the sprinkler out for him on a hot day.









July arrived and Jeni had been having some issues. We had been back and forth to the hospital several times because of small contractions starting and stopping. She was on the anti-contraction meds since she was released from the hospital back in May, but from time to time we'd have to make a trip just to be safe. Things were looking good by week 2 of July though.


We went in for a doctor visit and she was examined by one of Dr. Paul's partners. He proudly stated that he thought that she should be fine until week 36 and that they may have to consider taking her off the medications and removing the cerclage at that time... Someone must have forgotten to knock on some wood...


2 days later, Jeni's water broke.


So Jeni had hit 29 weeks and 6 days when her water broke on the morning of July 9. I was getting ready to leave for work and she started to sit up in bed and then told me to hold on. "Something's wrong, I think. I think my water just broke." Well, we furiously packed up our bags and headed up the highway to the hospital. The doctor came in and examined her and confirmed that her water had indeed broken. So they started her on some meds and waited. We waited and the doctors informed us that she could go a couple of weeks without going into labor and things would be fine. So I left the hospital that night as Jeni fell asleep.


Later that evening, Jeni went into full labor...


She called me very early the next morning in tears, scared and begging me to come to the hospital right away. Naturally she was very frightened. She could tell things had changed and it was still very early for our girls. She had made it to 30 week, but that's still very early and they weren't projected to weigh more than 3 pounds...


The doctors came in a few hours later and announced that she would have a c-section as soon as they could get her in. They didn't want to take any chances with waiting. Oh boy...


Well, at 10:49 Olivia Kay was born and at 10:51 Sydney Ann arrived. And the rest, you could say is history...


For the sake of our regular readers, I won't go into detail of the rest of our year because most of it is documented here in earlier posts. However, I thought it would be interesting to post the progression of our girls in the last year...


Enjoy.

Just Born

Sydney

Olivia

3 Days Old

Sydney

Olivia

2 Weeks Old

Sydney

Olivia

One Month Old

Sydney

Olivia

6 Weeks Old

Sydney

Olivia

2 Months Old

Sydney

Olivia

MORE TO COME!

M