Microblog Monday: Outtakes

Note:  If you are visiting from ICLW, you should read my last post for a short summary of our story.

The babies turned 11 months old yesterday.  We had two different photo shoot attempts before we finally gave up, with the thought of trying again today.  Yeah, today wasn't much better!  They didn't want to sit still OR look at the camera!  Makes for some good outtakes though!  I will post the "best" pictures in their 11 month post soon.  So, after three photo shoot attempts and a destroyed head band, here are the outtakes for your viewing pleasure:

Proof of the destroyed headband

"I will NOT look at the camera.  I will not.  I. Will. Not."

"I won't look at you either!"

"Nope.  Not gonna look at you when we are together either."

"These toes are awfully interesting."

"This sticker tastes pretty good."  Ayden's thinking about stealing it from her.

Fighting over the sticker back I gave them in an attempt to distract them.

"I just wanna pick your nose."

This one would actually be really cute if they would have just looked up!  I love how their legs and arms are crossed.

Mr. Grumpy Pants

"Oh!  You don't WANT me to pull these buttons off the chair?"

Hahaha!  (to be fair, he really wasn't feeling very good)

Rylee is trying to discreetly tell me how she REALLY feels about these photo shoots!  (Look at her finger)

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Short Introduction

Hello and welcome IComLeavWe'rs (and everyone else)!  It has been a long time since I have participated in this special week, but I thought it was finally time for me to get involved again.  If you are a first time visitor to my blog, here is a short introduction to our story:

My hubby and I have been married for 17 years.  It took us a loooonnnnggggg 14+ years to finally have our family.  We thought we were destined not to have children, but then just a few years shy of age 40, we decided we needed to make that final push.  We didn't want to end up in our 40's/50's, looking back and regretting that we didn't do EVERYTHING in pursuit of our family.  If it didn't work, it didn't work, but at least we would know that we tried everything we could.

Our infertility journey consisted of a few years of charting temps and timed intercourse, as well as a surgery for me to have a cyst removed from my ovaries, and just waiting.  And waiting some more for it to be our time.  We were told that it was highly unlikely that we would ever be able to get pregnant.  Not only did I have issues, but Tony had poor swimmers as well.  We both settled into the fact that we were probably not going to have our own kids.  Here's a summary of what we did once we bit the bullet and finally sought an RE:

• We did an IUI that everyone knew wouldn't work.  It didn't, of course.
• Our first IVF resulted in 5 eggs retrieved.  3 embryos made it to a day 3 transfer, in which we transferred all 3 embies.  Chemical pregnancy.
• Second IVF got cancelled due to a poor response and only 1 mature egg.  Turned into an IUI which everyone knew wouldn't work.  Guess what?  It didn't.
• Decided to use donor eggs.  We debated using an anonymous donor, but also had the option of my sister being our egg donor.  You can read about this decision process here.  We chose to go with the amazing, generous gift my sister was willing to give us.
• They retrieved 14 eggs from my sister, 9 mature.  5 fertilized, and 4 made it to embryo status.  The embryo quality wasn't super high, so they did a day 3 transfer of 2 embies.  There wasn't a lot of hope that the other two would make it to freeze.  However, on day 6 of fertilization, one of the embryos met all of the criteria to freeze.  The other one wasn't quite there and normally wouldn't have been kept, but since it was close, they decided to freeze it anyway since they try to freeze the embies in pairs.
• BFP!!!  However, at 9w5d, we found out our baby had no heartbeat.  Chromosomal testing showed the miscarriage was due to Trisomy 18, which was a less than 1% chance of happening.  Lucky us.
• FET, transferring our last two embryos.  This was it for us.  If it didn't work, we would be living child free.
• BFP!  Turned out to be twins!
• Water broke at 32w3d.
• December 23, 2013 at 33w2d, our babies were born.
• 19 days in the NICU.
• January 11, 2014 we brought our babies home.

Then

Now

The Cheese

I know I've said this before, but it really seems crazy that there once was a time that we worried about whether Rylee would ever be a happy baby.  I mean, during her first three months, if she was awake, she was crying.  It was hard and we worried about how that would potentially effect her developmentally, along with the issues we were having with her hemangiomas.

She is such a happy baby now!  She is rarely fussy and smiles all the time.  She even laughs now!  Full on belly laughs and it is so adorable and funny.  I say funny because it's kind of a deep laughing sound for such a little girl.  But then, I think it's difficult not to get a kick out of ANY baby that is laughing.  It's just all the more special to me when it's MY baby laughing.  Sigh of contentment.

It's still a challenge to get her to smile for the camera.  At times, she can be very serious....

Those eyes...

But then there are times that she actually let's me capture her big cheesy grin....

Say CHEESE!  (She was pretty happy about her dinner!  haha)

This girl makes ME smile a big goofy grin!

And not to leave out Ayden, who still gives away his big smile for free to just about anyone....

