Babies' First Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas week. Yes, I did say week. We started in Sallisaw at Grandmother and Grandaddy's house on Saturday the 20th. I had Grandaddy and Daddy both mixed up pretty badly since we started celebrating so early. They couldn't figure out why the Christmas music kept playing on the radio.

Our second Christmas was with the Woods family on Sunday the 21st. There were 28 people there with 8 under 6 years old. It was lots of fun! It was the first day many members of our family had met Rider and Josie. We were ready to show them off. Here is just a taste of the action.

It was also their 2 month birthday that day, and we didn't take ANY pictures of just the two of them, so I am posting the only one I have of that day. That is Grandaddy holding Rider and my first cousin Mark James holding Josie in the background.

We stayed in Sallisaw until Christmas Eve, and then went to Owasso. We started our own Christmas tradition there, where Santa had already visited Rider and Josie while we were gone. We MUST have just missed him! My first cousin Rhonda James bought them these cute Christmas onesies.

We traveled to the Bewley Christmas in Chandler on Christmas Day, where Rider and Josie met more of their great Aunts and Uncles as well as some second and third cousins! I relied on my Aunt Jeannetta and my Memaw and Pepaw Bewley to take pictures with their camera. This is Memaw and Pepaw Bewley with the great grandkids, from left Wyatt Bledsoe, Colton Stone, Braden Stone, Rider and Josie, and Jaybre Stone.

We then headed to Mia and Grampa Dave's house for Christmas night fellowship, dinner and gift opening. Luke and Claire were so helpful in opening Rider and Josie's presents. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed all the time with our family. It was a little bit crazy there as well, so my pictures are all action shots. The Christmas outfit that Mia bought for Josie fit her perfectly for Christmas Day. She was excited to match her cousin Claire on such a special day.

We stayed in Stillwater until Mia and Grampa Dave left for San Diego. We spent Saturday the 27th with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Steve, Luke, Claire, Luke and Claire's Googie and Papa (Dan and Cindy Cummings) also came over to meet Rider and Josie and to help me while Daddy worked a hunt in Perry. I was able to take a bath AND eat lunch since I had so much help!

Cousins

This is a picture from Thanksgiving Day. Rider and Josie met Luke and Claire for the first time. We were all pretty excited. Lisa and I were thrilled to get even one picture of all four of them together. We can't really see their shining faces, but they are all in the frame and that is what counts for now! Mia bought Claire and Josie these matching outfits for Christmas and we got a couple of shots of just the girls too. I will try to add those later.

First Outing

We ventured out of the house for the first tim with the entire family on Sunday afternoon, December 7th. We had gotten each baby out individually to go to the doctor, but this was a little different.

I wanted to get out first thing after the early morning feeding, but I was SO TIRED. I couldn't get fired up to get myself out of the bed. So then we decided we would feed them at 11 and leave at noon. We finally made it out the door at 1 pm. I ended up proud that we were only an hour behind schedule on such a huge undertaking.

We went straight to Auntie Helen's house and got to see Grandmother and Grandpa, Bill and Rhonda, Mark and Auntie Helen and Uncle Ken and Nana. Later Aunt Addie Mae came over to see us for the first time since Rider and Josie got here.

The kiddos seem to like the car at this point so it will make the next couple of weeks much better with all our Christmas traveling.

Here is a picture of some of us at Auntie's house.

Ready for Bedlam

We got the kiddos all geared up in their OSU stuff. I said Rider must have had a premonition about the outcome of the game. His reaction to being photographed is always how I feel when we lose to the gooners. ;)

1 Month Old

These are pictures from November 21st. The babies one month birthday. I obviously need more practice getting their pictures together. Rider didn't mind pictures tonight but Josie wasn't interested at all. :)

Grandparent Pictures

I have been wanting to post these pictures for a while. I thought I had it done yesterday, but I somehow keep getting interrupted. :)

We have had lots of great visitors. People have been wonderful bringing food and treats. Aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents have all visited or called to check on us or sent great stuff!

All the grandparents in Oklahoma have been to visit and have had their pictures taken with Rider and Josie. The only grandparent the babies haven't met is Grampa Champ because he is in Iowa.

Josie is HOME

I am so sorry for the delay in posting. We are experiencing a whole new kind of sleep deprivation. :) My internet has also been down and I haven't had the time/energy/motivation to go upstairs and try to fix it.

