Saturday, September 3, 2011

Fall...Is that you?

Still crazy busy around the Roser household! Here is a quick glimpse of what has been going on now that we have a few breaks from the 100 degree weather...


David's first day back to school! No tears this year; I think he is just happy to get away from a house of screaming babies, haha!



What our walks look like these days....



What do you do when it is 100 degrees for two months and you have three kids.....







Yep....not like we didn't have enough going on around here! The thought of packing up three kiddos and going to the neighborhood pool seemed daunting, so we figured we would try to simplify our lives and build our own little paradise!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

double the work but double the love



I think it is safe to say this has been the hardest but best three months of our lives. Who would have thought these two little babies would shake things up so much?!? Dave and I have been running on pure exhaustion and basically just doing everything we can to survive and get through this. Every now and then we will get a smile or giggle that makes every bit worth it! I have been tabbing things on the blog to go back and update because I have not had the time to keep up with it. I keep telling myself that eventually things will get back to normal...but I am not really sure what that "normal" will be with three kids!

We were very blessed to have family around for the first six weeks to help out..thank you grandma and grammy, I don't know if I could have done it without y'all. Then I was on my own, but we quickly realized that we needed to get more help on board. We have a night nanny that comes once a week, and then during the day on Thursdays to give me some time with David. I hired a recent college graduate to come twice a week to spend time with David and take him to some play group activities. My closest friend here has been amazing; she has helped get David out of the house once a week to see friends and even took full responsibility for car pool during the kids week long summer camp- thank you Katie! Thanks to my friend Brianna, we were able to sneak away a few weeks ago to take David to see his first movie, Cars 2. He was very excited, but after the 45 minutes of previews he only made it through maybe half of the movie before we said it was time to go due inappropriate three year old movie theatre behavior. We are so grateful to have such wonderful caring people in our lives that have been willing to help out in one way or another. Thank you all for everything!

So it has been a rocky first couple of months. We have been feeding babies around the clock and when it takes 1-1 1/2 hrs to get both babies fed your days and nights go by very quickly. Both babies have been growing very well, but around 5 weeks when their intake increased they were diagnosed with reflux...BOTH of them. If you have never experienced this before I pray you never will. After feedings the screaming would start; Avery would just want to nurse and eat more to ease the pain while Cason would literally be inconsolable. We started the the reflux medicine trial and error road in which finally led to getting Avery's under control with two different medicines-one in which she takes 4x/day; Cason however continued to have problems. Our pediatrician eventually referred us to a GI specialist who we have been seeing and is now treating and managing his reflux moving forward. He is on prevacid twice a day, a probiotic once a day and we have switched him from 90% breast milk to Alimentum formula. We believe there may have been a milk sensitivity involved and I could not have the added stress of wondering if his pain was caused by something that I ate. I was hoping to keep one or two feedings where I would nurse him, but he struggled with the switch so much that I didn't want to make it any more difficult for him. I'm happy that I was able to get the bonding experience with him and that he had his mommy's milk for the first three months of his life...which is more than I ever thought I would do. Bless his little heart he has been through so much over the past month; I feel like it is something once a week-the pediatric doctors/nurses and pharmacists are starting to know me on a first name basis. I can say that it is definitely getting better, but not 100%. On top of the reflux he has a very sensitive gag reflex which causes him to occasionally choke..talk about scary. Because of this he has spent the last month sleeping in between Dave and I so that when it does occur we can sit him up quickly. So both babies are still in our room and we are hoping to move Cason out of the cosleeper and into a seperate bassinet within the next few days. The doctors do not know if it is the reflux causing the gagging/choking or if it is related to his occasional congestion which could be allergies or reflux...trying to find the answers has been exhausting. The GI specialist suggested that we probe him for 24 hours and monitor his reflux to see if it is the culprit, but Dave and I feel like this might be an unnecessary painful step that will lead us to trying more medications that have failed us already. We are still weighing the pros and cons at this point.

As difficult as these past few months have been at the end of the day we have three healthy, amazing children. No one ever said it was going to be easy...










Sunday, July 10, 2011

Two Months


Avery Marie
Weight 8lbs 10 oz; 5.8 percentile
Height 18.5 inches; 2.27 percentile

Cason John
Weight 9lbs 11oz; 9.65 percentile
Height 19 inches; 1.69 percentile

And then there were three....

Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the twins newborn photo shoot. Our photographer, Chryshelle Spurgeon, did an amazing job!

We look at these knowing how truly blessed we are to have three healthy beautiful children....my how our lives have changed!












