Follow - Up Doctor Visit

 Dr. Rodgers let us know the results of the path report. Like the nurse said last week, the growths or masses are not encapsulated which is not a good thing. We will watch and wait for regrowth but he recommends that we leave all of the masses alone and remove them if they interfere wth anything.

This is so frustrating, I really want her to be as normal as possible but she's different and people "will" judge her, especially kids. Yes, I realize that we all question "normal" and I get so irritated when people say "well what's normal". I want to say... Look at your kid and look at mine! I want her to wear skirts, shorts, sandals, tanks, etc... But she can't or people stare. I am getting better, I no longer cover legs with a blanket but she does wear socks and she probably always will!

Anyway, Dr. Rodgers wants to see her in January to look at the lipmatous growth and check for regrowth. I will be scheduling her foot surgery in November with the group in Boston, and the local physical therapy team wants to start seeing her in January after she has healed. I am also working with the state "community services" worker to get Em into the system. Hopefully we can keep the Medicaid!
We see Dr Hart in August to check for her weight gain to see if she is gaining enough muscle in her upper body. In September, we have our routine kidney ultrasound and also a 12 month development appointment.

Michael is doing terrific, nothing new to report. This week, Dad and Terry are here, so we'll be hanging out with them. I'm excited that they can finally meet Em and M :)
With Love,
Adrienne

New Carseats?

Well Well Well,

 

We measured little Michael this morning and he was 27.5 inches long. We know that there is a weight and height limit on their infant car seats of 29 inches or 22lbs. Since he is only about 17 pounds we need to get a move on it with the car seats. The Britax seats were too expensive for us, since we need 4 car seats (2 for Grama), we decided to go with the Graco Nautilus. It had great safety ratings and we did our research. This car seat is convertible to a booster (100 pounds). The good news is we found some on Walmart.com for a good price 

I'm not sure how long it will take him to grow 1.5 inches or gain 3 pounds, but we'll keep an eye on him. Em still has some growing to do to catch up.

Other than that. We went swimming yesterday with Grama and had a great time. The umbrella was the BEST investment! Both babies are drooling and chewing A LOT, so more teeth soon???

That's it for now :)

Em update

We heard from Dr. Rodgers office regarding Emaleigh's pathology report. The mass was benign and showed some mature and immature cells. It is consisdered a lipomatosis not a lipoma after all. The difference is that a lipoma is well organized and a lipomatosis isn't well defined. We have an appointment next Thursday with him so we hope to learn more about how to manage the rest. We believe it's a waiting game at this point. She is doing terrific developmentally and it appears that these growths are not slowing her down at all.

Baby stuff -

The babies are really starting to sit up and now it seems as though they'd rather sit than lay down. Michael is starting to catch himself to stay up or when falling. He has learned that falling over isn't much fun.

Em is really rocking on her knees, she is even moving one of her legs forward but doesn't know what is next. sooo cute! Her bottom teeth are really starting to show :)

We hope to get some pool time in soon. Now that we've isolated the leak, we can start filling slowly.

Another tooth is on the move

Well, per Tiffany, Emaleigh was a little fussy today. So I felt her gums. I didnt feel anything on the bottom so I moved to the top, and said oh no.... Little Em has a buldge in her gum where her eye tooth will come in. It's not breaking through and we might not see it for a while... BUT it is there, and I'm sure it hurts already.

Here is a pic that Tiffany took today. I just LOVE it!!!

As you can see, Michael is starting to do well holding himself up. He sat here for a long time in my lap holding himself up tonight until Granpa jinxed him.

:)

She's almost mobile!!!

And the rocking starts...

She's almost there! She should be crawling soon. She is starting to rock.

Emaleigh had a rough week followed by a rough weekend. She had her surgery on Tuesday as you all know, then on Wednesday, she had a cough. I guess like any surgery, they had to intubate her. On Thursday, her side was tender and she winced a little when I moved her. On Friday, they both had shots. They actually handled the shots well. On Saturday, Em had a pretty good fever, 100.5 - 101 (Michael's was about 99.5) and they were both very fussy. Thinking about this now, doing all of this in the same week wasn't a great idea. I'm sure her little body was already trying to heal from the surgery. By Sunday, they were both fine and are doing terrific today.