Josie didn't pass her sleep test again on Sunday, but the doctor thought she would do well at home as long as she is monitored. We haven't had any scary alarms, but her high heart rate alarm has gone off a couple of times when she gets really fired up. :) Jeff keeps saying she gets that from me, but I just am not quite ready to take credit for that.

She weiged exactly 5 lbs on Monday when she was dismissed. The entire process went so much faster since we had done it all the week before with Rider. We were all home together by 6:15 pm. Here is the first picture of the two of them at home with Daddy.

Rider is HOME

We came home with Rider last night at about 8:00 because we had to wait for the person to bring his monitor and train us on it. He passed his sleep study as "borderline normal" so that is the reason for the monitor. He had one Brady where his heart rate drops lower than it should, but he is always able to recover on his own. He weighed 5 lbs 10 oz at discharge.

Josie had a couple of episodes of apnea in her sleep study so the doctor thought it would be best for her to stay one more week. She has consistently been developmentally one week behind Rider so it isn't too surprising. The doctor also reiterated that she is doing great and is only showing her immaturity with the breathing struggles. She will continue to improve and catch up with her brother. She weighed 4 lbs 6 oz yesterday. It was more difficult to leave Josie there by herself than it had been leaving them both, but Jeff and I feel really good about doing what is best for both Rider and Josie according to their doctors.

Jeff and I were on our own last night and managed just fine. My mother came this morning and I took quite a few naps already. :)

Another Update!

I wanted to add an update again today because a lot happened last night/today. Josie is no longer on ANY meds and they removed her feeding tube. She has "nippled" all of her feeds in the last 48 hours. She is more than half-way to the amount she needs to eat to be dismissed. She weighed 4 lbs. 2.9 oz. and needs to gain about 7 more oz. She stayed all night in the open air crib and maintained her temperature well. They administered the hearing test and she passed that. The nurse on duty thinks Rider AND Josie will get to come home sometime next week!They have to wait 3 days from the last dosage of medicine for Josie to have her sleep study so that will be sometime after Sunday morning. Rider's sleep study is already scheduled (not sure if it is tonight or tomorrow.) I met with the physical therapist today to learn how to put Rider in his car seat. Here is a little side note/public service announcement: The additional pieces or supplements in car seats have been safety tested and do not perform well. The physical therapist asked us to take ours out to leave the hospital, but said it was our decision what to do when once we got home. Part of the car seat lesson was adding receiving blankets to the proper places so that Rider fits perfectly. I also learned the physical therapy we will need to do at home to help develop his motor skills. We went over "Back to Sleep" rules and why they are important in preventing SIDS. We will go over all the same information again on Monday just for Josie.

We are anxious for our family to be home all together. We appreciate so much your thoughts and prayers and encouragement!

2 weeks 1 day

Well..I have already dropped the ball as the family photographer. I took the above pics today, but I was planning to take pictures of Rider and Josie on each week. I couldn't catch Josie awake, but Rider was nice enough to keep his eyes open for the camera. Grandma and Grandpa Bewley came to visit today and brought Mother and Daddy some roast beef salad, crackers, preserves and jelly and Mother's very favorite--pumpkin cake! We got some pictures with them too. :) I have some excuses for my lack of pictures, yesterday was a big day for Rider (and for Mother and Daddy). At 8:00 am he was circumcised. Jeff and I sat outside the room and listened to him squawk. At 11:30 he and Josie had physical therapy evaluations. They both passed, but they get so tired afterwards they don't eat very well.

We were excited again to see that Josie had another day of growth for her 2 week birthday, AND she "joined the 4 pound club" as her Daddy put it. She weighed 4 lbs. 1.5 oz. She moved into an open air crib today and was able to maintain her own temperature well. It is another thing to check off our list. They have left the Isolette in the room just in case her temp drops a little tonight. Rider also continues to grow. He weighed 5 lbs. 3.5 oz. Josie is eating 40 ml and Rider is eating 45 ml. Today both babies nursed, and Rider took his entire feeding. Josie took about half and then finished the rest from the bottle. She has been doing better with her feedings this week, and that is another milestone that brings her closer to dismissal.

There is a list of things that have to be done before Rider and Josie can come home. Jeff and I took infant CPR on October 30th. Rider took a hearing test on Monday and passed that. We have an appointment with the physical therapist tomorrow at 11:30. She will teach us how to put Rider in the car seat safely. Because he is so small he can't just sit in the seat. They will also schedule a sleep study to make sure we don't need to take a monitor home with us. (One of the nurses told us that sometimes even full term babies go home with one.)

