Berry Berry Busy

welcome

Our twin girls arrived a little early at 33 weeks and 4 days. They're getting bigger day by day since they blessed us with their arrival. This blog is to document their amazing feats since we know they'll grow up entirely too fast.

Have a Berry Christmas!


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16 weeks in our Berry world


So today we had another first, our first 'sick visit' to the Dr. :-(  It wasn't really too bad, the girls have just been super duper congested for the past two weeks and yesterday Ms. Alberta (the girls' teacher) said she thought she could hear some congestion in the chest.  In addition to that the girls haven't really been eating as well for the past few days and we were a little worried about that.  The Dr. gave them a good look and found an infection in Miss Evie's ear.  She went ahead and prescribed an antibiotic for both girls that should knock out the congestion and take care of little Misses ear.  Good news is the girls haven't had a fever and are really holding up well, despite the constant stuffy nose.  They did really well with their first dose of medicine and we are looking forward to getting over this little. 

We did get a quick little update on about how much the girls weigh - Mina is around 10 lbs 12 oz and Evie's around 10 lbs 4 oz.  I say around since they had their diapers and all their clothes on so it wasn't an 'official' weight.  The fantastic thing about that is that both girls are finally on the weight chart.  Evie's in the 4th percentile while Mina's in the 7th.  This is really great since they weren't even on the chart before.  Our little berries are catching up!

In other news we got a visit from Grandy this weekend and even got the girls out for a bit for their first Greek Food Festival - yum!  The girls managed to sleep the whole festival.

For your berry goodness we have some pictures to share:
16 Weeks Grandy visit  
Tutu Berries
Miss Mina Berry
Evie in her cool shades

The girls love the butterflies!


15 Week Old Berries


I know, the week was a busy one
Beautiful Berryies on Bellies in Bathing suits
So the girls had a fantastic week at school.  They really have adapted well and have been deemed the best eaters in their class.  Their teachers all adore them and comment daily on how wonderful and easy babies they are.  We really are so lucky.  The girls favorite thing at their new school is their butterfly mobile the school got from the Joyful Child.  It seems to really be a big hit with all the kids.  I think we might have to get one for home :-)  The girls have also been having lots of fun with scarves at school.  This has inspired us to grab ours at home and play with the different textures.  The girls really seem engaged when we play with the scarves smile so big when we stroke their cute little cheeks with the soft materials.  The girls have spent a lot of time sleeping the past couple days (they must be growing) and have been called the sleeping beauties of their class :-)  The school gives us little written reports each day for the girls that are so cute.  I'll make sure to share one soon.  We couldn't be happier with the decision we made on where our girls stay and play while we go off to work.

On Saturday Plano had its balloon festival's fireworks show so we walked down to the park that night to watch them.  Our little sleepy heads enjoyed the ride so much they were asleep by the time we got down to where we could see them.  We'll just have to try again next year.

In other news the boogie man has been by our house almost every night.  He won't seem to leave our little ladies alone.  This has prompted us to invest in a humidifier for their room which really has helped a lot.  The girls are such troopers when it comes to us having to suction out their nose with the bulb syringe.  They will fight us a little bit, but at the end – once they realize they can breathe again – they'll give us the biggest, most sweet smile.

All in all we've had a fantastic week.  We're still getting used to our schedule, but every day it gets easier every day.

This post I'll leave you with some pictures from a few weeks ago that I hadn't posted yet since they were on Seth's phone – the girls in their bathing suits!  How fun is that!  They won't get to go in a real pool till their at least 6 months, but we may have to hang out in the tub one afternoon just to splash around a bit, unbath related ;-)  I'll let you all know how that goes :-)
The girls love their suits!
Mina with Grandmom
Evie with Grandmom

Berry Berry Beautiful


Mina and Daddy
Sleepy Evie
Just had to share Mina and Evie's beautiful outfit today.  All thanks to Heidi and Haley!  You're so crafty Haley!

Day two of Montessori


I just wanted to do a quick little update on the girl's second day at school.  They both had a fantastic day and didn't spit up at all.  We went back to eating smaller amounts every three hours instead of larger amounts every 4 and that seems to have solved the problem.  They both slept and ate really well.  They also enjoyed the butterfly mobile.  Their teachers were very surprised by how well they did saying that the girls seem so comfortable there, it's like they'd been there for months.  I'll post a new pic of them at school soon.

In other news, I had my check up with my PCP for my blood pressure and have been given the ok to start lowering my dosage and weening my way off my medicine.  yippee!

New beginnings


It's been a big week for our berry household.  We said good by to Grandmom Leane on Saturday, the girls started their Montessori school (Healthy Beginnings), and daddy berry started his new job at Softlayer.

