H-Town Adventures - Part 3 (postscript)

While in Houston, we did manage to get out a bit, even if it meant just going to BJ's Pizza.

Never too young to learn a good party trick.

We also made it out to Kemah for the boardwalk. That included a trip to a restaurant that had an aquarium. (Or was it an aquarium with a restaurant. No sure.)

Awake with the fishes. Grandpaw and the boys observe.

Even when we didn't go out, we entertained ourselves in the hotel with games like old-fashioned peekaboo.

Mom and Dad only made one excursion alone while there. But they made it count.

The brewery tour is a must for beer nerds.

H-Town Adventure - Part 2

The therapy went very well. We could tell a difference already by the end of the first week. Both boys were showing signs of being stronger and more active. The workouts seemed to paradoxically tire them out and energize them. When he wasn't working out, John-Raven couldn't seem to be still. That included some nights, too.

John-Raven: "Sleep=No. iPad=Yes!"

The boys worked hard. William sometimes worked SO hard...

...that he didn't even make it back to the hotel before going to sleep.

One day, he even decided not to wait until therapy was over to go to sleep, yet still kept working for a while. That's dedication, people.

Asleep? Yep. Still working? Incredibly, yes.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. The boys' regular PT, Nancy, is really amazing and makes great strides with the boys in the hour that she gets to work with them each week. But it's hard to overemphasize the value of getting two hours of therapy per weekday for three weeks. The boys definitely made improvements in strength and stability, and we hope to capitalize on that to push them further in their therapy goals.

We would like to say how fantastic the therapists and staff are at Pediatrics Plus Therapy Services in Houston. Trisha and Carla did great work with the boys and had a real gift for reading their reactions and motivating them. We can't thank them enough!

WARNING: Now Entering the Terrible Twos

So the boys turned two on May 1st. Yay, boys! Hard to believe, really. They're around 27 pounds now and definitely aren't having any trouble gaining weight. We no longer have to go to a gym for a strength workout -- these days, we just pick up the boys.

A few shots from the birthday bash:

(Thanks to Mandy Hennebury for the Awesome Cake. Thanks to her husband Matt for the awesome sliders and hot dogs. Thanks to everyone else for...being awesome.)

If you look closely, you'll see that the boys did get a little taste of the cake icing.

And they had some help from the neighborhood kids opening presents.

We attended a Harris Methodist NICU reunion today and saw some familiar faces. (Sorry, didn't get any pics there. If anyone reading this has some to share, let us know.) We realized we haven't been to Harris with the boys since they first left the NICU. Seems like yesterday we were there. Yet another example of how time flies.

William and John-Raven have been working hard, and it's paying off. Their progress isn't speedy, but it's progress nonetheless.

Have I ever mentioned we love mirrors?

We have no idea whether the boys are really about to enter their "terrible twos" or not. Most people comment on what good attitudes they have. And they're right -- most of the time, the boys are happy kiddos. But trust us...they have their moments.

Status Update, 4/22

William is still at Children's Medical Center, but he appears to be on the tail end of his illness. As it turns out, he had bronchiolitis (which was the result of a common cold virus) and aspiration pneumonia (which was likely due to the bronchiolitis and/or the cold). He hasn't had fever for a couple of days, and he's barely on any oxygen at all right now. They'll be weaning him off of oxygen today and if all goes as planned, he'll be back at Our Children's House tomorrow.

John-Raven did not have his surgery this week because (surprise!) he's come down with basically the same thing that William has. Thankfully, OCH was prepared for it following William's episode and have been able to stop John-Raven's problems from escalating.

At this point, the G-tube surgeries will be delayed by a few weeks. After the boys respiratory distress this week, any anesthesiologist would be hesitant to put them under until a proper length of time has passed.

So the plan right now is: get William back to OCH, get set up with temporary NG-tubes, go home, and then come back to Dallas in a few weeks for the G-tube surgeries. I'll let you know if the plan changes. (Judging by recent events, I wouldn't be surprised if it does.)