Josie will have to take the hearing test and do the sleep study as she gets closer to coming home.

Happy Birthday Daddy and Happy Halloween!

Today is Daddy's "golden" birthday and the babies' first Halloween so we took lots of pictures. They wore two different outfits today. Yesterday we put on their "Baby's First Halloween" onesies that Mia and Grampa Dave bought them and took pictures. Neither one really wanted their picture taken, but we made it through. :) They wore them last night and until we got there today. Then we changed them into their first costumes that Jeremy, Bridgette and Carter Caughman bought them. They look so cute and we had a pretty good day.

Rider Jeffrey

Both babies grew quite a bit last night. It's always exciting to see a gain on the board when we get there, but today was quite a surprise. Josie gained so much weight that the nurse weighed her twice just to verify it wasn't a mistake. She gained 96 grams, and that put her back up to 3 lbs. 12 oz. Rider is back up to 4 lbs. 15 oz. They continue to get closer and closer to their birth weights. Josie didn't take her bottle very well, but the nurse reiterated that it is normal for her to need some help sometimes since she is so small. Rider took all his 40 ml in about 6 minutes.

Josie Nell


They turned Josie's Isolette off last night, but she got a little cold so they are leaving her heat on for a while longer. The nurse thought Rider might be in an open air crib as early as tomorrow.









They haven't said so, but it is looking more and more like we will be bringing Rider home before Josie is ready. Please pray that Mother and Daddy will be able to handle leaving sister at the hospital by herself and learn to care for Rider at home.















Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers and your encouraging emails and comments!

1 week old

Today Rider and Josie are 1 week old. Mia (Toni) picked me up this morning and took me to the NICU, and Jeff met us there after he worked in Miami, Vinita and Grove. Mia and I got there just after the babies had physical therapy. Josie took her bottle great again today, but Rider was TOO tired to eat. They both worked really hard.

Rider is really doing well, and is back up to 4 lbs 12 oz. This picture is right after PT when he was so tired. They bumped him up to 35 ml of milk today. He no longer has an IV, they took out his feeding tube, he isn't taking any medicine, and he is currently maintaining his own body temperature. The temperature is the newest developement, so they will continue to monitor him. If they need to turn his Isolette back on they will. If he is able to continue maintaining his temperature on his own, they will move him to an open crib.

His sister is improving quickly as well. In the picture above she is getting mad at Daddy as he tries to convince her to open her eyes for a picture. :) She is up to 3 lbs 10 oz. Josie is taking 30 ml of milk, she is working hard to keep up with her brother. She still has her IV because they are still giving her fluids. She takes an oral medication that helps with her digestion, but the nurse told us today that she won't need that much longer at all. Josie also got to get rid of her feeding tube, which is outstanding for her because she is still so small. The nurse said that statistically she is way ahead of where she should be. They are continuing to drop the temperature in Josie's Isolet and she is doing well with that as well.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and your sweet comments and emails.

Jeff and I visited Rider and Josie in the NICU this morning, and we had a couple of "firsts". I got to change my first diaper. Josie had a good heavy one that the nurse said shows improvement in her digestive system. Jeff is already a pro at the diaper changing, he has been taking care of that duty since day 1. :) Jeff got to hold both babies at the same time for the first time as well. I took a few pictures. I am hoping maybe I am becoming a better and more consistent photographer now that I'm a mother.

Josie is up to eating 15 ml and Rider is eating 20 ml. To get to come home they will need to consistently eat 2 oz. in 15 minutes or less. They both took their 2 o'clock bottles quickly as we cheered them on!

Twins

These are pictures from Birth to Day 3! Rider and Josie were born on October 21st. Rider was born at 12:32PM--he was 17 inches long and weighed 5lbs 1oz. Josie was born at 12:33PM--she was 16 1/4 inches long and weighed 3lbs 14oz. Everyone is doing great!

Josie was allowed to join Rider in the NICU so we could all be together. Both babies are breathing well on their own and are learning to take a bottle. When they are able to eat on their own they will get to come home. Robbi is doing well and going home on Saturday in time to watch the Cowboys on TV. Thanks for all of your love and support and enjoy the pics! Some of the pictures are graphic, Jeff got really excited. ;)



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Rider & Josie Pics