A New Year, New Memories!

Well the girls are officially a year old. This post will be mainly pictures with a few updates at the end. What an amazing December this has been. I found myself reflecting back over the past year, remembering the feelings and happenings of the previous year and so amazingly thankful that we get to make new happier memories this year.

Cameron

Reagan - sorry you can't see her face...she is into climbing onto everythng and this is the only view we got of her most of the night!

Cameron trying out her cake

Reagan taking a taste.

Cameron proved to have quite a sweet tooth!

Oh we have had quite a year and we count it a privilege that all of you have chosen to go on this journey with us. Thank you so much for all your love and support. The girls have changed so much.

Since their birthday they both have begun pulling up on everything and Reagan demands to stand at all times while she plays! Both girls have become such snuggly babies. And they absolutely love one another and play so well together -except when they climb on top of one another! Happy Birthday Girls!

Miraculous!

Miraculous...that is how the Occupational Therapist and the Physical Therapist described the girls' development. They both are right where they need to be or ahead in their development. They were so impressed with our little miracles. As of right now the girls are not showing signs of cerebral palsy either - HUGE PRAISE! There are a couple of things we have to work on.... we have to work on feeding some...positioning of the spoon and such...and we have to watch Reagan because she likes to stand on her toes and not lower her ankles. We have so much to be thankful for.

Updates on what the girls can do: both girls are now crawling and pulling up onto things to their knees. Reagan has just begun babbling and now says baba, dada, gaga...we are still working on mama (but in the middle of the night she can call dada all she wants :) ). Reagan can also pull to standing. Cameron says mama...she has for a while. I don't know if it is intentional or if we will lose it as she develops in her speech.

The girls love each other so much and when the other one is gone...they are sad. They light up when they see each other...it is so cute. Their favorite game is what I like to call, "Thats my paci." They sit with each other and take each others pacifiers out of their mouths over and over and over again. It entertains them for quite some time. Reagan has already proven that she is very independent and likes to push 0ur buttons...she will start crawling somewhere she knows she isn't supposed to go and when you call her name to tell her to come back, she squeals with delight and starts crawling faster. Cameron likes to show her independence at meal time as she will arm wrestle you for control over the spoon and when she wins and dumps her food...she smiles and laughs.

December 12 of last year I checked into the hospital at Duke. It is so hard to believe that they were born ten days later. I am looking forward to our coming weeks in hopes of making new memories that are full of joy and togetherness. I am so excited as we will get to celebrate the girls birth together, Christmas together, and so on. I have such a new found appreciation for togetherness. I remember sitting at the hospital on Christmas morning...so torn between wishing I was with Aubrey to see her wake up on Christmas morning and all the excitement that comes with it, and between the twins who were in the NICU showing us how strong they really were. So many blessings, so many miracles.

Aubrey continues to grow and become such a little lady. She is such a blessing and such a wonderful helper. She loves her sisters and can now tell them apart. She loves to play with them and talk to them and make them laugh. She brings smiles to their faces when nothing or no one else will make them happy. She has really been enjoying school, dancing, books, music, and she wakes up every day and asks her Daddy if they can go to church! She loves it! Her other new favorite thing to do is to watch the Signing Time dvds that we are using to help us learn sign.

Movers and Shakers

Sorry it has taken so long to post. Things are pretty hectic and yet incredibly monotonous all at the same time (does that even make sense?). The girls are getting bigger all the time and are hitting milestones left and right. Here are just a few:

-Both girls are crawling.

-Both girls have gotten their first tooth and are working on the second.

-Both girls are finally beginning to get the hang of eating baby food.

-Reagan can pull herself up to a standing position.

-Reagan is now 17 pounds. Cameron is now almost 15 pounds.

-Cameron is getting ready for her second set of hearing aids - we think that her first set is not working all the time.

Now that the girls are on the move, they are everywhere. We have to watch them all the time. Reagan is the most curious of the two and is also the faster of the two (for now). So far, we have caught Reagan in the bathroom, getting into the fireplace, underneath end tables, trying to crawl up the stairs, climbing into the bottom of her exersaucer, and crawling on top of her sister. She is so quiet that you don't know where she is but when you catch her she has such a mischevious grin and laugh. Cameron talks nonstop all day long. She must really have a lot to say. I wish so much that I could just peek into her head to see what it is she is thinking.

Coming up the girls are beginning to move in the evaluation stage of their therapies and such. Both girls will be evaluated by physical and occupational therapists in December and in January they will return to Duke for testing (which is routine for all one year olds that were once residents of the NICU), and then in February, Cameron will have an MRI at Chapel Hill to take a closer look at her ears.

It is so hard to believe that they are almost a year old. When I think back to what was going on a year ago, I remember having regular visits with the specialists and discussing when I would be going into the hospital and our course of action once we were in the hospital. I never would have guessed that those two little ones that we saw every two weeks on our ultrasounds would be so amazing. They truly are the coolest (along with their older sister) individuals around. And I do mean individuals...lest you think they were twins or anything...they truly do have the most different personalities - they are excellent foils to one another.