We purchased  a new area carpet, it looks like it was just in time. Emaleigh is starting to get on her knees and rock. She's still scooting around but I'm so glad to see it, I was worried how she would do since her right leg is bigger but it doesnt appear to be a problem.

Tiffany told me that Michael was rolling everywhere today. He is also drooling a lot. Hmmm... wonder if we'll see another tooth soon.

:)

9 month check up

Today we had our 9 month check up and shots. Michael weighed 15.14 and Em weighed 14.10. Michael has been pulling on his ear the past few days but the doctor looked and he does not have an ear infection.

We had to make and appointment with the urologist for Michael. He couldn't have his circumcision done in the NICU because he was anemic, so they wanted us to wait a year. We're going to shoot for the same day as Em's ultrasound appointment in September or follow up surgery appointment at the end of the month.

After the shots, we did a little shopping and the babies slept and slept. I'm guessing the shots made them tired. All and all, they've been suprisingly pleasant.

Em is doing terrific, she had some oozing from one of the incisions but it all looks ok. I'll keep an eye on it. Not sure when we'll get her in the pool.
The new thing is...

• Michael is now doing this high pitched squeal, we tell him "no" firmly and he stops, so he is learning "no", pretty well.
• Em is now cackling pretty loudly. I think she's just trying to get some attention.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

With Love,
Adrienne

A week vacation is NOT a vacation with twins

Hi everyone.

Today Michael had a good report from the eye doctor. She doesn't want to see him again unless something comes up. He has "grown" into his eyes. YAY!!! I picked up some 2-3 diapers because they both are almost out of 2's, Em for sure. I still have one big box of 2's, so I will see if I can use them up with Michael.

Michael did terrific sitting today, he's really trying which is great to see. Once they are sitting well, we plan to have some additional photos taken. Grama has a friend who wants to do some shots for us. Tracey even went to the Osh Kosh outlet and picked up some overalls for me.

Michael and Emaleigh were a little fussy tonight. I think Em's incision is a little sore, so I gave her some Tylenol (she hasn't needed it much today). Michael was a little cranky, probably because of his new tooth.

Tomorrow we have our 9 month check-up and shots :(. Sounds like a fussy afternoon for my little ones. Maybe I can try to swim with Michael. Em will have to sit this one out because of her incision. Since they said only 3-4 days, maybe she can swim on Saturday.

Both babies are really trying to get up on their knees so it wont be long before they start to try to crawl. It might be harder for Em with her bigger leg and thigh but she doesn't know any better so she might be just fine (we'll see).

I have posted a new video of me singing badly and Michael's reaction, soooo cute. Guess he doesn't like it :) Look at the bottom of the page for all of the videos I have linked.

With Love,
Adrienne

Tooth number 2 for my little man!

Michael's second tooth made an appearance today. He finally caught up to Emaleigh. He's been super super fussy this afternoon. Now he has calmed down after some teething tablets, 1/2 dose of tylenol, and oragel. :)

We're on the prowl for a reclining umbrella double stroller and convertible carseats. The weight limit of their current infant car seats is 22lbs, Michael is already 16 pounds. If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate the input.

Em is doing terrific, we went shopping today (for strollers and carseats) and you would never have guessed she had surgery yesterday.

Talk to you soon!

Em Post Surgery and Doing Terrific

Em is such a trooper. After we made it home, she ate about 8 ounces of formula (she normally eats 6 to 6.5), napped for 3 hours and then ate a full container of banana custard and another bottle of 7 ounces. She hasn't played much, just rested. Michael was very vocal today and had a TON of energy. Their individual personalities and uniqueness are really starting to show and I couldn't be more proud!

This afternoon, Grama hung out with the babies while Chris and I had a chance to run some errands, then stayed a little longer, so Chris and I could nap. We really needed it it.

Thanks for the continued support and prayers!

