3 years ago today the Pastor said something about Agape and next thing I know I was saying “I do” and here we are.  We were able to get out for our first dinner alone since the babies were in the NICU in the beginning of 2006.  Tobie’s mom was able to babysit for us on Saturday (mental note: must ask her to do this more than once a year).  I surprised Tobie by taking her to the restaurant where we had our first date.  Okay, not much of a surprise since I made her write down where she thought we were going on a piece of paper before we left (she chose correctly).  It  was great being out alone (re: minus snotty, coughy, crying, throw head into wall when having tantrum kids), kicking back and having a few drinks.  As Tobie said, “We probably have gone through more in the first 3 years of marriage than most ever will have to endure“.  I said “Amen, that’s Agape for you, now where is my drink?“.

Oh, we overheard a conversation of 6 old bats ladies while at dinner.  One woman said, and I quote: “Who would want children?  Children stink“.  Seriously, who says that?  Tobie and I had a good chuckle.

Swingers Baby…yeah!

Babies born in AZ have desert fox feet. 
This basically means they can walk on hot rocks without shoes.

So I maybe have a millisecond before the morning grind begins.  Right now Paige and I are chilling eating our fruity Cheerios in the dark but I hear both boys stirring so I know this peace is only temporary. 

A couple updates:  We started our developmental therapist last week.  I wasn’t so sure about her upon first meeting her.  (This seems to be a repetitive theme in my interactions with our therapists)  But after her first official session I feel better about her.  She looks very young but when I asked her, (I had to….it makes me more comfortable taking suggestions from someone who isn’t 21) she’s not as young as she looks.  She also seems to know her stuff, had a few good suggestions for toys and such, and the kids both responded to her really well.  She has a lot of hair so obviously Paige was smitten with her.

I also took Cole to his first feeding therapy appointment at Phoenix Children’s Hospital yesterday.  I used to work part time at this hospital and I’ve been there several times since the babies were discharged.  Yesterday though I broke down driving through the parking garage.  I had a flashback to when they were still in the NICU and Cole was purposely paralyzed to conserve his strength after ROP surgery and he was fighting four bacterial infections simultaneously.  I remember thinking he’s not going to make it, he looked soooo bad.  The nurses and doctors all telling me this kind of thing happens occasionally, he’ll pull through.  Then after he did, the same doctors and nurses alluding to the fact that he almost didn’t make it.  So that’s what I was thinking about rounding the corners of the parking garage and then I look in my rearview mirror and see Cole smiling one of his many amazing smiles at me.  I just lost it.

So getting back to our feeding appointment….I love our new feeding therapist.  She knew everything about Cole before we walked in the door.  She really studied our chart before we arrived and even had a gameplan written for his therapy.  You would not believe how many doctors/therapists wait until we’re sitting there to review our chart.  Anyways, she observed him eating a variety of foods and drink from different sippies and said he’s 75-80% of the way to being a full-time eater.  She believes she can help him learn to swallow foods.  He can swallow, it’s just a trust issue with Cole because he has had a history of choking and gagging early on.  We will be meeting with a nutritionist to find foods that Cole will benefit from and most likely eat.  For instance, Cole does not do well with mushy foods, he likes crunch.  So if we were to offer him yogurt, we should add granola.  Chicken…add crispies.  She also is contacting our OT, PT and GI to let them know what changes she will be doing and what she thinks they need to work on with him.  She’s taking control and I love it.  She also sympathized with my frustration with GI and explained their stance in a way that I forgive GI for not listening to me about Cole’s eating.  Eric and I are still annoyed with GI for not listening to Cole’s bowel issues for the longest time, but that’s another blog post.

So our therapies are now M-F for two hours every day.  Luckily the only therapy we have to go to is Cole’s feeding therapy, the rest are in our house.  I wonder what life would be like without therapies?  Boring.

Other news:  I had a Mommy day on Saturday where I went out to lunch and shopping with my BFF.  It was heaven.  I didn’t worry about the babies or Eric until the drive home.  I imagine if I had tried to do this last year, I would not have been able to relax and enjoy myself.  I think I’m ready for a ski trip.  If only I wasn’t breastfeeding still.  Makes it a little complicated to leave Drew for a weekend.  And it’s one thing to leave for three hours of no children, it would probably kill me to leave them for a weekend getaway.  Or maybe not…..!

Okay…everyone’s up now.  Looking sooooo adorable in their winter pj’s with the footies.  Paige just brought Drew his rattle…that is so cute.  Both her and Cole really love him.  Cole’s new thing is to get right up in Drew’s face and kiss him.  Oh sooo sweet.

Captain American and his sidekick swapping stories about saving the world.

His body says “I like this costume” his face says “Take it off now!”

Yes, his shirt is wet from drool!