Tricks

Four days and five nights and this beast of a cast in coming off (hopefully)! I honestly don't have any complaints at all about it. It may still be a bit premature to say this but the cast had been perfect. It is not rubbing, itching or hurting. He is in a good position to sit (in the wheelchair), lay and have tummy time. It doesn't even really stink. The Doc warned us that he would absolutely "hate this thing" and after two weeks, it would really stink. Well neither is true. He still thinks his cast is cozy and is not sure he wants it off. He doesn't smell like lilacs but he certainly doesn't stink. Truly, outside of the diapering, a bit of constipation, a few verbal demands and getting up in the night, I think this was a positive experience. I have learned a bit about the life of a child with a physical disability, my arms are stronger and I have known for 5 weeks where one twin is at all times!

Owen spends most of his evenings doing tricks now. He is pretty good and a great show off if you want to stop by! Here are some pics of his latest moves!

March for Babies 2008

What a great day! Once again the March for Babies Walk was a HUGE success. The OK Twins Team officially raised over $1500 for this amazing cause. We had 13 walkers on our team this year. The weather was beautiful, the activities were perfect and the purpose close to my heart! I hope that through research, more and more babies will continue to be born healthy.

Thank you dear friends and family for your generous support again this year!

Cookie Monster and Clowns!

What a great Saturday we had! While daddy was working and then out of town for the night, the kids and I filled our day with fun. First, Cookie Monster arrived in the morning for a visit. My assistant at work has a dear friend who owns a costume shop. They decided that they wanted to bring some cheer to our home and have a character come and visit. The kids have not stopped saying "cookie monster came to my house"

Then, after hearing that the Shrine Circus was in town, I got tickets late Friday night for the Saturday show. I convinced a few friends and my bros family to come with because I knew I could not do it alone. Despite the sore muscles I have today from carrying Owen about a mile, it was a fabulous idea and a grand time! The kids were GREAT and we even got some one-on-one time with a clown named Jo-Jo who stopped by our seats and signed Owen's cast.

I had forgotten how fun the circus is. As a child we went every year with my grandfather who was a Shriner. I have great memories of this and the little goody bags that my grandmother packed us so we wouldn't spend any money on junk!

March of Dimes

We are officially two weeks out from the March of Dimes walk. We will be walking again this year with friends and family to celebrate the healthy lives of Owen and Kyle and the other children around the world that are born premature.

As I state daily, we are the lucky ones! We have crazy healthy little boys who thrive. I do realize that many others' lives are different. I have close friends who deal with severe side effects of prematurity every day. The irony is that these children would not be alive at all without the advances in medical care that March of Dimes has supported the research for. So, on April 27th, we will walk with the hope that these advances will continue and that more and more babies will be born healthy every year!

Please help us to achieve our fundraising goal of $1250. Please, please!

Inside or Outside?

I suppose that it just depends on the day of the week these days. Owen has started to motor along by using his arms to pull him. For some reason he is still waking up every night 4-5 times!

We are still hanging in there - 2 full weeks down!

Happy 3rd Birthday Owen and Kyle

What do you do for a 3rd birthday? I am sure for Janie we had an extravagant party that I started planning for months in advance. For the boys we booked Chuck E Cheese on Thursday for Friday. I have sworn off kid parties at my house simply because I am not creative and do not have the patience. Besides, why do it at your house when there are a million other places! I can't use Owen's accident as an excuse for not planning because it was only a week ago. Isn't there something they say about the best times are those that you don't plan? Anyway, our family, my mom, my bro and fam went to Chuck E Cheese last night. It was great! Outside of the few adults that seemed annoyed that they had to move to let our wheel chair through, I think it was perfect. Owen rode on the little cars with me and we had a grand time. Tonight, we celebrated with some gifts and cake.

I sometimes think about my life before the boys and this is what I have come up with:

Before the boys...

I thought I was sooooooo busy
I thought it was hard taking a child with me to the store
I could watch a TV show that I wanted EVERY night
I knew who Oprah was
I sat and ate entire dinners, in peace
I never knew how many things in my house could get destroyed
I thought that I could never love anything as much as Janie
I never knew how fun it is to sit at dinner and hold hand with your most precious gifts and say a prayer
I never realized what an accomplishment outings could be
I never understood how great it is to give love to 3!
I had never heard someone say "look mommy, you have two baby boys"


Love you boys and I am so proud of you!

Doing Fine

We are exactly one week post surgery with Owen and we are doing just fine. Days are great! He is such a trooper. He never complains or asks why he can't walk. He ask for things, smiles and constantly tells me that I am doing a good job.

The nights this week have not been great. We started the week with 2 almost sleepless nights. Nothing would make this child happy. Truly I don't think he is in a bit of pain! I just keep imagining waking up in the night and not being able to move anything but my arms. The last few nights he has woken a few times but only needed water. I can handle this! The difference may be that we put him back on Valium before bed and a stool softener.

Our Nanny is doing amazing with him. Being pregnant, she never complains or acts like she can't handle things! We realize how fortunate we are because if he was in school or daycare, I would most likely have to take a leave from work.