He also REALLY likes to stick his tongue out now...

Microblog Monday: World Prematurity Day

Today is World Prematurity Day.  A day to bring awareness to the 1 in 9 babies being born too early.  My water broke at 32w3d.  The babies were content hanging out on the inside, while I was on hospital bed rest.  However, due to pre-eclampsia, Rylee and Ayden were born a week later at 33w2d.

Born December 23rd, 2013 at 8:27 and 8:28pm, they spent 19 long days in the NICU.  A relatively short stay compared to the several months in the NICU that many preemies spend.  I am so happy and blessed to be able to say that today they are just shy of their 11 month birthday and both are very healthy!

Rylee was 4 lbs, 10 oz and 16.5 inches long

Ayden was 5 lbs, 4 oz and 18.75 inches long

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It's a Pain

It's only been a week and a half that our house has been on the market, but what a serious pain in the ass.  We've only had the one person come look at our house the day after it went on the market, and nothing since.  However, on a daily basis I have to keep the house in order and be ready to pack up the babies and myself in case someone wants to come look at it.  In the contract, we put that viewers must give us an hour to depart the house.

An hour.  One hour to pick up our patchwork quilt of blankets in the living room and the tarp that is underneath, because the babies are STILL spitting up All. The. Time!  And I can't just throw them in the closet because our closets have to look presentable and somewhat empty so that people can envision their stuff in them.  I have two totes to throw blankets in and hide them in the garage.  Then I have to vacuum the living room.  You'd think that being covered with blankets all the time, that wouldn't be necessary.  Not so.  It's amazing how much stuff gets tracked in anyway.

It's funny how our one little tiny square of a baby blanket we used to have, now has turned into several big blankets covering our entire living room!  Mobile babies means more carpet to protect!

Then I have to wipe down the trails of slobber and spit up that the babies leave on the linoleum kitchen floor, in addition to the sliding glass back door.  Ayden LOVES to "eat" the window and then play in his spit. It's gross, but also kind of funny.

Hide the dirty laundry, throw the toys in a neat pile, make sure nothing is left on the bathroom or kitchen counters.... Oh, and then pack up two almost 11 month old babies and load them in the car.

That's my routine just to get out the door should I get that phone call I'm desperately wanting, saying someone is interested in buying our house and wants to take a look at it.  In addition, I have to do this every time I leave the house.  If I'm not home, I won't have time to GO home and get it all done before someone comes to look, so I leave the house ready, just in case.

By the time I get me and the babies out the door, I am a sweaty mess!  haha!  It's super hard work doing all that in addition to constantly moving the babies out of the way of the vacuum cleaner (which they are fascinated with) and making sure they aren't into anything else they shouldn't be.

All day long, I am making sure there are no dishes in the sink, the house is dusted, bathrooms are clean, floors are mopped, windows wiped down, bedrooms are vacuumed, diaper bag is packed... you get the idea.  Our house is cleaner than it ever has been!

I am exhausted.  And it's only been a week and a half.

Microblog Monday: On the Market

It's official.  As of last Monday, our house is now listed on the market.  We need it to sell as soon as possible for Hubby's sanity, which also means for my own sanity.  He has an hour and a half commute to work every day.  That is 3 hours total spent in his car 5 days a week.  He hates driving, but on top of that, it's time he is missing with his babies.  The babies we worked so hard for.

Our plan is to move closer to where he works and rent for a few years.  We will be able to set aside the saved gas money and work toward a nice down payment on a new house, in addition to also cutting our debt.

Our house was put on the market last Monday, and we already had someone come look at it the very next day.  Then nothing for the rest of the week.  Nada.  Please, oh please, oh please, let this house sell quickly.

To read more #MicroblogMonday posts, click here.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

After their morning nap today and changing their diapers, I put them in a crib hoping they'd be happy long enough for me to put away the clean laundry.  It turned into one of those fun twin moments where they thought each other was pretty hilarious.

First, the test to see if they would cry or be okay for a few minutes being stuck a crib

Checking each other out

Laughing at each other

"Oh Sister!  You are SO funny!"

Microblog Monday: Time Change

For the past week, I tried really hard to adjust the babies schedule in an attempt to help things go more smoothly with the time change.  I thought we'd done pretty dang good.  Their naps were later, and they were also able to stay up almost an hour later at night.  Unfortunately, they didn't get the memo that the time change was only an hour difference.  They'd been getting up around 7:00-7:15ish before the time change.  I fully expected to probably have to get up around 6:00am for awhile.  Oh no.  They are now waking up around 5:00-5:15 instead.  Joy.

Their naps also haven't gone so well with the time change.  Their afternoon nap today was a whole 28 minutes.  Sigh.

Rylee's been handling everything like a champ.  Ayden on the otherhand, has been Mister FussyPants.  I want my happy boy back.

He's still cute, even when he's grumpy!

Sweetness

  

To read more #MicroblogMonday posts, click here.