Homecoming

Well, so far so good. Peyton is still doing great. They all got their 2 mo. shots yesterday and today. The NICU said that a lot of premies have set backs with these shots. We called tonight and all of them are doing fine but Ethan. He has had a few drops, but that is common with premies. They are all growing very well. Landon weighed 4lbs. 10 oz. Jenna was 4lbs. 2oz. Peyton weighed 4lbs. 6oz. Sydney is 4lbs. 9oz. and Ethan is 5lbs. 9oz. The pictures to the right are all recent pictures. Aren't they cute!!! They look like their father. That is okay with me. Tomorrow night I will stay in parent care with Peyton and Friday night Rob and I will both stay in parent care on Friday night. Saturday morning sometime there will be a press conference before we head home. Everyone record the news stations because we will be on there Saturday sometime. Oh yeah, Saturday morning Applebees is having a pancake breakfast for us. It is $5.00 for a pancake breakfast. We will receive all $5.00. We appreciate everyone who goes, and also all the workers. Well, time for bed. This is my last night without a baby to watch over. I can't believe it. I am about to become a mommy for real!!! I am sleeping in tomorrow one last time. Good Night!!!

Still No Babies!!!

Another week has passed and we still haven't gotten to take any home. It is so frustrating to go down there and ask the nurses how Ethan is doing. He just isn't consistent. One day he will do fine and the next he is struggling again. Up and Down. Back and Forth. It is so frustrating. We went and visited them on Sunday and talked to the doctor. As of right now Peyton has passed Ethan up and we are planning on him coming home this weekend. I'm not going to hold my breath. He is doing wonderful. He hasn't had any drops in 3 or 4 days and he is eating like a pro. He just went into an open crib on Saturday, so hopefully he will stay stable this week. I will be really upset if he doesn't make it this weekend. I just need some glimpse that this will end soon. The drives back and forth are really getting old and expensive. I do know that it is better for them to stay in the hospital until they are really ready though. We don't want to make it any harder on ourselves than it already will be. I will keep everyone posted on Peyton. He was the slowest at growing and seemed like he would never catch up. All of the sudden he just changed. He went from 3rd or 4th in line all the way to the front. The only thing keeping him from coming home sooner is his weight. He is only 4lbs. 2oz. Hopefully he will be good to go this weekend. Everyone pray that he will behave this week.

The Benefit

Well, it is finally over. The benefit was last night and it was a huge success. As you can see from the pictures we had a huge turnout. There was plenty of food and items for the auction. We had an abundance of help and everything went perfect. John and Mimi Reed were in charge of running the auction and did a fabulous job! We ended up raising right at $20,000. Praise God!!! He has provided again and again for us.

Thank you to everyone who came and helped. It wouldn't have happened without you. I would like to send a special thank you out to everyone on the committee who spent countless hours planning it. I don't know everyone who was involved with that so I'm not even going to try to list names. There is one person who I have to mention. My mom, Shannon Friedman, was in charge of the committee and planning everything. She did more than any of us can even imagine. She has always sacrificed and given for her kids, but her support and sacrifice for us these past few months means more to me than I can put into words. I pray that I will be half the mom to my kids that she has been to me. Love Ya Mom!!!

Stuffed

As you can see we are stuffed. I am working to get things completly organized. The boxes in the breezeway are all the swings and car seats and everything else you can imagine that we will need. The livingroom has tubs of clothes and odds and ends that I don't know where to put yet. The babies room has the diapers and wipes that we have so far. It is stuffed in here and we don't have them home yet. We will make it. It will be comical when we look back at this one day. God has take care of us this far. He will get us through the next few months. I just wish I could see into the future.

Feeding Frenzy

Yesterday we got to geed all five of them. They did so well. Ethan is getting tired. He is eating the most and trying to keep his temp up. Peyton sucked his bottle down for Daddy in 10 min. He really liked it. Landon and Jenna do pretty good with it when they want. Sydney hasn't quite gotten the hang of what to do with it. She doesn't like to keep her tongue under the nipple. She is pretty slow at feeding time. Jenna is the one who doesn't like to burp. I couldn't get Landon to concentrate on eating yesterday because he was trying to fill his diaper. He hasn't gotten the hang of doing two things at once. All in all they are doing great. Ethan has his discharge papers at his cradle. I think it will still be another week. We will see. Peyton is up front with brother. He is breathing on his own finally. He was the straggler and he jumped past everyone else and is up there with Ethan now. I called on their weights last night and they are HUGE!!! Ethan is 4lbs 13oz, Peyton is 3lbs 9.4oz, Landon is 4lbs .1oz, Jenna is 3lbs 8.4oz, and Sydney is 3lbs 15.9oz. Isn't that amazing! God is fattening our little babies right up. Pretty soon we will have them all home and I can't even imagine how we will manage feeding five babies at one time. They are all filling out and starting to get some baby fat on them. They are so adorable!!!!!


Ethan


Jenna


Sydney


Landon


Peyton

HAPPY EASTER!!! The nurses made cute pictures for the kids. Aren't they cute! Landon and Sydney have been introduced to the bottle now. They have done great with it. Ethan weighs 4lbs. 4oz. now. Sydney weighs 3lbs. 9oz. and Landon weighs 3lbs. 8oz. They are catching up with Ethan. Peyton and Jenna have finally broken the 3lb. barrier. They both weigh 3lbs. 2oz. Everyone is doing so good! Ethan is going to be moved to an open crib this week sometime. He is soo close to coming home I can taste it. The benefit is this Saturday. It sounds like it is going to be really good. I hope you all can make it. We will be there to visit with everyone. Hope everyone had a good Easter.

Finally Bottle Feeding

Finally, Ethan got to bottle feed last night. I got to do it. He did perfect. He didn't have any drops at all and took the entire amount (28cc almost one ounce). He burped three times for me. And he loved every minute of it. Maybe he will start to rub off on his brothers and sisters. We went this morning and Rob got to give him his bottle. Rob did so good!!! He is really getting the hang of the parenting thing. Ethan took the entire bottle for him in his allotted time also. He gets 30 min. I have pictures of Rob feeding him. I will have to post them later once I get them off of the camera I used. Everyone else is doing great. We haven't had any setbacks recently. Sydney is finally getting over her staff infection. That was about a three week battle. She is still completly confined and isolated from everyone else, but they let us hold her for the first time in about two weeks today. She had to be the last in line so we didn't spread anything. They should get her blood culture back today and hopefully she will be in the clear.

Today our little ones are 6 weeks and 4 days old. They are so perfect! God has had his hand on them from the very beginning. Hopefully they will begin coming home one at a time soon. Ethan should begin bottle feeding this week. He should be the first one to come home. He is 4lbs.

(Ethan 3-30-07 at about 2:00 a.m.)

It is amazing to look at him and see how much bigger he is than the others. Sydney and Landon are right on his heels. They have broken the 3lb barrier and are starting to catch up. Peyton and Jenna are growing steadily but slowly. They are at 2lb 13oz. I can see their maturing everyday. They can look at us and follow our voices. They are so cute. I can't wait to start this wonderful crazy journey we are about to embark on.