Playing with baybee and.... playing catch-up

I heard it!!! Emaleigh said Em Wee and Baybee yesterday. Tiffany and Grama told me she has been saying baybee but I didnt hear it until last night. Emaleigh is almost running now. She is doing terrific with walking.

Off to Boston in the morning for the official MRI results with Dr. Fishman and the CLOVES family gathering. We are so excited to meet some of our CLOVES friends.

Michael is trying to catch up.. He isn't walking yet but he is pushing himself more than ever trying to walk. It wont be long!

Both of these little ones are a little "mommy" clingy lately. Not sure if they are just hitting that stage.

I'll post another update soon!

February/March Update



Emaleigh and Michael are doing great and growing sooo fast.

 

Emaleigh has started to walk "officially" as of yesterday. Her shoes came in and I posted some pictures below. She is still working on her two bottom molars but the rest are in. At night she brushes her teeth on her own (tries to... she has the motion). Also check out the 2 new videos below. We had some pictures taken and they turned out great (to the left)
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We are heading to Boston next week for the MRI review with Dr. Fishman and a follow-up with Dr Spencer, Em's orthopedic doctor. We are also attending the CLOVES family gathering next weekend and get a chance to meet many families. The CLOVES Syndrome Foundation is coming along and should be up and running soon. 

Michael is starting to speak sentences (we have no idea of what he is saying) it's very cute because he knows what he means even if we dont have a clue! He isn't ready to walk yet but I think he is a little top heavy so when we loses his balance, he falls on his head. He'll get there. All of his molars have been in for a couple of weeks. As far as brushing his teeth, he'd rather suck the toothpaste off of the toothbrush than do anything with his teeth :)

 

These Sears pics turned out great, we were VERY suprised! The babies were a mess and had a little nap in the morning so they were pretty grumpy before and after!

January - To walk or not to walk :)

Emaleigh and Michael had a good Christmas... well, it was a little late but we had a good time (unfortunately we all had a virus).

• We've been working with Michael and he has been so close to walking, he just doesn't seem like he trusts the floor. He is now walking with us holding one hand.
• He had a great 15 month check-up and weighs around 20 pounds.
• Today he copied me and said bye bye and waved - I posted the video below

• Emaleigh had her Physical Therapy evaluation and they plan on seeing her again when her special order shoes come in.
• She lost some weight, I think because we dropped her down to 2 bottles. We're giving her some pancakes now for breakfast and pediasure instead of whole milk.
• Em is really starting to try to walk so we've all been working with her too. She's doing better everyday.
• I decided to try sandals, thinking it might help to familiarize her with shoes. Thankfully Target had sandals in already and I found some that'll work. I just never thought I'd be "that" mom... the mom that puts her kid in sandals with socks.

Hopefully we'll have some walking babies very soon.

Christmas Video and Quick Update

The babies are doing terrific and finally made it to the 20 pound mark. We were able to change out their car seats. I think they LOVE looking forward. I got a bunch of smiles this morning even while they were distracted by NEMO.

Michael is so close to walking, I just dont think he trusts the floor yet. He really could do it if he wanted (he is such a boy). Emaleigh is really starting to look "up", she realized that there are things above her and she wants to touch everything.

Michelle made a video of pictures from the past year which turned out amazing. I am posting a link here and below for you to see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdNkWLuVKFM  

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and we will be posting an update soon.

December Update

We had their picture taken with Santa and they did terrific, I thought Michael would cry for sure. He suprised all of us!
Emaleigh and Michael are doing terrific developmentally and we've moved into almost all "toddler food". We're still doing 3 milk bottles a day for Michael and 4 for Emaleigh. We'll eventually move Michael down to 2 and Em down to 3 but we're worried about her calorie intake.

Out of curosity I weighed both babies thinking that they both were over 20 pounds... nope! Michael weights 19.11 and Emaleigh weighs 19.8. She caught him. I guess the powder breakfast mix in her milk is bulking her up. Finally!

I will be posting a few new videos of the babies from this week soon.
  1. Em waving for the first time on camera (sideways)
  2. Em on the Hyannis ferry with her diaper trick
  3. Michael in Storms bed (ugh it's very hairy)
  4. The mommy monster playing with her little monster
  5. Michael finding a new way to walk with his walker.

The surgery went well - Michael is doing great

We've had a busy November! Emaleigh's surgery went well - if you are interested in more details, go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/EmaleighBlankenship.

Both Emaleigh and Michael are doing great and we're almost back to normal. They are both a little needy but I think that's understandable with what has been going on :).

Emaleigh is almost back to normal with standing and walking aaround things but she's trying to figure it all out again. I think her feet feel different now.

What are they doing and saying?

• Both babies are waving hi and bye and know what it means.
• Michael says hi when waving.
• Michael is trying to say yum when he eats.
• They know up and know what to do when I say... "I want that".
• Kisses - they know kisses and give them when asked. The only difference is Michael gives "tongue" kisses.
• They fight over toys, we all expected that :)
• They both walk around the coffee table but go down when they let go. I'm sure they'll walk when they are ready
• We're moving over to whole foods. Emaleigh is doing great and knows to bite the cheese doodles but Michael wants to put the whole thing in his mouth.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks and I have a video of Michael saying "hi" and Emaleigh crawling in her big pink casts below :)



The Blankenship's minus 1 in Maine



Getting kisses on the beach in Maine

Em loving in the seagulls in Hyannis MA

 she looks double jointed - putting a diaper over her head

A Blankenship baby update 10/24/10

We have had a another great week. Getting everything together for surgery is finally done and we can take a breather for once. Well kind of! :) Chris and I need to get our desks straight at work. I'm debating on how we will work out housing with Em's surgery. Basically we have a host family that will allow us to stay with them and we were approved for family housing 3 blocks away. I know most of my time will be with Emaleigh in the hospital but I will need to rest as well. Debating on what is going to work best for us. I'm sure the host family house will be much more comfortable!

This week:

• we had 1 year check-up with shots and flu shots too. Poor Emaleigh had additional RSV shots.
• Michael started clapping or playing patty cake (The video is below)
• Michael started shaking his head no (The video is below)
• Emaleigh started walking with her walker (The video is below)

We're still doing stage 3 food and a few milk bottles a day. Keep in mind Michael and Em have 3 teeth (Em has 3 more breaking through now), so we are worried that they aren't ready for solid food.

Michael weighs 17.8 pounds and he is really eating a lot so we think we are on another growth spurt. Emaleigh  was 17.2 pounds. Dr McCurley told us to wait until the babies are 20 pounds to even think about changing their car seats out.

We are set for Halloween too! Next Monday we ship out with Em, Ashleigh, Victoria and maybe Owen. Michael and Storm (and our other critters) will stay here with Grama and Granpa.

I'm sure that I'm missing something. If so I'll post another update!

Love,
 Adrienne