Big Brother

David talked about his baby brother and baby sister nonstop prior to their arrival. We tried our best to prepare him for what was ahead, but I don't think you can fully prepare a three year old for such a life changing event! We would tell him about what would happen when they arrived; how grandma and grandpa would take him to the hospital to see mommy, daddy and the babies, how he would get to ride the elevator and how the babies would be bringing him presents. Due to my recovery and the babies conditions we waited a few days before we had my parents bring him to visit. He remembered everything we told him and was so excited to see us and meet his new siblings.




Meeting Cason for the first time.

Meeting Avery for the first time; we could tell he was not comfortable with her situation and had difficulties understanding what was wrong. When we came home with Cason he kept asking "what about Avery", "where's Avery"; it was really sweet...already looking out for his baby sister.




The excitement eventually wore off and he is definitely struggling with the changes around the household...i.e. the shift of attention. He will acknowledge the babies occasionally, but for the most part leaves them be. I feel awful about how this has affected him and how I am forcing him to grow up very quickly, but I also keep reminding myself that we have just given him the best gift ever....best friends for life...a baby brother and a baby sister!


Monday, May 30, 2011

Cason John and Avery Marie

As you all can probably imagine it has been difficult to find the time to blog. These updates may not be as in depth as I/y'all would like them to be, but I don't want to miss out on documenting some of these precious moments. I think the hardest part is sorting through all these pictures....two kids=double the photos! Hopefully once things settle in I will have more time to write about our crazy life as a family of five!!

As you all know Cason John and Avery Marie were born on May 10th at 35 weeks. Cason spent 4 days in the NICU at the Methodist Hospital; at their request we all "roomed in" an additional night and then were released to go home the next day. Avery spent two weeks in the care of the staff at Texas Children's Hospital in their level 3 NICU (and yes, she wasn't Avery's physician but I did get to see the doctor from the littlest couple while we were there)! It was the hardest thing leaving her behind, but I know she was in good care and now she is home and healthy!

Here are a few highlights of the birth of both babies to their first few days at home....

Love at first sight

Seeing my baby girl and baby boy for the very first time!
Due to their premature lungs both babies were taken to the NICU immediately after birth. Dave was able to see them initially and take some pictures, but I had to wait until 10 pm that evening before they would allow me to go visit.






First Embrace

As a mother you always will remember the first time that you get to hold your newborn child. It is what you spend nine months waiting for and I cannot even explain how hard it was not being able to. Every situation is different and I am sure every hospital has different protocols, but in our situation due to the babies' conditions we were advised that it was best to wait until their breathing was a little more controlled before we were able to hold them. In Cason's case it was the following day; with Avery it was 4 days later. Still special in every way it is a moment that cannot and will not be forgotten. It was just as special seeing those we love getting to embrace the moment and hold our sweet babies for the very first time too!

Cason John




Avery Marie






Home Sweet Home

We were scheduled to be discharged on Friday, May 13th but when we were told that they wanted to keep Cason for one more night the hospital made arrangements for us to stay. Cason was the first to get settled in at home and had over a week of every ones full attention. My mother and father stayed with us to help out and watch both Cason and David while Dave and I made trips up to Texas Children's. Avery came home nine days later and our lives have been turned upside down ever since!

Cason John





Avery Marie





Reunited

Due to the babies' conditions they were split up immediately and were not brought back together until the day we left the hospital with Cason. Since they've been home we have been keeping them together as much as possible...including sleeping in the same bassinet (unless one ends ups in the co-sleeper in bed with us)! I cannot tell if they acknowledge each other in any way, but he seems to get annoyed when she is close by. Typical boy...






Saturday, May 21, 2011

we were ready....

So things are absolutely crazy hectic at the moment and I have a ton to blog about; You all will just have to bare with me while I play catch up over the next week or so. As far as an update goes we have been home for a week with one baby and a three year old who is not adjusting well to change...or maybe it is just that he is not adjusting to mommy and daddy being gone so often. Avery was admitted to Texas Children's Hospital a day after her birth with a collapsed lung. She developed an air pocket that burst, collapsing her lung and putting pressure on her heart. They inserted a tube into her chest and were able to stabilize her very quickly, but she has been with them since recovering and getting stronger. We have been making trips up there everyday; Dave and I have separated our visits so that one of us is there for at least two of her feedings. Needless to say, we are exhausted both physically and emotionally but continue to feel blessed to have two healthy babies and the wonderful support from all of our friends and family.
I planned on posting these on the day that they sent me into labor and delivery for contractions...little did I know we were going to have these babies so quickly but we were definitely ready!



A nursery for two













Final Belly Shots
35 weeks