Grandmom really helped us prepare for the first day of school (I don't know if we could have done it without her).  She helped us gather all the things they would need for the week as well as pick out a plant for each of the girls to have up at school.  All of her help really made the first day easier.  It was a little difficult to leave the girls for their first day of school, but we managed.  It made it a little easier knowing they were in good hands.

Seth really enjoyed his first day at his new job and is welcoming the new challenges it will bring.  He is very encouraged by the friendliness of his new co-workers as well as how organized the company is.  My favorite thing about his new job is that he's close enough to my firm that we might even be able to go to lunch together on occasion :-)

Despite his excitement about his new job, it held no comparisson to the excitment we both had for getting back to the school house to pick up the girls.  The girls gave dad big smiles as soon as he came in to the room.  I wish I could have caught them on camera.  The teachers had nothing but wonderful things to say about the girls.  Apparently, they impressed them with their snuggling skills :-)  We're still working out some of the kinks with their feeding (especially when it comes to spitting up), but if anything our girls are just too good of eaters and over indulge a little bit.  Seth and I were super impressed with the early signs of how the girls are transitioning.  We really think they are going to like it at their new school.
Seth Takes the girls up to the Montessori House
All in all we had a fantastic (but busy day) day and we're going to need a little time to get used to our new schedule.  Wish us luck!

Over Two months without an update!



So it’s been a long time since we’ve updated our berry blog, but that doesn’t mean that things haven’t been moving along for us.  Really we’ve just been busy trying to settle in to our schedule and getting ready for the girls to start their Montessori school (they start on the 13th).  Some of the highlights:

    *          Aunt Trish came to help out (Auntie Trish is hard to catch on camera)
    *          We started our cloth diaper journey (we’re really loving it so far)
    *          Mom and Dad went to classes for the girl’s baptism
double berry goodness
    *          The girls had their first pediatrician’s appointment.  Mina weighed 6 lbs 2 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long.  Evie was 5 lbs 12 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long.
Froyo visit
    *          We took our first trip out of the house - for froyo
Grandmom Leane double burp pose
    *          Grandmom Leane has been helping us a ton
    *          The girls enter the system – we receive their social security cards
Off a walking we go
    *          We went for our first ride in our jogging stroller
First Play date
    *          The girls got to have their first play date with Miss Clara
Mia and berries
    *          Granddad Richard and Miss Mia came to help out
Evie boppy berry
    *          The girls made an appearance at their first Bluepers softball game
Granddad Richard with berries
    *          Seth & Granddad cut tons of dead leaves off a massive tree in the back yard
Evie the game show host
Mina the Flamenco Dancer
    *          Magnifico reveals what our girl’s are going to grow up to be – Evie a game show host, Mina a flamenco dancer
Aunt Lala and Unkie Monkey with Berries
    *          Grandee, Unkie Monkey, and Aunt Lala came for a weekend to help out
Auntie Trish captures some fun photos
    *          Auntie Trish came for a weekend to help out
    *          Our great friend Larry took pictures of the girls for us
    *          The girls started sleeping together in a crib in their room
Yin/Yang Twin moment
    *          The girls had their second pediatrician’s appointment (with bonus immunization shots).  Mina weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 21 ½ inches long.  Evie was 7 lbs 4.5 oz and was 21 ¼ inches long.
Snuggleberries
    *          Mommy had her follow up appointment with her OB and was released for all activities, she still is on meds for her blood pressure
    *          Mommy started swimming again (1-2 times a week)

Grandee, Mom, Berries
    *          Grandee came for a week to help out
    *          The girls attended their first knitwits
    *          The girls got to go up to Mommy’s work to meet all her coworkers
    *          Daddy was put back on the job market
Berries with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Jack
    *          Grandma Pam and Grandpa Jack came to help out for a week
    *          The girls had their first visit to IKEA
double daddy changing system
    *          Mommy and Daddy had a week or two flying solo
    *          The girls started sleeping 4 hours between their feedings at night
    *          The girls outgrew all their newborn clothes!
Mina Smile
Evie Smile
    *          We've seen some real smiles from the girls
    *          Mommy started back at work
Mina Spider booty
    *          Grandmom Leane came back to catch us up before the girls start school
    *          Mina saw the Dr. to have her umbilical cord site recloterized, Mina had her weight checked at the Dr. – she’s over 9 lbs!
    *         Daddy accepted a new position at SoftLayer in Addison (Starts September 13)
    *         The girls have started mimicing us (especcially when daddy sticks out his tongue).
    *         The girls lift up their heads really well (with great neck control) and have started grasping things
    *         We've finally managed to take all our feedings from mom over the weekend - boy is it nice to not to have to worry about bottles 24/7!  This definitely helps us all out!
Three months
    *          The girls had their third pediatrician’s appointment.  Mina weighed 9 lbs 7.5 oz.  Evie was 9 lbs 2.5 oz.  The pediatrician is beyond impressed with their weight gain and says we can feed on demand now and don't have to wake them for feedings any more.