Surgery & Recovery

Em's surgey went well. She took longer than expected for the anesthesia to take effect but once started, it only took about 10 minutes for Doctor Rodgers to remove the mass. He mentioned that the mass was not encapsulated which is "not so good news". It was attached from the inside of the skin wall to the muscle. He removed all of it but because it wasn't encapsulated there is a greater risk of regrowth. They will send it off to pathology for evaluation, we should know something in a couple of weeks.

Em is currently resting on my chest and is doing terrific!

Em's Surgery

Em's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 6AM. No food after midnight and only clear liquids until 4 AM. So we'll be off to UVA at 4. Grama is going to take care of Michael during the surgery.

We'll keep you posted throughout the day!

Thanks for the continued prayers.

Love,
Adrienne

Great Weekend So far

Well,we have had a great relaxing weekend so far. Em and M had a little gas yesterday, probably after we let them try some yummy yummy sauce. We've also been working on breakfast of yogurt and grain cereal. They actually love it. (The grain cereal is mixed with yogurt). We've also been giving them fruit puffs that Tracey recommended. Of course we break the puffs into 1/2 or 1/3.



I posted 2 new videos. One of Em playing on her laptop computer and one of Michael bouncing in his bouncer. Sooo Cute.

Tomorrow is our last relaxing day before Em's surgery. I'm getting super nervous already.

I will post and update on Tuesday as soon as we know something!

Happy 9 Month Birthday Em & M!!!

Happy 9 month birthday sweeties!!!  We have some new pictures of Emaleigh and Michael taken yesterday and today. I think we're just going to relax at home today. We also have a video of Emaleigh enjoying some yummy yummy sauce from Sakura's Em eating Yummy Yummy sauce

Quick Update with new pics

We've had an uneventful week so far, babywise. I hope we can do something fun with the babies this weekend. We'll see, it's been a rough week for mommy and daddy, so we might just relax at the pool if it's not 150 degrees ;)

I did get a chance to weigh the babies tonight and Michael weighs 16 pounds and Em weighs 14.14 pounds. We have 3 things going on next week. Em's surgery on Tuesday, Michael's eye appointment on Thursday, and the 9 month check up with shots on Friday. So my vacation time used, will be far from it. Dont think Em will be able to "do" the pool since she'll have stitches, maybe we'll just play and mommy or Grama will swim with Michael while Em is resting.

Our First Blog... and First Post

Thought I should create a blog for both of the babies. As some of you know, we already have a site for Emaleigh but I felt as if I was leaving Michael out. He has also accomplished a lot and I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of both of their achievements.

So here we are at almost 9 months (July 10th) of age and I have so much to talk about. What I'll do is start from today and just bring up some milestones that we missed in the past, over the next few posts.

This weekend Emaleigh and Michael celebrated their first fourth of July and had a great time watching the fireworks. By the 3rd viewing they were no longer impressed. We did get a chance to take them both out for a very slow jet ski ride and boat ride. Their new infant life jackets looked huge on them and they looked like the kid from the movie "Christmas Story" but they were safe... yet extremely uncomfortable.

Michael's first tooth started breaking through the gum on Saturday and suprisingly he wasn't as fussy as we would expect. Em is acting like a 3rd tooth is starting to come through. She is chewing on her pacifier sideways. She has both of her bottom teeth.

We did go through a 33 ounce can of formula in 2 days which normally takes about 3.5 days, I think both babies are going through a growth spurt.

So October is only a few months away. We are thinking about the 1 year birthday party and since they are Mickey Mouse babies, I called about a Mickey Mouse 3-D cake, so that's the plan. As for Halloween, Chris wants to dress Em up like Maggie from the Simpsons for Halloween since she ALWAYS has a pacifier in her mouth and her jammies are gowns. I'll just have to find the Maggie hair somewhere and a blue gown, of course. Not sure about Michael, maybe a lion... that'll be cute.

Em is scheduled for surgery on the 13th and My dad and Terry will be in town from 7-29 to 8-5. So it looks like we have a busy summer planned :)