Tobie here:

Where are my babies? I think I officially have toddlers now. They just seem to be accomplishing so much every day/week it's amazing. From Cole babbling– to Paige crawling faster than Cole to get around– to both of them trying so hard to walk….these things seemed so far off a couple weeks ago. They are definitely asserting their personalities too. I know when they are happy and the whole neighborhood knows when they are miserable. Operation Tough Love has been a success this whole week. Some days are harder than others, but this is understandable because I am basing the Operation on the premise that both babies have the same sleep needs and are tired at the same time of day. Imagine being the baby that isn't that tired and having to take a nap because your sibling is rubbing his/her eyes. But all in all, going down for a nap after lunch wide awake and falling asleep on your own is going pretty well. The only problem I can forsee is that one nap a day means they are spazzing out around 5:30pm and bedtime is still 1.5 hours away. (this is what is going on right now!!) Another kink to Operation Tough Love is I was carrying both babies upstairs at once, reading a story to both babies at once, then lifting both babies at once into their cribs for nap. With my contractions flaring up on Tuesday, I decided this probably wasn't the best move. So luckily between my mom and good friend Nic, I have had help during nap time the last few days. My aunt will be here next week to help with putting the babies down, and we have broken down and hired a young girl to help us the week after that. The girl we hired will be helping in the afternoons every weekday for 6 weeks and then for 3 hours in the evening the remainder of the summer starting in late May. This will be extremely helpful in getting three babies past their crazy tired hour, getting them bathed in the evening, fed and put to bed. I also don't know how tired I'll be with the new baby's arrival so having her help should be a relief.

What else is going on? Paige learned how to clap with open hands today. She used to keep one hand fisted and clap over that hand with the other hand. Cole is babbling more and more. I've also started leaving a blanket in their beds for a "security blanket". My grandma (aka G-G-ma) made beautiful afgans for them when they were in the NICU. We used to cover their isolets with them to block out light so these blankets mean a lot to me too. Anyways, Cole absolutely loves his blanket and I wish I wasn't so freaked over SIDS and had used the blanket a long time ago because watching him curl up in his blankie and nestle his head in it is the cutest thing ever.

I don't think I can end this blog entry without commenting on what a relief the fetal fibronectin result was. I was trying to convince myself that a 34 weeker was not so bad, but knowing I should make it to 36 weeks now is so much nicer. I so want a full-term baby this pregnancy and I really want the baby to come from the hospital with me. I'm sure most pregnant people don't even consider their babies not coming home with them, but after a 4 month NICU experience last time, I think my heart would be broken if the new baby even had to spend a minute in the NICU. I would feel like a failure all over again too if that happened. So relief is not a good description of how I feel today after receiving that FFN result.