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some of the latest pics from the Carters. We were able to sneak out to get to the pumpkin patch nearby but it was freezing and very windy! The girls are all on the mend. Reagan's ears are healing and she and I are both finishing up our antibiotics. We go for their 9 month checkups next week. Both girls are scooting. Cam is just figuring out how it works and is learning to use both her arms and her feet to move. She is also getting up on her hands and knees to wiggle but not crawling yet. Reagan can move very quickly as she scoots and is beginning to get into everything! It won't be long before we have to childproof everything again! It is going to be a busy winter!

Cameron

Reagan

Update

Well, it has been quite an eventful week and half since Cam went to the emergency room and was admitted. I will try to tell you the quick version. Cam was released the next day and came home. The next day she was a completely different baby...still sick but not as lethargic and without personality as she was previously. The next day, Reagan started and ended up at the pediatrician...flu and pneumonia again. Then, on Thursday night, Aubrey started...no pneumonia...just the flu. Just about all the girls are back to feeling like themselves - still sensitive tummies but more like themselves...except now...I have strep throat! AGGGGHHHHH! So, I have been quarantined away from the family for 24 hours. I don't know what in the world could have caused so much sickness to a family that is so careful with germs...I attribute a lot of my illness to exhaustion.

Aside from the illness...the girls are doing well. Reagan is somewhat mobile now. She can scoot herself backward and rocks back and forth on her hands and knees. She is also extremely strong and can climb very easily. Cam can sit up for a few moments by herself and is also getting good at scooting herself along. She has realized that she can push herself up on her hands and knees but would rather slither like a snake. She, too, can pull up on things and is getting quite strong. That's about it for the Carters.

I am hoping that our next entry finds us all much more healthy and having more fun than we have had the last few weeks.

Pneumonia

As I write this, I have just gotten the call from Seth (who has been at the ER with Cam for the 2nd time in the last 2 weeks) and they are officially admitting Cameron to the hospital with pneumonia. She went in tonight after running a low grade fever most of the day but as the night went on, her breathing began to get faster and faster. I called the pediatrician to speak to the triage nurse and they listened to her breathe and agreed that it seemed extremely fast. When Seth left to take Cam to the hospital, her fever was 100.8 and upon arrival it was 103 - this is on motrin. They ran a bunch of rigorous tests and so, after 10 days on the antibiotic, then 24 hours off of it, Cam has been diagnosed with pneumonia (this is a definitive diagnosis?).

Right now we really do not know much else at all. The current plan is that Seth will be with her today and then we will take it from there. We don't know if this will be a multi-day stay for Cameron or not. My prayer is that Cameron having already been on antibiotics for ten days will lessen her stay and hopefully the pneumonia is not as severe - of course this is based on just my hopes...not anything medically. So, for now, we pray and wait. Hopefully we will know more soon!

Flu Season Begins

Well, many of you already know that flu season has not even begun and the drama has already started. Cameron has had her first emergency room visit and we have spend the last week back and forth at the hospital and the doctors office. Long story short, a cold starting going through our house last week and Cameron ended up running a high fever. She has adrenal insufficiency which means that when her body is fighting an illness if it gets too severe, her body does not make enough stress hormone to deal with it. So, when we left the NICU they told us we would have to administer a cortisol shot to help her deal with it and then rush her to the hospital. All of that became a reality this past Wednesday night when the thermometer was reading 102.5. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the vial of stress hormone open so Seth rushed Cam to the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital Cam's fever read a whopping 99.9 - we were so frustrated. Anyway, they ran tests and long story short...both girls both have ear infections.

The girls have also had their checkups at the hospital. Cameron weighs 13 pounds and Reagan weighs 15 pounds. The girls are doing very well and the doctors were very pleased. They told us that Cameron has outgrown the need for the shot if she gets sick now - which was a huge relief. They also told us that the girls should begin to outgrow the reflux over the next few months. Reagan's gross motor development was very impressive - she can sit independently for quick bursts of time but she is not technically an independent sitter. They predicted that she will be crawling in no time. Cameron has been referred for physical therapy to help with her gross motor development - just to help make sure that she is meeting her benchmarks. She is trying so hard and has really made a ton of progress. The next time we will go back to Duke will not be until January where they will conduct developmental testing. The girls are 9 months old now - so hard to believe! We had been trying baby food wit Reagan but she doesn't seem ready just yet but we are beginning with Cameron - who seems to enjoy it...pictures soon to come!

We begin our quarantine within the next week which means that we cannot take the girls to places that are very crowded and we need to limit their exposure to germs. We are to maintain strict handwashing and ask people who have any type of cold or flu symptom to stay clear of our house or the girls. I am hoping that now that it is cooler that we can still enjoy many afternoons and mornings outside on walks or at the park though - I think it will do all of us some good.

Stay tuned for pictures of the girls. Cameron should have her MRI scheduled at Chapel Hill coming up soon. We are hoping and praying that our sickness drama that we just experienced is all that we will have to endure for a while - we are all still recovering from it! The girls are feeling better and acting more like themselves every day!