Also, to clarify: I've been referring to a G-tube, but actually, the boys will be getting what's called a Mic-Key button. For those who don't know, the Mic-Key button is simply a small, low profile valve that is placed in the stomach to create a feeding port. When it's time to feed, you connect the feeding tube to the button. When feeding is done, the tube is disconnected. (Sometimes, a G-tube is used for a couple of weeks before transitioning to the button, but our surgeon may actually just put the button in right away. We'll see.)

Late Holiday Pics and Upcoming Eye Surgery

Yes, we are woefully behind on blog posts. I'll try to get caught up over the next week and promise to be better in the future. (Also know that Amanda does a good job putting up pics on Facebook, so if you're into that, consider adding her as a friend.)

Last post showed John-Raven after his hernia/hydrocele surgery. Shortly thereafter, his dad (me, of course) had a long overdue shoulder surgery (a story for another time), which was no fun for anyone because it meant I couldn't pick the boys up, cook gourmet French dinners, play Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14, write the Great American Novel, or help Jack Bauer protect the country from terrorists. It also meant that Amanda had to do some extra work taking care of the boys.

Better late than never, here are some pics from the holiday season '09.

Mom gets some extra help in the kitchen.

Mom does double duty feeding to compensate for one-armed Daddy.

(No, that Christmas tree isn't actually on fire.)

Storytime!

Gigi's gift created quite a buzz. John-Raven looks on in awe, one bumblebee staring at another.

Our ever helpful goddaughter Reese assists William in learning to roll over.

We had some good holiday fun with family this year, complete with a white Christmas and the rather unexpected discovery that William thinks cousin Joey's whoopie cushion is the funniest thing ever.

As you can see, we had a good Christmas, and welcomed the New Year with open arms and the hope that we won't have to spend quite so much time in hospitals and with doctors and whatnot this year. The boys have at least one surgery ahead of them already - this one for their eyes. They have infantile esotropia, which is a form of strabismus. Their eyes cross as they try to process visual information on opposite sides (left eye tries to see stuff on the right side, right eye tries to see stuff on the left).

Many babies start out with some level of strabismus that resolves as their eyes get stronger, but esotropia doesn't go away on its own. It's neurological in nature but it can be fixed - or at least improved - with surgery (or multiple surgeries, as the case may be). So they're scheduled for back-to-back operations at Cook Children's Hospital bright and early the morning of February 4th (that's tomorrow, as I write this). We'll give you an update when we're done.

Determined to be Identical

(Meant to publish this week before last...sorry!)

As narrated by John-Raven...

"On Wednesday, we checked in at Cook's for another surgery. No, not for my shunt (which is still working just fine, thank you very much) but for a hydrocele repair. (I know, all these medical terms confuse me, too. Just remember that 'hydrocele' has nothing to do with 'hydrocephalus'. Hydrocele surgery is basically like hernia surgery. Not a big deal, really.)"

"See, my brother, William, had his hydrocele surgery while still in the NICU, and I guess I got a little jealous, so guess what? I decided I needed a hydrocele repair, too! (Hey, if we're going to be identical twins, let's do it right.) Mom spotted the problem a couple of weeks ago and knew what it was right away. So we scheduled the surgery for Thanksgiving break, and off we went."

"Mom got me up super early. We were on the road by 5am! I didn't mind, though. I was pretty happy all morning, really. I got to see lots of nurses who gave me lots of attention, and I didn't even cry when they took me away from Mom and put me under. See that picture above? That was me in 'Recovery 2'. I was so out of it. I opened my eyes once in a while when I heard a little baby crying a few beds down, but other than that, I didn't really want to wake up for a while."

"Mom tried to wake me up to eat, which was something the nurses and doctors said I had to do before they would let me go home, but I was tired and was more interested in sleeping than eating. By the time 3pm had rolled around, I'd had a breathing treatment, a steroid shot in my IV, and an ounce of milk, and we were headed home! I was pretty sleepy the rest of the day, too. Since I'd been wearing my frog pajamas, Mom nicknamed me her little 'Groggy Froggy'."

"I'm all better now, and fully recovered. And I'm looking real tough, too, with a couple of more surgical scars to match William's. Twin life, yo!"