Now that you all are caught up, here’s the plan for the future – I’m going to start a new feature – “TWIN TUESDAY”.  Every Tuesday I am going to do a quick update on what our family has been up to and post at least one photo.  Hopefully this will keep mommy from slacking off on the blog.

Hospital Photos


So things have been super busy at the Thornberry house.  We all got to go home on Friday 9th of July.  But not before the hospital took a few snapshots of our little ladies.
Mina                                                  Evie

Mina and Evie are one month old tomorrow - my how time flies


Things have been moving along at warp speed!  Last night the girls were measured and weighed.  Mina is 19 1/4" and a whopping 5lbs 11.9oz and Evie is 19" and 5lbs 6.5 oz!

In the most exciting news ever, we found out that the girls will be going home on Friday.  Seth and I are BEYOND ecstatic about this!  They've been doing fantastic on their feedings (the nurses in the NICU have really helped Seth and I with this).  Our girls even helped the nurses by pulling out their own feeding tubes (for the hundredth time - or so it seems like).  The nurses will be doing their carseat study tonight and we've already got them an appointment with their pediatrician on Friday!

Seth and I can't say enough positive things about the wonderful NICU team at Presbyterian Plano.  They've really helped get us to where we feel comfortable bringing the girls home to take care of them.  I really don't know what we would have done without them.

We've also had a lot of help getting the house up to par for their arrival - with much thanks to Seth's parent's, My dad, my stepmother, my mother, Seth's sister, and my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Kenny.  They did everything from clean the floors to install a ceiling fan in the girls bedrooms!

Words cannot express our gratitude to all of our friends and family for helping us get ready for this whirlwind of and experience.

Now for your next dose of berry goodness (we'll have pictures from the hospital taken soon too).

Mina's first finished bottle


Sleepy Mina with a fully tummy
 

Sleepy Evie on Grandmama's Tberry's shoulder

Happy 4th!


Our berries are three weeks old today! Can you believe it!


Today our little girls are three weeks old and making great improvements every day.    They haven't had any alarms in a long while so now we are just getting the feeding down.  The doctor has bumped them up to 5 feedings each day that will be taken by bottle (our goal is to get to 8 in one day before the get to go home).  We were just moved up to 4 the other day so the girls must really be getting the hang of it.  We're crossing our fingers that our little berries will be home with us by the end of the week.

Minerva and Evelyn at three weeks old
 
Enchanting Evie - 4 lbs 13.7 oz
Magical Mina - 5 lbs 2.8 oz

Minerva's first bath


Evie is ready for more bottle


Akimbo Kangaroo


Tara and Mina


11 Days Old Llittle Berries Update


I just thought I would post a little update for everyone since I had a few minutes (such a rare thing these lately).  Things are gong well for all the berries.  We've just been staying busy with our visits to the hospital to see the girls and pumping (they say pumping takes dedication - man what an understatement!)

The girls are gaining weight daily.  They were back up to their birth weights in with in a week from birth.  Right now, Miss Mina's is at 4 lbs 7 oz (started off 4 lbs 2 oz) and Miss Evie's 4 lbs 3 oz (started off 3 lbs 15 oz).  We've been able to start breast feeding and bottle feeding which is one of the major steps for them to be able to come home.  In order to come home the girls have to be able to have 5 full bottles without help in one day and go 5 day without any alarms going off (they're mainly monitoring their heart and respiratory rates).  The alarms they are counting are when they both drop and the girls don't recover self recover.  The majority of multiples don't go home together so they may come home on different days, so that is something we're trying to prepare for.  Really though, both little ladies are doing wonderfully and but are both getting stronger every day.

I've got to say NICU is the hardest things I've ever experienced.  I feel like a visitor in my own daughter's lives right now It really just doesn't seem right.  It's not really something I really anticipated :-(  But then again, I don't know how one would go about preparing for it.

Seth and I know the girls are in the best hands possible.  The people at Presby Plano's NICU have been amazing.  They've helped us so much in preparing for our girls care and understanding how their needs are gong to be a little different than term babies.  I would never wish a NICU stay on any parent, but if this is the place to go if anyone needs it.

Here's some pictures from our morning visit today :-)

Double Roo Daddy

Miss Mina sleeping girl


Mommie and Evie Rooing away

Jack and Pam shared photos


The Harper Grandparents added a gallery of their photos of the T-Berry Berries: