Firsts

Wow, it has been over a month since my last post, time sure flies when you are juggling twins. They are growing so fast now close to nine pounds and out of newborn clothes for the most part. I celebrated my first Mother's Day I have mixed emotions, I feel that until they are legally ours I will not be able to truly enjoy that day. My husband was commenting on how hard it was going to be because Mother's Day is usually within a week of my birthday, and then two weeks later is our anniversary, so n less then a month he has to come up with three gifts. He did good though he got me a necklace that has the babies birth stone in it which also happens to be his. It is very pretty and I cannot wait to wear it! I continue to pinch myself everyday I get to hold those precious gifts that God has given us and have begun the count down to the day they are officially ours (October 6th). Sorry for the time between posts I will try and do better now that I feel we are finally getting into a routine. Hired a nanny and a house keeper so things are getting to some sort of normalcy. I will post some updated pictures my good friend took for us once I get to my laptop for some reason I cannot do it from my iPad.

Worry . . And giving it to God

Today I have figured out that God is trying to teach me to give my worries to him. The message this Sunday at church was over Philippians 4 and on my way home this evening from a training class I turned it to the station that has sermons on it and guess what he was talking about, yes, Philippians 4:6-9.

The case worker for the agency visited today and I was discussing with her about contacting the kids lawyer and seeing if we can go ahead an petition for us to adopt them, per a recommendation from the CPS case worker. She said that before we do that we should let her find out what CPS's goal is for them, because they have goals that they have. They will be for family permanent placement or outside permanent placement. So of course the worry starts and I am reminded they are not mine, and that CPS could have other plans for them. So tonight I know that I need to submit my worries with prayer and repetition and give it to God, because HE IS IN CONTROL! He plan will be done, and no matter how much I worry his plan will not fail.

So I would like to ask for continued prayers that God's plan is for them to become our children, legally, and that we continue to submit to him and what he has planned for us.

On another note, here is some more pictures, the first on is the first time I held them together at the same time (a couple of weeks ago) and them in their Easter wear. Enjoy!

Quick Update

As many of you know Gavin came home a week ago Friday. Rick took last week off to stay home with them. He has truly became a great dad, he loves to take care of them. We went to Scotish Rite last Thursday so that they could look mostly at Gavin's leg but both of them had appointments as a follow up to their hospital stay. The orthopedic doctor feels that Gavin's leg will heal pretty close to normal, because babies always surprise them on how naturally they can heal themselves. We will follow up with them when he starts walking so that they can see if there is anything that they will need to do, or if he is adjusting/healing normally and nothing needs to be done. What a great facility, everyone there was very nice and it is like going to a great big kids play ground.
Last week we also had a pediatric appointment, they sent us to the hospital to have Gavin tested for acid reflux. Turns out he does have it and now he is taking Precid to help with his after eating grumpiness.
All in all both of them are doing great, they are now around 6 pounds, we will have official weight when we visit the pediatrician next Wednesday. They are getting very close to sleeping through the night, so,we will move them to their room hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
The only thing to do now it find someone to help,out during the day while I work, we have our first interview today, so we will see how it goes and hopefully we will have a better idea of what we are looking for. This would be a live in situation so we will just have to see if it is a good fit for everyone. Wish us luck, and again thanks for the continued prayers. Two weeks of the six months before we can petition to adopt them :)

One Home and Hopefully One on the Way

Well Abby came home on Tuesday, two nights of getting use to having her in the bedroom and it looks like we will be adding one tomorrow night. Gavin has to make it through the night without a Brady and he will leave the hospital tomorrow. Rick is on vacation next week so he will get a full dose of twins for a week. His mom has been here all week helping me with Abby while I still work. We cannot wait for us to finally have the family together and now more days and nights at the hospital.

They have gotten us into Scottish Rite Hospital to be seen next week so hopefully we will have a better understanding of what the game plan will be for trying to get Gavin's leg fixed. They also have referred Abby so that they can continue to monitor and make sure she has not long term affects from the issues they endured in the womb and at birth. Everyone loves Scottish Rite and have told us that we should take all the help from them that we can get. So the adventure begins. Please pray for their continue health improvements, the doctors that will treat them and that the continued goal to adopt them will stay on track and happen as soon as they can be pushed through the system. Thank you for your prayers and love. We are truly blessed to be given a chance to make a difference in these babies’ lives and are happy God trusted us to do it!  Here are more pictures – Abby going home and Gavin this week with Grandma.

Wow it's been a week

I just noticed it has been a week since my last update. The babies are doing well, Gavin got his feeding tube out yesterday and has made great progress on the bottle feelings the last couple of days. The both now weigh almost 4.5 pounds and are growing very quickly. Saturday my bible study and church ladies gave me a shower and we had a great turn out. It was so fun to see all the cute clothes everyone picked out. They are set on clothing now for the next year. One less thing to worry about. We are still 5 days away from going home, they both had breathing issues in the last 24 hours. We will keep praying that they get to come home soon, but only when they are ready b/c we definatly do not want hem to stop berating when they come home. Abby has passed her car seat test so as soon as she goes 5 days with out the sleep Brady's she will be set to go.
As I sit with them in my arms everyday I realize what a gift from God they are and I cannot wait for them to come home so we can be a family. The nephews are anxiously awaiting their arrive so the can see them.
That is all I have for now, I will post new pictures hopefully tomorrow.

Hearing and Status Update

     Tuesday we had a hearing at CPS where all the follow-up and research that CPS has done came to light. We are now confident that we are the only option that they are looking at for these babies. So they will be in foster care with us for 6 months in which at that time we will start the adoption process. So if all goes well they will be legally ours buy the end of the year.
     On another note, today Abby has gone 2 days without "Brady’s" which is where they forget to breath and there heart rate drops and they have to be stimulated to bring the heart rate back up. She needs to go 5 consecutive days and she will be ready to come home. Gavin on the other hand is still very inconsistent on his feedings and still has Brady’s several times a day, so he is probably a good 10 days from coming home. He also is have an issue with his left leg where he does not seem to have much strength in it and it is shorter than the right, so this week has not been fun for him b/c they have done tones of tests, x-rays, sonograms, and a MRI to end today. So all of that to make sure there was not an infection and to confirm what they were seeing on the x-ray which seems to be some degeneration of his femur bone that looks like was caused by the syphilis infection he had in the womb and after he was born. We do not know how they plan on fixing this or if it can be fixed, but they will be referring us to the Scottish Rite hospital to have it fully evaluated and will continue to monitor it until he leaves the hospital. Our prayers continue for these babies that the effects of what happened to them while there were in there mother does not have long term effect on them and that they will have as close to a normal life as possible. We have been very happy with their care and know that we will continue getting them that care after we bring them home.

Update

Here are some updated photos of Abigail and Gavin.  Gavin finally hit 4lbs today, and Abby is only short of 4lbs by about 1/6th of an ounce.  They have come along way in the 10 days we started seeing them.  The oxygen sensors came off on Friday, and Abby is taking almost all her bottles by mouth now.  Gavin is still getting tierd easily while he feeds and can only make it through the whole bottle about 10% of the time.
We have a family planning meeting with CPS, CASA, and the babies lawyers on Tuesday so if you could include us in your prayers for that to go well, and hopefully we will know more about how the process is going to proceed and that the plan for them to come home and move toward us being able to adopt them.

Gavin

Abby